Blarney

Match Ten You welcomed back Euan Pollock in this match for more than the couple of minutes he got in the last game and he rewarded you with 2 goals and an assist. How good is it that he's finally back after his injury? We signed him to play, so in that regard it's good he's back. We expected him to be a big part of our attack this season and at least for this game he showed why we think he can be a difference maker.

Match Nine

Match Eight Tough loss. You're up 2-0 at the half. 3-1 at the 70th minute only to give up 2 goals within just a couple of minutes and end up getting just the 1 point. These things happen. Not ideal obviously. Not something we want to let happen often. But it's part of the growth of the club.

Match Seven

Match Six

August in Review Schedule Okay, definitely not great but it was sort of to be expected. We got a couple of wins. We were pretty much in every match, so that's something to build on. Table Honestly, if we finished the season around mid-table I'd be happy this year. It gives us an opportunity to keep working on the kids and our growth. NL Team Stats Okay... when you don't see your name listed anywhere at the top, you only have one direction to go.... mostly. NL Player Stats Again, lots of chances to get some guys names listed in the lights. Gulls Attacking Data Pass completion is good. Shots per game is good. Not putting shots on target or in the goal..... not so good. Gulls Defending Data Okay, here's a bright light, our defense has been pretty good. Finances Finances.... depleting again.

Match Five

Match Four

Match Three

Collins Injured This is your 2nd major injury hit early in the season and your 2nd striker to go down. Not really ideal is it? First Euan goes down and now Lewis. Definitely not ideal. There's a term we use in American sports, maybe it's used here also.... it's "next man up" which basically means that injuries are part of the sport and that when someone goes down, someone needs to step up. So that's where we are... next man up.

Match Two

Match One A nice win out of the gate for your club. It definitely sets the tone for the season. It gives the guys confidence that they're not completely overmatched and that we can win here.

The weather suits me better. Yes, the season was crazy.

Catching up with Britton Congratulations on your promotion. Can you talk about your goals for this season which is just around the corner? Well if you believe the hype or really lack of hype surrounding our chances this year... we're going to be spending most of the season fighting off relegation. So is that where you think you're headed? I'd love to hope that's not the case. I believe it's not. I believe in my squad. But I also know we're in a new league, facing tougher competition so we can't take anything for granted. Each and every match we need to go out there prepared and give it our best. Last season you were 3-1 facing teams from the National League in the FA Cup and FA Trophy. Is that something that gives you hope going into this year? Umm, it certainly helps to know that last season we were able to hang with some of these clubs, but that was last season. It's a new year and you can't look to the past to predict the future. However, it should give us a boost of confidence to know that we did play well against clubs that were supposedly better than us. So the money is against you this season but we've come to know you a bit and our guess is that you don't really care? No. I don't. Not really. Like I said, I know what's being said, they know what's being said and they're keen on going out there and proving everyone wrong. So where do you see yourself finishing this season? Man, I really want to sit up here and say we're looking at another promotion but I don't want to put that pressure on the guys, nor do I want to sound insane -- not that I think that would be insane but there's a lot of football to play this year and we have a lot of growing to do together. So let's just say that we're not going to get relegated. Whether we finish closer to the top or somewhere in the middle, we're going out there and we're going to play our game just like we did last season and we're going to stay up. If we can revisit the past a little, last season when you came in there were a lot of questions about your competency and jokes were made about you being the epitome of Ted Lasso. Have those gone away and do you feel like you've vindicated yourself? I never felt like I needed to vindicate myself, to think that would lend creedence to what people were saying. I understood the joke, I would have made it myself if I was on the other side. I mean it fit, didn't it? As far as my competency goes, I always believed in myself. But look, and I probably shouldn't go here as I'm defending myself.... but we haven't proven anything yet. We won the National League South... that's it. It's a good start. It's a checkmark on our first goal. But that's all it is. Now we need to keep growing as a club. That's where we're at now. And hey, Ted Lasso lasted a few seasons.... so if the jokes continue, so be it.

Pollock Injured So that's not ideal. Our new striker goes down right before the very first match.

