Nevermore's Rugby Manager

[Nevermore]

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k89/revnow/Title.jpg

[Nevermore]

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k89/revnow/Me.jpg

In my relatively short number of years I've learned two things about life:

-----1. It rarely goes according to plan
-----2. It, nevertheless, goes on.

What relevance does this have to my situation? Simple, I was coming out of school with three solid A levels under my belt and my parents were keen for me to take a History degree at uni. So, what was the problem?

Well, I'd been having other ideas for a while. You see, the whole way through school I'd enjoyed playing rugby a whole lot more than hitting the books and so, naturally, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to at least have a stab at a professional rugby career. I had been a decent Second Row forward for a while but there was only one problem: a recurrent knee injury.

No decent club would ever take me on knowing the medical problems I had with my knees. It would be a waste of money, time and effort for them to not only sign a player that was inexperienced but also couldn't clock up a decent amount of matches per season. So, as far as I saw it there was only one option and that was to take a coaching job.

So, for about a year I worked a day job as an assitant coach at my local club, barely scraping enough money together to take a management course in the evenings. I was crashing on mates' sofas and it all seemed pretty arse.

However, looking back on it I realise it was worthwhile because just last Saturday I got a call from my Dad. By some incredible set of circumstances his old mate Richard "Dicky" Evans had recently taken over the English First Division side Penzance and Newlyn RFC. So, my Dad was able to get me a job interview... fingers crossed eh?

[Nevermore]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/Cpf.jpg/200px-Cpf.jpg

So, there you have it: the story of how I got the job in Truro. All thats' left is to fill you in on the details:

The Players

Front Row Forwards

Gareth Oldfield (Loosehead Prop)
Michael Sealey (Hooker)
Glynn Laking (Hooker)
Neil Paphitis (Tighthead Prop)
Roy Dichio (Tighthead Prop)

Second Row Forwards

Anthony Lythe (Left Lock)
Andrew Berch-Martin (Left Lock)
Wesley Coppard (Right Lock)
Clint Suddaby (Right Lock)

Back Row Forwards

Gerry Curtiss (Blindside Flanker)
Wade Heddle (Blindside Flanker)
James Lockwood (Openside Flanker)
Wendy Crooks (Openside Flanker)
Emmerson Cecere (Number 8)
Adam Shannon (Number 8)

Half Backs

Vince Bassindale (Scrum Half)
Burton Franks (Scrum Half)
Lee Jorvis (Fly Half)
Sebastian Clifford (Fly Half)
Dominic Kearney (Fly Half)

Centres and Back Three

Gerald Aresa (Left Wing)
Blake Hegley (Left Wing)
Benjamin Lytollis (Left Wing)
Lloyd Bradbrook (Inside Centre)
Chris Rosario (Inside Centre)
Dominic Skiverton (Outside Centre)
Spencer Vincent (Outside Centre)
Hashimo Mast Tanko (Right Wing)
Lionel Rouston (Fullback)

The Starting Lineup

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k89/revnow/Lineup1.jpg

The Financial Situation

Dicky informed me that I had £1,032,706 to work with. That may sound like a lot but it was for everything: staff salaries, player salaries, upkeep costs, training costs etc.

The Objective

Dicky's words were simple: "Do the best you can". He wanted me to push for promotion to the premiership but appreciated that it could be a difficult job.

[panix04]

its gonna be tough to cheer on the pirate's! Especially being from Torquay (and allowing for the fact that the Torquay tics are utter crap) i have become an Exeter chiefs fan bi-proxy! It could have been worse though, you could have taken the Plymouth job!

[Nevermore]

its gonna be tough to cheer on the pirate's! Especially being from Torquay (and allowing for the fact that the Torquay tics are utter crap) i have become an Exeter chiefs fan bi-proxy! It could have been worse though, you could have taken the Plymouth job!

Hahahaha :D. My apologies.

Quote The Raven
Nevermore

[Nevermore]

Scouting For Talent

My first priority seemed simple to me: scout for some talented free agents that could help us in our campaign for promotion. After all, as much as I'd love to sign some Premiership players, I'm managing a First Division team with a tight budget. So, I sent the two club scouts out. One, Howard Rockett, started searching amongst the amateur clubs of England for any promising prospects. The other, Neville Brammer, went jetting off to the Pacific islands to see if any Fijians, Samoans or Tongans without pro contracts fancied playing in England.

In the mean time...

Whilst the scouts were out on reconassaince, I decided that the most sensible way to spend the money I was afforded by Dicky Evans was on the best coach money could buy. So, upon hearing that ex-Australian national coach Eddie Jones was in the country discussing a possible contract with Saracens, I decided to contact him and see if there was any way I could convince him to join a lower level team. Slightly to my surprise, he agreed to meet with me.

Signing a new sponsor

Dicky informed me that the club's sponsorship deal with Grib Records was coming to an end and that three companies had approached as a possible alternative...

The choices were:

http://www.stblazey-football.co.uk/i/blackthorn_1.gif
Blackthorn Cider offering £182,671 a year for up to three years

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/8/83/Weetabix.PNG
Weetabix offering £184,906 a year for up to two years.

http://www.londontrocadero.com/places/images/63/millies.jpg
Millie's Cookies offering £173,838 for one year.

I decided upon signing a contract with Weetabix for one year.

[panix04]

you chose cerial over cider? Poor form! :D signing Eddie Jones is a bit of a result though!

[The Ego]

Dude, Truro is like 5mins from me!

[jbergey_2005]

Interesting, what game are you using?
..

[Nevermore]

Pro Rugby Manager 2.

BTW, I should point out that updates on this may be slow for numerous reasons. Nevertheless, it should continue to run.

Quote The Raven
Nevermore