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Ick. Nine matches this month. Maybe I should throw some games so we are out of the FA Trophy and Conference League Cup. No, I like winning too much.
I'm glad Ben Evans is seeing an increase in his Stamina because his single-digit attribute is preventing him from being a starter.
Peers' falter couldn't have come at a better time (for me). So much easier to drop him to the U23s this way.
Le Sigh. Lost £245,164 last month. Damn taxes were £238,000 so we were very close turning a profit, kinda.
Oh yeah! Board confidence is up to 87%!
Here's how we look with O'Keeffe out of the picture.
Only thing news-worthy was last-minute hire DR Ethan Foster had a spectacular month with green arrows for every Technical attribute, all but four of Mentals, and all but Natural Fitness for Physicals. Maybe he'll make something of himself.
Well check that out! My AssMan thinks that Pat Lawford is currently performing as a Championship level fullback. Awesome!
Knowing that Peers has tanked, I made a comparison with Jordan Nickson in all three roles for a Full Back. In each one Jordan is better than Sean. I make the switch official.
Dean Rice's Bravey is now up to 11.2. Inching along back to the beginning.
Despite maxing out and not improving, Glyn Davies' Determination continues to go up. It's now 14, having started at 6. Insane.
Mark Marshall has had some spontaneous changes. He is now Driven, was Light-Hearted, and his Determination jumped to 18 from 17. He's a wonderful third striker.
It's a sad, sad day that we say goodbye to Gareth O'Keeffe. Maybe not goodbye but, "See you later!" I fully intend to sign him once we advanced to Premier League. I'll always make sure we've got that £10,000,000 sitting in the bank.
Here's how this is going to go: Legg gets the first start post-Gareth. So long as he keeps a clean sheet he remains the starter. Then Lee gets to take over until he concedes. Let's hope this works. Now let's go put those Shrimp away!
vs. Morecambe, 1 January 2022
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Legg, Nickson, Evans, Collopy, Rice, Parker, O'Reilly, Pope, Leary, Macey, Rae
Subs: Lee, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Noulas, Davies, Smith, McGregor, McLeish, Flitcroft, Lemon
Well that's a fine how-do-you-do! Legg loses his starting position just 85 seconds in. Poop. At least Macey and Rae combine 12 minutes later to tie things up. And then we give up two goals in quick succession from corner kicks. Off come Legg and the entire back line. I should have pulled Jose Parker too with his 6.3 but I didn't really notice it at first. And then we score twice from free kicks. This is some weird, wild stuff there.
Then Rae and Macey combine so our Captain can get his brace. The fans are getting their money's worth! Then Leary and Pope get in on things. Eight goals in 33:30. How bizarre, how bizarre. It takes almost another 30 for the ninth goal; Pope takes an O'Reilly pass then takes on half the defense to dribble in and shoot from point blank, scoring at 60:01. Another few minutes later and Rae is our third player to get a brace, with Pope getting the assist. Macey is the first to three, this after I slowed things way down and went to Control. And to make this bizarro-world match more bizarro, Macey gets a fourth at 81:54. Un-freakin-believable. But wait, there's more! Leary gets tripped at 91:56, four seconds left in the match. Pope was supposed to take the kick but he sucks so I switched it to Macey. He does not let me down.
POM: Eddie Macey 10.0 (5 goals, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
Well that is just crazy. I don't know what to make of it. Look like crap for 24 minutes then a 180 degree turnaround. I'm glad I made that swap. And I should probably lay off of Macey for a good long while.
Graham Rutherford, my Assistant Manager, signs his contract on the morning of the 2nd. Next up is the Head of Youth Development.
It's time to learn who we face in the Quarterfinals of the Conference League Cup. Fudge. Leyton Orient, a good team in our current league.
James Lyon, the striker for our next opponent Kidderminster, averages a goal a game. Adrian Lee is going to have some fun with that.
How fitting. Gareth O'Keeffe is named to the Team of the Week for his last match with us. Joining him are Morris (ST r) and the whole midfield, McGregor (ML), Caffrey (MC l), Flitcroft (MC r), and Burns (MR of all places).