Another Job Offer Still turned it down

Season Preview Top Goalscorer Player of the Season Projected Finish Nobody likes us. No predicted awards and relegation on the table. We have a fight ahead of us.

Job Offer I turned it down, but the recognition is nice... even if it's from the states.

New Formation With the new players we signed I think we can pull off a wing formation to make better use of some of our talents. We do not have a lot of depth up front which means that as players become tired we may have to switch things around and go back to what we used last season and just put 2 guys up front side-by-side in an attacking role... or we might use a single attacker with 2 attacking-midfielders behind him. We definitely have more options than we did last year but we're still lacking quality depth up front. We're going to make it work though because we're not going to spend any more money bringing guys in if we can help it.

New Signings We signed 3 new players to join our first 11. We also let several players walk that were on 1-year contracts and got rid of a few more that weren't in my plans. Even though the board has increased our wage budet by just over 10k per week.... we're actually spending exactly the same (right around 22k) as we were last year, and we got a lot better overall. This was mostly accomplished by bringing up several youngsters from our academy as well as releasing players and not spending very much on the open market. All 3 of our major signings didn't cost us anything more than a few guys we let go that weren't nearly as good. Euan Pollock Our attack last season after getting rid of Aaron Jarvis was... okay but not great. Collins is young and might develop into a decent player but Pollock is better all-around currently. He'll be our first choice as striker. Last season we used 2 up front but I think we're going to go with a more wing styled tactic and move Collins to an outside role. At least to start. If that doesn't work we'll put Collins back up front with Pollock. Solomon Wanjau-Smith Solomon can play as a striker but we think his best role is on the outside as a winger. He'll play opposite Collins and get a good long look to see how he does. Sony Singh Sonny is going to take over at the defensive-midfielder position that we were very weak in last season. We really don't have anybody else on the squad with his talent there.

Season Expectations Expectations aren't too out of line. I personally like that we're not expected to go up this year but just to avoid relegation, which actually might be a thing because we're not very good and don't really have the money to fix it currently.

Season Rewards None..... none of my players nor myself won a darn thing. I didn't even win Manager of the Year... that went to the guy from Eastbourne. I assume because expectations were that we were going to win and they weren't supposed to do much of anything. Records Broken Total Points: 102 (2023) ---- old record was 88 points (2018) Most Goals Scored: 101 (2023) ---- old record was 93 goals (2018) Unbeaten Matches in a Row: 25 (2023) ---- old record was 15 (twice 1960 and 1990) Fewest League Defeats: 2 (2023) --- old record was 8 (2018) Most League Wins: 29 (2023) --- old record was 27 (2018)

April in Review Schedule It took a big month to win it and luckily we did just enough with a win in the final match to secure the title. Table 3 teams over 100 points.... I'm guessing that's never been done before. NLS Team Stats Eastbourne had a heck of a season, scoring the most goals and having the best conversion rate. We did well in possession and pass completion. We also had the highest average attendance. That bodes well for the future. NLS Player Stats Gulls Attacking Data Gulls Defending Data Finances We lost a lot of money this month... yikes.

Match Forty-Six **everything on the line** You did your part with a big win and Yeovil did their part and lost. You are champions. Are there any words to explain how you're feeling at this moment? No, no, not really. This was... credit to Yeovil and Eastbourne for one heckuva fight all season long. 3 clubs all over 100 points for the season. Forgive my lack of knowledge on all things English Football but I don't think that's ever happened before... and may not ever again. That's total domination by 3 clubs. We are lucky that we came out on top. I'm very proud of my boys. So where do you go from here? We get to work, that's what we do. This was the beginning obviously. We have a long ways to go.

Match Forty-Five A much needed win to keep pace. Unfortunately Yeovil won also as did Eastbourne which means going into the final match there's just 1 point still separating the 3 clubs. So we've reached the point where I can comfortably say this is a must win..... or draw depending on how Yeovil's and Eastbourne's match go. You face Bath City who sit in 4th place while Yeovil is up against 8th place Havant and Eastbourne plays 24th place Chippenham. Are you concerned that you face the biggest challenge in the last match? If we don't compete then we don't deserve to go up. It doesn't matter who we face, we have to win.