When They Kick At Your Front Door: A Brixton FC Story (FM18)

[BrixtonFC]

Introduction
“When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come?”
That is the opening line to the song “Guns Of Brixton” by The Clash. I bet the writer, The Clash’s bassist Paul Simonon, never imagined that the line could be interpreted the way I have. “Kick” could be a reference to kicking the football and “front door” could mean football being played professionally right there in Brixton, on the former ground of HM Prison Brixton. And I hope the fans “come” in droves.

What is this all about?
This a Football Manager 2018 Dynasty Report inspired by my love of English music. I’ll discuss Football Manager later on.

Eh?
My long fascination with England is rooted in my love of bands from there. My two favorite bands are New Model Army and Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. Other English acts that I love are XTC, The Clash, Pop Will Eat Itself, Queen, Gary Numan, Billy Bragg, and The Streets.

There are many connections between Brixton and the music I listen to. First and foremost, the song I mentioned above, “Guns of Brixton.” Another reference you might be familiar with is Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue.” Many Carter USM songs make reference to areas like Tulse Hill, Clapham, Peckham, New Cross, and of course Brixton itself. Several musicians were born there (David Bowie, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon), lived there (Mike Skinner, Jimbob, Fruitbat) or spent time in Brixton Prison (Glenn Danzig, Mick Jagger).

Speaking of Brixton Prison, in the fictional story (in my head) of the team’s origin, their future massive stadium will be on the former site of the prison spreading up into Windmill Gardens, its name sake. (Brixton Prison was closed due to its upkeep becoming too expensive for the local government and the Brixton club owners agreeing to build a new facility outside the city.) Windmill Gardens is scheduled to open on 1 July 2022 and thus the club built a small stadium on the westside of Brockwell Park; it also functions as the training ground/reserve stadium and will remain so after the move in 2022. City Heights Academy in the real-world is where the Brixton Youth Academy is.

I’m not being too original but the nicknames for Brixton will be Mortars and Guns. I made Guns the second nickname because those bastards at Arsenal are already the Gunners and I don’t want too much confusion.

Other Inspiration
This Dynasty Report was directly inspired by three people:

Jim Gindin Of course it starts with him. In the late 90s he took sports simming to a new level. I guess over the years I spent around $150 on his products. From around Christmas 1998 to Halloween 2007 I played FOF or FOF:TCY (mostly TCY) just about every day. For 2 to 12 hours per day. Money very well spent. You’re a legend, Jim!

Scott Brown When I finally got my act together and stayed with FM for more than a month, I was struggling to understand position combinations. While researching I found this wonderful Let’s Play by accident and learned some stuff. More importantly, I was entertained. I’ve read it in full probably four or five times since October 2019. The style of this blog is an homage to Scott’s LP. I wonder how he feels about Wrexham getting two Sugar Daddies.

Loki Doki A YouTube personality (and what a personality!) who lives a simple life of playing Football Manager for profit and rescuing animals. Not a lot of profit, mind you. He’s always entertaining and keeps me out of the FM doldrums; I watch him to get a good laugh and get inspired to get back into the game.

[BrixtonFC]

Football Manager 2018
Welcome to Football Manager 2018. If you don’t know what Football Manager is, read the next paragraph. If you already have devoted your life and soul to Football Manager, skip the next paragraph.

Football Manager is THE premier sports simulation computer game for managing football clubs. Clubs not teams, I’m talking association football, or as us ‘mericans call it, soccer. You can choose to manage a club in your nation of choice, though for some of the smaller nations you have to download custom databases from Steam Workshop. Everywhere in the world except ‘merica the football leagues have a promotion/regulation pyramid structure meaning that bad teams get dropped to a level below and the good teams get elevated to a level above. To put it in U.S. terms, the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears would have been dropped down to Division 1 and Alabama and Michigan would be in the NFL.

Let’s Talk Pyramid Schemes
For this story I am playing in England in the 9th level of the English football league system. Essentially, at that level it’s a bunch of guys in their late 20s and early 30s trying to (re)capture that glory that eluded them. FM doesn’t come stocked with that many leagues for England (you can go down to the 6th level) so I had to download a databased called “England Level 10 and Cup Competitions” by danseakin. Mad props, dude!

Game Setup
However, because Brixton is a fictional club, I’ve had to add them to the database. The scenario I’ve chosen is that Brixton is owned by a Sugar Daddy who has pumped loads of money into the team, built a highest-quality Youth Academy, built a 7,000-seat Reserve Stadium (that will act as the Senior stadium for now), and is building a 25,000-seat stadium, which will lie on the grounds of real-world Windmill Gardens and HM Prison Brixton, set to open on 1 July 2022.

I’ve also granted Brixton a full complement of coaches because despite loving the endless scouting for players, I just cannot stand scouting for staff. I’ve got an assistant manager (hereafter known forever and ever as an AssMan), a head of youth development, two goalkeeping coaches, two fitness coaches, and five regular coaches.

I added Brixton to the Southern Counties East League, swapping out Rusthall because they had the lowest Reputation (150). I’ve given Brixton a reputation of 1 (out of 10,000) to make things somewhat realistic.

I added 17 players to the database for Brixton but all of them are 15 or 16 years old to simulate a new beginning of players graduating from the Youth Academy.

As far as other playable leagues, I added Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. I also added Belorussia so I could have a mid-March start in order to have enough time to find some slightly older players to act as mentors before the start of the season. So with a start date of 13 March 2017, it’s time to start the fun.

The Write Stuff
A note about my writing style: I’m a professional writer and editor. It’s hard work and taxes one’s brain agonizing over some of the smallest details. Sometimes I need to let my hair down and unwind. Therefore I’m not putting a lot of effort into editing, and I'm writing like I speak, all stream-of-conscious like. So if there is bad grammar, misspelled words, or weird sentence structures…well, I’m not gonna worry about it. :-) I hope it doesn’t detract from your experience.

[BrixtonFC]

First Update: Kids Are People Too

Let us meet the “Senior” team of Brixton’s first squad. These are the 17 players I mentioned earlier in the Game Setup section of the Introduction page.

GK

I added two goalkeepers as I wanted to make sure an injury to the best keeper doesn’t hamstring us.





Neither one is great and there is very little difference to the naked eye but my AssMan thinks Webb is currently better. At this point I have no idea which one will be better.

[BrixtonFC]

DR

I also added two right fullbacks.





