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

NoSkillz · 03-09-2014, 09:42 PM

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.

We have the fittest squad in the Premier League and even with an extra ten games or so of Continental play, I was able to ride our best players for most of the season.

GK

-- Ingo Wilke was his usual solid self - his average rating was down but there was no drop in his performances. Youssouf Sylla took a long time to get settled into the club and finally started playing capably near the end of the year. However, he requested more playing time and I wasn't prepared to give it to him so he's been sold to PSG in France and will be leaving the club in early June.

D

-- Our defence continues to mature and both Salim Loucif and Renato Gaucho performed at a level that defies their young age. Loucif took on additional leadership responsibilities as vice-captain and Renato Gaucho will also be a future leader on the team. Jozef Kuciak continues to outperform his average skill set and can always be counted on when Loucif is out of the lineup. Carlos Guzman performed capably on the biggest stage, starting against Barcelona in a Champions League quarterfinal for his only senior level game when Renato Gaucho was suspended. Jozef Varga and Ross McLaughlin are depth and weren't used much.

-- In the middle, new signing Rayane Hamon was SUPERB, more than making up for the loss of Cristian Rodriguez last year. He'll be in hot demand from the bigger clubs in the world but he isn't going anywhere! We continue to get inconsistent play from our other two top central defenders, Claudio Contreras and Paulus Tjiuoro. Contreras has a very high ceiling and at only 19, will continue to get better with age. Tjiuoro is a good veteran to have around and played very well down the stretch. Abdallaye Kokaina has lots of potential but wasn't needed much, as our defence was healthy all year.

M

-- Out wide, the story of the year was the blossoming of superstar winger Gianluca Bolis - formerly a very inconsistent player, he still showed some of those tendencies midway through the year but he just exploded in the second half, scoring 16 goals and adding 13 assists. Equally sensational was the man on the far side of the field, Arsene Bamba - he's always in great position and a few dumb passes aside, his playmaking ability is always a concern for our opposition. Cameron Murray continues to be a bit unheralded here - he's put in two good years in a row as our backup left winger. On the right side, our biggest offseason signing by dollars was Kostas Kalfas and I'm afraid he won't reach his potential with us. He's got incredible mental skills and intangibles but the system I run demands pacy wingers and Kalfas, at 6' 4" and 200lbs just can't run fast enough in our offense. Aitor Zubizarreta was strong as a backup and worked his way into our lineup after a few years of being on loan.

-- Andrea Rocca continues to be the "straw that stirs the drink" inside for our club. He's continually outperformed his ratings and he's invaluable on set pieces as well. Neil Cairney regressed a bit in year two with our club - I had huge expectations this year after a scintillating preseason but he only scored five goals and isn't as involved in the offense as I'd like. That said, he played better in the second half of the year, as we used him more in a "box to box" role and his presence in our midfield isn't always seen on the stat sheet. Mancini is another unheralded player - he doesn't score much or add much offense but he's very capable defensively and versatile. Young Emmerson Harvey saw action as an 18 year old with us and has enormous promise - that said, the question will be whether we can keep him here before a big club makes an offer we can't refuse. Shaun Spall showed offensive flair before having his leg broken in a mid-season match and we look forward to seeing him next year once again. Samir Nasri is well past his prime and may not be around much longer.

S

-- Shanon Andrea was added as depth this year in a move that didn't get a lot of attention. Injuries early on to our two incumbents meant Andrea saw plenty of action and he seemingly scored at will, earning a full-time starting job. He was scoring at an unprecedented rate until tearing a hamstring mid-season and despite missing 20 games, he still led our team in goals and points. That average rating is easily the best from a Dover player in the Premier League era as well. Young on-loan striker Paul Moses will be a SUPERSTAR in this league when he matures but unfortunately, I had a falling out with him early in the year and our relationship has been non-existent all year. He'll return to Manchester United on July 1st and unless he has a change of heart, I won't be able to pry him away from them despite having a buy-out clause in our loan deal. Zoltan Bardi and Giorgos Gesios both dealt with long-term injuries - while Bardi was able to get back into fine form late in the season, Gesios struggled immensely after being our leader up front last year. Wayne Rooney was a great addition but his inconsistency was maddening at times. Still, getting 12 goals, 19 points and great leadership from a 36 year old was surprising to say the least.

