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Well, aside from the U18s, our work here is done. They play Liverpool U18s at home tomorrow in the FA Youth Cup Final Leg 2. They beat them away 4-3 so we have the advantage. The last League Two match is the playoff final on 14 May so I imagine the squads will go on Holiday on 15 May.
This is pretty believable. Peers just isn't getting the match time he needs. Chick Legg's continued improvement pleases me much. I should have been giving him more matches all along. His Passing and Composure went up a point.
Burns is no surprise. His Finishing being 16 is. He also had 10 green arrows.
We didn't get a report on the 1st of the month. Odd. I had to do the maths myself and we lost £273,541.
It gets worse. On 31 May we learn that we actually lost £975,000. Surprisingly, £925,000 of that was ground maintenance costs. Fuuuuun. Maybe I need to re-think how I set up the database so we don't have a huge, costly stadium too soon.
The Board Confidence report comes in on 5 May. Guess where I'm rated! 100%!!! Hot damn! And I won the Manager of the Month for League Two. My last one.
I wrote the following at the end of last season:
On 2 June the board want to discuss improving the youth level. I couldn't agree more! They say the improvement should be approved by the end of the season. Let us hope they mean the end of this month and not 30 June 2023.
They want to meet again on 5 May to discuss...the same thing. Hrmmm… Was it not improved last year? I guess only time will tell.
The Dynamics Report came in on 5 May and because of his being dropped, Mark Flitcroft is no longer there. In his place is Gary Leary, which makes sense seeing as he's been here a long time and he gets into a lot matches as a super-sub.
I'm not sure that Mark Marshall's wanting to leave is fully responsible for the drop in Dressing Room Atmosphere. Maybe because the Captain and Vice Captain aren't regular starters? Desmond Brizan and Luke Matthews should be in those positions next season and hopefully that will help solve things.
I didn't have any choices higher than mid-table finish next season so I went with that. I chose correctly. All 24 players reacted positively. Excellent. I'm choosing to bring them back on 26 June. I like having six weeks to get my large squads up to snuff.
Considering we didn't have many matches in April, I think the lads did quite nicely.
Another youth who put in a remarkable is one of the Intakes, Sam Cole. He's a DC who saw all his Technicals and all but Natural Fitness of his Physicals have green arrows. And nine of his Mentals. Not bad for someone who is Ambitious.
I'm very happy to report that Thamindu Noel had a great month with his Positioning, Vision, Balance, and, best of all, Pace improving. He now has world-class speed with that Pace being 16!
I'm not sure what's going on with Ben O'Reilly as his Personality changed from Resolute to Light-Hearted. A little interwebbing tells me that possibly his Pressure went to 17 or above? Or his Sportsmanship went above 14. I could peak under the hood but I feel I do that enough with my experiments, which I actually haven't been doing of late.
Yossi Berkovic's tutoring by Stephen McGregor is showing signs. His Personality has gone from Balanced to Fairly Ambitious and I have to assume that his Determination will start soon.
Devlin won the Young Player of the Month for 6 goal in 4 matches and a 8.65 rating. Burns came in second with 5 goals and a 8.73 average.
For the last Team of the Week announcement only Brizan (DC r) and Devlin (MC l) get named.
The U18s last match was a banger. Giannis Veloudos scored 4 goals on his was to a 9.9 rating. Incredible! We won the FA Youth Cup on a 9-5 aggregate score. (R.I.P. Dolly.)
Oh cool! In the FA Cup Semi Final between Burnley and West Ham, Kemar Kirkpatrick had a hat trick. Bravo! Sure do miss him. The goalie he battered? Gareth O'Keeffe. I miss him too. West Ham will next face Chelsea on 20 May.
Huh. I really hadn't even started my search for new players when my scouts found me Mark Marshall's replacement. Another Northern Irish Target Man. This feels like a cheat code. Here's a preview of Caolan Millar.
He likes to Argue With Officials so I'll have to unlearn him and I sure wish he had more Natural Fitness. He's only 19 so he has plenty of room for growth. He's valued at £22,000 and my scouts assess it would take £94,000 to pry him away. His contract expires in just under 2 months and so far nobody else seems interested in him. Hmmm...what should I do? He's definitely better than Marshall who is going to get offloaded soon. How soon before Devlin starts to get noticed and leaves us? Closing argument: He's an upgrade over our second Target Man and he's insurance against Devlin leaving so I will offer £50,000. They accept immediately.
I offer £1,000 per week, £300 per game and goal, £10,000 signing bonus and 10% yearly and promotion wage raises so I can keep him until 2025. Something I've never seen before is that I can ask Devlin to endorse the deal. Turns out they are both on the Northern Ireland U21s together. I ask him to and it sounds like it's gonna work out.
