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What?! Nobody is phoning it in?! YES!!! So happy!
DR Pat Lawford's improvement was mostly on the Technical and Physical side. His Acceleration, Agility, and Stamina are all now 15s. (On his Information tab, under Happiness, he is "beginning to get frustrated at a lack of opportunities in the first team." That will quickly go away once he realizes he's getting most of the starts.)
Down in the U18s, right centreback Jason Cosgrove continues to impress. His 15s are Agility and Balance while his Teamwork is 16 and Work Rate is 14. He needs to get Marking (7) and Tackling (8) up to double digits before I contemplate elevating him.
Dean Rice has recovered his Bravery up to 10.2; only 2.2 more points to get back to normal!
Well, we lost just over £170,000. Hopefully with the upcoming real games we'll bring in some serious money.
Picking up where I left off, "Untouchable" at 88%.
Because James Jefcoate is now gone Eddie Macey is the sole team leader. I'll make Stephen McGregor the Vice Captain soon and hopefully it won't take him too long to get up there with Eddie. Next year Alex Rae and Chick Legg (still the best name ever) will be gone so I need some others to step into the Influential Players group this year so they can graduate to Highly Influential next year.
Alex Wood and Mel Stewart had reasonably good performances so I'm pleased. Alex Bloomfield was mediocre but that could be linked to his learning position, DMC. But most exciting off all, Colin Cockbill and Jason Cosgrove saw big jumps in their abilities so they may be ready come January to get some Senior playing time.
Chris Dryden also had a very good month. Maybe he saw the writing on the wall that Peter Smith is my second choice so he needs to step up his game.
Dean Rice's Bravery continues to improve. One 1 July it was up to 10.0.
During my monthly updating of my spreadsheet on the first of the month, it became abundantly clear I need to re-sign Ben Pope. His Pace is up to 16 now, that's world-class speed. His Acceleration and Agility are nearly there too. Add in his Driven personality and 18 Determination. I know I just signed Peter Smith but Pope might get picked up by a Premier League team soon.
On 2 August I accept a loan offer from Corinthian-Casuals for Adrian Partridge. I paused for a moment because of Collopy's offer from last month, which he has yet to accept. If they both go that will still leave me with Kevin Jenkins and Padraig Murphy as the DCs in the U23s. I'm comfortable with that though it took me a moment to get there.
Later that day, Henson Debellotte accepts the offer to go on loan to Bath. (Good, he'd been getting kinda smelly. Har har har.) Nickcolson Garcia agrees to go on loan to Dover.
Hemel Hempstead (weird name) want DR Jordan Nickson on loan. I mistakenly put him for loan but I don't have a backup in the U23s so I have to say no.
DL Sam Sterling agrees to go off to Bath too. He's in my plans for the next couple of years so this is more about development than getting someone out of my hair.
Then Collopy agrees to go to Dover. That means Adrian Partridge can't go to Shortwood on loan. I had been stiff-arming them until Collopy made up his mind.
Alfie Barnes commits his future to Brixton on 5 August. We'll have him until June 2024 plus we have a one-year option. This means I need to work on another extension.
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-RR-I-S is that lucky lad. He starts at £3,200 but I get him down to £3,000 but with a £600 appearance fee and goal bonus. I get him only until 2023 at that price but I do have an option year. He has escalators of 10% per year and 20% upon promotion. If he scores 20 goals he get £10,000 and another £5,000 for 25 goals. Pricey but he's worth it and I avoid uncomfortable moments for a good number of years.
James Jefcoate left the club moments before our first match. I forgot to talk to him about losing the captaincy and I'm sure that's why he left before his foot was fully healed.
I finally found a DR for the U18s but he is nothing really to get excited about. His name is Ethan Foster and he agrees for a 1+1 year contract on 15 August.
Like I said, not much to look at but he's a body and my U18s are complete.
Again we have quite a bit of turnover in our starters. I really don't like that but we are improving and that's what matters. Well, I'm not sure Pope is better than Watkins though. I'm pretty sure Pope will be gone next season, if not sooner, and maybe Barnes too, but he will only leave if offered a lot of money. I guess the same is possible with O'Keeffe too. Okay! Last caveat, Lemon could be gone if he doesn't improve much and Alex Wood improves drastically.
