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FM – From Semi-Pro Minnows to Champions League Glory: Dover Athletic FC
Table of Contents for this dynasty, with links to every season on our journey, is listed in Post #3!
------------------------------------------------------------------ It all comes down to this… For eight years, we’ve worked our way up the ladder in England. I was hired at Dover Athletic FC by former chairman Jim Parmenter in early July 2010, as he looked to build upon the great success that my predecessor Andy Hessenthaler brought to the club in his three years at the helm. My time at Dover started with the club in the Blue Square Bet South, one of the second divisions in the Football Conference in England. Along with the Blue Square Bet North, we were at the second level of the National League System, a semi-professional outfit and at the sixth tier overall in the English football league system, directly behind the Blue Square Bet Premier, npower League 2, npower League 1, npower Championship and of course, one of the most influential leagues in the world, the Barclays Premier League. With able backing from my chairman, we built a club that dominated in my first year at the helm, gaining promotion to the Conference Premier in 2011. Over the following seven years, I’ve seen it all: huge wins in league play, devastating playoff losses that destroyed promotion dreams, cup success, a new chairman, games in stadiums that weren’t fit to hold matches in addition to games played on the largest stage, including Wembley Stadium, the Mecca in English football. Our sure and steady climb through the ranks in England has astonished pundits and our opponents alike. We were a small club, with very limited financial resources yet here we are, eight years and four promotions later, holding on for dear life to 2nd place on the npower Championship table. Our early-season form in 2017/18 was incredibly good and for the first 20 games or so, we were comfortably leading the entire league. However, a month-long late-season swoon has seen us fall well behind 1st placed Bolton, who have long ago locked up the top spot. There’s one game left on the schedule. We will be facing the Queens Park Rangers (QPR) at our home stadium, Crabble Athletic Ground, a 1000-seater with terracing that holds an additional 5500 fans. All 6500 tickets are sold well in advance and our fans are left to dream about what could be. If we lose or draw, West Bromwich Albion will certainly overtake us and there is even a chance we’re passed by Derby County FC. If this happens, we’ll drop down to either 3rd or 4th place on the table and have to take part in a 4-team playoff. However, three points against QPR will lock down 2nd position on the table and gain our club automatic promotion to arguably the most famous league in football, the Barclays Premier League. 2017-18 npower Championship WITH ONE GAME REMAINING POS TEAM GP W D L GF GA G.D. PTS 1st C Bolton 45 32 6 7 103 41 62 102 2nd Dover 45 25 10 10 84 52 32 85 3rd West Brom 45 25 9 11 86 44 42 84 4th Derby 45 24 11 10 55 35 20 83 5th Wigan 45 24 4 17 82 56 26 76 6th Sheffield U 45 22 10 13 70 48 22 76 So, as I said earlier, it all comes down to this... May 6, 2018 – Dover Athletic FC (25-10-10, 85 pts – 2nd) vs. QPR Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK. Dover: 4-4-2 GK – I. Wilke D – B. Harris, L. McCullogh, O. Nicholas, C. Morrissey M – S. Bouwman, L. Craig, D. Pratley, K. King F – S. Rideout, Z. Bardi Despite being out of form, we’re slight favourites over the mid-table Queens Park Rangers and being at home and needing a win, we’ll utilize our Control mindset. 9’ – QPR hits a free kick into our territory and DR Connor Morrissey out-jumps their winger and heads the ball up field. Our in-form striker Zoltan Bardi, on loan from Arsenal, uses his pace to beat the defenders and he’s in all alone. Bardi moves to his right foot and drives a low blast into the corner of the net! DOVER GOAL 1-0 14’ – A similar play develops off a goal kick, as our fine midfield acquisition Liam Craig out-jumps his opposite number and heads it over the QPR defensive line. Bardi’s strike partner, Simon Rideout is able to get to the ball first but shoots barely wide. 19’ – We continue to dominate. MR Keith King, a member of the Bahamas national team, sends the ball into space down the right and Bardi latches on to it. He swings a gorgeous cross into the box and ML Simon Bouwman heads the ball just over the bar. 20’ – DISASTER! QPR midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker starts the play and feeds the ball into the area to teammate Ian Black. Our fine young centre halfback Luke McCullogh, a permanent fixture on our backline, makes a horrible decision and pulls down Black by his shirt. Straight RED CARD! I’m forced to substitute ML Bouwman out for DR Jackson Ramm, moving Morrissey into McCullogh’s spot, Liam Craig into Bouwman’s wing position and then drop Bardi back from striker to MC, giving me a 4-4-1 formation. 22’ – Kris Commons steps up to take the penalty for QPR and makes absolutely no mistake. This can’t be happening…they pull level and we’re down to 10 men for the balance of the match. QPR GOAL 1-1 34’ – Despite being down a man, we continue to control play. We get a corner and Craig curls a ball to the far post. Morrissey wins the jump and powers a header that is just cleared off the line by the defender protecting the goal. 44’ – Our captain, midfielder Darren Pratley, plays the ball up to Rideout and his low blast is just turned aside by the QPR keeper. 45’+1 – On the resulting corner, Craig again gets a ball to Morrissey’s head and this time there’s no defender to save them. Into the far corner for the first half extra time stunner! DOVER GOAL 2-1 HALFTIME – We’ll move to a counter attacking mindset with a lead and only 10 men. Incredibly, that is Morrissey’s first ever goal for Dover in this, his 205th league game. 51’ – They are pressing and it’s Reo-Coker again doing the legwork. His through ball again goes to Ian Black but his shot in the area is way off target. Whew! 60’ – Reo-Coker takes a throw-in and threads a pass into the area to Doherty but his curling shot is gobbled up by a diving Wilke. Brilliant save! 67’ – We win another corner after a Rideout shot is turned aside by their goalkeeper Chris Dunn. Craig feeds yet another beauty into the box and this time it meets the foot of winger Keith King and he makes no mistake in depositing it into the net! Time to lock this sucker down! DOVER GOAL 3-1 71’ – Off a QPR throw-in, it’s Reo-Coker again getting a pass and heading up field. He exchanges passes with Ian Black, gets in the box and fires a missle into the top corner of the net. Damnit! Quick reply by Reo-Coker and we’re biting our fingernails yet again! QPR GOAL 3-2 75’ – Rideout grabs a Keith King through ball and is in alone but just boots it wide. So close! 76’ – Rideout is gassed and we bring in a fresh striker in Robert Kerkhof, with hopes of him using his speed on the counter-attack. 78’ – Bardi is injured in a challenge from Reo-Coker. Looks like he can shake it off but he’s ordered off the field by the referee for brief treatment. 90’ – We’re doing a great job of maintaining possession with the heat on. Craig gets the ball and dribbles down the left wing. He throws a cross from the byline into the box and once again, the ball meets the golden foot of Keith King. Easy tap in and the dagger has been laid down! DOVER GOAL 4-2 90’+2 – The official indicated that there were 2 minutes of injury time so we try to use as much time as possible by bringing in Spanish midfielder Carlos Gurpegi as a substitute for Bardi. AND THAT’S IT! Dover 4 – 2 QPR Goals: K. King (2), Z. Bardi, C. Morrissey Assists: L. Craig (3), C. Morrissey Man of the Match: Liam Craig Attendance: 6500 West Brom won, as did Derby County but it doesn’t matter in the end. We’ve done the impossible… The little club that could, Dover Athletic FC, has earned promotion to the Barclays Premier League!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------- I felt it was time to write a little bit about this particular save, as it’s brought me so much enjoyment over the past three years (I’m using FM2011) and it gives me a chance to document the experience. Many players take over big clubs when they play and that’s cool but I’ve always enjoyed taking on the smaller clubs and seeing what I can do on a limited budget. Without question, this is the furthest I’ve ever gone in a game, starting with the 2010-11 season and as I write this, I’m smack dab in the middle of the 2019-20 season. I plan on writing a recap of all the seasons I’ve played in this save, from our years in the semi-professional Conference right up through my first year in the Premier League with Dover. From there, I hope to deliver a dynasty similar in scope and layout to Radii’s incredible Woking/Ipswich dynasty “From the Bottom Up” which you can find right here: FM10 - From the Bottom Up - Front Office Football Central Undoubtedly one of the greatest dynasties ever written on this forum, I’ll likely borrow quite a bit from Radii’s style and I’ve received his permission to copy at will. Many thanks to Radii for that and for his fantastic writing, something which sold me on Football Manager in the first place! I'm not entirely sure if I have the time to go into as much detail as Radii did but we'll see how things shake out. While I’m doing this for me as a means of documenting the experience (and also getting some tactical tips from readers), I hope that it will be a piece that confirms that you CAN take a very small club all the way to the top of the food chain with the right tactics and player moves. Now…how did I get to the Premier League and maybe more importantly – did I stay up after our first year? Season-by-season recaps from 2010/11 all the way to my current year of 2019/20 are forthcoming. I hope to have the 2010/11 recap up later today. Thanks for reading! |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS - LINKS TO YEARLY RECAPS AND SEASON-LONG WRITE-UPS
Yearly Recaps Only 2010-11: Blue Square Bet South (1st Place - Win Automatic Promotion) 2011-12: Blue Square Premier (2nd Place - Lose Playoff) 2012-13: Blue Square Premier (1st Place - Win Automatic Promotion) 2013-14: npower League Two (1st Place - Win Automatic Promotion) 2014-15: npower League One (7th Place) 2015-16: npower League One (5th Place - Lose Playoff) 2016-17: npower League One (1st Place - Win Automatic Promotion) 2017-18: npower Championship (2nd Place - Win Automatic Promotion) 2018-19: Barclays Premier League (11th Place) 2019-20: Barclays Premier League (11th Place) Full Season Writeups Begin 2020-21: Barclays Premier League (4th Place) 2021-22: Barclays Premier League (3rd Place) / UEFA Champions League (Quarterfinals) 2022-23: Barclays Premier League (2nd Place) / UEFA Champions League (Quarterfinals) 2023-24: Barclays Premier League (1st Place) / UEFA Champions League (WINNER) 2024-25: Barclays Premier League (2nd Place) / UEFA Champions League (Quarterfinals) 2025-26: Barclays Premier League (1st Place) / UEFA Champions League (Semifinals) Yearly Recaps Only 2026-27: Barclays Premier League (1st Place) / UEFA Champions League (WINNER) 2027-28: Barclays Premier League (1st Place) / UEFA Champions League (Finals) 2028-29: Barclays Premier League (1st Place) / UEFA Champions League (WINNER) ------------------------------------------------------------------------  Dover Athletic F.C. was formed in 1983 after the town's previous club, Dover, folded due to its debts. The new club took Dover's place in the Southern League Southern Division, with former Dover player Alan Jones as manager and a team consisting mainly of reserve players from the old club. Initially, Athletic struggled, finishing second from bottom of the table in the 1984–85 season. In November 1985, Steve McRae, who had succeeded Jones a year earlier, was sacked and replaced by Chris Kinnear. Under Kinnear the club's fortunes turned around, with two top-five finishes followed by the Southern Division championship and with it, promotion in the 1987–88 season. The team started strongly in the Premier Division, finishing in sixth place at the first attempt, and then winning the championship in the 1989–90 season. The club was denied promotion to the Football Conference, however, as Crabble Stadium did not meet the standard required for that league. After finishing fourth and second in the subsequent two seasons, Dover won the title again in the 1992–93 season and this time were admitted to the Conference. Although Dover finished in eighth place in their first season in the Conference, the following season saw the club struggling against relegation, and Kinnear was dismissed due to a combination of the team's poor performances and his own personal problems. John Ryan was appointed as the club's new manager, but his reign was a short one and he was dismissed when the club lost seven of its first eight matches in the 1995–96 season. The club then appointed former England international Peter Taylor as manager but he was unable to steer the team away from the foot of the table. Dover held onto their place in the Conference only because Northern Premier League runners-up Boston United failed to submit their application for promotion before the required deadline. Bill Williams took over as manager in 1997 and proved to be Dover's most successful Conference manager, leading the club to the FA Trophy semi-finals in the 1997–98 season and a best ever league finish of sixth place in the 1999–2000 season. Williams left the club to take a senior position with Conference rivals Kingstonian in May 2001. By now the club was in severe financial difficulties, with a number of directors resigning and debts exceeding £100,000. Amid the crisis, the entire board of directors resigned, forcing the club's Supporters' Trust to take over the running of the club and manager Gary Bellamy was sacked after just six months in the job. Former Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall took over but was dismissed just three months later, with Clive Walker taking over in March 2002 with the club rooted to the foot of the table. The club finished the season bottom of the Conference and was relegated back to the Southern League Premier Division. The club's ongoing financial problems led to it entering a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), a process by which insolvent companies offset their debts against future profits, due to debts that were now estimated at £400,000. In Dover's first season back in the Southern League Premier Division, the Whites finished in third place, albeit 17 points adrift of Tamworth, who claimed the one promotion place available that season. A poor start to the following season saw Walker replaced by Richard Langley. Dover finished the season in 19th place, before being switched to the Isthmian League Premier Division in the summer of 2004 following a re-organisation of the English football league system. The new season started with six successive defeats, which saw Langley sacked, and the financial problems continued, with the club coming within two months of being closed down. Dover were relegated to the Isthmian League Division One at the end of the season, but were saved from possible extinction in January 2005 when former director Jim Parmenter returned to head up a consortium that took over the club. Parmenter quickly sacked manager Steve Browne and convinced Clive Walker to return to the club to replace him and also arranged for the club's outstanding CVA debts to be cleared, putting the club on a firm financial footing for the first time in many years. Dover Athletic narrowly missed out on an immediate return to the Premier Division in the 2005–06 season, reaching the play-offs for promotion but losing out to Tonbridge Angels. The following season Dover again reached the play-offs but lost in the semi-final to Hastings United, after which Walker did not have his contract renewed and was replaced by former Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler. In his first season in charge he led the club to the Division One South championship and promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division. He followed that up by guiding Dover Athletic back into the second tier of non-league football in 2008-09, with the club being placed in the Blue Square Bet South Division. In the 2009–10 season, Dover reached the play-offs for promotion to the Conference National, but lost at the semi-final stage to Woking. Hessenthaler would be unceremoniously sacked and in July 2010, a completely unknown Canadian would be tabbed as his replacement... |
2010-11 Season Recap
Part One - Manager and Team Status 2010-11 Upon my hiring in July 2010, I had absolutely no status in the world of football (Sunday League footballer with "Obscure" reputation) and therefore was given a paltry salary of £350 per week, or £18,200 per year. Dover was only a semi-professional club when I took over and carried an "Obscure" team reputation. We played our home games at Crabble Athletic Ground in Dover, UK, a stadium with a capacity of 6500 but only 1000 of those were seats. The stadium was in good condition and we had "Fairly Basic" corporate & training facilities along with Fairly Basic youth recruitment but "Minimal" youth facilities. To sum up, we didn't have much! Our average ticket price was £7.00 and we had 425 season ticket holders in my first year, paying an average of £140.00 per season ticket. Our estimated value when I took over management of the club was £450,000, which ranked us 102nd out of the 160 English clubs in the first six tiers of the pyramid and 3rd in the Blue Square Bet South. Our squad personality was deemed to be "Fairly Determined". In future years, I'll chart out the history of all of these stats so you can see how things have changed over time. |
Preseason Expectations and Thoughts
The pundits predicted that Dover would finish in 5th position in the 2010/11 Blue Square Bet South and our board shared their optimism, saying they expected us to battle for promotion. By agreeing with their assessment, I was given the following wage and transfer budgets: 2010/11 TRANSFER BUDGET - £5,000 2010/11 WAGE BUDGET - £6,000/week Needless to say, we'd have to do the majority of our work in the free transfer market! I inherited a pretty decent and relatively deep club. TEAM STRENGTHS - ST - Our strike force up front looks capable. Adam Birchall scored 18 goals in 43 total appearances in 2009/10, including 15 in Conference South league play. He'll likely team up with 21 year old Ben Hunt, a new signing from Bristol Rovers who arrived at the club just before I did. D - We have some nice pieces at the backend as well. Olly Schulz may be our best player, a dominating presence at the centre half position and fellow DC Rob Gillman is the captain of the club. We also have nice depth at the fullback position. TEAM WEAKNESSES - GK - 26 year old Ross Flitney is decent but we can definitely use an upgrade in goal. MF - We have some nice complimentary pieces at MC, with Jon Wallis looking like a jack of all trades but we could use a talent upgrade throughout the midfield. Transfers OUT DL - Dean Hill - Stalybridge - Free Transfer DR - Joe Tabiri - St. Albans - Free Transfer GK - Lee Hook - Released MC - Sam Cutler - Released ML - James Rogers - Released DR - Jackson Ohakam - Released Not much here. Hill was an assistant captain before his release. Transfers IN GK - Liam O'Brien - Free (Last Club: Portsmouth) - 19 years old GK - Liam Hogan - Free (Last Club: Southampton) - 19 years old DC - Oliver Nicholas - Free (Last Club: Arsenal) - 18 years old MC - Paul Marney - Free (Last Club: Dundalk) - 28 years old MC - Paul Caffrey - Free (Last Club: Sacred Heart) - 26 years old MC - Harry Rubbins - Free (Last Club: Bristol City) - 18 years old MR - Abdeltareck Sakali - Free (Last Club: Blackburn) - 23 years old ML - Ismael Fofana - Free (Last Club: Charlton) - 22 years old ML - Christian Nanetti - Free (Last Club: QPR) - 18 years old ST - Kofi Poyser - Free (Last Club: Aston Villa) - 19 years old All of these guys were signed off the street after being released from their former clubs. Most of the young guys were U18 players on Premier League clubs at one time. Nicholas is the most exciting prospect: a 4.5 star prospect according to my assistant manager but equally enticing are GK O'Brien (4.5 star potential), Sakali (4 star potential) and Fofana (4 star potential). Caffrey and Marney should provide experience and some needed influence to my young team and are certain starters. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins I decide to leave DC Rob Gillman as the captain and name new arrival Paul Caffrey as the assistant. We'll keep things simple at this level, likely running a flat 4-4-2 for the majority of our games. Our "go-to" mindset will be a Control game and we will also utilize Attacking or Counter-Attacking mindsets for weaker or stronger opponents respectively. Our first choice lineup to start the season will be as follows: GK - Liam O'Brien D - Nicky Nicolau/Rob Gillman/Olly Schulz/Matt Fish M - Ismael Fofana/Paul Marney/Paul Caffrey/Abdeltareck Sakali F - Adam Birchall/Ben Hunt |
2010/11 Blue Square South Results
My first season in charge was incredibly successful. Our first league match was a tight 1-0 win away at Woking, with our only goal scored by 17-year old substitute ML Jake Marsh. We'd win our first six league games in succession and actually go 10 games before our first league loss, a 2-1 defeat to Chelmsford. We'd actually lose our next game as well but then go on another tear, playing 12 games without a loss. When all was said and done, we'd only lose four games all season in Blue Square Bet South play and we'd win the league in convincing fashion, gaining promotion to the Blue Square Bet Premier.  Blue Square Bet South 2010-11 League Awards Top Goalscorer: Manny Williams (Havant & Waterlooville) - 23 Most Assists: Paul Caffrey (Dover) - 19 Highest Average Rating: Olly Schulz (Dover) - 7.53 Most Man of Match Awards: Olly Schulz (Dover) - 10 Player of the Season: Graeme Montgomery (Ebbsfleet) - 29apps 9g 10a 7.21 Avg Rating Manager of the Season: Ian Baird (Eastleigh) I was short-listed for the Manager of the Year award but fell to Baird. During the season, I was fortunate to win the Manager of the Month award three times (August, December & January) We would set a couple of league records in 2010/11 that still stand as of 2020: - Most Team Points in One Season: 98 - Dover - Most Team Goals in One Season: 85 - Dover Cup Competitions 2010-11 FA Cup - We started off in the 2nd qualifying round of FA Cup play, drawing division rival Ebbsfleet at home, defeating them 1-0. We'd defeat lower league side Folkestone in the next round before drawing one of our bitter rivals Margate in the 4th qualifying round. We'd battle to a bore scoreless draw at Margate before the replay at home, where we defeated them handily 4-0 to advance to the 1st round proper. There, we'd lose a tough match against League One side Brentford, falling 3-2. A pretty solid run. 2nd Qualifying Round - Dover 1 Ebbsfleet 0 3rd Qualifying Round - Folkestone 0 Dover 2 4th Qualifying Round - Margate 0 Dover 0 4th Qualifying Round Replay - Dover 4 Margate 0 1st Round - Dover 2 Brentford 3 FA Trophy The FA Trophy is a knockout competition held between all of the clubs in the top four levels of the National League System, equivalent to levels 5 through 8 in the English Football League System. We'd start off in the 3rd Qualifying Round, defeating Thurrock 4-0 at home. We'd follow that with decisive wins at home over Maidstone and Forest Green before hitting our first snag in the 3rd Round proper. We'd draw against Darlington away but come away with a great 3-0 win at home in the replay to move on. A 5-2 win over Bromley led to a two-leg semi-final set against Wrexham. We'd destroy them 5-1 at home in leg one and eased to a 1-1 draw in the second leg, giving us a spot in our first ever Cup final, drawing Gateshead as our opponent. In easily our biggest match of the 2010/11 campaign, we'd defeat Gateshead 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in front of 22,000+ fans, getting goals from wingers Ismael Fofana and Abdeltareck Sakali to win the FA Trophy! 3rd Qualifying Round - Dover 4 Thurrock 0 1st Round - Dover 3 Maidstone 0 2nd Round - Dover 3 Forest Green 1 3rd Round - Darlington 1 Dover 1 3rd Round Replay - Dover 3 Darlington 0 4th Round - Dover 5 Bromley 2 Semi Final Leg 1 - Dover 5 Wrexham 1 Semi Final Leg 2 - Wrexham 1 Dover 1 (Dover wins 6-2 aggregate) Final - Dover 2 Gateshead 0 (at Wembley Stadium) DOVER WINS 2010/11 FA TROPHY Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Ben Hunt - 23 Top League Goalscorer: Adam Birchall - 15 Most Assists: Paul Caffrey - 29 Highest Average Rating: Olly Schulz - 7.58 (49 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Olly Schulz - 15 Fans Player of the Year: Olly Schulz 2010-11 Dover Best Eleven GK - Ross Flitney - 26 apps 0g 6.87 avg DL - Nicky Nicolau - 34 apps 0g 7.04 avg DC - Olly Schulz - 49 apps 13g 7.58 avg DC - Rob Gillman - 46 apps 5g 7.06 avg DR - Matt Fish - 43 apps 1g 7.00 avg ML - Ismael Fofana - 50 apps 11g 7.02 avg MC - Paul Marney - 51 apps 1g 6.87 avg MC - Paul Caffrey - 50 apps 6g 7.19 avg MR - Abdeltareck Sakali - 51 apps 15g 7.12 avg ST - Adam Birchall - 49 apps 20g 7.14 avg ST - Ben Hunt - 51 apps 23g 7.13 avg Other notables: GK Liam O'Brien 30 apps 6.82; DL Tom Wynter 26 apps 0g 6.82; ML Jake Marsh 44 apps 7g 6.85; DR Sam Long 25 apps 0g 6.80; ST Kofi Poyser 25 apps 11g 6.98; MC Jon Wallis 49 apps 6g 6.79; ST Elliott Charles 2 apps 1g 6.95 Schulz was a force in the air, as attested by his 13 goals, most of which came on set pieces using his head. My forwards were very productive and I even got 11 more goals from ST Kofi Poyser. Young GK Liam O'Brien was a slight disappointment in his first year and was outplayed by the veteran Flitney but otherwise, our preferred starters were our best players this season. Year-End Financials Turnover - £680,551 Expenditure - £717,567 Net Transfer Spending - £0 Total Wage Costs - £513,775 Profit/(Loss) - (£37,016) Bank Balance - £14,886 Average Attendance - 939 Closing Thoughts We had an incredibly successful season, winning the league in dominating fashion, getting through to the 1st round of the FA Cup before falling to a League 2 team and finally, lifting the FA Trophy for the first time at Wembley Stadium in front of a huge crowd. We'll hope to fare well next year at the top level of semi-professional football, the Blue Square Bet Premier League! |
2011-12 Season Recap -
Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations  The board decided to give me a nice raise, almost doubling my salary in the process as thanks for taking Dover up to the Conference Premier. I'll take it! My reputation has increased to "Regional" from "Obscure" and I'm a media darling by the looks of it. Lets see what happens if we struggle this year…I doubt I'd be as popular.  There are no changes ahead with respect to stadium improvements/expansions. We don't have the money anyway and until we start filling the place up, I don't see the need to even start asking for any work to be done at Crabble. It would be nice to have better training or youth facilities though. Now we'll take a look at how Dover as a club has progressed in the eyes of the public and our peers.  Our team reputation is up to "Local" from "Obscure" and moving up to the Conference Premier has allowed us to put a pretty sizeable price increase through to our supporters. We had the highest average attendance in the Blue Square Bet South last season so hopefully the fans aren't put off by the 20+% hikes! Looking at the nice increase in season ticket holders, my fears may be unfounded. We've also had a slight bump in estimated value, which takes us to 100th out of the 160 clubs in the first six tiers on the English pyramid and we're ranked 9th in the Conference Premier out of 24 clubs. The board feels we're strong enough to finish mid-table and I agree with that assessment. In doing so, they have given me a wage budget increase that's in line with the price increase we've put through to our supporters but no increase to the transfer budget: 2011/12 TRANSFER BUDGET - £5,000 2011/12 WAGE BUDGET - £7,500/week That's workable - at this level, we're not likely to find the quality of players that would demand a transfer fee so we'll continue to supplement our current squad with players that are dropped from bigger clubs. Preseason: Roster Status GK - I'm pretty happy with what we have in goal. Long-time White (our team's nickname) Ross Flitney will not see his contract renewed and will likely be out the door come July 1st. We'll hand the baton to 20 year old Liam O'Brien, whom we picked up on a free last year but struggled a bit in his 1st season with us. Liam Hogan, another 2010/11 signing, will provide backup and we also have an interesting U18 prospect in Ben Humphrey, who may be a loan candidate. D - We could do with some upgrades on our backline, especially at the fullback position. Our starting left fullback, Nicky Nicolau, accepted a contract offer from an Italian club and will be departing on July 1st. He'll need to be replaced for sure. Our player of the year in 2010-11, Olly Schulz, will be back and hopefully he'll dominate in the air as much as he did last year. Captain Rob Gillman is getting a bit long in the tooth and should still be useable but my prized prospect Oliver Nicholas, after spending the majority of last year with our U18 club, is ready for the jump to the senior squad this year. M - A definite strength of the club. We have great wingers in Ismael Fofana and Abdeltareck Sakali, a creative and influential centre midfielder in Paul Caffrey and a pretty solid defensive-minded MC in Paul Marney. Jon Wallis is our versatile piece off the bench and plays most games due to his ability to play anywhere from the centre of the park, to right wing and even right fullback. A nice player to have and he has a rocket for a right foot. F - Another great strength. Our two-man strike force last year, Ben Hunt and Adam Birchall, combined for an absurd 43 goals last year and I'm very high on Kofi Poyser as well. In fact, he may just overtake Birchall on the first team. I could use a depth signing here though, as we won't be renewing the contract of Elliott Charles. Transfers OUT GK - Ross Flitney - Released ML - Kane Rice - Released ST - Elliott Charles - Released DL - Nicky Nicolau - Virtus Lanciano - Free MR - Harry Baker - Folkestone - Free MC - Luke l'Anson - Folkestone - Free Flitney was a first-choice in goal for close to half of our games last year. The 27 year old had mediocre skills and was replaceable due to our young depth. He made 35 starts in his two years at Dover. Flitney would eventually sign with Corby in the Blue Square Bet North and play three years for them before finishing out his career in Scotland with lower league sides Bunillidh Thistle and Glenrothes. Rice was essentially a reserve team player last year and only played one game for the club, scoring a goal in his only appearance while Charles played only two senior team games. Nicolau is a tough loss for us, as he was a constant at left fullback last year but I was unable to compete with the offer made from our Italian counterpart. Baker and l'Anson were strictly spare parts for us last year and Folkestone can have them! Transfers IN DL - Jamie Reckord - Free (Last Club: Wolves) - 19 years old, England DL - Rory McKeown - Free (Last Club: Ipswich) - 18 years old, Ireland DR - Conor Morrissey - Free (Last Club: Manchester City) - 18 years old, Ireland DR - Carl Jenkinson - Free (Last Club: Charlton) - 19 years old, Finland DR - Stephen O'Donnell - Free (Last Club: Celtic) - 19 years old, Ireland MC - Richie Ryan - Free (Last Club: Sligo Rovers) - 27 years old, Ireland MC - Rhys McCabe - Free (Last Club: Rangers) - 18 years old, Scotland AM/ST - Alan Murphy - Free (Last Club: Galway United) - 29 years old, Ireland ST - Ben May - Free (Last Club: Scunthorpe) - 27 years old, England ST - Connor Deards - Free (Last Club: Walsall) - 19 years old, Ireland ST - Julius Gombala - Free (Last Club: Birmingham) - 18 years old, Slovakia ST - Emerick Hippias - Free (Last Club: Manchester City) - 18 years old, France MC/ML - Jake Caskey - LOAN (From Brighton) - 17 years old, England We do a lot of maneuvering in the offseason to supplement our talent. Jamie Reckord will likely step right in as our starting left fullback as a 19-year old and Rory McKeown will provide backup. Stephen O'Donnell will likely step into a rotation at DR with incumbent Matt Fish while Conor Morrissey & Carl Jenkinson (both with 3.5 star potential) will likely suit up for the U18 or reserve teams. At midfield, the big signing is Richie Ryan from Sligo Rovers. He's a cultured offensive midfielder with a big right foot and a keen knack for set-pieces and he may have the talent to move defensive-minded MC Paul Marney to the bench. Rhys McCabe will likely suit up for the U18s and has some interesting talent (3.5 star potential). The other big move was getting 17-year old Jake Caskey to come over on loan from Brighton - while very young, Caskey has enormous potential (4.5 stars) and can definitely step in as cover for Fofana at ML or in the centre of the park. We picked up a couple of young strikers in Gombala and Hippias to work on the U18 team while Ben May and Connor Deards will be given the chance to work into our striker rotation with incumbents Ben Hunt, Adam Birchall and Kofi Poyser. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins I decide that last year's captain, DC Rob Gillman, will be a second choice player for the coming season and decide to go in another direction with the on-field leadership. Last year's vice-captain Paul Caffrey will get the arm band for 2011-12 and our leader on defense, Olly Schulz will assume the vice-captain role. We have an interesting preseason that helps decide some roster spots. Conor Morrissey will jump in as a rotational player at DR as an 18-year old over fellow new signing Stephen O'Donnell, we keep Paul Marney as our MC with defensive duties and Kofi Poyser is elevated to 1st team status over Adam Birchall, who was a 20 goal scorer for us last year. Our first choice lineup to start the season will be as follows: GK - Liam O'Brien D - Jamie Reckord/Olly Schulz/Oliver Nicholas/Matt Fish M - Ismael Fofana/Paul Marney/Paul Caffrey/Abdeltareck Sakali F - Kofi Poyser/Ben Hunt |
2011/12 Blue Square Bet Premier Results
Our first season success carried straight over into the Conference Premier, as we'd win our first game of the year 5-0 away against York. A 4-0 home win over Crawley followed by a 3-0 away win versus Gainsborough had us on top of the table with an incredible 12 goals for and 0 against. We'd never lose more than two games in a row in the league and we'd end up finishing an impressive 2nd on the table with 83 points (tied with Macclesfield but ahead of them on goal differential), seven points behind league champion Grimsby. This league offers only one automatic promotion spot into League 2 (and professional football) but the clubs finishing between 2nd and 5th head to a playoff series to determine the other promotion spot. We'd draw 5th placed Accrington as our opponent, with the first leg held at The Crown Ground in Accrington. It was a very physical series, with many bookings and they'd take an early lead on a penalty when young left fullback Rory McKeown took down their striker in the area. We'd pull level off the foot of MR Abdeltareck Sakali, who had a monster season for us on the right wing but another goal would be converted from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute by Accrington to give them the 2-1 lead. Adding to the misery was a second yellow card for backup centre half Bobby Aisen, meaning an automatic ejection and forcing us down to ten men. We'd give up a third goal afterwards to lose 3-1 and head home with the significant challenge of winning by at least two goals. Playing the pivotal second leg with a tired squad due to a cup tie (more on that in a bit), we'd try to press hard to get back into the series and after a 3rd minute goal from young striker Kofi Poyser, we were in control. However, a straight red card to DR Sam Long on a foul in the area led to a 3rd penalty goal for Phil Edwards in two games and forced us down to 10 men once again, this time for the majority of the contest. We'd battle hard but give up two more goals to lose 3-1 again and 6-2 on aggregate, allowing Accrington to move onto the playoff finals and we'd have to lick our wounds and prepare for a second season in the Conference Premier. Devastating! As an aside, Accrington would prevail in the Playoff final over AFC Wimbledon on penalties to advance to the npower League 2 along with champion Grimsby.  Blue Square Bet Premier 2011-12 League Awards Top Goalscorer: Curtis Main, Darlington - 27 Most Assists: Michael Hall, Accrington - 19 Highest Average Rating: Abdeltareck Sakali, Dover - 7.40 Most Man of Match Awards: Curtis Main, Darlington- 9 Player of the Season: Curtis Main, Darlington - 40apps 27g 7a 7.24 Avg Rating Manager of the Season: Phil Preedy, Accrington Darlington's Curtis Main dominated the proceedings, quite obviously. Our right winger Sakali was an absolute stud this year. More on him in a bit. I finished second in the Manager of the Year voting, but fell to Preedy. Grimsby's manager finished 3rd despite winning the league. Our 91 goals were a Conference Premier record that stood until 2017/18, when it was broken by Barrow (94 goals). Cup Competitions 2011-12 FA Cup - Being in the Conference Premier afforded us the luxury of starting in the 4th Qualifying round for the prestigious FA Cup. We'd easily handle non-league side Concord Rangers away before defeating Hinckley 2-0 at home in the 1st round proper. We'd draw Plymouth Argyle in round two away, a decent draw if we're thinking about money but a terrible draw if we're looking to advance. We were completely outclassed 4-1 and unceremoniously dumped from the competition. 4th Qualifying Round - Concord Rangers 1 Dover 4 1st Round - Dover 2 Hinckley 0 2nd Round - Plymouth 4 Dover 1 FA Trophy We'd attempt to defend our title in this competition, starting with a tough 1st round draw against league rival Blyth away. We'd battle to a draw and dramatically win the replay at home in extra time to advance. We'd follow with a one goal win at home versus Salisbury and a big 3-0 win away at Staines. We'd face a tough Kettering side away and come away with yet another close win to send us to the semi-finals for a second consecutive year. A 2-1 away win at Farnborough gave us an advantage going home for the second leg and we'd fight for another 2-1 victory to win 4-2 on aggregate to reach our second straight final. We'd have to throw out a very tired and young squad for the final against Darlington, as the match was held only three days after the first leg of our Conference Premier Playoff semi-final against Accrington. I was pretty conflicted - do I go for a second straight Cup or do I save my players for the second leg of the playoffs, which would be held only three days later. I opted to go with many young players and in front of 33,987 fans, we'd defeat Darlington 2-1 to win the FA Trophy for the second consecutive year! 1st Round - Blyth 1 Dover 1 1st Round Replay - Dover 1 Blyth 0 (extra time) 2nd Round - Dover 2 Salisbury 1 3rd Round - Staines 0 Dover 3 4th Round - Kettering 1 Dover 2 Semi Final Leg 1 - Farnborough 1 Dover 2 Semi Final Leg 2 - Dover 2 Farnborough 1 (Dover wins 4-2 aggregate) Final - Dover 2 Darlington 1 (at Wembley Stadium) DOVER WINS 2011/12 FA TROPHY 2011-12 Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Ben Hunt - 22 Top League Goalscorer: Ben Hunt - 17 Most Assists: Paul Caffrey - 14 Highest Average Rating: Abdeltareck Sakali - 7.33 (40 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Abdeltareck Sakali - 8 Fans Player of the Year: Oliver Nicholas 2011-12 Dover Best Eleven GK - Liam O'Brien - 45 apps 0g 6.81 avg DL - Tom Wynter - 38 apps 1g 7.07 avg DC - Olly Schulz - 52 apps 5g 7.15 avg DC - Oliver Nicholas - 47 apps 4g 7.19 avg DR - Conor Morrissey - 41 apps 0g 7.07 avg ML - Ismael Fofana - 44 apps 9g 6.99 avg MC - Jake Caskey - 30 apps 6g 6.98 avg MC - Paul Caffrey - 48 apps 2g 7.04 avg MR - Abdeltareck Sakali - 40 apps 14g 7.32 avg ST - Kofi Poyser - 26 apps 14g 7.22 avg ST - Ben Hunt - 47 apps 22g 7.13 avg Other notables: GK Liam Hogan 14 apps 6.78; DR Carl Jenkinson 10 apps 0g 6.79; MC Richie Ryan 46 apps 8g 6.96; MC Jon Wallis 42 apps 4g 6.93; ST Ben May 29 apps 9g 7.00; DL Jamie Reckord 24 apps 0g 7.00; AM/ST Alan Murphy 27 apps 6g 6.90 GK - Liam O'Brien continued to improve throughout the season and looks like he could be quite a capable keeper in the future. D - A couple big surprises here. We were forced to play Tom Wynter quite a lot more than expected at DL due to injuries to new signee Jamie Reckord. Wynter acquitted himself nicely but the other major surprise was young Conor Morrissey stepping in as an 18 year old and playing 41 games. His aggressive tackling was contagious and he quickly became a beloved teammate for his spirit. His potential rating skyrocketed from 3.5 to 4.5 stars by the end of the season and kept incumbent Matt Fish on the sidelines for the most part. Oliver Nicholas was excellent, as hoped, in his first full year at centre half but was a surprising choice as our fans Player of the Year. Olly Schulz wasn't quite as good as last year but was solid, as usual. M - Abdeltareck Sakali likely was robbed of the Player of the Year award. 40 total appearances, 14 goals, 12 assists, 8 MoM awards and a 7.32 average rating. He was a marvel. Jake Caskey was rarely a starter and when he did play, it was mostly at ML so his choice in the best eleven at MC is a bit strange. Paul Caffrey slowed down a bit and new signee Richie Ryan was stellar on penalties and set pieces, adding a new dimension to our team. Paul Marney was mostly an afterthought and went from first choice midfielder last season to fifth choice this year behind Caffrey, Ryan, Caskey and Jon Wallis. F - Kofi Poyser was superb but couldn't stay healthy enough, scoring 14 goals in only 26 contests. Ben Hunt was a rock, steady as you can be as our deep-lying striker. Ben May and the left-footed and super quick Alan Murphy were capable rotation players while Adam Birchall, a 20-goal scorer last year, disappointed. Year-End Financials  We had a great year at the gate, with attendance more than doubling and our turnover went well over the million pound mark. We'd turn our first profit as well and our bank account was looking quite healthy, making the board quite pleased with my frugal style. Closing Thoughts Our second consecutive FA Trophy win was the easy highlight but the semi-final Conference Premier playoff loss stung hard. We have a young team with talent across the field and we did a great job of developing future stars like Liam O'Brien in goal, Oliver Nicholas and Conor Morrissey on defense, Abdeltareck Sakali at midfield and Kofi Poyser and Ben Hunt at striker. Hopefully we can bounce back next season and nail down that elusive promotion into professional football. |
Shall be interested to see what the Premier League says about your stadium since your auto promoted.
Hopefully they let you in! |
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No doubt! You'll see that the "Stadium Issue" will become a sore spot with me as I progress through the leagues. My 2012/13 season recap will be posted later today or tonight. Thanks for reading! |
I was going back through some old notes/spreadsheets and I noticed some player profiles that I had made up prior to the start of the 2011/12 season.
Just to add some flavour/colour to the proceedings, here are the key players from the past season:                 |
2012-13 Season Recap -
Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations  Not much change in my status. I did get a slight bump in salary and I'm now at 100% in financial control after two years at the helm. For some reason, I dropped to 40% in loyalty to players. Not quite sure what that means...  No changes to our stadium or facilities, as expected. You need money for that!  We move into our second consecutive year in the Blue Square Bet Premier and kept ticket prices the same. Our season ticket holder base sees a very slight bump of around 2% but I'm happy to see that our estimated team value is up significantly, as we're rated in a tie for 85th in England and 3rd in our league. The media pick us to finish 10th and our board asks that we go for a top half finish. I counter with the expectation of challenging for promotion and that gives me a nice bump in our transfer and wage budgets: 2012/13 TRANSFER BUDGET - £20,000 2012/13 WAGE BUDGET - £8,250/week I haven't spent a cent in the transfer market in my two years at the helm but with £20,000, I may be able to utilize that on a player or two. Preseason: Roster Status GK - With Liam O'Brien showing nice improvement over his two years at the club, I feel like we're in capable hands. Liam Hogan will likely be our backup. D - We won't be renewing the contract of former captain Rob Gillman so we could use a depth signing or two in the middle of the defense. Oliver Nicholas will be our anchor but we may need an upgrade over Olly Schulz, who was a demon at the Blue Square South level but may be a bit over his head in the Conference Premier. Conor Morrissey, a revelation at DR as an 18 year old will be a constant this year and I'm hoping that Jamie Reckord can stay healthy on the left side. M - We are very deep in the midfield. Paul Marney, one of my first signings upon taking over the club in 2010, had an expiring contract and signed a new deal with Welsh club Llanelli. He'll move over there on July 1st. I want to give Richie Ryan more playing time and I'm going to attempt to bring Brighton's young midfielder Jake Caskey back on a loan agreement. We are excellent on the wings with Ismael Fofana on the left side and our star last year, Abdeltareck Sakali on the right side. F - I'm always looking for better strikers. Ben Hunt will be our main man once again but I could use some upgrades elsewhere. Kofi Poyser has shown no ability to stay healthy so I'll need to reinforce our depth here. Transfers OUT ST - Ben May - Arbroath - £5000 ST - Kofi Poyser - Hitchin - £2000 DC - Bobby Aisen - Llanelli - £1000 GK - Ben Humphrey - Tooting & Mitcham - Free MC - Paul Marney - Llanelli - Free MC - Paul Caffrey - Tranmere - Free ST - Adam Birchall - Northwich - Free DC - Rob Gillman - Released DR - Sam Long - Released DR - Matt Fish - Released ML - Jake Marsh - Released I guess there are some surprises here. May was solid enough for us last year, scoring 7 goals in 24 games but he was a passenger in too many games so I felt he was expendable, especially for £5K. Poyser was a tougher player to move but he was quite injury prone during his two years at Dover. He leaves the club after playing 51 league games for Dover and scoring 21 goals. Aisen was a spare part so getting even 1K for him was a bonus. As far as the free transfers go, the biggest move would be allowing team captain Paul Caffrey to leave after only two years. I really felt that Richie Ryan had the better skill set and was also quite a bit younger, making Caffrey expendable. Marney and Birchall both made significant contributions during our Blue Square South championship season but proved to be a bit overmatched at the next level. Sam Long, Matt Fish and Jake Marsh had expiring contracts that I decided not to renew and they all left the club. Transfers IN DC - David Ogilby - £5000 (Last Club: Coleraine) - 27 years old, Northern Ireland GK - Reice Charles-Cook - Free (Last Club - Arsenal) - 18 years old, England DL - Michael Riley - Free (Last Club - Derby) - 17 years old, England DC - Luke McCullough - Free (Last Club - Manchester United) - 18 years old, England DC - Will James - Free (Last Club: Blackburn), 18 years old, Wales MC - Luke Hendrie - Free (Last Club: Manchester United) - 17 years old, England MC - Ben Sayer - Free (Last Club: Newcastle) - 18 years old, England MC/ML - Tom Lawrence - Free (Last Club: Manchester United) - 18 years old, England MR - Craig Moore - Free (Last Club: Derby) - 18 years old, England ST - Razek Abdul - Free (Last Club: Manchester City) - 19 years old, Ghana ST - Philip Roberts - Free (Last Club: Arsenal) - 18 years old, Ireland ST - Samuel Ameobi - Free (Last Club: Newcastle) - 20 years old, England ST - Jamie Maclaren - Free (Last Club: Blackburn) - 18 years old, Australia MC/ML - Jake Caskey - LOAN (From Brighton) - 18 years old, England Most of these signings are for our U18 team but the notable exception is David Ogilby, who is my first true foray into the transfer market, albeit at the modest sum of £5000. Ogilby is from Northern Ireland and is an extremely determined and influential centre halfback who my scouts rave about (3.5 stars). He is left footed and will immediately step into the left of Oliver Nicholas in the middle of the defense. I'm happy to bring Jake Caskey back as well and the other key signing was Australian striker Jamie Maclaren from Blackburn, who despite being only 18 seems ready to step in right away. Razek Abdul is a bigger striker who may be well suited to back up Ben Hunt in our deep-lying role up front. The other signings are more for the future but there are a few really intriguing prospects that I found after they had been released from Premier League clubs. GK Reice Charles-Cook is a 5 star potential prospect (!!) but even better is DC Luke McCullough, a player deemed expendable by Man United. McCullough is currently rated 3.5 stars with 5 star potential (all at this level of course), easily the best rated player I've had the chance to manage. I will likely keep him with the U18s this year but I may find him some playing time with the senior team as well. More great prospects include MC Luke Hendrie (5 star potential), Craig Moore (4.5 star potential and notably my first "re-gen" prospect) and Ben Sayer (4 star potential). A really exciting prospect haul for us this offseason! Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins With last year's captain sent packing, I happily name newcomer David Ogilby as our captain. He's a natural leader and should do great in that role for Dover. Our most productive player in my two years at the helm, ST Ben Hunt, is named vice-captain for the season. We have a dominating preseason, with a 2-2 draw against npower Championship side Sheffield United the only non-win on our schedule. Young midfielder Rhys McCabe was very productive and will earn a spot alongside Richie Ryan in the midfield and I decide to go with a strike force of Ben Hunt and Razek Abdul out of the gates. Our first choice lineup to start the season will be as follows: GK - Liam O'Brien D - Jamie Reckord/David Ogilby/Oliver Nicholas/Conor Morrissey M - Ismael Fofana/Rhys McCabe/Richie Ryan/Abdeltareck Sakali F - Ben Hunt/Razek Abdul |
2012/13 Blue Square Bet Premier Results
After a scintillating preseason, we were humbled by Gateshead in game one, dropping a 1-0 decision away to start the season on a sour note. We'd exchange some wins and a few losses, and sat near the upper half of the table with six wins and four losses through ten games. We'd absolutely take off in late November, with a season-changing loss in the FA Cup refocusing our squad on league play. We'd lose only one game between November 24th, 2012 and March 9, 2013, going an incredible 19 wins 2 draws and 1 loss in a 22 game period and that was enough to propel us to the top of the Conference Premier table. We'd have a brief three game losing streak after that but recover with 7 more undefeated league games before losing our season finale against Kettering but thankfully, that game didn't matter. With 99 points, we were 9 points clear of second placed Darlington, giving us the Blue Square Bet Premier championship and most importantly, earning us promotion to League 2 and into fully professional football!  Blue Square Bet Premier 2012-13 League Awards Top Goalscorer: Adi Yussuf, Histon & Guillem Bauza, Hereford - 24 Most Assists: Derek Doyle, Hereford - 22 Highest Average Rating: Paul McLaughlin, Wrexham - 7.38 Most Man of Match Awards: Ian Miller, Darlington- 9 Player of the Season: Guillem Bauza, Hereford - 46apps 24g 13a 7.26 Avg Rating Manager of the Season: NoSkillz, Dover Guillem Bauza was the top player in the Conference Premier for Hereford but could only lead his club to 4th place, where they'd eventually lose in the playoffs, missing out on promotion. I had a great year, winning the manager of the month award three times (November, December and February) and the Blue Square Bet Premier Manager of the Year for 2012/13. Cup Competitions 2012-13 FA Cup - It was a short stay in the FA Cup for us in 2012. We'd draw non-league side Tiverton Town at home in the 4th qualifying round and defeat them easily but drew League 2 side Rotherham United in the 1st round proper. We'd do well to battle them to a draw at home but would lose 3-1 away in the replay. 4th Qualifying Round - Dover 4 Tiverton 0 1st Round - Dover 1 Rotherham 1 1st Round Replay - Rotherham 3 Dover 1 FA Trophy Could we pull off the three-peat?! We'd get off to a roaring start in the competition, with two 4-1 away wins and a 3-1 home win in the first three rounds. We'd knock off a tough AFC Wimbledon team to get to the semifinals, where we'd match up against Boreham Wood. Despite being favoured, we'd lose 2-1 in the first leg, meaning we'd have to win by at least two goals (or win 1-0) to move on. Thankfully, we'd prevail 2-0 at home to reach our third consecutive FA Trophy final, this time matching up against league rival Darlington. In perhaps the greatest game in FA Trophy history, we'd finish 120 minutes of football with the score knotted at 2, meaning the cup would be decided in a 5-round penalty shootout. Our fine centre midfielder Richie Ryan would miss on our second attempt while Darlington's first four players all scored. Their fifth shooter, James Baxter, would miss, giving us the reprieve. Shockingly, the next three players on each club would not score so through 8 shooters, we were tied 4-4. Interestingly enough, GK Liam O'Brien was up next for Dover and he calmly drove a low shot into the corner for the goal! Alas, Darlington would match his effort. Defender Jamie Reckord was next for us and he'd score but so too would Padriac Ormsby for Darlington. Our 11th shooter was midfielder Jon Wallis and he made no mistake, bringing up Darlington's goalkeeper to keep his team alive. He would drive his effort wide and that gave us a thrilling 7-6 penalty shootout win and our third consecutive FA Trophy!!! 1st Round - Hastings United 1 Dover 4 2nd Round - Dover 3 Farnborough 1 3rd Round - Chelmsford 1 Dover 4 4th Round - Dover 2 AFC Wimbledon 0 Semi Final Leg 1 - Boreham Wood 2 Dover 1 Semi Final Leg 2 - Dover 2 Boreham Wood 0 (Dover wins 3-2 aggregate) Final - Dover p 2 Darlington 2 - Dover wins 7-6 on penalties (at Wembley Stadium) DOVER WINS 2012/13 FA TROPHY 2012-13 Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Ben Hunt - 22 Top League Goalscorer: Ben Hunt - 21 Most Assists: Jon Wallis - 17 Highest Average Rating: Oliver Nicholas - 7.22 (45 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Ben Hunt - 8 Fans Player of the Year: Ben Hunt 2012-13 Dover Best Eleven GK - Liam O'Brien - 43 apps 0g 6.86 avg DL - Jamie Reckord - 37 apps 2g 7.14 avg DC - David Ogilby - 45 apps 3g 7.14 avg DC - Oliver Nicholas - 45 apps 4g 7.22 avg DR - Carl Jenkinson - 20 apps 0g 7.20 avg ML - Ismael Fofana - 47 apps 7g 7.01 avg MC - Jon Wallis - 44 apps 3g 7.12 avg MC - Richie Ryan - 46 apps 13g 7.01 avg MR - Abdeltareck Sakali - 47 apps 12g 7.07 avg ST - Jamie Mclaren - 29 apps 12g 7.14 avg ST - Ben Hunt - 43 apps 22g 7.21 avg Other notables: GK Reice Charles-Cook 13 apps 6.77; DC Olly Schulz 19 apps 0g 7.12; DR Conor Morrissey 33 apps 0g 7.02; ML Jake Caskey 31 apps 3g 6.94; MC Rhys McCabe 28 apps 1g 6.90; ST Razak Abdul 29 apps 8g 7.06; ST Connor Deards 15 apps 8g 7.14 GK - Liam O'Brien continued to lead the way but Reice Charles-Cook forced his way onto the senior team over Liam Hogan, who I loaned out to Ebbsfleet for the season. D - Jamie Reckord stayed healthy all season and produced very well, while new captain David Ogilby showed leadership and grit in the middle of the defense alongside star defender Oliver Nicholas. The emergence of young DR Carl Jenkinson was a pleasant surprise, as he was forced into action after Conor Morrissey got injured. Olly Schulz saw his playing time decrease dramatically and it's looking like his time at Dover is close to an end. M - We continued to get excellent play out wide from Ismael Fofana and Abdeltareck Sakali and Richie Ryan was studly at our attacking MC position, with 13 goals on the year. The versatile Jon Wallis was our go-to corner taker and piled up a bunch of assists to prove his usefulness as a starter over players like Jake Caskey and Rhys McCabe. F - Without question, our best player this year was striker Ben Hunt and his consistent goal scoring has been very helpful in our rise into professional football. He has scored 53 league goals in 115 games at Dover. Jamie Mclaren was decent but very inconsistent while Razak Abdul battled injuries most of the season. We were shocked at the contributions of Connor Deards, who scored 8 goals in only 15 appearances so perhaps I'll have to utilize him more next season. Alan Murphy, a key pickup last year, was a huge disappointment despite his incredible speed. Year-End Financials  Crowds seemed to stay away early in the season for some reason but started coming out in droves when we hit our hot spell in November. Still, one less FA Cup game and one less FA Trophy game meant almost 200K less in turnover while our expenses were up due to a larger squad. Our bank balance is still decent, thankfully. Closing Thoughts A wildly successful season that sees us lift a third consecutive FA Trophy and the Blue Square Bet Premier championship as well. I think we're set up well to succeed at the next level, with a large stable of young prospects that will soon be ready to play on the senior team, along with a few key veterans. I'm a bit worried about the ramifications of moving into the professional ranks, especially with respect to salaries and hope our small club can get by. I'm also going to have to start worrying about the lack of facilities at Dover, as it may be hard to recruit capable players to a club without decent training or youth facilities. But for now, I'll enjoy our success and we look forward to our first year in professional football in 2013/14! |
Great write-up!
