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Alright, we are ready to kick off the season! Five matches this month, easy, peasy. I'm sure some players will leave. I probably will bring in one or two to replace the departed.
Well this is a great way to start the season! Too bad David Doran is about to be transfer-listed. He had green arrows for everything in Technicals, everything in Physicals but Natural Fitness, and all but four in Mentals. It's no surprise to me that Carolan had a great month of training considering he put in 10 goals in 3 starts and 1 sub appearance in the pre-season. Most of his gains were just recovering from a bad month last September.
Mickey...he's just Mickey, the awesomest player we have. Or maybe that's John Burns. What about Shaq Bailey? A spoil of riches we have.
What a refreshing sight, we made £128,370 last month. I can't wait for match money to roll in!
There was no change over the month of July, I remain at 90%.
Now for something completely different... Remember how I was excited about getting a new contract, back on 30 June? Well, in my exuberance to get on to the next month to see our new stadium, I never attended the meeting with the board. Yeah. A senior moment, courtesy of me. I rectify the situation by asking for a new contract on the morning of 1 August.
Excellent! Peter Smith is now an Influential Player.
I am a spineless wimp. I do not tell Macey and McGregor that they can no longer be captains. Oh well. Maybe next year I'll evolve from an invertebrate.
A much better month for the youths, which isn't really surprising given the training and games they got.
Not many non-youths had a good month. One exception is Mark "Flitty Flit" Flitcroft who saw a lot of green arrows plus gains in Penalty Taking, Anticipation, and Work Rate.
But we do have tutoring! The most obvious and important link up will be Eddie Macey and Chris Keegan. The initial meeting went well, with each seeing their Morale improve. I was really surprised to see my AssMan think that new kids Desmond Brizan and Thamindu Noel should hang out with each other. I figured Noel was too old. Nope! They too see a Morale increase. And another new kid gets some loving. Luke Matthews will spend some time under the wing of Stephen McGregor. They leave my office happier too.
I also put several players on the Loan List. DR Ethan Foster, DC Rory Collopy, DL Dean Rice, MC David Doran, and wing sub Sam Young our offered up. Doran also gets transfer listed. He's a bit of a jerk, and with Luke Matthews and Alex Wainwright in the fold he can be jettisoned. Rice is the only one who gets upset. I explain he needs first-team experience and he understands.
This is how things look on 1 August. I believe/fear that Evans will be gone by the end of the month. Maybe August will be an audition month to determine who will be his replacement.
What should be perceived here is that we have fewer starters who came up through the ranks than we did the previous years. This is a reflection of my down-tuning of our youth facilities.
Well, turns out there is another competition we're in. Never heard of it, the Checkatrade Trophy. It's weird. You get put into a group with 3 other teams. There are 16 groups. We get put in Group J with Crawley (League Two), Oxford (League One), and Leicester's U23 squad. Strange. Each group has the U23s from a Premier League team. That doesn't seem fair. After the groups finish their group-play the top two teams get separated geographically, either into the Northern Group or Southern Group. Each Group then has a Second and Third Round then Quarter Final then Semi Final. Then the top team from each Group face off, I'm assuming at Wembley.
You get £10,000 for a win and £5,000 for a draw in the group phase. And goes up from there, culminating in £100,000 for the winner. Interesting. Maybe we'll make some more money than I expected. The board expect us to make it to the third round. The first match isn't until 30 August. So we'll six matches this month.
At noon on 2 August the negotiations for my new contract open. No, £1,300 isn't good enough. How about £1,500 for two years? And a 15% Promotion Wage Rise. By 1225 the world knows my loyalty is real. By the way, my career earnings so far are £200,000.
Oh poop. QPR come out of nowhere with a satchel of pounds in hopes of leaving with Mark Curran. Exactly £250,000. Uhhh. We'd be screwed without him. They are in League One so Mark may not be too enthused to only go up one level but QPR are 2-1 odds to get promoted back into the Championship. Uhhh. Nah, he's too good to let go. Fingers crossed he doesn't complain.
Before we get to our first match I have some business to take care of. I need to lock in Curran long-term. He's making £600 right now as a member of the 1st Team, which is a bargain. He needs more. I open negotiations and his agent starts off with £550. That makes no sense. I counter with £750, £1,000 after 5 matches (my thinking being he might get pilfered real soon), and some standard escalators and fees so we can keep him until 2024.
