Stockport County F.C. - Application

Dear Ms Gibbons,

I'd like to offer my application for the currently vacant managerial position at Stockport County F.C.

Experience

Currently have no actual managerial experience outside of the realm of Championship Manager 01-02. But am confident that the skills I have acquired from this computer game will translate into the real world.

As a demonstration of my skills I have played the entire 2010-11 season with Stockport County F.C. and following is the detail of how I got on:

Board Expectations:

So, somewhere in the top half of League 2. Sounds a bit conservative, I’m going to push for the playoffs at least & a return to League 1.

Backroom staff:

I arrived with an Assistant Manager (Peter Ward) and four first team coaches (Ben Cooper, Rob Clare, Alan Lord & David Felgate) at the club.

However there were better coaches out there which I wanted to bring to the club. Alan & David left by mutual consent & I brought in Richard Johnson, Malcolm Beard & Paul Turner as replacement.

Assistant Manager Peter Ward was kept on as he’s a quality coach (but not as good as me).

The other staff appointments were physiotherapists Bob Ward & John Watson to bring the physio team up to full strength.

Playing Squad:

I inherited an incredibly young but small squad, probably about 4 years away from maturing to its peak.

Sean Williams, Lloyd Rigby & Jordan Rose were all deemed surplus to requirements and were transfer-listed.

Transfers:

After analysing the playing staff I decided we were short two right backs, a left back, a centre back, a left winger, a holding midfielder and two strikers. In total 8 players.

However, there were no funds for transfers, so I would have to look for players on loan. In Championship Manager 01-02 the game will only allow two loans at once (unrealistic I know), so I prioritised a right back and a striker.

Versatile Welsh defender Christian Ribeiro was brought in season-long loan from Bristol City almost immediately.

I tried for months to get a striker on loan, but dozens of offers were rejected by the parent clubs. Eventually in January, I secured young Paraguayan striker Julio Santa Cruz from Blackburn until the end of the season.

Transfer-listed trio Sean Williams, Lloyd Rigby & Jordan Rose were all sold to Leyton Orient, Sheffield United & MK Dons respectively.

In summary:

0 permanent signings.

3 players sold for £100K

Rejected offers from other clubs:

The following player was deemed too important to sell, so the bid was declined:

Reiss Lee                      £35K                 Charlton

The Season:

Cup runs

League Cup

1^st round – 1-0 away loss to MK Dons.

Johnstone's Paint Trophy

North 1^st round – 2-0 home victory over non-league Kettering.

North 2^nd round – a golden goal extra time (didn’t know they still did that) loss away to Tranmere 3-2.

FA Cup

1^st round – 3-0 away loss to Southampton.

Summary:

Pretty disappointing, but we lost every time away to a team in the division above us.

Derby Games

OK, honours even with Bury. Beat Macclesfield at home and drew away. But local rivalries aren’t that important to us as we are the friendly club.

The League

We started poorly, just above the relegation zone after 10 games, but a 16 game unbeaten streak brought us right to the top of the league.

League table as at 5^th January 2011 (the day after the club parted with Paul Simpson in the real world):

19 places higher than an in the real world.

2 points above the playoffs.

Note that 4 more fixtures have been played – the weather in Championship Manager has been quite mild.

For the run-in the team consolidated their place in the top 3, although a run of 5 games without scoring in a row in March and April threatened to drop us out of the playoffs altogether. We then showed some bouncebackability and won 3 games in a row.

So with the last game to be played, we had guaranteed our playoff place and were a point off the automatic spots.

The 2010/11 League 2 Final League Table:

We drew our last game but the teams in 2^nd and 3^rd both lost, so we leapfrogged them both and went up on goal difference, incidentally by five goals.

Roll of honour:

League 2 Young Player of the Month:

Reiss Lee                      October

Jake Simpson                February

League 2 Player of the Month:

Mansour Assoumani      November

International Callups:

Mansour Assoumani      Mali

League 2 Players Team of the Year:

Owain fon Williams

Mansour Assoumani

Club Top Goalscorer:

Barry Conlon                 17

Fans player of the year:

Mansour Assoumani

League 2 Manager of the Month:

James Rees                  November

Attendances:

Lowest:            2,467    vs. Kettering      Johnstone’s Paint Trophy 1^st Round

Highest:           6,981    vs. Southend     League 2

Average:          5,453

Finances

Stockport knows better than most clubs that finances must be kept under control.

Nothing was spent on transfer fees, and wages were kept within the club’s wage structure.

The club’s poor performance in the cups meant that there was hardly any revenue generated from that.

However our final league position generated some great prize money.

This lead to an overall profit of £250K, However the club was still in the red.

Future

In the summer I will attempt to strengthen the squad for a step up in division. I should have around £1M to spend with the increase in income from TV money.

I will be looking to recruit two right backs, a left back, a centre back, a left winger, a holding midfielder and three strikers. In total nine players, so there’ll be plenty of wheeling and dealing going on.

The current squad will be reviewed to see whether they can step-up for League 1 football. I’m confident in my young team that all of them will remain with the club.

I’m happy with my current backroom staff, but changes may occur if stand-out coaching talent becomes available.

At the end of the season some players were requesting new contracts, maybe because they know that there’s a more money available for them. We should give improved deals to all players who request them as long as we don’t break the club’s wage structure.

Summary

An entirely successful season, borne from no financial resource.

League 2 promotion at the first attempt.

A financial profit made.

I doubt the board could have expected much more.

As you can see, I would be a great addition to Stockport as my vast experience on Championship Manager has helped me learn a lot about man management, tactics & how to work with a limited budget. All of these could be translated into a real-world environment.

I think I would fit into the town of Stockport itself. I like hats and lacrosse, and I used to work with a funny bloke called Gary who was from the area. I am also fans of Stepfordians Yvette Fielding, David Dickinson and that guy who played Captain Darling in Blackadder goes Forth.

I assure you that my knowledge is invaluable and you will not find a better (virtual) manager anywhere else.