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We have eight matches in 28 days. Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, the endless cycle. And then we'll have two more matches before Youth Intake Day. I think if we win four matches we'll seal our promotion to proper league football, League Two. Of course if Kidderminster, currently second in the league, falter we may need fewer matches.
Pat Lawford is the wind beneath my wings. He sees a lot of gains and I couldn't be happier. Well, not and remain out of an institution. Caffrey not only had an incredible month but he's now rated at 5.0 at Potential Ability. (Yes, things are aligning with Gareth's departure.) I bring him front-and-center and praise him and his Morale actually goes up. I'm a master motivator.
The Ferreira biz really irks me. He had red arrows all over the place but only his Acceleration, Pace, and Stamina dropped. His claim to fame is being the fastest centreback around but with that being in doubt and his Stamina being in single digits again, it really makes it hard for him to remain a starter.
And I just don't understand Flitcroft either. He's getting the majority of starts and is Resolute, so his Professionalism should be high enough for him not to phone it in.
What's this?! We made a profit?! We did! To the tune of £60,440. Excellent!
Wow! A 7 point jump! I'm at 94% and of course still "Untouchable."
As an afterthought, I won Manager of the Month again.
Back on the morning before the Sheffield Wednesday match Stephen McGregor moved up to the top rung and is now a Team Leader. Just in time to become the Captain.
GK Kris Newton had another awesome month. He's got to be hitting his ceiling soon, right? Gael Barbier has kind of petered out with only his Bravery showing a green arrow.
If you remember George Bunn just know that he's had a lot of progress this past month. He's definitely going to be a utility player for the Seniors in a couple of years.
David Doran had an excellent month of training. If he wasn't a thorn in my side who refuses tutoring he might actually be elevated to the Seniors for a while to cover for Glyn Davies' departure and O'Reilly's injury.
GK Adrian Lee showed great improvements over the month, all due to him be the co-starter now.
I made a reference to Jordan Nickson last month with him becoming more determined. He also had a lot of other gains and is progressing nicely. He should be DR2 for a while I believe.
It's only when I'm doing my first-of-the-month update to my spreadsheet that I noticed that Ben O'Reilly's Bravery dropped two whole points from his sprained knee ligaments. Speaking of, Dean Rice's is back up to 11.4, only 1.0 points to go!
With Pope out of my (non-existent) hair, it's time to move Chris Dryden from the U18 to the Seniors. He saw a good month of training too so it makes the decision even easier. I bring him in to tell him I'm impressed and he thanks me and ask that I consider elevating him. For sure, dude! So he becomes the latest minor to join the Seniors.
John Burns saw quite a bit of green arrows and some numerical gains but not in Heading, something he's been focusing on for two month. Drat. I really can't complain to him because he is improving.
Mickey Morris is kind of an enigma on the training grounds. I've had him training Passing for the last 3 months but he has not improved at all there. He is improving in other areas so I really can't call him in for a speech. One other thing that is obvious though. Now that he's deemed a Premier League talent, his improvements have really slowed. I fear that he too will leave us next season... Also in Morris news, he won the league Young Player of the Month for his 8 goals in 4 appearances, with an average rating of 8.68.
Team of the Week news on the first of the month, what a weird thing. It's not really weird but I'm used to dealing with them amidst matches. Anyhoo...Ferreira (DC l), Mark Curran (DL), Stephen McGregor (ML), and Mickey Morris (ST l) represent. Good to see that my pep-talk with McG worked.
We are traveling to a club who are in the final playoff spot. They have a pretty good striker with 19 goals so far this season. They'll be fighting hard. All my starters are Match Fit but are starting in the low 90s for Condition. This all worries me.