Okay, so technically Peter Maguire isn’t a right fullback, he’s a centreback. But at only 178 cm I’m not too sure he’ll grow enough to ever be an effective central defender, even if he is only 14. (I’ll be keeping track of his growth to see how tall he gets. I want my DCs to be 182 cm tall at a bare minimum but 185 is the realistic bottom end.) Considering he has world class Acceleration (16 is considered world class in FM) and a 14 Pace, his future is only the wings, even if his Crossing is abysmal. He’s clearly better and I don’t need my AssMan to tell me that. (Can you believe his Stamina?!?)

Note: I capitalize certain FM terms to highlight that I’m referring to elements of the game.

[BrixtonFC]

DL

The real second DR is Kevin Parker whose Preferred Foot is Either so I’ll be working on getting his DL up to Natural.





Jefcoate is clearly the better player and I’m not even counting his 16 Pace. But of course Parker is going to get plenty of opportunities so he can be my utility fullback as at this level of the pyramid I will only be able to suit up 5 substitutes.

[BrixtonFC]

DC

I set up the database so I’d have one left-footed and one right-footed centreback. I didn’t set their heights so I’m glad both are tall for their ages.





I suppose they are alright for this level but Carroll’s Strength is a bit of concern.

[BrixtonFC]

DMC

I love playing with DMCs as I love the Regista role. FM2014 didn’t really institute the role well as it was the first year of its availability in the game; I’m hoping it’s instituted properly in FM2018.





Smith is my first choice and it has nothing to do with his tremendous height for a lad of only 15. He’s six-foot-five, for you Americans in the audience. If I can’t find some more centrebacks to relieve Spearing and Carroll then Smith can drop back and McAdam can fill his role.

I’ll be starting the season training the 4-4-2 formation with Standard mentality, which should get Smith ample time to get his MC up to Natural.

[BrixtonFC]

MC

I’ve got three MCs to choose from with Terry Barlow being the best option.







Barlow is the better MC so I’ll pair him with Smith in the 4-4-2, with Smith as the defensive-minded one and Barlow as the creator.

[BrixtonFC]

MR

I only have one right midfielder.



He’s not that good except his speed and Teamwork. I’ll look to find a better winger soon. I eventually will be using Wingers exclusively so I’ll start Pearson on improving his position there.

[BrixtonFC]

ML

Similarly, I only have one left midfielder.



Daniel is going to be around for quite a while. I’m sure he’ll get a new large contact in the future so he can get the duckets. (Anybody? Remember slang from ’87, ’88? Just me? Drat.)

[BrixtonFC]

ST

Finally, I have two strikers.





We’re in good shape with these two strikers. Obviously Ben is going to be an absolute beast this far down the pyramid and it’ll be a challenge to keep him. I imagine he’ll be gone before we make it to the Conference South, the sixth level of the pyramid. He’ll probably get unsettled by a lower-level Premier team and become extra pouty and start playing horribly. Hopefully not.

I plan on using Ben as a Target Man and I hope to bring in a captain who is also a striker and can mentor Ben, then Paul, to get their Determination higher.

[BrixtonFC]

Searching for a Captain and Vice Captain
I need a captain who is not only as a strong leader on the pitch but also a mentor. Initially I thought I would use one of the youths as a vice captain but quickly realized that might be foolish if the captain goes down to an injury for a lengthy amount of time.

While looking for that captain I ran across one of the funniest names I’ve ever seen in Football Manager: Chick Legg. Hahahaha. So much funny there. He’s a GK and I don’t need him so I don’t sign him though the temptation alone was almost enough.

I do find two good candidates for captains. Eddie Macey would be a great Advanced Forward but he wants at least £2,100 per week. The second candidate is a DC named Chris Day. He’d be better as our Vice and he would be cheap, at most £230 per week.

On 29 March I’ve still not found my captains but I did get notice of major clubs fixing to release youth players so I scout the hell out of them. Turns out all of them are either too expensive, most of them are in the £2,000 per week range, or have no desire to join us.

So on 2 April I offer a contract to Macey only to learn that my chief scout completely misjudged his wage demands. He asked for £900 p/w and I bumped it up to £1,000, and he signed immediately. Maybe the promise to make him Captain helped? Sadly, that Heading and Strength are going to be a major hindrance but he’ll be our chief penalty taker.



On 4 April I scout Chris Day again just to make sure I know everything I can about him. Like that he’s Inconsistent. :-( Whomp, whomp. I offered him a contract a week later and it took a week for him to make up his mind. The pleasure of his services will cost us £500 per week. That’s twice my scouts have been inaccurate on player wage demand assessments. I’ll have to keep an eye on this.

[BrixtonFC]

I made some more signings too. I picked up AMC Scott Thompson for some additional MC rotation but also I think I’ll eventually switch from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1 so I’ll need someone who can play Shadow Striker.



On 21 April I offer a bunch of young players trial contracts. I got 17 to accept but 27 rejected. Oh well. One of the rejectors is Chick Legg. And after all the work I put into writing poultry jokes!

Staff
Four of our coaches are given an opportunity to better themselves by working on coaching licenses; the club will cover the costs. Coaching courses are how the game determines if a staff member will narrow the gap between the Current Ability and Potential Ability.
I also added three scouts. I’ll have one chief scout who scouts Next Opponent and the other three will cycle through England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. None of the scouts are particularly outstanding but what can you expect for a club with a Reputation of 1?
I added a Physio too as I somehow forgot to add one when building the database.

Finances
On 1 April I get an email saying that we have a new main kit sponsor. This company lucked out as it will only cost them a staggering amount of £4,700 per ANNUM. Another ramification of having a 1 Reputation. At this time I looked at some more financial matters and discovered that our average ticket price is only £2. I foresee financial follies ahead.

Pre-Pre-Season
I dump the trialists into the U23s and hold scrimmages on 24 and 27 April. The “Seniors” won the first match but lost the second.

One of the weird artefacts of starting the pre-season so early is that I had to have an End of Season Team Meeting on 28 April and decide when the real pre-season begins, which will be 26 June.

Before everyone headed out, I signed three of the trialists: DC Joe Clark, MR Robbie Jones, and ST Alex Rae. I’ll post their Player Cards at the start of the pre-season. After Rae signed, Macey came complaining to me that he was worried I was trying to replace him. Dude, I made you Captain. Is your ego really that fragile? Kids these days…

On 5 May I get an email noting that Joe Clark is now considered “home-grown.” That will matter at some point I guess. Oddly, while looking at his Player Card to see if he had a second nationality I notice that his “Place of Birth” is “Unknown.” What the deuce?!

