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I don’t know what to say. No negative news! Double up the huzzah!
We done losted £77k last month. We still have more than £12.25 million in the kitty.
No changes since 1 July.
Nobody has joined Legg in the Highly Influential Player bracket. O’Shea is still lumped in with the Other Players group. Drat.
Just two more matches to go. One against a David, one against a Goliath. Hopefully we David the Goliath. The other one I’m not worried about.
That was a damn fine pre-season. Now to start training 3 different, new formations at once to give the league a fighting chance.
The month starts with an offer for Pilcher from Barnsley. It’s an embarrassing offer so it gets denied. The next day Leeds return with an offer for him but they continue with the lowballing so I tell them off.
At the same time Marlow, a league below us, want to take on GK Carl Friend for a season-long loan. I accept the offer. They are willing to take on 100% of his staggering wages of £110 per week. On 8 August he agrees to the deal and is off to get some learnin’ in.
The daily trend of Pilcher offers continue with Queens Park Rangers offering £500 for him. Nope. On the 4th it’s Millwall who try to swindle me. QPR come back on the 7th but they don’t up their offer. The bids continue but the values never increase. (This is one of those things that really bothers me about Sports Interactive. This happened all the time in FM2014; you’d think they’d program a better AI in those four years.)
Two days before our first match Leeds again comes a-hunting for Kemar. I again say no and he enters my officer afterwards. I tell him that he won’t get as much playing there as he thinks so I denied the offer for his own good. He sees the light and thanks me.
About once a week when you are playing Football Manager 2018 you’ll get an email from someone on your staff updating you on the progress of a player. I get such from my Head of Youth Development on 3 August about Tasos Noulas. Because the “Squad’s general character has had a positive effect lately” his Determination went from 14 to 15 and his Personality changed from Balanced to Fairly Determined. I love this game.
Before our finally friendly I was forced to pick the new Vice Captain. My AssMan suggest James Jefcoate but he’s only 18. He’s also significantly better at Leadership, Teamwork, and Work Rate than O’Shea. Hmmm…I wish there was a way to ask your Captain for advice. James gets the nod.
I did my maths wrong and it turns out I had to move Glyn Davies to the U23s. I thought that a player could be in the U18 so long as they turn 18 after 1 July. Turns out it’s after 1 September. Ergo, I also have to move Tasos Noulas to the U23s. I had him in the Seniors during pre-season but we’re crowded in the midfield so...
I needed another MC for the U18s, a DMC to be specific. A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go, hi-ho the merry-o – Oh look what I found! A Henson Debellotte.
He is tall, I like a tall DMC for half-back purposes, and his is Grenadian, which fits the Brixton-Caribbean motif. Pretty great Physicals for a lad of 16-and-a-half. If his Determination increase he’ll be a good captain for the U18s and U23s, what with that 13 Leadership and all. He signed on 18 August.
Aren’t those MidJourney AI-generated faces awesome?!
While I was looking for players I stumble across recently-departed Paul Taylor. He got injured. Out for 5 weeks with a hernia. Poor lad.
My “threat” to change formations gets off to a start two days before our first match. I’m going with a 4-4-2 Diamond with Standard Mentality.
I’m going with this mostly to get Coates familiar with the Regista role and get his DMC up to Natural. I also want Bill Taylor to get Natural at AMC.
It’s like déjà vu all over again. The Club.
I’m turning to this old standard really just to get my fullbacks also Natural at wingback. It’s also a good formation to give my wingers some rest and get central midfielders Match Fitness.
And finally, here we return to a really old formation, the 4-5-1.
It will be our Counter-Attack formation. I’ll eventually turn to the Diamond for our counter tactic but for now it gives me another opportunity to get the players who need AML or AMR up to Natural.
Once I get all my starters Natural in the positions they need I’ll totally rethink my formations. Ideally players who come up through our youth system will learn what they need to before graduating to the U23. If not, they round things off while they are out on loan.
It’s now time to look at the differences of starters for the first match, just like I did last year.
The biggest difference is the formation. Like I explained earlier, I want to get my key midfielders Natural in DMC or AMC depending on their future. There are also a number of right midfielders who need to get Natural there.
