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

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Grant Appleton has a great debut for Ascot, getting a goal, and rating a 7.9 in their victory.

On Sunday, 24 November, Shane Pilcher asks to leave for Chesterfield, a League One team. I explain that we have a slew of great youngsters and if he stays he can be part of the magnificent group who will ultimately be better than Chesterfield. That seems to mollify him. For now.


Basingstoke. This poor team in real life had a new owner who was really just after their stadium as he was a land developer. He essentially ran the team into the ground and then left, leaving them with no place to play and not even a team bus. (I paraphrase mind you. I learned that bit from Loki Doki and I may not have remembered it correctly. But I did contribute to the new bus fund!) Hopefully they’re doing better in this alternate reality.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Basingstoke, 27 November 2019



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Nightingale, Roberts, Robinson, Leary, Rae

Wow! Our first goal, not 150 seconds in, is from a super narrow angle by Dr. Hibbert after a corner kick goes awry. With a Finishing of 8 and Composure of 4 it was quite unexpected. Basingstoke are not dissuaded and their goalie is having an outstanding game denying Macey, Taylor, and Coates goals. Persistence wins the day though and Taylor realizes passing is his better option, getting an assist from McLeish’s goal after 38 minutes. Macey finally gets his goal 60 seconds later when we dominate after play restarts. The play was really funny: Macey was one-on-one and it looked like the goalie tried to do a flying karate kick at him. I laughed and laughed.



The second half goes smoothly. Rae’s goal is one of the FM Specials: Defender kicks ball out from deep in their end but an opponent is just a few yards away and the deflection goes right to a striker near the goal. I’m sure their coach had a Basingstroke from that. Too much of a stretch? My bad.

POM: Ashley Hibbert 9.6 (2 goals, 1 assist, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)




The Days Between
A quiet few days. No new scouting reports to pore over. No injuries in training.

But then a niggling memory tickled the back of my mind. Thriller’s contract is up in 7 months. He’s on £200/week so he’s quite the bargain. I imagine this is gonna be costly.

Nope! “Only” £500/week in base salary and £150 appearance fee. He has an agent now and the agent wants £3,000 for himself.


Oh excellent! A Clash of the Titans. Number 1 visiting Number 3. Ain’t skurred!

Southern League Premier Division
at Hereford, 30 November 2019



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Hibbert, Pugh, Harding, Macey, Thirlwell
Subs: O’Keeffe, Parker, Smith, Ferguson, Robinson, Leary, McLeish

Pre-match I tell the crew that we are favorites for a reason and go out and prove it. Thriller does and show’s that he’s worth £500 plus per week, courtesy of a Dr. Hibbert long, low pass up the middle. His second is from a Macey pass as Thriller ran up the middle. His first shot went off the right post but the rebound came right back to him and he hit it in stride. His hat trick only takes 26:09 and Macey gets his second assist. And this is why we’re the favorites.

POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.6 (3 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)



You know, it dawned on me, Meilir Pugh actually hasn’t been performing as well as he could. He hasn’t scored a single league goal, only three assists in league play, and rating at only 7.48. My use of “only” is semi-ironically considering the overall quality of our runs. He does have 4 goals in 5 FA Cup matches so maybe he has a high Important Matches rating. Yes, I’m crying over spilt milk.

[BrixtonFC]

Summary
A pretty standard month for Brixton though with a few more challenges the usual. We added two youths to keep up with the fixture level for the U18s. It’s pretty cool to see finally how large a team I can keep whilst keeping everyone match fit. Hopefully next year the U23s will have more matches as they are generally not getting many in.




That Was Then, This is Now
Last month I mentioned Jesse Gilroy, an Irish Youth Intake Day attempted hire back in 2017. I did sign Mark Nixon, Stephen Dunne, and Martin Duggan. Where are they now?

Back just after the team returned from vacation I accidentally approved his transfer to Barnsley, who are current fourth in the Championship, for £3,000. He is an infrequent starter for them with two starts and one sub appearance. He has no noteworthy stats and is rating at 6.65.

Dunne signed with Shamrock Rovers, first in Irish Premier League, in February 2019 and walked at the end of his contract on 30 June 2019. He has no appearances with the Seniors but in 10 appearances with their U19s he has one goal and two assists, rating 6.73.

Duggan also signed with Shamrock and also has zero senior appearances. In thirteen U19 appearances he is rating 6.78 with one assist.

Dunne and Duggan left on free transfers so I made nothing from their departures.

[BrixtonFC]

December 2019

Just another day at the office

Training Matters
Fuuuuuuuudge. Now Bill Taylor is getting in on the act. Is it that I’m playing them too much? I’ve been watching videos and that’s the only thing that jumps out. Maybe I should go back to the use of all available subs again. Oh, and if a player is playing in too low of a league they can get stalled out too. Nothing I can really do about that.



Financial Matters
We lost just a bit less than £9,000 last month. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things. We have four home matches this month so hopefully we make bank. With us in the FA Cup Second Round we’ll earn at a minimum almost £25k from that just in appearance fees. If we win that we’ll double the amount. Not to mention the crowd size. December should be good for us.

Board Confidence
Up to 84% confidence with the board! Do a little dance.

Dynamics
No updates on this front.

Player Development
Nightingale’s Determination is now up to 14. This is freakin’ awesome. O’Shea may not be the best central defender but he is getting the youths smarter. And even better news is that O’Keeffe’s is now up to 17.

Speaking of Determination, I know I’ve signed some Unambitious players with low Determination of late but I gotta stop doing that. Personalities can rub off and so far I’m been seeing success but if I keep bringing in too many scrubs, things can change quickly.

Freakin’ awesome, man! Kemar wins the Premier League Young Player of the Month award.



On 2 December I get an email about Ashley Hibbert’s progress. My Head of Youth Development thinks, and my AssMan agrees, that he is now a good player for most League One teams.

Oh, and here’s the loan report. Everyone is doing well but Friend. I’m really only concerned about Kemar and he’s absolutely killing it.




The Days Between
I knew things weren’t settled with Pilcher. On Monday evening, 2 December, he again wants to talk. This time it’s about a new contract, which I promise him will happen at the end of the season. I know he’ll cost a lot, what, with his Premier League ability and all, so I’ll try to stall for as long as possible. If we get an amazing DC in the youth intake then I’ll enact his extension and try to sell him off to a worthy team for a handsome price. If not, well, I guess I’ll break out the checkbook.

Marcus Thirlwell signs his new contract on the afternoon of 3 December. He’s kinda cheap now but in a few years the escalator clauses could make him expensive. He's definitely worth it though.

[BrixtonFC]

With a FA Cup match coming up on Saturday I’m starting mostly second-choice players on Wednesday against Tiverton. Priorities, man! Snow is in the forecast so it could be a sloppy game.

I’ve been meaning to get Nightingale trained up at DMC as my AssMan thinks he could learn. This necessitates Peter Maguire getting a start at right DC and I’m gonna go ahead and give Glyn Davies another shot at starting at AMC.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Tiverton, 4 December 2019



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Maguire, Smith, Rice, Nightingale, Robinson, Leary, Davies, Thirlwell, Rae
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, O’Shea, Harding, Watkins, Pugh, Hibbert

Things start with Nightingale getting an assist from a Leary goal just after 10 minutes. That goal started with a Parker throw in on the right side. Almost exactly 5 minutes later we get almost an exact duplicate though Nightingale passed to Thirlwell who then passed to Leary. Strangeness. The goal even came from the exact some spot. At least Leary’s hat trick came out different: Solid build-up play then a cross from Rae.

After that the goals keep coming and we end the match comfortably. Things were going so well that I didn’t even make any subs. Nightingale, Maguire, and Davies all performed quite well with Mitchell getting two assists.

POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.6 (2 goals, 2 assists, 3 key passes, 3 chances created)



Leary could have easily won POM with his 3 goals but I guess not because he “only” had those and no other noteworthy statistics… /eyeroll


The Days Between
Oh boyyyyy! Kemar scored another goal and is now tied for second in the entirety of the Premier League. Damn. I’m gonna go ahead and guess that 15 different teams will make offers for him in the upcoming January transfer window.

Mansfield Town are gonna kill us. They have a lot of good players and the only thing that might save us is they have a few injuries and a lot of tied players. Dammit.


But first we have to have the press conference. We are 5-4 favored but the press questions make it seem like we’re doomed.

FA Cup Second Round
vs. Mansfield, 7 December 2019



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, Smith, Harding, Watkins, Leary, Rae

Allll riiiight! Nearly 3,700 butts in the seats today. They get to see a team that forgot to put on their passing boots. We keep losing possession and make poor, long range passes. We also forgot our shooting boots as several shots are denied. In the first half we hold them to zero shots but only 2 of our 9 are on target.

I switch us up to a more attacking posture but things go from bad to worse as Macey is now rating 6.3 and then O’Shea injures his groin. I keep him in and switch us to the Spade after McLeish misses a wide open net. He comes off, Macey already came of, and Coates bow outs. Hopefully Smith, Harding, and Rae can make a difference.

And holy shit it’s Pugh and Hibbert to the rescue, with the former getting the assist and the later getting the easy goal. That was the 83rd minute and we were able to see out the match with no threats. I do chastise Macey and McLeish with their 6.3 and 6.4. We shouldn’t be relying on our wingers to score.

POM: Bill Taylor 7.8 (5 key passes, 2 chances created)



Well, that was taxing. I sweated off a few extra pounds on that one. Now we need to put it all behind us. At least O’Shea injury was temporary.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
And now that we are on to the next round of the FA Cup we have a chance to face some mighty powerful teams. Hopefully we get to travel to a megabastard and rake in the bucks. Tottenham, Chelsea, and Arsenal get drawn early as does Huddersfield, so we won’t face Kemar. There goes Liverpool, Man City, and Crystal Palace. Man United is gone. Good bye, Norwich. And we get Sheffield Wednesday, of the Championship. It’s an away match so we should lose but make a pretty penny.


A cup match against a team below us on the pyramid who we beat twice in the past? Time to roll out the Second XI again! I’m bringing up Tasos Noulas to the bench to get him time late in the game at AMC, which he is being super slow in learning. This will also be his debut.

Southern League Cup Fourth Round
vs. Fleet, 11 December 2019



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Nightingale, Smith, Rice, Ferguson, Watkins, Leary, Harding, Thirlwell, Rae
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Roberts, Robinson, Noulas, Hibbert

Before 2:30 my brilliance in team selection pays off courtesy of Thriller. So the slaughter begins. Thriller gets a quarto, Leary a trio, and Rae a duo. The only downside is Smith getting concussed at 66’, pulling Pilcher off the bench. Even he gets a goal.

POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 10.0 (4 goals, 5 assists, 10 key passes, 4 chances created)



No miracle recovery for Smith. He’ll be our 2 to 3 weeks with that concussion. Dammit. Well, time for Ryan Collopy to step up.


The Days Between
Interest in Pilcher is once again on the rise, which makes sense seeing as we are nearing the transfer window again, with Chesterfield and Sheffield United leaking quotes about him.

Also, a team way down in the 10th level of the pyramid wants U18 GK Dan Gracie. He just turned 18 last week and in the last year of his contract with no renewal in sight. I approve the move.


Steve Pike is a WBL who I picked up on 13 July who was only Competent at DL. I just noticed that I made a promise to him that he would get a chance to play coming off the bench. I try to keep to my promises. I figure taking on this minnow of a team was a good time to give him the opportunity.

FA Vase Fifth Round
vs. Walsham-le-Willows, 14 December 2019



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Pike, Roberts, Robinson, Thirlwell

McLeish hasn’t been impressive lately and that trend continues today, getting a beautifully headed goal waved off for offsides just after 5’. It takes another 25 minutes for any more action, culminating in a simple low cross from Hibbert across the mouth of the goal for a wide-open Pugh. The joy doesn’t last long as on the restart Johnstone heads the ball to Gareth but the weak effort is intercepted by a striker and launched past our goalie.

In the second we get an early chance but once again McLeish botches matters. At least he can cross, enabling Macey to head a goal in, which is a miracle considering he still only has a 3 Heading. Those two do it again after the restart, taking only 40 seconds to give us a two-goal lead.

I throttle us back and return to the Control mindset. At 65’ I bring on Collopy, Pike, and Robinson. Of course Johnstone has to come off as he hasn’t improved since the midpoint, rating 6.1 before and after the break. Pilcher moves to his spot, a rare visit there for him.

POM: Eddie Macey 8.8 (2 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



I’d normally be inclined to say that we were hungover from the blowout against Fleet but there were no common players between the matches, at least amongst the starters.

A little financial update, we made around £9,500 for the match, bringing us up to £46,462 for the month.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
It’s Cup Draw Sunday again! We get two for the price of one today; Southern League Cup and FA Vase. For the first, we get to host Totton, who I’m pretty sure we’ve beat before. (I checked later on, we beat them twice last year in league play by a combined score of 8-0. We also beat them in the Southern League Cup Final, 5-1.) For the second, we get to travel to Brantham. They are a creampuff. Maybe even worse than our last opponent.

GK Dan Gracie agrees to go to Enfield Borough for the remained of the season on loan. He gets a little lippy on the way out saying I’ll see the errors of my ways for undervaluing him. I paraphrase.


I’m putting Terry Barlow on the bench today. He featured a lot in the previous year but I’ve been slowly trying to phase out the initial set of youths as I think it’s a bit unfair that we were stocked so well from the get-go. I was hoping someone would put a bid in for him, at least for a loan spell, but the four League One and League Two clubs that are interested haven’t approached us yet. Plus, I really don’t have a third AMC to select on days like today, i.e., against a team we should be beating. (We beat them back on 21 August, 6-0.)

FA Trophy Fifth Round
at Chesham, 17 December 2019



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Nightingale, Collopy, Jefcoate, Roberts, Watkins, Leary, Harding, Macey, Thirlwell
Subs: O’Keeffe, Pilcher, Parker, Ferguson, Barlow, Robinson, Hibbert

It takes a while but we get a Macey goal from another flukish play; right centreback tries to clear, hits left centreback on the tush, bounces right to our guy. At least the box was more congested and not the typical “empty spaces” ricochete. The second goal was much more typical. Slow build-up, crisp passing, Macey crosses low to Thriller, we’re up two.

Then they get a fluke goal. Well, it was pretty standard fare and Legg only has himself to blame. It was an easy stop and it went right through his hands. But have no fear! Liam Roberts is here! Harding found himself by the right post and while all eyes were on him, Roberts snuck into the 6-yard box, hitting Noah’s pass in stride. Very praise-worthy play, that one. After that it’s just pure domination with great crossing and even better heading. Even Liam getting his second goal from a Harding free kick. However...

For the second game in a row, one of our defenders goofs up, catching our goalkeep flat-footed allowing an easy goal. This time it was our Vice Captain, Jefcoate.

The game ends shortly after Leary has to be pulled for a pulled hamstring.

POM: Liam Roberts 9.4 (2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 key chance)



The Leary news is pretty bad; he’ll be out 11 days to 3 weeks. Dammit. It’s not like we’re flush with spare left wingers, especially ones who can play on the right too. I think it’s time to switch back to Spade, with a smattering of the Club.

I checked, this is the first time since 18 September that we allowed two goals. Not counting friendlies. (I totally mis-remembered this. I thought it had been ages.) Interestingly, the game blamed Legg for the second goal, not Jefcoate. He got a 6.3 in the second half so I had some sharp words for him in the locker room.

You know, it’s been a while since one of the agents showed up randomly demanding a new contract when a player had a good game. I like this feeling. What? Who’s waiting for me in my office?! Effing Johnstone’s agent. Get the fuck out of here!


The Days Between
Leary’s injury and contract demands from agents got me thinking. I need to sign Leary to a new contract. I offer almost double his current salary and add two years to the contract, with an option for a third upon promotion.
And of course a cup draw is due. In the next round of the FA Trophy we get to host Harrogate, way up in the north of England. We faced them in the FA Cup back in October 2018 and won the day, 4-0. A year on, who will have improved the most?


But first is Worcester. For clubs that are not in the standard databases, Football Manager will create logos using the colors of the team plus a random, limited set of graphics. Worcester is landlocked but their logo is a three-mast ship. So…I gotta go get the real logo.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Worcester, 21 December 2019



Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AMR, ST)
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Harding, Coates, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, Macey
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Nightingale, Ferguson, Roberts, Robinson, Thirlwell

Our post-Fleet clobbering hangover continues with nary an action sequence and the ones we do get end in missed Macey and Pugh shots. Right a 55’ though Pugh’s cross to Macey passes the outstretched leg of our captain only to find its way to Hibbert who is not misfiring today. We get a few more chances but nothing really close to getting that second goal.

POM: Meilir Pugh 9.0 (1 assist, 6 key passes, 5 chances created)



A bit of a down day, that one. A win’s a win, I suppose.