Also comes news that we were granted a lower youth category, from 1 to 2. I set up the database to have our Youth Facilities at 20, Junior Coaching at 12, and Youth Recruitment at 12. I thought these values would put us straight into a lower youth category but I suppose the game uses just the Youth Facilities number. I’m quite glad because I don’t need to see our youngins smacked about the pitch by the likes of Liverpool and the Manchesters.

[BrixtonFC]

From the Funny Names File
One of the great things about Football Manager is the random name combinations. Like the aforementioned Chick Legg. And Dick Pring. :-D It did not sign him.



Scouting
I of course continue scouting, looking for some cheap, good players.
Case in point: Sam Martin, AM (L). I’ll get his M (L) up to Natural then work on AM (R) as he’s already Competent there. A bit slow and can’t really cross but he is cheap!



Dynamics
On 13 June I get an email notifying me that Eddie Macey has moved up a rung in the team Hierarchy to “Influential Player.” You’d hope your Team Captain was influential! Squad Dynamics is a new facet of Football Manager that I’ve not had to deal with before. I like it though, adds to the realism. Not so keen on the Social Groups part of it though. At this point all 24 players support me.

Season Expectations
I meet with the board on 16 June to discuss season expectations. I tell them I will win the league and they give me a transfer budget of £843,000 and a weekly wage of £12,420. We are currently spending £4,288 per week. I think we’ll be alright.

New Arrivals
DC Joe Clark, MR Robbie Jones, and ST Alex Rae arrive.
Clark isn’t much to write home about but he does provide depth at DC and DR, which I’ll try to get up to Natural.



Jones won’t supplant Pearson but he’ll get plenty of game time even though he’s short for a Stormtrooper. I mean, he’s slow for a Winger. I’ll get his AMR and ML up to Natural, hopefully.



I needed some ST depth still so I signed Rae. He’s not an outstanding striker but I think he’ll make a fine Target Man. Except for the Bravery. And Strength. Why did I sign him?!



World Cup 2022
Well this is certainly interesting (it came in on 30 June 2017). I guess crime doesn’t pay:



Friendlies
On 31 May I set up 11 Friendly matches against teams that are in leagues below us as I want to build confidence as well as fitness so I chose a bunch of patsies. I won’t be making the Chairman money but that’s not my concern yet.

[BrixtonFC]

The Boys Are Back In Town

The Youths of Brixton return in good shape, raring to go.

I continue to work the lads learning the 4-4-2 Standard formation but also add the 4-1-2-3 DM Wide Standard. (In FM14 this formation was called the 4-5-1. I don’t understand the name change but I don’t think it’s an FM thing, it’s a global football thing.)

Trial Day
When you are in the lower leagues you will get invitations to Trial Days. We got such and I sent our chief scout to pick over the squads on 14 July.

There are some tasty morsels in there so I had my AssMan scout some of the more luscious treats.

One of Trialists is Captain Slow but he has no desire to play for us. Much like everyone else.



Cup Draws
The football gods are kind to us as we draw a team from one level below us for the FA Cup, March Town United. I go to look at their roster and that’s when I realize why we’ve been having an easy walk through the pre-season; all their player are The Greys; fake players auto-generated by the program to fill in empty slots on teams. This goes back to when I set up the game and did not select the “Add Players to Teams” option. Well drat.

For the FA Trophy, we host AFC Mansfield, a team at the same level of the pyramid as us. However, they are predicted to finish 18th in their league (of 22 teams) so I’m confident of this match too.

For the Southern League Cup, we travel to fellow Southern Counties East League crew Cray Valley Paper Mills. A company team? That’s interesting! I know that Airbus have a team in Wales. Back in FM2014 I managed to poach two good players from them.

Our FA Vase opponent, Loxwood, will visit us and again they are from the same pyramid level as Brixton.

Pre-Season Matches
• 1 July vs. Chinnor: 5-0. Macey and O’Donnell score before I sub everyone at 60’. Spearing gets one and Taylor gets a brace. Good stuff.

• 4 July vs. Penn: 5-0. Paul Taylor is the maestro in this match setting up goals and making key passes but Duckie gets Player of the Match (POM) for 2 goals in 30 minutes of action.

• 7 July at Farleigh: 3-0. Carroll gets a goal off a corner just 3’ in. O’Donnell and Rae get goals too but we are inefficient, going 9 of 20 shots on target.

• 10 July vs. Letcombe: 3-0. Our strikers are really clicking with Taylor, Rae, and Macey all scoring. Smith has been excellent in all matches stealing several balls.

• 13 July at Rayners Lane: 2-0. Macey gets two goals, coming at 28’ and 60’ after the team generally looked lazy.

• 16 July at Sheerwater: 5-1. Our first 4-5-1 usage. First goal was 7’ in and the second at 63’ after I did a full outfield swap. Our opponents got their goal off a Spearing penalty. Three of our goals came from our MCs.

• 19 July vs. Woodstock: 6-0. Macey gets his hat trick in 31 minutes and Smith continues his mid-field dominance. We are a budding juggernaut. Surprisingly, the game was not played in mud.

• 22 July at South Park Reserves: 4-1. We went on down to South Park, had ourselves a time. There were not friendly faces everywhere, especially as we were silky smooth in moving the ball and only slightly less so shooting the ball. We finally allowed a goal from open play but I’m fine with it. (Apologies to Les Claypool, and Stan and Kyle and Cartman and Kenny.)

• 25 July vs. Wallingford: 13-0. What can I saw about this ass-whooping? Four goals from Taylor, 3 from O’Donnell, 2 from Macey, and 2 from Rae. We are ready for the real games.

• 28 July at FCD Galicia: 2-1. They actually score first on a B.S. penalty. The team is putrid, especially Duckett, and the second team finally scores at 82’ and 42 seconds into 2 minutes of extra time. Hubris is a bad, bad thing.

• 31 July vs. Tring Corinthians: 5-0. A good bounce-back with mostly everyone playing well.

Well that was a successful pre-season. Our tactical familiarity isn’t wonderful but I think we’ll be alright. Everyone is Match Fit or better. Aside from Joe Clark missing two matches from a gashed head he picked up in the Penn bout, we escape the pre-season relatively unscathed. I have 24 fine players and no real gaps to fill. I’m feeling confident about the season.

