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

NoSkillz · 01-27-2014, 09:31 PM

Sat. August 7, 2021

Preseason Friendly
Dover vs. Rangers
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Rangers are historically the top club in Scotland in this dynasty. They've won the Clydesdale Bank Premier League the last two years and in eight of the last ten years! Celtic who?? That said, this is a team that's beatable.

We field as strong a lineup as possible for our last friendly. Rayane Hamon is back from injury and will start alongside Claudio Contreras. Renato Gaucho is travelling for international play so I call up Carlos Guzman, the new signing placed on the U18 team, to see what he can do. He's a 4 star prospect so I think he should be able to keep up in a low-stress environment.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - C. Guzman, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis
S - S. Andrea, Z. Bardi

Dover 3 - 1 Rangers
Goals - Shanon Andrea 2 (9.1), Shaun Spall (7.3)
Assists - Claudio Contreras (7.6), Andrea Rocca (7.6), Wayne Rooney (6.8)
Man of the Match - Shanon Andrea
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.1), Gianluca Bolis (7.0)
Attendance - 7,906

We had over 20 shots in the first half alone yet went into the break with the score knotted at zeros. I moved to a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) and we opened up from there. Andrea was excellent and he will most likely fill in for Gesios to start the season. I love Paul Moses but I want to bring him along slowly. Most important thing in this game was no injuries!

-- We close out the preseason with an even 4-1-4 record.

Dover Captains for 2021

-- Our long-time captain Darren Pratley retired in the offseason so we need someone new to lead the team this year. Again, as indicated as far back as the beginning of last season, my plan was to promote young DC Cristian Rodriguez to captain once he learned English. Well, he's grasped the language but unfortunately, he's now on Manchester United after my board accepted a transfer deal without my input. So we need someone else - I've got a couple of young players that have the appropriate attributes but I don't think they're ready yet so I'm pleased to announce that Wayne Rooney has been selected as Dover captain for this season. The news is met with a huge round of applause in the dressing room and no less than 15 of our 30 senior team players are "delighted with the appointment of Wayne Rooney as captain". Good to know! Rooney is our fourth or even fifth choice striker this year but he'll get plenty of opportunities early, with Giorgos Gesios on the shelf. I name defender Salim Loucif as vice captain - he has excellent leadership traits and should do a fine job when Rooney isn't in the lineup. Ingo Wilke was vice captain last year and we did great as a team with him leading the club most matches but my assistant always noted that many of the team members struggled to get motivated with him in the armband.

Injury Update

-- And in the "old news" department, as noted in my previous post, striker Zoltan Bardi suffers a torn hamstring after chasing a ball during an international match against Montenegro. Bardi will miss 2-3 MONTHS with this injury. Now, both of our top strikers are on the shelf long-term, with Gesios out a month with broken ribs. That's over 40 goals on the sidelines - this is an absolute disaster and now we'll be relying on three complete newcomers to Dover for our scoring up front: Shanon Andrea, 17 year old Paul Moses and 35 year old captain Wayne Rooney. We were very fortunate to avoid long-term injuries during our run to 4th place last year and this seems like cruel payback.

Champions League Update

-- Probably not a surprise but our Champions League matchup versus AS Monaco will be televised.

2021-22 Premier League Season About to Begin

-- We played nine preseason friendlies, not including our intrasquad match, and came away with a record of 4 wins, 1 draws and 4 losses. Here's a look at a poster given out at our home opener with photos of all 30 senior team players (yes, 30) and a quick breakdown of our senior team depth chart. Preferred starters are noted in bold.

GOALKEEPERS -
Youssouf Sylla, Ingo Wilke

Wilke was sensational last year and easily held off the challenge from newcomer Youssouf Sylla to keep the main starting job this year. Sylla, an Ivory Coast international, will get at least 10 games but needs to improve upon a poor preseason performance.