[BrixtonFC]

The Week Between
Yeah, winter holidays! The lads were gonna get Christmas and Boxing Day off but with the mediocre performances they’ll get no such break.

Leary signs his new contract on the night of 21 December. Now who else needs a re-up? Shit! Twenty-four players are nearing their end. Fourteen of them have options I can trigger. They’ll soon be entering the final six months of their contracts so foreign teams will be able to sign them. Some of them I’ll hold off on until I see what we get in the Youth Intake Day. Central midfielder Gary Ferguson is probably the best example. He’s League Two potential and I have a lot of good players in the middle. If we get an MC on YID who is far and above better I may just trigger his option and sell him off. Same goes for right midfielder Andy Robinson.

The first item up for bid is Shane Pilcher. He is Premier League talent and £2,000 p/w is a bargain, though he’ll earn twice as much as Macey, the only player on a four-digit salary, £1,000. He’ll also get a £450 appearance fee and the same for a clean sheet. I could have triggered his option year but then in one year’s time he’d be even more expensive.

We didn’t have a Boxing Day match but Huddersfield did. They got a gift of two Kemar goals, beating Middlesbrough. They’re up to 10th in the EPL now.


Our next opponent, Banbury, are 22nd in the league. Our match after that is St. Neots who are 6th. Sounds like a perfect time to run out the second stringers.

Southern League Premier Division
at Banbury, 28 December 2019



Formation: Spade
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Nightingale, Collopy, Rice, Roberts, Ferguson, Watkins, Harding, Hibbert, McLeish
Subs: O’Keeffe, Pilcher, Parker, Smith, Taylor, Robinson, Rae

I’m back to uninspiring speeches so I specifically tell McLeish how much faith I have in him. He’s kind of in a slump so hopefully his turning happy portends good things. It takes over 12 minutes but his slump is over, managing to squeak one under the goalie. Johnstone booted an intercepted pass from the top of our 18-yard box and Derek blew past all the defenders. Big smile.

Banbury like to play out of defense and it works surprisingly well for them. Too bad their strikers are not dialed in. Also, too bad one of their defenders is a little grabby, pulling down McLeish so he can’t reach a Watkins cross. Harding is cool, calm, and collected, doubling our lead. The game is sealed in the 65th when Harding is the one receiving a long Johnstone ball then he crosses it at ankle height right to McLeish and he does not miss from 7 yards out.

Liam Roberts is the one who actually puts Banbury down for good with a goal with 21 seconds to play. Sometimes you see such a powerful shot that it goes right through the GK’s hands and deflect into the goal; that’s what the final shot was.

POM: Derek McLeish 9.3 (2 goals, 3 key passes, 1 chance created)



It was very pleasing to see McLeish return to form. I think he might be with us for at least 3 years and I want to see him to continue to develop.


The Days Between
The tutoring of Nightingale and Watkins ends on 29 December. Nightingale’s was a smashing success, with his Determination going from 10 to 15 and his Personality going from Fairly Sporting to Resolute. Awesome! Watkins on the other hand…he didn’t really get along with Macey. He went from 11 to 12 on Determination but there was no personality change at all. Not awesome.

Kemar scored another goal in Huddersfield’s loss to Arsenal, 3-1. He is still tied for second in the EPL with 15 goals. The top scorer has 16. His value is up to £6.25 million. Oh my. That isn’t even the best news though. On New Year’s Eve he is named the European Gold Boy for 53 goals in 44 appearances. I guess those goals at Brixton counted but it was only because he’s in the EPL that he got noticed.

With a lot of contracts coming up for renewal I trigger a couple of options, Webb, Hibbert, O’Shea, and Noulas to be specific. I’m still waiting for Pilcher to respond and I was hoping to only have one out at a time but I go ahead and offer Chicken Legg a new one. He’s fine with being a backup and taking a pay cut. His agent on the other hand wants £7,500. Dafuq?!


For our final match of the year we face St. Neots, the fifth place team in the league. Their right wing is occupied by Samuel Swift, who is second in the league in average rating, between Macey and Pilcher. He’s fast (14 Pace) but not as fast as Jefcoate (17 Pace).

Southern League Premier Division
at St. Neots, 31 December 2019



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Rae
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Smith, Roberts, Robinson, Leary, Thirlwell

The Saints get first dibs on the action, deep in our end but Coates does what he does best: Stealing the ball. We then slowly march up the field culminating with Macey getting a step on the central defenders but his shot goes just wide right. Shortly thereafter we get a series of corners, switching from left to right. On the last one, from the right, Coates sends one it but it is headed up field right to Hibbert. He controls the ball then fires it in from 25 yards out into the upper right corner. Holy moley!

The Saints have most of the action and when their right back sends a horrible pass into the box Jefcoate gets called for a penalty for tripping the Swift kid right before the ball goes out of bounds. Nobody was within 10 yards of the box. We’re getting FMed. Swifty sinks it.

Macey saves us some embarrassment a few minutes later, getting to a shabby Pugh cross before the goalie or the right centreback and tapping in the ball. Despite that, Macey keeps missing lots of chances and making bad decisions, like not passing to a wide open Rae. Not that Rae would have done much with it, he’s been awful today. That is, until the 58th minute when Coates The Regista spies Rae The Target Man with just enough space, sending in a lovely looping ball right to his left foot, allowing me to relax and dial back things.

The Saints almost got a legitimate goal when their DL launched one from deep and their right striker got past O’Shea. Unfortunately for them, O’Keeffe is pretty good on one-on-ones, batting the ball away right to O’Shea, who clears it out to the touchline.

POM: Alan Coates 9.0 (1 assist, 5 key passes, 3 chances created)



Alan Coates is my favorite player and it pleases me much to see him get the POM award.

[BrixtonFC]

Summary
The month started out on a high note culminating in an absolutely huge match in which we scored 11 goals. Then things started tapering off drastically with lots of sloppy play. Sure, we won each match but we gave up 4 goals in 5 matches. Just another day at the office.




That Was Then, This is Now
Remember The Jordanian Prince? Shadi al-Ziod? I transfer listed him back 7 months ago then he signed a pre-contract with Aston Villa on 16 June. He is in their U23s where he is just one of many DLs. He’s had two starts and two sub appearances for them, averaging 7.27. He does not have any games with their senior team. He’s still with the Jordanian seniors though.

[BrixtonFC]

January 2020

Back in black

So begins another year. A year that in real life was the most challenging one the world had faced since World War II.

Training Matters
I think it’s time to bring back Le Sigh. I also need to find some shaking-head gifs.



On a more important front, I’m seeing a lot of players are stalling out. I’m not sure what’s going on. Maybe I’ll find the time to do a more thorough examination but not right now. My first theory is the whole thing about players needing to play in the leagues they are able to and most of our players are playing down to the competition.

Financial Matters
We lost £31,464 last month. We need to have more home matches and win some cup matches that pay out.

Board Confidence
Woohoo! Still “Untouchable” and still at 84%.

Dynamics
Last month, just prior to our match against Chesham on 17 December, Pilcher moved up from the “Others” group to the “Influential Players” group. Awesome. Just in time for him to leave us, I bet.

Player Development
Kemar once again wins the English Premier League Young Player of the Month Award. Almost brings a tear to my eye.



I’m saving the best news for last. Alan Coates is now Premier League talent. I’d like to send him out on loan but he is only 3 months into his 16th year so it just seems...wrong? Maybe if anybody makes a transfer bid for him this month I’ll say, “No, but how about taking him on for a loan spell?” We’ll see if that works.

We didn’t get a loan report this month. Odd.


The Days Between
On the first of the year Pilcher signs his new contract. Much relief. Now hopefully someone swoops in with a million-pound offer.

Having that item checked off, I next offer Ashley Hibbert a new contract. He is at least Championship level so I’ll try to sign him for as long as possible. I find it peculiar that nobody is interested in him. Oh fuck me to tears. He wants £2,200. We’ll be in the Conference South next year and only two teams are forking out the kind of money. He wants like League Two money. Well, I’ll have him until 2021 and live with the fact that I have Tommy Watkins until 2023 as a fall-back. This prompts me to compare the two and I realize that Hibbert is only better than Watkins in Pace, Natural Fitness, and Stamina. What to do about this? We have Andy Robinson too. Hmmm…

I’ll move onto Connor Smith then. But then I have a thought. Just two months away from Youth Intake Day. I’ll wait until then for starters and U18 players. I’ll re-sign U23 players for now. I’ll start with our Angolan DR who still can’t mark players and doesn’t know where to position himself. He’s Professional and has a 15 Determination. If I can keep him around long enough I still believe he can be a great tutor for new youths. He doesn’t even ask for a pay raise but I offer one anyway. It’s only £20 more but he’ll get a loyalty bonus too. Oh! Just had a thought. What if he’s around when we get a Brazilian or Portuguese player who can’t speak of lick of English? He’ll be able to help.

In other news, I re-signed a physio who has a 20 in Physiotherapy. I’d like him to be the Head Physio but the guy already in that position is locked in until 2022.

What the heck does this mean?



I searched the database and the only Joker I could find was a semi-professional team in Estonia called Raasiku FC Joker. That didn’t sate my curiosity so I ran to the googles. It’s a special transfer in French football that allows a club to sign a player outside of the regular transfer window. Each club is allowed only one such transfer per season. The more you know.

Chick Legg signs his contract on the morning of the 3rd. This is a relief as now I know he’ll be around for two more years tutoring the youngsters.

I like this having two open contract negotiations at a time. With Legg’s done I now turn to Dean Rice, our second-choice DL. For now. He gets the same offer as Ferreira.

[BrixtonFC]

Our first match of the year sees us face a team we destroyed 9-1 back in August. It didn’t seem to affect them much as they are now 7th in the league, only 7 points behind the second automatic promotion spot. Let’s see if they can get their revenge!

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Leamington, 4 January 2020



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, Smith, Rice, Roberts, Robinson, Leary, Harding, McLeish, Thirlwell
Subs: O’Keeffe, Parker, Nightingale, Ferguson, Watkins, Hibbert, Macey

It’s very standard Brixton fare today. Lots of rain, lots of missed goals, lots of free kicks off target, and four made goals. We were 10 of 24 for on-target shots. We had six free kicks within scoring distance and missed them all. We hit the posts four times. I guess I shouldn’t be kvetching when Thriller gets a hat trick.

POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.6 (3 goals)



Nope, they didn’t get their revenge.


The Days Between
I got an email about Nightingale’s progress. Somehow, despite the tutoring from O’Shea ending, his Determination is still going up. Amazing.

Ferreira signs his new contact on 5 January and Rice signs his a day later.

On 7 January Stephen O’Shea moves up to the Influential Player group and this pleases me muchly.

Also on 7 January, League Two side Cheltenham offer £1,500 for Peter Maguire. About time somebody started making offers for my players. I accept it.


Our next opponent is Slough House and I hope to send these horses to the glue factory. They are 18th in the league so we shouldn’t have too many problems today.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Slough, 8 January 2020



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Rae
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Collopy, Smith, Leary, Harding, Watkins

Well, they may be slow horses but they had just as many on-target shots as us though we have more off-target ones. With just one highlight in the first half that culminated in a sky ball from Macey I Assertively tell the squad I’m not pleased and send them back out with an Attacking mentality. Thankfully young phenom Bill Taylor saves our hide scoring before we’re 3 minutes in. And just another three go by when Hibbert’s early cross to Rae ends with a laser shot from his left foot. Just before the two-thirds mark we get our first penalty in what seems like forever; Macey sinks it.

Yet again though Chicken Legg gets FMed when one our defenders sends a pass to him only for it to go wide to an opponent and then into goal. He’s never gonna make his mortgage if he keeps getting denied clean sheets.

POM: Ashley Hibbert 8.4 (1 assist, 3 key passes)



I know I should be grateful that I have such a wonderful squad and managerial support but jeez, could I get the lads to not play down to the competition. Really reminds me of the real world Pittsburgh Steelers. Annoying AF.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Well I did not expect this news: Nightingale gets a transfer offer before Pilcher. I say no because he’s really been coming on of late.
The odds come in for our FA Cup match against Sheffield Wednesday. We are 4-1 odds to win. Seems generous with them being in the Championship and all.

The press conference is typical, trying to bait me into saying the wrong thing. I was really happy that the last question was about Connor Smith and how he’s been with me since the get-go. I praise his mentality and how impressed I am with his attitude.

Speaking of players that have been with me since the beginning, Peter Maguire agrees to move on to Cheltenham. We have a good exchange before he goes; I wish him well.


Well, let’s see if we can FM Wednesday. The lads do tend to play to the competition so hopefully they are up for it tonight.

FA Cup Third Round
at Sheffield Wednesday, 11 January 2020



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Watkins, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, Smith, Harding, Thirlwell, Leary, Rae

I give them a “Win one for the Gipper” speech in the dressing room. Well, more of a “we’re underdogs, go cause an upset” speech.

It doesn’t appear to be working as Sheffield dominates possession. We have 2 shots to their 5 but nobody is on target. In the first 20 minutes of the second there are no action sequences, Macey and McLeish are stinking up the joint. Thriller and Rae to the rescue!

Finally in the 88th minute we get a free kick right next to their arc but Thriller’s shot goes high and wide. At 89:50 it’s Taylor, not Marcus or Alex who comes to the rescue, curling one just past the Wednesday goalkeep’s fingertips from 15 yards out. Sheffield Wednesday just got FMed.

POM: Bill Taylor 8.3 (1 goal, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



Shocking. We had no business winning that. We only played well for about 20 seconds and managed to squeak one out. I can’t wait for the press conference after this one. /irony



There were 14,381 fans in attendance with 1,948 of ours making the trek. If only I could get that many at Brixton. We made just over £354k from the match too, which is also insane.

I think I got all the questions right in the presser. No, we won’t lift the FA Cup. Yes, we’ll take it one game at a time. Yes, Bill Taylor is awesome and I expect that to continue.


The Days Between
Now it’s time to find out who gets to destroy us in the next round of the FA Cup. Alright, let’s do this! We’re the fifth ball drawn so we get to host…all the megabastards are still in the pool but Man United…Birmingham or Chelsea. Insert jaw drop here. Chelsea are the closest big team to us, geographically speaking. I wish we got an away match to make more cash. Either way, we best lose this match else next year the board will expect more of me.


Next up is Harrogate. We beat them last year 7-2 in the FA Trophy Fourth Round, AND we beat them last year 4-0 in the FA Cup Third Qualifying Round. Why do we have to keep playing them? They must be sick of us and sick of having to travel to London.

I’m confident using the lesser players, even bringing up Glyn Davies again for a start at AMC. I hope he gets his act together.

FA Trophy Sixth Round
vs. Harrogate, 14 January 2020



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Smith, Collopy, Jefcoate, Ferguson, Robinson, Leary, Davies, Macey, Rae
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, O’Shea, Roberts, Watkins, Harding, Thirlwell

What a bummer, a smaller crowd than we normally get in a league match, less than 1,300 fans. Macey has four chances in the first 10 minutes and absolutely does nothing with them. Is this a new trend? Is he in a slump? Evidently not but it takes until almost 65’ for Harrogate to get FMed when their right back is on the touchline and sends a glacial pass to their goalie only for Eddie to intercept it and amazingly score on a one-on-one.

And then my hubris and O’Shea’s suckiness rear their ugly heads. I didn’t switch us to Defensive as no highlights were happening and then he stood staring at a ball in midfield that Harrogate stole and got a breakaway. Legg let a 17-yard shot go right past him and with only 2 minutes to left in the match we are going up to Harrogate for a replay.

Nope! Extra time. Jefcoate and Davies are spent so I take them out. Davies was actually rating well at 7.4. But nothing happens at all in the first ET half, Macey comes off in the second ET half, and nothing happens in the period. On to penalties.

We go first. Thriller, in! Harrogate, in. O’Shea (yes, he’s our second-best option), DENIED! Harrogate, off the right post. Watkins, IN! Harrogate, DENIED! Harding, in. Harrogate, in. We can seal it here… C’mon, Liam Roberts! IT’S IN! IT’S IN! IT’S IN! God-damned players. Bring my acid reflux back...

My post-match speech isn’t about how disappointed I am but about complacency.

POM: Harrogate’s Thomas Newell 8.3 (1 goal, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



I suppose I really have myself to blame but boy have we been kinda in a slump. I want to shake things up but more importantly I want to get Coates Natural at DMC and Taylor Natural at AMC.

We made £8,300 from the match putting us in the black for the year, a whole whopping £1,032. Yeah us!

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Chelsea beat Birmingham so it looks like we’ll pack the stadium with 7,000 fans on 29 January. Huddersfield too is moving on when Kemar provided them one of two goals.

I was looking at the schedule and February is going to be absolutely brutal. Nine matches in 29 days. Woof.

Remember when I was worried about bringing in too many youths who were unambitious and had low determination? Well, seems I was needlessly fretting. Seventeen-year-old defensive midfielder Nathan Kingdon just saw his Determination go from 14 to 15 and his personality from Balanced to Fairly Determined. Bueno.

