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What a season! I'm glad we are getting promoted as I really want to get into the real English football leagues, League Two and above.
Oh my, Mickey Morris getting better? Yes, please!
We lost £46,301 last month. Imagine what it would have been if we didn't have those two matches at Wembley!
I finish the season at 97%. Wow. Maybe if we had won the FA Cup I'd be at 100%? Okay, I know, that's ludicrous.
On the afternoon of 3 June the board requests to meet to discuss improving our youth level. Hot damn! By the end of the season the youth academy will "be classified as a Level 1 setup." I don't know if they mean the end of this season or next season.
No news but that's the calm before the storm as a significant number of Senior players will be gone and the Dynamics Pyramid will see all kinds of shuffling.
Chris Dryden is left-footed but plays the right wings. He is being brought up to the Seniors to spell Ben Pope and once his MR is Natural I'll start working on his left wing skills.
Ian Kelly, an afterthought from the most recent youth intake, spontaneously had his personality change from Unambitious to Fairly Loyal. Interesting.
Pat Lawford increased some and Jason Cosgrove increased a lot. All part of my evil plan to dominate English football… Bwahahahahahaha Jason's Pace is now up to 13, a number I consider as a minimum for the third through sixth levels of the English football pyramid.
Whoa! Mickey Morris saw increases in EVERY Technical Ability and EVERY Physical Ability except Natural Fitness. For Mentals, 9 of 14 improved. This is effing awesome!
One of the reasons it was easy to say goodbye to Connor Smith, aside from being part of The Original 16, is that despite two years of a good number of matches, he never went Natural at DC. I guess being Natural at three positions was too much to ask. (He started as MC then learned DMC before being moved to the back.)
Alfie Barnes is now "very well-suited to League Two football." Sweet!
Dean Rice's Bravery is up to 9.8 now. At the rate of 0.2 points per month I wonder if he'll ever make it back to 12. Even better is his Determination is up to 10 now. Considering he started at 6 and has not had any tutoring I'm very pleased.
Now that all that business is done it's time to focus on the upcoming new season.
What do we need to do? First thing is a team meeting. I tell the lads that I think that with the squad we have and giving youth a chance, we should finish mid-table next season. This pleases everyone and they head out feeling like they are on Cloud 9. (I didn't have any higher options like, "We can get promoted again!" Oh well.) Our pre-season will start on 28 June.
Second item up for bid, what the hell happened to our youth scouting package? I think the board reset the transfer budget and now we can't "afford" the youth package. Let me see, we have £25,229,620 in the bank. Okay, it took me about 5 minutes to figure it out. I do not like the way scouting is instituted in this version of Football Manager.
Third thing, it's time to look at the roster.
I need to resolve who to re-sign and who to promote up the squads. I really don't want Stephen O'Shea as he's too expensive. Maybe I can find another mentor. I was thinking that U18 DCs Jason Cosgrove and Colin Cockbill could join the Seniors but when I compare them to Nightingale, who I want to jettison, it's clear they aren't ready yet. Nightingale is slow, as is Jose Parker, so I think what I'll have to do is play Ferreira and Barnes against fast strikers, and Nightingale and Parker against slow strikers. Do I run with a fifth DC? Hmmm…
But let me take a step back and let's look at our GK situation:
Obviously Gareth O'Keeffe is our first choice but I do have to consider that he will find some way to get out of Dodge. Do I ride with Webb or do I try to work Adrian Lee into the mix now? Lee will be forcefully graduated into the U23s in August and I'm totally fine rocking with Kris Newton as the sole U18 GK. (Newton is that kid from two Intakes ago who is my first Model Citizen.) Lee is currently better than Legg. Webb is better than Lee. Webb is one of The Original 16 so I think it's time for him to fly. I'll either sell him or put him out on loan. Gareth is GK1, Legg is GK2, Lee is GK3 (in the U23s), and Newton is GK4. That settles it.
