Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - FM – From Semi-Pro Minnows to Champions League Glory: Dover Athletic FC

NoSkillz · 02-15-2016, 04:24 PM

2026-27 Dover Recap and Statistics

2026-27 Dover Best Eleven

GK - Chris Davies - 26 apps 0g 7.02 avg
DL - Renato Gaucho - 43 apps 1g 7.13 avg
DC - Mwemere Mutesa - 45 apps 6g 7.35 avg
DC - Rayane Hamon - 21 apps 3g 7.47 avg
DR - Salim Loucif - 39 apps 0g 7.14 avg
ML - Arsene Bamba - 16 apps 1g 7.22 avg
MC - Neil Cairney - 43 apps 8g 7.27 avg
MC - Benedikt Raab - 42 apps 12g 7.42 avg
MR - Gianluca Bolis - 37 apps 7g 7.05 avg
ST - Paul Moses - 42 apps 27g 7.44 avg
ST - Chiquinho - 49 apps 33g 7.40 avg

Other notables: GK Ingo Wilke 33 apps 0g 6.95; DC Claudio Contreras 38 apps 4g 7.33; DC Adrian Torres 9 apps 1g 7.11; DR Rodolfo Lopez 26 apps 1g 7.06; MC Jose 25 apps 3g 7.15; ST Andy Broomes 25 apps 11g 7.17; ST Manuel Lugo 15 apps 2g 6.91

Dover Fans Player of the Year: Paul Moses

The stats shown above take into account all competitions with our senior team and include everyone who played at least one game for the big club this past season.

Goalkeeping

-- After losing Manuel Perez to Manchester United last year, we had to reimagine our succession plans for long-time Dover goalkeeper Ingo Wilke. We brought in Chris Davies and the English international went from playing about a third of our games last year to close to half this year, outplaying Wilke considerably in the process. Davies had 17 clean sheets in 26 games, a remarkable stretch and will likely take over as our main goalkeeper next year. Wilke let in fewer goals than games played and continues to play at a high level. We had a great year in goal.

Defence

-- After winning numerous awards last year, including our supporters’ player of the year, Claudio Contreras slumped somewhat in 26/27 but still put up numbers that any normal human would be delighted with. Mwemere Mutesa was ever-present alongside him and continued to build upon his initial success from the previous year. Veteran Rayane Hamon, pushed into a main backup role after five years as a starter, outplayed everyone when he got a chance, with a ludicrous 9 points in 21 games at DC. Adrian Torres and newcomer Renato Silverio were not called on often but played okay. Silverio was often hurt and never really got on a run with us in his first year.

-- Our long-time starters at fullback, captain Salim Loucif and Renato Gaucho were inconsistent this year but played well at important times, with both getting named to the Champions League Dream Team. Loucif doesn’t produce any offence at all and it’s becoming a bit troublesome for me. Rodolfo Lopez finally started settling in and he could very well start taking first team reps from our captain. With the sale of young Wonderkid Rafinha, we have precious little depth at left fullback and we’ll need to bring someone in to push Renato Gaucho. Daniel Diaz isn’t a long-term answer. U18 fullback prospect Eneko Remirez got a cup game in and will be one to watch in the future.

Midfield

-- The amazing Benedikt Raab continues to play at an astonishing level, with 12 goals and 32 points in his 42 starts at central midfield. He’s arguably one of the top players in all of football and teamed very well with a resurgent Neil Cairney, who was awarded as Player of the Year in the Premier League, as voted on by his peers. Jose has started his regression at 29 years old and went long stretches without producing and our fourth option in the middle, young Emmerson Harvey, really suffered a drop-off, with no goals in 30 appearances. The English international has really seen his development stall in a backup role. We had some injury issues in the middle of the year and we recalled young Juan Jose Culebras from his loan spell at Wolverhampton and he played exceptionally well in lower key games, with six points in 13 appearances. U18’ers Michel Benard and Borja also saw some action at tender ages.

