FM – From Semi-Pro Minnows to Champions League Glory: Dover Athletic FC

[NoSkillz]

Dover Fans' Player of the Year

-- An inspired choice here, as stalwart defender Claudio Contreras is named as the fan’s choice for Player of the Year! Contreras was sensational, scoring 12 goals in only 40 appearances and notching 5 assists as well. He is one of the top defenders in all of football and is only 23 years old.



Dover Best Eleven for 2025-26

-- As usual, there are a couple of major surprises here but that’s what happens when average rating seems to trump games played or other stats:

GK - Chris Davies - 16 apps 0g 7.03 avg
DL - Rafinha - 31 apps 1g 7.35 avg
DC - Claudio Contreras - 40 apps 12g 7.76 avg
DC - Mwemere Mutesa - 34 apps 7g 7.52 avg
DR - Salim Loucif - 44 apps 0g 7.22 avg
MC - Neil Cairney - 39 apps 8g 7.35 avg
MC - Benedikt Raab - 47 apps 8g 7.60 avg
ML - Mads Pedersen - 29 apps 6g 7.44 avg
MR - Sergio De la Vega - 28 apps 8g 7.29 avg
ST - Manuel Lugo - 18 apps 8g 7.58 avg
ST - Paul Moses - 34 apps 34g 7.87 avg

Other notables: GK Ingo Wilke 43 apps 0g 7.02; DC Adrian Torres 17 apps 3g 7.45; DL Renato Gaucho 40 apps 2g 7.33; ML Arsene Bamba 31 apps 7g 7.28; MR Gianluca Bolis 35 apps 8g 7.28; ST Chiquinho 44 apps 25g 7.50; ST Andy Broomes 26 apps 17g 7.50

Davies and Lugo both qualify as surprises, as they were never first choice players at anytime during the season. Rayane Hamon and Jose are conspicuous by their absence.

Let's take a look at our overall Best Eleven since I took over management of the franchise:

Dover Best Eleven - Overall

GK - Ingo Wilke - 407 apps 0g 7.03 avg
DL - Renato Gaucho - 285 apps 7g 7.17 avg
DC - Claudio Contreras - 235 apps 32g 7.25 avg
DC - Rayane Hamon - 227 apps 20g 7.20 avg
DR - Salim Loucif - 265 apps 1g 7.17 avg
ML - Arsene Bamba - 313 apps 63g 7.28 avg
MC - Neil Cairney - 223 apps 40g 7.28 avg
MC - Andrea Rocca - 284 apps 46g 7.24 avg
MR - Gianluca Bolis - 234 apps 50g 7.15 avg
ST - Chiquinho - 183 apps 107 g 7.39 avg
ST - Paul Moses - 163 apps 130g 7.67 avg

Contreras, Bolis and Moses all get added to the team for the first time, as the team starts to look remarkably similar to our current squad.

Substitutes:
GK - Liam O'Brien - 219 apps 0g 6.84 avg
DC - Oliver Nicholas - 316 apps 28g 7.14 avg
DC - Olly Schulz - 120 apps 18g 7.32 avg
MR - Abdeltarek Sakali - 176 apps 50g 7.14 avg
ST - Ben Hunt - 156 apps 70g 7.12 avg
ST - Zoltan Bardi - 307 apps 98g 7.09 avg
ST - Aaron Greene - 141 apps 65g 7.18 avg

Striker Alexander Rattke falls off the list.


2025-26 Barclays Premier League Fixture List Announced

-- We’ll open the Premier League season on the road versus our FA Cup semifinalists Liverpool. Our first home match will be against Newcastle United. Our traditional Boxing Day fixture sees us host Birmingham City, who happen to also be our final regular season opponent.

-- As usual, we are given £40,000,000 spread over 12 months for Premier League television rights.



Start of Season Expectations

-- The board’s minimum expectation is that we qualify for Europe again. Once again, I go higher, saying we’ll challenge for the Premier League title. For that they'll offer the following:

2026/27 TRANSFER BUDGET - £49,000,000 (Last Year: £37,000,000)
2026/27 WAGE BUDGET - £1,400,000 (Last Year: £1,300,000/week)

A healthy transfer budget and a slight increase to our wage budget. We have very few holes in our lineup and will look for superstar players or top prospect youngsters as a means of spending our budget.



Community Shield

-- We once again get to play in the Community Shield, this time due to our Premier League championship, facing FA Cup winners Manchester City on August 9th.



Youth Intake - U18 Club

-- We announce a new intake of players and yet again, we get nothing of note, as we continue to look for our first ever home-produced prospect.



International Duty

-- Salim Loucif captains Algeria in a 1-0 loss to Italy but Algeria are able to still advance out of their group over Italy on goal differential.

[NoSkillz]

Attendance Record Broken

-- Another year, another attendance record broken, with our average of 22,652 breaking last year’s record of 22,469. As said many times, we could definitely use a new stadium but my owner won’t budge.



Barclays Premier League Odds for 2026-27

-- Manchester City are once again made favourites to take home the Premier League title with 7-4 odds given by Bwin. For a third consecutive year, Tottenham are the second choice at 5-2, United is third at 5-1 and we are expected to finish fourth with odds of 6-1, the best odds we’ve ever been given. The other top teams are Liverpool at 16-1 and Chelsea at 20-1.



World Cup Update

-- Renato Gaucho earns his third career cap for Spain in a 4-0 win over Uzbekistan but Spain is eliminated from the competition after finishing 3rd in their group. Argentina moves on and both Rodolfo Lopez and Claudio Contreras take part in their 1-0 win over Canada. Salim Loucif captains Algeria to a shock 1-0 win over Jose and Brazil.



Loaned Players Return

-- Our loaned out players all return to Dover, including Felix Hernandez, Emerson and Alberto Velazquez. Hernandez and Emerson may be loaned out again while I’ll look to sell Velazquez, who has been surpassed by many others on our striker depth chart.

[NoSkillz]

So, I'm still alive!

And so is this dynasty

While I've been dormant here for over six months, I've continued managing my Dover Athletic squad and have finished off two more seasons.

We've obviously been pretty successful over my run as manager and I didn't know if there was really anything interesting left for me to accomplish or at the very least, anything that would be interesting to write about.

However, there have been some interesting developments lately with this dynasty and I think it's worth recapping here.

While I won't be doing my lengthy game-by-game writeups any longer, I *will* plan on doing something similar to the first eight or so years of recaps that you've seen on page one of this dynasty, where I essentially breakdown each season in 3-5 posts.

It will provide some quick and hopefully interesting reading on the developments at Dover Athletic as I get a bit closer to retirement within the game.

Hope some of you are still interested and if so, thanks for sticking with me!

[NoSkillz]

2026-27 Season Recap -


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




The biggest change here is seeing my domestic player bias percentage down to a paltry 5%, as we’ve definitely gone with a very international flavour here at Dover.



We’ve seen our training facilities get upgraded constantly to the point where we now are rated at the “top”. Pretty cool. Our youth facilities continue to improve, moving up to “Average” from “Adequate” since last year. Our youth recruitment is also up to “Established” from “Above Average” despite never finding a true Premier League quality player through our academy.

With further stadium expansion not an option, I’ve tried unsuccessfully to get our board to build a new stadium for a couple years in a row. We are bursting at the seams, with constant sell-outs and we need more seats if we’re to keep growing.



We see a slight bump in ticket prices and our season ticket base continues to grow exponentially, up to over 9500 from ~8400 last year. Our team value has also shot up considerably to £174,000,000, which places us 6th in England.

For a third consecutive season, the media predict a fourth place finish and I stay aggressive as usual, saying we’ll battle for the division title. For that outlook, I'm granted the following in wage and transfer budgets:

2026/27 TRANSFER BUDGET - £49,000,000
2026/27 WAGE BUDGET - £1,400,000/week

A nice bump in our transfer budget this year and our wage budget also increases nicely.

[Alf]

yay, more Dover !!!

[britrock88]

I've beaten Dover in the CS playoffs with Dartford each of the past two seasons... only to lose each playoff final by 1... (and don't get me started about blowing a 1-point lead on the last matchday this season...)

[britrock88]

Sorry. Back to your excellent dynasty!

[NoSkillz]

Thanks for sticking with me guys!!

I hope you will enjoy the shorter format.

[NoSkillz]

2026/27 Preseason: Roster Status


U18 Graduates


DC - Andrew Hunter (2.0 potential)
DC - Luis Miguel Garcia (3.0 potential)
MC - Juan Jose Culebras (3.5 potential)
ST - Fernando Estrada (4.0 potential)
ST - Bakary Kone (4.0 potential)


GK - Our goalkeeping was much stronger last year than I could imagine, with 32 year old Ingo Wilke continuing to play at a high level in a workhorse role. We added young English international Chris Davies and he played just as well in limited action. He’ll likely get more starts this season as Wilke will be in tough to play that many games again at his age. Philippe Jung is our third-stringer but won’t amount to much here. I may look to see if there is a market to move him.

D - We continue to showcase incredible continuity on the backend, with main starters Salim Loucif (our captain), Renato Gaucho, Claudio Contreras and Rayane Hamon all back for their sixth year in a row as starters together. That said, we are aging in spots, with Loucif and Hamon getting close to the point where they’ll lose effectiveness. Mwemere Mutesa will certainly challenge Hamon for a starting DC role while last year’s big fullback pickup Rodolfo Lopez will try to get more playing time as well. Adrian Torres will provide excellent depth in the centre of the park and we have a couple of good looking youngsters coming up as well.

M - Midfield has always been a strength of the team and this year is no different, with the sensational Benedikt Raab working alongside 26 year old Neil Cairney and 28 year old Jose in the middle. We got 16 goals from our right midfielders last year (Gianluca Bolis and newcomer Sergio De la Vega) and 13 from our left midfielders (veteran Arsene Bamba and youngster Mads Pedersen). We could perhaps add some depth pieces on the wings but again, I do have some youngsters ready to graduate from our excellent U18 program so we could go that route instead.

F - Our strikers were once again sensational last year, with Paul Moses and Chiquinho combining for 59 goals but we got great contributions as well from Andy Broomes (17 goals in 13 starts) and Manuel Lugo (8 goals in 12 starts), showing the incredible depth we have at the position. Lugo finally started to show why we paid such a huge transfer fee to come here but it will be very interesting to see if he can bounce back from the brutal broken leg he suffered that has kept him sidelined for close to six months. We also have old reliable Zoltan Bardi still around but we may move him soon, as we have a couple of incredible prospects graduating from our U18 program in Fernando Estrada and Bakary Kone.

It’s an interesting time at our club, with key players like Ingo Wilke (33 this year), captain Salim Loucif (28), Rayane Hamon (29), Arsene Bamba (30), Gianluca Bolis (28), Jose (29), Chiquinho (31) and Zoltan Bardi (29) all moving through their prime. They are all still very effective players but we’ll soon have to begin transitioning away from those veterans and bringing in younger talent to replace them. Some of that will begin this year, I’m sure.

There are no real goals in the transfer window, other than to keep looking out for the best young talent in the game.

[NoSkillz]

July 2026- Transfer Window


Transfers OUT

ST - Alberto Velazquez - Valencia - £5,250,000
MC - Paolo Secchi - Birmingham - £4,200,000
DL - Ralf Kramer - Sampdoria - £4,000,000

A pretty quiet transfer window by our standards as far as players moving out. Velazquez is a 20 year old striker prospect who we picked up from Mexican side Pumas in 2024 for a bargain price of £325,000. He dominated with our U18 team that first year and even got into a pair of games for our senior team, including a substitute appearance in a Champions League game. We loaned him out to Werder Bremen last year but he only made 8 appearances for their club as a depth piece. Valencia made us a very fair offer well above his value and we took it, as he would be in tough to make an impression here. He leaves Dover after 2 years and 2 scoreless appearances with our senior team.

I mentioned a bit earlier that Paolo Secchi was looking for more starts so we moved him just before July to Birmingham in a £4,200,000 deal. We picked up Secchi on a free from Barcelona, where he starred for their 2nd Division team FC Barcelona Atletic. We weren’t able to get him a lot of playing time in that first year so we loaned him to Fiorentina in Italy, where he featured prominently. He was back with us last year but again, he was always a fourth or fifth choice and was never destined to unseat any of our incumbents. He leaves Dover having made 15 senior team appearances (2 starts), contributing two assists.

Lastly, we move out third string left fullback Ralf Kramer to Sampdoria for £4,000,000, a nice profit after bringing him in for only £1,300,000 the year before from Koln in Germany. Kramer featured for our dominant U18 club but also played one scoreless league game for the senior team, where he acquitted himself well. He is a decent prospect but is blocked by both Renato Gaucho and Wonderkid Rafinha so he was definitely expendable.


LOAN OUT


MC - Juan Jose Culebras - Wolves - Free
DC - Andrew Hunter - Brighton - Free
ST - Bakary Kone - Almeria - Free
DR - Emerson - Koln - Free
DC - Adam Betts - Millwall - Free

Pretty much all youngsters here, with Kone, Emerson and Culebras all having significant potential. This is the second year in a row we’re sending Emerson away on loan, as he’s currently blocked here by Salim Loucif and Rodolfo Lopez.


RELEASED PLAYERS


GK - Ross Peake
DC - Danny Hope
DC - Domenico Fracassetti
MR - Giuseppe Forti
ML - Cheikh Gueye
ST - Neil Evans

Not much to see here, as most of these players were just U18 contributors that weren’t ready to contribute at the next level. Danny Hope did get one senior team substitute appearance in for us last year and scored on a header, a nice moment for him. Cheikh Gueye started in one of our League Cup games last year while Giuseppe Forti made one substitute appearance for the senior team as well. Neither of them got on the scoresheet in their single game with the top club. We wish them all the best.

[NoSkillz]

July 2026 - Transfer Window


Transfers IN - Senior Team


DC - Renato Silverio - £6,250,000 (From Partizan) - 21 years old, Brazil
MR - Roberto Terlizzi - £3,000,000 (From Sampdoria) - 19 years old, Italy


We are pretty content overall with our main roster so I only bring in two depth additions, with Renato Silverio being the most interesting. The 6’ 4” monster has great potential (3.5 stars) and can easily step into a major backup role right away and perhaps a main starting role in the near future. He’s got more skill than fellow centre halfback Adrian Torres and I’m excited to see what he can do.

Roberto Terlizzi has limited potential (1.5/3.0) but has the requisite speed I desire from wingers and will be a third choice right midfielder.


Transfers IN - U18 Team


ST - Josh Fairclough - £9,500,000 (From Reading) - 16 years old, England
MC/MR - Borja - £8,000,000 (From Valencia) - 17 years old, Spain
DC - Omar Valle - £2,900,000 (From AS Saint-Etienne) - 15 years old, Spain
DR - Gary Richards - £1,700,000 (From Liverpool) - 16 years old, England
GK - Ian Martin - £1,700,000 (From Arsenal) - 16 years old, England
DC - Emmanuel Gonzalez - £1,400,000 (From Independiente) - 17 years old, Argentina
MC - Aythami - £1,200,000 (From Espanyol) - 16 years old, Spain

DC - Siaka Dargani - Free - 18 years old, Burkina Faso
MR - Chris Jones - Free - 18 years old, Wales
MC - Dale Swan - Free - 18 years old, England
GK - Joelson Gerard - Free - 18 years old, Madagascar


I spend the majority of my transfer budget on some great prospects. Josh Fairclough, dubbed “the new Michael Owen”, is a 4.0 star potential forward and like Marcus Sowter from last year, the best English striker prospect on the market. I can never get enough of them! Fairclough has incredible speed and I’ll let him develop this year with our U18s.

