Keep Right On 'til the End of the Road

[danmcconnell1]

 

Hi and welcome to my story where I'll be aiming to make my boyhood club a force to be reckoned with, one baby step at a time.

I've been a Bluenose for as long as I can remember. I first started going to games with my dad from the age of around 5 and that was it, I was hooked. Anything to do with football and particularly the Blues, I wanted to know all about it. My dad and I would usually sit in the front row of the main stand not far from the dugouts in the old days, because he knew if we sat there I wouldn't miss anything because of people standing up in front of me, he thought of everything! I'll take you on a brief history of the pas t16 years or so.

One of my earliest memories was back in May 2000. We finished 5th in Division 1 (now the Championship) meaning we were in the playoffs where we'd face Barnsley. We lost the first leg 4-0 at home. It was a shocking performance looking back and one of the overriding memories from the game was my dad telling me on the way back to the car 'There'll be joys and sorrows too, son'. We won the second leg at Oakwell 2-1 but failed to make the playoff final after a poor first leg.

The following year, Blues defied all odds and reached the Worthington Cup final (now the EFL Cup). We faced the mighty Liverpool in the first cup final since the Old Wembley had been knocked down, meaning we travelled to the Welsh capital Cardiff to play in the new Millenium Stadium. It was an enthralling game with Liverpool stalwart Robbie Fowler opening the scoring and Blues defender Darren Purse forcing extra time with a stoppage time penalty after a shocking challenge by Stefan Henchoz on Martin O'Connor for which he wasn't even booked (seriously, go on Youtube and look for that tackle, it was a shocker!!!). Blues held on for penalties after Ian Bennett made a string of saves in the extra period but ultimately lost in the shootout. A teenage Andy Johnson missed the decisive kick and was consoled by Blues boss and legend Trevor Francis.

That cup final heartache mean Blues were even more determind to reach the promised land, the Premiership. In October, the aforementioned Francis left the club and after a couple of months under caretaker management, another former Blues player Steve Bruce took over. A second half of the season revolution under Bruce saw the Blues finish in 5th again, meaning we'd face Millwall in the playoff semi finals. The first leg was at St Andrews and ended 1-1, midfielder Bryan Hughes getting on the scoresheet for Blues. They travelled to London a few days later for the second leg at The Den. Always a feisty affair over the years, Blues snatched a 1-0 win thanks to a 90th minute goal from eventual cult hero Stern John. We were going back to Cardiff.

(Best thing about this photo is Dion Dublin's face, never liked him, you'll find out why soon....)

The play off final was again at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff and we faced Norwich. Again, my dad drove my cousin, uncle and me down to the Welsh capital for the second time in 15 months and fortunately for us, we ended up on the winning side this time. A pulsating game which ended 1-1 after extra time, Geoff Horsfield on the scoresheet for Blues equalising after a Iwan Roberts goal for the Canaries, we went to penalties again. After a goalkeeping masterclass by Belgian Nico Vaesen in the shootout, it was all done to boyhood fan and 18 year old Darren Carter to smash the winning penalty home to send us Blues fans into delirium. 

Our first season in the Premiership was one to remember. We only managed to beat two teams twice all season, Sunderland was one, but the other were two of the sweetest over arch rivals Aston Villa. A September evening in 2002 saw the first derby for years and Blues triumphed as underdogs as Villa crumbled. The most famous image from the night was Peter Enckelman. Olof Mellberg threw the ball back to his keeper in what seemed a routine piece of play, but the keeper miscontrolled and the ball rolled into the back of the net sending the Tilton behind that goal into a frenzy, with some rather over exuberant fans entering the pitch also. The game finished 3-0 after Geoff Horsfield came off the bench to score the 3rd, while Clinton Morrison opened the scoring in the first half.

In January Bruce pulled off a huge coup in signing French World Cup '98 winner Chrisophe Dugarry on loan from Bordeaux, who almost immediately became a legend in many Blues fans' eyes. He dazzled for a few months without getting on the scoresheet until April.

(A striking resemblence to the Messiah.... yes?)

Backtracking slightly to March 2003, the second derby of the season took place at Villa Park, and again Blues ended up on top in what was an utterly crazy game of football. Blues ended up winning 2-0 thanks to goals from winger Stan Lazaridis and another goalkeeping calamity from Enckelman as he tried to catch a ball which Geoff Horsfield reached first and tapped into the empty net in front of the Holte End, sending Blues fans once again into a state of disbelief. As mentioned before, Dion Dublin doesn't have many friends in the blue half of Brum, after headbutting Robbie Savage after an exchange of words, ending with Dublin 'heading' for an early bath and Blues romping to victory.

Villa actually ended the match with 9 after Joey Gudjonsson also got sent off for what can only be described as an assault of a challenge on Matthew Upson (again, Youtube the tackle, it'll make you heave it's that bad)! Oh and just to top it off, Horsfield ended the match in goal after Vaesen went off after landing nastily on his knee, which as good as ended his career unfortunately. But it was Blues who were laughing again after the victory, which really kickstarted the rest of the season and after losing just 3 more games that season, Blues stayed up in 13th place. Dugarry also signed permanetly on the final day of the season, on the pitch no less, before the game in which we sent West Ham down with a record 44 points. The tears of Di Canio and all that jazz followed.....

The following few years were good for Blues, signing the likes of Mikael Forssell who scored 19 goals in his first season on loan from Chelsea, holding their own in the Premiership until the 05/06 season, where unfortunately Blues just weren't good enough and ended up going down after losing their final game of the season away at Bolton. Bruce stayed, and at the first time of asking, Blues were back in the big time, finishing 2nd in the Championship. 

Blues, unfortunately, couldn't manage to retain their status again, finishing 19th and winning just 8 of the 38 matches. Halfway through the season, Steve Bruce resigned as manager to join Wigan Athletic and was replaced with former Scotland manager Alex McLeish. His first match in charge was away at Spurs where Seb Larsson scored arguable his best ever goal as we won 3-2. 

So, back in the Championship and after just another year, we finished 2nd again and found ourselves in the Premier League again! After being promoted, the long-awaited takeover of the club by Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung took place, with the new owner promising £40m worth of transfers within his first year in charge. Safe to say, it failed to materialise.

