[NoSkillz]

Start of Season Expectations

-- Our board is hoping for a top half finish in Ladbrokes Scottish League Two play this year. Here’s the budget they’ll give us to attain that finish:

2018/19 TRANSFER BUDGET - £0
2018/19 WAGE BUDGET - £0

Oh right. I almost forgot about that.

-- We also take part in three Cup competitions: the William Hill Scottish Cup (similar to the FA Cup in England), the Betfred Cup (ie: League Cup) and the Irn-Bru Cup (I’m guessing it’s similar to the Checkatrade FA Trophy). The board expect us to reach the third round of the Scottish Cup and simply “be competitive” in the other two competitions.



Preseason Friendlies

-- One of my first orders of business is to set our preseason schedule. We’re likely going to need a lot of friendlies in order to get our squad accustomed to our new tactics and to develop a sense of unity amongst the players. Here is a look at our friendlies:

June 27th – Queen’s Park Reserves
June 30th – AT Brora Rangers (Scotland Non-League)
July 3rd – Motherwell (Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership)
July 7th – Oxford United (Sky Bet League One)
July 10th – Hearts of Midlothian (Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership)
July 14th - AT Knockbreda FC (Bluefin Sport Championship)
July 30th – AT Carnoustie Panmure (Scotland Non-League)

-- My plan to have a more comprehensive set of friendlies is thwarted by the fact that the Betfred Cup (Scottish League Cup) group stage takes place from July 18th through July 28th. We actually have a pretty decent draw in League Cup play, with home matches against Spartans (non-league) and Dumbarton (League One) and away matches at Airdrieonians (League One) and Kilmarnock (Premiership). As for the friendlies, we have a couple home matches against Premiership opponents that will help our bank account, I’m sure. Motherwell is a parent affiliate and a key part of the agreement allows us to schedule an annual preseason friendly at Hampden Park and keep all proceeds.

-- Our first game in Ladbrokes Scottish League Two play is a tough one: away against Peterhead, the bookies’ choice for promotion this year. That match takes place on Saturday August 4th.



The Search for New Blood Begins…

-- We are currently without scouts but I have a lengthy chat with our chairman, who delivers a pretty exhaustive list of potential free transfer targets and a shorter list of potential loanees. I plan on bringing in a few of the free transfer targets in on trial agreements for the next month for evaluation purposes and once I have a scouting team in place, I’ll start looking at the potential loan candidates as well. There are a couple of good looking Premiership youngsters that might be willing to play for us and even though they are technically professional, our chairman will allow loanees as long as we don’t have to pay for their wages.