JJH
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2015
- Messages
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- Location
- Bristol
- Supports
- Bristol City
Sadly, my successful tenure at Barnet came to an abrupt end last Summer.
I got back to back to back Promotions as I previously stated from the tinpot minnows of the Conference, to the Championship - but I found that I did too much in too short a period of time.
I got to the Summer, and got given a budget of like 200k, which didn't come as a massive shock to me, and the fact that I'd had all my success over the 3 years at Barnet with only spending a total of £10k in Transfer Fee's, I wasn't really phased at all.
So - I put all the money into the wage budget, and out I went looking for free transfers and Loans. I had just released a lot of the players that I had that got me out of the Conference, and were no longer at the right level for the club, so I was down to a 13 man squad. I went for some top end L1 quality, Daniel Johnson and Nathan Byrne the main ones - both been released from their clubs on free transfers, so in I went, offered a contract, bit expensive but that's to be expected in the Championship, and I found myself getting turned down for clubs in the lower division. Notably, Daniel Johnson went to fucking Colchester, and Nathan Byrne went to Portsmouth. I did manage to get a few in - but no to quality I would like, Shola Ameobi who was about 867 years old in game, Uche Ikpeazu on loan from Watford, Kasey Palmer on loan from Chelsea, and Louis Thompson on a free transfer, who I had on loan for 2 seasons anyway. I had a squad of about 17 players, and a few of them were players that I used in the Conference or L2.. So - I bottled it. I quit, resigned, whatever you want to call it.
Kevin Blackwell took over, and unsurprisingly signed NO-ONE, and just bulked up the squad with many U18's. Unsurprisingly, they sit bottom of the Championship, but they're giving it a bloody good go.
As for my career path - Southampton came calling. Bottom of the PL after just sacking Billy Davies, 11 played, 1 win, 1 draw and 9 losses, and only 14 players fit/available, and two of the 3 I had on the bench were GK's.
Remarkably, I have played 4 games, Won 2, Drawn 1 and Lost 1. I cut the points gap from 6 points to 1, and look to be well on my way to staying up. I have key players like Mane and Tadic slowly returning from injury, which can only be a boost. I have a shite budget of 4m, but I'm going to have a firesale if I stay up, and re-invent the squad and make it my own.
I got back to back to back Promotions as I previously stated from the tinpot minnows of the Conference, to the Championship - but I found that I did too much in too short a period of time.
I got to the Summer, and got given a budget of like 200k, which didn't come as a massive shock to me, and the fact that I'd had all my success over the 3 years at Barnet with only spending a total of £10k in Transfer Fee's, I wasn't really phased at all.
So - I put all the money into the wage budget, and out I went looking for free transfers and Loans. I had just released a lot of the players that I had that got me out of the Conference, and were no longer at the right level for the club, so I was down to a 13 man squad. I went for some top end L1 quality, Daniel Johnson and Nathan Byrne the main ones - both been released from their clubs on free transfers, so in I went, offered a contract, bit expensive but that's to be expected in the Championship, and I found myself getting turned down for clubs in the lower division. Notably, Daniel Johnson went to fucking Colchester, and Nathan Byrne went to Portsmouth. I did manage to get a few in - but no to quality I would like, Shola Ameobi who was about 867 years old in game, Uche Ikpeazu on loan from Watford, Kasey Palmer on loan from Chelsea, and Louis Thompson on a free transfer, who I had on loan for 2 seasons anyway. I had a squad of about 17 players, and a few of them were players that I used in the Conference or L2.. So - I bottled it. I quit, resigned, whatever you want to call it.
Kevin Blackwell took over, and unsurprisingly signed NO-ONE, and just bulked up the squad with many U18's. Unsurprisingly, they sit bottom of the Championship, but they're giving it a bloody good go.
As for my career path - Southampton came calling. Bottom of the PL after just sacking Billy Davies, 11 played, 1 win, 1 draw and 9 losses, and only 14 players fit/available, and two of the 3 I had on the bench were GK's.
Remarkably, I have played 4 games, Won 2, Drawn 1 and Lost 1. I cut the points gap from 6 points to 1, and look to be well on my way to staying up. I have key players like Mane and Tadic slowly returning from injury, which can only be a boost. I have a shite budget of 4m, but I'm going to have a firesale if I stay up, and re-invent the squad and make it my own.
- but with a £1.6m transfer budget, which I guess will be going into wages now. Encountering fairly run-of-the-mill Champ players wanting 6k-7k a week. Welp. I think I'll just aim for players with average current ability but good potential, give them a year in the first team to improve, scrape survival and put myself in a better position next season...that's the aim anyway.
