FM23 beta is officially out, downloaded, installed, and I'm ready to go. The team I have decided to take on are The Red Devils....Crawley Town. They are the most local club to where I live, being approximately 9 miles from my door to their stadium and having never managed them on FM, I thought they'd make for a good save.
Name: Crawley Town
Nickname: The Reds, The Red Devils
Stadium: Broadfield Stadium
Capacity: 6,134 (3,295 seated)
Honours;
Vanarama National League: 2011
Calor Gas League Premier Division: 2004
Southern League Cup: 2003, 2004
Crawley aren't exactly a decorated club in the way of trophies and certainly haven't had much success over the last few years. Despite spending a few seasons in League One in the early 2010s, they've now been a League Two club for the past 7 seasons and have only managed a high finish of 12th place during that time. It will be a challenge for sure to get this club back into the 3rd tier again, let alone any further.
We've got quite a snazzy looking kit though, which is always a winner in my eyes.
A meeting with the board establishes what they expect of me over the next few years. There's not too much pressure this season with mid table being considered acceptable. However, next season they want promotion!!
As far as the supporters go, we'll be judged on my ability to become an established League Two side...it would seem that the Crawley faithful are not quite as demanding as the owners. Although that may come down to the fact that nearly a 3rd of them are classed as just casual fans.
With regards to the club's finances, I received a shock...of the nice kind! The club has more than £5 million in the bank and I've got £100k to spend in the transfer market!!
Although I'll probably have to look to offload some players before I buy any....the squad is massive (especially when you bare in mind I have already moved 7 players to the U21 squad and put them on the transfer list).
In my next update, we'll go into the new squad planner feature and check out the depth across positions in more detail and identify a suitable tactic to play.
First of all, let's start with my tactic. It's nothing too fancy for down at this level. A flat 4-4-2 with a focus on high pressing, quick transitions from the defence to the attack and doing things as simply as possible. Utilize the flanks and focus on getting the ball into our two strikers, both of whom look decent enough for League Two.
One thing I have to say is I LOVE the new squad planner feature. This is something I have always narrowed down in FM myself, so having a feature built into the game that does it for me will save a lot of time and effort keep changing my screen views around...well done SI. We start with the goalkeepers and yes, our keeper is worth over £7 million!!! Ellery Balcombe is on loan from Brentford and could prove pivotal for us this year! If he picks up an injury though, we could be in a bit of trouble.
The right back position needs some attention. With only two players available there and neither of them offering much in the way of quality.
Left back, on the other hand, has plenty of options, with Brandon Mason being one of the best players at the club and will likely be one of the first names on the teamsheet!
Centre back is another position where we have lots of available players and I don't need to worry too much about this area of the pitch. Joel Lynch is getting on a bit and although he is rated as my best defender, it's likely I'll use him sparingly as I favour defenders with a bit more pace than him!
The whole right side of the pitch is a worry (especially as I'm looking to focus my play down the flanks). Right back was weak and right wing doesn't offer much either.
Left wing is also devoid of quality. Definitely need to be strengthening my wide positions.
We're all good through the middle though, with lots of options and some decent quality. We've got some hard working players in here and some decent passers of the ball too who can shift the ball around the park and pick out both the wide and front men. The best of the lot is Teddy Jenks who is here on loan from Brighton.
Up front is definitely our strongest area of the pitch. Both Dom Telford and Tom Nichols look like they have enough ability to have a real impact in this league and should we keep them both fit, I'm confident they can terrorise defences down at this level. My whole 4-4-2 formation and setup is based around these two!
None of my players are deemed good enough for the media dream 11 for League Two though, with the bookies ultimately tipping us to have a disappointing season with an 18th placed finish predicted.
That did lead me on to my first signing for the club...
ENZIO BOLDEWIJN
Signed from Sutton United
Fee: £35.5k
Enzio returns to the club to provide some much needed cover down that left wing. After making 91 appearances for us between 2016-2018, when he scored 15 goals, Enzio has since had speels with Notts County and Sutton United where he was a first team regular at both clubs. The 29 year old Dutch winger will be an important part of my setup over the coming season.
The odds for the League Two golden boot are out and Dom Telford is odds on favourite to win the award, after scooping it last year playing for Newport County! Let's hope he can live up to expectations!
