Day 47

The Lincoln Under 18s won a game! This is more than I expected from them this season.

We faced Wrexham in the league today. I put new boy Koroma on the bench, but we were otherwise unchanged from the last match. Koroma, incidentally, got the number 10 jersey. I hope he does it proud.

This time it was Olembé singled out as key man, to which I said, "About bloody time," knowing full well that he'd probably get sent off and Marques would be brilliant, just to spite me.

It was a shaky start. Wrexham were unlucky not to score in the third minute, with Anyon stepping up to make a big save. They went close from the resulting corner, then scored from another corner in the seventh minute.

We answered immediately, though, with Gowling heading home from close range on a free kick in the eighth minute.

We nearly took the lead in the 18th minute. Barnes-Homer crossed from the left wing to set up Shuker, whose header hit the bar. Two rebound attempts were desperately blocked by a determined Wrexham defence.

The next few minutes saw back and forth attacks, with both teams displaying poor finishing.

Wrexham retook the lead in the 45th minute after an excellent piece of wing play—I can't say so much for our defending. Robert Ogleby's strike was initially saved, then Gowling cleared the ball into the opposing striker—whereupon it bounced over the line. Not how we wanted to go in at the break.

I took the under-performing Kanouté off for Koroma at half-time. Bore dropped to right back, and Shuker moved out to the right wing.

A poor clearance from Anyon nearly gifted Wrexham their third on 48 minutes, but the goalkeeper saved well to amend for his error. Then in the 52nd minute, a Marques shot went just wide of the post.

Brilliant wing play from Koroma set up Shuker on 53 minutes. The forward was clinical in his finish.

We continued to trade chances right through to injury time, but no-one could break the deadlock. Barnes-Homer found himself through on goal in the 92 minute, but he blazed his shot over the bar. Two goals a piece the final score, we were perhaps the slightly better team—though a draw was the right result on balance.

Key man Olembé looked threatening on numerous occasions, but failed to have any significant influence on the game, while Shuker picked up man of the match for a fine second-half performance. Koroma's debut off the bench showed signs of things to come—his best moments being two mazy runs on the right wing, one of which resulted in a goal.

Wrexham manager Andy Morrell praised me for Lincoln's playing style post-match, which makes me feel great. That's two managers who've said that, from only four matches, and I take pride in showcasing attractive football.

We're still top, albeit now thanks only to goal difference. Next match is at Newport County in a week.

In late-night business dealings, Hearts defender Matthew Park agreed to join us on loan for five months. I'm delighted—he's a good player who can line up at left back or in the middle, and also in midfield if necessary. Expect him to be in the starting eleven sooner rather than later.

French forward Jean-José Cuenca also joined on trial. I don't think he's likely to win a contract, given Koroma's recent arrival.

Day 46

We're favourites for tomorrow's match against Wrexham—6-4 odds for the win. It could be a real test, though, since Wrexham have two wins and a draw against their name, and they're predicted to finish 2nd in the league this season.

I unveiled Koroma to the media today. The press conference was boring and rote, as usual. It is interesting to note, however, as one of the journalists did, that Koroma's my seventh signing. That's a lot of players for a transfer budget of zero and a sorely limited wage budget. But it had to be done if we were to stand a chance of promotion.

Day 45

The paperwork finally went through on the Koroma deal. The young Gambian should be fit and ready to play in our next match, which is in two days (despite my assertion that it was two days away yesterday). I'm not sure whether I'll put the lad in the starting lineup or keep faith in the Shuker/Barnes-Homer strike pairing with Bore taking Shuker's regular right wing spot and Kanouté taking Bore's usual right back spot.

This is likely to be bad news for Smith, who'll face an uphill challenge winning back his place when he returns from injury a few months from now, but we're now strong enough to survive all but the worst injury crises.

Bradshaw's report on out-of-favour Hearts defender Matthew Park was glowing. I put in a loan offer, choosing the only duration available—five months—and meeting the 50% wage contribution demands of his club. Now it just comes down to whether or not he's willing to play for us. My scouts say he will be, but past experience leaves me doubtful.