 

The first season back in the bigtime was one to remember for Blues, remaining unbeaten in all competitions from the end of October through 'til January, we ended the season with our highest ever league finish of 9th whilst making the quarter finals of the FA Cup too. A certain Joe Hart also really started to make his mark that season on loan at St Andrews, McLeish placing all of his faith in the young Englishman, which resulted in him taking over the number 1 spot at his parent club the following season.

The following season was another to remember for Blues. A quarter final win against the Villa and a semi final win against another claret and blue side in West Ham saw us make the final against Arsenal at Wembley. Thanks to goals from Nikola Zigic...

... and the eventual hero Obafemi Martins...

... Blues were crowned Carling Cup winners 2011.

Possibly my greatest moment as a Bluenose was that day. That cup win also meant we had qualifed for the Europa League the following season.

But after that triumph, we fell away and won just 2 matches between the cup win and the end of the season, meaning we entered survival Sunday as one of 5 teams that could still go down. Blues travelled to a resurgent Spurs under Harry Redknapp and with 10 minutes left, were staying up as we were level at 1-1.

Unfortunately though, Pavlyuchenko saw us off meaning we joined Blackpool and already relegated West Ham in the Championship. That summer, manager Alex McLeish committed the cardinal sin and joined arch rivals Aston Villa in his desperation to stay in the Premier League, he only lasted a year after protests and abuse galore at Villa Park.

Chris Hughton took over at St Andrews and many Blues fans were very happy with the appointment. He took us on a European adventure from Slovakia to Belgium to Portugal and we were desperately unlucky not to qualify from our group which consisted of the previous season's runners up Braga, Club Brugges and Slovakian champions Maribor. Blues fans had a ball travelling to these places, 2 of which I travelled to myself in Brugges and Braga (both on coaches, the poor life of a student eh? Never again) and we managed to put in fantastic performances in Europe, particularly on the road, with wins in Maribor and Brugges, we were very unlucky to not at least get a point in Portugal. Zigic missed an early penalty (never should have taken it, should have been David Murphy!!!) and a deflected goal by former Newcastle midfielder Hugo Viana grabbing the win for Braga. But it was the Brugges game that will stick in many Blues fans' minds', with a late, late Chris Wood goal sealing the 2-1 win and sending us Bluenoses into delirium once again. 

Blues ended the group stages with 10 points. Most clubs would qualify from a European group with 10 points, but we were the unlucky ones who didn't that year, and the tour was over. It may have been a blessing in disguise as we managed to finish the league campaign in 4th place on a shoestring budget, losing out to Blackpool over 2 legs in the semis. 

Hughton moved on that summer to join Norwich, and took academy product Nathan Redmond with him. Lee Clark took over after leaving Huddersfield the previous season and stayed in charge as Blues declined over the next 2 years. A 12th place finish in 12/13 was followed by a 21st place finish in 13/14, only surviving by the skin of our teeth on the final day. We were 2-0 down with 12 minutes left away at Bolton on the final day, looking League 1 square in the face, when Nikola Zigic popped up with a cracking header to get us back into it. We only needed a point and it would be Doncaster who went down instead of us. And who pops up, the most unlikely goalscorer on the pitch, Paul Caddis, with a 93rd minute goal to preserve our Championship status and make me, I think, finally lose my mind as a Blues fan. 

Lee Clark was sacked the following October, just before a 8-0 home defeat to Bournemouth. Blues then poached young and talented manager Gary Rowett from Burton Albion. Rowett steadied a sinking ship and helped us finish in a respectable 10th place and the pensive looking boss was christened the new Messiah.

 

Rowett's first full season in charge was the 15/16 campaign in which his counter attacking style was at it's real best. Blues were in the play off spots as late as early April, but a poor end to the season meant we finished in 10th position again. There were signs of progress though, on and off the field. Summer 2016 brought about details of a pending takeover after the poisonous tenure of Yeung, which would then be confirmed in October 2016.

I will be starting my career as Blues boss in July 2016 and hoping I can carry on the fantastic work Mr Rowett has done and hopefully take us back into the promised land sooner rather than later.

And as the song goes, Keep Right On 'til the End of the Road.....

[King Costly]

As a fellow Bluenose, good luck! Some of my first memories are from the late 90s/early 2000s sitting just behind the dugouts - I think those were the cheapest seats which is why my dad picked them out! I remember being in awe of how close I was to Trevor Francis! 

It's been a bit of a roller coaster over the past 20 years or so hasn't it? But that's Blues, things are never dull! Best of luck with this, I haven't managed Blues yet on FM17 but they don't seem to do too well under AI control - hopefully you'll fare better!

[danmcconnell1]

Thanks a lot King Costly! Have to ask, is your handle name on here anything to do with the great Honduran Carlos Costly? If so, then I salute you, because that trick he did makes him a king! Also, they're the main reason my dad took me there too haha! I remember the 02/03 season when we played Arsenal and seeing Henry, Pires, Ljunberg, Wiltord etc, what a team that was to watch as an 11 year old!

I've seen them not do too great under AI too so I'm hoping some new signings and tweaks can make the difference. 

Thanks again!

[King Costly]

21 minutes ago, danmcconnell1 said:

Thanks a lot King Costly! Have to ask, is your handle name on here anything to do with the great Honduran Carlos Costly? If so, then I salute you, because that trick he did makes him a king! Also, they're the main reason my dad took me there too haha! I remember the 02/03 season when we played Arsenal and seeing Henry, Pires, Ljunberg, Wiltord etc, what a team that was to watch as an 11 year old!

I've seen them not do too great under AI too so I'm hoping some new signings and tweaks can make the difference. 

Thanks again!

That's exactly who my name is inspired by! Surprisingly not many people get the reference apart from Blues fans... That trick was so basic yet seemed to work quite well. My favourite memory of him was when Scott Sinclair went on a Maradona-esque run against Swansea (I think?), beating six or seven players before shooting and who blocked it? Big Carlos! 

Let's hope you can sign a few players that have a bit more success in a Blues shirt! 

[MadCatPT]

Very nice intro, really liked the personal touch.

Really butchered Hugo Viana name though(Huge Viaina). 

Good luck, on managing your favourite club.

 

[danmcconnell1]

2 hours ago, King Costly said:

That's exactly who my name is inspired by! Surprisingly not many people get the reference apart from Blues fans... That trick was so basic yet seemed to work quite well. My favourite memory of him was when Scott Sinclair went on a Maradona-esque run against Swansea (I think?), beating six or seven players before shooting and who blocked it? Big Carlos! 

Let's hope you can sign a few players that have a bit more success in a Blues shirt! 