Now for the right fullbacks:
The problem here is that I don't have a U18 DR. Nickson turns 18 on 28 June and will be forced into the U23s. Pat Lawford has been impressive in the U18s and is 100% my DR of choice right now with Sean Peers number two. We have good coverage in the Seniors if Lawford goes down as Peers and Angelino Ferreira are Natural at DC and DR. If I can't find a young one then AMR Julian Westley, who can play all the positions on the right, will get game time to perfect DR.
In the center of defense we have:
The Senior DCs will be Parker, Ferreira, Barnes, and I guess Nightingale. Connor Smith will be gone. I don't think I want to pay O'Shea £1,600 to £2,000 per week as a fifth option even if he is a mentor. Murphy and Collopy have no contract beyond 1 July but I may want to keep Collopy as he does have good speed and he's better than Cosgrove and Cockbill, for now, who will remain in the U18s. I plan to roll with Adrian Partridge and Kevin Jenkins in the U23s but I'm contemplating optioning Padraig Murphy's contract and maybe loaning him out again. If I don't and if I keep Collopy, then Collopy can be the third DC in the U23s. Glenn Collier and Ian Kelly will be in the U18s for two more years and then jettisoned.
How do we look on the left side of the defense?:
This is an interesting line-up as five players all have the same Ability but there's a clear best player on Potential. Problem is though, Mark Curran hasn't exactly lit the world on fire, yet. I already discussed the differences between Steve Pike and Dean Rice last month; I'll continue to favor Rice until proven wrong, keeping him in the Seniors. Pike is about to turn 18 so he'll be up in the Reserves. I kind of had high hopes for Sam Sterling but he's a bit slow and isn't improving there so he might not get a second contract. James Jefcoate, one of The Original 16, will be leaving us. Felix Mohammed doesn't have much of a future and is just a U18 body for now; I hope I get a better DL in next year's youth intake.
I split my midfielders into Defensive and Attacking groups. Let us look at the DMCs first:
Ignore Joel Bloomfield for a moment as he's still "Awkward" at DMC as he learns a new trade. Liam Roberts is technically just a bit better than Tasos Noulas as a Deep Lying Playmaker but not Ball Winnng Midfielder or Regista. Noulas is better than Gary Ferguson as a BWM but not as a DLP or Regista. Simon McAdam, one of The Original 16, will be gone at the end of the month so Henson Debellotte and Nathan Kingdon will be my DMCs in the U23s. Stephen Dennehy and Terry Buckle are just cannon fodder and will graduate to the U23s in the 2022/2023 season. Lawrence Madu is even worse and will only have two more seasons in the U18s before leaving.
Now, Joel Bloomfield, not being anywhere near a proper DMC yet, the game will actually not load him into the FM Comparison tool with any of the DMCs in the Seniors so I have to compare him with the naked human eye. The horror! He is by far the superior DMC in Technical and Mental Attributes, but not Physical. So the question is: Do I move him into the Seniors during training camp? No. I want to bring him along slowly and not expose him to the lustful eyes of teams higher up like what happened with Kemar Kirkpatrick and Gareth O'Keeffe. Sure, injuries can change my plans but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. So I'll stick with Roberts as DMC1, Noulas as DMC2, and Fergie as DMC3, and hope that Tasos surpasses Liam by January 2022.
Now for the other half of the central midfielders, the AMCs (not a theatre chain):
Stephen Lemon, the enigma, we're stuck with him. We're not stuck with Noah Harding and he'll be exiting soon. I feel that Lemon and I came to an understanding by the end of the season so by default he is AMC1, Glyn Davies is AMC2, and Ben O'Reilly is AMC3. David Doran will remain in the U18s because he's a jerk and I'm kind of hoping someone offers me like £6,000 for him as happened in the January transfer window. Alex Wood and Michael Salami are gonna get the Bloomfield treatment and be hidden in the U18s all season, hopefully. Dennis Hammond will likely be the sole AMC in the U23s so I'll not offer him out on loan and probably bring in another one just to make sure I have coverage there. Dean Hoddle will also be in the U18s.
