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Ai-chi-wawa! Back to the bad trainings. I guess I can understand kinda with those three not getting a lot of playing time but Parker probably has about 30 minutes less of playing time and he did brilliantly. I don’t know. Maybe time to switch to FM2019 where you get weekly feedback?
So very excited about Mark Marshall’s performance.
Oh. I forgot, Adrian Lee turned 18 on 12 August and I meant to offer him a new contract. Well, that is on pause now after his deplorable performance.
Due to those sell-on fees we made £2,454,000 last month. Elsewise, we would have taken a bath of around £250,000.
Before I look at my confidence rating just know that I won the league Head Coach of the Month award. Should that not be Manager? Is the FM18 program reading my Americanness and using “Head Coach” instead? Doesn’t do it for other things... Weird.
The board rates me at 84% but the drop really comes from the fans disapproval of our transfer market performance. Sign one U18 DR with no future and they get bent all out of shape...
All’s the same on the Dynamics front.
First things first. Marshall won the league Young Player of the Month award for scoring 10 goals in 5 matches for an 8.90 rating. Alfie Barnes came in second for his 3 goals in 5 matches for a 7.74 rating.
I know he has no future, my AssMan knows he has no future, but Kris Newton is doing his darndest to convince us we are wrong. Another good month with lots of green arrows. You can do eet!
Joel Bloomfield is only Unconvincing at DMC right now but his Attributes are improving quite well with Technical all going up and all Physicals but Natural Fitness. His Mentals saw 9 out of 14 improve.
Despite his horrible training report, Dean Rice’s Bravery continues to recover and is up to 10.4 now.
So earlier I mentioned I decided not to give Adrian Lee a new contract yet despite him turning 18 because of his sorta crappy training performance. But as I was updating my spreadsheet I got to new kid DR Ethan Foster and his £300/week salary. That just ain’t right that Lee only gets £130 per week. Well, now he’s on £350 which will go up to £500 after 5 league matches and £750 after 20. If Gareth O’Keeffe ends up leaving in January, Lee will quickly get into more than 5 matches. And we get him until 2024. He liked the offer so much he immediately signed it.
On a similar front, seeing Ben Pope’s paltry £120/week salary on my spreadsheet, along with the huge payouts we got in August, makes me finally relent and offer him a big pay raise. (I imagine he’ll leave in January.) The initial offer presented by his agent favored his agent way too much. So in order to screw over that guy I have to pay Pope £4,500/week, if he signs. Blech.
The FA refuse to reinstate Eddie Macey so he will miss his third match due to suspension. What the hell was he thinking? We were definitely FMed as it came at the end of a match. How long will the boning last?
Here's some very pleasing news: Marshall spontaneously went from Spirited to Driven, and his Determination went to 18. Wow.
Whitehawk is a really cool name for a team. I had actually started a FM12 save using Whitehawk as my team. And before I got too far in I switched to FM14. They play in The Enclosed Ground, which isn't too far from Brighton & Hove Albion's stadium, down on the south coast, 43.3 miles almost due south.
at Whitehawk, 4 September 2021
Formation: Diamond (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Rice, Noulas, Smith, Leary, Lemon, Marshall, Rae
Subs: Peers, Evans, Ferguson, McGregor, McLeish
Marshall again proves he is an absolute beast. He gets the first say and the last say on the matter. We dominate but give up one goal in their sole highlight. But I worry not.
POM: Mark Marshall 9.4 (2 goals, 2 assists, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
Is that three matches in a row for Mark?! I was really expecting this of Morris so I’m shocked and happy.
Kevin Jenkins goes out on loan to Eastbourne Borough, who are down two levels in the pyramid. I do hope to have him in the U23s next season so this is an honest loan, not a “get outta here” loan.
Ben Pope signs his new, costly deal on 5 September. I really am going to try to shop him around in January. It’s right that we are paying him a pretty penny, it ain’t right that he continues to play this low.
In a U18 match on 6 September phenom Joel Bloomfield finally goes to Competent at DMC. It took 17 partial matches to get there; partial meaning started at DMC and then subbed out or shifted to another position sometime after the half. Hopefully soon he’ll be Accomplished so that the U18 Manager (cough)damn FM18 programming(cough) doesn’t move him late in matches.
Only Mark Marshall makes the Team of the Week as a lot of the players were from Chorley, who utterly destroyed Chelmsford, 6-0.