Gardner's Camaño report was similarly positive, asserting that the Argentine centre half could win a starting berth in most League 1 sides—that's two divisions above us. I'll try to sign him if he joins on trial and impresses in a practice game. I still don't know if we can afford him, though.

Day 44

Bradshaw's second report on Jean-José Cuenca suggests that he's a good player in his prime. It doesn't look like he's quite good enough to win a contract offer, but we'll see how he goes on trial.

Malik Rezgane is not as good as Cuenca or soon-to-be new signing Omar Koroma, but should still be considered as a potential get if we lose someone to injury or transfer. I popped him on my shortlist. My mind could be swayed if he does well on trial, but I doubt it—I think we've got enough strikers of a similar calibre.

Another quiet day, with tomorrow likely to be the same. Next match is in two days, against Wrexham.

A note from your editor

After 44 days, I can safely say that this experiment feels like a job. Every day I need to crank up the game and churn something out. I knew at the outset that there'd be boring days, and times when I'd have to force myself to go through with it, but days like this sap at my spirit. All I want to do is get to the next match; I'm looking forward to masterminding (or not) Lincoln's return to league football.

What's hardest, though, is not the personal issue of having to wait—it's incredibly hard to find something (anything) interesting to say on these quiet days. Football management, like any other job, has routines and important-yet-mundane tasks. Football Manager 2012 is a game, and, like most games, it tries to reduce the amount of "work" you have to do to the bare essentials of wish fulfilment—transfers, matches, and, if you want, basic control over training schedules and press dealings.

But it's also a simulation, and so it uses a realistic time scale—in this case, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, with each day divided into fifteen-minute chunks from 9am to midnight. You don't have to act in each of these chunks, of course, because that would be the height of tedium, but they're simulated.

So the result of playing a game that simulates—as opposed to, say, broadly approximates—the life of a football manager is one that distills each day down to its core component as seen through the lens of an outsider. The inconsequential moments—a funny thing someone says—and the chaotic elements—amazing goal in training, crazy weather forces change in training schedule, slashed tyres on your car—are left out because they are too difficult to simulate effectively in a game that will actually run on people's home computers and because they are, when you break it down, not important empirically to the task of football management.

What I really want, I guess, is a snapshot of the life of a football manager. But what I'm getting—and you are mostly reading, with added colour—is little more than a bunch of numbers and spreadsheets loosely connected by the narrative mechanisms of my in-game news feed and the visual representation of matches. Football Manager has always been mocked as a glorified spreadsheet; I think there's a lot of truth to that.

But I love it, and so do many others. And this experiment has not yet shown me why. Even in this one day at a time form, I'm enjoying myself (apart from the occasional slow day). Why? How am I able to read enough into these numbers and statistics to get a sense, however disjointed and incomplete, of life as a football manager?

I'll get back to you when I figure it out.

Day 43

Scout Mark Bradshaw updated me on his latest findings. Of his three highly recommended players, I offered Cuenca and Rezgane trials and requested further scouting. I ignored the Martini report. We've already had him on trial, and it didn't go so well.

I looked through the file of reports and noticed one that seemed worthy of further attention. Matthew Park, an Australian defender languishing in the Reserve team of Scottish side Hearts, looks like a good player. I asked for another report on the lad. He could be a good loan signing.

While I was at it, I thought I should take a look at Ian Gardner's reports. One man instantly stuck out at me: Martin Camaño, an Argentinian defender. He's clearly a quality player, so I offered him a trial and asked for another scout report. If we can meet his terms (unlikely in our current financial state), I think he'll be lining up alongside Marques in the centre of our defence.

Mehdi Khalis, who is also a central defender, had a glowing recommendation by his name. But he's not as good as Camaño, and Notts County already offered him a contract. I don't think we stand a chance. (I requested further scouting, in any case.) No-one else caught my eye or struck me as worth the effort to chase.

Day 42

I held a backroom meeting. There was the usual individual training suggestions, along with recommendations to change Power's squad status from key man to "important first team player"—which I dismissed—and to change Rodney's squad status from "important first team player" to backup player—to which I agreed.

We took Canadian striker Niall Thompson on trial. He doesn't appear good enough to challenge for a place—at least, not anymore—so I doubt we'll be offering the veteran a contract.