We had 5 friendlies to play through and test out the new tactics. We record two good wins over lower league opposition, including an absolute rout over Slough. However, we were outclassed by all three sides from the divisions above.
Pre season did see us lose main front man, Dom Telford, to injury though! We'll be without our main goalscoring threat for the first 5 or 6 games of the season which isn't ideal!
Hopefully, my new signing would be able to chip in with a couple of goals to help fill the void...
NEW SIGNING: GEORGE THOMSON
Signed from Harrogate Town
Fee: £53k
Thomson will likely become my first choice down that right wing after signing from Harrogate where he made nearly 200 appearances.
Another new signing quickly followed Thomson through the door, to bolster my central midfield options.
NEW SIGNING: FLORENT HOTI
Signed On A Free Transfer
And just before the new season kicks off, I finally recruited my Assistant Manager after a few weeks of looking for the right man. Franky Van Der Elst brings a lot of experience to the club and should definitely be an asset to my coaching team.
Heading into our opening game of the season against Crewe, FM threw up another of this year's latest features and it's another one that I love...a little preview of what the board and fans expect from each individual game. It seems that the board and fans are aligned in their views of our opening opposition, that Crewe will prove tough opponents and a draw will do.
But thanks to an injury time winner from 18 year old James Balagizi on his senior debut, we went one better than that and secured an opening day victory!
The draw for the Papa John's Trophy wasn't kind to us and we'll do very well to even win a game in the group, let alone qualify!
Turning attentions back to improving my squad, I have made another very welcome addition. Right back was one of the positions we were lacking, but not anymore...
NEW SIGNING: Ryan McLaughlin
Signed On A Free Transfer
After playing at a higher level for Morecambe, Rochdale and Blackpool, he will hopefully thrive in League Two!
Unfortunately, it wasn't the dream debut for the new man though as we fall to our first defeat of the season away at Orient.
Going into our first cup game of the season, I didn't feel confident at all. We had struggled in pre season against teams from the higher divisions and drawing Ipswich (who are undoubtedly one of League One's biggest clubs) in the first round of the Carabao Cup wasn't ideal at all!
However, the game threw up a result that defied all the odds! Incredibly, we record a 1-0 victory, despite being dominated for large periods and finishing the game with 9 men after two sending offs!! I can't quite believe it!
If that sort of result can't give us confidence going back into league action, then what would?!
It did just that and a solid performance at home to Grimsby saw us stick another 3 points up on the board.
Doncaster were up next for us and they'd made a good start to their campaign with 2 wins and a draw chalked up already.
Going 2-0 down inside 25 minutes had me fearing the worst and it was looking like we might be on the wrong end of a thrashing. However, a slight tweak in tactics sparked a revival from the lads and we were much the better side after the first half hour and in the end very good value for our draw.
So 4 games in and it's been a decent enough start. Long way to go yet though!
In the Carabao Cup, we were set to take on Leyton Orient, who'd already beaten us in the league this season. With home advantage on our side though, the bookies gave us a very slight edge and made us favourites to come out on top.
And for the first time this season, our main striker would be available for selection after recovering from injury. I certainly wouldn't be risking starting Telford, but it was nice to have his firepower available again from the bench if required.
We found ourselves 3-1 down at the break and Telford was introduced. However, lacking match sharpness, he wasn't able to effect the final scoreline and we crash out of the cup as Orient look to be a thorn in our side already this season!
Back in the league, we quickly put that cup exit behind us with a good win at home to Bradford City. Oteh and Nadesan, our 3rd and 4th choice strikers, both got themselves on the scoresheet!
It's fair to say I won't be taking the Papa John's Trophy seriously at all this year and it will simply be used to rotate the squad and give some game time to the second/third string. We'd kick things off in the group stages of the competition against Chelsea's youngsters.
And we were well beaten, but I can honestly say I'm not hugely fussed.
Transfer deadline day came around and there was only one position I was still on the lookout for another player. I wanted a left winger, who was actually left footed.
NEW SIGNING: KEANAN BENNETTS
Signed on a Free Transfer
Bennetts came through the youth at Spurs before being signed by Gladbach in 2018 for a fee of £2 million! He's only managed 5 appearances for their first team, but did play 28 times for Ipswich on loan in League One a couple of seasons ago, and to bag him on a freebie has to be seen as a small coup for little old Crawley Town.