Uh-oh. The game isn't advancing to the match… I save the game to a new file name, open an older file, then open the newest file. It works! Close call!
at Wrexham, 1 February 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: Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Lemon, McLeish
Due to the tiredness encroaching I'm only gonna stay on the attack for the first 15 minutes. What the hell? We get a corner kick then five players gets shots but they are either defended, hit our players, or off the right post. Eventually the ball goes from Morris to Ferreira and his shot deflects off the goalie and in. Survey says (according to game stats) four shots. Well at least it happened early so I can dial things back quickly. Around 10 minutes later Caffrey is able to send a free kick to Ferreira and he uses the back of his head to send in our second goal. Nothing like a pulled hamstring by your right winger to really polish things off. I go to the Diamond but make it a Counter style. And it works. Lemon, Smith's replacement, is able to get a high cross to Burns who does a little hop to strike the ball true with his noggin. Dang it! We almost allow one at 50' but the dude, who should not have been in the clear, hit the post. But we give up one anyway, on a free kick. Then Caffrey gets a second yellow, after I explicitly told him to calm down. We're not even in the counterattack by this point but Burns, Lemon, and Morris start one. Burns get the Key Pass, Lemon gets the Assist, and Morris gets the Goal, using his head. At 69' I go to a modified Cudgel, with just one striker up high. Doesn't matter. They carve us open again.
POM: Angelino Ferreira (2 goals, 1 chance created)
What the heck is going on with players ignoring my demands to not pick up a second yellow?! Guess Caffrey gets to make a big donation to the beer fund. And in unexpected news, Smith's hamstring cleared up by the end of the match. No idea how...
Just like Macey, Caffrey is shocked that he is fined two-weeks salary. What a jerk.
Our third GK coach, Reuben Hewitt, signs his contract on 4 February. Now on to the Fitness Coaches!
Oh Maidenhead, oh Maidenhead, you are the lowest club now. You've won three games and tied five more. Sit right back and watch us score. Oh Maidenhead, oh Maidenhead, you're gonna lose now. Many apologies for butchering a classic. Dryden gets his first start this year and I hope he makes us forget Ben Pope.
vs Maidenhead, 5 February 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, Parker, Collopy, Rice, Noulas, Dryden, Leary, Lemon, Macey, Marshall
Subs: Ferreira, Curran, Ferguson, McGregor, McLeish
They come out in a defensive formation with two DMCs. It works to stymie us as there are no action sequences in the first 45. We're at home so I yell at them to get their act together. And with Collopy and Macey on yellows I have to Calmly tell them to play it cool. Which one will pick up a second first? Ninety second is all it takes for Macey to get that first goal. Why couldn't they do that in the first half?! Their leftback picks up a yellow at 64' so about 4 minutes later Collopy launched one from deep to Macey, who's contending with said defender trying to keep up. As the ball gets to Eddie the whistle blows and the ref starts running for the scrum. With much relief it is McAlpine (weird name) who gets the second and off he goes. At 70' off go Macey (yellow), Lemon (6.4), and Collopy (yellow + 6.4). And then not another action sequence until 14 seconds before the end of the match. Pathetic.
POM: Gary Leary 8.5 (1 assist, 6 key passes, 1 chance created)
Three players end the match with a 6.4: Collopy, Lemon, and Marshall. They all got fired-up by my locker room outburst so they won't be getting fines. I'll try to give Lemon an Official Warning, and the other two a talking to.
I don't get a chance to give Lemon an official warning so I call him into the office. He doesn't like what I have to say so I have to get medieval on his heinie. That pisses him off more. Guess who's getting dropped to the U23?!
What the hell is wrong with us this month? That was a pathetic display at home against the worst team in the league. I don't care that it was my second-level crew, there are standards. I really think it's a narrowing of talent and that next year will be a struggle.
One thing I'm doing is changing our Match Training focus from Tactics to Attacking Movement. Let us hope it works.
We get a press conference to talk about our match against Barrow, who are 9th in the league. Ah, I see. We win and the championship is ours. Maybe? I've had these pressers before and found out that we had to win and basically the other top teams all had to lose. Sigh. There was a trap question too...
Our mediocre play over the last week comes up again in the Player of the Week email. Only Ferreira gets named, at DR, but nobody else. Sigh.
Fitness Coach Ray Evans agrees to a new contract. He is NOT related to Ben Evans. And now the next one.