Midfielder Borja is quite a talent, already at 2.0/4.0 and he’ll be someone to watch going forward.

Omar Valle, Gary Richards, Ian Martin, Emmanuel Gonzalez and Aythami all have 3.5 star potential and were well worth their transfer fees. They will play with our U18s as well.

The remaining four players we picked up on free transfers are depth acquisitions for our U18 club, with potentials ranging from 1.0 stars to 2.5 stars. None will likely make much of an impact for us down the road.



Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins


Coming off the greatest individual season in Barclays Premier League history, where we won 33 of 38 games, losing only one and setting records in points (103) and goals for (119), there’s really nowhere to go but down.

Our team is exceptionally strong across the board but I’m very mindful of the fact that we’re aging and will soon need to start overhauling our roster.

Salim Loucif once again would be counted on to provide leadership and as such, maintains the captain’s armband for another year. Chiquinho is our vice-captain.

We dominate our pre-season games, winning seven and drawing one (against AS Monaco in their stadium).

We’d actually lose just prior to the start of the Premier League campaign, losing on penalties to Manchester City in the Community Shield but we outplayed them for the majority of that contest and still had plenty of confidence heading into our season opener, an away contest against Liverpool.

We’ll continue to go with a flat 4-4-2 with a control mentality for most of our games, sprinkling in the odd 4-2-3-1 formation along the way.

We are healthy as we head into the main part of the schedule and there are a couple of players who have muscled their way into our plans as starters as we being the campaign. Mwemere Mutesa was very strong last year splitting time with Rayane Hamon and will take over as our main starter alongside Claudio Contreras this year. Also, former Wonderkid Neil Cairney has overtaken Jose as a starter in midfield alongside Benedikt Raab. Jose came to camp out of shape once again but will still be our main man off the bench at midfield.

Here is our starting lineup for game one of the 2026-27 season, where we look to defend our Premier League title:

GK - Ingo Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho - Claudio Contreras - Mwemere Mutesa - Salim Loucif
M -Arsene Bamba - Neil Cairney - Benedikt Raab - Gianluca Bolis
ST - Paul Moses - Chiquinho

[NoSkillz]

2026/27 Barclays Premier League - First Half Results


We’d get goals from Mwemere Mutesa, Benedikt Raab and Gianluca Bolis in a 3-2 season-opening victory at Liverpool Stadium over the Reds, quickly quieting critics worried after our loss in the Community Shield the week before.

After a 7-0-0 start, we’d be held to a 2-2 draw by Wolves at Crabble Athletic Ground but would win six more in a row before finally losing our first game of the year, dropping a 1-0 decision away against Middlesbrough. We’d win four more games in a row to hit the half way break with a scintillating 17-1-1 record.

Our goal scoring was down a bit but still more than acceptable (49 through 19 games) and we only allowed 14. Paul Moses missed close to a month with a twisted ankle but his strike partner Chiquinho continued to put up goals at an incredible rate for a 30 year old.


January 2027 - Transfer Window


With us playing so well, there wasn’t much we needed to do in the transfer window. However, our great talent continued to be a target for some of the top clubs in the game and we knew we’d need to fend many of them off to keep our players happy and content at Dover.


Transfers OUT


DL - Rafinha - £17,500,000 - Real Madrid

Ooh, this one hurts! Rafinha wasn’t playing much for us despite being a Wonderkid and getting £17+ million pounds for a backup was too good to turn down. We purchased Rafinha from Omonoia in Cyprus for £4.3 million back in 2023 and he played three and a half years with our team, never fully breaking into our starting eleven despite his great talent. He was always blocked by Renato Gaucho, whose towering height always was the big difference between the two Brazilians. Rafinha played 113 games for our squad, making only 29 starts. He’d score one goal and add 14 assists in those 113 games and we wish him well at Real Madrid, one of the powerhouse clubs in the world. We’ll be watching with great interest.


Loans OUT


DC - Luis Miguel Garcia - £250,000 Loan Fee - St. Gallen

Easy decision here, as St. Gallen comes calling with £250k for a depth centre halfback and we accept. Garcia is only 19 years old and could use the playing time with their senior team.


Transfers IN


DL - Daniel Diaz - £3,200,000 (from Valencia) - 24 years old, Argentina

This move was necessary after moving out Rafinha, as we needed cover at left fullback. Daniel Diaz is a middling talent (2.0/2.5) and is a bit slower than I’d like but as a temporary solution, he’ll be fine. He seems to produce at a much higher level than his scouted rankings, a good omen for us. I worked on getting a better talent but it’s tough sledding during the January transfer window and prices are sky-high. Needless to say, I was second guessing myself quite a bit on the Rafinha transfer…

Hopefully we can keep up our incredible pace as we move forward into the second half of our schedule…

[NoSkillz]

2026/27 Barclays Premier League - Second Half Results


The second half of our season started with us pasting Liverpool to the tune of 5-0 at Crabble Athletic Ground, with Chiquinho notching a hat trick and backup striker Andy Broomes putting up a brace.

We’d lose our second game of the year to Spurs 2-1 in a shocker on our pitch but would go on a 9-0-0 run to distance ourselves from our competition. We’d get held 1-1 by Arsenal on April 3rd but by then, the division was essentially ours.

We were playing for history in that last month and we’d finish things off in style, winning our last six games, including a 3-1 finale at St. Andrews over Birmingham to finish with a superb 34-2-2 record, setting a new Premier League record for points with 104 to beat our record from last year by a single point.

We were once again Champions!

DOVER WINS THE 2026/27 BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP!





Barclays Premier League 2026-27 League Awards


- Top Goalscorer: Yaya Sanogo, Manchester United - 25
- Most Assists: Jonathan Bottone, Manchester City - 19
- Highest Average Rating: Paul Moses, Dover - 7.52 (28 apps)
- Most Man of Match Awards: Yaya Sanogo, Manchester United - 9
- English Footballer of the Year: Mario Brito, Manchester City - 31 apps 9 gls 17 asts 7.43 avg
- English Players' Player of the Year: Neil Cairney, Dover - 31 apps 8 gls 10 asts 7.41 avg
- English Players' Young Player of the Year: Rogerio, Manchester United - 33 apps 7 gls 9 asts 7.28 avg
- Manager of the Year: NoSkillz, Dover

Sanogo continues to produce at an exceptionally high level into his 30s and his 25 goals are one more than our very own Chiquinho. Brito wins English Footballer of the Year while Paul Moses and Benedikt Raab finish second and third respectively.

A huge honour comes in for Neil Cairney, as he reclaimed his starting role at midfield and wins the coveted Players’ Player of the Year award. Chiquinho finished second.

Rogerio wins the Players’ Young Player of the Year award and DC Mwemere Mutesa finishes second.

And finally, I’m able to secure my third Premier League Manager of the Year award for our record breaking campaign.


Barclays Premier League 2026-27 Players' Team of the Year


GK - Manuel Perez, Manchester United
DL - Victor Talavera, Manchester City
DC - Salah Abbes, Manchester City
DC - Mwemere Mutesa, Dover
DR - Capitao, Manchester City
ML - Gontzal Uranga, Manchester City
MC - Neil Cairney, Dover
MC - Mario Brito, Manchester City
MR - Jonathan Bottone, Manchester City
ST - Yaya Sanogo, Manchester United
ST - Paul Moses, Dover

All Dover, United and City here. Great years from Mutesa, Cairney and Moses get them on this coveted list while Chiquinho and Benedikt Raab get honoured with substitute positions on the team.

As indicated, we’d set a new Premier League record with our 104 points.

We scored 95 goals in 2026-27, which was way down from the previous year when we scored an incredible 119 goals. But we only gave up 24 goals, easily our best mark defensively.

Just a superb domestic campaign!

[NoSkillz]

Cup Competitions 2026-27


Community Shield


As indicated previously, we’d battle Manchester City to a 1-1 draw through extra time in the Community Shield, with the game moving onto penalties. Each team would score with their first three shooters but a miss from Emmerson Harvey would cost us and ultimately, we’d lose 5-3 on penalties in front of 89,039 at Wembley.

Manchester City 1 - 1 Dover (Manchester City win 5-3 on penalties)


League Cup


We were defending champions of the League Cup and actually winners of three of the last four competitions. We had a tough draw this year, facing all Premier League squads. We’d defeat Birmingham at St. Andrews and oust Arsenal at home in a tough 1-0 contest before falling at home in surprising fashion to Tottenham 2-1 in the quarter finals.

The League Cup isn’t considered important by our board and as such, we went with almost all backups throughout the competition.

3rd Round: Birmingham 1 - 3 Dover
4th Round: Dover 1 - 0 Arsenal
Quarter Final: Dover 1 - 2 Tottenham


F.A. Cup


We concentrate much more on the FA Cup and were hoping to win for the second time in three years. Once again, like the League Cup, we’d draw Birmingham in round one and would squash them before drawing Nottingham Forest, a perennial Championship side, in the fourth round. We’d head to The City Ground and win 4-0 over the minnows to move into a 5th Round matchup against rivals Arsenal. There, we’d blow a late lead at the Emirates, giving up a goal in the 83rd minute then a tying penalty to former Dover loanee George MacKenzie in a thrilling 4-4 draw. In the replay at home, we’d once again blow a lead and ultimately end up losing 3-2 to bow out of the competition earlier than expected.

3rd Round: Birmingham 0 - 4 Dover
4th Round: Nottingham Forest 0 - 4 Dover
5th Round: Arsenal 4 - 4 Dover
5th Round Replay: Dover 2 - 3 Arsenal


Champions League


We arguably had our toughest draw ever in Champions League Group play, with us in a pod with Schalke, Fiorentina and minnow APOEL Nicosia. The Cyprus side was roadkill, of course, but we’d be in very tough against two other powerhouses.

Thankfully, an early road win over APOEL put us in good shape to start and after a scoreless draw at home against Schalke and then a resounding 4-1 home win over Fiorentina, we controlled our own destiny. We’d draw the return leg against the Italian side and knew a win over APOEL at home would put us through and indeed, even with a squad loaded with backups, we’d prevail 2-0 to guarantee our spot in the knockout stage.

We’d get a horrific draw in the first knockout stage, drawing 2025 Champions League winners Olympique Lyonnais. Oh boy. You can imagine my dismay when we’d immediately fall behind 2-0 after seven minutes in the first leg in France but we’d storm back, with three goals in the next 25 minutes to take the lead. However, Abdelhaim Meddahi would score in the 83rd minute to level the score at 3-3 and that was the final. We were in good shape coming home with three away goals and we looked like a lock to proceed after two first half goals gave us the seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead. However, goals by Tiago in the 71st minute and star striker Julian Endres in the 80th minute tied it up and we went into a defensive shell for the last ten minutes. OL couldn’t break us down and we’d somehow escape into the next round due to away goals!

For the quarter finals, we’d draw main rivals Manchester United. We had home pitch advantage in the first leg and dominated 3-1, giving us the huge advantage in the return leg. At Old Trafford, we’d fight hard and hold United to a 1-1 draw, giving us a two goal win on aggregate to get to the semi finals!

There, we’d draw German side FC Bayern, four time Champions League winners, with their last title coming back in 2001. The first leg was a nervy affair in Germany and while we dominated the shot stats, we ultimately couldn’t get a goal past their keeper in a scoreless draw, putting us in a very vulnerable spot coming home, with no away goals. We’d need a win at home and we’d DELIVER, getting three goals before half in a dominating 3-0 victory to send us to our second ever Champions League final!!!

At Panathinaikos Arena in Greece, we’d face last year’s champions Borussia Dortmund. They had knocked us out of last year’s competition on the way to their second Champions League crown and their top striker Hugo Cruz was back to try to do it again. He’d score a 70th minute goal to offset a Jose Fica own goal only 4 minutes earlier but we had another marker from Benedikt Raab and held on the rest of the way for a thrilling 2-1 win and our second Champions League title in club history!!!

Group G, Game 1: APOEL 0 - 4 Dover
Group G, Game 2: Dover 0 - 0 Schalke
Group G, Game 3: Dover 4 - 1 Fiorentina
Group G, Game 4: Fiorentina 1 - 1 Dover
Group G, Game 5: Dover 2 - 0 APOEL
Group G, Game 6: Schalke 1 - 1 Dover

1st Knockout Round, Leg 1: Olympique Lyonnais 3 - 3 Dover
1st Knockout Round, Leg 2: Dover (a) 2 - 2 Olympique Lyonnais

Quarter Final, Leg 1: Dover 3 - 1 Manchester United
Quarter Final, Leg 2: Manchester United 1 - 1 Dover

Semi Final, Leg 1: FC Bayern 0 - 0 Dover
Semi Final, Leg 2: Dover 3 - 0 FC Bayern

Final: Dortmund 1 - 2 Dover

DOVER WINS THE 2026/27 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE!!!


UEFA Champions League 2026-27 Awards


- Top Goalscorer: Hugo Cruz, Dortmund - 16
- Most Assists: Paulo Roberto, Dortmund - 7
- Highest Average Rating: Hugo Cruz, Dortmund - 8.10 (11 apps)
- Most Man of Match Awards: Hugo Cruz, Dortmund - 5
- UEFA Champions League Best Player: Hugo Cruz, Dortmund - 11 apps 16 gls 1 asts 8.10 avg

Cruz dominates the proceedings. Unlike many teams, we will play backups in group stage games when we’ve already guaranteed a spot in the knockout stages so we’ll never put up the numbers in bulk like Cruz did this year. Despite that, Benedikt Raab and Claudio Contreras come in second and third respectively in the Best Player competition.


UEFA Champions League 2026-27 Dream Team


GK - Angel Detry, Atletico Madrid
DL - Renato Gaucho, Dover
DC - Mwemere Mutesa, Dover
DC - Claudio Contreras, Dover
DR - Salim Loucif, Dover
ML - Gustavo Castillo, Dortmund
MC - Benedikt Raab, Dover
MC - Ignacio Nunez, Dortmund
MR - Paulo Cesar, Dortmund
ST - Hugo Cruz, Dortmund
ST - Julio, Juventus

ALL DOVER on defence!!! That’s ridiculous! Raab also gets on the dream team.

Awesome year, with a Premier League title and a Champions League title!

[NoSkillz]

2026-27 Dover Recap and Statistics





2026-27 Dover Best Eleven

GK - Chris Davies - 26 apps 0g 7.02 avg
DL - Renato Gaucho - 43 apps 1g 7.13 avg
DC - Mwemere Mutesa - 45 apps 6g 7.35 avg
DC - Rayane Hamon - 21 apps 3g 7.47 avg
DR - Salim Loucif - 39 apps 0g 7.14 avg
ML - Arsene Bamba - 16 apps 1g 7.22 avg
MC - Neil Cairney - 43 apps 8g 7.27 avg
MC - Benedikt Raab - 42 apps 12g 7.42 avg
MR - Gianluca Bolis - 37 apps 7g 7.05 avg
ST - Paul Moses - 42 apps 27g 7.44 avg
ST - Chiquinho - 49 apps 33g 7.40 avg

Other notables: GK Ingo Wilke 33 apps 0g 6.95; DC Claudio Contreras 38 apps 4g 7.33; DC Adrian Torres 9 apps 1g 7.11; DR Rodolfo Lopez 26 apps 1g 7.06; MC Jose 25 apps 3g 7.15; ST Andy Broomes 25 apps 11g 7.17; ST Manuel Lugo 15 apps 2g 6.91

Dover Fans Player of the Year: Paul Moses




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.