AFC Wimbledon, the favorite team of Brian Lane, have an interesting past, formed by local fans after the existing them there fled in 2001 to Milton Keynes some 50 miles northwest of London. Luke Matthews isn't starting because my vanity insists that new Senior players get individual emails about making their debuts; Brizan gets that honor today.
vs. AFC Wimbledon, 6 August 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, Evans, Brizan, Curran, Caffrey, Lemon, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Legg, Nickson, Ferreira, Sterling, Noulas, Leary, Macey
Awesome! A large crowd! But what is that? The Football Manager logo on the front of their jerseys?! We're gonna get FMed.
Or not! Lemon is able to take a pass from the back line and shot if forward from the midline right to Mickey in the arc. He dribbles forward a smidge and fires at the goalie. That guy can't stop the shot with the ball deflecting off his hands and into the lower right corner. Time elapsed: 135 seconds. It takes around 20 minutes more to get the second goal as Morris gets a brace from a Burns pass. This is a good start. Around 25:00 Mickey sets up a perfect alley-oop for Burn, a mere six feet from the mouth of the goal. Somehow yet he sky-balls it. Five minutes later though another perfect set-up doesn't get wasted and Burns adds to our lead. And 96 seconds later M-I-C-K-E-Y gets his hat trick. He's gonna come off at the half.
Due to an errant Lawford cross Wimbledon get a counter-attack and Lee fails his one-on-one save roll. Dang it! Then the wheels almost come off when they get a throw-in deep in our end. They pass around our third and finally Burns gets sick of it and kicks a guy. No foul is called and he boots the ball forward to Mickey, who gets tackled in the 18-yard box. The balls rolls to a trailing Burns and his shot for his brace is "excellent…" Everyone is rating very well except Brizan who is way down at 6.2 as we head for our new locker room stocked with fresh orange slices. Granted, his mistake lead to that goal, but still… The second half passes without much action but Burns, Macey, and McGregor missed easy goals. There may have been a woodworks clanging. Or two.
POM: John Burns 9.6 (2 goals, 2 assists, 7 key passes, 3 chances created)
That was mostly pleasing. Brizan's 6.2 lead only to a directed talk in the locker room. My early yanking of Mickey probably lead to him not getting the POM award. And we made £122,642 on the day. If we can continue to get those kind of crowds we'll be in for a good year.
Oh. Well. That money we made? Of the 10,693 fans in the stands, 6,250 were from Wimbledon. So...maybe we'll make like £50,000-£60,000 per match?
As for Brizan, he report card doesn't say he doesn't relish big matches (a debut with a new team as a starter would qualify for "big) so maybe it was just bad luck.
Somehow one of my scouts found some amazing-looking central defenders from Spain. No idea how. I didn't put in a offer because he's injury prone but it got me thinking. I looked at the team he plays for, Real Hispalis, and noticed the all the players are really low in Match Fitness and did not have any match statistics. Digging further I noticed the team had no schedule. This all makes sense as I don't have any non-UK nations loaded.
Well, I've now changed that. It won't be long before we are in the Championship and if FM18 plays like FM14, I'll be able to scout Scandinavia then. So I've added the following countries: France, Germany, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The Scandinavian teams will become active in December and January but the rest won't until late June. I'll see what that does to the games processing speed and save file size. For reference, the current file size is 231,777 KB. Maybe I'll add the rest of the big leagues next season. This is a moment in history.
The final numbers are in for season ticket sales and there's been no additions. We sold 1,213. Bummer. I was hoping for more.
DC Jason Cosgrove is seeing positive changes from the personalities of the Senior squad. His Determination climbed up to 14. And apparently, other good characteristics are transferring to him too.
Now that we are in League Football one of things that I wondered about was, would the Team of the Week be computed more reasonably. Nope. Burns is in but at ML. Lee makes it at GK, Ben Evans at right DC, and Morris at right ST. At least those three make sense.
Well, it was bound to happen. Crystal Palace are offering £250,000 for Mickey Morris. Do I want him to leave? No. Do I have to be realistic? Yes. After some negotiating we settle on £350,000, arrange a friendly, and a £10,000,000 buy-back fee. Yes, the moment we are guaranteed elevation to the Premier League I'm going to buy him. Well, if we can't get Kemar back, that is.