Before we can get to our first match of the season I have to choose a new Vice Captain. Because I moved James Jefcoate to the U21s or maybe it's because he's out of contract he's already been removed from the position. So who shall I pick? Not who my AssMan suggests, Jose Parker. Granted his Leadership is 14 but his Teamwork is only 9 and he's 18 years-old. I'm gonna go with Stephen McGregor. His Leadership is also 14 but he's 24 and his Teamwork is 11.
We start the season at home. I'm hoping that we average more than 2,000 witnesses to our awesomeness. Fylde are projected to finish fourth so I don't expect this to be an easy match, despite having finished the pre-season strongly. Oh wow! Over 3,300 paying fans today!
vs. AFC Fylde, 7 August 2021
Formation: Diamond (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Pope, McGregor, Morris, Marshall
Subs: Peers, Rice, Noulas, Leary, Macey
Just 2:30 in Marshall is fouled in the box and beats the keep with a powerful penalty shot. Three minutes later Caffrey shows that he loves a good long shot, launching in Mickey's pass from just inside the arc. Even Lemon sour-faces the enemy with a tap in of a Pope cross right around the penalty spot; he was left totally undefended. With seven minutes left Marshall again draws a penalty but this time he shoots at the same spot and the goalie guessed right. He redeems himself in the 92nd when he chests down a Macey cross and dances around before slyly slipping one past the goalie; his revenge was sweet.
POM: Mark Marshall 8.7 (2 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
It's easy to have a delicious win when you are on target with 12 of your 17 shots. Being on TV was icing on the cake. Making just over £44,000 is the cherry on top.
Midfielder Dennis Hammond agrees to go on loan to Lewes on 8 August. Lewes are two levels below us and considering Hammond has no future here I don't mind sending him off.
The season's first Team of the Week includes O'Keeffe (naturally), Caffrey (great debut), and Marshall (first of many to come, I'm sure).
Turns out Adrian Partridge is not interested in going out on loan to Corinthian-Casuals. I guess he knows he's in my plans next season for the U23s and wants to be around to make the best impression to stay longer?
This Glyn Davies lad...he came to us with an Unambitious personality and a 6 Determination. Despite absolutely no mentoring his personality is Fairly Professional and his Determination just went up to 13. All by the "Squad's general character has had a positive effect lately." So freakin' cool. I love FM18.
Rushall, two steps below us, want Agu for a loan. He's the only right midfielder in the U23s but with four in the U18s I think I have enough coverage.
Morris signs a new contract on 10 August. I know I was supposed to wait until he turned 18 but dammit, he's so good. Now I need to lock up the other half of my scoring duo.
Marshall starts at £1,900 with a £400 appearance fee. I make it £2,000 and £300 with normal other bonuses and escalators. I also agree with his £5,500 bonus for 20 goals after adding an option year. He accepts the first offer and goes away to contemplate putting his John Hancock on it. (Of course, none of the lads in the squad are going to understand that expression.)
We enter the FA Trophy in the 2nd Round and for our first match in that competition we travel to Sleaford Town, who are way the heck down in 9th level of the English football pyramid. It should be an easy win for us. I will resist starting only youths. I will resist starting only youths. I will resist starting only youths.
The report on Kidderminster brings some good new and some bad news. They play a sole striker formation and their preferred player there is not fast, a 12 Pace. He however has good Finishing and Composure and a 20 Determination, plus he scored twice in their debut. (True story: The first time I ever played Football Manager (well, back then it was called Championship Manager) I managed Kidderminster. I really had no concept of English football or geography back then and chose them because their nickname is The Harriers, and though I know that is a bird reference, in my mind I was thinking about the awesomeness of the Harrier jump-jet.)
vs. Kidderminster, 11 August 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Legg, Peers, Parker, Nightingale, Rice, Noulas, Smith, Leary, Davies, Macey, Rae
Subs: Barnes, Curran, Lemon, McGregor, McLeish
We are losing the possession battle and none of the action sequences start with us owning the ball. But that doesn't matter if you can end the action sequence on a counter with your Target Man delivering the perfect cross for your Advance Forward Captain. Macey AGAIN used to brain to score despite only having a 3 Heading ability. Another counter a few minutes later sees him use his foot this time; the counter was started by Noulas in the Deep Lying Playmaker role, just as I planned it up. Newbie Peter Smith is having a pretty poor match until he is able to thread the needle with a pass to an all-alone Gary Leary at the left post and he doesn't miss the opportunity. I was thinking of doing some swapping at 68' with an eye on Rae who's not done much. But before I can click on "Pause" a highlight starts and I wait. Turns out that Rae is going to stay on as he scores quite deftly, if say so myself. But he picks up a yellow in the 83rd and comes off immediately as I switch to the Cudgel.
