House of Flying Daggers

[CFuller]

MARCH 2034 (continued)

A host of schoolboy players joined our Under-18s team in mid-March, with seven of them signing youth contracts after impressing me in a trial match. Right-back Jazzi Howley, anchorman Lee Allen, and right-winger Thomas Lye looked particularly promising, but there was one player who really stood out.

 

The lad in question was an Irish-born England schoolboy international midfielder who already had excellent passing ability and technique for a 15-year-old. His name is Daryl Ryan... but no, he's not related to THAT Daryl Ryan!

 

Considering that the original Daryl made over 200 league appearances as a goalkeeper for Dagenham and was a popular figure at Victoria Road, I might have to give this new one a different moniker. I'll probably call him 'Daryl the Second', or 'Daryl II', or maybe even #Daz2, as today's kids might say.

 

About a week after that, on 22 March, we faced a potentially vital away game against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. We would be really out of luck were the Black Cats to win, as such a result would see them replace us in the top six.

 

If there was one thing massively in our favour, it was that Sunderland were a club in turmoil. Just three days earlier, they had been thrashed 5-0 in Round 6 of the FA Cup by Norwich City. That result prompted the Black Cats to sack their manager Eddie Howe (rather harshly, I felt). While the search for a permanent manager was ongoing, assistant boss Scott Arfield was placed in temporary charge of the Mackems.

 

22 March 2034: Sunderland vs Dagenham & Redbridge

With captain William Barnes suspended, Joel Honeyball returned to our starting XI to skipper the side. After 10 minutes, Honeyball's excellent tackle on Sunderland defender Karel Brunclik led to a scoring opportunity for strike partner Robbie MacKenzie. Black Cats goalie Enrique Meza parried MacKenzie's shot away, and the hosts counter-attacked shortly afterwards. Striker Dave Alcock chipped an excellent ball to midfielder Tomas Strnad, whose header was safely caught by Kieran Whalley.

 

This looked like being a very even game... until our disciplinary problems from our previous match resurfaced. Firstly, in the 16th minute, midfielder Dave Hutchinson showed a lack of maturity when he tripped Yordan Kalchkov, leading to his receiving a yellow card. 18-year-old Dave could've been excused that, but Arran Banton really should've known better when he recklessly lunged in two-footed on Alcock after 21 minutes. Arran was instantly red-carded, and for the second game in a row, we were a man down.

 

Hutchinson came off in order for Ante Djuzel to fill our full-back vacancy, but Banton's loss would be very keenly felt. On 29 minutes, Sunderland winger Branko Petravic defied a leg injury to tee up Alcock, who curled an impressive shot into the top corner.

 

That opening goal for the Mackems could've been cancelled out quickly, as Robbie had a couple of attempts to draw level in the next four minutes. Unfortunately, MacKenzie looped a fabulous volley over the bar before his header from a Matthew Fraser free-kick rattled the woodwork.

 

Things then got worse in the 38th minute, as Alcock took advantage of a shaky Daggers defence to finish Wes Franks' centre from point-blank range. It was 2-0 to the Black Cats, and I felt like breaking a mirror.

 

The pressure was now firmly on us to retain our play-off spot, and the pressure told early in the second half. MacKenzie found Tyrone Sedgley making a run through the Sunderland defence in the 50th minute, but Tyrone could only drive Robbie's through-ball past the post.

 

We had yet more misfortune in the 53rd minute, as Honeyball sprinted past Brunclik before firing a fierce effort against the upright! Although we won a corner from that attack after Sunderland left-back Alun Saunders knocked the loose ball behind, our chance to strike while the iron was hot had disappeared.

 

The Black Cats attacked again in the 61st minute, with their captain Douglas Festa volleying wide after Petravic's cross had been poorly cleared by Velimir Radosavljevic. A minute later, Franks tried to play a crossfield ball to Petravic on the left flank. Daniel O'Reilly attempted an interception... but he got his header all wrong, and the ball bounced in our area before Alcock thundered it home to secure his hat-trick! In just one match, Alcock had doubled his goal tally for the entire league season!

 

We never stood a chance of fighting back after that third Sunderland goal, not even after Festa and Franks each picked up knocks for the Mackems. The aim now was simply to keep the scoreline down. We looked like failing to do even that when Brunclik leapt above Velimir to nod a Saunders cross goalwards on 77 minutes, but Whalley's catch prevented the 20-year-old Czech Republic international from making it 4-0. Brunclik's compatriot Strnad was also denied a goal by Kieran in the penultimate minute of a rather one-sided encounter.

 

Sunderland - 3 (Alcock 29,38,62)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Championship, Attendance 25,071 - POSITIONS: Sunderland 6th, Dag & Red 7th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Moser (Darvill), Radosavljevic, O'Reilly (Powell), Sedgley, Fraser, Hutchinson (Djuzel), Brkic, MacKenzie, Honeyball. BOOKED: Hutchinson. SENT OFF: Banton.

 

Having been overtaken by Sunderland, we found ourselves two points adrift of the play-off places - with only six games left to play.

 

Arran Banton's stupid lunge on the Black Cats' eventual hat-trick hero Dave Alcock would ultimately result in him being banned for three matches. Banton accepted his suspension and vowed to curb his temper in the future after also being fined a week's wages.

 

Arran would have to sit the next few games out, but our other suspended star - captain William Barnes - was back in the Daggers side for our home game against Wigan Athletic. Although the Latics' financial crisis had eased in recent months, they were still in the drop zone and quickly running out of time to save themselves.

 

25 March 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Wigan Athletic

Wigan's desperation showed in the second minute, when wingers Shaun Wilkinson and Abdelkrim Hamrouni each fired long-distance shots wide. Our first few attempts at goal were also severely lacking in accuracy. Souleymane Nomaou had perhaps the best of them after seven minutes, when he made a fine solo run towards goal and then fired the ball just over the crossbar.

 

Ten minutes later, our 17-year-old right-back Ross Pearson curled a promising cross into the Wigan area. Latics anchor Andreas Ilia tackled the cross away from Stipo Brkic, but William Barnes reached the loose ball and had a first-time shot parried by goalkeeper Dimitris Kalyvas.

 

We were a little unlucky there, but there was nothing unfortunate about us falling behind in the 22nd minute. Wigan midfielder Iain Turner advanced into our area virtually unchallenged before beating Kieran Whalley. While I lambasted my team for their unwillingness to press Turner, Wigan's new manager Josh Simpson celebrated a potentially vital goal in his team's fight against the drop.

 

Turner's strike could've been rendered irrelevant a couple of minutes later, when Matthew Fraser's long-range free-kick came within inches of drawing us level. In the 31st minute, though, we were very close to conceding the game's second goal. Ilia's corner kick was nodded just over the bar by Latics centre-back Danny Kelly - an England Under-21s international on loan from Norwich City. Turner wasted a further chance to bolster Wigan's position on 35 minutes, but his earlier goal remained the separator at half-time.

 

I didn't hold back in my criticism of the Dagenham players at half-time. "Right now, I'm not sure whether you lot are serious professional footballers or complete AMATEURS! Wigan have been awful all season, but you're making them look like the team that's battling to get into the play-offs! If you don't go out there and show what you're really capable of in the second half, then I won't be afraid to drop the lot of you and play the kids against Crystal Palace next week!"

 

If our first shot after the restart suggested everything, it was that the second period would be as frustrating as the first. Nomaou fluffed his lines again in the 53rd minute, blasting the ball off target after Ante Djuzel had intercepted a Wigan throw-in.

 

Djuzel then won us a corner about a couple of minutes later after his cross was deflected behind the byline off Ilia. Barnes' original corner quickly led to another after Ilia knocked it behind... but his second delivery was much more incisive. Velimir Radosavljevic got above Latics right-back Nathan Barton to nod in Will's corner and draw us level!

 

The home fans were hailing Velimir as our saviour... but by the 64th minute, he had turned into the villain of the piece. Radosavljevic's attempt to hack Hamrouni's centre away from Wigan captain Thomas Potter in our six-yard box succeeded only in sliding the ball into his own net. Cue another volley of abuse from Yours Truly in the Daggers dugout.

 

More angry words were uttered in the 68th minute, when a tackle from the already-booked Ilia led to our holding midfielder Tyrone Sedgley spraining his ankle. Ilia avoided a second yellow card, but Sedgley couldn't play on with an injury that put the remainder of his season in jeopardy. Dave Hutchinson replaced the stricken Tyrone, and Robbie MacKenzie came on for Stipo, as I desperately switched to an all-or-nothing 4-3-3 formation.

 

Unfortunately, Jacques Polomat got nothing from a header that rattled the Latics crossbar on 77 minutes. Barnes also came away empty-handed when he curled a free-kick narrowly off target a minute later. I now had my third substitute on, and it was he who would finally turn things around for us on 81 minutes. Forward Shaun Powell took advantage of some miscommunication between Wigan defenders Kelly and Barton to nick the ball and square a pass to MacKenzie, who drilled it into the far corner of the net!

 

That goal clawed back one point... but another Scottish Dagger was after the other two. With about six minutes left to play, Fraser stretched a leg out to divert Djuzel's centre across the goal line before the Latics could clear it. It may not have been the prettiest goal of the 10 that Matthew had now scored this season, our fans still celebrated as if it was a screamer from the halfway line! A spirited second-half fightback had seen us beat Wigan 3-2 and retake our play-off place, bumping Blackburn Rovers out on goal difference!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Radosavljevic 56, MacKenzie 81, Fraser 84)

Wigan Athletic - 2 (Turner 22, Radosavljevic og64)

Championship, Attendance 11,714 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 6th, Wigan 23rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Pearson, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Djuzel, Sedgley (Hutchinson), Barnes, Fraser, Brkic (MacKenzie), Polomat, Nomaou (Powell).

 

We're making hard work of our play-off challenge, but the ball is back in our court. If we can keep our cool - and I'm looking at you, Will and Arran - over the next five games, maybe our season could run for a little longer!

[CFuller]

Championship Table (End of March 2034)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    Pl    Derby                  41    28    6     7     73    30    +43   90
2.          Rochdale               41    24    9     8     64    41    +23   81
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Aston Villa            41    23    6     12    68    47    +21   75
4.          Reading                41    21    9     11    56    42    +14   72
5.          Sunderland             41    18    16    7     71    43    +28   70
6.          Dag & Red              41    19    11    11    71    48    +23   68
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Blackburn              41    20    8     13    63    49    +14   68
8.          Crewe                  41    17    15    9     51    35    +16   66
9.          Notts County           41    19    9     13    52    49    +3    66
10.         Plymouth               41    19    7     15    65    59    +6    64
11.         Leeds                  41    18    7     16    52    44    +8    61
12.         Ipswich                41    15    11    15    59    50    +9    56
13.         Doncaster              41    15    9     17    42    53    -11   54
14.         Northampton            41    16    4     21    35    51    -16   52
15.         Coventry               41    13    11    17    41    46    -5    50
16.         Luton                  41    13    11    17    41    55    -14   50
17.         Sheff Utd              41    13    9     19    56    58    -2    48
18.         Charlton               41    12    12    17    49    65    -16   48
19.         Crystal Palace         41    11    11    19    40    55    -15   44
20.         Wrexham                41    11    8     22    47    74    -27   41
21.         Bradford               41    9     13    19    49    66    -17   40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.         Cardiff                41    8     11    22    45    72    -27   35
23.         Wigan                  41    9     11    21    48    64    -16   28 *
24.   R     Peterborough           41    8     2     31    37    79    -42   16 *

* Peterborough and Wigan deducted 10 points for entering administration

 

[CFuller]

APRIL 2034

We'd been in and around the top six virtually all season long, but as the Championship campaign entered its final month, there was a real chance that we could end up as April fools. With a whole bunch of teams snapping at our heels, we knew that any further defeats were likely to prove very costly.

 

Here was our run-in:

1 April: vs Crystal Palace (H) - Crystal Palace were 19th, and had won just twice away from home this season

8 April: vs Leeds United (A) - Leeds were 11th, and looking to reach the play-offs for the third season running

11 April: vs Peterborough United (A) - Peterborough were 24th, and had already been relegated

15 April: vs Aston Villa (H) - Aston Villa were 3rd, and had won 13 of their last 18 league matches

22 April: vs Crewe Alexandra (H) - Crewe were 8th, and had the league's second-best defensive record

 

Five games - that was all that stood between us and a return to the Championship play-offs.

 

We began this final phase of our season with a home match against Crystal Palace, who had done well to stay reasonably clear of relegation despite sacking manager Rio Ferdinand on Boxing Day. Their form under new boss Jamal Fyfield - ex of Sheffield Wednesday - had been okay if not outstanding.

 

1 April 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Crystal Palace

Dagenham left-back Daniel O'Reilly forced Ivelin Kanev into action in the first minute with a header that Crystal Palace's young Bulgarian goalkeeper caught comfortably. Our next couple of shots, from Joel Honeyball and Stipo Brkic, did not get anywhere near Kanev nor his goal.

 

Palace's attack looked similarly inefficient, with Toby Cook powering their first effort wide on 19 minutes. Eagles winger Jimmy Kyere did cause us a problem a minute later, when his cross from the left was met by a weak headed clearance from Daggers left-back O'Reilly. The hosts' right-winger Felipe launched a volley towards goal... but the ball sailed well wide.

 

Daniel would be booked in the 24th minute for tripping up Felipe, but things did improve for us in the 27th. Pressing Palace's defence paid off when a pass from Kyere to centre-half Adem Demir in their own penalty area was cut out by a strong tackle from Daggers right-back John Moser. The ball deflected kindly to Honeyball, who calmly slotted us into the lead.

