FM2007-Reading avoiding the drop

[condors]

I picked Reading because they are expected to finish 20th(accourding to the media and i like not having the pressure of winning the title my first season and there are a couple of Americans already on the team)

The fans are furious that unkown manager Bud Wiser was hired to take control of Reading.

If you read the si boards i am started with a modified version of cleon's sheff utd tactic 4-1-2-2-1.

The squad

Keepers:
Marcus Hahnemann 6 caps for the United States, i really like him but he is 34 hopefully we will have someone ready when he decides to step down

Graham Stack pretty solid all around although not spectacular 24 years old with 7 under 21 caps for Ireland

third option is a player i signed from the youth side Alex McCarthy the 17 year old is strange bird but he also is the most determined of our young guys and i didn't like the other choices as much(i don't like him much but i am hoping he can get better) He was happy to sign his professional contract.

Defenders:
Ibrahima Sonko and Sam Sodje are my main central defender after these guys i have bodies but no quality among them. I put in a transfer bid for wba's Curties Davies i think he could step right in and be huge in our battle against relegation.

My Fullbacks On the left I have Nickey Shorey. He is ok but not great. Behind him i have Scott Goldburne who my assitant has advised me is the worst defender on the first team and i agree with him. May look for an option here soon. I have no 3rd choice on my reserve or youth team so i want a body just in case. The right side i have 2 quality players Ullisa De la Cruz 32 years old with 88 caps for Equador and Graham Murty 31 years old with 3 caps for Scottland. Murty is by far my best backup. I also have 19 year old Curtis Osono a Kenyon who can play dm dc and dr so he will probally get some time in different postions. I have two players in on loan but they aren't starters and i terminate the loans. I don't see what needs they would fill here we have other players just like them.

The midfield: Boby Convey on the left may be our most dangerous player 23 year old American with 42 caps has a bright future i hope its with us. Stephen Hunt 24 year old Irish lad isn't a bad guy to have on the bench.
When healthy Glen Little will be on the right the 30 year old is a terrific crosser and dribbler and still have pace at his age. He is going to be out up to 2 months though. I currently have Kevin Doyle who is a striker who can play on the right side. It would help to get a natural right sided midfielder in here. (adds another note to his shopping list) The middle will be manned by Steve Sidwell and Seol Ki-Hyeon. With Convey these 2 guys add some threat both are skilled but not world class. Behind them i literally have nobody just people out of postion so i moved 19 year old Simon Cox from the reserve team i sure hope he doesn't have to play much!

Strikers: Kevin Doyle, Dave Kitson, and Leroy Lita i am sure all think they are first teamers problem is i am only using a 1 striker tactic. Leroy Lita is worth the most and doesn't have the workrate of either Doyle and Kitson so i decied to transfer list him. Doyle will be the main guy with Kitson and Shane Long will be a third option if i ever have to call on him.

[condors]

Our first preseason game is aganst Dorchester and i tell the boys to enjoy the run out. We dominate the game and win 4-0. It is no real bearing though as Dorchester is not the quality we are going to be facing this season but i played 22 guys for 45 minutes and we looked ok and nobody got hurt.

I send 8 of our youth players packing they just don't give it their all and i don't want to waste time and money on players who don't want to work hard for themselves we can expect them to work hard for the club down the road.

7 of our reserve players hit the transfer list along with Lita i don't think any of them are really worth anything but they are not in any of my plans for this club.

Watford who i probally will be battling in the drop zone with Sheff Utd signed a nice player Alan Dunne from Millwall the right sided midfielder would have fit in nicely at Reading. Portsmouth sign a Leftback David Murphy who is solid in the back but lacks going forward. Aston Villa splashed the cash 14.25 million for Thomas Kahlenberg the 23 year old attacking midfielder with 6 caps for Denmark. I am kinda hoping he is a complete bust for them so maybe i can get him cheap and try to jumpstart his career Asont Villa also spend 7.75 million on a 25 year old central defender Petri Pasanen. I can see wanting to bring in a solid central defender.

[condors]

We sign Ted Day 170k from MK Dons 17 year old determined defensive midfielder is a good ball winner and good taker of corners. He is a natural dm and gives us cover if needed will be playing in the reserves.

The preseason ends with Bobby Convey injured and will miss the start.

