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Post by coffers on Jun 23, 2006 13:14:37 GMT
This is not a story, it's more a string of brief updates of my adventures with Barrow in Furness, who start as relegation favourites in the Conference North.
It's FM2006, running with the following leagues: All English, Italy (Serie A&B), Scotland (Div 3 & above), Spain (B & above), Sweden (First Div Elite & above). It's on Huge database and real player names are not used.
On arrival I took a look at the squad, it was the worst I have ever seen, in all departments. They only had one goalie on the books and he was 5' 10" and his stats were pretty bad (handling 6, Areal ability 3, communication 4). The rest of the squad were no better; the squad is overloaded with poor defenders, relatively speaking they have not much in midfield, but we do have 5 strikers, all shoite.
I quickly set about setting up my training schedules and the tactics that I intended to use. I also set about recruiting more staff, particularly coaches and some scouts.
A review of what free player were available who would likely sign indicated that my options might be limited, A goalkeeper was my number one priority, so were some players in other positions that had some pace and stamina, and at a push some ability in the position they claimed to play in.
Thankfully the club had already arranged 5 friendlies prior to the opening game of the season so that was one task I could tick off my must do list.
Barrow are a semi-professional outfit who play at Holker Street in Barrow-in-Furness, it's the bit that juts out into the Irish Sea at the south end of the lake district. The ground capacity is 4,500, 1000 of those places are seats. They have an illustrious history to say the least, they once finished 3rd in what was the old 4th division back in 1967, since then they have fallen to a mighty low. Having said that they were runners up in the Northern Premier League in 1990 and, in the same year they won the FA Trophy. They also managed a runners-up spot in the 2003 Conference Cup, but that was probably a fluke.
My transfer budget for the season was set at £8,000, seven thousand of which was blown when I prised away a decent coach from some lowly Swedish outfit. I value decent coaches so I hope it was worth it. Adverts for staff in the job centre resulted in a mad rush of people applying for posts who we just couldn't afford. So I hunted the lists myself and found a few suitable and cheap backroom staff to do my bidding.
So far I've managed to recruit nine new players, two of them goalkeepers who should be better than the first incumbent. I managed to lure one right winger from Blackpool on a free, but he's only acting as cover for our current best right winger. Wipe that smile off your face son, it's nothing to be proud about.
The five friendlies took place:
Barrow 0 vs 2 Macclesfield, the game showed how bad we are, but if I'm honest I'm pleased with the performance against a higher rated team.
Tarff Rovers 1 vs 1 Barrow, a so-so performance, we should have won it with a 38th minute goal by AM/RLC/FC Ben Quinn, but I didn't adjust tactics for the 2nd half, and Andy Baird equalised for the non-league Scottish outfit on 67.
Weston-Super-Mare 1 vs 1 Barrow, an early goal by Barrow's Jason Palmer was canceled out by a 36th minute penalty. It was an even game though we could have nicked it with better finishing.
Barrow 0 vs 1 Chesterfield, we were undone by a 7th minute goal, apart from that we battled well and the team was congratulated on a good effort at the end.
Hayes 0 vs 0 Barrow, another good effort but the strikers are utter pants.
That was our last friendly, given our decent efforts against league opposition I was optimistic that we could do a good job of avoiding relegation.
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Post by Moo on Jun 23, 2006 13:49:05 GMT
Coffers - you don't do brief updates. Nice work anyway, very descriptive and I like that you spunked your budget on a Swedish coach, very classy. :thumb: KUTGW!
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Post by floplexter on Jun 23, 2006 14:21:22 GMT
How did you lure a winger from Blackpool?
Trenchcoat and a bag of sweeties?
Snazzy.
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Post by Moo on Jun 23, 2006 14:24:28 GMT
It's an option in FM06, Pops, you're missing out on the fun.
There are a series of tick boxes available with options on chocolate mice, strawberry laces and "comedy" teeth if you try and offer a 20p mix-up.
"Andriy Schevchenko has refused your contract offer statin that the starting salary was too low. He wanted three Wham Bars and a copy of The Beano"
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Post by coffers on Jun 23, 2006 14:26:47 GMT
How did you lure a winger from Blackpool? Trenchcoat and a bag of sweeties? Snazzy. They didn't want him and we offered him a shiny threepenny bit.
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Post by Boony on Jun 23, 2006 14:35:53 GMT
Promise of no rock, no tower and no fucking tourists.
Probably.