Bennetts would go straight into the starting lineup for the league trip to Harrogate Town. The fans would be happy as they were excited to see the new man in action!
He didn't have the greatest of debuts though and was subbed off with 20 minutes to go, but to come away with a point isn't the worst result overall and although it was from the penalty spot, Dom Telford is now off the mark for the club and can hopefully push on!
Gillingham were relegated on the last day of the season last year from League One. Despite that, they weren't expected to be pulling up trees this season in the lower tier and their start had them sitting 13th taking 8 points from their opening 6 games. We had every reason to believe we could go to Kent and come away with at least a point.
And actually, we came away with all 3 points, following a match that offered up the most eventful last half an hour you're likely to see! We had been dominating the game up until the 59th minute when Gills defender Will Wright saw red. Weirdly though, that red card prompted them into life and within 9 minutes of the sending off they were 2-0 up and we were staring defeat in the face! Enter James Balagizi...he comes off the bench to give a stellar performance in the last quarter of the game, scoring twice and bagging an assist for Dom Telford's injury time winner! An incredible 30 minutes of football!
We couldn't carry the momentum of that win into our next match against Salford though as we suffer our biggest defeat of the season so far.
Although the stats suggest we were maybe a little unlucky to lose this one...2 of their goals were absolute bangers from 20+ yards to be fair!
Time for another 'nothing game' in the Papa John's Trophy and another runout for the 2nd string. To be fair, they did me proud though, earning a 2-2 draw against League One's Plymouth (who sit 2nd in that division as well).
Our next league game saw us invite Swindon Town to Broadfield. It also saw them leave with all three points as we suffer back to back league defeats for the first time under my management.
Those couple of defeats have seen us drop down the table to 10th. However, it's all extremely tight with only 8 points seperating 1st to 17th!
Our next league game was against a Colchester side that were struggling down in 21st position, with only 2 wins to their name so far this season. We knew we had a good opportunity to get back to winning ways.
We absolutely battered their goal for 90 minutes, dominating the possession in the process!
But could still only manage a draw!
Two league defeats followed as we made it 5 games without a win! That was before an excellent but pretty meaningless victory over Exeter City in the Papa Johns Trophy!
Although I didn't take the competition seriously at all this season, we didn't give a bad account of ourselves against tough opposition in the end!
I could only hope that the Exeter win gave us a confidence boost as we faced off against Tranmere in our next league game!
However, we would have to do it without arguably our best player! In fact, we'll be missing him for the whole season as Brandon Mason is out for 10 months with damaged cruciate ligaments! This is a huge blow for the football club!
Despite having 19 shots at the Tranmere goal, we only managed to find a single goal with one of the last kicks of the game to take just a point, when a win was so desperately needed!
We're on a bad run of form at the moment and confidence is low...so low that even bottom of the table Mansfield managed an easy win against us!
We went into the Stevenage game knowing that nothing less than a win would do! Our opponents sat 23rd in the table with only 2 wins from their opening 14 games and anything less than all 3 points would be unacceptable. A new formation was to be tried in order to change our fortunes and bring about a better display.
And it did just that! Much, much better!
Hartlepool are another club expected to struggle against relegation this season, so it might not come as a surprise that we beat them as well. These last couple of results do at least show that, despite a dip in form, we are still head and shoulders above the weakest clubs in the division.
For our first FA Cup game under my management, we couldn't have been paired with a more even fixture. We were away at Newport County with the two clubs sitting 10th and 11th in League Two going into the cup tie.
It was every bit as tight as expected, but we just about edged it with Enzio Boldewijn's 92nd minute strike seeing us through to the second round!
Back in League Two, we'd take on a Barrow side that had started the campaign in fine form, but had dropped off a little recently, only managing to win one of their last six league games.
And we extend our own good run of form to four straight wins in all competitions with a narrow 1-0 victory!
Our recent run of form has seen us start to the climb the table again and we now sit just outside the playoff spots. Orient are opening up a bit of a gap at the top as they have only lost 1 game all season, whilst Hartlepool prop up the division!
Walsall were sitting mid table as we went into our game against them. I decided to opt for a slight change in formation again, being away from home, and a 4-1-2-3 DM with a fluid counter attacking approach was the choice.
