A Trip Here, There and Everywhere

[danmcconnell1]

Welcome to my new story, a trip here, there and everywhere.

I'll be attempting to enter the world of football manager as realisticlly as possible, therefore I will start without any coaching badges and Sunday League experience.

I won't be accepting the first offer I get as I want my first job to be something I can really get my teeth into instead of just desperately trying to start my game with any old club.

So after loading leagues in England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Scotland and the USA, I embarked on my managerial journey. There were opportunities straight from the off in Belgium and Portugal but I was overlooked for the Naval job in Portugal and White Star Brussells in Belgium due to my lack of experience.

A few more months passed and it was November 2016 before I knew it. There were some more jobs that had become available a little closer to home in the UK so I applied for a few of those in the lower leagues. I was offered interviews by Wealdstone United, FC United of Manchester and Maidstone United, of which all 3 I attended. On paper, Maidstone was probably the best option due to them playing in the Vanarama National League, Wealdstone playing in the Vanarama South and FCU of M in the Vanarama North.

After a couple of weeks looking through the playing squads, finances and general facilities of all 3 sides, plus their current backroom teams, I decided if I was to be offered any of them I would like to take the Maidstone job. The compensation budget put in place was decent enough to get rid of the deadwood that were currently there, plus there was a decent set of players there, drastically underperforming and currently in 23rd place in the Vanarama National League.

Another week or so passed and I was offered all 3 jobs, but I stuck with my gut to join Maidstone United, my first job in football.

So here I was, sat at the manager's desk with my feet firmly under the desk, preparing for my first job in league football with The Stones.

The facilities at Maidstone weren't the worst in the world, but definitely weren't the best, but hey, who am I to complain? They'd just took a huge gamble on me to try and get them out of a relegation scrap. 

The club's stadium, Gallagher Stadium, holds approximately 3000 with around 800 seats. Also, something which may well come in use towards these coming winter months, the pitch is a 3G artifical surface, meaning we should be able to play all year round without any problems at home. 

The next post, more than likely over the weekend, will update you all of how I've got on in my first couple of months as boss, as well as let you know what else has gone on off the pitch in terms of signings and bringing in staff.

Thanks for reading!

[deltablue]

Excellent, a Kentish team! 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Why on earth is there a picture of Trump in the first post?

[danmcconnell1]

11 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Why on earth is there a picture of Trump in the first post?

Lack of experience..... I understand it's not the most obvious haha

[mrdanbartlett]

Good luck, doing a similar save myself, oddly I managed to land the Tranmere job, despite having Sunday league experience!  They were 15th in the table in mid October.

Struggling to find players worth signing but the squad is OK as it is, just needs a bit more quality. 

[danmcconnell1]

43 minutes ago, mrdanbartlett said:

Good luck, doing a similar save myself, oddly I managed to land the Tranmere job, despite having Sunday league experience!  They were 15th in the table in mid October.

Struggling to find players worth signing but the squad is OK as it is, just needs a bit more quality. 

I'm just about to update, but the lack of decent players is a problem. The loan market seems to be the best option if you can get some players in without contributing to their wages, or so I've found anyway. Good luck

[danmcconnell1]

So, after earning myself the opportunity to get going with the Stones, we got underway.

I've taken a screen shot of all of the matches I was in charge for. Maidstone were in 23rd place when I took over and the main aim was to try and avoid relegation. We got off to a more than decent start, despite losing my first game in charge to Lincoln, we went on a 3 game winning streak which included progress in the FA Trophy. The unbeaten run extended to 8 games when a wretched run saw us slump to 9 games without a win, picking up just 4 points from drawn matches. I now understood why this was such a tough job. 

We managed a good win against Dagenham & Redbridge but couldn't turn that into any decent form as we picked up just 2 points from the next 4 games. Another win, this time convincingly against Woking gave us a fighting chance but just one more win that season which came against Gateshead wasn't enough to preserve Maidstone's National League status and saw us relegated, finishing in 23rd place.

The board, after some convincing, allowed me to stay on as boss despite being relegated after taking over with more than half of the season to go. The squad was a decent one, especially for Vanarama South level, and I was sure of an immediate return, or a good attempt at it anyway. Despite very low finances, I did manage to bring in a few newbies which definitely helped the starting 11, but wasn't enough to stave off the drop.

Severn and McKee were brought in before I arrived, but Milenge, Banton and McDonald were my signings and definitely made a difference towards the back end of the season. Milenge was a permanent signing on a free and slotted in at centre back while Banton, another centre back, was signed towards the end of the season and partnered Milenge. McDonald, another loanee, this time from Birmingham, went into midfield and made some very good performances before the season was out, but the table doesn't lie, I was hoping I'd be backed a little more financially going into the new season despite the relegation.

We did have one outstanding talent, whose name is Jamar Loza. A name more than likely familiar to Norwich fans, the young striker bagged 26 goals in a struggling attack and was named player of the season by fans and staff alike. Here is the strongest 11 of the season.

Yemi Odubade was the second best goal scorer this season despite missing the vast majority of it with a knee injury. Jack Paxman was the other most consistent performer being Loza and Odubade.

After hearing the news that I would definitely be keeping my job going into the new season, I was being touted for a job (somehow) abroad. Lommel United in Belgium had just been promoted to the Belgian second division and were looking at me to become their new boss. I immediately applied for the job as this would be a huge step up in my career.