The second thing you’ll probably notice is we have only two returning starters. As already explained, this is quite by design as I’ve tried to move on from the initial batch of youth players I started the game with. Technically that includes Parker and Jefcoate but I won’t move on from them until next season. The rest are proper youth intake players or lads who I found through scouting, Pilcher and O’Shea to be precise.
Now let’s get to the first match of the season! We’re taking a step back in time, kinda. A lot of stuff above was written throughout the month, what happens below is done in “real time.”
We are predicted to win the league and our opponent are predicted to finish 20th. We better win this!
vs. Banbury, 10 August 2019
Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Kirkpatrick
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Smith, Ferguson, Harding, Leary, Thirlwell
Over 1,800 Brixton fans see Coates get his first assist ever and Kemar’s first goal of the season just 86 seconds in. His second goal comes in the 30th. His third comes 45 seconds later. Did I ever mention he was an amazing product of the Brixton Youth Academy? In the 40th Coates gets a free kick and sends the ball wide of the wall to a lonely Taylor who gets his first goal of the season. I expect this duo to lead us to greatness over the next few years.
Having seriously taken my foot of the pedal I’m surprised when Macey beats a one-on-one in the 67th. That’s all the scoring. We finish the match without allowing a single shot on goal. This is awesome.
POM: Alex Rae (2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
There is a little bad news. Both Pugh and Hibbert got bruised thighs during the match. Pugh’s cleared up by match-end but Hibbert will be out for 5 to 8 days.
Some good news though is that we made a smidge over £15k from the well-attended match. This bodes well I think. I’ll have to check our balance after payroll goes out on Sunday to see if £30k a week is enough for us.
I checked the finances. We spend about £23k in wages per week. So we should slowly make our way back to black for the season. Slowly.
The higher income is partly courtesy of 512 season tickets sold, an increase of 184 over last year. Another contributor is that our first U18 match drew 333 fans. We made around £2,000 on that. This bodes well and I believe our U23s will also draw good crowds too.
Now it’s time for our first away match. Hopefully if one of their players makes a mistake the rest of them will also go off the cliff in response. Only two changes to the line-up today, Watkins in for an injured Hibbert and Ferguson in for a tired Coates, who got a full 90 minutes as a 15-year-old. He’s pooped!
at Leamington, 13 August 2019
Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Ferguston, Watkins, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Kirkpatrick
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Nightingale, Roberts, Harding, Leary, Rae
This time it takes 12:17 before Kemar gets on the board with a left-footed placed shot. He’s really slipping. That good news is countered by Macey’s continued struggles. He’s had four shots and they’ve either been right to the goalie or wide of the mark. Make that five. Luckily he gets a second assist and Kemar gets a second goal, this one a header from a great cross. Just before the half Eddie tries for his third assist but Kemar can’t reach the cross as he’s being held down by a defender. Kemar’s hat trick comes in at 40:42. Like I said, he’s slipping. And to make me look like a putz, Eddie scores 45 seconds later.
Just over 5 minutes into the restart Kemar feeds Eddie for a goal so I bring our score-bot off along with a tired Pugh. New hire O’Shea pulls on the shirt of a Leaming and Chicken Leg can’t quite reach the penalty shot. Minutes later Taylor can’t get a corner to a Brixton player but the rebound finds his foot and this time his cross meets Rae’s head for our sixth goal. With seven minutes left Macey finally gets his hat trick and we’re in seventh heaven. And then eighth heaven after Macey helps Rae to a brace. Off the restart Watkins assists Rae to a hat trick. Oh boy. I have created a monster.
POM: Eddie Macey 9.9 (3 goals, 3 assists, 4 key passes, 4 chances created)
There is some bad news, Meilir Pugh has a tight calf and will be out the next 2 days. My young wingers are breaking down far too early.
It’s cup draw time! Oh how I missed you. Not! This time it’s for the FA Trophy Second Round. This time we get to host the Archbishop of Canterbury. They are a minnow, way down in the County Leagues. They aren’t too far away so hopefully we’ll get a healthy amount of visiting fans. I’m tempted to throw the match just to ease fixture congestion but the board expect me to win this competition.