Kidderminster are 2nd in the league so I am pretty worried. Plus, I'll finally find out what Adrian Lee has to offer and if I was overblown in my assessment that O'Keeffe was phoning it in or not. Kidderminster is southwest of Birmingham, which puts their stadium, Aggborough, 111 miles to the northwest of us.
at Kidderminster, 4 January 2022
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Lee, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Nickson, Parker, Noulas, Lemon, Marshall
Well, we're leading in hitting the woodworks. In the first half all our attackers are 6.4 or 6.3. And we continue leading in hitting the woodworks! The trick to not hitting the posts is to keep your shots low, which happens after I yank Burns and put in Marshall. Lawford boots one out of our final third and Morris outruns everyone to reach the ball at the end of the field, then he crosses it low to a trailing Marshall. Time to dial it all back... Marshall gets a second in the 87th, sealing our victory. The assist came from a Smith cross after a Lawford throw-in. The late concession was a total FMing, with Lee sending the ball to Curran and he forgot the ball was at his feet. Such bull. Lee will keep his starting position.
POM: Mark Marshall 8.5 (2 goals)
Not often that a sub gets Player of the Match. But because I'm a tactical genius, Marshall got the award.
Nothing much happens in the intervening days except our Head of Youth Development signs his contract and our U23s play a friendly against a team called Rockleaze Rangers, a team of such renown that they aren't even in a league. The FM18 programming kind of limits teams you can play when arranging friendlies and I chose these guys because of the weirdness of their name.
Oh, and Alfie Barnes just signed a new contract. Yeehaw!
On the staff front, next person up for a new contract is our U18 Manager. I don't get the option to extend him past June 2023 though. Bummer.
We have a perfect record against Dover, beating them three time, twice in the Conference South last season. I can't imagine they've improved much so this should not be too much of a challenge. And we should earn a pretty penny for our efforts.
at Dover, 8 January 2022
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Lee, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Legg, Nickson, Parker, Collopy, Rice, Noulas, Davies, Pope, Leary, Macey, Marshall, Lemon
Woodworks 1. Brixton 1, Burns passes from left to Morris in the middle who passes to Smith on the right and he dribbles in and shoots. Brixton 2, McGregor cross from way out left to Smith way out right and Peter dribbles on in like he did before and shoots high while the goalie goes low, just like for his first goal. Brixton 3, Morris was on a long dribble in but got taken down by a White Cliff and Burns gets the penalty shot in. Brixton 4, returning a favor in the 62nd, Smith crosses to the far post where McGregor lurks, sending things right on in. Dover 1, they get a free kick and we are all bunched up in the middle and they played it wide. Lee is not O'Keeffe.
POM: Peter Smith 9.5 (2 goals, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
I made Ye Olde Outfield Swap and that probably doomed us to give up a goal.
Oh boy. The days of agents showing up after a match have resumed. Ferreira's thinks he needs a new one. I disagree. So then Angelino walks into the room. I explain he still has too much time of his contract and that satisfies him.
Of course, we need our next opponent for the FA Cup. I'm hoping for a big team as I think at this stage the gate receipts are split. Oh wow. I didn't realize it but there are only 32 slots left. The only team left that we'd have any glimmer of hope against is AFC Telford but they have a replay against Swansea, so they probably won't make it. Oh damn. Our run is coming to an end as we'll travel to Sheffield Wednesday who are in the EPL. At least we'll get paid!
Oh great. Now Ferreira wants to leave for Scottish side Hearts. Eddie! Take care of this!
Before our next match League One club Swindon make an offer for Davies. He's not really as good as I thought he might be and has plateaued. And if I need to reach into the lower squads there is always David Doran, who is a bit of a misfit but at least has international experience with Wales. Swindon offer £4,000 up front and with other fees can be worth up to £16,000. I bump it up a little and should be worth up to £17,000. Not too bad for someone who lost my favor.
But why does nobody want Ben Pope?!