It was a quiet day at the office. That's a great thing to have occasionally, but I hope it doesn't become the norm.

Day 41

The Reserves faced Matlock in a friendly today, minus Fernández. It was Koroma's last chance to impress.

He made a promising start, converting a chance on the fifteen-minute mark after being left unmarked in the Matlock penalty area. Emergency right back for the first team, Paul Robson, went down injured five minutes later.

I prayed it wasn't serious. We only have a small squad, and I need my fringe players fit just like the first-team regulars in order to mount a serious run in the league.

Koroma doubled the lead early in the second half, pouncing on the rebound to an ambitious Lloyd-McGoldrick strike from out wide that bounced off the post.

Then on 76 minutes Matlock pulled the score back to 2-1, tearing open our defence with an excellent through ball and a clinical finish. The calibre of my Reserve team defenders leaves a lot to be desired, so I was hardly surprised.

An excellent piece of attacking play left Koroma unlucky not to complete his hat-trick in the 90th minute, but the lads still came out winners.

It turns out that Robson fractured his jaw. He'll be out for 5 to 6 weeks. With luck, he won't be missed.

My first port of call after the match was to offer Koroma a contract—he proved himself worthy. Problem was, my budget was limited. I could only offer him £300 a week, plus some bonuses, but he wanted around £500. He stepped down to £375 after my initial offer, then refused to go further...until I increased his loyalty bonus to £2,200 and offered a £2,900 bonus for scoring 20 goals in a season.

I got him, pending some paperwork and confirmation. He should be ready to debut in the next league game.

Day 40

Matthias Fanimo, who refused to join us on loan, has joined Mansfield on a five-month deal. Now I really think he's a jerk—they're in the same division as us.

The Lincoln Under 18s lost their first match of the season 3-2. Thomas, Cobb, and Rice played well, while Thacker was sent off in the closing stages for a second yellow card. I'm curious whether the lads will manage to win any games this season. Their competition doesn't appear to be great, but they're pretty crap too.

With Smith injured, I decided to bring Shuker back into the side as a striker rather than winger. Samba Kanouté was finally ready to make his debut, so I put him in at right back—he'll play in the middle if/when Bore drops into the defence again.

For the third match running, Rui Marques was declared our key man. I guess he's been a decisive factor in the previous two games, so that's a fair call. I thought Olembé and Shuker would be more the danger men in an open match like this.

And I was proven right in the first ten minutes. Olembé scored after Barnes-Homer broke into the box and cut the ball back on five minutes, then Shuker was fouled just inside the penalty area in the 9th minute after a great run. Nutter scored the resulting penalty.

In the 30th minute Shuker got on the end of a Kanouté long ball to cross to Olembé, who headed just wide. Two minutes later, a low cross from Bore caused problems. We continued to assert our dominance, as Bore, Shuker, and Olembé pressed forward, and Barnes-Homer went close with a first-team effort.

Then disaster struck on the cusp of half-time. A Mills cross hit Marques in the back, then rolled past Anyon for a Kettering goal. 2-1 at the break.

Barnes-Homer restored the two-goal buffer in the 52nd minute with a great turn and shot, before being substituted for Rodney because I thought he looked tired.

Rodney profited on a defensive error to set up Shuker for his first ever Lincoln goal on 69 minutes. We were cruising to victory.

Gowling went down injured on 75 minutes, and I was concerned that Kanouté appeared to be struggling. Losing both defenders would be a terrible blow. I took the young defender off two minutes later as a precaution, although he seemed to be recovering.

We held out for the 4-1 win. Man of the match deservedly went to Shuker. A fine away performance to maintain top stop and a 100% record. So far, so good. We're now the only team in the league to have won every game.

Day 39

I scheduled another Reserves friendly for Sunday. It'll be Koroma's last chance to earn a contract.

We're slight favourites for tomorrow's match against Kettering Town. Our odds are at 5-4, which I'm pretty happy about given that it's an away game.