POM: Gary Leary 9.3 (1 goal, 1 assist, 4 key passes, 1 chance created)
We got another debut out of the way with Peter Smith getting a start at MR. He did well, getting a 7.5 rating.
Having got past Kidderminster, we have to find out who is gonna destroy us. Oh. We got lucky, hosting a League Two club called Oldham. Another funny English name.
Now for our first league away game. Barnet are projected to finish 6th so it should be more of a challenge than Kidderminster. Their stadium is called The Hive, so I guess the are the Barnet Bees? They are in North London, 13 miles to the north-northeast.
at Barnet, 14 August 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Evans, Curran, Caffrey, Pope, McGregor, Lemon, Morris, Marshall
Subs: Barnes, Peers, O'Reilly, Leary, McLeish
Youth is not winning the day today but we have McGregor who is able to put one in the unreachable upper left in the 8th minute. Marshall and Morris keep losing possession and misplacing shots until 30 minutes after our first goal Mickey somehow gets a soft shot in. We surrender one in the 90th and the blame is partly on new hire Aled Evans for a poor cross-field pass and O'Keeffe for letting an easy one get by; Gareth rated out at 6.2 so I know I'm not wrong here.
POM: Mark Marshall 8.4 (1 assist, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
So how did we win a match when only accurate on 4 of 16 shots? For the most part of the game we kept them to long shots resulting in them accurate on 6 of 18. Mark Curran continues to proves a mediocre signing rating at 6.3.
Marshall signs his new contract on the morning of 15 August. Hopefully it doesn't go to his head and we see a drop-off in performance.
Now I should be turning to McGregor to extend him but I want to see if he has some improvement in his Quickness training as his Pace remains 12, which is too slow for this league. So then who is next? Lawford? I still want to see how he adjusts to the big time. Curran? He's not been doing that great despite his tremendous potential. Lee? I'll wait until I start using him in the Seniors or Gareth leaves. I'll give it a rest until the end of the month, when the transfer window closes.
We have another competition to square. In the Conference League Cup Second Round we travel up to Chester, who are a league below in the Conference League North. Dang it, I was hoping for a bigger team at home. Got to make that money.
Ibrahim Agu agrees to go to Rushall on loan. They are two levels down, which fits Agu perfectly.
Wycombe are third, we are second, this could be a challenge. I'm using the second-choice players mostly today to keep the lads fresh. I can't wait until we get into League Two so we can have seven on the bench. Oh glory! We have 3,100 people in the stadium this evening.
vs. Wycombe, 17 August 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Peers, Parker, Nightingale, Rice, Ferguson, Smith, Leary, Davies, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Barnes, Evans, Lemon, O'Reilly, Rae
Two goals by McLeish and Macey in the first half hour makes this appear to be a run-of-the-mill match. But then Smith lobs a high ball to the center that allows McLeish to run under it. He controls it at a perfect place, just past the last two defender, right in front of the goalie, just inside the box. This allows him to dodge past the lunging goalie and walk the ball into the back of the net. On the restart he steals the ball, crosses from the endline, and Macey finally shows his ineptness at Heading, hitting the crossbar. McLeish gets the ball and in trying to cross to Macey again bounces the ball off the left centreback's shin and into goal. Leary adds another on a simple tap-in after a mishandling by Wycombe's goalie. At the half Davies was rating a 6.4 and I gave him a Calm "I believe in you" speech and by the time I switched us to the Cudgel at 65' he had gotten all the way up to a 7.3. Then at 75' he hammers in a loose ball, getting him up to 9.2. I am the wind beneath his wings.
POM: Derek McLeish 9.6 (2 goals, 1 assist, 5 key passes, 4 chances created)
In other good news, we made £33,000 from the match. Though our wages these days are £35,000 we are doing a lot better than previous years.
