Altrincham FC: from the Vanarama North to... the Premier League (?)

MYS77

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Hi guys!

I've once posted a Portsmouth story here back in FM 2012, and I've been playing the game ever since. In this particular edition, I started to play with Altrincham, in the sixth tier of English football.

To start this, I have to explain some important things that I establish while signing: I rarely sign players older than 23 years, and I rarely buy players (for an expensive fee). Also, I'm already in September 2023 in the game when starting this post, so I'm going to resume those past seasons in short chapters in the upcoming posts.

Given those two "rules" established by me, let's start it!
 
Chapter One: Season 2019-20

I started the career with an old and poor team, but they were supposed to reach the play-offs anyway. Even though, I got rid of those old guys, just kept some young fellas who seemed to have some future on them (I don't quite recall it, but I think it was just two or three players).

The transfers
Yep, looking at this right now, I think I signed up way too many players. Most of them didn't work out, but some of them were very important. From the first "batch", Juanito, Millen Baars and Jordan *** and Denilson Carvalho were all regulars in my team. Muscatt was also a first-choice, but his call-ups to Malta NT didn't help at all.
The departures were mainly related to the initial team, I got rid of some old players (Jake Moult being the one who played the most for the team in the squad), while also managed to get some money out of some of them.
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The team

GK: Sadelli was a pretty average goalie for the division back then. I signed him up when he was 19, released from Marseille, and he did the job in a pretty good way.
RB: Flaccovio (18) arrived in September from Palermo while Moore (19) arrived from Everton. Both were nearly the same level, which meant none of them were the first-choice for too long.
CB: Both starters, Corke and Williams were both pretty good for the division, while Jones (the backup) was one of the few who remained from the initial squad.
LB: Muscatt was a regular, and was rated as the top LB of the division.
CM: Viera (from Paris FC), Simth (from Newcastle) and Kiersey (from Everton) played regularly, while Garofalo (from Palermo) was a reliable backup option.
LW: Baars never gave anyone a chance in there. Released from Man Utd, he was rated as a League Two decent player, so he was impressive back then.
AM: Carvalho was the starter, but never played well enough to be one. Pereira was signed in October to provide competition, but he also did not get going.
RW: *** was also rated as a League Two winger, but didn't shine as much as Baars, as he was not very consistent. Simmonds often saved the day, being mostly my super-sub.
ST: Former Newcastle guy Juanito played well and was very important, but was also inconsistent. In January, after looking into some European nations, I found the Gibraltarian MacDonald, who seemed to be a decent player, and he ended the season as Juanito's backup, often scoring from FKs.
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The results

A very good run of form made us start and remain league leaders for the most of the campaign, thanks to the amazing performances of Baars, Juanito and Okera Simmonds. The form lasted until November started, when we got beat pretty hard by Gloucester and struggled a bit during the whole month.

We managed to recover our form in December, while still trying to outrun Kidderminster who was always near. We had some tough games against Chesterfield in the FA Trophy semifinals which knocked us out, but since they were a division above, I wasn't too worried.

Baars was brilliant in that season, scoring four goals in a single match (a 5-2 win over King's Lynn on 22 Feb), and Juanito was also very important as our main striker. Baars, a winger, scored 18 league goals (21 overall), while our striker Juanito netted 20 times in the league (22 overall).
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Final standings

The fight with a more experienced Kidderminster lasted until the very last match. Even though we lost to Telford, they also failed to beat Hereford, which meant we avoided the play-offs but also managed to end the season as champions and promoted to the Vanarama National!
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After seeing my then-right winger's name being restricted due to some words (hahahaha), I will call him Jordan C. from now on :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
Chapter Two: Season 2020-21

Even though the team won promotion, its reputation fell down a bit, which was a little disappointing. Then, I decided to revamp the team, and started the season in a new division, but the season was disappointing overall, while my hopes of achieving back-to-back promotions faded away in February...

The transfers
Once again, I signed up a lot of guys, but most of them weren't that great anyway. I was nearly forced to sell Baars, Juanito and Carvalho to some pro teams, but I let go the other former players since they wouldn't make the cut for the new division.
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The team

GK: Winterbottom ???????, a former Liverpool goalie, was a good fit for the team and was deservedly a regular.
RB: Minkley ??????? was fairly better than Davies ???????, but Davies was more versatile since he played in both sides.
CB: Feeney ??????? and Bernard ??????? were two good defenders, with Feeney being the better one. Ercolani ?? was better than Bernard when he joined, but he broke his leg and remained out for some months. Once he was back, both starters were already established.
LB: After the departure of Muscatt (one-year deal), I signed Burke ?? on loan from Birmingham. Top lad, provided a good number of assists for us.
CM: This position was very difficult to keep track on. Galbraith ??(Northern Ireland) was our regular, since he was too good for the division, while Benson ??????? had moments as a starter or as a sub, with Viera ?? remaining from the other season but not very much used. Adeniram ?? arrived in February to be the savior, but was also disappoiting.
LW: Mallon ?? was the starter until January, but I released him back to his home country since his wages were high and I was unhappy with his performances. After this, loanee Walker ???????, from Preston, played there but it was very rotational since none of the players could keep some good form in the position.
AM: Originally a CM, Ross ??????? joined in an attempt to save our CM problem, but since it was full of players and the AM position was nearly vacant, he played there as he was also familiar with the position, and since our loanee Tasdemir ?? wasn't very consistent nor skilfull. Other CM, Tsonev ??, also played there sometimes.
RW: Jordan C. ??????? remained and was still in a good level for the division, so he remained as the starter. Wakefield ??????? arrived to provide competition, but was rather disappointing and left in January for Cheltenham.
ST: MacDonald ?? remained as a backup just because I liked him, because as you can see, his league stats aren't that impressive. Butterworth ??????? joined on loan from Blackburn, and did a pretty good job to mainly save our rather average season overall. Charman ??????? also arrived late on, but injuries prevented him from helping more.