About that monster I created. On the last day of the Premier League transfer window, 15 August, Huddersfield arrive at 5:58 a.m. with an offer for Kemar. It’s the standard £2,000 that teams have been so fond of lately. I decide to press my luck and offer him out on loan instead. I ask that they pay his wage, a paltry £500 per week, and pay a monthly fee of £10,000. No whammys! No whammys! No whammys! They accept!
They are predicted to avoid relegation and don’t exactly have the greatest of facilities but I really didn’t want Kemar to stagnate with us. Maybe next season he’ll be drawing actual adult-sized offers northward of £1 million. I mean, I’d love for him to just stay with us but let’s be honest, a youth of 17 already Premier-worthy has no business at Brixton FC.
I’m fine with letting him go, as far as coverage goes. Macey will do just fine, and Thirlwell and Rae are more than capable at this level. Also McLeish will get more opportunities so I can assess whether he’s gonna be worth a darn. I’m not sure he’ll be good enough for League Two or higher but I should know by the end of this season.
The next day, 16 August, Worksop approach with a loan offer for U18 ST Jamie Hopkinson. Jamie is our worst player and his contract is up at the end of the season. I accept the offer and go looking for another ST to put in the youth squad. I was going to invite Junior Fox back but he signed a contract with Enfield Borough F.C. before I can get to him. Ergo, I send out my scouts looking for youthful strikers. They are still looking at DMCs though so it might be awhile.
Alright, can we still win with Kemar gone? Frome are a weak team, predicted to finish 19th and currently 20th.
vs. Frome, 17 August 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, Nightingale, Smith, O’Shea, Johnstone, Rice, Coates, Harding, Roberts, McLeish, Thirlwell
Subs: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, Taylor, Hibbert, Macey, Rae
Thirlwell’s early chance goes begging but the resultant corner doesn’t. Liam Roberts ends up with the ball and coolly passes it to Derek McLeish for his first Brixton goal ever. A corner 10 minutes later again finds Roberts but his shot goes off the left post. No worries, though, it goes right to Nightingale who slams it home. After 20 minutes Thirlwell has sent in three shots right to the goalie. Each one results in a corner but only one sees us score.
Frome pull one back after a corner and some sloppy play by O’Shea. Am I beginning to regret this signing? On the restart Thrilwell gets a breakaway but his shot goes off the underside of the crossbar and Frome’s defense clears the ball.
I give the crew a Calm warning about their play and O’Shea get a little extra attention because he didn’t react to my team talk. (He’s captain today as Jefcoate and Macey aren’t on the pitch.)
The second half starts with a McLeish skyball on a breakaway and yet another corner from a Thirlwell kick right to the GK. And another. So at 64’ I put us in the 4-5-1 Counter and add Parker, Hibbert, and Macey to the mix. But before the changes can take effect, Thirlwell changes up the script. This time he gets dispossessed in the 18-yard box but the thief’s pass goes to an empty spot and McLeish pounces on it before anyone can react. McLeish almost gets his hat trick in the 85th but his shot goes just wide.
This time I give a mildly Assertive speech saying they need to do better against better teams. Smith with his 6.7 got confused and demotivated but Thirlwell gets fired up by my personal admonishment.
POM: Derek McLeish 9.1 (2 goals, 2 key passes, 2 chances created)
My maths are seemingly accurate afterall! We made £14,233 off that match. Our next match is at home as is a U23 match on Monday. We might be in the black in a week’s time!
I take time after the match to have a one-on-one with McLeish to congratulate him for being awesome on his debut and he thanks me for the kind words. Liam Roberts also had his debut, grading out at 9.0 with 2 assists, 4 key passes, and 3 chances created. He too gets a coach talk and thanks me.
Speaking of debuts, Kemar had his with Hudderfield. Against Liverpool. He rated a 6.7 in 82 minutes of play. He’ll have better days I’m sure.
If it’s a Sunday, it must be a draw day! For the Southern League Cup we get to host Phoenix Sports, a step below us in the pyramid. For the FA Vase we travel to Long Eaton, two steps below. We best come away with two wins.
That U23 match I mentioned earlier brought in just over £6,000 off 830 spectators. This is good. This trend needs to continue.
Right after training camp I went to get Chick Legg to tutor Gareth O’Keeffe but the game wouldn’t let me. I figured it must have been because Legg was not 25 yet. On 25 August in the weekly “Player development advice summary” email from my AssMan (that never gets old) he suggested the arrangement. I get the players together and they are both amenable. Gareth should see his Determination go from 15 to 18 and his Personality from Ambitious to Driven.