Hahaha I love the fact you used him in your handle, that's hilarious!!! I remember the exact moment, something tells me the game was Southampton at home but that doesn't matter haha, he got in the way of what would have been goal of the season haha!

I hope I can too!

2 hours ago, MadCatPT said:

Very nice intro, really liked the personal touch.

Really butchered Hugo Viana name though(Huge Viaina). 

Good luck, on managing your favourite club.

 

Apologies for the shocking spelling of Viana, I will edit now haha!

Thanks very much MadCatPT, I notice the Blyth emblem on your photo, were you at the FA Cup 3rd Round tie a few years ago? If so, then you guys deserved to win that one!

[danmcconnell1]

After deciding to start a story for my BCFC save just today, I am ever so slightly ahead, therefore I'll update to how far I have got for now, then provide monthly updates from then on.

St Andrews hold just over 30,000 but due to the away segregation IRL we never officially fill our stadium, but in game fine details like that aren't usually taken into account. 

As mentioned before, there is a huge rivalry with Aston Villa and this is the first season where we finally have the derby back in the league after a 5 year absence. We'll face the Villa at home first at the end of October then away in April.

Blues have had a relatively quiet history with just a handful of trophy wins and a fair few scrapes when it comes to 2nd placed finishes and runners up in cup competitions.

 

I have played up until the end of October so far, so I'll start with the friendlies.

Only 3 had been organised ahead of my arrival, and we managed to stay unbeaten. We went on a preseason tour to Scotland and only played one game against lowly Spartans, who we spanked 4-2 thanks to goals from David Cotterill and trialists Kagisho Dikgacio and 2 for Federico Macheda. Next up was a home match against Antwerp of Belgium who we managed a scoreless draw against. Our final pre-season friendly was another trip north of the border to face Partick Thistle and we managed a 1-1 draw this time, Robert Tesche getting on the score sheet.

We had a lot of players in on trial in pre season, some of which were mentioned thanks to goals in our first friendly. Oliver Davies, Lloyd Doyley, Sol Bamba, Diontan Teixera, Kagisho Dikgacio, Federico Macheda and Bobby Zamora all had run outs throughout the 3 game period, and I decided to sign Davies, Bamba, Teixera and Macheda. Despite my scouts reporting that Zamora was a better player than Macheda, I couldn't get Zamora#s injury record out of my head, therefore Macheda was the man we went for.

I also decided to get rid of Paul Robinson. IRL he seems to be a cult figure at St Andrews, but I've never liked him and think he's far too old to be playing at this level now, he didn't want to sign a new contract as a coach therefore we got rid and brought in a better youth coach.

Our first month wasn't really the start I was looking for.

A decent first game of the season saw us manage a draw at home to Cardiff thanks to goals from Donaldson and Gleeson clawing us back from 2 down. We then travelled south to Bristol where I played a slightly weakened team, but one that still should have beaten a team of Rovers' quality. We lost in extra time, Adams and Macheda scoring for Blues. We then travelled north to Leeds where we managed our first win of the season thanks to goals from Macheda and Donaldson again. We lost our last 2 games of the month though away to Wigan and at home to Wolves, Donaldson could only manage an equalizer against our black country rivals at St Andrews.

Moving into September, we were hoping for a better response following 2 defeats at the end of August.

After the first international break of the season, we travelled to the capital to face Fulham, where again we lost by a single goal to nil. We then travelled to Reading where we finally got back to winning ways thanks to goals from Macheda and Soloman-Otabor. We then welcomed Sheffield Wednesday to St Andrews but were abysmal and lost 3-0. I demanded another response from the lads during another trip to London, this time to Loftus Road to face QPR, and we got exactly that thanks to goals from Che Adams and Lukas Jutkiewicz. The following Tuesday we were back at home, this time to Preston North End and we won a pulsating match 3-2, Tom Clarke scoring an OG, David Davis and Greg Stewart getting our goals, meaning September saw us gain 9 points from a possible 15.

We then carried straight on into October with our tails slightly up after recording back to back wins for the first time in the season. 

We continued our good form against Blackburn with another 3-2 victory, Morrison and Donaldson scoring a brace meant we had 9 points from 9 going into the international break. We returned from duty with another topsy turvey match, us ending up on the losing side this time, despite going 3-0 down, we were unlucky in the 2nd half after a spirited fightback with goals from Stewart and Cotterill. We got back to winning ways against Rotherham back at home the following Tuesday with Donaldson, Kieftenbeld, Morrison and Grounds all getting on the score sheet after falling behind early. Next we travelled to Burton and grabbed a late draw thanks to Ryan Shotton. Our final game of the month was the first second city derby in the league for 5 years. It was a thrilling spectacle with Villa going 2-0 up after just 17 minutes but we hit back and got it to 3-2 at half time with Morrison and Wiggins scoring to give us a chance heading into the second half. It took us a while, but a 92nd minute Macheda goal earned us a hard fought point in what was an even game.

So, here's the table heading into November.

Wolves set the pace after 15 games with a 6 point lead over their closest rivals, but it's looking bleak for Blackburn already who are bottom with just 8 points. 

From now on I'll update monthly in a little more detail.

Keep Right On!

[MadCatPT]

1 hour ago, danmcconnell1 said:

Apologies for the shocking spelling of Viana, I will edit now haha!

Thanks very much MadCatPT, I notice the Blyth emblem on your photo, were you at the FA Cup 3rd Round tie a few years ago? If so, then you guys deserved to win that one!

I'm just playing with Blyth, my club, that I also started watching with my father, is Sporting Clube de Portugal, where I saw play for awhile and then leave players like Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Simão Sabrosa, Ricardo Quaresma, Nani, etc.

The Portuguese squad that won the Euro 2016 had most of it's main player from the Sporting Youth Academy:

Portugal-credit-Sporting-Lisbon-Euro-2016-success-10-14-players-used-final-came-academy

Problem is they go out early and we don't really profit from it.

Hugo Viana also played for my club.

Closest I've been to Birmingham was the Motorcycle Museum and the Nottingham Beer Festival.

[danmcconnell1]

1 minute ago, MadCatPT said:

I'm just playing with Blyth, my club, that I also started watching with my father, is Sporting Clube de Portugal, where I saw play for awhile and then leave players like Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Simão Sabrosa, Ricardo Quaresma, Nani, etc.

