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Excellent! Kemar and Nixon have stepped things up and newly, quasi-elevated Dean Rice is impressing. McAdam and Harding are dead to me.
More good news. We made almost £20k in December bringing our season total to £165k.
Whoaaaa. Still Untouchable but now up to 87%. Let’s see how that drops when the transfer window closes.
As mentioned in December, Spearing and Smith are now Influential. At least Smith’s chances of leaving are pretty low.
Oh snap! Those shin splints had a tremendous effect on Paul Taylor. His Bravery dropped 3 points (from 10.8 to 8.2 to be exact)! I’ve never seen that before. Holy cow.
Two of our Irish players are being sniffed about by some Irish teams now that their window is open. Val Waters got an offer from Sligo Rovers and Declan McNulty from St. Patrick’s Athletic. I want Val Waters to go and I am on the fence about McNulty; Declan’s desirability will be affected by our Youth Intake Day.
Scotland gets in on things too. Ross County want Derek McLeish and offer him a pre-contract.
More offers come in from English teams. Barnsley want Steve Pearson and we negotiate £16k, 25% of sell-on fee, and a £2.5 million buy-back clause. Accrington make an offer of £1,600 for Al-Ziod but my minimum is £5k plus other clauses and they back out.
Nothing like a New Year’s Day match! It’s breezy, 5° C, and there’s a drizzle. How…English.
at Wimborne, 1 January 2019
Formation: Club (GK, DC r, DC c, DC l, WBR, WBL, MC r, MC c, MC l, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Pilcher, Spearing, Carroll, Maguire, Jefcoate, Cullen, Smith, Nixon, Rae, Kirkpatrick
Subs: Webb, Parker, Day, Nightingale, Rice, Harding, Hodgson, Jones, Barlow, Macey, Thirlwell, Thompson
Luckily our opposing goalkeeper has frozen hands as he can’t handle shots allowing us to retain possession on a poor cross that leads to Rae getting two shots in rapid succession with the second one going in. Ten minutes later Kemar’s off-target shot ricochets off a central defender and into goal, but just barely; he doesn’t get credit for the goal. Kemar has been looking like he’s ready for a slump with his Complacent attitude. Cullen continues with the fine Brixton tradition of long shots by central midfielders and we’re up three.
I forgot to drop our line back after establishing the cushion and they beat us with some give-and-go. The cushion is restored shortly thereafter with a close Spearing shot after some crazy pinballing in the box. Then Carroll commits an unnecessary foul in our box, tripping an opponent who had no hope of catching up to a ball headed out. The exclamation on the half is Kemar missing an easy header. Oy vey. And of course another Rae goal.
After the first 45 minutes are up I express my dismay to the squad. The Defense (Legg 6.3, Carroll 6.2) get a scolding and Kemar gets a pep-talk though he deserves a scolding too. Too many players are complacent. We do get a late goal courtesy of Macey but generally the subs didn’t do much.
POM: Alex Rae (2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
I fine Legg a week for his 6.3 and Kemar would have received an Official Warning for his 6.4 if the game gave me an option to do so. Instead I had a one-on-one. My Kemar consternation wasn’t just for the 6.4 but for the complete Jekyll and Hyde routine he’s taken to of late. He was non-plussed and wanted to talk about it and I told him to shut up and get on with his job. He seems to have stepped back.
Cardiff and Brentford also come in with offers for Pearson, the same as Barnsley's, and I accept after I jacked up the price to £20k.
Waters shoots down Sligo Rover though so he might not actually go anywhere. The same goes for McLeish and Ross County.
Notts County, League Two, make an offer for Connor Smith but I shoot them down as he’s in my future plans and not that hot of a commodity that it wouldn’t be unnatural for him to stay. Portsmouth, League One, want Carroll but offer only £1,500 so I say no.
Blackburn also want to play the “can we” game but they want Pilcher, someone I consider quite the find and our best central defender when Spearing and Carroll leave. It doesn’t help that they low ball us with a miserly offer of £500.