Two games at home in a row is a good time let O’Keeffe get his first start of the season. It also helps that our opponent is 21st in the league. Hopefully we aren’t still dealing with the hangover of Kemar’s departure.
vs. Chesham, 21 August 2019
Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Ferguson, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Rae
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Nightingale, Roberts, Harding, Leary, Watkins
It’s a gusty, drizzly Wednesday evening in South London, not so bad as to keep away 1,638 fans. My Assertive demand to win produces no reaction so I am now worried.
Those worries are allayed before 10 minutes when Chesham’s left central defender takes his time gathering the goalie’s distribution, enough so that Macey pounces on the ball like a hungry cat on an unsuspecting mouse. Brixton 1, Chesham 0. Chesham make another mistake in our end and we slowly return to the scene of the earlier crime and Macey provides Rae with a chance and he gets it in on his second try. Brixton 2, Chesham 0. Our third comes 10 minutes later when Taylor boots one in from 20 yards out. Brixton 3, Chesham 0.
I think you get the picture. We dominate. The only bad thing about the first half is Macey picking up some bruised ribs. Tommy Watkins gets his first action at Striker at the restart. He gets a header in from a Hibbert cross at 63’.
POM: Alex Rae 9.4 (2 goals)
Macey has an amazing ability to recover as his ribs are no longer bruised by the end of the match. What a relief!
Somehow I managed to reset or never properly set Alan Coates’ training to learn defensive midfielder, Regista role. No wonder why he wasn’t improving. Sigh.
Royston should present more of a challenge as they are 9th in the league table. With some tired strikers I’m breaking out the rarely, if ever used, 4-5-1 Counter.
at Royston, 24 August 2019
Formation: 4-5-1 Counter (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MC r, MC l, AMR, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Rice, Coates, Harding, Roberts, Robinson, Leary, Thirlwell
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Nightingale, Smith, Ferguson, Hibbert, Macey
Our first goal comes in the 12th with a Coates free kick out to the right that finds Pilcher who heads it in for his first goal of the season. Sadly, that’s all the news that’s fit to print for the first half. Fudge. Royston score 16 seconds into the second stanza because Pilcher’s long pass goes directly to their right full back who too believes in Route One.
I switch to an attacking mentality but the next action sequence doesn’t happen until the 60th. Thirlwell is all alone to the right of the big box having chased a long Coates pass but he has to wait for reinforcements but then his cross never makes it to Leary. The down side of a one-striker formation. I decide to switch to the Club and move Thirlwell, Robinson, and Leary.
The actions starts to happen but Hibbert can’t noggin a Macey cross from the byline. This is followed by another Hibbert misfire and a Coates complete flub. We had 24 shots, 11 on target, they had 4 and 1. Very dissatisfying. I’m going to get away from the Counter and single-striker formations.
POM: Alan Coates 9.0 (1 assist, 6 key passes, 3 chances created)
In other matches news, Kemar rocked another 6.7, as did Hopkinson, while Friend got another clean sheet.
Okay, so I removed the 4-5-1 from our repertoire and added the Spade. I know, I know, it’s a single-striker formation but having the Shadow Striker is good enough. Trust me.
Sunday is draw day! FA Cup First Qualifying Round. We get to host either Brockenhurst or Skelmersdale, both of which are two levels below us. This is good as I like to ease my way into things.
Our next opponent is Bishop’s Stortford and they actually have two really good players, a DC and an AMC. Luckily for us neither one of them is preforming that well. I hope that trend continues.
We’re going back to the Diamond Standard but I’ll be sans my starting centrebacks as their Conditions are at 91 and 92%. I guess technically that’s not too low but Pilcher is young yet and I don’t need him jaded by Guy Fawkes Day.
at Bishop’s Stortford, 27 August 2019
Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Smith, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Rae
Subs: Legg, Parker, O’Shea, Ferguson, Harding, Leary, McLeish
It’s a wet and gusty night so I begin to rethink the short passing instruction. It takes 15 minutes for anything to happen and that only comes after I shout encouragement and change the tactics a little bit more aggressive. It pays off immediately with Rae getting a breakaway though his shot is right at the keeper. The Fates must be smiling upon us as the rebound goes to an open Macey and we are up. That’s all that we get in the first half though.