-- Wide midfield has always been a major strength of our club and this year, we were left wanting MUCH more. Simply put, we need to be better here. After getting 29 goals from our wide midfielders in 2025/26, last year we only got 13, an incredible drop-off. On the left side, veteran Arsene Bamba looks broken down and spent most of the year injured, only playing 16 games and scoring once. His backup, Danish international Mads Pedersen, regressed, scoring only 3 goals in 40 appearances and 32 starts. That’s simply not good enough for the talented 24 year old. On the right side, long-time Dover winger Gianluca Bolis was his inconsistent self but still had the highest production among his peers on the club, scoring 7 times and adding 8 assists in 35 starts. Sergio De la Vega, a key pickup in 2025, had a terrible followup season, scoring only 2 goals in 33 matches. U18 left winger Jonathan Langlet got a few games in and did well while third string MR Roberto Terlizzi was seldom used. We did not get enough from our wide midfielders this year.

Striker

-- Thankfully, we continue to get incredible production from our star striker group, led by young Paul Moses and veteran Chiquinho. Moses had a slight drop off from his excellent 2025/26 season but still scored 27 goals and added 13 assists in his 42 starts. He was a bit inconsistent but still is our supporters’ favourite star. What can I say about the ageless Chiquinho? 31 years old and a remarkable 33 goals. He never gets hurt and played at an incredibly high level throughout the season. Can he keep it going?? Our main backup for years has been Andy Broomes and he is easily the best third string striker in the game, booking 11 more goals in his 12 starts (29 total appearances). Last year’s breakout story was Manuel Lugo but a badly broken leg early in 2025 kept him on the sidelines until after our preseason friendlies. He never was able to recapture that magic with us this past year, scoring only 2 goals in 15 appearances and time is running out for him to pay back the considerable transfer fee we paid for him. Longtime Dover striker Zoltan Bardi was injured a lot and didn’t get a single start this year. He scored two goals in five appearances but he’s on an expiring contract next year and may get moved, as we have plenty of young strikers ready to take his place. One of those youngsters is Fernando Estrada, who was called upon at 19 years young to play some Champions League matches for us. He produced 5 goals in 8 starts (13 total appearances) and seems ready for more playing time.

LOAN PLAYERS

-- DR Emerson spent a second straight year on loan, this time to German first division club Koln. He was ever present, notching six assists in 33 starts and he will likely be part of our roster next year. DC Luis Miguel Garcia played 14 games for St. Gallen in Switzerland and played well, notching one assist. Fellow centre-half Andrew Hunter featured in 16 starts for Brighton in the Championship, notching a single goal but he generally did not play well. He’s not much of a prospect. Neither is Adam Betts, another DC, who spent the year at Millwall in League 1, playing 23 scoreless games.

Somebody who IS a prospect is the dynamic striker Bakary Kone, who scored 16 goals and added 3 assists in 30 starts at Almeria in La Liga in Spain. He could be ready to contribute for us next year and has the wonderful “Wonderkid” label.

U18 PLAYERS

-- Our U18s continued to throttle the competition, once again winning the U18 cup and their league. We have numerous prospects down there, including DC Emmanuel Gonzalez, DC Omar Valle, DR Eneko Remirez, DR Gary Richards, MC Michel Benard, MC Borja, ML Jonathan Langlet, ST Marcus Sowter and ST Josh Fairclough. All have exceptional potential and guys like Remirez, Langlet and Sowter could make contributions as early as next year.

Year-End Financials

We set a team record with ~£154 million in turnover and ~£169 million in expenses, ultimately requiring close to a £10 million dollar loan from our chairman to keep our balance sheet in order. Attendance inched up, with inch up being the operative word due to the fact that our stadium continues to burst at the seams.

Speaking of which, our board FINALLY decides that we need to look into a BRAND NEW STADIUM but the town of Dover step in and deny us the necessary permits to move forward.

Incredible. Is this it for us? We already have been told that there is no room at Crabble Athletic Ground for future expansion and now we’re rebuffed by the city when our board finally commits to building a new stadium.

I’m pretty pissed

Closing Thoughts

Well, it was another wildly successful season, with another record point total in winning the Barclays Premier League and capturing our second Champions League title. We continue to age at almost all key positions and will soon have to look at turning over our roster in order to stay competitive amongst the best clubs in the world.