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Post by coffers on Jun 23, 2006 14:48:16 GMT
The big day arrived, we would start the new season with an away trip to Harrogate, our scout informed me that we had nothing to worry about regarding their slow attack. The one thing I did worry about was that our best keeper had been sidelined in the last match for a few weeks, and as we hadn't recruited the third one just yet, we had to rely on the idiot that was here when I arrived. Harrogate 3 vs 0 Barrow; The attack was rubbish he said, Huh! We were 3-0 down by half-time. To stem the tide I just stuck us on defensive with direct balls, we saw a bit more action in the second period but not enough and once again the strikers were crap. Barrow 0 vs 1 Stafford, we were did alright up to the 42nd minute, then Left Centre back, Lee Black, hit the ball to our goalie, only he wasn't there, the goal was though. Ferking Muppett! Apart from that we did ok, except the strikers that is, who couldn't hit a barn door if they were stuck to it. Finally the second goalie that we signed, mentioned in the initial post, arrived, just in time for our 3rd league game, huzzah. Hinckley 1 vs 2 Barrow, at last a goal, two of them in fact, at last a win. It was an even game, MC Jonathon Smith gave us the lead from the penalty spot on 40, Hinckley, in their Barcalona lookalike kit, equalised on 52, but then 17yo debutant striker Mark Harwood robbed their keeper on 67 and recieved the love of the Barrow fans for his match winning fete. Centre back Dave Matthews nearly spoiled the party 3 minutes into injury time when he pulled back a Hinckley striker in the area and was red carded, but debutant Goalie, Andy Spencer, stood his ground for the spot kick, ie he didn't know which way to go so stood still, the ball hit him bounced out and the ref blew up, or something. Yay! 3 points.
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Post by floplexter on Jun 23, 2006 15:04:11 GMT
Wham bars. I'd get him with a Texan, a Cabana and a packet of Pacers.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Jun 23, 2006 15:13:35 GMT
How did you lure a winger from Blackpool? Trenchcoat and a bag of sweeties? Snazzy. I nicked a forward from MK Dons to come to St Albans. Admittedly all I had to do was point out he wouldn't have to go anywhere near Milton Keynes any more.
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Post by Moo on Jun 23, 2006 15:13:41 GMT
Hmmmm... Spangles.
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Post by coffers on Jun 23, 2006 15:26:47 GMT
Acid drops anyone?
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Post by Moo on Jun 23, 2006 15:28:03 GMT
I think that's more s1ut's area of expertise. The dirty raver.
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Post by coffers on Jun 25, 2006 20:11:16 GMT
Barrow 1 vs 0 Worcester; we deserved more but had to make do with a 44th minute strike by Peter White who nicked the ball off the keeper and planted it into an empty net from 25 yards. He'd missed a similar opportunity 10 minutes earlier when the Worcester keeper charged out and missed a long ball through the middle, White delayed his shot at an empty goal long enough to be tackled. Still it's another 3 points.
James Robinson a decent looking 19yo left back joins on a free.
For some reason we get a weekend off during an International break.
!7yo left winger Adam Murray joins on a free. Unfortunately we fail in a bid to sign a really cracking looking Albanian DC, due to work permit problems. 16yo, French MC, Nicolas Guerin agrees to join us from Manzini Wanderers the promise of 5% of any future transfer fee, he has 2 international caps and 4 goals, I presume at a schoolboy level, I feel he is a major signing.
Workington 1 vs 2 Barrow; Guerin got his debut he had a quiet but solid game. The first half was dreadful and we conceded a pathetic goal after only 14 minutes. Angry words were shouted at the break, and there was improvement. DM Jonathon Smith finally equalised on 74 with am 19 yard free kick. Substitute WBL, Daniel Wilkinson operating as a left winger plundered the winner with a far post header with 6 minutes of the game remaining. It was an important win as Workington are probably our closest rivals in the derby game stakes.
The win pushes up to 4th place after only five games, we've 9 points, Stafford lead the table with 15 points, having won all their games so far. Michael Lawson a 20yo DMC joins on a free after being released by Stoke. It's time to stop signing all and sundry as I'm way over budget and need to assess what we now have available, some may have to go, but how I'll offload them, god only knows.
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Post by Sonic on Jun 26, 2006 3:01:27 GMT
Limited updates Nice start in the end, and I see you've been taken notes from Stu about what not to do :checkit: :thumb:
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Post by coffers on Jun 26, 2006 7:44:05 GMT
Barrow 1 vs 1 Lancaster; I may have been wrong about Workington been our closest rivals, Lanacster visited and 1630 turned up for the game, this is double our normal home attendances so far. They witnessed a dire performance. Lancaster opened on 3 minutes after a series of shocking defensive lapses, we equalised on 16, it was an own goal, a 12 yard header from a right wing corner. The goals apart it was a shocking indictment of football at this level. We had most possession but only had 2 off target shots all game, Lancaster managed a 6/3 ratio.
We're drawn at home against Bogner Regis in the 2nd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, which just happens to be the next game. Oh the excitement of it all. :humb: Two players have gone down with food poisoning, I warned them off the club canteen, so it must be the kebab house next door or soomething.
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Post by coffers on Jun 26, 2006 15:37:56 GMT
Barrovians obviously like the FA Cup, well it seems that way as 1845 of them turned up to watch a woeful parade of crap shooting. Barrow 1 vs 0 Bogner Regis 18yo striker Mark Harwood, celebrated his birthday earlier in the week by scoring a glorious goal with our first shot of the game, after 9 minutes. It was a neat dribbling effort, finished off from 18 yards with the defence parting in his wake. Barrow then proceeded to dominate the match with 13 shots at goal, only two of them including the goal, troubling the keeper. Bogner were worse, they manged not one attempt at the onion bag. It's honestly commical watch the woeful attempts of dot$ to get anywhere near a goal at this level. I told the team they had done well, but hid my snigger behind an appropriately positioned sneeze. When I read in the local rag that Barrow had produced a breathtaking display, I nearly choked, well I suppose you could say the rag's comment took my breath away. Barrow were drawn at home against Moor Green another Conference North side, currently sitting 3rd from bottom of the division.