The Portuguese squad that won the Euro 2016 had most of it's main player from the Sporting Youth Academy:

Portugal-credit-Sporting-Lisbon-Euro-2016-success-10-14-players-used-final-came-academy

Problem is they go out early and we don't really profit from it.

Hugo Viana also played for my club.

Closest I've been to Birmingham was the Motorcycle Museum and the Nottingham Beer Festival.

Oh wow, that's really impressive. I knew Ronaldo and Nani started out there but had no idea the likes of Figo and Quaresma started out there too, you live and learn! I remember Hugo Viana scoring against Blues for Newcastle many years ago also, never really hit the heights though.

I don't live too far from the airport/motorcycle museum so I know it very well, only ever been to Nottingham for football though (and Hooters but that's for another forum!)

[MadCatPT]

2 minutes ago, danmcconnell1 said:

Oh wow, that's really impressive. I knew Ronaldo and Nani started out there but had no idea the likes of Figo and Quaresma started out there too, you live and learn! I remember Hugo Viana scoring against Blues for Newcastle many years ago also, never really hit the heights though.

I don't live too far from the airport/motorcycle museum so I know it very well, only ever been to Nottingham for football though (and Hooters but that's for another forum!)

Read the link to be even more impressed.

Pet peeve is they change our name Sporting Clube de Portugal to Sporting Lisbon. 

[danmcconnell1]

November

We headed into November with our mid table position secure for the moment. We faced a relatively steady month with 4 games in it, 2 of which were in the first 5 days of the month due to another international break.

First off, a piece or welcome and well deserved news for Michael Morrison as he picked up the EFL Championship player of the month for his fantastic performances throughout October. 

First up was Norwich at St Andrews, a rearranged game due to their progress in the EFL Cup earlier on this season. 

Unfortunately, Norwich were far too good for us in the first half and after an extremely emotional performance just 3 days beforehand in the derby, a similar line up couldn't replicate the same intensity as they did the previous weekend. Howson and Brady got the 2 goals before half time to give the Canaries the 3 points. 

Next up was a trip north to face high flying Huddersfield.

Goals late in each half from Greg Stewart and Viv Soloman-Otabor were enough to inflict a second defeat in 4 days for the Terriers who slipped down from 2nd to 3rd after the defeat while we rose to 11th with another 3 points heading into the final international break of 2016.

After returning from international duty, I had been informed that our first game back against Bristol City at home had been picked out as a fan day, hopefully giving us a bigger attendance meaning we'd be under some pressure to provide those fans with a result.

Unfortunately, we'd be missing the influential midfielder Robert Tesche for the Bristol match, a blow but we have many options in that position with the likes of Gleeson, Kieftenbeld, Davis and Reece Brown. Another blow was the injury to Clayton Donaldson who picked up a back injury and would miss 3 weeks also.

Just ahead of the Bristol game, a piece of intriguing news popped up...

A potential takeover was in the pipeline, we'll see how this materializes over the coming weeks and months.

A solitary Jacques Maghoma goal was enough to seal another 3 points for us which in turn moved us up to 9th in the table.

Unfortunately though, despite the 3 points, the bumper 24,000 approx. crowd weren't entertained by the win. Personally I'm not too fussed, as long as we keep winning football matches, that's what I'm paid to do!

Our final game of the month see's us travel to Brentford as we try to continue our decent form. We would also be missing Soloman-Otabor for the trip though, he picked up a knock in training and would miss a week, taking our injury tally to 3.

After withstanding some heavy pressure from the home side, we came away from Griffin Park with another win, our third on the bounce. We raced into a 2-0 lead after just 8 minutes but were pegged back with 2 goals in as many minutes just before half time, but a goal from Scot Greg Stewart in the 2nd half was enough to give us the 3 points which propelled us up to 6th in the table going into December.

December would be a testing month with away trips to Newcastle and Derby, but with home matches against struggling Ipswich and Brighton we might be able to offset some tricky away matches with some relatively easier home matches before Christmas.

[danmcconnell1]

December

December got underway with the visit of Barnsley. We could also welcome back Donaldson who'd missed the last 3 weeks through injury. There was one more problem though, as Diego Fabbrini would now miss a couple of weeks with a chest problem.

Back to the match.

We scraped a 1-0 win against a very average Barnsley side who were before the game just one place below us, but we kept them at arms length for the whole 90 as they rarely threatened and we moved up to 5th. Next up, a trip to St. James' Park to face 12th placed Newcastle United. Robert Tesche will also be available for selection for this game providing there's no recurrence of the back problem which has kept him out for the last 3 weeks.

Ahead of this one, our FA Cup 3rd round opponent was drawn, and we faced another trip to the DW Stadium in January to face Wigan.

So, our furthest away trip of the season was next.

A decent result given the circumstances in the final 15 minutes after Kieftenbeld received his marching orders. Stewart fired home his 4th of the season which gave us the lead going into the break, but Chelsea loanee Christian Atsu levelled for the hosts and we had to hold on towards the end for a point which saw us move down a place to 6th. Next up was the visit of Ipswich the following Tuesday night to St Andrews.

Leon Best was the difference between the two sides, scoring with 17 minutes left and we just couldn't break the solid Ipswich back line down. It also meant our unbeaten run was over.

Hopefully, we can respond well to this setback and get back to winning ways against Brighton, again at home, in our next match.

We got back to winning ways against the Seagulls and moved back into playoff contention by moving up to 6th. Our next match was the traditional Boxing Day fixture away to Derby County.

After the Brighton game, more details about the possible takeover were unveiled. Still all rumour, but we could soon have Spanish owners!

So after tucking into Christmas Dinner and drinking a little too much the night before a game, we travelled up to Derby to face the Rams.

There was absolutely no hangover shown as we ran out 3-1 winners at the iPro thanks to two screamers from Cotterill and Macheda followed by a Diego Fabbrini strike who got his second in 2 games. The win saw us reclaim our 5th spot due to us kicking off later than everybody else on Boxing Day. Next up was a trip to face Barnsley who we beat early in December, could we end 2016 with another win against them?

Unfortunately, we just didn't turn up at Oakwell and despite another late David Cotterill free kick finding it's way into the net, the game was as good as over and we lost 3-1 ending 2016 a little flat, but still positive heading into 2017 with plenty to play for.

A side note for December, Michael Morrison was named the third best EFL Championship player of the month for December.

Tomorrow we'll catch up on how we got on in January 2017, including a 3rd Round FA Cup tie away to Wigan.