It paid off and we really should have been 2 or 3 in front, before Teddy Jenks netted the winner in the dying minutes.
Ever since we changed formations, we have been solid at the back and that was no different as we kept another clean sheet against Rochdale.
Playing National League opposition in the second round of the FA Cup gave us the perfect opportunity of getting our name in the hat with the big Premier League teams in round 3! Only Maidenhead United stood in our way!
It wasn't the most emphatic of victories, but Teddy Jenks 8th minute strike put us in front and in all honesty, Maidenhead never troubled our goal after it!
Once you get to the third round of the competition, you're always hoping for a home draw against a Prem side to hopefully get a sellout, or an away day at one of the biggest clubs in the country. We got a home draw against Bournemouth and although we're under no illusions we probably won't get anything from the game, it should be a big enough fixture to bring some cash into the club.
November has been a good month for us with 5 wins and a draw in all competitions, with just 2 goals conceded! Only 5th placed Sutton stood in our way of making it an unbeaten month.
Unfortunately for us, they proved to be just too strong for us, but what an entertaining game for the fans! A mental last 10 mins + stoppage time, but gutting to finally lose the game in the 95th!!
On a positive note, the result wasn't enough to damage Teddy Jenks chances of picking up the Young Player of the Month award!
The young midfielder has been in great form this season, holding down the second highest average rating at the club this year.
After losing to Sutton, it was imporant that we reacted to that defeat in the right way. And we did as we gain all 3 points against a Wimbledon side that would have expected better this season after the relegation from League One last year, but instead find themselves in another relegation battle.
A team that are defying the odds this season are Stockport County. They only came up from the National League last season, but find themselves sitting 3rd in the table as we approach the half way stage of the competition.
Nearly 70% of Stockport's goals conceded this season have come from crosses, so it made sense for me to tweak the 4-1-2-3 DM formation to focus all of our attacking play down the wings and play wingers rather than inverted or inside forwards.
Now if our strikers hadn't of had an absolute nightmare in front of goal, the tactic would have worked. We created a lot of chances...and some really good ones too, but simply couldn't put the ball in the back of the net! A counter attack at the other end resulting in a Paddy Madden goal was enough to condemn us to the narrowest of defeats.
Our next game against Carlisle resulted in us being on the wrong end of a thumping! But looking at the statistics, I can't believe how we lost this game by a 4 goal margin! My strikers definitely need to take a long hard look at themselves and with the January transfer window creeping closer, it may be time for some changes up top!
In the meantime, I didn't see the harm in handing a rare start to Ashley Nadesan up front against Newport...he couldn't do any worse than Nichols and Telford based on their recent form!
To be fair to the lad, he took his shot as he scored our 2nd goal on the way to a 3-1 win!
The win lifts us back up into the playoff spots, although it may only be temporarily with most of the teams on our tail having a game in hand.
Our Boxing Day fixture was lined up to be an entertaining day out for the fans. Last time we played Sutton United, it finished 4-3 in their favour! We were hoping to get some festive revenge!
And we did! It's a happy Christmas indeed for the Crawley faithful as we thump Sutton 3-0! George Thomson with the pick of the goals as his peach of a free kick was perfectly placed in the top corner from 23 yards!
Thomson actually becomes the first Crawley player under my management to be featured as the Player of the Week, and it's no wonder when you look at his match stats...he totally dominated the game!
Our New Year's Eve fixture would be a toughie, away at 4th placed Swindon. They were renowned for their possession style of football this year, so we'd be looking to revert back to the fluid counter attack game that has been used a couple of times to good effect this season already.
However, we couldn't find a way through on this occasion and our final game of 2022 ends in defeat.
Defensively, we were decent throughout the month of December though, and that was reflected by young centre back, Mazeed Ogungbo, picking up the Young Player of the Month award.
Our first game of 2023 also ended in defeat as Colchester complete a smash n grab victory over us!
We completely dominated the game and every player put in a decent performance. We can count ourselves very unlucky to be on the losing end of this one!
FA Cup 3rd round up next and we welcomed Premier League Bournemouth! Naturally, nobody expected us to get anything from this game, so the message to the lads was simply to get out there and enjoy the occasion.