You put your left wing in, you put your left wing out, you put your right wing in and you shake 'em all about. Here's our AMRs:
I've already said it a million times but Andy Robinson will be leaving us. He's too good and too expensive. Ben Pope will be better eventually and I'm totally fine placing critical crosses upon his shoulders. A keen-eyed observer will have noticed that Chris Dryden is left-footed but listed as a right winger. He is still not Natural at MR but once he masters that I'll start working on his ML and AML, supposing his Versatility is high enough. He and Gary Leary will be wing subs for a good while. Ibrahim Agu will be our sole righty in the U23s, and Gary Walker, Mario Headley, and Julian Westley will all compete for the U18s.
Now let's put the left wing in:
It all starts with my best signing of last off-season, Stephen McGregor. He's set in stone until Chris Keegan joins us on 26 July 2022 and I'm sure it will take Chris a couple of seasons to pull ahead. Until then, Gary Leary will be AML2 for quite a while as he's really good on the right side too. Nickcolson Garcia really didn't improve much while on loan so he'll be first choice for the U23s. Ian Barnett will be there too but he's going out on loan as he has no future with us and is slow for a winger (11 Pace). George Conrad and Glenn Day also have no future here and turn 18 after the cut-off date so they'll be eligible for the U18s and not be pressganged into the U23s. (I was really hoping the Glenn Day would be good so I could keep making references to Green Day songs. Oh well.) I'll probably loan them out just to make room for Matt Jones, though he too has no future. Sam Khinda is kind of our unicorn. He came to us Natural at AMR, AMC, and AML, and Accomplished at ST. I've been working on this ST since Day One and I hope he gets Natural there. I'd like to keep him around for as long as possible as a utility player until he ages out of the U23s.
Up front we have quite the stable of strikers:
Wow do we have it good. Mickey Morris and Mark Marshall are my focal points but they are young and I'll still be giving plenty of time to Mark Flitcroft, Derek McLeish, Alex Rae, and Eddie "The Beast" Macey, our Captain. Those last three had 120 goals between them this past season. That's insane. John Burns joins us on 28 August and will eventually supplant Mark Marshall. Some of these cats are going to have to go out on loan and I fear it will be Alex Rae and Flitcroft, though Alex's salary might kill any desire by clubs to even ask, so maybe Derek goes? Andy Flynn will reside in the U23s, along with Burns until he settles in. Hollett is gone. Mel Stewart, Kevin Carolan, George Hanley, and Evan Preston will star for the U18s. I've included Khinda because he might eventually be a striker For Realz but you already know my plans for him.
I used to believe that central defenders and strikers were the only outfield players who should only know one position. I no longer feel that way about strikers. Right now Carolan and Stewart are learning how to be AMCs. Flynn and Hanley are learning AMR. Preston is technically an AMR right now and is learning the ST position, like Khinda. I'll eventually get Marshall and Morris to work on that position too. McLeish and Rae get a pass for now. John Burns is Accomplished on both wings and my scouts believe he can "successfully be re-trained as an attacking midfielder." That'll be cool.
So that's how we start the off-season. I need to find a GK if we sell Webb and an AMC if we ship off Doran. I also need a DR for the U18s and an AMC for the U23s. I also need to recall all the players on loan.
I went looking for a junior DR and found this freak of Nature. I forgot to filter properly so I really wasn't looking for Welsh players as they wouldn't be able to join us until their 18th birthday anyway. He's 14 and already 187cm. That's 6'2"! I would also like to point out that he is technically only 4 years old. Something is wrong with FM or the save file as there is no way in hell he was born in 2017. I'll try to fix that.
I didn't find a U18 DR though...
I lost another staff member on 4 June, this time a U18 Coach who was responsible for Tactical training. I went a hunting and immediately found a replacement for my U23 Defensive coach, an American from the town next to my hometown. I obviously have to sign him. He agrees on the morning of 7 June. On 9 June the board allows me to send him off to get his National A License.
On 25 June the board ask to meet to discuss increasing the wages for our coaches. I can get on board with that!
