First of all, something funny. I have a 36 year old player, a defender, called Paul Butler. His attributes weren’t impressive, so I decided to sell him. I offered him to clubs for free, but no club wanted to get him, not even for free. I wondered why, and I finally found out. He is 1.83 meters high and has an impressive weight of… 93 kilograms! No wonder nobody wanted to buy him as a football player, maybe he has more chances as a boxer!

And another interesting fact from the last season. The quickest goal, less than 30 seconds from the first whistle!

Now let me show you some serious stats. The stats that can explain the miraculous Chester promotion. 

• My right midfielder, Mustapha Hadji, had the most assists in the whole league, 14.
• John Chester, the centre back that I loaned from Manchester United, had the highest average rating in the league, 7.40
• My team has scored 20 goals from corners and 9 goals from indirect free kicks. (I’ll explain the strategy in another post)
• My left midfielder, Ignacio Benitez, had the most completed dribbles in the league, 4.92 per game. And he ran an average of 10.4 km per game!
• Last but not least, my two central midfielders, the heart and lungs of the team: Sam Hewson and Rodrigo Possebon, both loaned from Man Utd. They had the best pass completion percentage in the whole league, 82%. 

And the last fact: we had an average attendance of… 3,765 spectators Our stadium can host 6,000 people, but only around 3,000 on seats. I hope to change that someday…

In the next post I’ll reveal the tactics that I used to make the Chester miracle! Don’t miss it

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The first game in 2009 was the third round F.A. Cup match against Liverpool. We lost it 2-0 at Anfield Road after an entertaining game in which we had a couple of chances. The bad thing was that after this game both my main strikers, Almerares and Brajic, were injured.

That resulted into a string of matches in which we missed a lot of chances. The last one was away at Aldershot, an incredible defeat after a game that we controlled from start to finish.

But that couldn’t last… After that game we managed to record a string of 8 games without defeat, with 6 wins and 2 draws. We still were on the first place, with Port Vale a few points behind.

At the beginning of 2009 we also had the final of the Johnstone’s Trophy North, two legs against Leeds United, a League One team. We lost the first leg away 2-1. The second leg was a dramatic encounter: we led 2-0 but they managed to score in the 90th minute. The match went to penalties and we won!

The winner of the South section was Southend, also a league one team. With a lot of players injured and tired from the league matches we lost the final 2-0. But we were doing quite well in League Two. With 10 games to go we were on the first place, with Port Vale 2 points behind us. And the next match was at home against… Port Vale. The game was a delight for me, my players simply gave them no chance: 3-1 and the promotion was closer than ever.

The good results made the media speculate that I wouldn’t sign a new deal with Chester at the end of the season (my contract was only for one year, so it was going to expire in June).

We were still on the top spot with six games to go, and we had secured a play-off place. But I was sure that we will obtain the direct promotion. And we did that with three games to play until the end of the championship. The fans, the board and the club icons were deliriously happy

I was happy too. The media were saying that I was the main candidate for the Peterborough manager job, in League One. The Chester board offered me a new three year contract for 98,000 euro per year. I accepted immediately We won League Two with 96 points and 100 goals scored! Great!

Check out the next post for some interesting stats from our incredible season!

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The first League Two game was a success, a 4-1 home victory against Gillingham. That game really made me believe that we were destined for more than a mid-table position.

We were knocked out quickly from the Carling Cup, as we met Newcastle in the second round. We only lost 1-0 to them though

The seventh League Two game was something miraculous for Chester City: a 6-0 away win at Notts County! We were on the 3rd place!

Right now we are on the 28th of December after 23 games in League Two and we are on the… top spot on the table! First place after 23 matches! Unbelievable!

Now let me introduce you the players that made this incredible achievement:

Goalkeeper

Daniel Rosza, Hungarian, 24 years old, bought him for 2,000 euro from the Hungarian second league. His average rating in 23 league games was 7.09. Not bad at all.

Right Back

Karim Robin, French, 24 years old, signed him for free. He is left footed but I use him on the right side because I don’t have any better right backs… He played 22 league games, one assist, 7.09 average rating.

Left Back

Nicolas Flegeau, French, 23 years old, signed him for free. The highest point in his career so far was a season in the French second league. But he did well for me. Played 21 league games, scored one goal, three assists, 2 Man Of The Match awards and an average rating of 7.06.