In news that I find hard to believe, Gareth Ainsworth singled out Craig Dobson as the biggest threat to our chances against Kettering. This is not a slight against Craig Dobson, who may or may not be a good player. What I don't get is that Ainsworth still plays—for Wycombe Wanderers in League 1—and only spent two-and-a-bit seasons at Lincoln—way back in the mid-90s.

So he doesn't list Lincoln among his favoured clubs, and he spent just over two years with us. Why the hell would he be talking about us to the media? Did they chase him down because he's considered a club icon? (A status which I suppose he achieved by being a winger who scored 37 goals in 83 appearances for Lincoln.)

Day 38

Kanouté and Taylor were both disappointing performers on the losing side in their youth international matches. On the plus side, Mali are now out of the Under 20s World Cup. I hope this means Kanouté will be flying back shortly, ready at last to begin his Lincoln career.

We were offered a number of players for real money. I said no—I've been over this before, but we have no transfer budget and barely any room on the payroll.

Reports came in for the players I was recommended in yesterday's backroom meeting. I deemed Michael McCaffery the only one worthy of a second look.

Day 37

Taylor didn't even hold his record as youngest player ever to appear in a Blue Square Bet Premier match for a week. Isaac Osei-Tutu of Hayes & Yeading beat him by twenty days by appearing playing last night.

We had another backroom meeting. I approved most recommendations, but dismissed suggestions to remove Chris Shuker from the corners-taking list and to change Bore's squad status from key player to important first-team player.

I took charge of the Reserves for their friendly against Hednesford. It made for interesting viewing. They defended anaemically, but attacked quite well. The quality of football was atrocious across the park. Fernández sat just behind the strikers, but he barely saw the ball because of scrappy play.

When he did get possession, the Spaniard impressed. If anybody was going to make something happen, I'd have put money on it being him...which is why it hurt to take him off in the 66th minute after he went down injured.

Youngster Rice replaced Fernández, then conceded a penalty, which cannoned off the crossbar. I have no idea how Hednesford got through more than seventy minutes without scoring, but we made them pay.

Pacquette pounced on a sloppy backpass around 80 minutes and fired a vicious shot into the roof of the net. Then on the 87-minute mark he chased down a long ball to combine with Rice and Lloyd-McGoldrick for our second. Lincoln Reserves took out a terrible game 2-0, despite being inferior for much of the 90 minutes.

The positives I took away numbered in the singular: Pacquette looked great off the bench. As for negatives, only two matter: Koroma was poor, and Fernández was okay before injury cut his game short—but he'll be out for two to three months with strained knee ligaments.

Should I sign Koroma? That performance leaves me in doubt.

Day 36

Three Lincoln players were named in the Team of the Week—Anyon, Bore, and Olembé. Awesome. I hope they appear many more times as the season progresses.

I found myself in something of a predicament today. Shuker wasn't fit to start, and Taylor was off on international duty. Laurent is still on the long-term injury list, while Russell is nowhere near fit. This left me with four non-ideal choices—push Bore up the pitch, bringing in a replacement in defence; play somebody out of position of the right flank; draft in Jake Sheridan, who needs to play a more advanced right-wing role and is barely up to the standard; or change formation.

After some toing and froing, I settled on the first option: Bore pushed up to right midfield and Robson came in at right back. Shuker took a place on the bench, intended as a last resort substitute. Otherwise we were unchanged from the side that beat Telford.

Marques was once again picked by the match pundit as our key man; I felt confused and angered when I saw their key man is Danny Hone—a Lincoln player on loan at Barrow. Why would you loan a player to a club in the same division and not stipulate in the contract that they cannot play against you? Idiocy.

The first fifteen minutes were terrible. Neither team managed to keep possession or mount any sort of attack. Then we started trading blows. Barnes-Homer was our first man to go close, as their right winger Paul Rutherford started to threaten.

Smith picked up an injury right at the death of the first half, and had to be substituted. You wouldn't have known he was on the pitch anyway—the lad was completely anonymous.

The second half began with more gusto. Christophe tried to release speedy substitute Niall Rodney, then up the other end Barrow mounted a strong attack before striker Lyle Taylor was stretchered off with an injury.

Rodney went close from a free kick on 68 minutes, as we started to exploit the wings for a little more room to attack.

