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Dover Fans' Player of the Year
-- In pretty much the biggest travesty of justice I can recall, our supporters name CHIQUINHO as our player of the year. Ugh. He might have been my TENTH choice for goodness sakes. Benedikt Raab and Andy Broomes were robbed.
Dover Best Eleven for 2024-25
-- As usual, there are a couple of major surprises here but that’s what happens when average rating seems to trump games played or other stats:
GK - Ingo Wilke - 29 apps 0g 7.11 avg
DL - Renato Gaucho - 43 apps 1g 7.16 avg
DC - Rayane Hamon - 45 apps 8g 7.34 avg
DC - Mwemere Mutesa - 12 apps 2g 7.90 avg
DR - Emerson - 20 apps 0g 7.07 avg
MC - Jose - 45 apps 9g 7.28 avg
MC - Benedikt Raab - 43 apps 10g 7.56 avg
ML - Mads Pedersen - 39 apps 5g 7.21 avg
MR - Gianluca Bolis - 43 apps 9g 7.13 avg
ST - Chiquinho - 49 apps 27g 7.31 avg
ST - Andy Broomes - 47 apps 32g 7.36 avg
Other notables: GK Manuel Perez 35 apps 0g 7.04; DC Claudio Contreras 47 apps 6g 7.26; DC Saber Nasri 26 apps 3g 7.23; MC Andrea Rocca 24 apps 2g 7.14; ST Zoltan Bardi 25 apps 10g 7.13; ST Paul Moses 17 apps 8g 7.21; ST Manuel Lugo 14 apps 3g 7.06
Of course, the biggest shocker is seeing young Mwemere Mutesa on here but what can you say about a 7.90 rating? He was coddled but played great. Emerson over Salim Loucif just shows how average our captain was last year and he didn’t even make the “substitutes” list.
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 - 364 apps 0g 7.03 avg
DL - Renato Gaucho - 245 apps 5g 7.14 avg
DC - Olly Schulz - 120 apps 18g 7.32 avg
DC - Rayane Hamon - 196 apps 18g 7.20 avg
DR - Salim Loucif - 178 apps 1g 7.16 avg
ML - Arsene Bamba - 282 apps 56g 7.28 avg
MC - Neil Cairney - 184 apps 32g 7.27 avg
MC - Andrea Rocca - 284 apps 46g 7.24 avg
MR - Abdeltareck Sakali - 176 apps 50g 7.14 avg
ST - Chiquinho - 139 apps 82 g 7.36 avg
ST - Aaron Green - 141 apps 65g 7.18 avg
Chiquinho is the only newcomer to the best overall eleven, replacing Alexander Rattke.
Substitutes:
GK - Liam O'Brien - 219 apps 0g 6.84 avg
DC - Oliver Nicholas - 316 apps 28g 7.14 avg
DC - Claudio Contreras - 195 apps 20g 7.15 avg
MR - Gianluca Bolis - 199 apps 42g 7.13 avg
ST - Ben Hunt - 156 apps 70g 7.12 avg
ST - Zoltan Bardi - 269 apps 96g 7.09 avg
ST - Alexander Rattke - 125 apps 55g 7.13 avg
Long time left winger Ismael Fofana falls off the list.
2025-26 Barclays Premier League Fixture List Announced
-- We’ll open the Premier League season on the road versus our FA Cup final opponent Tottenham. Our first home match will be against Aston Villa. Strangely enough, there is no Boxing Day game but we wrap the season up against Everton away.
-- As usual, we are given £40,000,000 spread over 12 months for Premier League television rights.
Start of Season Expectations
-- The board’s minimum expectation is that we qualify for Europe again. Once again, I go higher, saying we’ll challenge for the Premier League title. For that they'll offer the following:
2025/26 TRANSFER BUDGET - £37,000,000 (Last Year: £52,000,000)
2025/26 WAGE BUDGET - £1,300,000 (Last Year: £1,000,000/week)
Nice bump on our wage budget but we’ll have to be a bit more frugal in the transfer market. Not a problem - we don’t need an awful lot right now but it’s funny how things seem to change quickly when studs become available!
Community Shield
-- We get a chance to defend our Community Shield from last year since we won the FA Cup. We’ll face Premier League champs Manchester United at Wembley.
Youth Intake - U18 Club
-- We announce a new intake of players and yet again, we get NOTHING. We’ve still never produced a decent player out of our academy.
International Duty
-- Reserves keeper Steven Potter and new U18 striker prospect Marcus Sowter both represent England in the U21 Championship.
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