Now for the FA Trophy Seventh Round draw...we travel to Folkstone of the Isthmian Premier Division, a league equal to ours. Their eighth there so we shouldn’t have too much trouble.


Let us hope we can get our groove back.

FA Vase Sixth Round
at Brantham, 18 January 2020



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Thirlwell, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Roberts, Leary, Harding, Macey

Are we facing an FMed opponent? Probably. After McLeish’s pass to Thirlwell goes to the wrong player, Brantham’s DR passes to their goalie who is walking towards the goal only to turn around in time to watch the ball go past him. This was 83 seconds in. Marcus and McLeish team up at 10’ for some good passing then a goal. I was hoping the duo would combine for another goal so I could refer to them as M&M but our third goal comes from a Hibbert cross to McLeish. So H&M. Hopefully this goal fashioned a victory. Too much?

Leary puts the match way beyond hope for Brantham in the 77th when he’s the lucky recipient of a Coates free kick, sending in a screamer to the upper right.

POM: Derek McLeish 9.2 (1 goal, 1 assist, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)



When are we gonna start putting the smack down on opponents again? We ain’t been the same since the match against Fleet.


The Days Between
A cup victory equals a cup draw the next day. But we get a two-fer! In the Southern League Cup we host Dartford, who have beat us in the past. For the FA Vase, please not Harrogate, please not Harrogate. Phew! We travel to Kettering in the Conference North. Dodged a bullet!

It’s 19 January and color me surprised that we haven’t had any other offers except for Maguire and Nightingale. It’s gotta be that we are very much below everyone’s radar still being this far down the pyramid.

Now I want to talk about players learning new positions. There are several factors that determine how quickly, if ever, he gets Natural. The hidden attribute Versatility, age, “closeness” to positions he’s already Natural at, level of knowledge already at the position (Awkward, Unconvincing, etc.), playing time, etc. Professionalism and Ambition might factor into it too. I bring this up because after a U23 match on Monday, 20 January, left wingback Steve Pike became Natural at left fullback. It took him 21 starts and 11 sub appearances, having started as Competent. (He had 8 non-competitive matches with AFC Telford before coming to us but I don’t know what he played there.) This tells me he likely has a high versatility. Because he’s constantly complaining about training and he came to us with an Unambitious personality (now F. Loyal) I believe I can safely say he has a lower Professionalism and Ambition.

I bring this up also because Alan Coates has yet to go to Natural at DMC; however, he started with knowing nothing about that position. His Resilient personality doesn’t tell me much about his Professionalism but it does say his Ambition should be average to awesome. However, his Media Handling Style is Evasive, which tells me his Professionalism is between 15 and 20. He has never moaned about his workload so I’m pretty confident he’s awesome and should be hitting a Natural state soon.

(Fudge, whilst looking at Coates’ player card I noticed his favorite club is Man U. I sure as hell hope they don’t make an offer for him.)

Now, let’s look at Bill Taylor who is really starting to worry me. He started Accomplished at AMC and is yet to go Natural after 24 starts and 2 sub appearances there. (And then when I checked the previous season I was reminded that he never played AMC there cuz I was training him at DMC. During the pre-season this year I abandoned DMC training cuz his Marking was 5, Tackling 7, and Position 6 and it was foolish training to use him defensively. Might as well be farting in the wind.) His personality is Resolute so his Professionalism is at least 15. So I’m not too concerned after all.

I’ll keep an eye on things but Coates and Taylor SHOULD be Natural by the end of the season.


Totton. We’ve beaten them thrice before. Their starting GK is an American name Alan Munoz from Independence, Missouri. “Misery” is what I like to call Missouri. I hope we send them home in misery.

I’m starting my first choices today so I can have them ready for Chelsea in a week.

FA Vase Sixth Round
vs. Totton, 22 January 2020



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Leary, Rae

I’m back to winning the pre-match speech. We have conceded a lot of free kicks near our box lately but so far they’ve never scored off them. After two of them we finally get a chance down in their end with my Dream Duo of Taylor and Coates working together culminating in a great shot by Bill through loads of traffic; the goalie never saw it coming. Just before the first 45 come to a close Eddie Macey is way out in no man’s land and lofts in a prayer. I have no idea if that was a cross to McLeish or an honest attempt to score but it worked so I dance a jig. Well, it goes down as an own goal for GK Munoz. I guess he is from the Show Me state; show me how you are pulling for Brixton. :-D



They pull one back just a minute into the second and I am PISSED. Rice was to blame as he just watched the goalie’s long ball land at his feet and just stared at it. It’s Hibbert to the rescue! Just as we reach 70’ Coates sends a corner kick in to the small box only to have it headed out. Right to Hibbert, 26 yards out and he sends in a beauty to the upper right corner beyond the keep’s reach. Oh my. It was a phenomenal half volley. Hibbert seals his man-of-the-match with a simple cross to Rae who rises above and gives us a fourth. But now the hero status switches to Rae when he gets a slight deflection off a weak Liam Roberts effort.

And the game ends with me being wrong. I know! Shock and surprise! It’s Hibbert who edges out Rae for the POM award. Rae “only” had 2 goals.

POM: Ashley Hibbert 9.1 (1 goal, 1 assist, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)



Well I guess that speech wasn’t as good as I thought. And man, has Macey been super streaky of late.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Nightingale comes asking for a new contract. Normally I’d ask Macey to talk him off the ledge but Mitchell has been fantastic for us and he’s from our academy. I’m sure Pilcher will be gone soon via transfer or loan so I tell him I’ll give him a new one at the end of the season. He leaves my office pleased.

The same day League Two side Mansfield puts £3,000 on my desk and ask to leave with Barlow. I accept and hope he takes the hint. It doesn’t hurt that he’s making £500 per week right now.
By the end of the day O’Shea hurts himself in training. He’s digging his own grave even though it’s a minor injury, out 3 days at the most.


I’m doing something odd for this match. All the people who will be important to our match against Chelsea will get the day off. That means that a lot of my bench today will be from the U23s or U18s. And I’ll have the bench filled. No real reason for that, just want to get some debuts out of the way if possible.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Bishop’s Stortford, 25 January 2020



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Smith, Collopy, Jefcoate, Roberts, Watkins, Leary, Harding, Thirlwell, Rae
Subs: O’Keeffe, Ferreira, Parker, Murphy, Pike, Ferguson, Robinson, Barnett, Davies, Marshall, Flynn

It takes a while but the Rae-Thirlwell combo works as designed. Not on the design board though was a groin strain for Tommy Watkins just a few minutes later. Rats. There have been a lot of free kicks near the goal this month, for both sides. Harding gets an opportunity for one but the ensuing scrum sees Leary getting fouled and Thirlwell getting his brace. Late in the match Thirlwell almost gets his trick but the GK’s Reflexes overmatch his Composure.

POM: Marcus Thirlwell 8.6 (2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)



So the media describe our win over the Bishops as a hammering. I used to see this all the time in FM2014. Two-nil is not a hammering.
How bad is the news for Watkins? Oh damn. Four to six weeks. Fudge. Poor guy.

How good is the news for our bottom line? Oh good. We made £13,173.


The Days Between
The day after the match I notice that Watkins’ initial assessment was wrong and now he is expected to be out on 2 to 4 weeks. That’s some weird physio shenanigans.

The scouting report for Chelsea is ridiculous. Ever player is 5 stars in ability and potential except their backup goalie who is only 3 and 3. There is no way in hell we’ll win this. Another observation is they only have one English player in their seniors. Pathetic. I will never let that happen to Brixton. There arent’ any players from the rest of Britain or even an Irishman.

For a match as big as our one against Chelsea there has to be a press conference. But it was just about how far we can go (not any further) and if our result against Bishop’s Stortford will make our job easier (no it won’t).


Well, here it is fans, our first defeat in a long while. Also, again I’m going with a full bench just because I want the kiddos to get the experience of playing an EPL club. I left Stephen O’Shea out as he’s just not reliable at all.

FA Cup Fourth Round
vs. Chelsea, 29 January 2020



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Smith, Jefcoate, Ferguson, Robinson, Leary, Harding, Thirlwell, Rae, Roberts

I manage to inspire O’Keeffe, Rice, and Pugh. Let’s hope that portends greater things.

In the tunnel I’m asked why I sprung some surprises on my team selection. I don’t have an option to say these are my preferred eleven so I say they are the ones who give us the best chance.

They almost draw first blood just after 5’ but the shot goes off the crossbar. We get a free kick right outside the 18 but Coates sends it just over the bar. Just before 42’ Rice can’t prevent a cross that makes it to the far post where their Ivorian winger sends a shot right at O’Keeffe but then it bounces right into the goal. Great position, bad hands.

We go into the half down one and our attacking three are not doing anything well, only on target with one of seven shots and all rating 6.3 or 6.4.

We get another free kick early in the second half but Taylor this time is the one who is high. Meanwhile, O’Keeffe is losing his shit so I have to give him a Shout. Just before 62’ Macey is free with only their “sub-par” goalie to beat but sends it wide. He’s down to a 5.9 now.

So off come the underperformers, notably the three attackers. I also switch to attacking. But in the 81st minute things go from bad to worse as Harding goes down with a foot injury. Three minutes later, Rae, with just an “Okay” happiness, has the cross of his life, dubbed so as it finds Thriller at the far post and we do the impossible, tying the match up.

I go into lock-down mode immediately. Yes, I’m playing for a tie. Yes, I’m dreaming of a big payday. No, I’m not happy there’s 6 minutes of extra time. No, I’m not happy to see an action sequence start at exactly 90:00 with Chelsea having the ball in their end. I just know they are going to march forward and shatter O’Keeffe’s spirit once again. His body language right now is “Looking Self-Assured”.

I fucking knew it! They launched the ball forward and again, a defender gets the ball stopped at the back line but his momentum carries him forward, along with his lack of concentration, leaving the ball ripe for the picking. And the cross is perfect and we’re down a goal again. My switching to Overload and moving just about everyone forward of course results in a successful counter-attack and the final doesn’t really match our efforts.

I tell them for being underdogs we actually showed well and we should be proud. Most players think that’s fair, most importantly O’Keeffe who was the unfortunate victim of circumstances.

POM: Chelsea’s Victor Rangel 8.1 (1 goal, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)



We had a full house of 7,000 fans of which 350 were from Chelsea, having made the trek south of the River Thames. That brought in £72,946 for us.

Gareth ended with a 6.8 despite the 3 goals but Macey ended with a 5.9. He will get a fine. He accepts it but the email relaying the information said he had performed poorly in our 5-1 victory over Totton. Uh-oh. Is the save file corrupted? This bears watching. (Granted, he got a 6.4 in that match but that was a week ago. Strange.)

Noah Harding’s injury is pulled ankle ligaments, out 12 to 14 days. The Lower Leg Injury Bug is creeping nearer to Brockwell Park again.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
On 31 January Terry Barlow signs with Mansfield. Good luck, young man! Light up League Two!


Summary
The fix is in. No less than three matches were gifted to us by the match engine. Our loss was from an FMing. Seems for every match that either we or our opponent were hosed over by SI’s scripting. And what’s with all the non-scoring free kicks this month?

Despite all my belly aching, it was a successful month though. All the expected victories and all the expected money. We end the month in the black, £46,824 for the season to be exact.

It’s a bit surprising that during the transfer window Pilcher, Hibbert, nor Taylor received offers. Maybe in July?

It took me a while to notice this, and it’s still holding true, but Worcester has yet to have a draw. Weird thing that.



[Ed. Note: I don’t actually like AC/DC. Matter a fact, I don’t like a number of bands or movies or songs I’ve quoted. Sometimes things just fit.]


That Was Then, This is Now
Two years ago I was very much worried about losing money. In 2017 we lost over £1 million. I feared that we were headed for losses of £2.5 million per year. Since then we’ve only lost another £540,750. We are on the upward trend though, having made just under £47,000 this month. Certainly the deep FA Cup runs have helped but so have our increased ticket prices and averaging of 1,657 fans per league match.

I also worried back then that we wouldn’t bring in enough money once we reached the Conference South. We are on the verge of making it there. I’m sure we’ll be making more money from matches then and I imagine we’ll sell some players before that season starts.

In other words, we’ll be alright.

[BrixtonFC]

February 2020

On the road again

It’s now February 2020. In the real world a co-worker picked up a nasty virus at a Super Bowl party and started missing time in the office. We started hearing rumblings of sick people oversea, mostly in China. Then came news of nursing homes in the Seattle area. What a crazy time.


Training Matters
I’m just going to be positive. Nightingale and Ferreira are becoming some of my favorite players. At this point I’m thinking that our Angolan will be in the Seniors next year and I’ll start training him for DC as my scouts think he can do it. He’s 185cm and has a 17 Pace but his Marking and Position are still low, both only 4.




Financial Matters
Thanks to that match at Sheffield and hosting Chelsea we made £344,770 last month. Much joy.

Board Confidence
Up to 90% confidence now! Woot!

Dynamics
Well, this is a new one on me. Due to O’Shea’s decreasing ability, he dropped from the Influential Players group down to Others. I didn’t realize he was tanking skill-wise but he’s been sucking on the pitch for a month or two now.

Kevin Parker on the other hand moved up to Influential. Excellent.

Player Development
O’Keeffe is now Driven. Moreover, his Determination is now 18. I’m so happy. Nightingale’s Determination continues to improve too and is now up to 16.

Kemar came in second for the EPL Young Player of the Month award as he had only 1 league goal for the month. He got another plus an assist in the FA Cup.


I hope to start the month on a high note. Chesham sound like the perfect victim.

Southern League Premier Division
at Chesham, 1 February 2020



Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Smith, O’Shea, Ferguson, Robinson, Leary, Davies, Rae, Thirlwell
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Collopy, Roberts, Hibbert, Pugh, McLeish

Despite Chesham getting the first several chances we get the first goal from a partially odd situation; Leary scored from almost on top of the penalty spot, he usually scores around the left post. From there on it’s a pretty dominating performance with Thirlwell getting an unassisted goal courtesy of a poorly cleared ball.

Yet once again we concede when a defender fails to move onto a ball they’ve controlled. Today’s bozo is Parker. And again it’s Thirlwell trying to console the defender by scoring on the restart. Of all things, it was an O’Shea’s long ball for the assist.

CURSES!!! The same schmoe who scored earlier got a direct header off a corner. It’s a rare score against us that isn’t some kind of fluke or scripted FM shenanigan. I have some stern words for the kids but have to buck-up Rae who not only is sucking today but got all wounded by my chastising. That and my change to an attacking mentality pay off in 51 seconds when Rae embarrasses the goalie, slotting one into the back of the net from point blank range.

That’s all that’s worth noting in the second half except that Chesham has oodles of chances because our defenders are already dreaming of who they’ll woo on Valentine’s Day. But FM isn’t done FMing as at four minutes and ten seconds of four minutes of injury time Glyn Davies gets injured. Poppycock!

POM: Fucking Chesham’s Leo Blackburne 8.8 (2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)



Thirlwell also had an 8.8 from two goals but I guess because he was selfish he didn’t get the award. Lame.

Davies’ injury isn’t too bad as he’ll only be out 2 days for a bruised ankle. He rated a 7.5 so I guess he’s earned himself some more game time. For now.


The Days Between
I think it truly is time to change up formations. I wonder if that’s why we are kind of stalling out on the pitch.

I’m going with a new formation I call Shovel. It’s like the Spade (4 defenders, 2 central midfielders, 2 wingers, 1 attacking midfielder, and 1 striker) but I drop the two CMs back to DMC with Alan Coates being on the right as a Segundo Volante and Liam Roberts on the left as an Anchor Man. It’s a little more defensive but I think we need that right now. It still allows me to have both Taylor and Coates on the field at once learning their new positions.

Moving on, Saturday night’s scouting meeting starts with an interesting nugget. Our former striker Ben O’Donnell is available for loan. He’s only a backup for them, scoring 2 goals in 13 appearances. His team, Brighton, are 18th in the Championship. He’s been in terrible form and it appears he’s been demoted back into their U23s. I’m going to scout him to see if there’s any chance he wants to come home on loan in the summer. He’s clearly way too good for the Conference South but maybe just a month or two to rebound.

Our U18s are in a cup and have progressed to the semi-final. The draw for that cup was on Sunday, 2 February, and they drew Queens Park Rangers U18s, which cause a friendly to be cancelled. This caused me to poke around some more U18s windows and I noticed on their Dynamics page that they have a Team Leader. He is Jose Parker, a product of our youth academy. I like this level of granularity. I don’t know if he’ll be better than League Two so I envision him as being like Angelino Ferreira, a mentor in the U23s for ages.

U18 Ryan Shaw agrees to go on loan to Horndean, a team we used to share a league with. He is not in my plans beyond this season and I have plenty of central defenders in the youth squad so I have no quibbles letting him seek full-time playing. He’s highly agreeable.