RESERVE TEAM PLAYERS

-- I keep a number of players around that have either reached home-grown status or are working on it. DC Emmanuel Agbo, MC Jamie Matthews, ML Steve Ingram, MC Jonathan Adam, ST Dennis Kunz and ST Carlo Cerbone played a bunch of reserves games but never made it into a senior team match.

LOAN PLAYERS

-- We had five players out on loan for the season. DC Andrew Stanley was at Coventry but only played 10 games. He's not a real prospect. DC Thomas Anderson, on the other hand, IS a prospect - he was a starter for Getafe in LIGA, playing 23 games this year and he continues to develop nicely. MC Jonathan Gauthier is another "non" prospect who played at West Ham United this year, getting in 21 games and scoring twice. Striker Roberto battled injuries all year and only saw five games of action with AJ Auxerre in France, scoring one goal. French striker Ryan Bodin scored ten goals for Coventry in 25 games, helping them gain promotion from League 1 into the Championship.

U18 PLAYERS

-- Gregoire Lambert scored an incredible 44 goals in 33 games this year and will graduate from our U18 program and either be a loan candidate or stick around to gain home-grown status. DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz was also sensational this year, scoring 12 goals in 39 games. We have two fine DL prospects in Carlos Guzman and Sebastian Kraft. Our top prospect is likely MC Emmerson Harvey, who played a bit with our senior team and scored 11 goals in 33 games for the U18s. We also have a decent GK prospect in Louis Read but he won't ever be good enough for our club and will be sold at some point. Beyond that, we have homegrown talent like Johnny Mardenborough, Matt Hewitt, Garry Doyle, Damian Thorne, Eddie Robinson, Ben Lee and Phil Whitbread, all of whom are marginal prospects at best and will likely find themselves playing in lesser leagues in the future.