Hurst tipped a goal-bound strike wide from Barnes-Homer in the 78th minute, and the game continued to open up. Olembé wasted a chance to take the lead three minutes later when he headed Robson's excellent cross straight at the goalkeeper. Then Bore beat his man to race to the touchline and win our fifth corner. But still we couldn't score.

A mishit cross from Robson had to be knocked behind by the keeper in the dying stages of injury time. Marques was fouled by Owen on the resulting corner, earning us a penalty—which Nutter duly dispatched. We won 1-0.

Marques took man of the match; our defenders were the only good performers on the park.

That scrappy win puts Lincoln on top of the table after two games, thanks to goal difference.

The verdict on Smith's injury is bad. I had to choose between spending £500 to send him to a specialist for three months or let the physio treat him for a lay-off of six or seven months. When you consider that he earns £500 a week, it's a no-brainer—we'd be spending a lot more than £500 on him to keep treatment in house. But that's a lengthy spell on the sidelines. The Koroma or Fernández decision just got a whole lot more important and time-critical.

The Under 18s won their friendly against Worksop 3-0, with stand-out performances by Weaver and Rice.

Day 35

The second match of the season is tomorrow. We're at 13-8 according to the bookies, while our opponents Barrow are favoured to win 6-4. I have faith my boys can pick up where they left off in the previous game.

And I said as much in the pre-match press conference, where I was also asked about my rotation policy—which is kind of ridiculous, since we're just one game into the season. The only starting player from the Telford match that looks a chance to sit out is Chris Shuker, who's still struggling to with fitness after joining late in the pre-season.

Koroma re-joined us on trial. I'll take control of the Reserves friendly match on Wednesday (two days from now), and see if I can make a decision between him and Fernández (or neither).

While I was thinking about friendlies, I realised that the Under 18s start their season in five days, and they haven't had a proper warm-up game. I scheduled one for tomorrow.

Day 34

Young loan signing Robert Taylor's appearance off the bench yesterday marked him the youngest player ever to appear in a Blue Square Bet Premier match, apparently. Good for him. Hopefully it'll be the first of many performances for the lad.

Unfortunately we weren't able to get Koroma to re-join on trial before the Reserves played their friendly match today. They won comfortably anyway, with Russell, Pacquette, Rodney, and Beardsley standing out. Trialist David Fernández, who was the real purpose of this friendly, had a quiet game, which leaves me no less uncertain than before as to whether to offer him a contract.

I thought I could take another look when the Reserves season starts, then I discovered that our Reserve team isn't registered for any competitions. Oh dear, how did that happen? I certainly didn't refuse any invitations. And the Under 18s are registered in the English Under 18s Group 3.

This is not going to help me keep the fringe players sharp. I'll have to schedule lots of friendlies to try to make up for it. I arranged the next one for Wednesday against Hednesford Town—I need to get these boys match fit, and to check out Fernández some more.

I got confirmation that Lincoln sold 1000 season tickets for this season. Pretty poor when you consider our stadium is ten times that in maximum capacity. I doubt we'll have any sell-outs.

Day 33

Somehow Mali made it to the Second Round of the Under 20s World Cup, despite being thrashed 5-0 by France. My boy Kanouté was especially woeful in that game, I'm told.

Shuker was passed fit for today's match. I put him in the starting lineup, with plans to sub him off in the second half.

Today wasn't just my league debut. An insane nine players in the starting lineup were also getting off the mark. None of the five chosen substitutes had previously appeared for Lincoln in a competitive match, either. Our opponents, AFC Telford, were in a similar position, with five starters making their debut and four new subs.

We are obviously unrecognisable from the Lincoln side that was relegated from League 2 last season; it seems AFC Telford are barely recognisable as the team that was promoted from the Blue Square Bet North (aka Conference North) last season.

The pundits declared central defenders Marques and Byrne key players for Lincoln and Telford, respectively. I thought Olembé would be the one to watch.

Early signs were that I was right. Olembé broke free on four minutes to shoot just wide with the keeper beaten, then looked dangerous again ten minutes later. In the 23rd minute, he won possession and nearly set up Smith. Then a minute later he won a free kick on the edge of the area.