Sleaford, where Sleastacks cross the river? Oh. Sorry, I was thinking of Sleestacks. Anyhoo...this particular ford is 108 miles almost exactly due north. As they are a very lesser team I am running out some of the U23s today. I’m very precise in my selection as I want to have each player get a specific debut match. Today’s choice is super-sub on the wings, Sam Young.
at Sleaford, 7 September 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Legg, Peers, Evans, Murphy, Curran, Ferguson, Young, Barnett, O’Reilly, Macey, Flynn
Subs: Lee, Barnes, Ferreira, Parker, Pike, Noulas, Smith, Leary, Davies, McLeish, Rae, Nightingale
A one-two after 12’ appeases me as we had allowed the Sleastacks way too much comfort early on. U23 striker Flynn gets mugged entering the final third and their AMC with a 16 Pace outruns our backline and beats Chicken Legg. We right the ship eventually with two of our goals coming from the stone hands of our opponent's goalkeep. The rest of the match tries my patience though we do ultimately win.
POM: Eddie Macey 9.6 (3 goals, 2 assists, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
This is one of those matches that was determined through preordained programming by Sports Interactive: SEVERAL balls bouncing off players to opponents, an own-goal because the goalie turned to run back to his center spot in goal, several long passes by players who have been instructed not to, etc. So much bullpoop.
For the next round of the FA Trophy we travel again. Either to Macclesfield or VCD, a team from our past, way down in the 9th level. I kinda want the Maccs because it seems we get too complacent with easy matches.
Projected to finish 15th but currently 6th, I am not going to underestimate Sutton. That is why I’m using the preferred Starting XI. And with almost 4,000 fans to impress, I use that angle to inspire the squad.
vs. Sutton, 11 September 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Pope, McGregor, Lemon, Macey, Morris
Subs: Rice, Nightingale, O’Reilly, Leary, Marshall
It’s the Eddie show! The Beast gets two early goals and then a third after the split. Disaster hits as things are winding down as Lemon goes down with a bad foot injury with 5 minutes left.
POM: Eddie Macey 9.5 (3 goals)
Turns out Lemon just bruised his foot and will be out 1 to 2 days. Same for Ben Pope who got subbed out at 55’ because of a calf strain.
Again, just one player in the Team of the Week. Again, Eddie Macey as an MR. Whatever.
Alfreton have yet to win a match. Still doesn’t mean I trust our group. Alfreton is a small town 126 miles north by northwest of Brixton, northeast of Birmingham.
at Alfreton, 14 September 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Peers, Parker, Evans, Rice, Ferguson, Smith, Leary, Davies, McLeish, Rae
Subs: Ferreira, Barnes, Caffrey, McGregor, Marshall
Despite several breakaways our attackers keep sending the ball right at the goalie. We go into the half with several players rating 6.4 or below and I am not pleased. The hairdryer treatment gets their attention and Rae finally shows his deadly foot seven minutes in. Rae and Smith connect again in the 67th and I immediately go to a Control game. We somehow end up with a win but I’m not pleased.
POM: Alex Rae 9.0 (2 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
I tell the team that despite the win I’m disappointed. Enough get riled up so I’m happy. Davies and McLeish were two of them so I don’t admonish them for their 6.4 and 6.3 performance.
I was looking at performances and in the last five matches McLeish has been mailing things in. In matches we’ve won or dominated, he has rated 6.6, 6.6, 6.8, 6.7, and 6.4. I decide to give him an official warning. Though he wasn’t on the training report at the beginning of the month, he did have an abysmal August with almost every Ability having a red arrow and his Pace dropping from 14 to 13. I also decide to give him an talking to about his declining form.
We next face the 23rd-ranked team in the league. Why call a press conference for it? It’s a trap! /Akbar The questions are about how the squad is riding a high, Newport is riding a low, and Gareth’s availability. I still smell a rat.
So we face a bottom-feeder at home, after a press conference. Bringing out the big guns as I can’t play it safe.
vs. Newport County, 17 September 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Pope, McGregor, Lemon, Morris, Marshall
Subs: Nightingale, Peers, Noulas, Leary, Macey
A slow start but an assured header by Marshall after 17’ lifts the spirits of the crowd. He then catches his own rebound just before the first stanza comes to a close. With Morris rating a 6.3, and a yellow, I tell him how unimpressed I am with him. Morris doesn’t improve but Marshall does, getting his third shortly after picking up a yellow.