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Thanks for reading! |
2013-14 Season Recap -
Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations  Taking Dover from the Blue Square Bet South division up two steps on the ladder to League 2 has done wonders for my reputation and my wallet. I get a huge raise, going from £700/week to £1,000/week on a two-year contract renewal (my longest yet!) and I'm now nationally recognized for my achievements. My loyalty to players rating still is suffering but I have to guess that the constant roster turnover is the reason. And truthfully, I *have* to turn over my roster if I'm going to succeed, as I'm quickly finding out that those 3 star rated players turn pretty quickly into 2 star players at the next level!  Other than our yearly pitch relaying, there's nothing new to report at our stadium. I continue to go as wide and deep as I can with our dimensions to take advantage of our speed on the pitch.  The big move here is obviously our transition to a fully professional club. Interestingly enough, by the looks of it, any players with terms left on their "semi-professional" contracts will have to live up to their end of the bargain but any new contracts I sign must be professional deals. We've raised our ticket prices close to 20% over last year to coincide with our move into League 2 and our season ticket base continues to grow, up around 30% to 868. Our estimated value has gone up slightly and we're now 83rd in England out of 160 teams. The move into professional football brings much more difficult competition and both the media and our own board are wary of our chances. The media is picking us to finish dead last in the npower League 2 while our board expects us to battle bravely against relegation. I could be more ambitious in an effort to get more transfer and wage money but I decide not to tempt fate and go along with our board's expectations. That gives us the following budget: 2013/14 TRANSFER BUDGET - £18,000 2013/14 WAGE BUDGET - £10,000/week I did a bit of tweaking with the budget to give ourselves a bit more wiggle room on the wage side of the equation. Preseason: Roster Status GK - I like our goalkeeping, with incumbent Liam O'Brien and fast rising Reice Charles-Cook coming on as his backup. We also have Liam Hogan sitting around so I'll likely try to loan him out again this season. D - We're pretty strong in the back with Oliver Nicholas and captain David Ogilby manning the middle and Jamie Reckord and Conor Morrissey at DL and DR respectively. I slipped up, allowing Carl Jenkinson to move into his last six months of his contract and he was picked up on a bosman signing by Sporting Mahones, effective July 1st. I need to be more careful about stuff like this!! We will be letting former stalwart Olly Schulz leave the club without a new deal, along with Tom Wynter and Stephen O'Donnell, as all three would be overmatched at the League 2 level in my opinion. We could use some new depth signings here but we are looking forward to seeing what young 5 star potential DC Luke McCullough can do! M - Our strength continues to be on the wing but I'm starting to worry that Ismael Fofana and Abdeltareck Sakali may not be up to playing at a League 2 level. We'll see. Richie Ryan will be our main man in the middle and I'll likely look for some additions so as not to put too much pressure on prospect midfielder Rhys McCabe. F - Our star striker Ben Hunt is back but I'm afraid he might not be talented enough to do much at this level. We still have Jamie Mclaren, Connor Deards and Razak Abdul but I'll definitely need to find at least one striker who has played at this level in the past. Transfers OUT ST - Jamie Mclaren - Brondby - £10,000 MC - Ben Sayer - Dundalk - £5,000 DR - Carl Jenkinson - Sporting Mahones - Free DL - Tom Wynter - Released DL - Rory McKeown - Released DR - Stephen O'Donnell - Released DC - Olly Schulz - Released DC - Luke Browne - Released MC - Jon Wallis - Released AMC/ST - Alan Murphy - Released ST - Emerick Hippias - Released ST - Julius Gombala - Released ST - Connor Deards - Released ST - Samuel Ameobi - Released I knew I'd have to let some key players from our past go, simply due to the fact that after two promotions, they may be in over their head at this elevated level. We moved Mclaren after only one inconsistent year at the club. Getting £10,000 in the deal proved to be impossible to turn down, especially in light of some of my offseason signings (see below for that). Sayer was a young midfielder with decent potential but he was at best our 6th option so I felt it was wise to grab the money and run when offered. I've already mentioned the disappointment of having Jenkinson leave - he was excellent last year and I would have definitely fit him in on a rotation basis with Conor Morrissey had I successfully resigned him. Of the free releases, the toughest two were Jon Wallis and Olly Schulz, two fan favourites who had been with Dover for many years. Wallis leaves the club after playing 222 league games, a team record. He scored 30 goals and added 32 assists and was amongst the most versatile players you could ask for, handling DR, MC and MR roles equally well. Schulz played 158 games for the club over 5 seasons, scoring 24 goals from the DC position, with almost all of them coming in the air on setpieces. He was a very capable defender and will be missed. It may seem surprising that I released young Connor Deards after he scored 7 goals in only 16 league games but again, I was able to find a few incredibly talented strikers in the lead-up to the new season, making Deards a surplus to requirements. Transfers IN ST/ML - Aaron Greene - £4,000 (Last Club: Bohemians) - 23 years old, Ireland MC - Janusz Kedzierski - £3,000 (Last Club: Aalen) - 20 years old, Germany DR - Mark Urquhart - £1,500 (Last Club: Burton) - 22 years old, Scotland ST - Alexander Rattke - £1,000 (Last Club: Nurnberg) - 21 years old, Germany DL - Aziz Deen-Conteh - Free (Last Club: Chelsea) - 20 years old, Sierra Leone DC/DR - Robert Ryan - Free (Last Club: Manchester United) - 18 years old, England MR - Khaled Laaloudj - Free (Last Club: FC Mulhouse) - 24 years old, Algeria MC - Arron Williams - Free (Last Club: Birmingham) - 18 years old, England ST - Patrick Cooper - Free (Last Club: Fulham) - 18 years old, England DR - Derek Churchill - LOAN (From Watford) - 18 years old, England ML - Francesco Falleni - LOAN (From Arsenal) - 17 years old, Italy MC/ML - Jake Caskey - LOAN (From Brighton) - 19 years old, England I'm very excited about some of these signings. Aaron Greene is a left footed striker who is extremely fleet of foot - easily the fastest player I've had at the club. Fellow striker Alexander Rattke has a good speed/size combination and flashed goal scoring potential in the lower German leagues. Janusz Kedzierski will be a great addition as a midfielder with defensive duties while Mark Urquhart was brought in to shore up our depth on the right side of the defines. Among the free signings, Aziz Deen-Conteh (great speed at DL), Patrick Cooper (tall, great in the air and a capable finisher) and Arron Williams (great speed, technique) will be ones to watch for. I brought Jake Caskey back on loan for a third consecutive season and added DR Derek Churchill and the very young ML Francesco Falleni in on season-long loans. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins David Ogilby will keep the captain's armband for a second consecutive year but seeing that last year's vice captain (Ben Hunt) will be playing less, I name DL Jamie Reckord as this year's assistant. There's some slight turmoil in our front office during the preseason. Likely due to our promotion into professional football, Dover chairman Jim Parmenter comes out and says he's interested in selling the team. Early in July, a consortium led by local businessman Martin Watts submits a takeover bid but ultimately they'd fail. This would be a running theme throughout the year, as another gentleman would eventually join the fray and rumours persisted that if Parmenter left, my job might be on the line! This despite the fact that I had led the club to two promotions in three years! It was a nerve-racking time... We had a couple of key injuries to start our season, most notably DC Oliver Nicholas. Our opening day lineup was as follows: GK - Reice Charles-Cook D - Jamie Reckord/David Ogilby/Luke McCullough/Conor Morrissey M - Ismael Fofana/Jake Caskey/Richie Ryan/Abdeltareck Sakali F - Aaron Greene/Ben Hunt |
2013/14 npower League 2 Results
We obviously had a lot of roster turnover in the offseason but kept the majority of our starting eleven from the year previous. I hoped that continuity would help get us a mid-table finish but the team was full of surprises. Our first game in the professional ranks was a thrilling 3-3 draw away at Morecambe, a game we trailed 3-1 late in the contest. New striker Aaron Greene led the way with 2 goals, giving us a look at the lethal speed and finishing skills he'd flash all season long. Our early-season form was absolutely incredible - 13 games undefeated in our League 2 debut, winning 9 games and drawing 4 before consecutive losses to Grimsby at home and Port Vale away. Straight after, we'd go on another 13 game tear with only one loss and that was enough to build up a sizeable lead on the table heading into February. We'd hit our biggest rough patch in March, losing four consecutive games but a 3-0 home win over Rushden & Diamonds locked up a guaranteed promotion spot then on the last day of the season, we'd win 2-0 away at Bury to finish off the campaign with 92 points, enough to fend off Notts County for the npower League 2 championship!  npower League 2 2013-14 League Awards Top Goalscorer: Maceo Rigters, Bournemouth - 30 Most Assists: David Serrano, Oldham - 21 Highest Average Rating: Maceo Rigters, Bournemouth - 7.40 Most Man of Match Awards: Maceo Rigters, Bournemouth- 11 Manager of the Season: NoSkillz, Dover npower League 2 Player's Team of the Year GK - Janos Balogh, Bristol Rovers DL - Rhoys Wiggins, Bournemouth DC - Andy Iro, Notts County DC - Andy Graham, Lincoln DR - James Tavernier, Tranmere ML - Stephen Pearson, Stevenage MC - Stuart Duff, Rochdale MC - John Russell, Rotherham MR - Liam Feeney, Bournemouth ST - Maceo Rigters, Bournemouth ST - David Serrano, Oldham Kind of strange that League 2 didn't have a Player of the Year category. Rigters certainly would have won it going away, with 30 goals in 38 league games. I'd win the League 2 Manager of the Month award only once (September) but was honoured with the npower League 2 Manager of the Year award, my second year in a row with the major piece of hardware! Cup Competitions 2013-14 FA Cup - We had a great season in league play but struggled in cup competitions. We throttled Exeter in the 1st round of the FA Cup but would lose a 2nd round replay to league rival Luton Town to bow out quietly. 1st Round - Dover 5 Exeter 1 2nd Round - Luton 1 Dover 1 2nd Round Replay - Dover 2 Luton 4 (Extra Time) League Cup This is the first time we qualify for the League Cup (Carling Cup), solely a competition between the teams within the top 4 levels on the English pyramid. We'd be humbled early by Brighton in the 1st round. 1st Round - Dover 1 Brighton 3 Johnstone's Paint Trophy Here's another competition that I got to take part in for the first time. The Johnstone's Paint Trophy is a competition held between teams in League 1 and League 2. We'd run into fierce rival Gillingham and get defeated in the 1st round, just like the League Cup. A tough year in cup ties! 1st Round - Dover 1 Gillingham 3 2013-14 Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Aaron Greene - 24 Top League Goalscorer: Aaron Greene - 20 Most Assists: Aaron Greene - 14 Highest Average Rating: Aaron Greene - 7.30 (43 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Aaron Greene - 7 Fans Player of the Year: Aaron Greene The clean sweep for Aaron Greene! The new man was spectacular for Dover in 2013-14!!! 2013-14 Dover Best Eleven GK - Liam O'Brien - 37 apps 0g 6.84 avg DL - Jamie Reckord - 32 apps 0g 6.87 avg DC - Luke McCullough - 31 apps 1g 6.85 avg DC - Oliver Nicholas - 28 apps 4g 7.12 avg DR - Conor Morrissey - 33 apps 0g 6.81 avg ML - Ismael Fofana - 37 apps 6g 6.92 avg MC - Janusz Kedzierski - 34 apps 1g 6.99 avg MC - Richie Ryan - 39 apps 7g 6.96 avg MR - Abdeltareck Sakali - 38 apps 9g 7.06 avg ST - Aaron Greene - 43 apps 24g 7.30 avg ST - Patrick Cooper - 29 apps 16g 7.27 avg Other notables: GK Reice Charles-Cook 14 apps 6.65; DL Aziz Deen-Conteh 23 apps 1g 6.79; DR Mark Urquhart 16 apps 0g 6.82; DC David Ogilby 37 apps 0g 6.78; ML Jake Caskey 17 apps 0g 6.75; ST Alexander Rattke 37 apps 20g 7.09; ST Ben Hunt 15 apps 3g 6.79 GK - Liam O'Brien continues to improve while Reice Charles-Cook struggled a bit after getting a real chance to run with the job early in the season. Liam Hogan was loaned out for the season to Sutton United. D - The only surprise here is to see young Luke McCullough in the best eleven over captain David Ogilby. McCullough got the chance to play much more than expected due to injured star centre half Oliver Nicholas, who battled with hamstring and ankle issues all year. Young fullback Aziz Deen-Conteh fared well in a backup role. M - Our excellent wing play from Ismael Fofana and Abdeltareck Sakali continued and German signing Janusz Kedzierski fit in capably alongside Richie Ryan to give us a potent midfield. F - We were fortunate to see incredibly inspired play from our strikers in 2013-14. Greene was the star all season long, with his incredible speed and potent left foot causing issues for every team in the league. Young target man Patrick Cooper forced his way into a rotation and scored 16 goals in only 29 games while our other big offseason signing, Alexander Rattke, performed equally as well, with 20 goals on his own. Between the three, that's an incredible 60 goals! Year-End Financials  Our turnover came close to doubling after leaving semi-pro ball for the real thing. Costs skyrocketed equally and we lost over £160K on the year. The great thing to see was that our average attendance more than doubled. We haven't outgrown our stadium just yet but if we keep adding supporters at the same pace, capacity may become an issue. Closing Thoughts Despite struggling in all of our cup ties, we shocked the footballing world in our first year in the professional ranks, winning League 2 straight out and gaining the quick promotion to the third level of the pyramid! We found three incredible strikers and seem to have a lot of strength in the middle of the park especially. Those take-over concerns that I mentioned earlier would come to a head just after we finished up the season. A second gentleman, Chris Dunphy, would fail in a takeover bid in January but kept at it, eventually making an offer our long-time chairman couldn't refuse. So on May 13th, only 3 days after the completion of our season, Jim Parmenter would leave the club and Chris Dunphy was in, bringing with him two new directors. Thankfully, I had become "favoured personnel" of the club's supporters and Dunphy would ultimately decide to keep me on despite some rumours to the contrary. League 1…here we come! |
2014-15 Season Recap -
Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations  Despite having another year left on my contract, the new chairman offered me a 20% raise for getting the club through to League 1 and I happily accepted, bringing my annual salary to £62,400. As indicated in one of my last posts, I'm now listed as "Favoured Personnel" by the Dover supporters.  I was able to get our new board to agree to a youth facilities improvement but for some reason, likely having to do with money, it was cancelled after the significant planning phase. Extremely disappointing!  Our promotion to League 1 sees Dover become a "regionally" recognized club and we also put a 20%+ increase through on tickets. Our season ticket holder base practically doubles, going from 868 to 1566 and our estimated value finally cracks the one million pound mark, sitting at £1.3m, 76th in England and 20th (out of 24) in League 1. The media once again pick us to finish dead last and the board is just hoping we stay up. I tell them we'll attempt to avoid relegation and after some tweaking to get additional money allocated to wages, our budgets are as follows: 2014/15 TRANSFER BUDGET - £15,000 2014/15 WAGE BUDGET - £21,000/week Our wage budget doubles, something that's a necessity as we have to deal with the larger professional salaries. I have yet to make a big splash in the transfer market and that won't happen until we get to the next level at the earliest. Preseason: Roster Status GK - Liam O'Brien has been with us through three promotions but he may be at his limit from a talent perspective. Reice Charles-Cook was a disappointment last year but he has much more potential than O'Brien. I may have to look outside the organization soon for a new keeper. D - Now in League 1, we may have reached the point where our captain, David Ogilby, loses effectiveness. Already last year, young centre half Luke McCullough proved to be ready for senior football and at the very least, he will be in a rotation with Ogilby and our other fine young centre half Oliver Nicholas. Jamie Reckord and Aziz Deen-Conteh will likely rotate in at DL while Conor Morrissey should keep a hold on the DR spot. M - I'm reasonably happy with our talent at midfield, especially in the middle of the park with offensive minded Richie Ryan and defensive-minded Janusz Kedzierski. Our wingers have historically been major strengths but ML Ismael Fofana and MR Abdeltareck Sakali may not be long for this level. I'll definitely need to shore up our depth on the wings at the very least. I also have a few intriguing prospects in the middle of the park, namely 4.5 star potential Luke Hendrie, who played for our U18 team for the most part last season. F - We're in fantastic shape at striker, with Aaron Greene, Patrick Cooper and Alexander Rattke all returning after scoring 60 goals combined last season alone. Transfers OUT GK - Reice Charles-Cook - Sligo Rovers - £85,000 GK - Liam Hogan - Stevenage - £1,000 DL - Jamie Reckord - Raith - Free MC - Harry Rubbins - Released MC - Rhys McCabe - Released ML - Christian Nanetti - Released ST - Ben Hunt - Released I had an offer I couldn't refuse on GK Charles-Cook and accepted it. The £85,000 is easily the largest fee ever received by Dover, breaking a record set in 1997 when the club sold Ricky Reina to Brentford. Losing Jamie Reckord was avoidable, as I let his contract go without renewal into January and Raith offered him a deal. Despite offering him what he wanted, Reckord elected to move to Raith. Reckord leaves after three seasons with Dover, playing 85 league games, scoring 2 goals and assisting on 5 others. The toughest loss for our fans is letting Ben Hunt leave the club without a new contract. Hunt joined the club at the same time I did but was signed by my predecessor just before my arrival. Hunt was a key factor in two of our three promotions but was our fourth or fifth choice at best last year in League 2. Hunt leaves the club after four full seasons, where he made 132 league appearances, scoring 54 goals and assisting on 22 others. The fans consider him to be an icon at Dover and were not happy that I let him leave the club. Transfers IN MR - Keith King - £18,000 (Last Club: Eupen) - 21 years old, Bermuda DL - Denis Fidanov - £1,500 (Last Club: Lokomotiv Sofia) - 23 years old, Bulgaria GK - Mick Ball - Free (Last Club: Watford) - 17 years old, England GK - Bryn Halliwell - Free (Last Club: Norwich) - 33 years old, England DC/DR - Michael Raynes - Free (Last Club: Norwich) - 26 years old, England DC/MC - Tobias Figueiredo - Free (Last Club: Chelsea) - 20 years old, Portugal MC - Mark Byrne - Free (Last Club: Sligo Rovers) - 25 years old, Ireland ST - Lee Cochrane - Free (Last Club: Rangers) - 20 years old, Scotland DR - Derek Churchill - LOAN (From Watford) - 19 years old, England ML - Arsene Bamba - LOAN (From Arsenal) - 17 years old, France Our biggest splash to date is made on Bermuda national team member Keith King, a young winger who can play both sides equally well. King is rated at 3.5 stars currently with a 4.5 star potential rating. Not bad! Denis Fidonov is a pacy fullback who should fit into a rotation with incumbent Deen-Conteh. Of the free signings, DC Michael Raynes is the most polished player with a 3.5 star current rating. He's a highly determined and influential centre half back who can also play DR and should fit into our lineup on a rotational basis. GK Bryn Halliwell is strictly a backup at this stage of his career but I'm going to go with incumbent O'Brien for another full season. I'm intrigued with Mark Byrne, who produced big numbers with Sligo over the past two seasons and will likely get some decent playing time. Lee Cochrane has the unenviable task of stepping in to replace the departed club icon Ben Hunt and will be our fourth choice at striker this year. Mick Ball will play for our U18 club in hopes of developing (3 star potential right now). Our one new loan addition is a big one - despite being 17 years young, Arsene Bamba comes to us with a 3 star current rating and 5 star potential. Very pacy with great technical skill, he will likely rotate with our long-time left winger Ismael Fofana. We also bring back DR Derek Churchill from Watford for a second consecutive year. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins With the departure of Jamie Reckord, I name young centre half Luke McCullough as our new vice captain. David Ogilby continues to wear the arm band despite seeing less playing time due to the competition provided by McCullough, Oliver Nicholas and newcomer Michael Raynes. We continue to roll out a 4-4-2 for the most part but will sprinkle in some 4-5-1 when facing larger, more powerful clubs. Here is a look at our League 1 opening day starting lineup, where we played fierce club rival Gillingham, who were managed by our former skipper Andy Hessenthaler, the man I took over from. GK - Liam O'Brien D - Aziz Deen-Conteh/Oliver Nicholas/Luke McCullough/Derek Churchill M - Ismael Fofana/Luke Hendrie/Richie Ryan/Abdeltareck Sakali F - Aaron Greene/Alexander Rattke |
2014/15 npower League 1 Results
Throughout my history managing this club, we've seemingly had great success coming out of the gates each year and I figured that would again be the case in 2014/15. We beat up on Gillingham 3-1 at home to start the season off in style but we quickly realized that League 1 wasn't going to be easy. We'd lose consecutive games to Leyton Orient and Plymouth before exchanging a few wins, along with some losses and draws. On October 25th, we were mired near the bottom of the League 1 table, with 3 lonely wins, 3 draws and 6 losses - only 12 points through our first 12 games. We'd improve slightly on that early season form as we made our way through the middle portion of the season but after a 1-0 away loss to Charlton on February 7, 2015, we sat with 44 points after 32 games (13 wins, 5 draws and 14 losses). We were out of the relegation zone but certainly not out of danger. Thankfully, that was precisely the point in the season where our fortunes changed…and they changed significantly! We would not lose one more game all season, winning 8 games and drawing 5 out of our next 13 league appearances to shoot way up the table. On the last weekend of the season, we were in 7th place on the League 1 table, 3 points behind Leyton Orient for the last potential playoff spot. We'd do our part, handling Carlisle at home 3-1 and now waited on the result of the Leyton Orient game against Chesterfield. A loss would pull us into a tie with them and give us the last playoff spot due to goal differential. A Leyton Orient win or tie would see them take that spot away from us. Unfortunately, they would hold on to a 1-1 draw, giving them 77 points to our 76 and we'd finish one agonizing point out of the 2014-15 League 1 playoffs. Dover Athletic would be spending next year in npower League 1 once again.  npower League 1 2014-15 League Awards Top Goalscorer: Jamil Adam, Barnsley - 36 Most Assists: Matt Ritchie, Sheffield Wednesday - 21 Highest Average Rating: Oliver Norwood, Norwich - 7.33 (44 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Jamil Adam, Barnsley - 12 Manager of the Year: Eric Roy, Charlton npower League 1 Player's Team of the Year GK - Christian Gratzei, Sheffield Wednesday DL - Paul Robinson, Norwich DC - Ionut Rada, Peterborough DC - Elliott Ward, Norwich DR - Thomas Bartsch, Charlton ML - Matt Ritchie, Sheffield Wednesday MC - Michael Woods, Sheffield Wednesday MC - Oliver Norwood, Norwich MR - Paul Gallagher, Sheffield Wednesday ST - Jamil Adam, Barnsley ST - Luke Freeman, Plymouth Sheffield Wednesday finished first in the league and scored the most goals so I guess it's not surprising that they dominated the Player's select team, with four players on the top eleven. Our late season charge brought attention to the club and I was awarded as the League 1 Manager of the Month for both February and March. I'd also finish in 2nd place behind Charlton's Eric Roy for League 1 Manager of the Year. Cup Competitions 2014-15 FA Cup - We actually had our finest performance to date in FA Cup play during the 2014-15 season. We had a tough opening draw, playing away against league rival Plymouth but knocked them off 1-0. From there, we'd defeat League 2 side Bristol Rovers at home and follow that with an impressive home win against Championship side Cardiff. In the 4th round, we drew another Championship side, Preston North End away and came away with a close defeat. Still, a very solid showing against good competition. 1st Round - Plymouth 0 Dover 1 2nd Round - Dover 2 Bristol Rovers 0 3rd Round - Dover 1 Cardiff 0 4th Round - Preston 2 Dover 1 League Cup We'd win our first ever League Cup game in a scintillating away performance against Championship side Swindon Town before getting humbled big-time against another Championship squad, Burnley, in the second round. 1st Round - Swindon 0 Dover 3 2nd Round - Burnley 5 Dover 1 Johnstone's Paint Trophy Like the League Cup, this was our second year of competing in this event and after bowing out in round 1 last year, finally saw a slight bit of success this year, winning away against Colchester before a home win against Brentford that went to penalties. In the South quarterfinals, we'd run up against Bristol Rovers again and they'd gain revenge for our FA Cup win by defeating us 3-1 at The Memorial Stadium. 1st Round - Colchester 1 Dover 2 2nd Round - Dover 0 Brentford 0 (Dover win 4-3 on penalties) South Quarterfinal - Bristol Rovers 3 Dover 1 2014-15 Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Alexander Rattke - 15 Top League Goalscorer: Alexander Rattke - 13 Most Assists: Alexander Rattke - 13 Highest Average Rating: Aaron Greene - 7.18 (28 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Aaron Greene - 6 Fans Player of the Year: Alexander Rattke The numbers were down considerably for our strikers this year, partially due to the fact Aaron Greene battled injuries for most of the year. Rattke was excellent all year. 2014-15 Dover Best Eleven GK - Liam O'Brien - 48 apps 0g 6.85 avg DL - Aziz Deen-Conteh - 38 apps 0g 6.88 avg DC - Michael Raynes - 32 apps 2g 7.05 avg DC - Oliver Nicholas - 45 apps 4g 7.01 avg DR - Conor Morrissey - 34 apps 0g 6.86 avg ML - Arsene Bamba - 35 apps 5g 7.09 avg MC - Janusz Kedzierski - 43 apps 1g 6.90 avg MC - Arron Williams - 21 apps 3g 6.96 avg MR - Keith King - 30 apps 9g 7.13 avg ST - Aaron Greene - 28 apps 13g 7.17 avg ST - Alexander Rattke - 40 apps 15g 7.13 avg Other notables: DC/MC Carl Graham 4 apps 0g 6.50; DC David Ogilby 31 apps 2g 7.01; ML Ismael Fofana 28 apps 5g 6.95; MC Tobias Figueiredo 18 apps 3g 6.75; ST Patrick Cooper 30 apps 10g 6.98; ST Razak Abdul 12 apps 3g 6.79; ST Phillip Roberts 11 apps 4g 7.03 GK - Liam O'Brien basically carried the mail all season long. New signing Bryn Halliwell only played 5 games and was terrible in almost all of them. He'd never play another game of professional football after this season and to this date is actively looking for managerial jobs. D - Our defense was pretty solid, especially down the middle. New signing Michael Raynes stepped in and performed quite well alongside Oliver Nicholas and captain David Ogilby, who were both equally as good. Young vice-captain Luke McCullough dealt with two significant injuries during the season, tearing a calf muscle and later breaking his foot. Both injuries kept him out of action for 4 months each and he'd only play 7 league contests for us this season. Aziz Deen-Conteh and Conor Morrissey were both steady at fullback. M - Perhaps a changing of the guard? Noticeable by their absence on our Best Eleven are Ismael Fofana and Abdeltareck Sakali, who were passed by newcomers Arsene Bamba and Keith King. Bamba was sensational as a 17 year old, putting up 5 goals and 13 assists in 37 total appearances (both league and cup ties). King was very effective as well, with 9 goals and 5 assists in 32 total appearances. Sakali, who arguably has been one of our top players throughout my tenure, saw a dramatic fall off in the quality of his play, getting 0 points in 17 total appearances. He won't be resigned next year. Fofana was still effective when called upon. At centre midfield, young Arron Williams forced his way into the lineup, getting 7 points in 18 league appearances and using his great speed to his advantage. Janusz Kedzierski was solid defensively, as usual and despite not being listed above, Richie Ryan was a constant in our lineup, playing 38 games and scoring 5 goals. F - Like Luke McCullough, star striker Aaron Greene tore a calf muscle early in the season and missed over four months of action. He still was as effective as ever upon his return with 13 goals and 8 assists in 29 total appearances. Alexander Rattke was ever present up front, playing 40 games, scoring 15 goals and adding 13 assists to lead the team in both categories. New signing Lee Cochrane didn't make an impact but young strikers Patrick Cooper and Phillip Roberts continued to show great potential. Year-End Financials  The move to League 1 certainly proved to be significant on the financial statement, as our turnover doubled from last year, going over £3.6m but our wage costs also doubled. Our sale of GK Reice Charles-Cook essentially provided our profit for the season, as for all intents and purposes, we broke even on the year. Another very encouraging sign is that our attendance figures continue to shoot skyward, with an average of well over 5000 fans coming in per game. With a capacity of 6500 and only 1000 total seats, we're getting to the point where a stadium expansion should be considered. Closing Thoughts I guess I have to consider this season to be a success, especially after our incredible 14-game undefeated streak to end the season. Still, finishing one point out of the playoffs was a bitter pill to swallow. Hopefully the squad has gelled with our late season success and I'm thinking we just may have a shot at promotion next year. |
Did a great job of player acquisition so far. Going up leagues like you have means you have to do that. Speed does tend to rule the lower levels, as well. As you've noticed.
Tell |
Quote:
Thanks Tell - you're right, I've really tried to focus on getting fast players at all costs, especially early in the dynasty. While I haven't ever had a player that could truly dominate (like Radii's Constantino), I've had some lesser players with great wheels that have been able to get the job done. Thanks for reading! |
2015-16 Season Recap -
Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations  Through the years, I've been very careful not to ask for any additional salary for fear that any money that goes into my own pocket hurt our bottom line. So while I haven't ever asked for more money, I won't hesitate to take what is offered to me! Again, I'm offered a pretty sizeable raise despite our team staying in the same league and I gratefully accept the one year extension. Our squad discipline is almost maxed out, not a surprise with us having a roster felt to be very professional in nature.  Again, no changes here. At some point during the season, I inquire about potential stadium expansion and I'm quickly rebuffed, with the board saying there simply isn't enough money for us to add on to our facilities at this stage.  The board decide to raise our ticket prices ~5% for the coming year - our season ticket holder base continues to grow, with us adding 105 more subscribers, an approximate 6-7% increase. Our estimated value actually drops a bit…not sure why. The media predict us to finish in the bottom half of the table and our board are pessimistic as well. I decide to shoot low for now, targeting a mid-table finish and that gives me the following budget: 2015/16 TRANSFER BUDGET - £30,000 2015/16 WAGE BUDGET - £20,500/week That's actually a slight drop in wage budget but last year I did some tweaking to get it to £21K. With a transfer budget of £30K, I can do some additional tweaking if I need some additional wiggle room on our wages. Preseason: Roster Status GK - Liam O'Brien has been a constant in the Dover lineup ever since I took over the team. I always seem to be looking for his successor and that's no different this year. We won't be keeping Bryn Halliwell, who was horrible last year. We definitely need a "goalkeeper of the future" soon - I'm not entirely sure if O'Brien is good enough to get us to the Championship. D - I believe we are very strong down the middle with Oliver Nicholas, Luke McCullough and Michael Raynes. Aziz Deen-Conteh and Conor Morrissey are very capable fullbacks but I could use some rotational help on both sides, as I don't think I'll be bringing Watford loanee Derek Churchill back for a third consecutive year. M - We have some solid talent at midfield but there may be room for upgrades, especially in the depth department. At the wing positions, Keith King was great in his first year at Dover and I'll look to bring back young stalwart Arsene Bamba on another one year loan. Long-time Dover left winger Ismael Fofana is starting to struggle at this elevated level so I don't see him contributing much this year. In the middle of the park, I anticipate that Richie Ryan, Janusz Kedzierski and young Arron Williams will be back, along with Mark Byrne F - Our top two strikers are definitely Aaron Greene and Alexander Rattke so we don't need anything other than depth here. Some bigger clubs have been sniffing around Patrick Cooper and my hand may be forced to move him out if the money is attractive. Transfers OUT MC - Arron Williams - Hamilton - £250,000 MC - Luke Hendrie - Morton - £250,000 ST - Patrick Coooper - Sligo Rovers - £130,000 MC - Janusz Kedzierski - Polonia Bytom - £40,000 GK - Bryn Halliwell - Inverness Caledonian Thistle - £20,000 ST - Razak Abdul - Gimnastica - Free DR - Mark Urquhart - Released DL - Michael Riley - Released MR - Abdeltareck Sakali - Released MR - Khaled Laaloudj - Released ST - Bob Porter (U18) - Released So yeah, we made some moves before the season! I was having trouble staying within our pretty tight wage budget and started to figure out that I was probably keeping too large of a squad. By making these large sales, not only did it free up wages but pumped more money into our bottom line, which would pay dividends in the future. Arron Williams was good enough to be in our "Best Eleven" last year but he was never really a first choice player for us. He was a very good prospect, along with Luke Hendrie but getting an incredible £250,000 each for them was impossible to turn down. Those are easily our two largest transfer deals. Williams leaves after two years that saw him play 19 league games, scoring 3 goals and adding 4 assists. Hendrie played parts of three years with us, appearing in 35 league games, scoring 3 goals and adding 3 assists. Janusz Kedzierski was a starter for two years, playing 69 league games, scoring twice and adding 16 assists. Patrick Cooper was starting to ask for additional playing time but I couldn't justify putting him in ahead of Greene or Rattke so that made him expendable. He leaves after two years and 52 league appearances, scoring 23 goals and adding 7 assists. Every year we are forced to say goodbye to one of our team icons, simply due to the fact that they no longer have the required skill for the leagues we've been promoted to. This year that player is MR Abdeltareck Sakali. After 17 pointless appearances in 2014/15 with Dover, it was very apparent that he wasn't capable of helping our club and I didn't renew his contract. He is unquestionably one of the finest players in Dover history, seeing action in 159 league games, scoring 38 goals and contributing 30 assists. He leaves the club as "Favoured Personnel" but our supporters understand my decision, thankfully. Razak Abdul was also a victim of the numbers game but played in 46 league games over 3 seasons, scoring 10 goals and adding 13 assists. Mark Urquhart, Michael Riley, Khaled Laaloudj and Bob Porter never really made an impact at Dover and were expendable. Transfers IN ST - Craig Beattie - £5,000 (Last Club: Dunfermline) - 31 years old, Scotland ML - Simon Bouwman - £1,000 (Last Club: NEC Nijmegen) - 22 years old, Holland GK - Ingo Wilke - Free (Last Club: Bochum) - 21 years old, Germany DC/DR - Bobby Hassell - Free (Last Club: Barnsley) - 35 years old, England DC - Sam Barnett - Free (Last Club: Stoke) - 18 years old, England DC - Matthew Thompson - Free (Last Club: Wolves) - 18 years old, England DR - Ondrej Novak - Free (Last Club: Kladno) - 19 years old, Czech Republic AMC - Isco - Free (Last Club: Valencia Mestalla) - 23 years old, Spain MC - Carlos Gurpegi - Free (Last Club: Athletic Club Bilbao) - 34 years old, Spain DL - Jasper de Leeuw - LOAN (From Arsenal) - 20 years old, Holland ML - Arsene Bamba - LOAN (From Arsenal) - 18 years old, France MR - Manuel Weinecker - LOAN (From Chelsea) - 19 years old, Germany MC - Joe Blake - LOAN (From Arsenal) - 19 years old, England ST - Matthew Moran - LOAN (From Arsenal) - 19 years old, England A very modest year of incoming players, at least from a monetary standpoint, with only £6,000 spent out of the transfer kitty. Craig Beattie is a prolific scorer nearing the twilight of his career (66 goals in his 116 games at Dunfermline) and will provide cover for Greene and Rattke. Simon Bouwman is a good young left winger who will most likely back up the returning Arsene Bamba, here on loan from Arsenal. Of the free signings, the most interesting is GK Ingo Wilke, a 21 year old 4 star prospect from Germany. He will get some playing time this year and battle long-time incumbent Liam O'Brien. Isco looks to have a lot of natural talent (3 stars current; 4 stars potential) and will certainly fit into our rotation in the midfield. Carlos Gurpegi has spent the majority of his career with Athletic Bilbao and is accomplished on the defensive side of things in the middle of the park. I also continued with my strategy of picking up talented 18 or 19 year olds in the hopes of either developing them for our own squad (remote chance) or developing/selling them later (more likely). Sam Barnett and Matthew Thompson are two good looking DCs while Ondrej Novak is a towering DR; at 6'6" tall, I'll likely start training him at DC. Bamba returns for another year at ML on loan and we also scoop three other players from Arsenal on loan in DL Jasper de Leeuw, MC Joe Blake and ST Matthew Moran. All of these Arsenal players have incredible potential and at the very least will work into our lineup on an occasional basis. Manuel Weinecker is a Chelsea prospect and he'll work on the right wing when I need to spell Keith King. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins This year, more than any other, I find myself relying on loanees to help push us forward - this is allowing me to spend a bit more on quality roster players, since most of the loanees are coming in with their wages paid in full by their parent clubs. Squad cohesion may be an issue, however. David Ogilby continues to be more of a rotational player for us at DC but will once again wear the armband for the third consecutive season. We name Oliver Nicholas as vice-captain over Luke McCullough - simply put, the team as a whole seems to respect Nicholas more than anyone else on the roster so I felt it was a warranted move. We'll continue to run with a 4-4-2 for the majority of our games, utilizing a "Control" or "Attacking" philosophy. Here is what our starting lineup looked like for game one of the season: GK - Liam O'Brien D - Aziz Deen-Conteh/Michael Raynes/Oliver Nicholas/Conor Morrissey M - Arsene Bamba/Joe Blake/Mark Byrne/Keith King F - Aaron Greene/Alexander Rattke |
2015/16 npower League 1 Results
There was a learning period for us in our first year of League 1 play last year, as it took quite a bit of time for us to adjust to the pace of the league. Thankfully, we started the 2015/16 season with much more assurance. We'd lose only one of our first 12 contests in league play, with 6 wins and 5 draws putting us in 2nd place on the table at that point of the year. One of the highlights of the year came in a wild home game against Brighton, a 5-5 draw that saw multiple lead changes and thrilled the masses at Crabble Athletic Ground. To this date (I'm in 2020 now), it's still the highest scoring game in club history (ie: total goals for both teams). Near the end of the season, we were lying in third place, just outside the automatic promotion spots, as the top two teams move up to the Championship each year and the next four clubs battle it out in a playoff. At the time, I was just finishing some cup ties so I was having to field a tired squad for a few of the games and in the end, we'd go winless in our last six league games and drop all the way down to 5th on the table. That meant a two-leg playoff date with MK Dons, who finished one spot ahead of us on the table. Leg 1 was at Crabble Athletic Ground and the resulting game was very evenly played and fittingly ended in a 1-1 draw. That meant we'd need to get a result away to move on. We'd give up a shocking goal in the 4th minute at Stadium MK but Aaron Greene would equalize two minutes later. Incredibly, we'd pile on the pressure and get goals from loanee Manuel Weinecker and Alexander Rattke, giving up a late half marker as well, to take a deserved 3-2 lead at the break. We'd go to a more defensive style but whatever was said in the MK Dons dressing room worked, as they'd get three goals in the second half to our zero, winning the game 5-3 to move onto the League 1 playoff finals. It was a devastating loss for our team and me personally as the manager of the club. Could we ever take the next step? Could I ever get my board to match the players and manager's ambition? These were questions that I started to ask myself. More on this later...  npower League 1 2015-16 League Awards Top Goalscorer: Teddy Gallo, Barnsley - 34 Most Assists: Robert Stoll, Crewe - 27 Highest Average Rating: Karim Toure, Colchester - 7.58 (38 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Karim Toure, Colchester - 12 Manager of the Year: Mark Fish, Crewe npower League 1 Player's Team of the Year GK - Ingo Wilke, Dover DL - Shaun Cummings, Scunthorpe DC - Billy Joe Burns, Crewe DC - Sean O'Hanlon, MK Dons DR - Mark Little, Brighton ML - Lee Tomlin, Colchester MC - Michael Zammama, Coventry MC - Ravel Morrison, MK Dons MR - Elliott Bennett, Peterborough ST - Teddy Gallo, Barnsley ST - Karim Toure, Colchester New Dover goalkeeper Ingo Wilke was honoured as the best at his position by his peers in League 1. He took over the reigns quite quickly from Liam O'Brien, playing 35 league games in all. Our hot start helped me win the League 1 Manager of the Month award for August and I'd win it again in January. However, I wouldn't be shortlisted for the yearly award this season. Cup Competitions 2015-16 FA Cup - We had a very tough draw in the FA Cup this season, with our first round opponent being fellow League 1 club Northampton away. We battle hard to come away with a draw, sending the replay back to Crabble Athletic Ground where we'd ease by them to get a date with another League 1 side, Crewe Alexandra. We'd win that game to set up perhaps the biggest game in the club's history to that point. A third round matchup away against Premier League powerhouse Liverpool! This was my first ever game managing against a Premier League opponent, at least in a game that counted for something! In front of over 35,000 supporters at Anfield, we'd battle hard but come out on the losing end due to a brace from Edinson Cavani in a 2-1 loss. Still, a great showing and a nice payday for the cup tie for our burgeoning club! 1st Round - Northampton 1 Dover 1 1st Round Replay - Dover 3 Northampton 0 2nd Round - Dover 2 Crewe 1 3rd Round - Liverpool 2 Dover 1 League Cup We'd get a decent draw in round one, playing League 2 side Bournemouth but they came away with the shock victory, knocking us unceremoniously out of the competition. 1st Round - Bournemouth 2 Dover 1 Johnstone's Paint Trophy We got off to a good start in this competition, winning by two goals at home versus Southend and by a single goal away at Leyton Orient. A 3rd round matchup at home versus Rushden & Diamonds proved tougher and we'd have to go to penalties before finally prevailing. The South Semi-Final was played at home versus Crystal Palace, a League 1 team that had been relegated from the Championship just last year. I figured it would be a tough match but they played like they didn't care and we throttled them 4-0 to set up a two leg divisional final against MK Dons. Yes, the same team that I'd run into at the end of the season in league play! We'd draw 1-1 away and then hold on for a 1-0 win in leg 2 to move onto the actual finals against Coventry, another League 1 team just relegated from the Championship. Like our three FA Trophy finals, the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final is played at Wembley Stadium and in front of the largest crowd I've ever seen, 72190 people (!), we battled to a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes, meaning we'd decide things in a dramatic penalty shootout. We'd go eight players deep on both sides and it was veteran Bobby Hassell scoring the decisive goal that wouldn't be matched by Coventry, giving us the 6-5 penalty win and our first ever Johnstone Paint Trophy win! 1st Round - Dover 3 Southend 1 2nd Round - Leyton Orient 2 Dover 3 South Quarterfinal - Dover 2 Rushden 2 (Dover win 4-3 on penalties) South Final (Leg 1) - MK Dons 1 Dover 1 South Final (Leg 2) - Dover 1 MK Dons 0 (Dover wins 2-1 on aggregate) Final - Dover 1 Coventry 1 (Dover win 6-5 on penalties) DOVER WINS THE 2015-16 JOHNSTONE'S PAINT TROPHY 2015-16 Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Alexander Rattke - 20 Top League Goalscorer: Alexander Rattke - 17 Most Assists: Arsene Bamba - 18 Highest Average Rating: Alexander Rattke - 7.16 (48 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Alexander Rattke - 6 Fans Player of the Year: Alexander Rattke Rattke becomes the first Dover player to ever repeat as Fan's Player of the Year. 2015-16 Dover Best Eleven GK - Ingo Wilke - 44 apps 0g 7.07 avg DL - Aziz Deen-Conteh - 34 apps 0g 7.04 avg DC - David Ogilby - 44 apps 1g 6.99 avg DC - Oliver Nicholas - 42 apps 5g 7.08 avg DR - Michael Raynes - 34 apps 3g 7.01 avg ML - Arsene Bamba - 33 apps 4g 7.20 avg MC - Joe Blake - 46 apps 2g 6.94 avg MC - Mark Byrne - 38 apps 8g 6.96 avg MR - Manuel Weinecker - 27 apps 7g 7.14 avg ST - Aaron Greene - 43 apps 17g 7.07 avg ST - Alexander Rattke - 48 apps 20g 7.16 avg Other notables: GK Liam O'Brien 16 apps 0g 6.81; DC Luke McCullough 28 apps 1g 6.91; DR Conor Morrissey 40 apps 0g 6.95; ML Simon Bouwman 17 apps 3g 7.04; MR Keith King 32 apps 5g 6.91; ST Lee Cochrane 30 apps 11g 7.04; ST Craig Beattie 15 apps 7g 7.07 GK - New signing Ingo Wilke was an absolute revelation! Incredible athleticism and composure and his 7.07 average rating is by far the best I've ever seen from my goalkeeping. Liam O'Brien is now expendable. D - We continue to find a way to get four very capable DCs in the lineup, with captain David Ogilby, Oliver Nicholas, Michael Raynes and Luke McCullough all seeing extensive action. Raynes played a number of games at DR and that was enough to get him into the Best Eleven over Conor Morrissey. Aziz Deen-Conteh was very good again at DL. M - The loanees dominated our midfield this year, with three of them finishing on our Best Eleven. Arsene Bamba plays with much more composure than you'd ever expect an 18 year old to have and Joe Blake was ever present in a holding position in the midfield. Manuel Weinecker split time capably with incumbent Keith King and the only club contracted player to find his way into the Best Eleven was Mark Byrne. F - Once again, it was the Aaron Greene and Alexander Rattke show. 37 more goals between them and another 18 from Lee Cochane and Craig Beattie combined gave us a potent strike force no matter the pairing. Beattie was complaining much of the year about lack of playing time though so he may not be around much longer. Year-End Financials  Turnover was up significantly, as were expenditures but with a net gain of ~£600K in transfer activity, we showed our largest profit yet and our bank balance is well over £800,000. Hopefully some of this will be reallocated to our club next year. Closing Thoughts The year ended on a very sour note, with us losing a lead in the second leg of the League 1 playoff semi-finals to miss out on a chance at promotion. Two tough years in League 1 is fine - I never thought it would be easy to keep earning promotions but I'm starting to seriously wonder if the board is as anxious to promote as I am. I have a discussion with the chairman after the season to talk about expanding the stadium or at the very least, improving our training facilities. I'm immediately shot down. I practically beg him, saying that I feel it's absolutely necessary for some improvements to our grounds if we're to attract top players and make a serious push for the Championship. They are sympathetic but still deny my request and I storm out of the office. Soon, news out of Birmingham appears - their manager may be on the way out and the pundits say that I would be their top choice as a replacement… I've just finished six years of management and this is the first time I've EVER been considered for another job. Birmingham finished the 2015-16 season in 5th place in the Championship but weren't able to get though the playoffs. They had just been relegated from the Barclays Premier League the year before and have played countless years at the top level in English football. They are a big club by my standards…a very big club. They play at a grand old stadium, St. Andrews in Birmingham, which seats over 30,000. 30,000!!! I really feel like I've hit a wall at Dover and declare interest in the position at Birmingham City. The Dover fans are in shock but our board takes a more measured approach, saying they hope to be able to keep me at Dover and that they'll do whatever it takes to keep me there. Right! I wait patiently for the job to open up but it never does…Birmingham ultimately decide to keep Luis Garcia Plaza at the helm and I feel let down once again. They'd eventually fire Plaza in December of 2016 but by that point, there was no way I was leaving Dover for Birmingham…next year would be a very different year for fans of the Whites... |
Fantastic writing and level of detail. Keep it up!