 

Sadly, we would only remain in front for about seven minutes before Crystal Palace put together an excellent attacking move. Striker Duncan Roberts found Felipe unmarked out wide in our area, and the Brazilian's cross ricocheted off O'Reilly before midfielder Sam Gunn pulled the trigger.

 

Two minutes after Gunn's equaliser, Moser's trip on Kyere in a dangerous position put us at risk of falling behind. Felipe drifted the subsequent free-kick within inches of giving Palace a 2-1 lead. The Eagles were taking flight, so the half-time break came at a rather opportune time for us.

 

Crystal Palace picked up where they left off four minutes into the second period. Kyere's left-wing cross was volleyed into the middle of our penalty area by Felipe, and Roberts let rip with a half-volley. Had Kieran Whalley not turned the shot against his post or Velimir Radosavljevic not knocked the rebound away from Roberts, we would almost certainly have fallen behind.

 

On 51 minutes, Gunn set up a great opportunity for Cook, who scuffed it into Whalley's hands. Kieran needed to make yet another save a couple of minutes later, with Kyere the latest Eagle to be kept off the scoresheet.

 

Honeyball then had a couple of chances to restore our advantage before the hour, heading one of them into Kanev's grasp. We would hardly get near the Crystal Palace goal again. Robbie MacKenzie headed over an absolute sitter for the Daggers on 79 minutes, but that moment aside, we would spend virtually the whole of the final 30 minutes defending against the Eagles.

 

Our defenders - in particular George Darvill and Radosavljevic - had to make several interceptions to thwart our visitors, who became even more threatening as full-time neared. Joe Maher clipped the outside of Kieran's left-hand post with a blistering effort after 82 minutes. Maher fired another shot over the bar two minutes later, shortly before teenage substitute Julio César Andrade had his attempt stopped by Whalley.

 

The Eagles' last major chance came in the 89th minute, but we were relieved to see captain Bob Cairns head Felipe's corner over the bar. Having faced an array of shots from Crystal Palace in a fast-paced second period, we had somehow managed to survive with a point.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Honeyball 27)

Crystal Palace - 1 (Gunn 34)

Championship, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 6th, Crystal Palace 19th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Moser, Darvill, Radosavljevic, O'Reilly (Djuzel), Virgo (Pearson), Barnes, Fraser, Brkic (Polomat), MacKenzie, Honeyball. BOOKED: O'Reilly.

 

I'd demanded a win from that match, and in the end, we were very fortunate not to LOSE. We were also lucky that Blackburn Rovers - the team directly below us in the league - had drawn their match at Reading, despite taking the lead twice.

 

We remained perilously close to losing 6th spot as we took on Leeds United at Elland Road the following weekend. Leeds were eight points adrift of us and realistically needed a win to keep alive their hopes of reaching the play-offs yet again.

 

8 April 2034: Leeds United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

It takes a brave away team to push up the pitch from the off at Elland Road, and we were very brave in that sense. Daniel O'Reilly had the audacity to shoot from 30 yards in the second minute, but Leeds goalkeeper Pat Sheridan never looked like being beaten by his Irish compatriot.

 

Another Dagger who tried to score from outside the United area early on was Jacques Polomat, whose 9th-minute piledriver flew well off course. Three minutes after that, Robbie MacKenzie had a go from even further back than O'Reilly. Although Sheridan had to readjust his position to save the shot, I was not particularly encouraged by what I was seeing.

 

After instructing my team to work the ball into the penalty area, I started to see some more promising attacks. In the 15th minute, right-back Ross Pearson delivered a cross to MacKenzie, whose header was tipped over by Sheridan. Sheridan also saved Robbie's next effort in the 24th minute, shortly after Steve Heaton had scuffed wide Leeds' first real opportunity to hit us on the break.

 

The Whites had a purple patch at the half-hour point, winning a handful of corners in succession as well as registering their first shot on target. Centre-back Tommy Fisk went for goal in the 30th minute, but Kieran Whalley flicked the ball away, and so the 0-0 scoreline remained unchanged.

 

Our defence had a minor lapse in the 55th minute, but the heat was off us when Heaton's edge-of-the-area shot drifted miles off target. There was another awful shot at the other end a minute later, as Dagenham captain William Barnes met MacKenzie's square ball with a poor connection. Barnes fared slightly better on 60 minutes, with his angled effort winning a corner off Sheridan. Leeds then successfully broke down our attack from the resulting corner.

 

Stipo Brkic came on to replace Polomat shortly after that, but this would be one of the Dane's less productive days at the office. This was also an afternoon to forget, from a shooting perspective, for MacKenzie. Robbie tried to beat Sheridan with a dipping shot in the 80th minute but couldn't strike it with enough power nor accuracy.

 

Four minutes after that, Leeds' substitute midfielder Grant Stone sensed a chance to strike a fateful blow against the run of play. Stone shook off the presence of several Dagenham defenders and went for goal, but Whalley showed great composure to catch his attempt.

 

Other than that, our solid backline was largely untested during the second period. With a bit more fortune on the attacking front, we might've come away from Elland Road with a better result than a goalless draw, but I was still reasonably satisfied with our first clean sheet in close to three months.

 

Leeds United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Championship, Attendance 17,795 - POSITIONS: Leeds 11th, Dag & Red 6th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Pearson, Darvill, Radosavljevic, O'Reilly, Virgo, Fraser (Hutchinson), Barnes, Polomat (Brkic), MacKenzie, Nomaou (Honeyball).

 

Blackburn Rovers once again failed to capitalise on our slip-up, managing only a draw against Doncaster Rovers. Notts County were also just below us on goal difference, but they too failed to take all three points at Charlton Athletic.

 

We'd managed to get away with a couple of draws, but there was no way that I would tolerate anything other than a win at Peterborough United three days later. For one thing, Peterborough were stone dead last with 32 defeats and a -41 goal difference to their name. For another, it was my 49th birthday.

 

11 April 2034: Peterborough United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

The pressure was well and truly off Peterborough, who threatened to take a shock lead after seven minutes. Irish teenager Brendan Corcoran's half-volley led to an awkward save from Daggers goalie Kieran Whalley.

 

Leon Curran had our first shot of the game in the 16th minute, but he powered it wide from a difficult angle. Posh keeper Johnny Madsen was forced into action on 24 minutes, when he caught a swerving effort from fellow Dane Stipo Brkic. Curran couldn't hit the target with his next attempt five minutes later, which had been gifted to him by a mistake from Peterborough's experienced South African midfielder Cyril Nzunga.

 

After 31 minutes, Corcoran made Whalley sweat again in the Dagenham goal. Kieran had to palm away the young winger's cross before it could reach Posh striker Oscar Brown. The hosts then won a corner, and Paul Millen's delivery was hacked off the line by our left-back Ante Djuzel.

 

We survived yet another scare two minutes later. Whalley parrying away a bullet from substitute Lee Jones, who'd surprisingly replaced Corcoran after about half an hour. Millen and Jones then missed further chances for United before the half-time whistle blew with the teams still deadlocked.

 

Neither of our strikers looked particularly hot, not even after the interval. Within the first 10 minutes of the restart, Souleymane Nomaou had one shot saved by Madsen and struck the woodwork with another. Curran then scuffed wide a shot in the 55th minute, at the end of an excellent passing move from the Daggers. A couple of minutes after that, midfielder Tom Virgo fired a free-kick against Peterborough's crossbar.

 

After Whalley denied Russ Grierson a goal for United with a fantastic save in the 63rd minute, I made my first substitution, with Jacques Polomat replacing Leon. The switch would take just a couple of minutes to pay off. After Nzunga and Posh defender Aaron Wynne each failed to clear a Djuzel cross out of their area, Polomat popped up to place the loose ball into the net and finally end the standoff!

 

That first goal of the game looked unlikely to be the last when Peterborough countered in the 67th minute. Jones whipped in a cross from the edge of our penalty area, and Bulgarian midfielder Velin Dimitrov met it with a diving header that forced Whalley into a diving save.

 

The home side would attack us again, but not before Polomat found the net again on 80 minutes. Jacques converted an excellent pass from sub Matthew Fraser after a poor clearance from Posh right-back and captain John Dudley, but the Frenchman's second goal was ruled out for offside.

 

Seven minutes after that, Peterborough's left-back Jak Black played an excellent long ball over our defence and towards Millen. The London Road faithful held their collective breaths as Millen went one-on-one with Whalley... and miscued a shot that trundled hopelessly behind. There would be no late party-poopers on my birthday as I left Cambridgeshire with the perfect present - three precious points for my Daggers!

 

Peterborough United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Polomat 65)

Championship, Attendance 7,586 - POSITIONS: Peterborough 24th, Dag & Red 5th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Djuzel, Virgo, Hutchinson, Barnes (Fraser), Brkic, Curran (Polomat), Nomaou (Powell). BOOKED: Nomaou.

 

While we had done what was required of us, play-off rivals Notts County hadn't, suffering a humiliating 5-0 defeat at mid-table Ipswich Town! They were now three points adrift of us with two games left to play, but what about Blackburn Rovers?

 

I prayed that newly-crowned champions Derby County would do us a massive favour 24 hours later, when they travelled to Blackburn. John Sullivan's Rams did precisely that, winning 2-1 to leave us in a very good position:

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
4.          Sunderland             44    19    16    9     75    48    +27   73
5.          Dag & Red              44    20    13    11    73    49    +24   73
6.          Reading                44    21    10    13    59    50    +9    73
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Blackburn              44    20    10    14    67    54    +13   70
8.          Notts County           44    20    10    14    57    58    -1    70
9.          Crewe                  44    17    17    10    53    38    +15   68
10.         Plymouth               44    20    8     16    70    62    +8    68

 

Things were about to get really, really interesting...

[CFuller]

APRIL 2034 (continued)

The Championship season was reaching its crescendo, and a play-off place was within our reach. If we could take four points from our final two matches, which were both at home, then we could safely plan for a Play-Off Semi Final. Because of our excellent goal difference, though, three points would realistically be enough to qualify.

 

Another thing in our favour was that our penultimate game, at home to 3rd-placed Aston Villa, was a late kick-off on Saturday evening. With most of our rivals having played their matches at the usual 3pm kick-off time, we knew exactly what our situation was when the time came to suit up.

 

Sunderland, who were narrowly ahead of us on goal difference, had won their match comfortably. Reading had lost theirs, and thus remained on 73 points with us. Blackburn Rovers also moved up to 73 with a victory, but Notts County suffered a 5-3 defeat to outsiders Plymouth Argyle and remained three points adrift.

 

Those results confirmed that we would effectively secure a play-off spot if we could beat Villa, who were hoping to pip Rochdale to that second automatic promotion spot behind Derby County. If we drew, we'd have a single-point lead on Blackburn and Reading going into the final weekend. If we lost, we would stay on the same number of points as those two sides, AND we'd have to compete with Plymouth and possibly our final opponents Crewe Alexandra for a play-off spot as well.

 

15 April 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Aston Villa

Souleymane Nomaou had an opportunity to fire us into the lead after just two minutes. Unfortunately, his fierce drive was tipped aside by Aston Villa goalkeeper Jonathan Hudson. We were given another chance three minutes later, when Villa right-back Petr Jelinek's shaky clearance was intercepted by William Barnes. The skipper volleyed the ball forward to Stipo Brkic, whose shot just missed the post.

 

In the 12th minute, Jacques Polomat ran through a large gap in the Villans defence to latch onto an incisive pass from Matthew Fraser. Polomat whacked the ball horrendously wide, but he would get a shot at redemption on 21 minutes. Sol was dispossessed on the edge of Villa's six-yard box by left-back Sean Ellis, and Jacques tucked the loose ball into the corner! 1-0 to the Daggers!

 

Villa had their first attempt to draw level two minutes later, but midfielder Jim Dearden skied it well over. We pushed for a second goal shortly afterwards, and Nomaou almost got one when he broke through the defence again. Hudson charged off his line to push away Sol's strike, and despite a couple of attempts later on, our lead remained at a single goal.

 

Then, in the 36th minute, shortly after Marco Galvao swung in a corner for Aston Villa, his team-mate Ted Turner went down under an apparent push from Barnes. The referee pointed to the spot, booked Barnes, and then gave Turner the go-ahead to take the penalty. Turner fired it to the goalkeeper's left... but Kieran Whalley went the same way to save yet another spot kick!

 

The Villans tried to continue their attack, but the move ended when Dearden tripped Barnes and conceded a free-kick. Although we were still ahead at half-time, Will looked like a disaster waiting to happen, so I didn't risk keeping him on for the second period.

 

With substitute Tom Virgo now protecting our backline, we continued to fend off Aston Villa's attacks as best we could. The visitors' first attack of the second period was a poor one, as Vasil Popov drove the ball straight at Whalley without much venom. There was plenty of venom in a strike from Nomaou after he chased down Brkic's through-ball in the 60th minute, but that shot lacked the accuracy to bolster our fragile position.

 

On 68 minutes, a Fraser corner caused the Villans plenty of problems. Villa centre-back Andrew Hardy could only clear it to one of our own defenders, and George Darvill's header at goal ended up in the side netting.

 

Following that corner, I sent on Joel Honeyball for Nomaou, in the hope that our vice-captain could kill the game off. When Hudson scuffed a goal kick straight to him in the 79th minute, Joel sensed his moment. Honeyball raced past Hardy to leave himself with just the goalie to beat... but he went for style over substance, and his shot flew over the bar!