(Part of my calculus, kinda hinted at, kinda not, is that I don't want to bring Veloudos up until it's inevitable, and our other good strikers, Richard Phillips and Jethro Swain, are small, 176 and 175cm.)
Oh dammit. Sure enough, now Nottingham Forest are eyeing Millar. They appear to be waiting for his end of contract.
I was hoping to schedule a friendly to keep the troops fit but 4 May is that last opportunity. I wanted this week to be about rest. Oh well.
The season comes to an official end on 14 May after Crewe defeats Dag & Red 4-1 to gain the last promotion spot. We have to payout the league bonus pot, to the tune of £210,000. That's alright though, we somehow got a League Two solidarity payment of £525,000. Why did we get this money? I have no idea. But at least we are running in the green now!
Let's take a look at what we got on the team and where we're going. I didn't include the Squad Status as I've done a horrible job keeping that current.
Goalkeepers:
Michael Stewart is the better of two great goalies so he will be our preferred starter in League One. Brixton's-own Gael Barbier will hopefully go out on loan to a deserving team with high hopes, great facilities, and very good coaches. I plan to keep Chick Legg around for tutoring, cup matches against weaklings, and occasional relief/international obligations for Stewart. Kris Newton deserves to go out on loan too and I'll allow him to if he starts to grumble. I'll option Niall Crook so he can be a U23 GK, the sole one if Newton learns elsewhere. The U18 goalies will be Jermaine Peters and Carl Povey, who arrives on 9 June.
Right fullbacks:
Pat Lawford is the indisputable number one DR and quite possibly our future Vice Captain, which kind of depends on what happens to McGregor. Who is number two? Jordan Nickson is still barely edging out Sean Peers. Neither is the long-term answer for DR2 so I'll look for one there before I decide to trigger Peers' option. Ethan Foster will get his walking papers as Shane Pelling will graduate to the U23s on 19 July. Ralph Miller will also join the U23s if I can't offload him; there is nothing about him that would make me want to keep him. Mitchell Strutton and William Hippolyte will split time in the U18s and I sure hope that Strutton improves quickly so he can be DR2, though there are some doubts he'll ever by Championship-level.
Centrebacks:
Boy do I have a lot of central defenders. Ben Evans and Desmond Brizan will continue to be the starters unless one of the four Championship teams actually pony up some good money for Evans. If that happens, Thamindu Noel will be preferred right centreback; he has a performance-based option that triggered for getting into 10 matches. I really thought Jason Cosgrove would have stepped up more but his Tackling and Marking have not improved since August so he'll remain fifth choice, fourth choice being Colin Cockbill, though his Positioning is still an atrocious, 7. Rory Collopy and Kevin Jenkins are currently not in my plan unless Evans flies the coop. The U23s will be filled with Tom Simpson, Steven Thomas, Dafydd Knott, and Mark Hirst. I do believe that Simpson has the defensive skills to be in the Seniors but he still only has 5s in his Teamwork and Work Rate. Rico Chase, Danny Wright, Zeljko Soldo, and Sam Cole will be our U18 bodies.
Left fullbacks:
Just like on the right, we have an established fullback on the left in Mark Curran, who remains the starter for the foreseeable future. DL2 is slightly less clear. I want to re-sign Sam Sterling but he's a bit miffed at me right now. I think I can get him to listen to my offer before the end of the month though. If not, I'll resign Steve Pike. Brian Osborn should be the only DL in the U23s unless I can find someone real promising that can be our backup left fullback who needs a season of seasoning. John Shaw and Leigh Connolly will represent for the U18s.
Defensive midfielders:
David Caffrey is the clear favorite here and will remain so for as long as he wants. Lee Beirne and George Bunn are kind of neck-and-neck but I'll give Lee the nod, for now. Beirne is better than Tasos Noulas but Bunn isn't, but just barely. I like Noulas' versatility (Accomplished at AMC) but I don't know if I should have three DMCs in the Seniors because I'm going to also have three AMCs there; having five MCs in the Seniors last year was really just too much. So Beirne in the Seniors and Bunn in the U23s. Henson Debellotte and Terry Buckle will be allowed to leave. That puts Kenny Holden and Danny Douglas in the U23s. And that's when I realize the U18s will have no defensive midfielders if I elevate Beirne. Shucks. Beirne is too old and has to graduate anyway. Double shucks.