For our next match we get to play a club from one of those super English-sounding places: Mangotsfield. I’m pretty sure his is one of those matches that kept getting moved back due to cup fixtures getting in the way. For the final match of the year we get to host them and I’d like them to get used to losing to us so we close out the season on a high note.
at Mangotsfield, 5 January 2019
Formation: Club
Starting XI: Legg, Pilcher, Spearing, Carroll, Parker, Rice, Harding, Barlow, Thompson, Macey, Thirlwell
Subs: Webb, Maguire, Day, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Donaldson, McAdam, Hodgson, Cullen, Jones, Rae, Smith
After 5’ Pilcher gets a close-range opportunity from a corner but his header bounces off the crossbar. Three minute later Macey steals a ball way out wide and is faced with the decision of whether to dribble in and shoot or cross to Thirlwell. He opts for the cross but Thirlwell’s header goes right to the able-handed goalie. That’s all that happens in the first. I give the crew a pep-talk, “I know you can all do well and win” but only Thompson and Legg are enthused. Not-So-Thrilling is rocking a 6.4 so I give him a direct confidence booster and he just stares at me.
I switch to Attacking but make Macey a Defensive Forward on Defend duty in the hopes he has a better chance to steal a ball. So of course that means he has to come off ten minutes in with a damaged heal. But that does the trick! We get some nice build-up play with Harding sending the ball way off to the right where a prancing Parker sends in a cross to Rae’s lovely dome and we get on the scoreboard. I go back to Control and make Rae a Target Man - Support, but in the 78th minute Maggotfield get a header from a corner.
I switch us to the Spade, keep our mentality of Attacking, and swap on fresher legs. In the 86th it works the charm. Oddly, it’s Cullen being a thief that wins the game for us. Rae was slide-tackled just beyond the circle, the ball rolled all the way to the 18-yard box but the DC who recovered had poor First Touch ability and Cullen pounced on the rebound and shot one past the keeper from 7 yards out. We almost got a cushion but Donaldson’s header from a corner goes off the crossbar and way back up field.
In the locker room I didn’t want to focus on what was just another squeaky-bum match so I told the lads to switch focus to the next match and not get complacent. Interesting, most players responded positively but the youngins who played poorly (Thirlwell, 6.4, and Rice, 6.2) got stressed.
POM: Teddy Cullen (1 goal, 1 key pass)
Again with the foot injuries! Macey is out 10 days to 3 weeks with a damaged heal. This is bad. Kirkpatrick and Thirlwell are streaky and Taylor is still injured. We might lose a match. Dammit.
I have a chat with Rice and Thirlwell about their performances and thankfully they both agree they sucked. I didn’t do official warnings or fines because they are still young and new to the first team. No point in alienating them already.
I realize pretty quickly we are going to have to go back to the Spade, not because I fear losing but I just don’t have the strikers to do the Club or Diamond. Taylor is out for another 2 to 5 weeks still. I believe Nixon as a Shadow Striker will pick up the slack and score plenty.
Of course the ghouls, I mean journalists, come around asking how ever will I deal with the loss of Macey for the Millwall match. I take the high road, “I prefer to be optimistic; this is a chance for someone to step up and grab the headlines.” Had Kemar been around I would have been staring at him the whole time.
Speaking of Millwall, they want to take Pilcher on trial for 1 week. Noooo. We need him to play YOU. The next day Wigan and Fleetwood, both in the Championship, drop stacks of cash on my desk for the privilege of acquiring Shane. Both are less that £1,500 so I of course say no. How pissed will he be?
And Dundalk over in Ireland want to take Duggan for a test drive. Another no.
Declan McNulty stiff-arms St. Patrick’s Athletic, something that pleases me.
In player development news, in the weekly advice summary email I’m informed that U18 midfielder Bill Taylor is a potential Championship talent. Great news. His media description is “Hard working midfielder” so I look forward to his elevation to the Seniors.
