Career Unknown and unemployed (Truro - 18/19)

[johnloch]

This is my first ever attempt for a FMM career story. I'll try to keep it short and simple, perhaps a bit dull, but still want to record my serious LLM story.

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I decided to start the game as a nobody with no job in the football world (with English, German, Italian and Spanish leagues chosen, all down to the lowest possible tier). This should mount a real challenge.

As expected, most of the clubs are not bother to give a sh** to an unknown figure, so what I can do was to keep sending out job applications to all kinds of vacanies. I have no club preference, so whoever makes an offer first will get me in.

The wait was finally over in mid-January 2018...

 

Edited December 3, 2017 by johnloch

[johnloch]

I landed my first managerial job as the new man of Truro, an English Conference League South club (i.e. the 6th tier) which was ranked 20 out of 22 at approximately middle of the season. That means my task obviously is trying to stay up and at the same time improving the squad to the best I can.

Really tough, isn’t it?

[BatiGoal]

Nice logo. goodluck! 

[JohnWeulfoe]

Good luck! 

I hope board will be happy with your effort and Truro will get promotion next season.

[johnloch]

According to the team report, we’ve some MFs and FWs with good passing and technical skills, but are quite weak to operate both sides, so a modified 442 with an emphasis in the middle was adopted. Another weakness is our two GKs, which are of bench player quality at most. 

Edited November 23, 2017 by johnloch

[johnloch]

Based on the current assessment of our squad, we definitely need some new faces. My first signing is veteran striker Sylvan Eubanks-Blake, who was brought in for free. His pure quality should help us a lot and it is really a big bargain for a struggling side like us. 

[ManLikeRobbieBrady]

Following! Excited for more mate! 

[FuddledFox]

Good luck mate. Looks like you have been thrown in at the deep end with Truro.

[craigibhoy]

Good luck, will sure follow this.

[Ares_2]

Good luck and Ebanks-Blake is a good pick.

[MasonT827]

Good luck mate!

[johnloch]

Look at our depth chart after the arrival of Ebanks-Blake. All positions are in red except a few centre midfielders and attackers can be claimed as up to the league standard. 

Edited November 24, 2017 by johnloch

[johnloch]

Apart from Ebanks-Blake, here are three current members that we need to be relied on for the time being. Tyler Harvey has the abilities to carry our final third, whilst Ben Harding and River Allen can form a decent defensive duo in the middle of the field. 

[johnloch]

Now it’s time for my debut match, a visit to Whitehawk. Given the quality of my boys, we decided to play plain vanilla football: keep our defensive line damn deep and try to launch counter attacks by direct passing in the middle. That seems work and thanks to the two late goals by Harvey, we clinched a 3-2 away victory, but one win is not enough to move us up. We're still at the 20th.

Still a long haul...

Edited November 24, 2017 by johnloch

[johnloch]

As a financially-challenged club, getting in players on loan is a way to survive. So GK Sam Hornby has joined from Port Vale on a season-long loan. Not a fancy player, but he’s still a better choice over our strongest GK Tom McHale, who had conceded 45 goals in 31 games. 

[johnloch]

Here comes the second loanee since my reign - DF Danny Rowe from York. He’ll be deployed as our starting right-back straight away.

Edited November 24, 2017 by johnloch

[Aaron55]

That squad depth! Good luck! 

[johnloch]

27 minutes ago, Aaron55 said:

That squad depth! Good luck! 

Thanks. You can see why we don’t play any wingers. 

[johnloch]

An 1-1 draw against Havant & W wrapped up the month of January 2018. Tyler Harvey once again performed well to secure a point for us. 

[johnloch]

First thing in February 2018: signed a 17- year old midfielder Callum Hulme from Bury on loan. Hulme is a creative and speedy winger-type player. This addition allows us to play a more traditional 4-4-2 when needed. 

[johnloch]

There’s no such thing as “too many good players”, so former Man City youngster Alex Nimely was brought in as a free agent. On face value he surely is a top quality striker to the current league level. Planned to pair him up with Ebanks-Blake at the top and move Tyler Harvey to a more supportive role just behind them. 

[ManLikeRobbieBrady]

Nice signings, now let's see if they perform 

[johnloch]

As we now has the luxury of playing an offensive game, I’m going to try a more aggressive formation of 3-4-1-2 along with a more balanced mentality. My boys are also allowed to play in a more expressive ways as a push for creating goals. 

Fingers crossed. 

[johnloch]

A late goal by Bognor Regis ruined our hope for a point. The good side is our new offensive system looks well. Will keep this for a while to see if really suits us. 

Another good thing is we have moved to the 19th despite the loss. 

 

Edited November 24, 2017 by johnloch

[johnloch]

As we’re quite thin at the right-back position, another loanee Leon Lobjoit was added to our squad. 

Edited November 24, 2017 by johnloch

[johnloch]

Another unlucky defeat. Our defenders need to be more cautious as five PKs were awarded against us in the last two games. 

[johnloch]

Two more players were added to the squad. Experienced GK Lee Robinson came in on free to take over Hornby’s starting place as he had dropped eight goals in three matches. Another loanee Joe Adams is also from Bury. The 16-year old winger will take charge of the attacking channel on the right. 

Edited November 25, 2017 by johnloch

[johnloch]

A well display by the team over Oxford City. New signing Lee Robinson had an excellent match between the goal posts. Our frontline duo each scored once in front of the home crowd. 

[johnloch]

We finished off February 2018 with another league win, which lifted us to the 18th. Striker Ebanks-Blake’s six goals in six games warrants him the Player of the Month award. 

[johnloch]

From now on I tend to give a monthly update so as to make this career story short and neat, unless something is so important or interesting which worths to be shared separately.