Goalkeeping


-- After losing Manuel Perez to Manchester United last year, we had to reimagine our succession plans for long-time Dover goalkeeper Ingo Wilke. We brought in Chris Davies and the English international went from playing about a third of our games last year to close to half this year, outplaying Wilke considerably in the process. Davies had 17 clean sheets in 26 games, a remarkable stretch and will likely take over as our main goalkeeper next year. Wilke let in fewer goals than games played and continues to play at a high level. We had a great year in goal.


Defence


-- After winning numerous awards last year, including our supporters’ player of the year, Claudio Contreras slumped somewhat in 26/27 but still put up numbers that any normal human would be delighted with. Mwemere Mutesa was ever-present alongside him and continued to build upon his initial success from the previous year. Veteran Rayane Hamon, pushed into a main backup role after five years as a starter, outplayed everyone when he got a chance, with a ludicrous 9 points in 21 games at DC. Adrian Torres and newcomer Renato Silverio were not called on often but played okay. Silverio was often hurt and never really got on a run with us in his first year.

-- Our long-time starters at fullback, captain Salim Loucif and Renato Gaucho were inconsistent this year but played well at important times, with both getting named to the Champions League Dream Team. Loucif doesn’t produce any offence at all and it’s becoming a bit troublesome for me. Rodolfo Lopez finally started settling in and he could very well start taking first team reps from our captain. With the sale of young Wonderkid Rafinha, we have precious little depth at left fullback and we’ll need to bring someone in to push Renato Gaucho. Daniel Diaz isn’t a long-term answer. U18 fullback prospect Eneko Remirez got a cup game in and will be one to watch in the future.


Midfield


-- The amazing Benedikt Raab continues to play at an astonishing level, with 12 goals and 32 points in his 42 starts at central midfield. He’s arguably one of the top players in all of football and teamed very well with a resurgent Neil Cairney, who was awarded as Player of the Year in the Premier League, as voted on by his peers. Jose has started his regression at 29 years old and went long stretches without producing and our fourth option in the middle, young Emmerson Harvey, really suffered a drop-off, with no goals in 30 appearances. The English international has really seen his development stall in a backup role. We had some injury issues in the middle of the year and we recalled young Juan Jose Culebras from his loan spell at Wolverhampton and he played exceptionally well in lower key games, with six points in 13 appearances. U18’ers Michel Benard and Borja also saw some action at tender ages.

-- Wide midfield has always been a major strength of our club and this year, we were left wanting MUCH more. Simply put, we need to be better here. After getting 29 goals from our wide midfielders in 2025/26, last year we only got 13, an incredible drop-off. On the left side, veteran Arsene Bamba looks broken down and spent most of the year injured, only playing 16 games and scoring once. His backup, Danish international Mads Pedersen, regressed, scoring only 3 goals in 40 appearances and 32 starts. That’s simply not good enough for the talented 24 year old. On the right side, long-time Dover winger Gianluca Bolis was his inconsistent self but still had the highest production among his peers on the club, scoring 7 times and adding 8 assists in 35 starts. Sergio De la Vega, a key pickup in 2025, had a terrible followup season, scoring only 2 goals in 33 matches. U18 left winger Jonathan Langlet got a few games in and did well while third string MR Roberto Terlizzi was seldom used. We did not get enough from our wide midfielders this year.


Striker


-- Thankfully, we continue to get incredible production from our star striker group, led by young Paul Moses and veteran Chiquinho. Moses had a slight drop off from his excellent 2025/26 season but still scored 27 goals and added 13 assists in his 42 starts. He was a bit inconsistent but still is our supporters’ favourite star. What can I say about the ageless Chiquinho? 31 years old and a remarkable 33 goals. He never gets hurt and played at an incredibly high level throughout the season. Can he keep it going?? Our main backup for years has been Andy Broomes and he is easily the best third string striker in the game, booking 11 more goals in his 12 starts (29 total appearances). Last year’s breakout story was Manuel Lugo but a badly broken leg early in 2025 kept him on the sidelines until after our preseason friendlies. He never was able to recapture that magic with us this past year, scoring only 2 goals in 15 appearances and time is running out for him to pay back the considerable transfer fee we paid for him. Longtime Dover striker Zoltan Bardi was injured a lot and didn’t get a single start this year. He scored two goals in five appearances but he’s on an expiring contract next year and may get moved, as we have plenty of young strikers ready to take his place. One of those youngsters is Fernando Estrada, who was called upon at 19 years young to play some Champions League matches for us. He produced 5 goals in 8 starts (13 total appearances) and seems ready for more playing time.


LOAN PLAYERS


-- DR Emerson spent a second straight year on loan, this time to German first division club Koln. He was ever present, notching six assists in 33 starts and he will likely be part of our roster next year. DC Luis Miguel Garcia played 14 games for St. Gallen in Switzerland and played well, notching one assist. Fellow centre-half Andrew Hunter featured in 16 starts for Brighton in the Championship, notching a single goal but he generally did not play well. He’s not much of a prospect. Neither is Adam Betts, another DC, who spent the year at Millwall in League 1, playing 23 scoreless games.

Somebody who IS a prospect is the dynamic striker Bakary Kone, who scored 16 goals and added 3 assists in 30 starts at Almeria in La Liga in Spain. He could be ready to contribute for us next year and has the wonderful “Wonderkid” label.


U18 PLAYERS


-- Our U18s continued to throttle the competition, once again winning the U18 cup and their league. We have numerous prospects down there, including DC Emmanuel Gonzalez, DC Omar Valle, DR Eneko Remirez, DR Gary Richards, MC Michel Benard, MC Borja, ML Jonathan Langlet, ST Marcus Sowter and ST Josh Fairclough. All have exceptional potential and guys like Remirez, Langlet and Sowter could make contributions as early as next year.


Year-End Financials




We set a team record with ~£154 million in turnover and ~£169 million in expenses, ultimately requiring close to a £10 million dollar loan from our chairman to keep our balance sheet in order. Attendance inched up, with inch up being the operative word due to the fact that our stadium continues to burst at the seams.

Speaking of which, our board FINALLY decides that we need to look into a BRAND NEW STADIUM but the town of Dover step in and deny us the necessary permits to move forward.

Incredible. Is this it for us? We already have been told that there is no room at Crabble Athletic Ground for future expansion and now we’re rebuffed by the city when our board finally commits to building a new stadium.

I’m pretty pissed


Closing Thoughts


Well, it was another wildly successful season, with another record point total in winning the Barclays Premier League and capturing our second Champions League title. We continue to age at almost all key positions and will soon have to look at turning over our roster in order to stay competitive amongst the best clubs in the world.

[NoSkillz]

2027-28 Season Recap -


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




Not much changing here, as I’m in the third year of a five year contract but see my domestic player bias down to a minuscule 1%! That’s a bit ridiculous, as I have a number of key Englishmen on the team.



We’ve pretty much gotten as far as we can with Crabble Athletic Ground and our Youth Facilities improve to “Good” from “Average”. As indicated in my last post, our board finally decided to pursue building a brand new stadium but were rebuffed by local city council, who wouldn’t grant the necessary permits for the construction.

For this reason, I do NOT accept a new contact offer from the team, as I contemplate either retiring after my contract expires or I perhaps I will pursue a national team position.



For only the second time in team history, we hold ticket prices firm from the year previous and our season ticket base finally exceeds 10m for the first time. Our estimated value also increases to over £200m for the first time, a nice accomplishment considering our antiquated stadium.

For a fourth consecutive season, the media predict a fourth place finish and I stay aggressive as usual, saying we’ll battle for the division title. For that outlook, I'm granted the following in wage and transfer budgets:

2027/28 TRANSFER BUDGET - £45,000,000 (Last year: £49,000,000)
2027/28 WAGE BUDGET - £1,600,000/week (Last year: £1,400,000/week)

A slight drop in our transfer budget but nothing that should hinder us with our goals for the season.

[NoSkillz]

2027/28 Preseason: Roster Status


U18 Graduates


DC - Emmanuel Gonzalez
DR - Eneko Remirez
ML - Jonathan Langlet
ST - Marcus Sowter


GK - The incredible Ingo Wilke, entering his age 34 season, continues to defy Father Time. He played more than half of our games but likely will concede more playing time to English international Chris Davies, who was excellent in his first year with our club. The 25 year old Davies, barring injury or poor form, will likely play at least two thirds of our games. We’re in good shape here but could stand to add a top goalkeeping prospect for the future.

D - We saw some much needed evolution in our starting four on the backend last year, with 23 year old DC Mwemere Mutesa taking over a starting role from veteran Rayane Hamon. Hamon was still excellent as our third choice in the middle but Mutesa and the brilliant Claudio Contreras, at 23 and 24 years old respectively, give us youth and exceptional talent in the middle. Our depth in the middle is great, with Renato Silverio, Adrian Torres and some fine youth prospects in the pipeline. At fullback, long-time captain Salim Loucif continues to hold off big signing Rodolfo Lopez on the right side and 25 year old veteran Renato Gaucho’s fine play was enough for us to sell Wonderkid Rafinha to Real Madrid last year. We’re now desperate for depth on the left side but we are in great shape on the right with Lopez and incoming U18 prospect Eneko Remirez.

M - Midfield continues to be a major strength at the club but age is starting to become an issue. We’re fine with superstar Benedikt Raab just entering his prime and coming off a 32 point season, he’s bound to continue his evolution into one of the game’s greats. Neil Cairney enters his age 28 season but was wonderful last year, reclaiming a starting role over the very talented Jose. English international Emmerson Harvey was ineffective as our fourth option and will need to bounce back if he’s to get more consideration for playing time. At 23 years old, his time is now. We have an abundance of riches in our youth ranks, with 19 year old Juan Jose Culebras being a major surprise in limited action last year and a couple of incredible prospects with our U18 side in Borja and Michel Benard, both only 17 years of age. Out wide, things are a bit unclear, as age and lacklustre play was abundant. One of Dover’s true greats, Arsene Bamba, enters his age 31 year with only one year left on his contract and may be a casualty. The player expected to take his spot, talented 24 year old Mads Pedersen, only scored 3 goals in a very disappointing second year with our squad. We do have U18 graduate Jonathan Langlet ready as well. On the right side, last year’s big signing Sergio De la Vega was almost invisible, with a paltry two goals in 33 appearances and Gianluca Bolis was only slightly better, with 7 goals in his 38 appearances. We need more from our wingers in 2027/28 as we only saw 13 goals in total from those key two positions.

F - Our strikers continue to shine. After combining for 59 goals lin 2025/26, our top duo of Paul Moses and Chiquinho notched 60 combined last season. Chiquinho especially was sensational, notching 33 on his own in his age 31 season. He also only has one year left on his contract - it seems like sacrilege to get rid of an icon like Chiquinho but we’ll have to see how things go. He’s been incredibly durable his entire career and amazingly prolific as well. Andy Broomes continues to be an unsung hero, scoring 11 goals in only 12 starts (29 total appearances) - he’s brilliant off the bench and never complains, a perfect backup striker. It could be the end of the line for long-time White Zoltan Bardi, who battled injuries all season and didn’t even start a game last year, coming in only five times as a substitute, scoring twice. His contract also expires at the end of the season. We brought 20 year old Wonderkid Fernando Estrada on slowly but injuries forced him into the lineup in key Champions League contests - he more than held his own, scoring 5 times in 8 starts (13 total appearances) and he’s deserving of more playing time. We also have the enigma known as Manuel Lugo, who couldn’t recover after his injury problems in 2025/26 and only scored twice in his 15 appearances last year. He may be sold when the transfer window opens. We also have another exciting Wonderkid in Bakary Kone, who spent last year on loan and yet another U18 graduate coming up in Englishman Marcus Sowter.

Our key goal in the offseason is to find a capable left fullback and perhaps find some more explosive wide midfielders. As usual, we will keep our eyes open for the best youth talent available, whether it’s for the main roster or our U18 team.

[NoSkillz]

July 2027- Transfer Window


Transfers OUT

MC - Jose - Sampdoria - £20,000,000
ST - Zoltan Bardi - Reading - £9,500,000
ML - Arsene Bamba - Valencia - £8,000,000
ST - Manuel Lugo - Evian TG FC - £7,500,000
DL - Daniel Diaz - Mallorca - £4,000,000
MR - Roberto Terlizzi - Roma - £3,500,000
DC - Adam Betts - Rotherham - Free

Well, talk about the end of an era! Some major players are moved as we truly begin restructuring our roster.

We brought Jose in from Zenit in Russia for £16.5 million in 2023 and for four years, he gave us world-class offensive ability in midfield. He was exceptionally consistent but entering his 30 year old season with one year left on his contract, he was looking for a salary I couldn’t justify. In his 136 Dover starts (162 total appearances), he scored 19 goals and assisted on 59 others. We’d end up getting £20 million from Italian club Sampdoria and we’re very thankful for the four years Jose played for our club.

We also bid adieu to fine forward Zoltan Bardi, who moves to fellow Premier League club Reading in a £9,500,000 deal. Bardi was one of our longest serving players in club history, playing 11 incredible years with our team, behind only current goalkeeper Ingo Wilke. Bardi originally arrived on loan from Arsenal in 2016-17 during our third year in League 1 and was a major factor in our promotion that season. He’d return on loan again the next year and once again, he’d help lead us to the promised land of Premier League football. That good karma was too much to resist and I made the deal of the century in acquiring him on a permanent basis from Arsenal, paying only £850,000 for him. He’d be a main starter for our club for four seasons before moving into a supporting role in the following seasons. In all, he started 225 times and made 87 appearances as a substitute in his 11 seasons, an amazing 312 total appearances! He scored 100 goals and added 60 assists in that time and his versatility was paramount in helping us establish our vaunted 4-2-3-1 formation that essentially got us through into the Premier League. Thank you to Zoltan for serving Dover so well for 11 seasons and we wish him the best going forward with Reading.

We’d move another longtime player in Arsene Bamba, who moves to Valencia in Spain in an £8,000,000 deal. Bamba was a teammate of Zoltan Bardi at Arsenal for years and like Bardi, we originally brought Bamba in on loan but in Bamba’s case, it was for three consecutive years starting in 2014-15, our first year in League 1. Bamba was there for all three years in League 1, returning to Arsenal in 2017 once we finally gained promotion to the Championship. Arsenal would soon sell him and a few years later, he would come back to Dover permanently, with us agreeing to a £7 million transfer in 2020-21 with Metalurg in the Ukrainian league. Bamba would play seven more seasons with us as our top option at left midfield, making it ten full seasons spent at Dover while either on loan or part of our permanent squad. Bamba started an incredible 346 games during that time and made 16 additional appearances as a substitute for 362 total appearances! He scored 68 goals and added a phenomenal 121 assists during his time with our club. The greatest left midfielder in Dover history will never be forgotten!

