goblue96
Disney and Curling Expert
Stockport County was a member of the Football League since 1900 before it was relegated from League Two into the Conference National in 2011. It was a quick drop into the North Division just two years later. The club has been part of the North Division for the last six seasons. It is, clearly, a club that has an infrastructure way too big for the level that it is playing in. Stockport spent most of it's history bouncing around League One and League Two with a brief spell in the Championship. The club has, at least on Football Manager, a fierce rivalry with Manchester City. I'm guessing this came about during City's time as a Championship/League One club before the oil money flowed in.
In addition to the good training facilities (especially for a Vanarama National League North club), they play at Edgeley Park which boasted an all-seater capacity of 10,500. It is the largest in the sixth tier and the fourth biggest in the Vanarama National League (behind Halifax, Gateshead, and Wrexham). This capacity means I won't need to worry about expanding the stadium in the first few years of the save allowing me to invest more money into the youth and data facilities. The top priority, in my opinion, for the club is to shed it's semi-professional status and become a full-fledged professional club.
In addition to the good training facilities (especially for a Vanarama National League North club), they play at Edgeley Park which boasted an all-seater capacity of 10,500. It is the largest in the sixth tier and the fourth biggest in the Vanarama National League (behind Halifax, Gateshead, and Wrexham). This capacity means I won't need to worry about expanding the stadium in the first few years of the save allowing me to invest more money into the youth and data facilities. The top priority, in my opinion, for the club is to shed it's semi-professional status and become a full-fledged professional club.
Friendly Season
I went into the summer friendly season wanting to keep things simple. We are running a 4-4-2 under a variety of tactical plans. Control possession against teams we are stronger than. Route One against teams we are weaker than. Wing play against teams who only have one player out on the wing in an attempt to overload him and stretch the center of the defense/midfield.
I started out with a resounding 4-0 win against a lower division club in Leek. After that, I cancelled a bunch of friendlies and scheduled some money-making friendlies against higher division clubs. A 1-1 win against Bury was a shock but then we dropped the next two friendlies against Stock and Notts County. The losses also stripped away some of the club's confidence and the losses lingered in matches against Brighton's U-23 team and lower division Clitheroe. The purpose of the Clitheroe match was to rebuild our confidence with what I thought was going to be an easy win. Instead, we came out of it with a 0-0 draw and squad whose confidence was still on the shaky side.
I started out with a resounding 4-0 win against a lower division club in Leek. After that, I cancelled a bunch of friendlies and scheduled some money-making friendlies against higher division clubs. A 1-1 win against Bury was a shock but then we dropped the next two friendlies against Stock and Notts County. The losses also stripped away some of the club's confidence and the losses lingered in matches against Brighton's U-23 team and lower division Clitheroe. The purpose of the Clitheroe match was to rebuild our confidence with what I thought was going to be an easy win. Instead, we came out of it with a 0-0 draw and squad whose confidence was still on the shaky side.
Vanarama National League North
Scheduling those friendlies against bigger sides had a bigger impact on the team's confidence than I thought that it would. We started shaky out of the gate. We only lost one game but our offense was struggling to find the net outside of a 4-1 thrashing of Southport. We had lots of possession and lots of shots but they were either getting blocked by the opposition midfield and defense or sent wide. We finished August with a 2-4-1 record which had us firmly in the middle of the table.
At the beginning of December, I switched from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-4-1-1 formation. Our deep lying center forward prefers to play in an attacking midfielder role. Thinking that this could part of the problem with our offense, I decided to slide him back into his preferred position. As you can see, the club immediately felt the impact of the move as we took all 12 points in the month and I was named Manager of the Month. Matthew Warburton, the player in question, responded by second two goals in four matches while his strike partner Rowan Roache, on loan from Blackpool, scored two goals in the month as well.
The winning streak stretched to five games as the strike partnership scored all three goals in a 3-1 victory over Hereford. The streak came to an end against Blyth. The strike partnership was hitting on all cylinders to close the month as Roache and Warburton scored all four goals in a 4-1 win over Chorley. We go 2-1-1 in the month and 6-1-1 since we made the formation switch. The club continued to rise up the table.