Oh wow. These sell-on fees are amazing. Brentford sold Steve Pearson on to Bristol City. For £11,250,000. Yes, you read that right. And for that we get £2,000,000 and an additional £800,000 in installments. Oh wow, indeed. Damn. Our balance is £26,520,073. Gulp.
Blackpool were relegated from League Two and are projected to finish sixth. They have only one win so far and currently lie in 18th. Hopefully their home, Bloomfield Road, isn't a hard place to win. Would it be cool to let Joel Bloomfield have his debut at Bloomfield Road? Yes. Is it too early for him? Yes. Said stadium is up on the northwest coast, north of Liverpool, 204 miles away.
at Blackpool, 21 August 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Pope, McGregor, Lemon, Morris, Marshall
Subs: Peers, Nightingale, Noulas, Leary, Macey
The match starts with two unsuccessful corners by us but after the second Pope is able to secure the ball and pass it through the middle to Alfie Barnes of all people and he finishes quite well. Could that be his first career goal?
I took the time this year to actually set up my penalty takers, free kickers, and long throwers. I did something wrong as Lawford is on the left side deep in Blackpool water. As he scrambles to get to the right side of the field he is in the perfect place to back-heel to Morris, who uses his acceleration to blast past his markers and beat the goalie one-on-one. The third is more of a traditional goal, right winger cross to far post, easy tap in. Then a Caffrey free kick from the right to the left post for Barnes again. Morris does manage to send a penalty right to the goalie Mickey can't wrangle the rebound properly, hitting the post. Youth does have its drawbacks. In the 68th Morris gets bulled-over and this time Marshall gets the shot and does not miss, for a triple on the day. Oh, and another Caffrey free kick to Barnes for a header goal. Two goals after 90' lets Morris get his hat trick too.
This extending of the game allows Macey enough time to do a two-footed slide into the Achilles of their poor right winger, drawing a straight red. This is the first time one of my players has had such and boy am I gonna come down hard on him.
POM: Mark Marshall 9.9 (4 goals, 3 key passes, 3 chances created)
So in the locker room I told Macey I was disappointed in his sending off. He gets "confused and demotivated." Really? You're dead to me, pal. He does accept the one-week fine though.
Ferreira wants to go to Burton and complains to me about it. They haven't even offered him a contract. I tell him that with so many great youths he should stick around to see how things go. He agrees. This is the second time I've used this excuse and it's worked both times.
Well here's something new! All 11 players on the Team of the Week are from Brixton. Clean sweep!
On 25 August seven of our players get international call ups: Ireland U19s (David Caffrey and Mark Curran), Wales U19s (David Doran), Angola (Angelino Ferreira), England U21s (Gareth O'Keeffe), Ireland U21s (Chris Dryden), and Wales U21s (Mickey Morris). Because of this I have the option to postpone our match against Wrexham on 30 August. I opt not to because it just causes congestion later on.
Michael Salami is improving in his personality and Determination, which has gone from 10 to 11. I wish this was happening to Joel Bloomfield. Also, DR Jordan Nickson's personality has changed from Fairly Determined to Resolute. I love this feature of FM18.
And finally on 28 August, a future star, John Burns, joins us. He's not quite ready for Prime Time so he'll be in the U23s for a moment or two.
Oh boy. Macey gets another two matches added to his suspension. This time I will appeal.
Projected to finish 15th, Macclesfield are currently 17th. Let us hope that we aren't sleepwalking through the match.
vs. Macclesfield, 28 August 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Legg, Peers, Parker, Evans, Rice, Noulas, Smith, Leary, O'Reilly, Rae, McLeish
Subs: Barnes, Curran, Ferguson, McGregor, Marshall
Oh yeah! /KoolAidMan Thirty-two hundred fans today! And they witness a corner for us 11 seconds in and goal from the edge of the area by Rae 30 seconds later. This is followed by a long spell of nothing much at all until McLeish recovers our free kick and feeds it to Evans at the far post. This is getting to be a theme, defenders scoring from open play. His first ever?! Followed immediately by some bumbling defenders not understanding that we are NOT playing the offside trap. Followed immediately by Butterhands Legg unable to latch onto a strike after neither centreback can be bothered to jump up to defend. We remain absolutely dreadful for the second half until 31 seconds left when, despite my worries, Marshall does manage to sneak one in while taking on their keeper alone. Man, what a waste of a great start!