 

Barely a minute later, Turner floated wide a chance to draw Villa level. Substitute midfielder Rob Wannell also had a great opportunity for the away side on 82 minutes. His free-kick was parried by Whalley and eventually cleared by our defenders, who kept their resolve and squeaked out another narrow win. We were almost there now!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Polomat 21)

Aston Villa - 0

Championship, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Aston Villa 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Darvill, Radosavljevic, O'Reilly, Barnes (Virgo), Fraser, Hutchinson (Atta), Brkic, Polomat, Nomaou (Honeyball). BOOKED: Barnes.

 

Barring an absolute disaster on the following weekend, we had qualified for the play-offs... and I had a very good idea about who we would be playing in the Semi Finals.

 

The teams in 4th and 5th place would face each other in the Play-Off Semi Finals. We were almost certain to finish either 4th or 5th, as were Sunderland. It just remained to be seen who would claim the higher position, and home advantage in the second leg of the play-off.

 

I wasn't too fussed about overtaking the Black Cats - indeed, I felt that we would perhaps be better suited to playing at home in the first leg. I therefore used our final regular-season game against Crewe Alexandra as an opportunity to rest our star players and blood some of the younger lads in our side.

 

Second-choice goalkeeper Mitch Beckett and vice-captain Joel Honeyball were the elder statesmen in a starting XI that included three full league debutants - Joe Charles, Paul Habu and Christophe Smith. Four of the players on our bench were in line for their first ever senior appearances.

 

Crewe Alexandra arrived in Essex having just seen their hopes of amending last year's Play-Off Final defeat crushed by a 2-0 midweek loss at Rochdale. Incidentally, Dale's historic promotion to the Premier League was confirmed with that result. Victoria Road would therefore be the Railwaymen's final destination as far as this season was concerned.

 

22 April 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Crewe Alexandra

Crewe's starting line-up contained a handful of teenagers, although most of their best players were still present. Their biggest name would find the back of our net after just three minutes. Daggers goalie Mitch Beckett scuffed a clearance that Crewe winger Daniel Sykes nodded towards striker Gary Harper, but the offside flag was raised just as Harper drove the ball home.

 

A minute later, Alex goalkeeper Warren Rodwell caught a free-kick from our holding midfielder Tom Virgo. Dagenham skipper Joel Honeyball fired a long-range shot wide in the 14th minute, but he would fare much better with his next effort in the 16th. Nigel Atta sliced through the Crewe defence to find Honeyball, who turned past centre-back Darren Greenhouse and drilled in what was - by my reckoning - his 50th competitive goal for the Daggers!

 

Harper had also scored a fair few goals in his time at Crewe, and he would get another for them after 25 minutes. He rode a slide tackle from our rookie centre-half Adrian Bailey to beat Beckett at his near post and draw the Railwaymen level.

 

One might've expected Crewe's more experienced team to take control from there. The game would see its third goal in the 35th minute... but it wasn't scored at our end. Daggers right-back Ross Pearson passed to Atta in the visitors' penalty area and then watched Nigel fire a shot against the far post. Fortunately, Joel half-volleyed in the rebound and gave us a 2-1 half-time lead!

 

I made one change before the second half, taking off the booked Dave Hutchinson and giving Ollie Reynolds a run-out in midfield. We could easily have bolstered our lead in the first two minutes after the restart. Ante Djuzel unluckily hit the post from a difficult angle before attacking midfielder Joe Charles struck the side netting. Christophe Smith was also denied his moment of glory in the 60th minute, when Rodwell tipped the Scottish forward's fierce shot behind.

 

That chance came between a couple of near-misses from Crewe at the other end. Sykes drifted a free-kick just wide on 53 minutes, while Jesse Baker flicked a close-range header over shortly after Smith's shot was saved. Christophe wouldn't get any more scoring opportunities before Congolese prospect Peguy Kasongo took his place for the last 20 minutes. Peguy made his competitive debut, as did defender Jameel Bailey after he replaced Ante later on.

 

After 88 minutes, Jameel's namesake Adrian accidentally collided with Ollie in our penalty area. Adrian was knocked out and couldn't play on, and so we finished the match with 10 men. That didn't really matter, as Crewe provided very little attacking threat during the final half-hour. Our regular league season ended on a winning note, and a 5th-place finish officially confirmed that we were in the play-offs.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Honeyball 16,35)

Crewe Alexandra - 1 (Harper 25)

Championship, Attendance 11,706 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Crewe 11th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Beckett, Pearson, A Bailey, Habu, Djuzel (J Bailey), Virgo, Atta, Hutchinson (Reynolds), Charles, Smith (Kasongo), Honeyball. BOOKED: Hutchinson.

 

We could now formally put dates in our diary for our Championship Play-Off Semi Final against Sunderland, who stayed just ahead of us after beating Reading 1-0. The first leg would be held at Victoria Road on 6 May, with the Stadium of Light hosting the second leg on 9 May. Meanwhile, Aston Villa in 3rd would take on Blackburn Rovers in 6th.

 

Before then, though, we had another Final to look forward to - our reserves' Essex Senior Cup Final at home to Maldon & Tiptree.

 

With a fortnight between our last regular season match and our first play-off game, I didn't want my best players getting rusty, so I allowed some of them to play in the ESC Final. That additional star power would make all the difference, as Jacques Polomat scored twice to give the Daggers a 2-0 win. We had won our county cup for the second time in three years!

 

Indeed, it had been an excellent season for all of our teams. As well as the Essex Senior Cup, Dagenham's reserve team secured their league championship, while the Under-18s won theirs at a canter. Now it was up to my senior team to cap off this 'annus mirabilis' with an even bigger prize - promotion to the Premier League.

[CFuller]

MAY 2034

May saw a quartet of Dagenham & Redbridge return from their three-month secondments. Tristan Egueh, Rocco Mazzola and Carl Quinn had all helped Leighton Town to reach the play-offs in League Two. Sadly, Zola Casey couldn't quite achieve that with Bolton Wanderers, who fell short on the final day of the League One campaign.

 

While they were away, we'd managed to recover from a shaky start to the New Year and reach the Championship Play-Offs. A six-match unbeaten run saw us finish 5th and book a two-legged Semi Final showdown with Sunderland, who - funnily enough - were the last team to inflict defeat on us.

 

We would be at home for Leg 1, and that suited me just fine. Although poor results at Victoria Road had been our downfall in recent seasons, we'd turned that around in this campaign. Our record of 14 wins, 4 draws, and 5 defeats at home was surpassed by only three teams in our division - champions Derby County, 3rd-placed Aston Villa, and Sunderland.

 

One area where the Black Cats clearly had the upper hand on us was up front. Only Derby had scored more goals than them, while Welsh striker Andrew McCarthy had finished the regular campaign with 32 on his own. We would need to be very strong defensively to prevent McCarthy and co from running riot... and we'd have to do so without the cornerstone of our backline.

 

Centre-back George Darvill had almost never been injured in his career, so I really was cursing my luck when he twisted his ankle in training, thus ruling him out of both Semi Final matches. George was now aiming to be back to full fitness in time for the Final - provided we got there, of course.

 

Sunderland also had a couple of injury concerns before they journeyed to Victoria Road. Dave Alcock - our nemesis from our previous meeting with the Mackems - broke his toe in their last regular-season match and wouldn't play again until the next campaign. Captain Douglas Festa was also out of the first leg with a sprained ankle, but manager Jay Spearing hoped to have the Venezuelan defensive midfielder back for the return fixture.

 

6 May 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Sunderland

Worryingly, Brazilian winger Souza twice went close to firing Sunderland in the lead during the opening two minutes. William Barnes had our first scoring opportunity in the third minute, firing a free-kick just over the bar just after his colleague Souleymane Nomaou had been tripped by Black Cats midfielder Tomas Strnad.

 

Will would be our most active player going forward in the first quarter-hour or so. Shortly after pulling a shot wide in the 14th minute, Barnes fired in another effort that ricochet off Sunderland left-back Alun Saunders and headed goalwards. The visitors' stand-in captain Enrique Meza did well to catch the deflected shot and keep the deadlock intact.

 

Our goalkeeper Kieran Whalley made his first save in the 16th minute, catching Wes Franks' header from a Souza cross. Our defence would come under more pressure after young centre-back Adrian Bailey was booked for barging into Sunderland striker Jimmy Morton in the 23rd minute. Franks narrowly cleared the crossbar with a vicious effort about a minute after that foul. Barnes then went through on goal for the Daggers, only to be denied by another fine save from Paraguay international Meza.

 

Captain Will was rather less impressive when he upended Strnad a few moments later, resulting in him picking up our second booking. Our third was issued to left-back Daniel O'Reilly after he barged into Franks on 41 minutes. Although we were struggling to control our discipline, the Mackems hadn't yet managed to exploit that.

 

Bailey and Barnes were replaced with John Moser and Dave Hutchinson for the second half as I tried to lower the risk of us having a player sent off. Sunderland's new manager Jay Spearing also made a major change during the interval. Leading scorer Andrew McCarthy came off the bench and replaced Morton as strike partner to Dave Blake, who had a header tipped behind by Whalley just moments after the restart.

 

Kieran's opposite number was forced into action a minute later, as Meza held onto Nomaou's strike from just outside the penalty area. Sol would soon get another chance, but not before Hutch was booked after 53 minutes for felling Franks just outside our box. Whalley caught Souza's subsequent free-kick, and we played the ball out of defence before Tom Virgo hoisted it forward to Nomaou. The Nigerien got away from Sunderland's defenders to latch onto Virgo's long ball, and he then tried to turn past Meza before scuffing his drive the wrong side of the post.

 

Fraser then floated a free-kick wide in the 59th minute. In the 67th minute, Mackems midfielder Jakub Pacak received his team's first - and only - yellow card after shoving Hutchinson in the back. Sunderland were starting to look edgy, and Meza had to save them again on 69 minutes, when he clawed away a fierce strike from Nomaou.

 

In the final 20 minutes, though, it was the Black Cats who suffered the greater misfortune. Their rotten luck began when Blake's 73rd-minute header rattled our crossbar. Three minutes later, another header - from Strnad - was heroically volleyed off the line by Moser!

 

Pacak then scooped another shot over the bar on 78 minutes, and Sunderland would have to wait until the last minute of regular time for their next chance. Blake snuck behind our defence and beat Whalley to a deep Saunders cross... but he once again flicked a header against the woodwork!

 

Shortly after that, the visitors' Slovakian right-back Emil Lukac curled in a cross that McCarthy nodded past Kieran... but not before the offside flag was raised against him. Ex-Wales striker McCarthy had one final attempt to break our hearts deep into injury time, when he latched onto Blake's excellent lob and somehow skied it over! Despite looking very nervy late on, we had somehow managed to hold on for a first-leg draw.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Sunderland - 0

Championship Play-Off Semi Final Leg 1, Attendance 12,000

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Banton, Radosavljevic, A Bailey (Moser), O'Reilly, Virgo, Barnes (Hutchinson), Fraser, Brkic, Polomat, Nomaou (Honeyball). BOOKED: A Bailey, Barnes, O'Reilly, Hutchinson.

 

I'll tell you what, we really did ride our luck out there...

 

We weren't able to take a lead to the Stadium of Light, then, but that certainly wasn't a disaster. While no team had beaten Sunderland at home in the league since October, our record away from home wasn't exactly terrible. I still had faith in my team.

 

Three days later, we arrived in the north-east for the second leg of our Semi Final. I'd persisted with a 4-4-2 diamond throughout our seven-game unbeaten run, but I put that record on the line by suddenly switching to 5-3-2. Sunderland were likely to be banging at our door throughout this match, so I would be looking for us to catch them by surprise on the break.

 

9 May 2034: Sunderland vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Sunderland piled on some early pressure in the fourth minute. Alun Saunders tried to curl a left-wing cross to young Mackems striker Calum Gordon at the near post, but Daggers defender John Moser hacked the ball behind just in time.

 

After that, the Black Cats rather disrupted their own rhythm by conceding a considerable number of fouls. One foul from Bulgarian centre-back Yordan Kalchkov in the 25th minute would prove especially costly. Kalchkov stopped a Dagenham counter-attack by cynically tripping Joel Honeyball when our striker was virtually through on goal. The away fans cried for a red card... and the referee agreed, as he sent Kalchkov packing!

 

Sunderland were furious at that decision, but when the dust settled a minute later, they were relieved to see the crossbar deflect William Barnes' free-kick away from goal. Following a mini-scramble in the penalty area, Black Cats midfielder Branko Petravic put the ball into touch. Daggers right-back Ross Pearson's throw was nodded towards goal by centre-half Paul Habu, and then Robbie MacKenzie, before Daniel O'Reilly tucked in the finish! Our gameplan changed after that, as we sought to control the match with a 1-0 lead and an extra man.

 

Sunderland unsurprisingly pushed further forward, and tested our goalkeeper Kieran Whalley with a couple of shots in the 34th and 35th minutes. Winger Souza and substitute striker Andrew McCarthy each had efforts saved by Kieran, who was otherwise rather quiet in the first period. Whalley could've been given something else to do when Darren Rand charged towards goal on 39 minutes, but the Mackems middleman was unable to keep his shot on target.

 

The first half ended with an unsuccessful penalty claim from the hosts, who'd tried to argue that a strong tackle from Barnes on Souza in the Daggers area was a foul. It wasn't, though, and we remained 1-0 up as we headed into the dressing room.

 

We re-emerged for the second half looking rather shaky. McCarthy raced past substitute midfielder Dave Hutchinson in the 50th minute, only to blaze a potential Sunderland equaliser over the bar. Five minutes later, a surprise second Dagenham goal - from an even more surprising scorer - was looking likely. Barnes' cross from the right flank deflected off the Black Cats' substitute centre-back Karel Brunclik and fell to Pearson, who could've got his first senior goal with a more composed strike.

