| swimjim819 |
May 13, 12 at 4:15pm ^
Ladder of Success...2015-2016: Off and Running
|
|
Log in to remove this advertisement  Ladder of Success Kettering Town 11-12 I took over at a little known team, that quite frankly I've never heard of, Kettering Town FC. I decided the challenge of managing a team I've never heard of, especially a Blue Square Premier team, would be exciting. The one down side to this was the extreme lack of knowledge. Who the heck are these people?! And why do they suck so bad?! None the less, I'm already loving the team. There's something special about the club, it's supports and just the overall atmosphere of the place. Anyways, when I came in I immediately made some changes to the club. I was given something along the lines of 100,000 pounds transfer budget, but I decided to put it all into wages. This way I could sign quality players on Free's even with their silly wages.  As you can see I basically let go of the entire squad. Crazy, I know. I just thought it'd be better to have quality over quantity. I have enough wage budget to be able to put together a top notch, IMO, squad, with some fairly decent back ups. Here are a few of my highlights that I brought in.    The team took a bit to mold and really get it together but through 12 games aka about a 1/4 the season, we're sitting right in the thick of things. I'm a little disappointed in some of the ties and certainly the loss, but these things happen. We'll see how this grand old team turns out for me and my career.   Edit: Aug 06, 12 7:33pm | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| tangofanta |
May 14, 12 at 1:32am ^
re: Ladder of Success...2015-2016: Off and Running
|
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| Jabba Overkill |
May 14, 12 at 3:05am ^
re: Ladder of Success...2015-2016: Off and Running
|
|
-------------------  If the post above didn't make much sense... | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 14, 12 at 5:55pm ^
re: Ladder of Success...2015-2016: Off and Running
|
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 17, 12 at 10:09am ^
Ladder of Success...2011-2012 Part. 2
|
|
Ladder of Success 2011-12 Kettering Town: 16-9-3 A dominating run saw the team surge to the top of the table with signing Jamil Adam quickly becoming a determined leader among the team. He is always the first to practice, last to leave, and a very vocal individual. More often than not his post game talks make it easier for me to encourage the players. His influence has easily been the key factor in our unprecedented run we had going along with getting Omar Koroma back from injury has also been big for us. The two of them up top have combined for 45 of our 85 goals this year, Jamil with 30 in 28 games and Omar with 15 in 15 games.  Our loss to Swindon in the FA Cup was a let down. We dominated the first match, easily, but allowed them to score twice to bring it to level. The second game we were far more even but the cross bar must have been in heat because the ball was exceptionally attracted to it. An unlucky counter saw us let in the game winner there. Then the game against Stockport was horrible. We were heavy favorites, on a healthy unbeaten league run, and yet were dismantled. The entire game the team looked out of place, uncomfortable and quite frankly pathetic. Afterwards my Assistant Scott Barrett had to take me out of the locker room I was so irate.  Halfway through the season I am confident in our promotion chances. While we might not win outright, we will certainly be in the play offs to earn a spot up. I had strong players on loan like Leon Redwood, who have finished their short 3 month loans and as such we've had a few weaker players in our rotation, especially at the wingers. I've signed two fairly decent guys for the wingers that will hopefully provide good back ups so I don't go from a 5 star player to a 2 star player when I need to give the guys a breather. Hopefully the team will hold together. I've given them lots of time off from training since the majority of them are either at their potential or old so the training doesn't do much but tire them out since they're already match fit. I'm beginning to wonder if I should stick with this small club or contintue my original nomad idea... Edit: May 18, 12 1:36pm | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 18, 12 at 1:35pm ^
re: Ladder of Success...2015-2016: Off and Running
|
 Ladder of Success 2011-12 Kettering Town: 26-13-5                    The team continued their healthy run of games. Jamil Adams and Omar Koroma have carried the team in their goal scoring. I had a nice private meeting with Jamil to talk about the team and see if I could nudge him towards renewing his one year contract, it worked. I mean, who could turn down this face? Anyways, jobs have been dropping left and right through out the league and while I wasn't too worried I still decided a conversation with the board was best. To my surprise they offered me a new contract. I'm not entirely sure if I want a new one just yet, I'll keep that option open until the end of the season.  