After a self imposed exile (University, work, marriage and honeymoon) I have continued with Blyth Spartans. We are looking for a fourth successive promotion into The Championship from League 1 and are currently 1st at the turn of the year into 2014.
The top 7 are separated by just 9 points. Blyth's cause was significantly aided by a fantastic domineering performance against promotion rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
Blyth tore the Owls apart from the start with 3 goals inside the first 15 minutes. Ismael Fofana opened the scoring after 2 minutes, loanee midfielder Matt Jordan then slammed the ball home from the D on 12 and Tom Eaves, the on-loan striker from Bolton brought his tally to 8 goals in 17 games with a deft header to cap a wonderfully crafted team move. The best goal of the game was saved until last, Ryan Donaldson, who executed an exquisite lob over the keeper from outside the box. completed the rout of the team lying second in the league. The only blot was a sloppy goal conceded in the last 5 minutes, but by then Blyth had taken the foot off the pedal.
The victory over Wednesday extended our unbeaten run to 9 games and with one defeat in 13 we are certainly looking forward to a home FA Cup third round game against runaway Championship leaders Fulham.
The squad is performing admirably, especially with the constant changes enforced by the busy Christmas period, injuries and that Andrew Milne and captain Rory Fallon have been away with New Zealand on Oceanic Cup duty for the whole of December. Special mention must however go to the centre backs Stewart Greacan, Carlos Garcia, Stephen Folan and Mustapha Traoré, who have had their average ratings increase to above 7 and contributed with some vital goals.
Experienced Frenchman Julien Brellier was added at the beginning of January, replacing compatriot Stéphane Marseille who was surplus to requirements.
Finally, I was offered the job of fellow League 1 team Coventry City. They had a decent squad and the chairman promised me transfer funds but the offer wasn't right. Although my basic wage of £575 p/w would be more than doubled, the wage budget was not much more than at Blyth I feel loyal to the Spartans and want to take them to the Premier League, and who knows, maybe even Europe!
2 comments:
Going well there mate, your side are performing well and hopefully that can continue and you can get promotion. Good luck!
Good luck! I'm still following your progress. I've started managing Arsenal now and it's a lot of fun being able to have a few million to spend rather than a few thousand! It's great to be able to develop youth players too without worrying too much about getting relegated as you already have some decent players in the first team.
Post a Comment