I'm going with the Diamond again just to get certain players familiar with new positions. BTFC are a company club. French aircraft manufacturer Airbus has one in Wales. They are things of the past and never amount to much but it's still a pretty neat concept. Don't know why there isn't a London Telephones F.C. though...
vs. Bristol Telephones F.C., 11 January 2022
Formation: Diamond Attack (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (DLP-S), MR, ML, AMC (AM), ST r (DLF-A), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Legg, Nickson, Evans, Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Dryden, Lemon, O'Reilly, Rae, McLeish
Subs: Lee, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Parker, Pope, Leary, Davies, Macey, Marshall, Noulas
Bristol, I got your number! I'm gonna make you mine. Especially when you surrender, a goal after two minutes time. Tommy Tutone I am not. Tommy Notone? They have Ben O'Reilly's number though, spraining his knee ligaments four minutes later. Dammit. Will I have to cancel the Davies deal? McLeish's first goal was an FMing, when the centrebacks played a game of "you got! No, you got it!" so it's only fitting that his second one is from a cross by new kid on the block Chris Dryden that bounces off the goalie's hands right to Derek. I do believe I've seen something new. The Operators shoot in a long shot and Legg ducked to avoid getting hit. At least that's what it looks like! Doesn't matter, McLeish and Rae combine to score on the restart. And Lemon and Rae combine, this time the golden dome of Alex was the weapon of choice. It's only fitting the McLeish's trick is from another FMing; at least the defender lost the ball just behind the circle and not way in his own end. His fourth was because Ferguson is an amazing Deep Lying Playmaker who has the Vision to pick out a striker breaking into the clear.
POM: Derek McLeish 8.5 (4 goals, 1 assist, 4 key passes, 2 chances created)
A good debut for Dryden, rating 9.1 and getting an assist. Not such good news for O'Reilly though. He'll be out 6 to 7 weeks.
For the next round, the 7th, for the FA Trophy, there are 16 teams remaining. We get the privilege of traveling to Torquay, an old opponent from last year when we were in Conference National South. Should be an easy trip.
Our U18 Manager Bryan Adams signs his new contract the morning after we hung up on Bristol. Now who is next…?
What's that? Oh. Right. The U18 Manager is Adam Bryan, not some washed-up, has-been Canadian crooner.
I don't get an email about it but I noticed on the home page that the lowest we can finish in the league is 18th, so there is no way we'll be relegated. When will we secure promotion and win the league?
Wycombe are rolling in mediocrity, currently 11th in the league. I'm confident that our superior roster will lead to a superior victory. Wycombe is 32 miles west-northwest of Brixton, at a stadium called Adams Park. I'm trying to be cheeky by flipping my strikers around. Sometimes this can pay dividends by catching your opponent off-guard so they have to adjust defensive instructions.
at Wycombe, 15 January 2022
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Lee, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Burns, Morris
Subs: Parker, Rice, Noulas, Leary, Marshall
Well holy moley. A long ball totally baffles us and we're down one just 9 seconds in. Damn. In response we hit the woodworks for like the twentieth time this month. Hucking fell. Burns had the whole goal at his disposal and was 10 feet in front of the goalie with no other threats in the area. So he shoots right at the goalie. Jerk. Sometimes goalies make the wrong decision, rushing out to collect a ball. If they aren't committed they mess up and Burns pass to Morris and despite being 16 yards out and no one between him and the goal, he scores. Well, Caffrey is pretty good with those free kicks, picking out Smith and though his shot was blocked the ball went right to Burns and he also does not have problems with empty nets. With Full Control going on I knew any other goals would come from a slow build up, and so it was that Leary eventually finds himself with the ball and has a choice of Flitcroft, Morris, and Smith by whom to get an assist; he chose wisely with Morris. Sigh. We give up yet another easy one.
POM: Mickey Morris 8.8 (2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
I was gonna comment about how having a team of high Determination allows comebacks like this. But then giving up that late goal...I tell them we were poor and Leary and Burns get all stressed and demotivated. Jerks. What? Yeah, that experiment with the strikers didn't work, I put them back to normal at the half. Nine seconds in!!! Urgh!!!
The U18 Assistant Manager is the next one up for a new contract. He wants £500, board says £475. What's £25 between friends?! Nothing, as he initially agrees.