In preparation to replace Morris, if I don't promote from within, I went looking at pretty much any striker with a wage under £2,500 per week. I found this guy:
What does it take to be labeled a "Pacy hitman?!" I've never seen that Media Description before.
Getting back to a departing Morris...I'll stick with a two-striker formation for as long as Marshall and Macey continue to score. If they falter, I'll go back to the Spade and use Burns as the single-high and Flitcroft/Matthews as the AMC Shadow Striker.
Burton are in League One, in the Championship the previous season. They are predicted to finish 10th so they are a tough opponent. Then I look at their roster and it doesn't really seem that good. Yeah, one good striker but their central defenders are slow and have low Determination. New AMC Luke Matthews makes his debut today.
vs. Burton Albion, 10 August 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, Evans, Brizan, Curran, Caffrey, Matthews, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Ferreira, Sterling, Noulas, Leary, Marshall
Wow! Exactly 2:30 in, the ball is in the back of the net as Morris was able to cross from the right, an ankle-level pass right to Burns and he blasted it past the goalie even before that guy could react. From there it's a pretty quiet game though all three action sequences end only to show me Morris missing medium-difficulty shots. I address him specifically at the half and he gets motivated. His mind has already moved on to Crystal Palace. He keeps sending the ball right at the goalie, even while on a two-on-one when Burns was just meters away from an open net.
It's a good thing that I put Matthews in today as we get a free kick right on the 18-yard line and he sends it right on in. More breathing room comes at 62' when Smith has his choices of targets for a cross; Morris, Burns, and McGregor. He goes long and McGs get a point-blank header in. Angelino Ferreira goes on at 68' for a tired Evans and immediately picks up a gashed head. I stop the game every five minutes to bring on the next two subs; Noulas for Caffrey, Leary for McGregor. Then at 83' a Smith corner goes right to Ferreira, he of the gashed head, who nods it back to Burns and he gets a brace. I saw that Ferreira went to ground after that and a physio ran out but he didn't get a higher injury marker. Hopefully he's not concussed.
POM: John Burns 9.5 (2 goals, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
Ouch! Ferreira's injury upgraded to the red and white injury icon. He'll be out for a week.
The media predicted a small crowd and they were right, only 2,198 fans today. Still, we made £9,349 on the day. Hopefully the next round sees a bigger crowd or we are away at an EPL team.
And so it is, on 11 August 2022, our Academy star, M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-RR-I-S, packs his bags and makes the 4-mile journey south to Crystal Palace. I didn't want to see him go but fair is fair. I give him a hug and tell him to make the most of this opportunity. His Morale was already Perfect but I know my words of encouragement were well received.
Well, I gotta move on. Time for a cup draw. For the Second Round of Carabao Cup, we get...Oh praise Cthulhu! We get to host Fulham! A LOT of fans should come, seeing as they are a mere 4.5 miles to the west by northwest. Excellent. The match will be played on 21 September.
We face another relegated team, Charlton. They are predicted to stay down and only finish 15th. I really don't know if Burns will be able to carry us so hopefully Mark Marshall will do well. If not, I have Eddie "The Beast" Macey on the bench.
at Charlton, 13 August 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, Evans, Brizan, Curran, Caffrey, Matthews, Smith, McGregor, Marshall, Burns
Subs: Nickson, Noel, Sterling, Noulas, Dryden, Leary, Macey
I fret. I fret a lot. We are looking uninspired and Burns is actually labeled as Uninterested. But just after 20' we get a free kick down near the left side of the goal and eventually the ball finds its way to Marshall. His shot is blocked but it goes right to McGregor near the left post and he puts it in. Burns is looking Uninterested still. He looses that when Matthews is able to slot one up the middle to John just inside the box. He does a pirouette and takes two steps forward then shoots it in. If the Charlton goalie had better hands he wouldn't have allowed the slight deflection to go in. Well, I'm getting the feeling that Marshall is not fit to start. He makes two mistakes and the second one, a misplaced pass, leads to a Charlton attack and they get us good up the middle. But we've got Burnsie! Macey, on for Marshall, commands the ball around Charlton's area and sends the ball wide left to a charging Burns. John takes it to the end of the pitch and crosses it to the middle, where tall Luke Matthews heads it in. Hot damn! Quickly afterwards our opponent learns the hazards of slide tackling as their left fullback did so to Macey. The ball just went deeper into their territory where Peter Smith was able to pounce on the loose ball and rocket it in.