Keep Right On!

[King Costly]

Some good results in there - nice to see Greg Stewart get on the scoresheet a few times. Are you looking to bring anybody in during the transfer window? Funds may be an issue I guess...

[danmcconnell1]

8 hours ago, King Costly said:

Some good results in there - nice to see Greg Stewart get on the scoresheet a few times. Are you looking to bring anybody in during the transfer window? Funds may be an issue I guess...

Thanks a lot mate, I like what I've seen of Stewart IRL myself so I'm glad he's reproducing in AI.

Well I've decided to let Wiggins and Jutkiewicz go back to their parent clubs so that's freed up some wiggle room in the wage budget, but until the embargo is over I'm just shortlisting targets for now. Cotterill has a £1.1m release clause so if that's triggered then possibly, but nothing's come of that yet.

[danmcconnell1]

January

2017 began with a very busy month starting with the visit of Brentford to St Andrews. We won the reverse fixture earlier on in the season and were hoping we could repeat the feat in front of our home fans.

Unfortunately, we just didn't turn up and ended up losing 2-0 at home, not the ideal start to the year and a busy month.

After the Brentford match, a piece of interesting news came through.

The pending takeover would now not be completed due to a breakdown in talks and the embargo was lifted enabling some possible movement in January.

Talking of January movement, we received an offer from Burnley for Maikel Keiftenbeld.

Given his relatively poor disciplinary record so far this season and our worsening financial position, I decided to accept the offer which could eventually rise to almost £3.5m.

Our next match was at the DW Stadium in the FA Cup 3rd Round. 

We managed to scrape a 2-2 draw against the Latics, something neither side really wanted in a busy month of fixtures. Jack Storer scored on his professional debut for us and Teixera also got on the score sheet with a late equalizer.

Due to Wiggins being sent back to his parent club, we were a little short at left back, therefore we decided to take Harry Toffolo on loan from Norwich until the end of the season to provide competition with Grounds for that position.

The draw for the FA Cup 4th round was also made and if we progressed from our replay with Wigan we'd face Preston at home.

We then welcomed Nottingham Forest to St Andrews as we looked to get back to winning ways.

Our poor form continued though as a solitary goal from former Blues striker Nicklas Bendtner was enough to secure the 3 points for Forest.

In another quick turnaround, we faced Wigan again in our FA Cup 3rd round replay, again at St Andrews.

A Teixera equalizer wasn't enough for us to go on and win this tie as Will Grigg and Adam Le Fondre sealed the victory for the Latics and saw them progress into the 4th round where they'd face Preston.

We looked for a morale booster in our next game as we travelled to Ewood Park to face bottom of the table and managerless Blackburn Rovers.

Although you'd never have known they were bottom of the league as they romped to a 2-0 victory and left us without a win in 2017 and in 5 now.

Due to the lack of goals recently in our side, I decided we needed to try and strengthen the forward line due to Jutkiewicz going back to Burnley, so we decided to take Adam Armstrong on loan from Newcastle. He's already scored 10 goals on loan at Barnsley this season so we're hoping he can reproduce some of that form for us as we try to get back to winning ways sooner rather than later.

Following this news, we travelled to Carrow Road to face Norwich City.

We were utterly useless and were trounced 4-1. We didn't even score ourselves, John Ruddy scoring an own goal gave us our something to remember from the game. Onto the next one.

Before our next match, we received the welcome news that we'd be signing Ryan Christie from Celtic. A young and tenacious midfielder brought in to replace the already departed Kieftenbeld, we hope he'll be an inspired signing and for that price with relatively low wages, I'm pretty happy with the deal.

Our final game of the month saw us welcome 22nd placed Reading to St Andrews. This was a real chance to put this horrible month behind us and get back to winning ways against a side low on confidence.

Again though, we just couldn't find the back of the net and succumbed to another defeat at home ending the month with no points at all meaning we'd slipped down to 12th in the table.

We really needed to get some points on the board to help pick up our confidence after a wretched month. Hopefully our next match at home to managerless Fulham would provide that chance.

[danmcconnell1]

February

After a shocker of a month in January, we got February underway with a home match against Fulham as we looked to change our fortunes. 

Unfortunately, a late Cauley Woodrow goal was enough to give the Whites the win and condemn us to yet another defeat at home. We desperately needed a change of personnel in our starting 11 for our next game which was a trip to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday.

In what was a poor performance yet again, we were consigned to another defeat by a single goal, this one coming from former Blues man Will Buckley.

After this game, the board requested a meeting to discuss their confidence in my management of the team after such a poor run of form recently.

I managed to get away with it this time by explaining that Sheffield Wednesday were a very good side and we shouldn't be expecting to beat teams of such quality, something they bought on this occasion, but if things don't pick up soon I can see a potentially abrupt end to this story .

In other news, we received an offer for joint top goalscorer Clayton Donaldson from Toronto FC who ply their trade in the MLS. The original offer was similar to Clayton's market value, but after a little bit of haggling we managed to persuade Toronto that the Don was worth almost double the original offer, all money upfront, and decided to cash in on the 33 year old ageing striker.

His final game would be this Tuesday in an away trip to Preston, where he started in his final swansong as a Blues player.

And he capped his final Blues appearance with a goal when he equalized for us 1 minutes before half time. After that Diego Fabbrini scored a dazzling free kick to give us 3 much needed points and relieve some of the pressure on my position. 

Next up for us was the visit of table topping QPR.

They were just far too strong for us and ran out 3-0 winners. It could very easily have been 4 but for a disallowed goal in the first half also.

After the match, I was again summoned to yet another board meeting. It was not as easy to dig myself out of the hole this time though, as I was set a points target of 9 out of 15 from the next 5 games, definitely doable, but extremely tricky considering those fixtures are against Wolves away, Leeds and Wigan at home, Cardiff away and Newcastle at home. I'm hoping our home form can pick up to give us the bulk of those 9 points. 

Our final game of the month and the first in which I had to take some points out of to tick some off the board in which to keep my job was away at Molineux where we faced Wolves.

We earned a hard fought point at the home of our rivals which gave me one point towards the 9 I needed to keep my job. One down, eight to go!

Here's the table at the end of February, which as you can see this terrible run of form in 2017 has seen us slip right down all the way to 16th.

Hopefully March won't be my final month in charge.......

[King Costly]

Some tough results there, looks like morale has spiralled and it's always difficult to get the players going again. Hopefully the decent result at Wolves gives you something to build on. KRO!