Rae is not performing well so I give him a personal pep-talk that seems to motivate him. I also switch up to Attacking mentality.
We miss several easy shots early on and I worry my pep-talk is a demotivator despite the green, positive feedback. After 20 minutes I pull things back to Control and pull Rae and Taylor off for ineffectiveness, and Coates as he is getting exhausted. And boy does that work a charm! We get a breakaway with Ferguson at Regista sending a long ball to Macey who then passes it to Harding at AMC. Noah gets tripped but the orb continues to roll towards the goal. Ferguson was not lazy after his pass, streaking up the middle of the field, latching onto the ball, and sending it to the upper right from 18 yards out. Phew! We now have a two-goal cushion!
The cushion goes to three shortly after the restart as we take a long time playing out of defense but McLeish sees that Macey has an inch of separation and a perfect pass allows Eddie to nutmeg the keeper. It doesn’t take long for McLeish to get his twist of Fate when Nightingale sends a prayer upfield and Derek is on the loose, scoring from way out. The goalie was caught flat-footed.
That was a good bounce-back, both in the sense of the match and the second half. Hopefully this portends well.
POM: Eddie Macey 8.8 (2 goals, 1 assist, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
In loan news, Friend gets another clean sheet and Hopkinson gets a goal.
It’s 28 August and my scouts have finally found a striker to add to the U18s but he has a lot of callers. My scouts are finished with the list of strikers who are worthy so I’m forced to choose between a tall slow kid and a tall scaredy-cat. I go with the cat because he is alread known to us.
Ronnie Hollett was actually part of our youth intake back in February but his low Determination and Unambitious personality, not to mention our surplus of strikers, meant I didn’t offer him a contract. That lack of Concentration and Bravery sure didn’t help either. It costs us a £250 signing bonus and £200 per week to lure him down from Highgate, south of Birmingham, which is northwest of London, where he’s from, for the pleasure of his services. He also gets an extension if we get promoted, which is all fine as he’ll just be a U23 body on the cheap.
In other news, more international call-ups happen. Simon McAdam for Northern Ireland U19s, Noah Harding and Meilir Pugh for Wales U19s, and Gareth O’Keeffe for Ireland U21s. Go get ‘em, lads!
Biggleswade, another funny English name, are in “Woeful” form and I hope to add to that. O’Keeffe goes on International Duty tomorrow so he gets the start so he’ll be top fit in case he doesn’t get any actual playing time while he’s away. Also Leary and Watkins get starts.
vs. Biggleswade Town, 31 August 2019
Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Coates, Watkins, Leary, Taylor, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Smith, Ferguson, Harding, Hibbert, Thirlwell
This match is over in the 40th after McLeish scores 4 goals, Macey scores 2, and Leary scores 1. Things go worse when they have a player sent off in the 43rd and another in the 69th. One cool thing was this half-time talk option. Never seen the bit about pundits before.
POM: Derek McLeish 9.7 (4 goals, 2 assists, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
Eek! Another 6.7 goalless match for Kemar. This can be bad.
Well, it feels foolish to complain about a tie, our first non-victory since 23 February when Everton beat us in the FA Cup Fifth Round, when we’ve been dominating everything else. So I won’t. We still are a mighty team even though Kemar is off to Huddersfield. I really wanted him to get out and improve his game and to give our other strikers playing time. He’s yet to have a good game but that’s alright. Our other loanees are doing well for their low-level teams.
There is one thing that is bugging me though. Thirlwell has been less than Thrilling since we entered the regular season. He had 13 goals in 6 friendlies but since then he’s done nothing, rating at 6.2, 6.7, and 6.5. Not even an assist!
Remember Dick Pring? He was a right winger I made fun of back in my third update. Well he is doing really well for his team, East Yorkshire Carnegie FC, in a league up in northeast England, two rungs below us. He’s doing well, 1 goal, 3 assists, and a 7.48 rating in three matches. For his career he has 6 goals, 9 assists, and a 6.80 rating in 72 league matches. Good on him! Overcoming a horrible name and all.