Woking FC - 19/20 Pre-season and August 2019
Transfer Window
It has taken awhile to get over the disappointment of the Play-off loss but the board were happy to keep me on for another try. To aid me, i was given a healthy transfer budget of £42k but the wage budget was to remain the same at £9k per week which means we needed to lose some players to free up some wage budget.
It was tough going, to move on players but both Ian Gayle and Jack Cook were allowed to leave the club with the latter even going for £3k. There have so far been failed attempts to move on Christian Jolley and Paul Hodges who are both taking up a fair chunk of wages and will not get used this season. Equally a couple of youth players were meant to go out on loan to get football but again there were no takers for them. Jack Hackett also refused to extend his loan spell from Sunderland preferring to go back to the Black cats.
In terms of incomings there were 5 new players to bolster an already pretty strong squad. The first player to join is the best of the lot as I raided relegated Concord for midfielder and playmaker
Billy Knott. The amount of stats in double figures for this level puts him as one of the top 10 players in the division and his free kick taking level means we now have the ability to threaten from set pieces.
Sunderland were able to send us another new player for the season with Swedish U21 winger
Benjamin Kimpioka joining for the season. He is a little attacking to fall into our current 4-4-2 formation but if we are chasing a game or dominant we can probably afford to have him further upfield.
The next three transfers are all for the defence. An area that was generally good all season until the last few months where it simply fell apart when we needed it the most. Through extensive scouting and around 50 players on trial, i have decided to add these three to the ranks. Two of which are Internationals!
Joe Ellul is a Gibraltan international and the 6"4 centre half should provide an aerial threat going forward as well as have the heading ability to deal with the often long ball over the top. Joining from Braintree who were relegated into the Vanarama North, i am hoping Joe's lack of pace doesn't prove to be his undoing.
Tyrone Sterling is another slightly older player at 31 but he has good overall mentals and physicals. He was at relegated Concord so joins former teammate Knott at the Kingfield and will likely rotate with Casey with this year at left back. The Brilliantly named
Vontae Daley-Campbell was the final signing having been released by Arsenal. Decent pace and physicals are the main strengths of his gameplay but he is only a few points away from some crucial double figure attributes in the technicals.
Pre-Season
Outside of the transfers, we had some pre-season fixtures lined up against some stronger League opposition including one against our parent club Sunderland. The first three games Sunderland, Portsmouth and Colchester were all designed to boost the coffers, much needed after i got the board to agree to improve our
youth facilities.
All three games saw some decent spells of football but we still lost 3-1, 2-1 and 3-1 respectively. However, my assistant was good enough to make sure we ended pre-season with two winnable games against Witham and East Grinstead and we did just that dominating both games winning 2-0 and 4-1 to put us back in a good morale position ready for the first game of the season.
By the time the season started we were predicted to
come 6th once again with the play-offs looking like our best hope again. Billericay are favourites but the relegated trio of Maidenhead, Havant & Waterlooville and Eastleigh are going to be our main competition.
August
A busy opening month with 6 games to start the season and i am happy to report we finished the month undefeated. A 1-1 draw at home to St. Albans wasn't the greatest of starts but we did show a new angle to our game play with set pieces causing problem after problem for them and it lead to our penalty in the 88th minute. Greg Luer stepped up and did what he does best by scoring the equaliser.
From there we were able to beat Slough and Dartford relatively comfortably before a bore draw against East Thurrock ended our winning ways. However, we bounced back with two 3-0 victories against Hemel Hempstead and newly promoted Hendon.
An absolutely great start to the season and we are purring. Goals are there and defensively we are strong again. Maidenhead have had a terrible start which is pleasing to see and we have points over our main competition.
Woking's August player of the month
Greg Luer is still in the goals but it is our new weapon that win's my award and also the
league's.
Billy Knott may well be the missing link as he scored 4 and assisted once to have a dream start at his new club. We lacked goals from midfield last year and that might have been what cost us. However, Knott could be the difference, his two goals from free kicks helped us secure two victories.