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Thanks for the compliments and for reading along. I should have another season recap up sometime later tonight. I'm almost finished playing the 2019/20 season and ideally, I'd like to be caught up on all of my season recaps here so I can have transition to a more traditional dynasty in time for the 2020/21 season. |
I'm enjoying this immensely
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Love it too, great write ups.
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Thanks guys! I will definitely have some free time tonight so expect another update soon! |
2016-17 Season Recap -
Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations  As I head into my 7th year of management and 3rd consecutive year in League 1, I am offered a modest raise and accept. I thought about taking a hardline approach, especially in light of the fact I'm not entirely happy with the way the board is doing things but I made the pledge years ago that I'd never get into a war of numbers with my paycheck. I see a little hit to my "Financial Control" numbers, simply because I went slightly over-budget last year on wages.  Ah, our woefully inadequate facilities…no changes as usual despite my constant nagging to the powers that be.  For a second consecutive year, the board decide to raise our ticket prices ~5% for the coming year. We've started to lose a bit of steam with respect to growing our season ticket holder base but still increased our number ~2.5%. We see a really nice increase in our estimated value though, likely due to all the cash on hand at the beginning of the season. Despite two top-half finishes in a row, the media only predict an 11th place finish for 2016/17. The board ask for a top-half finish but I'm sick of setting the bar low - I promise that we'll battle for promotion and that gives me a big increase in the yearly budget: 2016/17 TRANSFER BUDGET - £72,000 2016/17 WAGE BUDGET - £27,500/week A major increase for transfers and wages. We sold a lot of players last year and banked considerable coin in doing so. It's reassuring that the board has finally decided to invest a bit in the squad. Time to take advantage... Preseason: Roster Status GK - Ingo Wilke was absolutely sensational last year in his first season with us. He's unquestionably our starter. Liam O'Brien has been a good soldier for Dover over the years but I'll likely look to sell him this year if there is a market. D - I continue to be satisfied with our defence, especially up the middle. Oliver Nicholas, Michael Raynes, captain David Ogilby and Luke McCullough will continue to all see time on the pitch. We have solid starting fullbacks in Aziz Deen-Conteh and Conor Morrissey. M - We will need to build a better foundation in the midfield after utilizing loanees for the most part last year. I'm going to attempt to bring back stellar ML Arsene Bamba from Arsenal for a third consecutive year and Manuel Weinecker from Chelsea for a second season but there are no assurances there. We still have Mark Byrne to play the middle and he was better than advertised but we need a more dynamic presence in the central midfield. F - Once again, I make a major mistake in the last six months of the previous season, taking too long to negotiate a contract with a star player. This time, it's our two-time defending Fan's Player of the Year Alexander Rattke. He gets scooped up on a Bosman transfer to Italian club Modena and I get absolutely nothing. Rattke had become one of my favourite players in this dynasty so I was pretty upset and he'll be extremely difficult to replace. Aaron Greene is back as are Craig Beattie and Lee Cochrane but I'll definitely be on the lookout for a top-line striker. Transfers OUT DC - Ondrej Novak - Jablonec - £350,000 DL - Alessandro Barbero - £140,000 GK - Liam O'Brien - Leeds - £20,000 ST - Alexander Rattke - Modena - Free DL - Denis Fidanov - Ontinyent - Free DR - Robert Ryan - Morecambe - Free MC - Tobias Figueiredo - Shrewsbury - Free MC - Richie Ryan - Hereford - Free ML - Ismael Fofana - Released DC - Will James - Released MR - Tom Lawrence - Released ST - Philip Roberts - Released GK - Mick Ball - Released MR - Faisal Nabi - Released DL - Craig Brunt - Released We make our biggest sale in club history, somehow getting £350K for towering defender Ondrej Novak - he wasn't even close to having the quality to start for us so it was a very easy decision to take Jablonec's attractive offer. He only played 1 league game for Dover. You may be wondering who Alessandro Barbero is, as I've never mentioned him before. Well, that's because we just picked him up earlier in the 2016/17 season on a free then sold him in the January transfer window for £140K! He actually played 18 games for us and played very well in those games (7.21 avg rating) but I picked up another highly touted DL in that window, making Barbero expendable. Liam O'Brien deserves his own paragraph. He's been our rock at GK ever since I picked him up in my first year of management. At 19 he was rotating into our lineup and at 20 he was the main man in goal. In all, he spent six seasons at Dover, playing in 181 league games and putting together a spectacular 67 clean sheets. Thank you Liam for your great service to Dover fans! I've already mentioned the Alexander Rattke move on a Bosman transfer. Rattke was a key man in all three seasons at Dover, playing in 109 league games and scoring 50 goals. He'd also contribute 29 assists and win 14 MoM awards in addition to his two Player of the Year nods by our supporters. He will be tough to replace. The other key sale, albeit on free transfer, was MC Richie Ryan, who heads to Hereford after five underrated seasons with Dover. He was entirely out of his element last year, similar to another Dover legend Abdeltareck Sakali, as Ryan played 26 games last year without a point. Still, he was a commanding presence in the midfield for us for many years and leaves after 168 Dover league appearances, where he scored 29 goals and added 19 assists. The other players moved on free transfer (Fidanov, Ryan & Figueiredo) were all minor players for us. As usual, there is one key player that doesn't get a contract extension due to age or diminished skills and this year we bid adieu to stalwart ML Ismael Fofana. Fofana was brought in as one of my first moves at Dover in 2010 and was a staple in our lineup for five years before becoming a backup to young loanee Arsene Bamba in his last season. Fofana played in 182 league games for Dover over his six years, scoring 33 goals and adding 31 assists. Will James and Tom Lawrence were essentially backups during their time here while Philip Roberts, despite being very talented, would become a surplus to requirements after my transfer activity was completed. I'd also loan out a few players in an effort to help their development. DM Carl Graham (a strong player out of our youth system), MC Carlos Gurpegi, ST Lee Cochrane are all sent away on season-long loan. Transfers IN DL - Bob Harris - £95,000 (Last Club: Queen of Sth) - 28 years old, Scotland MC - Jamal Yildirim - £5,000 (Last Club: Lierse) - 21 years old, Morocco DL - Alessandro Barbero - Free (Last Club: Tottenham) - 20 years old, Italy DR - Jackson Ramm - Free (Last Club: Blackburn) - 23 years old, England DM - Shaun Halsall - Free (Last Club: Blackburn) - 18 years old, England MC - Jimmy Juan - Free (Last Club: FC Vaduz) - 33 years old, France MC - Stuart Rogers - Free (Last Club: Tottenham) - 18 years old, England ST - Robert Kerkhof - Free (Last Club: AZ Alkmaar) - 21 years old, Holland ST - Martin Horny - Free (Last Club: Presov) - 19 years old, Slovakia GK - Martin Read - LOAN (From Hearts) - 21 years old, England ML - Arsene Bamba - LOAN (From Arsenal) - 19 years old, France MC - Bernard Dunn - LOAN (From Chelsea) - 18 years old, England AMC - Andrea Rocca - LOAN (From Arsenal) - 19 years old, Italy AMC/ST - Zoltan Bardi - LOAN (From Arsenal) - 18 years old, Hungary ST - Simon Rideout - LOAN (From Leicester) - 21 years old, England Bob Harris becomes our biggest ever signing at just less than £100K. We'd bring him in during the January transfer window and he's a 3.5 star player with solid ratings across the board. Jamal Yildirim is a DM/MC with excellent potential. I've already mentioned Barbero, as we'd sell him only six short months after getting him on a free. Jackson Ramm will give Conor Morrissey a run for his money at DR - Ramm is a 3.0/3.5 player with great speed for the fullback position and excellent stamina as well. Veteran MC Jimmy Juan was brought in to add some stability to our midfield. Robert Kerkhof has good speed and seems like he could be a decent rotational striker for us with Rattke departing. Halsall, Rogers and Horny are strictly youth prospects that we hope can develop into something. In the loan department, Bamba returns for a third year at ML and we continue to work with Arsenal manager Unai Emery (he replaced a retiring Arsene Wenger in 2014) for more loanees. He was kind enough to provide two more key players for us: AMC Andrea Rocca and ST Zoltan Bardi. Bardi could be a superstar in waiting (3.0/4.5) and Rocca (3.0/4.0) has some great technical skill (18 corners/16 crossing/13 passing) and should be very useful in the middle of the park. Martin Read was brought in from our parent club Hearts on loan to backup Wilke. Simon Rideout may be a starter at striker for us - he has blazing speed and is rated 3.5/4.5 at the League 1 level. Bernard Dunn will provide cover for us in the central midfield. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins The loss of Rattke stings but I feel I've done incredibly well to improve our striker position with the additions of Simon Rideout, Zoltan Bardi and Robert Kerkhoff. Our midfield is a slight question mark, as we'll once again be relying heavily on young loanees. I'm not worried about Arsene Bamba, as he's shown he's more than capable at the League 1 level with us over the past two years but Andrea Rocca and Bernard Dunn are unknown quantities. Our defence and goalkeeping should be very strong. David Ogilby is a rotational player at best now for us at DC but will captain the club for the fourth consecutive season. Michael Raynes, another DC, will be appointed as our vice-captain for 2016/17. We'll continue to run with a 4-4-2 for the majority of our games but I start implementing a new 4-4-2DM attacking system in the preseason as a potential second tactic. It utilizes one striker, three attacking midfielders (AML, AMC, AMR), two central midfielders and four defenders. Here is what our preferred starting eleven looked like at the beginning of the season: GK - Ingo Wilke D - Aziz Deen-Conteh/Luke McCullough/Oliver Nicholas/Conor Morrissey M - Arsene Bamba/Jamal Yildirim/Andrea Rocca/Keith King F - Simon Rideout/Zoltan Bardi |
2016/17 npower League 1 Results
To show the club I meant business this year, I ramped up the quality of our opponents during our preseason friendlies, with matches against Celtic, a traditional Scottish powerhouse and two Premier League teams in Liverpool and Aston Villa. We'd defeat Celtic 1-0 but lose home games to both Liverpool and AV 3-1. Still, I felt like it was better preparation for the year ahead. Our first game was a 1-0 away loss to Plymouth in an evenly played match but our second game was a 6-0 annihilation of Torquay in the League Cup 1st Round. That was the start of an 8-game winning streak across all competitions. We were in solid position on the table by October 1st and that's when we really hit our stride. We'd go undefeated for 17 GAMES in all competitions, at one point winning 13 games in a row! Our new 4-4-2 DM formation (ie: 4-2-3-1) was a huge success and we were scoring goals at an unprecedented rate for our club. We'd hit the inevitable rough patch in December and kind of languish for two months at .500 football but we'd hit another hot streak in February, going another 11 matches without a defeat. On April 8th, with four league games and almost a month remaining in the season, we'd travel to our hated rivals Gillingham and throttle them 4-0. We'd battled hard for three years in League 1 but those three points were enough to guarantee Dover promotion out of League 1 and into the npower Championship for 2017-18! One week later, in front of our home crowd at Crabble Athletic Ground, we again prevailed by a 4-0 score, this time over Barnet and that was enough to lock up the npower League 1 title for 2016-17! Championship…here we come!  npower League 1 2016-17 League Awards Top Goalscorer: Michael Chopra, Cardiff - 30 Most Assists: Arsene Bamba, Dover - 22 Highest Average Rating: Robert Kerkhof, Dover - 7.57 (32 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Robert Kerkhof, Dover - 8 Manager of the Year: NoSkillz, Dover npower League 1 Player's Team of the Year GK - Ingo Wilke, Dover DL - Luke Garbutt, Cardiff DC - Luke McCullough, Dover DC - Steven Paulle, Swansea DR - Angel Rangel, Swansea ML - Steve Boyle, Portsmouth MC - Mark Browne, Cardiff MC - Andrea Rocca, Dover MR - Elliott Bennett, Peterborough ST - Michael Chopra, Cardiff ST - Alain Baclet, Plymouth Arsene Bamba led the league in helpers but unheralded Robert Kerkhof was incredible for us this year, leading the league in average rating and MoM awards. Ingo Wilke was honoured for a second consecutive year as the best keeper in League 1 and had some Dover company! Luke McCullough finally fulfilled his huge promise with a wonderful season at centre halfback and Arsenal loanee Andrea Rocca was immense in the central midfield. More on these players in a bit. I'd win League 1 Manager of the Month in November and April and also get the great honour of being League 1 Manager of the Year for 2016-17. Our club would set a few League 1 records that still stand today: Most Team Points (99) and Most Team Goals (113). Cup Competitions 2016-17 FA Cup - We had a pretty easy road to the third round this year, with cupcake matchups against Conference teams Mansfield and Lewes in round 1 and 2 respectively. That easy road got substantially tougher with a third round matchup against Premier League side Southampton. Despite being a last place club in the BPL, it was still a hefty step up in opponents for us and we'd lose a close match away at St. Mary's Stadium to get knocked out of the competition. 1st Round - Mansfield 1 Dover 4 2nd Round - Dover 3 Lewes 0 3rd Round - Southampton 1 Dover 0 League Cup We'd have our best showing in League Cup competition in 2016-17, starting with the massacre of Torquay that I mentioned above. Our second round tie was a personal grudge match against Birmingham. If you recall, I was considered a front-runner for a potential opening there but the club would ultimately decide to keep manager Luis Garcia Plaza, leaving me no choice but to continue forward with Dover. Needless to say, this was a match I was geared up to win and we would do just that, heading into the Championship side's own stadium and defeating them 3-2. We'd draw Liverpool away in the 3rd round, the second meaningful cup tie against them in two years and this time it was no contest, as we'd drop a heavy decision to bow out of the competition. 1st Round - Torquay 0 Dover 6 2nd Round - Birmingham 2 Dover 3 3rd Round - Liverpool 4 Dover 1 Johnstone's Paint Trophy We were defending champions of this event and had another great run this year. We'd dominate two road matches against Brighton and Gillingham in the first two rounds then prevail in two consecutive home ties against Cardiff and Swansea. That set up a 2-leg semi-final against Colchester and we'd win convincingly to head to our second straight final. We'd draw Walsall in that final but lose a bore 1-0 decision in front of 31756 at Wembley Stadium, missing out on our chance to add a fifth cup win to our record. 1st Round - Brighton 0 Dover 4 2nd Round - Gillingham 0 Dover 3 South Quarterfinal - Dover 2 Cardiff 1 South Semi Final - Dover 2 Swansea 0 South Final (Leg 1) - Dover 2 Colchester 0 South Final (Leg 2) - Colchester 0 Dover 1 (Dover wins 3-0 on aggregate) Final - Dover 0 Walsall 1 2016-17 Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Robert Kerkhof - 24 Top League Goalscorer: Robert Kerkhof - 22 Most Assists: Arsene Bamba - 25 Highest Average Rating: Robert Kerkhof - 7.50 (36 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Robert Kerkhof - 8 Fans Player of the Year: Luke McCullough Kerkhof was sensational but McCullough, who has been with the club since 2012, finally breaks out and is a deserving winner of the supporters award. 2016-17 Dover Best Eleven GK - Ingo Wilke - 40 apps 0g 6.97 avg DL - Aziz Deen-Conteh - 27 apps 1g 7.09 avg DC - Luke McCullough - 40 apps 8g 7.43 avg DC - Oliver Nicholas - 43 apps 2g 7.27 avg DR - Conor Morrissey - 24 apps 0g 7.15 avg AML - Arsene Bamba - 38 apps 7g 7.31 avg MC - Isco - 28 apps 7g 7.09 avg MC - Jamal Yildirim - 39 apps 4g 7.04 avg AMR - Craig Moore - 26 apps 5g 7.10 avg AMC - Andrea Rocca - 46 apps 14g 7.32 avg ST - Robert Kerkhof - 36 apps 24g 7.50 avg Other notables: GK Martin Read 19 apps 0g 6.74; DC David Ogilby 21 apps 2g 7.02; DC Sam Barnett 1 apps 1g 7.30; DR Jackson Ramm 35 apps 0g 7.14; ST Aaron Green 27 apps 11g 7.17; ST Zoltan Bardi 32 apps 14g 7.15; ST Simon Rideout 16 apps 8g 7.28 GK - Ingo Wilke wasn't quite up to his standards set last year but didn't need to be, as we practically scored at will this year. Martin Read was just okay as a backup. D - Without question, one of the finest defensive showings in my tenure. Everyone was excellent but it was truly a breakout year for Luke McCullough, with 8 goals and 6 assists from a centre half position. He was a dominating presence all season long. M - Once again, it was the loanees that stuck out the most. We knew what we were getting with Arsene Bamba and again, he didn't disappoint but Andrea Rocca was essentially the main cog in our offensive attack, scoring 14 times and adding 15 assists. Jamal Yildirim was excellent in a defensive role. Craig Moore is a former U18 signing who took advantage of injuries to regular starter Keith King to get additional playing time. F - We had incumbents like Aaron Greene and Craig Beattie along with high-profile loan additions in Zoltan Bardi and Simon Rideout. In the end, it was my fifth striker at the start of the season, Robert Kerkhof, who ended up dominating up front. Injuries took their toll on Greene and Rideout especially, forcing Kerkhof into the lineup and he started scoring immediately to the point where I simply couldn't take him out of the lineup. He definitely overachieved based on the scouting reports but you can't argue with the results: despite playing alone up front in our 4-2-3-1 formation, he'd score 22 goals and add 12 assists in only league 32 games, perhaps one of the great individual seasons in Dover history. Overall, our strikers were absolutely sensational all year. Year-End Financials  Our turnover was very similar to last year but costs went up dramatically, with most of that spent on wages. We'd lose close to 400K on the year but the board certainly wasn't going to complain with our results! We still had a positive bank balance and we'd hopefully reap greater financial rewards in the Championship next year. Closing Thoughts Perhaps my finest year of management yet - I feel like I found something with the exciting new attacking formation we went to almost exclusively in the middle of the season. I'd likely have to look at grabbing some more attacking midfielders next year if we want to continue running this style of play but we'll look into that before the season starts. A plus 71 goal differential!!! Just beautiful football to watch! We've finally taken that step up to the Championship - we're only one more promotion away from the big time! I'm going to press the board now, more than ever before, to make the appropriate commitments to me and the lads if we're to take that final step. |
Great writeup and great season! Go Dover!
Tell |
2017-18 Season Recap -
Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations  I accept a relatively modest salary increase as we move into our first year in the Championship - I'm sure I could have asked for more, especially in light of the fact that I was contemplating a move away from Dover but I continue to just accept what's offered.  I've fought very hard for close to three years to get some sort of facilities or stadium upgrade to no avail. We've sold out a few games in the past two years (mainly cup ties) and I have to imagine that we'll sell out a few league games this year as well. We're definitely in position where demand may be higher than supply, so to speak.  We raise ticket prices over 20% with our move to the second tier on the English league system. It doesn't hurt season ticket sales, as we end up seeing close to a 25% increase there by the start of the year. Our estimated value hits £2.5m, which ranks 53rd in England out of the 160 teams but last in our league. Through the player moves I've made in the offseason, our squad personality has changed to "ambitious" from "professional". The media predicts tough sledding for Dover in 2017-18 and expects us to finish dead last. The board asks me to fight bravely against relegation and I agree, which gives me the following budget: 2017/18 TRANSFER BUDGET - £110,000 2017/18 WAGE BUDGET - £50,000/week A huge increase in both numbers versus last year! Preseason: Roster Status GK - Incumbent Ingo Wilke has been sensational both seasons here at Dover, winning GK of the Year awards both years. He will be our main cog at the back and I'll look to bring Martin Read back from Hearts on loan as his backup. D - Our defence was a strongpoint last year and I hope that moving up a level doesn't hurt us too much. There will be one major move though: we'll be letting our long-time captain leave in July. I don't feel that David Ogilby is cut out for the Championship level so he will be leaving the club on a free transfer deal on July 1st. M - We've enjoyed luck in bringing in key loan players over recent years for our midfield but I don't know if that will be the case this year. I think I'm going to concentrate on finding players to bring in under contract to our own club. F - The guy who came out of nowhere last year, striker Robert Kerkhof. will be back again this year. There will be plenty of question marks beyond that, as most of our other contributors were loan players. Transfers OUT MC - Mark Byrne - Crewe - £40,000 MC - Jimmy Juan - Kansas City - £20,000 DC - Michael Raynes - Portsmouth - £10,000 ST - Craig Beattie - Shrewsbury - £10,000 DC - David Ogilby - Ayr - Free DM - Carl Graham - Northwich - Free DL - Aziz Deen-Conteh - Aves - Free MC - Ben Hazel - Released MC - Carlos Gurpegi - Released ST - Aaron Greene - Released ST - Lee Cochrane - Released ST - Karl Connolly - Released My transfer fees captured pale in comparison to last year. Byrne leaves after three seasons, having appeared in 59 league games over that period, scoring 9 goals and assisting on 7 others. Juan was a big disappointment for us in his only year and at his age, he was losing physical skills quite rapidly. Juan played only 13 games for us, assisting on 4 goals. Craig Beattie didn't make much of an impression either, playing sparingly over two seasons. He scored 13 goals in 33 games and heads to Shrewsbury in League 2. Michael Raynes was a great presence for us on defence for three years but he simply doesn't seem cut out for the Championship at this late stage of his career. He leaves Dover having played 78 games, scoring 5 goals in the process. The two biggest players leaving are unquestionably long-time skipper David Ogilby and stalwart striker Aaron Greene. Ogilby was named captain upon his arrival in July of 2012 and served in that capacity right until his release. He played five seasons at Dover, scoring 8 goals and appearing in 178 games. His determination and influence will be greatly missed. Greene arrived one year later and immediately became a fan favourite at Crabble Athletic Ground, with his incredible speed and deft scoring touch. Greene leaves Dover after four full seasons, having played in 124 league games, scoring 55 goals and assisting on 31 more. The last key player to leave is Aziz Deen-Conteh, who arrived in 2013 just as Greene did. Deen-Conteh had great speed as well at left fullback but he'd be struggling for playing time after our addition of Bob Harris last year. Deen-Conteh played 105 league games for us, scoring twice and adding 9 assists. Carl Graham, Ben Hazel and Karl Connolly were U18 grads who played on the reserve teams or in the rare cup tie and were all expendable. Carlos Gurpegi and Lee Cochrane didn't make much of an impact during their time at the club. I'd loan out two 19 year olds to get them some valuable experience in league football - ST Martin Horny would head to Millwall and DC Sam Barnett will play at Southend. Transfers IN ST - Simon Rideout - £75,000 (Last Club: Leicester) - 22 years old, England AM/ST - Zoltan Bardi - LOAN - £65,000 Fee (From Arsenal) - 19 years old, Hungary DR - Bogdan Dragnea - LOAN - £16,000 Fee (From Everton) - 19 years old, Romania GK - Eduard Hanke - Free (Last Club: Nurnberg) - 20 years old, Germany DL - Leo Creemers - Free (Last Club: Feyenoord) - 21 years old, Holland DC/DM - Jeroen Simaeys - Free (Last Club: West Bromwich) - 32 years old, Belgium DM - Benjamin Stumpf - Free (Last Club: Dortmund) - 22 years old, Germany MC - Darren Pratley - Free (Last Club: Swansea) - 32 years old, England MC/ML - Liam Craig - Free (Last Club: West Ham) - 30 years old, Scotland AM - Marvin Emnes - Free (Last Club: Sheffield United) - 29 years old, Holland ST - Victor Anichebe - Free (Last Club: Getafe) - 29 years old, Nigeria GK - Simon Hayward - Free (Last Club: Manchester United) - 17 years old, England DC - Andy Brown - Free (Last Club: Sheffield United) - 18 years old, England DC - Gareth Mace - Free (Last Club: Manchester United) - 17 years old, England ML - Steve Ingram - Free (Last Club: Manchester City) - 17 years old, England MR - Ismail Mkhize - Free (Last Club: Tottenham) - 18 years old, England MR - Frankie Taylor - Free (Last Club: Huddersfield) - 18 years old, England ST - Lukasz Cichy - Free (Last Club: Lech) - 18 years old, Poland ST - Darren Hicks - Free (Last Club: Chelsea) - 18 years old, England ST - Sam Holden - Free (Last Club: Watford) - 18 years old, England GK - Martin Read - LOAN (From Hearts) - 22 years old, England Our big money signing is striker Simon Rideout, who we had here on loan from Leicester last year. Rideout scored 3 goals and added 4 assists in 13 league games and will be counted on this year as our #3 striker behind Robert Kerkhof and loan player Zoltan Bardi, who is back for a second consecutive year thanks to our friends at Arsenal. Dragnea will be a backup behind Conor Morrissey and Jackson Ramm at DR. We sign a number of key players on a free. Benjamin Stumpf is a technically gifted DM/MC with great work ethic and stamina. DC/DM Jeroen Simaeys is a veteran who will provide leadership and cover behind our starting centre half backs Luke McCullough and Oliver Nicholas. Darren Pratley and Liam Craig are both dependable vets that will provide leadership and production in the middle of the field. Marvin Emnes should fit in quite nicely in an attacking role at AMC in our 4-2-3-1 formation and Victor Anichebe is a big Nigerian striker who should be a nice rotational player at the deep lying forward slot. I decided to bring back Martin Read on loan from parent club Hearts as our main backup at GK - I'll likely loan out new signing Eduard Hanke at some point. I also signed a number of good looking U18 players, with the most intriguing of the bunch being MR Ismail Mkhize, a very tall and fast winger with 4 star potential. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins We've added a TON of new players in order to ensure we have the right quality at all positions. I set up a much longer preseason schedule, arranging 9 friendlies to help bring the new squad together. We breezed through the preseason without a loss so perhaps my fears are unfounded. New central midfielder Darren Pratley quickly earns the respect of his teammates and is chosen as their captain for the upcoming season, taking over from the departed David Ogilby. Luke McCullough is named vice captain, an honour he's had in the recent past (2014-15 season). We'll rotate between three formations this year: a standard flat 4-4-2, our attacking 4-4-2 DM (4 defenders, 2 central mids, AML, AMC, AMR and 1 striker) and a standard 4-5-1 (with four midfielders and one DM). We open our first year in the Championship against Nottingham Forest. Here is our starting eleven for game one (4-4-2 DM): GK - Ingo Wilke D - Bob Harris/Luke McCullough/Oliver Nicholas/Jackson Ramm MC - Jamal Yildirim/Darren Pratley AML/AMC/AMR - Liam Craig/Zoltan Bardi/Keith King ST - Robert Kerkhof |
2017/18 npower Championship Results
I was worried about squad unity heading into the season but after an undefeated preseason, I started thinking more positively. Needless to say, after our first Championship match, we proved that we belonged at this level. Using our splendid 4-4-2 DM formation, we'd rip apart Nottingham Forest to the tune of 6-0! Loan forward Zoltan Bardi, playing AMC, netted a hat trick and we'd also get goals from newcomer and captain Darren Pratley, last year's star Robert Kerkhof and winger Keith King. That was only the beginning… Amazingly, our club, predicted to finish in dead last by the pundits, rang up an 18-game undefeated streak to start the season, tying only 1 game. That's a 17-1-0 start!!! Needless to say, we were in first by a mile when we'd finally lose our first game, a 2-0 away defeat to West Bromwich. We'd lose three of our next four in league play but were still well in front after gaining 3 more wins during the Christmas season. A 5-2 win on New Year's Day put us at 21-1-4 and we were on top of the world. That's precisely when our form went into the gutter. We'd go ten consecutive games without a victory in all competitions, not winning another game until March 10th. In the process, we fell into 2nd place behind Bolton, who were having a great season of their own. We'd win three in a row to close out March and were in the title hunt at the beginning of April. However, another cold spell saw us win only 1 of our next 7 matches. That was enough to give Bolton the Championship title going away and we'd reach our final game of the season, a home match against QPR, needing a win to lock up 2nd place and an automatic promotion to the Premier League. A tie or loss would knock us down to either 3rd or 4th and we'd have to battle it out in a playoff to see who gets the third promotion spot in the EPL. As you know by now, having read the first post in this dynasty thread, Dover was able to prevail despite falling to 10 men, 4-2, thereby finishing second in the Championship and gaining promotion to the Barclays Premier League. The little club that could, Dover Athletic FC, was heading to the big-time. Dover was heading to the Premier League!!!  npower Championship 2017-18 League Awards Top Goalscorer: James Hunter, Nottingham Forest - 27 Most Assists: Sebastian Dubarbier, Bolton - 25 Highest Average Rating: Liam Craig, Dover - 7.52 (38 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Daniel Pappoe, Barnsley - 10 Manager of the Year: NoSkillz, Dover npower Championship Player's Team of the Year GK - Ingo Wilke, Dover DL - Danny Earls, Norwich DC - Oliver Nicholas, Dover DC - Gary Cahill, Bolton DR - Nathaniel Clyne, West Bromwich ML - Sebastien Dubarbier, Bolton MC - Craig Gardner, West Bromwich MC - Andy King, Bolton MR - Chris Eagles, Bolton ST - James Hunter, Nottingham Forest ST - Jonathan Pereira, West Ham Dover MC/ML Liam Craig was also named to the team as a substitute. Ingo Wilke has been named to the player's select team all three years he's been with our club. This is Oliver Nicholas' first league award. Our hot start enabled me to win the Championship Manager of the Month award for September and I'd win the Manager of the Year award as well. We won 11 games in a row between August 12th and October 7, 2017 and that is an npower Championship record that still stands today. Cup Competitions 2017-18 FA Cup - Talk about a short stay in a competition! We'd get a bye into the 3rd round where we faced Premier League club Fulham at Craven Cottage. They'd knock us off with ease and just like that, we were out! 3rd Round - Fullham 3 Dover 1 League Cup Thankfully, we had a bit more success, and an easier road, in the League Cup. We faced League 2 side Rushden & Diamonds in the 1st round at home and knocked them off with relative ease before facing division rival West Ham in round two. We'd need extra time, getting a 98th minute goal from Liam Craig to move on before running into Blackburn, a Premier League club. We'd play them very tough and take them to extra time at Ewood Park but an own goal from young loan defender Bogdan Dragnea in the 105th minute led to our defeat. 1st Round - Dover 2 Rushden 0 2nd Round - West Ham 2 Dover 3 (in extra time) 3rd Round - Blackburn 3 Dover 2 (in extra time) 2017-18 Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Liam Craig - 14 Top League Goalscorer: Simon Rideout - 12 Most Assists: Liam Craig - 25 Highest Average Rating: Liam Craig - 7.56 (40 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Liam Craig - 7 Fans Player of the Year: Liam Craig New signing Liam Craig stole the show for us this year, leading in practically every category as a winger/central midfielder. Simply an incredible statistical season! 2017-18 Dover Best Eleven GK - Ingo Wilke - 36 apps 0g 7.02 avg DL - Bob Harris - 36 apps 0g 7.11 avg DC - Jeroen Simaeys - 29 apps 2g 6.98 avg DC - Oliver Nicholas - 44 apps 5g 7.28 avg DR - Conor Morrissey - 25 apps 1g 7.02 avg AML - Liam Craig - 40 apps 14g 7.56 avg MC - Darren Pratley - 37 apps 7g 6.98 avg MC - Jamal Yildirim - 34 apps 3g 6.99 avg AMR - Keith King - 32 apps 8g 7.17 avg AMC - Zoltan Bardi - 30 apps 12g 7.04 avg ST - Simon Rideout - 35 apps 12g 7.03 avg Other notables: GK Eduard Hanke 13 apps 0g 6.85; GK Martin Read 1 apps 0g 5.80; DC Luke McCullough 24 apps 1g 6.92; DR Jackson Ramm 28 apps 0g 6.91; ML Simon Bouwman 19 apps 1g 6.92; AMC Marvin Emnes 28 apps 6g 6.94; ST Robert Kerkhof 30 apps 12g 7.02 GK - Ingo Wilke was at his acrobatic best once again, winning a third straight "GK of the Year" nod from his peers. Young GK Eduard Hanke played enough cup ties to keep busy. D - Oliver Nicholas had a very strong season on defence, along with DL Bob Harris. Newcomer Jeroen Simaeys played well when called upon, especially when Luke McCullough went down due to injury. We continue to get good rotational play at right fullback from both Conor Morrissey and Jackson Ramm M - The story at midfield was the incredible season put forth by newcomer Liam Craig - he took corners, played wing or in the middle of the park and was a waterbug out there all season long. A fantastic pickup for us on a free! Darren Pratley, our new captain, provided great leadership and a big right foot down the middle. Arsenal loanee Zoltan Bardi played mostly at attacking midfielder and was inconsistent but effective when needed. F - Last year's star player Robert Kerkhof had a horrendous mid-season slump and saw his playing time plummet near the end of the year. Simon Rideout was arguably our best forward. Year-End Financials  We saw close to a 50% increase in turnover but our costs were significant, as we spent more money on wages in order to make a push for the Premier League. It was all worth it in the end! We had a negative bank balance at the end of June but I'm pretty sure that would be taken care of quickly upon our move to the top league! Average attendance was just short of our capacity and we sold out close to half our games this year. Will we EVER get the board to expand our stadium? Closing Thoughts I can't tell you how thrilled I am at getting Dover all the way to the Premier League. Five promotions in eight years - it makes it sound like it was an easy road but it was anything but! My agent told me that my ability to get Dover to the Premier League had not gone unnoticed by clubs around the world, saying I would likely be getting some offers to move elsewhere. I nodded and told him to keep in touch. An offer came in almost immediately from Stoke City. I was being offered £20,000/week to manage at Britannia Stadium. £20,000 PER WEEK?!! I was currently making only £1,800/week…hell, I'd exceed my current yearly salary in five weeks with Stoke! I didn't think too long before rejecting the offer. I had no interest whatsoever in moving to Stoke, a team that just was being relegated back to the Championship. Stoke is obviously a big club but that's a step back as far as I was concerned. I yearned for Premier League football. Two days later, I got a call I never thought I'd get. Liverpool FC, one of the largest clubs in the world, wanted me to come and manage at the brand spanking new Liverpool Stadium, a 60,781 all-seater that would be opening for play in the coming season. Liverpool was offering me £45,000 PER WEEK to manage the club but that's not all. How about a weekly wage budget of £1.8 million? Yes…MILLION! My wage budget at Dover this year was £50,000/week. Oh and that transfer budget, you ask? How about £30,000,000? Holy mother of God. I asked the Liverpool chairman to give me a week to think about it and they were accommodating. Their club is in great shape, coming off a 3rd place finish in the Premier League, meaning they'd be playing Champions League football. The CHAMPIONS LEAGUE! And in a brand new stadium with a very new chairman, as Ian Ayre just recently was promoted after John Henry left the club in February. I don't know if I'll ever get a better opportunity in the world of football. Fans at Dover feared the worst and our board could only wait and hope for the best. In the end, I just couldn't leave the club that I had given so much to over the past eight years. I declined the Liverpool offer, much to the delight of the Dover board and the supporters. I had to see this through. What a challenge this will be! |
So, we've come full circle on this story...
In post #1, I started off with the last game of the 2017-18 season, a promotion clinching victory over Queens Park Rangers to send little Dover Athletic FC into the Premier League. This, only 8 short years after I took over management of the club in the Blue Square Bet South division, five full divisions below the EPL. I've now gone back and recapped our entire history to this point to bring us right back to July of 2018 and the start of our first year in the Barclays Premier League. At the present moment, I'm just finishing off the 2019-20 season so I'll offer a recap of the 2018-19 first before going into a bit more detail about the current campaign. Was I able to keep the Whites up? Updates to come... |
Nice work! Looking forward to more!
Tell |
2018-19 Season Recap -
Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations  It doesn't take me long to realize how different the Premier League is from the Championship. I'm offered a contract extension that sees my salary skyrocket from £1,800 per week to £13,250! My annual salary goes all the way up to £689,000! WOW. I'm now considered to have a "Continental" reputation and the Dover supporters now consider me to be a team icon, which is a step up from "favoured personnel" and just one step down from being a team legend.  For years, I've attempted to get improvements made at Crabble Athletic Ground and I've been turned away every single time. Well, the board can say no to me all they want but there was no turning away from Premier League officials, that's for sure! Due to Premier League regulations that don't allow standing terraces (due to the Hillsborough disaster in 1989), our club was forced to tear them all down and replace them with seats. Our board passed a £750,000 expansion project that would see Crabble Athletic Ground become a 7000 capacity all-seater by mid-November. On an interim basis, while construction is ongoing, our capacity is reduced to 5675 with only 890 of them being seats. Therefore, during Premier League matches, we'd only be able to accommodate 890 people at most until the expansion is completed. For cup ties, we were allowed to use any existing terraces, thereby allowing us to house 5675 supporters. Needless to say, I'm elated that we're finally DOING SOMETHING, even if it's just because Premier League officials put a gun to our head!  Our team reputation is now up to "National" from Regional. Moving to the Premier League allows us to hike ticket prices substantially and we put through close to a 50% price increase on single game tickets and ~40% on season tickets. Despite the large increase, we sell almost 1500 more season ticket packages versus last year, a stunning 60+% increase! Oh, and our team's estimated value skyrockets from £2.5m to a whopping £24.5 million!!! We are now ranked 24th in England. I was pretty excited to head into our budget meeting before the season started. I knew the media were practically laughing about our prospects in the Premier League and I expected our board to have modest goals. Indeed, they hoped we would fight bravely against relegation and I told them the lads would give it their best effort. Our budgets were quite different to what we were used to... 2018/19 TRANSFER BUDGET - £9,000,000 2018/19 WAGE BUDGET - £135,000/week The Premier League effect is a wonderful thing! What am I going to do with nine million pounds?!? I end up tweaking things a bit to give us a larger wage allowance, dropping the transfer budget to around 7.5 million. Preseason: Roster Status GK - I don't expect to make any changes here. Ingo Wilke has done nothing but impress at every level with Dover thus far and he'll get the opportunity to lead us at the top level in English football. D - I'm generally happy with our backline but could likely use an upgrade here and there. Oliver Nicholas and Luke McCullough should be capable enough at this level but Jeroen Simaeys may be getting a bit long in the tooth. At fullback, Bob Harris, Conor Morrissey and Jackson Ramm will have to prove they are all up to the challenge. We could likely do with some upgrades in the centre especially. M - We have some pretty decent players here, especially the versatile Liam Craig but could use a more dynamic presence in the middle of the park. F - We were a tad weak at striker last year, getting a disappointing performance from Robert Kerkhof but decent play out of Simon Rideout and Zoltan Bardi Upgrades would be useful here as well. Generally speaking, I needed to upgrade depth everywhere and add a few key pieces at starting positions to bring more "Premier League quality" to the squad. Transfers OUT DM/MC - Jamal Yildirim - St. Gallen - £1,500,000 ST - Robert Kerkhof - Granada - £1,000,000 AMC - Marvin Emnes - AaB - £825,000 ST - Lionel Lavigne - Betis - £350,000 ST - Victor Anichebe - Portsmouth - £100,000 ST - Martin Horny - Northwich - £1,000 MC - Isco - Bristol City - Free DL - Carlos Dussaut - Released ML - Simon Bouwman - Released MR - Craig Moore - Released ST - Darren Hicks - Released We grab our largest transfer fee ever in selling capable midfielder Jamal Yildirim to St. Gallen. He played parts of three years for us, appearing in 73 league games, scoring 7 goals and adding 8 assists. Perhaps the most surprising move is selling striker Robert Kerkhof after only two years with the club. Kerkhof was instrumental in our promotion from League 1 to the Championship but was very inconsistent last season. It was questionable as to whether he was going to be able to make an impact at the Premier League level so when I was offered a million pounds for him, I decided I couldn't pass up on the value. Kerkhof leaves after scoring 32 goals in 62 league games, adding 18 assists and 10 MoM awards as well. New signing (see below) Lionel Lavigne fetched an incredible sum for a 19 year old who hadn't yet played a league game for the club. I loaned him out last year and couldn't pass up 350K for him when he didn't have a spot on our club for the foreseeable future. Marvin Emnes and Victor Anichebe made modest contributions to our team last year while Martin Horny was a perennial loan candidate. None will be missed. Isco was a pretty unheralded and underappreciated player for us over the past three years. He was a capable offensive player but not really skilled enough for the Premier League. He leaves for Bristol City on a free transfer, having played in 65 league games for Dover, scoring 8 goals and assisting on 10. Of the released players, Simon Bouwman and Craig Moore made impacts with our club. Bouwman was more or less a second choice here during his three seasons at the club, whether it was behind loanee Arsene Bamba or Liam Craig last year. Bouwman played in 52 league games, scoring 6 goals. Moore was one of our first "regen" signings as an U18 player and was with our team for six years. He was loaned out to Histon, Braintree, Ebbsfleet and Chelmsford over that period of time but also made an impact with the Whites, playing in 54 games and scoring 4 goals. Carlos Dussaut and Darren Hicks were U18 players released when their contracts expired. I loaned out a ton of players over the course of the year, most notably receiving £150,000 from Ipswich for sending striker Simon Rideout to them for the season. Transfers IN ST - Gerardo Escobar - £2,200,000 (Last Club: Manchester United) - 21 years old, Spain AMC - Andrea Rocca - £1,600,000 (Last Club: Celta) - 21 years old, Italy ST - Robbie Benson - £1,500,000 (Last Club: Dundee) - 26 years old, Ireland MR - Petr Kostal - £1,300,000 (Last Club: Reading) - 23 years old, Czech Republic AMC - Aitor Zubizarreta - £1,000,000 (Last Club: Manchester United) - 20 years old, Spain ST - Zoltan Bardi - £850,000 (Last Club: Arsenal) - 20 years old, Hungary DC - Rayane Hamon - LOAN - £300,000 Fee (From Liverpool) - 20 years old, France DM - George MacKenzie - LOAN - £275,000 Fee (From Chelsea) - 20 years old, England MC - Andre Zacher - LOAN - £200,000 Fee (From OM) - 19 years old, Germany GK - Fraser Forster - Free (Last Club: Leicester) - 30 years old, England DR - Glen Johnson - Free (Last Club: Liverpool) - 33 years old, England DR - Jozef Kuciak - Free (Last Club: Liverpool) - 24 years old, Slovakia DC - Joleon Lescott - Free (Last Club: Wigan) - 35 years old, England DC - Stephane Mbia - Free (Last Club: CD Sedan Ardennes) - 32 years old, Cameroon AML - Ashley Young - Free (Last Club: Aston Villa) - 32 years old, England ML - Cristian Rodriguez - Free (Last Club: Chelsea) - 32 years old, Uruguay AMC - Jose Manuel Jurado - Free (Last Club: Schalke) - 32 years old, Spain ST/AMC - Roberto - Free (Last Club: Los Angeles) - 19 years old, Brazil U18 Team Additions - GK - Ryan Alnwick - Free (Last Club: Liverpool) - 18 years old, England DC - Andrew Stanley - Free (Last Club: Tottenham) - 18 years old, England DC - Jamie Matthews - Free (Last Club: Liverpool) - 18 years old, England DR - Rachid Diallo - Free (Last Club: Pau FC) - 18 years old, Togo DC/DM - Emmanuel Agbo - Free (Last Club: Tottenham) - 17 years old, England ST - Lionel Lavigne - Free (Last Club: OGC Nice) - 18 years old, France ST - Dennis Kunz - Free (Last Club: Jena II) - 17 years old, Germany We make sweeping changes to the roster in light of our promotion to the Premier League. There are a few key moves, one of which is adding young Spanish striker Gerardo Escobar, who never played a league game for Man U but played on loan in Ireland and France the last two years. I hope he makes a big contribution right away. I'm also ecstatic to bring back attacking central midfielder Andrea Rocca to Dover - Rocca was here during our League 1 promotion year and was arguably our most important player that season. We expect him to contribute right away for our club this year. I also decide to buy Zoltan Bardi from Arsenal - Bardi has played with us on loan the past two years and fit in very well so he is a nice bargain addition. Robbie Benson will be a third or fourth choice at striker and he has blazing speed. Petr Kostal will get a chance to play in a rotation at MR while Aitor Zubizarreta is brought in more for the future. We bring in three players on loan - I'm going to give Rayane Hamon a chance to play regularly at centre half (3.5/4.5) and I'm hoping George MacKenzie can play at DM when we go to a 4-5-1 formation, something I expect to rely on often at this level to keep games close on the road against superior competition. Andre Zacher is a dynamic and skilled centre mid. As for the free additions, I bring in a number of veterans with experience not only at the top level but international experience as well. Glen Johnson comes to Dover with an incredible 93 caps for England while Ashley Young has played 32 times for England. Joleon Lescott will be another England international adding experience to our backline. GK Fraser Forster has the talent to unseat incumbent Ingo Wilke from our nets. Jozef Kuciak will likely work into a fullback rotation with newcomer Glen Johnson and incumbent Conor Morrissey. Cristian Rodriguez, Stephane Mbia and Jose Manuel Jurado will all make contributions as well as adding some needed influence to our young team. Young Brazilian striker Roberto comes to us after spending one year with Los Angeles but will be a loan candidate. I continue adding prospects to our U18 pool but don't expect any to contribute anytime soon. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins I really have no idea what to expect in our first year of Premier League play. Squad unity may be a major issue due to all of the new additions but I'm excited to see if we can hold our own at the top level of English football. We make no changes to our team leadership, with Darren Pratley and Luke McCullough maintaining the captain and vice-captain roles respectively. We will likely rely on two formations for the most part this year: a standard 4-4-2 and a 4-5-1 with a defensive midfielder. Our first ever Premier League contest will see us host Liverpool, the team that offered me the managerial position in the offseason. They'd end up hiring veteran Martin O'Neill when I turned the job down. I'm sure they will have something to prove when they visit Crabble Athletic Ground! We decide on a narrow 4-4-2 formation for game one. Here is the starting lineup for our first game in the Barclays Premier League: GK - Ingo Wilke D - Bob Harris/Stephane Mbia/Oliver Nicholas/Jozef Kuciak M - Cristian Rodriguez/Liam Craig, Darren Pratley, Ashley Young ST - Gerardo Escobar/Zoltan Bardi |
Let's go Dover! Let's go Dover! Let's go Dover! Let's go NoSkillz!