A message popped up in my inbox saying that after speaking to the Maidstone board, Lommel were unable to reach a compensation agreement with my current employers, so unless I found an alternative way of getting around the compensation issue, they would be forced to look elsewhere. I took this as a plea for my resignation so they could offer me a job, therefore I did. An unhappy dressing room and a lot of players leaving at the end of their contracts' left me in a difficult position, but it was one I felt I would be able to progress from and, with the possible chance of working abroad with much better facilities, one I couldn't pass up.

So, there it was, on the 9th June 2017 I resigned as Maidstone United manager and went on to persue another challenge abroad. Hopefully I would now be offered the job at Lommel.

A few day passed when I received news of Lommel interviewing another candidate, Marc Brys. A local man, Brys certainly did have a few things over me, particularly when it came to qualifications. A Continental Pro License compared to my National C License wasn't looking good in my favour, but I would of course be hoping to work towards better qualifications at the soonest opportunity. 

A week had passed when I received another email saying I had been overlooked as manager of Lommel. I was extremely disappointed as I'd left my old job in order to work for Lommel after being falsely indicated to quit my job to become their manager. I wouldn't forget this oversight and will one day make them regret this decision.

[The Silence Of The Allams]

Ouch. Back to the job centre to sign on for you.

[danmcconnell1]

So after a poor piece of judgement on my part, I was now out of a job and looking again for a place I could call home. There were still a fair few jobs available in the summer, none of which I was suitable for due to my lack of experience. One job and one relegation doesn't sit well on a CV.

I found myself in November again when a vacancy caught my eye. The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed in my previous post a highlighted side in the league table and fixture list, Gateshead FC were in need of a replacement manager and I applied for the mid table National League side's position. A few days later an interview ensued and voila, I was in charge. I had also been offered the Lincoln City job the same week but decided to take the Gateshead position as I felt they had the better squad.

Gateshead FC play their matches at the multi-purpose Gateshead International Stadium which has a capacity of approximately 11,800. Perhaps the main thing that took my eye when looking at this club was the professional status. I was keen to work full time and was more than happy to pick Gateshead, especially as they have a long standing good relationship with neighbours Newcastle United, hopefully we'd be able to poach a few of their youngsters to help our campaign.

I'm aware the above post does show how long I've been in charge and what my current game date is, so I'll try to be as thorough as possible without boring you to tears with my season overview. Here's how we got on from November onwards, starting with a home tie against Aldershot.

Again, not the best of starts but definitely something to work with. I had to wait till my 4th match in charge for my first win against Braintree. We faced Southend in the FA Cup 2nd Round which was televised but were soundly beaten, although this definitely helped the declining clubs finances.

Our next win came in a trip to Kidderminster in a thriller of a match. New signing Jermaine McGlashan managed a hat-rick against Kiddie and we ran out 5-3 winners in a game we always had control of. We recorded back to back wins after a win against Dagenham & Redbridge in our next one, but only picked up 1 point from our next 2.Wins against North Ferriby, Macclesfield and Chester throughout January and Feb helped prop up our mid table security. We only managed 3 more wins this season, coming against Boreham Wood, Wrexham and Braintree, a double against those, but they were enough to see us finish in  a respectable 16th place, not bad after taking over in the relegation zone again.

Here is the Gateshead best 11 for the 17/18 season.

Danny Johnson ran out as our top goal scorer and our top performer of the season was Jaden Brown, a young centre back that had just signed a new contract at the end of the season who I was extremely excited about.

We made a fair few changes in personnel after arriving.

The previous management team had managed to swipe a 39 year old Emile Heskey for one final swansong in professional football on a hefty contract. Luckily he jumped before he was pushed and retired at the end of the season. There was no way we could carry on paying one player £1.1k a week. Brown and Maynard were the other arrivals before my tenure began. I brought in some reinforcements to an unbalanced squad soon after my arrival with the aforementioned Jermaine McGlashan and Jake Hyde coming in, both on loan. Hyde did score on his debut but didn't really impress. McGlashan became an important member of the starting line up on the right hand side of midfield.

Courtney Duffus, Dumebi Dumaka (a former Maidstone man) and youngster Andrew Lloyd all joined a bit later. Duffus failed to score all season despite having a 4* CA with 5* ability and Dumaka was loaned out to Torquay after finding first team opportunities hard to come by. Lloyd was one for the future. Liam Smith and Tom Heardman both joined from Newcastle, we don't have to make any financial contributions to players from Newcastle due to the affiliation so they were very good options to have. Heardman was particularly good towards the end of the season, although I'm dubious as to why his form suddenly picked up when he found out he wasn't getting his contract renewed by the Magpies.

The majority of the outgoings happened before I arrived, but I did loan out Calvin Zola to Chester as well as Nyal Bell and Dumaka, both to Torquay.

Here are the club's finances going into the new season.

These figures do include the business done this summer, which I'll come to later. They make for worrying reading as at the end of the season the chairman pumped £700k into the coffers which have been eaten up already. The wage bill was far too high and this has been addressed as much as I can with many high earners now left, again, something I will get to. Our wage bill seems to be our biggest financial burden and I've managed to organise a few high profile friendlies to try and boost our balance in pre season, but we really need to get our wage bill down.

