CM 97/98 World According to Warnock Episode 17 | Home [Park]

Hello Champers! Welcome back.

For you good folks it’s been a week since Niall Warnock’s Cheltenham side missed out on promotion to Division Two. For me, it’s been about six weeks since I clicked through and saw the lads Champ-manned by Oldham. A summer break, [with a sprinkling of Norwich City on CM2 for sister-site @Champmanfans] has meant Niall, his trusted ‘League Scout 2’ and long suffering fax machinr are raring to go and attack this challenge.

Next on the hit-list remains promotion from Division Three, after the failure of last season. Cheltenham have a backbone ready to go. Stan Collymore, Mark Kinsella, Owen ‘Razor’ Wilding and an improving Scott ‘Grobbelaar’ Leitch in goal. It should be simple, right?

Wait….

Uh-oh…

The game loves to throw up a curve-ball every now and again! My beloved Plymouth, in the Third Division. They are the actual side that Neil Warnock got promotion with himself in 1996… Could I?

Bugger it! I text Stan and the Cheltenham squad to say I’m sorry, and text Dean Emson to ask if Adrian Littlejohn is available. I feel no club loyalty after a six-week break, so am eager to go!

Paul Wotton, Simon Collins, Chris Billy and Simon Perkins were in the original 97-98 squad. Can’t say I recognize anyone else… Goalkeeper Rory McElhartton is a 20 y/o Irish regen and currently in their u21 squad. He played a full season in goal for Argyle last time out, with an average rating of 7.08. The squad seems to be lacking central defenders and is heavy on right-sided players. This is going to be fun!

We’ve got some cash in the bank, which is a bonus!

Regen hunting commences. Teddy Sheringham junior [Matt Gooden], Tim Sherwood junior [Ali Bull], Ruel Fox junior [Kwesi Butler] are joined by three young Irish regens my Euro Scout highly recommends, DLC Matthew O’Neil, DC Dominic Crawford and MC Paul Lynch. I don’t know who they are [were], but all have good stats. The familiar face of Esteban Cambiasso also joins after he was released by Forest. He didn’t play a competative game after I left…. Finally I sign who I think [hope!] is Paul Gascoigne’s regen….

Michael McClare has got to be Gazza. You think? An injury prone set piece master with great passing range, flair and technique.

For the league campaign, I’m going to start simple by playing a formation to match my squad. I’ve got a couple of wingers, a few full backs and not much striking options. Paul Wotton has to fill in at CB as the Irishmen are not yet in the squad. I add Nottingham Forest youngster Gareth Pallister to the team on the eve of our first league game. He slots in at AMC with ‘Gazza’ starting from the bench.

Our opening league game is against Darlington. Young loanee Pallister scores the opener. ‘Teddy’ Gooden gets a second after a Darlo red card before Pally nets his second. A perfect start!

Teddy and Gazza combine to sink Chester 3-0 in our first home game. A bumper 10,000 fans are shown the full potential of the team at Home Park as we get our League Cup campaign underway. Striker Mark Allott is injured for a couple of weeks, so I bring in regen Loius Prates as a reinforcement to replace him. I quick check on the regen finder tells me Prates was Nicky Forster. He must have been without club and retired early.

Pally’s loan lasted two games.. It means ‘Gazza’ McClare will be the focal point from now.

We don’t have to wait long to face former side Cheltenham. I just have to sit back and endure my former lads run riot. Our aging left winger Koordes doesn’t help matters as Stan Collymore scores a hattrick and Trevor Benjamin takes his end-of-season form into the new season. I’m pleased for him. Honestly.

[Note there are 8500 less fans for this one than our league cup tie….]

We safely navigate our league cup second leg at Chester. No fireworks. Just efficiency.

Young Gazza’s time to shine lasts one full game and 13 minutes of the next, as we are defeated by Wycombe. Nicky Forster’s regen Pates opens his Argyle account.

I wave goodbye to defender Nick Dunphy for £250k as Torquay bid. He’s been erratic, so I eagerly accept the offer. To replace him, I sign Russian center back Dmitri Gradilenko on a free after he was released by Doncaster [of all teams]. I also add a recommended English DRC regen Edward Shearer. He’s got good stats for a central defender – strength, positioning, heading, tacking.

The new centre back paring keep a clean sheet against local rivals Bristol City. It’s another 0-0 affair, but I’m happy with the shut-out.

It’s another clean sheet at Chesterfield. This time Teddy junior and Forster junior give us a comfortable halftime lead to hang onto.

Three of our four young Irish contingent are called up for duty. The ‘wnt’ signs start appearing around the young squad. I’ll be honest, I don’t want to lose Gazza and Teddy’s regens this early, so put them on the loan list. It’s a constant stream of bids on my timeline, but it’s be worth it! If I can get their values a bit higher [say £2m plus] I’ll consider removing them from the loan list so we can cash in.

Former Man City player Aidie Mike has a great time at Home Park as Dmitri toils against his former club. Mike Allot, introduced on the hour mark makes an impression as he scores from the bench and sets up Teddy as we get a hard earned draw. Worth noting that Mike scored seven all season last year… they always bloody turn up against me!

With a slight switch, Pates drops to the bench for Allott. Pates obviously didn’t like it, as it’s his turn to score from the bench. Another late equalizer. This team does have some heart!

My new nemesis, Oldham, inflict a first defeat in five games. I’m pleased that they lost the playoff final last season, after dumping my Cheltenham side out in the semi finals!

We ship two more goals against Altrincham, as we are lucky to escape with a point. We are two goals clear before theres a Moss Land fightback. Irish defender Crawford sees red on 71 minutes, conceding a penalty and seeing us hold on.

Goalkeeper Rory McElhatton puts on a show in the League Cup second round. He performs miracles, as Premier League side, Blackpool are shut out at Bloomfield Road.

Dion Dublin clearly didn’t bring his ‘A’ game this week.

I add Riccardo Scimeca to the team prior to the next league fixture at Shewsbury. He’s still only 27, and cost £350k from Villa. Randomly he has a managerial release clause already! That’s career focus! He’ll slot in for Dmitri, who will have to be sidelined to the periphery for now. I’ll rotate Shearer and Crawford alongside him.

It’s a debut MoM performance from Riccy, as we trounce The Shrews 4-1. Gazza and Marky Mark score two each.

We follow that with a 3-1 win against Peterborough. Young Crawford, back from suspension, scores from center back to stake his claim for a starting berth alongside Riccy.

I am able to parade a new hero around Home Park after the game!

Ndah, you may remember, was central to my success as Forest manager. Again, he’s hardly played since I left, which is crazy! Forest’s loss is our gain!

I decide to make a slight tweak to my formation to fit Ndah and Teddy into the side. Gooden will play the ‘Barmby’ role I set up with Kidderminster. Starting wide and cutting in. I decide to play Ruel Fox’s regen Butler in the advanced right position – similar to Robbie Savage and Lee Hendrie. Let’s see how the tweak goes!

We get instant reward at Gateshead, as both Ndah and Teddy score.

I try to same formation for the League cup second round second leg at Blackpool. We once again manage to shut them out for an entire 90 minutes, before an extra time goal sinks the lads. I throw caution to the wind – and everyone forward- but can’t get an equalizer. Our league cup campaign ends in the second round.

That brings us to a close in this bumper edition today. We’ve played twelve league games and find ourselves on the periphery of the playoffs. We’ve won our last three league games on the bounce, so it’s not totally gone our wat so far! We’ve ground to make up if we want automatic promotion.