The Cherries weren't taking any unnecessary risks and brought a full strength side with them. So it wasn't really much of a surprise that we were absolutely battered by a side that are head and shoulders above us in quality!
The FA Cup served it's purpose for us this season though. A couple of wins, a nice little run, Premier League opponents and a record attendance at home.
Back in the league, we desperately needed to get a win on the board, at home to a Northampton Town side that were underachieving down in 18th position.
It was narrow, but we did get the job done as Ashley Nadesan's powerful effort secured us all 3 points.
We followed that up with another two wins, before a tough away day at Bradford resulted in defeat! At the moment, we are winning more games than we are losing though and if we can keep that up to the end of the season, we'll give ourselves a good chance of finishing as high up the league as possible.
For now, we hold on to the final playoff spot by the skin of our teeth! Orient and Crewe are looking nailed on for automatic promotion at this stage, but those playoff spots look likely to be contested by a whole host of clubs!
The January transfer deadline day came around and there were a couple of areas I needed to address. The first was between the sticks. I needed a backup keeper to come in and turned to the loan market.
LOAN SIGNING: JOE ROSE
Signed on loan from Norwich until the end of the season
Rose will act as backup for the next few months.
The area I was desperate for an improvement in was up front. I needed a proven goalscorer who knows how to hit the back of the net.
NEW SIGNING: COLM WHELAN
Signed from UCD
Fee: £120k
I used up my entire budget and even included £50k of it to be paid over the next two seasons to sign Whelan. However, I'm hoping he'll prove worthy of every penny as our new front man. The 22 year old had 21 goals in 27 goals in the Irish First Division so far this season and also scored 15 in 19 last year too. If he can bring that conversion rate to Crawley, I'll be a happy man!
I had managed to raise the funds to sign Whelan with the sale of a player who only joined us last Summer.
PLAYER SOLD: FLORENT HOTI
Sold to Solihull Moors
Fee: £45.5k
Hoti had only played 9 times for me this season and had kicked up a fuss recently about his lack of playing time. The fact I got him for free and was able to cash in nearly £50k after just a few months seemed like good business so I let him go.
However, the departure of Hoti did leave me short in the middle of the park and I needed to bring a replacement in.
NEW SIGNING: TOM CARROLL
Signed on a free transfer
This is a fanastic signing for us and to pick him up on a freebie as well is all the better! Carroll offers Premier League, Championship and League One experience for the likes of Spurs, Swansea, QPR and Ipswich and he's a massive asset to our squad!
However, because he signed after the window closed, I can't register him to play this season! Absolutely gutting!
Harrogate Town were our next opponents and the board and supporters alike, both expected a home win! Neither Tom Carroll or Colm Whelan would be available for this one though!
Even without them, we duly obliged with the win, although we made it a little nervey for ourselves letting them stay in the game when we should really have been clear out of sight!
Our next game highlighted our inadequecies up front again as we lose to Gillingham. It was another of those games that we dominated from start to finish but simply couldn't score!
I still hadn't had the opportunity to play new striker, Colm Whelan, as he'd joined the club carrying an injury. However, he'd be available for 45 mins of football against Salford.
As we approached the hour mark with the score still at 0-0, the stage was set for the new man to enter the field!
But there was no instant impact from our new striker as Salford went on to win the game!
After 2 defeats, we had to get a result against 22nd placed Stevenage! There could be no excuses and Colm Whelan would be handed his first start in a Crawley shirt to show what he could do.
He didn't have the greatest of games, but at least his replacement when I subbed him, Tom Nichols scored his 10th goal of the season to secure victory!
We couldn't follow up that win though and only managed a disappointing draw with bottom of the table Hartlepool in our next game!
Barrow away would be a tough fixture as they came into our match top of the league form table! And our away form had left plenty to be desired of late!
We lost the game and it was our own doing more than anything else, with both full backs seeing red and leaving ourselves with 9 men on the field is never going to end well!
We weren't good enough against Walsall either!
Only 1 win in our last 6 games has seen us drop down to 10th in the table and with just 8 games remaining, we're falling away from the playoff spots.
Our poor form continued against top of the league Leyton Orient who beat us for the 3rd time this season. However, the fact that they are nearly 20 points in front at the top of the division, we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves.
One win in seven now and it didn't inspire confidence going into the Crewe game. They were 2nd in the league and so were expected to beat us pretty comfortably.