 

After that potential chance to increase our lead went down the pan, we went back on the defensive. Wes Franks fizzed a shot just wide for Sunderland in the 62nd minute, while Jimmy Morton's header in the 71st forced Whalley into a save. Whalley's goalkeeping was as solid as it usually was, and his decision-making looked particularly sharp here. Six minutes from full-time, he bravely punched away a Tomas Strnad cross that looked like being headed home by Emil Lukac.

 

To be fair to Kieran, he was helped by some excellent defending, particularly from 19-year-old Habu. As the game was about to enter the 85th minute, Paul showed great composure to head away a long ball from Saunders. That started off a Dagenham counter-attack, during which Pearson and Stipo Brkic each had efforts parried by Mackems goalie Enrique Meza. Ross retook the ball and centred it towards the six-yard box. Robbie MacKenzie diverted the ball into the path of Honeyball, who powered in the goal that would almost certainly take us to Wembley!

 

Even at 2-0 up, though, we could not yet relax. Strnad put the Black Cat amongst the pigeons in the 88th minute, as he retaliated with a close-range strike from a Lukac cross. Sunderland had cut our lead in half and now had the momentum. Lukac would cause us more problems in the 90th minute, when he audaciously attempted to lob Whalley from out wide. The Slovakian succeeded, and the Stadium of Light erupted.

 

However, the ref rushed over to the touchline to consult with his assistant... and he disallowed the goal! It seemed that Morton had impeded on Kieran - a former youth team-mate of his at Manchester City - to prevent him from reaching Lukac's lob. Sunderland's chance to take the game to extra-time had been snatched from them. About three minutes later, the ref blew his final whistle, thus confirming that we were into the Championship Play-Off Final!!

 

Sunderland - 1 (Strnad 88)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (O'Reilly 27, Honeyball 85)

[Dagenham & Redbridge win 2-1 on aggregate]

Championship Play-Off Semi Final Leg 2, Attendance 48,707

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Habu, Moser (Hutchinson), Radosavljevic, Pearson, O'Reilly, Barnes, Fraser, Polomat (Brkic), MacKenzie, Honeyball.

 

WE'RE GOING TO WEMBLEY, BABY!!!

 

Little old Dagenham & Redbridge - a Conference Premier club barely a decade earlier - were now 90 minutes away from the biggest league in the land. Our date with destiny was set for 20 May 2034, but our opponents were still to be decided...

 

24 hours later, we awaited the outcome of the second-leg match between Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers. The first leg at Ewood Park had ended 1-1, and it was very much advantage Villa when Dougie Gould gave them the lead 24 minutes into the rematch. However, Mick Beresford equalised for Rovers a couple of minutes later, and he struck again in the second half to give the Lancastrians a 2-1 victory.

 

And so Dagenham & Redbridge would meet Blackburn Rovers in the Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley. The winners would be promoted to the Premier League, while the losers would be left to stew over what could've been.

 

It was almost time to dig out my best suit.

[CFuller]

MAY 2034 (continued)

This was it - Play-Off Final day. We were all suited and booted for our first trip to Wembley since we lifted the FA Trophy way back in 2024. This time, the prize was even grander - a place in the 2034/2035 Premier League, plus the many, many millions of pounds that would come with it.

 

Of course, Dagenham & Redbridge had never previously graced the top flight. Indeed, we were bidding to become the first ever former members of the Football Conference to make their way into the Premier League.

 

Blackburn Rovers were no strangers when it came to the Premier League - after all, they won it in 1995 under the stewardship of chairman Jack Walker and manager Kenny Dalglish. Since then, though, Rovers had yo-yoed up and down the top two tiers on numerous occasions and had spent most of the last 20 years in the Championship.

 

Blackburn had made a poor start to this season, resulting in manager Ryan Fulton being replaced with Notts County's Asmir Begovic. The former Bosnia & Herzegovina goalkeeper won 21 of his first 40 games in charge as Rovers gradually moved up into the play-off places, edging out Reading on goal difference on the final day.

 

After star striker Tim Higginbotham broke his leg on Boxing Day, most of the goalscoring burden fell on Thierry Laurent, who'd notched up 23 goals this season. His strike partner Mick Beresford was also coming into form, having bagged all three of Blackburn's goals in their Play-Off Semi Final win over Aston Villa. Midfield men Sinisa Curic, Antoni Tanev and Shane Watts were all into double figures on assists, while goalkeeper Jordan Shields and centre-half Jacky Besnard provided solidity at the back.

 

Although we finished one place and three points ahead of Blackburn, we were the slight underdogs going into this game. Many pundits predicted that the Lancashire side's greater experience would tell in this, the biggest and last match of the Championship season. I really hoped that it would be our last in that division for at least 14 months.

 

We had 90 minutes to beat the odds and break into the Premier League. Could we do it?

 

20 May 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Blackburn Rovers

I stuck with exactly the same starting line-up that had won at Sunderland 11 days earlier. That meant starts for teenage defenders Paul Habu and Ross Pearson, both of whom had impressed greatly at the Stadium of Light, and Joel Honeyball, who'd been with us since our days in the Conference Premier. George Darvill was fit again after recovering from a twisted ankle, but he could only make it onto the bench.

 

Blackburn were also unchanged from their victory at Aston Villa. That meant there was no place in the Rovers starting line-up for the likes of Jamaica midfielder Oscar Staple or Wales winger Ryan Bird.

 

After a slow start, it was Blackburn who launched the first attack in the sixth minute. French striker Thierry Laurent tried to fire the ball between Kieran Whalley and his near post, but Kieran managed to push it against the upright before John Moser cleared it behind. Laurent also failed to score from the resulting corner, flicking compatriot Mathieu Retailleau's delivery high and wide.

 

Matthew Fraser had our first chance on 15 minutes, but Blackburn midfielder Antoni Tanev forced him into shooting from a tight angle, and the end result was disappointing. Laurent then had a couple more shots saved by Whalley in the 20th and 26th minute. In between those two Blackburn efforts came a first save of the afternoon from their goalkeeper Jordan Shields, who pushed away Fraser's vicious effort on 23 minutes.

 

In the 33rd minute, Blackburn winger Sinisa Curic went down hard after a collision with Pearson. Play continued as Rovers midfielder Kenneth Ralph's long ball deflected off Daggers defender Paul Habu before falling to Laurent. The former France Under-21s star sensed an opening... but Whalley diverted his shot away, and Jacques Polomat then put the ball into touch in order for Curic to receive treatment.

 

Blackburn boss Asmir Begovic was relieved that his fellow Bosnian was not seriously hurt, but his team's attack was certainly in need of serious attention. Mick Beresford flicked over their best late-half chance from Retailleau's free-kick in the 36th minute. Although Rovers had dominated this match on the attacking front, the deadlock was still intact as the Play-Off Final reached its midway point.

 

"That first half was a hard one, lads, but I liked what I saw," I told my team in the dressing room during the interval. "Blackburn have had chances to put you on the back foot, and they haven't taken them. They'll be seething in their dressing room. They'll be on edge.

 

"Blackburn don't look like they can win this match now, but you've got every chance. If you can put them under some more pressure going forward in the second half, the odds are that they'll crack eventually. You just need to exploit any spaces they leave in their backline or their midfield. I believe you can do that. DO YOU?"

 

The roar of the Dagenham players after my speech told me all I needed to know. They really wanted to win this - perhaps, dare I say it, more than our own supporters!

 

Neither team made any changes in terms of personnel before the referee blew to kick off the second period. It was Blackburn who had the first chance to strike in the 51st minute, when left-back Retailleau's cross deflected behind off Moser. Shane Watts swung the corner in... and big Robbie MacKenzie headed it effortlessly out of the Dagenham area. Another corner soon followed, but William Barnes nodded that one away, thus beginning one of our customary counter-attacks. Blackburn struggled to clear their lines after MacKenzie had his initial effort blocked, allowing Polomat to power in another shot that Shields had to catch.

 

Shortly after that came a major boost for us, as Laurent picked up a knock after being tackled by Habu. That injury prompted Begovic to bring Bill Nolan on up front in his place. A further sign that this match was perhaps not going Blackburn's way came after 61 minutes. Referee Alex Knowles had grown tired of persistent fouling from Rovers - and particularly from Northern Ireland international Ralph, whom he issued with the game's first yellow card.

 

As our opponents threatened to implode, we kept our cool and pushed forward again on 66 minutes. Joel Honeyball squared the ball to Polomat, whose shot was palmed away by Shields. That would be Jacques' last major contribution before he was substituted in favour of Dagenham & Redbridge's club-record signing Stipo Brkic.

 

Stipo was my first substitute, and I would have to bring on a second just three minutes later. Honeyball's game was ended by a firm challenge from Rovers centre-back Jacky Besnard, and so on came our leading scorer Souleymane Nomaou.

 

Those two quick changes unsettled us somewhat, but Blackburn couldn't take advantage, with Besnard's 75th-minute header from a Retailleau corner barely troubling Whalley. About two minutes after that, Brkic picked up a Daniel O'Reilly pass in our half and dribbled with the ball all the way to the Rovers area. Once there, Stipo tried to drill the ball into the corner of the net... but he pulled it past the post. With less than 15 minutes to go, would that miss prove telling?

 

Blackburn's lack of discipline reared its head again when Beresford tackled Barnes from behind on 79 minutes. Beresford received a booking for that foul, and Will lined up a free-kick in a dangerous position. Alas, the Daggers skipper powered it against the Rovers wall.

 

Two minutes later came Blackburn's next opportunity to take the lead. Nolan drove it well off target from a ridiculous angle. The Lancastrians' self-belief seemed to have ebbed away... but ours was still intact. When Velimir Radosavljevic headed Blackburn right-back Tom Dakin's cross away from danger in the 86th minute, we steadily worked towards hitting our opponents on the break.

 

Wing-back Pearson marauded up the right flank, cut inside, and then passed the ball to MacKenzie before receiving it again from Brkic. Ross drew Retailleau out towards him in the Rovers area, leaving Stipo in a pocket of space. The youngster smartly centred the ball to the Danish attacking midfielder, who skipped past centre-back Nicky Tate and entered the six-yard box. Dagenham fans rose from their seats... and when Brkic tucked the ball past Shields, they went absolutely wild! Dagenham & Redbridge 1 Blackburn Rovers 0! Was THAT the £60million goal?

 

Mind you, Blackburn didn't give up the ghost completely after falling behind so late on. They still had just enough time to go for an equaliser. With exactly one minute of regulation time to go, Tanev teed up a piledriver from 25 yards out. That was effectively a 'Hail Mary' from the Bulgarian... but it didn't pay off, fizzing just over.

 

Then, in the second of four additional minutes, Radosavljevic clattered into Watts right on the very edge of our penalty area. The ref waved play on as Watts went down clutching his right foot. His game had been ended by an Achilles tendon injury, and it seemed that Blackburn's dream of promotion was also going to result in agony.

 

An extra couple of minutes were added on following that injury, but we battened down the hatches to make sure that Rovers couldn't break through. After Pearson took the ball upfield and whipped in a cross that was headed clear by Dakin, the ref took the whistle to his lips and blew. Believe it or not, Dagenham & Redbridge were in the PREMIER LEAGUE!!!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Brkic 86)

Blackburn Rovers - 0

Championship Play-Off Final, Attendance 87,992

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Habu, Moser, Radosavljevic, Pearson, O'Reilly, Barnes, Fraser (Hutchinson), Polomat (Brkic), MacKenzie, Honeyball (Nomaou).

 

Gabrielle was right. Dreams can come true.

 

The 2034/2035 season will see us rub shoulders with English football's biggest names on a weekly basis. Chelsea. Manchester City. Manchester United. Arsenal. West Ham United. Liverpool. Erm... Rochdale.

 

This next chapter of the Dagenham & Redbridge story is sure to be the most exciting yet!

[EvilDave]

Get in! Nervy and tense like all good play-offs, and the right result. I never had any doubts, especially not given your stellar play-off record, no sir...

Next year will be an interesting one. A busy summer ahead I suspect?

[neilhoskins77]

Wow, I'll be honest, I think I was kind of expecting the Final to be a glorious failure. Congratulations Chris, great achievement. Hopefully the Board will give you the keys to the kingdom and back you financially to keep the club in the PL, and establish them in the top flight.

[JayR2003]

Hot damn!  The little ole Daggers are going to be trotting out with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, and the Manchesters!

Great job persevering through some "less fun" times in the Championship and climbing into the PL.  I can only imagine the expansion to Victoria Road that the board has in mind this time... 

[CFuller]

5 hours ago, EvilDave said:

Get in! Nervy and tense like all good play-offs, and the right result. I never had any doubts, especially not given your stellar play-off record, no sir...

Next year will be an interesting one. A busy summer ahead I suspect?

What play-off record? I'm a post-season specialist! 

This promotion took me completely by surprise - I thought we wouldn't be ready for another 2-3 seasons. Needless to say, there are plenty of areas where we really need to strengthen before we face the big boys. There will of course be a much larger transfer budget than usual, but I'll try not to go overboard.

2 hours ago, neilhoskins77 said:

Wow, I'll be honest, I think I was kind of expecting the Final to be a glorious failure. Congratulations Chris, great achievement. Hopefully the Board will give you the keys to the kingdom and back you financially to keep the club in the PL, and establish them in the top flight.

I too was fearing a glorious failure when I played that match, so you can imagine my delight when Stipo Brkic popped up to score what proved to be the decisive goal so late on.

