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Radii · 09-23-2011, 01:19 AM

July Update

-- The board is pleased with my leadership. Our increase in Stature is the reason.

-- We made $6.3M last month.

-- I said it in my post about the euro cup and immediately got mixed up. The draw for the 3rd qualifying round is July 16th but the matches don't actually start til July 29th. So we have ample time to get our players ready.

-- Henrique and Alvaro Negredo leave the club. I didn't re-up Henrique's contract because he was showing so much age and losing ratings, and Negredo chose to go to the US and end his career in New York.

Transfer In

19 y/o DRL Anthony Heywood comes to us from West Brom. We pay them $3.7M for his services, and will pay him $23,000/wk. He's better on the right side. Depending on which scout you ask he's rated 3* or 3 1/2* at DR with 3 1/2* or 4* potential (we do not have a single 4* player on the roster as judged by my assistant, Capitani/Gordon/Mills are 3 1/2 *). On the left side he's currently 2 1/2* or 3* with 3* or 3 1/2* potential.

Physical: 16 pace/16 accel/17 agi/15 sta
Mental: 14 determination/14 anticipation/13 concentration/12 decisions/11 position
Technical: 12 marking/11 heading/16 tackling/13 technique/9 passing/11 crossing.

Many of my scouts feel this kid will be better than Clive Jackson when they're both done developing. As a guy I can rotate with Jackson and Kirkland both he feels like a solid pickup.

-- We're one of many teams going after a DC from Wolverhampton who would be a decent splash for us in the $8M range and one of our bigger contracts... more on that if we are able to win his services. He's got some strong offers from a couple Serie A and German First division clubs but we're the only EPL side going after him, hopefully he wants to stay in England.

New Signing

29 y/o MC Conor Clifford - $0 Transfer Fee - $31,500/wk for 2 years - Clifford came to us for free, he was negotiating with Shaktar, a Ukranian side that is occasionally in the European competitions, but chose to come here instead. He came up as a youth in Chelsea but wasn't deemed quite good enough, spent some time in Ireland and Greece, moving once for $7M and always playing extremely well in those leagues. Now he gets his chance in a rotation at MC back in the EPL.

Physical: Pace 11/Accel 14/Agi 15/Str 14/Stamina 17
Mental: Influence 20/Work Rate 17, every other rating but flair 11-15
Technical: Passing 14/Tackling 14/Technique 14/Marking 12/First Touch 13/Dribbling 10

If we ever run a DMC Clifford seems pretty ideal. All of my coaches really like him, comparing him very favorably to Steven Mills, though I have a hard time buying that he'll be that good...

Pre-Season Meeting

-- Like Last year our coaches are concerned that in nearly every ability we are below average. It didn't hurt us last year, and we're working on it!

Friendly #1

We host Rangers from Scotland. Khan hits Donnelly for a goal 30 seconds in. Khan and Constantino both get on the board before the 20 minute mark. We sub out the starters at the half, give up a goal early in the second half and that's how it ends.

Ipswich 3 : 1 Rangers

New Signing

Jackpot! Hopefully... We land what we hope will be our star defender for the next few years. My assistant is pretty picky when it comes to rating players... the best talent on our team get 3 1/2 * value. This guy is rated as a 4* defender by my assistant and 4 1/2* by many of my other coaches, including my top defensive coach Rio Ferdinand.

28 y/o DC Mark O'Brien - $9M transfer fee to Wolves - $65,000/wk contract for 3 years[/b] - O'Brien put up 6.8-6.9 ratings for the troubled Wolves in their last few years as they fought against relegation. As we have seen that's a really darn good rating when you're giving up tons of goals and losing most matches. We beat out 5 other teams for his services including FC Bayern and Sevilla, a couple other Serie A sides as well.

Physical: Str 17/Sta 16/Pace 13/Agi 14, other ratings 11-12.
Mental: Determination 16/Decisions 18/Composure 16/Anticipation 16/Concentration 15/Positioning 14/Teamwork 14/Work rate 14
Technical: Heading 17/Marking 17/Tackling 15/Technique 13/Passing 10/Dribbling 11

Mentally this guy is an absolute beast and that's so important in the last line of defense. He should give us a major presence to win headers in the back and he is just as good at man marking and tackling. This guy seems like he ought to absolutely be the real deal for us in defense.