I did not expect Aston Villa to plop down £170,000 for David Caffrey. Do I expect him to cause as stink when I say no? (He just was in his 15th league match so he is now making £750 per week now.)
Off goes Glyn Davies! I really did have high hopes for him. He leveled out, Mark Flitcroft continues to improve. We'll be alright. And so will he, he's making £700 now, an increase of £100 per week. Now if we could just offload Ben Pope.
Okay, so now Derby want a piece of Caffrey with slightly better terms than Aston Villa offered. Still a whole lot of nope going on.
Now that Swindon got Davies they want Ben Evans. Go away!
This is our first-ever match against AFC Fylde, another oddly-named English club. They are middling and thus I'm pretty sure they will feel the full weight of the awesomeness of our Starting XI. They are actually in the market town of Kirkham, way up to the northwest, almost to the coast, between Preston and Blackpool. This puts their Mill Farm stadium an RCH short of 200 miles from Brockwell Park.
at AFC Fylde, 18 January 2022
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Legg, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Burns, Morris
Subs: Nickson, Parker, Noulas, Lemon, Marshall
Yeah! We score first this time! It's starting to be more regular, scoring off corner. Smith sends it in, Ferreira sends it away from goal but right to M-I-C-K-E-Y and his goal-seeking missiles finds a straight path from his right foot into the upper left of the goal. Yes! And it's Morris again! Right from the 18-yard line from a early cross by Lawford deep in our territory. This Pat kid might turn out to be good. And on the restart he gets his hat trick. It's at this moment that I realize I never swapped Burn and Morris around back to their normal position. Def working today! FFS! Again with the dribbling freely in our territory. And again, I 'm not making this up, but Legg was stretched out on the ground before the ball was even shot.
Have you heard about this kid in South London? Named after a mouse. Scores goals by the boatload? He got his fourth today at 49. Burns ain't shooting well but he is an assist machine. And Morris is an assist machine too, helping Burns get his act together. Excellent… Not excellent? Giving up another goal. Damn Defense is really sucking of late. Then more stuff happened but I'd already turn my mind to other things.
POM: Mickey Morris 9.8 (4 goals, 1 assist, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
I don't know what is wrong with our defense. Is it the Regista role?
I'm going to try to fix the defense. Wish me well! I'm changing the Regista to Anchor Man, but not in the tactic. When I get a two-goal lead I'm going to make that change and see how that works. It wouldn't fix that 9-second goal in the Wycombe match but I gotta try something. If that doesn't succeed in the next match I'll do the actual change.
Daniel McDermott, our U18 Assistant Manager, agrees on the morning of the 20th. He wasn't too costly. A GK Coach gets the next offer. He is rated at 20 in GK Handling coaching so it's a no-brainer to keep him around. I upped his request from £400 to £450 as he deserves it and I want him to sign immediately. He's gonna take his time. Whomp, whomp.
My staff suggested I raise the asking price for Caffrey and Evans because teams are circling. I move Caffrey from £230,000 to £500,000 and Evans from £20,000 to £65,000. Fifty-nine minutes later Aston Villa, totally not dissuaded, offer half-a-mil. Fudge. I still say no and wait for Caffrey to storm into my office. He doesn't.
Swindon also matched the new value for Evans but I too dismiss the offer. And Bury makes the same offer but it's auto-rejected.
Here's a bit of good news on the transfer front! Queen of the South, a Scottish Championship club, make an offer for Andy Flynn, the only striker in the U23. He's got no Determination (4) and is Unambitious. It's not a transfer offer but a contract offer, so he would go to them on 1 July, after his contract expires. If he agrees I'll let him just leave immediately, if I can.