02-15-2016, 04:24 PM	#715
NoSkillz College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: St. Catharines, Canada	2026-27 Dover Recap and Statistics 2026-27 Dover Best Eleven GK - Chris Davies - 26 apps 0g 7.02 avg DL - Renato Gaucho - 43 apps 1g 7.13 avg DC - Mwemere Mutesa - 45 apps 6g 7.35 avg DC - Rayane Hamon - 21 apps 3g 7.47 avg DR - Salim Loucif - 39 apps 0g 7.14 avg ML - Arsene Bamba - 16 apps 1g 7.22 avg MC - Neil Cairney - 43 apps 8g 7.27 avg MC - Benedikt Raab - 42 apps 12g 7.42 avg MR - Gianluca Bolis - 37 apps 7g 7.05 avg ST - Paul Moses - 42 apps 27g 7.44 avg ST - Chiquinho - 49 apps 33g 7.40 avg Other notables: GK Ingo Wilke 33 apps 0g 6.95; DC Claudio Contreras 38 apps 4g 7.33; DC Adrian Torres 9 apps 1g 7.11; DR Rodolfo Lopez 26 apps 1g 7.06; MC Jose 25 apps 3g 7.15; ST Andy Broomes 25 apps 11g 7.17; ST Manuel Lugo 15 apps 2g 6.91 Dover Fans Player of the Year: Paul Moses The stats shown above take into account all competitions with our senior team and include everyone who played at least one game for the big club this past season. Goalkeeping -- After losing Manuel Perez to Manchester United last year, we had to reimagine our succession plans for long-time Dover goalkeeper Ingo Wilke. We brought in Chris Davies and the English international went from playing about a third of our games last year to close to half this year, outplaying Wilke considerably in the process. Davies had 17 clean sheets in 26 games, a remarkable stretch and will likely take over as our main goalkeeper next year. Wilke let in fewer goals than games played and continues to play at a high level. We had a great year in goal. Defence -- After winning numerous awards last year, including our supporters’ player of the year, Claudio Contreras slumped somewhat in 26/27 but still put up numbers that any normal human would be delighted with. Mwemere Mutesa was ever-present alongside him and continued to build upon his initial success from the previous year. Veteran Rayane Hamon, pushed into a main backup role after five years as a starter, outplayed everyone when he got a chance, with a ludicrous 9 points in 21 games at DC. Adrian Torres and newcomer Renato Silverio were not called on often but played okay. Silverio was often hurt and never really got on a run with us in his first year. -- Our long-time starters at fullback, captain Salim Loucif and Renato Gaucho were inconsistent this year but played well at important times, with both getting named to the Champions League Dream Team. Loucif doesn’t produce any offence at all and it’s becoming a bit troublesome for me. Rodolfo Lopez finally started settling in and he could very well start taking first team reps from our captain. With the sale of young Wonderkid Rafinha, we have precious little depth at left fullback and we’ll need to bring someone in to push Renato Gaucho. Daniel Diaz isn’t a long-term answer. U18 fullback prospect Eneko Remirez got a cup game in and will be one to watch in the future. Midfield -- The amazing Benedikt Raab continues to play at an astonishing level, with 12 goals and 32 points in his 42 starts at central midfield. He’s arguably one of the top players in all of football and teamed very well with a resurgent Neil Cairney, who was awarded as Player of the Year in the Premier League, as voted on by his peers. Jose has started his regression at 29 years old and went long stretches without producing and our fourth option in the middle, young Emmerson Harvey, really suffered a drop-off, with no goals in 30 appearances. The English international has really seen his development stall in a backup role. We had some injury issues in the middle of the year and we recalled young Juan Jose Culebras from his loan spell at Wolverhampton and he played exceptionally well in lower key games, with six points in 13 appearances. U18’ers Michel Benard and Borja also saw some action at tender ages. -- Wide midfield has always been a major strength of our club and this year, we were left wanting MUCH more. Simply put, we need to be better here. After getting 29 goals from our wide midfielders in 2025/26, last year we only got 13, an incredible drop-off. On the left side, veteran Arsene Bamba looks broken down and spent most of the year injured, only playing 16 games and scoring once. His backup, Danish international Mads Pedersen, regressed, scoring only 3 goals in 40 appearances and 32 starts. That’s simply not good enough for the talented 24 year old. On the right side, long-time Dover winger Gianluca Bolis was his inconsistent self but still had the highest production among his peers on the club, scoring 7 times and adding 8 assists in 35 starts. Sergio De la Vega, a key pickup in 2025, had a terrible followup season, scoring only 2 goals in 33 matches. U18 left winger Jonathan Langlet got a few games in and did well while third string MR Roberto Terlizzi was seldom used. We did not get enough from our wide midfielders this year. Striker -- Thankfully, we continue to get incredible production from our star striker group, led by young Paul Moses and veteran Chiquinho. Moses had a slight drop off from his excellent 2025/26 season but still scored 27 goals and added 13 assists in his 42 starts. He was a bit inconsistent but still is our supporters’ favourite star. What can I say about the ageless Chiquinho? 