Speaking of loans, here’s the loan report.



Kemar and Hopkinson have been a resounding success. Appleton looks to be on course for that. I wish the loan reports would show GK statistics. Clean sheets, percentage of shots save, you know, that kind of stuff.

[BrixtonFC]

This might be Legg’s last regular start for a while. He’s not been impressive even though most of his conceded goals haven’t been his fault. I grow impatient with him. Same with Macey though it’s his lack of consistency that is bugging me.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Weston-super-Mare, 5 February 2020



Formation: Shovel (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DM r, DM l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Roberts, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, McLeish
Subs: O’Keeffe, Parker, Collopy, Ferguson, Noulas, Leary, Thirlwell

Hey look! Their sponsor is McDonalds! Sorry, Weston, you can’t have it your way.

And I can’t have it my way. My Passionate “do it for the fans” speech only receives one rave review, from Pilcher. Gulp.

We get a penalty opportunity early when Pugh gets pulled down during a Coates free kick. So this month’s script is free kicks and penalties? Bill Taylor scores, by the way. Not five minutes later McLeish picks up a bruised ankle but he manages to carry on.

Sticking to the script, Weston then get a free kick but Taylor gets the rebound in the box and starts a counter-attack that ends with the rare Rice cross to Hibbert for our second goal. And then Pugh makes it three when Taylor feeds him the scraps from a botched corner kick. Nightingale makes it four before the half when, surprise, surprise, an Alan Coates free kick goes right to his right foot at the left post.

Body language showed that about half the team was looking complacent before that goal but as we head into the locker room everyone is looking Confident, except McLeish who is still complacent. He gets dismissed but that is because of his ankle.

Thriller gets in on things just before 60’ so our high-flying continues; it was another Rice assist though this one was a long one from deep in our zone. By the way, we have ANOTHER TWO free kicks near their goal but the second one results in a Weston counter-attack that Legg is incapable of stopping.

POM: Dean Rice 9.2 (2 assists, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)



Yep, Legg needs some bench time. McLeish's ankle injury is minor, out 1 to 3 days.


The Days Between
I’m not surprised when Hibbert’s agent shows up with a contract demand. I don’t have the option to talk to him about it so I have to shoot it down. He’s asking for Pilcher money but unlike Pilcher, I have better options in the wings. So of course he wants to talk but in this case I give him the stiff arm and pass him off to Macey, who handles the situation. For now.


Biggleswade Town. Did I already laugh at that name? If not, here it is. Hahahaha. I just hope at the end of the match against this bottom-sitting club they aren’t the ones laughing. And we better not concede. And Macey better light things up.

Southern League Premier Division
at Biggleswade Town, 8 February 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, Smith, Jefcoate, Noulas, Ferguson, Robinson, Davies, Leary, Macey
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Collopy, Roberts, Taylor, Hibbert, Thirlwell

My speech about expecting a win produces no effect so then I tell Macey I expect a performance and again blank faces. Something must have got through though as he scores 68 seconds in from a U23 DMC Tasos Noulas-supplied ball. Nice. His brace comes just before 5’, thank you very much Andy Robinson. Noulas makes it 3-0 just after 10’ though his shot went off a defender. Before a third of the match is gone a long cross by Robinson, that their goalie totally mis-times, makes it to Leary just feet from the far post for an easy tap in. Eddie’s hat trick happens at 37:38 and I’m beginning to wonder how soon is too soon to go Defensive. The sixth is an FMing with their DR passing right to the goalie who just watches the ball come to him and it goes between his leg. Hell, I was never that bad when I was in youth league soccer.

We start the second half in Defensive posture but stay in the Shovel. At 60’ I switch us to the Club and make some key substitutes. The only action is Eddie as a Defensive Forward on Support role sending a pass to Davies now in the Box-to-box Midfielder role; his shot is on-target through traffic from 15 yards out.

POM: Eddie Macey 9.7 (3 goals, 1 assist, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)



Just what the doctor ordered: A Brixton Butt Stomping. We scored a lot, they barely bothered our defense. Lovely. Because Macey’s performance was top-class I told him so after the match. I think it’s fair that if I fine him for a poor match I should praise him for an outstanding one. And we didn’t concede!

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Nope, Ben O’Donnell has no desire to come home on a loan spell. Drat. I really didn’t expect him to, what with him being Championship-level these days.

Evidently my U23 Manager is attracting interest from Dunstable, in our former league. I sure hope he doesn’t leave. The BBC caught wind of it and asked me about it. Damn office leaks.

Speaking of the U23s, we hosted Leyton Orient’s U23s on Monday night and got 1,974 fans. More than our Seniors usually bring in. So weird. At least we made almost £16,000 for the event!


Now on to Frome. Their home stadium is called Badgers Hill. I kid you not. They are 21st in the league so we are favored.

Southern League Premier Division
at Frome, 11 February 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Nightingale, O’Shea, Rice, Coates, Roberts, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, Rae
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Ferguson, Smith, Thirlwell, McLeish

Sometimes I give the “you should be winning this so just play your natural game” speech when we are playing away. Of late I’ve been reluctant to do so as we generally don’t do well when I do it. Today three players actually get motivated by it but it’s too soon to tell the effect as 31 seconds in Rae is pushed while trying to head a Pugh cross. Bill Taylor scores. It is an effective speech today as Pugh and Hibbert dominate feeding each other goals. O’Shea even gets into net on our second penalty of the day. I am pleased.

Until the FMing swings back on us. Yet another free kick near the goal. This time it’s off target, hits the right post, then bounces off O’Keeffe and into goal. Stop it, SI! After that there are seven action sequences, all in our end. It’s quite annoying.

POM: Ashley Hibbert 8.8 (1 goal, 1 assist, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)



I let the players know their second half performance was unacceptable. Gary Ferguson got stressed by that and my pointed words at him about his laziness. He got stressed then double-stressed. He has a low Pressure rating. Noted.


The Days Between
The next day I get an email about Leary’s training. He spontaneously saw his Determination go from 15 to 16 and his personality go from Fairly Determined to Spirited. I think Spirited tells me that his Professionalism is at least 11 but considering he’s never bitched about training and has seen consistent improvement, I have a feeling it’s 12 or higher.


Kettering on paper don’t look so tough but they are fifth in a league above us so I am a little concerned. I’m trying something new today. I’m using Nightingale at DMC as our Anchor Man. (Hell, I just noticed that we have five away matches in a row this month. Three of our nine matches are at home, which is not good for the bottom line.)

FA Vase Seventh Round
at Kettering, 15 February 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Smith, Rice, Coates, Nightingale, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Parker, O’Shea, Roberts, Harding, Leary, Macey

Okay, I promise not to be a curmudgeon today.

The action is hot and heavy from the get-go and Connor Smith, way back at the left centreback position, sends a long one up to Thriller who is able to out run all the defenders and doesn’t get bothered by the one-on-one; goal came at 72 seconds. It takes over 20 minutes and several Kettering threats before the use of an AMC in the Shadow Striker role shows my tactical brilliance. Pugh crosses to the near post and Taylor heads it in from a narrow angle. Nom nom nom. Right before the half Johnstone sends in a prayer, similar to the one Macey sent in last month, but it bounces of the crossbar and right to Thriller for his easiest brace ever.

I didn’t want to but before 65’ have gone Taylor and Coates have picked up yellows so they come off. Coates’ replacement Liam Roberts fouls late and O’Keeffe can’t stop the ensuing penalty. I’m a little irked but become soothed when Thriller gets his hat trick in stoppage time with Pugh’s replacement Leary sending in a lovely cross from the byline. Not satisfied with his performance, Leary sends in another cross, not from so deep this time, to the far post where his buddy Dr. Hibbert puts down the patient for good.

POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.6 (3 goals, 1 key pass)



See! I wasn’t all negative. Still wish we could get more clean sheets though.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
With youth intake day coming up I decide to fill the last scouting spot that the board will allow. I find a 34-year-old Luxembourger with a 19 Adaptability. His Determination, Judge Ability, and Judge Potential are in the lower double-digits but that Adaptability is key too. Hopefully he’ll join before the end of the month so I’ll have more scouts to beat the bushes to find that hidden gem.

On 16 February Legg’s mentoring of O’Keeffe comes to an end with the email saying Gareth only gained a little and was a little disappointed. I do not understand this as his Determinaiton went up to 18 and his personality changed to Driven. Seemed successful to me!

Now for the FA Vase Quarter Final draw. Harrogate is still in the mix, darn it. Yes! We avoid Harrogate. Yes! We host. We’ll play a team called Congleton Town who are a league below us. They are about 20 miles south of Manchester.


Another cup match but I’m running out the secondary players. Our opponent doesn’t scare me even though they are 7th in a league comparable to ours.

FA Trophy Seventh Round
at Folkestone, 18 February 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Collopy, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Ferguson, Robinson, Harding, Leary, Macey
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Smith, Coates, Hibbert, Taylor, McLeish

Oh sweet, five happy players after I tell them to prove the pundits were right to back them.

Uh-oh. Our opponents are getting better at free kicks. One didn’t go in directly but after two passes Legg isn’t able to stop a long shot from 15 yards out. Macey, who despite being horrible at Heading usually doesn’t miss headers but he’s been denied twice today by the crossbar. By the half we are only on target with 2 of 11 shots. Plus we are dominating possession, 65% to 35%.

I question their passion at the half and send them out. Which means that in the first 10 seconds O’Shea lets a striker steal the ball and it’s that dude’s inept finishing that allows us to stay alive. Luckily we have Harding, who is surprisingly adept at beating one-on-ones. Macey crosses to him near the penalty spot just after 52’. O’Shea and Robinson have to come off at 63’ because they have yellows, not to mention O’Shea is rocking a 6.3. On come Hibbert and Smith. It was a good decision as 12 minutes later Hibbert scores after…wait for it…a failed free kick. I know! Right?!

I switch to Defensive to see out the last 15 minutes, hopefully. I also switch to the 4-4-2 and move McLeish into be a Target Man and slide Macey over to be a Defensive Forward. That pays off exactly at 89’ when Derek steals a long ball from a defender and does a pivot-shot from the top of the box. Woo! That was quite the comeback.

POM: Folkestone’s Kyle Woodward 8.3 (1 goal)



I don’t understand how their goal scorer got the POM when Harding also had a goal but other actual stats.

One thing is clear, Macey, Legg, and O’Shea are sliding. Especially O’Shea. I only triggered his extension solely for the mentoring. The other two will stick around for the same reason. But after next year? Goners.

I got an email saying that Andy Robinson spoke to the press after the match, commenting that it was my half-time speech that inspired the troops to the comeback. I love you too, Robinson.


The Days Between
That new scout agrees after the match. This is great news. So excited! He doesn’t speak English but has a basic understanding of German, so at least he and I can talk. (I’m fluent in Deutsch.) I get an option to send him on an intensive language course and that 19 Adaptability will make things go smoothly.

For the FA Trophy Quarter Final we get to face Macclesfield at their place. Boy I was hoping to host so we could make some money.

But hold on a second. I thought Macclesfield sounded familiar and went looking for why. We had been scheduled to play them but when my game crashed in mid-November I guess that draw was lost to the Windows Gods and I had to advance through that again but I forgot to update my file in which I write these things. We ended up playing, and beating, Chesham. Bummer I didn’t catch that at the time.


Okay! Back to league matches. We’re getting very close to sealing a promotion to the Conference South and I want it as soon as possible.

Southern League Premier Division
at Oxford City, 22 February 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Smith, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, O’Shea, Watkins, Harding, McLeish

Pugh and Hibbert are beautiful architects, getting us one early. But then things head south, first with Pugh injuring himself just before intermission. Secondly, Taylor and Thirlwell are phoning it in today so they get replaced along with Pugh around the two-thirds mark. Thirdly, we were accurate on 3 of 15 shots. Lackluster doesn’t even begin to describe things.

POM: Alan Coates 7.3 (2 key passes, 1 chance created)



Not even Coates getting POM can make me happy. At least Pugh’s injury is very minor, out 2 days at most.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
We’re getting close to Youth Intake Day and I’m already dreaming of what possibilities there might be. I’m really hoping for a good striker who won’t be so good as to leave in a year or two because he’s outgrown us. And with Pilcher getting so good I’ll probably want a good DC who’s left-footed so Nightingale can be our right DC. A DL would be good but not vital. Probably a good AML too as Pugh is getting too good for us.


For our next trick we get to face the only team in the league who denied us a victory: Royston. They are 20th now and we better beat them. I hope there’s a “seek revenge” option in the dressing room speech.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Royston, 26 February 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Coates, Roberts, Thirlwell, Taylor, Hibbert, Rae
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Collopy, O’Shea, Ferguson, Harding, Macey

This is the third game in a row where five players have been inspired by my words. For some reason this does not make me feel at ease as our consistency has been lacking so I can’t help but fret. It takes 81 seconds for Thirlwell, playing the role of AMR today, to cross right to Rae for another easy header from the six-yard line. Thriller gets his just-dues when Taylor feeds him a simple pass also on the six-yard line and our lead doubles. Turnabout is fair play so next Thriller feeds Taylor, but his goal was harder as it came from seven yards out.

At 65’ I move us to the Club, sending Rae and Hibbert to the bench. I bring Collopy and Macey on. It takes 7 minutes for Jefcoate to get a pass through traffic to Macey’s noggin, who sends it in as if he never had a problem with heading.

POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.2 (1 goal, 2 assists, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)



That was more like it! And we made around £11,000 for the day.


The Days Between
One word: Youth Intake Day. Okay, that was three words. You’ll have to wait for the next update as YID was on 28 February and we have a match on 29 February. Now on to that match!


Dartford beat us on 20 September 2017 in the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round. I sure as hell hope that we get our revenge today.

Southern League Cup Quarter Final
vs. Dartford, 29 February 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Nightingale, O’Shea, Rice, Ferguson, Smith, Watkins, Harding, Pugh, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Coates, Leary, Taylor, Thirlwell

The match starts in a very unconvincing fashion and the first 45 sees no less than six hits off the woodworks, four from McSlump. Then in the final microseconds of the half McSlump’s new nickname is retired when he sinks one, even while being one-on-one. Then on the restart we quickly get the ball back, sending it to McLeish but he doesn’t want it so Harding gets the score! I hastily begin re-writing my speech. The last 45 go as expected except that it’s Ferguson who scores first and McLeish second.

POM: Derek McLeish 9.5 (2 goals, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



That was a lovely match. It was good to see McLeish rock it again. He wasn’t really in a slump, having scored in the Folkestone match, but he did have four matches without a goal before that.


Summary
Free kicks and penalties, that was the theme of the month. Luckily we came out on top and maintained our winning streaks. We didn’t have any player exhaustion despite 9 matches in 29 days. We did have some injuries from January that bled over into February, with Harding and Watkins missing 10 matches between them. Also, we beat two teams that have caused us problems in the past. Great month!




That Was Then, This is Now
Remember back in the beginning how I talked about part of my Brixton motif was having players from Caribbean nations? Well, we currently have six players from that region. Specifically, we have 2 from Jamaica, 2 from Trinidad and Tobago, 1 from Barbados, and 1 from Grenada. Not too bad considering they’ve all come from youth intakes. I hope the trend continues and I’d really like to know why the game engine is giving me these youths. I suppose it’s just being based in England, that this would happen even if I was managing Chelsea or Liverpool.

[BrixtonFC]

YOUTH INTAKE DAY 2020

Reasons to be cheerful, part 3

Fullbacks with crossing and keepers with big hands, tall strikers leaping, and players from far lands, one out of India who can play wings, these are a few of my favorite things.

Last year I had to edit our youth intake set-up so we didn’t keep getting phenomes and this year it appears to have worked. It’s not the greatest intake and there are some serious questions about whether any of them will contribute before we out grow their potential.




Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3
1. Mickey Morris: Finally a striker who appears to be good and might supplant Rae, McLeish, and/or Macey. He’s not the tallest and can’t jump so he’ll never be a Target Man and he’s kind of slow so he probably won’t be a Poacher.

2. Kris Newton: This is the first time ever that I’ve had a player who was a Model Citizen. He’s not the greatest skill-wise but he’ll never leave Brixton as in 9 years he’ll be a wonderful mentor.

3. Defense: We have three youths who might eventually contribute if we take more than three years to make it up to League Two.

4. Pat Lawford: This right fullback isn’t the fastest but he is the bravest and most aggressive one we have. He also has very good Leadership and Work Rate, and finally we have someone who excels at long throws.

5. Jason Cosgrove: A tall right-footed central defender with high Bravery and Teamwork. He can be Nightingale’s backup, assuming we actually do lose Pilcher.

6. Colin Cockbill: He is currently a speedy left fullback but is tall enough to be a centreback. It doesn’t hurt that he’s already Accomplished there. He’ll get tutored by O’Shea to get his Determination up and his Balanced personality improved.