POM: Peter Smith 9.1 (1 goal, 5 key passes, 4 chances created)
I think it's safe to say this Luke signing was a good piece of business. Having a 189cm AMC is a brilliant tactic. Kind of a way to cheat to get a Target Man on the field.
Well finally! Peter Smith is now Natural at AMR. It only took 12 full and 21 partial matches. Caffrey has got to be close now to Natural at DMC.
On Monday, 15 August I learn that our U18s are in a competition they were in last year but for some reason didn't show up on the schedule until now. The U18 Division 3 Cup. Great, we are in the same group as QPR's U18.
Again we have a good showing in the Team of the Week. It's Lee again in goal, joined by Brizan (his first!) at right DC and Smith at MR.
I think that with an open bid on Curran he is taking his time to agree to the contract extension. So I'm going to give new contracts to the new defenders in the Seniors, Jason Cosgrove and Colin Cockbill. I have them until 2024 but they are only on £130 and £150 per week right now. Let's change that!
Cosgrove wants £325 plus his agent wants £3,100. I jump it up to £500 and some normal bonuses plus £750 after 15 games and normal escalators. And I want him until 2025. It looks like he'll sign immediately.
Cockbill wants the same and gets the same except his agent is asking for half of what Cosgrove's wants. He too can't grab that pen fast enough to put his John Hancock on the dotted line.
I was right, the both sign immediately. But I do notice some differences in the emails announcing the deals.
Two difference I catch on to: Cockbill likes me more than Cosgrove does and it seems the fans know that Cockbill is better? Is that how I should read that? Is this a cheat code, per se? Or am I reading it wrong? They have the same star ratings right now.
Well this is a bummer. Only 4,000 fans (400 visitors) are expected for this match. Hmmm... I was expecting consistent numbers. They are expected to finish 11th so I guess they aren't much of a draw for our fans. Bummer. Let's take it out on Crewe.
vs. Crewe, 20 August 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, Brizan, Curran, Caffrey, Matthews, Smith, McGregor, Marshall, Burns
Subs: Lee, Noel, Sterling, Lemon, Dryden, Flitcroft, Macey
It takes 24 minutes to get to the first highlight but it ends as so many do, with a Brixton goal. This one was a launch from deep by Lawford up the right sideline, chased down by Marshall, who gets a long, low cross right to a John Burns right food. The Crewe had no chance. The same dudes link up again but this time all the action is in the middle with Marshall dribbling to the left then back-heeling it to Burns who is running to the right. A little crisscross action to confuse the enemy. A few minutes later Evans has a rare miss when trying to head a ball, which allows a breakaway but their left striker can't beat Chicken Legg. What follows are several corners and throw-ins deep in our end but it's Peter Smith to the rescue, finally clearing out the ball from our third. He boots it long to Burns and the Crewe right fullback is sick of getting burnsed so he tackles John in the box. Oh no! The goalie saves it! Ugh! Marshall hits the woodworks again!
A mere 84 seconds into the second stanza and Caffrey gets a stealth goal. He has a long shot that didn't have much pace but there were enough people in the way that the goalie couldn't see it before is slipped in just inside the left post at ground level. And finally Marshall gets his first goal of the season! It came from a typical build-up and it's McGregor with a long pass to the middle that springs Mark to get a one-on-one. By 66' its time to go defensive but with Brizan and Lawford on yellows I can't go to the Cudgel. After the switch Evans picks up a yellow and I begin to fret again. That is, until Dryden sends a free kick into the box where Sterling heads it to Evans and Ben uses his head for the perfect lob over the leaping goalie.
I was expecting no more but Marshall to Burns cannot be simply stopped. John gets his hat trick, Mark gets his assist trick, and Crewe get a long, quiet bus ride home. But then my world goes pear-shaped. The game stopped so I could send in a sub for Burns as he has a serious hand injury. I've already used my three subs so I just move Marshall to the center and switch him to Advanced Forward. He proceeds to miss two goals but I don't care cuz my mind is on Burns' hand. And we are six points ahead.
POM: John Burns 9.6 (3 goals, 1 assist, 2 key passes)
I'm not a big fan of comic books or movies but I know enough that John Burns is either Wolverine or Deadpool. Despite that red injury tag, the game stopping to enforce a sub/formation change, and the post-match news item specifically mentioning his departure in the 82nd minute, Burns has no injury. So bizarre, so bizarre.