Here is this summer's transfer activity so far.

Emile Heskey retired meaning we immediately saved £1.1k per week. Courtney Duffus was sold on the cheap but after failing to score amid plenty of opportunities last season I felt as though we had to let him go, another £800 p/w saved. A few more first teamers were out of the door and we were dropping that wage bill, but we still had to remain competitive. I decided to raid my old club a little and bring in 2 players I signed before I left Maidstone as their contracts had expired. Aramide Oteh, who'd scored 23 last season, and Kostas Pileas both joined on frees and were earning significantly less than those that had left, but I still felt were upgrades in terms of ability and age. Jeff Burrell was another youngster signed from Carmarthen Town and would definitely play a part this year. Daniel Atherton is a back up keeper but has good potential and could be one to watch. Finally we signed Mich'el Parker on loan from Exeter to provide a little more competition in the centre of defence.

After all of this transfer activity, the wage bill had gone down to what it was almost 2 years ago.

I feel as though we have a good squad capable of challenging for the play off places this time around. With this squad in place and the season soon upon us, the National League preview was out.

We were predicted to finish in 6th place, just outside of the play offs, but I feel if the squad can play to it's potential that this could well be a good year for us. 25/1 for the title aren't the worst odds in the world either.

Now I've caught up with the story I'll provide monthly updates to keep you up to date with what's going on and our progress in the National League.

[danmcconnell1]

The pre season schedule was slightly leaked in the last post, but I'll recap on what was a miserable period aimed at boosting the clubs financial situation.

We only won one game against Witton Albion but as I said before, pre season was about making some money. We had 2 marquee games against Liverpool and West Ham as well as matches against Norwich and Hearts all at the GIS, the tie against Newcastle is a pre arranged annual match in which we keep all profits made from the match due to our affiliation.

We sold 4 less season tickets this year which didn't have a huge impact on our financial situation but I would hope for a few more to try and get the finances going in the right direction. We need a good season to bring the fans back and maybe sell a few more tickets to do this though.

As we headed towards the start of the season, let's take a look at our squad.

Not too much in the way of change, but the subtle ones that have been made are what I hope will change our fortunes for the better this year. We have never struggled with depth since my arrival and after a summer of outgoings we've managed to preserve this. We have at least 2 players for every position apart from the left wing, something I am still looking to improve. The gem in the crown in this side though is Andrew Lloyd. Signed on a free from Barry Town last season aged just 17, my scouts pointed him out as a potential star. He didn't play last year but impressed in the U-23's and I'm going to be giving him chances this year from the off. Here are his stats.

At just 18, this is a more than promising talent who I'm hoping can really kick on this year. As you can see from this screen shot though, there is interest building already and it may well be difficult to keep hold of the youngster. He has already expressed a desire to leave after interest from Barnsley and Wigan, but I rejected those offers and will be hoping we can persuade the youngster to stay and help a promotion bid this year.

The next update will show how we got on in August and our first month of this new season.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2018

As the new Vanarama National League got underway, we had some news. Bad news.

The mighty Celtic were after our prized asset Andrew Lloyd and even I couldn't deny him the chance to join them. Celtic initially offered a measly £17.75k upfront which I negotiated up to £165k, with the possibility of the deal rising up to £400k over the course of the potential contract. Also, if, or more realistically when, Lloyd makes his international debut for Wales, we'd be entitled to another £100k from Celtic. He's already a part of the Wales U-19 squad so I wouldn't think it will be long until he's part of the senior squad. If this went through it would be a much needed boost to our bank balance.

There was another deal which went through for us too, this time coming in.

Another former player of mine, Seth Nana Twumasi joins us to provide competition on the right side of the pitch. He's on a low wage and hopefully with Kelvin Maynard on his way out soon we may well be able to save a bit more money there.

Soon though, the Lloyd deal was confirmed and he was on his way north of the border to join the Scottish champions. An initial £165k is decent money for someone who's only played 2 professional matches and scored once, so I'm hoping he can continue his progress and make us some more money in the process.

Immediately following this news though, a few members of the squad requested a meeting to discuss a lack of depth towards the top end of the pitch.

I share this view and will be looking to improve the striking options sooner rather than later. There is one particular free agent that has caught the eye, a certain Jamar Loza who was wonderful for me a couple of seasons ago at Maidstone. I will take another look at him after he had a relatively poor season last time our in the National League South for his standards. His unhappiness at playing at that level may well have had something to do with his poor form. Hopefully if we can convince him that Gateshead should become his new home we'll be able to get him back to the goal scoring feats he managed when I was in charge of our former club.

Another outgoing is Kelvin Maynard. He's off to Barnet in a deal where we will still contribute to his wages, but nowhere near as much as we were paying him before.

A small fee was involved too but the main thing is we've got his high wages off the wage bill. Yes we're still paying him some but it's a lot less than before.

One deal that won't be happening any time soon is Jamar Loza. He wanted almost £6k a week, something we definitely cannot afford. I offered the highest wage I could but it was nowhere near so we'll be looking elsewhere at striking options.

Back to more important matters, the start of our league campaign. We had 4 games in August, starting with a trip to Bishop's Stortford who narrowly beat the drop last season. We then welcomed Dover before travelling to Birkenhead to face Tranmere Rovers while we ended the month to newly promoted Whitehawk at home. Here's how we got on.