7. We maintain our streak players from the Caribbean. Mario Headley is a right winger from Barbados.

8. Only two players with single-digit Natural Fitness and a lot of players have high Work Rate.

9. Only four players have bad Personalities.

10. Not an over-abundance of central midfielders. We have oodles already so it’s a relief to only get two.


Though I’m glad we didn’t get too many MCs I do think I’ll try to find one or two more just because all our current ones, less Debellotte, are aging out of the U18s. One player, Sam Khinda, doesn’t have much potential but he comes to us already Natural at AMR, AMC, AND AML. As we move into the Conference South we’ll only be able to have 5 players on the bench and a player like Sam would be a key substitute.

Last year we had two players whose Favoured Club were not Brixton. This year with nearly everyone born in London they all favor Brixton or nothing.

I’ll be signing everybody but Terry Buckle as he’s too short for DC, too slow for DR, has no Determination, and is Unambitious.

[BrixtonFC]

Player Cards

Pat Lawford, D/WB R
This lad with the awkward smile has an interesting spread of Attributes. Great at Tackling, middling at Marking, disaster at Positioning. He’s slow but can run all match. I’ll get his DL up to at least Accomplished so he can be one of our subs when we are finally restricted to five on the bench. Eventually I’ll get him to unlearn that Trait.

[BrixtonFC]

Mickey Morris, ST C
I think he’ll ultimately be the best of this litter. His Physicals aren’t the greatest but so many attacking Technicals are damn good. A 13 Finishing already? Are you serious?! I can see his Leadership going up and after some Macey tutoring his Determination and Personality improving, meaning I hope he’s our future Captain. Just not 100% sure he’s Premiership-worthy.

[BrixtonFC]

Jason Cosgrove, D RC, DM
There’s a lot to like about this kid, just not his Marking and Tackling. I’ll definitely be focusing on his quickness and unlearning that trait. Even if he gets speedy that Crossing means he’ll probably never get used as a right wingback. I’m really excited about his Bravery, Teamwork, and Work Rate.

[BrixtonFC]

Colin Cockbill, D LC, WB L
Here’s a lad I’m very excited about. I’ll immediately work him to get his DC up to Natural because that height and Jumping Reach tells me he can excel there. I mean, he’ll probably excel at DL too but I don’t see him supplanting Rice there while I’m sure he’ll displace O’Shea, who will be mentoring him. And again with that horrible Trait!!!

[BrixtonFC]

Kris Newton, GK
This sleepy-eyed ginger is going to have a long career at Brixton. A Model Citizen. Wow. I won’t have Legg mentor him to get that Determination up though because I don’t want his personality to change. I’ll probably have to throw him a bone every so often to keep his playing time happiness up. Or just pay him loads.

[BrixtonFC]

Youth Candidate Match
The match between the Intake and established U18 youths starts in favor of the old hats when Flynn recovers a rebound of Hollet’s shot and makes it in from a tight angle. The new kids on the block tie it up a quarter hour later when M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-R-I-S gathers a corner kick and boots it in from 12 yards out. The other new striker, Carolan, gets an even easier one just after 30’ courtesy of a low cross from right midfielder Walker, Texas Ranger. From there the game devolves into both sets of forwards trying long shots with no success. Walker gets POM and the entire defense, less the player who won’t be signed (Buckle), stunk up the joint. Weird.

 Brixton U18s 1:2 Brixton Youth Candidates

I try not to second-guess myself but dare I sign Buckle? Maybe make him a DMC?


Scouting
As mentioned earlier, I would like an extra AMC and maybe an extra DMC. I search for all the newbies that fit that bill, have a reasonably good Natural Fitness, and have a good or neutral personality. I don’t have any mentors for midfield so I gotta avoid the bad kids. 892 kids fit the bill. That’s a lot. I don’t scout the ones from major teams (like, League One and above) because I know there is no way they’ll come to Brixton so I end up scouting only 85. I send out the scouts and they return the first night with 33 reports. Thirty-three! That’s amazing! Of those only one is interested and worthy.

He is very interesting though. He plays for AFC Liverpool but hails from Wrexham. He’s Natural at AMC, Competent at MC, and Unconvincing at ST. His Physicals are damn fine for his age and his Mentals are pretty good with only Concentration and Positioning being crap. My scouts aren’t impressed but I’ll probably ask my AssMan for his assessment because I can’t believe he’s only rated 2.5 in Potential Ability. I’ll show you Dave Doran’s card if he signs with us.


Sundry Items
I’m having fun with Midjourney AI still and I think I’m getting better at it. One option I was considering before the realization of AI hit me was just screen-shooting FM14 players, then cropping the images, then simulating FM14 for a year to get age progressions. That may have been hella time consuming so I’m glad I found MJ.

[BrixtonFC]

March 2020

Bang out of order

Every month seems to have a theme. This month is no different. Can you make a wild guess on what it is?


Training Matters
I have handed all Senior training matters over to my AssMan. I don’t seem to be screwing up the youngsters so I’ll keep managing them. If this doesn’t work then I guess I’ll just have to live with the fact that I suck at FM18 training. (I’ll loan out or ship off all our really good players next season.)




Financial Matters
We’re in the red again for the season. We lost £91,210 in February, all those away games, bringing our season loss to £51,273.


Board Confidence
Up one percent to 91% and still “Untouchable.”


Dynamics
On 18 February James Jefcoate, our Vice Captain, moved up to the Team Leader level of the team hierarchy. He sits there with Eddie Macey, our Captain, which only makes sense. On 26 February O’Shea moves back up to Influential Players due to his relationship with me. The game engine didn’t ask me how I feel about it.


Player Development
On the first of the month I assign some tutoring. I’d been holding off until the new youths came in and so now’s the time. Legg gets to mentor Adrian Lee, as Kris Newton doesn’t need it. O’Shea gets to mentor Colin Cockbill because in the one day of training he’s already unhappy, telling me his Professionalism is below 12. Macey then gets Mickey Morris but not right now as he’s learning the Knock Ball Past Opponent Trait.

I ended up signing Terry Buckle after all, just so he can be a DMC body for the U18s. When I was adding his data into my spreadsheet I noticed that for his Favoured Personnel list he has eight members of the Backroom Staff listed. I wonder if this means he won’t be a thorn in anybody’s side? I also noticed on his Scouting Report that my AssMan believes he can successfully be retrained as a DMC, so that’s a relief.

One thing I noticed when looking at my Roster Management spreadsheet is that I won’t have many central defenders in the U23s next year. Matter of fact, only Collopy is planned to be there. I also won’t have any left fullbacks there. Ergo, I’ve offered Padraig Murphy a contract to take him through the end of 2021 so he can provide cover at both positions.

Remember how I was worried about bringing in too many players with bad personalities into the U18s? Ronnie Hollett being one of them? Well, he spontaneously went from Unambitious to Balanced due to “the squad’s general character” having “a positive effect on [him] lately.” Pretty darned cool.

One last note: Mickey Morris’ appraisal improved after he signed, he’s now a 4-star recruit. Other players who have 4 stars are expected to be League One quality so I’m guessing with the built-in fog-of-war he’ll eventually be Championship-worthy. Fingers crossed!


The Days Between
Cup draw time! For the Semi Final round of the Southern League Cup, we get to face Bath at home on 11 April. We faced them in the same round for the cup last year, beating them six-nil, in Bath. So you’re saying there’s a chance?!

The loan report comes in and I’m mostly pleased. I find it odd that our goalies aren’t doing better than average. To balance that out, I’m glad that the others are rating higher than 7.0.



And then I get news that my U18 Coach Maximilian Suppan heads out to manage Nuneaton, a club in the Conference North. Jerk. I hope we get them in a cup next year so I can refuse to shake his hand.

Time to find a replacement now! I find this guy immediately, Andrew Brennan. I can’t believe he was just out there unemployed. He’s a recently retired player with an 18 Defending Coaching and 17 Working With Youngsters. Amazeballs.

[BrixtonFC]

Merthyr Town are currently 3rd in the league table and on a five-game winning streak so this presents somewhat of a challenge. Three out of four sideline players today are second choice so I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt us.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Merthyr Town, 4 March 2020



Formation: Shovel (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DM r, DM l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Pilcher, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Coates, Roberts, Robinson, Taylor, Pugh, Macey
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Smith, Harding, Watkins, Leary, Rae

Disaster almost comes 20 minutes in when we get carved up in the defense but the crossbar saves us some embarrassment, like the kind Macey had when he botched a 1v1 just 3 minutes in. Pugh then gets cursed by the crossbar minutes later. Just before a third of the match goes by Macey, he of 3 Heading, once again uses his forehead to get us on the board, thanks to a Parker endline cross. (Robinson had cut inside for some reason so he couldn’t receive Taylor’s pass to the right side.) And then the FMing kicks in when our entire back line tries to do an offside trap, which is not in the team instructions, and stand their ground while an enemy striker continues ahead. The initial strike hit the right post but he immediately got the rebound and sent it in. They quickly strike again with their other striker pressing ahead while our defense settles in for a spot of tea.

We tie the game in an incredibly similar situation back in our match against Brantham back in January when Coates sends in a screamer from 25 yards out. It came from a direct pass by Pugh from the right corner. Naturally, the ball had to go off the underside of the crossbar. The theme for the game or the month?

In an attempt to seize momentum I switch us to the Diamond and go Attacking; I bring Rae on and Roberts off to get that Target Man on the field. This almost immediately pays dividends but Macey’s shot is just wide. With 48 seconds remaining in extra time, Robinson’s errant cross, after a bunch of other errant passes, passes Rae and in his pursuit of the ball he is tripped. Taylor steps up for the penalty shot and . . . and we escape a home disaster. No call to Jake, from State Farm, for us.

I switch to the Club, go all defensivey, and bring on Smith at central centreback and Harding for the left Mezala, sending off Pugh and Robinson. Coates almost gets a second free kick goal but it heads wide only to be intercepted by an offsides Harding. Then the final whistle. Damn, that was close.

POM: Alan Coates 8.7 (1 goal, 5 key passes)



So did I praise them for a great comeback? Or did I chastise them for sloppy play? I calmly told them, “You were poor out there. We need to be much better.” Everyone but the late subs were fired up. I wanted to praise Coates for his POM award but sometimes saying too much is not for the best.

(Again, we make almost £11,000 from the match.)

While we were busy raising my blood pressure, Kemar was raising Man City’s in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup, scoring in the 80th to get Huddersfield within one score. He rated a 7.8 in the match with all three of his shots on target. I give him a call to let him know I think he’s awesome; he agrees and thanks me. :-D I noticed that he’s a bid jaded, which is concerning, but I cannot figure out how to speak to the manager of Huddersfield to get him rest.


The Days Between
Padraig Murphy signs his new contract right after the match. It’s nice to have that bit of business done.

I sent my scouts out looking for left wingers on 1 March as I think Pugh is going to leave in the summer either by transfer or loan but there’s nobody in the wings who will be better than League Two. (See what I did there?) They aren’t finding anyone so I search for youths who are left-footed but only play on the right. I find some promising ones but will have to wait for the scout reports to know if I’ve found someone. If we strike out again, I’ll start looking for older players.

On 5 March O’Shea finally realizes I’m phasing him out and wants to discuss the matter. I could stiff arm him but I’ll try my hand at Man Management. I manage to mollify him by promising he’ll be getting more time.

Later that evening our new U18 Coach Brennan agrees then 5 hours later AMC David Doran signs. He’s a pretty decent looking AMC who should stick around for 3 or 4 years.



O’Shea isn’t the only one who bugs me this week. Bill Taylor wants a new contract. He’s got two more years on his current contract but, damn, he’s a beast and I want to keep him. I promise I’ll offer him a new one come the end of the season.


Enough administrative stuff now, time for some footy. Farnborough scored on us twice when they were 16th in the league. They are now 10th so we’ll probably end the match tied at four apiece. In that match we also gave up a goal while we were up one man. I don’t believe we had done that before or since.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Farnborough, 7 March 2020



Formation: Diamond (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Smith, O’Shea, Rice, Ferguson, Hibbert, Leary, Harding, Rae, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Collopy, Parker, Roberts, Watkins, Pugh, Thirlwell

So of course our first attempt results in the ball hitting a post. As does our second. Their first attempt sees two of our players sliding in for tackles that are easily dodged, resulting with a perfect low cross and we’re down again; O’Shea could have intercepted the ball but didn’t even try.

Five minutes into the second half with us pretty much on full-on attacking, Rae has a perfect chance for a header but of course he hits the crossbar. After 60’ I yank Rae and McSlump for Thirlwell and Watkins. Of course it takes 15 minutes for us to even get a shot but luckily it’s Watkins nodding in a Rice cross. I don’t let my foot off the gas. Doesn’t matter, we get only one more chance and I swear Spiderman was in goal, snatching a Watkins shot when an actual human would not have been close.

POM: By some freakin’ miracle Gary Leary 7.5 (2 key passes, 2 chances created)



I was half-right, we ended in a tie but I was six goals too generous. Odd thing is, there were several players late into the game that were rating 6.3 and 6.4 but nobody finished lower than 6.6 so I can’t fine anybody or have a reasonable excuse for a chat.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between

I should keep track to see how many times we hit the woodworks over the month. This is already annoying. I think if we fail to demolish our next opponent I’ll institute an actual Attacking formation.

Kemar gets another goal for Huddersfield on Sunday but he’s still jaded. I swear to Cthulhu if he gets injured by their pin-head manager I will burn their stadium to the ground. I figured out how to talk to their manager and he totally isn’t listening to me. If after his next game he’s still Jaded I’m going to recall him. And then I actually look at their schedule and notice that they are out of all cups and thus will have 6 to 8 days between matches now.

On 10 March I get one of those highly desired emails from my Head of Youth Development. This time it’s to let me know that Glyn Davies is now a League Two talent. He’s still Unambitious but his Determination has gone from 7 to 10 since late July 2019 and this email says the squad’s general character still is having a positive effect. Maybe by August he’ll no longer be Unambitious.

Later that morning, I get even better news. Tommy Watkins has Premier League talent according to my AssMan. Hell yeah! Yes, I’ll be selling Hibbert off to the highest bidder this summer. Tommy’s mentoring by Macey from July to December 2019 didn’t go great so maybe we’ll try it again next year.

The same email says that GK Adrian Lee will be almost as good as O’Keeffe. I expect him to become our primary backup in 2023/2024, assuming we have gotten rid of Chick Legg and Robert Webb by then.


This will be my 200th game in charge of Brixton. I hope that Brixton will be in the Premier League by the time I get to 1,000. I mean, 800 would be better but we gotta be realistic. Hitchin, let me keep my win percentage at or above 96% please.

Also, due to that favorable report on Glyn Davies, I’m giving him some bench time and I hope to bring him on at some point. If he acquits himself well then I’ll permanently move him to the Seniors.

Southern League Premier Division
at Hitchin, 11 March 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Thirlwell, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Davies, Watkins, Leary, Macey

I choose to be Assertive in a pre-match speech for the first time because of how poorly we’ve played so far this month. Only Rice, today’s Captain, is inspired. Poop. But wait! The opening scene doesn’t end immediately. It goes on for 1:25, that’s when our slow build up ends with a Hibbert cross to McLeish in the middle, who sends in soft effort from 7 yards out. Hot damn! At 2:40 McLeish receives Rice’s long ball forward toward the left corner, he runs with it a bit then sends a pretty pass to Thriller’s head and I begin relax. I then must begin tallying hits on the wood works. Thriller got one and only one because around the 40th minute he managed to pull his groin and I had to bring him off at the half.

I tell the lads to not be complacent as after that first 3 minutes we’ve been meh with only 3 of 10 shots on target. It takes 71 minutes for a third goal but it was a Brixton Classic: Right Midfielder low cross to the Advance Forward around the six-yard line and he one-shots it in. Said forward was Tommy Watkins, he of the Premier League potential, who was Thriller’s replacement. I throttle back at 80’ and go Defensive. That does the trick and I am exactly at a 96% win rate.

POM: Ashley Hibbert 9.0 (2 assists, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)



Oh dread. Thriller will be out with that pulled groin for 5 to 8 days.

Jesus and Mary Chain! Alan Coates completed 135 passes in that match!!!

Davies wasn’t phenomenal but I think I’ll move him up anyway.

What’s a solid victory without a new contract demand? This time it’s Tom Johnstone. He is The Answer at right fullback, 5-star potential meaning Premier League, so I’ll have to bite the bullet on this one. He wants £450 per week with a £140 appearance fee. Effing agent wants £3,900 for himself, greedy prick.


The Days Between
In the Pre-Match Tactical Advice Summary email from my AssMan I get notice that we are one win away from promotion. Excellent, Smithers… (This sentiment is later dampened by the fact that we have to win AND some other teams have to lose.)

This is further evidenced by the fact that we have a league pre-match press conference. As expected it’s full of traps set by the “Experienced and deceitful” journalist Simon Hillier. He even brings up how awesome Kemar is. There must have been 15 to 20 questions. I’m sure an FMing is coming.


