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

NoSkillz · 03-16-2014, 01:45 AM

Sat. July 16, 2022

Preseason Friendly
Ipswich (Championship) vs. Dover
Portman Road, Ipswich, UK

Ipswich have been in the Championship since 2002/03, a span of 21 years! Now that's consistency - no promotions…no relegations with their highest finish being 6th in 2018/19.

We'll start a very strong lineup, with only the injured Gianluca Bolis not in the lineup. Newcomers Chiquinho and Graham Allan are starting.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Allan
S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho

Ipswich 0 - 8 Dover
Goals - Neil Cairney 2 (9.1), Shanon Andrea 2 (9.4), Graham Allan (9.1), Chiquinho (8.6), Said Henni (8.2), Zoltan Bardi (7.5)
Assists - Chiquinho 2, Andrea Rocca 2 (8.5), Renato Gaucho (8.8), Shanon Andrea, Wayne Rooney (6.9)
Man of the Match - Shanon Andrea
Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.3), Salim Loucif (7.7), Rayane Hamon (7.6), Claudio Contreras (8.6), Arsene Bamba (7.5)
Attendance - 13,226

Umm, so yeah, we look pretty decent to start! We build up a ridiculous 6-0 lead at halftime and we basically substitute the entire starting roster out at that time. Chiquinho and Andrea were unstoppable up front in the first half then Said Henni scored a ridiculous goal playing left midfield and I'm going to love watching him play that position spelling Arsene Bamba, as Henni's stronger foot is his right so instead of long runs up the sidelines, Henni prefers cutting inside then using his right foot to send rockets toward goal. His marker here was a curling 30 yarder from way out and it was breathtaking! Just a scintillating performance against a pretty decent club.

-- Kostas Kalfas came on as a sub and got hurt near the end of the game. He will miss about a week with a bruised rib.

Transfer OUT

-- We send Aitor Zubizarreta to Roma for £3 million. We brought the young Spaniard in for the 2018/19 season on a £1.7 million deal with Manchester United and he spent two years with our club and two years on loan in Spain with Gimnastic. In all, he scored 9 goals in 39 games for Gimnastic and scored 1 goal and added 1 assist in 24 league games with Dover. Interestingly enough, after the sale is confirmed, our supporters group rejoiced, saying that Zubizarreta was a locker room problem and now it is expected that things will be much more harmonious at the club. Very interesting. Either way, I'm happy to get a good chunk of change for Zubizarreta but will miss his talent.

Transfer IN

-- I've been watching this guy for at least two years and I'm finally able to come to a deal. We spend a lot of money for a guy who will basically backup both fullback positions but his pedigree can't be denied and there were way too many advantages to doing this deal. We spend £9 million to bring 22 year old England international DR/DL Kostas Zagos to Dover!

Zagos was purchased by Sheffield Wednesday in 2018/19 for £7.75 million and make a small profit on this deal. Zagos was a perennial starter for them since he was 18 years old, playing 114 games over those four years and contributing 6 assists. He's been capped four times already by England at 22 years of age - he always seems to have high tackle numbers in the year-end Premier League stats and he has great speed, work rate and endurance. He will be our main backup for both Renato Gaucho and Salim Loucif and he singlehandedly makes two more players obsolete, as we transfer list Ross McLaughlin and Jozef Varga. It's great getting another England native, as it helps us meet our domestic guidelines for the Premier League.

Transfers OUT

-- With the signing of Said Henni, our backup left midfielder for the past three years becomes surplus to requirements. Therefore, we send Cameron Murray to Burnley for £1.5 million. The 26 year old Scotland international came over from Hibernian for £3.8 million in 2019/20 and was solid but unspectacular for us, scoring only 1 league goal and adding 3 assists in 40 league games. He was always just a bit too small for my tastes and while I wish I got a little bit more for him, it was apparent he wouldn't be needed here. I have Bamba, Henni and even newcomer Graham Allan can play left midfield so we wish Murray the best with Burnley, who are likely in for a rude awakening in their return to the Premier League this year.

-- We also bid adieu to DR Ross McLaughlin, who departs to Fulham in a £1.4 million deal. We picked up McLaughlin on a free after he spent his developmental years with Celtic before moving on to Manchester City for three years. McLaughlin was a guy I watched for awhile during his time at City and I jumped at the chance to pick him up when he was available for nothing but unfortunately, he never played well in his limited time with our club, either during reserves games or during his few chances at Senior team action. He leaves Dover after only three senior level games.

Transfer IN

-- With the departures of Thomas Andersen and Abdallaye Kokaina, we needed another central defender just for depth purposes and we pick up cultured 29 year old Ivory Coast international Daniel Traore on a free.