An inconsistent month but we're finding our feet. A poor start to the season away from home in which Andrew Lloyd scored his only goal for the club before leaving for Celtic. We scraped past Dover 1-0 although it should have been more. Just 3 days later we travelled to Tranmere and were trounced, the only good thing from that game was 2 goals for Toby Ajala. The final game of the month is where things clicked. Ajala and Francis gave us the lead then 2 newbies came off the bench to make it 4, Oteh and Burrell. The best performance of the season by far.

We ended the month in 9th after 2 wins and 2 defeats. Our home form is great, away.... well not so great. Hopefully we can record back to back wins for the first time this season when we welcome Macclesfield in our first game of September swiftly followed by a trip to my old club Maidstone just 2 days later.

Going back to the lack of options upfront, we finally managed to get a signing across the line.

Adam Marriott joins us from recently relegated Lincoln City. His technicals aren't the greatest but at this level it's more about mental ability, which this guy seems to have in abundance. He only managed 7 goals last season for The Imps but I'm hoping with some more quality around him he'll be able to chip in with a few more. I'm still looking at some alternatives, possibly on loan to strengthen up top to provide more competition but I wouldn't be upset if we didn't add another as I feel we have some decent fire power now. I'll be keeping an eye on the Jamar Loza situation though, I know he can be deadly at this level and if nobody gives him what he wants he'll be forced to lower his wage demands. If he does, I'll be there to pounce.

[King Costly]

Good luck with the new save, looks like you've been around a bit already!

Marriott looks decent for that level so hopefully he can get you 20 or so this season.   

[danmcconnell1]

19 minutes ago, King Costly said:

Good luck with the new save, looks like you've been around a bit already!

Marriott looks decent for that level so hopefully he can get you 20 or so this season.   

Yeah unforeseen circumstances with the possible move to Belgium but I'm now happy with the direction this Gateshead side are heading in.

I'm pretty happy with the Marriott signing too, a few mumbles of discontent on the social feed but he's got a decent AI goal scoring record over the past 2 seasons for Lincoln, definitely good competition.

Thanks for the support

[danmcconnell1]

Just a quick update, and one I'm over the moon about......

We've got him! Jamar Loza is a Gateshead player and I couldn't be happier. A real coup of a signing for us after he lowered his wage demands drastically. It's still an extremely generous deal his agent has negotiated for him but I really do feel this guy could be the difference between us making the promotion places this season. Again, he doesn't have the best technicals, or physicals for that matter, but this is a signing which will make a statement to the other sides in the division and make them sit up and take notice.

His record over the past 2 years has been impressive. He scored 26 for me when I was manager of Maidstone and got a further 14 the following season before his release, equating to 40 goals in 2 seasons. If he can reproduce anywhere near the form he was in 2 seasons ago I'll be ecstatic.

I'll try to stop harping on about him now, but I'm genuinely giddy about this signing and really think we can push on with a much better squad now and hopefully look towards the football league!

[danmcconnell1]

September 2018

We got this month underway with 2 games in the space of 3 days against Macclesfield and a trip to my old stomping ground Maidstone. We then travelled to recently relegated Forest Green followed by a trip to the leaders Wrexham. We then welcomed Braintree and Accrington Stanley to the GIS, finishing the month away to Aldershot. Here's how we got on.

We recorded back to back wins for the first time this season after beating Macclesfield by 2 goals to 1. Just 2 days later we travelled down to Maidstone to face my former club and, despite being 3-1 up with 15 minutes left, ended up drawing 3-3. A youngster that I brought through there, Sonny Howe-Bradbury came off the bench and salvaged the point for Maidstone with 2 late goals, a bittersweet moment for me. We travelled to struggling Forest Green and managed to hold onto the lead this time and won 2-0. That win saw us go up to 4th.

We then travelled to the league leaders Wrexham and were outplayed. We lost the game 3-1, we were lucky to get a late consolation. Our next game back up north against Braintree saw us get back to winning ways as we won 2-0. A late defeat to Accrington ensued next and we ended the month earning a last minute draw away to Aldershot. Jamar Loza did make his debut against Wrexham but was injured early on so had to be replaced by Marriott who scored the late consolation.

 

We ended the month in 10th place after what was an inconsistent month again. We need to turn some of those draws into wins, especially when we're 3-1 up like we were against Maidstone if we want to be challenging towards to the top of the table.

New signings Oteh and Marriott both have 3 goals each so far, as does Toby Ajala. Our top scorer so far is winger Abdi Noor, while Corey Francis has also got on the score sheet a couple of times. We seem to be scoring pretty freely so far so I'm hoping this can continue as we progress this season and perhaps look towards a play off place at the end. Hopefully when Loza returns from injury he can start firing too which will really get us going in the right direction.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Rather mixed so far. Unlike Trump's career.

[danmcconnell1]

On 12/8/2016 at 22:47, Nobby_McDonald said:

Rather mixed so far. Unlike Trump's career.

Finally another update to come, but yes, not the greatest so far, but onwards and upwards!

[danmcconnell1]

October/November 2018

The first piece of significant news this month was the offer from Forest Green Rovers to become their manager. 