I am asked about my squad and i said i feel with one or two signings we should be able to avoid the drop. Several players are now worried about there place on the squad and several others are happy that i want to strengthen it.

Bobby Convey and Steve Sidwell both rejected contract extensions and Sidwell is in the last year of his. So i either need to sell him or risk losing him for nothing.

Auxerre make an offer for Sonko i don't want to accept but he wants to go, I allow him to talk to them and we get 4.6 million for him.

Our first real game is against Totenham. I tell the press I live for these moments and not nervous. It isn't a pretty game few chances are being generated. They get a 1-0 lead. Our talented fullback Nicky Shorey gets a red card for kicking Berbatov during a set piece (which i warn him about after the game) and neither side has a real quality chance the rest of the game. It was a snoozefest to be honest.

[BYU 14]

Have become quite a fan of Reading this Season, nice choice for a dynasty, will be following along closely.

[condors]

thanks for reading BYU 14

9 games into the season and we are 1 win 3 draws and 5 loses. We have scored 4 goals and conceded 11. We have not played any of the big 4. To say i am disapointed is an understatment.

We sold De la Cruz to Sunderland as he was upset and i really am not a fan of a slowing down 32 year old fullback. We do bring in Liam Rosenior from Fulham for 4.7 million along with Polish internation Pawel Golanski to replace the two defenders we lost. (no doubt in my mind we upgraded). We also add a couple of midfielders Chris Sedwick from Preston and Kristopher Haested from Start(for 1.7 and 2 million). Haested i think could be special and will step into the lineup someplace. Sedwick is more of a guy to rotate or bring off the bench. We also added a promising striker Viktor Illugason but i think this was a transfer was done before i took over the team because i don't recall even looking at him. He is only 16 years old and was signed on a free so i see him as a nice bonus.

Kevin Doyle who was supposed to be our star striker and main target of the offense got 0 goals in 5 starts, Kitson has 2 goals in 5 starts (including cup games). James Harper has been our best player with 7.00 rating with 10 starts. Newcomer Pawel Golanski is next best with a 6.71 rating with 7 starts.

We have outplayed a couple teams and failed to get a result. I have had to defend my keeper and star player Convey to the media. Our last game against Bolton we outshot them and had more possesion and lost 1-0. This coming off a game were we were up against it all day against Everton we lost 4-1. We got a lone win deservedly in the game before against Fulham. We dominated Middlesbourgh and lost 1-0. The game befor that we dominated Watford and ended with a 0-0 draw. (by dominated i mean at least 2x shots)
I am going to stick to the course and hope for a turnaround in fortunes i believe we just have been unlucky. A couple of my players are unhappy and that is not something i want to catch to the rest of the team. Hopefully my players will remain confident in me.

[BYU 14]

What tactic are you using Condors?

[condors]

i have been using a 4-1-2-2-1. There are backward arrows on the 2 central midfielders so its really a 4-1-4-1. I am not happy with the results so far hopefully things start to get better.

[condors]

Round 10-home vs Man United. We outplay them in the first half outshooting them 5-1 and go in with a 0-0 tie. The second half they are the better side but its still 0-0 in the 83rd minute they get a penalty and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the baby faced assassin hits the back of the net for 1-0 win. Both sides had 6 shots but our inability to score is driving me crazy. Although a 1-0loss to Man United isn't bad espcially when we outplayed them in the first half.

[condors]

After the game i get asked by the media about the contraversy of the penalty. I tell them i may not like it but i can accept the decsion. Also there was a blurb Reading in good display vs Red Devils. This stuff is all well and good but it doesn't mean anything when you are in the drop zone and in need of points.

[condors]

Round 11 is vs Newcastle the press is making a big deal about two struggling sides meeting each other. they are winless in thier last 6 games and are 16th in the table. We are 18th and really need 3 points here.

At halftime its 0-0 but we have the edge in play(this seems familar). Then in the 64th minute Damien Duff chips Hahnemann we are down 1-0. We take the restart and Leroy Lita scores with a nice shot from about 16 yards out and Shay Given has no chance. In the 83rd minute Scott Parker makes it 2-1 for Newcastle. That is how it ends. In a surprise to nobody we outshot and outplayed them but lost 2-1.

The blurb is Magpies struggle to overcome Reading. blah blah blah consider themselves fortunate to come away with a victory.