Newport aren't much of a threat and we have the Sheffield Wednesday match coming up so I'm sitting the starters. Newport plays at Rodney Parade (another weird English name) along the River Usk (sounds Russian) which is actually in Wales (first weird Welsh name?) some 124 miles to the west. Today's weather is 1° C with hail. Gross. Welsh weather is not for the faint of heart.
at Newport County, 22 January 2022
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Lee, Nickson, Evans, Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Noulas, Pope, Leary, Macey, Marshall
Subs: Ferreira, Parker, Lemon, McGregor, McLeish
They are aligned defensively but with two strikers up top. It works for the first 32 minutes and 57 second as that's when we get our first shot on goal. It was from Marshall on a breakaway and the ball went in right over the goalie's left shoulder. That was the only action in the first 45 so I give gentle words to the kids and buck some of them up. The second highlight is a corner that sees Ferguson kick it right to Evans' head and we are up 2-0 just like that. Ergo, I change Fergie to Anchor Man, not Anchorman. I also do some swaps, dispensing of Lackluster Leary (what is wrong with my left wingers of late?) and move Macey over there, and bring on McLeish. This is important because a Pope cross goes to Macey and he kneels down to head a ball to Marshall for his brace. Macey's heading ability is ridiculous.
POM: Mark Marshall 8.8 (2 goals)
A clean sheet, imagine that. The Anchor Manning may have been the key. I was Calm with the squad in all my pre-game and halftime speeches but at the end I was Passionate. A lot of people were happy. All the underperformers managed to get themselves back up to average or better. A pleasing match is what I'm saying.
You'd think I'd be tempted to go all defensive and use the Cudgel against Wednesday but the way I see it is that my wingers are better than Evans and any third central midfielder I'd use. So I'm going to the Diamond and hope that works. We ain't gonna win but I don't want to be embarrassed.
It's time to put Ben Pope on the Unwanted List and have my Director of Football offload him for me. Six Scottish Premier League teams have made offers for Pope but they are all for the end of contract. Dammit. I take matters into my own hand and offer him to anybody for £1,000. Nearly 20 clubs make an offer, including our next opponent. Where will he choose to go?
The Sheffield Wednesday team report is...tragic. They are loaded from top to bottom and use the 3-4-3 formation. Oddly, their three strikers only have 9 goals in 35 appearances. They are in the relegation zone so I guess that kind of makes sense.
The GK Coach, Albert Tunnicliffe, signs on the morning of 24 January. Next up? Uhh...let me focus on this next match first.
Southend are eyeballing Mark Marshall. Hmm...him I want to keep. Let's see what they offer, if they do.
Oh it's my favorite thing: A press conference before a big match. A lot of traps, as per usual, with most of them about the new manager there who I know nothing about.
Back to the Team of the Week biz. Legg (GK), Lawford (DR), Evans (DC l), Burns (MR), Caffrey (MC l), and Morris (ST r) represent. Coolio.
Andy Flynn signs a pre-contract with Queen of the South but I do have the option sell him now. I'm able to get £1,000 out of the deal. Woot! And now he's off our books!
Sheffield may be in poor form but I have to respect them, they are way the hell up there above us league-wise. It's a dreary date at Hillsborough, way up in the Midlands, 148 miles to the north by northwest.
at Sheffield Wednesday, 25 January 2022
Formation: Diamond Attack (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (DLP-S), MR, ML, AMC (AM), ST r (DLF-A), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Lee, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Smith, McGregor, Flitcroft, Morris, Burns
Subs: Legg, Nickson, Parker, Evans, Rice, Ferguson, Pope, Leary, Noulas, Macey, Rae, Lemon
Almost 20,000 fans today. Cha-ching! What, what, what?! McG intercepts a probe into our half, sends the ball wide left to Burns, he starts heading in and spies a late-arriving Morris. A perfect pass precedes a perfect shot and we are up one! Uh-oh! The restart continues and despite a good initial few seconds we get dispossessed and they send the ball forward into our territory. Their left striker is way off target though. Phew! Ha! We get a counterattack going and they have the audacity to foul Burns in the box. Who takes the shot? Give Mickey the chance to redeem himself, again, for that miss in the Brentford match back in September? You bet! It's high and inside! Woohoo! His 37th goal of the season! Another breakaway with just Burns and Morris versus the keeper and Burns is a little too slow with the cross, allowing their keeper stop Mickey's shot. They are still better than us and we concede on a corner. They get two more corners in rapid succession but on the second one we get a counter with Burns dribbling about 80% of the pitch. He doesn't get a shot at the end but the ball quickly finds McG, he lays it off to Curran and his cross to the far post gets hammered into the back of the goal by Smith. But then they counter from a corner that really is all to blame on Smith for not chasing a ball. And their fourth corner goes in, dammit!