[danmcconnell1]

8 minutes ago, King Costly said:

Some tough results there, looks like morale has spiralled and it's always difficult to get the players going again. Hopefully the decent result at Wolves gives you something to build on. KRO!

Was a very difficult couple of months. But we played well enough to warrant the 3 points at Wolves so I'm hoping to kick on in March and reach that dreaded points total.

Cheers for the support and KRO!

[danmcconnell1]

March

After a positive end to February with a draw away at Wolves, we finally had something substantial to build on going into March.

Our first game of the new month was at home against Leeds United. 

We chalked up another point thanks to a late David Cotterill goal and took the points total to 2 from 6. I needed 7 more to keep my job from the next 3 games.

Unfortunately we would have to play those 3 games without the influential Diego Fabbrini after he picked up a knock.

Next up just 3 days later was another home tie, this time against Wigan.

It was a tough match, but we got a much needed 3 points and took my total to 5 points from 9 and just 4 points left to gain to keep my job this time. 2 goals for loanee Adam Armstrong and a later winner from sub Macheda got the points for us.

The following week we travelled to the Welsh capital to face Cardiff at the Cardiff City Stadium.

A solitary David Davis goal was enough to snatch the points away from Cardiff and we travelled back home breathing a sigh of relief after withstanding heavy pressure late on. We now needed minimum a draw against Newcastle next week to to enable me to keep my job, the fans seem to be behind the team which can only bode well in what will be a tricky fixture, even though we're at home.

We got the point I craved and reached the target of 9 from 15 thanks to a 2-2 draw against an under par Newcastle. We really should have won the game but for the brilliance of Aleksandar Mitrovic who scored 2 to spare Newcastle's blushes. Stewart and Davis again were the scorers for us.

After the game I received this message from chairman Panos Pavlakis.

After all of this positivity, I thought I'd try my luck and ask for a new contract since I'd met the recent expectations of the board, coupled with my current deal not having long left to run. Low and behold, this happened within the next day....

With no hesitation the offer was accepted for me to sign a 2 year contract extension with the Blues and I hoped the recent turmoil on the pitch could now be forgotten and we can concentrate on ending the season strongly and picking up as many points as we can.

There's an international break now so March comes to a premature end, so we'll review April next and see how we got on as the season begins to draw to a close.

 

Keep right on!

[deltablue]

I'm loving all the detail and pictures of the relevant players.

[danmcconnell1]

28 minutes ago, deltablue said:

I'm loving all the detail and pictures of the relevant players.

Thanks deltablue, hopefully finish the season tonight and get the final updates up 

[danmcconnell1]

April

So after the good news of managing to keep my job and a new contract in March, I decided to bring in some experienced legs to the side to provide a little more competiton in the wide areas.

Luke Varney was signed until the end of the season, nothing spectacular but if he can come off the bench for a few cameos and make a difference who knows what could happen after that.

Our first game of the month was a trip to Portman Road to face Ipswich.

Unfortunately, we couldn't manage to carry on our good form and lost out by 2 goals to 1, Maghoma equalising with 11 minutes left, only for Cole Skuse to score a last minute winner for the hosts.

Just 2 days later we faced another trip on the road, this time down to the south coast to face Brighton.

Again though, a poor performance meant we lost out 2-0 this time. We needed to get back to some kind of normality with our next game, in which we faced Derby back at St Andrews.

After 2 poor performances, we got back to winning ways with a slender victory over Derby. Loanee Adam Armstrong scored the only goal as we picked up 3 points for the first time this month.

Our next game was another trip, this time north to Rotherham.

We put in a dazzling performance to win 5-2, our biggest win of the season by far. Armstrong and Stewart (2) got the scoring underway in the first half and we went into the break 3-0 up. After the break the hosts came into it a little more but Armstrong and Stewart got one more each, the latter completing his hat-rick, his first for the club.

Our next game was back at home against minnows Burton Albion.

We managed to grab another win, our third on the bounce, with a 2-0 win thanks to goals from two players who both scored their first for the club, Reece Brown and Sol Bamba.

Our penultimate game of the month, and penultimate away game of the season, was a huge one, away to Aston Villa.

I was devestated to lose this one. Villa had taken 4 points from us this season and it was a very bitter pill to swallow as this all but confirmed their play off spot. Hopefully they won't go up and we'll get to take revenge for these matches next season.

Our final home game of the season was against high flying Huddersfield. They were top coming into this one.

We did manage to halt their promotion party by another week as well as carrying on our decent home form. A 1-1 draw brought about the end of the home season, top scorer Greg Stewart getting the equalizer shortly after Chuba Akpom scored for the visitors.

We have one game left this season away to Bristol City and I'll post about that one alongside the usual end of season stuff in the next post.

Keep Right On!

[danmcconnell1]

May

In what is a short month, we travelled south to face Bristol City in our final game of the season. A large following travelled with us with over 3000 Bluenoses making the trip, a fair few in fancy dress.

The game got underway at Ashton Gate and here's how we got on...

In what was a cracking game for the neutral, we ended up on the losing side by 3 goals to 2 in our final game. A Kuszcack OG doubled the home side's lead while Lee Tomlin scored what turned out to be the winner either side of Adam Armstrong's brace on his final appearance for the club.

Here is the final table.

We finished the season in a measly 15th place. I suppose it was a mixed bag of a season. The first half of the season was relatively good, we were in and around the play offs up until around Christmas, but a shocking start to 2017 ended with a board ultimatum in which we had to gain 9 points from 15 in Feb/March in order for me to keep my job. Things got a little better in that period and again towards the end of the season, but we never led a sustaining challenge when it came to trying to find our way back up the table in the second half of the season.

Our end of the season awards went as follows...

As well as this, Greg Stewart ended the season as our top goal scorer with 12 goals.

I completely agree that our moment of the season was away to Rotherham, but I'd definitely admit that our moment to forget would have been the 2-0 defeat at Villa Park as opposed to the 3-0 at home to Sheffield Wednesday. We had very poor cup runs this year, not winning one of the 3 games we played in, losing in the EFL Cup first round to Bristol and the FA Cup 3rd round replay to Wigan.

