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Every month seems to have a theme. This month is no different. Can you make a wild guess on what it is?
I have handed all Senior training matters over to my AssMan. I don’t seem to be screwing up the youngsters so I’ll keep managing them. If this doesn’t work then I guess I’ll just have to live with the fact that I suck at FM18 training. (I’ll loan out or ship off all our really good players next season.)
We’re in the red again for the season. We lost £91,210 in February, all those away games, bringing our season loss to £51,273.
Up one percent to 91% and still “Untouchable.”
On 18 February James Jefcoate, our Vice Captain, moved up to the Team Leader level of the team hierarchy. He sits there with Eddie Macey, our Captain, which only makes sense. On 26 February O’Shea moves back up to Influential Players due to his relationship with me. The game engine didn’t ask me how I feel about it.
On the first of the month I assign some tutoring. I’d been holding off until the new youths came in and so now’s the time. Legg gets to mentor Adrian Lee, as Kris Newton doesn’t need it. O’Shea gets to mentor Colin Cockbill because in the one day of training he’s already unhappy, telling me his Professionalism is below 12. Macey then gets Mickey Morris but not right now as he’s learning the Knock Ball Past Opponent Trait.
I ended up signing Terry Buckle after all, just so he can be a DMC body for the U18s. When I was adding his data into my spreadsheet I noticed that for his Favoured Personnel list he has eight members of the Backroom Staff listed. I wonder if this means he won’t be a thorn in anybody’s side? I also noticed on his Scouting Report that my AssMan believes he can successfully be retrained as a DMC, so that’s a relief.
One thing I noticed when looking at my Roster Management spreadsheet is that I won’t have many central defenders in the U23s next year. Matter of fact, only Collopy is planned to be there. I also won’t have any left fullbacks there. Ergo, I’ve offered Padraig Murphy a contract to take him through the end of 2021 so he can provide cover at both positions.
Remember how I was worried about bringing in too many players with bad personalities into the U18s? Ronnie Hollett being one of them? Well, he spontaneously went from Unambitious to Balanced due to “the squad’s general character” having “a positive effect on [him] lately.” Pretty darned cool.
One last note: Mickey Morris’ appraisal improved after he signed, he’s now a 4-star recruit. Other players who have 4 stars are expected to be League One quality so I’m guessing with the built-in fog-of-war he’ll eventually be Championship-worthy. Fingers crossed!
Cup draw time! For the Semi Final round of the Southern League Cup, we get to face Bath at home on 11 April. We faced them in the same round for the cup last year, beating them six-nil, in Bath. So you’re saying there’s a chance?!
The loan report comes in and I’m mostly pleased. I find it odd that our goalies aren’t doing better than average. To balance that out, I’m glad that the others are rating higher than 7.0.
And then I get news that my U18 Coach Maximilian Suppan heads out to manage Nuneaton, a club in the Conference North. Jerk. I hope we get them in a cup next year so I can refuse to shake his hand.
Time to find a replacement now! I find this guy immediately, Andrew Brennan. I can’t believe he was just out there unemployed. He’s a recently retired player with an 18 Defending Coaching and 17 Working With Youngsters. Amazeballs.
Merthyr Town are currently 3rd in the league table and on a five-game winning streak so this presents somewhat of a challenge. Three out of four sideline players today are second choice so I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt us.
vs. Merthyr Town, 4 March 2020
Formation: Shovel (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DM r, DM l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Pilcher, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Coates, Roberts, Robinson, Taylor, Pugh, Macey
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Smith, Harding, Watkins, Leary, Rae
Disaster almost comes 20 minutes in when we get carved up in the defense but the crossbar saves us some embarrassment, like the kind Macey had when he botched a 1v1 just 3 minutes in. Pugh then gets cursed by the crossbar minutes later. Just before a third of the match goes by Macey, he of 3 Heading, once again uses his forehead to get us on the board, thanks to a Parker endline cross. (Robinson had cut inside for some reason so he couldn’t receive Taylor’s pass to the right side.) And then the FMing kicks in when our entire back line tries to do an offside trap, which is not in the team instructions, and stand their ground while an enemy striker continues ahead. The initial strike hit the right post but he immediately got the rebound and sent it in. They quickly strike again with their other striker pressing ahead while our defense settles in for a spot of tea.