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The results

Off to a good start, we managed to get the leadership right on, but then struggled a bit in the following months. Chesterfield then started to open some margin on us, but was later overtaken by Barnet.
The team truly derailed in mid-February, and our then play-off position was gone by the end of the season. March was a very disappointing month, as the team could not get a single win in five consecutive games, and some of them annoyed me very much.
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Final standings
Altrincham finished ninth, four points away from a play-off place, with Harrogate being an impressive surprise, since their team was not that great.
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Chapter Three: Season 2021-22

Now definitely in need of a revamp to achieve promotion, I dipped into the market to search for some more young blood to updgrade this squad. Even though I didn't win the league, the season was very exciting...

The transfers
Some good names joined the club in the summer. The likes of Clarke, Hughes, Agboola, Sinisalo, Egan-Riley and Fitzhugh were all important during the season. Meanwhile, the sales of Ross, Adeniram, Tsonev, Benson and Viera gave the club some more deserved cash, to improve the club's status overall.
Spoiler alert for Mangos, a Greek 18-year-old guy which I found the same way as MacDonald, but he was 16 at the time, so I had to wait two years (!) before he could play for us. With his contract registered in February, he went straight to the first team, being important in the later stages of the season.
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The team
GK: Slicker ???????, formerly of Man City, came in and became an undisputed starter, being above average during the matches.
RB: Egan-Riley ???????, another one from Man City, came in and took the right flank for his own easily. Despite that, Hughes ???????, a former Man Utd guy, began the season as a starter.
CB: Feeney remained from the past season, with Agboola ?? joining to cover Bernard's departure. Still, Agboola lost his starting spot to Oduroh ?? nearing the end of the season.
LB: Burke's loan was renewed with Birmingham, as he provided even more assists during the season, being one of the key members of the squad.
CM: Galbraith also remained, while Clarke joined on a pre-contract deal from Aston Villa, forming a great partnership down the middle. Mangos was allowed to play in February, providing good backup and competition to both.
LW: Morton ??????? was a loanee from West Brom who mainly took the starting spot due to the lack of competition. Windsor ???????, another West Brom man, was brought in to provide competition, but never really impressed.
AM: Sheffield Wednesdey loanee Grant ?? did well in his performances, overtaking former Leicester City man Fitzhugh ??????? who couldn't keep his performances from the start of the season
RW: New signing Ndukwu ?? was initially a backup to well-known Jordan C., but since his form started to go down, he became a starter.
ST: Butterworth also had his loan renewed, but had great competition throughout the season after the arrival of Afolabi ??. Both fought for the starting spot, with MacDonald still in the squad as a decent third-choice.
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The results
Now implementing the board vision of high-pressure, possession and forward-thinking football (which I started in my first season), the team enjoyed more pleasant results in the season overall. Starting with a very good three months (no official defeats), we lost in the FA Cup to Bradford PA (a division below us) because I chose to play with the reserves, since the starters were 'focused on the league'. Some blips occurred in December, January and February (again!) which made Chesterfield take our leadership from us and build some advantage, but we never gave up. The play-off semifinal was as tough as I expected, because Hartlepool put us in a lot of troubles during the regular tournament, and we managed to go through on penalties only. The final was a lot easier, even though we did beat Fylde 8-3 in the first round, they beat us 2-0 in the second, and that match could've been worse.
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Final standings
Fighting bravely with Chesterfield, the club finished second and had to play in the play-offs. Spotlight to Fylde, who we beat 8-3 in the league but still managed to get the last spot to the play-offs after an impressive late run.
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Play-offs

Semifinal:
Afolabi wasn't that great in both matches of the play-offs, but still managed to score the equalizer to take us to the extra time. Even though Butterworth scored the comeback goal, Thomas tied it again later on and we went to penalties.
Even though Jordan C. missed our first penalty, the rest of the guys scored, while Keena and Humphreys (who was putting us in a lot of troubles during the match) missed and we went through.
In the other semifinal, Fylde beat Dag & Red so easily that I was expecting trouble in the Final
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Final:
I expected the match to be a very close call since Fylde came from a way better result than ours, but we controlled the game quite well, with Windsor (never really the best option, but for that match I took a bet on him and he repaid my faith) and Moumos (sooooo thrilled with him becoming important) scoring the goals as we calmly brought down Fylde and won the play-offs.

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Altrincham became a Football League team for the first time in 131-year their history!!
 

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Chapter Four: 2022-23 - First professional season

Now finally in the professional football for the first time in the century (and in the club's history, I think), the team turned professional (it was always semi-pro) since it was a requirement from the league, and I signed a new two-year contract with an automatic extension if promoted. Our stadium, Moss Lane, was also reformed to
be within the Football League requirements, so the capacity went down a little bit (to around 4,000), but the stadium was never full (in a 6,000 capacity stadium the average attendance was 2,300 approximately).

The youth categories
After the amount of money won in the promotions, I decided to spend it on improving the youth categories, the youth level and the junior coaching, to provide better prospects to the club. This, however, didn't bring anyone that good but Michael Watson, a half-decent Scottish DM. The other ones I released from the club, and by that time (June 2022) MacDonald was already a Home-grown player at the club. So I had two home-grown players, but I sold MacDonald to TNS, and I forgot that in the Football League you have to have a home-grown player at the club in all matchdays. It had to be Watson.

Best prospect of the season: Davide Consolo
Best home-grown player: Michael Watson