Tell |
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Thanks Tell! More updates coming... |
2018/19 Barclays Premier League Results
We were thrown into the fire right away with a home match against Liverpool in our Premier League debut. We'd handle the pressure and stress well in game one, splitting possession equally with our much more cultured opponents but a goal in the 36th minute from Israeli international Ben Sahar was enough for Liverpool to escape with a 1-0 win. We'd win our first ever top flight match in week two, in an away contest no less, defeating Fulham at Craven Cottage 1-0, with new signing Ashley Young scoring the goal, our first in Premier League play. Understandably, we'd have trouble scoring goals and an equal amount of difficulty in keeping the ball out of our own goal as well. That said, we were determined enough to avoid long losing streaks, with our longest league losing streak only lasting four games. Our longest winning streak was three games but what a streak it was, starting with a 3-2 away win at Wolves before our biggest win of the season, a 1-0 stunner at home against powerhouse Arsenal! We'd then win a 3-2 decision away versus Sheffield United to give us our lone three game win streak of the year. One of the main things we'd need to correct going forward was our tendency to lose big: the game immediately after the Shef United win was a 6-1 drubbing at the hands of Liverpool and I'd lose a few weeks later by the same score against Manchester United, the eventual league champions. Our biggest loss was in the penultimate game of the season, against Arsenal. Gaining revenge for their embarrassing loss to us earlier in the season, they put on an absolute clinic at Emirates Stadium in London, defeating us 7-0. Thankfully, we won more than enough to stay afloat for another year in the Premier League, finishing 11th on the table in 2018-19.  Barclays Premier League 2018-19 League Awards Top Goalscorer: Enrique, Manchester City - 51 Most Assists: Bruno, Manchester City - 19 Highest Average Rating: Enrique, Manchester City - 8.20 (35 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Enrique, Manchester City - 17 English Footballer of the Year: Enrique, Manchester City - 35 apps 51 gls 12 asts 8.20 avg English Players' Player of the Year: Moussa Sissoko, Manchester City - 33 apps 11 gls 11 asts 7.38 avg English Players' Young Player of the Year: Bruno, Manchester City - 26 apps 2 gls 19 asts 7.33 avg Manager of the Year: Oscar Garre, Sunderland Barclays Premier League Players' Team of the Year GK - Emiliano Viviano, Manchester United DL - Gareth Bale, Tottenham DC - Simon Kjaer, Manchester City DC - Nchimunya Munyao, Arsenal DR - Luiz Carlos, Manchester United ML - Fabio Coentrao, Manchester City MC - Jack Wilshere, Arsenal MC - Moussa Sissoko, Manchester City MR - Bruno, Manchester City ST - Enrique, Manchester City ST - Yaya Sanogo, Manchester United Enrique is simply an astonishing player. The 24 year old Spaniard is worth over 35 million pounds and is just lethal - he was purchased in 2016 from Real Madrid and scored 59 goals across all competitions this year, winning the European Golden Boot and was also named as the best player in the Champions League as well. A remarkable year. As for Bale being listed as a DL - well, I don't know - he played most of the season at ML/AML but obviously played enough at DL to get consideration at that position. I'd finish in 3rd place in the Barclays Premier League Manager of the Year voting - not bad for finishing 11th! Cup Competitions 2018-19 FA Cup - Another tough year in FA Cup play - we'd draw Peterborough, a Championship side in a 3rd round matchup at home and win 3-1 but run into Arsenal in the 4th round. We did well to play them to a scoreless draw away despite being dominated throughout and then fought gamely in the replay at home. We'd be scoreless through 90 minutes despite playing with only 10 men from the 2nd minute of the game, as young defensive midfielder George MacKenzie got sent off for a professional foul. However, their class ultimately came through, courtesy of Aaron Ramsey in the 94th minutes then an embarrassing own goal from Glen Johnson and we'd be out of the competition. 3rd Round - Dover 3 Peterborough 1 4th Round - Arsenal 0 Dover 0 4th Round Replay - Dover 0 Arsenal 2 (extra time) League Cup We faced Brighton, a League 1 side in the 2nd round and won easily before a huge 2-0 win away at Premier League side Fulham. We'd then host another Premier League squad, Everton, in the 4th round. We'd be tied 1-1 through 90 minutes but similar to the FA Cup replay against Arsenal, we'd run out of gas, giving up two extra time goals to bow out of the League Cup. 2nd Round - Dover 3 Brighton 0 3rd Round - Fulham 0 Dover 2 4th Round - Dover 1 Everton 3 (extra time) 2018-19 Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Gerardo Escobar - 9 Top League Goalscorer: Gerardo Escobar - 9 Most Assists: Gerardo Escobar - 8 Highest Average Rating: Ingo Wilke - 7.02 (24 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Zoltan Bardi - 3 Fans Player of the Year: Zoltan Bardi We had great trouble scoring goals all year against top flight competition, with no players getting into double digits. Escobar showed great potential but had a bit of trouble settling in to the club. Bardi was a surprising choice as top player, to be honest. 2018-19 Dover Best Eleven GK - Ingo Wilke - 24 apps 0g 7.02 avg DL - Leo Creemers - 19 apps 0g 6.84 avg DC - Luke McCullough - 29 apps 3g 6.78 avg DC - Rayane Hamon - 25 apps 0g 6.75 avg DR - Jozef Kuciak - 23 apps 0g 6.60 avg DMC - Darren Pratley - 35 apps 5g 6.71 avg MC - Andrea Rocca - 20 apps 6g 7.29 avg MC - Liam Craig - 37 apps 6g 6.89 avg AML - Cristian Rodriguez - 27 apps 3g 6.84 avg AMR - Petr Kostal - 25 apps 4g 6.72 avg ST - Zoltan Bardi - 34 apps 7g 6.86 avg Other notables: GK Fraser Forster 20 apps 0g 6.66; DC Stephane Mbia 20 apps 1g 6.74; DC Oliver Nicholas 22 apps 0g 6.73; ML Ashley Young 25 apps 2g 6.67; ST Gerardo Escobar 35 apps 9g 6.69; ST Robbie Benson 13 apps 3g 6.74; ST Roberto 7 apps 2g 6.86 GK - New signing Fraser Forster got plenty of chances to take the reigns at GK but played very poorly for us, showing terrible rebound control and making poor decisions. Ingo Wilke, despite having less natural talent, was the better keeper, without question. D - Defensively, we were a mess against top flight competition - we just don't have the requisite speed to keep up with the pacy Premier League strikers, especially guys like Man CIty's Enrique and Man City's Sanogo. Young loanee Rayane Hamon was arguably our best defender all year. Right fullback Glen Johnson, a very cultured and highly pedigreed star, was absolutely terrible all year and his declining pace was shocking to witness as opposing strikers and wingers rocketed by him each game. M - Our midfield was our best area all year. Andrea Rocca was excellent when healthy (7.29 avg rating in 20 games) but he missed 3 months due to a calf injury. Ashley Young, like many of the veterans we signed, saw his skills decline rapidly throughout the year. Liam Craig, after a very special year getting us to the Premier League, was shuttled back and forth between left wing and central midfield and his production suffered as a result. F - We had trouble scoring goals all year up front, with new signing Gerardo Escobar leading the team in both goals and assists but doing so in unimpressive fashion. He showed glimpses of greatness so I'm hopeful he'll continue to grow next year. Zoltan Bardi played a lot at midfield in addition to his play at striker. Robbie Benson showed an appalling tendency to dive (and get carded for it) and I'll likely try to move him in the offseason. Young striker Roberto came up with a couple of key goals as a substitute and with proper development, I can see him turning into a contributor. We could really use a game-breaker at striker. Year-End Financials  The money in the Premier League is absolutely ludicrous! And I mean that in the best possible way :) We see close to an 800% increase in our revenue, with television rights money being the biggest contributing factor. Our wage costs quadruple and our net transfer spending was north of five million pounds but despite all of that, we clear a profit of well over £13 million in 2018-19! Our bank balance is extremely healthy and I'm hopeful that we can not only make a splash in the transfer market next year but also make some much needed improvements to our facilities. The only number above that might not make sense on the surface is our average attendance, which was down considerably from last year. Remember that we had a three and a half month period where we were playing in a reduced capacity stadium and had Premier League matches with a maximum capacity of 890 people until mid-November. Closing Thoughts We had our growing pains in our first year of top-flight football but an 11th place finish likely has to be deemed a success. We need to drastically reduce the amount of goals against and tighten up much more against bigger clubs. We still need talent upgrades throughout the lineup and I'm guessing I'll get much more money to play with in the transfer market next season, which will help us reach our goals. |
Now that's what we're talking about when it comes to making money in the footy world! Time to get that team built up! Let's just hope that they have enough room around that stadium to increase it's size. Not sure how long you'll have to stay in the Prem before they'd build an entirely new stadium.
Tell |
2019-20 Season Recap -
Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations  There's not much new here to see - I signed a three-year contract in July 2018 and for the first time in my nine years at the club, I'm not offered a salary increase.  Upon entry into the Premier League, our club was forced to tear down all standing terraces and replace them with seats. By the end of the season, we had ourselves a lovely 7000 all-seater. Demand has continued to swell among our supporters and for the first time, likely due to our blossoming bank balance, the board said yes to a couple of requests! First, they agreed to improve our training facilities for the first time. We spent ~£600,000 on upgrades that would bring our training facilities to an "adequate" rating from "fairly basic". Then, the board agreed in July to expanding the capacity at Crabble Athletic Ground for a second consecutive year. We engaged in a £4.4 million construction project that saw our capacity increase from 7000 to 10,500 seats, with construction being completed on November 10, 2019. I can also say that the club is currently in the planning stages of building a Youth Academy!!! Whether that goes through or not, we'll have to see but things are looking up here in Dover!  Our ticket prices are bumped up modestly for the 2019-20 season and we see another big move in the estimated value of our club, with Dover now being valued at approximately £32,500,000, which places us 18th in England and 17th in the division. The media give us enough respect after an 11th place finish in 2018-19 to predict that we'll stay afloat another year, with them predicting a 16th place finish, just above relegation. I'm a bit more optimistic and tell the board I'm planning on a mid-table finish. For that outlook, I'm granted the following in wage and transfer budgets: 2019/20 TRANSFER BUDGET - £18,000,000 2019/20 WAGE BUDGET - £195,000/week Holy CRAP! 18 million pounds!!! We can definitely try to reel in a big fish this year! |
Preseason: Roster Status
GK - I can't tell you how disappointed I was in new signing Fraser Forster. He's making a huge salary and I'll be looking to dump him to the highest bidder. Hopefully, I can bring in a more capable keeper to assist Ingo Wilke D - Our defence was pretty poor last year. In reality, we need help everywhere but I'd really like to upgrade our fullbacks. Bob Harris, our usual starting left fullback was outplayed by his backup Leo Creemers last year. At right fullback, long-time White Conor Morrissey is likely on his way out the door with an expiring contract - he's been an incredible player for us through multiple promotions but he just isn't a Premier League quality player. Fellow right fullback Glen Johnson was atrocious for us in his first year at Dover - he's got one more year left on his contract and will be retiring after this season. I may be forced to keep him. Jozef Kuciak was decent at DR last year but is more suited to a backup role. At DC, long-time Dover soldiers Luke McCullough and Oliver Nicholas are still here but I'll need some reinforcements at that position. Nicholas especially is showing signs of not being able to keep up to the speed in the division. M - We're in decent shape here, especially in the middle of the park. Andrea Rocca was sensational when healthy and Liam Craig continued to produce and show great versatility. We're quite weak on both wings though - veteran signings Cristian Rodriguez and Ashley Young saw big declines in training last year and MR Keith King is more suited to a backup role at this level. F - Gerardo Escobar was decent last year but I'm looking for more out of last year's big signing. Zoltan Bardi will be back as well and young striker Roberto impressed in limited appearances. I could really use a gamebreaker at this position. With such a large transfer budget, I'm going to prepare to make a big splash on a player, especially if I can find a stud striker, which is so important at this level. I'm also going to look for upgrades everywhere - I think the key will be to find one great young(ish) player at each position - it might take a few years to build my club this way but if I can get a full squad of 4.5 potential types, I'll likely be in pretty good shape. My big needs in the first transfer window: 1. Try to bring in a world-class striker 2. Look for at least one starting fullback 3. Look for at least one starting winger 4. Look for at least one starting central midfielder 5. Look for a capable backup keeper or someone to challenge Wilke for the #1 spot |
A real budget! Hooray! Can't wait to see how you spend it.
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July 2019 - Transfer Window
Transfers OUT GK - Fraser Forster - Derby - £2,500,000 MR - Keith King - Recreativo - £2,000,000 ST - Robbie Benson - Fulham - £1,600,000 AMC - Jose Manuel Jurado - Granada - £900,000 GK - Eduard Hanke - Las Palmas - £800,000 ML/AML - Ashley Young - QPR - £250,000 DL - Leo Creemers - Stade de Reims - Free DC - Sam Barnett - Brentford - Free MC - Benjamin Stumpf - FC Sochaux-Montbe - Free ST - Lukasz Cichy - Melilla - Free ST - Sam Holden - Crystal Palace - Free DR - Conor Morrissey - Released DC - Jeroen Simaeys - Released I fetch my largest transfer fee ever in moving Fraser Forster to fellow Premier League club Derby. I feel I got a premium for him over his value simply due to the fact I'll have to play against him at least twice a year. He had a rough season with us, giving up 42 goals in only 19 appearances last year. Keith King joined our club in 2014 and played five full seasons at MR/AMR. King, who has 83 international caps for Bermuda, played 124 league games for Dover, scoring 30 goals and adding 21 assists. He could have hung on as a backup here but he wasn't quite starter material at the Premier League level. Robbie Benson, Jose Manuel Jurado and Ashley Young only played one season for Dover - Benson scored a few goals for us as a fourth choice striker but I got tired of his annoying penchant for diving. Jurado was one of the most skilled players we've ever had here at Dover, with flair to spare (ha) but at 33 years old, his declining skills and speed kept him from producing against the best players in England. Young, the English international, scored Dover's first ever Premier League goal but he was a non-factor too often on the left side of the park. Eduard Hanke was a backup keeper for us during our Championship season and a pretty good one, as he allowed only 11 goals in 9 starts. I loaned him out to Las Palmas in Liga BBVA last year and they liked him enough to buy him for 800K. That was an easy deal to accept. Leo Creemers outplayed Bob Harris at DL last year, making it into our best eleven. However, he was a middling talent and I ended up selling him on a free to Stade de Reims. He leaves after two seasons at Dover, 32 league appearances and 1 goal. Defensive midfielder Benjamin Stumpf had loads of talent, great work ethic and was a tireless player but he simply didn't produce in his two years at the club. He played 23 scoreless games for us and leaves for France. Sam Barnett, Lukasz Cichy and Sam Holden are former U18 prospects that I deemed expendable. Of the released players, the toughest to say goodbye to is perhaps one of the more under appreciated defenders I've had: Conor Morrissey. I picked up Morrissey in 2011, my second year at Dover. He was destined for our U18 squad but impressed so much during our preseason friendlies that I kept him on the senior team. Every year, there was another player brought in to challenge him but he always held off his competition. Over eight seasons at Dover, Morrissey played 215 games. He only scored one goal and it was a big one that's been noted here previously - he scored in the final game of our Championship season against QPR, helping us gain promotion to the Premier League. He wasn't here to score: he was a wonderful defender and enthusiastic tackler who routinely racked up the highest tackle totals on our team. Thank you Conor for your tremendous service to the club! Jeroen Simaeys spent two years at Dover and leaves after 34 league appearances - he scored 2 goals and added 2 assists during his time with the Whites. I'd loan out a number of young players who recently graduated from our U18 program or would be a surplus to requirements for our upcoming year: DC Michael Thompson, DR Jackson Ramm, MC Frankie Taylor, ST Roberto, MR Ismail Mkhize, DC Andy Brown, MC Stuart Rogers, AMC Aitor Zubizarreta, DR Rachid Diallo and DM Shaun Halsall all get loaned out to help their development. With that all out of the way, it's time to start adding to our squad! |
Transfers IN
We had made a couple of seemingly minor deals just after our season concluded, with two foreign players joining Dover upon completion of their seasons abroad. DC - Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz - £120,000 (From INF Clairefontaine) - 16 years old, Morocco DM/DC - Mancini - £500,000 (From Cruzeiro) - 20 years old, Brazil Yilmaz will be put into our U18 squad with hopes of developing - he's currently rated 1.0/4.0, which is very promising for a 16 year old. Mancini is loved by my main scout (3.5/4.5) and will step in right away as our starting defensive midfielder in 4-5-1 formations. We also bring in young Jonathan Adam from Aston Villa on a free after he was dropped from their U18 roster. Adam is an 18 year old AMC/ML with great pace (15 acc/16 pace) and flair (16) and 3 star potential. When July 1st hits, we immediately start looking for our striker. Initially, our scouts lead us to Brazil and we find two absolute studs: 24 year old Thiago on Palmeiras and 23 year old Toninho on Flamengo. Both are rated 4 stars+ right now - Thiago has ridiculous stats with Palmeiras: in two seasons and 73 games, he's scored 54 times while Toninho has scored 45 goals in 54 league games for Flamengo. I'd even go so far as to schedule a preseason friendly with Palmeiras to see Thiago up close. In a scintillating display, he absolutely CARVED US UP, scoring three goals in an impressive 5-3 win in Brazil. I'd put in substantial offers for both players in the vicinity of 17 million pounds - both would get accepted and I was free to offer contracts. I came to terms on a contact for Thiago but stunningly couldn't get his agent to agree to his fee - he wanted a number higher than my board was willing to go and ultimately, I had to walk away from the deal, simply because of a greedy agent. Unbelievable! With Toninho, he was asking for more money than I could afford - we got very close on terms but ultimately I had to walk away there as well. Talk about disappointing. My striker search kept coming back to one guy - a Greek striker who was at Arsenal and likely played on the U18 team with current Dover striker Zoltan Bardi. This guy has blazing speed and my scouts think he could be a difference maker - 21 years old with 3.5/4.5 ratings. He scored 10 goals in 18 games for AEK Athens in the Greek Superleague last year on loan. He's also been called up a couple of times to the Greek national team but has yet to receive his first cap. Arsenal are looking for a huge premium over his value and after some hemming and hawing, we finally agree to terms with Arsenal on easily the largest deal in Dover history. We spend £14,250,000 to bring striker Giorgos Gesios to Dover!!! Holy smokes…14.25 million pounds!!! He better be good! ST - Giorgos Gesios - £14,250,000 (From Arsenal) - 21 years old, Greece Gesios is 21 years old, 6' tall and 174 pounds. Top attributes include corners (15), free kicks (17), penalties (17), bravery (14), determination (14), off the ball (18), acceleration (19!), agility (17), balance (16), pace (17) and strength (17). I hope we've found our lethal striker! Here are the other players we brought in during the July transfer window: MR - Gianluca Bolis - £4,000,000 (Last Club: Manchester City) - 20 years old, Italy ML - Cameron Murray - £3,800,000 (Last Club: Hibernian) - 23 years old, Scotland MC - Frantisek Kroulik - £2,300,000 (Last Club: Rangers) - 20 years old, Czech Republic ST - Petr Simek - £300,000 (Last Club: Leiria) - 25 years old, Czech Republic DL - Jozef Varga - £130,000 (Last Club: Stuttgart) - 23 years old, Slovakia DM - Simon Woodman - LOAN - £275,000 Fee (From Arsenal) - 19 years old, England DC - Alen Krivic - LOAN - £250,000 Fee (From Schalke) - 19 years old, Germany GK - Lukasz Fabianski - Free (Last Club: Arsenal) - 34 years old, Poland DC - Lukas Stetina - Free (Last Club: Stuttgart) - 28 years old, Slovakia Keeping with my plan of adding top talent at all positions, the key moves this year are obviously the previously mentioned Mancini and Gesios, along with Gianluca Bolis, Frantisek Kroulik and Lukasz Fabianski. Bolis is a young right winger rated 3.0/4.5 with excellent speed (17 accel and pace) while Kroulik, who comes to us from Rangers in Scotland, is also a 3.0/4.5 player. Fabianski is older but goalkeepers tend to reach their peak much later than position players. Cameron Murray is a 5'5" little bundle of energy that will add some depth to the left side. Petr Simek is another ridiculously fast striker, with 18 pace and 19 acceleration along with lethal finishing ability (16). A true poacher if there ever was one! He should be great as a rotational choice or coming off the bench. DL Jozef Varga and DC Lukas Stetina played together at Stuttgart and will fit in nicely as rotational players. We're also bringing in a couple of solid prospects on loan in Simon Woodman and Alen Krivic. Krivic especially should get a lot of opportunities to start for us. I stay away from bringing in U18 players this year, as you can see. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins I scheduled perhaps our toughest ever set of preseason friendlies and we show a distinct lack of unity with the great number of key additions, winning four and losing four. We experimented with a number of different formations in the preseason, something else which likely contributed to our poor showing. I added a 5-3-2 look, with two wingbacks, one defensive mid, two centre halfbacks, three central mids and two strikers (no wingers). I figured this might be a decent tactic against strong sides. We'd still rely greatly on our flat 4-4-2 and a 4-5-1. Once again, we made no changes to our on-field leadership, with MC Darren Pratley keeping the captain's armband and DC Luke McCullough maintaining his vice-captain role. We were favoured in our first league game of the year, a home match against Fulham, a team we've had decent success against over the years. We decide to go with a 4-4-2 to start the season. Here is our starting lineup for game one of the 2019-20 season: GK - Ingo Wilke D - Bob Harris/Luke McCullough/Oliver Nicholas/Glen Johnson M - Liam Craig/Andrea Rocca/Zoltan Bardi/Petr Kostal ST - Giorgos Gesios/Gerardo Escobar |
2019/20 Barclays Premier League - First Half Results
Simply put - we struggled immensely in the first half of our season. We opened the year at home as favourites against Fulham. We had enjoyed historical success against them, winning 3 of our 4 matches against them in the past. We also had a fully healthy roster going into the season. Unfortunately, we'd lose 1-0 despite carrying play (56-44 possession) for the majority of the game. Thankfully, we'd bounce back one week later with our first win, an away victory at Everton 2-1. Our 14 million pound man Giorgos Gesios scored his first Dover goal to salt away the victory. As expected, we'd lose heavily to powerhouse Manchester United 4-0 at Crabble Athletic Ground but our next contest, a winnable game against newly promoted West Bromwich was a killer: a 3-2 loss that sent us into the relegation zone. We'd come back with an impressive home win against Derby, another club that was just promoted from the Championship. Just when we thought we were turning the corner, we went on another bad run of form, winning only 1 of our next 8 contests. The win was a good one: a 2-1 home victory against Arsenal and you could justify the losing somewhat, considering how difficult a stretch it was for us, with games against many of the top teams in the league: Huddersfield (L3-1), Chelsea (L3-0), Liverpool (L3-1) and Man City (L1-0). Perhaps the ugliest game of the season was a home match against Blackburn, who were mired in last place in the league and had only scored 7 goals in their first 14 games. We had no luck breaking them down and in fact, they'd even control play for the most part in a bore scoreless draw, a game that infuriated our fans and me as well. By that point, we were missing a number of key players, including Gesios, who missed four weeks in December due to a sprained ankle. We'd battle to a spirited 1-1 away draw at Tottenham on December 29th and reach the opening of the January transfer window with a record of 5 wins 2 draws and 12 defeats. Our 17 points in 19 games was only good for 18th in the league. We had reached the halfway point of the year and we were in the relegation zone. We weren't scoring and our defending was only marginally better - 21 goals for and 35 goals against in 19 games just wasn't going to get it done. A lot of our poor play could be traced to my management - there was no consistency with my tactics and we were coming up with different formations each game, many of which we hadn't properly trained for. I needed to simplify things greatly in the second half if we were to stay in the Premier League. |
2019/20 Barclays Premier League - Second Half Results
We made one relatively significant move once the transfer window opened in January. I brought in 18 year old Renato Gaucho, a 6' 4" Brazilian left fullback from Internacional on a free transfer. Gaucho is a GREAT prospect - 2.5/4.5 - I'm shocked to be able to get a young player with such potential for nothing. He will immediately step into a rotation with Bob Harris at DL and we immediately send July DL signing Jozef Varga out on a six month loan. I started to simplify our tactics in the second half of the season, utilizing a flat 4-4-2 and a 4-5-1 for games against tough opponents. Our first game of the second half, an away game against Fulham, saw us come away with a 2-0 win, gaining a measure of revenge for our opening day loss. January would be a great month - we'd follow with a 2-1 home win over Everton before falling to Manchester United at Old Trafford 3-0. 34 year old Wayne Rooney, the legendary Man U striker, was one of the goal scorers in the United victory. That would be our only loss of the month and we'd finally display some of the goal scoring ability that I'd hoped to see at the beginning of the season. We destroyed West Brom 6-1 at Crabble Athletic Ground, getting a hat trick from Giorgos Gesios and a brace from strike partner Gerardo Escobar and followed that up with an equally impressive 5-2 win over Sunderland. Gesios scored a brace in that contest and Escobar one as they started to show some impressive chemistry together. We'd continue to win, knocking off Derby 2-1 away then most impressively, a 1-0 win against 3rd placed Huddersfield away, making it six victories in seven league games in the new year, including a season-high four in a row. By this point, we'd reached 9th place in the league and were within shouting distance of the coveted 7th position, a spot that would provide European play for the following year. The team to break the streak would be Middlesbrough and it was partially due to a gruesome challenge on our striker and big signing Gesios that saw him come up with a broken arm. We'd lose the game 1-0 and Gesios would miss the next five weeks of action due to the injury and never really recover in time to make an impact at the end of the season. That started a stretch of games where we lost four in a row, including an FA Cup tie but we'd thankfully finish on a high note. We'd go on a season-long six game undefeated streak (2 wins and 4 draws) before losing heavily to Arsenal in our third last game. Season ending victories against Aston Villa and Tottenham allowed us to finish our second half in style: we won 10 games, had 4 draws and only 5 losses in our last 19 games for 34 points. We would finish 11th on the table for the second consecutive season but had four more points this year. Our goal differential was much improved: from minus 35 a year ago to minus 7 this year. I truly believe we are on the right path.  Barclays Premier League 2019-20 League Awards Top Goalscorer: Enrique, Manchester City - 43 Most Assists: Omar Hernandez, Manchester United - 23 Highest Average Rating: Enrique, Manchester City - 8.11 (34 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Enrique, Manchester City - 15 English Footballer of the Year: Enrique, Manchester City - 34 apps 43g 8a 8.11avg English Players' Player of the Year: Miralem Pjanic, Manchester City - 34 apps 5g 16a 7.40avg English Players' Young Player of the Year: Andrea Rocca, Dover - 35 apps 6g 14a 7.38avg Manager of the Year: Carlo Ancelotti, Manchester City Barclays Premier League Players' Team of the Year GK - Joe Hart, Manchester City DL - Gareth Bale, Tottenham DC - Leonel Galeano, Arsenal DC - Salah Abbes, Manchester City DR - Daniel Schwaab, Manchester City ML - Diego Perotti, Liverpool MC - Jack Wilshere, Arsenal MC - Miralem Pjanic, Manchester City MR - Bruno, Manchester City ST - Enrique, Manchester City ST - Steve Pates, Sheffield Wednesday Only 43 goals for Enrique this year? He's slipping! ;) Andrea Rocca gets named as the best young player in the league by his peers. A monumental honour for young Rocca! I'd win nothing this year: in January and May, I finished 2nd in the Manager of the Month voting but that's it. Cup Competitions 2019-20 FA Cup - A pretty solid run in the FA Cup, with victories against League 2 side Aldershot and Championship side Queens Park Rangers but we'd run into a wall in the fifth round against Chelsea, a team we've yet to knock off. 3rd Round - Dover 3 Aldershot 0 4th Round - Dover 3 QPR 1 5th Round - Dover 0 Chelsea 3 League Cup A great draw to begin the event and a horrific draw for our second match. We played Man U tough, losing 1-0 away against a relatively weak side. 2nd Round - Dover 3 Bristol City 0 3rd Round - Manchester United 1 Dover 0 2019-20 Overall Dover Statistics Top Goalscorer: Gerardo Escobar - 11 Top League Goalscorer: Giorgos Gesios - 9 Most Assists: Andrea Rocca - 14 Highest Average Rating: Andrea Rocca - 7.35 (37 apps) Most Man of Match Awards: Andrea Rocca - 4 Fans Player of the Year: To be Determined Escobar leads the team in goals for a second consecutive season. Gesios was a pretty big disappointment considering the fee I paid for him but I'm willing to give him a pass for this year - he had two significant injuries, missing over two months of action and also took some time to get acclimated to things here at Dover. Zoltan Bardi was putrid in the first half of the season but got VERY hot in the last two months, coincidently when Gesios went down to injury, to bring his stats back to respectability, finishing with 6 goals and 5 assists for the year. If Andrea Rocca doesn't win our supporters player of the year, I may get a tad angry. The guy is a huge difference maker for our club in all facets of the game. I just hope I can keep him, as the vultures are starting to swarm... |
With that, I am completely caught up with this dynasty!!!
I will now offer regular updates as I play, including game recaps, signings as they happen, etc. I'll start with a rundown on all of our player stats for the season and go from there. I hope to have that up by tomorrow. Thanks for reading all of those recaps! Hopefully I can keep things interesting as we move into a different format from here on out. |
This has been an outstanding dynasty thus far, a wonderful read.
I predict you'll be in the Champions League before long. Once you sort out the defensive issues the wins will pile up again. |
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Thanks for the compliments! My unofficial goal for this year will be to try to qualify for European play - I think we're ready for that step. A top 7 finish shouldn't be out of the question for us this year. That said, I'm not sure if I'll be bold enough to suggest that to the board in my budget meeting - I think I've got plenty of rope right now based on my past success (I'm rated as "untouchable" right now) but I may have a new chairman soon that may be a bit more ambitious...more on that later. |
  I've simply organized all of the players by the position they played most this year, ordered by Average Rating. The GK ratings are a bit misleading - I basically used Wilke in most big games and gave Fabianski more of the easy matches. Wilke especially was a key factor in our second half surge. At fullback, the biggest surprise is seeing 18 year old Renato Gaucho doing so well at such a tender age. Veteran English international Glen Johnson will be retiring at the end of June and I'll be releasing DL Bob Harris when his contract expires next month. Our central midfield traditionally has been a strength but we had disappointing seasons from Oliver Nicholas, loan pickup Alen Krivic and the aging Stephane Mbia. Lukas Stetina was quite solid in his first year despite having difficulty grasping the English language. Mbia will be moving on next year. Gianluca Bolis was excellent in his first year, becoming great friends right away with fellow Italian Andrea Rocca - he'll be a key player going forward for us. Cameron Murray played very poorly for us and I'm worried the Scottish international is not fitting in with our club. Veteran Cristian Rodriguez has seen his skills decline greatly and will not have his contract renewed next year. At central midfield, it's Rocca leading the way. He's simply a superb player and we're lucky to have him. Veteran Darren Pratley continues to play well despite his age and was resigned for one more season. Frantisek Kroulik looks to have great potential and I'll lean on him much more next season. Mancini, a defensive midfielder, was largely disappointing for us. At striker, Giorgos Gesios is having trouble living up to his huge transfer fee but in all fairness, he battled injury for more than two months. When healthy, he showed explosive ability. Gerardo Escobar was better in year two at Dover but still isn't a big producer while Zoltan Bardi suffered through a horrific five month long slump before getting hot in the last two months of the season. Petr Simek was very reliable off the bench or as a spot starter. Rideout won't see his contract renewed. May 11, 2020 For our 11th place finish, we collect £7,369,000 - not a bad haul! That temporarily brings us into the black for the season. Stadium Expansion Without any prompting from me, the board announce a £6,400,000 stadium expansion plan that will see 5250 more seats added at Crabble Athletic Ground. This will take us from 10,500 to a capacity of 15,750! Very exciting news! We see current capacity reduced to 9135 until the expansion is finished, with a projected completion date of November 30th. In the same press conference, the board announce plans to also build a Youth Academy. This will be a £450,000 project that is expected to be completed before the end of August. Transfers Out Two players with expiring contracts have agreed to deals that will see them move on July 1st. DC Stephane Mbia will be heading to Krylja Sovetov while ST Simon Rideout has agreed to terms with Blackburn, who was just relegated to the Championship. Rideout had a number of teams to choose from, including Peterborough, Hull City, Crewe and Bristol Rovers. Champions League Manchester City were monsters this year, winning the treble - Barclays Premier League title, the FA Cup and the Champions League. They defeated crosstown rivals Manchester United IN ALL THREE! That may be a fireable offense for Man U! Their current manager is former star player Jurgen Klinsmann. Man City's MC Moussa Sissoko, a French international, claims the Champions League best player award. International Friendlies Two of our defenders are called up by their respective countries: DC Oliver Nicholas will be looking to add to his 41 caps for Eritrea while young fullback Rachid Diallo, who I loaned out to Spanish side Rayo this year, is called up by Togo. At 20 years of age, he's been capped 3 times so far. Dover Takeover Talks Current chairman Chris Dunphy has been entertaining offers on the club since we arrived in the Premier League - I guess that will happen when our estimated value goes from less than a million pounds upon his purchase of the team to over 30 million! A consortium led by board member Chris May is evidently close to a deal with Dunphy but the most interesting thing about it is that May has another manager in mind to possibly take over for me should he buy the team! You have to be kidding! I'm not going to get too worried at this point…May would get skinned by our supporters if he tried to pull off a stunt like that…right? :( We hit the end of May and with our players on vacation, I'm actively scouting in preparation for the opening of the July transfer window. That said, while the takeover talks are ongoing, I have a transfer embargo placed on me - needless to say, I hope the bloody thing gets settled before the 1st of July! |
June Board Confidence Update
The board are delighted with the leadership qualities I'm demonstrating, with the major contributing factor being the amazing increase in stature the club has experienced since I took charge. They also ask for my continued patience while they deal with the speculation regarding the club's future. We made a profit of £2.03 million last month and that is notable, considering that £6.63 million is being spent on the stadium expansion/renovations. Premier League Updates Man City's ST Enrique wins the Player of the Month award for May, scoring 5 times in 2 games. Everton fullback Milan Mojsky wins Young Player of the Month, while our young MR Gianluca Bolis comes in second. Carlos Ancelotti wins Manager of the Month for Man City and I finish in 2nd.  With our 2019-20 fiscal year completed, we saw about a 10% increase in revenues but over 25% more spending, mostly due to Giorgos Gesios's transfer fee. In the end, we lost a little over £200,000 last year…not a bad number, all things considered - hell, we've had three stadium expansions in less than two years! With the increased capacity, our average attendance skyrocketed to over 8700 per match and with capacity being increased to over 15,000 by November, I expect to see more records for attendance broken this year. EURO 2020 Italy is hosting the European Championships and at this point, we have two players called up for the event: Greece's Giorgos Gesios and Poland's Lukasz Fabianski. I send two of my staff members to scout the championship. Dover Chairman Demands End to Takeover Saga Chairman Chris Dunphy tells the potential new owners to get their butt in gear in order to give me proper time to work in the upcoming transfer window. Dunphy goes on to say he will "pull the plug on the take-over if an agreement can't be reached soon". And just like that…we have a new chairman… Consortium Complete Dover Takeover A consortium led by Chris May has successfully completed a takeover of Dover Athletic, replacing former chairman Chris Dunphy. He reveals that he has "big plans for Dover and there would be changes sooner rather than later at Crabble." Speculation is that manager NoSkillz will be replaced by Lee Clark. Clark managed Huddersfield for almost 8 years between 2008 and 2016 and most recently had a two year spell at Newcastle. He's been out of management for over a year and a half. I meet with the new chairman and after thanking me for my patience during a stressful period, tells me that he's pumping almost 15 million pounds into the club's bank account in addition to working on improvements to our training ground and youth facilities. Wow - that's cool! Then, ominously, he finishes by saying that "it was always the intention to appoint a new manager following the takeover and a decision on my future at Dover will be made shortly" I think I'm going to be sick... |
yeah, you're safe... if they fired you the new chairman would soon become the exchairman
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Needless to say, I hope you're right! |
June 4, 2020
New chairman Chris May brings serious cash over to Dover. With the £15 million cash infusion, we now have a bank balance in excess of £26 million and our estimated value has skyrocketed to £48,000,000, which takes us into the top 100 in the world, sitting at 74th. Along with Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City, we are now considered "Rich" My god…I've got a sugar daddy! At least for now. No sign of Lee Clark…not yet anyway! Contract Extension U18 graduate Dennis Kunz signs a three year deal to stay at Dover. I'll most likely loan him out this year and hope to develop him enough to sell him. International Round-Up Two of my fine young players, DL Renato Gaucho and MC Frantisek Kroulik perform well in their U21 international matches. In other matches, Oliver Nicholas captains Eritrea to a World Cup qualifying win over Uganda while Zoltan Bardi plays well for Hungary in a 3-1 win over Azerbaijan. Transfer Window Opens On June 9th, the transfer window opens but the embargo remains at Dover while my future is decided. That said, I made a few moves well in advance of the embargo and one of those players arrives at Dover as the window opens. New Signing Welcome 18 year old Italian striker Carlo Cerbone to Dover! The 6' 2" 182 pound forward is very raw and will play for our U18 team this year in hopes of developing his skills. We scoop him up for £35,000 from Lecce in Serie C1/B. Cerbone tells journalists that this is the best day of his life and that he plans on making himself a firm favourite with our supporters. I like his spirit already! Transfer Out In another pre-arranged move, striker Simon Rideout leaves Dover for Blackburn in a free transfer. Rideout originally came to us on loan from Leicester in 2015 before we'd eventually buy him for £75,000 in 2017. In all, he played 51 league games for Dover over three seasons, scoring 15 goals and adding 11 assists. -- In other news, reports out of Fulham state they are set to make our striker Gerardo Escobar their main transfer target. Good luck with that boys… Meeting with New Chairman Chris May - "D-DAY" I'm asked to report to new chairman Chris May's office this morning. He informs me that I will be allowed to stay on as manager of Dover! WHEW! He tells me he was impressed by the support shown for my management at the club and was persuaded to let me remain in charge. Our transfer embargo is lifted and I'm now free to start making moves! I'll have to wait until we have a transfer budget before I make major moves but I can at least look into some expiring contracts to see if there are any Bosman transfer possibilities. Youth and Training Facilities Upgrade This guy means business! Construction work begins immediately on an upgrade of our training and youth facilities. The construction project will cost approximately £1.3 million and only take a short time to complete. This has been a GOOD day! |
What's the outlook on the budget? Any idea what they'll give you?