Alright, lets see if we can get our act together against a team fighting to get into the playoffs. Barrow are way the heck up on the northwest coast, at the end of a peninsula jutting out into the Irish Sea. This puts them 226 miles from Brixton.
at Barrow, 8 February 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, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Evans, Rice, Ferguson, Leary, Marshall
Boy are my nerves shot as the first highlight isn't until 21'. It ends with a Morris assist for a simple Burns goal. Phew! I'm doing better now. The next time the attack is up the middle and Flitty Flit is the one who gets an assist from an easy Morris goal. And just before the half a cross from Smith and a header from Burns gives us three. Yes. The same combo give a repeat performance in the 57th and Montgomery has this trio. I take off Burns, move McG up to Advance Forward, and bring in Leary at AML. Flit comes off for Ferguson and Evans comes on for Ferreira who is getting tired. (Except I messed up and brought Barnes off...jeez.) And with 10 seconds left, Ferreira heads in a Smith free kick. Life is funny sometimes.
POM: John Burns 9.6 (3 goals, 1 key pass)
Okay, we righted the ship. A clean sheet, five goals, and a player with a hat trick. I like this.
Yep. Sutton won and is on 69 points after 35 matches. We'd have to lose out to not win the league. So basically a tie or win and we're in. I have a feeling we'll win. Our next league match is 11 days away so we'll have to wait to find out. Sutton don't play again until then so we can't win by them losing until 19 February.
Oh, a post-match presser. One question about how good Morris is. Okay...
Oh sweet! Experts predict that we'll have 5,100 spectators for our next match. Give or take.
We're in the quarter final of a cup that we won't be in next year. It doesn't bring in a lot of money for us so I'll be glad to be done with it. I don't like that we are facing a league opponent, especially seeing as they are third in the league. Gross. Legg is in goal again after having that clean sheet on Tuesday.
vs. Leyton Orient, 12 February 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, Evans, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Lee, Nickson, Parker, Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Noulas, Dryden, Leary, Macey, Rae, Ferreira
Caffrey sure is getting good at these free kicks from the left. And Barnes is the lucky recipient, heading one in early on. Some jerk named Gareth Bye-Castles (another weird English name) scores from way far out after our defense was super-passive. Evans and Lawford have picked up yellows so that is probably part of it. What the hell?! NOTHING is work so I yank all the starters (less Legg) at 80' and we finally get a breakaway at 85' by Rae and Macey, and those two bozos manage to not mess it up. Really?! England's leading realtor of ancient manor homes gets player of the match!?
POM: Leyton Orient's Gareth Bye-Castles 8.3 (1 goal, 1 key pass)
I'm really getting sick of this hot/cold business we got going and it's really sapping my joy. McGregor has been particularly bad, not being consistent at all. Burns and Morris have been really bad at sending balls way wide too. At least we're on to the semi-finals? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yay! We almost made £48,000 on the day. I guess not having to pay goal bonuses helps the bottom line...
Which group of saps do we get to encounter for the next round of the Conference League Cup? One of three teams we've played too much... Harrogate, Billericay, and Weymouth. Fudge. Well, at least it wasn't Billericay, we host Harrogate.
Our second Fitness Coach, Andy Turner, agrees just before the cup draw. Now to the Senior Coaches! We'll start with our Shooting Coach, who is 4-star rated.
(You know, it just occurred to me; we're destined to face Billericay Dickie in the Finals. Dread.)
What the hell is this?! My scouts, who haven't found anybody worth a crap in months, recommend a 17-year old, Northern Irish, goalkeeper who is rated 5 stars in Potential Ability. Did I mention he has a Driven personality, 18 Determination, 14 Handling, 14 Reflexes, and 17 Bravery? The scout who found him is only 14 in Judging Player Potential so I'm going to go get a second opinion from my AssMan. Is he really available for £64,000 and only gonna ask for £1,100 per week?
Also, I may want to stall this out to see who we get on Youth Intake Day. Nobody is interested in him yet so I think I have time. AssMan will watch him for a week.
Our throttling of Barrow leads to six players in the Team of the Week. They are Legg (GK), Ferreira (DC r), Curran (DL), Smith (MR), Burns (ST r), and Morris (ST l). Why are the strikers flip-flopped?
