november 3

As November rolled round i'd had a stark realisation

i'd been scouting for players non-stop this season looking for who i could pick up on a free to improve the squad, but i kept coming up with the same kind of players

Either, a big lad with nothing but strength

a really quick but techincally useless winger

or someone who wasnt much use but had 100 caps for a random sub 200 ranked nation

i needed help

Yossi is all well and good but as his knowledge only spans England and Isreal, he covers the same area on knowledge i have, but does recommend at least 15 players for maccabi tel aviv each week

and then this guy was all of a sudden made unemployed

Dutchman Patrick Busby was released from FC Groningen as they looked to improve their scouting set up, but at league 2 level, this guy is by a country mile the best scout in the league

on average, a scouting in league 2 has 8 for judging ability and 7 for potential

the second best in the league has 13 and 10

so this guy is leaps and bounds above those and im thrilled to get him in

with his vast knowledge of Holland, Germany, Belgium and others, he should be able to find us some players outside of mine and Yossi's scouting range

I've asked him to find me a suitable first team player who's out on contract, let's see what he has in store

A tough month with the big FA cup game and also a visit of table topping Bury this month

im confident though, we are playing well at present and need to maintain this to get safety wrapped up as early as possible

11 points needed

A solid win against a constant performer at this level in Shrewsbury

we went 1-0 down straight from kickoff and struggled to get going until in form Rabbi set up Oates to level but it wasnt until the 77th minute we took the lead when rabbi got himself on the score sheet which was much deserved as he played a blinder this week

8 points to go

A good win against a more than willing Tranmere

its mad to think that we were the bigger team going into this, with only 2 years ago over 40 places between us and them and now to turn that around so quickly shows how far we have come

it was a scrappy game but Mr Reliable Redshaw got two goals and saw us through to round 2

one bad thing though was this...

playmaker in chief Kehinde is out and will need replacing, it will be tough, but i have faith in the squad currently and hopefully, he'll be back before we miss him

The perfect draw

Welling are the lowest ranked team in the cup left and we will have to make sure we get the job done, but this should see us to round 3 if we keep our heads and play like we can

shortly after the game, the phone rings

"Zak, its Patrick"

"alright Pat, whats happening"

"found this lad in Belgium, tidy player"

"Bring him home, lets see what he's got"

welcome Laurent Lemoine

comes in and immediately shows he is our best centre back without question

He's not got a key stat under 12 and is currently performing at league 1 level, with the potential to be a top half championship quality centre back in the future

at 21 years old, and on only £500 a week he looks like a bargain, and maybe our best signing ever?

and he's worth 210k! more than twice any other player in our squad

he would only sign on the basis we put a 275k release clause in his contract, which if he starts well, ill be looking to get removed

Patrick, you've earned your wage this month

we are out of the competition and im glad to be fair

however, being from Bolton, this was bitter sweet

beating Bolton was a show that we have the potential in the squad to move up the leagues and compete

in fairness we only got into the game when they went down to 10 men

but its a win

Lemoine made his debut and looked steady, but unfit, he's got potential though thats undeniable

You see what i mean about getting carried away?

we were abysmal

and deserved to lose

8 points still needed and a bad run here could see us worrying again

to salvage a draw here was excellent

Bury have not lost in 11 and we managed to overturn a 1-0 deficit to gain a point 

im delighted with this i really am

7 points needed

Cant say this was expected

4 goals from Redshaw

4 assists and a goal from Rabbi

and a clean sheet led by Lemoine

what a performance

we will struggle to match that

4 points needed

2-3 weeks isn't too long, but he's our lynch pin and will be missed nonetheless

"we will struggle to match that"

hmm

back to back 6-0 wins?

ill take that

rabbi decided he fancied a few this month and got a hat-trick and an assist this week

Liege must be kicking themselves they let him go

another clean sheet too

1 point needed

A great month sees us progress in the FA cup, beat Bolton and win 3 and draw 1 in the league

i couldnt have asked the lads for much more and we find ourselves 4th currently, but still a point away from being safe

im not getting ahead of myself until we hit that point, at all

1 point needed

the single most deserved award in my time here

Rabbi got 5 goals and 7 assists this month

What

A

Player