[BrixtonFC]

It’s time to kick off the season FOR REALZ! I’m very confident of winning the league and the Southern League Cup. (Maybe. If I read the info tab on it correctly, all the 58 teams are either at our level or one higher. Maybe that’s hubris but if the teams above us are also just a bunch of Greys…) We aren’t going to last long in the FA Cup. Or FA Trophy. FA Vase should be ours too as the teams are at or below the 9^th level of the English pyramid.

Let’s get to those games!

The first match that matters is an FA Cup meeting. I quickly realize that something is fishy. I’m allowed 12 subs. This is peculiar. I should only be allowed 7 for an FA Cup match. I wonder if the England Level 10 database creator upped the numbers for shits and giggles. I take this opportunity to check the league rules and they too allow for 12 subs. It seems that all the leagues at level 6 and above are setup correctly, thankfully.

FA Cup First Preliminary Round
vs. March Town United, 5 August 2017




Formation: 4-4-2 Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MR, MC r, MC l, ML, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O’Donnell
Subs: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Donaldson, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae

We start fast with a goal at 2:04 after some lovely clearance play and fancy passing. I knew O’Donnell would be our first scorer due to his massive talent for this level. It takes him less than 2 minutes go get his brace, both assists are by Duckett. At 15’, a long kick from Carroll finds O’Donnell alone on the left flanks and as he charges towards the goal he spies an advancing Macey who polishes his run off with a hard shot into the lower left corner. A counter-attack after a set piece sees more lovely movement from the left side culminating in a lovely low Pearson cross to the feet of Macey and we’re up 4-0 before 25 minutes. Barlow takes us to five because March forgot he was sitting on the far side after a corner and nobody was close enough to prevent him from blasting a shot in. I then switch to Defensive and nothing happens until 88’ when a surprising long kick reaches sub Rae entering the box and as he drives to goal he feeds Macey for a hat trick. Game. Set. Match.

POM: Eddie Macey (3 goals, 1 key pass)




The Week Between
We draw Whitley Bay for the next round of the FA Cup. It’s a very good draw as we are at home and they are at the same level of the pyramid as us. Unlike March, they actually have players. We also have the FA Trophy draw and will be playing at Haverhill, also at the same pyramid level as us.

I got an email on 8 August from my Press Officer, letting me know that the bookmakers think we’re an absolute shoe-in to win the league at 1-5 odds. Nearest competitor is Chatham at 7-2 odds. I feel confident.

[BrixtonFC]

Next we have another cup match but unlike our first match, this one should just be the beginning of our run to a cup title.

FA Vase First Round
vs. Loxwood, 12 August 2017



Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O’Donnell
Subs: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Thompson, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae

Again with the long passes! SI still can’t get their programming right. Short passing means short passing! But at least this time when Maguire sends forward from deep in our territory, O’Donnell out runs the defense and we’re up just after 6 minutes. Ten minutes later we are up two after another long pass, this time from Pearson to Macey and uncharacteristically he gets it past the GK after shooting it right at him. Just before in 71’ Thompson steals the ball, feeds it to Pearson, who sees a streaking O’Donnell. Ben takes the ball into the left side of the box and as the defense flocks to him, fresh sub Taylor is alone near the far post and gets a goal on his debut. Less than a minute later, another steal and some fancy passing leads to a brace for Taylor. I switch to Defensive and see the game out

POM: Steve Pearson (2 assists, 5 key passes, 2 chances created)



The Week Between
The Southern League Cup draw comes in and we’ll be heading to Braintree, a Conference South team. I think we’re boned. And the FA Vase Cup draw too, we host Chasetown who are a league above us. We might have a chance.

[BrixtonFC]

Before this match I get an email that says 700 of the 900 people expected to show up at Cray Valley are traveling Brixton fans. Interesting… It’s our first mid-week game and first away game. Their roster is old with 8 non-Grey players whose average age is almost 32. All this considered, I’m feeling confident in this one.

Southern League Cup First Round
At Cray Valley Paper Mills, 16 August 2017 (almost exactly 10 km almost exactly due east of Brockwell Park)



Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Webb, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Cullen, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae
Subs: Friend, Day, Maguire, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Donaldson, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O'Donnell

Well, our streak continues. Our streak of not scoring from a free kick! Not a single one even through pre-season. We had two wasted opportunities and its nada-nada at half. I Calmly tell the team I’m not happy and up the Tempo and switch to Attacking. Rae and Taylor have multiple opportunities but they botch them. And of course the wasted free kicks continue.

At 60’ I swap out some player, notably Taylor and Rae for Macey and O’Donnell. Or so I thought so. I brought in Duckett instead of Macey and he promptly crosses to Martin, who get’s his first goal of the season. I correct my error and send Duckett to MR. In the 78’ Cray-Cray get a free kick about 25 yards out and can’t convert so on the counter O’Donnell runs the ball down to the byline and sends a slow, low cross to the far corner for an easy Macey clean up. I switch us to Control and then Defensive at 80’. Ninety seconds into extra time we get some more O’Donnell cross to Macey to absolutely shut the door on Crazy Valley.

POM: Ben O’Donnell (2 assists, 5 key passes, 4 chances created)



History was made in this match. Because of Maguire’s appearance, he now holds the record for the youngest player ever in this cup at 15 years and 48 days. (Because no real records were brought over in the database, these are false histories really.)

FA Cup Second Preliminary Round
vs. Whitley Bay, 19 August 2017



Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O’Donnell
Subs: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Thompson, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae

Despite having plenty of goals off corners in the pre-season, we’ve yet to score one this season. This trend continues today. Nothing much happens until 26’ when a lovely smooth attack begins from a throw-in deep in our territory. Jefcoate lobs it forward to O’Donnell, who dribbles almost to the 18-yard box and then sends in another low cross to the near post where Macey beats his man and sends in a low shot to the left. Our captain is awesome! Nothing really happens until just after 71’ when Whitley get a goal off a corner. I switch to Attacking and two and a half minutes later a right-side thrown in to Pearson gets booted ahead to Rae on a breakaway. His shot hits the crossbar and ricochets right to a trailing Macey who doesn’t miss. I quickly change things to Control to try to close the match out. There are some butt-clenching moments especially when Macey fouls a guy in our end with 10 second left in extra time but the ensuing kick gets booted up-field and we win our first close match.