Now for the bad news. Pearson has agreed to a deal with Brentford. I ask to delay for a week so I can at least have him with us for the Millwall match.
I feel confident in this match as they are 20th. Regardless of how we are doing I’m going to do an early full swap to keep the troops fresh for the Millwall match. I’m hoping the questions about Macey being out and a new hero emerging means the game is going to make Kirkpatrick king for a day.
vs. Slimbridge, 9 January 2019
Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Spearing, Carroll, Jefcoate, Barlow, Smith, Pearson, Nixon, Duckett, Kirkpatrick
Subs: Webb, Parker, Day, Nightingale, Rice, McAdam, Hodgson, Jones, Cullen, Rae, Thirlwell, Harding
The pre-game starts out wonderfully with my speech inspiring Duckett and Kirkpatrick. Our first action comes 17’ in with a pacey Duckett priming up for a cross as Kirkpatrick is coming up the middle. But he takes the shot himself and blows the great opportunity. Another 17’ goes by before we get another corner which was initially unsuccessful but the physical play afterwards sees Barlow tripped by Bridge’s defensive midfielder and Nixon gets a penalty shot. Nixon gets us the lead but I was afraid he wouldn’t as he had rolled his ankle 5 minutes into the game and hasn’t quite recovered.
My half time speech of “you’re doing well but you can do better” sees Spearing, Carroll, and Kemar switch off. This is not good. I speak of my faith in Kemar and praise the defense for their solid work. Everything’s cool.
As promised, I switch to the Diamond at 55’ and swap everyone. (Nixon came off at half due to those fitness concerns; Cullen came on.) Rae continues to show his worth as he really takes the Work Ball Into Box instruction to heart, dribbling to the right post and scoring from a tight angle two yards out.
POM: Daniel Duckett (7 key passes, 6 chances created)
More offers and trial offers come in. I say no to Carroll going to Cardiff. Millwall make a straight-up offer for Pilcher but I can’t let him go because I’m sure Carroll and Spearing will be gone by the end of the month. Blackburn make the same pitch for him and get the same reply.
I knew we are going to get boned by Millwall and when the scouting report comes in the evidence is on full display.
The pre-match presser is tricky and I just try to maintain a positive attitude. The Millwall manager agrees with me that it’ll be a fun occasion.
at Millwall, 12 January 2019
Formation: Spade
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Spearing, Carroll, Jefcoate, Harding, Smith, Pearson, Barlow, Duckett, Kirkpatrick
Subs: Webb, Pilcher, Day, Nightingale, Parker, McAdam, Hodgson, Jones, Nixon, Rae, Thirlwell, Cullen
I have a slight glimmer of hope at the outset as most of the Millwall squad start the match tired, mostly in the 90-80% range on Condition. Amazingly we get the first shot but it’s a weak effort by Barlow that is off target. OH MY EFFING LORD! In the 23rd we get a free kick in Millwall’s end. Duckett manages to get the ball to the middle of the scrum around the penalty spot and super-tall Smith is able to rise above everyone and head in the goal! Unbelievable!
But then Maguire gets called for a penalty for kicking their left winger who was breezing right past him. Miracle of miracles, Legg deflects the shot out of bounds. He then collects the ensuing corner with aplomb and a sense of dominance. We control possession back up the field and eventually Kemar tries a placed shot but misses by a good margin. (At this point I notice Millwall’s goalie is “Disenchanted.” Wonder why? His Determination is 12 so maybe his Pressure is super low?) We again get possession and play keep-away for a minute but that ends when Pearson’s perfect cross to Kemar results in some more woodwork doinking.
So of course at this point someone has to break a lower body part. It’s Carroll with a Damaged Heal. At half I praise the lot of them, Jefcoate and Legg get all giddy. I admonish Kemar for his 6.4 and he gets Fired Up. We can do this!