We tie the game in an incredibly similar situation back in our match against Brantham back in January when Coates sends in a screamer from 25 yards out. It came from a direct pass by Pugh from the right corner. Naturally, the ball had to go off the underside of the crossbar. The theme for the game or the month?
In an attempt to seize momentum I switch us to the Diamond and go Attacking; I bring Rae on and Roberts off to get that Target Man on the field. This almost immediately pays dividends but Macey’s shot is just wide. With 48 seconds remaining in extra time, Robinson’s errant cross, after a bunch of other errant passes, passes Rae and in his pursuit of the ball he is tripped. Taylor steps up for the penalty shot and . . . and we escape a home disaster. No call to Jake, from State Farm, for us.
I switch to the Club, go all defensivey, and bring on Smith at central centreback and Harding for the left Mezala, sending off Pugh and Robinson. Coates almost gets a second free kick goal but it heads wide only to be intercepted by an offsides Harding. Then the final whistle. Damn, that was close.
POM: Alan Coates 8.7 (1 goal, 5 key passes)
So did I praise them for a great comeback? Or did I chastise them for sloppy play? I calmly told them, “You were poor out there. We need to be much better.” Everyone but the late subs were fired up. I wanted to praise Coates for his POM award but sometimes saying too much is not for the best.
(Again, we make almost £11,000 from the match.)
While we were busy raising my blood pressure, Kemar was raising Man City’s in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, scoring in the 80th to get Huddersfield within one score. He rated a 7.8 in the match with all three of his shots on target. I give him a call to let him know I think he’s awesome; he agrees and thanks me. :-D I noticed that he’s a bid jaded, which is concerning, but I cannot figure out how to speak to the manager of Huddersfield to get him rest.
Padraig Murphy signs his new contract right after the match. It’s nice to have that bit of business done.
I sent my scouts out looking for left wingers on 1 March as I think Pugh is going to leave in the summer either by transfer or loan but there’s nobody in the wings who will be better than League Two. (See what I did there?) They aren’t finding anyone so I search for youths who are left-footed but only play on the right. I find some promising ones but will have to wait for the scout reports to know if I’ve found someone. If we strike out again, I’ll start looking for older players.
On 5 March O’Shea finally realizes I’m phasing him out and wants to discuss the matter. I could stiff arm him but I’ll try my hand at Man Management. I manage to mollify him by promising he’ll be getting more time.
Later that evening our new U18 Coach Brennan agrees then 5 hours later AMC David Doran signs. He’s a pretty decent looking AMC who should stick around for 3 or 4 years.
O’Shea isn’t the only one who bugs me this week. Bill Taylor wants a new contract. He’s got two more years on his current contract but, damn, he’s a beast and I want to keep him. I promise I’ll offer him a new one come the end of the season.
Enough administrative stuff now, time for some footy. Farnborough scored on us twice when they were 16th in the league. They are now 10th so we’ll probably end the match tied at four apiece. In that match we also gave up a goal while we were up one man. I don’t believe we had done that before or since.
vs. Farnborough, 7 March 2020
Formation: Diamond (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Smith, O’Shea, Rice, Ferguson, Hibbert, Leary, Harding, Rae, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Collopy, Parker, Roberts, Watkins, Pugh, Thirlwell
So of course our first attempt results in the ball hitting a post. As does our second. Their first attempt sees two of our players sliding in for tackles that are easily dodged, resulting with a perfect low cross and we’re down again; O’Shea could have intercepted the ball but didn’t even try.
Five minutes into the second half with us pretty much on full-on attacking, Rae has a perfect chance for a header but of course he hits the crossbar. After 60’ I yank Rae and McSlump for Thirlwell and Watkins. Of course it takes 15 minutes for us to even get a shot but luckily it’s Watkins nodding in a Rice cross. I don’t let my foot off the gas. Doesn’t matter, we get only one more chance and I swear Spiderman was in goal, snatching a Watkins shot when an actual human would not have been close.