But Colm Whelan's first goal for the club earned us the most unexpected victory of the entire season! A massive and much needed result for us!
We couldn't follow it up with a result against Doncaster though, although it was still a valiant effort from the lads after we went down to 10 men as early as the 14th minute!
Grimsby were up next and I demanded discipline and a better performance all round.
My demands did not fall on deaf ears as we absolutely battered them!
After one of our best performances of the year, I would have expected much better in our next game against Wimbledon!
And a bad week was rounded off with a really poor youth intake as well, without a single player worth getting excited about!
Our form is really up and down at the moment and that was proven again as we follow the Dons defeat with a massive win over 3rd placed Stockport County!
We were the much better side against Rochdale as well, but could only manage a draw as our strikers struggled in front of goal!
And we finish off the season with a good victory over Newport. Dom Telford was brought back into the team for the first time in about 2 months and got himself on the scoresheet which gives me something to think about...do I offload him this Summer or give him a 2nd chance.
So it's an 11th placed finish for us, which is 7 places above our predicted 18th. Only 4 points off the playoffs in the end as well, which shows we're not too far behind making a push for the top 7!
It's also the highest points tally the club has racked up since dropping back down to League Two 8 seasons ago.
END OF SEASON 2022/23 REVIEW Sky Bet League Two = 11th Emirates FA Cup = 3rd Round (knocked out by Bournemouth)
Carabao Cup = 2nd Round (knocked out by Leyton Orient) Papa John's Trophy = Group Stage
Despite a relatively successful season this year, I definitely feel like we could have done a bit better and some of the individual performances across the team were simply not good enough. Especially in attack where our strikers were pretty awful throughout the campaign. Without a striker that can score you 20 goals a season, I feel promotion will always be out of reach and our top goalscorer finished with just 11 (Tom Nichols). The best player of the season was easily Teddy Jenks, but I fear we won't be able to renew the youngster's loan deal from Brighton next year. Our main centre back pairing of Conroy and Ogungbo were impressive but when they were missing, the replacement players weren't entirely up to their level. Ellery Balcombe did OK between the sticks without setting the world alight.
There's a good atmosphere around the club as we finish my first season in charge and the support from my players is strong.
The Best 11...
The Awards...
In the attacking stats this season, we were well above the average against everyone else in League Two. However, we didn't score nearly enough goals compared to what we should have looking at this data.
The board have given me some amazing backing this Summer and I have an incredible £1.5 million to spend! That is massive for League Two and with an extra £10k per week thrown into the wage budget as well, I could make some serious improvements for next year! It's going to be a couple of exciting months ahead!
One key piece of business that is already done is the renewal of Mazeed Ogungbo's loan deal from Arsenal. The centre back was key for us this season and I'm delighted to extend his stay.
Great first season mate!! Sad that Crawley have been struggling IRL this season given the new owners too. Lovely budget there to make some great signings for league 2
Great first season mate!! Sad that Crawley have been struggling IRL this season given the new owners too. Lovely budget there to make some great signings for league 2
One thing's for sure this Summer. There will definitely be a mini clearout of players I don't see good enough to play for the club. First out the door was striker, Tom Nichols, who joins Cheltenham for £59k.
35 year old Joel Lynch was a liability when he played at the back and his lack of pace cost us a number of goals over the course of the season. I was happy to let him leave and he'll join Nichols at Cheltenham for £3.6k.
Next out was James Tilly. He moves to Forest Green for a fee of £39k.
Now, time for some new signings for the club...
NEW SIGNING: RHYS BENNETT
Signed from Stockport County
Fee: £50k
Rhys was one of Stockport's best players last season and a rock at the heart of their defence. He's a great signing for us!
NEW SIGNING: SIMON EASTWOOD
Signed from Oxford United
Fee: £24k
I was unable to renew Ellery Balcombe's loan deal from Brentford, so needed to find myself a new first choice goalkeeper. Simon Eastwood is an experienced keeper who will slot right in to that role.
NEW SIGNING: JAKE FORSTER-CASKEY
Signed from Charlton
Fee: £6k
An absolute bargain buy for us. Jake struggled to break into Charlton's first team at the higher level last season, but he can become a key player for us in the heart of the midfield.