From one of Dover’s greats to one of its greatest disappointments. Manuel Lugo arrived with great fanfare and at significant cost, as the left footed striker arrived from Feyenoord in a whopping £19 million deal. At 6’ 4” tall and only 22 years old, Lugo was heading into his prime and was thought to be one of the world’s next great strikers. He really struggled to adapt to the English game in year one with us, only scoring three times in 20 appearances but flourished in year two, scoring 8 goals and adding 11 assists in only 12 starts, a phenomenal return! However, in the middle of that season, he would break his leg and the healing process took well over a half year. He’d return a shell of his former self and our patience would eventually wear thin. We never get the return on investment expected, selling Lugo to Evian TG FC in France for only £7.5 million after three seasons, where he played in only 55 total games (27 starts), scoring 13 goals and adding 17 assists. We wish Lugo well in France.

The final three players never played a large role. Daniel Diaz was a mid-season replacement for Rafinha, who we sold in a mega deal with Real Madrid during the winter transfer window. Diaz arrived from Valencia for £3.2 million and only made eight scoreless appearances with our squad (5 starts). We were able to get £4 million from Mallorca for his services.

We also made a slight profit on the sale of winger Roberto Terlizzi, who came over from Sampdoria for £3 million and spent one season with Dover, mostly playing with our reserves. He made one start with the senior team and made two additional substitute appearances, going scoreless. We sell him to Roma for £3.5 million and wish him well.

Finally, we move deep backup DC Adam Betts to Rotherham in a free transfer. Betts was signed from Liverpool back in 2023 for our U18 club and was sent on loan spells during his time here to Bournemouth, Charlton and Millwall. He made one scoreless appearance with our team during his first season and am happy he’ll get a chance to play more in Rotherham in League 2.


LOAN OUT


GK - Phillippe Jung - Derby - £50,000
DC - Andrew Hunter - Bristol Rovers - Free
DC - Luis Miguel Garcia - Young Boys - £250,000
DR - Eneko Remirez - AS Monaco FC - £275,000

Of these four, only Eneko Remirez seemingly has the potential to play a major role with our squad (3.5 potential) in the future. Garcia and Jung have played a few games in the past for us but aren’t in our long-term plans.


RELEASED PLAYERS


GK - Joelson Gerard
GK - Jordan Tandy
DL - Liam Pearce
DC - Kevin Mirzai
DC - Siaka Dargani
ML - Stuart Cousins
MC - Edward Smith
MC - Nathan Protheroe
MR - Stephen Brannigan
MR - Chris Jones
ST - Freddie Laird


Not much to see here, as most of these players were just U18 contributors that weren’t ready to contribute at the next level. We wish them all the best.

[NoSkillz]

July 2027 - Transfer Window


Transfers IN - Senior Team

GK - Fabinho - £17,250,000 (From Fluminense) - 20 years old, Brazil
DL - Joao - £15,250,000 (From Stuttgart) - 23 years old, Brazil
DL - Gabriel Scolaro - £3,600,000 (From A.C. Milan) - 21 years old, Italy
MC - Seyi Omolade - £22,000,000 (From Shakhtar) - 21 years old, Nigeria
MR - Ivan Cerezo - £2,500,000 (From Juventus) - 20 years old, Spain

As you can imagine, with some pretty significant players moving out, there had to be corresponding moves to bring big pieces in.

20 year old Fabinho is likely the top goalkeeping prospect in the world and already rated at 3.0/3.5. He doesn’t know the English language so we’ll bring him along slowly, playing him in the League Cup and other low-key fixtures.

The departure of Rafinha last year meant we needed depth at left fullback and we got that in spades in both Joao and Gabriel Scolaro. Joao (3.0/3.5) is speedy and strong but curiously right footed - he’s another that will have the language barrier to overcome and he’ll be our main backup to Renato Gaucho. Scolaro (2.0/3.0) is small but very quick and will be our third choice at left fullback.

I’ve been eying him for awhile but central midfielder Seyi Omolade (3.0/3.5) is a huge acquisition! He has all the traits of the great midfielders, with incredible technique and tireless work ethic. He should be able to adapt quickly, as he already knows English and should easily move into our main backup role behind Benedikt Raab and Neil Cairney.

Ivan Cerezo (1.5/2.5) will only be a third choice player behind incumbents Sergio De la Vega and Gianluca Bolis, essentially replacing the recently departed Roberto Terlizzi. Cerezo has the requisite speed I desire at the position and may get a few games in. I’m very disappointed to not find a better alternative in the market to push De la Vega and Bolis.


Transfers IN - U18 Team


DL - Dean France - £1,000,000 (From Watford) - 18 years old, England
DC - Marc Berghuis - £2,800,000 (From Ajax) - 18 years old, Holland
MR - Nene - £1,500,000 (From Gremio) - 18 years old, Brazil

GK - Massimo La Vecchia - Free - 18 years old, Italy
DL - Christos Evangelinos - Free - 18 years old, Greece
DL - Chris Kennedy - Free - 18 years old, England
DC - Bobby Martin - Free - 18 years old, England
DR - Chris Cross - Free - 18 years old, England
ML - Kenneth Hansen - Free - 18 years old, Denmark
ML - Zoltan Toth - Free - 18 years old, Hungary
MC - Jan Sloncik - Free - 18 years old, Czech Republic
ST - Danny Kitson - Free - 18 years old, England

Actually, one of my more modest transfer windows when it comes to acquiring U18 talent. Marc Berghuis (1.0/3.5) is the most talented of the bunch, with Dean France (1.0/3.0) and Nene (1.0/3.0) also players with a chance to become something.

The remaining players we picked up on free transfers are depth acquisitions for our U18 club, with potentials ranging from 1.0 stars to 2.5 stars. None will likely make much of an impact for us down the road.



Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins


We once again set a new record in domestic play with an astonishing 104 point season but our goals for were down considerably (from 119 in 2025/26 to only 95 last year). We may be in for a bit of a decline this year but will fight hard to win the league once again and repeat as European champs as well.

We’ve gotten much younger in the offseason. We found an exceptional young talent in goal that we will work to groom this year for the future in Fabinho. Our defensive back four returns intact, bolstered by the depth additions of Joao and Gabriel Scolaro on the left side. We’ve lost a couple of key players in midfield in Jose and Arsene Bamba and will look for big seasons from Mads Pedersen and newcomer Seyi Omolade to replace them. U18 graduate Jonathan Langlet will provide cover for Pedersen on the left and we’ll hope for bounce back campaigns from right midfielders Gianluca Bolis and Sergio De la Vega. Our strikers, led by the ageless Chiquinho and speedster Paul Moses will be counted on for goals, as usual and our depth at that position is unrivalled in all of football.

I think long and hard about our on-field leadership but once again select Salim Loucif as our captain for the fifth consecutive season. Chiquinho is our vice-captain for a second straight year.

Like last year, we would absolutely dominate our pre-season games, winning all seven.

However, for a second straight year, we’d also lose the Community Shield, again dropping the contest to rivals Manchester City at Wembley. That was a bit of a downer prior to our season opening game against Spurs at Crabble Athletic Ground.

We’ll continue to go with a flat 4-4-2 with a control mentality for most of our games, sprinkling in the odd 4-2-3-1 formation along the way.

We are healthy as we head into the start of the season. Mads Pedersen opens as our main starter at left midfield after the departure of Arsene Bamba and Gianluca Bolis once again outplays Sergio De la Vega for the starting position in game one at right midfield. We go with our longest serving player in goal to start the year in Ingo Wilke and perhaps the one big surprise is seeing newcomer Joao in the lineup for game one over usual starter Renato Gaucho.

Here is our starting lineup for game one of the 2027-28 season, where we look to defend our Premier League title and our Champions League crown as well.

GK - Ingo Wilke
D - Joao - Claudio Contreras - Mwemere Mutesa - Salim Loucif
M -Mads Pedersen - Neil Cairney - Benedikt Raab - Gianluca Bolis
ST - Paul Moses - Chiquinho

[Alf]

Still reading. Nice writing.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Alf

Still reading. Nice writing.

Thanks Alf! I appreciate everyone sticking with me. I'm still playing!!


2027/28 Barclays Premier League - First Half Results


The season got off to the worst start imaginable. After our Community Shield loss to Man City at Wembley, we opened our Premier League campaign in the comfy confines of cozy Crabble Athletic Ground against Tottenham. They’d shock us with two first half goals, a deficit that we wouldn’t recover from in a demoralizing 2-0 opening game loss.

We’d need a 75th minute goal from Chiquinho to squeak by Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of Light in game two then then lose in another absolute shocker, falling 1-0 to Zaragoza in the European Super Cup finals.

What the hell is going on?!

We’d regain a little swagger in Champions League group play, dominating Sparta Prague 7-1 but after a scoreless draw at home to Middlesbrough in Premier League play and a 2-2 draw away at Championship side Portsmouth in League Cup play, I was flabbergasted.

We’d drop a huge 4-1 decision to Man City in league play a couple games later but finally started to get our feet underneath us shortly thereafter. We’d win our last eight league games before the halfway mark of the season to reach that 19 game mark with a record of 14 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws, good for third place in the league behind Man City and Manchester United.

Our goal scoring was down again (46 through 19 games versus 49 in the same period last year) and we had allowed 19 against, five more than last year at this time.

We had some injuries in the middle of the park and one of the biggest pleasant surprises was 18 year old Michel Benard, a U18 call up who played so well, I was forced to make a spot for him as a main backup to Cairney and Raab upon their return.


January 2028 - Transfer Window

Heading into January on a huge hot streak of 12 wins in a row in all competitions, we could have stayed pat with a pretty strong roster. But we had clubs coming after some of our top players and we wanted to continue forward with our transition plan to a younger starting eleven.

Some big moves were made…


Transfers OUT


DR - Salim Loucif - £18,500,000 - Manchester City

The end of an era at Dover, as we sell the longest serving captain during my tenure, to a league rival no less, in a huge mid-January transaction. I’ve talked about “deals of the century” in the past but we brought a 21 year old Loucif to Dover in July 2020, just before the start of our third year in the Premier League, on a FREE TRANSFER from Olympique Lyonnais. The young leader would be appointed vice captain the next season and would gain the captaincy from legend Wayne Rooney upon his retirement prior to the 2023 campaign. In all, Loucif played 7 1/2 seasons at Dover, playing in 332 games, with all but four of those being starts! He was never a prolific player from a point production standpoint, scoring only one goal for our club during his time here and contributing 14 assists. But he was a tackling machine with a tireless work ethic and was extremely durable as well. We have younger players here in Rodolfo Lopez and Emerson that can capably handle his duties and getting over 18 million pounds was simply too much to ignore. We will greatly miss Loucif, one of the great players in Dover history and wish him well in Manchester.

DC - Rayane Hamon - £10,750,000 - Sheffield Wednesday

We move out another longtime starting defender in Rayane Hamon in another significant transaction, this time with Sheffield Wednesday. Hamon spent one season with us back in 2018, our first year in the Premier League, on loan from Liverpool. We’d end up buying him outright for £3.8 million prior to the start of the 2021/22 season and he’d spend six and a half more years with our club, five of them as a main starter. In all, he played in 267 games (259 starts), scoring 25 goals and adding 19 assists from the centre halfback position, simply superlative numbers for a defender. Hamon is about to turn 30 and was relegated to third on our DC depth chart so this was simply a smart deal for us to make. Again, we wish Hamon great success with his new club.

ML - Felix Hernandez - £1,600,000 - Huddersfield

We signed a 17 year old Hernandez from Reading back in 2023 for £1.8 million and he played a couple of years with our U18s and also spent a full season on loan with Metalist in the Ukrainian Premier League while under contract with our club. His contract was expiring at the end of the season and I decided he wasn’t going to be a major part of our plans, especially with young Wonderkid Jonathan Langlet coming on strong, so I took a slight loss in moving him out to Huddersfield. In all, he played in only 35 games for our senior team over four and a half years, including only 16 starts, contributing one goal and five assists.

DC - Bobby Martin - £1,000,000 - Chelsea

Martin was a recent free signing for our U18 squad and Chelsea shockingly offered us a million pounds for him. He isn’t a major prospect (0.5/2.5 stars) so we happily took the quick profit.


Loans OUT


MC - Juan Jose Culebras - £575,000 Loan Fee - Paris Saint-Germain

The 20 year old Culebras was a huge surprise last year, playing great football in some low-key starts but injuries allowed fellow youngster Michel Benard to pass him on our depth chart this season. I need to get Culebras some playing time so he heads to PSG in France for the balance of the season. He’s still an excellent prospect for the future.


Transfers IN


DC - Herman Quattara - £12,000,000 (from Espanyol) - 20 years old, Ivory Coast

I’ve long had my eye on Quattara, an Ivory Coast international with great potential. Espanyol picked him up on a free transfer from LOSC Lille Metropole in Ligue 1 and flip him to us only a few months later for a ridiculous profit. But Quattara is a 3.0/3.5 player already and qualifies as an upgrade over the departing Rayane Hamon while being nine years younger to boot. A great signing at a decent price for such a premium position on the pitch.

MC - Kevin Buhler - £1,400,000 (from Dortmund) - 18 years old, Germany

Some depth for our U18 squad, Buhler (1.0/3.0) also has some potential to play games for our senior squad at some point, but not this year. He’s got incredible pace (19) in the middle of the pitch.


Loans IN


ML - Anton O’Niel - £190,000 Loan Fee - FC Bayern

O’Niel is a 20 year old Dutch speedster who will simply provide depth behind Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Langlet at left midfield, a necessary addition after bidding Felix Hernandez adieu. He likely won’t play much for our senior squad.

[NoSkillz]

2027/28 Barclays Premier League - Second Half Results


Our stalwart forward Chiquinho would be named captain of the squad after the departure of Salim Loucif and fellow striker Paul Moses was named vice-captain.

We won eight straight league games heading into the new year and would pick up right where we left off, extending that run to 14 straight before a 1-1 draw at home against Manchester City. We’d face a tough stretch in February, drawing three games including a 0-0 snoozefest against Aston Villa as we continued our attempt to reach the summit in the Premier League.

Thankfully, a 3-0 win at Newcastle on March 4th began yet another long winning streak in league play and despite a 2-0 loss at Old Trafford to rival Manchester United ending that streak, we’d win 3-0 away against Chelsea in the penultimate game of the season to seal our third straight Premier League title!


DOVER WINS THE 2027/28 BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP!


We finished 11 points back of our record total of 104 the year before but that was expected after such a bold set of moves both in July and in January. We’ve reloaded our roster with much younger players yet still won the league by seven points.





Barclays Premier League 2027-28 League Awards


- Top Goalscorer: Jelle Hoegee, Manchester City - 29
- Most Assists: Benedikt Raab, Dover - 19
- Highest Average Rating: Jelle Hoegee, Manchester City - 7.76 (31 apps)
- Most Man of Match Awards: Paul Moses, Dover - 9
- English Footballer of the Year: Benedict Raab, Dover - 28 apps 6 gls 19 asts 7.54 avg
- English Players' Player of the Year: Mario Brito, Manchester City - 24 apps 12 gls 5 asts 7.51 avg
- English Players' Young Player of the Year: Mwemere Mutesa, Dover - 26 apps 1 gls 2 asts 7.35 avg
- Manager of the Year: Michael Laudrup, Chelsea

Well, Yaya Sanogo of Manchester United finally started to act his age and as a result, Jelle Hoegee won the league scoring race by a single goal over our very own Paul Moses.