So we go into the summer trying to see where we can improve going into the new season. I feel as though we need a new left back to challenge Grounds. We'll see who's available in the free market first as the finances aren't looking the best after a few deals this season, but I do feel as though in the long run this years' deals will benefit us in the long run. I also feel as though we need more firepower towards the top of the pitch. Our top scorer Stewart got 12 which was a very good return for his first season in English football, but most of those goals came from midfield. We need to try and capture someone who can regularly score some goals. The midfield looks pretty solid with Tesche, Gleeson, Brown and Davis so we probably won't strengthen there unless one of those 4 leave.

Next update will show our summer transfer activity and our pre season results.

Keep Right On!

[King Costly]

Biggest thing is that you managed to keep your job. Hopefully you'll have a good summer, bring in the right players and kick on next season!

[danmcconnell1]

15 minutes ago, King Costly said:

Biggest thing is that you managed to keep your job. Hopefully you'll have a good summer, bring in the right players and kick on next season!

Yeah I wasn't expecting to after those 2 draws against Wolves and Leeds but they stepped up and did the business.

Gonna look for a new keeper, left back, winger and maybe a couple of strikers.

Thanks as always and SOTV

[danmcconnell1]

2017 Pre-season

After a somewhat disappointing end to the season, we needed to have a good break before coming back refreshed and aiming to do better in the next campaign.

As previously mentioned, I'd like to strengthen defensively, as well as seeing who we can get up top to try and replace Donaldson who left back in February. Also, we'll see which players in our current crop generate some interest and if we receive some decent offers we'll see if there's any outgoings also. One outgoing that had already been confirmed was the retirement of Luke Varney who only managed one appearance for us.

There were ongoing rumblings throughout the summer about a possible takeover once again, this time bringing some potentially worrying news should the takeover take place.

If this one went through, the new owners would be looking to bring in a new manager, Brian McDermott being touted.

During the break, our fixtures had also been announced.

Our opening game saw us welcome Fulham to St Andrews and our first away match will be a trip to The City Ground to face Nottingham Forest. The much anticipated second city derbies will take place in November and April this time around whilst our final match of the season see's us face Newcastle at St Andrews again. Also, our EFL Cup First Round tie was drawn where we would be facing Wycombe Wanderers, again at St Andrews.

Before our pre-season training camp in Portugal, I met with the board to discuss finances and where I thought we could finish in the league this season, as well as our performances in cup competitions.

I feel with predicting a top half finish, the extra backing the board will give me financially will help us compete in the transfer market as well as trying to shoot us up the table. These budgets could also be adjusted to suit our needs as and when we come to signing players.

We only played one match in Portugal which ended in a draw, Ryan Christie scoring our only goal in Albufeira. The camp finished and our first match back on home soil was against Sutton United where we scraped a 1-0 win thanks to a Macheda goal. Our next match was a trip to Portsmouth where we really dominated and thanks to Fabbrini, Maghoma and two for Ryan Christie again, we ran out 4-0 winners at Fratton Park. Our final match of pre-season ended with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Barrow thanks to goals from Reece Brown and Stephen Hendrie, a new signing from West Ham.

Talking of signings, here is our transfer business over the summer.

After reiterating the need for reinforcements at left back, I decided to take a punt on a youngster one of my scouts pointed out to me. Gedeon Okito was signed for a lowly sum of £70k from Sutton United and will, unless we find anybody else of significant quality, start to challenge Grounds for the left back starting berth. The remaining 4 permanent signings in the summer were all on free transfers. Fernando Llorente and Yaser Kasim were both brought in to provide extra options in the centre of midfield, Llorente more of a replacement for the outgoing David Davis who joined Sheffield Wednesday for just over £1m, possibly rising to £1.4m over the coming months.

Following his release from Burnley, I also decided to bring Lukas Jutkiewicz back to the club after a spell on loan last season. A similar player to Donaldson, I feel he's a good replacement and can hopefully get on the score sheet a bit more with some more opportunities this season. The other permanent signing this summer was Stephen Hendrie. As mentioned before, a significant upgrade on Okito was ideally needed which Hendrie is, and on a small wage, can slot in ahead of Grounds which now means we now have more than enough cover in that position, just like we now do across the whole of defence, midfield and attack.

We signed one more player ahead of the season starting, Obbi Oulare joined on loan from recently relegated Watford. Another stocky striker, I hope he can provide more competition at the top of the pitch and chip in with a few goals. A few outgoings of note to come, Nicolai Brock-Madsen, the Danish striker didn't impress out on loan in Holland last season so was subsequently moved on back to his homeland for £800k. Also, after offering him out, Andrew Shinnie went back north across the border on loan to Inverness CT as he's not going to get the first team football he wants ahead of Fabbrini and Christie.

So, looking forward to the new EFL Championship season, again I'm looking to try and improve on last season's 15th place finish and aim for the top half whilst, in my own head at least, trying to look further up the table at the play off spots. The more ambitious we are now, the more chance we have of getting into those spots and who knows what can happen there.

My first update of the new season will see how we got on in the opening month of August, as well as rounding up the rest of the possible transfer news, if there is any to report of course.

Keep Right On!

[danmcconnell1]

August 2017

The new season was upon us and we welcomed Fulham to St Andrews for our opening game.

A shocking start to the season. Ryan Giggs had taken over Fulham during the summer and brought in some reinforcements, one of which was Danny Graham. He had a debut to remember for the Whites, scoring 5 including a first half hat-rick. We did actually go 2-1 up at one point thanks to a Cotterill wonder goal and a Tavares OG, but Fulham roared back and won their first match convincingly. 

We desperately needed a response in the EFL Cup first round tie against Wycombe in our next game.

Unfortunately though, despite a fair few changes, that response didn't come and we crashed out in the first round after a surprise 2-0 defeat to the Chairboys.

I had been looking for a keeper all summer and after a very poor start I decided this was to become a priority between now and the end of the window.

We decided to take Scott Bain from Dundee for just over £800k. He's 3.5 star rating is higher than Kuszcack's therefore he will become my new number 1. Not ideal with the season already getting underway but hopefully he can hit the ground running and stop us conceding as many goals.

A day after signing Bain, we travelled north to face Nottingham Forest.

A much better performance followed and we really should have won the game thanks to a lovely free kick by new signing Yaser Kasim. We held on until the final 3 minutes when Henri Lansbury equalised for the hosts. At least we finally had a point on the board.

Our next game was back at St Andrews against Norwich City.

We couldn't hold on to the lead that Jutkiewicz gave us just past the hour mark and ended up losing thanks to 2 quickfire Norwich goals, former Blues players Cameron Jerome scoring the winner for the visitors. We also had a piece of bad news following this game as Jutkiewicz would now be out for a couple of months with a knee ligament injury.