Centre Backs

Krzysztof Strugarek, Polish, 21 years old, bought him for 10,000 euro from a small lower league Polish team. He definitely didn’t make me regret spending 10K on him. Played in all the 23 league matches, 6 assists and an average rating of 7.12. He can also play as a left back and he takes all the offensive set pieces on the right side of the pitch (he is left footed).

James Chester, 19 years old, loaned from my parent club, Manchester United. I hope to buy him at the end of the season. His stats are impressive: he played 22 league games, scored 8 goals (headers from corners and free kicks), 5 MoM awards and a staggering 7.34 average rating. He was a very important player for the team.

Right Midfielder

Mustapha Hadji, legendary Moroccan player, 37 years old, signed for free. He played 16 league games, scored 2 goals, 5 assists, 1 MoM award and had an average rating of 7.09. He gets tired pretty quickly, so he can’t play more than 45 – 60 minutes, but when he plays he really can make a difference.

Left Midfielder

Ignacio Benitez, 29 years old, Spanish, signed for free. He played in the Spanish La Liga for Recreativo a few years back. To be honest I expected more from him. He played 23 league games, scored 1 goal, 4 assists, 1 MoM award and an average rating of 6.94. I hope he’ll play better in the second half of the championship.

Central Midfielders

Sam Hewson, English, 20 years old, on loan from Manchester United. He played in all the 23 league games, scored 3 goals, 2 assists and an average rating of 6.92. He can do a lot more than this, I’m sure he’ll grow into a good player in a few years.

Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian, 19 years old, on loan from Manchester United. He played 22 league games, scored 4 goals, 3 assists and an average rating of 7.09. A talented palyer.

Strikers

Rok Brajic, Slovenian, 23 years old, bought for 6,000 euro from a small team in the Slovenian second league. He played 16 league games, scored 5 goals, 4 assists, 1 MoM award and an average rating of 6.82. Quite injury prone and wasteful striker, but he’s good enough at this level.

Federico Almerares, Argentinian/Italian, 23 years old, bought for 4,000 euro from Basel. He grew up at River Plate and he is my star player He played 18 league games, scored 11 goals, 5 assists, 2 MoM awards and a 7.02 average rating. He is crucial for my team but unfortunately he spent 2 months injured.

I told you that I was knocked out from the Carling Cup, but I’m still in the F.A. Cup and in the Johnstone’s Trophy. In the F.A. Cup I managed to get to the 3rd round, but my next match will be a chilling encounter against Liverpool on the Anfield Road stadium. I hope they will have mercy on our souls. 

The Johnstone’s Tropy is a different story, the best teams here are those from League One. It’s divided into 2 sections, North and South, and our Chester City managed to get to the North final! We will meet Leeds United in the final game and if we win we will play the winner from the South section. 

But the league is the most important. There are 23 games to go and if we want to get promoted directly we have to finish on one of the first three spots. Places 4 to 7 will qualify for the play-off. I really hope we will be able to keep up the pace and win promotion. I’ll be scouting for some bargain buys in January to strengthen the squad. Wish me luck

And check out the next post to find out how the second half of the season went for my Chester!

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The friendlies though left a pretty good impression on the fans. We played 7 games, 1 win (against MK Dons), 3 draws (Rushden, Wrexham, Sheff Wed), 3 losses (Portsmouth Reserves, Arsenal Reserves, Coventry). The people were very enthusiastic after the MK Dons victory.

I really don’t know what to expect from the upcoming season. I signed 15 players and sold 10, so I can say that I changed almost entirely the first team squad. I’m quite happy with the players I signed though. The best one is Federico Almerares, a 23 year old striker, Italian and Argentinian, bought from Basel for 4,000 euro. He’s a quick mercyless striker, I hope he will score a lot of goals for me. He played for River Plate and Basel in his career.

Another important signing is Mustapha Hadji, legendary player from Morocco, 63 caps and 13 goals for his nation. He is 36 but I think I can still use his abilities for a season or two at this level. Overall I spent 25,000 euro and reveived 59,000. That’s pretty good. Maybe the best thing was that Manchester United accepted to be our parent club, so Sir Alex gave me three good young players on loan: James Chester, Sam Hewson, Rodrigo Possebon.

I’m going to use a 4-4-2 tactic, which you will see explained and detailed in my next post, after reaching half season. Cheers.

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The board expects a peaceful mid-table place, I’m hoping for a top half finish.

It’s going to be pretty difficult, as the media predict we will finish… 21st!

We’ll see how it will go. I’ll come back and post after pre-season will be over. Keep in touch.

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