November was a light month in the league with a week off at the end of the month and a cup game which forced a reschedule. It was another undefeated month but Warburton and Roche did not lead the way. We had to find a third scoring option which we did in right winger Jake Kirby and an option off the bench in Harry Crawford when we pushed against relegation candidate Brackley as we went into a 3-4-1-2 formation to try to claim all three points and keep us in the promotion hunt. Another undefeated month and an 8-2-1 record with the 4-4-1-1 formation.
1) York 40 pts. +24
2) Ashton United 38 pts. +17
3. Stockport 36 pts. +16
4. Blyth 35 pts. +12
5. Chorley 34 pts. +7
6. Leamington 31 pts. +5
7. FC United 30 pts. +5
FA CUP
We had an easy run into the 1st round of the FA Cup. We got to play two lower-division sides in Methryr and Warrington before we had to hold on to claim a 4-3 victory against Nuneaton Boro. That gave us entry into the 1st round proper and we got drawn against League Two side Grimsby Town. They made easy work of us and knocked us out of the cup.
My team takes a lot of shots which I like in the lower levels. Every shot is, basically, a lottery ticket. It forces the goalkeeper and defense to make a save and be in position to stop any rebounds or loose balls. If they aren't ready, our offense needs to be ready to pounce on the rebound. I'm not too concerned with pass completion percentage at this level because it's more of a physical "kick ball" style game. The games aren't pretty and you need to win ugly on occasion. I am concerned with our lack of aerial prowess. We aren't strong in the air and this could cost us points as the season goes on.
I do like that we have one strong player per "line." Scott Duxbury is the cream of the crop. The left back has one of most consistent players all season. He leads the team with five man of the match awards and has a whopping nine assists. He is also one of our best defenders. He wins 96% of his tackles, 81% of his headers and has two interceptions per game. A very good all around player. Right winger Jake Kirby is the top midfielder. He has scored five goals while adding five assists. He is one of the few players who I trust with making a risky pass to unlock the defense. As a result, he has one key pass per game. Matthew Warburton leads the team with 13 goals in 20 appearances. He is a volume shooter has he also leads the team with 3.56 shots per 90 minutes.
Finances are not an issue for the club. We have made money every month even in the month where we only had three league games. I can't wait to see what the board will let me do with this money (expanded transfer/wage budget, improve facilities, allow me to take coaching courses). Making and having money is all well and good but what's more important at these lower levels is what I'm allowed to do with the money.
My team takes a lot of shots which I like in the lower levels. Every shot is, basically, a lottery ticket. It forces the goalkeeper and defense to make a save and be in position to stop any rebounds or loose balls. If they aren't ready, our offense needs to be ready to pounce on the rebound. I'm not too concerned with pass completion percentage at this level because it's more of a physical "kick ball" style game. The games aren't pretty and you need to win ugly on occasion. I am concerned with our lack of aerial prowess. We aren't strong in the air and this could cost us points as the season goes on.
I do like that we have one strong player per "line." Scott Duxbury is the cream of the crop. The left back has one of most consistent players all season. He leads the team with five man of the match awards and has a whopping nine assists. He is also one of our best defenders. He wins 96% of his tackles, 81% of his headers and has two interceptions per game. A very good all around player. Right winger Jake Kirby is the top midfielder. He has scored five goals while adding five assists. He is one of the few players who I trust with making a risky pass to unlock the defense. As a result, he has one key pass per game. Matthew Warburton leads the team with 13 goals in 20 appearances. He is a volume shooter has he also leads the team with 3.56 shots per 90 minutes.
Finances are not an issue for the club. We have made money every month even in the month where we only had three league games. I can't wait to see what the board will let me do with this money (expanded transfer/wage budget, improve facilities, allow me to take coaching courses). Making and having money is all well and good but what's more important at these lower levels is what I'm allowed to do with the money.