I'm hoping the board will give me enough funds to make us into a competitive Premier League team. We'll need plenty of the readies, as we'll be going up with one of the smallest grounds in the PL. Rochdale's is smaller, but they have the Slovakian Roman Abramovich at the helm, so I doubt they'll have any problems staying up.

7 minutes ago, JayR2003 said:

Hot damn!  The little ole Daggers are going to be trotting out with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, and the Manchesters!

Great job persevering through some "less fun" times in the Championship and climbing into the PL.  I can only imagine the expansion to Victoria Road that the board has in mind this time... 

Incredible, isn't it? Taking a club from non-league to Premier League - and a local club at that - is hands-down my greatest ever achievement in CM/FM.

I contemplated my long-term future more than once this season, let alone during our five-year stint in the Championship. Had this campaign gone particularly badly, I might well have started listening to offers from Premier League clubs. I won't be doing that now.

There won't be any further expansions to Victoria Road. At the end of last season, it was announced that we'd be moving to a new ground in time for the 2035/2036 campaign. That means our first PL season will also be our last at Victoria Road.

[CFuller]

MAY 2034 (continued)

The celebrations went on well into the weekend following Dagenham & Redbridge's shock promotion to the Premier League. There were some very sore heads at Victoria Road on Monday morning - although, as a vehement teetotaller, I was most certainly not hangover.

 

I met with chairman Neil Booth and CEO Chris Langley for my end-of-season review, which - and this perhaps went without saying - was absolutely glowing with praise. A top-half finish was the minimum we were aiming for, and the play-offs were obtainable, but promotion? Hardly anybody saw that coming.

 

One of the first things I asked Mr Booth at the meeting was about whether we would be able to play at Victoria Road next season. The ground's capacity of 12,000 fell short of the minimum of 15,000 required to stage Premier League matches.

 

Mr Booth explained that, as this coming season would be our last at Victoria Road, he'd obtained special dispensation from the PL to stay there for our first top-flight campaign. Only once the new stadium at Rainham Road had been completed (hopefully by next summer) would we move into a ground truly worthy for that level of football.

 

I also asked the chairman if we could spend some of our new millions on improving our training facilities, which were barely good enough for the Championship, let alone the Premier League. Mr Booth agreed with my reasoning, but he was reluctant to promise a new training ground until that extra money was in our bank account. I would have to be a little more patient.

 

We then attended the PFA's annual awards dinner that evening. I was delighted to see three of my players - defenders George Darvill and Velimir Radosavljevic, and midfielder Matthew Fraser - named in the PFA's Championship Team of the Year.

 

Unfortunately, there would be no major accolades coming our way at the Football League's awards night later in the week. George and Velimir missed out on the Championship Young Player of the Month award to Aston Villa's Marc Bennett, while the Player of the Month award went to Gary Harper of Crewe Alexandra.

 

We didn't come away empty-handed, mind. Martin Thompson's impressive form on loan at Millwall resulted in him being named as the League One Apprentice of the Year. Tristan Egueh won that same award for League Two, having scored 8 goals in 14 games while at our feeder club Leighton Town. I hope both those lads will play huge roles for Dagenham & Redbridge in the long term.

 

Speaking of young prospects, a number of them signed their first professional contracts with us before the off-season. Goalkeeper Courtney Gallagher, striker Peguy Kasongo, and defenders Jameel Bailey and Jefferson Moran will all be part of our reserve squad next season after agreeing terms. Toby Faithfull, who'd been in fantastic scoring form for our Under-18s, will also turn pro when he celebrates his 17th birthday at the end of July.

 

There is likely to be a high number of fringe and youth players leaving Dagenham for good this summer. That isn't necessarily because they're bad players, but rather because I can't see them making the cut in the Premier League. I will have to make some difficult and perhaps harsh decisions regarding sales, but that's what generally happens when a club grows so quickly.

 

And that brings me onto my budgets for the coming season. I've been given a whopping £17million to splash out on new players, and £170,000 per week to spend on wages. That's silly money for a little old club like us, but that's the Premier League for you - and I'm certainly not complaining about it!

 

Now it's up to me to invest that money wisely. After all, I want to keep Dagenham & Redbridge in the Premier League for good, not just for a single season...

[CFuller]

Championship Table (End of 2033/2034)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Derby                  46    32    7     7     85    36    +49   103
2.    P     Rochdale               46    26    10    10    71    48    +23   88
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Aston Villa            46    25    7     14    74    51    +23   82
4.          Sunderland             46    21    16    9     81    49    +32   79
5.    P     Dag & Red              46    22    13    11    76    50    +26   79
6.          Blackburn              46    22    10    14    73    58    +15   76
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Reading                46    22    10    14    61    52    +9    76
8.          Plymouth               46    22    8     16    78    67    +11   74
9.          Notts County           46    21    10    15    61    63    -2    73
10.         Leeds                  46    20    9     17    60    49    +11   69
11.         Crewe                  46    17    17    12    54    42    +12   68
12.         Ipswich                46    17    13    16    71    56    +15   64
13.         Coventry               46    16    13    17    48    50    -2    61
14.         Doncaster              46    16    11    19    48    61    -13   59
15.         Northampton            46    18    5     23    39    58    -19   59
16.         Sheff Utd              46    15    10    21    65    64    +1    55
17.         Luton                  46    13    13    20    42    59    -17   52
18.         Crystal Palace         46    13    12    21    48    66    -18   51
19.         Charlton               46    12    13    21    54    76    -22   49
20.         Bradford               46    10    15    21    55    73    -18   45
21.         Cardiff                46    11    12    23    56    80    -24   45
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.   R     Wrexham                46    11    10    25    54    86    -32   43
23.   R     Wigan                  46    10    13    23    52    71    -19   33 *
24.   R     Peterborough           46    10    3     33    43    84    -41   23 *

* Peterborough and Wigan deducted 10 points for entering administration

 

[CFuller]

Dagenham & Redbridge Player Statistics (2033/2034)

(Includes stats from all first-team matches & 7 Essex Senior Cup matches)

 

GOALKEEPERS               APPS    CON  CLN  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Mitch Beckett             2 (1)   4    1    0    68%  -    -    0    0    6.90
Euan Duncan               1       2    0    0    69%  -    -    0    0    6.90
Courtney Gallagher        4       1    3    0    67%  -    -    0    0    6.97
Kieran Whalley            52      48   22   1    69%  -    -    0    0    6.96
OUTFIELD PLAYERS          APPS    GLS  AST  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Anthony Agbonifo          0 (1)   0    0    0    100% -    100% 0    0    6.90
Lee Allen                 1       0    1    0    81%  -    -    0    0    7.00
Nigel Atta                4 (2)   1    3    1    83%  5.25 17%  0    0    7.26
Adrian Bailey             3 (1)   0    0    0    65%  3.12 -    1    0    6.88
Jameel Bailey             1 (3)   0    0    0    65%  1.11 100% 0    0    7.27
Arran Banton              30 (2)  1    1    0    82%  5.54 25%  5    1    7.14
William Barnes            28 (1)  2    4    0    81%  6.74 32%  7    1    7.10
Stipo Brkic               40 (10) 7    7    4    85%  4.62 40%  2    0    7.40
Zola Casey                15 (4)  0    0    1    77%  3.20 100% 2    0    6.96
Joe Charles               1 (1)   0    0    0    77%  3.33 0%   1    0    6.90
George Conlon             4       0    0    0    72%  3.65 25%  0    0    6.78
Leon Curran               11 (11) 6    3    1    78%  3.13 41%  1    0    6.94
George Darvill            43 (3)  1    1    12   77%  2.73 37%  2    0    7.81
Gavan Davies              1 (2)   0    0    0    66%  2.48 0%   0    0    7.03
Ante Djuzel               5 (2)   0    3    1    81%  5.71 0%   0    0    6.94
Tristan Egueh             5 (4)   2    1    0    74%  2.14 29%  0    0    6.90
Toby Faithfull            2 (2)   2    2    0    81%  2.80 38%  0    0    7.53
Matthew Fraser            46 (3)  10   10   5    83%  6.36 44%  3    0    7.35
Paul Habu                 5       2    1    2    59%  2.80 100% 0    0    8.22
Joel Honeyball            13 (13) 6    2    1    77%  3.05 33%  1    0    7.07
Dave Hutchinson           20 (20) 3    1    1    86%  5.45 41%  5    0    7.04
Thomas Jones              2       0    0    0    74%  1.29 -    1    0    7.40
Peguy Kasongo             2 (3)   0    0    0    60%  0.93 50%  0    0    6.54
Robbie MacKenzie          25 (9)  7    9    2    71%  2.61 48%  1    0    7.21
Marcel Mafe               2       0    0    0    79%  3.19 -    0    0    7.00
Rocco Mazzola             15 (3)  2    2    0    74%  4.15 50%  1    0    7.14
Kevin McManus             2 (2)   0    1    0    67%  2.25 -    0    0    6.82
Aaron Megson              3 (1)   1    2    0    68%  2.37 25%  3    0    7.37
Jefferson Moran           4 (1)   1    0    0    64%  3.83 -    1    0    7.22
John Moser                26 (5)  0    5    0    82%  4.20 0%   0    0    7.05
Souleymane Nomaou         37 (4)  18   8    2    73%  2.49 42%  2    0    7.17
Daniel O'Reilly           36      4    3    3    79%  6.27 48%  6    1    7.23
Ross Pearson              11 (6)  0    2    1    76%  4.10 0%   1    0    7.37
Jacques Polomat           30 (10) 15   10   2    78%  3.11 53%  0    0    7.33
Shaun Powell              7 (16)  4    3    1    68%  2.73 64%  1    0    7.03
Velimir Radosavljevic     44 (3)  3    0    8    72%  2.72 42%  0    0    7.70
Ollie Reynolds            1 (1)   0    0    0    64%  2.67 -    0    0    6.90
Craig Ridings             3 (1)   0    0    0    64%  3.30 0%   0    0    7.38
Duncan Rivers             5       0    1    1    58%  2.47 0%   1    0    7.94
Tyrone Sedgley            5 (5)   0    1    0    86%  4.52 20%  0    0    6.87
Christophe Smith          4 (2)   0    2    0    78%  2.01 17%  0    0    7.10
Tom Virgo                 29 (8)  1    1    1    88%  7.59 31%  3    0    7.14
Derek Wright              4 (4)   0    2    0    68%  3.30 21%  0    0    6.86
Lars Zandbergen           4 (3)   1    1    0    71%  2.30 60%  0    0    6.83

APPS - Appearances (Substitute apps), GLS - Goals, AST - Assists,
CON - Goals conceded, CLN - Clean sheets, MOM - Man of the Match awards,
P% - Pass completion %, TR - Tackles per 90 mins, ST - Shots on target %,
Y - Yellow cards, R - Red cards, AV RAT - Average match rating

 

[JayR2003]

2 hours ago, CFuller said:

And that brings me onto my budgets for the coming season. I've been given a whopping £17million to splash out on new players, and £170,000 per week to spend on wages. That's silly money for a little old club like us, but that's the Premier League for you - and I'm certainly not complaining about it!

That is serious money.  For me, finding the right ways to spend that is generally the hardest since I have a tendency to get spend-happy.  Hope you get those pieces that let you avoid final day worrying, much less resigned tears on the final day.

The good news is that you have been building a core group for some time and those players should form the core in the PL even if they aren't the most talented guys on the pitch.  But that continuity can't be overstated when it comes to making the big PL jump.

[CFuller]

14 hours ago, JayR2003 said:

That is serious money.  For me, finding the right ways to spend that is generally the hardest since I have a tendency to get spend-happy.  Hope you get those pieces that let you avoid final day worrying, much less resigned tears on the final day.

The good news is that you have been building a core group for some time and those players should form the core in the PL even if they aren't the most talented guys on the pitch.  But that continuity can't be overstated when it comes to making the big PL jump.

I'm very conservative when it comes to transfers in FM. I won't spend big money on a player unless I am very confident that he will greatly improve the team.

We've got a good team here at Dagenham, and most of the players who won us promotion will be sticking around for at least one season in the Premier League.

[CFuller]

JUNE 2034

Dagenham & Redbridge's best XI for 2033/2034, as voted for by the club's fans, caused a couple of surprises. Kieran Whalley, John Moser, George Darvill, Velimir Radosavljevic, Daniel O'Reilly, Matthew Fraser, William Barnes, Dave Hutchinson, Stipo Brkic, Jacques Polomat and Robbie MacKenzie were all named in the starting XI. However, regular starter Tom Virgo and leading scorer Souleymane Nomaou both missed out.

 

I was also a little surprised to see Velimir Radosavljevic win the Dagenham & Redbridge Fans' Player of the Year award at the expense of his centre-back partner George Darvill. The voting was exceedingly close between those two outstanding young defenders.

 

Most of those Championship play-off winners would be sticking around for our maiden Premier League voyage. Of course, though, I would have to bring in some fresh blood if we were to have any realistic chance of staying up.

 

One of my earliest summer signings was that of a Danish wonderkid who will hopefully be a key part of our long-term future. At the tender age of 15, FC Copenhagen striker Jonas Kjaerulff had already been capped by Denmark's Under-19s and was being courted by several of Europe's biggest clubs.

 

Ajax, Manchester City and Sampdoria all wanted to snap up Kjaerulff... but we offered attractive enough terms to persuade him to join us. Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled. Jonas is already a very clinical finisher for someone so young, and if he can live up to the hype at Dagenham, he could become a real bargain!

 

At £550,000, Kjaerulff cost more than our previous record purchase - his fellow countryman Stipo Brkic. He wasn't our most expensive summer signing, though.