We ended up going 10-4-2 during this stretch overall. The team has started to mold together as a group and as such it's making my job easier and easier. A prime example is the post game talk after Luton Town spanked us all over town. I started my talk my consoling the men but after 15 seconds into the talk Jamil stood up and took over. He went off on the team, and to my surprise the team walked up even more motivated. Anyways, the 4th Round game against Mansfield irked my assisstant Scott Barrett and I. We were screaming up and down the pitch in the first match trying to get our team organized in a way that would get us to score but Mansfield played well above their normal level and held us to a draw. Having the second game just a few days later really hurt, our starters were all tired and we were right in the middle of a long congested stretch of games. Luckily some of our back ups really stepped in and we moved on to the semi's, exceeding the board's minimum expectations.  It had been a three team battle for the longest time between us, Fleetwood, and York. Fleetwood's head coach, Micky Mellon, was caught having a sex scandal. The off the field issues worked their way into the locker room and as such, they've slipped out of the race. York, on the other hand, has been surging the past few weeks and overtaken us as the top spot. The draws we have been getting against mid-table opponents have really set us back but I'm positive we have secured a play off spot. I'd like to be tops so I don't have to worry about the uncertainty of the play offs.  I smiled when I saw I was linked with Plymouth. I have no intention of going to Plymouth, but it gave me a big boost in confidence knowing that I was being linked with other job openings. My original hiring by Kettering Town was out of the blue considering I've never played higher than the occasional Sunday league participation. Clearly my staff and I have done a decent job at Kettering Town and have caught the eyes of some other teams. Hopefully this won't be the last. Two of my top 3 goal scorers are hurt and my old team is hurting, but we're hanging in. I'm hoping this will turn out well, but if not, that's alright. I was predicted as 12th so I'm exceeding everyone's expectations. I'm going on vacation so it may be a bit before I can update again. Do you guys think the badges are overkill or a nice touch? I can't decide if I should make em a little smaller... Edit: May 19, 12 4:12pm | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 19, 12 at 9:08pm ^
Ladder of Success...2011-12 DONE
|
|
Ladder of Success 2011-12 Kettering Town: 34-14-9  These last few games were the worst of the entire year. We needed to win or at least take away a point in every game but we failed to. All four of my Blue Square Premier losses should have easily been wins, but like always, out team fell apart when we were heavy favorites. Scott and I just don't understand it, we do everything the same every week with slight changes in formation depending on health issues and yet when we're heavy favorites we just crumble. We decided cockiness was the reasoning...or just flat out laziness during the matches. Either way we didn't like it. Anyways, going down 1-0 to Newport in the first leg of the FA Trophy Semis just straight stunk. In the second leg they scored in the 5th minute and our sold out stadium (as massive and intimindating as it is) we dead silent. I'll give our team credit though, they fought hard to bring it back to 2-2 on aggragate, but that wasn't enough. They had away goals and the team knew it. Our Captain Jamil Adam took it upon himself to put us through and score din the 87th minute putting us through. After the game the board sat me down and had a nice long talk that amounted to "Promotion is important, but you've gauranteed a playoff spot, rest some players and WIN THAT TROPHY". It came through loud and clear too.  After the Semis we were in a dead lock with Fleetwood and York for the top spot. With eight games left Fleetwood and us we tied for first with York one point behind. Luckily the losses to Alfreton and Tamworth and the tie to Gateshead only put us one back of York and three back of Fleetwood. Fleetwood and York both when one a tie/loss streak and we managed to take 12 out a possible 15 final points. We were two points ahead of Fleetwood heading into the last day and luckily we were playing the sub-par Cambridge and managed to finish five ahead of Fleetwood. I worked the guys hard for a week after that match before giving them some time off before the FA Trophy Final. It took a red card and missed penalty for Lincoln and a 118th minute Penalty by Omar Koroma for us to secure our first ever FA Trophy. In the 100+ years of football, we have never won the Trophy and the fans/board were beyond jubilant. I was almost at God status following that win.  Along with promotion we managed to win several accolades. I picked up the Manager of the Year which was a great joy for me. Then our Captain and corner stone of our campaign, Jamil Adam, picked up Top Goal Scorer and Player of the Season. Another good take away from the season that Scott pointed out was that of our Best 11 plus 7 subs, only one is not with the team. But as amazing as that is...I'm not sure this team is good enough for League 2, new faces are needed. That was a fantastic first season, but it's lower leagues. From what I understand it's really easy to dominate the lower leagues if you can sign the right guys on frees and have a decent squad already. I'm excited for League 2. I decided I'm gonna see exactly how far I can take Kettering, with the Championship being my overall goal for now I'm going to spend the off season updating my staff, training schedules, and looking for a feeder/parents club. | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 22, 12 at 10:18am ^