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Not yet - I'm still operating under last year's budget, presumably until July. We have over 27 million pounds in the bank account right now, a number that just floors me - again, most of this is from a 16 million pound "investment" made to the team from the new chairman. I'm *very* excited to see what is in store for our budgets going forward! |
EURO Cup 2020
-- Greek striker Giorgos Gesios comes off the bench to score a goal in Greece's 3-1 win over Denmark in the European Championship. Greece has 1 win and 1 draw in their first two games of the tournament. He then follows that up by scoring a HAT TRICK in a 3-2 win over Norway! He's now up to 8 goals in as many international games. It's great to see him playing so well and this will do wonders not only for his confidence but I'm hoping he'll arrive at our club in great shape after this tournament. -- Our other participant, Polish GK Lukasz Fabianski hasn't played thus far in three games, with Poland dropping two decisions and drawing one other game. They are already knocked out of the competition. -- Preston come calling looking to grab our young DC Matthew Thompson on a season-long loan. They are willing to pay us £120,000 as an up-front fee and will cover his modest £775/week salary too. Thompson is a 2 star potential player and will not be in our plans so I accept the offer. I also offer him up to other clubs around the league for the same amount and get a couple more offers that I accept. -- West Ham come calling for MR Ismail Mkhize on a potential transfer, offering me £825,000 plus incentives. They only offer £90k up front so I up the deal to an even million and try to negotiate. In turn, I offer him out to other clubs as well. Mkhize played a few games for us last year - he's a 6' 4" winger with decent speed and is rated 2.0/3.0 at this point. He could be a backup for us but he's expendable for the right price. -- Swansea and Preston North End propose friendlies and I accept. I always try to do a little tour of one country during the preseason and this year I'm going to choose Italy. I propose friendlies to both Napoli and AC Milan and they are quickly accepted. Hopefully Andrea Rocca and Gianluca Bolis enjoy the trip to their home country! Home Grown Players Report -- Swansea make an offer to take one of our young DC's on a season long loan - Andrew Stanley is a 20 year old 1.0/2.5 guy - nothing really special but I've got a big issue on my hands potentially in that I have only one "home grown" player on my senior team and that is DC Matthew Thompson, who I just loaned out for the season to Preston. Now, this isn't a worry for this season but if I somehow qualify for Continental play next year, I believe I'll need four home grown players registered on my squad. DL Renato Gaucho will qualify in late December 2022 and I have three middling prospects on my reserve team that currently qualify in GK Simon Hayward, ML Steve Ingram and MC Ollie McCall. Stanley is due to qualify for home grown status in one year if I keep him here, so I decline the offer. Transfer OUT -- And just like that, Ismail Mkhize is gone, as he accepts a contract with West Ham - I'll get a cool £1,000,000 for the transfer. Mkhize joined Dover as a 17 year old in 2016 and played on our U18 team and also on loans to Swansea and Chesterfield. He only played 4 scoreless league games for Dover. -- Oh cool - I guess I had a clause in deal that I made with Las Palmas to sell them GK Eduard Hanke that would pay me an additional £50,000 if they got promoted to LIGA BBVA (I sold him in July 2019). It looks like Hanke got them there, as he led them to a 1st place finish in LIGA adelante - he played 33 games for Las Palmas and allowed only 37 goals with a 7.01 rating. Not bad - I'm sure the team is okay with sending that cheque! -- Speaking of my home grown players, Scottish Premier League club St. Johnstone make a £450,000 offer for 20 year old GK Simon Hayward. I scooped Hayward off the street when he was dropped from the Man United U18 club in 2016 and he's been a staple on our own U18 and reserve teams over the past four years. He's got a rating of 1.5/3.5 right now - again, I don't have any thoughts that he'll be able to contribute to our club but I'm worried about the home grown status thing. Still…that's a lot of money for a spare part. I think I'm going to ask for a bit more (maybe get a sell on clause added) then open up the bidding for other teams as well. |
EURO Cup 2020
-- Greece gets knocked out of the Euro Cup just before the quarter-finals in a 3-0 loss to Russia. Giorgos Gesios played the whole game and was one of Greece's best players in the game. Sponsorship Money -- A report comes out detailing the sponsorship dollars accumulated by Premier League teams. In a league that generated in excess of £205,000,000 in sponsorship, Manchester United raked in approximately £63 million of it! The lowest earner? Of course, it was us - we only made a paltry £250,000 - hopefully our new chairman will get on that! England Season Summary Here's a look at the BBC.co.uk Season Summary report on all the English leagues, with a full recap of the Premier League and just a quick look at the promotions/relegations in the other leagues. Barclays Premier League 2019/20 Winners - Man City Relegated - Wolves, West Brom, Blackburn Top Goalscorer - Enrique - 43 Most Assists - Omar Hernandez - 23 Highest Average Rating - Enrique - 8.10 Overachievers - Huddersfield Underperformers - Wolves Signing of the Season - Sunderland's Ben Sahar (£0) Worst Signing of the Season - Middlesbrough's Barry Maguire (£7.75m) npower Championship Winners - Newcastle Promoted - Newcastle, Bolton, Norwich Relegated - Swansea, Coventry, Rochdale npower League 1 Winners - Leicester Promoted - Leicester, Cardiff, Bristol City Relegated - Rotherham, Oldham, Yeovil, Millwall npower League 2 Winners - Exeter Promoted - Exeter, Crystal Palace, Luton, Bournemouth Relegated - Gateshead, Darlington Blue Square Bet Premier Winners - Burton Promoted - Burton, Crawley Relegated - Hayes & Yeading, Alfreton, Kettering, Bury Blue Square Bet North Winners - Port Vale Promoted - Port Vale, Kidderminster Relegated - Workington, Southport, Ashton United Blue Square Bet South Winners - Havant & Waterlooville Promoted - Havant & Waterlooville, Newport Country Relegated - Lewes, Eastbourne Boro, Tiverton Other Winners FA Cup - Manchester City League Cup - Manchester City Community Shield - Manchester United Johnstone's Paint Trophy - Bristol Rovers FA Trophy - Mansfield |
Dover Fan's Player of the Year
-- No surprise here - the fans smartly and correctly vote our stellar 23 year old Italian central midfielder Andrea Rocca as the Player of the Year. Dover Best Eleven for 2019-20 -- A few surprises, as usual, on our Best Eleven list: GK - Lukasz Fabianski - 20 apps 0g 7.00 avg DL - Renato Gaucho - 16 apps 0g 7.03 avg DC - Luke McCullough - 34 apps 2g 6.85 avg DC - Lukas Stetina - 25 apps 1g 6.91 avg DR - Jozef Kuciak - 25 apps 0g 6.84 avg ML - Liam Craig - 30 apps 2g 6.89 avg MC - Andrea Rocca - 37 apps 6g 7.35 avg MC - Darren Pratley - 25 apps 2g 6.92 avg MR - Gianluca Bolis - 33 apps 6g 6.95 avg ST - Petr Simek - 20 apps 5g 6.98 avg ST - Gerardo Escobar - 28 apps 11g 7.15 avg Other notables: GK Ingo Wilke 23 apps 0g 6.89; DL Bob Harris 20 apps 0g 6.82; DM Mancini 21 apps 0g 6.74; DM Simon Woodman 3 apps 0g 6.83; MC Frantisek Kroulik 27 apps 2g 6.89; ST Giorgos Gesios 25 apps 10g 6.94; ST Zoltan Bardi 29 apps 6g 6.89 Fabianski over Wilke is understandable, as his average rating was better. Petr Simek getting on there instead of Gesios is a bit of a reach, as Simek only started about 10 matches for us. Let's take a look at our overall Best Eleven since I took over management of the franchise: Dover Best Eleven - Overall GK - Ingo Wilke - 167 apps 0g 7.00 avg DL - David Ogilby - 178 apps 8g 6.98 avg DC - Olly Schulz - 120 apps 18g 7.32 avg DC - Oliver Nicholas - 316 apps 28g 7.14 avg DR - Conor Morrissey - 230 apps 1g 6.98 avg ML - Arsene Bamba - 106 apps 16g 7.20 avg MC - Richie Ryan - 131 apps 28g 6.98 avg MC - Andrea Rocca - 103 apps 26g 7.33 avg MR - Abdeltareck Sakali - 176 apps 50g 7.14 avg ST - Alexander Rattke - 125 apps 55g 7.13 avg ST - Aaron Green - 141 apps 65g 7.18 avg Andrea Rocca is the only new addition to the Overall Best Eleven. Substitutes: GK - Liam O'Brien - 219 apps 0g 6.84 avg DL - Aziz Deen-Conteh - 122 apps 2g 6.95 avg DC - Luke McCullough - 186 apps 16g 6.98 ML - Ismael Fofana - 206 apps 38g 6.98 avg MC - Jon Wallis - 135 apps 13g 6.94 avg ST - Ben Hunt - 156 apps 70g 7.12 avg ST - Zoltan Bardi - 125 apps 39g 6.98 avg 2020-21 Barclay's Premier League Fixture List Announced -- We will start the season off at home against Tottenham on Saturday August 15th, a team we defeated in the final game last season. The traditional Boxing Game match will take place at Man City Stadium against this year's league Champions and we'll face Man City again at home in our season finale on May 23rd. -- We are given £40,000,000 for Barclays Premier League TV rights for the upcoming season. Lovely - this number seems a little higher than last year, as I thought we were in the £37m area in my first two years in the league. Either way, we'll happily accept the money! Start of Season Expectations -- Ok here we go! Our new chairman expects us to achieve a safe, mid-table position within the Premier League this season. For this, the board is offering me the following: 2020/21 TRANSFER BUDGET - £33,500,000 2020/21 WAGE BUDGET - £245,000/week WOW - those are HUGE increases over last year, especially with our transfer budget!!! I have additional money available should my ambitions be higher, up to an incredible £53 million transfer budget and a £275,000 weekly wage budget should I aim for a Premier League title. With a new chairman on board and one that reluctantly kept me on, I'm just going to go with their expectations and take the 33.5 million. Silently, my goal is Continental qualification but we'll see how we're doing in January. This is fun! Youth Intake - U18 Club -- Nothing to see here. The best prospect is a 0.5/1.5 GK named Garry Doyle. My first preseason friendly is always a warmup match against my U18 squad and my normal M.O. is to cut anyone who isn't a 1 star potential (or above) right after that match. I'm hoping that the construction of our new youth academy, our improved youth facilities (currently under construction as well) and the hopeful development of our youth recruitment system (being planned now) will all help improve our future youth intakes. -- Newly promoted Newcastle come after my young star MR Gianluca Bolis, offering me £8,500,000. Yikes - that would easily be the most money I've ever received in a transfer but Bolis is going absolutely nowhere. I reject the offer and issue a hands off warning as well. -- And the bids continue to come in, this time for young MC Frantisek Kroulik from Reading for £4,800,000. I reject it again - I still have big plans for Kroulik but that said, I could see taking a larger offer for him in the future. |
Transfer Market Plans
My goal is to build a great team piece by piece. I feel that we have solid players for the future in place at DL in Renato Gaucho, two excellent centre mids in Andrea Rocca and Frantisek Kroulik, a great young MR in Gianluca Bolis and three really good strikers. One weakness that will soon be rectified is my right fullback situation. About a month back, I made a Bosman signing that will see 21 year old Algerian international Salim Loucif join Dover on July 1st. I somehow was able to steal Loucif from Olympique Lyonnais for absolutely nothing. My scouts LOVE him - he's rated 3.5/4.5 right now and has some very impressive ratings (tackling 17; anticipation 15; concentration 16; creativity 16; determination 12; influence 16; positioning 15; teamwork 19; work rate 17; accel 16; agility 17; balance 15; pace 15; stamina 18). Looks VERY good. My only issue is that he doesn't speak English yet - I'll likely look at bringing in at least one other French speaking/English speaking player to help his transition. At this point, my biggest goal is to improve the middle of our defense. We have three capable DC's in vice-captain Luke McCullough, veteran Oliver Nicholas and Lukas Stetina but we need at least one stud at the back...maybe even two. My next biggest weakness is at left wing/ML - I'm convinced I still need to find an absolutely elite striker if I'm to get to continental play - if I do find someone, I'll likely look to move one of my current top three of Gesios, Bardi or Escobar, simply because they will not get the playing time they need. I may also look to improve the GK position - Fabianski isn't getting any younger and Wilke, while excellent, isn't a star at this level. |
-- I'm actively scouting central defenders, left midfielders and strikers to start and I've put in a couple of offers already on some young DC's...we'll see if I can sign them but they both have some decent potential.
-- Frantisek Kroulik wants me to look at increasing his wage in light of my refusal to sell him. I tell him that's not happening and he apologizes for bothering me. I like these young kids that know their place in the grand scheme of things ;) -- A whole bunch of teams want young GK Simon Hayward on loan but only one, Millwall, tell me he'll be a starting keeper. I ask them to pay his modest wage in a renegotiated deal. As that happens, I get word that St. Johnstone have met my transfer fee demands for Hayward. Hmm…I guess I have to accept that! We'll see what Hayward decides but I'm guessing he will take the opportunity with St. Johnstone after he comes out in the press and declares his delight at my acceptance of the deal. -- We set a new average attendance record last year at Crabble Athletic Ground of 8,735. With another stadium expansion taking place as we speak, we should see another major increase in supporters again for 2020/21. Barclays Premier League Title Odds -- Manchester City are touted as favourites for this year at even money. Man U is second at 5-2, Arsenal is 5-1, Liverpool is 6-1, Chelsea is 14-1 and Tottenham are 25-1. We are longshots at 1000-1 and the pundits feel that a high mid-table finish is in the cards. I'd prefer to see how we do in the transfer market first before making such assumptions! Loan OUT -- 21 year old DC Andy Brown is loaned out to AFC Wimbledon for 7 months. They indicated he'd be in the mix to start and that prompted me to accept their deal. He's definitely a surplus to requirements here. Transfer OUT -- Simon Hayward signs a contract with St. Johnstone and that completes a £450,000 transfer. I also negotiated a sell on clause in addition to negotiating a £50K payout should Hayward reach 20 league appearances. Hayward did not play a single league game with Dover and since I got him on a free, this is all pure profit. He was never going to be in our plans. Season Ticket Update -- We've sold 913 season tickets so far and the club expects another 3300 to sell to bring us to around 4200 total. We sold 3793 last year but the hope is that we continue to add subscribers to fill up our growing stadium, which will seat over 15,000 supporters by November this year. |
Dover Player Retirements and Other Departures
-- Two of my players file their retirement papers. Right fullback Glen Johnson had an incredible career: he played in 417 Premier League games, scoring 22 goals and adding 46 assists. He started out at West Ham in 2001 and had spells at Millwall, Chelsea and Portsmouth before spending the prime of his career at Liverpool. We picked him up on a free in July of 2018 but he was largely ineffective in his time at Dover, going scoreless over 33 games in two years. He received 93 caps for England, scoring once. A legendary career and he moves into coaching. -- Cristian Rodriguez also retires after a wonderful career. The Uruguay international wore his country's jersey on 82 different occasions, scoring 13 goals. He started his league career at Club Atletico Penarol in Uruguay before moving to Paris Saint-Germain in 2005. He'd have a brief spell at Benfica before moving to Porto for six seasons. He'd come to England for the first time in 2013 to suit up for Chelsea and we were able to grab him on a free in 2018. In all, he played 33 league games for Dover, scoring three times and assisting on five. For his career, he played 309 league games, scored 52 goals and added 26 assists. -- Fullback Bob Harris sees his contract expire and leaves Dover. At one time, Harris was our largest transfer signing at £95,000 in 2016. He was an excellent player for us and an enthusiastic tackler at left back. He played four seasons for us, making 92 league appearances and contributing 7 assists. -- We return two players to their parent clubs after taking them on loan last year: DC Alen Krivic made 15 appearances for us last year, scoring a goal while DMC Simon Woodman had trouble breaking into the lineup, only appearing in 5 games. Krivic especially has a lot of talent but never really settled in with our club. Dover Players Returning from Loan -- We have a slew of players returning from loan assignments: DR Jackson Ramm comes back from Watford, DM Shaun Halsall and AMC/ST Roberto return from West Ham, AMC Stuart Rogers is back from Luton Town, AMC Aitor Zubizarreta returns from Gimnastic, MR Frankie Taylor comes back from Charlton and DR Rachid Diallo returns from Rayo. -- Newcastle won't quit: now they offer me £10,500,000 for Gianluca Bolis. I reject it again - Bolis will play a huge role for us going forward and I'm not even remotely interested in selling him. So far, he's been quiet and I hope he doesn't get upset about this situation. -- PSG boss Laurent Fournier publicly expressed his interest in our striker Gerardo Escobar. He hasn't been spectacular for us but I'm not really ready to give up on him quite yet. That said, if I find another striker in the transfer market, someone will have to go and the easiest to move would be Escobar so I'm going to keep an open mind. New Manager Contract -- Well, I guess I've convinced new chairman Chris May that I'm the man for the job. Only a couple of weeks after I thought I might be sent to the curb due to his takeover, May offers me a three year contract at a whopping £24,000 per week, a huge increase over my previous salary of £13,250. It's nice to be wanted! :) Transfer IN -- We are pleased to welcome 19 year old central defender Thomas Andersen to Dover in a £2,300,000 transfer deal with Eredivisie champs AZ Alkmaar. The Danish defender is a driven individual (20 determination) and looks to have pretty decent potential down the road. My two main scouts both listed him at 2.5/4.5 and now that he's on the team, my coaches give him anywhere from 2-3 stars currently and all have him down for 4 stars potential. He speaks a number of different languages, including English, so I think he might be able to contribute off the bench already this season but I will consider loaning him out as well. A good prospect for the future. I have one more deal on the table for a younger DC that I hope gets accepted soon as well. |
Come on Dover!
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Transfer OUT
-- We again receive an offer we can't refuse on one of our former U18 GK prospects. Ryan Alnwick was scooped up on a free after he was let go by Liverpool in July 2018. He played two years with our U18 team and now we sell him to Southampton for £275,000 plus future incentives. He wasn't a part of our future plans so it was an easy deal to make. World's Richest Club List -- Real Madrid top the list of the richest clubs in the world, with an estimated value of £967 million (!!). We have moved onto the list for the first time ever, partially due to our league success and also due to our new owner. We are now listed with an estimated value of £57 million - nice! That's good for 62nd in the world and 9th in England. Preseason Friendlies Set -- We will engage in a much more arduous preseason schedule, as I look to work on team unity and get all of our players in the best shape possible before the season's start. July 7, 2020 - Dover U18 July 12, 2020 - Folkestone (English Non-League and Dover rival) July 15, 2020 - Galatasaray (Turkish Premier League) July 19, 2020 - AT Preston North End (Championship) July 21, 2020 - AT Swansea (League 1) July 25, 2020 - AT A.C. Milan (Italian Serie A) July 28, 2020 - AT Napoli (Italian Serie A) August 1, 2020 - Panathinaikos (Greek Superleague) August 5, 2020 - AT Margate (English Non-League and Dover rival) August 8, 2020 - Athletic Club Bilbao (Spanish LIGA BBVA) A very challenging schedule, with some of the world's elite clubs. Panathinaikos is Giorgos Gesios's childhood club. Transfers IN -- In a previously negotiated deal, Dover is extremely pleased to bring in Algerian national Salim Loucif on a free transfer. Loucif is a 21 year old right fullback that's rated very highly by my scouting team and assistant manager (3.5/4.5) and comes to us after a four year stay at Olympique Lyonnais. He started his professional football career at home club Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie as a 15 year old and incredibly, he's already compiled over 300 league games as a 21 year old! Loucif doesn't speak English though - he currently speaks Arabic and French so I'll be looking to bring in at least one other French speaking player to help his transition. -- In separate deals arranged prior to the opening of the transfer window, we welcome three other young Frenchmen to the club: 19 year old DC Jonathan Gauthier comes over from PSG, 18 year old striker Ryan Bodin is brought in from FC Sochaux-Montbe and fellow striker Gregoire Lambert, a 17 year old, comes over from Girondins Bordeaux. I'll likely look at loaning out Gauthier and Bodin and will put Lambert on our U18 squad. Transfer OUT -- In another deal arranged before the opening of the window, veteran DC Stephane Mbia leaves our club for Krylja Sovetov. Mbia joined our club from CS Sedan Ardennes in France in 2018 and played two years at Crabble, suiting up for 21 league games and contributing 2 assists. -- I have two transfer offers for stud MLs accepted but once again, because of greedy agents, I can't come to terms with either because both want agent fees my board won't allow me to spend. Ridiculous. |
July Board Confidence Update
-- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership of the team. They are still most satisfied with our stature increase but slightly disappointed with the departure of ST Simon Rideout. We made a profit of £14.64 million last month, most of that coming from our chairman's investment. Manager Team & Stadium Status and Media Expectations  As indicated previously, my salary is almost doubled this year and I'm given a two-year extension by the new chairman. Tactical consistency is down (not surprising) as is domestic player bias - again, not surprising, as I continue to add a lot of international flavour to our squad.  TIcket prices are up again, this time around 6%. Our value has skyrocketed to approximately £54 million and our squad status changes to Ambitious. I'm consciously trying to move this to a more determined squad.  There is an incredible amount of construction going on right now, with a 5250 seat stadium expansion being worked on in addition to a youth academy and training ground/youth facilities improvements. Incredible! Transfer IN -- As indicated earlier, I was hopeful of getting a second young centre halfback signed and we just get word that a £2.5 million deal to bring Abdallaye Kokaina to Dover from FC Bayern has been completed! The German-born Kokaina is only 18 years old but has a 2.0/4.5 rating from our scouts. He played 32 games as a 17 year old for Bayern's #2 team, scoring twice, adding 9 assists and coming through with an average rating of 7.60. I think I'd like to loan him out this year in order for him to learn English but I may keep him with our U18 squad as an alternative. -- One of my major needs was at left wing/left midfield and after getting thwarted by greedy agents on two potential transfers, I finally get one to go through. And to top it off, it's a name familiar to Dover fans. 23 year old Frenchman Arsene Bamba returns to Dover, only this time as a fully contracted player! We purchased Bamba from Metalurg for £7,000,000 - Bamba is a former Arsenal U18 who played three years with us on loan when we were in League 1. He was arguably our best player all three of those years, playing 94 league games, scoring 12 goals and adding a mind-blowing 49 assists during that period. He's a 3.5/4.0 player and he'll immediately jump in as a first choice player here at Dover. The other two players I was chasing might be better players but Bamba might be the best fit. Very exciting! Transfer OUT -- We move DR Jackson Ramm out in a £500,000 transfer deal to QPR. Ramm has been with Dover since 2016 and played two full seasons for us, one in our League 1 winning season and also in our npower Championship promotion season, playing 57 games and contributing 5 assists. In the past two seasons, I've loaned him out to Championship clubs Southampton and Watford, where he was a backup player on both squads. He's not a Premier League quality player so this was an easy decision to move him out. Loans OUT -- New signing Jonathan Gauthier accepts a loan assignment to Brighton. In reality, Gauthier will never be in my plans and I'm honestly just hoping he develops enough to sell at a profit in the next year or two. -- I also loan out middling prospect ML Steve Ingram to Brentford. I'm only keeping Ingram around because he's achieved home-grown status. -- Juventus are starting to sniff around my stellar young left fullback Renato Gaucho. They made a £1.8 million bid that was quickly rejected and I've issued a hands off warning. The 18 year old is a big part of my plans going forward. Of course, his agent tells me he's unhappy with his contract now but after a short talk with the player, he's back to being happy again. |
Training Camp Begins
-- The players return from holiday and my assistant reports that there are no fitness concerns whatsoever, a good sign that everyone has shown up in decent condition. -- Our backroom staff get together and go over some comparisons with other teams in our division. As usual, we don't match up very well on paper versus the majority of teams just yet: Aggression - Lowest in league Concentration - Poor Flair - Low Dribbling - Poor First Touch - Poor Height - Shortest Team in the league Speed - High (!!) Passing - Poor Strength - Weakest Team in the league Technique - Poor -- It will take a bit longer before we start improving in these areas. I've always looked for speed over everything else so I'm not surprised about the good marks there. I'm consciously trying to get bigger too, especially down the middle of the field. We are also the youngest team in the league Transfers OUT -- We sell DR Rachid Diallo to Litex for £1.4 million. Diallo was signed on a free from Pau FC in 2018 and was sent on loan to Dag & Red that year and then to Rayo in LIGA BBVA last year. He never suited up for Dover in his two years at the club and was surplus to requirements. -- I also sell DC/MC Shaun Halsall to Swindon for £100,000. Halsall has been with us for four seasons, joining us in 2016 after being let go from Blackburn. He played on our U18 team for a season then spent time on loan at Brentford, Colchester and West Ham. He didn't see any league action with Dover during his time with the club. -- An offer comes in once again for our fine young MC prospect Frantisek Kroulik, this time for £7 million. I decide to stall on this - Kroulik is a huge part of my plans going forward and I felt I was in great shape at midfield with Kroulik and Andrea Rocca but one of my scouts just recently brought another young midfielder to my attention that's worth exploring. He's been labeled as a "Wonderkid" and one that may be interested in moving to Dover (that's very rare for a player of his calibre) so I'm working on that right now. -- Renato Gaucho is interviewed by Goal.com and states that he was flattered by the interest shown from Juventus and would consider any offer they make him. I've already issued a hands off warning to all teams but this won't help matters. Rooney to Dover? One of my scouts points out that Manchester United released Wayne Rooney this week and that he is potentially interested in a move to Dover. Rooney is 34 years old at this point and while his trademark pace has become average, he still has plenty of skill and mental capabilities to contribute for another year or two. I offer him a contract that his agent accepts and I think I may have him but a couple days later, Rooney calls me to say he's over-ruling his agent, as he wants more money, a sell-on clause AND wants assurance he'll always be our highest paid player. I'm not willing to go as far as I need to and I walk away from a legend of the game. -- New DC Thomas Andersen is called up to play for Denmark's U19 squad -- Our preseason friendly against Turkish side Galatasaray will be televised -- Our pitch gets relaid, as usual at this time of year. It is now in perfect condition. Transfer IN -- We may have paid more for striker Giorgos Gesios but this may qualify as our biggest signing to date. I wasn't even in the market for a central midfielder but one of my scouts pointed out that there was a "Wonderkid" that he felt was attainable if we were willing to spend the money. I started talks with Manchester City manager Carlo Ancelotti, who guided City to the treble last year and after some back and forth, I was able to come to an agreement with him. It took some doing and a lot of money but in the end, I was able to come to a contract agreement with the player as well… Welcome 20 year old Neil Cairney to Dover! I paid £12,750,000 for the rights to this incredible prospect and will be paying him a salary of £39,000 per week as well, easily the highest on the club but now matched by Giorgos Gesios, who I stupidly gave the "match highest earner clause". Anyway, back to Cairney! He is Scottish and started with Celtic in 2017-18, actually playing 11 games in the Scotish Premier League that season. He was scooped up by Man City for £3.3 million the next season and played on loan at Middlesbrough in the Premier League in 2018-19 (29apps 4g 5a 7.04 avg) and at Stuttgart in Germany (30apps 2g 4a 7.30 avg). He looks to be a brilliant prospect - I'll soon put up a screen shot of his attributes, along with everyone else on our senior team, in an upcoming post. As a result of this signing, I go ahead and accept a couple of deals for Frantisek Kroulik, as he'll now longer really have a spot here and it's hard to turn down £7 million pounds for someone that won't be playing much. |
Ooooh, exciting!
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Dover Athletic - 2020-21 Senior Team Roster Report
Here is a look at how our team is shaping up as we're about to start our preseason friendlies later today, with a game against our U18 squad. GOALKEEPERS - Lukasz Fabianski - GK  Ingo Wilke - GK  I'll likely start the season with Wilke, who is much younger than Fabianski. I'd still like to look at bringing in another great keeper but I likely don't have the transfer money to do so. FULLBACKS - Renato Gaucho - DL  Jozef Kuciak - DR, WBR  Salim Loucif - DR, DC  Jozef Varga - DL, WBL  We're set at starter with Gaucho and newcomer Loucif. I'm not happy with my depth on either side and will likely look to supplement what I have in the free transfer market or a bargain buy is an option as well. CENTRAL DEFENDERS Thomas Andersen - DC  Luke McCullough - DC, DR  Oliver Nicholas - DC, DR  Lukas Stetina - DC, DM, MC  So far, this is the biggest disappointment in the early part of the transfer window. I am having a very tough time finding an elite central defender that actually will come to Dover. I've been fortunate enough to sign two very good prospects in Andersen and young Kokaina but I'd like an anchor player in the middle of the defense. I'm still looking and hopeful to find someone who can step in right away as a starter this year. CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS Neil Cairney - MC  Frantisek Kroulik - MC  Mancini - DM, DC, MC  Darren Pratley - MC, AMC  Andrea Rocca - MC, AMC  Aitor Zubizarreta - AMC, AMR, ST  Cairney, my wonderkid signing from Man City, is a 3.5/4.5 prospect who should step in and contribute right away. Kroulik is on the transfer list and I will likely take advantage of whatever money comes in on his sale to supplement the rest of the roster. Depth is a concern here though - Pratley is way past his prime and Zubizarreta, while a great young talent, doesn't really fit in well with my roster because he can't play MC. We rarely go with an AMC and when we do, I'd prefer using Zoltan Bardi. WIDE MIDFIELDERS Arsene Bamba - ML, AML, WBL  Gianluca Bolis - MR, AMR  Liam Craig - MC, ML, AML  Petr Kostal - MR, AMR, ML, AML  Cameron Murray - ML, AML  Well, again, we're set at starter with newcomer Bamba joining last year's revelation Gianluca Bolis. Cameron Murray will hopefully bounce back after a terrible season last year. Kostal isn't very good. Again, depth is a concern. STRIKERS Zoltan Bardi - ST, AMC, MC  Gerardo Escobar - ST  Giorgos Gesios - ST  Roberto - ST, AMC  Petr Simek - ST  We're very deep at striker but maybe lacking that absolute ELITE forward that most great teams have. I certainly hope Gesios can prove he's that guy - his value has dropped over 10 million pounds since I bought him last year but he's coming off a sensational Euro Cup and is in great shape to start the preseason. Escobar and Bardi will be counted on a lot as well. Current Reserve Team Players - Gareth Mace - DC, DR, ST - Andrew Stanley - DC - Emmanuel Agbo - DC, DM, MC - Jamie Matthews - DM, MC - Frankie Taylor - MR, MC - Jonathan Adam - ML, AML, MC, AMC - Dennis Kunz - ST Current Players Loaned Out - Matthew Thompson - DC (at Preston) - Andy Brown - DC (at AFC Wimbledon) - Jonathan Gauthier - DC, MC (at Brighton) - Steve Ingram - ML, AML (at Brentford) Notable U18 Prospects Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz - DC  Abdallaye Kokaina - DC  Ryan Bodin - ST  Carlo Cerbone - ST  Gregoire Lambert - ST  DC Kokaina is an elite prospect with 4.5 potential. He's actually got the talent to play this year in a reserve role but I'd like him to learn the English language before being thrown to the wolves at the Premier League level. I plan on keeping him with the U18 team this year. I've had numerous offers for another young DC in the past 12 months, Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz - if others think he's going to be good there's no reason for me to move him just yet. He's a guy I'd like to achieve home grown status. |
July 10, 2020
-- We always start our preseason with an intrasquad friendly, pitting our backups and reserves against our U18 squad. Dover 4 - 1 Dover U18 Dover Goals - Roberto 2 (8.8), Petr Simek (7.3), Andrew Stanley (8.5) Dover Assists - Cameron Murray 2 (9.0), Jozef Varga (8.1), Mancini (7.9) Man of the Match - Cameron Murray Other Notables: Lukasz Fabianski (7.2), Jozef Kuciak (7.2), Petr Kostal (7.2) U18 Goal - Carlo Cerbone (7.3) U18 Assist - Gregoire Lambert (6.8) Other Notables - Garry Doyle (5.2), Simon Hassan (5.7) -- Nothing much notable out of this match other than it was terrible football. Transfer OUT - Frantisek Kroulik accepts a deal from Celta and he leaves Dover with immediate effect. I kind of regret moving him to be honest - he would have been my #3 MC behind wonderkid new signing Neil Cairney and our star Andrea Rocca and it's not easy finding 4.5 star potential players. That said, it's hard to turn down the £7,500,000 I made in the sale and hopefully I can use that to get the big DC I need in addition to adding a touch more depth. The 7.5 million pound fee is by far the largest in Dover history, surpassing the £2,500,000 I received for Fraser Forster last year. -- I find out that a second DC I had a contract offer into picked another team other than Dover. In the end, the other team offered a substantially higher salary so I get why the decision was made. Back to the drawing board… Transfer IN - I sign 22 year old DR Ross McLaughlin on a free to a £5000 per week contract. I've long had my eye on McLaughlin and he was recently released by Man City - he'll provide depth at right fullback for us and I'm guessing he'll get some decent playing time behind our new signing Salim Loucif.  Season Ticket Update -- We've sold 2181 season tickets so far and are projected at this time to reach about 4200 in total. |
Sun. July 12, 2020 - Preseason Friendly
Dover Athletic vs. Folkestone Invicta Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK We play one of our old rivals in our first competitive friendly. This should be a nice easy contest - hopefully no one gets hurt. My hopeful starting eleven will all be going today, barring any new additions before the season begins, of course. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, L. McCullough, L. Stetina, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios, G. Escobar Dover 7 - 0 Folkestone Goals - Arsene Bamba 2 (9.4), Petr Simek 2 (8.6), Giorgos Gesios (8.1), Oliver Nicholas (8.6), Gerardo Escobar (8.0) Dover Assists - Andrea Rocca 3 (9.1), Renato Gaucho (8.4), Neil Cairney (6.8), Arsene Bamba, Mancini (6.9) Man of the Match - Arsene Bamba Other Notables - Salim Loucif (8.6), Lukas Stetina (7.7), Gianluca Bolis (7.6), Ingo Wilke (7.2), Jozef Kuciak (7.2), Petr Kostal (7.2) Attendance - 5792 Domination, as expected. Shots were 35 to 0 (12 on target) and possession favoured us 64% - 36%. Wonderkid Neil Cairney missed a penalty shot (well, it was a great save actually) and I think that's why his rating suffered, although he did force a few long shots. Bamba and Loucif were sensational in their first game and Rocca, as usual, was awesome. Injury Report - Crap. We have two injuries in this game, both to key players. DC Luke McCullough sustained fractured ribs after a robust challenge and will miss about four weeks. Star MC Andrea Rocca suffered bruised ribs but will miss only a week. Loan OUT - New striker Ryan Bodin will head out to Rushden and Diamonds on a loan deal for six months. He still doesn't speak English so hopefully he can get some basic knowledge of the language while he's on loan. |
Wed. July 15, 2020 - Preseason Friendly
Dover Athletic vs. Galatasaray Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK This will be a much tougher contest against the Turkish Premier League side, especially since I'll be starting my "B" lineup today, for the most part. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - L. Fabianski D - J. Varga, G. Mace, L. Stetina, R. McLaughlin M - C. Murray, Mancini, N. Cairney, P. Kostal S - P. Simek, Z. Bardi Dover 1 - 4 Galatasaray Goal - Zoltan Bardi (7.2) Assist - Neil Cairney (6.8) Man of the Match - Marcos Antonio (Galatasaray) Other Notables - Ross McLaughlin (5.6), Lukas Stetina (5.8), Gareth Mace (5.6) Attendance - 8615 A pretty poor game on our part but our depth quite obviously isn't as strong as it needs to be. Our defence had a rough night. Thankfully we had no injuries coming out of this one. Transfer OUT - We say goodbye to former U18 player Frankie Taylor, who leaves on a £70,000 transfer to Tranmere. We picked Taylor up on a free in 2017 when he was dropped by Huddersfield. We sent him on loan spells to Leyton Orient, Brighton and Charlton but he was rarely used, only playing 2 official league games to this date. I'm thrilled to get anything for him, to be honest. Loan OUT -- For the second year in a row, I loan out AMC Aitor Zubizarreta to Gimnastic in LIGA BBVA. I get an upfront fee of £200,000 and we also included a clause that allows them to purchase Zubizarreta at any point during the deal for £3,800,000. Interestingly enough, that gossip magazine Goal.com got a sound bite from our captain Darren Pratley that revealed he was happy Zubizarreta was gone, as he was causing issues in our locker room. Hmm. -- I lose out on another target, this time a depth left fullback, who chose to go to Duisburg over Dover. -- Wayne Rooney signs with Fulham for basically the same amount I offered. No big deal - I think we're fine at striker without him. Euro U19 Championship Our new Danish central defender Thomas Andersen played the whole match and contributed an assist in a 2-1 Denmark victory over Ireland. Andersen's team has made it to the semi-finals, where they'll face Portugal while Slovakia and Italy battle it out on the other side of the draw. |
Sun. July 19, 2020 - Preseason Friendly
Preston North End vs. Dover Deepdale, Preston, UK We head to Preston in our first road friendly. We start a pretty strong lineup today, with only Luke McCullough and Andrea Rocca missing due to injury. Otherwise we have a pretty full squad for this one. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, L. Stetina, O. Nicholas, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, D. Pratley, N. Cairney, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios, G. Escobar Preston 2 - 2 Dover Goals - Arsene Bamba (7.7), Giorgos Gesios (8.2) Assist - Giorgos Gesios, Neil Cairney (7.0) Man of the Match - Giorgos Gesios Other Notables - Salim Loucif (7.4), Renato Gaucho (7.1), Gianluca Bolis (7.2) Attendance - 4770 We were up 2-0 with about 10 minutes left in the match but after substituting most of our starters, Preston would score twice in a three minute stretch to even things up. Once again, our depth looks very poor and I may have to look for some veterans in the free transfer market. -- After the match, I get word that one of my transfer targets has accepted his contract but that we need to get a work permit issue sorted out. My scouts don't have much faith that we'll be able to get the permit for Namibian DC Paulus Tjiuoro but we'll find out next week. I'm not optimistic. |
Dover Injury Report
-- We have a couple players on the shelf right now. Veteran ML/MC Liam Craig pulled his groin early in camp but will soon be available for selection. Meanwhile, DC Luke McCullough is still recovering from his fractured ribs and will be out for another few weeks at least. Tue. July 21, 2020 - Preseason Friendly Swansea vs. Dover Liberty Stadium, Swansea, UK This is another game we should comfortably win, playing against League 1 side Swansea. That said, we're going with all of our second choice players today, with the exception of DC Lukas Stetina, who a year after being brought to Dover is still trying to fit into the team…and still hasn't learned English. I also call up Abdallaye Kokaina from the U18 team to see what he can do against men. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - L. Fabianski D - J. Varga, L. Stetina, A. Kokaina, J. Kuciak M - C. Murray, Mancini, J. Adam, P. Kostal S - P. Simek, Z. Bardi Swansea 0 - 1 Dover Goals - Petr Simek (7.3) Assist - Petr Kostal (6.9) Man of the Match - Abdallaye Kokaina (7.8) Other Notables - Lukas Stetina (7.0), Jozef Varga (7.1), Jonathan Adam (7.0), Cameron Murray 7.0 Attendance - 4302 A boring match - we outclassed them, winning the possession battle 59%-41% and outshooting them 15-4 but we had trouble breaking them down. 18 year old Abdallaye Kokaina was excellent and was named man of the match. -- Left midfielder Cameron Murray sustained a bruised rib during the game and will miss about a week. Euro U19 Championship Update -- DC Thomas Andersen continues to perform well for Denmark, notching another assist in a 2-1 win over Portugal. Denmark moves onto the finals and will face Slovakia. -- Striker Zoltan Bardi isn't happy with his current contract and wants a raise. He's only making £6,250 per week but I'm not really big on re-working contracts well before their expiry and his contract is in effect until June 2022. He's apologizes for bringing it up when I have a chat with him so all is well. -- FC Bayern again come calling for young left fullback Renato Gaucho. I decide to counter their mediocre offer of £2,400,000 with a new bid of £20,000,000. Needless to say, they pull out of negotiations and i hope they finally get the message. Of course, Gaucho's agent once again approaches me to say his client is upset with his current contract terms but we've already been down that road before. -- I've rarely had anyone approach me for GK Ingo Wilke but now Espanyol come calling, offering a paltry £1.2 million, half of his value. Quickly denied, of course. -- Liam Craig resumes full training after missing a couple of weeks with his groin strain. Transfer IN - Holy smokes. I spoke in a prior post about coming to an agreement with a DC that required a work permit, one that my scouts said wasn't likely to be granted. Perhaps having a sugar daddy owner helps in these cases, because I just get word that FC Twente's DC Paulus Tjiuoro has been granted a conditional British work permit for his move to Dover!! Tjiuoro, which is going to be really hard to spell, is a 24 year old Namibian national who has essentially dominated every league he's been in. His home town club is Eleven Arrows and he had a one year spell in Azerbaijan at Qarabag FK Agdam before being bought for £600K by Bolivian club The Strongest CF…and yes, that's the actual name! He spent four years there before being purchased by FC Steaua Bucharest in Romania then went to FC Twente the following year. I paid £3,200,000 for this youngster who is rated anywhere between 3.0 and 4.0 stars currently by my coaches. He speaks perfect English and I expect him to be a major player for us this year and going forward.  -- And to prove the feast or famine theory, another major DC target of mine accepts his deal on the same day. Like Tjiuoro, he will need to get a work permit approved but my scouts don't think this one will be an issue. I'll have more on this if it goes through but this youngster would immediately become my best centre half back if the scouting reports are to be believed! - In related news, Thomas Andersen, who isn't even with the club right now due to the U19 Euro Cup, indicates he's unhappy that we've added these players, giving him "too many rivals for the position". I want to tell him that it's none of his business but in a way, he's right, so I tell him that I'll likely move to balance things out with a transfer out. -- The odd man out would be Lukas Stetina - he has more talent than our long-time DC Oliver Nicholas but he's one of those guys who has been around so long that I can't pull the trigger on a move. Stetina has 3.0/3.0 ability but a year after picking him up, he's still shown as "having trouble settling in" by my assistant manager. He's also got a value of £2,600,000 so I can make up almost all of the money I just paid for Tjiuoro if I can get that. Stetina isn't happy with being transfer listed, as expected but I have a quick talk with him to say I don't see a future for him here and he goes on his way. |
Sat. July 25, 2020 - Preseason Friendly
A.C. Milan vs. Dover San Siro, Milan, Italy I like to take two-game tours every year to a different country - last year we visited Brazil and this year we head to beautiful Italy. Game one is against A.C. Milan - this should probably be a pretty close matchup. If I was playing this game for real (ie: if it meant something), I'd likely dial down my tactics and play a counter attacking game but I want to keep working on our creativity, especially in a showcase matchup like this so I roll with most of my first-teamers and continue playing a control system. Despite just arriving today, and with no training time with the club, I throw new signing Paulus Tjiuoro into the starting lineup. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, O. Nicholas, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios, G. Escobar A.C. Milan 2 - 1 Dover Goals - Giorgos Gesios (7.3) Assists - Andrea Rocca (6.9) Man of the Match - Timo Hiltunen (Real Madrid - 8.0) Other Notables - Ingo Wilke (5.7) Attendance - 16186 A.C. Milan dominated the first half but we performed well in the second 45 minutes to make a game of it. Stats were very even, with A.C. Milan having a 16-15 shot advantage and 51-49 possession advantage. Ingo Wilke got a poor rating for messing up on the first Milan goal. Our big signing this year, wonderkid MC Neil Cairney received two yellow cards and was booted from the game. Euro U19 Championship Update -- DC Thomas Andersen had another fine game for Denmark but ultimately they were defeated 1-0 by Slovakia in the Euro Cup U19 finals. Pitch Alterations -- As usual, we are given the opportunity to made changes to our pitch confirmation. We maintain the same dimensions of 72m x 110m, a wide and long pitch to utilize our speed. Transfer Delayed due to Work Permit Issue -- As expected, we have a delay in our transfer for a young Argentine centre half back, as the initial application for a work permit is denied. We appeal and we'll have to wait about a week for the decision. Again, our scouts feel that it should be addressed to our satisfaction but I'm keeping my fingers crossed - hell, they were wrong about Tjiuoro so they could be wrong again! -- Offers start coming in for transfer listed DC Lukas Stetina - I reject a couple that just offered his value for one that met my asking price. Now it's up to Stetina to agree to a contract Season Ticket Update - We are up to 3278 season tickets sold and it's expected we'll sell about 900 more to get to around 4200. -- I'm disappointed to hear that we miss out on signing cultured winger Gervinho, losing out in a bidding war to Rangers from the Scottish Premier League. He's way past his prime but would have given us a nice veteran presence as a rotational player. -- Add GK Ingo Wilke to the list of guys upset with his current contract after seeing me decline a transfer bid. We have a quick talk and all is well. |
Tue. July 28, 2020 - Preseason Friendly
Napoli vs. Dover San Paolo, Naples, Italy We finish off our 2020 Italian preseason tour with a matchup against Napoli, who finished 4th in Serie A last year to qualify for the Champions League. This will be a very tough matchup, most likely. We're going to mix things up a bit here, moving to our attacking 4-2-3-1 formation just to see how it looks this year. We're starting a few of our preferred eleven in this contest, as a few guys like Andrea Rocca and Gerardo Escobar are still trying to achieve full fitness. New DC Thomas Andersen will suit up for the first time, as he has finally returned from the U19 Euro Cup. Liam Craig will also see his first preseason action after returning from injury. Dover: 4-4-2 DM Control (4-2-3-1) GK - I. Wilke D - J. Varga, A. Kokaina, T. Andersen, R. McLaughlin M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - L. Craig, Z. Bardi, P. Kostal S - G. Escobar Napoli 2 - 3 Dover Goals - Petr Kostal (8.2), Andrea Rocca (7.4), Liam Craig (8.3) Assists - Petr Kostal, Liam Craig, Gerardo Escobar (6.9) Man of the Match - Luis Felipe Salazar (Napoli - 8.6) Other Notables - Abdallaye Kokaina (7.0), Attendance - 13454 What a thriller! We took the early lead on a Petr Kostal goal off a Liam Craig cross but Luis Felipe Salazar scored twice in a seven minute span, the second on a penalty kick after U18 prospect Addallaye Kokaina was called for a hand ball in the area. I peeled some paint in the halftime team talk and the team responded with goals from Rocca and then Craig to seal the great team victory. We edged them on possession 53-47 but were outshot 13-9 (5-4 on target). It may have been one of Kostal's best games and may have singlehandedly saved his backup job, as I've been actively looking for alternative cover for Gianluca Bolis. Squad Win Bonuses -- As usual, we promise the players that we will pay out higher than normal collective win bonuses for both League and Cup competitions. Morale gets an obvious boost with the prevalence of ambitious players on the squad. -- Crap - DC Lukas Stetina rejects the contract offer from Livorno, saying it's unacceptable and insulting. Great. I have to offer him up again to clubs and lower my transfer fee expectations a bit. Thankfully, a few more teams come calling and I pretty much accept all of the offers this time except one that offered no up front money (on a 3 million pound deal…ballsy!). International Duty - 2020 Olympic Games -- Two of our players are called up for the Olympics - Algeria's Salim Loucif and Italy's Gianluca Bolis will participate for their country. I'm not sure if this is just a rule that's in game or not but it looks like it's an U23 championship, with a maximum of 3 over-agers allowed. August Update -- We still have three friendlies left this month: Greek club Panathinaikos visits Crabble Athletic Ground on August 1st, we travel to Margate on August 5th and finally, we host Athletic Club Bilbao on the 8th. We also have three Premier League games scheduled for August: our home opener is against Tottenham on the 15th, we travel to Norwich on the 22nd and we host Bolton on the 29th. Actually, it's a pretty decent schedule to start and hopefully we can get away with at least a couple of wins. We will likely have a League Cup match at some point this month as well. -- Our assistant manager tells me that GK Lukasz Fabianski, DC Thomas Andersen and DC Andrew Stanley have all trained well this past month. Great to see that from the 35 year old Fabianski! On the other hand, ST Gerardo Escobar, DMC Mancini and DC Gareth Mace all disappoint in training. As usual, I request talks with all three and while Mancini and Mace admit they need to be better, Escobar is defiant and walks out of my office. Wonderful - he'll be riding the pine for a while now. I do get good reports from the U18 squad, with top prospect DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz and GK Garry Doyle having a good start to their training. -- Rushden & Diamonds come calling about reserve team DC Gareth Mace, offering to take him on loan for 6 months. They feel he'll play on their first team so I accept the offer. Mace just earned home-grown status so I'm okay with sending him away on loan now. Transfer IN -- Well, he's not quite a stud but he's certainly a player who can become a top player in the Premier League with the proper tutelage. We gain a conditional British permit for 20 year old Argentine central defender Cristian Rodriguez and with that out of the way, we finalize a £7,000,000 transfer (with additional clauses that could bring the deal to 8 million pounds) to bring him in from PSV in Holland.  He's very well developed for a 20 year old and my coaching staff have him pegged as anywhere between 3.5 & 4.5 stars already and there is some room to grow as well. I like his speed but I especially love his determination and his leadership. Once he learns the language, I'm hoping this kid can evolve into a possible Dover captain and lead the charge from the back line. I'm elated with this move and we've done incredibly well to add major pieces at DC, ML, DR and MC during the preseason. I strongly feel we have top quality prospects at every position now and while squad depth is a slight concern, I believe we have a team capable of finishing in the top half of the division for the first time and maybe, just maybe, we're good enough to challenge for continental play! PS: this isn't the same Rodriguez we let go without a contract in July - that Cristian Rodriguez was an aging midfielder from Uruguay! -- With this move, our transfer kitty is basically bare. I do have plenty of wiggle room right now with salaries so I can make adjustments if I find some bargain buys but we are done with major transfers coming into the squad for now. |
Sat. August 1, 2020 - Preseason Friendly