In the second half they come out stronger and I need to swap out some defenders because we give up another easy one. Okay, this getting dumb. Another goal off a corner. Absolute bullshit. And another. This is a total bullshit FMing. These are the day when it's 100% apparent that there is SI-installed cheat codes. Totally unbelievable.
POM: Sheffield Wednesday's Emanuel Solá 9.2 (1 goal, 2 assists, 6 key passes, 4 chances created)
I don't have anything to say to the lads but it was just one of those day. That goes over well with them so I just leave it at that. At least we made £335,954 on the day! (But how much will be taxed…)
McGregor has been kind of crappy of late and I pull him aside to have some words. He agrees and thanks me for the pep-talk.
Oh yeah. Staff contracts. Up next is one of the two remaining GK coaches. I'm only offering one year as he only teaches Distribution and is only fair at that.
So I'm down on good central midfielders so Cambridge must smell blood in the water as they make an offer for Mark "Flitty Flit" Flitcroft. Of a whopping £9,000 with clauses that could take it up to £15,000. Yeahhhhhhh nope. So you know what that means, right? He needs a new deal. I invite his agent to have conjugal visits with his own body.
Ebbsfleet do have a good striker who has scored 14 goals in 27 league matches. He's fast and accurate but lacks willpower. He's also on loan from Aston Villa. Ebbsfleet is a fully professional team so I guess this is a good investment for Villa.
My scouts found me a pretty good looking AMC. He doesn't have the highest Determination but has lots of good skills, including a 14 Flair. When I look at his Scout Card, right there at the top is the death-kneel. "Could have real problems with injuries." Goodbye! (I don't sign such players unless they are from Youth Intake and fill a critical gap.)
I hate it when I continually get proven a genius. Bringing up Jordan Nickson has panned at so far, with his Determination jumping from 16 to 17 because of the squad's general character. Sweet.
Why is there a press conference for a match against the 20th-ranked team in the league? Three questions about two managers under fire and one question about Flitcroft leaving. Sigh. I hate these things.
It's good to be back home in the club with the people that you love. What a gauntlet of away matches! Three wins, one loss. 15 goals for, 10 against. Sure hope we get a clean sheet today and score a metric butt-ton of goals.
vs. Ebbsfleet, 29 January 2022
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Lee, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Parker, Nickson, Noulas, Lemon, Macey
McGregor must have taken our heart-to-heart to heart as he got a sweet cross to the left post with sublime timing, allowing Morris to arrive with his left foot to knock the ball in at 4:03. What I like about the Arrow is that the Box-To-Box Midfielder can score up the middle while our wingers can from the wings. Or the BBM can cross from the middle out wide (is that really a cross?) and then the winger can dribble in and shoot. Just like Flitcroft and McG did at exactly 8' with the ball going in high over the goalie's hands. Our dominance continues with Burns and more Morris and more McGregor. Only downside was Burns absolutely phoning it in with several off-target shots and lazy passes.
POM: Stephen McGregor 9.6 (2 goals, 1 assist, 3 key passes, 3 chances created)
But we got the clean sheet and four goals after being dismantled by an EPL club! And we secured a play-off spot!
I wonder if the code is jacked up with FM2018. Lee Beirne's tutoring by Lemon comes to an end and he "is a little disappointed." Yet his Determination went from 16 to 18 and his Personality from Fairly Determined to Driven. Sounds like a great success, to me! Meanwhile, Allen West's time with Alex Rae ended and he was delighted, yet his Determination went from 12 to 14 but his Personality remained Balanced. Oh well.
Goalkeeping Coach Alex Gray signs his new contract on the 30th and then I immediately offer one to the third GK coach.