31 years old and a remarkable 33 goals. He never gets hurt and played at an incredibly high level throughout the season. Can he keep it going?? Our main backup for years has been Andy Broomes and he is easily the best third string striker in the game, booking 11 more goals in his 12 starts (29 total appearances). Last year’s breakout story was Manuel Lugo but a badly broken leg early in 2025 kept him on the sidelines until after our preseason friendlies. He never was able to recapture that magic with us this past year, scoring only 2 goals in 15 appearances and time is running out for him to pay back the considerable transfer fee we paid for him. Longtime Dover striker Zoltan Bardi was injured a lot and didn’t get a single start this year. He scored two goals in five appearances but he’s on an expiring contract next year and may get moved, as we have plenty of young strikers ready to take his place. One of those youngsters is Fernando Estrada, who was called upon at 19 years young to play some Champions League matches for us. He produced 5 goals in 8 starts (13 total appearances) and seems ready for more playing time. LOAN PLAYERS -- DR Emerson spent a second straight year on loan, this time to German first division club Koln. He was ever present, notching six assists in 33 starts and he will likely be part of our roster next year. DC Luis Miguel Garcia played 14 games for St. Gallen in Switzerland and played well, notching one assist. Fellow centre-half Andrew Hunter featured in 16 starts for Brighton in the Championship, notching a single goal but he generally did not play well. He’s not much of a prospect. Neither is Adam Betts, another DC, who spent the year at Millwall in League 1, playing 23 scoreless games. Somebody who IS a prospect is the dynamic striker Bakary Kone, who scored 16 goals and added 3 assists in 30 starts at Almeria in La Liga in Spain. He could be ready to contribute for us next year and has the wonderful “Wonderkid” label. U18 PLAYERS -- Our U18s continued to throttle the competition, once again winning the U18 cup and their league. We have numerous prospects down there, including DC Emmanuel Gonzalez, DC Omar Valle, DR Eneko Remirez, DR Gary Richards, MC Michel Benard, MC Borja, ML Jonathan Langlet, ST Marcus Sowter and ST Josh Fairclough. All have exceptional potential and guys like Remirez, Langlet and Sowter could make contributions as early as next year. Year-End Financials We set a team record with ~£154 million in turnover and ~£169 million in expenses, ultimately requiring close to a £10 million dollar loan from our chairman to keep our balance sheet in order. Attendance inched up, with inch up being the operative word due to the fact that our stadium continues to burst at the seams. Speaking of which, our board FINALLY decides that we need to look into a BRAND NEW STADIUM but the town of Dover step in and deny us the necessary permits to move forward. Incredible. Is this it for us? We already have been told that there is no room at Crabble Athletic Ground for future expansion and now we’re rebuffed by the city when our board finally commits to building a new stadium. I’m pretty pissed Closing Thoughts Well, it was another wildly successful season, with another record point total in winning the Barclays Premier League and capturing our second Champions League title. We continue to age at almost all key positions and will soon have to look at turning over our roster in order to stay competitive amongst the best clubs in the world. __________________ MY CURRENT FM19 DYNASTY - FM19: "Ludere causa Ludendi - To Play for the Sake of Playing" - Queen's Park FC (Scottish League Two) MY OLD FM11 DYNASTY - FM11: From Semi-Pro Minnows to the EPL - Dover Athletic FC My Personal Blog - Now on the Tee - Golf, Sports, Poker, Life 2006 GOLDEN SCRIBE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST 'OTHER SPORT' DYNASTY - EHM2005: Sharpening Swords in Buffalo Last edited by NoSkillz : 02-15-2016 at 04:25 PM.