[NoSkillz]

2027-28 Dover Recap and Statistics





2027-28 Dover Best Eleven

GK - Fabinho - 13 apps 0g 7.28 avg
DL - Gabriel Scolaro - 20 apps 0g 7.35 avg
DC - Claudio Contreras - 45 apps 9g 7.55 avg
DC - Renato Silverio - 20 apps 2g 7.45 avg
DR - Emerson - 15 apps 1g 7.21 avg
ML - Mads Pedersen - 47 apps 3g 7.20 avg
MC - Michel Benard - 24 apps 3g 7.67 avg
MC - Benedikt Raab - 45 apps 12g 7.60 avg
MR - Gianluca Bolis - 26 apps 3g 7.16 avg
ST - Paul Moses - 47 apps 40g 7.65 avg
ST - Fernando Estrada - 35 apps 26g 7.72 avg

Other notables: GK Chris Davies 36 apps 0g 7.02; DC Herman Quattara 12 apps 1g 7.65; DC Mwemere Mutesa 39 apps 3g 7.34; DR Rodolfo Lopez 29 apps 1g 7.16; MC Neil Cairney 49 apps 11g 7.35; ST Chiquinho 45 apps 24g 7.35; ST Andy Broomes 34 apps 17g 7.25

Dover Fans Player of the Year: Paul Moses (second year in a row)




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 12 years of being our number one keeper, veteran Ingo Wilke finally took a step back last year, getting passed on the depth chart by English international Chris Davies. Davies played a little more than half of our games, putting up 19 clean sheets in his 36 appearances. Wilke played about a third of our games, many in cup competitions and against lesser opponents. We have attempted to find a great young keeper to eventually take over the net minding duties and may have found him in Fabinho. He still doesn’t know the English language so we brought the 21 year old along very slowly but he was awesome when called upon. I think we have found our long-term answer!


Defence


-- Claudio Contreras bounced back big-time last year, with nine goals and countless huge performances. He’s one of, if not the best centre halfback in the sport. Mwemere Mutesa was a rock in the middle of the defence alongside him. With the sale of veteran Rayane Hamon, it was second year player Renato Silverio taking advantage most, playing very well whenever called upon. January pickup Herman Quattara was sensational in his 12 games with the club and will likely take over as our main backup in the middle of the defence. Adrian Torres is our fifth option in the middle and doesn’t get much action but has always performed when called upon. We also saw U18’er Emmanuel Gonzalez make his debut. The middle of our defence continues to be a huge strength at this club.

-- Long-time captain Salim Loucif was shipped out to Man City during the January window and we had young Emerson get about half of the starts in his absence, with veteran Rodolfo Lopez getting the other half. Both played well - Lopez has more versatility, with an ability to play all the way up the right side and I’d expect him to play a lot next year. On the left side, we continue to get great performances from Renato Gaucho and his main backup, the unheralded Gabriel Scolaro, impressed every single time he took the pitch. However, one of our huge July signings, 24 year old Brazilian Joao, really disappointed. He has struggled immensely to fit in and his performances on the pitch have been subpar. He’ll continue to get a chance next year but will need to step up, and quickly at that! We continue to get little offensive production at fullback but defensively, they are more than capable at this level.


Midfield


-- I don’t even know what to say anymore about the sensational Benedikt Raab. He’s been very durable and from a production standpoint, there is simply no one better in the world at midfield. He exceeded last year’s incredible point totals, once again scoring 12 goals in 42 starts but this year, he added 27 (!!) assists after notching 20 the year before. He rightfully won the English Footballer of the Year award Veteran Neil Cairney built upon a great 2026/27 campaign, scoring 11 goals and adding 9 assists while teaming up with Raab on most occasions. He’s 28 now but still very effective. Incredibly, U18 midfielder Michel Benard ended up being our top backup at the position! We had an early run of injuries, forcing Benard into the lineup and he produced to the point where I couldn’t send him back to the youth squad. 21 points in 17 starts?! Absolutely ABSURD! Benard is a wonderkid and he has a huge future here at Dover! One of our other big July signings was Seyi Omolade, a Nigerian midfielder. He was VERY good, scoring 7 goals and adding 4 assists in 20 starts. He’ll continue to get a lot of games and has a chance to one day take over from Cairney in the middle in our holding role. Emmerson Harvey, an English international, continues to lack urgency in his game and has never developed as expected here. He’s dropped down to our fifth option in the middle and has more value as a home grown player than anything he produces on the pitch. His time here may be close to ending. Young Juan Jose Culebras was the Michel Benard of 2026/27 but didn’t get many early chances due to injury. I’d send him out on loan in the second half of the season to get more seasoning.

