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

NoSkillz · 11-02-2013, 11:43 PM

2011-12 Season Recap -

Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations

The board decided to give me a nice raise, almost doubling my salary in the process as thanks for taking Dover up to the Conference Premier. I'll take it! My reputation has increased to "Regional" from "Obscure" and I'm a media darling by the looks of it. Lets see what happens if we struggle this year…I doubt I'd be as popular.

There are no changes ahead with respect to stadium improvements/expansions. We don't have the money anyway and until we start filling the place up, I don't see the need to even start asking for any work to be done at Crabble. It would be nice to have better training or youth facilities though.

Now we'll take a look at how Dover as a club has progressed in the eyes of the public and our peers.

Our team reputation is up to "Local" from "Obscure" and moving up to the Conference Premier has allowed us to put a pretty sizeable price increase through to our supporters. We had the highest average attendance in the Blue Square Bet South last season so hopefully the fans aren't put off by the 20+% hikes! Looking at the nice increase in season ticket holders, my fears may be unfounded.

We've also had a slight bump in estimated value, which takes us to 100th out of the 160 clubs in the first six tiers on the English pyramid and we're ranked 9th in the Conference Premier out of 24 clubs.

The board feels we're strong enough to finish mid-table and I agree with that assessment. In doing so, they have given me a wage budget increase that's in line with the price increase we've put through to our supporters but no increase to the transfer budget:

2011/12 TRANSFER BUDGET - £5,000
2011/12 WAGE BUDGET - £7,500/week

That's workable - at this level, we're not likely to find the quality of players that would demand a transfer fee so we'll continue to supplement our current squad with players that are dropped from bigger clubs.

Preseason: Roster Status

GK - I'm pretty happy with what we have in goal. Long-time White (our team's nickname) Ross Flitney will not see his contract renewed and will likely be out the door come July 1st. We'll hand the baton to 20 year old Liam O'Brien, whom we picked up on a free last year but struggled a bit in his 1st season with us. Liam Hogan, another 2010/11 signing, will provide backup and we also have an interesting U18 prospect in Ben Humphrey, who may be a loan candidate.

D - We could do with some upgrades on our backline, especially at the fullback position. Our starting left fullback, Nicky Nicolau, accepted a contract offer from an Italian club and will be departing on July 1st. He'll need to be replaced for sure. Our player of the year in 2010-11, Olly Schulz, will be back and hopefully he'll dominate in the air as much as he did last year. Captain Rob Gillman is getting a bit long in the tooth and should still be useable but my prized prospect Oliver Nicholas, after spending the majority of last year with our U18 club, is ready for the jump to the senior squad this year.

M - A definite strength of the club. We have great wingers in Ismael Fofana and Abdeltareck Sakali, a creative and influential centre midfielder in Paul Caffrey and a pretty solid defensive-minded MC in Paul Marney. Jon Wallis is our versatile piece off the bench and plays most games due to his ability to play anywhere from the centre of the park, to right wing and even right fullback. A nice player to have and he has a rocket for a right foot.

F - Another great strength. Our two-man strike force last year, Ben Hunt and Adam Birchall, combined for an absurd 43 goals last year and I'm very high on Kofi Poyser as well. In fact, he may just overtake Birchall on the first team. I could use a depth signing here though, as we won't be renewing the contract of Elliott Charles.

Transfers OUT

GK - Ross Flitney - Released
ML - Kane Rice - Released
ST - Elliott Charles - Released
DL - Nicky Nicolau - Virtus Lanciano - Free
MR - Harry Baker - Folkestone - Free
MC - Luke l'Anson - Folkestone - Free

Flitney was a first-choice in goal for close to half of our games last year. The 27 year old had mediocre skills and was replaceable due to our young depth. He made 35 starts in his two years at Dover. Flitney would eventually sign with Corby in the Blue Square Bet North and play three years for them before finishing out his career in Scotland with lower league sides Bunillidh Thistle and Glenrothes.

Rice was essentially a reserve team player last year and only played one game for the club, scoring a goal in his only appearance while Charles played only two senior team games.

Nicolau is a tough loss for us, as he was a constant at left fullback last year but I was unable to compete with the offer made from our Italian counterpart. Baker and l'Anson were strictly spare parts for us last year and Folkestone can have them!

Transfers IN

DL - Jamie Reckord - Free (Last Club: Wolves) - 19 years old, England
DL - Rory McKeown - Free (Last Club: Ipswich) - 18 years old, Ireland
DR - Conor Morrissey - Free (Last Club: Manchester City) - 18 years old, Ireland
DR - Carl Jenkinson - Free (Last Club: Charlton) - 19 years old, Finland
DR - Stephen O'Donnell - Free (Last Club: Celtic) - 19 years old, Ireland
MC - Richie Ryan - Free (Last Club: Sligo Rovers) - 27 years old, Ireland
MC - Rhys McCabe - Free (Last Club: Rangers) - 18 years old, Scotland
AM/ST - Alan Murphy - Free (Last Club: Galway United) - 29 years old, Ireland
ST - Ben May - Free (Last Club: Scunthorpe) - 27 years old, England
ST - Connor Deards - Free (Last Club: Walsall) - 19 years old, Ireland
ST - Julius Gombala - Free (Last Club: Birmingham) - 18 years old, Slovakia
ST - Emerick Hippias - Free (Last Club: Manchester City) - 18 years old, France