I think i may have to give our backup goalie a few games and see what happens.

[st.cronin]

I have never had any luck getting a one-forward formation to score enough goals. I think you need a very, very talented forward to make that work. Or else some other combination of talent.

[BYU 14]

Give this tactic a look if you want to move to 2 forward centers condors....once you get the specific pieces needed in place in terms of talent it is really effective.

http://community.sigames.com/eve/for...8612074082/p/3

[condors]

Round 12-Portsmouth who are currently 10th in the table. We have fallen to 19th. Can we get a win at home?

Tried changing things up a bit and went from boring to nailbiting outshot Portsmouth 20-11 had 54% possesion and won 4-3. We got a brace from Kevin Doyle and Lita got another along with Glen Little. I am still not convinced we are getting the best return for our chances but to get a win is a huge step forward.

The newspaper talks about ditching my old 4-1-4-1 tactic and going to a 4-1-3-2. We are still in 19th place 4 points from saftey there is alot of work to be done still.

[condors]

Lita Doyle Convey and Little were named to the team of the week (my first players ever). 2 of my starting 4 defenders get injured Nicky Shorey 2-4 weeks and Pawel Golanski 2-3 months. Not exactly what i had in mind for a new run at getting out of the drop zone.

Round 13-we go to Ewood Park to play Blackburn. They are in 18th but are on a 4 game unbeaten streak. We are in 19th and have a 1 game winning streak going

We didn't dominate but with goals from Gunnarsson(backup defender who got forward for set pieces) Lita and Doyle we ended up eeking out a 3-2 win. We outshot them but they had more possession. James Harper our dmc got man of the match him along with Convey Lita and Doyle are had ratings of 9 for the game. 2 game winning streak who would have thunk it.

[condors]

There is talk of West Ham being taken over. Neil Warnock babbles about how i am under pressure. I just won two games and now if i win this game against you i am out of the drop zone and you are in. I think big bird has lost it.

Round 14- at Sheff Utd
We go into the break with a 1-0 lead. In the 59th minute Gunnarsson is showed a 2nd yellow and we are down to 10 men. Kazim-Richards scores and Kabba get another in the span of 2 minutes. With 10 minutes left i push the men forward and we get an equalizer in the 90th minute from Lita. We played better 11 v 11 but they turned it up a notch 11 v 10. This doesn't get us out of the drop zone. There are only 2 points between 15th and 18th place.

[condors]

Round 15 Aston Villa (at our place on TV)
in the 27th minute Bobby Convey is issued a straight red. Down to 10 men we actually end up with a possesion of 55% although they outshot us 10-7. Our lone goal was scored by Steve Sidwell who has been out of the lineup due to the new tactic. They got goals from Milan Baros and Luke Moore and they played a 4-1-4-1. They are 5th in the table so it not an unexpected result.

I say that i disagreed with the red card and get a warning from the FA. I still disagree with the decsion. The loss sees us back in 19th place as Blackburn got a result but we do have a game in hand (which means squat if you don't win them)

[condors]

Round 16-Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The special one says he is afraid of James Harper i can see a defensive midfielder who has scored 0 goals in 15 starts and has 1 assist could really strike fear in your defense. I think no way Jose you can try to sell it but i am not buying it.

The say Reading faces the impossible and want to know my thoughts on it. I say Chelsea will be up for the game and we need to match them.

Out halftime its 0-0 although Chelsea should have something for their efforts. in the 78th minute some Shevchenko guy gets a goal and it holds up for 1-0 loss for the good guys. They did outshot us 23-9 so i honestly think the scoreline was kind to us.

[condors]

It seems James Harper doesn't like the way i talk to the players and Dave Kitson is dismayed about my lack of support. Well when your form is 6-6-6-6-6 and i am asked and say that Kitson is a professional and knows he can be dropped from the side for playing poorly that should not have you dismayed.

round 17- Arsenal (the underachiving gooners are currently in 8th place)
The manager constant weiner err Arsene Wenger is brilliant at developing talent and no team can look as dangerous coming forward.(although he still is a crybaby). I would love to steal some points here but i think that they will be looking to get some of the lost points back against us.

