We were plagued with a degree of inconsistency on the backline, with every single defender having at least one horror of a game. That said,
Dan Seal was definitely top shelf, and
Colm Parrott established himself as a rising force at the end of the year. No question
Dan Hutchins cemented himself as the far superior goalie.
Missing from this list -
Flynn Tarman, who was 2nd on the team with 29 appearances (28 starts) and a
7.41 average rating. There's not much chance that
Malachi Robinson replaces him with a permanent switch to a flat 4-4-2, provided Tarman stays.
No question midfield and striker were the great strengths of the squad, with
Nico Thongvivat precisely the absolute glittering star I predicted he would be as our Poacher. Although
Stephan Hamilton-Forbes didn't have the highest average rating, he was our single most consistent midfielder and the second player I'd try to commit to a contract along with Thongvivat. Even our depth guys were amazing at the two position groups. I'm fully expecting to see us get absolutely decimated this summer - these players are way too talented to be slumming down this low.
Obvious near-sweep by
Nico Thongvivat here. The only surprise for me is that
Lewis Hook finished third in Fans Player of the Year voting. I genuinely thought it would be
Peggy Lokando or
Stephan Hamilton-Forbes as the midfielder finishing third. Thongvivat and
Alex Theobald, our team captain who the fans absolutely adore, were the obvious #1 and #2.
Quote:
Manager reputation: 5%
Team reputation: Obscure
Team value: $22K
Average ticket price: $8
Average season ticket price: $113
Season tickets sold: 5
Stadium: 1,000 seats, owned by Council (Clayton Green is the name)
Stadium condition: Good
Field condition: Terrible
Corporate facilities: Basic
Training facilities: Poor
Youth facilities: Basic
Junior coaching: Minimal
Youth recruitment: Limited
Favored Personnel: Nico Thongvivat, Izulde Jestor, Alex Theobald
Bank balance: $1,371
Season profit: $3.48k
|
Winning 3 trophies netted us $2,250, or almost the entirety of our profit, and definitely is what put us in the black in terms of money in the bank.
Our main uniform sponsor will stay at $2.1k for the next two seasons.
Transfer In - DC/DR Ricardo Viana (29) (Portuguese)
Strong physical attributes, with only Acceleration (6) less than 8. Solid all around mental and technical attributes, with a pleasing 12 Heading and Composure. Can also play DL if he has absolutely has to, and is an unquestioned starting DC next year, provided he sticks around. The downside: His English is only Basic, and we don't have the $15,500 to have him take a year-long intensive language class.
Burgess Hill Rhinos Favored Club
Nico Thongvivat (Player)
Danny Beale (Supporter)
Izulde Jestor Favored Personnel
Stephan Hamilton-Forbes
I love you too,
Stephan Hamilton-Forbes. That's huge that our best player has us as a favored club. Hopefully that means he'll stay around.
Croatia wins the European Championship. Their manager quits the day after, his legacy secured.
Transfer In - ST Nyall Gray (18) (Welsh)
Our first real pic player, blessed with great mental attributes, including 14 Teamwork and 13 Work Rate, and an eye-popping 17 Natural Fitness. He replaces
Edwin Ahenkorah as our third striker and gives us three high ceiling strikers all under 20 years old. Bright future is bright. He signed after our first friendly.
Summer Raids
Josh England - Non-Contract
Brady Della Verde - $8.5k
----
Alex Theobald - $12.5k
Edd Richardson - $7.5k
Stephan Hamilton-Forbes - $25k
Colm Parrott - $9k
The names below the --- are players who left following our friendly season. We didn't get hit nearly as bad as I feared we would, although I'm crushed my favorite player left. But it's awfully hard to turn down that kind of bank. Our central defense reserves are looking a little thin now that we lost three guys, including our top two, but we'll be okay.
I already found a replacement for
Alex Theobald, and we have sufficient coverage for
Stephan Hamilton-Forbes and
Brady Della Verde leaving for now, though I'll still look to bolster our central midfield.
Division Five Title Odds
Stones: 1-10
Burgess Hill Rhinos: 5000-1
A bunch of other teams at 5000-1
Only the champions get to promote up.
Kashif Siddiqui and
Peggy Lokando are tentatively named captain and vice-captain to start the season.
The board expects us to clean sweep everything again this year.
Friendlies
We destroy our first two opponents 4-0 and 4-1, then buy our own hype and shit the bed in a 1-2 loss before rebounding to a 4-2 win in the final game, where the reserves nearly blew a 3-0 lead before
Edwin Ahenkorah's late insurance goal. Everyone except
Fraser Meldrum and
James Sage saw minutes just about every game in preseason.
Huge jump in season ticket sales from 5 to 24. That's exactly what I hoped would happen.
Transfer In - ST/MR/AMR Ellis Remy (32) (Montserratian - 4 caps)
Truth be told,
Nyall Gray didn't look very good in preseason, so I brought in Remy, who has physical attributes like a boss, and some beautiful physical attributes. Yeah, okay, Limited Skill and all that, but so what? We'll probably change our Defensive Forward role to a Target Man spot now, and his ability to play on the right side means we may see more AMR formations this season. 3.5* as a striker. I set up a tutoring relationship between him and Gray. Initially he's reluctant to it, but then agrees.
Keelan Masturous rejects a similar relationship with
Kashif Siddiqui, even though the Pakistani international is willing to do it.
vs Bolney Rovers (Sommerville Challenge Cup First Round)
G: Dan Hutchins
D: Malachi Robinson/Ricardo Viana/Dan Seal/Kashif Siddiqui
M: Mickey Greening/Peggy Lokando/Danny Beale/Orlando Joao
S: Ellis Remy/Nico Thongvivat
We got hit with a bunch of injuries in the last warmup game - a U-21 match - so we're having to run a really patchwork lineup in the midfield. I'm scared.
16 - Ugh.
Lokando gets knocked, but it's playable, so he'll fight through.
17 -
Seal pops it forward to
Thongvivat in the box. He's surrounded by two defenders and decked. No call, but the ball squirts loose, and
Remy is there to put away the debut goal!!!
1-0
36 - What the actual shitfuck?! Now
Hutchins gets a knock injury. Ridiculous.
39 -
Greening takes the pass on the wing from the midfield and dribbles a bit before crossing the pitch to
Joao. The long diagonal just manages to hook at the last second into the net. Fuck you, injuries. Fuck you.
2-0
Edwards replaces
Lokando at the half, but
Hutchins is still fine.
55 - Knock for
Thongvivat!
But no injury indicator and we've a two goal lead, so play on, bright star.
68 - We switch to our usual 4-4-2 Asymmetrical, with
Tarman in for
Robinson naturally.
We survive
Nico Thongvivat's worst game ever (6.4) on the back of PotM
Orlando Joao's 8.4, the Dutchman really coming through. Former gray guy
Mickey Greening puts up an 8.3, and just missing the usual benchmark is
Ellis Remy with a 7.4 debut
and his first goal in over 15 hours of soccer.
The spate of injuries ravaging the midfield continues, and I have to think about what our lineup is going to look like for our first league match.