Redditch are currently 22nd in the league, just one point above the relegation zone. I hope we add to their misery.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Redditch, 14 March 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Watkins, Leary, Harding, Macey, Rae
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Smith, Ferguson, Robinson, Davies, McLeish

Another quick start for us today when Harding bazookas a Watkins pass in through traffic after only 52 seconds. Pilcher adds to Redditch’s (in blue in white today) misery with a direct header from Harding’s corner kick. I begin to worry our strikers won’t contribute today but I only have to wait until the 19th for Macey to do a short cross for Rae to head it in. At the half I get a rare 100% positive reaction from my Calm telling of them to carry on being awesome.

Rae’s brace at 50’ adds to my pleasure of our strikers scoring, as does newly-on McLeish’s just before 76’.

POM: Alex Rae 9.5 (2 goals, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 2 chances created)



Today’s greedy agent hanging around my office entrance is Liam Roberts’. No. Go away.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Oh dread. Macclesfield’s scouting report shows a lot of 2-star Current Ability players with a good number of 3.5 and 4-star Potential Ability players. This could be a challenge.

So after striking out finding a left winger to bank against Pugh’s departure I scouted all the youth intakes in Scotland. Nobody, no matter how much they suck, wants to move to Brixton. Time to beat the bushes in Wales and Northern Ireland now!

It’s been a while since we’ve had any international duty news. We’ll be without Alan Coates from 22 March to 1 April to join England’s U19 squad; he will miss two matches. Huddersfield will be without Kemar from 26 March to 1 April to join England seniors.


Now onto what could possibly be our first loss since Chelsea kicked us out of the FA Cup.

FA Trophy Quarter Final
at Macclesfield, 17 March 2020



Formation: Shovel (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DM r, DM l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Ferguson, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, Macey
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Smith, Watkins, Thirlwell, Rae

I love seeing the Shadow Striker role work well. I love it more when it’s Bill Taylor providing the magic. I love it even more when he scores not even five minutes in. Also, there was an obligatory hit off the post by him. Pugh also hit the left post but the rebound went to Hibbert who was able to do some crazy side kick thingy that gives us some more breathing room just after 48’. By 60’ we have four yellows and Macey is underperforming. I decide to wait five more minutes to switch to the Club. Almost immediately Rice picks up our fifth yellow so I immediately switch things.

You know what this means, though, right? Yep, spot on 79’ Rice nudges an opponent at the endline while a long, desperate pass was already headed to the stands. O’Keeffe seems to be cursed having faced so many penalties. Also of course, I forgot this month’s theme is the woodworks so we maintain our two-goal lead. The next 14 minutes are stressful but we enjoy the bus ride home, singing a victory song.

POM: Alan Coates 8.0 (2 key passes, 2 chances created)



Wowza, that was a squeaky-bum match. We managed to close out the game with no further monkey business, i.e. more yellow cards.


The Days Between
Now that we’re on to the FA Trophy Semi Final we need to find out who we play. Wrexham is still in the mix so I’m hoping we face them. Oh sweet! Not only do we face them but we host them! You’re going down, Red Dragons! (That means something completely different if you’re an AD&D fan.)

More international call-ups! Simon McAdam for Northern Ireland U19s, Gareth O’Keeffe for Ireland U21s, and Meilir Pugh for Wales U19s. I’m glad my players are being recognized. I’m sad that I’ll have to field two weakened squads at the end of the month.


Congleton are no slouches it turns out. The scouting report shows they are slightly weaker than Macclesfield. Despite that, I’m not fielding our best mostly due to tiredness and up-coming internationals.

FA Vase Quarter Final
vs. Congleton, 20 March 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Collopy, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Ferguson, Robinson, Davies, Leary, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, Harding, Watkins, Macey, McLeish

We open the scoring with a Leary goal through the forest after the pinball pinged around the big box for a bit after a corner. Four minutes later he gets a brace when he was left all alone on the left side of the box whilst half of Congleton were trying to mug Robinson, only to have a sliding tackle by their defender Glenister sends it right to Gary. It only takes another 240 seconds for Thriller to appear, beating a one-on-one and shooting from a tight angle. His brace was another one-on-one but this time it was up the gut and went under the goalie’s crotch. Sadly, not long after the restart Gary Leary suffers a foot injury bad enough to cause his immediate replacement.

The woodwork tally was 1 for Congleton, 0 for us. There of course were several free kicks. One of ours by Roberts went straight to Collopy’s head to O’Shea’s foot to the back of the net. Good play, boys! Other news on the themes front: Congleton commited six slide tackles today. The first one bit them in the arse but all the others were successful. They manage to not hurt any of my players, thankfully.

POM: Marcus Thirlwell 9.4 (2 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



The doctor’s report, not Hibbert’s, comes in and we’ll be losing Leary for 4 to 5 weeks. Ouch, that hurts. I’ll probably start using Hibbert as my second AML so Watkins can be my primary AMR. Maybe one of the youths will step in some.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Our next match, going on over to Basingstoke, could see us seizing a promotion meaning we have another pre-match press conference. No trap questions, which worries me. Yeah, I know, paranoia will destroy ya.


If younz all remember, I like Basingstoke in real life. In the game I edited their finances so they have an Underwriting Sugar Daddy. Cheeky! Also in the game, I hope they lose so we can finally seal that promotion. With Coates already away, and Liam Roberts and Ferguson a bit knackered, I bring up Noulas and McAdam from the U23s to start. Hope I’ve made no mistakes!

Southern League Premier Division
at Basingstoke, 24 March 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, Smith, Rice, Noulas, McAdam, Watkins, Taylor, Hibbert, McLeish
Subs: Webb, Parker, Nightingale, Harding, Robinson, Thirlwell, Rae

The tunnel talk isn’t too long but I take time to give a nod to Connor Smith who gets today’s captaincy.

Again, our opponents start in with the slide tackles and again the first one bites them in the kiester. It takes a little longer but ultimately Taylor spots an unmarked Dr. Hibbert on the left and he slots it in to the far lower corner. A few minutes later Hibbs returns the favor and Taylor blasts one in. Hibbs also smacks the left post once today. Our third goal is a fluke as Johnstone tries to cross but it appears to be heading in so the goalkeep kneels to receive it. Watkins runs in front of the goalie and whiffs on kicking the ball in but its own spin sends it in. At least that’s the way it looked from afar. McAdam gets a goal in his first action of the season pretty simply as nobody challenged him standing near the arc after a Watkins free kick from the right. Simon gets a brace a few minutes later on a nearly identical play except this time the ball initially goes to Noulas. The only action for them in the second part of the match involves…a ding off the crossbar! That is, until I let hubris in the front door and never switch us to Defensive; they intercept a long pass and we can’t stop a good cross but the header should have been easily stopped by Chicken Fucker, but as we all know, he’s just not the same anymore.

POM: Simon McAdam 9.4 (2 goals)



The game actually faulted Nightingale for a failed interception on that goal. He rated a 6.2. He got a scolding in the locker room. Rice and Smith had no reaction to my Passionate speech about how amazing they are to have won promotion so I individually address them. They get happy after that. Sometimes if you praise too much, people with switch off. I pressed my luck and got no Whammies.


The Days Between
Worcester still has yet to draw a match. They have 24 wins and 12 losses. So strange.

Not so strange? Kemar Kirkpatrick getting his first cap for England and scoring as a sub on his debut. I want to call him up and congratulate him but the email only has a button that reads “Speak to Kirkpatrick about Form”. Maybe I’ll get a different email about the international? Speaking of his form, he’s still currently second in goals for the Premier League.

Then something dawns on me. I watch the match. They play with one striker in a Poacher role. Kemar came on at the beginning of the second half in a friendly against Wales. A 17 year-old is England’s second best striker and he comes from our academy?! It was only a friendly, but... That’s simply amazing!


Okay, we’ve secured promotion now it’s time to lock up winning the league. With that in mind I’m putting all available players on the bench so they can get in on the fun too. I might even put Webb in if we’re way ahead at 60 minutes.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Shortwood, 28 March 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Rice, Roberts, Ferguson, Watkins, Taylor, Hibbert, Rae
Subs: Webb, Parker, Collopy, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Smith, Harding, Robinson, Davies, Macey, Thirlwell, McLeish

Rae almost scores just 13 seconds in but the GK knocks it aside. Gladly, we only have to wait four minutes for Liam Roberts to finish what Rae started. Problem is though, the ref is card happy and we pick up three of four issued over the next 13 minutes. After I cancel the “Get Stuck In” instruction Taylor steals the ball in our end and we march up field where Johnstone sends a cross to Rae at the far post and he heads it in from a tight angle. Rae gets his brace right before the first whistle and from then on it’s smooth sailing.

Until I’ve made all the subs and Thirlwell gets disposed and we are proven frauds when it comes to defending crosses from the right 18-yard box line when there’s a late-arriving opponent. That’s three in the last two months. And then…Collopy refuses to play possession and sends a long ball, which of course is intercepted and when Jefcoate wins the ball back just in front of our box he passes it to Nightingale whose First Touch plummeted to negative one or something so the ball is stolen and Webb is caught flat-footed.

We do end up winning the match and the league but this kind of reminds me of last year’s final game where we underperformed during a big match. I’m not as dissatisfied, but…close to it.

POM: Alex Rae 8.8 (2 goals)



I know I’m to blame for easing off the gas. We did hit the crossbar today. Again. Of course.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
It’s really a week before our next match but the end of the month is coming up so it seemed more natural to say, “Days”.

On the 31st I’m starting to get some scouting reports on Scottish kids who want to move to the big city. An amateur team in Glasgow with a 51,866 all-seater stadium has several players that aren’t 100% against joining Brixton. I want one AMC and one DL, and there are two AMCs and one DL to choose from. One AMC is significantly better than the other so I’ll offer him first but he has 16 Scottish teams vying for his service.

I open up negotiations with him, Ally Sinclair, but he wants to be a Backup immediately and requires a £750/week salary. SKIP!

The second-best one has the same requirements. On to the DL! He totally stiff-arms me. My scouts were extremely wrong on these kids. What the deuce?!


The Fourteen
My main love of Football Manager is player development, especially following improvements over the years. I keep detailed records of it and spend a lot of time on it. I realize that I’m not doing myself justice in writing about that and find myself writing more about the matches. I’m going to try to do a better job of that. (With apologies to Y-O-D-A, Yoda.)

So I’ve decide I’ll spend some time at the end of the month to address the key players I’m following. As it would be overly cumbersome to write about all the player, I’m going to focus just on the key fourteen players. Why fourteen?

You have to have your starting eleven, of course. Your Starting XI, if you will. I like using different formations that sometimes require three players in the same area. For example, the Spade really requires three midfielders and the Club requires three centrebacks. And you have to have more than two good strikers in case one of them goes into a slump. Ergo, it looks something like this:



Really, in the future you’ll just be seeing the left half of the image with some notes to the right on maybe their improvements. For now I highlight what players I’m sure have outgrown us and will either be on loans next year or sold on.

Realistically, after another year I’m sure Watkins will too have become too big for us. Johnstone too as he is rated 5.0. Yes, Cockbill is our best left-footed DC. Yes, Morris is our third best striker based on potential. Yes, I think Davies will overcome his low Determination (up to 10 now, started at 6) and his Unambitious personality. Heck, I’ve been able to mold Thirlwell so I feel confident I can with Davies.


Summary
This month’s theme was the woodworks. How many times did the ball bang off the crossbar and posts? Despite all that we first gained promotion and then won the league. A fully successful month.

And I went the whole season not making any penile jokes at Shortwood’s expense.




That Was Then, This is Now
Remember Chris Day and Joe Clark? Two central defenders that I brought on in the 2017 pre-season. Chris Day was our initial Vice Captain but only lasted two season; I didn’t renew his contract before it expired on 30 June 2019. He signed on with the Metropolitan Police but has only 12 appearances for them. He has no injuries so he’s just a spot player for them.

Joe Clark only lasted a year at Brixton but was able to sign on with Harrow, a team in a league at our level, but stayed only one year there. He is now with Spalding, in a league below us, and has scored 5 goals for them this season. Not bad for a centreback!

[BrixtonFC]

April 2020

Take these broken wings

The end is nigh! Of the season, that is. We got some matches in April that will determine how many cups we remain in. All the league matches are solely about pride and developing youngsters, I don’t care too much about winning.


Training Matters
Well, my AssMan wasn’t any better so I’m taking things back over.



Financial Matters
Lost just a smidge over £100k, bringing us to £156,447 in losses for the year.

Board Confidence
Still “Untouchable” but somehow slipped down to 90% despite winning the league.

Dynamics
No changes since last month, unsurprisingly.

Player Development
How many months in a row is this that Angelino Ferreira has been an absolute star? I think I’ll def be using him as DR2 and DC5 next year.
Hibbert is Championship-level and his potential if five stars now so that means he’ll be a Premier League player. Delicious. Too bad I’ll have to sell him this summer.

The Days Between
Another good time of the year is when that email comes in highlighting youth players at Premier League clubs that are set to be released. I of course send my scouts a-looking. They are usually Championship potential with some being on the lower tier of Premier quality if they are at a huge club, like Chelsea, Liverpool, or one of the Manchesters.


On to the first match of the month! Some players came back from international duty a little tired, bordering on jaded. Also, a number of players are getting into the low 90s in Match Sharpness so they’ll be getting starts today. With Leary injured and Pugh gassed Hibbert gets the start at ML even though he has no ability there. Macey is starting to grouse about lack of starts so I’m appeasing him.

Southern League Premier Division
at Dorchester, 4 April 2020



Formation: Diamond (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Collopy, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Robinson, Hibbert, Harding, Macey, McLeish
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Smith, Davies, Watkins, Thirlwell

Well, when your left central defender gets a card within the first three minutes you begin to worry. Well, I shouldn’t when I have great crossers and tall strikers who can play the Target Man role perfectly. Unfortunately Macey, who is “Very Consistent” keeps up with the Jekyll and Hyde routine, stealing the ball from the goalie only to send it into the side netting.

POM: Derek McLeish 8.8 (2 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



I fine Macey a week for his 6.0 rating and Jefcoate an official warning for his 6.3. You can’t have your Captain and Vice Captain both playing like Poop Doggy Dogg on the same day. Macey accepts his fine while Jefcoate feels I was harsh. Suck it up, gentlemen!

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
No news really. Scouting reports come in but it’s the same old story: Only crappy players are interested in us.


We won our last match against Chippenham in uninspired fashion, after the game crashed mid-match. I surely hope this time around we or the computer don’t crash and burn.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Chippenham, 8 April 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Rice, Coates, Watkins, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Rae
Subs: Legg, Parker, Nightingale, Ferguson, Robinson, Davies, Thirlwell

The embarrassment of O’Shea continues, he misses easy chances early on. He redeems himself after twenty, evidently all it took was for Taylor with a free kick, not Coates. Another Bill Taylor free kick gets headed in by Alex Rae for his 100th goal for Brixton. When a Chippendale gets sent off at 72’ I know we have won.

POM: Bill Taylor 9.0 (1 assist, 6 key passes, 3 chances created)



Macey hasn’t scored in six matches. Time to have a talk. He agrees that he’s not done well of late and he’s confident he can turn it around.


The Days Between
Things have really tapered off. Just some more scouting of players with no future with us.


Come on, players, now, smile at your brother, everybody get together, try to play for one another right now!

Southern League Cup Semi Final
vs. Bath, 11 April 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Thriller
Subs: Legg, Parker, Smith, Roberts, Harding, Robinson, McLeish

Oh yeah! At 2:22 Macey returns to form scoring on a one-on-one! Thriller gets in on the action too with a brace at 36’ and a triple right after the restart; it was a thing of beauty, a quick pivot-shoot from 25 yards out. His fourth is an easy tap in, all thanks to Macey.
One downside: Last month’s theme returns in force as Thriller hit the post twice while on breakaways.

POM: Marcus "Thriller" Thirlwell 9.8 (4 goals, 1 key pass)



Gotta love that Thriller is still thrilling!

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Good news, everyone! My Head of Youth Development now assesses Tom Johnstone as a “good player for most League One sides.” Love it!


Another match against a team that is doing well in the league and still in contention for promotion. I believe St. Neots will try to make our life hell today.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. St. Neots, 15 April 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Smith, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Robinson, Pugh, Harding, Rae, McLeish
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Collopy, Ferguson, Watkins, Davies, Thirlwell

The first action results in…a ping off the left post for the Saints. Nothing else happens for the first 46, which is when they beat us on the slow break; their striker and our central defenders were moving glacially, it was odd. After 65 minutes of nothing for us I have to pull the front three and put in Davies, Watkins, and Thirlwell. Immediate dividends happen courtesy of the strikers with Thriller feeding Watkins. Five minutes later Robinson feeds Thriller who puts it in to the upper left corner from a good distance. Robinson doesn’t wait long to feed Watkins for a near-post goal. Their goal at 85’ comes from a deflection off the wall so Chicken Legg wasn’t actually to blame. Unregardless™ it was a lacking display.

