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So here ends the Dagenham and Redbridge career. However, I’m not letting a little power cut spoil everything. The posts will return just as soon as I’ve started a new one.

Finished 15th in Coca Cola League 1 – New best ever finish in the club’s history

Top Scorer - Terry Gornell  12 (11 lge, 1 cup)

Top Assists – Robbie Willmott 11 (10 lge, 1 cup)

Highest Attendance – 5913 vs Scunthorpe (Coca Cola League 1)

Highest transfer fee paid – £45,000 Ben Davies (from Scunthorpe) – New club record

Fan’s Player of the Year – Ben Davies

Posted in Uncategorized ]]> http://thevirtualtouchline.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/season-2010-11-stats/feed/ 0 davieb http://thevirtualtouchline.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/season-2010-11-part-2/ http://thevirtualtouchline.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/season-2010-11-part-2/#comments Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:25:53 +0000 David http://thevirtualtouchline.wordpress.com/?p=96 ]]> Well the 2nd half of the season was a lot less eventful than the first that’s for sure. The transfer window opened and closed without the Daggers being involved, though not for the want of trying. However, with a kitty of only £9k opportunities were limited and players who we could afford, weren’t interested.

Our first match of the new year was the visit to Villa Park for the 3rd round of the FA Cup and that’s where the journey finished for another season thanks to a 0-5 hammering. Back to the league, D&G then went on a run of win one, draw one, lose one pretty much for the rest of the season, bouncing around mid-table, never really in any danger of relegation but no real chance of reaching the play-offs either. Magnus Eikrem made his long awaited return to the side in the middle of January, scoring one and making the other in the 2-0 win against PortVale. The Daggers finished the season with a bit of a flourish, winning 3, drawing 1 and losing 1 of the last 5 games to finish a respectable 15th place in the first season in Coca Cola League 1. Considering the aim at the start of the season was to avoid relegation, it wasn’t too bad a season.

One thing that was apparent during the season was a lack of pace in the squad, so that is something I’ll have to have a look into during the break.

Rave Reviews for Davies

September started with a break due to internationals so the month was almost half gone before our next game. D&G were represented with Pat Kanyuka & Anna Uddin earning full caps, while James Bell made his 13th U20 appearance for USA. The break seemed to do the rest of the squad some good as our next game was a 2-1 win over Colchester. Little were we realise that would be our last 3 points until the middle of October, a run of 5 games (4 defeats and a draw). However, Ben Davies was drawing in plenty of praise for his performances and Terry Gonnell hit a good scoring run with 4 in 5 games. MK Dons were the visitors to Victoria Road in mid-October when we put that run to an end, with a 2-0 win made all the more special with Ben Davies’ 25 yard free kick which screamed into the top corner in the last 10 minutes. 7 more points came from the next 4 games as we ended October in a healthier 17th spot.

The FA Cup came to town at the start of November with Blue Square South team Welling making the journey. The were quickly sent back home with their tails between their legs after a 4-0 drubbing which could easily have been double that if it hadn’t been for the woodwork.  A seemingly innocuous challenge during training turned out to be much worse than was first thought while the team prepared for the next game against Millwall. The physio sent Andrea Mutombo to the hospital where  a broken metatarsal was found. So that was another midfielder out for around 3 months. Again, injuries were to have an immediate affect, with the next 3 games returning 2 defeats and a win, but we did finish November the same way as we started, with a win in the FA Cup, this time a 2-0 win away at Plymouth. Our reward? A trip to Villa Park to take on Premier League Aston Villa at the start of the year.

The fixture list showed the usual December rush with 6 games, to be played. At least this year D&G fans didn’t have to rush out on Boxing Day, with the fixture computer throwing out a home tie for the first time. And it was to prove a great festive run in with 5 wins out of the 6. The only black spot? You’ve guessed it, the home game on Boxing Day. One big plus was the return to training of Eikrem, just before Christmas. While the Villa game will come too soon for him, it’s hoped that it won’t be too long after that before the fans see him back in the red and blue shirt. The 15 points gained also earned me another Manager of the Month award, which will sit nicely in the cabinet, and left D&G sitting in 12th place with 31 points, 8 points clear of the relegation zone and 9 points short of the play-offs.

When the board came up with their expectations for the season I agreed straight away. They asked me to avoid relegation back to league 2 and looking at the other squads I couldn’t really see much of a better outcome to the next season. A transfer budget of £75k and wage budget of £26k followed, again up on last season but not a massive amount if we are to survive. A bit of wheeler dealing would need to be done in the free and loan markets again. The areas to strength were going to be goalkeeper, and midfield, with maybe another striker. The offer to attend the England trials game arrived with 3 players catching the eye. Only Gary Woods, a  GK, was willing to accept an offer. A 21 year old Ivory Coast midfielder by the name of Serge Kouadio came to my attention and after being scouted by a couple of players I tried to get him. Unfortunately although he accepted a contract we fell foul of the Work Permit situation so that deal fell through. One deal that did come off though was the £45k capture of Ben Davies from Gillingham, set a new club transfer record in the process. Davies can play anywhere in the midfield and in our first friendly game against FC Girondins  de Bordeaux, he formed a great partnership with our other midfield star, Magnus Eikrem. However, the seasons preperations were to be blown apart in the next game against Mansfield, when a reckless tackle saw Eikrem stretchered off in agony with a broken leg. Early diagnosis has him out for at least 6 months. That seems to knock the stuffing out of the team as we then failed to get any kind of result in the next 4 pre-season games.