I decided to turn down the offer. Despite being offered more money at a club of higher stature, I feel my job is not yet complete with Gateshead and after a good summer signings wise, we could definitely do something special this season.

So after a rocky month, we continued in October with a home tie against AFC Telford followed swiftly by another match at the GIS against Alfreton. Our next game was a trip to Aggborough to face Kidderminster with a jaunt to Stockport in the FA Cup 4th qualifying round after that. League action returned as we faced Southport away from home and we finished the month was a home match against Eastleigh.

We got off to a great start with a 2-0 victory against Telford thanks to goals from Cory Francis and Toby Ajala. We then followed it up with a 3-3 draw against Alfreton. It was a topsy turvey game after we took the lead, fell behind, took the lead again but Alfreton scored a late equalizer. Jaden Brown and Danny Johnson scored 2 for us. Our next match was a trip south to face Kidderminster. We travelled back after a poor game with a point in a goalless draw. Next up was a trip to Stockport in the Vanarama North in the FA Cup 4th qualifying round but unfortunately the tag of favourites didn't do us good as we slumped to a 2-1 defeat, the only positive of the game was Jamar Loza's first goal for the club coming before half time. Our final 2 games of the month against Southport and Eastleigh were both goalless draws, our 3rd in a row in the league. An unbeaten month in the league, despite a lot of draws, is a positive though, hopefully we can score a few more goals next month though.

We ended the month in 11th place, unfortunately I forgot the screen shot hence the double month update.

Moving into November, we faced matches away to AFC Fylde first followed by 3 home games on the bounce against Ebbsfleet, Sutton United and York.

Our first and only away match of the month saw us win our first 3 points more just under a month after a slender 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Ajala and Marriott. A couple of weeks later we welcomed Ebbsfleet and outclassed them with a comfortable 3-0 victory, goals coming from Francis, Brundle and Marriott again. A week later we were at home against against Sutton United and could only manage a draw, Toby Ajala scoring his 6th goal of the season for us. We couldn't hold on though and Sutton equalized with around 15 minutes to go. Our final game of the month was a televised fixture at home again against York. We convincingly dispatched of them 3-0, Jamar Loza scoring a lovely and well-deserved hat-rick, really announcing himself to the Gateshead faithful after some injury problems early in his time here.

So after yet another unbeaten month in the league and 10 league matches unbeaten, we ended the month in a much healthier position.

I still think that we're looking for looking for our best starting 11, but after Loza scored that hat-rick against York then there can only be one man who's a dead certainty to start in our next game. We'll see how we get on in the next update as we try to continue our unbeaten streak and march up the table.

[danmcconnell1]

December 2018

As we headed toward the most wonderful time of the year, I was given some welcome news.

A contract extension was great news after a good opening third or so to the season, hopefully we could extend the unbeaten run into December. I was also runner up in the manager of the month award for November too.

This month we faced trips Chester and Dagenham followed by 3 home ties in a row in all competitions, Boreham Wood, Salford and Bishop's Stortford, a trip down to Dover on Boxing Day and ending with a home tie against Tranmere to round off 2018. Here's how we got on...

We extended our fantastic unbeaten run against Chester thanks to a 3-1 victory with goals coming from Corey Francis and a brace for Abdi Noor. The run was extended emphatically with a giant win against Dagenham & Redbridge thanks to a brace each for Jamar Loza and Will Heaney. Abdi Noor and an OG saw us run our 6-2 winners, extending our unbeaten run to 12. It was in our next match where it all came crashing to a halt though against Boreham Wood, where we lost 5-2 this time in our own back yard. Goals from Loza and Francis weren't enough to stop Boreham Wood who won convincingly. We did manage to get back to winning ways in the FA Trophy 1st Round against Salford though, a sole goal from Toby Ajala enough to see us progress into the next round

Back to the league now and we faced Bishop's Stortford in our third game in a row at home and won easily by 3 goals to nil thanks to two more for Loza and another for Corey Francis. We then faced a long trip south to face Dover and after falling 2-0 behind you'd have forgiven our fans for wanting to beat the traffic home, but we managed a mighty comeback to win 4-2, a brace for Loza again and another for Ajala against his old club saw us complete the turnaround. Our final game of the month and the year was against Tranmere Rovers back at the GIS, but unfortunately they were one step too far and we ended the year on a sour note after an unsavoury match in which both sides were reduced to 10 and we were fined for picking up 8 cards in the match.

Here is the table at the end of 2018.

To finish the year in such a strong position is very pleasing. It's been far from easy so far but with the arrival of Loza we have definitely been finding the net a lot more than we did last season. He's been a huge factor as to why we've been so successful so far. In just 15 appearances he already has 11 goals and has become our top goalscorer, I really do feel as though he's going to help us challenge for promotion this year. Of course it's not just been about Loza though, both of my wingers, Noor and Ajala have been in fine form and are finding the net regularly as well as providing assists for whomever is upfront, which more recently has been Loza, Marriott and Oteh will have to wait their turn at the moment as our star front man is in fine form. 

Hopefully we can start 2019 as well as we've ended this year and really start to put pressure on the runaway leaders at the top of the Vanarama National League Wrexham.

[danmcconnell1]

January 2019

So after a good end to 2018, we looked to try an continue our good form into the new year.