I don't have many feelings about this match so let's just get on with things.
at Torquay, 15 February 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, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Lee, Nickson, Parker, Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Noulas, Dryden, Leary, Macey, Marshall, Evans
Well. Did not expect that. Kick-off goes out to Smith, he runs forward a little bit and crosses early and Burns burns the defense and heads in a goal. At 11 seconds. He's offsides. So naturally a Ferreira clearance in our 6-yard box hits an opponent in our 18-yard box and the ball goes in off a deflection by another opponent. Then Caffrey takes a boot to the shins during a corner kick and Morris scores the penalty. What doesn't this match have?! The patented defender-overruns-a-ball-at-the-end-of-the-field routine. Burns pounces, crosses, Morris scores. A double cross, McGregor to Smith, followed by a pass to Burns and his deadly left foot boots in a third goal. Also, who could forget the most recent hit, Caffrey free kick from the left leads to a Ferreira goal. (I finally Praise at this point.) Let us not forget to acknowledge the injury to the star. Or in this case, two stars; Morris and Lawford. Well, the hits kept coming and despite going down one early, we pulled it out.
POM: Peter Smith 9.3 (3 assists, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
Lawson's hammy will clear up by the end of the week and Morris' twisted knee will keep him out for 5 to 6 days. Dammit.
For the next round of the FA Trophy we host FC United. Should have called them Generic AF FC. What a terrible name. (And then I read the email announcing the match up and the full name of the club is FC United of Manchester. D'oh!)
My very good shooting coach, Daniel Cheetham, agrees to a new contract on the morning of the 18th. Now time for our very good Attacking Coach to get some bigger bucks.
Must be that if we beat Chorley we get promoted. How do I know this? A press conference... Must I quote Admiral Ackbar?
Jose Parker is the latest player to see improvement from the general character of the squad. His Personality is now Resolute, probably because his Determination climbed from 14 to 15.
NOFX once wrote a song called "We Threw Gasoline on the Fire and Now We Have Stumps for Arms and No Eyebrows". Will that apply to me if we lose this match because I put the second-stringers in? Tune in and find out!
vs. Chorley, 19 February 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, Parker, Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Dryden, Leary, Noulas, Rae, McLeish
Subs: Evans, Curran, Flitcroft, McGregor, Macey
Rae has still got something in the tank! He flies in to head a Leary cross and despite hitting the crossbar, it's the underside and the ball bounces down into goal, but just barely. I'm happy to report that he gets a second 10 minutes later from a piercing of the middle, started by a McLeish pass. Dryden gets his first assist in the 32nd, sending a corner straight to Parker's dome, knocking it in with some crazy speed for a header. Things go by quietly in the second half with Rae and his replacement Macey almost scoring goals. Noulas even almost had one from a free kick. And we win!
POM: Alex Rae 9.1 (2 goals, 3 key passes, 1 chance created)
We are the champions, my friend! We'll keeping on scoring 'til it's in. What a relief. Now I can stop worrying about things for a while. (And I was right, it would take four matches!)
I've been saying for a while that once we make it to league football I'd ask the Board to build a Data Analysis Facility. Let's see what they say. Cool, they emphatically agree. It's gonna cost us £100,000 and take two weeks. (For some reason the game thinks we already have one, which we don't. So that two-week timeline is a bit inaccurate. Okay, very inaccurate.)
You know it was bound to happen. Peter Smith wants a new contract. I tell him he'll get one after the season. He's fine with that and I'll be sure to do it. I want to remove his release clauses.
Alriiiiight! Our Attacking Coach, Neil Henderson, signs his new contract. Our Defending Coach is about to get richer. I wonder if he'll ask for a lot more now that we are guaranteed to get promoted. He does, but just slightly, £25 more per week.
Only one player in the Team of the Week from Brixton. Rae for his two goals gets in. Sutton had five players, they must have had a good game. Yikes! A 6-2 throttling of Blackpool. That put them back in second place.
Check it out, maaaannnn. Lee, Dryden, and Flitcroft are now judged to be League Two quality. Great timing! On the potential quality side of things, Hot Prospects Ben O'Reilly, Henson Debellotte, and Kenny Holden are fit to be League Two quality. All three are central midfielders. Coincidence.