POM: By some freakin’ miracle Gary Leary 7.5 (2 key passes, 2 chances created)
I was half-right, we ended in a tie but I was six goals too generous. Odd thing is, there were several players late into the game that were rating 6.3 and 6.4 but nobody finished lower than 6.6 so I can’t fine anybody or have a reasonable excuse for a chat.
I should keep track to see how many times we hit the woodworks over the month. This is already annoying. I think if we fail to demolish our next opponent I’ll institute an actual Attacking formation.
Kemar gets another goal for Huddersfield on Sunday but he’s still jaded. I swear to Cthulhu if he gets injured by their pin-head manager I will burn their stadium to the ground. I figured out how to talk to their manager and he totally isn’t listening to me. If after his next game he’s still Jaded I’m going to recall him. And then I actually look at their schedule and notice that they are out of all cups and thus will have 6 to 8 days between matches now.
On 10 March I get one of those highly desired emails from my Head of Youth Development. This time it’s to let me know that Glyn Davies is now a League Two talent. He’s still Unambitious but his Determination has gone from 7 to 10 since late July 2019 and this email says the squad’s general character still is having a positive effect. Maybe by August he’ll no longer be Unambitious.
Later that morning, I get even better news. Tommy Watkins has Premier League talent according to my AssMan. Hell yeah! Yes, I’ll be selling Hibbert off to the highest bidder this summer. Tommy’s mentoring by Macey from July to December 2019 didn’t go great so maybe we’ll try it again next year.
The same email says that GK Adrian Lee will be almost as good as O’Keeffe. I expect him to become our primary backup in 2023/2024, assuming we have gotten rid of Chick Legg and Robert Webb by then.
This will be my 200th game in charge of Brixton. I hope that Brixton will be in the Premier League by the time I get to 1,000. I mean, 800 would be better but we gotta be realistic. Hitchin, let me keep my win percentage at or above 96% please.
Also, due to that favorable report on Glyn Davies, I’m giving him some bench time and I hope to bring him on at some point. If he acquits himself well then I’ll permanently move him to the Seniors.
at Hitchin, 11 March 2020
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Thirlwell, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Davies, Watkins, Leary, Macey
I choose to be Assertive in a pre-match speech for the first time because of how poorly we’ve played so far this month. Only Rice, today’s Captain, is inspired. Poop. But wait! The opening scene doesn’t end immediately. It goes on for 1:25, that’s when our slow build up ends with a Hibbert cross to McLeish in the middle, who sends in soft effort from 7 yards out. Hot damn! At 2:40 McLeish receives Rice’s long ball forward toward the left corner, he runs with it a bit then sends a pretty pass to Thriller’s head and I begin relax. I then must begin tallying hits on the wood works. Thriller got one and only one because around the 40th minute he managed to pull his groin and I had to bring him off at the half.
I tell the lads to not be complacent as after that first 3 minutes we’ve been meh with only 3 of 10 shots on target. It takes 71 minutes for a third goal but it was a Brixton Classic: Right Midfielder low cross to the Advance Forward around the six-yard line and he one-shots it in. Said forward was Tommy Watkins, he of the Premier League potential, who was Thriller’s replacement. I throttle back at 80’ and go Defensive. That does the trick and I am exactly at a 96% win rate.
POM: Ashley Hibbert 9.0 (2 assists, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)
Oh dread. Thriller will be out with that pulled groin for 5 to 8 days.
Jesus and Mary Chain! Alan Coates completed 135 passes in that match!!!
Davies wasn’t phenomenal but I think I’ll move him up anyway.
What’s a solid victory without a new contract demand? This time it’s Tom Johnstone. He is The Answer at right fullback, 5-star potential meaning Premier League, so I’ll have to bite the bullet on this one. He wants £450 per week with a £140 appearance fee. Effing agent wants £3,900 for himself, greedy prick.
In the Pre-Match Tactical Advice Summary email from my AssMan I get notice that we are one win away from promotion. Excellent, Smithers… (This sentiment is later dampened by the fact that we have to win AND some other teams have to lose.)