Firstly, we received some good news as Jamar Loza won player of the month after 7 goals in December, Abdi Noor scored the second best goal of the month and I was the runner up in the manager of the month award again, all in all, December turned out to be a great month.

We also have news regarding Mich'el Parker who didn't feel he was getting the games he needed to requested to terminate his loan and return to Exeter, something I agreed with due to the good partnership and form Smith and Brown have at centre back. Parker wasn't fit enough when called upon at times this season therefore Pileas has been preferred as the backup option.

With reinforcements needed at centre back, we decided to bring in Michael White from our affiliate club Newcastle without the cost of any wages.

There was another outgoing this month as Cardiff were sniffing around our young Welshman Jeff Burrell. He'd only been with us since the summer but Cardiff's offer was negotiated to almost £170k upfront which is money we really need at the moment, therefore he was sold after playing second fiddle to Corey Francis for all the season so far.

We decided to bring Jack Finch in on loan from Coventry due to some discontent within the ranks due to an apparent lack of depth in midfield. I disagreed to an extent, but to try and keep the faithful happy we brought Finch in without the cost of any wages again.

The final piece of transfer news this month was the pending departure of William Heaney. He'll be going out to America at the end of the season to play for Rochester Rhinos after they offered him more than we could. We do still have him until the end of this season though.

So, after all of that, here's how we go on this month on the pitch...

We started with another victory, this time against Macclesfield thanks to goals from Francis, Noor and 2 for Ajala. We then won another topsy turvey game against my old club again, Maidstone. We won 4-3 at home thanks to goals from Francis as well as Pileas and Loza scoring a brace. Both of those were of course playing against their former club. The FA Trophy took over affairs next and we managed to progress into the 3rd round thanks to a 2-1 win, Abdi Noor and a 91st minute winner from Adam Marriott saw us through. Our next match had already been postponed once earlier on in the month meaning the Forest Green match had to be rearranged until the end of the month.

All of these changes meant we had more time to think about these 2 matches against relegation candidates, but unfortunately we were complacent and managed to lose both games by a single goal to nil. A poor end to the month which saw us slip to 3rd place in the league.

As we look into February, we need to get back to winning ways as soon as possible after two morale-damaging defeats against two lowly clubs in Whitehawk and Forest Green. 

[danmcconnell1]

February 2019

So after a poor end to January, we needed to get back to winning ways sooner rather than later if we wanted to try and keep up a little bit of pressure on the leaders Wrexham.

Unfortunately for us we couldn't manage to start the month with a win after we fell to a 4-2 defeat away at Braintree, a side we did the double over last season. Francis and Loza scored our goals. We finally got back to winning ways with a 4-2 scoreline in our favour this time against play off chasing Accrington Stanley, Oteh and Noor got one each as Loza bagged himself another brace. It was our first home game of the month next in the FA Trophy 3rd round and we faced Stockport who knocked us out of the FA Cup earlier in the season, but we dispatched of them with relative ease after a 3-0 win thanks to goals from Loza, Ajala and Francis.

We then welcomed the league leaders Wrexham to the GIS and managed to turn them over thanks to a 2-0 victory with goals coming from, you guessed it, Loza and Francis yet again. We then welcome Aldershot in our third home game in a row and Loza managed a second hat-rick of the season while Francis continued his impressive goal scoring form from midfield to give us a 4-1 win. The final game of the month down in Telford was an unfortunate one as we ran out on the wrong side of a 4-3 score line after being 3-1 ahead at one point. The ref gave a dodgy penalty to Telford which gave them momentum and we fell apart in the closing stages after White was sent off. Oteh, Loza and an OG were our scorers in this one. 

We finish the month one place up from where we started it after beating Wrexham in the process, we're still leaking goals against the lesser sides which is a concern as we look to a possible play off campaign. I can't see us or anyone else catching Wrexham in their bid to gain automatic promotion, it seems to be a matter of when rather than if at the moment. 

To digress slightly, I want to show you Jamar Loza's stats this season.

In 25 appearances which include just 18 starts for Gateshead, he's managed a very impressive 22 goals already. I knew this guy was something for the Vanarama National League, but I didn't believe he was going to score this many in such a short period of time. I mentioned in the past that Loza was a real coup for us, and these stats prove it. We were predicted a 6th place finish this year yet we have been consistently in the play off spots, more so 2nd place behind a Wrexham side clearly too good for this division. I feel as though this is a real achievement to come this far and anything else this season would definitely be a bonus. If we can make the play offs then it will be a lottery, form goes out of the window and it would be down to fate in my opinion if we were to get into the football league or not.

[King Costly]

Looks like Wrexham have the title wrapped up but hopefully you can end the season in good form and attack the play-offs.

You may even be set for a trip to Wembley in the FA Trophy!  

[danmcconnell1]

7 hours ago, King Costly said:

Looks like Wrexham have the title wrapped up but hopefully you can end the season in good form and attack the play-offs.

You may even be set for a trip to Wembley in the FA Trophy!  

Yeah can't see us or anyone catching them, they've been lethal this season. The play offs should be in reach though.

I did play the 4th round tie last night but lost to Wrexham (after just beating them!!!) so that dream will have to wait for another year unfortunately.

[Maaka]

Good work. Follow!

[danmcconnell1]

48 minutes ago, Maaka said:

Good work. Follow!