Benedikt Raab had another huge season, leading the league in assists and winning the very coveted English Footballer of the Year award! Adding to our trophy case was Mwemere Mutesa taking home the Player’s Young Player of the Year award, only one year after finishing second.

Mario Brito was a curious choice as the Players’ Player of the Year and Michael Laudrup winning Manager of the Year for guiding perennial powerhouse Chelsea to a 9th place finish in the league? THAT’S A BUG, BABY! I’d finish second but whatever…I’ll take the team success and run!


Barclays Premier League 2027-28 Players' Team of the Year


GK - Manuel Perez, Manchester United
DL - Victor Talavera, Manchester City
DC - Claudio Contreras, Dover
DC - Mwemere Mutesa, Dover
DR - Capitao, Manchester City
ML - Giorgos Spanoudakis, Manchester City
MC - Benedikt Raab, Dover
MC - Mario Brito, Manchester City
MR - Jonathan Bottone, Manchester City
ST - Jelle Hoegee, Manchester City
ST - Paul Moses, Dover

For a second consecutive year, it’s all Dover, United and City here. Moses and Mutesa repeat, as does former Dover keeper Manuel Perez while Benedikt Raab and Claudio Contreras make the starting eleven.

[NoSkillz]

Cup Competitions 2027-28


Community Shield


As indicated previously, we’d once again battle Manchester City in the season-opening Community Shield and for a second year in a row, we’d lose. Sergio De la Vega would be sent off on a straight red after we already fell behind 1-0 and despite battling back to level the score at two, a Giorgos Spanoudakis 78th minute strike would send City to a 3-2 win in front of a capacity crowd at Wembley Stadium.

Dover 2 - 3 Manchester City


European Super Cup

2026/27 Europa League Champions R. Zaragoza S.A.D. would provide our competition in the European Super Cup and it was a very strictly called match, with an incredible TWELVE BOOKINGS but thankfully, no red cards. Still, Mwemere Mutesa was given a yellow card for a foul inside our penalty area and Moises Garrido made no mistake, knocking in a shot from the spot three minutes into first half injury time, sealing a 1-0 win for the Spanish side, adding to our early season misery.

Zaragoza 1 - 0 Dover


FIFA Club World Cup

This competition between continental winners pitted us against Japanese side Higashlosaka Rosa in the Semi-Finals. We’d take this relative minnow for granted and they would outplay us for long stretches of the game, even taking a shocking 1-0 lead. Neil Cairney finally level the score in the 61st minute and then substitute Andy Broomes would score just before the 90 minute mark to give us a hard-earned 2-1 win.

We’d then face Club Deportivo Necaxa from Mexico in the final and get a hat trick from Chiquinho and a brace from Paul Moses in a dominating 5-0 win.

DOVER WINS THE 2027 FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP!!!


League Cup


We were ousted in the quarterfinals in last year’s League Cup and vowed to play better in the competition this year. We’d struggle in our first match, a third round game against minnows Portsmouth, needing penalties to advance. We’d get cupcake matchups in the following two rounds as well, beating Championship side Blackburn 2-0 in the 4th round then League 2’s Luton Town 4-0 in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal saw us draw Premier League strugglers Middlesbrough and again, we rolled in the two game playoff by a 6-1 aggregate to set up a Championship final matchup against Manchester City. We utilized backups throughout the competition and I felt obligated to continue with that practice in the final. Unfortunately, a 73rd minute own goal by young fullback Gabriel Scolaro gave City the lead that they would never relinquish and we’d drop a tough 1-0 decision to our main rival in the finals.

3rd Round: Portsmouth 2 - 2 Dover (Dover wins 3-1 on penalties)
4th Round: Dover 2 - 0 Blackburn
Quarter Final: Dover 4 - 0 Luton Town
Semi Final, Leg 1: Middlesbrough 0 - 4 Dover
Semi Final, Leg 2: Dover 2 - 1 Middlesbrough
Final: Dover 0 - 1 Manchester City


F.A. Cup


We concentrate much more on the FA Cup and usually play our starters throughout the competition. Once again, the luck of the draw was on our side early and we’d DESTROY League 1 minnows Swindon Town and Southend by scores of 6-0 and 7-0 in our first two rounds. Championship side Stoke City was pushed aside in the 5th Round and brought yet another Cup matchup against Manchester City in the 6th Round. We’d get the best of them here, winning 2-1 to move into the semi final against Tottenham.

That neutral site matchup at a sold-out Wembley would see us get two goals from young striker Fernando Estrada, in for an injured Paul Moses, in a 4-2 win.

We’d reach the final and face Man United in an instant classic. We’d reach full-time scoreless but then substitute striker Paul Moses went absolutely berserk, scoring an extra time HAT TRICK!! Captain Chiquinho would also score a goal as we’d score FOUR GOALS in extra time to salt away a historic 4-0 win, our second FA Cup in team history!

3rd Round: Dover 6 - 0 Swindon Town
4th Round: Dover 7 - 0 Southend
5th Round: Dover 2 - 0 Stoke City
6th Round: Dover 2 - 1 Manchester City
Semi Final: Dover 4 - 2 Tottenham
Final: Dover 4 - 0 Manchester United (extra time)

DOVER WINS THE 2027/28 ENGLISH FA CUP!!!


Champions League


We had a very reasonable draw in Champions League group play, getting Spartak Moscow, HSV and Sparta Prague.

We’d dominate in our first group stage game, destroying Prague 7-1 and would coast from there, with only a 1-1 draw against HSV keeping us from being perfect.

For the second straight year, we’d get an absolute NIGHTMARISH draw in the 1st Knockout Round. Last year we got Olympique Lyonnais and this year? How about Barcelona?!! At Camp Nou in game one, we’d get a 12th minute goal from Chiquinho to squeak by the home side 1-0 then follow it up with a dominating performance in the second leg, winning 3-1 to move forward 4-1 on aggregate!

We’d get a decent draw in the Quarter Finals, getting fellow English side Tottenham. It wasn’t even a contest, as we’d win by a whopping 6 goals on aggregate to once again move onto the semi finals of the competition.

There, we’d draw HSV, one of the clubs we faced in the Group stage and the only club to match us in the competition thus far. We had the home advantage in game one and a Jose Guzman 58th minute goal would actually stand up, as HSV would SHOCK us at Crabble Athletic Ground 1-0. This despite us outshooting them 24-3 in the match! We’d need a HUGE performance in the return leg in Hamburg and we’d GET IT! We’d get first half goals from Fernando Estrada, who kept coming up with huge performances in Paul Moses’ absence, Benedikt Raab and Chiquinho and then watched as Digao got a straight red card in the 43rd minute. Raab would score again in the second half, as we’d win 4-0 in a walk to head to our second straight final!

There, at Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, we’d face Italian division leaders Juventus in the final. Unfortunately, our team didn’t show up at all in this one, giving up two early goals to Ibrahim Martins and we’d lose 2-0 in a very disappointing end to a very busy season.

Group E, Game 1: Dover 7 - 1 Sparta Prague
Group E, Game 2: Spartak Moscow 2 - 4 Dover
Group E, Game 3: Dover 1 - 1 HSV
Group E, Game 4: HSV 2 - 4 Dover
Group G, Game 5: Sparta Prague 0 - 4 Dover
Group G, Game 6: Dover 4 - 0 Spartak Moscow

1st Knockout Round, Leg 1: Barcelona 0 - 1 Dover
1st Knockout Round, Leg 2: Dover 3 - 1 Barcelona

Quarter Final, Leg 1: Dover 2 - 0 Tottenham
Quarter Final, Leg 2: Tottenham 0 - 4 Dover

Semi Final, Leg 1: Dover 0 - 1 HSV
Semi Final, Leg 2: HSV 0 - 4 Dover

Final: Juventus 2 - 0 Dover


UEFA Champions League 2027-28 Awards


- Top Goalscorer: Julio, Juventus - 12
- Most Assists: Robin Franz, Palermo - 7
- Highest Average Rating: Fernando Estrada, Dover - 7.99 (7 apps)
- Most Man of Match Awards: Ernest Do Marcolino, Porto - 4
- UEFA Champions League Best Player: Julio, Juventus - 12 apps 12 gls 3 asts 7.75 avg

We were fortunate to hold Julio off the scoresheet in the Champions League final but he did more than enough damage in earlier rounds to win the Golden Boot and Top Player awards. Benedikt Raab finished in second place for the second year in a row in the Best Player competition and young Fernando Estrada had his coming out party for us in this competition and had the best overall rating throughout the Champions League campaign.


UEFA Champions League 2027-28 Dream Team


GK - ?
DL - ?
DC - ?
DC - ?
DR - ?
ML - ?
MC - ?
MC - ?
MR - ?
ST - ?
ST - ?

A weird glitch it seems, as the game seemingly forgot to name a Dream Team for this year. The game crashes every single time I try to go to the screen to see this particular year’s Dream Team. Oh well.

Another phenomenal year, with a Premier League title, a FIFA World Cup win AND an FA Cup win, along with being Champions League finalists!

[NoSkillz]

2027-28 Dover Recap and Statistics





2027-28 Dover Best Eleven

GK - Fabinho - 13 apps 0g 7.28 avg
DL - Gabriel Scolaro - 20 apps 0g 7.35 avg
DC - Claudio Contreras - 45 apps 9g 7.55 avg
DC - Renato Silverio - 20 apps 2g 7.45 avg
DR - Emerson - 15 apps 1g 7.21 avg
ML - Mads Pedersen - 47 apps 3g 7.20 avg
MC - Michel Benard - 24 apps 3g 7.67 avg
MC - Benedikt Raab - 45 apps 12g 7.60 avg
MR - Gianluca Bolis - 26 apps 3g 7.16 avg
ST - Paul Moses - 47 apps 40g 7.65 avg
ST - Fernando Estrada - 35 apps 26g 7.72 avg

Other notables: GK Chris Davies 36 apps 0g 7.02; DC Herman Quattara 12 apps 1g 7.65; DC Mwemere Mutesa 39 apps 3g 7.34; DR Rodolfo Lopez 29 apps 1g 7.16; MC Neil Cairney 49 apps 11g 7.35; ST Chiquinho 45 apps 24g 7.35; ST Andy Broomes 34 apps 17g 7.25

Dover Fans Player of the Year: Paul Moses (second year in a row)




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.


Goalkeeping


-- After 12 years of being our number one keeper, veteran Ingo Wilke finally took a step back last year, getting passed on the depth chart by English international Chris Davies. Davies played a little more than half of our games, putting up 19 clean sheets in his 36 appearances. Wilke played about a third of our games, many in cup competitions and against lesser opponents. We have attempted to find a great young keeper to eventually take over the net minding duties and may have found him in Fabinho. He still doesn’t know the English language so we brought the 21 year old along very slowly but he was awesome when called upon. I think we have found our long-term answer!


Defence


-- Claudio Contreras bounced back big-time last year, with nine goals and countless huge performances. He’s one of, if not the best centre halfback in the sport. Mwemere Mutesa was a rock in the middle of the defence alongside him. With the sale of veteran Rayane Hamon, it was second year player Renato Silverio taking advantage most, playing very well whenever called upon. January pickup Herman Quattara was sensational in his 12 games with the club and will likely take over as our main backup in the middle of the defence. Adrian Torres is our fifth option in the middle and doesn’t get much action but has always performed when called upon. We also saw U18’er Emmanuel Gonzalez make his debut. The middle of our defence continues to be a huge strength at this club.

-- Long-time captain Salim Loucif was shipped out to Man City during the January window and we had young Emerson get about half of the starts in his absence, with veteran Rodolfo Lopez getting the other half. Both played well - Lopez has more versatility, with an ability to play all the way up the right side and I’d expect him to play a lot next year. On the left side, we continue to get great performances from Renato Gaucho and his main backup, the unheralded Gabriel Scolaro, impressed every single time he took the pitch. However, one of our huge July signings, 24 year old Brazilian Joao, really disappointed. He has struggled immensely to fit in and his performances on the pitch have been subpar. He’ll continue to get a chance next year but will need to step up, and quickly at that! We continue to get little offensive production at fullback but defensively, they are more than capable at this level.


Midfield


-- I don’t even know what to say anymore about the sensational Benedikt Raab. He’s been very durable and from a production standpoint, there is simply no one better in the world at midfield. He exceeded last year’s incredible point totals, once again scoring 12 goals in 42 starts but this year, he added 27 (!!) assists after notching 20 the year before. He rightfully won the English Footballer of the Year award Veteran Neil Cairney built upon a great 2026/27 campaign, scoring 11 goals and adding 9 assists while teaming up with Raab on most occasions. He’s 28 now but still very effective. Incredibly, U18 midfielder Michel Benard ended up being our top backup at the position! We had an early run of injuries, forcing Benard into the lineup and he produced to the point where I couldn’t send him back to the youth squad. 21 points in 17 starts?! Absolutely ABSURD! Benard is a wonderkid and he has a huge future here at Dover! One of our other big July signings was Seyi Omolade, a Nigerian midfielder. He was VERY good, scoring 7 goals and adding 4 assists in 20 starts. He’ll continue to get a lot of games and has a chance to one day take over from Cairney in the middle in our holding role. Emmerson Harvey, an English international, continues to lack urgency in his game and has never developed as expected here. He’s dropped down to our fifth option in the middle and has more value as a home grown player than anything he produces on the pitch. His time here may be close to ending. Young Juan Jose Culebras was the Michel Benard of 2026/27 but didn’t get many early chances due to injury. I’d send him out on loan in the second half of the season to get more seasoning.

-- Wide midfield traditionally has been a team strength but we’ve now seen two consecutive years of poor production on both sides. After getting 29 goals from our wide midfielders in 2025/26, the past two years we’ve only got 13, an incredible drop-off. On the left side, it was Mads Pedersen taking over for long-time White Arsene Bamba. Pedersen tantalizes with his immense skill but only scored 3 goals in 50 games, a horrible return! Incredibly, he was our BEST WINGER and that speaks to how far we’ve fallen on the flanks. Pedersen’s backup was 20 year old wonderkid Jonathan Langlet and he was just okay in his first year, also scoring three goals in his 24 games. We got more production on the right side, thankfully. Longtime Dover winger Gianluca Bolis spent half of the year on the sidelines due to various injuries but scored three goals and added 11 assists in only 20 starts. However, he’s 29 and approaching a contract year so his time looks to be close to an end here. Sergio De la Vega is another exceptional talent who continues to confound. His stats look okay - he scored only four goals in his 46 games but contributed 16 assists, third best on the club. He’s also in a contract year and is looking for a deal that isn’t commensurate with his production. Ivan Cerezo showed good pace on the right flank as our deep backup but only contributed two assists in his 15 games. We also had loanee Anton O’Niel (not shown above) play two scoreless games with our club before being returned to FC Bayern. For a second consecutive year, we did not get enough from our wide midfielders and I’ll be looking to make some changes.


