Pre-Season

The pre-season schedule is about to begin. I will play all these fixtures and then report back what happened in each game and what I have learnt. Because what I believe, and this is important, the results in pre-season do not matter it is learning what works in time for the season. If somebody comes out after pre-season and says "5 wins out of 5, great pre-season" but learnt nothing, then they are wrong pre-season was pointless. Of course winning is important, they need to get into form and get a taste of success ... but for me learning who plays well together and which tactics and formations work best is key.

The pre-season schedule for Oldham is as follows:
Friday 18th July - v. Ashton United (A)
Sunday 20th July - v. Stalybridge (A)
Tuesday 22th July - v. Barnsley (H)
Thursday 24th July - v. Derby (H)
Tuesday 29th July - v. Ipswich (H)
Saturday 2nd July - v. Man City (H)
Wednesday 6th July - v. AFC Telford (A)

The first thing I set about doing when I took over as manager is sorting out the staff. Some FM'ers don't bother with this and leave their staff as they are but I think that it is just as important because how do you expect your players to perform well and improve if they aren't being tutored well.

I started by sacking 3 coaches:

Graham Brown - Scout (His scouting attributes weren't good enough) cost: £7k
Mark Hilditch - Youth Coach (poor stats, wouldn't improve my youth) cost: £24k
Tommy Wright - Assistant Manager (I want a talented assistant) cost: £26k

The process of releasing three members of staff by mutual termination cost me £57k, that was all my transfer budget. I feel it is worth it though. Im going to have to sell to buy now. To replace them I brought in coaches with much better stats. The new coaches are:

Jean-Claude Laulhe - Scout (was unattached, better scout than Brown)
Dave Barron - Fitness Coach (a position we never had before, I feel its needed)
Gordon Cowans - Assistant Manager (Villa youth coach with great stats)

For some strange reason the club won't allow me to have more than 3 coaches so i had to release 1st Team Coach Lee Duxbury so that Barron could arrive, this meant another £60k cost cutting further into my budget. The only positive is that it is my own coaching team now.

I will now begin pre-season. A result summary and a transfer summary will come later.