Dover vs. Panathinaikos Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK We return from our Italian trip to face Greek Superleague side Panathinaikos, which happens to be our star striker Giorgos Gesios's childhood club. We revert back to our 4-4-2 for this game and will field a pretty good side, with new signing Cristian Rodriguez going in right away. We are missing two key contributors in Gianluca Bolis and Salim Loucif, with both taking part in the Olympics. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - L. Fabianski D - R. Gaucho, P. Tjiuoro, C. Rodriguez, J. Kuciak M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, P. Kostal S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi Dover 2 - 2 Panathinaikos Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.3), Roberto (7.3) Assists - Neil Cairney (6.8), Andrea Rocca (7.2) Man of the Match - Jose Francisco de la Torre (Panathinaikos - 8.0) Other Dover Notables - None Attendance - 4142 We need an extra time goal from substitute Roberto to equalize late and salvage the draw. Gesios was terrible (6.0) versus his former club and our new central defence, Rodriguez and Tjiuoro had issues stemming perhaps from lack of communication. It's strange - I'm playing very large teams in this preseason (well, most of them are anyway) and my demands are much higher than normal - perhaps I should be happy we're competing well but I'm upset we're not winning some of these games. We outshot them 23-9 and possession was dead even. I'm still trying to find a good balance at central midfield too - Rocca and Cairney are similar types of players but one has to play a defensive role (right?) and I don't think I'm getting everything I can out of Cairney especially. August Board Confidence Update -- The board is very pleased with my overall leadership and our increased stature again is the reason. They are slightly disappointed with the departure of DC/MC Shaun Halsall? Hahaha!!! The guy was a complete non-factor for us and never had the talent for the Premier League anyway. Maybe he's buddies with our new chairman - that said, if that's all they can find wrong with my management, I'm doing all right! -- We recorded a whopping loss of £25.22 million last month! Yikes! That's obviously all transfer activity and we should be fine going forward despite a negative bank balance at the moment. We get a note saying that our transfer spending has reached a record high of £29.5 million so far this year, eclipsing last year's record of £24.4 - it's nice to be rolling with the big boys this year! -- Teams continue to make bids on our players. I have to issue another hands off warning to Reading as they keep talking about Ingo Wilke in the press. Then I get an £8,500,000 bid put in on Zoltan Bardi by Chelsea. Oh boy - that's a LOT of money for a guy who is our #2 or #3 striker. I still decline the offer, saying it isn't good enough - again, I'm in the mode where I want to win now and my depth will prove to be important if I'm to go anywhere. Bardi, of course, is very flattered by the interest. -- The next day, a story comes out on skysports.com where Wilke says he's never asked to leave Dover nor requested that he be allowed to talk to Reading. He says he's under contract to us and will continue to work hard for the club and his teammates. Sounds good to me. -- Now Huddersfield get into the act, offering me £5,000,000 for vice captain Luke McCullough - hmm, now this one is interesting. He's been here forever and still is more than capable of contributing (26 years old, 3.0/3.0) but I've added so much depth at DC that even with fellow DC Lukas Stetina half way out the door, I guess I'd be willing to move McCullough if the right offer came along. So I throw them a bone, saying I'll consider moving him for £8.5 million. If they want him that bad, that's good by me. Loan OUT -- DC Gareth Mace will be heading to Rushden & Diamonds on a six month loan. He's not in my plans, now or in the future. Loan IN -- We bring in our first loanee of the year, ironically enough from Reading. 20 year old MR/WBR Martin Prochazka will be coming here on a season long loan. I needed cover behind Gianluca Bolis and Petr Kostal, as I had no one else on the roster who could play right midfield besides those two. I should be able to get the youngster at least 10 games. At 2.5/3.5, he's a decent prospect for Reading - I had to pay an upfront fee of £275,000 for Prochazka.  -- I'm still in the market for one more player, as I need cover at left fullback before the season starts. I've got a transfer offer in on a veteran DL that hopefully goes through. |
Wed. August 5, 2020 - Preseason Friendly
Margate vs. Dover Hartsdown Park, Margate, UK Margate is an old non-league rival. This could get really ugly but it's a very small pitch that may be well suited to keeping the scoreline down. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - L. Fabianski D - R. Gaucho, T. Andersen, C. Rodriguez, R. McLaughlin M - C. Murray, L. Craig, N. Cairney, M. Prochaszka S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi Margate 0 - 7 Dover Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (8.7), Giorgos Gesios (8.0), Jordan Rose OG, Cameron Murray (9.3), Tom Haywood OG, Roberto (7.4) Assists - Renato Gaucho 2 (9.2), Ross McLaughlin (8.8), Liam Craig (9.0), Cameron Murray Man of the Match - Cameron Murray Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.2), Cristian Rodriguez (8.4), Thomas Andersen (8.5), Martin Prochazka (8.4), Neil Cairney (8.1) Attendance - 1580 We had a 5-nil lead at half time and called off the dogs for the most part. We enjoyed a 62-38 possession advantage and a 31-1 shot advantage. It wasn't even close, as expected. International Update - Olympic Games -- DR Salim Loucif notches an assist and plays well in a shock 2-1 Algerian win over Brazil at the Olympics. -- MR Gianluca Bolis also plays well but doesn't come away with any points in a 3-3 Italy draw versus South Africa. -- Chelsea come calling again for Zoltan Bardi, this time to the tune of £10,500,000 - boy, that's a hell of a lot of money for Bardi but I don't really want to sell him right now…in fact, I'd rather sell Gerardo Escobar and Chelsea is interested in him too. -- I mentioned the offer that came in from Huddersfield for DC Luke McCullough and how I sent back a counter offer of £8,500,000. As expected, it was rejected and as usual, the player was upset and wants new contract terms. I have never buckled down to this request and I've had no issues in the past with any player but McCullough is defiant, saying he won't be happy unless he gets a new deal. He leaves in a huff and I confront him the next day - perhaps it wasn't one of my finest moments as a manager but I tell him he's handling this unprofessionally and he storms out again and I feel that we're at an impasse. I may have to transfer list him now - I do have plenty of depth but I worry again about squad unity with so many new acquisitions. Transfer IN -- We bring in what may be our last player of the transfer window in cultured French international Laurent Koscielny, a versatile defender who can play pretty much all three positions on the back line. He is now 34 years old but still has great mental attributes in addition to decent technical and physical skills that should help provide some leadership for this season. It was a modest transfer deal with Arsenal at only £100,000 up front with a potential clause for another £120k should Koscielny play 20 games or more this year.  |
Sat. August 8, 2020 - Preseason Friendly
Dover vs. Athletic Club Bilbao Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Our last preseason friendly of the year against the reputable Athletic Club Bilbao from Italy. I'm not going to go with a full strength side but we'll put in Andrea Rocca against the Italian side, along with Cristian Rodriguez and brand new signing Laurent Koscielny at the back. We'll go with our 4-4-2 DM formation (4-2-3-1) Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - L. Koscielny, P. Tjiuoro, C. Rodriguez, R. McLaughlin M - A. Rocca, L. Craig AM - C. Murray, Roberto, M. Prochazka S - P. Simek Dover 5 - 1 Athletic Club Bilbao Goals - Petr Simek 3 (9.5), Paulus Tjiuoro (8.2), Gerardo Escobar (7.4) Assists - Andrea Rocca 3 (9.1), Cameron Murray (8.0), Darren Pratley (7.0) Man of the Match - Petr Simek Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.0), Ross McLaughlin (7.5), Cristian Rodriguez (7.4), Laurent Koscielny (7.4), Martin Prochazka (7.2) Attendance - 4332 We actually were tied at 1-1 at halftime but our men came storming out of the gates in the second half and won in a walk over a very strong Athletic side. Perhaps our finest preseason performance and we only fielded about 4 projected opening day starters. -- A number of teams submit bids on our newly transfer listed DC Luke McCullough - I asked for £8,000,000, an admittedly inflated number and the teams have basically offered up to £5,750,000 - I reject all of the bids. At this point, until I get the dreaded "he's causing issues in the locker room" note, I have no reason to overreact, as he's under contract at a very reasonable wage until June 2022. Dover Captains for 2020 -- He won't play an awful lot this year but we keep MC Darren Pratley on as captain for a fourth consecutive season. He won't be back next year so we'll have to begin a transition program to a new captain. I strip Luke McCullough of vice captain duties and give that to goalkeeper Ingo Wilke, a very respected player in our room. Ideally, I'd like newcomer Cristian Rodriguez to eventually take the captain's armband but he's only 20 and doesn't speak English yet so he's at least two years away. -- Chelsea comes back with yet another bid on Zoltan Bardi, this time with a bid worth £12,750,000 plus clauses that could add another million or so. There is very little money upfront in this deal and I'm afraid of another rejection so I up the bid to 20 million and see what they'll do. The next day, they withdraw their bid. Cool by me. -- I see the first rumblings of someone coming after Giorgos Gesios - remember, I paid an ungodly sum for him last year and his value has dropped all the way to £5,250,000 - simply put, someone would have to bid at least £20 million to make me interested at this point. Gesios had a really solid camp, scoring in every game but one from my recollection so I'm expecting a great bounce back year from him and see no reason to give up on him yet. International Update - Olympic Games -- Both Salim Loucif and Gianluca Bolis play well in their last group stage games for Algeria and Italy respectively. Algeria is knocked out of the competition after finishing third in Group C behind England and Brazil while Italy moves onto the quarterfinals after finishing 2nd in Group D behind Mexico and ahead of South Africa and China. Loucif will return to Dover in time to play in our league opener while Bolis will stay abroad and finish out his Olympic experience. League Cup - Second Round Draw -- We enter the competition at this stage and are fortunate to draw League One Rochdale in a home match. The game will be played on Tuesday August 25th. Transfer OUT -- We bid adieu to DC Lukas Stetina after only one season at Dover. Stetina was arguably our most consistent defender last year but never really settled in with the club and had no success picking up English during his time here. He was expendable due to all of our transfer window signings and easily the most marketable player I could move. In the end, we get £3,500,000 from Italian Serie A side Livorno in the transfer. The 29 year old Stetina leaves Dover after 23 league games, where he scored 1 goal and added 1 assist. 2020-21 Premier League Season About to Begin -- We played nine preseason friendlies, not including our intrasquad match, and came away with a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. I've already done a thorough breakdown of our roster by including screenshots of all our players and their attributes but I'll just document our senior team here one last time, by position, as we are about to embark on a quest for continental play next year. Projected "Best Eleven" noted in bold. GOALKEEPERS - Ingo Wilke, Lukasz Fabianski Wilke was named vice captain this year and I will likely give him at least two thirds of our games, barring injury or a poor run of form. DEFENDERS - Cristian Rodriguez, Oliver Nicholas, Salim Loucif, Paulus Tjiuoro, Laurent Koscielny, Renato Gaucho, Thomas Andersen, Jozef Kuciak, Ross McLaughlin, Jozef Varga We are incredibly deep now, especially down the middle. Tjiuoro had a great preseason and will start immediately. I'm unsure yet whether I'm going to play our big offseason signing Cristian Rodriguez right away. He didn't look great in his first two friendlies with us and his inability to speak English will hurt his cause. I'm excited to see what Loucif can bring at DR and if Gaucho can build upon a spectacular half-season last year as an 18 year old. MIDFIELDERS - Mancini, Martin Prochazka, Arsene Bamba, Liam Craig, Neil Cairney, Petr Kostal, Gianluca Bolis, Cameron Murray, Darren Pratley, Andrea Rocca We added two elite pieces in Cairney and Bamba. Bamba especially was spectacular in the preseason, picking right up where he left off a few years ago when he dominated as a loan player for us during our League 1 days. I'm still trying to figure out how to best use Cairney to be honest - he's extremely skilled but I already have a star "advanced playmaker" in Andrea Rocca and it will be interesting to see if these two skilled players can gel in the middle of the park. I was very worried about depth on both wings before the season began but Cameron Murray was excellent in the preseason, as was Petr Kostal. STRIKERS - Zoltan Bardi, Roberto, Petr Simek, Gerardo Escobar, Giorgos Gesios Bardi has elevated himself into our first choice at deep lying striker over Escobar, at least for now. Gesios was fantastic in the preseason, scoring 4 goals in 5 games. Simek is a speed demon and clinical finisher and a great choice to come off the bench and Roberto, after playing at West Ham on loan last year, will be our depth striker. He's shown a penchant for being a clutch performer in late game situations so he's an ideal sub candidate, like Simek. RESERVE TEAM - Luke McCullough, Andrew Stanley, Emmanuel Agbo, Jamie Matthews, Jonathan Adam, Dennis Kunz McCullough is here only because he's currently transfer listed and I don't want him causing issues in the locker room. He could still make an impact for the senior team at some point. The other five guys are strictly reserves and will only be called upon in an injury crisis. U18 SQUAD - Garry Doyle, Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, Abdallaye Kokaina, Matt Hewitt, Steve Sinnott, Gary Cook, Johnny Mardenborough, Gregoire Lambert, Carlo Cerbone, Chris Paterson Kokaina and Yilmaz are the two best prospects here and Kokaina could see some action on the senior team at some point, perhaps in a cup match. PLAYERS AWAY ON LOAN - Gareth Mace, Matthew Thompson, Andy Brown, Jonathan Gauthier, Steve Ingram, Aitor Zubizarreta, Ryan Bodin |
Sat. August 15, 2020
Barclays Premier League Dover vs. Tottenham Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover 7-4; Draw 2-1; Tottenham 5-4 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 1W 2D 1L We open our season against Tottenham, a team we beat for the first time in our season-ending game last year. They are slight favourites in this one but we have the distinct advantage in that they are sitting some key players, including 31 year old Gareth Bale, presumably due to Euro Cup qualifying in four days. Bale isn't even on the bench for this one despite being fully fit. Our scouts only say that they struggle against teams with reputations similar to ours, which I gather to mean that they play down to our level of competition ;) They start with a 4-2-3-1 formation (3 central attacking midfielders) in a tight formation, the same look they showed us last year. Therefore, I'll counter with the same formation I beat them with last year, our 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1 with the attacking midfielders spread out) and utilize a control philosophy with no further tweaks. We basically have a full-strength team with one notable exception, that being MR Gianluca Bolis, who is still participating in the Olympics. Petr Kostal will be slotted in his place after a solid preseason. My pre-game team talk is "you can win today"! Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, P. Kostal S - G. Gesios 5' - We get fouled just outside the area and Rocca's free kick is cleared. He gets the ball back and crosses over to a wide open Bamba but his blast strikes the woodwork and bounces away. 15' - Tottenham's Stanley Hermsen gets the ball into the box to an open Vladimir Koman and he puts the ball into the net. However, the goal is ruled offsides. Whew! 23' - Arsene Bamba takes a knock but he should be able to shake it off. 28' - Their dynamic attacking midfielder Gabriel Obertan splits our defence and is in all alone but our new signing Cristian Rodgriguez comes out of nowhere to make the successful challenge, kicking the ball back to GK Wilke in the process. On the ensuing throw by Wilke, the ball is played up the left wing to Bamba, who ends up crossing a ball in from the byline to a streaking Bardi and he calmly deposits the ball into the net! DOVER GOAL 1-0 30' - Hermsen again, this time with a rocket just over the bar. 34' - Gesios takes a lovely feed from Rocca but is forced to use his weaker foot and just misses wide from in close. 36' - Wilke comes up huge with a big save from in close and the rebound is fired off the top of the crossbar. Our D looks a bit confused… 45' - Rocca with another brilliant little pass into the box to Gesios. Tottenham defenders think Gesios is offside but the flag is down. Gesios is stopped on a great save by Matthieu Dreyer but the big rebound goes right to that man Bardi and he kicks it home for his second of the half! DOVER GOAL 2-0 HALFTIME - We're losing the possession battle 47 to 53% but we're up in shots 7-5 (4-1 on target). I use the "encourage" team talk and make no tactical changes. 47' - Tottenham come out motivated but Bardi gets away again, only to be turned away by Dreyer 50' - A sloppy clearance by Wilke leads to a partial break from halftime substitute Seydou Doumbia but he just misses high. 51' - Seconds later, Koman leads them down field and after some lovely passing, it's Doumbia again all alone and he makes the clinical finish to cut the lead in half. TOTTENHAM GOAL 2-1 57' - Tottenham continue to pile on the pressure and we revert to a counter attacking mode 65' - They win a corner and the cross meets the head of super-sub Doumbia, who heads it home and Tottenham has pulled level from two down. TOTTENHAM GOAL 2-2 We change back to a control philosophy. 71' - Gesios runs down the middle and shoots wide from long distance. Wasteful. 74' - Paulus Tjiuoro with the yellow card. I bring in Laurent Koscielny for a tired Renato Gaucho. 84' - I make two more substitutions for fresh legs, bringing Petr Simek in at striker for Gesios and bring in captain Darren Pratley for Andrea Rocca. 86' - Yellow card for Neil Cairney. 88' - Cairney exchanges a one-two with Petr Kostal and cuts into the right side of the box. He tries to curl one in but hits the side netting. 90' - We keep the pressure on. Simek takes a clearance at midfield and makes a great long feed down the right wing to Kostal. He streaks down the touchline and sends in a long cross that meets the foot of a sliding Simek and goes into the net. Dramatic goal!!! DOVER GOAL 3-2 We go to a 4-1-4-1 and narrow it up for the last three minutes of extra time. 92' - Unbelievable. On the ensuing kickoff, our defence lets them walk right in but thankfully Mohamed Messaoudi shoots wide. 93' - On the ensuing goal kick, they regain possession and have another chance, only to see it swept aside by a diving Wilke. They have a corner kick but the referee blows the whistle! GREAT WIN! Dover 3 - 2 Tottenham Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (8.8), Petr Simek (7.4) Assists - Arsene Bamba (6.9), Giorgos Gesios (6.8), Petr Kostal (7.3) Man of the Match - Zoltan Bardi Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.3), Cristian Rodriguez (7.1) Attendance - 9135 (Sellout) A sensational result in our first game! Possession didn't change at full time (Tottenham 53% to 47%) but we outshot them 14-11 (7-4 on target). Post-Game Injury Report -- Arsene Bamba suffered a twisted ankle and will miss about three weeks. U18 Update -- Our kids destroyed Readings U18 team 8-0. Carlo Cerbone and star DC prospect Abdallaye Kokaina both bagged braces. Striker Gregoire Lambert also got on the board. International Update - Olympic Games -- Gianluca Bolis' run at the Olympics ends with a 2-0 loss to England. He evidently didn't have the best of games and was substituted. Still, it's great to get that Olympic experience. Season Ticket Sales -- We end up selling 3930 season tickets for the year, less than the projected 4200 but still up from last year. We'll look to add more subscribers next year as we'll be looking for ways to fill our soon-to-be 15,000+ capacity stadium. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Zoltan Bardi was selected to the Premier League team of the week after his two goal performance. -- I receive five new bids for transfer listed DC Luke McCullough - again, most of them are around £5,500,000 or so, much less than my asking price but close to double his estimated value. I decide to accept all of the deals but one - I reject the offer from division rival Aston Villa and want McCullough as far away as possible. -- Sunderland come calling again for Gianluca Bolis, offering me £8,500,000, which I quickly reject, saying he's "indispensable to the club". Reserve Team Update -- Despite being "underdogs", our reserve team embarrass Blackpool's reserves 9-0. We get two goals from both Liam Craig and young Gregoire Lambert and singles from Mancini, Gerardo Escobar, Jonathan Adam, Roberto along with an own goal. -- Mancini gets injured in the match and will miss four weeks after fracturing his ribs in an accidental collision. |
Sat. August 22 2020
Barclays Premier League Norwich (0-0-1, 0 points, 17th) vs. Dover (1-0-0, 3 points, 5th) Carrow Road, Norwich, UK Betting Odds: Norwich: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 13-8 Past Meetings: 3W 1D 1L We head to Carrow Road to face newly promoted Norwich. In-game, this is their first trip to the top flight of English football since the 2004-05 season and even then, they finished 6th last year in the Championship, shockingly winning the playoff to get the Premier League golden ticket. Quite frankly, I'm amazed they are favoured and I'm hoping the team takes it personally! They lost 5-3 to Reading in their opener and their best player looks to be 26 year old striker Paul Bryce, who they picked up a year ago from Inverness CT. He scored 17 goals in the Championship for Norwich and scored twice in their Premier League opener. Our scouts don't know much about Norwich, likely due to the fact we haven't seen them in three years. They start with a flat 4-4-2 and we'll go with the same formation and philosophy as we did in our win against Tottenham. We make two lineup changes: Cameron Murray comes in at AML for the injured Arsene Bamba while we insert Gianluca Bolis at AMR after his return from the Olympics, replacing Petr Kostal. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - C. Murray, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios I tell the lads, despite the odds, I expect a win against these guys! 2' - Wilke is forced to make a diving stop on a blast off a Norwich throw in.. 12' - New MC signing Neil Cairney looks good early. He just misses a curling rocket that slips by the bar then on an ensuing corner, he narrowly misses a header, again just putting it over the woodwork. 19' - What a crazy sequence - Norwich gets the ball out wide on the left and the cross hits the back of our defender Tjiuoro and ricochets off the goalpost. We clear it up to Giorgos Gesios and he puts a brilliant through ball up to Zoltan Bardi who makes a beeline towards the net. Needing to use his weaker left foot due to defensive pressure on his right, he pokes a perfect shot off the post and into the net. 3rd goal of the year already for Bardi! DOVER GOAL 1-0 21' - Off the ensuing kickoff, the ball comes to their right midfielder, who cuts inside and left foots a great strike that Wilke just turns aside. 23' - Holy smokes! Renato Gaucho with the throw in at midfield and the ball is lofted up the left side to a chasing Cameron Murray. He heads it on the volley to Bardi and with his left foot again, strikes a vicious shot that the keeper gets a piece of but it still goes into the net. It's that man again!! Bardi is on FIRE! DOVER GOAL 2-0 37' - Gianluca Bolis takes off down the right wing on a counter attack and the only defender back is chasing him but THREE of our attackers are running down the field unmarked. Bolis is able to get the ball across to a wide open Gesios and he almost takes too long but finally buries it for his first of the season. A dream start for Dover! DOVER GOAL 3-0 38' - We are horrible defending kickoffs. Again, they are able to get take advantage of a pinching defender and get a partial breakaway. The shot is weak and easily stopped by Wilke. HALFTIME - A fantastic half of football. We lead in possession 54% to 46% and 8-7 in shots (they have 5 shots on target to our 4 though). I tell them I'm pleased but pull aside Neil Cairney, who my assistant says is having serious problems blending into the squad - I tell him there's no pressure on him today and also pull aside Renato Gaucho, who's been skinned a couple of times to tell him I have faith in his game. We'll move to a counter attack for the start of the second half. 53' - Wild play as Bolis gets the ball on the right flank and finds Gesios unmarked at the top of the box. The Norwich keeper storms out to intercept and Gesios tries the lob, only it hits the post and sits on the goal line. Their defender clears just as it's about to cross the line. Insane! 56' - Bardi gets hurt on a challenge and is being tended to on the sidelines as we win a corner. Rocca curls one in from the left side and it meets the head of Cristian Rodgriguez, who propels it off the underside of the bar and into the net. Rodriguez's first Dover goal! DOVER GOAL 4-0 65' - Wilke is forced to make a diving stop after Gaucho lets his mark get by him down the right wing 66' - Bardi is a bit banged up and I take him off, bringing on captain Darren Pratley 70' - We're under a lot of pressure for the first time all game. They have multiple opportunities to score but either miss the net completely or put easy shots right at Wilke. We take out Andrea Rocca and bring in Gerardo Escobar, moving to a 4-4-2 Control with narrow width. 75' - Neil Cairney with the yellow. He's a very aggressive player and gets yellows in almost every game, or so it seems. 82' - Liam Craig is in for Cairney. 85 - The ball is won by Gesios at midfield and he storms down the left side. He avoids a sliding tackle, moves into the box with his left foot then cuts back to his right and delivers a ridiculous, curling shot into the right corner of the net. A magnificent strike! Gesios' 2nd of the contest and we're up five! DOVER GOAL 5-0 87' - Norwich is down to ten men due to injury. 91' - We just keep pouring on the pressure. A great sequence of passes results in a beautiful through ball by Escobar to Bolis. He cuts into the area alone but his shot is turned aside by their beleaguered keeper. And that's it! Norwich 0 - 5 Dover Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (9.1), Giorgos Gesios 2 (9.5), Cristian Rodriguez (8.7) Assists - Renato Gaucho (8.3), Andrea Rocca (8.0), Gianluca Bolis (8.5), Cameron Murray (8.1), Giorgos Gesios Man of the Match - Giorgos Gesios Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.6), Salim Loucif (7.9); Paulus Tjiuoro (7.8) Attendance - 24808 We edge them on possession 51% to 49% but they outshoot us 19-16 (9-8 on target) - thankfully, most of their shots were from well outside the box. A dominating performance! -- Well, we've done it. A 2-0-0 start with a +6 goal differential has us, for the first time ever, sitting at the top of the table in the Barclays Premier League! U18 Update -- Our U18s lost a heavy 3-0 decision to Southampton. Young French striker Gregoire Lambert, who was extremely impressive off the bench for our reserve team last week, was noted again for his performance despite the loss. Transfer OUT -- Long time defensive stalwart Luke McCullough accepts a contract with Celtic FC and will be headed to Scotland in a £5,750,000 transfer deal. McCullough was a huge part of our rise through the leagues so it's not an easy decision for us to let him go. However, we obviously got into a little spat about money and it was apparent that he wasn't going to be a big part of our team going forward so getting almost two times his value is just good business. McCullough was signed in July 2012 after he was released from Manchester United's youth system. He battled major injuries in two of his first three years with us, only playing a total of 43 league games during that time but he'd eventually become a major part of our team. His best season was in 2016-17, when he was one of our best players in our League 1 promotion year, scoring 6 goals and adding 5 assists from the backline in 35 league appearances. In total, he played 184 league games for Dover, scoring 15 goals and adding 9 assists. We wish Luke the best going forward. -- The host for the 2028 Olympic Games is announced and it will be hosted in my home country of Canada -- Sunderland won't give up on Gianluca Bolis, now offering £10,250,000 for him. No thanks - he's only 21 and destined to become a great right midfielder here at Dover. The same day, I get an offer for Bolis from Turkish side Besiktas JK, this time for £12,500,000 plus future incentives. Wow! Still a no but I'm starting to worry that Bolis is going to get upset. I've heard nary a peep from him on any of these rumours, thankfully! The transfer deadline is in one week so I won't have to be reading these stories for very long. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Our scintillating performance gets SIX of our players named to the Premier League Team of the Week!!! Renato Gaucho, Cristian Rodriguez, Gianluca Bolis, Zoltan Bardi, Andrea Rocca and Giorgos Gesios all are honoured with the selection. Injury Update -- We have a couple of injuries right now. Arsene Bamba is still a couple weeks away from returning from his twisted ankle while DMC Mancini is our only long-term injury and he's out at least a month. Next Up -- We will be facing Rochdale in the second round of the League Cup at home |
In my experience with FM, the odds are almost exclusively decided by a team's reputation, hence I'm not too surprised by the bookmakers being against your side almost every single time.
Keep it up! |
Sat. August 22 2020
League Cup - 2nd Round Dover vs. Rochdale Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 1-6 (Favourites) Draw: N/A Rochdale: 10-1 Past Meetings: 3W 0D 1L We have what should be a routine matchup against League 1 side Rochdale. They've moved between three divisions during this dynasty, spending five years in League 1, four years in League 2 and one year in the Championship, where they were last year before finishing last and being relegated back to League 1. We will be going with a full set of backups in this game with one exception: we will play wonderkid Neil Cairney again in an attempt to get him settled in and perhaps a jolt of confidence playing a lower league side. We will go to a flat 4-4-2 Control game as opposed to our 4-4-2 DM look (4-2-3-1) that we've played in the past two games. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - L. Fabianski D - J. Varga, T. Andersen, O. Nicholas, R. McLaughlin M - L. Craig, D. Pratley, N. Cairney, M. Prochazka S - P. Simek, G. Escobar Bench - L. Koscielny, J. Kuciak, C. Murray, A. Rocca, Z. Bardi, P. Kostal, Roberto Rochdale are lining up in a flat 4-4-2. I tell the lads I expect a win tonight and tell Cairney I expect a great performance. 11' - We've controlled play for the first ten minutes and had a few decent chances. We get a corner that's taken by loanee Prochazka and he lobs a soft ball to the top of the box. Liam Craig takes it with his weaker right foot and shoots for the far corner. It ends up hitting the back of the head of striker Petr Simek and bounces into the net. Weird sequence but we'll take it! DOVER GOAL 1-0 15' - There's another extended sequence of possession that sees the ball switch flanks to the right side and our fullback Ross McLaughlin. He sends a pass right into the middle of the field to Neil Cairney and from about 20 yards outside the box, delivers an incredible curling rocket of a shot into the right corner of the net. A sensational strike and Cairney's first ever Dover goal! The Wonderkid strikes!!! DOVER 2-0 25' - Rochdale gets the ball out wide and sends in a cross. The ball is won by their striker but he left foots a ball just wide. Poor defending there and we're fortunate to escape. 29' - Cairney sends in a long free kick that's hits Liam Craig but his shot is blocked. On the ensuing counter attack, Oliver Nicholas goes in hard with studs up and takes down their man. I'm expecting a straight red card but am relieved to see the ref pull a yellow. Ugly, ugly challenge. HALFTIME - A pretty solid half, with us leading possession 54%-46% and a 7-1 shot advantage. I encourage the team to keep working and tell Gerardo Escobar I have faith in his abilities. 58' - Simek steals the ball at midfield and charges down the length of the field, only to miss wide with his left foot. He has a couple more chances in the next minute or two as well that go by the wayside. 62' - Darren Pratley with a yellow card. 64' - Roberto comes in at striker in place of Simek and Koscielny comes in for Nicholas on defence. 86' - They've had a lot of possession over the past ten minutes but no real chances. 87' - I bring in Petr Kostal for Darren Pratley 90' - Cairney one-touches a lob into the keeper's area to Prochazka and he heads it in but he's clearly offside on the play. Two minutes of injury time. We close it out. Dover 2 - 0 Rochdale Goals - Petr Simek (7.3), Neil Cairney (8.3) Assists - Ross McLaughlin (8.0), Liam Craig (7.1) Man of the Match - Neil Cairney Other Dover Notables - Thomas Andersen (7.2), Jozef Varga (7.1) Attendance - 6865 We didn't play well in the second half and ended up losing possession 48% to 52%. We had a lot of weak shots from distance, hence a 21-5 shot advantage (4-0 on target). I tell the lads the result was good but the performance wasn't good enough. I do pull Cairney and McLaughlin aside individually and tell them they did well. Reserve Team Update -- We beat up on Chelsea's reserves in London 4-1, using a whole bunch of our U18 team as well. Substitute Carlo Cerbone replaced an injured Gregoire Lambert and bagged a brace, with Petr Kostal and Roberto notching the other goals. -- Lambert tore a calf muscle and will be out for close to four months. That's unfortunate - hopefully the kid bounces back - he seems like he has a lot of talent and while it's a long shot that he makes an impact at Dover, I'm sure he'll make an impact sometime in the future. Dover Youth Academy Established -- We now have a youth academy! Our £450,000 construction project is completed and we also see our youth facilities upgraded to "Basic" from "Minimal". We're still in the planning stages of improving our youth recruitment network so if you couple that with this new academy, I'm hoping that means we might have some better prospects coming out of our youth system in the future. -- All of this transfer talk surrounding Gianluca Bolis has him unhappy and saying he wants to pursue opportunities with bigger clubs. It doesn't help when a big club from his home country come calling in Genoa. I have a chat with him, saying that I think we're well on our way to playing relevant football and he's happy with the talk. He's only 21 years old and I hope I can keep him as long as possible. League Cup - Round Three Draw -- We are the last name out of the hat for round three and we will have to climb a mountain in order to stay in the competition, as we head to Emirates Stadium to face division rival Arsenal. The match will be played on Wednesday September 23rd. Next Up -- A Premier League home matchup against Bolton Wanderers |
Sat. August 29 2020
Barclays Premier League Dover (2-0-0, 6 points, 1st) vs. Bolton (0-1-1, 1 point, 16th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: Evens (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Bolton: 11-5 Past Meetings: 2W 0D 2L Bolton is back up in the Premier League after finishing 2nd in the Championship last year. They've been up and down between the two leagues during this dynasty, spending four seasons in the Championship and the rest in the Premier League. They finished 7th in the Premier League in 2010-11, my first year of management but haven't finished higher than 16th since then. Their best player is DC Saber Nasri, who they just bought from Sunderland for £5.5 million in the offseason. Nasri was one of my potential targets as well. Bolton went into Emirates Stadium and drew Arsenal 1-1 in their first game back at the top level but are coming off a 3-1 home loss to Reading. We'll go back to our successful 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) formation, as our scouts say they do well against flat 4-4-2's. We're still missing Arsene Bamba but will field a full strength team otherwise. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - C. Murray, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios Bench - J. Varga, T. Andersen, L. Craig, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, G. Escobar, P. Simek Bolton are using the same formation as we are - okay, I like this matchup on paper. I tell the lads I want another win today - we need to take care of business with our relatively easy early season schedule. 1' - Wow, talk about a dream start for Bolton. They take the opening kickoff and send a long ball over our defensive line. Their left midfielder Graham Carey latches onto it and with Wilke indecisive about attacking the ball, Carey lobs it over him and into the empty net. Just an awful sequence. BOLTON GOAL 0-1 2' - My God it almost happens again! Rocca makes a poor pass in midfield that is intercepted and now they direct a long ball up the right side. Wilke again can't decide whether to charge after it or stay in net and is in no-man's land again. This time, the lob barely goes over. Get it together boys!!! 6' - Neil Cairney wins a header at midfield up to Giorgos Gesios. Gesios wins a challenge on the edge of the area and for some reason, their goalkeeper seems to be taking lessons from ours, as he's way too far up in the box and Gesios lobs him for the quick reply! DOVER GOAL 1-1 25' - After a long period without anything happening, Gesios is tackled hard and hurt. Thankfully, he looks like he'll shake it off. 28' - Another wild sequence in a game filled with them so far. Bardi takes the ball upfield and tries to send a long ball down the left to a streaking Cameron Murray. The Bolton right defender heads the ball into the middle of the field where Gesios makes a hard challenge against Saber Nasri, one I think will be called as a foul. However, the ref lets play continue and Gesios is all alone in the area. He makes the clinical finish for his second of the game and we're now ahead! DOVER GOAL 2-1 36' - They bring the ball into the box and Cristian Rodriguez makes a sliding challenge that's close to a foul. The ball comes back into the middle of the box and Wilke barely turns aside a low drive, bringing up a corner. Wilke safely handles the corner and we escape. 44' - We have an extended period of possession in their side of half but we can't get any real scoring opportunities. HALFTIME - We had a terrible start but took advantage of a couple Bolton breakdowns to take the lead. Possession is dead even and we have an 8-4 (3-2 on target) shot advantage. I decide to encourage the team at half - I'm not entirely sure I like that team talk, as it hasn't really resulted in good second half performances but we'll see what it does here. Renato Gaucho is actually blamed for that first goal against and has a 5.3 rating at half. I tell him I have faith in his ability. 49' - We win a corner and Rocca makes an outswinging kick that DC Paulus Tjiuoro latches onto and propels a vicious header toward the net. The ball hits their defender guarding the post, ricochets off the goalkeeper and into the net. Officially an own-goal but that was a great header by Tjiuoro! We have some breathing room!! DOVER GOAL 3-1 51' - We come close again on another corner setpiece, with a mad scramble in front that sees the ball just cleared off the line before crossing. 57' - Gesios slowly weaves his way into the area but doesn't really have much room on his weaker foot to do damage. However, the Bolton defender makes a poor decision and tackles him, forcing the ref to call the penalty. With two goals already, Gesios steps to the spot confidently and drives it into the left side of the net. Hat trick for Gesios! "He's played his heart out for the team today!", says the commentator! DOVER GOAL 4-1 That's our first ever penalty shot goal in our two+ years of Premier League play by the way. In fact, I only recall only one other opportunity in our time at the top level and that was missed. 59' - My goodness Gesios is incredible today! Cairney sends a perfect through pass and Gesios beats the defender to the ball. The Bolton keeper makes a tremendous save on the partial break and Bolton clear. 66' - Gerardo Escobar is on for the phenomenal Gesios. Standing ovation from the Dover faithful for a splendid performance from the Greek international! 74' - Liam Craig is in for Andrea Rocca and Jozef Varga comes on for a "complacent" Renato Gaucho. 75' - On an ensuing corner, Graham Carey heads the ball hard but we clear it safely away. That looked dangerous. 82' - Cairney goes on a long run and as he's approaching the right side of the box gets tackled. He ball squirts free to the right and Gianluca Bolis is there to make the one time cross. It deflects on the way, right into the oncoming foot of substitute Gerardo Escobar and he's got nothing but net to shoot at! His first of the season! DOVER GOAL 5-1 We maintain possession for the majority of remaining time and salt away another impressive performance! Dover 5 - 1 Bolton Goals - Giorgos Gesios 3 (9.5), Gary Cahill OG, Gerardo Escobar (7.3) Assists - Paulus Tjiuoro (8.1), Neil Cairney (8.4), Gianluca Bolis (7.6) Man of the Match - Giorgos Gesios Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.2), Salim Loucif (7.2), Cristian Rodriguez (7.5), Andrea Rocca (7.7), Zoltan Bardi (7.1), Cameron Murray (7.2) Attendance - 9135 (Sellout) All of our starters, with the exception of Renato Gaucho, get ratings over 7.0. We were excellent in the second half and ended up winning possession 54% to 46% overall and dominated in shots, 18-6 (8-3 on target). I'm happy we're taking advantage of our relatively easy early season schedule. U18 Team Update -- We defeat Portsmouth 3-1, getting goals from Johnny Mardenborough, Carlo Cerbone and Chris Paterson. -- We suffer another long term injury, this time to middling prospect Steve Sinnott, who broke his leg during the game. He will miss up to six months of playing time. -- Blackburn make an £800,000 offer for Roberto, who is our fifth choice striker this year. I realize that he's not going to make a huge impact here with the quality we have in front of him but he's versatile (ST, AMC), cheap and he comes through with plenty of clutch goals when called upon. I like him as a depth piece and see no need to move him. He gets upset, of course, when I reject the deal but we have our little chat and all is well at the end of the day. -- We continue to sit at the top of the Premier League table but Manchester United is right behind us. We have a goal differential of +10 and they are at +8. International Duty -- We hit an early season international break, with our next league game not for two weeks. We have eleven players called up for international duty: Gianluca Bolis, Thomas Andersen, Ross McLaughlin and Renato Gaucho are called up by their respective U21 or U20 teams while Neil Cairney, Cameron Murray, Salim Loucif, Oliver Nicholas, Paulus Tjiuoro, Giorgos Gesios and Zoltan Bardi are all called up by their country's senior teams. If Murray gets in the lineup, it will be his first senior team cap for Scotland. |
September Update
-- The transfer window closes today. We're all done - I contemplated bringing in a young Man U midfielder on loan but I think we have more than enough depth at this point, especially once Mancini returns from his injury. -- We have only three league games this month: Sheffield Wednesday on the 12th, Stoke on the 19th and Chelsea on the 26th. We also have a 3rd round League Cup match at Arsenal on the 23rd. All in all, a pretty light month of action, as there are plenty of international games going on, most importantly World Cup 2022 qualifying. -- We get word from our assistant that Gianluca Bolis, Giorgos Gesios and Thomas Andersen have all trained well with the senior team while Carlo Cerbone and Abdallaye Kokaina are doing well with the U18's. However, DR Salim Loucif hasn't been training hard enough aerobically so I call him into my office and have a chat about his dedication to the team and thankfully, he promises he'll work harder in training. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Paulus Tjiuoro and Giorgos Gesios are named to the first eleven on this week's team. Barclays Premier League Monthly Awards -- In a first for our club, we not only see one of our players win the Player of the Month, but we pull of a complete SWEEP of the top three! Giorgos Gesios, who scored five goals in only three games, is named Barclays Premier League Player of the Month for August. Zoltan Bardi finished in second and Gianluca Bolis finishes third! -- The hits keep on coming! Our big new DC signing Cristian Rodriguez is named Barclays Premier League Young Player of the Month for August after scoring once with a 7.77 average rating! MR Gianluca Bolis finishes third for this award as well! -- Gesios' magnificent goal against Norwich was named the 3rd best Premier League goal of the month. -- I am completely robbed of my first ever Manager of the Month award. Somehow, the bozos give it to Man U's Jurgen Klinsmann - yeah, they are also 3-0-0 but they are SUPPOSED to be good! I finish in second place for the monthly award. Robbed I say! :) Injury Update -- Arsene Bamba is close to returning to full fitness after his ankle injury and Mancini is about two weeks from getting back to training after suffering fractured ribs. -- Oh my! New DC signing Thomas Andersen hands in a TRANSFER REQUEST, only three games into our new season!! He started our League Cup match but hasn't featured in any other games yet. He tells me that my failure to reassure him over his first-team future at the club has forced his hand. It's pretty ridiculous to see something come so soon after a player's arrival but he must see that our strong preference is to use Rodriguez and Tjiuoro over him. I reject the request and the transfer window closes the next day without any further complaints. His morale is in the gutter but otherwise he's got no complaints showing on his player page so I assume he'll get over it if I find him some playing time in coming games. U18 Update -- The kids lose a 3-1 match against West Ham and our only scorer was 16 year old youth pull Chris Paterson. -- A few days later, they battle Brighton to a 0-0 draw. Striker Carlo Cerbone was the top performer. September Board Confidence Update -- The board is very pleased with my overall leadership of the team. Increased stature still the main reason; Simon Rideout's departure still the main disappointing issue. We lost £253,000 last month. -- Arsene Bamba returns to full training following his ankle injury. He missed three weeks of action. International Update -- All of our international call-ups receive caps, including Scottish midfielder Cameron Murray, who expresses delight at receiving his first senior cap. -- Paulus Tjiuoro sustains a thigh strain in the Nambia game and will likely miss a week or so of action. That should make Thomas Andersen happy, as he's now in line to start his first league game for us. Reserve Team Update -- We throttle Arsenal 5-1, getting two goals from Roberto and singles from Petr Simek, Liam Craig and Dennis Kunz. Roberto was incredibly dangerous all game and missed a penalty shot that would have gotten him his hat trick. Another International Update -- The extended international break continues, with Zoltan Bardi continuing his hot early season form with two goals in a 4-0 Hungary win over Luxembourg. Cameron Murray picks up a second cap but in bad news, molten hot striker Giorgos Gesios picked up an injury in extra time in Greece's 2-1 loss against Denmark. I hope it's not serious… -- The next day, there are no injuries listed for Gesios so it must not be that serious. He's listed as being very tired so I'll likely hold him out for our next match. Next Up -- We return to Premier League action in an away match versus Sheffield Wednesday |
Sat. September 12, 2020
Barclays Premier League Sheffield Wednesday (1-0-2, 3 points, 14th) vs. Dover (3-0-0, 9 points, 1st) Hillsborough, Sheffield, UK Betting Odds: Sheffield: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 7-4 Past Meetings: 2W 1D 3L Sheffield Wednesday have progressed nicely in this dynasty, getting promoted from League 1 in 2014-15 then two years later, they won promotion in a playoff from the Championship to the Premier League. They've finished between 13th and 17th during their three years at the top level, just outside the relegation zone each year. Their best player is ST Steve Pates, but he broke his foot during a preseason friendly and is out for a couple of months. They had tough matchups against Man U and Arsenal in their first two games, losing both but are coming off an impressive 2-1 away win at Reading, so we'll need to be careful. Our scouts say they struggle versus teams with our reputation and talk about the narrow field at Hillsborough, saying wide players won't have much impact. We'll stick with what works, going with our thus far potent 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) formation. Arsene Bamba will make his return to the lineup after recovering from his twisted ankle but I'm holding leading scorer Giorgos Gesios out of the lineup for this game after he picked up a knock for Greece a few days ago. He's just tired but should be fine for our next contest. Gerardo Escobar will take his spot. Thomas Andersen will see his first league action for Dover as well, taking the place of the injured Paulus Tjiuoro. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, T. Andersen, S. Loucif M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - G. Escobar Bench - L. Koscielny, R. McLaughlin, L. Craig, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, Roberto, P. Simek Sheffield Wednesday utilize a narrow 4-2-3-1, the same formation used by Tottenham, with three central attacking midfielders. I may have to eventually narrow my formation up a bit but for now, I'll use my standard formation. 11' - A relatively slow start for us sees Sheffield carry most of the play. We finally get a counter attack with Escobar and he seemingly takes a dive in the area, hoping to draw a penalty but it's denied. 18' - They continue to press but we start a counter attack with a long ball from Thomas Andersen. One of Sheffield's DC's jumps for it but it goes over his head. A charging Escobar runs it down and curls a ball in past their goalkeeper Hughes from short distance for the early lead! Andersen with an assist in his first league game! DOVER GOAL 1-0 31' - We have a free kick from about 20 yards outside the area. Andrea Rocca curls one in that's headed to safety but Neil Cairney takes the clearance, dribbles into the area, eludes a sliding tackle and beats the Sheffield goalkeeper with a low blast on the short side. Tremendous goal for the youngster! DOVER GOAL 2-0 35' - It's Cairney again - he collects a pass from Gianluca Bolis, eludes a defender and this time, his weak shot just misses to the left. 44' - They have an extended period of possession and somehow find a wide open striker in the middle of the area. Wilke shows incredible reflexes to make the save and deflect the ball safely to the sidelines. HALFTIME - Despite our lead, we are being dominated in the possession battle to the tune of 58% to 42%. Their five central midfielders are owning play but their shots are mostly from distance. They are winning the shot battle too at 7-5 (2-2 on target). We are simply making the most of our chances. I tell the lads I'm pleased and use the "narrow formation" shout upon the start of the second half. Sheffield switches to a flat 4-4-2 for the start of the second half. 46' - Despite having control of the second half kickoff, we concede possession and their left midfielder delivers a beautiful cross. Their striker slides at it but Wilke is once again up to the challenge with a key stop and we clear the ball to safety. 54' - They are really dominating possession. Cairney gives the ball away in their half and a direct ball is played up the right wing. Renato Gaucho whiffs on a tackle and their winger is in all alone, only to have Wilke deflect away the shot over the bar. On the ensuing corner, they head the ball over. 64' - We weather another storm and head up on a counter attack, only to see Arsene Bamba stop and kick the ball out of play due to Gaucho being down injured. Give me a break! At least take advantage of the opportunity! Gaucho is banged up but ultimately he returns to the game. 66' - They grab possession again and from close distance shoot barely wide. I bring on Laurent Koscielny for Gaucho and switch to a much narrower counter attacking formation. 74' - We bring in Roberto for Zoltan Bardi, who hasn't been at his best this game. 83' - We launch a counter attack down the right side. Bolis feeds the ball toward the middle to Escobar and with his back facing the goal from just outside the area, he wins a challenge, turns back toward the goal and rifles a right footed shot past the surprised goalkeeper for his second of the game! DOVER GOAL 3-0 We ask to retain possession for the rest of the game. They switch to a 4-2-4. 90+2' - Cairney plays a ball into the far left side of the penalty area. Bamba wins a challenge on their defender Zagos that likely deserved a foul call but play goes on. While the flabbergasted Sheffield defenders hold their arms up in dismay, Bamba sends a cross into Gianluca Bolis and he has a yawning cage at his mercy! DOVER GOAL 4-0 Incredible! Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 4 Dover Goals - Gerardo Escobar 2 (8.8), Neil Cairney (8.3), Gianluca Bolis (8.2) Assists - Thomas Andersen (7.4), Gianluca Bolis, Arsene Bamba (7.7) Man of the Match - Gerardo Escobar Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.6), Salim Loucif (7.6), Cristian Rodriguez (8.2), Renato Gaucho (7.0) Attendance - 33239 We ended up losing out on most of the key stats, losing the possession battle 54% to 46% and they outshot us 15-13 (6-6 on target). We just showed better killer instinct in front of the goal. It was great seeing Escobar play so well up front - we're simply getting astonishing play from all of our strikers. The only starters with less than a 7.0 rating were Rocca (who my assistant called "complacent") and Bardi. -- I kind of screw up my post game press conference when the media ask about Neil Cairney's great start. I say that he's capable of achieving great things and we've seen nowhere near his best yet. Of course, he takes that negatively and is worried about my comments. I hope I didn't just put too much pressure on the kid when he was just starting to play great football! I have a little chat with him the next day just to reinforce that I'm happy with the way he's playing and he takes that well, thankfully. Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- Ingo Wilke, Cristian Rodriguez and Neil Cairney are named to the the Premier League Team of the Week. Injury Update -- DC Paulus Tjiuoro is back to full training and DM Mancini looks to be a couple of days from returning to full training as well. Mancini will need extended time with our reserve team to get back into shape while Tjiuoro will likely be ready for action by the weekend or in time for our League Cup game against Arsenal. Everyone else is healthy! Reserve Team Update -- Another nice win for our reserves, as we defeat Aston Villa 3-1 at Villa Park. Roberto (on a penalty), Oliver Nicholas and Petr Simek score the goals and Nicholas is singled out as our best performer. -- Mancini returns to full fitness. We will put him with the reserve team until he's fully fit but either way, he's our number 4 or 5 choice at midfield when everyone's healthy, especially since we're not utilizing a defensive midfielder at the moment. Next Up -- We try to keep our great run of form going at home against Stoke City, who currently sit in 14th on the table |
-- We have a Sunday matchup against Stoke this week and that allows Everton (!!) to pass on the table, as they destroy Middlesbrough 5-1 on Saturday to move to 4-1-0 on the year and one point ahead of us for now.
