Blyth Spartans — Premier League January 2014

A new year is beginning in my Blyth Spartans Football Manager 2009 career… My Spartans were in 3rd place in the Premier League at the end of 2013, an unbelievable achievement for a poor newly promoted club. Obviously we had no more relegation concerns, our new goal was to grab an Europa League place.

Our battle began right on the 1st of January, we had an away game at 15th placed West Ham. We defeated them in the previous meeting, 1-0 at home in our debut game in the Premier League back in August. Everything was solved in the first 25 minutes, we took the lead a few minutes after the first whistle, West Ham scored the equalizer immediately and then we pushed them back and scored another two goals before half time. The win was in our bag, West Ham dominated the second half but we looked solid at the back.

Next up, the clash with Newcastle in the FA Cup 3rd round. My players desperately wanted to win this because the fans cared a lot about this game but maybe because of that pressure we were not able to convert our chances. We played very well but it looked like we were watching a «who misses the biggest chance» contest between Nicao and Pavlyuchenko, they missed some unbelievable opportunities. Newcastle were quite lucky to score twice and that was it, we lost a game that we deserved to win…

Anyway, getting knocked out from the FA Cup had also a good part to it, less games for my players and the possibility to focus on the Premier League matches. The transfer window was open and we were getting a lot of offers for my players. There was a bizarre offer for my young midfielder Mickey Wordsworth, 4.7 million euro from Fulham. The weird thing was that we just bought him from… Fulham, last summer!

Maybe it was just a strategy to unsettle the player before the Blyth — Fulham match… They were in 15th place and our last game finished 3-3, highly entertaining. This time we were playing at home and I hoped to win it. We had a good start, midfielder Linas Urbsys scored his first goal of the season with a furious shot from inside the penalty area. Cristian Suarez scored again from a free kick and we were looking great at the break. Fulham dominated the game in the second half but we were looking pretty calm in defense. That was until the 78th minute, a huge defensive error gave Gomis the chance to score and he didn’t miss. They scored again three minutes later and it was all square, all the work that we did until then vanished in only 3 minutes!

We had a good chance to get back to winning in the next game, away at 17th placed Birmingham. They were having a poor run of 8 games without a win and they surely remembered Nicao‘s five goals in their net back in August :) It looked different this time, Birmingham were very determined and they dominated the first half. We were lucky to be 1-0 up at the break. The last 45 minutes were a different story, we took control over the game and Nicao scored again in the 75th minute to make absolutely sure of the three points.

The last game of the month was a tough home encounter with Tottenham. They have been disappointing this season, they were only in 12th place, but they won the previous game against us 1-0 in September. We played very well this time, we dominated the whole 90 minutes but… it just wouldn’t get in! We created lots of chances, we even hit the crossbar in the 92nd minute… We were lucky in certain games so I guess it all evens out at some point.

Despite the not brilliant month that we had we were still in 3rd place! I guess we have a good chance to grab an Europa League place at the end of it but we have to play well and earn as much points as possible from the home games. The big teams will do their best to see us go down the table, I’m pretty sure about that.

The player that I’d like to single out after this month is young midfielder Mickey Wordsworth. He was very reliable for us in midfield, a constant performer and a hard working lad. He’s working hard in training too, his attributes are constantly growing. The only minus is that so far he didn’t manage to score his first goal for the club but I hope that he’ll do that too before the end of the season.

And now let’s get to the business side. As you know from the December update, there was a consortium that wanted to take over the club. Now the board enforced a transfer embargo until the takeover stuff would be resolved…

The piece of news that concerns me is that the investors seem to have their own favorite for the manager job, Paul Jewell. Rumors say that he will be named as manager of the Blyth Spartans after the takeover and I’ll get sacked :( Hm, that’s unfair, I brought this club from Blue Square North to the Premier League, didn’t I?

However, my board were obviously pleased with my performances and they were asking me to be patient. Well, I’m a patient guy, so I guess I’ll wait until they decide something about this takeover stuff.

I checked my job status and guess what it says… UNTOUCHABLE. If the new board will bring a new manager I guess they’ll have to face a riot in town! :)

I don’t know how all this takeover business will end but until then I’ll try to get as many points as possible to grab that Europa League place. If the new board will want to sack me… it will be their loss, I bet I’ll find a new job quickly. I’d feel bad about it though, what the Spartans are today is thanks to my work and it would be unfair to hand it to some other manager… We’ll see, stay tuned to find out!