I should have brought Carroll off as he didn’t recover much during the half but it’s Spearing who’s asleep at the wheel and lets the ball get past the backline. The striker’s brain must be broke because he tried a 40 yard attempt once he realized Carroll was going to beat him to the box. The shot was way worse than Barlow and Kirkpatrick’s earlier.
At 51’ I bring off Carroll for Pilcher. Millwall begins piling up yellows but then we get our second, courtesy of Smith. Off he comes for McAdam. Just as I’m starting to think of shaking things up and going Diamond, our short passing style and wide play pays off. McAdam spies Harding, who sees a sneaky Pearson skulking forward, passes through the corner of the box, Pearson picks it up out wide, crosses it to Kemar but Barlow intercepts it with his right foot and we are up two!
At 72’ I make my final substitutions. Kemar is down to a 6.3 so I bring on Marcus, which Kemar should see as a major indictment of his current play. It doesn’t take long but the Diamond combo of a Deep Lying Forward, played by Rae, and a Poacher, played by Thirlwell, works to perfection when Thriller bounces in a goal off the bottom of the crossbar. This is unreal!
Ten minutes later we get a slight repeat but now it’s Thriller’s 26-yard desperation shot that stuns the crowd. And just like that, we’re on to the next round.
POM: Steve Pearson (1 assist, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
Amazing. I had an inkling the game engine was setting us up for victory but this will go down as the largest upset in FA history, it doesn’t matter that it was “only” a Championship-level opponent. And we make almost £130k in prize money! With Pearson getting POM it makes my decision to delay his transfer a week look like I’m a managerial genius. :-)
I take the opportunity to praise Chick Legg in private conversation. That penalty stop really got us to stop worrying and play with confidence. I also pull Kemar aside for a private chat. He says he’ll improve but I fine him a week’s salary just to drive home the point. He’s been all over the map recently.
Back to the positive side of things, Carroll’s damaged heal cleared up by the end of the match so he won’t be on the shelf. Also, I did not realize it but at this stage in the FA Cup the gate receipts are split evenly so we made an additional £123k from this match. Right now our profit for the month is just over £200k, putting us over £366k for the season.
So who are we going to take down in the next round of the FA Cup? We get to host Bolton, who these days are only League One. We really lucked out. There was one Conference National team still in the mix but most of the teams left are Premier League or Championship. The match will be 2 February just after the transfer window closes and several key players might be gone by then so our odds will be pretty long.
Oh wow. Shadi Al-Ziod in Jordan’s match against Oman failed to score but rated a 9.1. What a baller!
More offers come in that are laughable. For example, Barnsley believe a non-negotiable offer of £1,500 is gonna go over well at our corporate offices.
One offer isn’t so laughable. Millwall really want Pilcher, offering up to £17,000 for him. I still say no.
Will we have a FA Cup hangover in the cup match? I sure as hell hope not! With a couple of players Tired and several more getting close to that I do worry my rotation will be rife with bad omens.
at Weston-super-Mare, 15 January 2019
Formation: Spade
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Pilcher, Day, Jefcoate, Harding, Smith, Hodgson, Nixon, Duckett, Rae
Subs: Webb, Maguire, Spearing, Nightingale, Rice, Donaldson, McAdam, Thirlwell, Thompson, Jones, Kirkpatrick, Cullen
We start off with lots of good passing and tackling though it takes three minutes for the odd combo of Duckett-Hodgson-Nixon-Duckett to get our first goal. The second goal comes a minute later with another odd combo of Duckett-Rae-Hodgson-Nixon. Our passing in the box is phenomenal. Rae and Nixon gets us our third goal at 11’ and the hangover is not a thing today.
POM: Alex Rae (1 goal, 2 assists, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)
After the match Duckett’s agent demands a new contract for Duckett. I say no, Duckett gets mad, we have a face-to-face. He understands that he has too much time on his contract to get a new one. Honestly, I figured he’d be gone by now but turns out only League One team Rotherham want him.