U18 Team Update -- Our youth team prevails 3-1 over Kingstonian, with Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz, Carlo Cerbone and a Kingstonian own goal creating the margin of victory. Cerbone continues to impress. Sun. September 20, 2020 Barclays Premier League Dover (4-0-0, 12 points, 2nd) vs. Stoke City (1-1-2, 4 points, 14th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Stoke City: 7-4 Past Meetings: 1W 1D 0L We welcome Stoke to Crabble Athletic Ground for a nationally televised Sunday matinee. Stoke, similar to my last opponent Sheffield Wednesday, have spent most of their time in the Premier League. They were demoted to the Championship two times but went right back up the next year both times. Their best finish in the Premier League since 2010-11 is 13th but for the most part, they are always battling against relegation. They opened this season with a shock 1-0 away win at Liverpool (who are struggling this year) and also drew away against Arsenal, with their two losses coming against Man U and Reading. So, needless to say, they've had a brutal schedule to start their season! Their highest valued player is 6' 8" defender Guillermo Piras while their most dynamic player might be 30 year old striker Billy Ketkeo, who has three goals in five games this year. My scouts talk about how they don't do well against narrow formations and slow tempo but I'm going to stick with what's working and maintain my same 4-4-2 DM look. Giorgos Gesios will return to the lineup after a one game absence due to injury. He will replace Gerardo Escobar, who scored twice in that game. I'll also stick with DC Thomas Andersen for one more game over the returning Paulus Tjiuoro - Tjiuoro is healthy now but I'm going to save him for our League Cup game next week and possibly bring him off the bench in this game. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, T. Andersen, S. Loucif M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios Bench - L. Koscielny, P. Tjiuoro, L. Craig, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, Roberto, G. Escobar They are using a 3-5-2 formation to start. My wingers should be able to take advantage of this. No mincing words - I tell the team I expect a win today - our schedule is about to get tough so we need to keep taking advantage of these early matchups. 4' - An extended period of possession for us sees the ball come to Neil Cairney but he blasts high over the bar from just outside the area. 9' - We win a corner and Rocca's beautiful kick is headed toward goal by Cristian Rodriguez but their keeper makes a brilliant save to keep the game scoreless. 23' - A long period of inactivity before we win a ball in midfield and move it up to Gesios. He has a step on his man but again shoots high. We're not making the most of our opportunities so far. 34' - They get their first great chance on a counter attack. One of their strikers is being chased down the field by Rodriguez and their other striker Zavon Hines is completely wide open for the pass. Their ball handler elects to shoot and misses high. Wasted chance there. 39' - After a long period of great possession but wasted chances, we get another ball down the right flank to Bolis. His cross is a good one to Arsene Bamba but he's taken down before getting the chance to shoot. PENALTY! Neil Cairney steps up to take the kick and just finds the inside of the post for the huge late half goal! DOVER GOAL 1-0 45' - Andrea Rocca takes down a man on the edge of the box and gets the yellow. The ensuing free kick hits one of their players and deflects harmlessly out of play. HALFTIME - They switched in the last minute of play to a 5-3-2 so perhaps we'll have a better time of possession in the second half, as we're edged 53% to 47% right now. Shots are in our favour 8-5 (2-1 on target). Gesios hasn't been effective (6.0) - I once again go to the "encourage" team talk and tell Gesios I have faith in him. Stoke stay in their 5-3-2 to start the second half. 47' - Their midfielder gains possession and unleashes a rocket that hits the woodwork and bounces to safety. 49' - We use the "exploit flanks" shout, as they aren't using wingers and there is plenty of room on each side of the field. 66' - Gesios hasn't been good today and I put in Escobar. Hopefully the fresh legs help. 73' - We finally work into the box to Escobar but he flops to the ground when he's barely touched. Yellow card to Escobar for the dive. 75' - I bring in Roberto for Zoltan Bardi, who again didn't do much for the second game in a row. 79' - Escobar makes a great play in the box from the byline, doing a 360 turn with the ball and firing a left footed blast that's turned away behind the net We get a couple chances at corners but nothing comes of it. 85' - On a seemingly harmless play, they slowly work up the field on a counter attack but spring their forward behind the defence, he cuts to the left around Wilke but his shot hits the goalpost and is booted away. 87' - We bring in Laurent Koscielny for Renato Gaucho and also switch to a counter attacking philosophy and try to maintain possession. We do a good job keeping the ball the rest of the way. Dull game. Dover 1 - 0 Stoke Goals - Neil Cairney (7.3) Assists - Arsene Bamba (6.9) Man of the Match - Cristian Rodriguez Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.2), Thomas Andersen (7.1), Cristian Rodriguez (7.4), Andrea Rocca (7.1), Giorgos Gesios (5.9) Attendance - 9135 (Sellout) A really boring game where we struggled to break them down. I will have to figure out ways to play these teams that defend hard like that but maybe you just have to take what they give you. We ended up winning possession 52% to 48% and outshot them 17-7 (6-1 on target). We really had no superb chances all game and our only goal is on a penalty. Gesios had a really poor game but it's nice to see our new Argentinian defender fitting in well so far. We'll take the three points! -- We move back to the top of the table after our victory and Man U keeps pace, sitting in second on goal differential. Next Up -- We head to Emirates Stadium to take on Arsenal in the third round of the League Cup |
Wed. September 23, 2020
League Cup - 3rd Round Arsenal vs. Dover Emirates Stadium, London, UK Betting Odds: Arsenal: 4-5 (Favourites) Draw: N/A Dover: 3-1 Past Meetings: 2W 1D 3L We have a very tough matchup, heading to London to face Arsenal. They have one Premier League championship in this dynasty, winning the league in 2014-15 and they've never finished worse than 6th going all the way back to the mid-90s. They've struggled somewhat to start the year, drawing against lowly Bolton and Stoke at home but they have wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland as well as a loss to Chelsea. They are loaded with star players, with 29 year old DC Leonel Galeano their highest valued player. They also have noted stars Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Cesc Fabregas. Arsenal usually play a flat 4-4-2 and Emirates favours a direct passing game. I have a lot of former Arsenal players and I decide to give them all a chance to shine tonight. Giorgos Gesios, Arsene Bamba, Zoltan Bardi, Andrea Rocca, Laurent Koscielny and Lukasz Fabianski will all hope to defeat their former club tonight. Other than that, we'll rotate a lot of our veterans into the lineup. We'll stick with our 4-4-2 DM formation but I may move to a counter philosophy if the going gets tough. I'm hoping they start a weaker side, as they have Champions League games to deal with in addition to the league. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - L. Fabianski D - J. Varga, L. Koscielny, P. Tjiuoro, R. McLaughlin M - A. Rocca, D. Pratley AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, P. Kostal S - G. Gesios Bench - O. Nicholas, T. Andersen, L. Craig, Mancini, M. Prochazka, G. Escobar, P. Simek As expected, they start with a flat 4-4-2. I tell the players that the pressure is off and they have nothing to lose. 5' - Darren Pratley feeds a gorgeous through ball into Gesios and his close range blast is stopped by Ustari, the Arsenal keeper. Great chance! 14' - We've had some great back and forth action. We counter up the field and there's a great three way passing play from Gesios, to Bamba and finally to Kostal right in front but his redirection is stopped again by their keeper. Nice movement there. Arsenal is pressing all over the field so we're trying to move it as quickly as possible. 16' - We send everyone into the box but one player for a throw in from Varga, our LD who can throw long. The ball is grabbed by Arsenal and immediately cleared up field. Ross McLaughlin whiffs on a tackle and that sends striker Teddy Gallo in all alone. He rounds the keeper and has the open net. Easy finish…horrific defending. ARSENAL GOAL 0-1 23' - We work on a counter attack up the field and Kostal gets the ball up to Gesios in the middle of the field. He's taken down from behind and the defender gets a yellow card. Andrea Rocca lines up the free kick from the edge of the area, curls one around the wall and into the corner of the net. Trademark curling strike from Rocca! We pull level! DOVER GOAL 1-1 25' - Wow, they build up a slow attack and it's Aaron Ramsey with the big bomb but it strikes the goalpost. Lucky. 28' - Ridiculous action, with both teams getting great chances. 31' - This is definitely not for the faint of heart. Their winger Bulot races down the left side and throws a low cross into the box. Teddy Gallo outbattles veteran defender Laurent Koscielny and with his back to the goal, turns quickly around and right foots the ball past Fabianski. Gallo's second of the half. ARSENAL GOAL 1-2 Our defence is playing horribly. 43' - It's Ramsey again with a brilliant little touch through our defence and Fabianski does incredibly well to make a point blank save. 45' - The awful defending continues as Gallo is unmarked in the box yet again but he somehow misses the sitter. We're lucky to still be in this game. HALFTIME - Arsenal leads in possession 54% to 46% and in shots 11-7 (7-3). It's great entertainment for the fans, as both teams are going all out but I think I need to play a different style to start the half. We'll move to a counter attack and play our struggling defence a bit deeper. I'll also try a more direct passing game. I tell the players they can still win this game. 46' - What an awful game from Koscielny. It's obvious he doesn't have the talent to play against teams of this calibre. He mistimes a jump and the ball gets over his head. Fabianski is called upon to make another big stop. 49' - Another turnover by McLaughlin and Gallo is sprung again but Fabianski is up to the task yet again. He's trying to rally the troops but I think I need to make some substitutions. What a waste to use them on defence at this stage of the game though. 50' - We have no answer for them and I can only chalk it up to poor squad selection. They win a corner and Fabregas' kick meets the head of Jukic. Fabianski makes another great save but defender Jan Lems is there for the rebound and we're down two. ARSENAL GOAL 1-3 51' - The awful Koscielny is pulled for Oliver Nicholas and we revert back to our Control game down two goals. 58' - Bardi makes a great tackle near midfield and goes in on a two-on-one with Gesios. Bardi elects to shoot and misses by a mile. Not a great decision. 64' - We give a mercy pull to Andrea Rocca and bring in Liam Craig. Maybe I can save Rocca so he can play against Chelsea on the weekend. 69' - A nice sequence of ball movement sees Bamba feed a great through ball to Gesios. He runs in all alone and fires WAY wide. It's not our night. 70' - Simek is brought in for an ineffective Gesios. 82' - Simek's speed buys us a corner and Bamba's nicely delivered ball causes havoc in the box but Bardi's vicious strike is ultimately blocked and cleared. 87' - Bamba streaks down the left side and feed a low cross into the box. Simek slides for it and knocks it home! Too little too late? DOVER GOAL 2-3 89' - Oh my!!! We grab the ball again at midfield and everyone is going forward. Bardi makes a glorious feed inside the area to a streaking Bamba but his blast slams into the post and bounces out of play. What a glorious chance wasted! 90' - Varga gets a yellow card. We can't really get the ball back and that's it. Hell of a game. Arsenal 3 - 2 Dover Goals - Andrea Rocca (7.3), Petr Simek (7.4) Assists - Arsene Bamba (6.9), Giorgos Gesios (6.8) Man of the Match - Oscar Ustari (Arsenal GK - 9.2) Other Dover Notables - Zoltan Bardi (7.1), Ross McLaughlin (5.3), Laurent Koscielny (5.9) Attendance - 51761 If anything, this may prove that we aren't quite ready to play an offensive style on the road against elite teams. But that said, we started a very poor defensive unit and it came back to haunt us. McLaughlin and Koscielny were especially brutal. We lost possession by a whopping 59% to 41% and Arsenal outshot us 24-13 (13-5 on target). Fabianski was pretty damn good. Overall, the board were hoping for us to reach the fourth round so this is a disappointment, for sure. Next Up -- Back to Premier League play and an away match at Chelsea |
Sat. September 26, 2020
Barclays Premier League Chelsea (2-0-2, 6 points, 10th) vs. Dover (5-0-0, 15 points, 1st) Zola Stadium, London, UK Betting Odds: Chelsea: 5-4 (Favourites) Draw: 11-5 Dover: 7-4 Past Meetings: 0W 0D 5L We have lost all five previous matchups against Chelsea. The oddsmakers actually give us a fighting chance in this game, with Chelsea only slight favourites at home. Roman Abramovich still owns the club and they continue to be one of the perennial contenders for the league crown. They last won the league in 2011/12 in this dynasty and finished 5th last year so they are playing in the Euro Cup this year. Chelsea made quite a play for Zoltan Bardi before the transfer window shut down so there may be some bad blood here. Their key players look to be striker Romelu Lukaku and winger Diogo, a 25 year old Brazilian. Chelsea have been traditional slow starters since I came into the Premier League but they are on a good run of form right now, with four wins in a row across all competitions. They usually play the same formation I use, the 4-4-2 DM. I'm going with that formation but I'm going to play narrow, deep and slow the tempo to start. We'll change up our personnel somewhat too. Gerardo Escobar will start up front and for the first time this year, Andrea Rocca will play AMC instead of Bardi, who will be rested today. Cameron Murray is in for a resting Bamba. Wonderkid Neil Carney is back in after his first game off all year against Arsenal. Bolis is back in, as are all of my main starters on defence - Thomas Andersen will go in for Paulus Tjiuoro. Ingo Wilke back in goal. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, T. Andersen, S. Loucif M - L. Craig, N. Cairney AM - C. Murray, A. Rocca, G. Bolis S - G. Escobar Bench - L. Koscielny, P. Tjiuoro, Mancini, D. Pratley, M. Prochazka, Roberto, P. Simek They are in the same formation as us. We'll see how we match up, I guess! 4' - On an innocent looking run up the middle, Escobar somehow eludes a tackle and splits right through the defence. His low drive just misses wide. Great early chance but one he should have had. 19' - They win a corner and it's Liam Craig losing a battle in front, allowing Salamon to easily poke home the sitter. CHELSEA GOAL 0-1 21' - It goes from bad to worse. Their star winger Diogo races down the right and arcs a gorgeous cross into the box. Their midfielder Tabanou is there for the forceful header and we're in trouble. CHELSEA GOAL 0-2 27' - We're getting our butts handed to us. They curl in a free kick and their DC is unmarked. Thankfully, Wilke stops his point blank header and the rebound is cleared to safety. This is a mess! 39' - Wilke is forced to make another diving save on a header off a corner kick. 44' - Yellow card for Loucif on a rough challenge. HALFTIME - Our worst half of the year. Chelsea has a modest possession advantage (52%-48%) but a 9-3 (5-1 on target) shot advantage. My assistant thinks our recent run of form has some guys thinking that they can just show up and win. Lunacy! I tell the team I want to see much more from them this half and switch back to our normal width, tempo and depth. 47' - Andrea Rocca goes on a long run through the defence and gets a pretty good chance inside the area but he's on his weaker foot and the keeper is able to make the save. 53' - More horrendous defending on corners - I'll really have to look at our assignments after the game. We get two headers blocked and are fortunate to clear. 58' - Cameron Murray gets the ball around midfield and Chelsea's right back goes down to make a tackle and misses. Murray storms up the left sideline and as a defender approaches, he feed the ball into an unmarked Gianluca Bolis. He calmly sets the ball down and finishes into the half empty net. We're back in this! DOVER GOAL 1-2 65' - Cristian Rodriguez with a yellow card. He has been a bit wild today with his challenges and our assistant could see that booking coming from a mile away. 67' - Chelsea looks dangerous as their striker Lukaku cuts against the grain into his stronger foot and Wilke is up to the task once again. 68' - Roberto comes in for Liam Craig. I drop Rocca back into the central midfield and hope Roberto's fresh legs up front can help. 77' - Petr Simek is in for Escobar and Tjiuoro is in for Cristian Rodriguez. 81' - Time to attack and press. 85' - GLORIOUS CHANCE! Rocca gets the ball across the field to Bolis and his one time shot is saved by a diving Chelsea keeper. The rebound pops right out to Simek and with the net at his mercy, volleys wide. Unreal. 87' - Chelsea has the ball on an extended sequence following a corner and they get another point blank blast away that's saved by Wilke. Three minutes of extra time. 90+2' - Bolis takes a long clearance from Loucif and screams toward the goal. His shot is deflected behind the net. The ensuing corner is cleared. And the whistle blows. Chelsea 2 - 1 Dover Goals - Gianluca Bolis (7.4) Assists - Cameron Murray (6.9) Man of the Match - Franck Tabanou (Chelsea AML - 8.2) Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (5.8), Gerardo Escobar (5.7) Attendance - 56776 Wilke was blamed for one of the goals, likely the first one. That's crap - that was Liam Craig who lost that battle, not Wilke. Our keeper singlehandedly kept us in this game. We lose possession 52% to 48% and they also outshoot us 18-10 (9-4 on target). This was a winnable game but we fall once again to one of the traditional powerhouses. -- Man United loses to Middlesbrough so despite the loss, we maintain our hold on the division lead. Dover U18 Update -- Our under 18's draw 1-1 versus Ebbsfleet. Carlo Cerbone strikes for our only goal. Dover Reserves Update -- Our reserves continue to dominate, showcasing our improving squad depth. I sent Gerardo Escobar down in hopes of him gaining some confidence and maybe it works, as he nets a hat trick in a dominating 6-2 win away against Wolves. Darren Pratley, Jonathan Adam and Emmanuel Agbo notch the other markers. October Update -- We have four league games this month: we're at home to Sunderland on the 3rd then we have a one week international break. We're back in action on the 17th away at Liverpool then make our way to Emirates Stadium again on the 24th, this time for a league match at Arsenal then finish the month with a home date against Manchester United on the 31st. Needless to say, this is a very difficult schedule for us and our upcoming match against Sunderland, who are sitting at the bottom of the table, is vitally important. - Our assistant manager points out that Andrea Rocca, Gianluca Bolis and Martin Prochazka all trained well last month while Lukasz Fabianski, Darren Pratley and Zoltan Bardi all failed to impress. I have a sit-down with each of those three to express my displeasure with their work ethic in training and all three agree they need to be better. On our U18 squad, Matt Hewitt, Abdallaye Kokaina and Johnny Mardenborough all impressed with their training efforts. Barclays Premier League Monthly Awards - Manchester City's star striker Enrique wins Player of the Month. Everton's fullback Milan Mojsky wins Young Player of the Month, with our own Gianluca Bolis coming in second and Neil Cairney coming in third. Chelsea's Leonardo wins Manager of the Month after handing us our first defeat. October Board Confidence Update -- The board are very pleased with my overall leadership of the team. Our stature increase continues to be the main reason and Simon Rideout's departure their main disappointment. We made a profit of £1.44 million last month. -- We are offered a buyout on two separate transfer clauses we included in deals made in the offseason. We are being offered £200,000 to wipe away the 30% profit clause we included in Ryan Alnwick's £275,000 deal to Southampton and being offered £105,000 to void the 30% profit clause included in fellow GK Simon Hayward's £450,000 deal to St. Johnstone. I don't even need to do the math on this - I know these are good deals and I accept both. The board also negotiated buyouts on separate "games played" clauses at about 75% value - I decide to take the money here as well. Next Up -- We will host league cellar dwellers Sunderland at Crabble |
Sat. October 3, 2020
Barclays Premier League Dover (5-0-1, 15 points, 1st) vs. Sunderland (0-1-5, 1 point, 20th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Draw: 13-5 Sunderland: 9-2 Past Meetings: 1W 0D 3L Sunderland are off to a very poor start, losing their first five Premier League matches this year against admittedly good competition (Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal) before drawing 1-1 against Reading. They dropped down to the Championship in 2011-12 but went back up the next year, remaining in the top league ever since. They usually finish just above the relegation zone but they had a phenomenal 6th place finish in 2018-19 to qualify for Continental play last year then finished one spot below us last year in 12th. We beat them 5-2 in our most recent meeting but they won the previous three times we faced each other. They just bought a young stud MC from Wolves named Matt Barber - he has very similar attributes to our own Neil Cairney and Sunderland were smart to scoop him up from the relegated Wolves for £9.75 million. Striker Craig Flett is their big goal scorer but he's out of form right now, with only 1 goal in their first six games. Simply put, we need to win this game. I'll go with our full strength lineup today and go to our 4-4-2 DM with no tweaks. I expect a win boys! Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios Bench - T. Andersen, J. Kuciak, L. Craig, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, G. Escobar, P. Simek They start in a flat 4-4-2. 3' - Gianluca Bolis turns the ball over on a careless pass and their dangerous striker Craig Flett gets the ball at midfield. He's brought down on a challenge from Paulus Tjiuoro and Flett is hurt badly enough to be substituted off. No foul called on the play either. 9' - We pass the ball around well in their half and it's Neil Cairney taking the ball into the area. He eludes a sliding tackle and makes a brilliant pass to the left to an unmarked Zoltan Bardi, who one times it past their stunned keeper. A special play by Cairney! DOVER GOAL 1-0 17' - They have a throw in deep in our end and they make the long throw into the box. Somehow they gain possession and are able to get a shot off but it's weak and Wilke easy holds on. 19' - On the ensuing clear, Giorgos Gesios is fouled and their defender is given a yellow. We take the free kick and the ball comes back to Andrea Rocca. His through ball finds Gesios in the middle of the field and from 25 yards, he fires a bullet past the diving Sunderland keeper and we're up two! What a strike! DOVER GOAL 2-0 24' - Their new midfield signing Barber gets the ball past midfield and while cutting to his left, makes a splendid pass up field to a breaking Ben Sahar. The struggling Sunderland striker bolts past Tjiuoro and cleanly strikes the ball low into the corner of the net. Sahar's first of the year and a nice goal but poor awareness on Tjiuoro's part. SUNDERLAND GOAL 2-1 36' - On a free kick from our half, Tjiuoro, lofts one deep down the right flank. Gianluca Bolis gets there first, cuts in and rips a rocket just past the bar. Close! 45' - Off a throw in, Renato Gaucho sends in a cross that eludes the Sunderland defenders and finds the foot of Bolis but his quick shot is stopped by their diving keeper. Incredible save! HALFTIME - The scoreline is a little tight for my liking but we're dominating this game. 59% possession and an 8-5 (5-3 on target) shots advantage. We need to keep pressing and I encourage them to keep going. 49' - They work a counter attack after a poor corner on our part. A pass comes into their stud MC Barber around the top of our penalty area, he cuts to his right foot with his back to the net and unleashes a rocket that hits the woodwork, then bounces off a diving Wilke into our net. Incredible goal by the youngster and Sunderland comes from two back to pull level. Ouch. SUNDERLAND GOAL 2-2 53' - On a Sunderland throw in deep in our zone, again they try to throw into the penalty area but Bardi intercepts and sends a quick pass up to Gesios. He beats his mark and strolls into their area and just launches it high. Good chance there. 58' - I'm livid. Their player gets hurt on an attempted challenge and we show good sportsmanship and kick the ball out of play so he can get medical attention. Instead of throwing the ball back to us upon the resumption of play, Sunderland keep the ball and their MR Sterling has a point blank chance that's stopped by Wilke. This means war! 66' - I substitute Tjiuoro out for Thomas Andersen and change to an attacking philosophy. 70' - We're in shock. After another terrible corner, Barber starts the counter attack by lofting a direct pass over the heads of Loucif and Gaucho, who were defending by the halfway line. Their striker Sahar gets there first and holds the ball up in our area. Loucif goes down to tackle him and completely misses and now there are THREE Sunderland players entering the area to our one defender. Sahar has the pick of the lot, makes the cross crease pass to a wide open Kieran Gibbs and we're now down. This is a disaster! SUNDERLAND GOAL 2-3 85' - We're getting nowhere. INCREDIBLE. I overload. 90 - We simply can't get the ball - no highlights - I tried to take Gesios and Bolis off minutes ago and just now, they get substituted. No more highlights. What a disastrous result. Dover 2 - 3 Sunderland Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.6), Giorgos Gesios (7.2) Assists - Neil Cairney (7.1), Andrea Rocca (7.3) Man of the Match - Matt Barber (Sunderland MC - 8.9) Other Dover Notables - None Attendance - 9135 (Sellout) They obviously smoked us in the second half, as we ended up only edging possession for the game 51-49 despite holding it for 59% of the first half. Shots were in our favour too, 13-10 (6-5 on target). Our defence was terrible, with Gaucho getting a 6.0, Loucif 6.1 and Bolis was uncharacteristically bad at 6.0. An interesting thing that I noticed too is that GK Ingo Wilke, on his personal page, indicates that "the team would do just as well if Bolis was sold" under "poor relationships". I wonder if Bolis is developing a bad attitude due to the fact he wants to move to a bigger club. Something to keep an eye on. -- I absolutely peel the paint off in the dressing room after the game, telling the players they should be embarrassed in themselves. Morale drops huge of course but I had to do it. We really needed this win and now we face three powerhouse teams in a row. We are in big trouble all of a sudden and could easily lose five in a row by the time this month is out. -- Man United actually lost 1-0 to Arsenal so we stay level with them on points but it's Manchester City taking over the lead in the division as they paste Middlesbrough 4-0 behind three more goals from the sensational Enrique. Dover U18 Update -- Our U18 squad came away with a 2-1 win over Wycombe. Chris Paterson continues to impress my assistant but it was Richard Rae (a "greyed out" player) and Gary Cook scoring the goals for Dover. International Duty -- Ten of our players are called up by their respective countries for international duty. Thomas Andersen, Gianluca Bolis, Renato Gaucho, Zoltan Bardi, Salim Loucif, Oliver Nicholas, Neil Cairney, Cameron Murray, Paulus Tjiuoro and Giorgos Gesios all get the call. |
Reserve Team Update
-- We defeat Reading's Reserves 2-0 behind a Gareth Hancock own goal (off a deflected Mancini blast) and a late game breakaway marker from Gerardo Escobar. International Duty -- U18 player Carlo Cerbone is called up by Italy's U20 team. This is the first time I've seen a call-up for Cerbone and since he's currently uncapped, it could very well be his first international appearance if he's called upon to play. -- Defenders Renato Gaucho and Thomas Andersen both put in good performances for Brazil and Denmark respectively in international friendlies. Gianluca Bolis notches two assists in a 3-1 Italy win over Turkey in Euro U21 qualifying play. -- We have five players who took part in World Cup qualifying. Of the five, Neil Cairney played best, scoring a goal in a 2-1 Scotland win over Belgium but Paulus Tjiuoro (Namibia), Salim Loucif (Algeria) and Zoltan Bardi (Hungary) all got positive notices for their work in their games. Oliver Nicholas wasn't at his best for Eritrea in a heavy 4-0 loss to Zambia. Cairney's goal, by the way, was his first ever international goal and a press release states his delight. U18 Update -- Dover's U18s defeat AFC Wimbledon 4-2, with young Carlo Cerbone notching a hat trick! Gary Cook scores the other Dover goal. -- Zoltan Bardi continues to be upset with his contract. He's making peanuts compared to Giorgos Gesios and I do think it's something I'll need to address. He leaves in a huff when I say we should talk about this later. The next day, it's GK Ingo Wilke's turn and I tell him he's being very unprofessional. He apologizes for his behaviour and leaves. Training Facilities Upgrade -- After almost a decade of inactivity with respect to our stadium and training grounds, it's incredible the amount of work that's being done right now at Crabble Athletic Ground. We complete construction of a second training ground upgrade in two years, with our training facilities upgraded to "Average" from "Adequate". Final work is still being completed on our stadium seat expansion and we're also in the planning stages of upgrading our Youth Recruitment Network. Injury Update -- We are pretty much 100% healthy. GK Lucasz Fabianski comes down with the flu so I send him home to recuperate before he spreads it to the rest of the team. Next Up -- We head to Liverpool Stadium for a big game against The Reds |
Sat. October 17, 2020
Barclays Premier League Liverpool (3-0-4, 9 points, 9th) vs. Dover (5-0-2, 15 points, 2nd) Liverpool Stadium, Liverpool, UK Betting Odds: Liverpool: 4-5 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 3-1 Past Meetings: 0W 1D 6L We've played Liverpool more than any other Premier League team due to a few cup ties over the years. They are struggling a bit out of the gate with only 3 wins from 7 matches. They continue to be a powerhouse and haven't missed out on Continental qualification in decades, finishing 4th last year. They just bought a flashy new striker, Rafael Flores, from Turkish Premier side Besiktas JK for £14.5 million, something which has made their normal top forward Edinson Cavani a surplus to requirements. This despite 23 goals from Cavani last year! That said, Cavani is now 33 years old while Flores is a young pup of 25. Liverpool also bought another striker during the July window, Piotr Parzyszek from Aston Villa for £12.25 million so that's a lot of money on forwards! We've had little to no success historically against Liverpool but did play them to a 1-1 draw away in our last contest. The odds certainly aren't overwhelming against us for the first time so it's nice to start getting some respect! We'll need to simplify here to have a chance. I will run a flat 4-4-2 for this game, utilizing a narrow, deep and slow tempo formation as instructed by my advanced scouting team. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi Bench - T. Andersen, J. Kuciak, L. Craig, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, G. Escobar, P. Simek Liverpool are utilizing a 4-4-2 Diamond formation for the first time in any of our contests. Flores is starting up front with a fifth striker named Raymond de Winter, usually a backup player for them. I also get a strange note from my assistant manager, who tells me in the pre-game buildup that many of the squad members are struggling to get motivated with Ingo Wilke as our captain (he's our vice captain but Pratley is on the bench). Interesting... 11' - We're doing a good job with possession but other than a few shots from distance, there are no real chances on either side. 12' - I had to open my mouth. We turn the ball over in midfield to their AMC Shelvey. He races up the centre of the pitch and when challenged by Cristian Rodriguez, springs a wide open Raymond de Winter. He speeds past Tjiuoro and sends a low blast off the left post and into the net. LIVERPOOL GOAL 0-1 20' - We continue to hold possession for the most part and we have an extended sequence deep in Liverpool territory off a throw in. Renato Gaucho plays some give and go into the box and out with Zoltan Bardi. It comes back to Gaucho and he sends a pass into the box to Andrea Rocca. With his stronger left foot, he turns and sends a screamer that hits the top of the crossbar and down into the goal. Great strike! DOVER GOAL 1-1 27' - We win a corner and Rocca sends a ball to the near post. Rodriguez turns and heads it just over, missing by a whisker! 45+1' - We continue to dominate the highlights, with plenty of long efforts just missing. Neil Cairney sends a lovely through ball to Bolis up the right side deep in Liverpool territory and it's kicked out by their defender, setting up a corner. Rocca sends one deeper this time toward the far post and it's Paulus Tjiuoro who latches onto it and heads it into the back of the net. Tjiuoro's first ever goal for Dover as Liverpool's manager tears up his half time notes! DOVER GOAL 2-1 HALFTIME - Perhaps our finest half of the year so far! We lead possession 52% to 48% but are getting all of the chances, outshooting them 13-3 (2-1 on target). Again, we're taking a lot of long shots but so far so good. I tell the lads I'm pleased. Liverpool change to a 4-1-3-2 to start the second half, with a defensive central midfielder. 50' - Edinson Cavani, who came on at halftime, heads the ball upfield to himself and gets a dangerous ball into Shelvey but his shot goes over the net from in close. 53' - We send a long ball up the right side and Bardi latches onto it. He moves diagonally into the corner of the area and delivers a rocket that is stopped by a diving Chris Dunn, the Liverpool GK. The rebound comes right onto the foot of Giorgos Gesios and he one times it into the empty net. Big goal!!! DOVER GOAL 3-1 54' - They work a counter attack shortly after the resumption of play. It's Cavani in midfield who finds their right fullback Papasthatopolous screaming down the sideline. He sends in a low cross and it's right back to Cavani, who one times it into the net. Nice goal by the veteran and we have ourselves a game again. LIVERPOOL GOAL 3-2 56' - Salim Loucif takes down a player just outside our penalty area and gets the yellow card. 61' - I bring in Gerardo Escobar for Zoltan Bardi and go very narrow, slow the tempo, deepen the line, etc. Time to protect this lead. 64' - We are scrambling around in a bit of a panic. We're blocking shots and nothing is getting through yet but I'm worried. 72' - I take off a tired Gesios for Petr Simek. Hopefully we can spring him on a counter attack and he can utilize that great speed. 84' - Holy crap! We have an extended period without highlights and we come to a throw in deep in their territory. Bamba throws in to Simek, who cuts toward the byline and then sends in a left footed high cross into the box. With the keeper and two defenders right there, it's Gerardo Escobar leaping over all of them to head the ball into the goal! What a dagger! Can we possibly win away at Liverpool?!?! DOVER GOAL 4-2 They move to a 4-2-4. 89' - We bring on Jozef Kuciak and switch to a 5-3-2 formation. 90'+1 - Great - Cairney gets hurt and has to go off. We're down to 10 men and drop Escobar back into the midfield. That's it! WHAT A WIN! Hopefully Cairney isn't badly hurt. Liverpool 2 - 4 Dover Goals - Andrea Rocca (8.8), Paulus Tjiuoro (7.8), Giorgos Gesios (7.4), Gerardo Escobar (7.3) Assists - Renato Gaucho (7.6), Andrea Rocca, Zoltan Bardi (6.9), Petr Simek (6.9) Man of the Match - Andrea Rocca Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.1), Cristian Rodriguez (7.0), Neil Cairney (7.4) Attendance - 58526 They ended up edging us in possession 51%-49% but we outshot them by a wide margin, 19-10 (6-2 on target). This may be one of the greatest wins in club history and the press agree, calling it a "historic win". The fans are "jubilant" after the victory and I tell the lads it was a fantastic result. Wow! -- Man United lost again, this time to Reading 1-0 at Old Trafford but Man City continues to lead at the top of the table after a thrilling 4-3 win away at Tottenham. -- There aren't any notices about Neil Cairney so thankfully his injury isn't serious! Dover U18 Update -- Dover's U18s win a close 1-0 game over Havant and Waterlooville, with our lone goal scored by unheralded striker Chris Paterson. -- I give my players Sunday off from training, not a surprise, as it's something I do a lot during the season, especially after wins or during weeks where we play more than one game. I use this time to have some individual player chats to show appreciation for good games and when complimenting Escobar's key goal (which he shrugged off by the way), I noticed that he thinks Bardi's "poor attitude" will possibly affect team harmony. I decide to have another chat with Bardi and he immediately jumps on me, saying he's talked with the other players on the club about his contract situation so I bark right back at him about his unprofessionalism. Thankfully, he backs off, saying he'll show more respect starting right now and the next day, he's back to being happy at the club. Whew! Barclays Premier League Team of the Week -- We get three players named to this week's best eleven. DL Renato Gaucho, DC Paulus Tjiuoro and MC Andrea Rocca all get honoured this week. -- The bad vibes keep coming, this time from our stalwart new DC signing Cristian Rodriguez. He requests a chat and tells me he's having great difficulty settling into English life. I have the opportunity to send him away from the club but opt to tell him that I'll try to find someone to bring into the club to help him settle in. He tells me he'd be delighted if I brought MR Marcelo Astudillo in. Time to scout that 26 year old winger. By the way, Rodriguez is playing exceptionally well so far despite not knowing the language, playing 8 games, scoring once and having a 7.45 average rating, which is superb. -- I end up getting a positive scouting report on Astudillo (3.5/3.5) but he's a left footed MR and I don't think he really fits my schemes here. I start looking for cultured Argentinian DCs who are based in England - maybe I can find a cheap veteran to bring in during the next window to tutor young Rodriguez. Next Up -- A date at Emirates Stadium with Arsenal in Premier League action |
Sat. October 24, 2020
Barclays Premier League Arsenal (3-3-2, 12 points, 8th) vs. Dover (6-0-2, 18 points, 2nd) Emirates Stadium, London, UK Betting Odds: Arsenal: 4-7 (Favourites) Draw: 5-2 Dover: 4-1 Past Meetings: 2W 1D 4L We meet Arsenal for the second time in a month, with our last meeting a 3-2 loss that took us out of the League Cup. I'm hoping they are a bit tired, as they're coming off a Wednesday Champions League match against Anderlecht, drawing 1-1. My scouts seem to think that our flat 4-4-2 will work well against Arsenal but they suggest a HIGH defensive line. I'm a bit worried about that, as Emirates has a very deep field. I'm going to go with the exact same lineup and substitutes that helped us win at Liverpool last week. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi Bench - T. Andersen, J. Kuciak, L. Craig, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, G. Escobar, P. Simek Arsenal starts with a flat 4-4-2 just like us, with Teddy Gallo and Boakye up front. Jack Wilshere is playing right midfield, Cesc Fabregas is in the centre of the park and Aaron Ramsey is playing right fullback. I tell the players that the pressure is off. 1' - They get an early chance, as super fast striker Teddy Gallo dribbles up field. He sends it down the left and a cross comes in from ML Adam Hlousek right back to Gallo but he's saved by Wilke. Gallo gets another chance and Tjiuoro tackles the ball away just in time. 2' - Salim Loucif gets a very early yellow card for bringing down Hlousek. 10' - Loucif misses a challenge and gets hurt. He can't shake it off and I need to make the very early substitute, bringing on Jozef Kuciak. 13' - It's all Arsenal early. They get a free kick from well outside the area and it's headed barely over. 16' - Another Arsenal free kick comes into the box. Cristian Rodriguez has possession but is stripped of the ball by Gallo. His quick shot misses just wide. He should have scored there. We need to get some possession. 20' - Arsenal continue to control play and generate chances. Wilshere crosses dangerously into the box off a give and go with Aaron Ramsey and Hlousek gets his head to the ball, only to see Wilke dive across for the fine save. 25' - Paulus Tjiuoro with the yellow card. 26' - Gallo gets the ball just outside the box, turns to his strong foot and shoots, forcing Wilke into a diving save. 37' - We finally get a few highlights. Bolis gets the ball in the area but is on his weaker foot and shoots harmlessly wide. We're pretty much generating nothing right now. 40' - Cristian Rodriguez gets a yellow card. We're very undisciplined so far today. 41' - We finally get a good scoring chance. Neil Cairney gets a lovely ball through the defence to Gianluca Bolis and he beats the keeper…but not the goalpost! So close! 44' - It's Wilshere again making his presence felt, delivering another gorgeous cross into the box and again it's Wilke, making a glorious point-blank save. Wilke is singlehandedly keeping us alive. HALFTIME - Possession is surprisingly dead even but we're being outshot 9-4 (4-1 on target). I tell the team that they can win this game and we slightly widen our formation to start the second half. 46' - Their ML Hlousek has been very involved and he is at it again to start the second half. In a play right off kickoff, he gets the ball down the left and eludes a weak tackling effort by Kuciak. Hlousek delivers a shot that's stopped by Wilke but Teddy Gallo is there for the rebound and makes no mistake. Easy goal and we're behind. ARSENAL GOAL 0-1 48' - Zoltan Bardi makes a terrible giveaway and Andrea Rocca is forced to take an Arsenal man down at midfield as they start a quick counter. Yellow card for Rocca. 51' - We simply aren't playing well. It's Hlousek again skinning Kuciak and he sends it to Fabregas. His one touch through ball to Gallo is a thing of beauty but Wilke is there again to turn it behind the net. Sensational save again from our keeper. He has to come up big again on the ensuing corner. We're a one man team right now. Wilke throws it out to Gaucho and he sends a long ball over the Arsenal defence. Gesios is racing to the ball against Aaron Ramsey and takes him down in the Arsenal box after Ramsey barely beat him to it. Bad challenge and yet another yellow, our fifth in the match already. 56' - Arsenal work yet another counter attack and it's Dover killer Gallo getting through the defence again. This time, Tjiuoro, already with a yellow, makes a key challenge and wins the ball back to Wilke. Bold tackle but it worked. Wilke throws it out and it ends up getting to Gesios at midfield but he loses it. Arsenal has incredible speed on the counter and Wilke again is forced to make two point blank saves against Hlousek. Jozef Kuciak simply can't handle that guy's speed. And Wilke is putting on a display today. Wow. 61' - I decide to make a change and get Petr Simek up off the bench to come in for a very ineffective Giorgos Gesios while also looking to widen my formation. However, before those changes are made, we get possession in midfield and the ball eventually comes to Rocca in the middle of Arsenal territory. He sends a wonderful pass through the defence to a breaking Zoltan Bardi and he gets into the area and puts a stiff left footed strike right into the top of the net. A shocker! DOVER GOAL 1-1 62' - Simek is on for Gesios. 63' - Unbelievable. Arsenal get a throw in deep in our area down the left side. Hlousek gets the ball and sends in a weak cross that hits Paulus Tjiuoro and deflects past a diving Ingo Wilke for the quick reply. ARSENAL GOAL 1-2 74' - I bring in Thomas Andersen for Tjiuoro. 78' - Wilshere gets a yellow card and we win a free kick from distance. Rocca sends a curling ball into the box and Arsene Bamba jumps and barely heads it over. 81' - Wilshere again with a bad challenge and I'm thinking he's getting a second yellow but instead just gets a stern telling off. Damn. We have another free kick but Bardi mishits the header and it goes harmlessly wide. 82' - We move to an attacking philosophy. 90'+3 - We're generating nothing, as usual, when we move to attacking formations. A frustrated looking Bardi picks up a yellow for an ugly challenge. And that's the game. Arsenal 2 - 1 Dover Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.2) Assists - Andrea Rocca (7.1) Man of the Match - Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal MC) Other Dover Notables - Cristian Rodriguez (7.0), Paulus Tjiuoro (5.9), Renato Gaucho (5.9) Attendance - 59753 Not a very good game for us but again, we have to give credit to a strong Arsenal team. They out-possess us 54-46 and outshoot us by a very wide margin, 24-6 (13-2 on target). Ingo Wilke only gets a 6.9 rating, which is ridiculous. 11 saves, most of which were point blank. We generated very little offence in that game and obviously, the better team won the game. -- Man City win big over Bolton and Man U also prevail in a walk over Aston Villa. City now are 5 points clear at the top of the table. We are currently second and Man U is tied on points but behind us on goal differential. Injury Update -- The news isn't good for Salim Loucif, as he sustains a broken arm in the Arsenal match and will miss the next five to six weeks. Jozef Kuciak was skinned early and often in his place so I'll be relying on a rotation between him and Ross McLaughlin going forward. Dover U18 Update -- The kids put in a marvellous display, beating Aldershot 4-0. Once again, it's the superb Carlo Cerbone scoring another hat trick. Maybe I have something with this kid! He's up to 11 goals in 9 U18 appearances. Johnny Mardenborough scored the other Dover goal. Dover Reserve Team Update -- We earn a 3-1 win at home versus the Derby reserves, with young attacking midfielder Jonathan Adam bagging a brace and striker Petr Simek notching our other marker. Next Up -- A huge league matchup, as we host Manchester United at Crabble Athletic Ground |
Sat. October 31, 2020
Barclays Premier League Dover (6-0-3, 18 points, 2nd) vs. Manchester United (6-0-3, 18 points, 3rd) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 7-2 Draw: 9-4 Manchester United: 4-6 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 0W 0D 5L We welcome Jurgen Klinsmann's Man United to Crabble Athletic Ground. United continue to be a powerhouse in this dynasty, having won three Premier League championships over the past ten years, including two in a row (2017-18 & 2018-19). They have qualified for Champions League play every single year since 1990-91, a span of 20 years! We both have the exact same record at this point of the season, with us up due to a better goal differential. At 0-0-5, it goes without saying that we've had our troubles historically with United, as they've scored 17 goals in those games to our 2. I'm hoping we have put together a team that can compete with them in the future…and hopefully the present as well! Like Arsenal last week, United is currently in the Champions League and has a match coming up in four days so I'm hoping they play a weaker side today. Wishful thinking, perhaps, as I notice that they are leading their group with a perfect 3-0 record and will be facing the winless SK Rapid Wien on Wednesday. THEY'LL likely be getting the weaker lineup! It's a new era at United, with iconic striker Wayne Rooney sent packing to Fulham after years of great service. French striker Yaya Sanogo is their main threat up front, having scored 5 goals in 9 league games thus far. Javier Hernandez is also still around at 32 years old. They are loaded with high-valued players, like DM Omar Hernandez, 28 year old defender Luiz Carlos, 25 year old defender Eduardo Padilla and midfielder Eden Hazard. My scouts, as usual, say they struggle versus a 4-5-1 but i've played that formation many times against them with no positive effect. I've looked at their losses this year to Arsenal and Reading and both of those teams played a flat 4-4-2 so that's what we'll go with. I'll likely start with my control philosophy but I'll be ready to revert to a counter attacking mode should United prove to be too strong. I'll be making a few changes to the lineup - Jozef Kuciak will come in for the injured Salim Loucif at right fullback. I'm giving ML Cameron Murray a chance to play over Arsene Bamba today - Cameron has been lights out for our reserves team and Bamba has struggled in recent contests. Lastly, in perhaps the boldest move, I'll bring in striker Gerardo Escobar for the in-form Zoltan Bardi - Escobar used to play for United so I want to give him a chance here to see what he can do. He's played well when called upon this year so it's not an outrageous move by any means. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak M - C. Murray, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios, G. Escobar Bench - T. Andersen, R. McLaughlin, Z. Bardi, D. Pratley, P. Kostal, A. Bamba, P. Simek As expected, United come out in their customary flat 4-4-2. Sanogo and Hernandez are both up front so they are definitely taking this game VERY seriously. My assistant thinks I should tell the lads that they can win today and since they're an ambitious bunch, I go with it. I pull both of our strikers aside to tell them I have faith in their abilities and tell out-of-form winger Gianluca Bolis I expect a performance today. The kid isn't playing well with all of the transfer attention on him lately. 10' - Incredibly, most of the highlights have been in our favour and we've missed a couple of long shots by narrow margins. We win a corner and Rocca's ball is played right to the head of Paulus Tjiuoro, who hits a hard header right off the post and it luckily comes right back to Viviano, the Man U keeper. In the end, it wouldn't have counted anyway, as Escobar fouls a United defender in the box. 13' - We have a throw in down the left side of their zone and it's headed out to safety. Gesios chases the ball down in the middle of their side of the pitch and plays a ball up to Rocca. He immediately one-times a gorgeous pass into the box to a charging Gianluca Bolis and he strikes the ball with fury into the net! But wait, the assistant referee calls him offside? The replay shows that he was just on the guys outside shoulder - a marginal call and the game remains scoreless. 39' - We've had a number of highlights going both ways but no real great chances. They finally get their first one, as Sanogo is sprung in the box but he has a poor angle and Wilke turns him aside. The play continues on and Hernandez wins a challenge inside the area and has the net at his mercy. He makes no mistake and we're down. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 0-1 42' - It's Javier Hernandez again, this time running down the left flank, cutting inside and getting the ball to Sanogo, who is stopped on a point blank effort by Wilke. The ball is moved back the other way as we counter and after a great number of passes, the ball is played into Neil Cairney but his shot is stopped by Viviano. Nice sequence there. 43' - We continue to pour on pressure. Cairney gets a nice through-ball to Cameron Murray and his strong left footed blast just misses wide, hitting the side netting. HALFTIME - We are completely dominating this game, winning possession by an incredible 61%-39% margin and lead in shots 11-7 but they have five on target to our one, so we're not making our shots count at all. I tell the players I'm pleased but single out Gesios (Prove a Point) and Rocca as having underperformed. My assistant tells me that Rocca looks "disinterested" today - not a good thing from one of my best players. 47' - Gesios starts the play at midfield and works the ball up to Escobar. He feeds Bolis cutting into the area and his strong shot is turned aside by a diving VIviano! We can't get the rebound through and it's deflected away for a corner. Rocca's corner from the left side is headed away but we work it back into Bolis again, courtesy of Cairney and Bolis' shot hits the goal post! We just can't put the ball away! 60' - Sanogo wins a challenge at midfield and streaks toward our goal with everyone behind him. For some reason, he takes a wasteful shot that goes harmlessly wide. 62' - Zoltan Bardi comes in for Escobar. 65' - Oh my God. We have a throw in deep in their territory and it's Gesios making a left footed cross into the box. The ball deflects around and comes right to Bardi and with the net at his mercy, he fires wide from no more than 8 yards away. A complete sitter missed! Was that our chance? A shocking miss. 71' - Jozef Kuciak, who has played well for the injured Salim Loucif, is tired so I take him out in favour of Ross McLaughlin. 74' - We win a free kick in our end and Cristian Rodriguez sends the ball up the left side to no one in particular. Man U defender Luiz Carlos is taken off the ball by Gesios and he streaks down the left side toward the area. United central defender Boyata comes over to help and strips the ball from Gesios for a split second but Gesios won't quit. He takes the ball right back on what could have been a foul and then fires a low shot past the startled United keeper! We have tied it up!!! What a great effort from Gesios, who I almost took out of the game minutes earlier but reconsidered. DOVER GOAL 1-1 77' - It's still all Dover. We win a free kick just outside the box near the right byline and Rocca's cross is a good one but Gesios fouls one of their defenders. Yellow card for Gesios, our team's first on the day versus three for United. 80' - Wow, we're playing well! We steal the ball again and start a counter down the right flank with Bolis. He sends a nice ball into the middle to Bardi and his low blast JUST misses wide! We take out Gesios and replace him with Petr Simek. Hopefully we can utilize his world-class speed against the tired United defenders in the last ten minutes of the match. 82 - Ross McLaughlin takes down their man just outside the box and is given a yellow for the foul. On the resulting free kick, it's Luiz Carlos sending in a curling left footed pass that meets the head of Sanogo and he sends it forcefully into the net. What a dagger. We don't deserve to lose this game. MANCHESTER UNITED GOAL 1-2 90'+2 - We get a couple of corners but don't capitalize. And that's it. Dover 1 - 2 Manchester United Goals - Giorgos Gesios (7.2) Assists - None Man of the Match - Luiz Carlos (Manchester United DR) Other Dover Notables - Renato Gaucho (7.0), Neil Cairney (7.0) Attendance - 9135 (Sellout) Simply put, we deserved a better fate. We won the possession battle by a 57-43 mark and outshot them 20-11 (3-6 on target). We lost this game but if anything, we finally proved to them and maybe ourselves that we can compete with any team in this league, playing our own style and not playing defensively. I tell the players they gave a good effort -- We take a big hit on the table after this loss, dropping all the way down to 5th place. Manchester City destroyed Norwich 7-1 and now is five points clear at the top over United. November Update -- We have a busier November, with five league games against Reading (home), Middlesbrough (away), Aston Villa (away), Derby (home) and Huddersfield (away). Not quite as tough as last month but Reading is in 4th place and Middlesbrough are in 6th so it will still be a very challenging month. There are no easy games in this bloody league, that's for sure. -- I get positive training reports for Andrea Rocca, Gerardo Escobar and Ross McLaughlin, along with our top youth prospect Abdallaye Kokaina. The only negative report comes back for our captain Darren Pratley - I don't confront him on it, as I usually do in these instances. Pratley is simply getting old. Barclays Premier League Monthly Awards -- Man City's superlative striker Enrique once again is player of the month, with two of his teammates finishing in 2nd and 3rd. -- Dover's own Neil Cairney is awarded as the Barclays Premier League Young Player of the Month for October! Cairney only had one assist in his four October games but he continues to impress on the pitch. Our young DC Cristian Rodriguez finishes third in the voting. -- City's Carlo Ancelotti wins the manager of the month once again, as his team won all four games and outscored the opposition an incredible 19-5 in only four games! November Board Confidence Update -- The board are delighted with the leadership qualities I'm demonstrating. Stature increase a plus; Simon Rideout's departure continues to be the disappointing thing. Get over it guys - our strikers are killing it this year and Rideout would have never seen the pitch! We made £495,000 last month. -- We're given the opportunity to buyout yet another transfer clause, this time for defender Rachid Diallo. I sold him to Litex in Bulgaria for £1,400,000 in the last window and also got a 20% sell-on clause added to the deal. I'm being offered a buyout for £712,000 - that would mean the only way I can lose is if Litex sells him for over £3,500,000 - I don't see that happening. I will take the £712k and run! I go to accept the deal and see that there is another buyout available for MC Shaun Halsall - the figure is more modest but again, the deal is too good to turn down and I accept another £47k in free money, this time from Halsall's new club Swindon. Injury Update -- Backup striker Petr Simek collided with star midfielder Andrea Rocca in training and unfortunately, it was Rocca who took the worst of it, sustaining a facial injury. He'll be out for about five days, likely missing our game against Reading this weekend. Next Up -- The big games keep coming. We welcome 4th placed Reading to Crabble Athletic Ground in Barclays Premier League action. |
Sat. November 7, 2020
Barclays Premier League Dover (6-0-4, 18 points, 5th) vs. Reading (6-1-2, 19 points, 4th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 4-1 Draw: 5-2 Reading: 4-7 (Favourites) Past Meetings: 2W 1D 2L Interestingly enough, we are bigger dogs versus Reading than we were against Man United, despite having some decent historical success, with a .500 record in five previous games. Reading are fourth in the table with one less game played and they already have wins this year against United and Arsenal, amongst others. In this dynasty, Reading promoted up from the Championship after the 2010-11 season and they've remained in the top flight ever since. Their first three years in the Premier League were spent barely avoiding relegation but in recent years, they've shown great consistency, finishing just outside of continental play in five of the past six years. They've had four 9th place finishes in a row, quite a statistic! Their top player by value is right fullback Patson Seleman, a Tanzanian international who was just purchased this year from Sheffield Wednesday for £9m. Their most dangerous player is 23 year old Egyptian striker Hani Megahed, a clinical finisher with great speed. He's only scored once in five league games though and is still recovering from an ankle injury. I may just avoid him but there's a chance he'll be on their bench at the very least. My scouts don't have an awful lot on Reading but I've had success against them using multiple formations. I'm going to stick with the flat 4-4-2 that helped us dominate possession against United last week. I'll be throwing Lukasz Fabianski in net for the first time in league play this year. Arsene Bamba will return at left midfield and captain Darren Pratley will start for the first time this year in the midfield, as Andrea Rocca won't be ready to play today due to injury. Zoltan Bardi is back in at striker alongside Gesios. One other interesting tidbit on Reading. Their new manager is Lee Clark - if you recall, Clark was my new chairman's personal pick to take over my job when he bought the team. Thankfully, I was kept aboard and Clark caught on with Reading. Clark comes out in the press before the match to say how much he dislikes me (or something to that effect) and I just ignore the comment. I'm not big on "mind games" in this career, as it seems to hurt my players more than help. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - L. Fabianski D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak M - A. Bamba, D. Pratley, N. Cairney, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi Bench - T. Andersen, O. Nicholas, Mancini, C. Murray, P. Kostal, G. Escobar, P. Simek Surprisingly, Reading decide to start a recovering Megahed up front. There doesn't look to be any way he can play a full game but perhaps they hope he can score a goal before half or something. I tell the team to tackle him hard, hopefully to knock him off his game. Reading are in a flat 4-4-2, just like us. I tell the team they can win today and pull aside Fabianski, Bolis and Bamba for some individual words. 10' - Gianluca Bolis dribbles down the right side, cuts into the box and hits a hard, wrong footed shot just wide. Pretty good chance! 13' - This time it's Giorgos Gesios penetrating the box and left-footing it into the side netting. 35' - Not an awful lot of action, other than a few corners. Reading get a free kick from their side of half and send a direct ball toward our zone. Jozef Kuciak heads it to centre field and Bardi is there to head it forward into space. Gesios uses his blazing speed to beat the defender to the ball and the Reading keeper is out of position in no mans land. Gesios makes the clinical finish and we take the lead! DOVER GOAL 1-0 38' - Gesios is hurt on a challenge. He can continue but I'll have to monitor his fitness at halftime. HALFTIME - A dull half, with few offensive chances on both sides but we'll take it. We lead in possession 56-44 and in shots 4-3 (1-0 on target). I tell the team I'm pleased and I don't make any adjustments for now. Gesios seems to be okay so I'll keep him in. 50' - They work a counter attack and it's their captain, left midfielder Lallana who cuts in past Kuciak and just misses wide from 15 yards. On the ensuing goal kick, they head the ball back up field and it's Megahed, still in the game, who beats Fabianski to the ball and puts it into the open net. But wait, the flag is up! Offsides! Whew! 52' - All of a sudden it's all Reading. Again, it's Megahed who takes a beautiful through ball and is in all alone but Fabianski is there to make the key stop! 55' - We get a free kick from distance and Neil Cairney throws a brilliant ball into the area but Cristian Rodriguez's header just goes wide. 61' - We win a throw in and the ball comes to Pratley. He makes a little touch pass to Cairney and he immediately sends an excellent ball into the left side of the area to Gesios. The defenders think he's offside but the flag stays down and Gesios takes a few steps and sends a vicious ball into the lower lefthand corner of the net. Gesios bags his brace and we're up two! DOVER GOAL 2-0 62' - We take out Pratley and bring in defensive minded midfielder Mancini in his place. 63' - They work the ball upfield on the ensuing kickoff and Paulus Tjiuoro takes down striker James Hunter for the hard foul. Yellow card for Tjiuoro. Hunter takes the free kick and it curls just wide. 66' - We work a counter attack and Gesios sends a lovely ball up to Bardi. He has a poor angle going down the right side but he forces the keeper to make a tough stop on a hard shot. 68' - Renato Gaucho gets called on a ticky tacky play and the ensuing free kick from distance is headed toward the goal but a diving Fabianski gobbles it up and holds on. Later, after Fabianski puts the ball back into play, Gesios brings down a Reading defender and is given a yellow card. 72 - I switch to a counter attacking philosophy and I take out the excellent Giorgos Gesios and bring in Gerardo Escobar up front. 84' - Off a throw in, Escobar gets the ball and sends a wicked ball through to Bardi. He gets off a left footed blast that's saved and held by Reading keeper Federici. They get a couple of chances from distance but that's it! Great result! Dover 2 - 0 Reading Goals - Giorgos Gesios 2 (8.8) Assists - Neil Cairney (7.0), Zoltan Bardi (6.9) Man of the Match - Giorgos Gesios Other Dover Notables - Jozef Kuciak (7.1), Paulus Tjiuoro (7.0), Cristian Rodriguez (7.6), Renato Gaucho (7.7) Attendance - 9135 (Sellout) A deserved victory over a tough side that was heavily favoured, again proving we're onto something with our roster and our tactics. We edge them on possession 52-48 and outshoot them 11-9 (5-3 on target). Their dangerous striker Hani Megahed lasted 74 ineffective minutes, getting a 5.9 rating. Not a good decision to start him when he was obviously unfit. -- After the Sunday slate of games, we see ourselves move up two places on the table to 3rd, 8 points behind runaway leaders Man City, with United 3 points ahead of us. City continued their torrid stretch, winning 4-0 over Sheffield Wednesday for their 11th win in a row across all competitions. In fact, they haven't lost in 19 games, with their only loss of the season being the Community Shield, where they dropped a 3-1 decision to Arsenal. -- Just one further note about our superlative striker Giorgos Gesios. Again, if you recall, we bought him for the ridiculous sum of £14,250,000 last year from Arsenal and he had a tough time adjusting to life at Dover, scoring 9 goals and adding 3 assists in 25 league games. This year? How about 10 goals through his first 9 games, along with two assists - he's proving to be worth the considerable outlay! Gesios is currently 3rd in Premier League scoring, behind Enrique's 12 for Man City and Everton's Ekow Mumuni has 11. Next Up -- We're right back in action four days later, with a midweek trip to the Riverside Stadium to visit Middlesbrough. |
By the way, being that I'm so far into this dynasty, if there are any teams, leagues or players you'd like updates on, let me know and I'll give you a recap of what they've done in this world!