Traore spent the last six years in France playing on Ligue 1 side LOSC Lille Metropole and he was a very effective player for them, playing 161 league games, scoring three goals and adding 19 assists. He also has 67 caps for Ivory Coast and two international goals. He's a great tackler, has solid mental and physical attributes and will be a capable fourth or fifth defender for us over the next two seasons.

Transfers OUT

-- We move two more players out. First, it's 21 year old AMC Jonathan Adam moving to Southampton in a £750,000 deal. Adam was a free pickup in 2019/20 after spending his first couple of years in Aston Villa's youth system. Adam played two years with our U18 squad then was promoted to our reserves last year. He never played a senior level game with Dover, making him easily expendable but he's got some talent and it will be interesting to see if he can become a regular with Southampton. He's got some interesting attributes and he might be a guy who could contribute in the Championship.

-- We also say goodbye to Jozef Varga, our backup left fullback in a £1.9 million deal with AS Nancy Lorraine in French Ligue 1. Varga was a bargain buy from Stuttgart in 2019, as we paid £130,000 for his services. He spent two years in France on loan deals with Evian TG FC but he played 21 scoreless league games for Dover as well over a three year span. With Kostas Zagos coming to the club this year and the promotion of Carlos Guzman to the senior team from the U18s, the writing was on the wall for Varga and we wish him well in France.

Loan IN

-- I've been trying to swing a transfer for this kid for a couple months but Inter simply want the world for him. So I am able to negotiate a loan deal for 17 year old Italian Gian Marco Fanfoni, with the youngster joining us for the full season and I also have a buyout option at a whopping £17,500,000!

Fanfoni is rated 2.5/4.5 as a 17 year old so as you can imagine, this guy is oozing with talent and may be the midfield version of Paul Moses. I will keep him on our senior team for the season, giving him a lot of reserve league action in addition to some bench time with our senior team and some possible starts depending on how he adjusts. It was a low-risk move and at the very least, we have some acceptable depth now at central midfield.

-- With this signing, we're pretty much done with adding to the main roster. That is unless something fantastic comes along. I still have about £17 million in my transfer budget but that is being saved for a possible Paul Moses buyout.

Next Up

-- We welcome French powerhouse Olympique Lyonnais to Crabble Athletic Ground for a preseason friendly. OL were Champions League finalists last year, only to lose to Man City.