I am not sure what i am looking at. At the end of 45 minutes we are outshooting them 9-4 and have a 2-1 lead. Stephen Hunt playing for the suspended Convey got a goal and Lita got the other. Rosinski got a goal from a nice through ball from some guy named Henry (shouldn't his last name be on there?). I tell the guys at halftime to not let your performance drop. They don't. Two goals by Kevin Doyle and another from Lita give us a 5-1 lead they pull a couple back late to make it 5-3 we outshot them 19-11 and most of those 11 came after we got a 4 goal lead.

[condors]

Round 18 is against Liverpool they are currently in 5th (Everton and Villa are behind Chelsea and Manutd).

Well all good things come to an end we lose 3-2 outshot 16-10 both our goals came from Lita.

we still sit in 17th place 1 point clear of the drop zone so all isn't lost and we can bounce back from this.

[condors]

Round 19 has us against 15th place Wigan

This is an important game for us if we want to get clear of the drop zone.

Lita opens the scoring with a thru ball from Doyle on a counter attack. Then Sodje heads in a corner for a 2-0 lead at halftime.

In the 79th minute Ingimarsson get a red card so we are down to 10 men then Kitson has to come off injured and we are down to 9 men. We finish the game under pressure but don't conced a goal and get the 2-0 win 9 v 11.

We are still in 17th but only 3 points away from 14th. I really would like to get in the top half of the table by the end of the season.

Soon the transfer window will open we do have 5 million for transfers and 65k in the wage budget.

[condors]

Round 20 is against Tottenham. They are winless in there last 5 games and sit in 10th place on the table. Its the first time i remember being favored in a game all season.

In a back and forth closing contested contest chalk up another win for the good guys. Reading 3 Tottenham 2 50% possesion and 12-10 in shots. For kicks we actually finished the game with 11 guys which was nice.

The win sees us to 15th place. only 23 points behind Manutd with 18 games left (ok maybe we won't catch them).

[condors]

round 21 vs West Ham

we outshot them 13-6 and had 58% possesion but lose 2-1. This was a result we couldn't afford

round 22 vs Man City

its a pretty even contest Man City got more shots we had more possession. We lose 1-0 and this is not what we needed at this point in the season we just battled out of the drop zone.

The board wants us to sign a high profile player. ??? What high profile player is going to go to a team in the drop zone? A bunch of my players have contracts that expire at the end of the season but none of them want to resign right now. They all are afraid of the drop i guess.

I want to sign a right winger with pace crossing and dribbling skills. I going to sit down with my scouts and look at all the players they have scouted. Maybe we can come up with something and if he isn't a high enough profile for the board well then we are who they thought we were. (wonder if an england under 21 player would be high enough profile)

[condors]

FA Cup Round 3 we have Norwich

I have several key players injured 4 defenders and 2 strikers but we should still win right? wrong we are dominated out there and lucky to lose 2-1. I started my backup keeper Graham Stack since he wanted 1st team football. We get a red card For Sam Sodjie and they get 2 penalty kicks. Robert Earnshaw scored on both of them. Bobby Convey did catch them on a break for our only goal.

I put a transfer bid in for Middlesbourgh's James Morrison he would fill the bill on the right hand side for sure. I doubt we will be able to put something together for him though. I offer them our entire transfer budget and our current right winger Glen Little. If the deal falls through i am going to make an offer for Manutd Chris Eagles who is sitting in the reserves doing a whole lot of nothing.

[condors]

round 23 vs Charlton (we are 15th in the table they are 17th we have 22 points they have 21)

Darren Bent goes right thru our defense in the 9th minute (both my starting center backs are out now thanks to Sodjie's red card). In the 21st minute it looks like a replay and Bent gets a brace. In the 30th minute Lita gets one back for us. Halftime i tell them we can win this game. It seemed all for naught but in the 87th minute Lita draw us level! He is playing like a man possed out there he steals a pass and dribbles by the defender and puts it away in the 89th minute for a 3-2 lead! In stoppage time Lita adds a 4th goal. I am so glad nobody wanted him when i tried to sell him to raise funds earlier in the season.