DEFENDERS -
Emmanuel Agbo, Claudio Contreras, Rayane Hamon, Abdallaye Kokaina, Jozef Kuciak, Salim Loucif, Ross McLaughlin, Renato Gaucho, Matthew Thompson, Paulus Tjiuoro, Jozef Varga

This may be the only position we're weaker at on paper versus last year and even then, it's debatable. Our depth is better, without question, as Tjiuoro is a third option as opposed to the starter he was at the beginning of last year. Kokaina is better and much younger then Oliver Nicholas, our fourth option last year at DC. Contreras improved greatly since last season and is up to 3.5/5.0 and new signing Rayane Hamon, while not as talented as Cristian Rodriguez, is a very young and capable defender. Loucif and Gaucho retain their starting positions at fullback and are young and improving players. Depth at both positions remains the same as last year - a bit weak but serviceable. Kuciak was excellent when needed. This is a good group with great depth in the middle - Agbo and Thompson are solely on the team due to their home-grown status, as I need four players with that designation to qualify for Champions League play.

MIDFIELDERS -
Arsene Bamba, Gianluca Bolis, Neil Cairney, Steve Ingram, Kostas Kalfas, Mancini, Jamie Matthews, Cameron Murray, Samir Nasri, Andrea Rocca, Shaun Spall, Aitor Zubizarreta

All four starters from last year return and I expect a huge year out of Neil Cairney, who dominated in our preseason friendlies. He's got a year at Dover under his belt and he should be settled in by now. Our depth is improved on the right side with Kalfas but he may need some time to get settled, as he struggled in the preseason. Spall was excellent in our friendlies and offers a significant upgrade from Darren Pratley and Liam Craig while I hope Samir Nasri can contribute off the field with his influence and tutoring. Mancini showed nice improvement last year and will get plenty of playing time. Steve Ingram and Jamie Matthews round out our four home grown players and none of them will see much, if any, playing time this year.

STRIKERS -

Shaon Andrea, Zoltan Bardi, Giorgos Gesios, Paul Moses, Wayne Rooney

Gesios and Bardi combined for 41 goals last year and I'll have to make due without them for a long time, as both are on the shelf with major injuries. We upgraded our depth considerably in the offseason, signing Dutch international Andrea and taking in 17 year old Man United wonderkid Paul Moses on season-long loan with an option to buy. He scored four times in two preseason games and will be my preferred option off the bench in the early portion of the season, as I don't want to "feed him to the wolves". Rooney was a depth signing to bring some needed leadership, influence and tutoring ability but we will need him early and often with the injuries to our two star strikers.

RESERVE TEAM -

AMC Jonathan Adam, ST Carlo Cerbone, ST Dennis Kunz

Cerbone is a 19 year old who torched opponents with our U18s last year. I am keeping him here in order to gain eventual home-grown status, otherwise I would have loaned him out. Adam and Kunz are in the same boat and will gain their home grown status by the end of the season.

U18 SQUAD -

GK Garry Doyle, DL Carlos Guzman, MC Emmerson Harvey, MR Matt Hewitt, DL Sebastian Kraft, ST Gregoire Lambert, DR Ben Lee, MC Johnny Mardenborough, GK Louis Reed, ST Eddie Robinson, MR Pete Smith, DR Damian Thorne, MC Phil Whitbread, DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz

We are loaded with intriguing prospects, the most notable of which is Emmerson Harvey, who I bought from Bolton this summer, a 4.5 MC prospect. Carlos Guzman is a 4 star DL prospect and Yilmaz is a 3.5 star potential DC. Gregoire Lambert and Louis Reed could make it as well.

PLAYERS AWAY ON LOAN -

DC Thomas Andersen, ST Ryan Bodin, DC Jonathan Gauthier, ST Roberto, DC Andrew Stanley

Andersen is the best prospect of this bunch.

