cjk5

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Ronnie Moore is something of a cult hero amongst Hartlepool fans. In the Niramax stand, all that can often be heard is 'Who's the best manager in the Football League? It's you Ron, Ron, Ron, it's you Ron Ron'. I'll be taking control of Ronnie and hopefully I'll take Hartlepool to the Premier League where they belong!

Rules

To keep it realistic, I've decided to use a 'Moneyball' philosophy in this story, meaning that most of my signings will be on a minimal budget (Pools have no money IRL). Obviously in the first season I'll have barely any budget, so it'll mostly be loans and frees, but when I get some kind of budget to work with, I'll be trying to get my money's worth.

Squad

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The squad is actually decent, thanks in part to the signings the King has brought in, however, I'll be looking to sign a couple of players to fill certain positions (mainly DM, AMR/L and possibly another MC and DC). The squad as a whole looks good though, but at the moment it restricts what formations I can play. It seems that we would be short in a few positions if we picked up a few injuries, so that's something to bear in mind.

Expectations
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Bigger budget than I would have thought. Still, 10k isn't going to sign me the sort of quality I'd like to attract. The expectations are achievable, as long as we get a reasonable draw in the FA Cup. A cup run would be a nice money-spinner.

Tactics
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​As you can see, I have one defensive tactic and a more attacking one. The defensive one will probably be used against the more attacking and better teams. The attacking one will allow us to try and grab a few goals against some of the lower teams in the league.

 
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Friendly Results
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Promising pre-season results with the 5-at-the-back tactic. Creditable draws and a win against League 1 opposition, there will certainly be positives coming from this, and this also means our new signings will have gelled with the rest of the team. Speaking of which...

Signings
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All of these were signed for a total of... £0! I think we've gotten some really good value for money here, especially with Morten Koch, who becomes my best centre back. Danny Barbir, the 17-year-old from West Brom, will provide a solid rotation option when the schedule starts to get heavy. Jordan Jones and Connor Hunte give me options on the wings, and Philip Billing gives me an option at DM. I'm sure John Cofie will be an absolute monster at this level with those physicals. All in all, I am extremely happy that I've been able to sign these players for so cheap, and hopefully they will be able to help me to a mid-table finish this season.
 
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