POM: Eddie Macey (2 goals)



I took another look at finances before and after the match. Seems that the fans are spending around £9 on the concessions; we’re making £11 when you add in the ticket prices. That is not sustainable. Prices better go up next season significantly. I guess this is what I get for setting Reputation to 1.

The Week Between
It’s FA Cup First Qualifying Round draw time! We get to host Tonbridge, who are two leagues above us and predicted to finish 7th out of 24 teams. Hopefully we don’t let them play like we did Whitley Bay.

[BrixtonFC]

At this stage of the save I finally get my first prediction of future potential other than “A Lot”. Rae is predicted to be good enough for Conference South, the sixth level of the FA pyramid. I think he’ll be better but if by the time we get to Conference South his Pace is 11 or lower I’ll jettison him. Maybe I’ll keep him longer if he can get his Jumping Reach and Strength up to be a good Target Man.

(Pennington’s Judge Player Ability and Judge Player Potential are 13 (out of 20), hence my reluctance to fully believe him.)



For our Mansfield match I do some rotation to a) get Parker experience at DL, and b) Friend has yet to start a match.

FA Trophy First Round
vs. AFC Mansfield, 23 August 2017



Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Friend, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Parker, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O’Donnell
Subs: Webb, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Jefcoate, Jones, Cullen, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae

O’Donnell has a chance to put us in the lead at 14 seconds but his header goes wide. That would have been epic. Twelve minutes later he redeems himself as he and Duckett combine on a breakaway. Four minutes later Mansfield ties it up with a beautiful header off a lovely cross. Damnit. The scorer out-jumped Day, which is not a good sign. I swear the crosser’s name was Duffus. (rofl) At 31’ Pearson lobs a long-ball to Macey who is one-on-one with the keeper and manages not to screw things up. Phew! At 40’ Duckett sends in a prayer from the left corner that flies over everyone, but as it was a sky-high lob it gave Pearson enough time to fly in and get his second goal of the season. (Some luck was involved because Pearson crossed the field to Duckett and Doofus had a chance to head it but missed.)

My half-time speech is met with mixed review as I told the team to not be complacent and Duckett and O’Donnell give me the red thumbs down. Luckily six players including our captains respond positively so hopefully they don’t screw the pooch. I switch to Control and make the necessary adjustments. In the 68’ Cullen sends in a free kick way to the left almost at the byline. In the resulting melee the ball finds Jones near the top of the arc and he sends in a high, fast ball and the game is ours. Two minutes later another free kick from Cullen, this time from the right mid-area. It goes to the far post where Jones sends a header to the post but gets a rebound for an even tighter shot that goes in. I switch us to Defensive but in 86’ Parker hoofs it forward from deep to Taylor who waltzes on in for an easy goal.

POM: Eddie Macey (1 goal, 2 key passes)



The Days Between
For the Second Round we travel to Haverhill Rovers who are at the same pyramid level as Brixton and are predicted to finish 20th (of 23 clubs) in their league.
First league match today! Let’s go Guns of Brixton!

Southern Counties East
At Hollands & Blair, 26 August 2017



Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O’Donnell
Subs: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Donaldson, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae

I actually manage to get a reaction from the squad from a pre-match pep-talk. About freakin’ time! Smith continues to be a dominant force and steals the ball at 6:00 just in front of our area. He boots it forward to a streaking O’Donnell who is alone, he rounds the keeper and our league campaign is off to a flying start. Just over three minutes later, history repeats but this time it’s Pearson and Macey, and Macey nutmegs the goalie. Just before half Jefcoate sends in a cross to the near post and Macey scoots past their DR to get us a trio.

Smith is hella tired so I pull him at half for McAdam. At 56’ Macey gets his hat trick with a power shot from the top of the arc. I bring in Spearing and Donaldson immediately thereafter to get them some Sharpness. At 65’ I take off Maguire and Macey for Johnstone and Rae. However, before the changes take effect we move the ball up the field methodically and Macey heads over to the right corner, sends in a low cross to the near post, and O’Donnell back-heels the ball in from a tight angle. Amazing! Should be the goal of the month. A few minutes later O’Donnell get his hat trick from a cross from Rae. Though I don’t like to take advantage of the 12 subs rule, I do bring Benny off for Taylor, and swap Rae to the left side. In the 79’ their left DC gets his second yellow; I maintain the Defensive game play. Needless to say, at a +6 Goal Differential, we are top of the league. Correction. Three teams have played two games already and won both. So we are “6th” for now.

POM: Eddie Macey (3 goals, 1 assist, 2 key passes)

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
I gotta figure out a way to make it not so easy to win. And I think it’s time to introduce a new formation. We’re starting to really click in the 4-4-2 Standard.



So I switched things up, adding the 4-5-1 and 4-2-3-1 Wide or as I call it, Spade. As part of this, to have my best players on the pitch, I’ve started training Ben O’Donnell on learning AMC, focusing on the Shadow Striker role.



Southern Counties East
vs. Erith Town, 30 August 2017



Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Barlow, Smith, Pearson, O’Donnell, Duckett, Macey
Subs: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Thompson, McAdam, Jones, Taylor, Martin, Rae

It takes a while for the lads to settle in to the Spade but I’m not too concerned. At 34’ Erith get a free kick but mishandle the ball and O’Donnell steals it, sending it forward to Macey who dribbles it all the way to the byline to the left of the goal. His cross is errant but Pearson tracks it down and sends it to O’Donnell to the right of the penalty spot and his aim is true. Not three minutes later O’Donnell steals another ball which eventually ends up with Pearson on the far right flank. His cross meets Macey’s head just a few yards out and we’re up 2-0

At half I sub out Jefcoate not because he has a yellow, though that doesn’t help, but he’s a bit knackered. I also sub out Carroll because Clark is in serious need of match fitness. O’Donnell scores again at 56’ off some more great winger play, this time courtesy of Parker. Duckett and Pearson combine to take us to 4-0 just before 60’. I then make a giant sub fest with all five mid-fielders coming out. That doesn’t lessen our dangerousness though as we flood the box on a counter culminating with Jones sending a cross to the goalie who fails to handle the ball, letting it fall to a defender-less Taylor who blasts one in. At 70’ I swap out the rest of the outfield players and switch up to Defensive. But in the aftermath of a corner Clark feeds Jones who hits a long shot that had no right to go in but it does.
I’m disappointed that our home opener only drew 945 fans. But it was enough to make us £5,094 so I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much.