Also, I shouldn't have worried about the small crowd. We still made £46,227 today.
Last week we got in a bit of a crunch when we had a U18 and a U23 match on the same day. I need an additional GK for the U23s. Luckily, one of my scouts found an unemployed goalie named Niall Crook. I offer a pretty normal contract for a 19-year old, £300 per week, for the rest of the year. If he pans out I'll trigger an option.
Also, I think I need a striker who is tall and can play Target Man. I had my scouts pour over some reports and I think I'm going to sign a young chap from Northern Ireland named Raymond Devlin. Okay, he's not fast and lacks determination but he is tall and can jump; he is 194cm tall and has a Jumping Reach of 14. Oh nevermind. He wants a lot of money and I'd owe his current team £160,000. Damn.
Another round of offers begin. Wolverhampton want Curran for £250,000 but after I add some clauses I believe are reasonable they pull out of negotiations.
Seven hours later he signs his extension. Hell yeah! Very glad to have him here.
I'm going to wait on Ben Evans until the transfer window closes. If he goes, he goes, if he stays, he's paid. But until then, how about Kris Newton. He's not going to start for us but I want him to to be around forever to mentor. He's an absolute steal right now at £150 per week. I offer £250 per week and a £3,600 loyalty bonus to keep him until 2025. He doesn't have an agent and he appears ready to sign immediately. And he does.
We had a U23 match at home on the night of 22 August. I say home game but that should have been at Brockwell Park, our training ground, but instead at Windmill Gardens, our new stadium. Seems the game doesn't like it when you have a new stadium set up to move into at the start of the game via a self-created database. Good to know. If/when I ever do another FM18 save or jump over to FM19, I'll make sure to do things "right." I bring this up because in said match, we had 1,955 spectators. That brought in a nice haul, to the tune of £13,845. I think we just might get that profitable season after all.
Again our GK makes the Team of the Week. Hats off to you, Chicken Legg! Joining him are right DC Ben Evans, DL Mark Curran, MR John Burns (whatevs), right MC David McCaffrey, ML Stephen McGregor, and right ST Mark Marshall. The rest are all from different teams.
The offers for Evans have trailed off and this makes me happy as my AssMan assess his Current Ability is Championship level. Excellent.
And out of left field comes an offer for Dean Rice, our backup left fullback last year. His Determination never climbed from 9 and he was just mediocre last year. Exeter (League One) offer £9,000 up front, another £9,000 over the next twelve months, £6,000 after 10 games, AND for each of those 10 games they'll give us £1,000. Also 30% of any sell on fee and they'll arrange a friendly. Sure. Sounds good to me!
The next day another offer comes in, but it's a loan offer. Wrexham want Collopy for the rest of the season. Sounds good to me! He agrees to go a few days later. I just hope I don't regret this on lack of DC bodies front. That same day, wing-sub extraordinaire Sam Young goes on loan to Newport (Conference South).
Oh damn! A whole slew of players are getting called up for the internationals, including the five starters Pat Lawford, Desmond Brizan, John Burns, David Caffrey, and Mark Curran. Others are David Doran, Henson Debellotte, Angelino Ferreira, and Chris Keegan, who is about to get his elevation to the Seniors. I'm given the option to postpone our match but as you may already know, I don't like to do that as it causes congestion later.
MK Dons are based in Milton Keynes, which I mentioned earlier. The team formed in 2004 when the existing them there, Wimbledon F.C. moved back to Wimbledon after moving to MK for the 2003/2004 season. Much drama. Anyhoo, their stadium, the creatively named Stadium MK, is 46.5 miles to the northwest of Windmill Gardens. They should represent well as they are expected to finish fourth in the league.
at MK Dons, 27 August 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, Evans, Brizan, Curran, Caffrey, Matthews, Smith, McGregor, Macey, Burns
Subs: Legg, Ferreira, Noel, Cockbill, Lemon, Leary, Marshall
Mark Curran gets a yellow card right off the bat that seems to affect his aggressiveness as he doesn't challenge a Don after a free kick and that allows a pass to get to their striker, front and center of Lee. We go down first for the first time in a long time. After a shout of Demand More I get a response from Matthews and Burns as they combine to get into a place that leaves Macey free and clear, and he out-jukes the goalie to tie the match.