Striker


-- Bar none, we have the best strikers in all of football. 24 year old Paul Moses didn’t miss TOO much time and hit the 40 goal mark this year, adding 13 assists in 47 games. Sensational, game-breaking ability! Veteran Chiquinho, who took over the captaincy after the departure of Salim Loucif, was his ever-durable self but may finally be slowing down a bit, scoring only 24 goals in 45 appearances. He’s 32 years old, is heading into a contract year, and is looking for a team-leading contract well in excess of Benedikt Raab’s £120,000/week. It’s scary to even think about but is Chiquinho’s time with Dover close to an end? Softening the blow somewhat would be the incredible progression of 21 year old Wonderkid Fernando Estrada, who pounded in an incredible 26 goals in only 28 starts in his first full year with the senior team. I think he’s ready for a starring role…but he’s currently blocked by Chiquinho. The always unheralded Andy Broomes is the best spare striker in all of football - he never complains and yet always produces! 17 goals in 40 games and only 16 of those were starts! A great return! We also brought another Wonderkid into the lineup slowly in Bakary Kone. 5 goals and 4 assists in 9 games, only 3 of which were starts. He’s another guy chomping at the bit to get more playing time. We are simply sensational up front.


LOAN PLAYERS


-- We loaned out five of our prospects this season. GK Philippe Jung was sent to Derby as was ever-present for the Championship side, playing 49 games. He’s never going to make it with us but could be sold for a nice profit. DC Andrew Hunter is a middling prospect who was sent out to Bristol Rovers in League 1 - he was a main starter for them, playing 38 games but contributing only one assist. He’s still under contract for another year and will likely be loaned out again in 2028/29. Luis Miguel Garcia is slightly more interesting on defence and was excellent for Young Boys in Switzerland, playing 42 games and getting TWELVE Man-of-Match awards. He’s blocked here but I could likely find a decent market for him if I attempted a sale. Perhaps the best of my loaned prospects is fullback Eneko Remirez, who spent the season in France with AS Monaco FC, a top club. Ramirez played 16 games for their senior club, scoring once and adding two assists. He may get a chance to play on our senior team next year. Fine midfield prospect Juan Jose Culebras was sent to PSG in France at the January window when he wasn’t seeing much playing time with our team. It wasn’t much better for him in France, as he only played 8 games, notching 1 assist. He’s going to struggle to find playing time with us so I may need to loan him out again next year.


U18 PLAYERS


-- Our U18s continued to throttle the competition, once again winning the U18 cup (6th year in a row) and their league (11th year in a row!). We have numerous prospects down there, including DC Emmanuel Gonzalez, DC Omar Valle, DR Gary Richards, MC Kevin Buhler, MC Borja, ST Marcus Sowter and ST Josh Fairclough. All have exceptional potential.


Year-End Financials




We set another team record with ~£169 million in turnover and ~£253 million in expenses, over £90 million more than last year…the reason you ask?

[NoSkillz]

OH MY GOD!!! IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING!!!

After years of full houses and busting at the seams and only one year after the town of Dover denied us the permits necessary to expand or build, we finally get planning permission to BUILD A NEW STADIUM!!!

Our brand new stadium, gloriously named after the team’s legendary manager will take two years to build and will have a capacity of over 35,000, up from our current capacity of 23,000.

We have a big loan to pay off but I don’t care.

I’ve been waiting for this for so long and there’s no question now that I’ll continue forward for the foreseeable future until we’re in our new “arena” and perhaps for a few years afterward.

I’m absolutely ELATED!!!


Closing Thoughts


Well, it was another wildly successful season, with three titles, namely another Barclays Premier League championship, the FIFA Club World Cup title and a second FA Cup. We also were finalists in the League Cup AND the Champions League. We’ve turned over much of our roster, have plenty of young talent but still have some more work to do next year in an attempt to once again win the Champions League and repeat domestically.

Oh, and a brand spanking new stadium is two years away.

How cool is that?!?!

[Greyfriars Bobby]

It's great to see this dynasty is still going strong. It's an inspiration to all of us who muck around with Football Manager.

KUTGW.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Greyfriars Bobby

It's great to see this dynasty is still going strong. It's an inspiration to all of us who muck around with Football Manager.

KUTGW.

Thanks Bobby! Much appreciated!

I worried that it might be getting a bit boring now that we've reached the summit but I think I'll stick with this dynasty for a few more seasons.

I really am interested in seeing how things change with us in a new stadium in a couple of years...

[NoSkillz]

2028-29 Season Recap -


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




Absolutely no change to anything here, as I’m in the fourth year of a five year deal and none of my ratings change. The one big thing is that I’m now accorded “Legendary” status by the Dover supporters, joining Lennie Lee and Jason Bartlett with that lofty designation.



Of course, the big news is that in two years time, we’ll have a brand spanking new 35,000+ seat stadium here in Dover. Interestingly enough, our training facilities have dropped to “Good” from “Top” due to advancements in the world of football. I’m guessing we’ll soon move back to top facilities once we start playing at Bosela Arena in 2030!



Ticket prices are held for an unprecedented third consecutive season. The season ticket base continues to grow and our estimated value absolutely skyrockets, up to £265m, still sixth in English football. We've also become a world-renowned club...perhaps a foreign tour outside of Europe is in order!!

The pundits actually predict a third place finish for the coming season, the best I’ve seen in all my years at Dover. Of course, I continue to tell my board that battling for a division title is the bare minimum goal for the season and for that outlook, I'm granted the following in wage and transfer budgets:

2028/29 TRANSFER BUDGET - £26,000,000 (Last year: £45,000,000)
2028/29 WAGE BUDGET - £1,500,000/week (Last year: £1,600,000/week)

Well, we see a significant drop in our transfer budget and a corresponding drop in our weekly wage budget, likely due to our huge investment in our stadium. I may have to get creative in the transfer market…and that may mean some tough decisions with veteran players with one year left on their contracts.

[NoSkillz]

2028/29 Preseason: Roster Status


U18 Graduates


DL - Christos Evangelinos
DC - Marc Berghuis
ML - Kenneth Hansen
MC - Borja

Evangelinos and Hansen have one more year on their contracts but are simply depth players with no future here. Berghuis is a 3.0 star potential DC and Borja is a supremely talented midfielder who can play in the centre and right side of the pitch. He’s yet another Dover Wonderkid and if he can’t make our senior squad, I’ll look to loan him out with hopes of continuing his development


Senior Roster


GK - Last year saw the inevitable transition away from 34 year old veteran and Dover icon Ingo Wilke, who only played in 18 matches. Our main starter was 26 year old English international Chris Davies, who continued to play at a very high level in his second year with our club, putting up a remarkable 19 clean sheets in 36 starts. However, his time as our main starter is limited, as we brought in our (hopeful) goalkeeper of the future in Fabinho, a 21 year old Brazilian. We brought him along very slowly, playing him in only 13 matches but after an incredible 9 clean sheets and a Dover GK record setting 7.28 average rating, he will most certainly get more looks this year. We have unrivalled depth in goal and I look forward to watching the development of 21 year old Fabinho especially this year.

D - Last year saw the mid-season departure of long-time captain Salim Loucif and veteran Rayane Hamon and we didn’t really miss a beat. We continue to get fantastic play in the middle from main starters Mwemere Mutesa and the brilliant Claudio Contreras. Contreras especially was superb last year and we have great depth at the central defense position with Renato Silverio, new signing Herman Quattara and the unheralded Adrian Torres. We have a couple of interesting prospects in Emmanuel Gonzalez and Marc Berghuis. At fullback, we’re not quite as strong but still have more than enough talent. Renato Gaucho and Rodolfo Lopez will likely be the main starters but players like Emerson and Eneko Remirez on the right and Joao and Gabriel Scolaro on the left side could push for playing time. Joao especially has a lot to prove after being a huge signing last year and essentially busting. He’s still only 24 years old.

M - Our midfield is getting a bit long in the tooth and while I’m delighted with the talent and depth we have in the middle of the pitch, the flanks are a major concern. We only got 13 goals from our wide midfielders last year and both right wingers are in contract years. I may look at the market to see if we can find alternatives to long-time incumbent Gianluca Bolis and Sergio De la Vega. On the left side, Mads Pedersen was not very productive in his first year as our main starter after the departure of Dover icon Arsene Bamba. His backup, former Wonderkid Jonathan Langlet, was also very average. Thankfully, we have incredible talent and depth in the middle, led by all-world MC Benedikt Raab, who just keeps delivering in all facets of the game. 12 goals and an insane 27 assists last year from our leader! His partner in crime is 28 year old Neil Cairney, who continues his career renaissance with another solid year. Bursting onto the scene last year was the remarkable 18 year old Michel Benard, who notched an incredible 21 points in 27 total games. He’s taken over as our main backup at a tender age. New signing Seyi Omolade was also very effective. The same couldn’t be said for 24 year old veteran Emmerson Harvey, who seemingly has been here forever but the English international has never been able to grab onto a starting spot despite plenty of chances. He’s very expensive depth but is home-grown, which makes him valuable. Borja is a name to think about for the future, as the 19 year old is a Wonderkid and deserves a long look in the preseason. And we still have 20 year old Juan Jose Culebras around - he wasn’t as good last year as he was in his breakout 2026-27 campaign but is still a great prospect.

F - A healthy Paul Moses shredded English and international football last year. 40 goals and 13 assists in 43 starts makes him one of the deadliest strikers in the game. We are so lucky to have him. The incomparable Chiquinho turned 32 years old but still notched 40 points last year, including 24 goals. He’s never hurt but he finally seemed to slow down a tad near the end of the year, not a surprise at his advanced age. He’s a team icon but he could be passed on our depth chart by 21 year old Wonderkid Fernando Estrada, who was simply remarkable in his first real full season with our club. He scored an incredible 26 goals in only 28 starts (35 total games) and added 12 assists. He’s ready to be a major player in the world of football. And what can I say about Andy Broomes? Our fourth string striker continues to amaze, scoring 17 goals in only 16 starts (40 total appearances). Easily the best reserve striker in the game! Oh, and we have yet ANOTHER Wonderkid in 21 year old Bakary Kone. He was used sparingly, playing mostly with our reserve team but did score 5 goals and add 4 assists in 9 total games. We also have English prospect Marcus Sowter, who spent last year on loan. An embarrassment of riches at the forward position!

Wide midfield will easily be my biggest priority in the offseason. I’ll also look for potential fullback prospects, especially on the left side. As usual, we will keep our eyes open for the best youth talent available, whether it’s for the main roster or our U18 team.

[NoSkillz]

July 2028- Transfer Window


Transfers OUT

MR - Sergio De la Vega - Barcelona - £24,000,000
MR - Gianluca Bolis - Fiorentina - £10,500,000
ST - Chiquinho - Mallorca - £9,500,000
MC - Juan Jose Culebras - Porto - £7,000,000
MR - Nene - Manchester City - £6,500,000
DC - Luis Miguel Garcia - Newcastle - £4,700,000
DL - Dean France - Tottenham - £3,800,000
GK - Philippe Jung - Cordoba - £1,300,000
DC - Francisco Lopez - Cordoba - Free

Some huge names move out as we continue restructuring our squad with the aim of getting younger.

Barcelona came calling for world-class winger Sergio De la Vega and after buying him from Pachuca in July 2025 for only £7 million, we found it impossible not to take the £24 million from the Spanish giant only three years later. We hoped that De la Vega would push incumbent Gianluca Bolis for playing time and while he did, his production never was as prolific as expected. In all, he made 111 appearances for Dover (87 starts) in three years, scoring 14 goals and adding 29 assists. We wish Sergio well but are delighted with the huge profit we made on this sale.

We also bid adieu to long-time right winger Gianluca Bolis, who moves to Italian side Fiorentina in a £10,500,000 deal. Bolis played 9 years with our team and while his talent was undeniable, he always left us wanting a bit more, especially after his first couple of productive years with our club. Bolis originally arrived from Manchester City in 2019-20 for the bargain fee of £4,000,000 and for a few seasons was one of our best players. His best season was definitely 2021-22, when he scored a whopping 16 goals and added 13 assists, remarkable numbers from the midfield. However, he’d battle inconsistency in later years and I was always looking for a replacement. That said, he’d always somehow do JUST enough to ward off his competition. Still, I’m looking for more and at 29 years of age, his best is definitely behind him so we move on. In all, he started 322 times and made 30 appearances as a substitute in his 9 seasons, an amazing 352 total appearances! He scored 70 goals and added 71 assists in that time. Thank you to Gianluca for serving Dover so well for 9 seasons and we wish him the best going forward with Fiorentina.

Inarguably, the biggest name moving out is the remarkable Chiquinho, one of the greatest strikers in football history, as he moves to Mallorca in a bargain £9.5 million transfer. Chiquinho arrived at Dover in July 2022 after seven ridiculously productive years in Belgium with Anderlecht and immediately became the face of our franchise, scoring goals at will and providing durability the likes we haven’t seen in this sport. In fact, in 14 full seasons, he’s only suffered FOUR TOTAL injuries, with none of them lasting longer than three weeks! Despite his advancing age, his consistency never wavered and he continually provided goals, assists and leadership with our squad, serving as captain during his last year at Dover. In all, he spent six seasons at Dover, appearing in 277 games (266 starts), scoring an incredible 164 goals and adding 76 assists for 240 total points!! He’s now 32 years old, was entering his last year under contract and was demanding double his current salary for only a one year extension, terms I was just not able to meet. It’s a sad day in Dover history and our supporters are NOT happy with me! We wish Chiquinho the best as he moves to Spain for the remainder of his career.

The rest of the names are younger prospects that we moved out to give them chances at first team football. Juan Jose Culebras joined our club in 2025 from Villarreal for £6 million and spent one year with our U18 squad and also had a couple of loan stints while here. He showed some great promise with our senior squad in 2026-27, scoring one goal and adding 5 assists in 13 appearances but in the end, we had some bigger prospects and felt that making a modest profit in a £7 million sale to Porto was justified. In all, Culebras 17 total appearances with the senior squad (5 starts), and scored the one goal and added 5 assists.

Nene was a middling prospect that we picked up from Gremio for £1.5 million and Manchester City paid a huge premium for his services. He spent his one year on our U18 squad and never made a first-team appearance for Dover.

We also make a significant profit on DC Luis Miguel Garcia, getting £4.7 million for him from Newcastle after spending a paltry £70K for him from Tigres in July 2025. Garcia was a decent prospect but only made one substitute appearance with our first-team during his three years at Dover, spending two full years out on loan to St. Gallen and Young Boys.

Like Nene, fullback Dean France was only here for one season, spent entirely with our U18 squad and we were able to get a whopping £3.8 million for him from Spurs after buying him for only £1 million from Watford.

Fourth string GK Philippe Jung came to Dover on a free from Toulouse FC in French Ligue 2 in 2025 and spent his first year on our U18 club, getting one senior team start in our last match of the season, where he allowed four goals. He’d spend two years at Derby on loan and I feel lucky to have received £1.3 million for his services from Cordoba in Spain.

Lastly, we move out DC Francisco Lopez to Cordoba as well, on a free transfer. He spent three years with our club, making one scoreless senior team start while spending most of his time here with our youth squad.