I withheld Pearson from the match as I figured his departure was imminent and I’m not wrong, it was after the match. I have a good talk with him before he leaves. I tell him he was a great servant for the club and he is welcome back anytime. He thanks me and admits he’d like to return. “Oh, you will once we make it to the Premier League as I’m sure you’ll be good enough for us then.”
(I maintain an Excel spreadsheet as part of playing Football Manager. It’s epic. Holds a ridiculous amount of information. I decided to create a History tab to keep track of departed players, like Ben O’Donnell. Did you know that “History” is reserved by Excel as a tab name? I didn’t! I called it “Histree”. Also, I checked in on Benny. He’s made 4 sub appearances for Brighton, scoring once. Still sitting in their U23 team. I wonder if he regrets the move.)
Now Fleetwood want in on Pilcher but their offer is a mirror image of the previous one. So is my response. Walsall, League Two, want Al-Ziod for £1,200, an embarrassing offer. Several teams have chosen to come in with non-negotiable offers, which leads to an auto-denial by me.
These cups are really cramping our schedule. This week we don’t have a Saturday match so the lads will be able to recover from any jadedness that has built up. A peek at the fixtures list shows that our first week without a mid-week match is in early March. Right after Youth Intake Day. Will a newly arrived lad get a start in our Winchester match on 9 March?
Shadi Al-Ziod does well in a match against Syria, rating in at 7.3. Not so well against Japan with a 6.7.
For the seventh round of the FA Trophy we get to host York, of the Conference National league. It’s not the best draw but not the worse either. In the Southern League Cup Quarter Finals we host Billericay or Swindon Supermarine if we get past Hungerford. I’m hoping for Billericay for the Ian Dury references. Finally, for the FA Vase Seventh Round we host Fleet Town when we get past Chester.
I’m reminded on a Tuesday to praise some players. I normally don’t praise players when they have Perfect Morale but Rae has been an absolute beast recently so I heap the praise upon him.
Now on to some more cup play in which we play a higher level team but I’m not scared.
vs. Hungerford, 23 January 2019
Formation: Spade
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Spearing, Caroll, Jefcoate, Harding, Smith, Hodgson, Nixon, Duckett, Kirkpatrick
Subs: Webb, Pilcher, Day, Nightingale, Parker, Thompson, McAdam, Macey, Donaldson, Jones, Thirlwell, Rae
My pre-match speech inspires Kirkpatrick and I hope that is a sign of great things to come. I tell you what, our Box-to-Box Midfielders sure are good scoring from distance. Duckett sends a corner directly to Barlow, he dribbles forward a smidge and sends in a screamer from 21 yards out, just squeaking it in past the left post. Another corner sees us get a penalty chance and I switch Kemar in to take it instead of Nixon. I want his confidence up. That almost backfires. (His Finishing is 14, Composure 11, but Penalty Taking only 4.) He sends it right to the goalie who can’t handle it and Kemar beats everyone to the ball and he sinks it from a tight angle.
We then swap goals off corners with Duckett getting one for us and Brian May getting one for our opponent. Sorry, Hungerford, but we are the champions, my friend. Our fourth comes from a fast counter but Kemar’s slack attitude sees him too far back to receive Duckett’s cross but Barlow is the man of the hour.
The sixth and final goal is a bizarre one. Macey runs down the right side, leaps over a sliding tackle, shrugs off a shoulder bump and crosses from the endline. Donaldson flies through the air and heads the ball into the crossbar, deflecting it downward. The GK can’t recover it though and goes chasing it, fumbles it, Donaldson tries to slide-tackle it into goal but misses. The ball is just sitting there. Donaldson gets to his feet between the ball and the goal, puts his foot on the ball and rolls it backward into the goal. B-zar.
POM: Daniel Duckett (2 goals, 2 assists, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
Shadi’s performance declines as the Jordan team runs into increasingly tough completion. Against South Korea, best Korea, he rates 6.0 and gets a yellow card.