03-16-2014, 01:45 AM	#279
NoSkillz College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: St. Catharines, Canada	Sat. July 16, 2022 Preseason Friendly Ipswich (Championship) vs. Dover Portman Road, Ipswich, UK Ipswich have been in the Championship since 2002/03, a span of 21 years! Now that's consistency - no promotions…no relegations with their highest finish being 6th in 2018/19. We'll start a very strong lineup, with only the injured Gianluca Bolis not in the lineup. Newcomers Chiquinho and Graham Allan are starting. Dover: 4-4-2 Control GK - I. Wilke D - R. Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, A. Rocca, G. Allan S - S. Andrea, Chiquinho Ipswich 0 - 8 Dover Goals - Neil Cairney 2 (9.1), Shanon Andrea 2 (9.4), Graham Allan (9.1), Chiquinho (8.6), Said Henni (8.2), Zoltan Bardi (7.5) Assists - Chiquinho 2, Andrea Rocca 2 (8.5), Renato Gaucho (8.8), Shanon Andrea, Wayne Rooney (6.9) Man of the Match - Shanon Andrea Other Dover Notables - Ingo Wilke (7.3), Salim Loucif (7.7), Rayane Hamon (7.6), Claudio Contreras (8.6), Arsene Bamba (7.5) Attendance - 13,226 Umm, so yeah, we look pretty decent to start! We build up a ridiculous 6-0 lead at halftime and we basically substitute the entire starting roster out at that time. Chiquinho and Andrea were unstoppable up front in the first half then Said Henni scored a ridiculous goal playing left midfield and I'm going to love watching him play that position spelling Arsene Bamba, as Henni's stronger foot is his right so instead of long runs up the sidelines, Henni prefers cutting inside then using his right foot to send rockets toward goal. His marker here was a curling 30 yarder from way out and it was breathtaking! Just a scintillating performance against a pretty decent club. -- Kostas Kalfas came on as a sub and got hurt near the end of the game. He will miss about a week with a bruised rib. Transfer OUT -- We send Aitor Zubizarreta to Roma for £3 million. We brought the young Spaniard in for the 2018/19 season on a £1.7 million deal with Manchester United and he spent two years with our club and two years on loan in Spain with Gimnastic. In all, he scored 9 goals in 39 games for Gimnastic and scored 1 goal and added 1 assist in 24 league games with Dover. Interestingly enough, after the sale is confirmed, our supporters group rejoiced, saying that Zubizarreta was a locker room problem and now it is expected that things will be much more harmonious at the club. Very interesting. Either way, I'm happy to get a good chunk of change for Zubizarreta but will miss his talent. Transfer IN -- I've been watching this guy for at least two years and I'm finally able to come to a deal. We spend a lot of money for a guy who will basically backup both fullback positions but his pedigree can't be denied and there were way too many advantages to doing this deal. We spend £9 million to bring 22 year old England international DR/DL Kostas Zagos to Dover! Zagos was purchased by Sheffield Wednesday in 2018/19 for £7.75 million and make a small profit on this deal. Zagos was a perennial starter for them since he was 18 years old, playing 114 games over those four years and contributing 6 assists. He's been capped four times already by England at 22 years of age - he always seems to have high tackle numbers in the year-end Premier League stats and he has great speed, work rate and endurance. He will be our main backup for both Renato Gaucho and Salim Loucif and he singlehandedly makes two more players obsolete, as we transfer list Ross McLaughlin and Jozef Varga. It's great getting another England native, as it helps us meet our domestic guidelines for the Premier League. Transfers OUT -- With the signing of Said Henni, our backup left midfielder for the past three years becomes surplus to requirements. Therefore, we send Cameron Murray to Burnley for £1.5 million. The 26 year old Scotland international came over from Hibernian for £3.8 million in 2019/20 and was solid but unspectacular for us, scoring only 1 league goal and adding 3 assists in 40 league games. He was always just a bit too small for my tastes and while I wish I got a little bit more for him, it was apparent he wouldn't be needed here. I have Bamba, Henni and even newcomer Graham Allan can play left midfield so we wish Murray the best with Burnley, who are likely in for a rude awakening in their return to the Premier League this year. -- We also bid adieu to DR Ross McLaughlin, who departs to Fulham in a £1.4 million deal. We picked up McLaughlin on a free after he spent his developmental years with Celtic before moving on to Manchester City for three years. McLaughlin was a guy I watched for awhile during his time at City and I jumped at the chance to pick him up when he was available for nothing but unfortunately, he never played well in his limited time with our club, either during reserves games or during his few chances at Senior team action. He leaves Dover after only three senior level games. Transfer IN -- With the departures of Thomas Andersen and Abdallaye Kokaina, we needed another central defender just for depth purposes and we pick up cultured 29 year old Ivory Coast international Daniel Traore on a free. Traore spent the last six years in France playing on Ligue 1 side LOSC Lille Metropole and he was a very effective player for them, playing 161 league games, scoring three goals and adding 19 assists. He also has 67 caps for Ivory Coast and two international goals. He's a great tackler, has solid mental and physical attributes and will be a capable fourth or fifth defender for us over the next two seasons. Transfers OUT -- We move two more players out. First, it's 21 year old AMC Jonathan Adam moving to Southampton in a £750,000 deal. Adam was a free pickup in 2019/20 after spending his first couple of years in Aston Villa's youth system. Adam played two years with our U18 squad then was promoted to our reserves last year. He never played a senior level game with Dover, making him easily expendable but he's got some talent and it will be interesting to see if he can become a regular with Southampton. He's got some interesting attributes and he might be a guy who could contribute in the Championship. -- We also say goodbye to Jozef Varga, our backup left fullback in a £1.9 million deal with AS Nancy Lorraine in French Ligue 1. Varga was a bargain buy from Stuttgart in 2019, as we paid £130,000 for his services. He spent two years in France on loan deals with Evian TG FC but he played 21 scoreless league games for Dover as well over a three year span. With Kostas Zagos coming to the club this year and the promotion of Carlos Guzman to the senior team from the U18s, the writing was on the wall for Varga and we wish him well in France. Loan IN -- I've been trying to swing a transfer for this kid for a couple months but Inter simply want the world for him. So I am able to negotiate a loan deal for 17 year old Italian Gian Marco Fanfoni, with the youngster joining us for the full season and I also have a buyout option at a whopping £17,500,000! Fanfoni is rated 2.5/4.5 as a 17 year old so as you can imagine, this guy is oozing with talent and may be the midfield version of Paul Moses. I will keep him on our senior team for the season, giving him a lot of reserve league action in addition to some bench time with our senior team and some possible starts depending on how he adjusts. It was a low-risk move and at the very least, we have some acceptable depth now at central midfield. -- With this signing, we're pretty much done with adding to the main roster. That is unless something fantastic comes along. I still have about £17 million in my transfer budget but that is being saved for a possible Paul Moses buyout. Next Up -- We welcome French powerhouse Olympique Lyonnais to Crabble Athletic Ground for a preseason friendly. OL were Champions League finalists last year, only to lose to Man City. __________________ 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 : 03-16-2014 at 01:46 AM.