Ladder of Success...2012-2013 Preseason
|
|
Ladder of Success 2012-13: Preseason Kettering Town: 34-14-9                          The off season saw our team go through several monumental changes. The first change that took place was on the staff front. Following our dominating performance in the Blue Square Bet Premier the board called me into a meeting to discuss the upcoming season. Our success, and particularly the success in front of the goal Jamil had, earned us more recognition among the regional media. This recognition brought in two main things: money and more money. Our sponsorship with ID Medical was doubled from 9,000 a year to 18,000 a year. We also picked managed to triple our season ticket sales from 700 to 2100. These increases made my life loads easier, and at the same time harder. My assistant, Scott Barrett, has been ever reliable this past year for me and has the best knowledge of the team, these two things along with my respect for the man after the long nights at the beginning of last season earned him a renewal of his contract. He was the only person however, to earn a renewal form my previous staff. While I enjoyed my time with my previous crew, they quite frankly weren't good enough to produce the kind of training needed to develop League 2 and 1 caliber players. Luckily the board granted me extra spots for coaches so my coaches weren't over loaded, providing the very best training they could offer.  Once the staff had all been brought in and gotten up to speed it was time for yet another revamp of the team. I didn't really see us getting promoted that first year and as such I brought in players last season that were great for the Blue Square....but mediocre at best for the League 2. Scott, Malcolm, and I all sat down and went through the team. We had to decide who was staying and who was going. It wasn't easy but it had to be done. We ended up having to let go of our wingers and most of our center midfielders. Our strikers, according to all of our assestments were of the quality needed to play in League 2. With the exception of our strikers, one center back, and a midfielder, our entire team needed to be rebooted. In order to do this we needed new players...quality players...so I went to the board and asked for a parent club. Thank you God that they listened and we formed a partnership with Tottenham . I was thankful because it allowed us to loan out a few more quality reserve players from other Premier and Championship level teams. Hopefully we'll be able to bring these signings together into a winning team with most of them having a 5 star or 4.5 star rating. Danny Rose from our parent club Tottenham was easily our biggest signing with Larnell Cole from Manchester United being another huge loan. Loris Karius was the highlight of our free transfer signings, adding a solid keeper for our defense as our former keeper James Gilpin providing back up. As much as I hate demoting players to back up after putting forth such an effort last season, it's needed if we are to stay above relegation this season. I also tried hard to keep Kevin Betsy on the team as he was an extreme crowd favorite and I believed had the potential to keep a healthy rotation on the right side of the attack, but his wage demands were beyond ridiculous.     While I am not entirely sure how this season will turn out, especially with the new signings, I do know my expectations from the board are quite low. The board called me in yesterday to ask me what I believed my expectations were for this season. It killed me to set my sights on anything short of promotion but I really just wanted to survive the season and as such set my expectations at avoiding relegation. This idea of remaining above relegation looked promising following our preseason matches. I sat down with Scott before the season and decided that he would be handling the preseason this year. I wanted him to bolster his knowledge of the team and to get some reps under his belt at the helm. While he was in charge we started off strong, got stronger, then got demolished by Swansea. Looking at the preseason friendly reports I was excited and troubled at the same time. Lets start with the disappointment. Scott decided to keep a healthy rotation going on in the preseason to see who was living up to expectations and who wasn't, which is fine by me. The only problem with this is we're a week out from the start of the season and half of my starting 11 aren't all fully fit. The positives I took out of it though was the plethora of scorers. Even though it was weaker opponents I liked seeing others finding the net, seems promising for the season. We're going to need as many scorers as possible if we're going to stay afloat this season.  | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 23, 12 at 3:02pm ^
Ladder of Success...2012-2013 Underdogs Dominate?