03-09-2014, 09:42 PM	#260
NoSkillz College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: St. Catharines, Canada	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. We have the fittest squad in the Premier League and even with an extra ten games or so of Continental play, I was able to ride our best players for most of the season. GK -- Ingo Wilke was his usual solid self - his average rating was down but there was no drop in his performances. Youssouf Sylla took a long time to get settled into the club and finally started playing capably near the end of the year. However, he requested more playing time and I wasn't prepared to give it to him so he's been sold to PSG in France and will be leaving the club in early June. D -- Our defence continues to mature and both Salim Loucif and Renato Gaucho performed at a level that defies their young age. Loucif took on additional leadership responsibilities as vice-captain and Renato Gaucho will also be a future leader on the team. Jozef Kuciak continues to outperform his average skill set and can always be counted on when Loucif is out of the lineup. Carlos Guzman performed capably on the biggest stage, starting against Barcelona in a Champions League quarterfinal for his only senior level game when Renato Gaucho was suspended. Jozef Varga and Ross McLaughlin are depth and weren't used much. -- In the middle, new signing Rayane Hamon was SUPERB, more than making up for the loss of Cristian Rodriguez last year. He'll be in hot demand from the bigger clubs in the world but he isn't going anywhere! We continue to get inconsistent play from our other two top central defenders, Claudio Contreras and Paulus Tjiuoro. Contreras has a very high ceiling and at only 19, will continue to get better with age. Tjiuoro is a good veteran to have around and played very well down the stretch. Abdallaye Kokaina has lots of potential but wasn't needed much, as our defence was healthy all year. M -- Out wide, the story of the year was the blossoming of superstar winger Gianluca Bolis - formerly a very inconsistent player, he still showed some of those tendencies midway through the year but he just exploded in the second half, scoring 16 goals and adding 13 assists. Equally sensational was the man on the far side of the field, Arsene Bamba - he's always in great position and a few dumb passes aside, his playmaking ability is always a concern for our opposition. Cameron Murray continues to be a bit unheralded here - he's put in two good years in a row as our backup left winger. On the right side, our biggest offseason signing by dollars was Kostas Kalfas and I'm afraid he won't reach his potential with us. He's got incredible mental skills and intangibles but the system I run demands pacy wingers and Kalfas, at 6' 4" and 200lbs just can't run fast enough in our offense. Aitor Zubizarreta was strong as a backup and worked his way into our lineup after a few years of being on loan. -- Andrea Rocca continues to be the "straw that stirs the drink" inside for our club. He's continually outperformed his ratings and he's invaluable on set pieces as well. Neil Cairney regressed a bit in year two with our club - I had huge expectations this year after a scintillating preseason but he only scored five goals and isn't as involved in the offense as I'd like. That said, he played better in the second half of the year, as we used him more in a "box to box" role and his presence in our midfield isn't always seen on the stat sheet. Mancini is another unheralded player - he doesn't score much or add much offense but he's very capable defensively and versatile. Young Emmerson Harvey saw action as an 18 year old with us and has enormous promise - that said, the question will be whether we can keep him here before a big club makes an offer we can't refuse. Shaun Spall showed offensive flair before having his leg broken in a mid-season match and we look forward to seeing him next year once again. Samir Nasri is well past his prime and may not be around much longer. S -- Shanon Andrea was added as depth this year in a move that didn't get a lot of attention. Injuries early on to our two incumbents meant Andrea saw plenty of action and he seemingly scored at will, earning a full-time starting job. He was scoring at an unprecedented rate until tearing a hamstring mid-season and despite missing 20 games, he still led our team in goals and points. That average rating is easily the best from a Dover player in the Premier League era as well. Young on-loan striker Paul Moses will be a SUPERSTAR in this league when he matures but unfortunately, I had a falling out with him early in the year and our relationship has been non-existent all year. He'll return to Manchester United on July 1st and unless he has a change of heart, I won't be able to pry him away from them despite having a buy-out clause in our loan deal. Zoltan Bardi and Giorgos Gesios both dealt with long-term injuries - while Bardi was able to get back into fine form late in the season, Gesios struggled immensely after being our leader up front last year. Wayne Rooney was a great addition but his inconsistency was maddening at times. Still, getting 12 goals, 19 points and great leadership from a 36 year old was surprising to say the least. RESERVE TEAM PLAYERS -- I keep a number of players around that have either reached home-grown status or are working on it. DC Emmanuel Agbo, MC Jamie Matthews, ML Steve Ingram, MC Jonathan Adam, ST Dennis Kunz and ST Carlo Cerbone played a bunch of reserves games but never made it into a senior team match. LOAN PLAYERS -- We had five players out on loan for the season. DC Andrew Stanley was at Coventry but only played 10 games. He's not a real prospect. DC Thomas Anderson, on the other hand, IS a prospect - he was a starter for Getafe in LIGA, playing 23 games this year and he continues to develop nicely. MC Jonathan Gauthier is another "non" prospect who played at West Ham United this year, getting in 21 games and scoring twice. Striker Roberto battled injuries all year and only saw five games of action with AJ Auxerre in France, scoring one goal. French striker Ryan Bodin scored ten goals for Coventry in 25 games, helping them gain promotion from League 1 into the Championship. U18 PLAYERS -- Gregoire Lambert scored an incredible 44 goals in 33 games this year and will graduate from our U18 program and either be a loan candidate or stick around to gain home-grown status. DC Mohamed Lamine Yilmaz was also sensational this year, scoring 12 goals in 39 games. We have two fine DL prospects in Carlos Guzman and Sebastian Kraft. Our top prospect is likely MC Emmerson Harvey, who played a bit with our senior team and scored 11 goals in 33 games for the U18s. We also have a decent GK prospect in Louis Read but he won't ever be good enough for our club and will be sold at some point. Beyond that, we have homegrown talent like Johnny Mardenborough, Matt Hewitt, Garry Doyle, Damian Thorne, Eddie Robinson, Ben Lee and Phil Whitbread, all of whom are marginal prospects at best and will likely find themselves playing in lesser leagues in the future. __________________ 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 : 03-09-2014 at 09:45 PM.