MC/ML - Jake Caskey - LOAN (From Brighton) - 17 years old, England

We do a lot of maneuvering in the offseason to supplement our talent. Jamie Reckord will likely step right in as our starting left fullback as a 19-year old and Rory McKeown will provide backup. Stephen O'Donnell will likely step into a rotation at DR with incumbent Matt Fish while Conor Morrissey & Carl Jenkinson (both with 3.5 star potential) will likely suit up for the U18 or reserve teams.

At midfield, the big signing is Richie Ryan from Sligo Rovers. He's a cultured offensive midfielder with a big right foot and a keen knack for set-pieces and he may have the talent to move defensive-minded MC Paul Marney to the bench. Rhys McCabe will likely suit up for the U18s and has some interesting talent (3.5 star potential). The other big move was getting 17-year old Jake Caskey to come over on loan from Brighton - while very young, Caskey has enormous potential (4.5 stars) and can definitely step in as cover for Fofana at ML or in the centre of the park.

We picked up a couple of young strikers in Gombala and Hippias to work on the U18 team while Ben May and Connor Deards will be given the chance to work into our striker rotation with incumbents Ben Hunt, Adam Birchall and Kofi Poyser.

Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins

I decide that last year's captain, DC Rob Gillman, will be a second choice player for the coming season and decide to go in another direction with the on-field leadership. Last year's vice-captain Paul Caffrey will get the arm band for 2011-12 and our leader on defense, Olly Schulz will assume the vice-captain role.

We have an interesting preseason that helps decide some roster spots. Conor Morrissey will jump in as a rotational player at DR as an 18-year old over fellow new signing Stephen O'Donnell, we keep Paul Marney as our MC with defensive duties and Kofi Poyser is elevated to 1st team status over Adam Birchall, who was a 20 goal scorer for us last year.

Our first choice lineup to start the season will be as follows:

GK - Liam O'Brien
D - Jamie Reckord/Olly Schulz/Oliver Nicholas/Matt Fish
M - Ismael Fofana/Paul Marney/Paul Caffrey/Abdeltareck Sakali
F - Kofi Poyser/Ben Hunt