POM: Steve Pearson (1 goal, 2 assists, 3 key passes)



The Days Between
Just before the end of the month the report for Tonbridge comes in. They have a lot of good players, some as good as us. We might not win that match. The board expects me to make it to the Second Qualifying Round for the FA Cup and I might fail.

In Summary
We are off to an amazing start of the season! We’ve outscored our opponents 33-2 and have yet to concede a goal in league play. The easy lesson is that setting up the database to have 17 youths with high Potential Ability (PA) and great Youth Facilities is overkill. When setting up a database you can set a player to have a PA between 1 and 200. If you set it to 0 then the PA is random but confined by certain parameter related to your club (Reputation, League, Facilities, Coaching, etc.) You can also give them a value from -1 to -10 which will keep the randomness of the PA within certain ranges. -10 is the best and the PA will be between 170 and 200. Well, I did not give myself any players that good but I have all of them at -5 or better. Overkill. Lesson learned.

I think we’ll have a fine campaign so long as we don’t get hit by any major injury bugs. Also we’ll have to make it through the January transfer window. None of our players drew any interest in the August window. I’ve seen some indications that the game plays differently when you have four additional levels in England and I believe that means none of my players will draw interest from the top three levels of the pyramid as the game won’t have the top teams looking that low.

Stay tuned!

[BrixtonFC]

The training report comes in and I’m happy to see three players have Impressive Performances. I’m irked but not surprised Day has a bad report. I got a notice about a week prior that he was struggling and he has red down-arrows for almost all Attributes. I’ll have to have a talk, he’s our Vice Captain and must do better than that.



I had The Talk (not that talk!) with Chris Day and he promised to do better. You better!

Financial Matters
We lost over £122,000 last month. I knew this was coming but it still sucks to see it in black and red. This brings our season loss to almost £445,000. Oh well, luckily Brixton has a Sugar Daddy.


Now on to the match against Tonbridge. We are 6:4 odds so despite them being higher than us we’re favored. Okay. The FA Cup brings the boys to the yard, and I’m like, we’re better than you. And 2,580 fans agree. Yeah money! Amazingly, I don’t botch the pre-game pep-talk! Six players are motivated.

FA Cup First Qualifying Round
vs. Tonbridge, 2 September 2017



Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Parker, Barlow, Smith, Pearson, O’Donnell, Duckett, Macey
Subs: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Jefcoate, Cullen, McAdam, Jones, Taylor, Martin, Rae

In the 8’ Smith shoves a guy down in the box during a cross and doesn’t get called for it. Two breakaway opportunities for Macey lead to nothing. By half, three of their players have picked up knocks (plus one of their subs started that way with 69% fitness) so this should be a war of attrition we should be winning. Macey is sporting a 6.3. Drat.

With Macey and O’Donnell sporting a 6.3 and 6.4, respectively, I switch to the 4-4-2 and crank it up to Attack. Seven minutes later, Macey redeems himself with a weak effort 16 yards out. A few minutes later I bring on Cullen, McAdam, and Rae for Barlow, Smith, and O’Donnell. Then Jefcoate comes on at 75’. And shortly thereafter, Maguire sends a long ball up the right side, Macey crosses to the far post, and Rae puts us in a commanding position; I immediately switch to Control. Then a minute later Macey gets barged over in the penalty area and Duckett seals it.

POM: Eddie Macey (1 goal, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



We’re on to the next round! I’ve met the board’s expectation so that’s a plus. Hopefully we get drawn against a creampuff. And we made £28,676! Sweet!

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
FA Cup Draw Day! And we get…a home match against Dartford of the Conference South, three rungs above us on the FA ladder. They are currently 17th so hopefully their poor form carries over.
We are in the hunt in four cups plus the league so we’ll continue to play a match every 3 or 4 days until 4 October then we’ll have a 10-day break. I kinda hope we lose all cup matches to end the congestion.
I’m going to give the Second XI starts in the 4-5-1 Counter just to get them experience and the First XI some rest.

FA Trophy Second Round
at Haverhill, 5 September 2017



Formation: 4-5-1 Counter (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MC r, MC l, AMR, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, McAdam, Thompson, Donaldson, Jones, Martin, Taylor
Subs: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Smith, Barlow, Cullen, Pearson, Duckett, Rae, O’Donnell

After 32 minutes of absolutely nothing I switch to Attacking just to get something to happen. Something does happen! Another failed corner by us. McAdam pulled his groin around 17’ so I sub him out at half. I Calmly tell the crew that I’m not happy with their performance.

From the restart we get an excellent chance to pull ahead but Taylor, in the clear, sends the shot wide. He tries to redeem himself 11 minutes later but this shot is even worse than the first; it left the 18-yard box before going out of bounds. Time to bring on the First XI and go to 4-4-2 Standard. In the 63’ Rae almost gets it done but hits the right post and Haverhill clears it to the sideline. On the throw in Rae redeems himself, sending in a cross to O’Donnell’s powerful left foot. Then at 80’ O’Donnell returns the favor and Rae gets an easy one. I switch to Defensive for the last 10 minutes.

POM: Ben O’Donnell (1 goal, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



I just realized something. We haven’t had a single goal called back for offsides. Not in the regular season, not in any friendlies.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
It’s FA Trophy Third Round Draw Day! We get to play at Sheppey, who currently are the top of our league. I think we have a fair shot.

FA Vase Second Round
vs. Chasetown, 9 September 2017



Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Barlow, Smith, Pearson, O’Donnell, Duckett, Macey
Subs: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Cullen, McAdam, Jones, Taylor, Martin, Rae

I Assertively tell the team I expect nothing but a win. Ghost town. I rarely get much reaction out of this team.

We finally get things going at 19’ when Pearson unwisely passes it up the middle to a pack of defenders. Macey is the only one aware in the area and the ball somehow makes it to his feet and we are up. Our second goal comes off a Pearson to O’Donnell combo after Pearson literally kicks the calf of Chasetown’s left back. Shake my dumb head. I’ve noticed in FM18 that players more frequently come flying in from behind for sliding tackles. So far it’s been funny but I’m sure eventually one of my players will suffer a major injury. A third is added by Macey in 63’ off a subbed-in Martin cross. (Duckett wasn’t playing well.) A couple minutes later they pull one back on a corner. But no worries, Macey gets another hat trick at 78’. Not 3 minutes later, he gets his fourth, again coming from a Martin cross.