-- Wide midfield traditionally has been a team strength but we’ve now seen two consecutive years of poor production on both sides. After getting 29 goals from our wide midfielders in 2025/26, the past two years we’ve only got 13, an incredible drop-off. On the left side, it was Mads Pedersen taking over for long-time White Arsene Bamba. Pedersen tantalizes with his immense skill but only scored 3 goals in 50 games, a horrible return! Incredibly, he was our BEST WINGER and that speaks to how far we’ve fallen on the flanks. Pedersen’s backup was 20 year old wonderkid Jonathan Langlet and he was just okay in his first year, also scoring three goals in his 24 games. We got more production on the right side, thankfully. Longtime Dover winger Gianluca Bolis spent half of the year on the sidelines due to various injuries but scored three goals and added 11 assists in only 20 starts. However, he’s 29 and approaching a contract year so his time looks to be close to an end here. Sergio De la Vega is another exceptional talent who continues to confound. His stats look okay - he scored only four goals in his 46 games but contributed 16 assists, third best on the club. He’s also in a contract year and is looking for a deal that isn’t commensurate with his production. Ivan Cerezo showed good pace on the right flank as our deep backup but only contributed two assists in his 15 games. We also had loanee Anton O’Niel (not shown above) play two scoreless games with our club before being returned to FC Bayern. For a second consecutive year, we did not get enough from our wide midfielders and I’ll be looking to make some changes.


Striker


-- Bar none, we have the best strikers in all of football. 24 year old Paul Moses didn’t miss TOO much time and hit the 40 goal mark this year, adding 13 assists in 47 games. Sensational, game-breaking ability! Veteran Chiquinho, who took over the captaincy after the departure of Salim Loucif, was his ever-durable self but may finally be slowing down a bit, scoring only 24 goals in 45 appearances. He’s 32 years old, is heading into a contract year, and is looking for a team-leading contract well in excess of Benedikt Raab’s £120,000/week. It’s scary to even think about but is Chiquinho’s time with Dover close to an end? Softening the blow somewhat would be the incredible progression of 21 year old Wonderkid Fernando Estrada, who pounded in an incredible 26 goals in only 28 starts in his first full year with the senior team. I think he’s ready for a starring role…but he’s currently blocked by Chiquinho. The always unheralded Andy Broomes is the best spare striker in all of football - he never complains and yet always produces! 17 goals in 40 games and only 16 of those were starts! A great return! We also brought another Wonderkid into the lineup slowly in Bakary Kone. 5 goals and 4 assists in 9 games, only 3 of which were starts. He’s another guy chomping at the bit to get more playing time. We are simply sensational up front.


LOAN PLAYERS


-- We loaned out five of our prospects this season. GK Philippe Jung was sent to Derby as was ever-present for the Championship side, playing 49 games. He’s never going to make it with us but could be sold for a nice profit. DC Andrew Hunter is a middling prospect who was sent out to Bristol Rovers in League 1 - he was a main starter for them, playing 38 games but contributing only one assist. He’s still under contract for another year and will likely be loaned out again in 2028/29. Luis Miguel Garcia is slightly more interesting on defence and was excellent for Young Boys in Switzerland, playing 42 games and getting TWELVE Man-of-Match awards. He’s blocked here but I could likely find a decent market for him if I attempted a sale. Perhaps the best of my loaned prospects is fullback Eneko Remirez, who spent the season in France with AS Monaco FC, a top club. Ramirez played 16 games for their senior club, scoring once and adding two assists. He may get a chance to play on our senior team next year. Fine midfield prospect Juan Jose Culebras was sent to PSG in France at the January window when he wasn’t seeing much playing time with our team. It wasn’t much better for him in France, as he only played 8 games, notching 1 assist. He’s going to struggle to find playing time with us so I may need to loan him out again next year.


U18 PLAYERS


-- Our U18s continued to throttle the competition, once again winning the U18 cup (6th year in a row) and their league (11th year in a row!). We have numerous prospects down there, including DC Emmanuel Gonzalez, DC Omar Valle, DR Gary Richards, MC Kevin Buhler, MC Borja, ST Marcus Sowter and ST Josh Fairclough. All have exceptional potential.


Year-End Financials




We set another team record with ~£169 million in turnover and ~£253 million in expenses, over £90 million more than last year…the reason you ask?