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