This is further evidenced by the fact that we have a league pre-match press conference. As expected it’s full of traps set by the “Experienced and deceitful” journalist Simon Hillier. He even brings up how awesome Kemar is. There must have been 15 to 20 questions. I’m sure an FMing is coming.
Redditch are currently 22nd in the league, just one point above the relegation zone. I hope we add to their misery.
vs. Redditch, 14 March 2020
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Watkins, Leary, Harding, Macey, Rae
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Smith, Ferguson, Robinson, Davies, McLeish
Another quick start for us today when Harding bazookas a Watkins pass in through traffic after only 52 seconds. Pilcher adds to Redditch’s (in blue in white today) misery with a direct header from Harding’s corner kick. I begin to worry our strikers won’t contribute today but I only have to wait until the 19th for Macey to do a short cross for Rae to head it in. At the half I get a rare 100% positive reaction from my Calm telling of them to carry on being awesome.
Rae’s brace at 50’ adds to my pleasure of our strikers scoring, as does newly-on McLeish’s just before 76’.
POM: Alex Rae 9.5 (2 goals, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 2 chances created)
Today’s greedy agent hanging around my office entrance is Liam Roberts’. No. Go away.
Oh dread. Macclesfield’s scouting report shows a lot of 2-star Current Ability players with a good number of 3.5 and 4-star Potential Ability players. This could be a challenge.
So after striking out finding a left winger to bank against Pugh’s departure I scouted all the youth intakes in Scotland. Nobody, no matter how much they suck, wants to move to Brixton. Time to beat the bushes in Wales and Northern Ireland now!
It’s been a while since we’ve had any international duty news. We’ll be without Alan Coates from 22 March to 1 April to join England’s U19 squad; he will miss two matches. Huddersfield will be without Kemar from 26 March to 1 April to join England seniors.
Now onto what could possibly be our first loss since Chelsea kicked us out of the FA Cup.
at Macclesfield, 17 March 2020
Formation: Shovel (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DM r, DM l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Ferguson, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, Macey
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Smith, Watkins, Thirlwell, Rae
I love seeing the Shadow Striker role work well. I love it more when it’s Bill Taylor providing the magic. I love it even more when he scores not even five minutes in. Also, there was an obligatory hit off the post by him. Pugh also hit the left post but the rebound went to Hibbert who was able to do some crazy side kick thingy that gives us some more breathing room just after 48’. By 60’ we have four yellows and Macey is underperforming. I decide to wait five more minutes to switch to the Club. Almost immediately Rice picks up our fifth yellow so I immediately switch things.
You know what this means, though, right? Yep, spot on 79’ Rice nudges an opponent at the endline while a long, desperate pass was already headed to the stands. O’Keeffe seems to be cursed having faced so many penalties. Also of course, I forgot this month’s theme is the woodworks so we maintain our two-goal lead. The next 14 minutes are stressful but we enjoy the bus ride home, singing a victory song.
POM: Alan Coates 8.0 (2 key passes, 2 chances created)
Wowza, that was a squeaky-bum match. We managed to close out the game with no further monkey business, i.e. more yellow cards.
Now that we’re on to the FA Trophy Semi Final we need to find out who we play. Wrexham is still in the mix so I’m hoping we face them. Oh sweet! Not only do we face them but we host them! You’re going down, Red Dragons! (That means something completely different if you’re an AD&D fan.)
More international call-ups! Simon McAdam for Northern Ireland U19s, Gareth O’Keeffe for Ireland U21s, and Meilir Pugh for Wales U19s. I’m glad my players are being recognized. I’m sad that I’ll have to field two weakened squads at the end of the month.
Congleton are no slouches it turns out. The scouting report shows they are slightly weaker than Macclesfield. Despite that, I’m not fielding our best mostly due to tiredness and up-coming internationals.
vs. Congleton, 20 March 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Collopy, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Ferguson, Robinson, Davies, Leary, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, Harding, Watkins, Macey, McLeish
We open the scoring with a Leary goal through the forest after the pinball pinged around the big box for a bit after a corner. Four minutes later he gets a brace when he was left all alone on the left side of the box whilst half of Congleton were trying to mug Robinson, only to have a sliding tackle by their defender Glenister sends it right to Gary. It only takes another 240 seconds for Thriller to appear, beating a one-on-one and shooting from a tight angle. His brace was another one-on-one but this time it was up the gut and went under the goalie’s crotch. Sadly, not long after the restart Gary Leary suffers a foot injury bad enough to cause his immediate replacement.