We managed to get another 4 players in after that devastating blow. Andrea Mutombo was released by Portsmouth soon after he returned there at the end of his loan spell with D&G so we instantly went in with an offer of a 2 year deal, which the Belgian U21 player was happy to accept. We also managed to get goalkeeper Liam O’Brien back again for another season on loan. With his contract at Portsmouth running out at the end of the 10-11 season we may have the chance to get him permanently at the end. 20 year old USA defender Jamie Bell arrived as cover for the back four, while Isreali international Tamir Cohen was signed up on a free after being released by Bolton.

Now onto the start of the season. How will we fair without our star midfielder? Only time will tell

Top Scorer - Neil Harris  11 (9 lge, 2 cup)

Top Assists – Magnus Eikrem 15 (13 lge, 2 cup)

Highest Attendance – 6085 vs Everton (FA Cup 5th Round)

Highest transfer fee paid – £7,000 Tony Gonnell (from Cambridge Utd)

Best Eleven Fan’s Player of the Year – Scott Griffiths

That left us in 3rd spot with 5 games to go, 9 points behind league leaders Rotherham and 2 behind Stockport. During the press conference before the next match, one of the questions was “Who do you think will win the league?” Needless to say I answered “Rotherham”, even though they were our next opponents. After all 7 points with only 5 games to go was, in my opinion, a good lead to have, and they were the current form team. I don’t know if that made them overconfident or not, but we went on to win the game 1-0 with another strike from Gonnell. 2 more wins and a draw meant that on the final day of the season, nothing was finalised, with ourselves, Rotherham and Stockport all on 84 points, with us having the better goal difference. Swindon were 2 points behind but with a much better goal difference. It would all come down to the final game. One bonus was that I received my first Manager of the Month award

Our match against Accrington Stanley got to half-time goal-less, with both Rotherham and Stockport drawing too. However, Swindon had taken the lead in their game, which put all 4 teams on 85 points, with The Robins now in 1st place due to their better goal difference. It all changed just 3 minutes into the 2nd half. Magnus Eikrem worked his way to the byline and pulled the ball back across the 6 yard box. Danijel Subotic, who had only been on the pitch since halftime, stuck out a foot and prodded the ball home at the far post. We then hung on till the referee blew the final whistle, knowing that we were promoted, but still unsure in what position. A quick check of the other results showed that both Rotherham and Stockport could only manage a draw, meaning Dagenham & Redbridge were confirmed as Coca Cola League 2 champions.

Once the play-off finals were out of the way the announcements were made for the seasonal awards and suitably shocked, I won the League 2 Manager of the Year award, beating Leroy Rosenior of Swindon into 2nd place. On the back of promotion and the award, the D&G board offered me a new 2 year contract which I was happy to sign.

So, it’s now onto a new league and new challenge. More news coming soon.

November brought differing cup fortunes as we bowed out of the Johnstone Paint Trophy at the quarter final stage again, this time 4-0 to a well drilled Southend team, only to beat them a week later in the 1st round of the FA Cup. A run of only 2 defeats in 9 league games left us in 4th place come the turn of the year, however a disturbing lack of goals pointed to were work would need to be done in the transfer window.

Danijel Subotic

Terry Gornell

As soon as the window opened action was taken. I instantly went to Portsmouth to ask if I could loan Danijel Subotic, their Swiss U21 international. They agreed to loan us the striker until the end of the season. I also broke my own, if not the clubs, transfer record by splashing out £7k on Tranmere’s 20 year old striker Terry Gornell. My work in the transfer window finished with the capture of midfielder Vincent Escude on a free transfer from French amateur side GFCO Ajaccio.

Our first game of 2010 was the FA Cup 3rd round tie against Port Vale. “Not again” was the cry when their name came out of the hat. This would be our 6th game against them in less than 14 months, and we hadn’t won a single one. All that was to change when an Eikrem free kick was powered home by the head of Magnus Okuonghae to give us a 1-0 win and a 4th round home tie against Plymouth Argyle. Another 1-0 result, a 65 minute volley from Neil Harris, was to see us through to the final 32 as the only surviving Coca Cola League 2 team, where we were rewarded with a home tie against Premiership Everton. Before the Everton game though, we had to concentrate on the league and an unbeaten run of  5 wins and 3 draws saw us reach the 5th round game in 3rd spot. A record 6080 turned up, alongside the TV cameras ,to watch our the biggest game of my reign. Unfortunately it was all over after 10 minutes as Everton exploded from the blocks and were 2 goals ahead and looking like they were going to score on every attack. It was only an inspired performance from loan signing Liam O’Brien in goal that kept the final score down to 3-0. The worry then was, what kind of impact would that defeat have on the rest of the season?

The board set the expectations for this season, with the aim of a respectable league position and to just enjoy the experience of the cups. They also handed me a transfer budget of £45k and an improved wage budget of £13k. Still not a massive amount but something I could work with. Again, the first task was to sort out contracts with those I wanted to keep and move on those I didn’t. Free transfers and loans were again the order of the day. With the boards help we stepped away from our deal with Fulham and set up and new deal to have Portsmouth as our parent club. All out loan signings returned to their prospective clubs as we were unable to persude them to stay longer, and the budgets just wouldn’t allow attempts to buy them. The transfer window saw 12 players leave the club (all on free deals or retirements) with 10 players coming in (free transfers and loans). The most notable moves saw Georgi Kinkladze leave the  Victoria Road ground for Aldershot and Edwin Ellis head off to Salisbury.

Antoine Sibierski

Magnus Eikrem

Coming in were Antoine Sibierski, who had been released by Wigan, Magnus Eikrem, a 19 year old midfielder released by Manchester United, and Neil Harris from Millwall. Again, I attended the England Trials game and tried for 2 or 3 players but this time was beaten to them by higher placed teams.

Pre-season friendlies saw us head off to St.Albans, Eastbourne Boro and Hampton & Richmond, winning all 3 games without conceeding a goal, before Fulham brought us crashing back down again with a 5-1 hammering on our only home game.