We looked the stronger side throughout the first half, although Telford got in behind our defence a couple of times. Our best chance perhaps came from Barnes-Homer, who blasted just wide of the post from 20 yards out. Shuker struggled, and was largely anonymous.

Then, on the stroke of half time, Marques popped up—unmarked—to head an Olembé corner past the keeper. He scored on his debut. And we were off to a great start.

I took Shuker off for Taylor at half time. He's clearly not ready yet.

We added a second goal almost from kick off, with a beautiful link up between strikers Smith and Barnes-Homer—with whom I'd voiced my disappointment during the half-time team talk. Then a knock-on header from Smith put Barnes-Homer in for his second and our third. Looks like they could be a winning combination.

We didn't ease off the pressure after that. Smith got the goal he deserved for a brilliant second-half performance when Olembé bounded down the left wing and crossed to the near post.

A clearance from Christophe on 67 minutes sent Smith on route for a possible fifth Lincoln goal, but Blackburn dragged him down. The defender was perhaps lucky to escape with a yellow card, since Smith had an unobstructed run to the goal. At the other end, brave defending from Josh Gowling prevented Telford getting a consolation.

Smith and Barnes-Homer both went close as the match drew towards a close, and Olembé nearly scored direct from a corner, then Telford's Andy Brown scored a fine individual effort to give his side an injury-time consolation.

I'm pretty bloody happy with a 4-1 win on day one—especially after that second-half performance. Olembé was, as I predicted, a decisive factor, with two assists and man of the match accolades. Smith's effort of two assists and a goal was a pleasant surprise, while Barnes-Homer's two goals paint him as an excellent signing already.

My opposite number, AFC Telford manager Andy Sinton, praised me for Lincoln's playing style. I couldn't be happier to hear that—playing attractive football is almost as important to me as winning matches.

Day 32

We've reached the eve of the season. Today was the last day of the preseason. Tomorrow we face AFC Telford in the league opener, a match that we're "comfortable favourites" to win (odds are 4-6 that we beat them).

As such, I had some preparations to make.

Unfortunately, we're still not ready in terms of "tactic familiarity levels." But the boys are at least getting close now.

For set pieces, I put Olembé on corners—with Nicolau, Shuker, and Russell as other corner-takers—and Nicolau and Shuker on free kicks. I didn't specify any throw-in takers, since we have no long throw specialists. I refrained from detailing individual instructions for set piece tactics, since I haven't finalised the first-choice lineup.

John Nutter is our penalty taker. If he's not on the pitch, the pecking order is Laurent (who will be injured until the new year), Power, Christophe, Shuker, Olembé, then whoever wants it.

Most of the players have very little creativity, so I changed the "Creative Freedom" to "More Disciplined." I also increased the width and tempo we play at, reduced the amount of time wasting to attempt in a match, and told them to play counter attack—so we can exploit the pace of our attacking players. I expect that I'll fine-tune all of these settings as the season progresses.

As for lineup, I'm pretty set on Nutter, Marques, Gowling, and Bore across the backline. Olembé will take the left wing, while Christophe and Power sit in the centre of midfield. Barnes-Homer will be joined up front by Sam Smith. And Shuker will play on the right flank if he's fit—his condition is rated at 84%, and he's tired. If Shuker isn't up to starting, I'll have to put in either the youngster Robert Taylor or right back Peter Bore (with another player taking his place).

I intend to have Adamson (goalkeeper), Sinclair (centre back), Taylor (right winger or attacking midfielder), Atkinson (central midfielder), and Rodney (striker) on the bench, but we'll see how everyone shapes up tomorrow.

Day 31

David Fernández joined us on trial today. I'm trying to get him comfortable with playing as a striker, since that is where I'd likely put him in most matches. He's currently considered "competent" in the role; I need him to be "accomplished."

The decision then, assuming he can fit comfortably in a role as striker or as an attacking midfielder sitting behind the strikers, is whether to sign Fernández or young striker Omar Koroma. My coaching staff, with the exception of Assistant Manager Curtis Woodhouse (who couldn't reliably tell if a cat is good at sleeping), believe that Koroma is better than any of the strikers currently under contract at the club. He looks likely to improve significantly as the season progresses, too.