But they get us on the restart when it becomes evident my defenders are absolute milquetoasts. I have to take off the three players on yellow so I can switch to the Spade and have the players get “Stuck in.” This pays immediately dividends with Macey heading to McGregor who does a nifty jump and kick to catch a ball a little too high for normal consideration.
POM: Mark Marshall 9.4 (3 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
I tell Mickey in the locker room I’m not pleased. He’s been good this season so far but I am concerned that in two matches we’ve had two horrible striker performances.
Mark Curran and Stephen Lemon rated 6.9. The rest of the starters, less Morris, averaged 7.9. I can’t believe they still haven’t jelled after all this time. Maybe they are just those kind of players who consistently underperform. Hmmm...
Oh boy, our next opponent, Oldham, are a much better team. The board only expect us to make it to the second round of the Carabao Cup so that mission is already accomplished. If we lose, we lose. I'll still put the best XI forward. They are currently fourth in League Two.
Better representation in the Team of the Week, this week. O'Keeffe at GK, Parker at DC l, Smith at MR, and Rae at ST r.
Huh. I was expecting a better crowd, at least equal to what a league match would bring. Is it that the match starts at 1500 on a Wednesday? Well, I guess that means fewer fans will be around to see our demise.
vs. Oldham, 22 September 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Pope, McGregor, Lemon, Morris, Marshall
Subs: Nightingale, Peers, Ferguson, Leary, Macey
Look at all those injuries! Maybe we have a chance? And my pre-match speech inspires five players!
We concede just before 2' due to Curran's low Position attribute, keeping their Hungarian striker onside. Welp...I kind of expected this. A bruised knee for Morris at 15' really starts adding insult to injury. He had an open goal in front of him 12 minutes later due to a great Marshall cross but he just stood there looking at it, allowing a clearance by the defense. I have to bring him off. It only takes a few minutes for Macey's arrival to pay off as he and Marshall play the give-and-go to perfection allowing for a great score by Mark. We were set to go into the half tied up but a late corner hoses us over as their right midfielder gets a ball in through the thickest of traffic.
Lemon and Curran are rocking 6.4s but I give Curran a little bit of carrot to build a better relationship and a bit of stick for Lemon because I've been underwhelmed by him since signing him last year. By 70' Lemon has improved some but Curran hasn't and now Lawford is down to 6.3. I have to bring those two off and shuffle up the backline. I would have rather brought on better attackers but that early injury by Morris did the plan in. There wasn't a single action sequence in the second half until the last 20 seconds. Sad.
POM: Oldham's Patrik Kecskés 8.3 (1 goal, 1 assist, 1 chance created)
I give them the soft treatment in the locker room and they all get happy. Except for Curran, Lawford, and Lemon. They get stern words. I'm going to meet Curran privately and see if that shakes him up. He should be so superior but he's been quite a disappointment. He accepts my criticism but I was a bit lenient. We'll see.
Morris' bruised knee healed up by the end of the match so that's a good sign. He'll start the next match.
Later that night, Joel Bloomfield goes to Accomplished at DMC. It took him 20 partial matches to get there, 3 additional ones from when he turned Competent.
Oh how my 10th grade English teacher would be proud. I recognized irony! The next day, my Head of Youth Development informs me that Mark Curran has "improved significantly as a footballer over the last two months." He's also progressing well in training and the squad's general character has had a positive effect lately. What that means is that his Personality has gone from Fairly Ambitious to Fairly Professional. Hopefully that will show up on the pitch.
We need a bounce-back match. We need to dominate this lesser club like a professional team versus a junior varsity one. I've tweaked the tactic a little. I think we need our captain on the field so I'm going to use Macey as the right striker in a Defensive Forward-Support role. The left striker will be in the Advanced Forward role. Today that is McLeish as I need to have the more experienced crew up front.
at Chester, 25 September 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Legg, Peers, Nightingale, Parker, Rice, Ferguson, Smith, Leary, Davies, Macey, McLeish
Subs: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Evans, Barnes, Curran, Noulas, Young, Barnett, O'Reilly, Marshall, Rae, Morris
It takes 25 minutes for the first action and naturally it's a Macey cross to McLeish. But Derek's shot hits the crossbar and as he advances to kick in the rebound he gets tripped. Macey then hits the crossbar. The rebound finds Ferguson on the 18-yard line and he sends it in to the opposite side of the goal from the keeper. This is immediately followed by McLeish twisting his knee so Rae comes on for him. I switch Alex to an attacking Target Man.