POM: Andy Robinson 9.0 (2 assists, 4 key passes, 2 chances created)



Somehow we made around £22,000 from this match which is nearly double what we normally make. I have no idea why though. Le mystère!


The Days Between
I figured out the mystery of the extra money. It just happened to be when the £10,000 monthly fee from Huddersfield for Kemar’s loan came in.


Yeah! Leary returns! He’ll get about 30 minutes. Rice was out with a gashed head and missed the last two games so he too will come in late. Truth to tell, I won’t be all busted up if we lose this match because I worry that the final will be in June and I really want the season to be over in May.

Southern League Cup Semi Final
vs. Nuneaton, 18 April 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Collopy, Jefcoate, Coates, Hibbert, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Parker, Nightingale, Rice, Ferguson, Leary, Watkins

I switched up our Diamond formation from Standard mentality to Attacking. Let’s see if it works!

It takes a while for our crossing to work but once Pugh figures out to aim low to Macey we go up one. Thriller injures himself almost immediately but then gets a fast break only to hit the woodworks. Uh-oh. Then he completely misses a header. He may have to come off at 45. He stays in but Leary and Rice get their return at 55’ and within two minutes Pilcher heads a corner in with the back of his head while looking at our bench. Very Harlem Globetrotters-esque. That’s enough to secure the victory and I’m satisfied, despite Thriller’s 6.0 that didn’t improve despite my halftime haranguing.

POM: Eddie Macey 8.7 (1 goal, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)



Because I fined Macey for a 6.0 at the beginning of the month I too fine Thirlwell. I know sometimes when you fine a player or call them to the principal’s office you can shock them into increasing their Determination and I admit that’s what I’m going for. His is still at 9 and I want it up to double-digits.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Bummer, Thirlwell accepted his fine and his Determination remained the same.

Holy smokes! Huddersfield beat Manchester City even with Kemar making no impact; he rated 6.7 and was accurate on only 1 of 4 shots. The Terriers are up the 8th while the Citizens fall to 6th.

Speaking of the Premier League, I notice that Crystal Palace are bottom of the table. I can’t wait for them to become our major rival and if they drop it might happen sooner than expected.

Hibbert wants a new contract. I definitely have to sell him on this summer now. I ask Macey to handle the matter as I don’t need any distractions for the last six weeks of the season.

Wrexham’s scouting report indicates they are a pretty good team but I still believe we can win. I think Bill Taylor and Alan Coates will be too tired to play so I’m really hoping that Noah Harding and Liam Roberts can fill their shoes adequately.

Hot damn! Ferreira gets a call up for the Angolan U20s. I’m not 100% sure but this might be his first international duty.

I think I learned a valuable lesson: Don’t schedule a U18 friendly for the same time as a U23 league match when you only have four players in the U23s. I did that and my U23 manager ignored which subs were available to him and he had the strangest of substitutions. He brought off the right DC at 18’ and the left DC at 26; they weren’t injured as far as I can tell. Then the guy who was brought in at 18’, who was in the AMC spot, was taken off at 32’ and replaced by a right winger with no knowledge of the AMC position. Ain’t that some shit.

Yes! News come that Chick Legg is now a Team Leader! This will make it easier to move on from Jefcoate come the off-season.


Now on to another cup semi-final. Wrexham is in the news a lot these days in real life but to me their significance is being the subject of Scott Brown's Let's Play of Football Manager 2014, where he took Wrexham to EPL and Champion’s League dominators. Again, I won’t mind if we lose this match. Due to tiredness in all three squads I’m naming eight subs today.

FA Trophy Semi Final
vs. Wrexham, 21 April 2020



Formation: Shovel (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DM r, DM l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Coates, Ferguson, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Nightingale, Smith, Harding, Robinson, Macey, Rae

Good crowd today with 3,330 butts in the seats. And this is when I notice that Wrexham’s form is Woeful, with three losses in a row, preceded by two ties.

The fans may have been perplexed at first when they saw that McLeish got the start but he ended up with a brace. They didn’t have to wait long for his first goal, at 6:48, while his second came at almost exactly 57 minutes later. We still have problems with crosses, giving up a goal just before the first whistle. The other downer was a Parker injury with 15 minutes to go.

POM: Derek McLeish 8.8 (2 goals)



Holy mother of gods. Parker is phuqqed. Out 7 to 8 months with damaged cruciate ligaments. I’ve never had an injury that bad before. Poor dude. His contract goes until 2021 plus he has an option. If he’s not fully recovered in a year I’ll activate his option so he can continue to rehab with us. He’s Conference National talent so he has a chance to contribute after his return. I have a chance to talk to him so I tell him we support him and encourage him to come back fighting. His morale increased. Pretty cool!

Silver lining? Now I can bring up Angelino Ferreira.


The Days Between
On the good news front, even with us in three cup finals, our last game is still 30 May. We face Worcester in the FA Vase Final and the next Saturday we face them in the final league match of the season. We barely beat them, 1-0, back just before Xmas but that was at their stadium.


I was hoping to give Ferreira his first start but he’s on international duty. So the start goes to U18 new youth Pat Lawford. Essentially, all of today’s starters are in the low 90s of Match Sharpness except Legg and Rae.

Southern League Premier Division
at Tiverton, 25 April 2020



Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: Legg, Lawford, Nightingale, Collopy, Rice, Harding, Ferguson, Robinson, Davies, Leary, Rae
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Smith, Roberts, Watkins, Hibbert, Thirlwell

This was a boring match. Robinson crossed to Leary in the 14th minute and that was our sole goal. Rae and Thirlwell hit the bars three times between them; that theme wasn’t prevalent this month like last month but it was still hella annoying. Lawford did well, rating at 7.2.

POM: Andy Robinson 8.3 (1 assists, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)



Despite our poor showing I told the lads they did well and everyone reacted positively. Including Rae, he of a 6.3 rating. I was hoping to admonish him in the dressing room but I’ll save that for my office. He acknowledges he sucked and his morale remains Perfect.

[BrixtonFC]

The Week Between
Angelino Ferreira had a pretty good game for Angola, rating a 7.7 and assisting on a goal.

Kemar Kirkpatrick scores again in a Huddersfield loss to Southampton, which is still good enough for second place in the EPL with 25 goals. His value is now up to £15.25 million.

On the morning of the 28th I get a development email from my AssMan indicating that Colin Cockbill can be slightly better than Tom Johnstone. Now, I have to assume this means Cockbill’s PA is greater than Johnstone’s current CA. So that would mean high League Two or low League One. Also, his PA is now rated up to three stars. It’s also at this time I notice his Determination went from 9 to 10, showing that O’Shea’s tutoring is starting to work. In further proof of the benefit tutoring, he’s no longer complaining about training being too hard so even though his personality is still Balanced, I’m sure his professionalism is now 12 or above.

(In inconsequential news, I really don’t like Cockbill’s AI-generated face. The lighting is too dark on the right side of his face so I generated a new one.)

In more inconsequential news but nonetheless makes me chuckle, Chelsea lost to QPR, who are in the Championship, in the FA Cup. Hahahahaha


The Fourteen
So here is my first version of The Fourteen image. Not sure if I like it or not.



On the positive side, Cockbill’s future assessment has increased. I think it will continue. On the neutral side, Nightingale and Davies saw their stars decrease but it’s not really that they’ve declined it’s just that other really good players have increased (like Coates and Kemar) but there is nothing above five stars so the stars for those two are just righting themselves, if that makes sense.

Summary
Another successful month under the belt. There wasn’t a theme though there was a fair sampling of previous themes: free kicks, woodworks, and slide tackles galore. We saw a significant injury to a winger and a devastating injury to our former preferred right fullback, who is also an important substitute on the left side. Well, you know, you take the good, you take the bad, you take ‘em both and there you have, the facts of life.




That Was Then, This is Now
As I was looking for the next topic of TWTTIN (twat tin?) I was reminded that Kevin Parker had a previous bad injury. On 17 February 2018 he fractured his skull jumping during a match. He was projected to be out 3 to 4 months but ended up being out 3 months, missing 17 matches. Shortly after that, he gashed his head and I’m surprised he didn’t get a concussion. His scouting report doesn’t show that he’s injury prone but I’d have to say he’d have a 1 Luck score if there was such a thing.



Poor chap, he should give up on jumping.

[BrixtonFC]

May 2020

High on emotion

We’re in the home stretch. The season will end on 30 May after five league matches and three cup finals, all of which we must win.


Training Matters
Oh hallelujah! No bad training reports! I’ve done something right but have no idea what. What a relief!




Financial Matters
We lost around £74,000 last month, bringing us to almost £231,000 in losses for the season.

Board Confidence
Climbing northward, up to 91% again.

Dynamics
No changes. I can expect that will remain so for a couple of months, at least.

Player Development
Remember that Terry Buckle kid I almost didn’t sign from the youth intake? And I said part of the reason I wasn’t going to sign him was he was too short? He’s already gone from 175cm to 178cm. At this rate he might just cut it as a slow DC! On the flip side, he’s made absolutely no progress on learning DMC. Nothing. Not even Awkward. I know I don’t know his Versatility rating but I’m seeing this trend in a lot of players. I wonder if somehow that part of the code was always broken. Time to head to the googles! I found nothing except to be patient. :-\


Kings Langley are at the bottom of the league by an 8 point margin. Sounds like a perfect time to get some bench time to Ferreira, for development purposes, and Steve Pike, a U18 DL who I promised would get to come in off the bench.
Our Angolan right fullback gets the start today at DR and I believe this is the first starter for us who wasn’t from the UK or Ireland. (I’m not counting Kemar as a Jamaican as he’s an internationaler for England now.)

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Kings Langley, 2 May 2020



Formation: Diamond (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Rice, Coates, Watkins, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Ferreira, Pike, Nightingale, Davies, Leary, McLeish

What can you say about a match that sees your right striker score four goals, your left striker score two, and your opponent have a man sent off? Ass kicking? Of course, their only score comes from a free kick, albeit indirectly. That was countered by Coates’ free kick later that goes in directly. He’s getting good there.

POM: Eddie Macey 9.8 (4 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



Looking at the match stats, we had five players have at least five key passes. Better yet, Coates and Taylor are now Natural at DMC and AMC, respectively. That means maybe we are going to change primary formations soon. I just need Watkins to get Natural at MR.

[BrixtonFC]

The Week Between
About that formation change. After an afternoon of tinkering, reading articles, and watching videos, I’ve decided not much, really. I'm going to stay with the Diamond for my Attacking formation, the Shovel for my Control formation, and a modified version of the Club modified for Defensive postures I’ll call the Cudgel. I might swap out the Shovel for the Spade at times depending on how well we are defensively. We have not been that good on that front of late, giving up goals way too easily.

Two of our coaches are being sent to classes to improve their Continental licenses. This is very good news as they’ll be able to unlock their maximum potential.


Another creampuff we’ll probably barely beat and give up at least one goal to.

Southern League Premier Division
at Weston-super-Mare, 9 May 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Rice, Coates, Watkins, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Ferreira, Smith, Roberts, Leary, Harding, Rae

Just before 6:00 Macey cracks the seal on not-so-super-Mare. Another six go by when our opponent score for us. That goal could have been Thriller’s had he only slid sooner. Just minutes later, Coates The Thief steals another ball, gets it to Macey, who serves a silver platter to Thriller with a goal on it. A repeat comes a little later but it’s Macey with the steal when Weston tried to do a short pass on a free kick right outside our box. Thriller’s trick comes from Olde Fashion Brixton Build Up from the back, up the right wing, and an inch-perfect Watkins cross from deep. At 70’ I use the Cudgel formation for the first time. It fails us almost immediately. -_- And again in the final minute. -_- -_-

POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.6 (3 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)



Did I go defensive too early? Do my wingbacks suck? They kept coming in and not stopping the wingers even though they have the “Hold Position” command.


The Week Between
Freakin’ sweet! Watkins is now a Natural at MR. Yes!

I fixed the Cudgel. The wingbacks weren’t set to “Stay Wider” but I changed that. I’ll try it in the next match to give it a test.

Huddersfield battered Middlesbrough four-nil with Kemar leading the way with 3 goals and 1 assist, good enough for a 9.7 rating. Now Middlesbrough is 20th and Crystal Palace is 19th. With one match left Crystal Palace is going down. Fulham is the third team in the drop zone. If they beat Tottenham (4th) and Swansea loses to Arsenal (2nd), Fulham will be safe.

Kemar’s brilliance doesn’t go unnoticed by the press so I have to take a question about his long-term development. I say we’re pleased that he is putting the building blocks in place.

Speaking of Kemar, he’s getting called up by the England coach for the European Championship, starting on 13 June. The final is 12 July. We have to hope that England wash out in the group stage or he’s not going to return in time for training camp. Even when he does he’s going to be Jaded beyond belief. He’s made it to the big time.

Do you see what I see? A star, a star, shining nice and bright, he shall be a starter someday. He shall be a starter someday.



His Determination is up to 11 now and his personality is no longer Unambitious, advancing up to Fairly Professional. I heart you Football Manager.


Two players get a chance to possibly shine coming off the bench. Padraig Murphy is a left-footed central defender in the U23s and Ben Pope is a right winger in the U18s. This is because I want my Starting XI fully fresh for a cup match on the 20th. We also have a match on the 18th. That match will see quite a few more U23 and U18 players.

Southern League Premier Division
at Slough, 16 May 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Legg, Ferreira, Nightingale, Collopy, Jefcoate, Roberts, Robinson, Leary, Harding, Rae, McLeish
Subs: O’Keeffe, Murphy, Smith, Ferguson, Pope, Davies, Hibbert

Well, we are usually the early scorers but Slough caught us sleeping and score 21 seconds in. Rae could have leveled 80 seconds later but hit the post. McLeish is the one who gets us level 12 minutes later. It was an 80 second lead though as free kicks have become our weakness. Then McLeish gets them on the restart. This is when I start freebasing Pepto-Bismol. Not even McLeish’s hat trick can stop my drinking. Not even his fourth goal can slacken my pace. After the half we get more ping-ponging and my drinking continues. Not even McLeish’s fifth goal stops my doom spiral. A straight red when Leary was hacked down from behind does appease me. This time the Cudgel works to perfection, keeping things under control for the final 25 minutes.

POM: Derek McLeish 10.0 (5 goals, 1 key pass, 2 chances created)



Ferreira (6.4), Nightingale (6.3), and Collopy (6.2) all draw my ire but after the match only the latter two get official warnings. How Legg managed a 7.0 is beyond imagination.

[BrixtonFC]

The Day Between
After the match I learn that Slough were fighting to avoid relegation. Somehow they have survived, for now, but that explains their tenacity.

Nightingale and Collopy accept their warnings. Good.

Another call up for Ferreira! Dangit, I was hoping he would be available for our cup matches. This puts a crimp in things. This match is for the African U20 Nations Qualification First Round Leg One. That’s a mouthful!

The EPL season comes to a close and Kemar ends up in second place for goals scored. There’s no rest for the wicked though as he’s off to start training for the European Championship. If he gets in their first match, it will be against Portugal two days before his 18th birthday. They grow up so quick these day...

Speaking of the EPL, Fulham, Crystal Palace, and Middlesbrough are getting relegated. Bristol City, Sunderland, and Aston Villa are promoting. Everton finished third and lost in the playoff.

My scouts finish scouting all the youths of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. No luck. Maybe come June when I go looking for a senior left winger I’ll reevaluate some of them. Once we officially graduate into to the Conference South then we’ll be able to attract more interest.


Because we are playing so many B Team players Hereford have a chance as we are only slightly better than them except Hibbert, who will be the left striker. He’s leaps and bounds better than any Hereford player.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Hereford, 18 May 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Legg, Lawford, Smith, Murphy, Pike, Ferguson, Pope, Leary, Davies, Morris, Hibbert
Subs: O’Keeffe, Ferreira, Collopy, Jefcoate, Roberts, Harding, McLeish

We have a larger-than-normal crowd, 1,858 spectators who witness young M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-R-I-S get his first career goal just 3:29 in, when Hibbert’s first try got kicked away, right to The Mouse. Our second goal is from Glyn Davies who got the penalty after Ferguson got clattered to the ground. And wonder of wonders, a clean sheet for Chick Legg!

POM: Mickey Morris 7.6 (1 goal, 3 key passes, 1 chance created)



It’s nice to see Morris shine on his debut. Poor Ben Pope came in with a 6.4. He’ll get a chance in the future to redeem himself, I’m sure.


The Day Between
I set up a final friendly for our U18s and figured what the hell, an away trip to a foreign club would be a good reward. In the recommended list, when you go to the Friendly Creation screen, I found one called AFC Halte. I figured it was French and scheduled it. Upon closer examination a couple of days later, it turns out AFC Halte-Là plays on the French island of Réunion, which for those who aren’t into geography, is roughly 435 miles east of Madagascar. FM2018 treats them as being in France so travel cost should not be astronomical. Oddly, FM also says their stadium is a neutral site. I’ll roll with it.