The transfers
I tried to act quickly and agreed some pre-contract deals with some guys from the Premier/Championship teams in June. Some of them I missed to teams of better reputation, but that's life I guess.
Notable transfers were Rowan McDonald from Man City, D'Margio Wright-Philips, Layton Stewart from Liverpool and Giovanni Ceprarano from Napoli.
In the departures side, I had to sell Clarke to Charlton as they offered a € 225K offer for him, and also sold Afolabi to Dunfermline as his wages were too high. I then signed Benyu and former man Butterworth (permanently), but both were far below my expectations, and I managed to sell both to Salford to a decent fee (€100K each). Sdaigui also followed suit from the duo, but moved back to his former country Italy.
In the winter, I was very upset with the performances of Darboe (who joined only in October after being dubious from joining us in the summer), Kirilov (was only Stewart's backup and never decided any match), Mejia (too inconsistent), Harry Clarke and Tonon (not enough prospect), so I sold them all and brought in Emeran on loan from Fulham, signed Hansen on a free from a Welsh club, and managed to find a very good CB on Andghuladze. Dent also came in to be a backup to Stewart, but was also unimpressive.
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The team
I started the season in a 4-1-2-2-1 (with a V format in the middle) to make MacDonald fit into the squad, since his main position was a DM (Mangos was also mainly a DM), but after January, I changed back to my normal 4-2-3-1 and the team showed a more offensive football, getting better results
GK: Bergström ??, a former Chelsea man, was the first-choice. Williams ???????, formerly of Man Utd, was my backup and stepped in when Bergström was on international duty. Berti ?? was the third-choice mainly to complete the call-ups.
RB: Egan-Riley remained from the past season, but lost his starting spot to Swanson ??????? during the most of the season. In the final months of the competition, however, Egan-Riley was back to first-choice after Swansonwas not playing regularly.
CB: Joseph ??????? and Clarke ??????? started the season as the starters, with Agboola remaining from the past season and Oduroh being out on loan. After the arrival of Hansen ?? and Andghuladze ?? in the winter, they both became the starters, with Joseph being demoted to backup and Oduroh returning from loan to become the fourth option. Consolo ?? was a fifth-choice, mainly playing for the U18 or the U23 season
LB: Okou ?? and Samatta ?? joined nearly in the same time from Monaco and Tottenham, respectively, and had close ratings, but Okou was the first-choice during the most of the season.
(DM: MacDonald ??????? was an undisputed starter in the start of the season, but after the change of formation, he lost a spot in the first team, mainly due to the rising of Mangos ??
CM: Ceparano ?? was one of the best free options in the market for the lower leagues and became the key part of the midfield. Galbraith remained as a starter for the third consecutive season in the club, becoming a team leader, but lost the spot to Mangos during the last months of the season.
LW: Benyu ?? was signed to be the starter, but was too old for "my standards", and so after the arrival of Auradou ??, I sold him. McGhee ??????? joined on loan from Ipswich, but appeared rarely since Auradou's form was great.
AM: Wellens ??????? (the son) joined from Man Utd and was initially a backup option in the 4-1-2-2-1 formation. Duku ?? then came in from Lyon and showed more football than Wellens, becoming a regular starter with the new formation
RW: Initially, Mejia ??, a former Man Utd man, was the starter ahead of Wright-Philips ??????? (another son of a former pro), but in mid-October Wright-Philips took the starting spot and never lost it. In January, Emeran ?? joined on loan to provide more competition and helped us in some crucial matches
ST: Stewart ??????? was an undisputed starter during the whole season, even though Kirilov ?? was close to his level. Kirilov left in January and Dent ??????? joined to provide competition, but had a different style. Marinello ?? was also a third-choice, but not that impressive.
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The results
Impressively, the team was put in the 6th place in the media prediction, and played it's first professional match in a 0-0 Carabao Cup draw against Lincoln (lost on penalties). Lincoln was predicted to be the division champions, so I was a more okay than annoyed. After a comfortable 2-0 win over Newport County in the first professional league match of the club's history, a 5-1 defeat to Port Vale followed. Then, I adapted the formation to a 4-1-2-2-1 and it worked for a few matches.
After a very poor December with way too many losses and a drop in the table who made the team stay out of the play-off zone, I returned to the classic 4-2-3-1 which I began the save and it started to work straight on, giving me something close to perfect months in January and April.
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Final standings
After a great recovery in January, the team had a few bumps on the road but managed to finish second!! We tried to fight against a very qualified Bolton, who had a bunch of home-grown players (my dream), but they were simply far better than us.
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Even though, the season ended with Altrincham being promoted in the club's first professional season ever!! ?
 
Awesome recount on your career mate. Fantastic to see you promoted straight away!
Genuinely can't believe how many players you sign each summer, it's insane! You must do well with gelling the players together quickly!
Good luck next season
 
Awesome recount on your career mate. Fantastic to see you promoted straight away!
Genuinely can't believe how many players you sign each summer, it's insane! You must do well with gelling the players together quickly!
Good luck next season
It's amazing so far, the players respond very quickly in every match, aside from my formation being set on gengepress with a positive approach + retaining possession, which makes the team very aggressive and forward-thinking, which is great to see (so great that the board used my initial formations to be as their requirements in their vision :ROFLMAO:).
I'm playing some League One matches now, so far it's been great (spoiler alert), and I'll maybe provide more details about the squad when the Jan transfer window ends.
Thanks for stopping by,mate!
 
Chapter Five: 2023-24 - League One

After an impressive first professional season, the club went to League One not well-established and a lot of the players opted to leave due to the club's low reputation. So, rebuilding again, I guess. With the squad being out of depth and with the quality line being drawn narrower due to the division's higher standard, our signings would need to be even more precise than ever.

The youth categories
After another disappointing batch of players (even though we improved our youth categories and our junior coaching), Watson is still our best home-grown prospect so far. Even though, I was capable to find Mohammed Allaoui, a 17-year-old Moroccan who was at some fourth division French club, and made him join the club for free in January.

Best prospect of the season: Mohammed Allaoui
Best home-grown player: Michael Watson