Attacking midfielders:
Luke Matthews and Shaquille Bailey are nearly equals but the elder one is slightly better and will remain the starter in the coming season. Alex Wainwright will be the third AMC in the Seniors. Mark Flitcroft and Ben O'Reilly will be gone by sell and expiration. Stephen Lemon. I wonder if he'll sign a new contract to be a U23 body/tutor. I'll pay quite well to do so but there is at least one League Two team interested in him. I'll see about extending Dean Hoddle as I need U23 AMCs, unless I find someone cheap and better. The only other guaranteed reserve is Jamie Stimson. Or, I move Tom Green there though I can keep him in the U18s because he turns 18 on 5 September, four days after the eligibility changes. Charlie Nash and Jay Hale will for sure be in the U18s.
Right midfielders:
Chris Keegan is the only AMR that I trust and he isn't even an AMR! For the Seniors I'll have Dryden, Leary, and McGregor on the left but they can play on the right too. I may try to find someone at AMR who is better than McGregor. Gary Walker might get to stay if he's cheap and I can't find a project to be in the U23s this year and back up Keegan next year. Gary Lund will probably be the only AMR in the U23s. Mitchell Oliver and Steve Morse will compete for minutes in the U18s.
Left midfielders:
Yossi Berkovic is our primary left winger. I'm kind stuck on who's number two. I think I'll go with Chris Dryden then Stephen McGregor, who will backup Keegan too. I think Gary Leary might have to slide down to the U23s. I'm going to keep Sam Khinda around in hopes he goes Natural at ST, plus he can play across the front. I'm hemming and hawing about re-signing Sam Young. We'll see how things go trying to find a new AMR. Charley Cousins and Tobi Gant stay down in the U18s as they have no future elsewhere.
Strikers:
Another year, another embarrassment of riches. Obviously John Burns and Raymond Devlin remain one and two on the depth chart. This is the year we finally see Richard Phillips and Jethro Swain move up to the top. Despite that I still am looking at that Caolan Millar* fella to be Devlin's understudy. So maybe Phillips and Swain go to the U23s and out on loan. Geoff Smart and Allen West will also be in the U23s, but they'll stay here. I cannot do without Eddie Macey; question is how much it'll cost us. Mark Marshall shall be sold off. I won't extend Kevin Carolan. Reece Oswell and Shane Bull will split time for the junior squad. Giannis Veloudos...I need to hide him for as long as possible so he doesn't get poached. He's currently our fourth-best striker so hopefully he doesn't start complaining for game time this next year.
*You know, with Millar Accomplished at AMR and Competent at MR, he could be that AMR2 I need...
Best Eleven: It's really interesting to see that John Burns is the only new one and that he's in as the right winger. He's never played that position, even as a desperation sub. Also interesting to see that Legg is the only other player named who is still with us. Burns has 69 career goals for us and Mickey Morris has 83, so hopefully in this coming season it'll be out with old, in with the new.
Team of the Season: The only real surprise here is Mark Curran getting 9% of the votes. Ben Evans or David Caffrey would make more sense. Maybe Curran got extra credit for being with us longer?
Manager of the Year: Who me?! You shouldn't have!
On 16 May my AssMan reports that GK Gael Barbier is a Potential Premier League Talent, something I already suspected but is great to have confirmed.
A week later my AssMan is effusive about Richard Phillips, pegging him to be a Potential Championship Talent. This is something I knew or suspected.
Sam Sterling finally allows me to offer on new contract on 7 May. We wants "Hot Prospect" status and £450 per week. We can do better than that! How about Rotation and £650, plus £200 for each appearance and clean sheet? It seems that he's agreeable with it. He signs on the afternoon of 11 May. Thank you for sticking with us, Sam.
Immediately after that I check in with Eddie Macey. He's fine with Backup and £1,500, and £400 and £400. If he gets into 15 matches and we avoid regulation he'll extend a year. He too seems fine with this. He signs on the late evening of 10 May. Glad to have you around, again, Eddie.
On 15 May I decide I'm going to keep McGregor around to be Keegan's backup. The offer is just like Macey's but he only needs to get into 10 matches for the extension. The jerk makes me wait a week, agreeing on the morning of 22 May.
I decide then to lock up some bit players. I'm going to keep Tasos Noulas, Steve Pike, and Sam Young for the U23s.
Tasos wants £750 per week and £250 per match. I'm good with that. Pike settles for £600 plus £200. Young wants £800 and £250, which I deem acceptable but really more than I wanted to pay. Pike wastes little time, agreeing to his new contract on 26 May, as does Noulas. Later that night Young signs his.
Next, I trigger the extensions for Sam Khinda and Niall Crook.
Renewals: I kick off staff renewals on 15 May with an offer to the U23 Manager. He's pretty good and the only ones who are better are managing top-flight teams or big-time national teams, like Brazil and Portugal. I offer him an extra £100 per week and he seems fine with that. He agrees on the afternoon of 19 May.