 

I added some extra experience to our midfield by securing the services of Rangers' defensive midfielder Seb Brennan for £1.5million. The 25-year-old Londoner played in 150 league games for his local club Charlton Athletic before moving north of the border two years ago. He was noted for his work ethic and consistency - two qualities which I felt would come in very handy during our first top-flight season.

 

Seb was our first million-pound signing... but he wasn't our most expensive signing this summer.

 

My number one target for the off-season was a new right-back, and I reckon I've found a real doozy in Albert Khumalo. The 21-year-old South African cost us £3million from Sloga Kraljevo, who'd barely avoided relegation from the Serbian SuperLiga, but that doesn't quite tell the whole story.

 

What I really like about Albert is that he's powerful, he has excellent defensive qualities, and he can also fill in at centre-half if required. He had also, at his tender age, won six senior caps for South Africa at the time of his signing. A number of big-name observers noted that we might have made a very shrewd move for someone who could potentially become one of the world's leading players in his position.

 

After officially completing his move to Victoria Road, Khumalo jetted off to Argentina to link up with his international colleagues at the 2034 FIFA World Cup. He would become the first Dagenham & Redbridge player ever to take part in a World Cup.

 

Our transfer record looked like being smashed yet again a fortnight later, when I agreed a £3.9million fee with Crotone for their 24-year-old striker Ivan Fuller. And no, I didn't put in an offer for him just because we shared a surname!

 

At first, I thought that Ivan would be just the striker we needed to help establish ourselves in the PL. He'd scored 10 league goals in the season just gone for Crotone, who were unfortunate to be relegated from Serie A. He was also a fully-fledged Canada international, and he - like Albert - was currently in Argentina representing his country at the World Cup.

 

Personal terms were agreed with Fuller's representative and we simply had to send off the paperwork to the authorities to ratify the transfer. However, I pulled out of the deal at the very last moment, citing concerns about the player's technical abilities in relation to his transfer fee. Crotone were furious, but I didn't want to pay such big money for a player unless I was fully confident that he would live up to the price tag.

 

There were a couple more additions to the Daggers squad before pre-season. I spent much of June looking for a new goalkeeper to challenge Kieran Whalley in the PL. I was very interested in bringing my Norway international goalie Kim André Gasland to Victoria Road, but the Sunderland keeper turned my contract offer down and instead agreed a move to Rangers.

 

A few more potential deals for goalkeepers fell through before I turned back to Norway, and to the defending Eliteserien champions Fredrikstad. Their 23-year-old custodian Mariusz Tylak fitted the bill for me - he was dependable, inexpensive, willing to accept a backup role, and he had a fairly professional personality.

 

Tylak would cost me an initial £550,000, with an extra £250,000 due to be paid to Fredrikstad after he makes 10 international appearances for Poland. He won his first cap at the start of the month against the United Arab Emirates and surely has it in him to become the Bialo-czerwoni's long-term number 1.

 

Another inexpensive signing was 28-year-old centre-half Hamzah Jaafar. In fact, he was a free transfer, arriving from Austrian Bundesliga club Rapid Wien on a 12-month contract.

 

Jaafar is quite a cosmopolitan character, having been born in Germany to an Austrian mother and a Lebanese father. He made his Austria international debut in 2029 and has since won 35 caps for the Burschen. With his excellent positional awareness and his immense physical strength, it's not hard to understand why.

 

As of the end of June, our total transfer outlay stood at a shade under £9million. Of course, some existing players would have to be sold to make way for the new recruits.

 

Centre-back Zola Casey had effectively been made redundant following the arrivals of Khumalo and Jaafar. The 22-year-old American would still be going up to the Premier League, but with Championship champions Derby County, whom he had joined for £1.8million.

 

Tyrone Sedgley also left the Daggers permanently after signing for Aberdeen for £200,000. The teenage midfielder would probably have stayed had we not won promotion, but he must now try to realise his potential back home in Scotland. I wish him all the best.

 

Leon Curran's stay at Dagenham & Redbridge ended after a single season, as the Antiguan forward moved to Coventry City on a free transfer. Another Daggers striker will be continuing his career elsewhere after young reserve Ollie Reynolds signed for Bristol City in League Two.

 

Forward Aaron Megson completed his loan stint at our Irish feeder club Salthill Devon, only to learn that he wouldn't be receiving a new contract with the Daggers. He was released, along with goalkeeper Mitch Beckett and youth midfielder Gavan Davies.

 

A host of loanees returned to the Daggers, including our other two Salthill players - Kevin McManus and Jefferson Moran. Striker Derek Wright struggled to find any consistency with League One side Portsmouth, while midfielder Martin Thompson fared significantly better at Millwall in the same division.

 

There was also new contracts galore for some of our players, particularly those younger ones who were just on the fringes of the first-team. Ante Djuzel, Dave Hutchinson, Rocco Mazzola, Ross Pearson and Shaun Powell all signed fresh long-term deals, while I opened discussions with Velimir Radosavljevic about extending his stay with us.

 

As far as the Dagenham backroom was concerned, there were three new additions to my coaching staff. The first of them was a specialist goalkeeping coach for the Under-18s side - 38-year-old Tunde Shoretire.

 

The senior team would also get a new goalkeeping coach in Andy Lonergan, who moved to Dagenham after 17 years working for Bolton Wanderers. Someone else who moved south to join our set-up was fitness coach Andy Boles - a 47-year-old Scotsman who spent over two decades in that capacity at Middlesbrough.

 

Meanwhile, we excitedly received our first ever Premier League fixture list. Club history would be made on 19 August 2034, when we would stage our maiden top-flight match at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

 

A week later, we would travel to fellow promoted side Rochdale for our opening away game. Rochdale had just signed our former striking sensation Mario Tortora from Burnley - for a staggering £8.5million! We received a quarter of that transfer fee, which worked out at around £2.125million. Nice stuff.

 

My personal highlights for the 2034/2035 season were likely to be our matches against my boyhood club Arsenal. We would host the Gunners for the first time on 16 December before travelling to the Emirates Stadium on 28 April.

 

As for our final ever match at Victoria Road, that would take place on the last day of the season - 19 May - with the mighty Manchester City helping to close our historic ground. That will surely be an emotional finale to an unforgettable campaign for the Daggers.

[CFuller]

Dagenham & Redbridge's classes of 2024 and 2029: Where are they now?

Dagenham & Redbridge's promotion from the Championship coincides with the five-year anniversary of what was previously our proudest moment. Back in the 2028/2029 season, we were crowned champions of League One, thus earning our first ever promotion to the second tier of English football. Half a decade on, what's happened to our heroes from back then?

 

2029 Fans' Team of the Year

Daryl Ryan (Goalkeeper, Daggers 2023-2033) - Daryl made 224 league appearances in his decade-long loan spell at Victoria Road. He moved to Dundee United last summer and has barely played for the Terrors, though he remains the Republic of Ireland's first-choice goalkeeper, with 23 caps to his name.

Tim Beech (Defender, Daggers 2021-2029) - Tim was the last remaining player from my original Daggers squad and was a mainstay at right-back during our rise up the leagues. He's since spent three years at St Mirren and two at Grimsby Town but has now signed for Cambridge United in League One.

Josh Charles (Defender, Daggers 2026-2032) - Burly Brummie centre-back Josh was consistently brilliant for the Daggers, making close to 200 league appearances before his departure two years ago. Since then, he has struggled to recapture his best form for Mansfield Town, who finished 22nd in League Two this term.

Gavin Dalton (Defender, Daggers 2025-2030) - Gavin spent one season with us in the Championship before we sold him to Huddersfield Town for a club-record £3.5million. Sadly, he's made a mere seven Premier League appearances for the Terriers in four years and, at the still-young age of 29, is already a shadow of his former self.

Matt Warren (Defender, Daggers 2025-2031) - Veteran left-back Matt was noted for his model professionalism during his six-year tenure with the Daggers. He went on to conclude his playing career with a brief spell at St Mirren before joining the coaching staff at Hull City in 2032.

Geraint Harding (Midfielder, Daggers 2024-2030) - From that winning penalty in the FA Trophy Final to his final season with us in the Championship, Geraint always gave his all for the Daggers. The Wales midfielder moved to Wycombe Wanderers in 2030 but now plies his trade at League One mid-tablers York City.

William Barnes (Midfielder, Daggers 2027-present) - Although he has a bit of a competitive streak, Will is a fabulous and versatile midfielder who deserves to lead us into the Premier League. The ex-Southampton trainee has played in 218 league games for the Daggers and will surely feature in many more to come.

Troy Hands (Midfielder, Daggers 2025-2029) - After four years in which he gradually scored fewer and fewer goals, Troy moved on to Chester in 2029. The midfielder/forward has spent the last two seasons at Bristol City but will begin the new term with another League Two club - Shrewsbury Town.

Victor Dam (Midfielder, Daggers 2027-2033) - Danish attacking midfielder Victor was basically a slightly lesser version of Stipo Brkic, producing goals and assists on an occasional basis. He was sold to FC Copenhagen last year but is only really used as a backup option by the recently-deposed Danish champions.

Mark West (Forward, Daggers 2025-2032) - Arguably Dagenham & Redbridge's greatest player ever, Mark scored a record 131 goals in 261 league matches before his retirement. He's spent the last two years out of the professional game but recently agreed to join Peterborough United as their Director of Football.

Max Hicks (Forward, Daggers 2028-2030) - Max was a lethal goalscorer in his first season at Victoria Road but blew rather colder after we went up into the Championship. He went on to wind down his career at Aberdeen and later at Notts County, where he is now a first-team coach.

 

Other notable players

Dean Martin (Midfielder, 2024-2033) - Former stalwart midfielder Dean has just been relegated from the Scottish Premier League with Heart of Midlothian and is now looking for a move elsewhere.

Benjamin Ashton (Defender, 2028-2029) - Ex-Daggers loanee Benjamin finally established himself as a regular centre-back at Southampton this term after several years on the fringes.

Daniel O'Reilly (Defender, 2026-present) - One of our most loyal servants, left-back Daniel will continue to fight for his place in the Dagenham team as we move up to the top flight.

Ollie Pert (Forward, 2027-2030) - Target man Ollie showed great promise during his first season with Derby County in 2030/2031 but has hardly been used by his current club Sheffield United.

Alex Busetto (Defender, 2027-2032) - Alex was a semi-regular in the Dagenham defence before being sold to AlbinoLeffe, for whom he played 38 times last season in Serie B.

Matthew Fraser (Midfielder, 2026-present) - Matthew has always been a solid midfield presence for us but he really kicked on this season, notching up 10 goals and 10 assists in all competitions!

Marvin Green (Midfielder, 2028-2032) - Left-winger Marvin had a decent first term at SPL side Dunfermline Athletic before notching up an impressive 10 assists in the season just gone.

 

Handily enough, it is also exactly 10 years since our rise began with that unforgettable non-league double. What has become of the Dagenham & Redbridge team that won the Conference Premier and the FA Trophy in the 2023/2034 season?

 

2024 Fans' Team of the Year

Robbie Ryder (Goalkeeper, Daggers 2022-2027) - Robbie kept goal and occasionally wore the captain's armband for the best part of five years at Victoria Road. He then went on to play for Kingstonian and non-league Welling United before he hung up his gloves this summer at the age of 36.

Tim Beech (Defender, Daggers 2021-2029) - See above.

Aaron McEwan (Defender, Daggers 2023-2026) - Our skipper for our first two seasons back in the Football League, Aaron epitomised our never-say-die spirit early in my reign. He ended his professional playing career at Forfar Athletic in 2029 before returning to Dagenham as our Under-18s' assistant manager.

Wayne Coton (Defender, Daggers 2023-2028) - Wayne is still extremely popular amongst Daggers fans, six years on from his sale to Wrexham. The consistent centre-back played at the Racecourse Ground for three years before moving on to League Two club Yeovil Town, where he remains to his day.

Ben Purrington (Defender, Daggers 2023-2025) - Left-back Ben embarked on a management career after his short but unhappy stint at Victoria Road. He coached four different southern non-league clubs and then moved to Northern Ireland earlier this year, guiding Coagh United into the IFA Premiership.

Mitchell Clark (Midfielder, Daggers 2020-2027) - After leaving us in 2027, unsung midfield hero Mitchell went on to play in League Two for Macclesfield Town and Walsall. He now turns out for Forfar, and won the Scottish Division 3 championship with them this season.

James Dunne (Midfielder, Daggers 2023-2025) - James has been an Under-18s coach since ending his playing career with us. Following stints at Boreham Wood and then Bolton Wanderers, he was brought back to Victoria Road to join our youth set-up last summer.

Bradley Dack (Midfielder, Daggers 2021-2024) - Bradley took his long-range shooting to Ebbsfleet United after we won the Conference Premier. He stayed with the Kent side for three years before retiring, and he now has a career outside of professional football.

Jonathan Roche (Midfielder, Daggers 2023-2030) - Republic of Ireland international Jonathan blew hot and cold while he was with us in the Conference Premier, League Two and League One. The right-winger returned to his homeland in 2031 and has now won three consecutive League of Ireland titles with Shamrock Rovers.

Yasser Ibrahim (Midfielder, Daggers 2022-2028) - Egyptian enigma Yasser's career went down as soon as he left Victoria Road for the first time. After brief stints at Leyton Orient and Ashford Town (Middlesex), the inside forward retired from football at the relatively young age of 32.

Jamie Bell (Forward, Daggers 2022-2025) - Jamie scored 50 goals in 112 games for the Daggers and could easily have enjoyed further success elsewhere. However, he fell out of love with the game while at Scunthorpe United and now works as a teacher in his hometown of Nottingham.