I did find a U18 Tactical Coach, Paul Burgess, and he signed with us on 27 June.
I sign a replacement for my retired scout on 30 June. He's Scottish and though his scouting skills aren't great, he has a 20 Adaptability. I hope to be able to use that to great effect once the board allows me to start scouting the rest of Europe.
I offered all the clubs the services of Webb and only Bradford City made an offer, £2,000. Late on the night of 8 June he accepts the transfer and signs a contract with them.
There were a lot of journalists calling me to ask about the future of Robinson and in an effort to stop that I put him on the Unwanted List. I can't find a way to tell him that he is set to be released so he can go negotiating so I turned things over to my Director of Football.
Flitcroft draws interest from Rochdale, a League One team but getting regulated. They offer £6,000 upfront, three monthly payments of £925, another £3,600 after 10 league games, an additional £500 for each league match for 10 matches , and finally £3,600 if he scores 10 league goals. Also we get a friendly and 40% of any further sale. That can be worth up to £23,000 or so. Hmmm… John Burns shows up in six weeks or so and like Flitcroft is short and left-footed. They are very similar in current ability but Burns is significantly higher in potential. Considering that Mark hasn't improved from his 8 Work Rate since joining us in August, that's a lot of money for someone we picked up for free, and I have a crowded striker crew, I pull the trigger after bumping up those £3,600s to £4,000s and £925 to £1,000. (Burns is green, Flitcroft is blue)
Flitty signs with Rochdale late in the day of 12 June. Godspeed, you blonde freak!
Well this is unexpected. Plymouth, a team in League Two promoting up to League One, make an offer for Liam Roberts on the afternoon of 12 June. The offer is kind of similar to the one for Flitcroft; £6,000 upfront, £1,800 per year for three years, £3,300 after 10 league appearances, £500 for each of the appearances, plus 30% sell on fee and a friendly. I can't do it. I'd have to find someone just as good to avoid Bloomfield from graduating early.
But I do my due diligence and use the "Find Similar Player" function and make some adjustments and go looking for a theoretical replacement. I find a nice Icelandic kid but I don't need a scouting report to know that he's injury prone as his Injury History has 15 entries, 3 of which are this calendar year. He's been out for 2 months already with a damaged hip and has 3 more weeks of recovery to go. Skip!
I find an even better Irish lad but he has a £375,000 release clause. Oh. But he's quite the catch and a lefty. I go straight to my AssMan to get an assessment as quick as possible. This guy could really help us have a clearly favored DMC and allow us to certainly slow-roll our use of Bloomfield. Oh my. I think I'm gonna do this. A 14 in Tackling?!?! A 13 in Free Kicks and 12 in Penalty Taking. And the best thing? A 15 in Vision, great for the Regista role! I heart David Caffrey.
My AssMan's report is very good. He has 5-star potential though right now he's somehow only 2 stars. He's clearly better than Liam so I'm sure if he arrives he'll be graded upward. The report also reads that Caffrey is likely to fit very well into the core group of the squad. No outrageous wage demands. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna trigger that release clause, something I've never done playing Football Manager. Swinging that Sugar Daddy money around!
I offer £500 per week, which graduates up to £750 after 15 league matches and £1,000 after 30 league matches. I add some standard appearance fees, bench fees, and a goal bonus. Some yearly and promotion escalators all to keep him for two years plus a one-year option. In the negotiation screen I see a button that says, "Ask Curran to Endorse Move". I don't push it but I look around the players' cards trying to figure out if they are each other's "Favoured Personnel". Nope! They are teammates on the Irish U19s team. This also makes me realize just how many Irishmen I have on the team.
I then go and accept Plymouth's offer for Liam. I bump up the initial fee to £10,000 and makes some other adjustments that could see the total worth grow to £21,000. Not really gonna offset the price of Caffrey significantly but every little bit helps. He signs with them on the morning of 15 June.
Later that night Caffrey signs with us. Hot damn!