The transfers
Well, no honeymoon can last forever, so Wellens asked to leave once the Ipswich bid came (he wasn't too much of a prospect anyway), but my saddest loss of the summer transfer window was Mangos, definitely. Even though we managed to get a very decent fee for him, I wasn't happy at all to sell him to Leicester. Ceparano also left after Bologna activated his buyout clause, and I managed to sell López (a guy who I brought in that very same transfer window, but felt like his wages were too big for his contributions) to Tottenham (!) for half a million.
Regarding the incomes, Topley and Smyth were both great signings, two very low-cost right-backs who did the job in a pretty good way during the season. Pablo Moreno was also one of our great names: coming from Juventus, he scored 29 goals overall, overcoming our Chelsea-loanee King who had a lot more prospect than him.
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The team
GK: Bergström remained our first-choice, with Williams being his backup as well. Valenza ?? came in to provide a third-choice option since Bergström was very often with Finland U21 squad.
RB: Smyth
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was our first-choice with a very good prospect (Premier League level maybe), but since he struggled a lot with fitness during the season, Topley
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was also a good cover.
CB: Our starters Andghuladze and Hansen remained, with Ghilardi ?? arriving to provide competition for the starting spot. Jagne ??????? came in from Chelsea and fought with Consolo for the fourth-choice spot
LB: Samatta remained from the last season, but was again a backup. López ?? joined from Valencia and played the first two matches of the season, but struggled with form and injuries, so Varela ?? came in and became the starter. After he asked to leave in January for Burton, Hodge ??????? joined on loan from Rangers. To give you all a perspective on how poor this position was during the season, you can see that none of those guys went in the season's best XI.
CM: With both starters and team leader Galbraith all leaving, new signings Charid ?? (from Osasuna) and Cunha ?? (from Braga) became the regulars for the first part of the season. Udoh ??????? then joined on loan from Chelsea (yes, they're our affiliate), took Charid's place, but was largely disappointing
RW: Wright-Philips remained as a starter for the beginning of the season, with Bike ?? (and impressively good young prospect who was released from Eldense, a Spanish third division club) being initially the backup. Walden ???????, released from Man Utd, was a good third-choice with a good prospect on him. Midway through the season Bike took the starting spot since WP was far from good, and that's that. At some point, due to the club's poor form, King ???????, another Chelsea guy, played down the flank. Not much to be said in this position, just below average.
AM: With both options Duku and Wellens leaving, we brought in Oristanio ?? from Inter Milan and Cottrell ??????? from Arsenal. Both were not that impressive in this position as well.
LW: With Auradou staying but being far from a decent League One standards after the first matches of the season, Cottrell showed his versatility and played some decent matches as a winger. In January, in an attempt to solve the problems down the wings, Millward ??????? joined on loan from Chelsea, but not even his Premier League ability could save our terrible form.
ST: After Stewart joined Championship side Shrewsbury and our backups were all poor, we had to go into the market to get a decent striker. King joined on loan from Chelsea, and initially was our first-choice, but then Pablo Moreno ??, who arrived from Juventus, showed all his ability, took the starting spot and became our key player with 22 league goals, being the second-best top scorer of the division.
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The results
After a hard defeat to Charlton in our first League One match, we actually did pretty well until December, fighting for the leadership with Luton, Portsmouth and some others. In January the team was very inconsistent, but still managed to remain on the fight for an automatic promotion, but since then, the form went downhill. Only three wins in three months made our promotion dream fade away pretty clearly, and we didn't even manage to keep a play-off place.
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Final standings
In the end, our terrible form and our defeats to clubs down the table made us lose our play-off spot pretty clearly. In promotion terms, all three teams deserved it, Portsmouth was stellar with Billy Arce being impressive, Luton managed to bounce back after being relegated from the Championship and Salford enjoyed a pretty good run of form in the last months of the competition.
You can clearly see that we were doing great, since after that awful form we still managed to end up eighth, and only five points away from a play-off spot, so I'm actually not that disappointed.
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PS: During the summer, our club suffered a takeover, and our new chairman Jordan Male didn't put up too much money on the club (only € 900K, I expected more), they announced the plans for a new stadium in over two years, while looking for investors.
 

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Chapter Six: 2024-25 League One (again)

After the disappointment of not getting a back-to-back promotion last season, we finally managed to be more clinical in the transfer market and get some stability in the squad, giving more opportunities to those who were already at it.

The youth categories
After six seasons, FINALLY! A decent prospect came from our youth intake! Bryan Wilde, a defensive midfielder, was the one who finally broke down our "curse" and became our first very good home-grown prospect. He came in as a 1-star current ability, and within two months, he not only doubled his current ability, but raised his potential ability and learned to be accomplished as a CM. Not bad, right?
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Some other folks also joined with a half-decent prospect, so yes, this season's youth intake was decent, FINALLY!
Best prospect of the season: Bryan Wilde
Best home-grown player: Bryan Wilde

The transfers
After the unrealistic target set by the new board (promotion as champions), I had to go into the market to strengthen my team. As we had a solid defense, I started to move on to the midfield, as Fraser and Lowe (both CMs) joined from Rangers and Leicester, respectively. In mid-July we completed our first six-figure transfer, by buying Butterworth (a left winger, not the striker who already played for us) from Man City. Bate (another CM) and Fish (CB) joined on loan to bolster the team, but the starting XI was close to the same we had in the previous season. In August, however, Andghuladze forced his way out to Derby, while in the deadline day, Smyth moved to Crystal Palace in a record-breaking transfer income for us. I had to bring someone to his place, and O'Leary joined from Chelsea on loan.
In January, I made some bets on two Senegalese players (Mendy and Diallo), but none of them were actually good enough. Heyes also joined to become our starter in the centre of the midfield, with a future transfer arranged for just € 250K. Carey (LW) also joined from Norwich for the same value, to become Butterworth's backup. In the last day of the transfer window, we managed to sell Cottrell for a good fee, since his contract was expiring at the end of the season, and Ibrahim (who joined in the summer from Lyon but his prospect wasn't good enough) for a decent fee as well.
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The team
GK: Both first and second-choices remained on Bergström and Williams, with Coyle
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joining us to be a decent third-choice.
RB: Smyth was initially a first-choice, with Topley as his backup. After Smyth's departure to Crystal, Topley became our starter and O'Leary ??????? (an U19 international) was our second-choice. Even though O'Leary's ability was better than Topley's, I opted to use Topley as our starter since Chelsea wouldn't want to sell O'Leary for a reasonable fee.
CB: After Andghuladze left, Fish ??????? became Hansen's partner at the back. Consolo also raised his game to be a decent backup, while new signings Ibrahim ?? and Douhadji ?? were ones for the future.
LB: Samatta remained and became our starter after Hodge returned to Rangers, impressively raising his game during the pre-season and establishing himself as a good option for the division. Mannini ?? came in as a backup, with Mendy ?? joining in the winter. The latter two were largely unimpressive.
CM: With our previous starters Cunha and Charid returning to their home countries, Bate ??????? and Fraser ??????? joined to be our starters, with Lowe
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being our backup. In January, Heyes ??????? joined from Man City and took over Bate's place.
RW: Bike remained from the last season, and what a season he provided for us! 12 goals and 13 assists to his name. Dubourg ?? was his backup, but was rarely used.
AM: Oristanio remained from the last season as well, improving his game and being more decisive. Cottrell also spent the first half of the season as his backup, with Hogan ??????? being more important in the second half of the season as Cottrell left.
LW: Butterworth ??????? didn't gave a chance to anybody down the left flank. 17 goals and 10 assists made him our Player of the Season, being very impressive considering that was his first professional year (since he didn't play a match for City during his period there). In January, as Cottrell left, Carey ??????? joined to be his backup and did well.
ST: Pablo Moreno was also another one who remained, becoming team captain and scoring in an impressive rate again. Juan Manuel ?? came in from Inter Milan, and despite he was not that decisive, his only league start was crowned with a hat-trick in the last game of the season (4-3 v Colchester). Diallo ?? came in in January under the expectation to fight for the starting spot, but he proved to be only a third-choice.
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The matches
The first two months passed by in a near-perfect form, with the only real disappointment being losing to Mansfield (who was in the relegation zone). After a complicated October, the other months were all too good to be true, with the team ending the season in a 15-match unbeaten run.
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Final standings
Our run in the last three months ensured that the title would be ours, and we did win that with two matches to go (2-2 v Peterborough). Sunderland got the other automatic promotion spot in the last round after Ipswich lost. Even though, they still managed to reach the playoffs final against Rotherham.
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Altrincham is now a Championship team!

