[Izulde]

@Alfreton (8th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Kyle Whalen (U18)
DC Jack Taylor
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Leadun Astley
DM Will Wilkins (U18)
ML Antonie Boland
MC Nicky Deverdics
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Richard Warriner (U18)
ST Neil Millidge (U18)

Short turnaround + still massive injuries = this ugly looking lineup.

2 - Gonna be a bloodbath. 0-1

Da Costa in for Taylor and Richards in for Millidge, exhaustion be damned. Let's try to at least squeeze out a point.

62 - Heh. An assist for Darko. Yes, that one. 0-2

90 - And they pile on 0-3

It's to be expected.

Chester clinches the title and auto-promotion. We're mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, so time to give the young kids some playing time.

@Nuneaton (14th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Danny Parslow
DM Will Wilkins
ML Antonie Boland
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards
ST Adam Creswell

Bunch of guys come back healthy for this one.

29 - Boland passes through traffic to Miles, who crosses it to Creswell in front of the goal, netting an easy score. 1-0

31 - Hopkins with the booming rainbow to the head of Richards, who knocks it to the far post where Creswell is wide open for another authoritative score. Where did this come from?! 2-0

55 - Astley on for Parslow, Atkinson to replace Boland

8.8 for PotM Creswell, 7.6 for Da Costa and Richards. Nice to see a clean sheet debut for Turner

vs Chester (1st)
GK Dereck Turner (Signed)
DL Paul Weldon (Signed)
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold (Signed)
ML Antonie Boland (Signed)
MC Will Wilkins (Signed)
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards (Signed)
ST Gergo Lippai (Signed)

Everyone's back healthy, and you can see we have 7 confirmed players signed for next season. There's also a third striker coming in June and we're working on finding a veteran DC.

38 - I've gotten a few notes throughout the season that Boland has had troubles fitting in, but he can play. Demonstrated it here as he races by the defense on the wing, kicks it to Samuels in the middle of the six yard box, and watches as our right midfielder hits it forward for Lippai to *finally* get his first goal in a Gainsborough jersey! 1-0

64 - Oh well. Gnahore on for Worsfold BTW 1-1

73 - Double yellow for Boland and Atkinson comes in at ML, with Wilkins sitting.

I'll take a 1-1 draw against the league's elite team.

Leadun Astley is out for 2 months due to a hernia.

And we get the 32 year old veteran central defender we wanted. He also represents a first position hire for us ever in my FM career, but more on that later.

Good Trains
Kane Richards
Antonie Boland
Dereck Turner

Bad Trains
Danny Parslow
Aynsley McDonald
Dion Argent

Nice to see three of our committed players doing well.

So, remember Gainsborough offered me a one year $54k deal to prove myself? Well, now they're offering me a two year extension at the same salary. I think I deserve a little more than that, and negotiate myself a two year, $62k per year contract.

vs AFC Telford (4th)
GK Dereck Turner (Signed)
DL Paul Weldon (Signed)
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold (Signed)
ML Ray Atkinson (Signed)
MC Will Wilkins (Signed)
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards (Signed)
ST Gergo Lippai (Signed)

8 - With help from the post, Richards snaps his goal drought! Beautiful passes by Wilkins and Lippai set up the score. 1-0

I just have to put a plug in here and say Dereck Turner showed in this one game why he's going to be our starting goalie of the future, maybe as soon as next season. He's been making phenomenal save after phenomenal save.

46 - Bad move by Tickle but they miss the open shot.

66 - Richards passes back to Atkinson and gets it right back on a perfect pass, and boom! Double the goals, double the lead, and that's his 10th goal of the season. 2-0

76 - Hopkins replaces Tickle, Gnahore does the same for Worsfold.

80 - They blow the chance to give themselves a lifeline.

89 - Lippai hurt again.

7.8 for Turner, 7.6 for Da Costa, and 8.8 for Richards in a great late-season win over a team that's trying to for sure clinch a promotion playoffs spot. As it turns out, that was our last game of the season and our last two contests drew over 1,000 fans at home, as we finished 9th on the year.

Round 2 of Negotiations
DC Angus Hopkins - Won't even talk
MR Dwayne Samuels - Agent won't budge on the $58k/year
MCR Taylor Miles - Debating whether I want to bring him back. He's only a 3* MR and while he's a 3.5* B2B MC, I'm not sure I see him as the guy, particularly with Wilkins developing more.
MC/DM Eddy Gnahore - On the other hand, Gnahore is the best player on the team and we're able to hammer out a two year, $38k per season contract where he gets a nice rise and we can afford to develop Wilkins more slowly. That also means Miles won't be back, as we'll look at a cheaper or at least more suitable option at MR.
DC Curtis Da Costa - We convince him to take a paycut to $35.5k a season in exchange for a deal through 2022. By itself, this covers a large chunk of Gnahore's raise.
DC/DR/DM Danny Parslow - I'm nervous about our DR situation, so when he's willing to do a one year deal at the same basic salary ($33k, which is slightly less, but bonus and whatnot makes it the same), I accept.

Dereck Turner makes Team of the Week.