Offers keep coming in for the usual suspects but the offers don’t increase and neither does my willingness to accept them. That is until Millwall comes in with an offer for Pilcher that could be worth £28,500. I’m really tempted but I’m so proud of my find that I don’t want to let him go. Spearing and Carroll are available, Millwall.
It’s nice to return to league matches. I can relax more and enact more rotation. Webb hasn’t played in a while so he gets a start. As it goes with Thriller.
at Cinderford, 26 January 2019
Formation: Spade
Starting XI: Webb, Parker, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Harding, McAdam, Hodgson, Barlow, Jones, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Maguire, Spearing, Caroll, Jefcoate, Donaldson, Cullen, Macey, Thompson, Duckett, Rae, Kirkpatrick
Now it seems Barlow is on fire. Today he gets the starring role of Shadow Striker, putting him in the perfect place to head in a Hodgson cross when just the two of them get a breakaway against four Cinderford defenders. Nothing much happens until the 85th when Donaldson stabs the enemy up the gut with a precision shot. And with that we maintain a perfect league record.
POM: Terry Barlow (1 goal, 3 key passes)
On the transfers front the only new news is Ebbsfleet, Conference National, trying to unsettle Duckett, tipping a journalist that they might offer up to £2,100 for him. That ain’t gonna cut it, bubs. Dagenham & Redbridge (a.k.a. Dag & Red), in League Two, also start some shit about Smith. Sigh.
I still think it’s pretty ridiculous that we are favored against teams two or more rungs above in the ladder.
at Chester, 29 January 2019
Formation: Club (GK, DC r, DC c, DC l, WBR, WBL, MC r, MC c, MC l, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Pilcher, Spearing, Carroll, Maguire, Jefcoate, Harding, Barlow, Nixon, Rae, Kirkpatrick
Subs: Webb, Smith, Day, Nightingale, Parker, Rice, Cullen, McAdam, Donaldson, Macey, Thirlwell, Jones
I find it pretty funny when Barlow sends a ball to the right corner for Rae, as a Poacher, to chase down. What is he supposed to do, cross it to our Target Man Kirkpatrick? What? It worked?! Kemar really used his head there! Later Harding sends a free kick into the box where I expected Spearing to get a goal but he heads it down to Rae two yards to his left and Rae threads the needle into the back of the net.
By 63’ we’re up three so it’s time to do some swapping. The third goal comes from another Rae to Kirkpatrick cross. This time the duo are two-on-four, something that doesn’t seem to bother our attackers at all.
POM: Kemar Kirkpatrick (2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
Excellent! We get to face Billericay Dickey! And Fleet Town again.
The Jordanian Prince is back early as his national team washed out of Asian Nations Cup. He’ll probably get the start against Bolton. He now has 5 caps. Pretty darned cool.
It’s quite a shame that Sports Interactive can’t program transfers more accurately. The last week of the month was a lot of £1,500 offers for Carroll. With no exaggeration, I probably rejected 25 offers. Also, we kept getting offers for Pilcher on the last day but at least each offer was better than the previous. Even a couple of teams came looking for Liam Roberts, MC in the U18s, but they were really low, around £500. In summary, I didn’t sell anybody, sadly.
We suffered through some injuries up front but were able to overcome. Rae really came on strong at the right time while Kemar faltered. Barlow also had some key moments and of course who could forget Pearson’s performance in the FA Cup win? It was sad to say good-bye to him but we were holding him back.
Let’s take a look at our competitions. In the Southern First Division West we are undefeated and atop the table. The board rate me at 80% for that. For the Southern League Cup we are in the Quarter Final, which rates a 55% board confidence because we are expected to win it. For the FA Trophy, 55% for being in the Seventh Round when we need to reach the Quarter Final. The FA Vase is another competition we are expected to win and we’re in the Seventh Round, scoring 55%.
Most importantly, we have far exceeded our expectations in the FA Cup where we’re in the Fourth Round. We only had to make the First Round so we have pleased the board 85%.