After the season ended, our youth level went up from 4 to 3, while the board also announced improvements on the youth and training categories. I also took advantage of our promotion and asked them to raise our youth recruitment and junior coaching to a better level. Let's see if the next season's intake will be better than ever.
The board also announced this:
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EDIT: Rotherham was the last one promoted after winning the play-offs final against Ipswich by 3-0.
 
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Well, after some time out (sorry about that), I could return to the save and play some more.

We are currently in February 2026, with our season being a "rollercoaster ride" so far.

In this post I'll detail more about the squad, including our summer/winter transfers.

SQUAD

GOALKEEPERS


1 - Lucas Bergström: With us since joining on a free from Chelsea in 2022, he was pivotal last season to help us achieve promotion. In this season, however, I felt that more decent competition was needed since our backup Williams wasn't able to maintain his level when playing.
13 - Harry Williams: our backup since 2022, when he joined from Man Utd, he was never good enough for the Championship, and lost even more after the arrival of Iván. Left on loan for Shrewsbury in January.
25 - Iván: Found the lad this September after he was released from Real Madrid (apparently nobody signed him until then because he was asking too much). Initially a backup to Bergström, he became our starter since arriving as Bergström's form was poor, and established himself as a first-choice as we embarked on a pretty good unbeaten run.
30 - Andy Coyle: Joining on a free from Northern Irish side Dungannon in the past season, he was a decent third-choice to Bergström and Williams past season. He is now spending the season on loan at Portsmouth to get more experience, but is also a backup there.
37 - Kingsley Olisema: A youth graduate from this latest intake, he doesn't show that much of a prospect.
40 - Mark Thomas: Brought him in from Welsh side Connah's Quay last season for 10K, initially for the under-18s. After a month-experience loan at Halifax, he returned to his home country for Barry, where he apparently is doing great.

RIGHT BACKS
6 - Marc Topley: He joined us from Glenavon for a mere 1.7K, and became a starter last season. Even though he may not be very consistent this season, he is still a very decent attacking threat when playing with Bike.
36 - Dan Rhodes: On loan from Leeds, he proved to be a very good backup to Topley, sometimes playing better than him.
43 - John Cuthbert: Released from Man Utd, the lad is very promising and has some key attributes that can be exploited maybe in the next season.

CENTRE BACKS
2 - Ciro Fonte: Transfer-listed at Lazio after a loan at Portuguese side Chaves, he joined us this summer for 190K. He is so far our starter (when injuries allow him to play), being an interesting attacking threat on set pieces.
3 - Kenneth Hansen: Joining us on a free from Cardiff Met Uni in January 2023, the Danish lad was very important last season as he formed a strong partnership with loanee Fish. After the arrival of Fonte and Krassnitzer in the side, he lost space, and was sold to Saint-Etienne this January for 500K.
4 - Davide Consolo: With us since 2022 after joining on a free from Rimini, the Italian was a very reliable backup last season but is short of quality for the division. Currently is behind new signings Krassnitzer, Fonte and Moore.
14 - Simon Krassnitzer: I was impressed when I saw him without a club. Released this summer by Tottenham, he is a very very quick defender (16 Pace and 17 Acceleration) and is our best defender of the season so far. Adding this up to his Premier League potential and his versatility to play also as a left back, we may say that he's one for the future.
18 - Willie Moore: Our latest signing, we paid 36.5K to Dungannon for him, mainly because his contract was ending in May. So far he seems unexperienced, despite having more than 100 matches in his career, but has a great prospect.
45 - Matthew Browne: Released from our "partners" Chelsea, he has a decent prospect and joined in the summer to work as a backup and improve with the under-18s/under-23s.

LEFT BACKS
5 - Mohamed Samatta: Another Tottenham youth graduate, he joined us on a free in 2022. Initially a backup, he became our starter last season and is so far doing his job in this division. We may be looking into another LB next season as he's nearly reaching his full potential and I don't see him being more than a Championship player, sadly.
28 - Jordan Bailey: Released by Liverpool this summer, we brought him in as we literally couldn't sign anyone else for the position. Our targets joined other teams and we only had Samatta in the squad, so, he joined to be a decent backup. So far he played above the expectations, having a decent average rating in his four appearances.

CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS
8 - James Heyes: definitely our best player, we absolutely robbed Man City when we agreed to pay just 250K for him in January 2025 (we signed him on loan with an obligatory 250K buyout clause). He recently reached Premier League level, and I'm trying to keep hold of him for the next season, as he will be pivotal to (maybe) give some experience to Wilde.
11 - Robbie Fraser: A regular since he joined on a free from Rangers last season, he developed into a good Championship player this season and he's being a very impressive CM along with Heyes.
15 - Bryan Wilde: Our best player from the last intake, he's developing into a very good player this season. Not only he perfected his CM skills, but he learned to play as a CB and is also at League Two level right now, being the best DM of our squad.
18 - Greg Lowe: Joined us on a free from Leicester in 2024, being a very good impact sub last season. After the arrivals of Lukic and especially Brown in the winter, he left for York for 185K.
19 - Igor Lukic: Snapped him up this summer after he was on a trial at Leganés, as he was very young (18) and with a very good potential (Premier League maybe). Did a very good job when replacing injured Heyes at some games, but now he's more of a fourth choice after the impressive improvement of Wilde.
20 - Duncan Brown: Released by Tottenham in August (?), I agreed to a deal with him but since the Championship registration window was already closed, he only joined in January. Not the best of luck in his start for us, as he was injured twice so far and only played for us in a match we lost.

RIGHT WINGERS
26 - Kris Roestbakken: The Australian lad joined us this season from CU Academy, for a ridiculous fee of 575. 575 EUROS!! My initial plan was to put him in the under-23s maybe, but since he was improving very quickly, he's now being regularly used as an impact sub when Bike is not playing well enough.
31 - Adrian Goodman: The idea of bringing him on loan from Tottenham was great: he was young, his contract was expiring in June and he didn't have much experience in senior football. However, it was just the idea that was great: in reality, he could never settle into our squad and is now in the under-23s. In this winter transfer window, he also accepted a contract from Hibernian, so he won't be in England for much longer.
33 - Pedro Bike: Our captain, the Equatoguinean joined on a free from Spanish side Eldense in 2023. Since then, he never stopped progressing, being our team leader and one of the references up front, being a constant threat with his speed and goals.

ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS
10 - Jenson Gater: Joined this winter from Arsenal for 400K, seems to be a very decent prospect who can replace Scognamiglio in the following season
35 - Lorenzo Scognamiglio: Benefitting from Chelsea's partnership, we could bring him on loan without having to spend a penny for his wages, but the amount of assists he's providing this season is very impressive.

LEFT WINGERS
7 - Sam Butterworth: Our player of the year last season is not in his most constant season ever, but still managed to bang in another 11 league goals so far.
12 - Dan Carey: Always a backup to Butterworth since joining in the winter transfer window of the past season, he helped us along the way this season by being a very decent impact sub.
 
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STRIKERS
17 - Pape Camara: Joining this summer on a free from PSG, the French boy is very good when it comes to opening space and is our top scorer so far. However, I'd wish his finish to improve soon, since he scores a lot but misses a lot of chances too.
21 - Juan Manuel: He joined us on a free from Inter Milan last season, being Pablo Moreno's backup, and did well. But as we needed to step up our squad, he joined Serie B side Pordenone on loan for this season.
27 - José Andrés López: Released from Oviedo, joined us this season and is Camara's backup. Saved us in a few games with his late goals, but is also not good enough for the division.

NOTABLE TRANSFERS
In and out

Some players that joined in the summer were so disappointing that I had to get rid of them in January:
- Ibrahim Saraki: joined from Man City on a free, he was never a threat to Camara's starting spot, so I sold him to Burnley for 250K.
- Aymane Benali: he wasn't short on quality when he joined from Barça, also on a free, but had very expensive wages for someone who's only a backup option. As Wilde was remarkably improving and we already had Lukic as well, he was sold to Burnley for 250K.
- Mohammed Al-Malki: I signed him up after looking into some Asian nations, and the Oman international caught the eye due to his potential (at least in the scout report). Joining for 35.5K from Dhofar, he was never even close to what the scout report showed, so he was sold to Milwall for 52K.
- Álvaro Quiroga: Initially joining from Sampdoria to be a third-choice goalkeeper behind Bergström and Williams, he disappointed me very much when arriving. Impressively, he left in January for Man Utd (!) who also got him on a free.
- Santino Papa: The former Napoli man joined on a free to be an option for our left back, in the first team or in the under-23s. He was, however, disappointing on both, being sold to Mansfield in January for 12K.

Out
From the past season:
- Kader Diallo -> Fleetwood (100K)
- Loris Dubourg -> Shrewsbury (40K)
- Mitchell Watson -> York (20K)
- Moustapha Sarr -> USL Dunkerque (100K)
- Giovanni Mannini -> Siena (40K)
- Badara Mendy -> Reading (56K)
- Pablo Moreno -> Huesca (1.3M)
- Gaetano Pio Oristanio -> Pescara (3.3M)

This season:
- Zak Underwood -> Swansea (350K) - He had a decent potential and could be a potential backup to our very troubled LB, but the offer from Swansea was too good to turn down. He also wanted to leave, so I managed to secure 50% of his future sale to Altrincham.
- James Stovell -> Reading (1M) - Another one who came from the last intake, the attacking midfielder didn't have that much of a prospect, so I was glad when some teams came with offers for him, until Reading reached the 1M and I was over the moon! Same as Underwood, he's another one who has a 50% future sale on his contract.


During the season I also arranged a deal with Dominik Magdic, a Croatian guy who seems to have a great prospect and will be able to join us next January, when he turns 18.
 
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STRUCTURE
As for the team, we are constantly trying to improve the structure and the youth setup. Even though we reached an "Exceptional" academy coaching, our youth recruitment is still at "Good", so I'm trying to get a decent position this season to raise funds to my youth setup, which was always the plan.

Our stadium will be done in June, so, for now, we are still at Moss Lane.

Our affiliation with Chelsea is still up and running, but I changed some stuff when it comes to our affiliate clubs:
I cancelled an affiliation with Cirencester as the club didn't have much to offer, and in the last season we started a partnership with Chorley to loan our players. They were relegated from Vanarama National, but we maintained the affiliation, and reached a new one with Fylde.