I have to buck-up the squad in the locker room, especially McGregor as he's rating 6.4. (He's about a minute away from being replaced by Chris Keegan.) My faith is restored not 5 minutes in when the same three combine again but this time Burns' pass to The Beast is much longer yet accurately splits the two central defenders. Hellz yeah! Then disaster strikes at 63:10. Eddie pulls his groin. Off he comes, along with Curran (Yellow and 6.4) and McG (6.4). On come Gary, Marshall, and Cockbill, for his debut. Heh heh, Gary Marshall. After that there's just one highlight and it's an almost-goal for Matthews but the Don goalie's hand are too good. But that was not the only action. Marshall too injures his groin but the badge is red, not orange like Macey's, and the game stops to force me to make a sub, which I don't have. This with 37 second left. The FMing has begun.
POM: Eddie Macey 8.8 (2 goals, 1 key pass)
Fuuuuuuun times. Macey out 3 to 7 days. Marshall. Marshall, Marshall, Marshall! Out 4 weeks. Guess it's time to sign Raymond Devlin.
So I'm not saying that I'm fully committed to signing Devlin. Let me see if I can find a speedier, more determined Target Man. There is a guy at Derby that my scouts uncovered 2 days ago. They won't sell him but they will loan him. So, do I want to loan in a striker for 5 months or sign someone permanently? I effectively stopped playing FM in real life from late Sunday to Wednesday afternoon waffling between Raymond Devlin and Aaron Armstrong. Buy or lease. I've never leased a car. I've never loaned in a player in FM. Devlin it is.
So what happened was that I thought about loaning in Armstrong and when I make a first inquiry on purchase price the response was a resounding no. Did they actually say no? No, they said, we'd like £38,500,000. Well, obviously he's an awesome player, even beyond the 5 stars my AssMan gives him. So I can loan him but then why should I be developing other teams' players? I then went and ponied up £100,000 for Devlin. My Assman says he is 2.5 stars currently and will be 3.5 in the future but looking at his Attributes, I think he's 3.5 now and 4.5 in the future. You'd think I'd rock with Richard Phillips and Jethro Swain but they just aren't ready.
They agree £100,000 is a fair price but now I need to hear from Raymond on what he thinks a fair salary is. Ouch. A lot it turns out. So, it all ends with £1,200 per week, £400 appearance fee, £400 goal bonus, £10,000 signing on fee, and an option year supposing he gets into 20 league matches in his final season, which will be 2024. I like him despite being slow and easily discouraged.
Not even two hours later GK Niall Crook signs. Like I said, average as all get out but he's a warm body in the U23s.
This new competition we are in, Checkatrade Trophy, is not important. So much so that we are expected to only host 720 fans. Yikes.
A narrow victory on Saturday means only one player on the team of the week. It's Macey who gets the nod at left striker.
Oh dammit! Nottingham Forest want a piece of that Devlin action. Way to come in at the eleventh hour, jerks!
So this is a new competition for us and it has a unique format for the Seniors. We are in a group with three other clubs so we'll play each of them once before moving on to elimination rounds. So this means I'm not too worried about losing. Which seems more realistic as we are missing several starters due to international commitments, injuries, and tiredness. Let up hope we make it through. (Anybody else find it weird that the sponsor of the trophy and our opponent are Checkatrade?)
vs. Crawley, 30 August 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, Noel, Curran, Noulas, Lemon, Smith, McGregor, Flitcroft, Burns
Subs: Legg, Cosgrove, Cockbill, Caffrey, O'Reilly, Leary, Matthews
Giving up another early one again?! Effing Lemon with his bad passing is the cause. Their lead doesn't last too long and again Lemon sends a bad pass that starts the attack. That's because the guy who intercepted it is even worse at passing. Eventually we are flooding the box and we have a pass combo of McGregor to Smith, he sends it back to McG, he passes to Burns, and then he passes to Flitcroft who sends the ball past the confused goalie. Heck, I was confused and had to actually pay attention to the replay. Our lead comes from the last two touchers from the last goal with Flit feeding John. Good give-and-go, gents! The good times continue with Noulas getting an assist for Burns, acting like the true Regista he is.
