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By Jamie Roberts, Reserve Team Manager

There comes a time and a place in every player’s career to consider management......... and my time has now come!! My previous managerial experience makes quite a read to be honest;

1990-1994 Cheltenham Town – took them all way to the Premiership in 4 seasons.....
1994-2001 West Ham United – headhunted, so couldn’t resist the opportunity to manage such a prestigious club (talk to Matt Harvey......he remembers!) winning 2 premiership titles, 3 FA cups + 1 UEFA Cup in a fantastic 7 years.......
2001-2010 Manchester United – when the offer came I was, naturally, shocked but who would be able to turn down the chance to manage their childhood favourites (I may not be a true Manc like Redders, but am one of the majority of REAL supporters who never see them play!) – 7 titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 European Cups + 2 Super Cups
2010 to Present Star FC Reserves – a player-manager role for the club that I joined in 2001/02 is another dream-come-true.........
So, you are probably shocked and a little in awe of my past achievements – however, the newly released "Championship Manager 2010/11" looks like being the hardest challenge of my career so far!!!

Back to reality.......my predecessors, messrs Mole & Moss, will be a hard act to follow after successfully gaining promotion to Cheltenham League Division 1 in 08/09 (a club first for the 2^nd team) followed by a encouraging 8^th place finish in the top flight last season. My thanks go out to them for allowing me to inherit such a well-oiled machine. Though I did receive a text of excitement from Shaun Piper after my appointment, which was presumably down to knowing that the new manager will not refer to him as "Steve" anymore!

An already talented 2^nd team squad has a few "new signings" this year, which will hopefully add the missing pieces to the puzzle and allow us to break into the top 3 this season:

TIM JONES drops down from the first team to provide much needed experience, leadership (COUGH!) and pace (I hope....) even though I have already had to change all the corner & free-kick routines because they proved to be far too complicated for him. PREDICTION = Tim will score his first ever 2^nd team goal followed by at least 9 more.

CRAIG MORTIBOYS comes up permanently from the third team to add vast experience and flexibility, in playing anywhere down the spine of the team. However, to extend his playing days, he may have to adopt the training regime of Ledley King (or should that be Jamie Roberts???) due to his extreme age. PREDICTION = Craig will become the first name on my team-sheet and will lead us to our best ever finish.

NEIL BOND rejoins the club again to try and reignite his Star FC career, bringing even more experience and technical ability at the back - but how many games will he last??? PREDICTION = I will create an elaborate incentive scheme to keep Bondy happy long enough for the enjoyment of football to return - or, at least, until he gets injured!

Finally, I would like to thank all players in the club in advance for their availability throughout the season – I do this in the hope of achieving one of my main targets for the year, which is NOT having to play 48 different players!?