We do make an addition Morrison and Eagles have no interest in playing at Reading but we get England under 21 defender James McEveely from Blackburn for 1.7 million. Since Shorey seems to have no interest in resigning with me i am hoping this kid can fit the bill. We also put in an offer for Nottingham Forests right winger James Cunningworth

[condors]

we get James Cullingworth for 40k he goes straight to the reserves hopefully he can get a little better before next season

Round 24 we got 20th place Watford should be 3 points right...
we are winning 2-1 goals from Harper and Lita in the 77th minute when Marlon King gets his head on a cross to tie it up then Barry Robson who scored his first goal of the season earlier in the game gets his 2nd. Where is my gun? We lose 3-2 we had the edge in possesion and shots. Its games like this remind me why i drink alot.

[condors]

round 25 vs Middlesbrough we outplayed them but the game ended 1-1. Kevin Doyle got our goal.

Since my transfer targets don't seem to want to play here i get a couple more 17 year old striker Dax Hoogerwerf from Everton and Lee Holland 17 year old Portsmouth keeper. My scouts seem to like these guys

[condors]

round 26 vs Fulham
We played the game beatifully in a 3-1 win for the good guys. Our 59% possion and outshooting them 23-3 was our best effort i have seen. It was also nice 2 of our young kids gots goals coming off the bench Cullingworth and Hoogerwerf. Hopefully they have very bright futures at the club.

round 27 vs Everton
This game was kinda a snoozefest which is dissapointing after our display last fixture. We come away with a 1-0 win but there was a total of 5 shots on goal for both team combined (we had 3)

round 28 vs Bolton
Just when i think we got it all worked out we get completely outplayed, outshot 15-5 (i think 4 of those shots came in injury time) we hardly saw the ball and i am disheartened by 2 games in a row where we didn't apply pressure to the opposing defense.

round 29 vs Arsenal (4th in the table Arsenal)
With the way we played our last 2 games i was not looking forward to this fixture. We were under pressure early but they didn't have anything to show for it when Sam Sodje got on the end of a corner to give us a 1-0 lead at halftime. The 2nd half i told them to go out and win this game and they were charged up Doyle and Ki-Hyeon gave us a 3-0 win probally our most impressive win of the season. Arsenal probally should have had more to show for there effort but Graham Stack just wasn't letting anything by him.

[condors]

I don't have a good read on my team. I have tweaked my tactics in the last 4 games and in 2 of them i got what i expected in 2 others we looked out of sorts. I hope i can get a consistant effort from the team going forward.

Sir Alex Ferguson said Mark Hughes is a master magician and will make Blackburn disapear from the English Premier League. (i got a chuckle out of that). Nicholas Anelka from Bolton and Luis Boa Morte from Fulham have both turned in transfer requests to move to bigger clubs. I would love to bring them both to Reading but i don't think Reading is the bigger club they have in mind.

I was able to extend Graham Stack contract but it looks like i am going to lose up to 14 players in the offseason. Steve Sidwell, Nickey Shorey, and Ivar Ingimarsson are 3 that i really would like to keep.Glenn Little and Marcus Hahnemann are 2 who are in the starting 11 but i feel i can cover for them. In any regard it should make for an intersting off season.

[condors]

Round 30 vs Manutd
Well since we beat Arsenal 3-0 we can beat 1st place Manutd right? wrong Rooney has a hattrick inside 20 minutes and the game ends 4-1. We were outplayed in every area of the pitch today and i am very upset with the seemingly inconsistant play of the team.

with 8 games to go we are 10 pts clear of the drop zone but we are also 15 points out of 6th place. There are alot of teams bunched up and i really would like to have a very strong finish to the season which may help me bring back some of my players with expiring contracts(at least i hope it will).

[condors]

Round 31 vs Newcastle its a fairly even game and we draw 1-1

round 32 vs Portsmouth we are lucky to get a 1-1 draw out of this (they have some strikers with poor finishing 3 guys that played highest had a 12)

round 33 vs Blackburn lucky its one of those good efforts from the boys and we win 4-2 and it could have been more.

round 34 vs Sheff Utd we out shot them 9-4 and had 59% possesion but end up with a 0-0 draw. I am not too unhappy since we just did the same to Portsmouth.

I was able to get 2 more players to extend their stay. Ivar Ingimarsson and Nicky Shorey will stay together in the back 4 with Rosenior and Sodje. I also have a little depth as Pawel Golanski is rotating around not sure who the best 4 are at this point. Sidwell is the only player that i really am going to try to keep around of the remain guys. Losing him would be a blow.

