October 2009

At the start of October, we stood in 20th place after a string of bad results. The board thought I should be performing slightly better, and the fans were getting restless after we hadn't hit the back of the net in five games. And what better way to put smiles on people's faces than a win against fellow strugglers Northwich Victoria. Unfortunately this didn't happen and we lost the game 3-0, with Guy Lopez seeing red in the second half.

Now things were getting quite desperate. With the board quickly losing patience, and the pressure increasing on both myself and the team to get results, the next game saw us entertain Alfreton Town. I stuck with the same formation I'd gone with for the past few games (4-1-3-2) but this time made our passing more direct, with a deep defensive line (partly to give the ageing Ian Cox a bit of a head start on Alfreton's pacey attackers). Miraculously, my tactics seemed to work. In the 13th minute, an Alex Smith corner was met at the back post by Simon Heslop, and the midfielder powered a header into the net for his first goal in Harrogate colours. A good start. Things got even better in the 17th minute when Lawrie Dudfield was brought down in the box, and we were given a penalty. Nic McDonnell, who at this point had gone over 500 minutes without a goal, calmly slotted the ball away, to ease the pressure off both his and my shoulders. Despite a goal in the second half, we hung on for a well-earned and somewhat overdue victory that pleased both the board and the fans.

After the win, the players' morale was good, but the next game saw us travel to Fleetwood Town, who at this point were 3rd in the league. A very, very tough match. I used the same tactics as the previous game, and made only one chance by bringing Guy Lopez back in at Anchor Man after his suspension. Things looked grim early on, with Fleetwood getting a goal in only the 4th minute. But a Lawrie Dudfield brace in the space of 15 minutes, his first goals for the club, followed by a Nic McDonnell penalty earned us a 3-1 win. Dudfield had gone over 10 hours without a goal, and expressed his 'relief and happiness' after the game at breaking his Harrogate duck.

Two wins in a row had left us in 10th place, with our next fixture away to Redditch. However, we seemed to get ahead of ourselves and three first half goals from the home side left us hoping for a miracle. It didn't come. A Nic McDonnell goal in the 77th minute was merely a consolation, and incidentally his 3rd is as many games.

Overall, October was a bit of a mixed bag. Two wins, two losses, but plenty of positives to take from it, most importantly the fact that Dudfield and McDonnell seem to have belatedly found their shooting boots. Three of our next four games bring us up against teams in the top seven of the league. Wish us luck...

September 2009

September didn't begin well. Come to think of it, it didn't end well either. Defeats away at AFC Telford (1-2) and Droylsden (0-1) left us struggling in 17th place. The players' morale was low, my morale was lower, and I needed to change things, and fast.

Next up were two home games against Redditch and Stafford; ideal chances to win the fans and the board round with wins. However, this didn't happen and both games ended in goalless draws. We should've won both games though, as the stats show. We had nine shots to their single effort, with three on target, we had 60% of the possession, hit the woodwork twice, and had two blocked shots. The game against Stafford was exactly the same; 11 shots, 51% possession, woodwork once, and no less than five blocked shots. It was clear that Lawrie Dudfield (yet to score for us) and Nic McDonnell weren't firing on all cylinders. My prediction of McDonnell 'shining in September' was clearly unfounded.

The next game brought Farsley Celtic to Wetherby Road in the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round. It was a chance for us to put our poor league form behind us. Judging by our recent results, you can probably guess the score of this game. Yes, 0-0. We had a replay on our hands which would take place only four days later. A goal after only two minutes for Farsley proved to be enough to see us off, but yet again the stats show that we should've won, or at least had something to show for our effort. As it was, we failed to score for the fifth consecutive game.

A very, very disappointing month as a whole, as I'm sure you'll admit. The positives that I can take though, is the fact that we're not conceding an endless amount of goals. No, our defence is actually quite good. Gareth Stewart even kept a clean sheet for about 280 mins of football. We just need our strikers to hit the back of the net a bit more often. I'm not going to predict anything this time. Instead, we'll see what happens.

August 2009

August the 1st saw us make the short trip down the road to our bitter rivals, and feeder club, Harrogate Railway, in what was our final pre-season fixture. It was a chance for the remaining trialists I had to show what they could do. However it was two youngsters, Ollie Ryan and Luke Durham, who grabbed the goals for us in a tense 2-2 draw.

My search for an assistant manager was not going well. The advert I placed attracted several names, but they all demanded a lot of money, and money was one thing that Harrogate doesn't have a lot of. In the end, I somewhat reluctantly drafted in Nathan Salmon to be Kevin Sharp's replacement. His stats weren't great, but I needed someone in the seat, pretty desperately.

After the Harrogate Railway game, I decided Lawrie Dudfield and Alex Smith had done enough to deserve permanent contracts. As well as this, 29-year-old former Bournemouth 'keeper Gareth Stewart was brought in, and quickly established himself as number one, ahead of Martin Pearson. Just before the start of the season, Daniel Broadbent damaged his cruciate ligaments which has sidelined him for anywhere up to year.

As difficult first games of the season go, ours was up there with the hardest. Away to Corby Town, the bookies' favourites for the league title. I went with 4-4-2, with high aggression and lots of pressure. It didn't work. They got a goal on the half hour mark which seemed to deflate my side, and after an own goal from Martin Pearson (Stewart hadn't arrived yet), it was all over for us. Very disappointing. Things had to change.