Our second goal was pretty unique. Davies is running at a 45 degree angle through the box, all by himself. Rae feeds him ye olde onion bag and Glyn sends it in with his left foot from a weird angle. It was high and fast and the keeper had no chance. On the restart Macey steals the ball from the left central defender and gets a 1v1 that results in a shot wide left. Macey's gonna get a scolding and this is definitely his last year with us. But then he is able to step in front of the tripper from earlier and leap high to head in a Leary cross. Jekyll and Hyde...
Rae gets a second assist just before the half, using the left post as a way to feed a pass to Leary, who puts it in past a confused keeper. That was an action-packed 20 minutes!
The first action in the second 45 was a free kick by Davies that glanced just off the top of the crossbar, right around the hour mark. Five minutes later Leary sends in a corner from the left and after some deft passing the ball is back to him. He plays with the keeper like a cat with a mouse, joinking left and right before sinking the ball. After that I did a lot of substituting and within 10 minutes Noulas, on as an AMC, passes to Morris who this time gets it past the keeper; his earlier attempt went straight at the goalie.
POM: Gary Leary 9.6 (2 goals, 1 assist, 3 key passes, 3 chances created)
We not only scored a six-pack but we had 30 shots to their 1, which came in the last two minutes. We also dominated possession, 63 to 37 percent. That was good chicken soup for the soul.
Poor McLeish, he'll be out for a week.
We have a week before our next match but we'll have an end to the month before then so it's The Days Between.
Sam Sterling's form for Bath has not been that great. Bath are doing quite well, fourth in their conference, but he's not, averaging 6.5 in the last five matches and 6.85 overall. I give him a call and tell him to relax and try to take in the experience. He thanks me and his morale improves. (For comparison, Henson Debellotte is averaging 7.22 and 7.23 for Bath. That is some consistency there for you!)
Speaking of the squad's general character having a positive effect, Michael Salami is seeing his Determination rise, going from 10 to 11. This is actually attributable to Lemon's tutoring but it's still nice to get an email about these things.
For the third round of the Conference League Cup we welcome Blyth, 19th in a league below, to Brockwell Park on 13 November. Was not expecting such a long time between matches in that competition.
Another transfer clause comes due. Mark "Flitty" Flitcroft played his tenth league match for Rochdale so they had to pay us £4,000. Every little bit helps.
Ferreira gets another international call-up for Angola. He gets to face Mozambique on 6 October and Senegal on 12 October. Mozambique...they just might be the only nation that has an AK-47 on its flag.
Turns out he's not the only one going abroad. David Caffrey, Mark Curran, Gareth O'Keeffe, and Mickey Morris are joining their national teams. Because of this I get the choice to postpone matches that take place on 5, 9, and 12 October. I don't postpone for the same reason as before: Fixture congestion later in the season. Also, John Burns and David Doran will be out.
Well, looks can be deceiving. I think all the "drops" are really just adjustments as Gareth O'Keeffe continues to prove. I'm banking on that. I don't want me squad to be declining.
One defeat, several close calls, but we keep truckin' along. Individually, a lot of the players of importance are improving in their Attributes but a lot of concerning performances persist. Curran is the worst offender, Lemon is just slightly better, and Morris is letting Marshall steal his thunder. Let October see us right this ship.
Mark Marshall. Once an afterthought, currently an absolute monster. I found him in early April 2019 while trying to find a U18 striker body. He wasn't exactly bowling me over but by July 2019 I was still needing a U18 body so I offered Skelmersdale £1,000. Best £1,000 I ever spent! In his first year with us he got into 56 U18 and U23 matches, scoring 54 goals and 20 assists. Last year he was in 14 competitive matches, racking up 10 goals and 6 assists. This year? Oh boy. So far this year he has 7 starts, 2 sub-appearances, 16 goals, 3 assists, and a bonkers 6 Player of the Match awards.
Here's his initial player card:
Here's his current one:
He's going to be a starter until (if?) Mel Stewart or John Burns supplant him.