For those keeping track at home, we’ve conceded two goals off corners and scored none. Harrumph!

POM: Eddie Macey (4 goals, 1 key pass)

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Another day, another draw. This time FA Vase Third Round. Drum roll please…We travel to Salisbury! A level above us but they are currently 19th in a 22-team league. I have hope.
The scouting report for Chatham comes in and they have a pretty darned good Striker, Dave Buckley, who’s scored 3 goals in 2 league games. We actually might face a challenge here!

Chatham are on a five-game winning streak, just like us. This might be The Clash of The (Midget) Titans!

Southern Counties East
at Chatham, 13 September 2017



Formation: Spade
Starting XI: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Cullen, McAdam, Jones, Taylor, Martin, Rae
Subs Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Cullen, Smith, Pearson, O’Donnell, Duckett, Macey

Well, it finally happened, 17 minutes in and the defense screws up royally, with a defender sending a weak back-pass to an unobservant GK and the ball goes in the goal. It happens pretty regularly in FM14 but I hadn’t seen it at all until now in FM18. Oh, Rae was the lucky guy. And finally we get a goal off a set piece, though from a free kick, kinda. Taylor sends in the freebie from way out on the left side and a Chatham DC heads it up field right to Donaldson, who sends a flier in from about 25 yards out. And just before half Spears sends an extremely long ball into Chatham’s half and Rae out runs the defenders and sends one in from 19 yards out.

Second half begins with another odd play. Chatham’s right central defender tries to lob one in from the halfway line but it bounces off Taylor who came charging in, the deflection went straight to Rae, who was busy watching the sky above the Chatham goal and when he realized what had happened, he ran after the ball, got a one-on-one and sent one in from 16 yards out. What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on out there?! And to cap things, off, Duckett sends in a free kick from the right to the far post where a lonely Taylor waits to get in on things. I switch to Defensive for the last 15 minutes but 6 minutes later Duckett puts an exclamation mark on matters and sends in a weak effort from the left corner of the 6-yard box. Jesus. A minute later, Rae makes is 7-0 with another breakaway. I guess my players just don’t understand not to boot things forward, no matter the instructions I give them.

That striker I feared? He was down as low as a 5.4 but ended the match with a 6.0 and “Very frustrated” Body Language.

POM: Alex Rae (4 goals)

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Since our real matches began, on each game day a grey GK would show up on the roster for the Senior team. I never put him on the team sheet and chalked up the event to the game thinking 12 subs MUST include two GKs on the bench. Well, I decided a third permanent GK couldn’t hurt. When I went looking for one I was reminded of Chick Legg.

Back in March I ran across him and thought the name was too funny but he wanted ridiculous wages so I moved on. But I am intrigued by his Driven personality and Unflappable media style so I decided to splurge and hopefully he can mentor Carl Friend. Plus, my players' names are pretty bland and hopefully I’ll be able to make some funny jokes along the way. (Fun fact: He was “born” the day I moved out of Alaska.)



The team report for Dartford comes in and, well, we’re boned.

FA Cup Second Qualifying Round
vs. Dartford, 16 September 2017



Formation: 4-4-2 Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MR, MC r, MC l, ML, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O’Donnell
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Thompson, McAdam, Jones, Taylor, Martin, Taylor, Rae, Cullen

Well, I should have known. They get out on top at 21’ from a good cross. Nothing much happens for us so I switch to Spade. At the restart we are almost FMed as Day mishandles a back-pass and Dartford striker steals the ball. And sends it high. At 65’ I bring in Parker and Thompson for Jefcoate and Barlow as they are rating 6.2. I’ll give Macey 5 more minutes to do something. But before I can do that, Dartford’s right winger lobs a ball forward, it bounces off the cross bar right to their left striker. 0-2. This was started when Smith was pick-pocketed. So off he comes as well as Macey and Duckett.

Well it was never in the cards that we’d win. But I botch the post-game speech and 11 players “switched off.” So I’ve got that going for me. Oh, and we made £25,101 from the match.



Next up is another Conference South team, Braintree, who are 19th out of 22 in that league. So you’re saying there’s a chance?

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
English Southern League Cup draw sees us host Wroxham if we make it past Braintree. Yes, Wroxham, not Wrexham. Wroxham are near the east coast, northeast of Norwich. They are at the same level as us.
I also set up a U18 friendly against Farleigh’s youths so I could get some players more match sharpness, especially new-hire Chick Legg. I play everyone who didn’t start against Dartford. Everyone played exceptionally well with Legg coming in the lowest at an 8.1 rating. Rae got a hat trick on our way to a 9-1 slaughtering.

Well, Braintree’s squad report is not that much different from Dartford’s so we’ll probably lose. Sticking with 4-4-2 Standard as we are familiar with the position.

But before we get to that, it’s my favorite time of year! Youth Intake Day! In Ireland, not as good as in England. I send my three scouts there to look for kids 16 and under. Hopefully I find a couple.

Southern League Cup
at Braintree, 20 September 2017



Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Webb, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O’Donnell
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Donaldson, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae

For once I don’t blow the pre-match speech and everyone but Carroll and Webb “Seem motivated.” A counter-attack in 8’ led by O’Donnell gets us a goal off the foot of Barlow. YES!!! But 15 minutes later Braintree hoof one up the field and, Day and Carroll have a confab to determine who’s going to boot the ball out of the box so Braintree’s right striker takes matters into his own hands and embarrasses us all. After a two minute spell of hitting the bar three times, Macey finally puts one away off a deflection and we go into the half up one. At 63’ I have to sub out Maguire and Day cuz they’ve been horrible and Barlow cuz he’s getting exhausted. We still can’t score from set pieces but we manage to retain possession off of one in the 70th and Macey gets a goal in the box off a Smith pass. At 75’ Clark screws up and does a poor job of collecting a ball and it’s a one-goal game again.

Sports Interactive are not that good of a company. They spend each year adding something new to the game that is supposed to be all glitzy and glammy. But they never fix the broken code. Case in point, I have my GK instruction to roll out the ball to central defenders. And he keeps trying to send long passes up the field. I had this problem in FM14 also, and the brief time I played FM20.

