There it hangs, carefully framed on my wall. My first ever Manager of the Month Award in my first ever year of coaching soccer at higher than the recreational U-14 level.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/crooktown.jpg

Of course, it didn't look that way when I took the job. But then again, even my getting hired was a bizarre story.

You see, I was initially hired by Wooton Basset Town, but I got fired the same day I accepted for looking a little too appreciatively at the chairman's daughter. So I applied to a few other Level 10 teams and Crook Town was it, because the board appreciated my "vast international travel experience and passion for managing". If that sounds like a strange reason to hire someone, maybe Wiki can clarify things a bit.


During the 1910s and 1920s Crook Town played F.C. Barcelona in a series of ten friendly games, beating them twice. This unlikely bond developed between the two clubs due to one of Crook Town’s most notable former players, Jack Greenwell. Greenwell later played for and managed Barcelona. After retiring as a player he enjoyed a successful career as a manager in both Spain and Peru. In 1913 Greenwall, while still a player, invited his former team out to Spain to play a series of three friendly games against FC Barcelona. Crook Town beat them 4-2 and then held them to 1-1 and 2-2 draws. In 1921 Town returned to Spain for a second tour and played Barcelona a further four times. This time they lost 5-1, 4-1 and 2-1 before drawing 1-1. In 1922 Town returned to Barcelona for a third time and played three more games losing 8-1, drawing 2-2 and winning 3-1.

Crook Town became the first English club side to tour India when they played six matches there, including a 0-1 loss to the Indian national side in ninety-degree temperatures. This match was watched by a crowd of 100,000.

So, essentially, the board wanted someone with internationalist experience, although the furthest I've gotten into Asia proper, if you don't count St. Petersburg and Moscow as I don't, is Turkey, which is itself questionable. But hey, I'll take it.

The Black and Ambers haven't had a lot of success, despite their glitzy sojourns abroad, especially for a club that's been around since 1889. In fact, Wiki paints a pretty dismal picture.


* FA Amateur Cup
o Winners 1900-01, 1953–54, 1958–59, 1961–62, 1963–64
* Northern League
o Champions 1914-15, 1926–27, 1952–53, 1958–59, 1962–63
o Runners-up 1924-25, 1946–47, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1963–64, 1964–65
o Division Two runners-up 1994-95
o League Cup winners 1937, 1946, 1961
o League Cup runners-up 1926, 1955, 1959, 1963
* Durham Challenge Cup
o Winners 1927, 1932, 1955, 1960
* Durham Benevolent Bowl
o Winners 1914, 1920, 1922, 1926, 1955
* Captain G. Wright Trophy
o Winners 1964, 1965


Furthest FA Cup venture? The third round, all the way back in 1931/32.

It's been grim so far this year too, as we lost in the qualifying round of the Durham Challenge Cup and in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase. Our lone cup win was in the first round of the Brooks Mileson Cup, where we smoked Sunderland Ryhope CA 4-1 for our biggest victory of the season to date.

On the bright side? We're 4-0-3 in Northern League Division 2 play and have been on a comparative tear since switching from a 5-3-2 to a 4-3-3 formation, after I realized the 5-3-2 wasn't generating nearly enough goals. We'll still keep the 5-3-2 in our pocket for tough matches.

I'm going to cheat and just post screenshots of the stats because I don't feel like typing a ton.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/goalkeep.jpg

Warren has been pretty absymal in Cup play, but he's been solid in league play, with 6 clean sheets to his credit. The 26 year old will probably stay there, unless he starts consistently sucking, but as of now, I see no real reason to upgrade. I'm just glad he doesn't punch. I hate punchy keepers.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/defense.jpg

Funny thing is, Lucas has terrible technical attributes, but he's got fantastic physical ones and he's saved our ass on the right side after injuries to Cooney and Rattle, the 33 year old I signed from Seaham on a free transfer and made team captain, despite my new, awesome assistant manager's recommendation otherwise. All in all, it's a unit that's been playing quite well together, and so far Rattle's the only guy I've brought in. I love the guy, by the way. Can play anywhere on defense or the midfield. That kind of versatility rocks.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/midfield.jpg

Dobson, 22, is my favorite signing so far. Terrific mental attributes, especially for this level, and although my AM thought he didn't deserve the vice-captaincy, Charlie's played fantastically after coming over from AFC Blackpool.

Hutton, who I snared from Northern League Division 1 Shildon, is probably our best all-around midfielder, and I still can't believe I got the 29 year old. Borley, 26, was a free agent signing, and he's meshed well with the rest of the guys. Yorath is the only Crook native (literally) to be a regular starter. Goes to show how much I overhauled what was the weakest unit on the team when I came in. Young overall, too, as only Borley and Hutton are over 22.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/strikers.jpg

Our weakest area by far. Moore has been okay for us since I snapped the 36 year old on a free, and he's so happy about getting the chance to be a regular starter again, I'm his favorite personnel. I expected big things out of 18 year old Main and still do, but he's not there yet. Andrews has been superb in Cup games, bad in league competition.

I'll keep trying to upgrade our striker situation, but it's not going to be easy. Nor will fighting to maintain our first place lead. We've 15 points, but the teams below us, Whitehaven and Brandon, have a game in hand on us and 13 points to boot.

My guess is I'll just do monthly updates. It slows things down too much for me to do game by game updates, which is why my previous FM dynasties all fizzled out.

October was far more dismal a month. We really looked off our game without Jon Rattle in back and went 2-2-1, never scoring more than a single goal in any of our victories. Okay, so that shouldn't be the fault of no Rattle, but there it is.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o395/Izulde08/novstandings.jpg

As expected, Whitehaven and Brandon have passed us up and Darlington RA could as well with their game in hand and impressive goal differential.

In terms of how the team's playing, we've seen a bit of a drop in quality for all three position groups, but particularly by the strikers, which is discouraging. Of course, it doesn't help that we lost David Borley, one of our best midfielders, to injury and will be without him for another two months.

We also lost Jon Rattle for good at the end of the month, as he signed a pay deal with Scarborough Athletic. Fair for him, as he gets money again and moves up to a Level 9 side. He hasn't played for his new team, but rest for the 33 year old is never a bad thing.

In his place, I've appointed relative newcomer striker Mark Lamb as the captain at my assistant manager's advice and took my own counsel in making our top midfielder, Jon Hutton, the vice-captain. Rattle just transferred as of November 1st, so we'll see how things go with the new regime. Maybe they improve on the pitch.

Newcomer Nick Potter is going to get his shot in midfield, replacing Iain Yorath next game and we may also experiment with yet more changes in the rotation up front.

November featured a drought of goals. We haven't scored 2 in a game since October 24th and we've dropped to 5th in the league, 7 points out of 1st. The good news is, we're at 27 points and 2nd place is 30 points, although Whitehaven, the #2 team, has a game in hand on us.

Our strikers continue to be awful, our defenders great, our midfield and goalie okay. Last month we brought in two new DRs to make up for the loss of Jon Rattle, a MC, a ST, and a DC. I have high hopes for Lee Tuck, a brilliant technique for this level (12) with good finish, again for this level (9). The 22 year old hasn't scored yet, but he has 2 assists in 3 games to his credit.

We lost 5-3 on PKs in the second round of the Earnest Armstrong Memorial Cup, but despite our cup failures this year, we continue to progress in the Brooks Mileson Cup, besting Hibburn 1-0 in the second round.

Our primary formation has become a 4-3-3 and it worked for a while, but we're struggling to scoe as I say, so maybe I should make changes. On to December and hopefully we can heat up this winter.