Next Up

-- Our season opening game in the Premier League, as we host Newcastle at Crabble Athletic Ground

01-27-2014, 09:31 PM	#180
NoSkillz College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: St. Catharines, Canada	Sat. August 7, 2021 Preseason Friendly Dover vs. Rangers Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK Rangers are historically the top club in Scotland in this dynasty. They've won the Clydesdale Bank Premier League the last two years and in eight of the last ten years! Celtic who?? That said, this is a team that's beatable. We field as strong a lineup as possible for our last friendly. Rayane Hamon is back from injury and will start alongside Claudio Contreras. Renato Gaucho is travelling for international play so I call up Carlos Guzman, the new signing placed on the U18 team, to see what he can do. He's a 4 star prospect so I think he should be able to keep up in a low-stress environment. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - C. Guzman, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, A. Rocca, N. Cairney, G. Bolis S - S. Andrea, Z. Bardi Dover 3 - 1 Rangers Goals - Shanon Andrea 2 (9.1), Shaun Spall (7.3) Assists - Claudio Contreras (7.6), Andrea Rocca (7.6), Wayne Rooney (6.8) Man of the Match - Shanon Andrea Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.1), Gianluca Bolis (7.0) Attendance - 7,906 We had over 20 shots in the first half alone yet went into the break with the score knotted at zeros. I moved to a 4-4-2 DM (4-2-3-1) and we opened up from there. Andrea was excellent and he will most likely fill in for Gesios to start the season. I love Paul Moses but I want to bring him along slowly. Most important thing in this game was no injuries! -- We close out the preseason with an even 4-1-4 record. Dover Captains for 2021 -- Our long-time captain Darren Pratley retired in the offseason so we need someone new to lead the team this year. Again, as indicated as far back as the beginning of last season, my plan was to promote young DC Cristian Rodriguez to captain once he learned English. Well, he's grasped the language but unfortunately, he's now on Manchester United after my board accepted a transfer deal without my input. So we need someone else - I've got a couple of young players that have the appropriate attributes but I don't think they're ready yet so I'm pleased to announce that Wayne Rooney has been selected as Dover captain for this season. The news is met with a huge round of applause in the dressing room and no less than 15 of our 30 senior team players are "delighted with the appointment of Wayne Rooney as captain". Good to know! Rooney is our fourth or even fifth choice striker this year but he'll get plenty of opportunities early, with Giorgos Gesios on the shelf. I name defender Salim Loucif as vice captain - he has excellent leadership traits and should do a fine job when Rooney isn't in the lineup. Ingo Wilke was vice captain last year and we did great as a team with him leading the club most matches but my assistant always noted that many of the team members struggled to get motivated with him in the armband. Injury Update -- And in the "old news" department, as noted in my previous post, striker Zoltan Bardi suffers a torn hamstring after chasing a ball during an international match against Montenegro. Bardi will miss 2-3 MONTHS with this injury. Now, both of our top strikers are on the shelf long-term, with Gesios out a month with broken ribs. That's over 40 goals on the sidelines - this is an absolute disaster and now we'll be relying on three complete newcomers to Dover for our scoring up front: Shanon Andrea, 17 year old Paul Moses and 35 year old captain Wayne Rooney. We were very fortunate to avoid long-term injuries during our run to 4th place last year and this seems like cruel payback. Champions League Update -- Probably not a surprise but our Champions League matchup versus AS Monaco will be televised. 