LOAN OUT


ST - Josh Fairclough - Blackpool - £550,000
MC - Borja - Aston Villa - £450,000
ST - Marcus Sowter - Leeds - £210,000
DC - Andrew Hunter - QPR - £110,000
DC - Marc Berghuis - Newcastle - Free
DC - Emmanuel Gonzalez - Udinese - Free
DR - Gary Richards - Stoke - Free
DC - Aythami - Stuttgart - Free

We have some key prospects here moving out to gain some first-team experience, the most notable of whom are Fairclough, Borja, Sowter and Richards.


RELEASED PLAYERS


GK - Massimo La Vecchia
DL - Chris Kennedy
DR - Chris Cross
ML - Zoltan Toth
MC - Jan Sloncik
MR - Dale Swan
ST - Danny Kitson

Not much to see here, as most of these players were just U18 contributors that weren’t ready to contribute at the next level. We wish them all the best.

[NoSkillz]

July 2028 - Transfer Window


Transfers IN - Senior Team

MR - Andoni - £19,750,000 (From Barcelona) - 22 years old, Spain
MR - Leandro Cepeda - £6,250,000 (From Omonoia) - 25 years old, Argentina
ML - Dario Galeano - £1,700,000 (From Sevilla) - 29 years old, Argentina
ST - Doctor Ndulula - Free (From Le Mans FC) - 26 years old, South Africa


Loans IN - Senior Team

ST - Luis Monzon - £650,000 (From FC Bayern) - 21 years old, Argentina

Well, the biggest moves are at right midfield, as we bring in two key acquisitions, the biggest of which is 22 year old Wonderkid Andoni (3.0/3.5), a player I’ve long admired. He’s an incredibly versatile player, with the ability to play in central midfield and in an attacking midfield role and I hope he can grow into a fine footballer here at Dover.

The 25 year old Leandro Cepeda (3.0/3.0) will provide able cover at right midfield behind Andoni - he is very skilled and has great pace and should work well in our system.

Veteran Dario Galeano (2.5/2.5) is simply a depth acquisition at this point and will be hard pressed to get a lot of playing time with Mads Pedersen and Wonderkid Jonathan Langlet in front of him.

My cheapest acquisition may be the most exciting, as 26 year old Doctor Ndulula (3.5/3.5) is one of the fine young strikers in the game and I was somehow able to scoop him on a free due to an expiring contract with Le Mans. He’s big and has decent speed and should immediately step in as our immediate backup at the holding striker position behind Fernando Estrada.

We also brought in young Luis Monzon (2.0/2.5) on loan for the year, just to give us some additional depth at striker. I expect he’ll spend most of his time here with our reserves.


Transfers IN - U18 Team


ST - Antonio Scarpellini - £4,200,000 (From Livorno) - 16 years old, Italy
MC - Gareth Bamford - £2,900,000 (From Liverpool) - 17 years old, England
DR - Andrea Patti - £2,400,000 (From Le Mans) - 17 years old, Italy
DC - Matt Boyd - £2,100,000 (From Manchester City) - 16 years old, England
GK - Liam Davies - £2,000,000 (From Manchester City) - 16 years old, England
ML - Matthew Francis - £1,900,000 (From Manchester United) - 16 years old, England
ST - Fabio Errigo - £1,800,000 (From Chievo) - 18 years old, Italy
ST - Adel Laouar - £1,000,000 (From Montpellier Herault SC) - 15 years old, France

MR - Maurizio Zanetti - Free - 18 years old, Italy
DR - Nem - Free - 18 years old, Brazil
ST - Zoltan Fuzi - Free - 18 years old, Hungary
GK - Trevor Ellison - Free - 18 years old, England
ML - Derek Franklin - Free - 18 years old, England
DC - David Tanner - Free - 17 years old, England
MC - John Backhouse - Free - 18 years old, England
DL - Nicky Herron - Free - 18 years old, Northern Ireland
DC - Danny Edwards - Free - 18 years old, England
ST - Callum Cooper - Free - 18 years old, England
ML - Alistair Jackson - Free - 18 years old, England
DC - Stefan Whitehouse - Free - 18 years old, England

As you can see, it was a busy season acquiring young talent. All of the players I spent money on have at least 3 star potentials and will help our consistently strong U18 team dominate once again. The free transfers essentially are just roster filler for the U18s but there are a couple of interesting players in there, including John Backhouse (1.0/3.0).



Final Thoughts Before the Season Begins


Last year was more about transitioning to a younger core and we accomplished our goals there while still winning the Premier League by seven points. We have an entirely new set of players at right midfield but other than that, we are going with the same players that started last year.

Fabinho will get every chance to take over the majority of playing time in goal but English international Chris Davies will likely have something to say about that! On defence, the most interesting battle will take place at DR, where one of Rodolfo Lopez, Emerson or young Eneko Remirez will try to take over for our former captain Salim Loucif. Andoni will join incumbents Mads Pedersen, Neil Cairney and Benedikt Raab in the midfield and we’ll hope for healthy, productive seasons from forwards Paul Moses and Fernando Estrada.

Paul Moses gets the honour of taking over the captaincy from the departing Chiquinho and moving into the vice-captain role is fullback Renato Gaucho.

We’d have a light preseason, gaining six wins and a tie from our seven games but for a THIRD straight year, we’d lose in the season-opening Community Shield, again dropping the contest to rivals Manchester City at Wembley on penalties.

As usual, we’ll continue to go with a flat 4-4-2 with a control mentality for most of our games, sprinkling in the odd 4-2-3-1 formation along the way.

Fernando Estrada and Claudio Contreras were away on international duty to start the season so we were missing one of our key players to begin the domestic campaign.

Here is our starting lineup for game one of the 2028-29 season, where we look to win our fourth consecutive Premier League title.

GK - Chris Davies
D - Renato Gaucho - Mwemere Mutesa - Herman Quattara - Rodolfo Lopez
M - Neil Cairney - Benedikt Raab
AM -Mads Pedersen - Andoni - Leandro Cepeda
ST - Paul Moses

[NoSkillz]

2028/29 Barclays Premier League - First Half Results


Incredibly, the start of this season was pretty much a spitting image of the 2027/28 campaign. For two consecutive years, we’d lose the Community Shield to Manchester City then open our domestic campaign with 2-0 losses to big rivals (Tottenham at home last year and Manchester United at Old Trafford this year).

Thankfully, we’d right the ship quickly, reeling off seven consecutive wins in all competitions before dropping another game in a shocker away at mid-table Birmingham.

That would be our last loss in 2028 and we’d reach the mid-point of the season with 13 wins, 2 losses and 4 ties, good for 43 points and third place in the division, one point behind joint leaders Manchester City and the surprising Tottenham Hotspur and one point ahead of Manchester United who sat in fourth place on the table.

After starting the season a bit slow, our offensive swagger returned, with 49 goals through the halfway point (up three from the same period last year) and we had allowed only 13 against, six LESS than last year at this time. So pretty solid!


January 2029 - Transfer Window


Heading into January on a huge hot streak of 20 games without a loss (16-0-4), we elected to stick with the players who had gotten us to that point, adding only an U18 prospect when the January window opened. We did, however, move a couple of players out who either weren’t producing or were a surplus to requirements.


Transfers OUT


DL - Joao - £12,750,000 - Real Madrid

Unfortunately, Joao never adapted well to our brand of football and leaves our club a short 18 months after arriving from Stuttgart in a £15.25 million transfer. He was a right footed, left fullback and simply did not perform well when called upon. In all, he only played in 20 games for Dover (9 starts), notching a single assist in that time frame. A complete bust for us but at least we recovered a significant portion of his original transfer fee in this deal with the Spanish giants.

MR - Ivan Cerezo - £8,000,000 - Palermo

Cerezo is only 21 years old and has blazing speed but was third on our depth chart behind newcomers Andoni and Leandro Cepeda so when Palermo came calling with 8 million pounds, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Like Joao, Cerezo joined us at the start of last season and played mostly a depth role with our club, playing 24 games overall for the senior team (7 starts), notching no goals and 3 assists in those games. We originally brought him here in a £2.5 million deal with Juventus so this was a nice return on that investment.


Loans OUT


DR - Eneko Remirez - £250,000 Loan Fee - Almeria

The 21 year old Remirez still looks to be a good prospect but was our third choice this year behind Rodolfo Lopez and Emerson so sending him to Almeria to get first team playing time was our goal.


Transfers IN


DC - Mario Reis - £1,100,000 (from Clube Sport Maritimo B) - 16 years old, Portugal

Reis was a hot new name on the scene that my scouts dug up at the tiny little Portuguese club Maritimo. He’s already 6’ 2” tall at 16 years old and has 3.5 star potential so this was a nice little deal for the future.

[NoSkillz]

2028/29 Barclays Premier League - Second Half Results


The second half of our domestic campaign started with us gaining revenge on Manchester United after their 2-0 win over us to start the season, as we’d wallop them 4-1 at Crabble Athletic Ground.

Sunderland would do well to hold us to a drab 1-1 draw in the middle of January but we’d reel off four consecutive wins before dropping a very tough 1-0 decision to league leaders Tottenham in mid-February. We’d fall a couple more points behind after drawing Arsenal the next game but then we’d take flight, WINNING OUR LAST NINE GAMES of the season to finish off the second half with a scintillating 16-1-2 record.

A 3-1 win in our penultimate game of the season away at Huddersfield was good enough for us to lock up our FOURTH CONSECUTIVE Barclays Premier League championship!

DOVER WINS THE 2028/29 BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP!

Incredibly, we finish with the EXACT same record as last year (29-6-3, 93 points) but our goal differential moved up five goals to +75, showing we are perhaps on a slight upswing. Again, we have continued with our goal of reloading the core part of our roster with more young players and we’re doing it without losing a beat in the standings.





Barclays Premier League 2028-29 League Awards


- Top Goalscorer: Jelle Hoegee, Manchester City - 26
- Most Assists: Benedikt Raab, Dover - 17
- Highest Average Rating: Paul Moses, Dover - 7.60 (24 apps)
- Most Man of Match Awards: Ibrahim Sanogo, Tottenham - 7
- English Footballer of the Year: Ibrahim Sanogo, Tottenham - 30 apps 15 gls 12 asts 7.47 avg
- English Players' Player of the Year: Jelle Hoegee, Manchester City - 34 apps 26 gls 6 asts 7.42 avg
- English Players' Young Player of the Year: Numan Ceyham, Arsenal - 31 apps 20 gls 6 asts 7.25 avg
- Manager of the Year: Owen Coyle, Sheffield United

Jelle Hoegee wins the league scoring race for a second consecutive year, actually tying with United’s Francesco Salvadori but winning due to playing in four less games. Our very own Fernando Estrada finishes in third place with 24 goals but only played in 29 league games, as we heavily rotate our squad due to so much continental and cup competition.

Benedikt Raab led the league in assists for the second consecutive season and incredibly, the fourth year in the last five! He continues to play at an absurdly high level. Paul Moses was again sensational in league play, scoring 19 goals in only 24 games and his 7.60 average rating led the Premier League.

Ibrahim Sanogo had a wonderful year and was deserving of his Footballer of the Year award and Owen Coyle was named manager of the year for leading Sheffield United to a top half finish.


Barclays Premier League 2028-29 Players' Team of the Year


GK - Manuel Perez, Manchester United
DL - Victor Talavera, Manchester City
DC - Claudio Contreras, Dover
DC - Mwemere Mutesa, Dover
DR - Capitao, Manchester City
ML - Carl Cousins, Arsenal
MC - Benedikt Raab, Dover
MC - Badawassi Banna, Chelsea
MR - Ibrahim Sanogo, Tottenham
ST - Jelle Hoegee, Manchester City
ST - Fernando Estrada, Dover

A little more variation than usual here, as Chelsea and Tottenham both place players on the Best Eleven when usually the list is exclusively made up of players from Dover or Manchester. Contreras, Mutesa and Raab repeat, former Dover keeper Manuel Perez makes the list for the third straight season while Fernando Estrada also makes the starting eleven. Our new right midfield Andoni makes the team as an alternate.

[NoSkillz]

Cup Competitions 2028-29


Community Shield


As indicated previously, we’d once again battle Manchester City in the season-opening Community Shield and for a THIRD year in a row, we’d lose. It was an evenly played match and regulation and extra time solved nothing, necessitating penalty kicks. Both teams would see their first six players score but misses from DL Gabriel Scolaro and DC Herman Quattara would prove costly, as Mario Brito stepped up and scored to give City the victory in front of a sold out crowd at Wembley Stadium.

Manchester City 0 - 0 Dover (Manchester City win 7-6 on penalties)


League Cup


We were ousted in the finals in last year’s League Cup by Manchester City and while we always hope to win any competition we enter, the League Cup is the least important competition on our schedule and as such, we always play our backups throughout the event.

As usual, we enter the competition in the third round and needed an extra time goal from Andy Broomes to escape Goodison Park with a 3-2 win over Everton.

We’d benefit from an excellent draw as the competition moved forward, beating Championship side Hull 2-0 in the fourth round before drawing mid-table Premier League side Newcastle in the quarters, winning by the same scoreline.

Unfortunately, we’d again draw our bitter rivals Manchester City in the semis and after drawing 1-1 in the home leg, we’d drop a tight 1-0 affair at the Etihad to lose 2-1 on aggregate to miss out on a second consecutive trip to the finals.

3rd Round: Everton 2 - 3 Dover (extra time)
4th Round: Dover 2 - 0 Hull
Quarter Final: Dover 2 - 0 Newcastle
Semi Final, Leg 1: Dover 1 - 1 Manchester City
Semi Final, Leg 2: Manchester City 1 - 0 Dover


F.A. Cup


As always, we concentrate much more on the FA Cup and usually play our starters throughout the competition. We had a tough draw in round one, getting Liverpool but destroyed them on their own pitch in a 4-1 pasting. Round four was an away matchup against Everton and again, it was all Dover in a 4-0 win.

The tough draws continued with a fifth round matchup against Manchester United at Old Trafford, where a Paul Moses goal in the 62nd minute was enough to edge our rivals 1-0.

We’d get a slight break in round six, drawing Stoke at home but they’d battle us hard and we were fortunate to escape with the 2-1 victory, moving us to the semi-finals at Wembley against surprise package Watford.

We were still fighting hard for the Premier League title and had just completed a very difficult Champions League victory three nights earlier over Fenerbahce (more on that in a second) so I decided to go with a squad of backups in this key FA Cup semifinal.

Unfortunately, we simply couldn’t beat Watford’s excellent keeper Anton Lundqvist and despite dominating the match both in possession (61%) and shots (29-3; 4-2 on target), the game went to penalty kicks. Shockingly enough, Neil Cairney and substitute Fernando Estrada would both MISS our first two kicks but we’d get goals from Bakary Kone and Michel Benard to send it into extra kicks. Alas, after Adam Williams pumped one past Fabinho, our young right midfielder Andoni would miss, sending Watford into the finals. Tough one for us but good stuff for Watford, who were toiling in the Championship.

3rd Round: Liverpool 1 - 4 Dover
4th Round: Everton 0 - 4 Dover
5th Round: Manchester United 0 - 1 Dover
6th Round: Dover 2 - 1 Stoke City
Semi Final: Watford 0 - 0 Dover (Watford win 4-3 on penalties)


Champions League


We had a decent draw in Champions League group play, getting Sampdoria, Ajax and AS Saint-Etienne.