But this time it results in a goal for us at 89:18 by Jones. Oh well. We see out the game and I thank the lads but give the defense some curt words as too many had poor games, most notably Maguire (6.2) and Day (6.1).

POM: Eddie Macey (2 goals, 2 key passes, 2 chances created)

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
And the first Ireland youth scouting reports are in. The best player (who might actually come to us) is Mark Nixon, AMC. He’s better than Barlow by far but with a Stamina of 3 he won’t get to start many games, despite having 14 in Dribbling, Technique, and Flair and also really good other Physicals. I promise him “Rotation” and “Win the league this season” and he agrees to proceed to the contract phase.

Next up is Stephen Dunne, ML. He doesn’t seem to have a great future but I’ll eventually need bodies for the U18 and left-footed players are a premium, plus he can play MC a little. He has a 12 Penalty Taking but 9 Pace. I like his 15 Determination and 16 Natural Fitness. I promise him “Rotation” and “Win the league this season” and he agrees to proceed to the contract phase.

I also look at Martin Duggan, DC l. Again, he’s left-footed and I only have one naturally left-footed central defender. He’s tall, can jump, and knows where to stand. As far as negotiating a contract, is there an echo in here? Same as Nixon and Dunne.

Finally, there is Jesse Gilroy, ST. He’s tall, fast, determined, and knows how to shoot a ball. Probably going to be as good as Ben O’Donnell. Unfortunately, he refuses to discuss a contract. Drat.


Next up is a Sunday (!) match against an oddly named club/city. I have no idea why the game is on Sunday. Time for Legg to make his debut!

Southern Counties East
at Crowborough, 24 September 2017



Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Barlow, Smith, Pearson, O’Donnell, Duckett, Macey
Subs: Friend, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Cullen, McAdam, Jones, Taylor, Martin, Rae

I bring us back to the Spade to get Familiarity higher. This is also Chicken Leg’s debut. I get four positive responses from my Calm speech about being favourites and leaving no doubt as to why. Macey is one of them, which is promising as his Morale has been lower than everyone else’s recently. In the first 12 minutes we have three great heading opportunities off crosses but they’re all to the goalie. Macey is looking a bit complacent so I give him a shout demanding more. Finally in the 18’ we get a free kick but play it short and work it into the box where Barlow feeds to Pearson for a powerful shot and it’s in. On the restart Macey finds himself alone in front of the goal because Ravensburg’s defense screws up. And he sends it right to the goalie, not even bothering to dribble around him with no defenders within yards. Eight minutes later and he sends another soft one right to the goalie.

We finally get a second when, in the scrum after a corner, the ball finds Day in the penalty area and he gets first goal of the season. I can’t count it as a set piece goal due to all the pinballing going on. So of course Macey picks up a yellow but a couple minutes later he becomes bait as he’s on a breakaway when Ratbirdtown’s right back hacks him down; said Ratbird was already on a yellow so now we have a man advantage. I read Macey and Smith the riot act at half as they are underperforming and not looking interested at all. Three other players, including Chicken Leg, are also already thinking about tomorrow but I don’t want to overdo the chastising.

Despite being a player up nothing happens in the second half. I let the team know their performance was unsatisfactory and Assertively tell Macey he was shit. I brought Rae in for him but he fared slightly better than crap.

POM: Daniel Duckett (1 assist, 4 key passes, 4 chances created)



After the match I give Macey an Official Warning. Can’t let a Captain get away with such play.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Another U18 Friendly is scheduled for the Yutes, this time at Rayers Lane on 1 October. I figure the Irish youth arrivals will need to get into shape.

Southern Counties East
vs. Beckenham, 27 September 2017



Formation: 4-4-2 Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MR, MC r, MC l, ML, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O’Donnell
Subs: Webb, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Thompson, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae

We have a good start with a Pearson-Macey combo getting us ahead before 10 minutes has elapsed. Ben O’Donnell almost gets on the board at 25’ but hits the post. Macey is still horrible beating one-on-ones so I’m going to put him on training to round the keeper. Holy Bat, Shitman! We scored a goal off a corner! Duckett sends it in from the left to O’Donnell who heads it down to Carroll, waiting patiently at the right post, and he sends it in silky smooth for his first career goals. I give a Calm pep-talk at half and for shits and giggles swap Macey and Benny around.

I bring Smith and Carroll off at 55’ because both are on yellow. Immediately thereafter my swap for Benny and Macey pays off with a lovely cross resulting in Macey’s brace. Chris Day on the other hand is still prone to dumb mistakes. Chicken Leg rolls the ball to him and Day just kind of starts looking around and gets robbed then the Beckenhammer sends it into goal before Chicken can react. The rest of the match sees me subbing everyone but Chicken at staggered intervals. This schedule is brutal and I need my lads fresh.

POM: Eddie Macey (2 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Dunne, Duggan and Nixon sign. I’ll show you their Player Cards at the end of the month.

Glebe are a horrible team with only one non-Grey, a GK who is under a transfer bid. If we don’t win this I will absolutely lose my mind.

Southern Counties East
at Glebe, 30 September 2017



Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O’Donnell
Subs: Webb, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Cullen, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae

Macey seems to be in form getting a goal in the 9th from 19 yards out after a long Benny lob from just inside our territory. At 40’ a long pass forward from the top of OUR arc by Carroll to Macey results in an easy goal from 3 yards out for O’Donnell off Macey’s low cross. At the half I have to tell Day, Smith, and Jefcoate to calm down as they already have yellows.

Nothing much happens in the second half start so after 10 minutes I take off the young offenders for Clark, McAdam, and Parker. I put Maguire at DC r and Clark at DR to get him some experience there. The rest come off at 65’. Eventually in the 84th we get a long ball to the right endline where Taylor crosses to the penalty spot for Rae, who shoots in a powerful shot for our third goal.

POM: Eddie Macey (1 goal, 1 assist, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)

[BrixtonFC]

New Signings
Stephen Dunne signed on 25 September, Martin Duggan on the 27th, and Dixon the 30th September. Here’s a look at said youths.

Stephen Dunne, ML


Martin Duggan, DC


Mark Dixon, AMC


In Summary
A pretty good month, I'd say. Aside from the blip against Dartford, which wasn't unexpected, I'm proud of our achievements. We're still in three cups and are on top of the league. We picked up three kids from Ireland with one of them having a serious chance of helping and having a long stint with us.