I'm currently considering on cancelling the affiliation with Trafford, even though we don't pay a single penny to them.

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MATCHES
So far, so great (I think?). We had an awful September but managed to bounce back at the end of the month and started to play really well since then. Sometimes the media even calls us "promotion contenders"! Can you believe that? We are promotion contenders, no way!

Being realistic though, finishing mid-table would be a very impressive achievement due to the club's financial state and when comparing our budget to other teams'.
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We didn't spend much this season, but at the same time we didn't make much out of transfers. Our budget is still low and our finances are not that stable with the construction of the stadium and the improvement of youth and training facilities.

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However, I can't be other than happy with the growth of Altrincham since my arrival. The team is showing everyone that we are no pushovers and we can beat anyone if we play our best. I'm hoping to reach the play-offs this season so, even if we lose it, the players will have the experience of playing a Championship play-off to bounce back stronger for the next season.

STANDINGS
We are currently fifth with a very decent gap from the seventh, which gives us a good platform to build on. Stoke, West Ham and Bristol City are very tough teams to play against, especially West Ham, but we are "surviving" in this play-off zone. With 16 matches to go, we have a very tough sequence near the end as we play against Stoke, Bristol and Birmingham all away. Let's hope our form lasts until then!

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We currently have Camara as the second best goalscorer of the division with 14 goals, four behind Forest's Tasos Donis, and Scognamiglio is the division's assist leader with 14 under his name. He also leads in the POTM awards, with 6 accolades.

Heyes is the division's 5th best player on average rating, while Iván is the third best on clean sheets despite having five less matches (21) than leader Jake Phillip (Stoke) and nine less than second-best Christian Walton (Forest). Iván, by the way, is the goalie who least conceded in the division, with only 18 goals in 21 matches. What a signing!

To my surprise, Fraser is the player who created the most chances in the division with 23, while Camara, even with his low finishing attributes, is the player who had the most shots on target with 61, along with West Ham's Juan Manuel Gutiérrez.

However, is sad to see that Topley leads the "mistakes leading to goal" with 3 mistakes. I like Topley a lot, but at this rate we may have to look carefully to both our full-backs next season.
 

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Well, the month of February was exactly how I predicted: terrible.

After that win against Luton, we couldn't get any positive result afterwards. We actually did well against Sheffield Wednesday, but they grabbed a late equalizer which may have damage our morale a little bit. We weren't that poor as well against Cardiff, considering they are league leaders, but the penalty for them was decisive. In the last two games, we were simply awful.

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Our latest matches made us drop into 7th, but still very much in the fight for the play-offs.
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Our next match is against Salford, 22nd on the table, so I'm hoping to see an improvement. The following matches are more tough, since Swansea and Watford have a way better squad than ours when it comes to depth, but we have the match against Fleetwood to help us either bounce back or maintain a good run.

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To "help" us along the way, Butterworth and Topley are both injured for at least 3 weeks, so, we'll be playing without the starting RB and LW in the following matches here. To make the situation even worse, Bike's latest performances are impressively poor. He was always consistent since arriving, but lately he's noot being good enough.

Mainly to avoid losing the first good prospect of a striker, I offered a new contract to Camara. He's now our highest earner, but is tied up until 2030.

I also agreed to a transfer for the following season: South African RW Levy Noqazo. He recently turned 18 and is very versatile, plus the low fee (135K) and his potential, I'm hoping it could be another great catch as Roestbakken was.
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Well, March wasn't better either... We started the month hoping to end our run by defeating Salford, who was in the relegation zone, but we were easily beaten. A 1-0 defeat to Swansea followed, where the team didn't play any better (despite my change of formation), but impressively, after I returned to my normal 4-2-3-1 formation (only changing the mentality to "Cautious"), we managed to get a 2-2 draw against Watford. We ended the month beating Fleetwood by 3-0, our first win in NINE matches.

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Despite another poor month overall, we are still seventh, but far away from sixth and fifth. With only six matches to go, I don't have much hopes on going into the play-offs.

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The month of April may have some surprises if we manage to play well against the teams above us. However, if we can't, we may go down to 11th or lower.

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Our youth intake was disappointing, with only one player standing out from the rest: striker Matthew Willox

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Robert Lovric, another guy who we reached a deal before, also joined in the month of March, and seems to have Premier League potential

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Ah, and I forgot this: Bryan Wilde made into the England U19 squad, being the first player home-grown at Altrincham to play in a national team!

After that, 15 teams were behind him, so I signed a new contract until 2030 with him. He's now in a clear development and is a very valuable squad member, so I'm thinking of giving him a starting spot next season, depending on how he progresses during the pre-season.

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April was a good month overall, where we almost beat all teams above us, only losing to Stoke.

The team played better, but against Stoke we only lost it due to set pieces, suffering two goals from the same CB.

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Our good run and Huddersfield's poor form made us have a chance in the last match. We are still seventh, with a chance of going into the play-offs if we win and Huddersfield lose.

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Our match is against Wigan, mid-table and in a poor run, while Huddersfield play against West Ham in London.

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We also agreed a deal with a Finnish prospect, Ari Koivu, mainly to work as our backup with Willie Moore. We'll try to sell Consolo in the transfer window, as with Koivu we already have four decent CBs plus Lovric, who is also a good prospect.

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Koivu is already a Finnish international at 17, and has some good attributes. Not to a CB though, as he's too small, but I can see him being a good option as a RB. Let's see if we can make him become a natural in that position during the pre-season.

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Well, for the surprise of all, we made it through the playoffs! Huddersfield lost their match against West Ham by 4-3 and we managed to beat Wigan, in a match where we were in control.

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We faced Cardiff, a very capable side, and lost both matches. To be fair, I never expected to achieve promotion in the first season, so reaching the playoffs is a big achievement.

In the first match, we lost again on set pieces, but the team's creativity was low. Heyes was our main man, but the rest of the team didn't follow.

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In the second leg, Cardiff did their job in the first half while we fought to get back into the match during the entire second half. Bike pulled one back but that was all.