I extend Leroy Lita's contract he becomes our highest paid player at 48k a week. I have him Turtoring Dax Hoogerworf. I also set up Kevin Doyle to tutor Viktor Illgusason. Hopefully it will help those 2 young strikers blossom into first team players.

[condors]

Round 35 vs Aston Villa

We need 4 points in the last 4 games to secure our status in the top flight. I take a look at our young keeper Lee Holland who i bought earlier for 500k. He actually is looking very good. I decide to give him a run in the first team to see if the 17 year old handles it. I am still undecided who my keeper will be next season but it looks like its between Holland or Stack unless i go out and get someone else. I also have 18 year old Alex McCarthy but he looks to be 3rd choice at this point.

We just don't have it today and we are outplayed and lose 2-0. Watford is now officically going down. We are not safe yet even though we are in 13th with 3 games to go. Manutd have the top spot locked up but 2nd is up for grabs Chelsea has 62 points while Liverpool and Arsenal both have 61 also West Ham has 61 and Aston Villa is in 6th with 57.

[condors]

round 36 vs Chelsea

ummm they are good and outplay us and win 2-0. I do notice that shaun wright-phillips is transfer listed they want 10.75 million for him we have 5 million in the budget i offer it to them. He would be a nice replacement for Sidwell. He is a true right winger something that we are lacking (well we have several right wingers its just all of them lack any quality)

round 37 Liverpool
well are safe from relagation but i would like to get some points and at least stay in 13th postion. (although i wanted to move up). We hold out for a draw but i think Liverpool will feel they earned 3 points here.

There are 3 teams that could be joining Watford in the Championship divison next season. One of those teams is our round 38 oppenent Wigan.

it ends up 1-1 for a draw and Wigan avoid the drop. Sheff Utd and Charlton both don't.

Not sure if the board will let this deal go thru but Chelsea offered 1.8 million up front then 8 million over the next 24 months, I accepted it, offered Shaun Wright Phillips a contract he accepted it. so now we just wait and see what happens.

[condors]

we finished 14th not exactly what i had in mind but at least we avoided the drop.

In the offseason we lost Steve Sidwell and Bobby Convey (Sidwell for nothing and Convey who wanted to move to a bigger club for 10.25 million) Kevin Doyle also wanted to leave but nobody seemed to want him and now he seems happy for the time being anyway.

I did bring in 4 players. 25 year old right winger Shaun Wright-Philips. He may have been. He cost 9.75 million and is our record transfer. He played in 2 games for Chelsea last season had 1 assist. I hope he can help on the right side where we never found someone to play on a consistant basis.

Our next purchase was 2 million on 19 year old left winger Michael Barnes from Manchester United. He is a drop off from Convey but will compete for a spot in the lineup.

We also spent 2.7 million on Ritchie Jones 20 year old central midfielder from Manchester United. I really like the looks of this kid and think he can make the loss of Sidwell mininal.

We spent 4.4 million on former Arsenal striker 24 year old Jermaine Aliadere. He was bought when Doyle wanted to leave. Now Doyle wants to stay if all 5 of my strikers are healthy there are going to be some upset players. (i am trying to sell Kitson not sure anyone will be interested)

We also brought in 28 year old Jurias Laziens a defensive midfielder on free transfer he gives us some needed cover.

We also brought in 26 year old Robert Koren who is an attacking central midfielder. This guy may be the best fit for my tactic

I wish we could have kept Convey, Sidwell then added Shaun Wright-Philips with Harper Lita and Doyle that would make us tough to beat when everyone is fit.

[condors]

i will go over the roster but we had our 1st game and i wanted to report on it before i forget the details.

We open the season against Fulham to be honest when i look at our lineup it looks better then it did last season. We dominated the game outshot them 16-6 and came away with a 3-0 (2 goals by Lita 1 from Doyle) win that was never in any doubt. Hopefully we can continue to play like this.

Before the season the media was going on about going down (seems we were picked to go down by "experts") I tell them the squad shouldn't have any thoughts of going down.

[condors]

Keepers:
we have 3 guys
Lee Holland-17 year old i bought from Walsall for 500k last season. He probally could use a little more seasoning on loan but i gave him some games last season and he did ok and even got a mom performance in the preseason and i gave him the #1 shirt.

