Dave. Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 A Caribbean revolution has hit English football. Whitehawk FC have been liquidated following a match fixing scandal, and their place in the Skrill South for the 2013/2014 season was left open. Filling the void are Caribbean Islanders FC, a football club based in London who are to promote and develop Caribbean footballers as they strive to advance up the English league system. The club's first manager is former Trinidad and Tobago international Philibert Jones (uncle of Kenwyne), and his job is to build a side of purely Caribbean players capable of success in England. He will focus on developing young players when he can, with the aim not only of domestic success but aiding the national sides who have only four World Cup appearances between them. The club have decent facilities, a brand new 5000 seater stadium, and solid funding for the level they play at. Their reputation isn't far behind the leading clubs in the division, so providing they can attract enough decent Caribbean footballers, the first few years may be quite fruitful. However, it remains to be seen whether Jones is able to lead his side to the dizzying heights of the Premier League, and whether the Caribbean is ever able to conquer Europe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taleron Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Neat idea! I've thought about a similar thing with African players in France, as a lot of French regens are dual nationality. International dates can sometimes be annoying, especially with the African Cup of Nations taking up potentially a couple weeks in the middle of the season if teams go far. Not sure if the CONCACAF dates cause any problems though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 Neat idea! I've thought about a similar thing with African players in France, as a lot of French regens are dual nationality. International dates can sometimes be annoying, especially with the African Cup of Nations taking up potentially a couple weeks in the middle of the season if teams go far. Not sure if the CONCACAF dates cause any problems though. Yeah, you'd have plenty of players to pick from I'd imagine! I'm pretty sure all the international dates are either normal ones or in the summer for Caribbean teams, thankfully. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 2013 Summer Transfer Window This was always going to be a hugely important time for the club, who started its life just weeks away from competitive football without a single player under contract. And with only a handful of Caribbean players to choose from, signing enough could have proven tricky. Thankfully, it wasn't, with just about enough players willing to sign for the the newly formed club to provide hope of a successful first season. All in all, not too much money was spent, and a decent squad was assembled. There's obvious quality in there, with the likes of Francis, Facey and Louis all really good players for Skrill North/South level. There's cover for all positions and a reasonable, although not comprehensive, amount of depth. One problem with the squad is the age - many of them are getting on a bit and youngsters are a bit thin on the ground. However, this hopefully shouldn't be a problem for long, and the experience should perhaps benefit the club in the short term. SQUAD Goalkeepers Kelvin Jack | Andre Foster Defenders Bradley Thomas | Kevin Austin | Stevland Angus | Rimmel Daniel | David Cyrus | Neil Sharp | Francino Francis | Jake Newton Midfielders Wayne Dyer | Richard Langley | Justin Cochrane | Dwane Lee | Craig Dobson | Dean Mason | Howard Newton | Ryan Edgar | Ellis Remy Attackers Calum Willock | Delroy Facey | Barry Hayles | Anthony Robinson | Jefferson Louis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey247 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Jefferson Louis - his picture MUST be in the dictionary as a description for 'journeyman'!! haha Great concept, will look forward to seeing how far you get. Certainly have a squad capable of a promotion and a good go at the Skill Prem Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kris0710 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Best of luck with this idea. The average age of your squad must be about 35! Some old school names there that's for sure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Jefferson Louis - his picture MUST be in the dictionary as a description for 'journeyman'!! hahaGreat concept, will look forward to seeing how far you get. Certainly have a squad capable of a promotion and a good go at the Skill Prem Didn't realise quite how well travelled he was - I make the Islanders his 24th club! Hopefully he won't be jumping ship again too quickly... Best of luck with this idea. The average age of your squad must be about 35! Some old school names there that's for sure. Yeah it can't be far off that really! And there are, quite a few of the guys have played Championship or even Premier League before, so we're certainly bossing things experience wise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Pre Season & August 2013 Pre season was nothing special, which was to be expected seeing as the club was still trying to recruit an entire squad. However, once this was done, and the league season got underway, the Caribbean Islanders found some really fine form. Four wins from four games represents a dream start, even if each game was only decided by the odd goal. There was perhaps a bit of luck involved in one or two of the games, but fans of the club can't complain with the points taken from them. The attack perhaps needs a little improvement with not as many goals as desired being scored, but the defence is clearly up to scratch. A good month! Oh, and with four tight wins from four, Philibert Jones wins his first manager of the month award! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Good to see things didn't take long to click. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 September 2013 September was certainly not as good as August, but it was far from a disaster. The home loss to Dorchester was very disappointing, but the Islanders recovered well to win at Concord Rangers. The loss in Essex wasn't ideal either, especially considering Chelmsford went down to 10 men after about quarter of an hour. The Caribbean side beat Eastbourne in a really cracking match, although considering we were 5-1 up in that one before it was over was perhaps a slight worry. A late equaliser in a potentially tricky cup tie against division rivals Staines was a good way to finish the month, earning a replay which should certainly be winnable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Good to see things didn't take long to click. It was surprising really! I was expecting a real struggle for the first couple of months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 We've made a couple of signings on free transfers in September too. Damion Beckford-Quailey was brought in as a third keeper just for backup, on non-contract terms. Hopefully at the very least he can help Andre Foster develop. Alex Dyer was also signed to give us some different options in midfield, as well as a little bit of youth. He's already impressed in his two appearances for the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
letissierandhenryaregreat Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Love the concept, good luck with this what you going to do with players coming in through the academy? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Love the concept, good luck with this what you going to do with players coming in through the academy? Well, my manager has Trinidadian nationality, so there should be one or two Trinidadians coming through each season. I also think there's a small chance of occasionally getting a youth player from a country close to that coming through occasionally, as well as the chance there always is of a player having a Caribbean nationality or second nationality, which obviously isn't going to happen very often. But aside from that, I'm going to try and sign young players whenever I can, and affliate the club with some Caribbean based clubs if at all possible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 October 2013 Other than our capitulation in the FA Cup replay against Ebbsfleet, it was actually a really decent month. We were unbeaten in the league and moved back up to top spot. We've got our first FA Trophy match next month, and I'd love a cup run. But of course my main aim is to reach the Football League as fast as possible, so I'm not making it a priority. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 We made one more signing over October too - a talented young winger, Kiernan Hughes-Mason. He'll be the last signing until January! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Good times so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Good times so far. Yep! Far better than expected, just hope we can keep it going. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 November 2013 Another decent month. Unbeaten in our three league fixtures, and progress made in the FA Trophy. There are some strong teams sitting behind us; Ebbsfleet are probably worrying me most. But if we keep playing consistently, the playoffs or even the title are well within our reach. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 December 2013 December was another very strong month for the Islanders. We suffered a couple of poor defeats in the league however, which included one against Ebbsfleet, which disappointed me considering how good we were against them in the FA Trophy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 December also saw the club extend manager Philibert Jones' one year contract for another year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kris0710 Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Going great so far, lets hope the OAP's can keep it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 March 2013 I've only been playing FM sporadically for the last month or so and I haven't updated every month as I plan to, but we have played quite a lot of matches. It's been a very mixed three months, with great results interspersed with really awful ones - just look at that Eastbourne game! Even so, we're still hanging on in there with a shout in a very tight league, with five games to go. It's still just on if we can play really well, especially since we visit Ebbsfleet in our final game, but Eastleigh have been superb after a poor start to the season, so I think they're probably favourites to clinch it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave. Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Going great so far, lets hope the OAP's can keep it up. Thanks! Their legs are still just about going Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Seems to have slipped the last few games which is a pity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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