2021-22 Premier League Season About to Begin -- We played nine preseason friendlies, not including our intrasquad match, and came away with a record of 4 wins, 1 draws and 4 losses. Here's a look at a poster given out at our home opener with photos of all 30 senior team players (yes, 30) and a quick breakdown of our senior team depth chart. Preferred starters are noted in bold. GOALKEEPERS - Youssouf Sylla, Ingo Wilke Wilke was sensational last year and easily held off the challenge from newcomer Youssouf Sylla to keep the main starting job this year. Sylla, an Ivory Coast international, will get at least 10 games but needs to improve upon a poor preseason performance. DEFENDERS - Emmanuel Agbo, Claudio Contreras, Rayane Hamon, Abdallaye Kokaina, Jozef Kuciak, Salim Loucif, Ross McLaughlin, Renato Gaucho, Matthew Thompson, Paulus Tjiuoro, Jozef Varga This may be the only position we're weaker at on paper versus last year and even then, it's debatable. Our depth is better, without question, as Tjiuoro is a third option as opposed to the starter he was at the beginning of last year. Kokaina is better and much younger then Oliver Nicholas, our fourth option last year at DC. Contreras improved greatly since last season and is up to 3.5/5.0 and new signing Rayane Hamon, while not as talented as Cristian Rodriguez, is a very young and capable defender. Loucif and Gaucho retain their starting positions at fullback and are young and improving players. Depth at both positions remains the same as last year - a bit weak but serviceable. Kuciak was excellent when needed. This is a good group with great depth in the middle - Agbo and Thompson are solely on the team due to their home-grown status, as I need four players with that designation to qualify for Champions League play. MIDFIELDERS - Arsene Bamba, Gianluca Bolis, Neil Cairney, Steve Ingram, Kostas Kalfas, Mancini, Jamie Matthews, Cameron Murray, Samir Nasri, Andrea Rocca, Shaun Spall, Aitor Zubizarreta All four starters from last year return and I expect a huge year out of Neil Cairney, who dominated in our preseason friendlies. He's got a year at Dover under his belt and he should be settled in by now. Our depth is improved on the right side with Kalfas but he may need some time to get settled, as he struggled in the preseason. Spall was excellent in our friendlies and offers a significant upgrade from Darren Pratley and Liam Craig while I hope Samir Nasri can contribute off the field with his influence and tutoring. Mancini showed nice improvement last year and will get plenty of playing time. Steve Ingram and Jamie Matthews round out our four home grown players and none of them will see much, if any, playing time this year. STRIKERS - Shaon Andrea, Zoltan Bardi, Giorgos Gesios, Paul Moses, Wayne Rooney Gesios and Bardi combined for 41 goals last year and I'll have to make due without them for a long time, as both are on the shelf with major injuries. We upgraded our depth considerably in the offseason, signing Dutch international Andrea and taking in 17 year old Man United wonderkid Paul Moses on season-long loan with an option to buy. He scored four times in two preseason games and will be my preferred option off the bench in the early portion of the season, as I don't want to "feed him to the wolves". Rooney was a depth signing to bring some needed leadership, influence and tutoring ability but we will need him early and often with the injuries to our two star strikers. RESERVE TEAM - AMC Jonathan Adam, ST Carlo Cerbone, ST Dennis Kunz Cerbone is a 19 year old who torched opponents with our U18s last year. I am keeping him here in order to gain eventual home-grown status, otherwise I would have loaned him out. Adam and Kunz are in the same boat and will gain their home grown status by the end of the season. U18 SQUAD - GK Garry Doyle, DL Carlos Guzman, MC Emmerson Harvey, MR Matt Hewitt, DL Sebastian Kraft, ST Gregoire Lambert, DR Ben Lee, MC Johnny Mardenborough, GK Louis Reed, ST Eddie Robinson, MR Pete Smith, DR Damian Thorne, MC Phil Whitbread, DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz We are loaded with intriguing prospects, the most notable of which is Emmerson Harvey, who I bought from Bolton this summer, a 4.5 MC prospect. Carlos Guzman is a 4 star DL prospect and Yilmaz is a 3.5 star potential DC. Gregoire Lambert and Louis Reed could make it as well. PLAYERS AWAY ON LOAN - DC Thomas Andersen, ST Ryan Bodin, DC Jonathan Gauthier, ST Roberto, DC Andrew Stanley Andersen is the best prospect of this bunch. Next Up -- Our season opening game in the Premier League, as we host Newcastle at Crabble Athletic Ground __________________ 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 : 01-27-2014 at 09:36 PM.