POM: Macclesfield's Kwadwo Agyemang 8.7 (2 goals, 4 key passes)
Peers was technically responsible for the second goal I guess as he rated a 6.1. He get's an official warning. We should not have allowed those two goals going into the half.
We had a press conference to introduce John Burns. It was only two questions long and they were both about how I spend money. What was the point of all that?!
This match against Wrexham will be my 300th coaching Brixton. That boggles my mind. That means I've written about 300 matches. Maybe one day I'll be good at this. Like Macclesfield, they are low and not much is expected of them. I need to make sure the lads don't treat them lightly. On top of that, three starters (Ferreira, Caffrey, and Curran) are away on international duty. Oy.
at Wrexham, 30 August 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Nightingale, Barnes, Pike, Ferguson, Pope, McGregor, Davie, Morris, Marshall
Subs: Peers, Rice, Lemon, Leary, McLeish
Ian Anderson is out with a broken cheekbone? Who knew playing the flute was so brutal. I wonder what he's doing today. Sitting on a park bench?
Most of their players start with their match Condition in the 80s and 70s. Despite our physical advantage we are quite lackluster until Morris crosses to Marshall who gets the header goal. It doesn't take long for a repeat but Morris is constantly off-target on his shots and is all the way down to a 6.3. Lucky for us, we get another Morris-Marshall combo (MoMa?) just after 48'. Our lack of Anticipation and Concentration in the center of our defense bits us at around 74' as their right winger perfectly times a run and Gareth just stands there. But it doesn't take long for one of their guys to pick up a second yellow while tripping Morris in the box. He doesn't miss his penalty opportunity. We put this one to bed on the soft pillow of a deflated soccer ball, done in by the mighty boot of McG.
POM: Mark Marshall 9.5 (3 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
At the break we were accurate on 4 shots of 12. By the end, we were 9 of 18. Quite the turnaround!
Look at that! Steve Pike, brought up from the U23s to cover for Curran, gets in on the Team of the Week fun! Good on ya, lad. And Marshall as an MR? FM gonna FM, I suppose.
Finally! Offers are coming in for Mitchell Nightingale. Bradford and Burton offer embarrassingly low transfer fees, £15,750 and £14,250, respectively. Dammit. I deny them of course and then Mitch's agent shows up with a new contract demand. I shoe him away with my cleated boot (:-D) and ask Macey to have a word with Mitch. That settles the matter. For now.
An hour later, Bradford offer £12,750 for Sean Peers. No! Later that day Grimsby want Nightingale for £16,000. I counter with £100,000 and they withdraw.
Remember Shane Pilcher? He went of to Aston Villa back in July 2020 for £100,000. Now Cardiff are offering Villa up to £7,000,000 for him. I think that means we get 40% of the fee. Nope! We get only 20% and the value was £4,500,000 so we get £650,000 up front with an additional £225,000 in installments. These sell-on fees have really helped our bottom line this month.
Another bid comes in for Peers, this time by Port Vale, but it is auto-rejected. That was it before the transfer window closed.
We got some changes here. Barnes gets promoted as I've soured on Nightingale. I haven't soured on Ferreira but the signing of Evans displaces him nonetheless. Andy Robinson is gone so Ben Pope replaces him, though he'll probably leave in January. The arrival of John Burns pushes Stewart down to third choice.
Lawford and Morris have improved but I'm not seeing such results on the pitch. They've both been okay. Rice has been doing good, might supplant Curran in the coming months if Mark doesn’t improve. Leary is still the super-reliable wing sub. Their "declines" don't worry me.
Our first match in the new league was a statement win and it was also our chance to show the world what we can do on TV. Half the world? A quarter? A very small amount of the English and my family back home Stateside?
Though we go the month with only wins there still is evidence we're not fully jelled. About of half the matches have players with concerning performances, mostly on defense.
The Original 16, where are they now? Well, first, a little egg on my face. I had it wrong the whole time. We had 17 original players. Yeah…
Anyhoo...let us look at were those original 17 players now?
Interesting that so many went to League Two. If we play our cards right, we might get to face them next season. I'm a little bit surprised that Taylor and O'Donnell haven't lit the world on fire.