Next up is Adam Bryan, the U18 Manager. He seems fine with £800 per week and I was able to get him to waive the Managerial Compensation clause, thankfully. He agrees on the evening of 23 May.
I then shift to coaches. U23 Defense Coach Paul Burgess gets an offer of £650 per week for two years. The same goes for U18 Tactics Coach Nigel Sullivan. Burgess signs on the evening of 27 May and Sullivan on the evening of 28 May.
We have a pretty good, aging Fitness Coach, Andy Turner, who needs a new contract. He's down for £600 per week for two years. So am I. He puts pen to paper on the afternoon of 27 May.
The rest of the staff who are soon to be out of contract are the Director of Football, Chief Scout, and three other scouts. I rarely use the DoF so I'll just extend ours and not really think about it; he's my homey, the only American on the staff, he's from Fall River, Massachusetts. I offer £700 per week.
I'm going to wait on the scouts.
Newals: I have some open staff slots, three U18 coaches and one scout.
For the scout, I'm poaching a Chief Scout from a small team way down the pyramid and way down the Thames from London proper. His name is Wayne Edwards and with him being only 37 years-old he should be with us for a while.
For the coaches, I begin searching in earnest on 26 May. Just poking around to see what I can see, I find a former player who switched to coaching in 2021. He's the U18 Manager for a club called Team Solent, which most assuredly is not people. I foresee him as a Defending coach as he has a 16 in that skill. Unfortunately, his Tactical coaching is only 9 but his Determination, Level of Discipline, and Motivating are 15, 17, and 14. What's this?! He doesn't want to be a U18 Coach for a League One team!? Fuuuudge. I'll pursue him after we are formally elevated to League One to see if that changes his mind. Team Solent is a miniscule club, he shouldn't be sneezing at such an offer!
Do I need these three extra coaches in the U18s? You betcha! I'm eventually going to have a monster U18 squad once we reach the Premier League and it want to stock the shelves early. I'm greedy like that.
Rumors surrounding Burns begin pretty much the moment the players left on holiday. In early May it's just Championship teams, but good ones, either getting promoted, in the playoffs, or just below that zone. Within a week the rumors linking him to Premier League teams start up. And later some delusional Championship teams express interest.
As we enter into mid-May more rumors start to swirl. Lawford to Cardiff, Evans to Queens Park Rangers, Caffrey to Blackburn, and McGregor to Shrewbury (after I offered him an extension).
Caolan Millar signs on the afternoon of 6 May. He's sooo good. I'll show his player card next month when he reports for duty on 9 June.
One kid plays for a club just 3.5 miles to the north by northeast. This club is so small that is has a Reputation of 1 in the database. (Out of 10,000.) This kid though is from Douglas, the Isle of Man. What's he doing way over here in London?!
I had an American right fullback in my scope to be Lawford's second. His contract was set to expire on 30 June so I was waiting for the 1st to poach him. But on 27 May his agent notifies me he's available for loan. That can only mean he's been extended. Yep, he has. Damn you, Wigan. I then turn my eyes to a soon-to-be-former Arsenal kid.
At least three of our chaps won't have a quiet June. Mark Curran, David Caffrey, and Chris Keegan will be representing Ireland U21s in the Euro U21 Championship from 18 to 26 June. Poop. They won't be ready for the training camp.
The FA Cup Final was on 20 May with West Ham facing Chelsea. All I care about is how well Kemar Kirkpatrick did. Well, he scored the first goal but then their defense collapsed in the 81st and then the 120th. For shame! He ended with the most goals for the competition with 7.
Really good news comes in on 21 May. We have four new commercial deals that will bring in an extra £240,000 in the coming season. Excellent! The main kit sponsor alone brings in £140,000 of that. Despite this, we avoid a tax hit as we had no taxable profit. Yet, we made £236,288 on the season. I'm glad I'm not a tax lawyer.
On the same day I get news that our new scouting budget will by £121,000 for the season but still can only scout UK and Ireland. I figure once we get into the Championship the board will allow me to start poking around Scandinavia. (That's what happened when I played FM2014.)
Late on 31 May we get more international call-up news. Lawford and Cockbill for England U19, 6-8 June. Brizan and Henson Debellotte for Grenada, 7-9 June. Richard Phillips for Trinidad & Tobago, 7-9 June. Burns, Devlin, and Stewart for Northern Ireland, 10-13 June. Curran, Caffrey, and Keegan for Ireland U21, 18 June-2 July. That last one really hurts but they get to help Ireland in the Euro 21 Championship. In the same group as Ireland are Greece, Holland, and Portugal. I don't see them getting out of that group.