Grahman Stack 25 year old I think he makes a great backup. He probally thinks he should be starting but his squad status is a backup but i will get him some games here and there and hope he stays happy as we like him and not 100% sure Holland is ready to be the guy yet.

Alex McCarthy 18 year old keeper got him from Wycomb not sure what my scout saw in this kid. As it stands right now he doesn't look to have the ability to compete at this level hopefully he will improve starting in the reserve team matches.

I also 2 16 year olds on the under 18 squad as of now neither looks special to me.

Defenders
on the left side is 26 year old Nickey Shorey. He is what i want in a fullback fast good marker tackling always in postion. Some teams were putting in bids for him but he seemed to want to stay. When half of starters were wanting to move to a bigger club i am glad i had someone loyal to our club. I have grown partial to Nickey.

on the right side is Liam Rosenior 23 year old i picked up due to Sonko wanting to move on. He is a similar player to Nickey and makes a nice fullback what is nice he can play either on the right or left.

Sam Sodjie has been a rock for us in the center the 28 year old he is what you would call a focused skill set but that skill set is what you want in a central defender.

Ivar Ingmarsson 30 year old central defender and now team captin. I owe him an apology. I didn't really rate him. He trained hard and played well. He looks better than he did last year before the season started. Had a very nice year for us and i was glad to bring him back.

Pawel Golanski-He was supposed to be the starter. He actually played very well for us when he was in the lineup. He is the 1st guy in no matter who gets hurt we can roate guys around and he can step in.

James McEveley 22 year old defender who can play left or center would be next on the depth chart. There is a little drop off to him but he looks good enough.

after james its ugly there are 2 young central defenders on the reserve team who look completely unprepared for first team action. We have 2 wingers who could play fullback but i look at them as midfielders. We have defenders on the youth team but none of them look that promising yet either.

The Midfield:
James Harper-who was voted player of the year is our anchor as our holding midfielder he is not a natural or he has a bit of a different skill set of a typical defensive mifielder he is lighting quick and a great passer. He was only fit for 29 games last season but was our highest rated player. He is also tutoring Ted Day who is a natural ball winner but needs help with the rest of his game.

Kristopher Haested is the new man on the left side Manutd have made a couple of approaches for the 23 year old and he has a release clause that manutd haven't reached yet. I did offer him a contract without the clause and he didn't take it so he may be here for a limited time only.

Sean Wright-Philips is on the right and we expect big things from him

in the center this was a tough choice to pick the guy after alot of thought i moved Richie Jones into the reserve team and go with Robert Koren over Chris Sedgwick. Jones may be back sooner than later if any injuries or bad play comes about.

We have Lazians to be a defensive midfielder (i think he could start for us and we would be fine and will rotate in here and there to keep fit)

we also have Seol Ki-Hyeon who was dissapointing last season. I expected more from him but he never showed it. Luckily for him he can play in the middle on the left and on the right so he makes a verstile backup and i will keep him around for that but if anyone was insterested in buying him i will pack his bags and wish him luck.

the reserves midfielders are interesting
19 year old Scott Golborne left sided fullback and winger. 230k i bought from Bristol City, he looks like he is a player for the future. Gave him some games off the bench and wasn't bad.

19 year old James Cullingworth i bought him for 40k last season. Played in 5 games last season and scored 2 goals. I am excited about this kid he plays with aggression bravery and determination and seems to make things happen when he is out there.

18 year old Ted Day is our possible defensive midfielder of the future but i am not sold on him yet.

Ritchie Jones who we just bought from Manutd could play on the 1st team right now but there just isn't a place for him yet.

I have 4 guys for central midfields none of them look anything special yet a couple of right sided wingers and a couple of left sided wingers. I think i need to trim the fat here. I have like 20 midfielders on my reserve team.

My strikers are set with Lita and Doyle. Alladerice gives us a nice #3 guy with Long i think he could help out as the #4 and i am hoping someone will take Kitson off my hands. My 2 reserve team strikers actually look kinda good 18 year old Dax Hoogerwerf and 17 year old Victor Illugason who actually has 4 caps for Iceland and a goal for his country. He is described as a promising striker and i think a bigger team may come for him.
In the youth team my staff think the world of 16 year old Matt Cassidy. He looks like he may be a player but he has a ways to go we shall see.