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Post by coffers on Jun 26, 2006 23:29:27 GMT
Just before the next game we sign 30yo Swedish DC/DMC Mattias Moller on a free + 10% of a future sale, from GGIK, he looks a pretty solid player for this level and he gets a start against Hednesford
Barrow 1 vs 0 Hednesford Another classic performance, our two best strikers are knackered before half time and are replaced with an AMR, Ashley Bailey who we lured from Blackpool and Ben Quinn an AMRLC/FC. They combine well in the 69th minute, Quinn crossing for Bailey to prod home at the far post. Barrow deserved the win and had a number of decent shots at goal, but as usual they could only make one count. There was a decent turnout of 1459 at the game.
Hyde 1 vs 2 Barrow: we were 1-0 down after 25 seconds, courtesy of balls up by centre back Matthews. Thankfully Jonathon Dawe delivered a nice ball to the near post and striker Peter White equalised on 8 minutes. The game was settled by a good strike by Peter Dawe on 51. Hyde had by far the most chances but they were wayward to say the least. White was injured and replaced on 36.
We're on a good run of wins and that one takes us to 2nd in the table, level on points with Stafford, but they have a game in hand. The thing is though, we seem to be playing a lot of teams that are in the lower reaches of the division at the moment. September ends with us making a £13k profit, which considering I am £6k per month over the salary budget isn't bad going.
Back to the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round:
Barrow 2 vs 0 Moor Green A relatively easy game, the first goal came on 24, A Moller through ball, found Ben Quinn, in for the injured White, he shimmied round one defender then side-footed home under the keeper from 17 yards. How we didn't hammer this lot I'll never know, but they were in the game until Moller slotted in a penalty a minute into injury time after a shirt tug on substitute WBL James Turner. 1952 turn up which should be good for the treasure chest.
We draw a home tie against Welling or Fisher in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round. We offload a midfielder John Baxter to Farsley for £1000. After being out through injury for a number of weeks, Nicholas Guerin returns to training. Fisher beat Welling 1-0 in the FA Cup replay, so that's who we will next meet in the FA Cup, later in October.
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Post by coffers on Jun 27, 2006 0:02:25 GMT
Nuneaton Borough 0 vs 2 Barrow The team seem to be starting to gel now, a 30th minute penalty by Jonathon Smith opens the scoring and Mark Harewood completes the scoring on 74 with a nicely taken strike. Nuneaton who are one of the better sides in the division are not given a sniff of goal, they manage two off target shots all game. The win sees Barrow leap to the top of the table as Stafford drew their midweek game in hand and they also drew 2-2 at home to 21st placed Hucknall today. For the first time in my tenure, the board indicate how pleased they are with the win.
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Post by Sonic on Jun 27, 2006 0:37:16 GMT
A very nice run you've got going.
What leagues are you running?
:thumb:
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Post by Moo on Jun 27, 2006 7:22:49 GMT
Coffers in top of the table shocker. :cab:
OAP!!!11!!11!
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Post by coffers on Jun 27, 2006 7:27:19 GMT
Sonic 2nd paragraph in the first post:
It's FM2006, running with the following leagues: All English, Italy (Serie A&B), Scotland (Div 3 & above), Spain (B & above), Sweden (First Div Elite & above). It's on Huge database and real player names are not used.
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Post by coffers on Jun 27, 2006 7:32:03 GMT
Coffers in top of the table shocker. OAP!!!11!!11! It's a struggle though Moo, thankfully most of the opposition are proving to be worse than us at the moment. The players the scouts are coming up with as potential future stars are unbelievable, one of them had all ones in the technical abilities column apart from tw atributes he had a 2 and a 5 in those. The only decent player they have found is Moller, plus one AM?RL who plays for Walsall and refuses to move to Barrow. To be honest; who can blame him?
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Post by Sonic on Jun 27, 2006 7:40:00 GMT
Sonic 2nd paragraph in the firts post: It's FM2006, running with the following leagues: All English, Italy (Serie A&B), Scotland (Div 3 & above), Spain (B & above), Sweden (First Div Elite & above). It's on Huge database and real player names are not used.
I like doing this too you don't I :cab: Thanks :thumb:
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Post by Boony on Jun 27, 2006 8:11:59 GMT
Just getting into form for the FM2006 challenge, then?
I had a mate from Barrow-in-Furness who'd moved to Bedford. I think that says a lot.
This isn't a very brief update, Coff.
KUTGW :thumb:
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Post by coffers on Jun 27, 2006 8:15:07 GMT
This isn't a very brief update, Coff. KUTGW It is for me. I'm trying to make it briefer but just find it's not in me to make it happen. At least you didn't have to put up with a 3 post scene setting pre-ramble or something.
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