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The off-season is upon us. I’ve got new players to find, new contracts to offer, and new teams to find for key players who are too big for us, either via sales or loans. First, though, the normal monthly business.
We lost just a smidge over £54,000 in May, taking us down to –£284,828 for the season. This loss means though that we avoid a tax hit, so there’s a silver lining. However, by the end of the season we were down to –£439,183, which is a loss of over £1 million if you consider where we started on 1 July 2019. We gotta get more assess in the seats and I need some players to go for good prices.
Some of this pain is taken away by a 2-year stadium sponsor deal worth £34,500 per annum.
It appears I still didn’t get credit for those three cup wins but somehow my Board Confidence rating is 97%. Crazy. (I’m thinking that the graphics weren’t changed on the Competitions screen but I still go credit for them.)
At the end of the month Pilcher moved up to Highly Influential Player, just in time to leave us.
Six players got called up for international duty in early June. Bill Taylor and Alan Coates for the England U19s, Simon McAdam for the Northern Ireland U19s, and for the Wales U19s they selected Meilir Pugh and...M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-R-I-S. I had a feeling he was better than expected!
A week later O’Keeffe gets called up by Ireland U21s to face England U21s. And a week after that I get an email noting that my HOYD thinks he “would be a good player for most Championship sides.” Love it!
McAdam scores against Japan and Morris scores against Portugal in only 24 minutes of action. Pugh did alright at 6.8 in the same match. The next day Angelino Ferreira rated a 7.0 in their victory over Togo.
England start their European Championship in an inauspicious manner, losing to Portugal 2-1. England’s goal was by none other than Kemar, in his 23 minutes of action. Should have made him the starter. Remember, he’s still 17!
Late new comes that for the European U19 Championship Bill Taylor and Alan Coates get the invite. They will be gone from at least 13 to 19 July.
I’m thinking for now that I’ll stick with the 4-4-2 Diamond (Attacking), Shovel, and Cudgel. Teams are sniffing round Marcus Thirlwell and Kemar will be out on loan again so I might have to go to Spade, Shovel, and a yet-decided single-striker defensive formation. I don’t like using a single striker so I might take some of the money to sign a highfalutin forward. Stay tuned!
I have four contracts to offer, two of which are promises. First up is Bill Taylor, I have to swear that we’ll get promoted to Conference National in one year. I think that’s doable. He wants £1,800 per week initially. We tentatively have an agreement in place. He signs his new contract on 4 June.
On to Mitchell Nightingale. He only asks for £325 per week. I up it to £500 in the hopes of getting an instant agreement.
Next item up for bid, Liam Roberts. He asks for £250 per week but I bump it up to £300. His agent wants £1,100 for himself but I drop it to an even grand.
And finally Gary Ferguson. He only wanted £210 but I made it £250.
In other contract news, I activate the optional contract extensions for DC Smith, DC Collopy, DMC McAdam, AMR Robinson, and ST McLeish.
Sure enough! Nightingale signs immediately after I hit the Continue button. Roberts signs on the 5th and Fergie on the 8th.
With Pilcher, Coates, Pugh, Taylor, and Kemar all expected to be gone or on loan I now have to find some new players. We’re good to go at DC, DMC, and MR/AMR so I need an AMC and AML for the Senior squad and a DL for the U21s. I found around 40 players worth a closer look and send my scouts a-hunting.
Let me introduce you to our new starters, The Stephens. Both were nearing the end of their contract, under a month meaning I could sign them without having to pay their current team any money. The Lemonhead signed on 7 June and will join us on 1 July. This is the first time ever I’ve signed away a player in the final month of a contract. Never did it even in FM2014.
McGregor was a bit of a problem. I didn’t notice that he had an option year so it was no surprise when Harrogate activated it and killed the deal. He has the potential to be a good League One player so I make a legitimate transfer offer. I’m able to negotiate them down from £160k to £85k but with the provision that they get 35% of any sale in the future. I think he could be with us until we get to the Championship and have no plans to sell him. Hope he’s worth it! He signed on 8 June. He’s our biggest splash of cash for me while playing FM2018.