Andy Robinson signs with Burnley, who finished 14th in the Premier League. Go light the world on fire, young man!
Oh fiddlesticks! Manchester City make an offer for O'Keeffe on 22 June. Sigh. It gets auto-denied because it was only £22,500 but I'm sure this isn't the last of this. West Ham made the same offer the next day.
At the last moment before the players report for training camp, I trigger the contract option to keep DC Padraig Murphy for another year. My reasoning is it won't hurt to have him in the U23s as one of the other DCs in that squad, Kevin Jenkins, is Unambitious and I may want to punt him. Also, I have a friend named Patrick Murphy and it makes me chuckle every once in a while when I see the player's name.
In England, the Top Ten Most Reputable Teams are:
1. Man United
2. Liverpool
3. Arsenal
4. Tottenham
5. Man City
6. Chelsea
7. Stoke
8. West Ham
9. Leicester
10. Southampton
Not much of a change there. West Ham finished second in the league behind Kemar's 14 goals and 7 assists. I was expecting he'd have more but he did open things more for his teammates. Liverpool and Arsenal swap spots. Still kind of surprised West Ham didn't move up despite finishing second...
Meanwhile, in South London, we are now the 160th most reputable club in England.
Left fullback Mark Curran will represent Ireland against Armenia in a U19 International tournament on 14 June. Please don't get injured.
In the French Youth Invitational M-i-c-k-e-y single-handedly defeated the team from Curaçao scoring twice and assisting twice on his way to a 9.6 rating.
Gareth O'Keeffe also had a good game, rating a 7.2 against Scotland in the U20 World Cup Quarter Final.
Two mentorings come to conclusion. Lee gained a little from Legg according to the email but it looked great to me as he's now Driven and has an 18 Determination. Mark Marshall on the other hand was delighted with his mentoring by Eddie Macey. He is still Spirited but his Determination went from 13 to 17.
On 8 June my AssMan confirms that DL Steve Pike has potential League One talent. Excellent. Now it's just a race to see if Rice or Pike will be the backups to Curran for the next couple years.
On 20 June we got hit with a tax bill of £2.8 million because we made a profit of £13.12 million. Ouch and wow.
Mickey Morris and David Doran's summer vacation won't happen as they've been called up for the Euro U19 Championship finals so will be out at least from 12 to 18 July. Proud but gonna miss Mickey.
I ended up re-signing centreback Rory Collopy as I would like to have a cheap fifth DC for the Seniors/third DC for the U23s.
Also on 9 June Leyton Orient offered me a job interview. Ha! No way in hell I'm leaving Brixton. Do I use this as leverage for a new contract? No. Not my style. (Not that it mattered, but Leyton are in the league we are about to go to so it's even more of a hard no.) AFC Wimbledon also asked about my availability on 22 June. Also a hard no.
Let's take a look at the best product the Brixton Youth Academy has ever produced, Kemar Kirkpatrick. Below are his cards from Youth Intake Day and the end of West Ham's season.
He's grown a centimeter and put on 11 kilograms, not surprising as he's seen a 7-point improvement in his Strength, his greatest gain. His next best gain was Determination courtesy of Macey's tutoring. He gained 4 points in Off The Ball, Acceleration, and Pace, which has to be part of the reason he got double-digit goals. I am a bit surprised that didn't see anything greater than 3 points of improvement in his Technical skills. I guess I should take this as a way to understand how Football Manager handles player development. Physicals improve easily in many aspects, especially Strength and Mentals generally improve with age. So Technicals are the ones that really need to have training pitch and game time. I think? Right?
Anyhoo, he's amazing and he just turned 19. This past season he won the European Championship Best Young Player and European Golden Boy awards. Will I'll be able to buy him once we get to the EPL? Not looking promising. Hell, that £43 million Value is daunting.
(Noticed that I said "when" and not "if" we get to the EPL? My intent is to keep playing this save until we win the FA Cup, Champions League, and English Premier League all in one season. Also, at a minimum, I want to post 250 updates. For reference, this is update 55.)