|
|
Ladder of Success 2012-13: Underdogs Dominate Kettering Town: 50-17-12 We started off low, and never looked back. After our opening day loss to Tranmere people were already writing us off. The press were saying "the step from the baby league of the Blue Square to the big boys of the League 2 may very well prove to be too big for Roddenbery and his Kettering Town side". Boy were they wrong. After that game, several of our veterans including Omar Koroma, Jamil Adam, and Quinton Fortune stepped in. After calling a private players meeting that I am unaware of what was said, there was a different air among the players. They seemed more confident, harder working, and more determined. This was evident in their shocking (even to me) upset of Championship level team Nottem Forest. While we would get knocked out in the next round by West Brom, I was still ecstatic in the upset. The board and fans loved it as well which is all that matters since they are paying the bill.  We've had a hell of a run going in our League 2 games to start this season. We lost to Tranmere 2-1 and after that went on a crazy scoring run. We went through 12 games from August 15th to October 6th averaging 2.25 goals a game and holding a +20 goal difference. Scoring wasn't a problem what so ever. The only draw back to this was the competition. We had been playing the lower half of the table the first part of the season. Against the teams currently in the hunt for promotion we were a measly 1-1-2. Luckily we've racked up the points and are in the hunt for automatic promotion if not a playoff spot before we get to the difficult portion of our schedule. The coaching staff was a little upset with our team's performance in the Southend game. With the extreme congestion of matches we couldn't afford to go to extra time and get that tired. We were also upset with our inability to finish against the weaker Hinckley, there is absolutely not reason to be tying such opponents.  The players I've brought in on loan have really been the difference. Blair Turgott and Filip Pivkovski have been monsters in front of the goal along with Jamil, Omar and Quinton. Jamil got hurt half way through this stretch and is still out. It hurts not having him up front bu Omar and Filip have really picked up the slack. Danny Rose from our parent club Tottenham has been outstanding. We've had him rotating between Left Back and Left Winger. He's preformed admirably at both. Our attacking half has been on a steady rotation in order to get plenty of people reps, keep people healthy, and test things out. Because of this, we haven't had that super striker like Jamil was last year. Rose, Pivkovski, and Turgott's loans have all ended and due to our training facilities being less than their current club's they spurned another loan spell. I can understand that as I brought them in on a very selfish motive. I knew I'd in no way be able to make them better players as they far exceed our club's abilities but they certainly made us look better and get some quality runs in. Hopefully our current team will hold up for the remainder of the season when we can let go some of our weaker players and bring in some quality youngsters to build.  We're holding in there great. Don't be surprised with the results, we're playing hardcore weaker opponents and my loan in players are getting like 8.00+ ratings and they're gone. Hopefully we'll get into a playoff spot, it not that's ok as well, I just like how we're doing. | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| Alan Cartridge |
May 24, 12 at 1:52pm ^
re: Ladder of Success...2015-2016: Off and Running
|
|
Love the layout of this.
 | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 24, 12 at 4:47pm ^
re: Ladder of Success...2015-2016: Off and Running
|
quote Alan Cartridgeappreciate it mate! | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 25, 12 at 8:52am ^
Ladder of Success...2012-2013 We Get Knocked Down
|
|
Ladder of Success 2012-13: We Get Knocked Down, We Get Back Up Again Kettering Town: 60-24-17 Our oldness finally caught up with us. After a hard fought and dominating first portion of the season, we just got tired. Scott first brought it to my attention before our first game with Hinkley and that depressing draw opened my eyes to it. Despite giving the guys a lighter work load and allowing some of the older guys rest, they didn't quite handle it too well. Our starters got tired and our back ups weren't quite up to par. Because of this we went 2-4-5 in our first 11 games after the Hinkley draw. One of those losses was a demoralizing dismantling by Scunthorpe in the FA Cup 2nd round. Even though they were heavy heavy favorites, it still crushed our morale when everyone played bad and lost. We finally managed to get back on track with a 2-0 win against Yeovil and got back to our winning ways, getting 27 out of a possible 33 points in our final 11 games of this part of the season.  We are sitting at in first by a point with a game in hand, not a bad place to be at when you were originally picked to be relegated back down to the league you came from. Once we play that game in hand, we will only have 9 games remaining in the season, unless we are forced into playoffs. During one of our weekly backroom meetings, Scott sat down and figured everything out and told me that if we can take away 7 of our last 30 points we will guarentee a playoff spot. So we're feeling pretty good about our playoff chances, but at this point we all agreed that is not our goal. We want automatic promotion. We want to reputation boost we get with an automatic bid and with winning the league. And by God, we're going to make it happen!  