Confirmed Players Through Next Year
GK Dereck Turner (19)
DL Paul Weldon (28)
DC Curtis Da Costa (24)
DM/DRC Danny Parslow (34)
DM/MC Will Wilkins (16)
DM/MC Eddy Gnahore (26)
DM Alex Worsfold (22)
ML Ray Atkinson (21)
ML Antonie Boland (25)
ST Georgo Lippai (21)
ST Kane Richards (25)

11 players inked for next year, plus I have a defender and striker coming in when June hits. Oh yeah, and the defender can play DC/DM/MC natively just as a teaser, and could play MR if he needed to. So needless to say, we are beyond stacked at DM.

Key Areas
MR - Starter
Depth - DL/DC/DR/ML/MR
4th striker
Backup GK

Portsmouth have fired their manager, so I just have to try and see if I can get the job

Good Trains Of Players Confirmed For Next Year
Dereck Turner
Antonie Boland

Bad Trains of Same
Danny Parslow

Portsmouth considers me, but again it comes down to the compensation since I just signed an extension. Oh well, they're League 1 anyway and I like what I'm building here.

Payroll gets slashed to $375k for next season which means we're going to be well over it once our new transfers come in. This is not good. Until I remember Dwayne Samuels, Taylor Miles, and Angus Hopkins are all expiring contracts, which will cover the money we're spending and give us a little buffer besides.

We get $22.9k from Chesterfield as part of our parent club arrangement. We lose $11k the month before.

Transfer In - ST Zach Little (22)
Two years, $27k a year, 3.5* both as Poacher and Complete Forward. He'll be a starting striker for us, which means Georgo Lippai will move back to the third striker spot. Some solid all-around attributes to be sure.

Transfer In - DC/DM/MC Director of Football Simon Walton (32)
Yeah. We now have a Director of Football of all things. I do some Googling to find out what he can do, and apparently it's a bunch of stuff. Nothing I want him to do except take over outgoing Transfers and Youth Development, since he's a better assessor of talent than Ed Marney, my Assman, and I can never find players to take my guys when I put them on the transfer list. Speaking of which... I transfer list my expiring contracts to see if they can get moved out quicker. None of them are worth much, but it'll be a test of Simon's transfer sending out ability.

...Wow. Within 2 days, he's got teams bidding on Hopkins and Samuels. No money coming in because they were only worth $2k each (which is weird for Samuels), but still.

Player of the Year is Kane Richards, which is no surprise.

Gainsborough Best 11
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Danny Parslow
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Jidie Ogunbote
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards
ST Adam Creswell

None of these guys were people I signed, although in the subs Gergo Lippai and Jesse Darko get mentions.

Gainsborough All-Time Best 11 Current Players
DL Paul Weldon
DR Danny Parslow
ST Kane Richards
Reserve GK Joseph Lumley (Just joined)
Reserve DC Curtis Da Costa (Just joined)
Reserve DM/MC Eddy Gnahore
Reserve ST Adam Creswell

Note - the All-Time Best 11 uses a flat 4-4-2 for whatever reason.

We get $12k in TV rights for next year.

The budget is cut again - $371k/year for a top-half finish. The increases for something better aren't worth the expectations, so I'll stand pat.

Taylor Miles and Kyle Whelan leave the club once their contracts expire. Dwayne Samuels goes to Luton and Angus Hopkins goes to Histon, both on free transfers.

Hopkins is getting paid an insane $42k, but I'm pissed to find Samuels took a $37.5k deal. We would have kept him for that amount of money. Asshole.

We have $44.5k in wage budget following the transfers.

137 season tickets sold in the early going. We transfer in DL/DC/ML Matt Fell on a PPA contract. He's 1* in everything but he's a depth signing and doesn't count against our wage budget.

DC Jack Taylor signs a PPA with Boston United and the fans are happy. Meanwhile, we have a huge hole at MR we can't sign anyone for. MLC Nick Deverdics goes to Guiseley on a PPA and the fans are once again good with it. Boston United signs a couple more of our scrubs on PPA deals for some weird reason. Team captain Aynsley McDonald goes to Droylesden on a PPA.

This is how desperate we are for a MR. We burn a season long loan on 21 year old MLR Tom Knotts who grades out as a 1.5* Wide Midfielder Support. We're so weak there that he's an immediate starter

@ North Ferriby (Friendly)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knotts
ST Kane Richards
ST Zach Little

4 - Knock for Little

6 - Boland is forced off. Not good. Atkinson takes his place, naturally.

7 - Worsfold to Richards and the chance fizzles out.

20 - Knott picks up a blocked ball and sends it to Worsfold, who strikes it from 20 yards out 1-0

40 - Sheesh. 1-1

58 - Richards takes advantage of a poor clearing header to punch it in. 2-1

65 - Weird. Wilkins hits a diving header, but it lands at Lippai's feet. No problem for the Hungarian striker, with a punishing finish to finally put this game right 3-1

The kick in the ass I gave them at halftime did the trick all right, but we lose Antonie Boland for 4 weeks, so he'll miss our league opener it looks like.