Norwich, Preston, and Brentford make offers for Ben Pope. Please, please, leave! (I should explain/re-explain why I'm trying to unload him. I basically screwed up not offering him a new contract early so when I went to offer, his demands were just too crazy. And then I found Peter Smith. So, if I had been more cognizant I would not be in this position. So much egg on my face.)
York think £40,000 is an appropriate amount for Flitty Flit. I don't. (This was on 31 January. I expect today is going to be a constant stream of offers for players. Put on your seat belt, it's gonna be a fun ride!)
Sheffield Wednesday are the winners of the Pope lottery. They must have fallen in love with each other while they were scoring goals off corners repeatedly. Sigh. Huh, I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. I guess that's what happens when you put someone on the Unwanted List.
Brighton and Derby make offers for Ben Evans. Still not enough to make me budge. Then Hull, Swindon, and Sheffield United all pony up the same amount, not understanding I've said no to all offers at £65,000. (This is undoubtedly faulty coding by Sports Interactive.)
Villa comes in again for David Caffrey. They offer five hundred thousand samoleans. Wow. But no. Now he wants to talk. Thankfully when I sell the great atmosphere here he agrees and drops the issue. This is going to happen again next year I'm sure. I really need to use the off-season to find two stellar central midfielders. Maybe I'll offer him a new contract in June. Ruh-roh! Now they are offering £650,000.
Crewe think £20,000 will get McGregor to join their ranks. Nope! On the other side of the field, Scottish club Motherwell offer £65,000 for Peter Smith. Man, being a minnow sucks. Can't wait until we're the ones swooping in and lowballing clubs for great players.
Motherwell won't be denied at least some Brixton talent. They offer £30,000 for Angelino Ferreira. Again with the lowballing.
Is this a transfer that might happen? Swindon want Marshall. In theory, I'd like to pull the trigger but he's a great third striker. I want to dump McLeish and Macey but I'd still need Marshall. (And what's with all the Ms in my striker ranks?) Someday Richard Phillips will be up there but not this year or next year.
I think a lot of what you are seeing is the post-O'Keeffe effect. People are getting better in some cases, adjusting to the new standard in other cases. Lee is one that is actually improving. As is Lawford, Barnes, and Caffrey. Smith's change is just from normalization, as is Flitcroft's. McGregor turned 25 in January, which is the point that player improvement grinds to a snail's pace. The game then deems the Potential Ability is no longer there but if you look under the hood, it is.
Wellllll... Maybe jettisoning O'Keeffe wasn't such a good idea after all. We went six matches without a clean sheet, then got a clean sheet, then gave up six goals in one match. Sigh. I'm pretty sure that's our worst defensive streak ever. Well, probably better to make sure that Lee starts getting playing time than have a surly keeper. It's for the better in the long run. At least we still have a perfect league record!
In addition to O'Keeffe we see of one great prospect, one good prospect, and one loser. At least I'm keeping all our staff!
Now that Glyn Davies and Ben Pope are gone, let us look back at their Brixton careers. Their arrivals are opposites, with Davies as an extra-body signing and Pope a graduate of the Youth Academy.
Davies came to us in in the summer of 2019, a recent Arsenal discard who was on the dole less than two weeks. Originally as a Trialist for two weeks, I made him permanent on 25 July. He was Unambitious and had a Determination of only 6. His Potential Ability was 3.5 so I was pretty high on him so long as he could get some Tutoring. Within two months his Determination started inching up on its own. By the beginning of 2020 he was starting to get regular time with the Seniors and got his first career goal on 8 February. I really thought he'd be something but then this year he kind of petered out. Oh well, at least he developed nicely from a point off minimal expectations.
Pope came to us in our second Youth Intake Day, in 2019. I didn't think much of him as his Potential Ability was only 2.0, and we also got Tommy Watkins that year and his PA was 4.0. This is what I wrote in my team spreadsheet about his Future Use: "Maybe a U23 AMR who, with Det 18 and Driven, would be a great mentor." And I wrote for initial Thoughts: "Back-up AMR for a very long time?" Well, it turns out he probably could have been the future at right midfielder once we lost Watkins to Bristol back a year ago. Hopefully because of this Pope situation I won't be amiss in offering new contracts to promising teens early on.