NEW SIGNING: ADAM JACKSON
Signed from Lincoln City
Fee: £3.5k
Another player that failed to make an impact last season at a higher level, but Adam is another solid centre back and will play a key role for us. Another bargain buy as well.
NEW SIGNING: WILL RANDALL
Signed from Sutton United
Fee: £46k
My first attacking signing of the Summer saw me bring Sutton's Will Randall to the club. He was right up there amongst the leaders in assists for League Two this year and I'm hoping he'll bring the same level of creativity to us.
NEW SIGNING: GRANT SAVOURY
Signed from Queen's Park
Fee: £55k
Another attacking addition who will have a part to play for us this season. My focus is adding wide midfielders who can play down either side and have decent finishing skills as this is where we lacked last season.
NEW SIGNING: NATHAN HOLLAND
Signed from MK Dons
Fee: £140k
My biggest transfer of the Summer in terms of fee paid is that of Nathan Holland. He comes in from MK Dons and I'm hoping he'll justify not only the fee, but the fact I've made him the highest paid player at the club too!
With all the incoming attacking players, it was time to balance the squad with another departure. Ashley Nadesan leaves for Tranmere for £9k.
I really can't knock my board right now. Not only do I have the financial backing in the transfer market, but they are investing in the training facilities too!
And I'll finish this update with what I believe will be my best signing of the Summer.
NEW SIGNING: CHARLIE WYKE
Signed on a free transfer
I firmly believe that Charlie is going to solve my problems up front this season. Only two seasons ago, he scored 25 goals in League One for Sunderland, so he has to be seen as a massive coup for us!
Doing the sensible thing and buying players with experience in the league and not throwing the cash around to get players to drop down. Can only pay dividends
Doing the sensible thing and buying players with experience in the league and not throwing the cash around to get players to drop down. Can only pay dividends
Yea mate! Trying to get players who have experience in the league above where possible too. It's a reshape of most of the team and hopefully they gel together quickly and we can make a proper push for promotion.
We kick things off in this update with another departure from the club and not one I really wanted to make. Tobi Omole is a good squad player and still has room for improvement, but Plymouth were willing to pay £350k for his signature and I couldn't turn that down.
Another player sale I didn't want to make was that of Keanan Bennetts. However, Lincoln offered me £200k for him and when I rejected, the player became unhappy and was doing everything in his power to force the move. In the end, I got the fee up to £475k before letting him leave.
With the departure of Bennetts, comes the arrival of his direct replacement.
LOAN SIGNING: CHRIS POPOV
Signed on loan from Leicester City
A talented young winger with some pace about him, this kid will get a decent amount of playing time with us to show what he can do.
With all the investment that has come from the board this Summer, comes greater expectations and in the league, they want playoffs as a minimum!
And the bookies just about think we'll be in that mix. Salford are this year's title favourites, whilst the money behind Wrexham also makes them one of the favourites to make it back to back promotions. Newly promoted Bromley are expected to struggle, but it's Newport the bookies have tipped to finish bottom of the lot!
I played more pre season friendlies than I usually would, to give all the new players plenty of time to settle and get used to each other. All in all, the pre season campaign went well.
Our league campaign was set to kick off against Northampton Town, who are there or thereabouts in quality and expectations as us, so it would be a good test to open the season.
It was the perfect start!
Straight into cup action next and our first round draw in the Carabao Cup had pitted us against League One opponents in the form of Cheltenham Town.
And we made light work of them in an excellent display of attacking football!
Back in the league, the goals kept flowing as we battered Carlisle! We seem to have started the season in spectacular fashion!
But were quickly brought back down to earth by Tranmere Rovers.
But we're still up there mixing it with all the leaders after the opening 3 games.
In the second round of the Carabao Cup, we'd been drawn against local rivals Brighton. There was no expectations for us to get anything out of the game against our Championship opponents, so we could go into the game and enjoy playing at the impressive AMEX Stadium.
We went 2-0 down and everyone thought it was game over...including even me! But my lads showed incredible resolve and spirit to fight back and take it to penalties. In the shootout, it was us that held our nerve to record an incredible victory and progress in the competition!
It will be Premier League opposition in the form of another team on the south coast in the next round!
However, just days later we received the worst news. New signing, Jake Forster-Caskey will miss the entire season through injury!!
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