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Still, Camara finished the season 2nd in the goals chart, only behind Forest's Donis. Scognamiglio was the division's assist leader with 18.

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Now we'll think about the next season, scout for some potential targets and maybe sell some players to raise some funds.
 
Well, after some busy summer transfer markets in the previous season, this one was quite calm. The only problem was the Premier League teams trying to get Wilde, but I managed to keep hold of him.

Onto the arrivals:

Noqazo and Koivu joined our club on 9 June, along with another guy who I arranged a deal last season: Sandro Gaspar. At that time, without much depth in the CB position, he seemed like a good choice, so paying 225K for him was a good fee. Once he arrived, however, he would be without a place in the squad and would block some younger guy's development, so I immediately sold him to Bolton for 300K. In the end, I made a small profit over a guy who I didn't even have used for a single training (he left before the pre-season started).
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First normal signing was Kevin Lyons, a Scottish striker who joined on a free from Celtic. Even though he only played five league matches last season, he seems like a great fit and should score way more than Camara did last season, since his finishing attributes are way better.
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Sean Jackson also joined on a free from Chelsea to be our fifth option behind Krassnitzer, Fonte, Koivu and Moore. With a Premier League potential, he seems like a good fit for our very young squad.
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Geraint Lever, a very versatile defender, also joined on a free from Man Utd. Also with Premier League potential, let's see if he can develop into a good player.
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After initially rejecting a loan extension, Lorenzo Scognamiglio rejoined the club on loan for this season. After my difficulties on finding a decent AM to provide competition for Gater, I decided to bring him back.

After I was starting to see little improvement on Samatta, I brought in Jailson on loan from Corinthians. Aged just 18, he never played a professional match in his career, but he was already better than both LBs we had on the squad. Even though we may not be able to sign him permanently afterwards, he will be very helpful this season.
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On the deadline day, Peter Thomas also joined on loan for six months, to provide competition for our CMs Heyes, Wilde and Brown. Despite him being very good, he will not be a starter as I'm intending to develop Wilde and Brown.
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Mark Thomas returned from loan and became Iván's backup. With Premier League potential, I though his development would be better if he stays at Altrincham for the season, playing in the cups.

We also agreed some transfers for January: all of them are Brazilians and all of them will join on a free as their contracts are expiring in December.
Wellingson seems to be a very good RB, better than Topley, and was targeted by Milan, Inter Milan and other top level clubs, but joined us.
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Leonardo José, also joining from Flamengo, is a very capable and technical CM and has some Premier League potential. He has some attributes to improve, but I think he will be a decent addition for our squad.
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Artur, a striker, seems like a very decent prospect and have a great first team experience despite being only 17. Even though his current ability is still far from our strikers Camara and Lyons, he may be a very important player in the following years.
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Well, that's all for the incomes. Then, some guys had to leave:
> FIRST TEAM <
- Consolo joined York for 250K. He wasn't good enough to the division and was already close to his full potential, so in League Two he may play well
- Lukic joined Southampton for 7.25M. We also added some clauses to make the deal reach as far as 13.5M, plus a 50% on profit over the next sale, so, it was a very good offer which allowed us to improve our youth facilities.
- Bergström joined Middlesbrough for 150K. I tried to get a decent fee for him, but as it seems, nobody would ever offer a decent fee for him, so I let him go and be a starter in the League One.
- Fraser joined Hibernian for 1.6M. The deal also may reach 2M, and since he was close to his full potential and in last season he was very inconsistent, I opted to sell him.
- Samatta joined TNS for 500K. Half a million on Samatta, who joined from Tottenham back in 22, seemed like a good deal.
- Harry Williams joined Doncaster for 20K. Another one who joined us in 22, he was never a starter and could not break into the first team last season at Shrewsbury, so I felt it would be fair to let him go for some low fee since his contract would expire at the end of the season.
> OTHER PLAYERS <
- Komi Douhadji joined Gazélec Ajaccio for 60K. He joined us in January 2025 for 7.5K, played once in League One (very poorly, by the way) and was on loan at affiliate club Chorley last season.
- Martin Collins joined Larne on a free. He also came in last season from Institute on a free last season, but was never good enough, spent the season on loan at Aldershot and I released him afterwards.
- Makan Coulibaly joined USL Dunquerque for 23K. Joining us on a free from PSG last season, he spent the year on loan at Chorley but was unimpressive.
- Tommaso De Nipoti joined Hull for 20K. He was a third-choice for us during the 2023/24 season, but spent the following two campaigns on loan at Chorley and Taranto.
- David Norton joined Ross County for 60K. Our fourth-choice in the 2023/24 season, he subsequently was on loan at Barrow and Wycombe.
- Linton Howell joined Sheffield Wednesday for 300K. Touted as the best player from our last intake, I didn't really see some decent stats on him, and since we were overloaded with CMs, I let him go.

Loans:
- Marco Padovani and Levy Noqazo to Flyde;
- Matthew Browne and Tommy Bruce to Chorley;
- Matthew Patterson to Alloa;
- Ichiei Yokoyama to Barrow;
- Mohammed Allaoui to Clermont;
- Courtney Walder and Kyle Kelly to Wycombe;
- Gerard to Forest Green;
- Amos Boateng to Yeovil;
- Kingsley Olisema to FC Halifax;
- Thomas Goodwin to Mansfield;
- Caniggia Deterville to Wrexham;
- Leon Dicks to Newport Co;
- Robert Lovric to Olimpija;
- Andy Coyle to Portsmouth;
- Steve Brown to Southend;
- Brandon Fitzgerald to Tamworth;
- Stephen Wallace to Barwell;
- Juan Manuel to Vicenza;
- Nebojsa Ostojic to Inter Zapresic;
- Godfred Ansah to Chesterfield.

So, after all those movements, our squad ended up like this (Peter Thomas is not here because he joined in the deadline day, after this news, and Coyle is again on loan)

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Wilde, who spent the entire pre-season with England U19 in the World Cup, was named in the team of the tournament.

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Despite our squad improving and spending more (last season the wages were around 65K p/w), we are still the lowest spenders of the entire division. Even newly-promoted side Rochdale are above us.

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