Cheers mate!

[danmcconnell1]

March 2019

Going into one of the busiest months of the season, we were looking to preserve our second place status as well as try to put more pressure on Wrexham at the top in our persuit of them.

Before the football got underway this month though, we received the good news that our talismanic striker Jamar Loza had won player of the month after picking up an average rating of 8.28 after 8 goals in 5 February appearances. Very good news.

The first match of March would be the FA Trophy 4th Round (not sure why it's not called the quarter finals which they are) against Wrexham who we're chasing in the league. If we could beat them again I think we'd be in with a very good chance of winning the trophy. That game will also be my 100th in football management.

We'll then face a trip to North Street to face Alfreton, 2 home ties against Kidderminster and Southport, an away tie down in Eastleigh, AFC Fylde back at home and we finish the month away at Ebbsfleet. Here's how we got on.

Unfortunately we were outplayed against Wrexham in the FA Trophy as we fielded a slightly weakened team but lost 3-0. We returned to winning ways away to Alfreton though thanks to goals from White and Nyal Bell, his first under my stewardship, finally. Another win ensued back at home against Kiddie, Brundle and Mafuta with the goals in this one. We lost our next game at home to Southport after barely turning up and ended up on the wrong side of a 3-0 spanking. We then made the long trip south to Eastleigh but again couldn't manage much and lost 1-0 this time. We got back to winning ways again at home thanks to a 2-1 win over AFC Fylde thanks to Noor and Loza goals as we finished the month with a 2-0 win down at Ebbsfleet, this time two Toby Ajala goals won the game for us.

We finished the month where we started it and have managed to close the gap at the top down to 10 from Wrexham, although they do have a game in hand so you'd expect them to extend that lead to 13 again. I'm pretty much resigned to a play off campaign now which is still a fantastic achievement for us, hopefully with our remaining matches we can try to rediscover our fine form and go into those potential extra matches in rich goal scoring form.

[danmcconnell1]

April 2019

As we move into the tail end of the season, we're hoping to cement our play off place in the Vanarama National League. After the first round of fixtures we received confirmation that Wrexham had become league champions and would be playing in the football league next season.

Our schedule this month was a trip to Sutton United, home ties against Chester and Dagenham while our final game of the month would be away to York, the final 2 matches being played over the Easter period.

We got off to a great start to the month with a victory down at Sutton United by 2 goals to 1, Loza and Francis our scorers yet again. Our next match back at the GIS against Chester was one to forget as we lost 2-1 and lost our best central defender Jaden Brown to a torn hamstring and would miss the next 3-4 months.

Danny Johnson halved the deficit for us off the bench in this one. Next up we welcome Dagenham to the GIS again and we managed a 1-0 win thanks to a Gus Mafuta volley from just around the penalty spot. That win confirmed our play off spot.

Our final game of the month saw us travel to York as we looked to rest our key players ahead of the upcoming play off campaign. We would be without Abdi Noor due to a strained wrist for this one. Unfortunately we fell to a 2-0 defeat in our final home league game of the season. 

So a mixed month saw us finish the month ahead of our final league game of the season in second place again. Our final position will be either 2nd or 3rd as we finish the season in May against Boreham Wood, after which we find out who we'll face in the play offs for the chance to join Wrexham in the football league next season.

[danmcconnell1]

May 2019

So as we enter the crucial play off period, we have one final league game to play away to Boreham Wood who destroyed us earlier on this season. This final game will determine who we face in the play offs. Some good news before the match, Danny Johnson scored the second best goal of the month against Chester.

We also lost our HOYD to Burton Albion back in April so Gary McSheffrey was brought in to replace him with some impressive stats.

So our final game of the month went like this. 

We ended the season with a defeat away to Boreham Wood, they've done the double over us this season now. We finished in 2nd place still and managed to avoid the team we'd just lost against and would be facing Tranmere, another side we've struggled against in the regular season. Hopefully the unpredictability of the play offs would work in our favour, especially as I think we'll be at home in the second leg.

Jamar Loza ended the season as the highest rated player on average in the league. 

The first leg of the play off semi final was at Prenton Park in Birkenhead and here's how we got on.

A goalless draw was a good result as we head back north for the second leg in 3 days time back at home. Hopefully a full GIS will help roar us to victory and send us to Wembley.

We were up against it from the off as Tranmere brought over 6000 fans to the GIS, the full attendance was only just over 8000 meaning we were outnumbered inside our own stadium, but it was that man again, Jamar Loza who fired home after 25 minutes to send us to Wembley. What a fantastic achievement for this side to beat a talented Tranmere side over 2 legs, we really felt on top of the world and would head down to Wembley for the Vanarama National League Play Off Final against Boreham Wood who overcame York in their semi. 

So, the time had come to travel down to the home of football, Wembley Stadium for what was no doubt, my biggest match as a football manager so far. We had overcome adversity in what was a very long season and come through a very difficult and tactical 2 legged play off semi final and it all boiled down to this. One game, just Boreham Wood Football Club stood between us and the Football League. We had struggled in both matches against Boreham Wood this season, particularly when we lost 5-2 around the turn of the year, but we lost both league ties against Tranmere and overcame them over 2 legs, we just have to manage it against Boreham Wood over one match on the biggest stage of all.

Here's how we got on against our other bogey team...