O'Brien and Welsh as primary starters, Quartey the top backup with McKerr, Hughes and Cestor Mike(yup, still on the team) also available is where we stand right now. Hughes has found his role in the midfield and Cestor Mike isn't someone I expect to be able to count on, so I would not mind at all adding one more rotation player here, especially seeing as Quartey is 33 and not likely to be re-signed.

So we've made some moves, but we still have $16M available and $100k/wk in wage budget allowed. I've been a little hesitant to attempt to make a really, really big move, you know, one of those guys worth $8-$9M that might take $15M to actually have a shot at... in part b/c DC is so important and the options I'd looked at were never at DC.

I have 3 more offers in progress, two older free transfer guys released by top clubs that have continental experience that I think could help me, and one depth guy at DC.

If I had to go into the season right now, here's the depth chart:

GK: Capitani/Carlos Antonio/Chris Mason (Mason may be second tbh)
--We're in great shape here

DL: Kirkland/Heywood/Hughes
--We're in good shape here, we have other guys (Cestor Mike, Lee Burton) that can also play DL in a pinch

DC: O'Brien/Welsh/Quartey/McKerr/Cestor Mike/Hughes/Parsons
--Discussed already. We're better here than we've ever been but we fall off fast after the top two still

DR: Jackson/Heywood/McKerr/Parsons
--I believe we're just fine here as well, I really like that top 3

ML: Hughes/Adagsmar/Burton
--We're good here, but not great. Our depth is certainly ok, it just still remains our second weakest position behind DC, but if Hughes continues to develop into it, this would work fine.

MC: Donnelly/Mills/Clifford/Mariga/Johnson/Guarin/Smith
-- I love our top 5, and I'm including youth pull Craig Smith as an emergency injury filler, he's that good I think. Mariga and Guarin are fading and this is probably their last year

MR: Gordon/Johnson/Jackson
-- We need more depth. I have my starting DR listed as an option here. I don't want to have to do that.

ST: Constantino/Khan/Bryan/Kershaw
-- One of my free transfer offers has been for another striker. I'm perfectly comfortable listing Chris Bryan as my 3rd or 4th option, I'm not comfortable with Kershaw being listed.

DC, MR depth, ST depth appear to be my biggest remaining needs.

I'm not specifically looking to avoid spending more money this year but if I can't find exactly what I want for the first team I may well hang on to what I've got and look to spend on youth prospects to train up in my system later on in the season.