Hopefully Stewart and Adams would return soon to cater for the loss of Lukas.

Our next match was again at home, this time to Burton Albion.

We finally got our first win of the season thanks to another free kick by Kasim and a close range finish by Macheda. Liam Boyce set up a nervy ending after getting one back for Burton but we held on for the 3 points consigning Burton to another night at the bottom of the Championship.

Some more injury news ahead of our next match against Millwall.

Llorente would miss the next month or so.

Next up we travelled south to London to face Millwall.

A very poor performance saw us slip to a 3-1 defeat. Maghoma scored our only goal to make it 2-1 before half time but Millwall were ruthless throughout the game and took their chances.

That would be our final game of the month and we entered deadline day with some decisions to make.

I highlighted the forward area as needing some more back up due to the injury to Jutkiewicz and the possibility for reoccurance later on in the season, therefore we took a punt on Chris O'Grady who left Burton back in the summer at the end of his contract.

After a poor season last time out, I also decided to offer Stephen Gleeson out to see what kind of interest he could generate. Aberdeen were the takers as they signed him on loan. We were still paying the majority of his wages but they were also paying us a handsome monthly fee for his services.

The final outgoing of the summer was one I really didn't want to complete, but for the money it was difficult not to accept, particularly as everyone has their price.

An initial £5m which could rise to a possible £6.5m for a 29 year old defender is, in my opinion, very good business and this deal really topped up our coffers and gave us the chance to improve across the rest of the squad. Morrison was of course an integral part of the spine of my team but I feel as though, in our financial position, it would be irresponsible to turn down that kind of money for him.

Our mind's turned to trying to replace Morrison on a frantic deadline day and we found Doneil Henry on the transfer list at West Ham. A Canadian international, I feel he would be a more than adequate replacement for the outgoing Morrison. We offered the Hammers the £700k they wanted for him and before we knew it Henry was a Birmingham player. 

Despite having very big shoes to fill, I feel this deal gives us the opportunity to explore other options if he doesn't work out, but if he does, it's fantastic business on our part.

The final incomer of the month was Lucas Piazon on loan from Chelsea.

 

A player who's never going to get anywhere near the first team at his parent club, I feel this is a good opportunity for him to get his name out there by performing well as his contract ends at the end of this season. Hopefully a good campaign with us will benefit him in the future and who knows, possibly benefit us too.

At the end of the month, we received confirmation that David Cotterill's wonder strike on the opening day against Fulham had won the Championship goal of the month award.

After the departure of Morrison, we had to replace him as skipper.

Paul Caddis took over the responsibility and Bamba was now our vice captain going into September.

Finally, a quick look at the financial situation after a busy summer.

We're in a relatively healthy position financially, mostly helped thanks to the sale of Morrison admittedly, but we aren't looking too bad at the moment. Expenditure is a little high, mainly due to wages but I feel as though our balance can handle the burden the salaries will place upon us between now and January.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get a screenshot of the table after the first month, but everybody always says that you're not to take the table seriously until October therefore let's just continue into September and try to pick up our form with our new players.

[King Costly]

Not an ideal first game of the season! You did well to get over £5m for Morrison, let's hope the new signings can help you push on and pick up a few wins.

[danmcconnell1]

1 minute ago, King Costly said:

Not an ideal first game of the season! You did well to get over £5m for Morrison, let's hope the new signings can help you push on and pick up a few wins.

Poor start to be honest, need the newbies to step up. Couldn't turn down that money for Morrison though.

Got a youngster, Richard Freeman, just 16 with a 2 star rating already, potentially 5 star from this years youth intake too, come off the bench a couple of times, yet to score but can really see him making an impact sooner rather than later.

Leicester, Southampton and Everton have all offered £1.5m for him but I want to keep him for now.

[danmcconnell1]

September

After a poor start, we needed to try and get back to winning ways in September to start rising back up the table. Our first match was a trip back to the capital to face Brentford.

Unfortunately the poor start continued as we slumped to yet another defeat, the only goal of the game scored by Alan Judge after just 8 minutes. To make matters worse after this one, Greg Stewart will also be out for another 2 weeks with a twisted knee.

Our next match was another away trip, this time north to face Sheffield Wednesday.

We could only manage a scoreless draw against the Owls, despite them going down to 9 by the end of the game.

Ahead of our next match at home to Bristol City, we received some news regarding a possible takeover once again.

Of course this isn't the first time we've heard a story like this, hopefully this time we'll be able to get some new owners in who will be able to help turn the club around and get us back on a sound financial footing.

Moving onto the Bristol City match, we made a tactical tweak where we'd only play one up top with an attacking midfielder ahead of the flat 4 in the middle, a 4-4-1-1 if you will. Here's how we got on.

We were immediately rewarded for the change with the 3 points thanks to goals from Macheda and Lucas Piazon's first for the club. The win also moved Bristol down into the relegation zone.

Just a few days later we travelled south to face Reading at the Madejski Stadium.

In what was a thriller of a match, we were 3-1 up at half time thanks to a magical Macheda hat-rick inside the first half, but Ashley Barnes' brace and a Nick Blackman equalizer was enough to credit Reading a point. Definitely 2 points dropped.

Our next game saw us welcome 2nd placed Cardiff to St Andrews.

We managed to record a slender win over the promotion hopefuls thanks to a late Che Adams header.

Ahead of our final game of the month away to Hull, we received news that young protege Richard Freeman had signed his first professional contract after turning 17. 

I certainly see a bright future for this kid, he's made a couple of appearances for us so far this season due to the injuries in the squad ahead of O'Grady's arrival, we'll see if some good performances in the U-23 squad can see him force his way into the first team on a more regular basis soon.

Going back to our final game of the month, we travelled to the KC Stadium to face another promotion chasing side Hull City.

We gained another creditable point, particularly away from home. Hull did go down to 10 after Jack Colback was sent off, but the hosts held on and we were happy with a point in the end. The result also saw our unbeaten run stretch to 5 matches going into October.

Finally, the table after 11 matches overall.

We find ourselves in 15th place after a rocky start which has leveled out in September. Hopefully we can continue our decent form next month and try to get into the top half.

 

[danmcconnell1]

Unfortunately this file became corrupt so I've had to abandon this one, apologies. Will update of my progress on an alternative journeyman save in a new thread.