The woodwork tally was 1 for Congleton, 0 for us. There of course were several free kicks. One of ours by Roberts went straight to Collopy’s head to O’Shea’s foot to the back of the net. Good play, boys! Other news on the themes front: Congleton commited six slide tackles today. The first one bit them in the arse but all the others were successful. They manage to not hurt any of my players, thankfully.
POM: Marcus Thirlwell 9.4 (2 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
The doctor’s report, not Hibbert’s, comes in and we’ll be losing Leary for 4 to 5 weeks. Ouch, that hurts. I’ll probably start using Hibbert as my second AML so Watkins can be my primary AMR. Maybe one of the youths will step in some.
Our next match, going on over to Basingstoke, could see us seizing a promotion meaning we have another pre-match press conference. No trap questions, which worries me. Yeah, I know, paranoia will destroy ya.
If younz all remember, I like Basingstoke in real life. In the game I edited their finances so they have an Underwriting Sugar Daddy. Cheeky! Also in the game, I hope they lose so we can finally seal that promotion. With Coates already away, and Liam Roberts and Ferguson a bit knackered, I bring up Noulas and McAdam from the U23s to start. Hope I’ve made no mistakes!
at Basingstoke, 24 March 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, Smith, Rice, Noulas, McAdam, Watkins, Taylor, Hibbert, McLeish
Subs: Webb, Parker, Nightingale, Harding, Robinson, Thirlwell, Rae
The tunnel talk isn’t too long but I take time to give a nod to Connor Smith who gets today’s captaincy.
Again, our opponents start in with the slide tackles and again the first one bites them in the kiester. It takes a little longer but ultimately Taylor spots an unmarked Dr. Hibbert on the left and he slots it in to the far lower corner. A few minutes later Hibbs returns the favor and Taylor blasts one in. Hibbs also smacks the left post once today. Our third goal is a fluke as Johnstone tries to cross but it appears to be heading in so the goalkeep kneels to receive it. Watkins runs in front of the goalie and whiffs on kicking the ball in but its own spin sends it in. At least that’s the way it looked from afar. McAdam gets a goal in his first action of the season pretty simply as nobody challenged him standing near the arc after a Watkins free kick from the right. Simon gets a brace a few minutes later on a nearly identical play except this time the ball initially goes to Noulas. The only action for them in the second part of the match involves…a ding off the crossbar! That is, until I let hubris in the front door and never switch us to Defensive; they intercept a long pass and we can’t stop a good cross but the header should have been easily stopped by Chicken Fucker, but as we all know, he’s just not the same anymore.
POM: Simon McAdam 9.4 (2 goals)
The game actually faulted Nightingale for a failed interception on that goal. He rated a 6.2. He got a scolding in the locker room. Rice and Smith had no reaction to my Passionate speech about how amazing they are to have won promotion so I individually address them. They get happy after that. Sometimes if you praise too much, people with switch off. I pressed my luck and got no Whammies.
Worcester still has yet to draw a match. They have 24 wins and 12 losses. So strange.
Not so strange? Kemar Kirkpatrick getting his first cap for England and scoring as a sub on his debut. I want to call him up and congratulate him but the email only has a button that reads “Speak to Kirkpatrick about Form”. Maybe I’ll get a different email about the international? Speaking of his form, he’s still currently second in goals for the Premier League.
Then something dawns on me. I watch the match. They play with one striker in a Poacher role. Kemar came on at the beginning of the second half in a friendly against Wales. A 17 year-old is England’s second best striker and he comes from our academy?! It was only a friendly, but... That’s simply amazing!