09-23-2011, 01:19 AM	#981
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	July Update -- The board is pleased with my leadership. Our increase in Stature is the reason. -- We made $6.3M last month. -- I said it in my post about the euro cup and immediately got mixed up. The draw for the 3rd qualifying round is July 16th but the matches don't actually start til July 29th. So we have ample time to get our players ready. -- Henrique and Alvaro Negredo leave the club. I didn't re-up Henrique's contract because he was showing so much age and losing ratings, and Negredo chose to go to the US and end his career in New York. Transfer In 19 y/o DRL Anthony Heywood comes to us from West Brom. We pay them $3.7M for his services, and will pay him $23,000/wk. He's better on the right side. Depending on which scout you ask he's rated 3* or 3 1/2* at DR with 3 1/2* or 4* potential (we do not have a single 4* player on the roster as judged by my assistant, Capitani/Gordon/Mills are 3 1/2 ). On the left side he's currently 2 1/2 or 3* with 3* or 3 1/2* potential. Physical: 16 pace/16 accel/17 agi/15 sta Mental: 14 determination/14 anticipation/13 concentration/12 decisions/11 position Technical: 12 marking/11 heading/16 tackling/13 technique/9 passing/11 crossing. Many of my scouts feel this kid will be better than Clive Jackson when they're both done developing. As a guy I can rotate with Jackson and Kirkland both he feels like a solid pickup. -- We're one of many teams going after a DC from Wolverhampton who would be a decent splash for us in the $8M range and one of our bigger contracts... more on that if we are able to win his services. He's got some strong offers from a couple Serie A and German First division clubs but we're the only EPL side going after him, hopefully he wants to stay in England. New Signing 29 y/o MC Conor Clifford - $0 Transfer Fee - $31,500/wk for 2 years - Clifford came to us for free, he was negotiating with Shaktar, a Ukranian side that is occasionally in the European competitions, but chose to come here instead. He came up as a youth in Chelsea but wasn't deemed quite good enough, spent some time in Ireland and Greece, moving once for $7M and always playing extremely well in those leagues. Now he gets his chance in a rotation at MC back in the EPL. Physical: Pace 11/Accel 14/Agi 15/Str 14/Stamina 17 Mental: Influence 20/Work Rate 17, every other rating but flair 11-15 Technical: Passing 14/Tackling 14/Technique 14/Marking 12/First Touch 13/Dribbling 10 If we ever run a DMC Clifford seems pretty ideal. All of my coaches really like him, comparing him very favorably to Steven Mills, though I have a hard time buying that he'll be that good... Pre-Season Meeting -- Like Last year our coaches are concerned that in nearly every ability we are below average. It didn't hurt us last year, and we're working on it! Friendly #1 We host Rangers from Scotland. Khan hits Donnelly for a goal 30 seconds in. Khan and Constantino both get on the board before the 20 minute mark. We sub out the starters at the half, give up a goal early in the second half and that's how it ends. Ipswich 3 : 1 Rangers New Signing Jackpot! Hopefully... We land what we hope will be our star defender for the next few years. My assistant is pretty picky when it comes to rating players... the best talent on our team get 3 1/2 * value. This guy is rated as a 4* defender by my assistant and 4 1/2* by many of my other coaches, including my top defensive coach Rio Ferdinand. 28 y/o DC Mark O'Brien - $9M transfer fee to Wolves - $65,000/wk contract for 3 years[/b] - O'Brien put up 6.8-6.9 ratings for the troubled Wolves in their last few years as they fought against relegation. As we have seen that's a really darn good rating when you're giving up tons of goals and losing most matches. We beat out 5 other teams for his services including FC Bayern and Sevilla, a couple other Serie A sides as well. Physical: Str 17/Sta 16/Pace 13/Agi 14, other ratings 11-12. Mental: Determination 16/Decisions 18/Composure 16/Anticipation 16/Concentration 15/Positioning 14/Teamwork 14/Work rate 14 Technical: Heading 17/Marking 17/Tackling 15/Technique 13/Passing 10/Dribbling 11 Mentally this guy is an absolute beast and that's so important in the last line of defense. He should give us a major presence to win headers in the back and he is just as good at man marking and tackling. This guy seems like he ought to absolutely be the real deal for us in defense. O'Brien and Welsh as primary starters, Quartey the top backup with McKerr, Hughes and Cestor Mike(yup, still on the team) also available is where we stand right now. Hughes has found his role in the midfield and Cestor Mike isn't someone I expect to be able to count on, so I would not mind at all adding one more rotation player here, especially seeing as Quartey is 33 and not likely to be re-signed. So we've made some moves, but we still have $16M available and $100k/wk in wage budget allowed. I've been a little hesitant to attempt to make a really, really big move, you know, one of those guys worth $8-$9M that might take $15M to actually have a shot at... in part b/c DC is so important and the options I'd looked at were never at DC. I have 3 more offers in progress, two older free transfer guys released by top clubs that have continental experience that I think could help me, and one depth guy at DC. If I had to go into the season right now, here's the depth chart: GK: Capitani/Carlos Antonio/Chris Mason (Mason may be second tbh) --We're in great shape here DL: Kirkland/Heywood/Hughes --We're in good shape here, we have other guys (Cestor Mike, Lee Burton) that can also play DL in a pinch DC: O'Brien/Welsh/Quartey/McKerr/Cestor Mike/Hughes/Parsons --Discussed already. We're better here than we've ever been but we fall off fast after the top two still DR: Jackson/Heywood/McKerr/Parsons --I believe we're just fine here as well, I really like that top 3 ML: Hughes/Adagsmar/Burton --We're good here, but not great. Our depth is certainly ok, it just still remains our second weakest position behind DC, but if Hughes continues to develop into it, this would work fine. MC: Donnelly/Mills/Clifford/Mariga/Johnson/Guarin/Smith -- I love our top 5, and I'm including youth pull Craig Smith as an emergency injury filler, he's that good I think. Mariga and Guarin are fading and this is probably their last year MR: Gordon/Johnson/Jackson -- We need more depth. I have my starting DR listed as an option here. I don't want to have to do that. ST: Constantino/Khan/Bryan/Kershaw -- One of my free transfer offers has been for another striker. I'm perfectly comfortable listing Chris Bryan as my 3rd or 4th option, I'm not comfortable with Kershaw being listed. DC, MR depth, ST depth appear to be my biggest remaining needs. I'm not specifically looking to avoid spending more money this year but if I can't find exactly what I want for the first team I may well hang on to what I've got and look to spend on youth prospects to train up in my system later on in the season.