 

Other notable players

Thomas Tierney (Defender, Daggers 2023-2027) - American-born Thomas is a regular at centre-back for Fleetwood Town and has one cap for the Republic of Ireland, though that was against the Faroe Islands six years ago.

Stuart Gould (Forward, Daggers 2023-2024) - Stuart took his scoring talents to Kidderminster Harriers, bagging 91 goals in eight seasons with them prior to his retirement in 2032.

George Green (Midfielder, Daggers 2023-2024) - Loanee midfielder George went on to spend several years in non-league football, finishing his career at Tiverton Town in the season before this one.

Rikki Scarlett (Midfielder, Daggers 2023-2024) - After becoming a regular at Walsall, right-winger Rikki has turned into a bit of a club-hopper, ending up at Kilmarnock in Scottish Division 1.

Michael King (Midfielder, Daggers 2023-2024) - A bit-part player during our double-winning season, Michael now lives and works in Australia, having spent several years in south-east Asia.

Lee Finnie (Forward, Daggers 2022-2024) - Lee's post-Daggers career took him to four different clubs, including Leyton Orient and Macclesfield, before he retired four years ago.

Louis Jack (Defender, Daggers 2023-2026) - Scottish right-back Louis drifted out of football a few years back and is currently serving a prison sentence for assaulting a police officer.

[CFuller]

Romford watch: 2033/2034

Romford narrowly missed out on the Conference South play-offs last season on goal difference. Could manager Dominic Shimmin make amends this season and guide the Boro into the Conference Premier?

 

Conference South: 3rd (Won Play-Off Final, Promoted)

Romford made a solid start, winning 2-1 away to Chelmsford City before eking out a goalless home draw against Hitchin Town. Then they exploded into life. A fantastic eight-match winning streak, including a comfortable 3-0 victory over Boreham Wood, sent the Boro well clear at the top of the Conference Premier. Although their unbeaten run then ended with defeat at Wealdstone in late September, they returned to form in October and continued to set the pace.

 

Romford suffered some jitters in December, when they won just one of their six league matches. That run included a 4-1 home loss to Maidstone United, who would emerge as their main contenders for automatic promotion. After that blip, the Boro went 12 matches - and nearly three months - without losing. They were drawing far more often than winning, though, and Maidstone were closing in on them.

 

After Romford effectively wrapped up a play-off place in March, the wheels came off their automatic promotion wagon. They surrendered top spot to Maidstone after having two players sent off in a 4-0 thrashing at the Gallagher Stadium. The Stones went on to win the Conference South title, while Romford slumped to 3rd behind Woking after failing to win any of their last five games.

 

Romford took on 4th-placed Milton Keynes Dons in the Play-Off Semi Final. The first leg went rather well for the Boro, as Gareth Coe and recent signing Stewart Thomson scored in a 2-0 victory at stadium:mk. The ball was well and truly in Romford's court... but then they lost their home leg by the same 2-0 scoreline. Then came a dramatic penalty shoot-out that went to the eighth round before MK right-back Graeme Atkinson crucially missed his kick. Romford won 7-6 and went through to a Final showdown with Woking at the Kingfield Stadium.

 

Experienced midfielder Harry Songhurst got Romford off to a strong start in the Final, scoring after 16 minutes. However, Woking would dominate the rest of the match, battering the Boro with shots before Stuart Maguire broke through on 62 minutes, levelling the scores at 1-1. Romford's backline, led by captain Ruben Coombes, had to hold firm to take the game to extra-time, and then to penalties.

 

Both sides converted their first seven penalties before Cards midfielder Jez Leonard screwed his team's eighth spot-kick past the post. 15-year-old Boro boy Graeme Cooper then stepped up to try and fire his team into the Conference Premier... and he did so with a sublime kick under immense pressure! Romford were going back up!

 

FA Cup: Round 1

Neither Lewes nor Harrow Borough provided much threat to Romford in their first two qualifying rounds. Things were slightly tougher against Aylesbury United, as the Boro needed a replay to beat the Southern League Premier side and qualify for Round 1 proper. Romford fancied their chances of finally getting to Round 2 against AFC Wimbledon, but it wasn't to be, as the Dons won 2-0 at Kingsmeadow.

 

FA Trophy: Round 1

Romford enjoyed a fairly comfortable 3-1 win at Whitehawk to get to Round 1. Sadly, that would be as far as the Boro got, as they put up a good fight against Conference Premier outfit Stevenage before going down 2-1.

 

Essex Senior Cup: Quarter Final

Romford cruised past Barkingside in Round 3 and overcame landlords Thurrock in Round 4 as they progressed to the Quarter Finals. Although they took Dagenham & Redbridge Reserves to extra-time, they ultimately lost 3-1 to the eventual champions.

 

Best Players

Captain Coombes was in sensational form in Romford's defence. With the assistance of his long-term centre-back partner Roger McClurg, he ensured that the Boro maintained one of the Conference South's best defensive records. Right-back and yellow card magnet David Mansell also looked good at the back, while goalkeeper Jack Dyer kept 17 clean sheets in all competitions.

 

Coe led the way in terms of goals with 17, while local teenager Anthony Langton scored 10 in his breakthrough campaign. Former professional Brewster Steele also reached double figures on the goal count in what would be his only season at Ship Lane. The top assist-maker was left-back Tom Worthington with 15, while 32-year-old former Wycombe Wanderers midfielder Songhurst also chipped in occasionally.

 

The Future

Romford are back in the Conference Premier, but now the onus will be on them to stay there. It is notoriously difficult to consolidate in the top level of non-league football, so Shimmin will have to make some very shrewd additions to his squad if the Boro aren't to end up in the Conference South yet again.

[CFuller]

2033/2034 season round-up: Part 1

Premier League

Chelsea finally broke Manchester's stranglehold on the Premier League title after enjoying a fantastic first season under new manager Lee Nicholls. Midfielder Valdivia and forwards Casca and Gianni Improta were all in sensational form under Nicholls, who became the first English manager to win the PL in its 42-year history. Finishing just behind them in 2nd place were Manchester City, who scored 93 top-flight goals, won the League Cup, and reached the UEFA Champions League in their final season at the Etihad Stadium. Italy midfielder Dario Laraia became the third City player in as many years to pick up the PFA Player of the Year award.

 

Former champions Manchester United could only muster 3rd place this time around, despite making a host of major signings in the summer. Their Salford-born striker Moses Penfold won the Golden Boot again with 27 PL goals. West Ham United secured 4th spot - and a Champions League berth - for the second season on the trot, while West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool will both return to the UEFA Europa League next season after finishing in the top six.

 

Arsenal had their worst PL season in exactly a decade, falling to 7th place, although they did win the Europa League. They also reached the FA Cup Final, losing it on penalties to 9th-placed Norwich City. The Canaries had enjoyed a solid campaign under new head coach Ange Diallo, who'd replaced Nicholls following his summer move to Stamford Bridge. Less impressive were Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers, who each failed in their attempts to return to the top half.

 

Two of last season's promoted teams went straight back down rather tamely, with neither Watford nor Stoke City finding any consistent form in the latter half of the campaign. Southampton could have joined them back in the Championship, but they eked out a 1-1 draw against Chelsea on the final day, thus sending Newcastle United down instead.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C/CL  Chelsea                38    25    9     4     90    50    +40   84
2.    CL    Man City               38    24    7     7     93    46    +47   79
3.    CL    Man Utd                38    21    11    6     75    44    +31   74
4.    CL    West Ham               38    20    8     10    67    45    +22   68
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.    EL    West Brom              38    17    10    11    66    56    +10   61
6.    EL    Liverpool              38    17    9     12    61    53    +8    60
7.          Arsenal                38    16    8     14    56    50    +6    56
8.          Everton                38    17    5     16    55    62    -7    56
9.    EL    Norwich                38    17    4     17    60    70    -10   55
10.         Nottm Forest           38    13    12    13    48    55    -7    51
11.         Tottenham              38    13    9     16    40    53    -13   48
12.         Fulham                 38    12    11    15    48    56    -8    47
13.         Wolves                 38    11    13    14    60    60    0     46
14.         Brighton               38    12    9     17    52    58    -6    45
15.         Burnley                38    12    8     18    50    60    -10   44
16.         Huddersfield           38    11    6     21    46    68    -22   39
17.         Southampton            38    10    9     19    40    66    -26   39
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.   R     Newcastle              38    11    5     22    54    69    -15   38
19.   R     Stoke                  38    10    4     24    42    69    -27   34
20.   R     Watford                38    7     11    20    46    59    -13   32

 

Championship

For the third time in five seasons, yo-yo club Derby County stormed to the Championship title, racking up a very impressive 103 points in the process. They and Rochdale had been well clear at the top for some time, and although Dale faltered late on, the tycoon-backed club eventually secured back-to-back promotions.

 

Rochdale were about to enter the Premier League for the first time, and they would be joined by another newcomer from the play-offs. After overcoming Sunderland in the Semi Finals, Dagenham & Redbridge faced Aston Villa's conquerors Blackburn Rovers at Wembley. A tense encounter ended with an 86th-minute winner from Danish midfielder Stipo Brkic, who earned the Daggers their first crack at the top flight!

 

Sunderland's Andrew McCarthy topped the Championship scoring charts with 32 goals. Sheffield United's Aaron Byrne and Plymouth Argyle's Eddie Hughes were joint-second with 26 apiece, but neither of their sides made the top six. Meanwhile, Coventry City finished a fairly respectable 13th on their return to the second tier.

 

Peterborough United and Wigan Athletic were each beset by financial crises and were relegated without much resistance. Peterborough looked particularly out of sorts, losing 33 of their 46 games. Wrexham also dropped into League One, with Welsh rivals Cardiff City and Yorkshire outfit Bradford City narrowly surviving.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Derby                  46    32    7     7     85    36    +49   103
2.    P     Rochdale               46    26    10    10    71    48    +23   88
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Aston Villa            46    25    7     14    74    51    +23   82
4.          Sunderland             46    21    16    9     81    49    +32   79
5.    P     Dag & Red              46    22    13    11    76    50    +26   79
6.          Blackburn              46    22    10    14    73    58    +15   76
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Reading                46    22    10    14    61    52    +9    76
8.          Plymouth               46    22    8     16    78    67    +11   74
9.          Notts County           46    21    10    15    61    63    -2    73
10.         Leeds                  46    20    9     17    60    49    +11   69
11.         Crewe                  46    17    17    12    54    42    +12   68
12.         Ipswich                46    17    13    16    71    56    +15   64
13.         Coventry               46    16    13    17    48    50    -2    61
14.         Doncaster              46    16    11    19    48    61    -13   59
15.         Northampton            46    18    5     23    39    58    -19   59
16.         Sheff Utd              46    15    10    21    65    64    +1    55
17.         Luton                  46    13    13    20    42    59    -17   52
18.         Crystal Palace         46    13    12    21    48    66    -18   51
19.         Charlton               46    12    13    21    54    76    -22   49
20.         Bradford               46    10    15    21    55    73    -18   45
21.         Cardiff                46    11    12    23    56    80    -24   45
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.   R     Wrexham                46    11    10    25    54    86    -32   43
23.   R     Wigan                  46    10    13    23    52    71    -19   33 *
24.   R     Peterborough           46    10    3     33    43    84    -41   23 *

* Peterborough and Wigan deducted 10 points for entering administration

 

League One

Sheffield Wednesday went top of League One in October and stayed there, finishing the season on an incredible run of 16 consecutive matches undefeated. Oxford United also won automatic promotion, with 33 goals from Reis Collins powering them back into the second division after an absence of 35 seasons.

 

Dartford and Chesterfield were the favourites heading into the Play-Off Semi Finals, but they surprisingly lost to Stockport County and Kidderminster Harriers respectively. Goals from Scottish midfielders Zander Harper and Stuart Ferguson would make the difference at Wembley as Stockport won 2-0 to end their own Championship exile!

 

League One stalwarts Scunthorpe United finished bottom of the table and suffered relegation alongside Cheltenham Town, Shrewsbury Town and Barnsley. The latter will shortly be tasting life in the lowest level of the Football League for the first time since 1979.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Sheff Wed              46    27    12    7     71    48    +23   93
2.    P     Oxford                 46    22    9     15    86    57    +29   75
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Dartford               46    21    12    13    73    56    +17   75
4.          Chesterfield           46    21    10    15    78    60    +18   73
5.          Kidderminster          46    19    14    13    61    56    +5    71
6.    P     Stockport              46    20    10    16    65    51    +14   70
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Wycombe                46    19    12    15    51    47    +4    69
8.          Exeter                 46    21    5     20    62    58    +4    68
9.          Bolton                 46    17    16    13    66    60    +6    67
10.         Swansea                46    19    9     18    65    59    +6    66
11.         AFC Telford            46    16    17    13    57    53    +4    65
12.         Oldham                 46    16    15    15    51    53    -2    63
13.         Portsmouth             46    17    10    19    54    63    -9    61
14.         Leicester              46    15    14    17    58    58    0     59
15.         York                   46    15    14    17    51    54    -3    59
16.         Millwall               46    16    11    19    50    57    -7    59
17.         Hull                   46    13    17    16    49    58    -9    56
18.         Bournemouth            46    14    13    19    55    65    -10   55
19.         Middlesbrough          46    13    15    18    53    63    -10   54
20.         Colchester             46    13    13    20    44    53    -9    52
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Barnsley               46    12    15    19    44    58    -14   51
22.   R     Shrewsbury             46    11    17    18    53    67    -14   50
23.   R     Cheltenham             46    12    13    21    52    68    -16   49
24.   R     Scunthorpe             46    12    9     25    48    75    -27   45

 

League Two

After relegation ended their meteoric rise from obscurity last season, Corby Town swiftly made amends by returning to League One at the first time of asking. Corby won the League Two title just ahead of Cambridge United and Birmingham City, both of whom also went back up after just a single season away.