I finally get a Player Development email on Angelino Ferreira proving what I’ve long suspected: Germans love David Hasselhoff. I mean, he’s a “Potential League One Talent”. (RIP Norm. We miss you, man!)

Sweet! Macey has learned the trait Knocks Ball Past Opponent. Time to get him to tutor Morris. They are both excited by the prospect. Freakin’ sweet!


Greenwich’s manager says they have a few extra nerves ahead of the match. Well, I hope to make it even more nervy. I predict a solid win.

Southern League Cup Final
vs. Greenwich (at Wembley), 20 May 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Rice, Coates, Watkins, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Ferreira, Nightingale, Roberts, Hibbert, Harding, McLeish

O’Shea starts the scoring in a surprising fashion, using his foot. Naturally, it came in the aftermath of a free kick right outside the 18-yard box. He repeats himself nearly 40 minutes later. In between we simple dominated with a Thriller brace, a goal by our Captain, and both wingers get one apiece.

POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.6 (2 goals, 2 assists, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)



The nerve of the Greenwich coach! “Brixton aren’t as good as they think.” Right... I take the high road and don’t talk shit; I just praise my squad whenever I get a chance.

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
I was hoping for a chance to play mind games in the presser but there were no tricky question. Their manager didn’t hold punches though, calling my success undeserved. I punch back from a follow-up question, calling the cad jealous.


We barely squeaked by Worcester earlier in the season but that was in their home. I feel more confident about this match.

FA Vase Final
vs. Worcester (at Wembley), 23 May 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Lawford, Nightingale, Smith, Jefcoate, Roberts, Hibbert, Pugh, Harding, Rae, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Collopy, Pilcher, Ferguson, Leary, Macey
Rae gets injured early and our first action doesn’t come until the 27th but there’s no reason to panic as McLeish latches on to a free ball and scores. A second comes minutes later after we have some crazy no-look passes in the penalty area.

With Rae’s injury, another foot injury, I go to the Shovel and bring on Ferguson. Noah Harding was doing poorly in the first half but his goal at 55’ pretty much seals the deal. Another goal 10 minutes later allows us to go to the Cudgel early. A complete stifling of Worcester ensues and we gather our second cup trophy.

POM: Meilir Pugh 9.2 (1 goal, 2 key passes, 2 chances created)



Phew! Rae only out 1 to 2 days with a bruised ankle. Douchebag McClure still won’t acknowledge I’m the better manager and we’re the better team. Called us lucky and they were having an off day. They are third in the league and face us again in 7 days. They have to beat us by five points and hope that Merthyr Town lose to Farnborough while scoring zilch. Can’t wait to make it personal again in a week, turd.


The Days Between
Sure enough, The Non-League Paper comes a-knocking. Enthusiastic journalist Callum Baker asks what I think of those nasty comments. I take the high road again.

Manchester United won the FA Cup over Southampton. For the players, Eddie Macey lead all scorers with 8 goals and also had the most assists with 7. Pugh and Taylor were 1 and 3 in average rating, posting 8.24 and 7.95, respectively.

As these cup finals have become more and more important, the press conferences have grown shorter and shorter. No bulletin board material from the latest one.


Just one last cup final match to get through. Torquay are of the same quality as the previous two so I expect a victory. They are reeling as they are getting relegated from two leagues up. Because they are on the south coast of England, the will be in the Conference South with us next season. Let’s give them a preview of the abuse they can expect then! (Oh, and because it’s our final cup match I’m filling the whole bench.)

FA Trophy Final
vs. Torquay (at Wembley), 26 May 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, O’Shea, Rice, Coates, Watkins, Pugh, Taylor, Macey, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Collopy, Smith, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Ferguson, Robinson, Leary, Davies, Rae, McLeish, Hibbert

Woo!!! Almost 20,000 folks in the stands today! Big money coming our way!

Macey appears to be offsides when he heads in a Taylor header but a Torquay defender was way out wide near the end of the pitch. How he’s so good with his brain-box with a Heading of 3 is way beyond me. The refs for-real help us, awarding a dubious penalty just before 30’ and Thriller lives up to his name. (That was his 57th goal of the season!!!) After that it’s just more Macey and more Thriller.

Torquay come out strong for the second half but... Don’t call it a comeback! Because it wasn’t. They presented some opposition but after we kept disrupting their forays into our box they lost all motivation.

POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.1 (1 goal, 1 assist, 5 key passes, 4 chances created)



Wow! If you had told me we’d win all three cups AND concede no goals, I would have called you high. Our defensive form has been so poor I really expected some struggles. Hot damn!

[BrixtonFC]

The Days Between
Another wow moment? We made £107,698 from the match. We’re ahead for the month but still behind for the season.

I may have discovered a problem. I was checking the Competition tab where I noticed that for the three cups we just won the board confidences are all pegged at 55%. I hope this rights itself by the end of the season. I wonder if it doesn’t will it affect how much money I can negotiate on my new contract.

As expected the press to try a couple of trap questions but I deftly side-step them just like Pugh does when the right fullback tries a sliding tackle.


It’s the last match of the season and normally I wouldn’t be too concerned with a win. But it’s Worcester again and their HMFWIC needs to learn a lesson. Despite that, I’m using some U23 and U18 players. Most notably Colin Cockbill gets a start a left centreback for his team debut. After our last match I got emails about Ferguson and Harding being Accomplished at DMC and AMC so I’m hoping that means just one more match will get them to Natural. Ergo, they will probably remain in for the whole match.

Southern League Premier Division
vs. Worcester, 30 May 2020



Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Legg, Ferreira, Smith, Cockbill, Jenkins, Ferguson, Robinson, Leary, Harding, Morris, Rae
Subs: O’Keeffe, Lawford, Collopy, O’Shea, Pike, Nightingale, Pope, Barnett, Noulas, Macey, McLeish, Thirlwell

Oh wow! We have 4,353 fans today! Excellent! This is good news for the home fans as they get to witness the likely future at right striker when Mickey Morr’s sinks one in the 21st. It came from a nicely lobbed ball by Fergie, fulfilling the spirit of the ideal Regista, seeing an opportunity before the defense can recognize it. A quarter hour later Smith gets a header goal from Robinson’s corner. Rae seals it just after I made my subs, which also seals his POM award.

POM: Alex Rae 8.4 (1 goal, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)



We made almost £67,000 from the match but the club have to shell out £105,000 for the squad bonus payout for winning league. I’m fine with that. :-)


The Day Between
Let’s take a look at some league statistics. Macey and Thirlwell are tied for second with 30 goals; the winner had 43! Shane Pilcher had the highest average rating in the league at 7.79. Bill Taylor was third in assists at 16. Thriller also had 9 POM awards, good enough for third. Chick Legg came in second with clean sheets at 16, one behind the winner; had he not had that late season swan dive he would have won again.

For the whole season in goals, assists, rating, and POMs, it was Thriller (57), Eddie (31), Coates (8.15), and unsurprisingly Thriller again (16).

Season award time! Fan players of the year: 1. Macey (42%), 2. Thriller (30%), 3. Hibbert (17%). Signing of the season, Glyn Davies. Young player of the year, Alan Coates.

I didn’t get credit for winning the three cup, the board rated me at 75% on the Competitions front. That’s some bullshit! Despite that, I’m still Untouchable at 97%!!!

Oh sweet baby Hey Zeus! The board request a meeting to discuss club improvements! I’ve been waiting for this moment. Their first request is upgrading the youth academy setup. Yes please! (Looks like my downgrading will be undone. Not complaining.) Holy freijoles! Gobsmacked! The board is going to upgrade us to Level 1. Goody, goody, gumdrops! The upgrades will be complete at the end of next season so we’ll have one more “average” youth intake.


The Fourteen
I’m very pleased that Watkins and O’Keeffe have improved. They’re getting ever closer to their potential.



I don’t think I’ll post about The Fourteen in June’s update as no player will have improved over their holiday break. It will be drastically different in July as I imagine Pilcher, Coates, Pugh, Taylor, and Kemar will be sold or on loan.


Summary
The month started in a distressing fashion, at least defensively. When we got to the matches that mattered we became impenetrable. We also became a scoring machine again. I am very pleased to have gone out on a positive note.




That Was Then, This is Now
Let’s look back at Thriller. When I first found him we really didn’t need another striker. Boy howdy am I glad I picked him up! My complaints about him at the time were his Balanced personality and low Determination (4) and Stamina (5). I also didn’t believe my scouts’ assessment 1.5 stars of potential. He is now Spirited, has a 9 Determination, and 8 Stamina; our AssMan now believes he has 4.0 stars potential, good enough to be Championship level. In 1.75 years of action with us he has accumulated 78 goals, 33 assists, and 18 Player of the Match awards.



He’s a bargain at £500 per week and I have a feeling in the coming months I’m going to have to shell out more. I just wish we could get his Determination into the double digits. (Hey, look! I took that screenshot on his 20th birthday.)

[BrixtonFC]

June 2020

Taking care of business

The off-season is upon us. I’ve got new players to find, new contracts to offer, and new teams to find for key players who are too big for us, either via sales or loans. First, though, the normal monthly business.


Financial Matters
We lost just a smidge over £54,000 in May, taking us down to –£284,828 for the season. This loss means though that we avoid a tax hit, so there’s a silver lining. However, by the end of the season we were down to –£439,183, which is a loss of over £1 million if you consider where we started on 1 July 2019. We gotta get more assess in the seats and I need some players to go for good prices.

Some of this pain is taken away by a 2-year stadium sponsor deal worth £34,500 per annum.

Board Confidence
It appears I still didn’t get credit for those three cup wins but somehow my Board Confidence rating is 97%. Crazy. (I’m thinking that the graphics weren’t changed on the Competitions screen but I still go credit for them.)

Dynamics
At the end of the month Pilcher moved up to Highly Influential Player, just in time to leave us.

Player Development
Six players got called up for international duty in early June. Bill Taylor and Alan Coates for the England U19s, Simon McAdam for the Northern Ireland U19s, and for the Wales U19s they selected Meilir Pugh and...M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-R-I-S. I had a feeling he was better than expected!

A week later O’Keeffe gets called up by Ireland U21s to face England U21s. And a week after that I get an email noting that my HOYD thinks he “would be a good player for most Championship sides.” Love it!

McAdam scores against Japan and Morris scores against Portugal in only 24 minutes of action. Pugh did alright at 6.8 in the same match. The next day Angelino Ferreira rated a 7.0 in their victory over Togo.

England start their European Championship in an inauspicious manner, losing to Portugal 2-1. England’s goal was by none other than Kemar, in his 23 minutes of action. Should have made him the starter. Remember, he’s still 17!

Late new comes that for the European U19 Championship Bill Taylor and Alan Coates get the invite. They will be gone from at least 13 to 19 July.

New Tactics
I’m thinking for now that I’ll stick with the 4-4-2 Diamond (Attacking), Shovel, and Cudgel. Teams are sniffing round Marcus Thirlwell and Kemar will be out on loan again so I might have to go to Spade, Shovel, and a yet-decided single-striker defensive formation. I don’t like using a single striker so I might take some of the money to sign a highfalutin forward. Stay tuned!

Contracts
I have four contracts to offer, two of which are promises. First up is Bill Taylor, I have to swear that we’ll get promoted to Conference National in one year. I think that’s doable. He wants £1,800 per week initially. We tentatively have an agreement in place. He signs his new contract on 4 June.

On to Mitchell Nightingale. He only asks for £325 per week. I up it to £500 in the hopes of getting an instant agreement.

Next item up for bid, Liam Roberts. He asks for £250 per week but I bump it up to £300. His agent wants £1,100 for himself but I drop it to an even grand.

And finally Gary Ferguson. He only wanted £210 but I made it £250.

In other contract news, I activate the optional contract extensions for DC Smith, DC Collopy, DMC McAdam, AMR Robinson, and ST McLeish.

Sure enough! Nightingale signs immediately after I hit the Continue button. Roberts signs on the 5th and Fergie on the 8th.

[BrixtonFC]

New Players
With Pilcher, Coates, Pugh, Taylor, and Kemar all expected to be gone or on loan I now have to find some new players. We’re good to go at DC, DMC, and MR/AMR so I need an AMC and AML for the Senior squad and a DL for the U21s. I found around 40 players worth a closer look and send my scouts a-hunting.

Let me introduce you to our new starters, The Stephens. Both were nearing the end of their contract, under a month meaning I could sign them without having to pay their current team any money. The Lemonhead signed on 7 June and will join us on 1 July. This is the first time ever I’ve signed away a player in the final month of a contract. Never did it even in FM2014.




McGregor was a bit of a problem. I didn’t notice that he had an option year so it was no surprise when Harrogate activated it and killed the deal. He has the potential to be a good League One player so I make a legitimate transfer offer. I’m able to negotiate them down from £160k to £85k but with the provision that they get 35% of any sale in the future. I think he could be with us until we get to the Championship and have no plans to sell him. Hope he’s worth it! He signed on 8 June. He’s our biggest splash of cash for me while playing FM2018.



If you notice he’s not great at corners but he is tall. Not the greatest header but I think I’ll try to put him on the near post during corner kicks.

The next day we have a press conference to reveal McGregor to the fans. I wasn’t expecting so many questions because in the past I always denied the requests. Luckily he reacted positively to my answers.


As things stand right now I have no attacking midfielders for the U23s and just two defensive midfielders. My scouts find this kid who was released by Tottenham. Ben O’Reilly can fill four positions for the U23s. I offer him £300 a week and a £500 signing bonus.



He signs on 30 June.


I still need a DL for the U21s. I hope to find one in July.

[BrixtonFC]

New Staff
Also, a Physio, our U18 Physio, and a Scout are due for extensions, or not. I find better options but I’ll wait until the last week of the month to make the offers.

It looks like the poaching of my staff may resume. Our U23 Manager is drawing interest from a puny team way down the pyramid. I hope he doesn’t take the chance.

The new staff sign. The Physio, Chris Turnbull, take us from a staff member with 15 to 20 in Physiotherapy. He also has a Man Management rating of 19 so he will be our next Head Physio once the current one’s contract runs out. The U18 Physio improves us from 13 to 18. The new scout isn’t better than the old guy in judging players but I signed him because he’s good there but his Determination and Adaptability are significant improvements.

Player Offers
So 9 June is the start of when teams come looking to poach. Derby and Bolton offer £6,000 for Pilcher, while Bradford offer the same for Thirlwell. Big fat nopes ensue and I set Pilcher’s asking price at £100,000. Derby is in the Championship and can surely afford his worth.

Millwall were in the Championship and are getting relegated. In an effort to bounce back up they want Pilcher, offering £16,000. I remind them it’ll take £100,000 so they counter with £20,000. Goodbye! Swindon make the same play the next day but have the decency to walk away when I remind them of the minimum price.

Finally, a team is willing to offer £100,000 for Pilcher. Sheffield United agree to the price and the 20% sell on fee I tacked on. Peterborough also accept the price. Sheff are in the Championship, albeit in the lower half while Peterborough are in the top half of League One. I hope he chooses Sheffield.

The next day Portsmouth show up right at £100,000 so I add the 20% and they don’t blink an eye. (They are 19th in the Championship.)

Team Rankings
In England, the Top Ten Most Reputable Teams are:
1. Man United
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Tottenham
5. Man City
6. Chelsea
7. Stoke
8. West Ham
9. Leicester
10. Southampton

Meanwhile, in South London, we are now the 211th most reputable club in England.

Sundry Items
Wednesday, 24 June we advance to the new season and immediately the board want to meet to talk about increasing the available wage budget for coaches. (Last year it was for my AssMan.)

The fixture list also comes out and I’m excited that we actually have a Boxing Day match. Should see a bumper crowd!

I’m also excited to see that our final match of the season is on 1 May, a benefit of being in a league with only 22 clubs.

This also means board expectations come in. They expect me to lead the club to victory in the Conference League South. Cup expectations are Conference League Cup (a new one for us), FA Trophy, FA Vase wins along with reaching the third round of the FA Cup. I could bump up expectations to the fifth round but I want to run a smaller squad and don’t need the extra tired bodies.

On 30 June they ask to meet again to talk about more club improvements. Evidently that is code for offering me a new contract. Dance a little jig!

That Was Then, This Is Now
Back in 2017, just 17 weeks into our first campaign, our U18 squad were on an 11 match winning streak. Just how well have they done since then? That season it was strictly friendlies, going 28-2-2. For the 2018/2019 season, they were in a league, going 10-5-3, but won the playoffs and ultimately the league. This past season, they won their league, 25-2-1, and also made it to the final in a U18 league cup, losing 1-2 to Accrington Stanley U18s. Needless to cliché, our youth system is pretty good.