We’d dominate in our first group stage game, destroying AS Saint-Etienne 5-0 but would fall to Sampdoria 3-2 away to knock us down a bit. A couple of 2-0 wins over Ajax put us in the driver’s seat in the group and when we defeated AS Saint-Etienne 3-0 away, we had clinched a spot in the knockout stages. Regardless, we’d paste Sampdoria 4-0 at home to gain a measure of revenge for our only defeat to win the group and move on.

For the second time in three years, we’d draw Olympique Lyonnais in the first knockout round. It’s never easy getting to the last 16! A tough 2-2 draw away in the first leg meant we had to be at full attention in the return leg at Crabble and thankfully, we’d squeak out a 3-2 win at home to move on.

We’d get what I thought was an excellent draw in the Quarter Finals, getting Turkish side Fenerbahce but they shocked us in Istanbul, beating us 2-1 to take the advantage heading into the leg back at Dover. Thankfully, we’d get two goals from Fernando Estrada in a convincing 4-0 win to move comfortably onto the semis.

There, we’d draw Manchester United, with the first leg taking place at Old Trafford. We battled them to a 1-1 draw there before returning home for the tense tie-breaker. It was a ninety minute stalemate, with possession dead even and no goals scored, allowing us to move onto the Champions League final once again due to our away goals advantage!!!

There, at Nuevo Mestalla in Valencia, Spain, we’d face Atletico Madrid in what would essentially turn out to be a home game for them. It was yet another close contest where Fernando Estrada gave us the lead in the 64th minute. We were only a few minutes from salting it away but we were stunned when Juan Martin Lopez pumped one home in the 90th minute, sending the game into EXTRA TIME.

Things got very testy in the extra thirty minutes, with six yellow cards in the extra frame but it did not solve anything so we were onto PENALTIES to determine the winner.

There, goals by Benedikt Raab, Seyi Omolade and Doctor Ndulula and a miss from Jonathan Langlet and an equal total from their first four players meant we were tied 3-3 going into the fifth and final kick of regulation. There, Alejandro Ruis MISSED, giving Paul Moses, perennially our top scorer and our captain, the chance to deliver a championship. He’d knock a hard blast into the top corner of the goal to give us the 4-3 win on penalties and deliver our THIRD EVER CHAMPIONS LEAGUE VICTORY!!!!!

Group D, Game 1: Dover 5 - 0 AS Saint-Etienne
Group D, Game 2: Sampdoria 3 - 2 Dover
Group D, Game 3: Ajax 0 - 2 Dover
Group D, Game 4: Dover 2 - 0 Ajax
Group D, Game 5: AS Saint-Etienne 0 - 3 Dover
Group D, Game 6: Dover 4 - 0 Sampdoria

1st Knockout Round, Leg 1: Olympic Lyonnais 2 - 2 Dover
1st Knockout Round, Leg 2: Dover 3 - 2 Olympic Lyonnais

Quarter Final, Leg 1: Fenerbahce 2 - 1 Dover
Quarter Final, Leg 2: Dover 4 - 0 Fenerbahce

Semi Final, Leg 1: Manchester United 1 - 1 Dover
Semi Final, Leg 2: Dover 0 - 0 Manchester United (Dover advance on away goals)

Final: Atletico Madrid 1 - 1 Dover (DOVER WIN 4-3 ON PENALTIES)

DOVER WINS THE 2028/29 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!


UEFA Champions League 2028-29 Awards


- Top Goalscorer: Ali Mostafa, Sevilla - 11
- Most Assists: Abdelhalim Meddahi, Olympic Lyonnais - 7
- Highest Average Rating: Abdelhalim Meddahi, Olympic Lyonnais - 8.27 (7 apps)
- Most Man of Match Awards: John Kumwenda, Atletico Madrid - 5
- UEFA Champions League Best Player: John Kumwenda, Atletico Madrid - 11 apps 9 gls 5 asts 7.92 avg

Kumwenda was a solid choice for the competition’s best player and Fernando Estrada finished second after scoring 8 goals in 12 Champions League matches. Sevilla’s Ali Mostafa won the Golden Boot by two goals over Lyon’s Julian Endres and Kumwenda.


UEFA Champions League 2028-29 Dream Team


GK - Angel Detry, Atletico Madrid
DL - Renato Gaucho, Dover
DC - Claudio Contreras, Dover
DC - Mwemere Mutesa, Dover
DR - Johann Sciacqua, Atletico Madrid
ML - Honore Nzamukunda, Dortmund
MC - Neil Cairney, Dover
MC - Benedikt Raab, Dover
MR - Paulo Roberto, Dortmund
ST - John Kumwenda, Atletico Madrid
ST - Ali Mostafa, Sevilla

Five players from Dover make the Champions League Dream Team, a wonderful accomplishment!

Well, a year after winning three titles, we only win two this year but they were biggies: four consecutive Premier League titles and our third Champions League title, with two other semi-final appearances in the League Cup and FA Cup. Another wonderful year!

[NoSkillz]

2028-29 Dover Recap and Statistics





2028-29 Dover Best Eleven

GK - Fabinho - 38 apps 0g 7.16 avg
DL - Renato Gaucho - 43 apps 0g 7.21 avg
DC - Claudio Contreras - 39 apps 4g 7.42 avg
DC - Mwemere Mutesa - 45 apps 4g 7.41 avg
DR - Emerson - 34 apps 0g 7.17 avg
ML - Mads Pedersen - 35 apps 6g 7.27 avg
MC - Neil Cairney - 44 apps 5g 7.22 avg
MC - Benedikt Raab - 46 apps 4g 7.49 avg
MR - Andoni - 43 apps 7g 7.15 avg
ST - Paul Moses - 34 apps 27g 7.55 avg
ST - Fernando Estrada - 44 apps 32g 7.48 avg

Other notables: GK Chris Davies 18 apps 0g 6.97; DC Herman Quattara 23 apps 2g 7.20; DC Adrian Torres 12 apps 1g 7.28; DR Rodolfo Lopez 32 apps 0g 7.16; MC Michel Benard 21 apps 0g 7.19; ST Bakary Kone 14 apps 5g 7.04; ST Andy Broomes 39 apps 20g 7.25

Dover Fans Player of the Year: Claudio Contreras




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.


Goalkeeping


-- 22 year old Fabinho took over as our main keeper and was very strong, putting up 19 clean sheets in 38 games. English international Chris Davies perhaps outperformed him, allowing only 10 goals in 18 contests and nabbing 10 clean sheets of his own but for some reason, he simply just doesn’t get great game ratings. After 13 years at Dover, this year was the swan song for Ingo Wilke. He only played in seven games overall and at age 35 and with an expiring contract, his days at Dover are likely over.


Defence


-- Claudio Contreras had another big year, getting named as our supporter’s top player for the year despite a modest four goal output from centre half. He teamed capably with Mwemere Mutesa for most of the season and both were excellent. At 26 and 25 years old respectively, they both are just entering their primes. We got capable backup play from Herman Quattara, Renato Silverio and Adrian Torres. Quattara is the main backup and got into 23 games while Silverio and Torres played 16 and 14 games respectively. Thankfully, Contreras and Mutesa were healthy the entire season and that’s why our backups didn’t play a great amount. Silverio has been a slight disappointment with us and is looking for more playing time so he may be a casualty in the offseason. Quattara and Torres are both still very young and can grow with our club. As usual, the middle of our defence continues to be a huge strength at this club.

-- At left fullback, long-time White Renato Gaucho held off young Joao (stats not shown here) and ultimately, we sent Joao packing to Real Madrid in January. We’ve gotten capable backup play from unheralded Gabriel Scolaro on the left side. On the right, it was obviously a changing of the guard this year after selling long-time captain Salim Loucif to Manchester City. Emerson and Rodolfo Lopez essentially split most of the time on that right side, with the younger Emerson playing one more game. Lopez provides much more offence and also more grit but is four years older. The 21 year old Eneko Remirez actually outplayed both his peers but I sent him out on loan in January for more seasoning. He may be ready to step into a bigger role next season. We also got 18 year old prospect Gary Richards into his first game as a substitute. Our fullbacks aren’t stars but they are all capable contributors to the side.


Midfield


-- 27 year old Benedikt Raab continues to be the straw that stirs our drink, despite seeing a big drop in statistical production. He went from 12 goals down to only 4 this year and from 27 assists down to 21 but he’s still among the best central midfielders in the game. 29 year old Neil Cairney also saw some decline in his stats, as expected, but still is a key contributor. Those two both were blessed with great health once again and as such, we didn’t rely on 19 year old midfielder Michel Benard as much this year, only one season after he burst onto the scene with 21 points in only 17 starts. This year, his production dropped substantially, as he didn’t score a single goal and added only 6 assists in 23 appearances. Still, he’s an excellent defensive midfielder and the Wonderkid will assuredly bounce back next year. Seyi Omolade, a 23 year old Nigerian midfielder was above average as well and long-time White Emmerson Harvey was our fifth choice and scored a couple of goals in only 7 starts. We have plenty of young talent also out on loan and central midfield continues to perennially be a strength here at Dover.

-- After two years of mediocre production at wide midfield, we blew things up in the offseason, moving out longtime wingers Gianluca Bolis and Sergio De la Vega and bringing in young Andoni and Leandro Cepeda. Andoni was a revelation, scoring 7 goals and adding 14 assists in his 39 starts while Cepeda also contributed 4 goals in his 20 starts. Ivan Cerezo (stats not shown) was our third choice at MR for the first half of the year but we moved him out during the January transfer window. On the left side, it was more of the same from Mads Pedersen, who scored 6 goals and added 10 assists in his 21 starts, excellent production. He’s got incredible talent but despite the solid numbers, leaves us wanting more at times due to his inconsistent efforts. Former Wonderkid Jonathan Langlet built upon a decent rookie season, scoring 4 goals and adding 5 assists in his 25 starts. We also got good performances from third stringer Dario Galeano, a veteran addition to the squad. A couple of U18 players also saw limited action in Mark Taylor and 17 year old Matthew Francis. It was a much better year from our wide midfielders overall, with 22 goals being scored after getting only 13 from the position in each of the last two seasons.


Striker


-- Despite the July sale of longtime stalwart Chiquinho, we once again got great production from our strikers, led by Chiquinho’s replacement, 22 year old Fernando Estrada, who scored an excellent 32 goals in his 42 starts, a sensational return. Our most dangerous threat continues to be speedy Paul Moses, who once again battled some injuries but still produced 27 goals in his 31 starts. I say it every year but we are incredibly lucky to have the best backup striker in the game, the always unheralded Andy Broomes. He hit 20 goals despite starting only 24 games (43 total appearances) and has never complained about his role. Our fourth choice was newcomer Doctor Ndulula and he was just okay - 8 goals in 16 starts (22 total appearances) showed he had a bit of trouble adapting to the English game. Fifth choice striker, 22 year old Wonderkid Bakary Kone once again saw limited playing time, with 7 starts and 15 total appearances, where he scored 5 goals. He’ll likely get a bigger role next year. Finally, we had young Luis Monzon here on loan and while he came on as a substitute in 6 games, he was mostly utilized on our reserves squad. 92 goals from our strikers this season - pretty impressive I’d say!


LOAN PLAYERS


-- We loaned out a number of our key prospects this season. 19 year old DC Marc Berguis spent the year with Newcastle and was one of their main starters at the position, playing 41 games (40 starts) while scoring two goals. He’s got 3.5 star potential and could make our squad next season. Yet another 3.5 star potential DC is Emmanuel Gonzalez - he’s a couple years older and spent the year with Udinese in Italy. He played in a whopping 48 games, scoring once (on a penalty!) while adding three assists. He’s a supremely talented prospect and like Berguis, could definitely force his way into a supporting role with our first team as soon as next year. Yet another DC on loan was Andrew Hunter, who played 15 games (13 starts) with Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League, where he notched one assist. He’s a potential candidate for sale, as he doesn’t have the requisite talent to crack our roster. DR Eneko Remirez was sent to Almeria in January and scored a goal while adding 3 assists in only 17 appearances. He’s got a good shot at battling for a regular role with our senior team next season. Another right fullback also was sent on loan in 18 year old Gary Richards - he was a main starter for the Championship side, scoring a goal and adding two assists in 36 starts. He has some intriguing talent but likely needs more seasoning before being an option here at Dover. 18 year old midfielder Aythami was sent to Stuttgart, a German powerhouse and acquitted himself nicely, scoring a goal and adding four assists in 17 appearances (9 starts). He’s a defensively minded midfielder and has 3.5 star potential. One to watch for the future for sure. A guy who could make an impact next year is Wonderkid Borja, who spent the season on loan with Aston Villa and won numerous awards in the Premier League as a rookie, scoring five goals and adding ten assists in 39 starts. He’s a sensational offensive prospect and could muscle his way into my plans next season. Striker Marcus Sowter spent the whole year on loan at Leeds in the npower Championship and was a STAR, scoring 30 goals and adding 6 assists in 44 starts. He’s only 21 years old and English born so there’s huge value in that but we have so much talent at striker, I’m not sure if he’s going to ever get a great chance here. Another young striker, Josh Fairclough also went on loan to Blackpool and didn’t feature much, getting only 14 appearances (7 starts), scoring 3 goals and adding an assist. He’s got blazing speed, like Sowter but at only 19 years of age has some more room to grow perhaps.


U18 PLAYERS


-- Our U18s continued to throttle the competition, once again winning the U18 cup (7th year in a row) and their league (12th year in a row!). We have numerous prospects down there, including GK Liam Davies, DC Matt Boyd, DC Omar Valle, DR Andrea Patti, ML Matthew Francis, MC Gareth Bamford, ST Antonio Scarpellini, ST Fabrio Errigo and ST Adel Laouar. All have excellent potential.


Year-End Financials




We edged our team record in turnover with ~£169 million but expenses were down considerably from the year before (when we started building our new stadium). Wage costs continue to climb but interestingly enough, our attendance dropped for the first time in about a decade.


Closing Thoughts


It was another solid year for our squad, with a fourth straight Premier League title and our third ever Champions League crown. We’ve continued to transition to a younger core while maintaining a high standard in our performances.

We are one year away from playing in a brand new stadium and that is what continues to drive me in this dynasty. I’m going to be signing my last contract with the club and will soon head into retirement but NOT until I get into that new stadium that is being named after me! I really am interested in seeing how we do with those new facilities and yearn to manage at least one season in our new digs so that means I have at least two more years before I hang up my suit and coast into retirement.

Thanks for sticking with me!

[NoSkillz]

Just an FYI to anyone joining this dynasty late...

I've added a "Table of Contents" area in Post #3 of this thread, which will allow anyone to jump immediately to the season they are interested in reading about. There are a number of seasons in the middle, as you can see, that I wrote at length about while the rest of the seasons saw me write a season recap that might span five posts or so.

Again, I plan on managing at least one season in our new stadium, perhaps two at most before finally retiring in-game and doing an extensive review of my time at Dover.

I'm also planning on simulating ahead five years or so after my retirement to see how the club is doing in without me while also checking in with some of our star players as they reach their own retirement dates.

Hope that sounds interesting...the end is near!

[gi]

Still following and still finding entertainment from reading your posts. Looking forward to the end of our journey.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by gi

Still following and still finding entertainment from reading your posts. Looking forward to the end of our journey.

Thanks gi! More to come soon!