And so it goes, with those two trading goals and assists. This "monotony" is finally broken up by Noulas though it's still Flitcroft to Burns. That came about in a funny way. Crawley has been slide-tackling the hell out of Burns, no fouls or yellows, then start doing it to Flitcroft. So Tasos sees that all's fair in love and football so he slide tackles a dude, runs to the right corner with the ball and sends a low cross to Flitty, he taps it on to John and just like that he has three. Strange game. Mindful of our last match, I take Burns off at 50'. His replacement Ben O'Reilly is playing as a Deep Lying Forward but acts more like a Poacher when he intercepts a lengthy backpass by their right fullback. Silly, silly Crawley. That was exactly at 58:00 so I take off Evans and Curran to get them some rest and get Cosgrove his debut. (This was all started by a slide-tackle on Flitcroft that backfired.) Three minutes later and finally a slide-tackle sees a Crawler sent off. Jerkin' Jerkfaces!
POM: John Burns 9.7 (3 goals, 2 assists, 2 key passes, 2 chances created)
When will teams learn that scoring on us first just pisses us off and then you lose? And what was with all those slide-tackles?!
The good thing about these international matches that our players get into is that the scouts are watching and reporting on the players from both teams. That's why on the morning of 31 August I have a boat-load of reports to cycle through on Irish and Serbian players. There are some juicy morsels. There's an awesome left-footed Target Man from Ireland and two Serbian central midfielders that look even better and have release clauses around £300,000. Interesting... The transfer window closes today.
This Irish kid, Mike Carroll. Man. This is really making me think. About to turn 19, 195cm tall, contract expires on 31 December. He is 15 or higher in Dribbling, Finishing, Off The Ball, Teamwork, Work Rate, Jumping Reach, and Stamina. Christchurch. Devlin will probably sign today and what if we get a great striker in the youth intake? Oh. Damn. Bristol City (Championship) have offered him a contract. Well, damn. Plus Burns needs a raise from just £900. Got me all starry-eyed for a moment there.
It's transfer deadline day and we have some expectations. I expect Raymond Devlin to agree. (Finger crossed!) I expect Dean Rice to leave. And I am going to get rid of David Doran no matter the price. I can't believe he's been such a shit these years. The lesson here is don't sign players with a "Competitive Streak." I'm transfer listing him and asking only £2,500.
I hope that Ferreira leaves. He just doesn't have the requisite defensive attributes for this level and can't live off his physical attributes any more.
Bright and early Luton (Championship) agree to pay £1,000 for Doran. I accept. Then Walsall and Dundee (Scottish Premier) agree. Does he? It takes him 90 minutes but he agrees with Luton. Good riddance.
Yep. As expected Carroll signs with Bristol City. Oh what could have been. But it's not all doom and gloom! One minute later Devlin signs with us! Do a little dance...
And a minute after that Rice agrees to move on to Exeter (League One). I bid him farewell and thank him for his years of service. If his Determination had improved more he would have stayed. I mean, it went from 6 to 9 without tutoring and that's nothing to sneeze at.
In the afternoon two teams come in with offers for Pat Lawford. Cardiff (Championship) offer £62,000 with only £30,000 upfront. Fulham (Championship) offer £60,000/£30,000. They both make second offers and both get shot down. A couple hours later see third offers from both clubs.
As evening sets in, Southend (League One) offer £300,000 with £140,000 upfront for Ferreira. I think £200,000 now is more appropriate. And they amazingly agree. Sorry to see you go, Speedy, but you were then, this is now. I bid him adieu and thank him for his service.
And thus closes the transfer window. The day wasn't as busy as I expected, except for those annoying, repeated requests for Lawford.
A very good way to start the season, with six wins. I really didn't expect that but I'm quite sure that we won't make it far in the cups. (I'm including the Checkatrade Trophy as a cup.) Signs of problems do exists in our defense as we've been scored upon first in two matches. And then there are the injuries...
Two striker injuries saw us bringing in an unexpected player during the closing hours of the transfer window, though I am happy to have a true Target Man now. The window also saw us trim some fat. A bummer that Ferreira couldn't improve his Marking, Tackling, and Positioning quickly enough. A slight bummer that Rice didn't get better Determination during his stay but there is some blame on my shoulder for not having a defensive leader to tutor him. Not a bummer at all to give David Doran the heave-ho. If he wasn't such a prat and taken some tutoring he would probably be our starter at AMC. But he's a turd so I had to bring in Luke Matthews.