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Wed. November 11, 2020
Barclays Premier League Middlesbrough (6-1-4, 19 points, 6th) vs. Dover (7-0-4, 21 points, 3rd) The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, UK Betting Odds: Middlesbrough: 4-6 (Favourites) Draw: 9-4 Dover: 7-2 Past Meetings: 2W 0D 3L Middlesbrough have been a constant mid-table team in the Premier League since getting promoted in 2010-11 from the Championship, finishing as high as 4th in 2014-15. Belgium midfielder Thorgan Hazard is leading their club in scoring with five goals in nine games and they have an expensive midfield, with their seven highest valued players all being in the middle of the pitch. David Moyes' team plays a conservative 4-4-1-1 formation and try to control the ball. Today, we'll stick with our flat 4-4-2 (I have notes from last year saying they struggle against that formation) and I'm also making a few player changes due to fixture congestion. Ingo Wilke will be back in net and on defence, I'll be inserting Thomas Andersen for the excellent Cristian Rodriguez, just to give him a night off. Petr Kostal will be manning the right midfield position, as Gianluca Bolis is out of form right now. Andrea Rocca is back to being fully fit and will return to the lineup. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wike D - R. Gaucho, T. Andersen, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, P. Kostal S - G. Gesios, Z. Bardi Bench - C. Rodriguez, O. Nicholas, Mancini, C. Murray, G. Bolis, G. Escobar, P. Simek My assistant suggests telling the players that the pressure is off and we have nothing to lose and I go with it. 2 - A unthinkable error to start. Jozef Kuciak has the ball back in our end and passes the ball back to Wilke but it's a terrible pass and their striker latches onto it. He has a wide open net but hits the post and Wilke dives on it just in time. 11' - It's pretty much all Middlesbrough in the first ten minutes. They win a corner and their tall defender sends a violent header that Wilke barely gets to, sending it over the net. 25' - We're generating absolutely nothing and they get a great chance again, as a weak clearance is gobbled up just outside our area and their midfielder takes a shot and it deflects into our net past Wilke. Thankfully, it hit their striker Kelly on the way in and he was clearly offside. No goal! 28' - Off a throw in, their right defender Walker gets the ball back and sends an immediate cross into our box. Their very tall left midfielder Abdullah Demir gets his head to it and sends it into the goal past a diving Wilke. A much deserved goal for Middlesbrough and we're down. MIDDLESBROUGH GOAL 0-1 29' - We are playing horrible football. Off the ensuing kickoff, Neil Cairney gets the ball but can't decide what to do. He's tackled and their right midfielder is sent into the area with a gorgeous through ball. Thankfully, he shoots into the side netting. My God… 34' - There's no justice in the world I guess and for that, we should be elated. We get a throw in deep in their end and Rocca touches the ball back to Renato Gaucho. Gaucho sends in a cross and Zoltan Bardi out-jumps two Middlesbrough defenders and heads the ball past their keeper. That's our first shot on net all half and it's in! DOVER GOAL 1-1 HALFTIME - We're lucky to get to half all even. Middlesbrough are dominating in all facets of the contest: possession is theirs by 57% to 43% and shots are in their favour 14-3 (7-1 on target). It's been apparent all half that I need to make changes and I do, changing to a 4-4-2 DM formation (4-2-3-1) and telling the players they can win this game. Now go out and do it! Middlesbrough made a formation change as well, moving to a flat 4-4-2. Interesting. 54' - Their highly rated midfielder Geraldo weaves through midfield and gets to the edge of the area before sending a curling, left-footed blast toward goal. Wilke makes an incredible diving stop and swallows the ball without a rebound. Beautiful save! 58' - Kuciak takes down Abdullah Demir and earns a yellow. 64' - We bring on Gianluca Bolis for Petr Kostal. I also decide to move to a counter attacking philosophy instead of control. 66' - The changes pay off immediately. Bolis gets the ball down the right and uses his pace to get past the Middlesbrough defender. He passes into the midfield to Andrea Rocca and his one time pass springs Bardi in the area. He unleashes a low blast into the corner of the goal and we're in the lead! DOVER GOAL 2-1 70' - We gain possession again and it's Bardi again, unleashing a rocket from just outside the area that is stopped by the diving Middlesbrough keeper. Great save! 73' - We take out a tired Andrea Rocca and bring in defensive minded midfielder Mancini. 79' - They've had a few chances that have gone by the wayside and we win a throw in deep in their zone. Bardi gets the ball into Cairney and he one touches a pass into the middle. Gianluca Bolis looks offside but the flag is down and he calmly deposits a left footed shot right into the corner of the net. Bolis is the super sub and we're inexplicably up two goals! DOVER GOAL 3-1 81' - What in the hell is going on?? We get a throw in from almost the same exact spot moments later. Again, the ball comes to Cairney but this time he sends a through ball into the left portion of the box. Against more claims of offside from Middlesbrough defenders, it's Arsene Bamba who gets to the ball and sends a rocket that their keeper gets a piece of but not enough. It's yet another goal. Four bells! DOVER GOAL 4-1 84' - This is getting ridiculous! We send a long ball up to Bolis and he works his way into the area. The pass is deflected right to Giorgos Gesios but his one-time blast is saved by their beleaguered goalkeeper. 85' - Gesios takes down a man and gets a yellow card 87' - I bring in Oliver Nicholas for Kuciak. 89' - We have a nice period of possession and we slowly work the ball into the box to two-goal man Bardi. He can take the shot but elects to pass to strike partner Gesios and his low blast hits the post and bounces out. So close! 92' - Their striker Kelly beats Thomas Andersen after a long ball up field and his shot is turned behind the net by Wilke. Wilke has to make another save off the ensuing corner but it's an easy one. AND THAT'S IT! Middlesbrough 1 - 4 Dover Goals - Zoltan Bardi 2 (9.1), Gianluca Bolis (7.7), Arsene Bamba (8.2) Assists - Neil Cairney 2 (9.0), Renato Gaucho (8.0), Andrea Rocca (7.1) Man of the Match - Zoltan Bardi Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.6), Jozef Kuciak (7.5), Paulus Tjiuoro (7.1), Thomas Andersen (7.2) Attendance - 18715 What a fantastic result! We obviously had a better second half but the overall statistics still favoured Middlesbrough greatly - a 56-44 possession edge and a whopping 23-9 (11-6) shot advantage but we did much better after changing to a counter attacking tactic. I'll put that in the memory banks, you can bet on that. Great games from Bardi and Cairney, along with Ingo Wilke in goal. -- There's no change at the top of the table, as Man City beats Stoke 4-0 on Tuesday and Man United destroys Huddersfield 6-0 so both remain in first and second place respectively. -- After their disastrous loss, Huddersfield's manager Dennis Wise gets sacked and I'm named as the bookies choice to replace him. Huddersfield are usually a mid-table or better team but this year, despite Euro League play after a 7th place finish last year, they are mired in 19th place in the league this season. I decide to not even respond to the rumours but obviously, I have no desire whatsoever to leave Dover for Huddersfield. International Update -- I get the usual blanket email telling me that eleven Dover players are being called up for international duty but get a separate email going into detail about one of the call-ups. It's a significant moment for our 25 year old star midfielder Andrea Rocca, who is called up for the first time to Italy's senior squad! I've wondered how long it was going to take them to realize how good he is and Rocca finally gets the call up! Hopefully he gains his first senior cap for Italy - he's played three times for Italy's U18 club. -- The rest of the callups are Carlo Cerbone (Italy U19s), Renato Gaucho (Brazil U20s), Thomas Andersen (Denmark U21s), Emmanuel Agbo (England U21s), Gianluca Bolis (Italy's U21s), Giorgos Gesios (Greece), Zoltan Bardi (Hungary), Lukasz Fabianski (Poland), Neil Cairney and Cameron Murray (Scotland). -- Speaking of Cairney, the media are dousing him with praise after his last game, which definitely was the best he's played since arriving at Dover. He's got 3 goals and 5 assists in 13 appearances so far, along with a 7.48 average rating. Excellent numbers for the former "wonderkid"! Coaching Staff Additions -- I've never really talked about our coaching staff, nor do I think I really need to often but I've added two new members to the staff to help some of our youngsters settle in…or at least I'm hoping there's a positive effect! I bring in former Argentina national Fabricio Coloccini in hopes of him helping Cristian Rodriguez settle into the club - Coloccini had a storied career in Spain and England, speaks fluent English and hopefully can help young Rodriguez. I also bring in Italian coach Erminio Rullo to help tutor Gianluca Bolis, who still hasn't picked up English despite being in his second year at Dover. Rullo played in Italy and also had a four year spell in the Championship with Swansea. Next Up -- We head to Villa Park in Birmingham to take on Aston Villa in Premier League weekend play. |
Sat. November 14, 2020
Barclays Premier League Aston Villa (5-4-3, 19 points, 6th) vs. Dover (8-0-4, 24 points, 3rd) Villa Park, Birmingham, UK Betting Odds: Aston Villa: 4-5 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 3-1 Past Meetings: 2W 0D 4L Villa, like Middlesbrough, have been a Premier League mid-table constant and have played top flight football since 1988-89. In this dynasty, they've finished as high as 6th and as low as 14th, finishing 10th last year. They have started out well this year and play a very defensive style under manager Andre Villas-Boas. Their top goal scorer is 27 year old Will Keane, who has four goals in 8 league appearances. They blew their transfer budget this year on 28 year old right fullback Phil Jones, an influential English international with 16 caps to his credit. They also made a splash in the free transfer market. luring legendary English striker Theo Walcott over from Arsenal. Walcott has three goals in five games but broke his foot recently and will miss the next 3-4 months. I will maintain the same 4-4-2 DM Counter attacking tactic that worked well in the second half of our last game. My scouts feel that we should play through the middle of the pitch at Villa Park due to the narrow nature of the setup so perhaps a counter attacking formation will work well. We are coming off a game only three days ago but I'm going to field a mostly full-strength squad. I'll bring in Lukasz Fabianski to play goal and Cristian Rodriguez will return to his spot in the centre of the defence alongside Paulus Tjiuoro. Gianluca Bolis also returns to his right winger spot. I do make extensive changes to the makeup of my bench, simply due to the fact many of my starters may tire quicker and I need some cover in different positions. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Counter GK - L. Fabianski D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios Bench - L. Koscielny, R. McLaughlin, L. Craig, D. Pratley, M. Prochazka, G. Escobar, P. Simek Villa are going with a standard 4-5-1 with a defensive midfielder. I tell the team that they can win today and have individual talks with Gesios, Bardi and Bamba. 11' - They work the ball down the right flank and are able to get a cross in. Kuciak heads it out but they pick the ball up just outside the area and send a blast toward the goal. Wilke makes a nice diving stop to keep it out. 13' - We start a counter attack and Bardi sends a nice through ball down the right centre of the pitch to GIanluca Bolis. He uses his pace to stay in front of the chasing defenders and Villa's keeper Guzan makes a lovely stop to keep the game scoreless. 15' - Arsene Bamba gets the ball in his wheelhouse, down the left side of the penalty area but his far corner blast just skims the top of the bar. So close! 20' - We work a give and go between Bolis and Zoltan Bardi and Bolis then sends a lovely cross into the box toward Giorgos Gesios. Gesios loses the battle but the ball comes free to a charging Bardi, who blasts the ball off a Villa defender and into the goal! DOVER GOAL 1-0 27' - Fabianski plays the ball upfield and Gesios takes a Villa player down on an ugly challenge. Yellow card for Gesios and he's reached his yellow limit and therefore will miss our next match against Derby. 31' - There is some sloppy midfield play by Villa and Neil Cairney wins a challenge up to Gesios. Villa defender Kevin Renton goes in with a horror tackle on Gesios and Renton is given the straight RED CARD! Villa is down to 10 men! Villa change to 3 DCs, bringing their fullbacks into the middle (3-5-1) 39' - In an inexcusable blunder, we lose the ball in their end and they start a counter attack. They have numbers on us and their left winger gets the ball into our area and their man Rehak is wide open. Somehow, he misses the sitter and shoots wide from 10 yards away. Shocking miss. We still are playing a defensive formation so I'm totally upset that we were so badly out of position there. 40' - We move the ball upfield right away and it's Cairney heading the ball to Bamba down the left side. He cruises into his favourite spot and unleashes a shot that is saved by a diving Guzan! HALFTIME - With us up a man, we have an understandable possession edge 56-44 and are outshooting them 7-6 (3-2 on target). I tell them I'm pleased but I change to a slightly more aggressive control philosophy. Villa switch to a flat 3-4-2 to start the second half. 54' - We're playing very sloppy offense right now, with missed passes and Villa, to their credit, are playing very aggressively despite being down a man. They actually change to a 5-2-2 and get a counter attack. They spring a nice pass into our box and Paulus Tjiuoro makes an incredibly bold sliding tackle in the area to deflect the ball out of play. I change back to a counter attacking philosophy. 56' - Their fullbacks are really jumping into the play and we take advantage on a counter. Bolis streaks unopposed down the right flank and sends a low cross into Neil Cairney. He has time but elects to one time his shot, just missing on the right. A real chance wasted. 65' - Great - Gesios is taken down hard again and he's hurt enough to force a substitution. I bring in Petr Simek in his place. Aston Villa now change to a 4-3-2 formation. 70' - We win a corner and for the first time in what seems like ages, we capitalize on one. Rocca's lovely ball is headed in by young defender Cristian Rodriguez and we have a two goal cushion! DOVER GOAL 2-0 75' - I make a double substitution, taking out Bardi and Rocca and inserting Gerardo Escobar and captain Darren Pratley. I also switch to a flat 4-4-2 counter attacking formation. 81' - Despite playing a very defensive style, their striker is able to get past our defence and storm into the area but thankfully, Fabianski is there to make the point blank save. We work a counter attack off that stop and Simek sends a lovely ball up to Bolis but his shot from inside the area is way wide. They have a few chances from distance but nothing of note the rest of the way. We close it out. Aston Villa 0 - 2 Dover Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.4), Cristian Rodriguez (8.6) Assists - Gianluca Bolis (8.1), Andrea Rocca (7.7) Man of the Match - Cristian Rodriguez Other Dover Notables - Lukasz Fabianski (7.2), Jozef Kuciak (7.6), Paulus Tjiuoro (7.6), Renato Gaucho (7.3) Attendance - 33912 It was a pretty dull game to be completely frank but anytime you can win on the road, you take it! We win possession 57% to 43% and outshoot them 14-11 (6-3 on target). -- Thankfully, Giorgos Gesios wasn't seriously hurt and isn't listed as having any injuries at the moment. That said, he'll miss our next league match against Derby due to suspension for yellow card accumulation. Dover U18 Update -- The kids had a couple weeks of rest and come back to beat MK Dons U18s 1-0. Midfielder Matt Hewitt scored the Dover goal. -- There's still nothing to comment on with respect to the Premier League table. We continue to sit comfortably in third place with 27 points, five points up on Everton and Reading. Manchester United are three points ahead of us and Man City continue to roll at 11-2-0 and sit five points clear at the top. -- Athletic Club Bilbao fire manager Ronald Koeman and I'm named as his possible successor. Not happening fellas. -- We get two players named to the Premier League Team of the Week. Cristian Rodriguez and Zoltan Bardi are given honours. Injury Update -- Right midfielder Petr Kostal sustains fractured ribs in a training ground collision with Cristian Rodriguez and will miss at least four weeks of action. Kostal is our second choice right winger but I have enough cover with Martin Prochazka so this shouldn't be an issue. Gianluca Bolis gets the majority of playing time anyway. Our only other injury right now continues to be DR Salim Loucif, who is still a couple weeks away from returning to training after breaking his arm. Dover Reserve Team Update -- We destroy Blackpool 5-1 away behind a 1 goal, 2 assist performance from our captain Darren Pratley. Young striker Dennis Kunz scored twice and Roberto and Matt Hewitt notched the other markers. Mancini also had two assists in the match. International Update -- Of the eleven players away on international duty, only Cameron Murray found the scoresheet in Scotland's 2-0 friendly win over Andorra. That is Murray's first ever International goal! Gianluca Bolis contributed an assist for Italy's U21 team. Unfortunately, Andrea Rocca did not get into Italy's senior team match and therefore hasn't received his first cap. -- Ah, the circle of life…Sacked Athletic Club Bilbao manager Ronald Koeman just got hired by Huddersfield. Meanwhile, AC Milan pays £2,000,000 to Sunderland in order to pry away their manager Oscar Garre and bring him to Italy. Garre has always been a thorn in my side during my time in the Premier League and he's listed as one of the guys that dislikes me most in this universe. Now he's gone, which can't be a bad thing. And yes, dispatched Huddersfield boss Dennis Wise ends up getting hired at Sunderland. Hilarious! Next Up -- A home match against struggling Derby County. |
Sat. November 21, 2020
Barclays Premier League Dover (9-0-4, 27 points, 3rd) vs. Derby (2-4-7, 10 points, 16th) Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Betting Odds: Dover: 4-7 (Favourites) Draw: 5-2 Derby: 4-1 Past Meetings: 3W 0D 2L We are touted as comfortable favourites against Derby, who currently are just above the relegation zone. We've had six very tough games in a row against top half sides (and 8 of our last 9) so this is a welcomed matchup. That said, we'll definitely have to guard against complacency. Derby have been up and down many times between the Premier League and the Championship over the course of this dynasty, having been relegated three times in the past ten years. This is the first time they've enjoyed consecutive seasons in the Premier League since 2001-02 but they only barely stayed up this year after a 16th place finish in 2019-20. Old friend Fraser Forster is their starting keeper but their most notable player is new signing Joao Henriques Almeida, a Mozambique striker picked up in the last transfer window for £10,250,000 from French club Stade Rennais FC, likely breaking the bank. He has two Premier League goals in 9 appearances. We'll run with our single striker formation (4-4-2 DM Control) and with Giorgos Gesios unavailable due to suspension, I'll go with Gerardo Escobar up front. Ingo WIlke is back in goal, otherwise the lineup is the same as last weekend, with some changes made to our bench composition. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Counter GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - G. Escobar Bench - T. Andersen, L. Koscielny, Roberto, Mancini, M. Prochazka, C. Murray, P. Simek Derby start with a 3-5-2 formation. Hopefully I can really take advantage of that with our wingers but with five midfielders, they'll likely have a possession edge. Boys, I expect a win today! 1' - Lots of action right off the opening kick. We gain possession and Jozef Kuciak heads it upfield to Gianluca Bolis. He dribbles from midfield all the way into Derby territory and into the area but his low, left footed shot through traffic is gobbled up by Forster. Nice run by Bolis there. 20' - We're getting plenty of possession and pressure but no real scoring chances. 24 - Dumb foul by Neil Cairney and he's given a yellow. We're possibly getting frustrated at being unable to break these guys down and my assistant notices that Cairney "looks ill-disciplined". 31' - We win a free kick from the right side just outside the area. Rocca's in-swinging kick meets the head of Paulus Tjiuoro but his vicious header is stopped by Forster! He gets the rebound and hits the post before a defender kicks it out for a corner. We're piling on pressure and that's our best opportunity so far. Forster certainly didn't make saves like that for Dover! On the ensuing corner, Tjiuoro gets another chance but the ball is kicked off the line by the defender guarding the post. 36' - We win yet another corner and it's headed just wide by Cristian Rodriguez. 42 - We build up play nicely from the back, with a beautiful pass upfield from Kuciak to Escobar. He dribbles down the centre and springs Zoltan Bardi cutting into the middle. Bardi's curling blast just misses the post and hits the side netting. Half the stadium thought it was in! HALFTIME - This is nuts. We are DOMINATING this game, with an unfathomable 70% possession and 11-0 (4-0 on target) shot edge. We simply can't break them down. I want to send more players forward to start the second half but I'm worried about a counter attack against us. I think I'll just stick with this formation for now but change to an attacking philosophy. 47' - We build on offense and Cairney delivers a lovely ball into the box but Escobar can't get to it before Forster. Andrea Rocca is hurt on the play and comes off for a bit but he can shake it off for now. 64' - Arsene Bamba dribbles down the left hand side from midfield and gets to the byline before making a high cross into the box. Bolis is there but his header strikes the crossbar! Forster is out of position after attempting a diving save and it's Zoltan Bardi who is there to clean up the mess, heading it in off the ricochet to FINALLY get us on the board! DOVER GOAL 1-0 We'll revert back to our control philosophy and Derby changes to a flat 4-4-2. 69' - After taking a pass from Bamba, Gerardo Escobar dribbles halfway down the field, weaving through the defence. He is able to get a step on them through the middle but his shot JUST misses to the right. "He missed a sitter", says the commentator. 74' - Kuciak picks up a yellow card. 81' - I bring in Petr Simek for a tired Zoltan Bardi and in the process, switch the formation to a flat 4-4-2 counter. 90'+5 - They are down to ten men after making all their substitutions then losing a defender to injury. We're deep into extra time and they have a dangerous free kick in our area. It's not a good one and Cairney intercepts and sends the ball immediately up field to Petr Simek. It's basically a two-on-two situation as he dribbles down the right centre of the pitch with a defender chasing him. Escobar is cutting to the net and two other Dover players are coming in, leaving the last remaining defender in no mans land. Simek feeds the ball into a wide open Escobar and he easily one times it past Forster for the final dagger! DOVER GOAL 2-0 The ref blows the whistle before Derby can even kick off! Dover 2 - 0 Derby Goals - Zoltan Bardi (7.1), Gerardo Escobar (7.4) Assists - Gianluca Bolis (7.1), Petr Simek (6.9) Man of the Match - Jozef Kuciak (7.5) Other Dover Notables - Paulus Tjiuoro (7.3), Cristian Rodriguez (7.1), Renato Gaucho (7.4) Attendance - 9081 Well, we showed great patience and perseverance in this one and we finally were able to break them down in the second half. Overall possession was in our favour by a 64% to 36% mark and we outshot them 17-2 (6-0 on target). A solid effort and we did well to avoid complacency. Jozef Kuciak has played extremely well at right fullback while Salim Loucif recovers from his broken arm and was awarded man of the match. He's strung together four wonderful games in a row, which is great to see. -- We've now won four in a row and the press comment on our great run of form, saying that even our harshest of critics can't help but "admire the way Dover play the game". We have a reasonable schedule coming up and there's a decent chance we can keep this thing going for awhile. Our next three games are as follows: AT Huddersfield (16th) AT Newcastle (14th) vs. Fullham (20th) We end December with tough games versus Everton (4th) and Man City (1st) but with a record of 10-0-4, we're only 5 wins away from matching last year's total! -- Man City draws 2-2 against relegation candidates Sunderland, who did beat us earlier in the season so there's not much I can say. United continue to roll, defeating Newcastle 5-0 so we remain in third place, six points back of first but SEVEN points up on 4th place. -- Lots of manager turnover in the Premier League, as struggling Tottenham sack Tony Mowbray. As usual lately, my name is at the top of the pundits list of potential replacements but I don't comment on the move. Dover Injury Update Petr Kostal is our only long term injury right now and it looks like DR Salim Loucif will soon be ready to return to full training after breaking his arm. We also send DC Oliver Nicholas home for a few days when he gets the flu. Possible Transfer -- Ok, we're still operating under a closed transfer window but I come to an agreement on a deal with Independiente out of Argentina for yet another young central defender and also come to an agreement with the player on a contract. We'll have to go through the permitting process but my scouts feel that everything will work out. I'll hold off on reporting on the player until we get official confirmation but this is a move that will hopefully satisfy our young star in the making DC Cristian Rodriguez, who still is looking for us to bring someone in to help him settle in England. This new defender is a fellow Argentinian so I'm hoping this works out. He is rated 3.0/4.5 by two of my scouts so he has star potential. Very exciting - I have to make some budget adjustments if this is to go through and may have to move a player out at the next window as well but if it makes Rodriguez happy, it's all worth it. Next Up -- We travel to visit surprise relegation candidates Huddersfield Town for a Sunday afternoon televised matchup. |
Sun. November 29, 2020
Barclays Premier League Huddersfield (2-5-6, 11 points, 20th) vs. Dover (10-0-4, 30 points, 3rd) The Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, UK Betting Odds: Huddersfield: 6-4 (Favourites) Draw: 2-1 Dover: 13-8 Past Meetings: 2W 0D 2L This feels very much like a trap game. After Saturday's matches, Huddersfield has dropped from 16th right to the bottom of the Premier League table but have only played 13 matches while many teams have played 15. When this dynasty started, Huddersfield were in League 1 and after moving up to the Championship in 2011-12, it took them only two more seasons to reach the Premier League. They'd finish dead last that year, winning only three games but would win the Championship in 2014-15 to get another promotion and they've been a mid-table constant in the top flight ever since. Last year was their finest yet, finishing 7th and qualifying for the Europa League this year. They've progressed through two qualifying rounds and are still in the competition and I'm guessing that's a major reason for their problems in league play this year. That said, I have to treat this team with the respect it deserves and not just look at their poor league record. Huddersfield have a dominating presence up front in 26 year old Scottish international Paul Lumsden, a 6' 7" striker, who has 10 goals in 18 total appearances thus far. He's been with Huddersfield since 2015-16 after coming up through the Aston Villa youth system. They have another dangerous striker in Nelson Oliveira, a Portugal international, who has traditionally been their leading scorer. However, he's very much out of form this year (0 goals in 9 league games) and is currently injured. In fact, a number of key players for them are on the shelf right now, including young MC Sergey Gusev and attacking midfielder Robbie Brady. They have a Europa League match coming up in four days (away at AIK in Sweden) so there is a chance they'll field a less than full strength side. We'll run with our single striker formation (4-4-2 DM) and go with a counter attack philosophy. Giorgos Gesios returns from a one game suspension to play up front. Otherwise, there are no other changes to the side. Dover: 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) Counter GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Rodriguez, P. Tjiuoro, J. Kuciak M - A. Rocca, N. Cairney AM - A. Bamba, Z. Bardi, G. Bolis S - G. Gesios Bench - T. Andersen, J. Varga, D. Pratley, Mancini, M. Prochazka, C. Murray, G. Escobar Huddersfield will start with a 4-1-3-2 defensive formation, with a DMC and three central midfielders. Again, I want to show this team much more respect than I normally would give a last place side and simply tell the players that they can win today. 16' - Not much happening as far as chances but Huddersfield seem to have the majority of possession. They win a throw down the right side in the final third and their fullback makes a lovely cross into the area. Striker Lorenzo Sion sends a weak header that I think should be stopped but a diving Wilke misses it. Bad start guys. HUDDERSFIELD GOAL 0-1 22' - We have possession in their zone and after a bunch of passes, it's Gianluca Bolis dribbling into the penalty area and striking a left-footed shot that it pushed over the bar by the Huddersfield keeper. The in-swinging corner is cleared away. 40' - Again, a lot of midfield possession and chances from distance but very few highlights with shots on goal. We gain possession in their end down the right flank and midfielder Neil Cairney plays the ball to pinching right fullback Jozef Kuciak. He sends a beautiful, high cross to the far post and it's Arsene Bamba who is there to head it past the Huddersfield keeper! Great cross! DOVER GOAL 1-1 45'+1 - Neil Cairney steals the ball around midfield and starts a counter attack. Bolis switches flanks nicely, sending the ball upfield to Bamba. He races in down the left flank and sends a low cross to Bolis but instead of passing it to Giorgos Gesios, he tries the poor angle shot and misses the net. That was a good chance wasted. HALFTIME - We are dominating possession by a 61% to 39% margin but shots are only 4-4 (3-2 on target) in our favour. Quite a dull game. I'm going to change to a control philosophy to try to open things up slightly. I tell the team I'm pleased thus far but pull aside Gesios (6.1) and Cristian Rodriguez (6.0) and tell them to go out there and prove a point. 46' - Right off the opening kick, it's Sion dribbling up field and through our defence, only to shoot the ball over. Not a great start to the half. 49' - We win a corner and Rocca's out-swinging boot is headed just over by Rodriguez. 55' - Off a throw in down the right side, Zoltan Bardi, very quiet to this point, eludes a sliding tackle near the right edge of the box and sends a low cross toward Gesios. There's a struggle for the ball and it squirts past two defenders and the diving Huddersfield keeper and right to an unmarked Bamba, who calmly deposits it into the open net. A brace for Bamba and we're ahead! DOVER GOAL 2-1 63' - Lots of sloppy midfield play from both sides results in Cristian Rodriguez tackling a player down and getting a yellow card. I switch our formation up to a flat 4-4-2 control. We'll eventually move to a counter but for now I'll go with the more aggressive philosophy. 70' - Gesios, another player who has been very quiet today, gets the ball up to Bardi and he quickly sends Cairney into the area. His close range shot is turned away for a corner but they easily clear on our set piece. 76' - I take out Bardi and bring in Gerardo Escobar. We change to a counter attack. 86' - They've switched to an attacking 4-2-4 so I switch to a 5-3-2 formation, taking out wingers Bamba and Bolis and bringing in DC Thomas Andersen and DMC Mancini. 90'+4 - They've had possession for the last ten minutes but we work a counter, with Gesios screaming up the left flank. He sends a low ball into Escobar but he can't get free of his mark and the Huddersfield keeper is able to swallow up the ball. Good chance there at the end. And it's all over! Huddersfield 1 - 2 Dover Goals - Arsene Bamba 2 (9.0) Assists - Jozef Kuciak (8.2) Man of the Match - Arsene Bamba Other Dover Notables - Neil Cairney (7.0) Attendance - 9899 Yet another game where our opponents are staying back and forcing us to be patient and again, we're able to come through with timely goals to keep our winning streak alive. We hold the ball for 58% of the match but are outshot 9-7 (5-5 on target). These are the games we've lost in previous years but we're taking care of business so far this year and it shows in the standings. -- We maintain our hold on 3rd place but Chelsea is charging hard right behind us. They are in the Europa League and made up three Premier League matches in the past week, winning all three to climb within three points of us with a game in hand. Manchester United could only squeeze out a 2-2 draw against Everton so we're within a single point of 2nd position now. City continues to roll over everyone in their path, destroying Liverpool 5-0. Liverpool had been on a fine run of form prior to that game, going 7 matches without a loss but the team sacked manager Bruno Labbadia after the match. I've already been offered the Liverpool job in this dynasty if you recall and again, my name is brought up as a potential choice. This time, I decide to engage the press, saying I'm not interested in the position whatsoever. Who would be at this point if the manager is sacked after one game like that, albeit a pretty bad one ;) FA Cup Round Three -- We enter the FA Cup in round three and are amongst the last teams drawn. We draw Bristol City, a Championship side in an away contest. Poor Liverpool draws Man United in a marquee matchup and I note that there are two semi-professional clubs still kicking around in AFC Hornchurch (Blue Square South) and Salisbury (Blue Square Premier). Stadium Expansion Complete! Our planned expansion of Crabble Athletic Ground has been completed! The £6,400,000 construction project sees our capacity increase by 5,250 seats and now our all-seater stadium holds a total of 15,750 supporters! Fantastic news! This is the last of the current construction projects at Crabble but we are in the planning stages of upgrading our youth recruitment network. Our first home game in our newly expanded stadium will take place in two weeks when we host Fulham on December 12th. -- Salim Loucif returns to full training. I'll likely put him in the reserves until he's fully fit. There's absolutely no rush in pushing him into the lineup, as Jozef Kuciak has been sensational in his place and is up to an incredible 7.37 average rating in 8 league games. December Update -- A pretty busy month is coming up, with five league games: away matches at Newcastle, league leaders Manchester City and finally Tottenham along with home matches against Fulham and Everton. -- I get positive training reports on Giorgos Gesios, Ross McLaughlin and Jonathan Adam, in addition to youth players Garry Doyle and Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz. Negative reports come in for Lukasz Fabianski, Mancini and Laurent Koscielny. Fabianski and Koscielny are simply getting old but I tell all three to step it up if they want playing time. None are first choices at the present time. -- Man United striker Yaya Sanogo wins Barclays Premier League Player of the Month honours. -- We sweep the Premier League Young Player of the Month list! It's fullback Renato Gaucho coming through in first place, followed by Neil Cairney and Gianluca Bolis! -- There was no stopping me this month! After being thwarted a few times, I finally win my first ever Barclays Premier League Manager of the Month award! We went 5-0-0 in November and I edged out Ancelotti at Man City and Klinsmann at United. December Board Confidence Update -- The board is delighted with the way I'm leading the club, with our "fantastic overall performance in the Premier League" being the highlight. Simon Rideout's departure is still the lowlight. By the way, Rideout can't even get on the pitch for Blackburn in the Championship! Again, get over it already! -- We made a profit of £2.47 million last month. -- I'm offered another clause buyout, this time for defender Lukas Stetina - I included a 10% sell-on clause in my arrangement with Livorno and I can buy that out for £515,000 - I'll take the money now! Injury Update -- Crap. Arsene Bamba, just coming off a two-goal performance, breaks down in training and is suffering from a sports hernia. He'll miss about a month. We have Scottish international Cameron Murray who will see the majority of playing time in his spot. Dover Reserve Team Update -- In perhaps the most lop-sided game I've ever witnessed, we defeat Burnley's Reserves 9-0 at Turf Moor. Both Liam Craig AND Roberto score hat tricks and Petr Simek bags a brace before getting hurt. Dennis Kunz scored our other goal. Simek will miss approximately three weeks after pulling a hamstring. Next Up -- We head on the road again to take on newly promoted Newcastle. |
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