If you notice he’s not great at corners but he is tall. Not the greatest header but I think I’ll try to put him on the near post during corner kicks.
The next day we have a press conference to reveal McGregor to the fans. I wasn’t expecting so many questions because in the past I always denied the requests. Luckily he reacted positively to my answers.
As things stand right now I have no attacking midfielders for the U23s and just two defensive midfielders. My scouts find this kid who was released by Tottenham. Ben O’Reilly can fill four positions for the U23s. I offer him £300 a week and a £500 signing bonus.
He signs on 30 June.
I still need a DL for the U21s. I hope to find one in July.
Also, a Physio, our U18 Physio, and a Scout are due for extensions, or not. I find better options but I’ll wait until the last week of the month to make the offers.
It looks like the poaching of my staff may resume. Our U23 Manager is drawing interest from a puny team way down the pyramid. I hope he doesn’t take the chance.
The new staff sign. The Physio, Chris Turnbull, take us from a staff member with 15 to 20 in Physiotherapy. He also has a Man Management rating of 19 so he will be our next Head Physio once the current one’s contract runs out. The U18 Physio improves us from 13 to 18. The new scout isn’t better than the old guy in judging players but I signed him because he’s good there but his Determination and Adaptability are significant improvements.
So 9 June is the start of when teams come looking to poach. Derby and Bolton offer £6,000 for Pilcher, while Bradford offer the same for Thirlwell. Big fat nopes ensue and I set Pilcher’s asking price at £100,000. Derby is in the Championship and can surely afford his worth.
Millwall were in the Championship and are getting relegated. In an effort to bounce back up they want Pilcher, offering £16,000. I remind them it’ll take £100,000 so they counter with £20,000. Goodbye! Swindon make the same play the next day but have the decency to walk away when I remind them of the minimum price.
Finally, a team is willing to offer £100,000 for Pilcher. Sheffield United agree to the price and the 20% sell on fee I tacked on. Peterborough also accept the price. Sheff are in the Championship, albeit in the lower half while Peterborough are in the top half of League One. I hope he chooses Sheffield.
The next day Portsmouth show up right at £100,000 so I add the 20% and they don’t blink an eye. (They are 19th in the Championship.)
In England, the Top Ten Most Reputable Teams are:
1. Man United
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Tottenham
5. Man City
6. Chelsea
7. Stoke
8. West Ham
9. Leicester
10. Southampton
Meanwhile, in South London, we are now the 211th most reputable club in England.
Wednesday, 24 June we advance to the new season and immediately the board want to meet to talk about increasing the available wage budget for coaches. (Last year it was for my AssMan.)
The fixture list also comes out and I’m excited that we actually have a Boxing Day match. Should see a bumper crowd!
I’m also excited to see that our final match of the season is on 1 May, a benefit of being in a league with only 22 clubs.
This also means board expectations come in. They expect me to lead the club to victory in the Conference League South. Cup expectations are Conference League Cup (a new one for us), FA Trophy, FA Vase wins along with reaching the third round of the FA Cup. I could bump up expectations to the fifth round but I want to run a smaller squad and don’t need the extra tired bodies.
On 30 June they ask to meet again to talk about more club improvements. Evidently that is code for offering me a new contract. Dance a little jig!
Back in 2017, just 17 weeks into our first campaign, our U18 squad were on an 11 match winning streak. Just how well have they done since then? That season it was strictly friendlies, going 28-2-2. For the 2018/2019 season, they were in a league, going 10-5-3, but won the playoffs and ultimately the league. This past season, they won their league, 25-2-1, and also made it to the final in a U18 league cup, losing 1-2 to Accrington Stanley U18s. Needless to cliché, our youth system is pretty good.