View Single Post
Old 05-15-2014, 01:30 AM   #379
NoSkillz
College Benchwarmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. Catharines, Canada
Preseason Friendlies

-- We finalize our preseason schedule, with an intersquad game and nine other friendlies. It's a pretty tough schedule, as usual, with some good money-making opportunities and only one possible cupcake in Hungarian side Ferencvaros, a team I promised a friendly against in the deal I made for their DC Mwemere Mutesa.

July 6 vs. Dover U18
July 9 at Ipswich (England Championship)
July 12 vs. FC Bayern (Germany Bundesliga)
July 16 at America (MEX) (Mexico)
July 18 at Chivas (Mexico)
July 22 vs. Werder Bremen (Germany Bundesliga)
July 29 vs. AJ Auxerre (France Ligue 1)
August 5 vs. Genoa (Italy Serie A)
August 8 at Ferencvaros (Hungary)
August 12 vs. Celtic (Scotland Clydesdale Bank Premier League)



Transfer Talk

-- Liverpool come calling for backup left midfielder Helder Cruz, offering £3 million. I tell them it’s not enough - Cruz is only depth here so I can be swayed to make a move but I’m looking for more than that.

-- In very disappointing news, Kostas Kalfas rejects the contract offer from Sheffield Wednesday, nullifying a potential £8.5 million transfer.



Attendance Record Broken

-- As indicated previously, we set a new attendance record, averaging 18,109 last year to smash our previous record set the year before, when we welcomed an average of only 15,081. We’re still looking for our first ever sell-out at our 23,000 seat stadium.



Barclays Premier League Odds for 2023-24

-- Manchester City, after finishing 5th last year, are installed as 7-4 favourites by William Hill to regain the English Premier League title this year. With only Europa League play on the schedule, they will be able to concentrate a bit more on the league this year. Tottenham shockingly are installed at 5-1 along with Manchester United, defending champions Chelsea are at 6-1, Arsenal are at 12-1 and we come in at 25-1, with the agency projecting us to finish in 7th. Last year, our odds were 33-1 so we continue to get a bit more respect each year.



Future Transfer IN

-- We add to our U18 club by signing AJ Auxerre’s DR Takfarinas Madani on a free. He won’t amount to much I don’t think.



UH OH

- Tottenham bid £30,095,000 for Chiquinho, for some reason bidding 1 million less than his minimum release clause. I reject the deal and in a panic try to renegotiate his contract. His agent plays hard ball with me over a new minimum release clause and cancels negotiations. DAMNIT! There are no less than ten teams sniffing around him and he may be as good as gone soon. This isn’t good…



Transfer OUT

-- We get an offer for backup GK Louis Read that we can’t turn down and he’s off to Norwich in a £250,000 transfer. Read did not suit up in a senior level game for our club and we have a couple of clauses in the deal that could pay off down the road as well.



Possible Transfer IN

— I come to terms with an exciting 19 year old fullback who would immediately step in as a replacement for the departed Kostas Zagos but I’ll need a work permit granted. My scouts feel it’s a formality but I’ll hold off talking about the youngster until it goes through officially.



Loan IN

-- I have an offer accepted from Inter to bring Gian Marco Fanfoni, the dynamic young central midfielder, back to Dover on loan for a second consecutive year. Fanfoni quickly agrees to return to our club! I negotiated a MUCH better buyout clause too (approximately 10 million pounds) but keep in mind that Fanfoni is coming off a long-term serious calf injury. Bringing him in on loan was a calculated move, just to ensure he hasn’t regressed after the injury - if he returns and looks good, I’ll pull the trigger at some point.



Transfers IN

-- I make two additions to our U18 club, bringing in AMC Warren Ward and AML Adam Hyde on free transfers. Again, nothing much to see here.

Last edited by NoSkillz : 05-15-2014 at 01:31 AM.
NoSkillz is offline   Reply With Quote