Our guys have been playing great. With the tiredness of our squad we've had several people rotating through our starting 11. Our center backs have been fairly consistent with Maximilian Haas and Martin Camano anchoring us. The only reason they've missed games has been for slight injury or suspension. I have been very impressed with their defending capabilities. Jamil Adam and Omar Koroma have continued their scoring ways. Surprisingly though, Omar is our top scorer this year so far. Jamil ran away with it last year but after his injury he has struggled to get into a healthy rhythm scoring only 16 in 33 appearances, while Omar has been on fire scoring 19 in 27 appearances.  I keep getting linked with weaker League 2 jobs, which is annoying because if I'm going to leave Kettering Town (which I have grown quite fond of) it's going to be for a Prem, Championship or upper foreign league team. Also the news is going crazy saying that I could leave Kettering Town for some unknown reason. Gillingham Wimbledon Plymouth  Well we had a rough patch through there but holding a team meeting (which are hit or miss really) and rest players finally got us back on track. I love these lower leagues, they're easy to find quality players for for cheap. | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| ho1mesy2011 |
May 25, 12 at 9:01am ^
re: Ladder of Success...2015-2016: Off and Running
|
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 25, 12 at 10:40pm ^
Ladder of Success...2012-2013 Sometimes the Sequels are Better
|
|
Ladder of Success 2012-13: Sometimes the Sequels are Better Kettering Town: 64-27-20 Our guys sure do know how to make it exciting. After being a point ahead with a game in hand and only ten games left, we manage to go a pathetic 4-3-3. The team was so demoralized after our 2-3 loss to Torquay, that I had to call an extra team meeting. Jamil Adam, Quinton Fortune, and I all chimed in with some positive comments that seemed to really boost the morale. And we had turned a corner after the 2-1 comeback win at home against Lincoln. After doing 0-2-3 in our last five games we turned it around and went 4-1-0 our next five games. The extreme +12 goal difference in our final five games was extremely important as well.  Scott said it best when he said, "they just needed something to work for". After the 0-3 embarrassment of a game against Southend, we gave up the top spot to Leyton Orient and fell into second by a point. Then the following match when we lost to Torquay we went down 4 points with only five matches left and Leyton Orient were playing fantastic football. Luckily for us we managed to close the gap when they were demolished at home by Bury when we tied Port Vale. We still needed to win out and them lose a game to have a share though, luckily that came on the second to last match. We sounded beat Accrington 5-0 while they were upset on the road to Northampton 3-0. It came down to the last day, we were tied at the top but we held a hefty +8 goal differential advantage so if we won, the crown was ours, and win we did.   Our guys played great this campaign. Our staff was a little disappointed that Omar just missed out on a share of the scoring title by 1 goal but it was still a break out year for him. Omar and Jamil were stellar in front of the goal after Filip ended his loan spell. I was also impressed by Obika whenever he came on during one of Jamil or Omar's injury spells. The depth really showed towards the end of the year when the older players like Quinton would get tired faster during the games. That was to be expected and something I plan on addressing this off-season. All in all our team performed well all across the board.  Following our victory my secretary informed me that I was linked to two job openings. One was with the League 1 bound (via relegation) Bournemouth and the other was League 2 bound (also via relegation) Bradford. The Bradford link never materialized but Bournemouth did offer me a fairly lucrative contract, which I turned down. My love for Kettering Town has grown to the point that I want to see it become a leading English club, which I came 1 step closer to when I signed my new two year contract. Bournemouth Bradford Bournemouth Offer  Hell of a year huh? Two promotions and two crowns in the first two years....now the easy shit is done though. There was a baby step from Blue Square to League 2, but there is a big kid step from League 2 to League 1, a stride from League 1 to Championship and a full on leap from Championship to Premier League. I'm excited for the off season to look at the new regens slowly starting to pop up, maybe I'll be able to snag one or two of em to build. I need to upgrade but what should it be? Youth facilities or training facilities? | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| swimjim819 |
May 25, 12 at 11:04pm ^
re: Ladder of Success...2015-2016: Off and Running
|
|
Another little tid bit that probably won't fit on my preseason post but is happening in mid june is that my president just announced he wants to step aside....uhhh WTF?! we just won two promotions....why is he leaving now and especially since there hasn't been anything about this....atleast that I picked up on
 | |
| quote quick quote edit quick edit del posts in thread report | |
| [All dates in (PST) time] | Threads List « Next Newest Next Oldest » |