Unfortunately, they didn't. Our first home game of the season saw us play Vauxhall, whose goal just before half time was enough to see us off. However things did pick up at the next fixture. I put in 4-5-1 formation, with Michael Wood acting as the Anchor Man and Lawrie Dudfield as the lone striker. But it was the 38-year-old former Trinidad & Tobago international, and newly-appointed captain, Ian Cox that won the game for us. Cox's two goals, the second of which came on 87mins to seal the victory (and incidentally was a scorcher from 20 yards). A man of the match performance from the big centre half.

Things continued improving in the next game as well, away to Workington. After conceding two early goals, things looked grim. However an own goal gave us a lifeline shortly before half time. Changes were made during the interval, with Nic McDonnell, signed on a free just days before, coming on for Lawrie Dudfield. It was a quick-fire brace from McDonnell, on his debut, that won the game for us. Not a bad way to introduce yourself really.

McDonnell's performance had earned him a starting place for the next game at home to Sollihull Moors. Guy Lopez, a 30-year-old Frenchman I brought in on a free, also took to the field in the Anchor Man position. Danny Rowe, a talented left winger, was on the bench following his loan move from Rochdale. The closely fought game ended in a 1-1 draw. This was followed by a 2-1 defeat at Southport (in which Ian Cox grabbed his 3rd goal of the season), and a 0-0 draw at home to Hyde.

We're in 13th place at the end of August, and very much living up to the media's expectations. However, once the new signings have played together for a while, I reckon we'll see improvements, so watch this space! And here's a bit of a punt; Nic McDonnell to shine in September!

July 2009

I was officially unveiled as manager of Harrogate Town on the 7th July. Both the board and the media expect a safe mid-table finish for us, with the media predicting 10th place. The squad looked OK, but with definite room for improvement. The stand-out players on first glance were Brian Dutton, a tireless midfielder, Matt Bloomer, who I mentioned in the introductary blog, and a young striker named Daniel Broadbent. Unfortunately, even though they do actually play for the Sulpurites in 'real life', both Trevor Benjamin and Curtis Woodhouse aren't contracted to the club on FM2010. Oh well, we'll get past that slight obstacle.

No transfer funds, and quite a hefty debt meant I had to look at the free transfer market for new recruits. I looked for some familiar names, with international experience at first. Nathan Blake and Ian Cox were brought in on trial, along with seven other players, including former Hull City striker, Lawrie Dudfield.

My first friendly was against Stevenage, at home. I fielded a side which included Blake, and fellow trialist Bobby Ford. After 20 minutes, 37-year-old Blake, a former Wales international, rolled back the years and slotted the ball past the helpless Stevenage keeper for a goal on his debut. It looked as thought my reign at Wetherby Road had got off to a good start, but Blake had to come off injured with 20 minutes left on the clock. To add insult to injury, Stevenage grabbed a late equaliser in the first minute of stoppage time. After the game, I learnt that Nathan Blake had damaged his knee, meaning he'd be out for two or three months. I reluctantly terminated his trial.

My next move was to sack my assistant manager, Kevin Sharp, and begin a search for a new one. Then in came former Southampton winger Andy Williams on a free transfer, and Martin Pearson's and Sonny Cobbs' trials were made into permanent moves. The next game was a 1-0 defeat against Kettering, followed by a 3-2 victory over Airbus UK (which included a late winner from Lawrie Dudfield).

In a bid to increase the club's status, I made a link with Doncaster Rovers, which would mean they could choose to send players to Harrogate on loan, and we would receive some kind of financial benefit in the process. A good move, since our finances were (and still are) dire reading.

Barnsley midfielder Simon Heslop came in on a free transfer, in what was billed by the media as a 'coup' for the club, and 18-year-old midfielder, and hot prospect for the future, Nic Ignatiou was also signed on the advice from the backroom staff.

The final three friendlies this month included a 1-0 win against Glenn Hoddle's Academy, a 1-0 loss against Dover Athletic and a 2-1 win at home to Carshalton.

The main priority for next month is to find an Assistant Manager, and perhaps a couple of loan signings. But, although the media predicted us to be a safe, mid-table side, things are looking bright for the Sulphurites!

The Challenge

With the highly anticipated release of Football Manager 2010 a mere three days away, myself and my friend Phil have decided to undertake a challenge which, if it were to be completed, would make one of us a household name in the footballing world (at least within the game itself anyway). The challenge is to take control of a Blue Square Conference North or South side and guide them into the unknown, and ideally, all the way to the hallowed turf of the English Premier League. After much deliberation, we both agreed on a humble team from North Yorkshire who go by the name of Harrogate Town. For those who don't know much about 'The Sulphurites', their Wikipedia page can be found here.

There was a number of reasons why we chose Harrogate. Firstly, we recognised quite a few of their current players, namely Trevor Benjamin (ex-Leicester City striker and one-time Jamaican international), Curtis Woodhouse (ex-Hull City midfielder whom, after "falling out of love" with football in 2006, briefly turned his hand to boxing, at which he was rather successful) and Matt Bloomer (another ex-Hull City player, although he did only play a handful of games for them).

Secondly, they probably are the closest geographically to Hull, so we felt like we wouldn't be betraying our Northern roots (plus, Harrogate is a commutable distance away from Hull, meaning we could both still live at home...).

The third and final reason for our decision was purely the fact that we both thought that seeing Harrogate Town play the likes of AC Milan and Barcelona in a competitive fixture would be a) hilarious (no disrespect to Harrogate, of course) and b) very, very appetising. It's this hunger that makes us both believe we are the right man for the job.

I will be blogging my progress monthly (in game terms), and I believe Phil is also going to blog about his escapades as well, so I'll post his link next time, if and when he actually does one. So, here's to a long and hopefully successful managerial career in charge of the soon-to-be world beaters, Harrogate Town.

Edit: Phil has set up a blog, which can be found here.