By far and away my greatest day in charge of a football club. We've done it! We're in the Football League! A Corey Francis goal was enough to gain promotion against a strong Boreham Wood side and we were ecstatic! We received a decent payout too from the league.

This is money which will go straight back into the club as we look to continue to grow as we look to next season. Overall, an extremely happy day but the hard work starts tomorrow to make sure we don't find ourselves back in the National League any time soon!

[danmcconnell1]

End of Season 18/19

After the ecstasy of winning the play off final, it was awards time!

My favourite striker was named Player of the Season in the National League after an impressive 23 goals in 33 appearances with an average rating of 7.32, he also chipped in with 9 assists this year meaning he was directly involved with 32 goals this year.

Here is our best 11.

I think it's only a matter of time before Loza forces his way into that 11, especially if he can keep up his goal scoring exploits next season in League 2.

Next up, the Gateshead awards.

Loza stole the show as he was named player of the season and top goal scorer, Danny Johnson won goal of the season for his strike against Chester towards the end of the season, Oteh was named signing of the season and Abdi Noor won young player of the season.

Here are the players stats this season. 

For me, our best players this year in terms of performances were Jaden Brown, Toby Ajala, Abdi Noor and Jamar Loza. All of them have impressive stats and it was such a shame for Brown to miss the end of the season celebrations through injury as he has been a key part of the growth of this club in his short career so far.

There was one more piece of surprising news that came through towards the end of the season.

I had been named manager of the year for the National League, something I had almost written off even contemplating after the season Wrexham had. What a great honour it is to win this award although I wouldn't be anywhere without my staff and my players who have made it all happen this season.

[Maaka]

Congrats!

[danmcconnell1]

26 minutes ago, Maaka said:

Congrats!

Thanks a lot!

[Winski]

Nice!! Well done!!

[danmcconnell1]

3 minutes ago, Winski said:

Nice!! Well done!!

Thanks @Winski 

[danmcconnell1]

Quick sidenote, shocking decision coming out of BCFC today! But seeing as we need a new man, Big Sam is the best option for me, definitely, DEFINITELY, not Zola!

 

Just another day in the life of a BCFC fan!

[Nobby_McDonald]

That's a lot of prize money.

[danmcconnell1]

Pre Season 2019

The first piece of good news in the summer was that the board had finally agreed to let me better myself and gain the next qualification, my National A License.

We had a couple of high profile friendlies at home against Celtic and Cardiff thanks to clauses in the deals for Andrew Lloyd and Jeff Burrell when we sold them both. We then faced a more than winnable Ilkeston and finished off with the annual home tie against Newcastle. Here's how we got on.

We started off with a tight match against an under strength Celtic side and gave them a really good game, only losing 2-1, Abdi Noor getting on the score sheet for us. We then welcomed Cardiff in our second match of the off season and managed a goal again scored by Toby Ajala on the stroke of half time, only for a Conor Grant hat-rick to win it for the Bluebirds. We then faced a trip to Ilkeston and got a 1-0 win thanks to a Nyal Bell goal before finishing the break with a spanking by local rivals Newcastle.

Of course, entering the football league brings many new challenges many of this group have yet to face in their careers. Hence why we need some reinforcements to help strengthen the side and provide more strength in depth in what will be yet another long campaign. Here is our transfer activity so far this summer up the the end of pre season.

Firstly, outgoings. Shaun MacDonald, Seth Nana Twumasi, James Bolton and Paddy McLaughlin were all released. The big news though was that we let go of one of last season's best players Corey Francis. He just refused to speak to the club about a new contract and we had no other choice than to let him go. I did promise last season that if a reasonable offer came in for him we would consider it, but that never came and we managed to get the best out of him until the end of the season. Academy product Owen Newby was sent out to Gainsborough to gain some first team experience as was backup keeper Daniel Atherton, he's gone to Macclesfield. The final outgoing so far was Will Heaney in what was a pre arranged end of contract deal with Rochester Rhinos in the USA.

Coming into Gateshead are some prospects and some decent experience of this league. First in was Sessi D'Almeida on a free from Tranmere. I feel he's a more than adequate replacement for the outgoing McLaughlin and if we can find a way of fitting him into the side as a BWM I'd be pleased. Another young keeper came in also for a small fee from Corby in Adam Parkes. Hopefully he can push Hanford for the No.1 jersey this season. Josh Staunton, Channing Campbell-Young, Gozie Ugwu and Tom Conlon were all brought in as free agents as replacements for those that had left earlier in the summer and would mostly provide backup to the first team. Another defender coming in was Josh Martin from Birmingham. I've seen the lad play ILR a few times and have been impressed, hopefully his in game stats have too. The only other player to come in for a fee was Darren Petrie, a left back from Stirling who's £13k fee was actually compensation to his former club. 2 more deals came just ahead of the final game of pre season in Ryan Wintle on loan from Crewe and young striker Lewis Walker on a free again, this time from Bishop's Stortford. I'm happy with the business done so far but if there were some others out there who could potentially better our starting 11 then there is still a budget in place to play with if we decided to persue those avenues.

Looking ahead to August, our first game in League 2 will be at home against Notts County. We'll see how we got on in the next update, as well as the rest of August's matches and we'll also see if any more transfer activity takes place before the window closes at the end of August.