11-02-2013, 11:43 PM	#7
NoSkillz College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: St. Catharines, Canada	2011-12 Season Recap - Preseason: Manager and Team Status, Yearly Budgets, Board and Media Expectations The board decided to give me a nice raise, almost doubling my salary in the process as thanks for taking Dover up to the Conference Premier. I'll take it! My reputation has increased to "Regional" from "Obscure" and I'm a media darling by the looks of it. Lets see what happens if we struggle this year…I doubt I'd be as popular. There are no changes ahead with respect to stadium improvements/expansions. We don't have the money anyway and until we start filling the place up, I don't see the need to even start asking for any work to be done at Crabble. It would be nice to have better training or youth facilities though. Now we'll take a look at how Dover as a club has progressed in the eyes of the public and our peers. Our team reputation is up to "Local" from "Obscure" and moving up to the Conference Premier has allowed us to put a pretty sizeable price increase through to our supporters. We had the highest average attendance in the Blue Square Bet South last season so hopefully the fans aren't put off by the 20+% hikes! Looking at the nice increase in season ticket holders, my fears may be unfounded. We've also had a slight bump in estimated value, which takes us to 100th out of the 160 clubs in the first six tiers on the English pyramid and we're ranked 9th in the Conference Premier out of 24 clubs. The board feels we're strong enough to finish mid-table and I agree with that assessment. In doing so, they have given me a wage budget increase that's in line with the price increase we've put through to our supporters but no increase to the transfer budget: 2011/12 TRANSFER BUDGET - £5,000 2011/12 WAGE BUDGET - £7,500/week That's workable - at this level, we're not likely to find the quality of players that would demand a transfer fee so we'll continue to supplement our current squad with players that are dropped from bigger clubs. Preseason: Roster Status GK - I'm pretty happy with what we have in goal. Long-time White (our team's nickname) Ross Flitney will not see his contract renewed and will likely be out the door come July 1st. We'll hand the baton to 20 year old Liam O'Brien, whom we picked up on a free last year but struggled a bit in his 1st season with us. Liam Hogan, another 2010/11 signing, will provide backup and we also have an interesting U18 prospect in Ben Humphrey, who may be a loan candidate. D - We could do with some upgrades on our backline, especially at the fullback position. Our starting left fullback, Nicky Nicolau, accepted a contract offer from an Italian club and will be departing on July 1st. He'll need to be replaced for sure. Our player of the year in 2010-11, Olly Schulz, will be back and hopefully he'll dominate in the air as much as he did last year. Captain Rob Gillman is getting a bit long in the tooth and should still be useable but my prized prospect Oliver Nicholas, after spending the majority of last year with our U18 club, is ready for the jump to the senior squad this year. M - A definite strength of the club. We have great wingers in Ismael Fofana and Abdeltareck Sakali, a creative and influential centre midfielder in Paul Caffrey and a pretty solid defensive-minded MC in Paul Marney. Jon Wallis is our versatile piece off the bench and plays most games due to his ability to play anywhere from the centre of the park, to right wing and even right fullback. A nice player to have and he has a rocket for a right foot. F - Another great strength. Our two-man strike force last year, Ben Hunt and Adam Birchall, combined for an absurd 43 goals last year and I'm very high on Kofi Poyser as well. In fact, he may just overtake Birchall on the first team. I could use a depth signing here though, as we won't be renewing the contract of Elliott Charles. Transfers OUT GK - Ross Flitney - Released ML - Kane Rice - Released ST - Elliott Charles - Released DL - Nicky Nicolau - Virtus Lanciano - Free MR - Harry Baker - Folkestone - Free MC - Luke l'Anson - Folkestone - Free Flitney was a first-choice in goal for close to half of our games last year. The 27 year old had mediocre skills and was replaceable due to our young depth. He made 35 starts in his two years at Dover. Flitney would eventually sign with Corby in the Blue Square Bet North and play three years for them before finishing out his career in Scotland with lower league sides Bunillidh Thistle and Glenrothes. Rice was essentially a reserve team player last year and only played one game for the club, scoring a goal in his only appearance while Charles played only two senior team games. Nicolau is a tough loss for us, as he was a constant at left fullback last year but I was unable to compete with the offer made from our Italian counterpart. Baker and l'Anson were strictly spare parts for us last year and Folkestone can have them! Transfers IN DL - Jamie Reckord - Free (Last Club: Wolves) - 19 years old, England DL - Rory McKeown - Free (Last Club: Ipswich) - 18 years old, Ireland DR - Conor Morrissey - Free (Last Club: Manchester City) - 18 years old, Ireland DR - Carl Jenkinson - Free (Last Club: Charlton) - 19 years old, Finland DR - Stephen O'Donnell - Free (Last Club: Celtic) - 19 years old, Ireland MC - Richie Ryan - Free (Last Club: Sligo Rovers) - 27 years old, Ireland MC - Rhys McCabe - Free (Last Club: Rangers) - 18 years old, Scotland AM/ST - Alan Murphy - Free (Last Club: Galway United) - 29 years old, Ireland ST - Ben May - Free (Last Club: Scunthorpe) - 27 years old, England ST - Connor Deards - Free (Last Club: Walsall) - 19 years old, Ireland ST - Julius Gombala - Free (Last Club: Birmingham) - 18 years old, Slovakia ST - Emerick Hippias - Free (Last Club: Manchester City) - 18 years old, France MC/ML - Jake Caskey - LOAN (From Brighton) - 17 years old, England We do a lot of maneuvering in the offseason to supplement our talent. Jamie Reckord will likely step right in as our starting left fullback as a 19-year old and Rory McKeown will provide backup. Stephen O'Donnell will likely step into a rotation at DR with incumbent Matt Fish while Conor Morrissey & Carl Jenkinson (both with 3.5 star potential) will likely suit up for the U18 or reserve teams. At midfield, the big signing is Richie Ryan from Sligo Rovers. He's a cultured offensive midfielder with a big right foot and a keen knack for set-pieces and he may have the talent to move defensive-minded MC Paul Marney to the bench. Rhys McCabe will likely suit up for the U18s and has some interesting talent (3.5 star potential). The other big move was getting 17-year old Jake Caskey to come over on loan from Brighton - while very young, Caskey has enormous potential (4.5 stars) and can definitely step in as cover for Fofana at ML or in the centre of the park. We picked up a couple of young strikers in Gombala and Hippias to work on the U18 team while Ben May and Connor Deards will be given the chance to work into our striker rotation with incumbents Ben Hunt, Adam Birchall and Kofi Poyser. Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins I decide that last year's captain, DC Rob Gillman, will be a second choice player for the coming season and decide to go in another direction with the on-field leadership. Last year's vice-captain Paul Caffrey will get the arm band for 2011-12 and our leader on defense, Olly Schulz will assume the vice-captain role. We have an interesting preseason that helps decide some roster spots. Conor Morrissey will jump in as a rotational player at DR as an 18-year old over fellow new signing Stephen O'Donnell, we keep Paul Marney as our MC with defensive duties and Kofi Poyser is elevated to 1st team status over Adam Birchall, who was a 20 goal scorer for us last year. Our first choice lineup to start the season will be as follows: GK - Liam O'Brien D - Jamie Reckord/Olly Schulz/Oliver Nicholas/Matt Fish M - Ismael Fofana/Paul Marney/Paul Caffrey/Abdeltareck Sakali F - Kofi Poyser/Ben Hunt __________________ 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 : 11-04-2013 at 10:15 AM.