The Mercenary Challenge: Becoming the richest manager in world football. A re-do.

The Papa John's Trophy group has been drawn for Cambridge United. We are in Southern Section Group C and we have Aston Villa Under 23's, Gillingham and Swindon in our group.

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Harvey Knibbs, someone I consider a key player for Cambridge United is injured for 6-7 weeks. We also got knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Aston Villa. A steady start this season, let's see whether we can kick on. Also we signed a player called Harley Willard for 8.5k pounds from Larne.

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So one Dean goes, another Dean comes in. Dean Cornelius has moved on loan to Dulwich Hamlet and we have signed Will Dean on a free transfer. He comes from Exeter on a free. Also here are some results in the league.

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Aaron McNally's loan spell at Cambridge has ended and he's gone back to Longford. In comes Sam Ling from Leyton Orient for 10.25k pounds. A stuttering start to my spell at Cambridge means things have to pick up fast.

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We signed Connor Hodgson on a free transfer. He is a youngster who came from Barnsley. Also Ben Worman has gone on loan to Eastbourne Boro.

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James Penrice has gone on loan to Aldershot. We also signed a striker on a free transfer called Chris McKee, a former Rangers prospect. The league form is god awful and we haven't won in 8 games. We need to do something in the league, our attack is faltering and Joe Ironside is the only attacking player putting in decent numbers in attack. Harrison Male, the goalkeeper has also stood out. The thing is that we are very competitive in games and we have that mental toughness about us in games which gives me hope that we will be fine eventually.

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First things first, Harry McKirdy has gone to Stockport on loan. Also we have some very good news, we have qualified for the next round of the Papa John's Trophy, thanks to the best performance by the Cambridge players so far that led to an emphatic 3-0 win against Gillingham.

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Our struggles in the league continue. But there is some transfer news. Myles Hippolyte comes in on a free transfer. He was released by Scunthorpe who did well in the Vanarama National League last season, so we snapped him up. Also Patrick Webber has gone on loan to Dover.

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So I got my Continental B License. We face Bradford City in the FA Cup first round and our league form is still concerning.

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Couple of loan deals. Lewis Simper went on loan to Gloucester and Charlie Machell went on loan to Bath. We also signed a player on a free called Adian Manning. We are in a rut and we have to overcome this run of form.

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Uh-oh, the dreaded board meeting. Looks like our form at Cambridge has caught up to me. I can't really explain it why we are struggling in the league, we have not been outplayed in any game, we are very competitive, we battle, but our quality doesn't seem to show and we don't get the rub of the green. On to more irrelevant news, we signed another player on a free transfer called Matt Young.

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I'll go full Jose Mourinho here in a way. "If the board want to sack me, they can sack me, I am not running away from my responsibilities." Except the difference is that I have been a **** manager so far for Cambridge on the basis of win percentage and I don't have a league title to my name. Either way, money is my main priority and I have applied for new jobs already, in case another board meeting happens, I am hoping for a nice wage increase in my next job or I will stick to the job at hand and focus on turning things around.

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Gillingham and Hartlepool have offered me job interviews after I was looking for an escape route out of Cambridge after applying for many jobs thanks to the poor form which led to a board meeting. Not sure how this has happened but I got a job interview from the biggest club possible at the moment and that is QPR in the Championship. It will be mad if I land on my feet again.

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SACKED by Cambridge. Sacked for the first time in this save. Disappointing. Shame that it didn't work out. Gutted. The FA Cup loss to Bradford was the final straw. Now I have to look to somehow earn some money again after this disappointing spell at a high level. Will I get a job at a lower level that will pay me good money? I don't know. Will I fail upwards? In a strange way, I hope that is the case. But if things don't go well for me then I can see myself out of management for a good period of time.

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So I have a job lined up just two days after being sacked by Cambridge United in League Two. But this time I have dropped down to the Vanarama National League. And I have got a 200 pound pay rise. The club I have joined is Hartlepool. How I have managed to get a pay rise after getting sacked by Cambridge is incredible, I have not failed upwards but I do have a knack of making money on the save so far.

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So the transfer budget for the season is 704 pounds and 1.15k pounds in the wage budget. Also here is what the Hartlepool squad looks like.

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First win in a league game since August in the new season. It came with my new club, Hartlepool rather than Cambridge. I suddenly feel hopeful that I can do something with this club. I will admit, my time at Cambridge did not go to plan. Harvey Knibbs's injury was a big deal which messed up results. A lot of games were very close when I was Cambridge manager but I mostly managed to draw and lose them and I won mostly only in the cups. 18% win rate at Cambridge. Compared to 40% at Wealdstone and 33% at Gateshead. I just could not make that step up for whatever reason, I picked players based on merit. I'm very sad that my time at Cambridge came to an end and I have to drop to the Vanarama National League. Yes I am making more money but this just feels like rinse and repeat. I hope that I am either well compensated financially at Hartlepool or I make more money elsewhere.

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I'll gladly take these wild results. Better start than Cambridge. Or rather we started off very promisingly at Cambridge too in the first 4 games or so and fell off a cliff. But the start at Hartlepool is promising. Maybe I could be right, I can build something with this club. David Moyes settings. Does anyone remember when no one wanted him in real life when he got sacked by Sunderland and then West Ham were labelled as insane when they took a chance on him in his first stint? Yes this is kind of what it feels like after I got sacked by Cambridge and have got a new lease of life at Hartlepool. Till how long will my luck go on at Hartlepool? Hopefully for long enough to get a new contract and get a pay rise. Mason Bloomfield has gone full Danny Parish and is one of the top scorers in the Vanarama National League.

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For those who don't know who Danny Parish is, he is a cult hero in this save while I was at my first club Wealdstone. A very gifted goalscorer at least under my management. I was like Carlo Ancelotti getting the best out of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. I wanted to sign him at Gateshead in the summer transfer window which happened this season and hoped that he can power us to the playoffs or the title but then the Cambridge job came up and I couldn't say no to that.

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FOOTBALL HAS COME HOME. England have won the 2022 World Cup on my save. Tony Mowbray's Three Lions. I will admit this is a strange timeline.

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