Sunday League to Champions League

[Jordan Street]

My Challenge:

Starting as an unemployed Sunday League footballer in the hope of one day lifting the greatest trophy of all, the Champions League!

The job will probably end up being a Blue Square Bet North/South job, hopefully a decent team with a decent structure in place!

I guess I'll just keep applying for jobs and see what I can land,
wish me luck and I hope you follow!

[Jordan Street]

I started off my job hunt somewhat cheekily, by applying for the Blackburn, AFC Wimbledon, and AFC Bournemouth jobs in the hope of getting lucky!

However as expected, all three jobs rejected me and chose a more experienced manager instead



I'll ​now be much more realistic and apply for some non-league jobs in the hope of taking the reigns before the start of the season!

[Jordan Street]

And then, to my surprise, I was approached by Blue Square Bet South team Havant and Waterlooville!



They offered me a mere £500 a week on a one-year contract, and expected me to guide them to a comfortable mid-table finish.

I accepted the job somewhat reluctantly, and got to work by looking to get rid of the dead wood at the club.

Club History


Havant & Waterlooville were formed not so long ago in 1998 and are based in the Blue Square South. They are nicknamed The Hawks and they play their home games at West Leigh Park Stadium, which has a capacity of 5,250.

In their 14 year history, their best moment without doubt came in the 2007-2008 FA Cup when they made it all the way to the fourth round and a tie against Premier League Giants against Liverpool FC beckoned. They twice lead Liverpool but sadly went on to lose the game 5-2.

Honours


The club have no honours to their name as of yet, with the fourth round FA Cup tie against Liverpool being the proudest moment in their history. They have finished third on one occasion in the Blue Square South, as well as reaching the Semi-Final of the FA Trophy back in 2003.

Pre-season results and transfers will follow shortly!

[LufcAnt]

following this story, goodluck with it. be tough sticking with havant to the champs league then?

[Jordan Street]

Possibly, depends on what job offers I get and how much money the board give me!

[Jordan Street]

Pre-Season Results


Abingdon United (Away) Won 4-1

Wealdstone (Away) Won 2-0

Barnet (Home) Lost 2-0

Portsmouth (Home) Drew 1-1



We had an average pre-season, with a 1-1 draw against League One side Portsmouth the highlight, the lack of goals against decent sides such as Barnet and Pompey is rather worrying, looks like I'll have to get in the market for a striker!

Best Player:

I've identified central midfielder Steve Ramsey as the best player at the club, his versatility is also going to be valuable for us during times when we have a few players out injured.



Transfers

I let a few players who offered very little go on free transfers to free up some wages to bring in better players. I managed to free up £1,500 a week which is decent at this level.

Players in:

I've decided to give the current squad a chance to show me what they can do before I look outside. However the club needs a decent striker and centre-back, so I've brought in a couple of youngsters.16-year old centre-back Chris Coe has joined the club on a free with wages of £5 a week. An absolute bargain! He has 5* potential and the scout report says he can become a leading NPower League Two centre-back in the future!



I also brought in 17-year old striker Sam Wilson on a pay as you play deal, he also has the potential to making a career in the NPower League Two.



I've also brought in a few staff members who are on £0 a week, including two scouts and two coaches.

The next update will contain our results from August, wish me luck!

[Jordan Street]

August

We had a very mixed bag of results in August:

Chelmsford (Home) Lost 2-1

The away team played us off the park, Chelmsford took the lead early on, we equalised through a corner just before halftime with Ramsey heading home, however we couldn't hang on for the draw.

Truro (Away) Won 2-1

We played much better in our first away game of the season, this time we took an early lead with Scott Jones latching on to a through ball before lashing home. Truro equalised shortly after but we continued to press on and forced an own goal mid-way through the second half.

Bath (Away) Drew 0-0

A dull 0-0 away from home. From the opening three games it seems that defending is our strong point, Ed Harris at right-back put in a MotM performance.

Eastleigh (Home) Won 2-1

We closed August with a hard fought victory at home to Eastleigh, both new signings made their debuts in this match, with Wilson scoring his first goal for the club against the side that let him leave on a free! Jimmy Rodgers scored the other goal for us in this match.



League Table



We sit a comfortable 8th in the table after the first four games, we find ourselves three points behind leaders Farnborough but there is still an awful lot of football to be played!

Player of the month

22-year old Steve Ramsey put in four decent performances for us, he scored one goal and got himself one assist from three starts.



So far the football we are playing is less like Barcelona and more like Stoke! At the moment the results are all that matters and the tiki-taka football will come eventually!

[LufcAnt]

looking good so far, keep it up.