As promised I am now fielding a team of people who need match fitness the most or the most rested. With Morris and O'Reilly returning from injuries they'll come in around the two-thirds mark.
vs. Eastleigh, 22 February 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, Evans, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Macey, Marshall
Subs: Ferreira, Rice, O'Reilly, Leary, Morris
As is his wont, Macey scores yet another header. His right foot works also. His goals have come from each winger; not too bad. I'm very happy that we are recently a reliable threat from corners. Smith gets another assist and Ben Evans get in a header. Marshall is the only player phoning it in, looking Uninterested. Until Evans passes him the ball and he sends a pass through traffic to Macey's right foot and as simple as that, he has his hat trick and comes off for Morris. I use my subs judiciously, changing one at a time to disrupt flow of play. The cherry on top is their leftback getting thrown out at 72'. Then we give up a goal off a free kick. Lame.
POM: Eddie Macey 9.6 (3 goals, 1 key pass)
Sure would have been nice to have a clean sheet but at least now I don't have to pay Legg that bonus.
Not a lot going on this week between the games. I am going to use curmudgeon David Doran as my Box-To-Box Midfielder. He might actually be the best AMC we have so I'd like to take a closer look and see if I can get him to join the ranks of the not-jerks.
A lot more shuffling for this match. Don't care. Well, okay, Alfreton are 23rd in the league and that would be a huge embarrassment to lose to them. I care. Before the match starts I have to choose a number for Doran. I went with 88 because I need the symmetry when I start calling him Doran Doran. Too bad my direct words of how I have faith in him doesn't move him at all. Oh boy.
at Alfreton, 26 February 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, Parker, Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Doran, Dryden, Leary, Morris, Burns
Subs: Ferreira, Curran, O'Reilly, Marshall, McLeish
Well, well, well, I did not think my motivational speech to Morris would pay off after 16 seconds. Such a great play by Burns and M-I-C-K-E-Y. Jealous of Burns, Rice flies one in from our final third that Morris picks up and puts away at 2:25. Unreal. He also shows his Teamwork, opting to give Dryden a chance instead of a long shot. Dryden is up to the challenge and we have three before 4'. And so it goes. Morris gets his trick before 45. I do pull him at the half.
Okay, here's something I've been looking forward to. This Chris Dryden kid is a winger but is Accomplished at MC too. Ergo, when I go to the Cudgel, I don't have to bring him off. Like I did at 68' today. Except I didn't. I forgot I need to get Ben O'Reilly match fit. And it bites us hard. Regardless, it's a good win.
POM: Mickey Morris 9.7 (3 goals, 1 assist, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
I wonder if I pulled Morris for the rest of the matches if he would still win the league golden boot. He has 32 goals, 10 more than the closest opponent.
Well this is exciting! Caffrey's Determination jumped from 15 to 16 and now his personality is Resolute.
Our Data Analysis Facility is open but its quality is labeled as "poor." One hundred thousand pounds don't go as far as they used to these days…
I think Barnes is improving but Dryden is just getting a more accurate assessment from my AssMan now that he's training and playing with the Seniors.
A pleasing month if not exhausting month. Every week saw two matches but we are still in all the cups we were in at that start of the month. Better yet, we are going up to League Two, we are scoring loads, and players are generally improving nicely. We have our Data Analysis Facility and I'll have to learn how to make use of that. And we are less than a week from Youth Intake Day!!!
Back in early October 2019 I thought about signing an Irish defensive midfielder for the U18s but with him being Irish he wouldn't report until his 18th birthday so I quashed the notion. He stayed with his original team, Salthill, for two years, becoming a regular starter in his second year. He got into 36 matches, scoring 2 goals for a rating of 6.63. Very mediocre. Bray Wanders signed him on a free the next year were he got into 24 matches, scoring one goal for a rating of 6.4, not very good. He just started another season with Bray (Irish football runs from mid-February to late October) and has only been in one cup match but he did score two goals. On 1 July he is due to move on to Derry City, the best team in the Irish Premier League. Even though he's on a non-contract, he has to wait until the next Irish transfer window. Football is funny sometimes. Mentally and Physically he looks promising still but Technically he doesn't; he has not developed much there. Ergo, no longer interested.