Okay, we’ve secured promotion now it’s time to lock up winning the league. With that in mind I’m putting all available players on the bench so they can get in on the fun too. I might even put Webb in if we’re way ahead at 60 minutes.
vs. Shortwood, 28 March 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Rice, Roberts, Ferguson, Watkins, Taylor, Hibbert, Rae
Subs: Webb, Parker, Collopy, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Smith, Harding, Robinson, Davies, Macey, Thirlwell, McLeish
Rae almost scores just 13 seconds in but the GK knocks it aside. Gladly, we only have to wait four minutes for Liam Roberts to finish what Rae started. Problem is though, the ref is card happy and we pick up three of four issued over the next 13 minutes. After I cancel the “Get Stuck In” instruction Taylor steals the ball in our end and we march up field where Johnstone sends a cross to Rae at the far post and he heads it in from a tight angle. Rae gets his brace right before the first whistle and from then on it’s smooth sailing.
Until I’ve made all the subs and Thirlwell gets disposed and we are proven frauds when it comes to defending crosses from the right 18-yard box line when there’s a late-arriving opponent. That’s three in the last two months. And then…Collopy refuses to play possession and sends a long ball, which of course is intercepted and when Jefcoate wins the ball back just in front of our box he passes it to Nightingale whose First Touch plummeted to negative one or something so the ball is stolen and Webb is caught flat-footed.
We do end up winning the match and the league but this kind of reminds me of last year’s final game where we underperformed during a big match. I’m not as dissatisfied, but…close to it.
POM: Alex Rae 8.8 (2 goals)
I know I’m to blame for easing off the gas. We did hit the crossbar today. Again. Of course.
It’s really a week before our next match but the end of the month is coming up so it seemed more natural to say, “Days”.
On the 31st I’m starting to get some scouting reports on Scottish kids who want to move to the big city. An amateur team in Glasgow with a 51,866 all-seater stadium has several players that aren’t 100% against joining Brixton. I want one AMC and one DL, and there are two AMCs and one DL to choose from. One AMC is significantly better than the other so I’ll offer him first but he has 16 Scottish teams vying for his service.
I open up negotiations with him, Ally Sinclair, but he wants to be a Backup immediately and requires a £750/week salary. SKIP!
The second-best one has the same requirements. On to the DL! He totally stiff-arms me. My scouts were extremely wrong on these kids. What the deuce?!
My main love of Football Manager is player development, especially following improvements over the years. I keep detailed records of it and spend a lot of time on it. I realize that I’m not doing myself justice in writing about that and find myself writing more about the matches. I’m going to try to do a better job of that. (With apologies to Y-O-D-A, Yoda.)
So I’ve decide I’ll spend some time at the end of the month to address the key players I’m following. As it would be overly cumbersome to write about all the player, I’m going to focus just on the key fourteen players. Why fourteen?
You have to have your starting eleven, of course. Your Starting XI, if you will. I like using different formations that sometimes require three players in the same area. For example, the Spade really requires three midfielders and the Club requires three centrebacks. And you have to have more than two good strikers in case one of them goes into a slump. Ergo, it looks something like this:
Really, in the future you’ll just be seeing the left half of the image with some notes to the right on maybe their improvements. For now I highlight what players I’m sure have outgrown us and will either be on loans next year or sold on.
Realistically, after another year I’m sure Watkins will too have become too big for us. Johnstone too as he is rated 5.0. Yes, Cockbill is our best left-footed DC. Yes, Morris is our third best striker based on potential. Yes, I think Davies will overcome his low Determination (up to 10 now, started at 6) and his Unambitious personality. Heck, I’ve been able to mold Thirlwell so I feel confident I can with Davies.
This month’s theme was the woodworks. How many times did the ball bang off the crossbar and posts? Despite all that we first gained promotion and then won the league. A fully successful month.
And I went the whole season not making any penile jokes at Shortwood’s expense.
Remember Chris Day and Joe Clark? Two central defenders that I brought on in the 2017 pre-season. Chris Day was our initial Vice Captain but only lasted two season; I didn’t renew his contract before it expired on 30 June 2019. He signed on with the Metropolitan Police but has only 12 appearances for them. He has no injuries so he’s just a spot player for them.
Joe Clark only lasted a year at Brixton but was able to sign on with Harrow, a team in a league at our level, but stayed only one year there. He is now with Spalding, in a league below us, and has scored 5 goals for them this season. Not bad for a centreback!