But Fernández can offer more versatility, and loads of experience. And if you compare them, attribute by attribute, the veteran comes out on top. Koroma is only noticeably "better" on determination, aggression, pace, agility, and acceleration, whereas Fernández easily wins on corners, crossing, marking, passing, tackling, technique, bravery, composure, creativity, decisions, flair, influence, teamwork, work rate, balance, and strength.

On a pure numbers approach, Fernández is the better choice. Taking the future into account—beyond this season—Koroma is preferable. Considering them as striker versus striker, Fernández looks like he'd edge it out, but Koroma is a natural and can bring a bit of pace. I don't know what to do.

I scheduled a friendly match for the Reserves against Bury Town on Sunday. I'll take control of that game, and with a bit of luck it'll tell me who to sign. (Assuming that Koroma agrees to re-join us on trial before then, since he was scheduled to leave on Saturday—two days from now.)

Day 30

The Reserves played a friendly match against Altrincham today. I sent all the first-team players needing match fitness to join them. The extra experience and ability of the first-team hand-me-downs pushed them over the line. Lincoln Reserves beat the Altrincham first team, which plays only one division below Lincoln, 2-1.

I was delighted to see Conal Platt and Simon Russell amongst the top performers. These two are first in line for a starting berth if Alan Power or Chris Shuker, respectively, are unavailable. Man of the match was sixteen-year-old Luke Weaver, who evidently played out of his skin (he's not very good).

Kanouté played another game for the Mali Under 20s in their World Cup campaign. They lost; he played neither well nor poorly. Their next opponent is France. I doubt they'll get anything out of that, which means I should have Kanouté available soon—Mali Under 20s will likely finish third in their group, knocking them out of the competition.

Day 29

Physio Kevin Oxby brought to my attention that Simon Russell, one of our right wingers, is about to resume full training, which means he'll be ready to play in two or three weeks. This reminded me that Russell is no longer our best choice in that position (other than long-term injury victim Francis Laurent), so I changed his squad status from "Important first team player" to "Backup to the first team." He took it rather well, voicing no complaints.

Grant Brown gave David Fernández a glowing recommendation. That's three overwhelmingly positive reports on the veteran attacking midfielder. I'd still like to have him on trial for a couple of weeks before making a final decision, but he has yet to agree to the trial offer.

Ian Gardner gave a scouting update. None of his newly recommended players are good enough.

Four days until the season opener; tomorrow the Reserves play their warm-up match.

Day 28

I confirmed that Lincoln's captain this season will be John Nutter, while the club's vice captain is recent signing and former Angolan international Rui Marques. This is unchanged from my decision earlier in the pre-season period, when I stripped prima donna Josh Gowling of the vice captaincy.

Leicester youngster Pier Larrauri refused to join us on loan. I'm beginning to sense a pattern. It appears that players—even as young as 17-year-olds Larrauri and Fanimo—contracted to Championship clubs think they're too good for the Blue Square Bet Premier (aka Conference) League. They may not be far wrong. But it still hurts to be rejected.

Scout Mark Bradshaw handed in his report of Spaniard David Fernández, agreeing with Ian Gardner that he would be a great signing. I'd like to continue scouting the attacking midfielder before making a final decision. I'm still waiting to hear back from Fernández about the trial offer I sent him. In the meantime, I asked coach Grant Brown to give me a third opinion.

Day 27

Woodhouse provided a list of potential striker loan signings. I haven't heard of any of them, except Matthias Fanimo—the West Ham youngster who refused to subject himself to Conference-level football despite an agreement between our clubs. I requested scout reports all round.

The Under 20 World Cup is underway. My boy Samba Kanouté played well in Mali's opening match, captaining the side to a comfortable victory.

Ian Gardner called in with a scouting update. Of the three "highly recommended players," veteran Spaniard David Fernández looks worthy of attention. I requested another scout report on the attacking midfielder, and offered him a four-week trial.

July is over. I survived my first calendar month as a football manager. It's not quite living up to my expectations of glory and fame, but then I never really expected it to. Pre-season is just about over. The real challenge starts in a few days.