 

Oil-rich Leighton Town fell short in the Play-Off Semi Final against Rotherham United, while Kingstonian were conquered by Bristol Rovers. The Pirates would plunder their way to victory again in the Final, twice coming from behind against Rotherham in a 2-2 draw before winning 5-4 on penalties.

 

There would be no season of consolidation for Conference Premier promotees Hartlepool United or Southend United. Both of them - Southend especially - lacked the goalscoring firepower required to avoid relegation back into non-league football.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Corby                  46    21    12    13    70    51    +19   75
2.    P     Cambridge              46    20    13    13    70    56    +14   73
3.    P     Birmingham             46    19    14    13    65    50    +15   71
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.          Leighton               46    19    13    14    74    60    +14   70
5.          Kingstonian            46    18    16    12    58    48    +10   70
6.    P     Bristol Rovers         46    18    15    13    54    51    +3    69
7.          Rotherham              46    20    8     18    67    59    +8    68
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.          Morecambe              46    18    14    14    48    48    0     68
9.          QPR                    46    17    16    13    51    44    +7    67
10.         AFC Wimbledon          46    18    12    16    63    53    +10   66
11.         Fleetwood              46    19    9     18    61    53    +8    66
12.         Chester                46    16    18    12    54    54    0     66
13.         Bristol City           46    17    15    14    51    51    0     66
14.         Hereford               46    16    16    14    72    62    +10   64
15.         Aldershot              46    16    14    16    60    57    +3    62
16.         Grimsby                46    16    14    16    60    65    -5    62
17.         Forest Green           46    14    17    15    41    49    -8    59
18.         Yeovil                 46    14    14    18    46    55    -9    56
19.         Gillingham             46    13    16    17    41    44    -3    55
20.         Walsall                46    12    15    19    53    62    -9    51
21.         Port Vale              46    10    18    18    42    64    -22   48
22.         Mansfield              46    12    12    22    49    72    -23   48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23.   R     Hartlepool             46    10    14    22    43    66    -23   44
24.   R     Southend               46    9     15    22    37    56    -19   42

 

Conference Premier

After 11 seasons out, Preston North End are back in League Two. The Lilywhites won 13 matches in a row early on and never looked back as they sprinted to victory in the Conference Premier title race.

 

Ashford Town (Middlesex) and Southport contested the Play-Off Final following comfortable victories over Darlington and FC Halifax Town. It was the Middlesex side who prevailed at Wembley, with a 24th-minute goal from Mark Kerr (no, not that one) enough to send Ashford into the Football League for the very first time.

 

Canvey Island performed dreadfully, scoring just 26 goals as they finished rock bottom. Fellow relegated sides Macclesfield Town, Altrincham and Matlock Town will all be sent down to the Conference North next term.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Preston                46    28    9     9     69    34    +35   93
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.          FC Halifax             46    27    8     11    85    49    +36   89
3.          Darlington             46    25    9     12    71    54    +17   84
4.    P     Ashford Town           46    23    10    13    71    54    +17   79
5.          Southport              46    22    10    14    68    51    +17   76
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Swindon                46    20    14    12    57    46    +11   74
7.          Tranmere               46    20    11    15    49    42    +7    71
8.          Gateshead              46    19    12    15    65    56    +9    69
9.          Stevenage              46    18    11    17    58    55    +3    65
10.         Blackpool              46    17    13    16    67    52    +15   64
11.         Lincoln                46    17    12    17    61    62    -1    63
12.         Bromley                46    16    14    16    57    58    -1    62
13.         Harrogate              46    15    14    17    55    58    -3    59
14.         Eastbourne Boro        46    15    13    18    52    54    -2    58
15.         St Albans              46    16    10    20    47    52    -5    58
16.         Barnet                 46    14    15    17    50    59    -9    57
17.         Barrow                 46    12    20    14    52    51    +1    56
18.         Leyton Orient          46    14    14    18    44    48    -4    56
19.         Ebbsfleet              46    13    14    19    44    59    -15   53
20.         Crawley                46    13    12    21    41    67    -26   51
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Matlock                46    12    14    20    48    64    -16   50
22.   R     Altrincham             46    11    15    20    47    68    -21   48
23.   R     Macclesfield           46    11    11    24    44    66    -22   44
24.   R     Canvey Island          46    7     9     30    26    69    -43   30

 

Conference North

Promoted: Bury (1st, 88 pts), Mossley (3rd, 69 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Burton Albion (2nd, 73 pts), Carlisle United (4th, 69 pts), Marine (5th, 68 pts).

Relegated: Stalybridge Celtic (20th, 45 pts), Frickley Athletic (21st, 44 pts), Rushall Olympic (22nd, 43 pts).

 

Conference South

Promoted: Maidstone United (1st, 78 pts), Romford (3rd, 73 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Woking (2nd, 74 pts), Milton Keynes Dons (4th, 70 pts), Brentford (5th, 67 pts).

Relegated: Wealdstone (20th, 44 pts), Boreham Wood (21st, 44 pts), Maidenhead United (22nd, 41 pts).

 

Regional Premier Divisions

Promoted from Northern Premier League Premier: Worksop Town (1st), Hednesford Town (5th).

Promoted from Isthmian League Premier: Sutton United (1st), Royston Town (5th).

Promoted from Southern League Premier: Slough Town (1st), Poole Town (3rd).

[CFuller]

2033/2034 season round-up: Part 2

Major Transfers

• Arsenal's big summer signing was 22-year-old Brazil centre-back Álvaro José, who arrived from Atlético Madrid for £29million. He immediately established himself in the heart of the Gunners' defence and helped his new charges to glory in the UEFA Europa League.
• Manchester United had a significant £76million outlay on new players as they aimed to retain the Premier League title. England right-winger Marcus Cowley played just three times following his £22million signing from Fulham, but Danish centre-back Steffen Stampe was a more effective purchase at £17.5million from Chelsea. However, United would find the PL much tougher going without Spain striker Mario, who scored 35 goals in all competitions for new club Paris Saint-Germain following his Bosman free transfer.
• Chelsea showed that they could still spend with the big boys by forking out £87million over the summer. New strikers Glyn Mitter and Gianni Improta scored 37 PL goals between them and fired the Blues to the title after their transfers from West Bromwich Albion and Empoli. Chelsea also recouped £50million from the sales of forward Bojan Abramovic to Juventus, winger Ernest Serge to Barcelona, and of course Stampe.
• 30-year-old Argentina midfielder Marco Batalla arrived at Manchester City to great fanfare after joining from Serie A side Spezia for £14.5million. However, he could not establish himself in the City side, making just 11 league appearances during his first season in England. The Citizens also recruited another midfielder for the same price as Batalla, taking ex-Newcastle United star Peter Jakubicka from Juventus.
• Serge was not the only player that Barcelona signed from English football this season. They also recruited Fulham's defensive midfielder Damien Leroux from Fulham for £18.25million in July, while Wolverhampton Wanderers centre-back Sabri Ozturk arrived in January for £19million.
• Juventus twice raided PSV for midfielders as part of a spending spree that eventually stretched beyond £100million. Deep-lying Brazilian playmaker Júnior arrived at Juve for £27million in July, and the more attacking German youngster Joachim Schwarz was signed for £17.75million six months later.

 

Managerial Movements

• Wolverhampton Wanderers fired Paul Clement in late October after exactly 11 months in charge. Vladimir Weiss was surprisingly lured from Tottenham Hotspur to take over at Molineux from Clement, who would replace the sacked Sergey Mustafin at Huddersfield Town in the New Year. Relegation-threatened Spurs subsequently turned to former Sunderland boss Thomas O'Brien, who would guide them away from danger but not back into a European qualification place.
• Despite his previous failures at Wolves and Huddersfield, Mustafin somehow managed to blag another top Premier League job, replacing Joris Mathijsen at Liverpool shortly after Christmas. Mathijsen would also quickly bounce back into the top flight with Fulham, who'd just dispensed with yet another managerial toy in Ashley Westwood. The lack of imagination of some Premier League chairmen when it comes to appointing new coaches is truly astonishing at times...
• Robbie Simpson's three-year break from management ended when Brighton & Hove Albion brought him in to succeed Zema Abbey in December. Shortly after that, West Bromwich Albion parted company with Jack Rodwell. Ross Barkley then fled Championship side Wigan Athletic's sinking ship to take the Baggies up to 5th place, and back into the UEFA Europa League.
• All three relegated teams parted with their managers following the end of the PL season. Malky Mackay abandoned Watford to take charge of his beloved Celtic after they sacked Gary Rowett, who would later replace Matt Lowton at Stoke City. As for Thomas O'Ware, he was dismissed by Newcastle United... and swiftly hired by Arsenal, whose Swiss manager Ciriaco Sforza announced his retirement.
• One of the smartest coaching changes was made by Valencia. They axed Petr Bystrov in early February, when they sat 8th in La Liga. Former Montenegro goalkeeper Vlado Giljen left Sporting CP and inspired 'Los Ches' to mount a surprise title challenge, though they would ultimately fall short and finish 4th.
• Slaven Bilic's retirement prompted Bayern Munich to grab Lewis Holtby from Schalke 04 ahead of the new Bundesliga season. Ex-Tottenham midfielder Holtby retained the title in his first term at Bayern, while Schalke went through two different replacements - Miralem Sulejmani and Matthias Henn - and came 7th.

 

Other Major Stories

• History was made in Athens, where Lyon secured their first UEFA Champions League title. Despite finishing a distant 2nd behind Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, Lyon were crowned European champions after first-half goals from Víctor Manuel García and Peter Adamec gave them a 2-0 win over Manchester City.
• Real Betis achieved the league and cup double in Spain - a feat matched in Germany by Bayern Munich. Bayern won the DFB-Pokal Final 3-1 against city rivals 1860 Munich, who finished 13th in the 2. Bundesliga and had the much-travelled Henning Berg at the helm.
• Normal service resumed in Serie A, where Juventus regained the scudetto, despite being pushed fairly close late on by AC Milan. Juve couldn't quite claim a European title, though, as they suffered defeat in the UEFA Europa League Final. Porto continued their dominance of Portugal's Primeira Liga with a fourth straight title, while Anji Ramenskoye wrestled the Russian Premier League crown back from Kuban Krasnodar.
• Edinburgh's big two had very different seasons in the Scottish Premier League. While a late-season surge saw Hibernian keep hold of the SPL trophy, Heart of Midlothian suffered the ignominy of relegation from the top flight for the first time in over half a century. Replacing them are Division 1 champions Aberdeen, who have been coached for the last four years by a certain Sir Sean Dyche.
• Two-time Champions League winner Neil Lennon announced his retirement as Barcelona manager shortly before his 63rd birthday, having enjoyed an illustrious career in European football. Chelsea's Mexican goalkeeper Valentín Castillo retired on a winning note aged 38, while Monaco hotshot Moussa Kari and former Manchester City favourite Glauco Dotto also wrapped up their careers.
• Czech striker Ludek Novak had an unforgettable season that began with him joining Wolves from Rangers for £800,000 on the day after his 16th birthday. He then became the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history in January, striking Wolves' second goal in a 3-2 away defeat to Chelsea when he was aged 16 years and 180 days.

 

Cup Winners

FA Cup: Norwich City 1-1 Arsenal (5-3 penalties).

League Cup: Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal.

Community Shield: Manchester United 4-3 Arsenal.

Football League Trophy: Bolton Wanderers 3-0 Oxford United.

 

UEFA Champions League: Lyon 2-0 Manchester City - at OAKA Spyros Louis, Athens.

UEFA Europa League: Arsenal 2-1 Juventus - at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne.

UEFA Super Cup: Porto 3-0 Chelsea - at Estádio Cidade de Coimbra, Coimbra.

FIFA Club World Championship: Porto 1-0 Cruzeiro - at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul.

 

Major European Leagues

Dutch Eredivisie: PSV (1st), Ajax (2nd), FC Utrecht (3rd).

French Ligue 1: Paris Saint-Germain (1st), Lyon (2nd), Monaco (3rd).

German Bundesliga: Bayern Munich (1st), Bayer Leverkusen (2nd), Borussia Dortmund (3rd).

Italian Serie A: Juventus (1st), AC Milan (2nd), Empoli (3rd).

Portuguese Primeira Liga: Porto (1st), Benfica (2nd), Sporting CP (3rd).

Russian Premier League: Anji Ramenskoye (1st), Kuban Krasnodar (2nd), Alania Vladikavkaz (3rd).

Scottish Premier League: Hibernian (1st), Rangers (2nd), Motherwell (3rd).

Spanish La Liga: Real Betis (1st), Real Madrid (2nd), Barcelona (3rd).

 

Award Winners

PFA Player of the Year: Dario Laraia (Manchester City).

PFA Young Player of the Year: Ben Clarke (West Ham United).

FWA Footballer of the Year: Clive Johnson (Arsenal).

Premier League Manager of the Season: Lee Nicholls (Chelsea).

PFA Premier League Team of the Year:

• Carl Baker (Manchester United and Wales)
• Romaric Mawéné (Arsenal and England)
• José Luis (Manchester United and Spain)
• Emerson (Manchester United and Brazil)
• Álvaro José (Arsenal and Brazil)
• Dudu Ashkenazi (Manchester United and Israel)
• Dario Laraia (Manchester City and Italy)
• Ben Clarke (West Ham United and England)
• Domenico Papa (Manchester City and Italy)
• Moses Penfold (Manchester United and England)
• Clive Johnson (Arsenal and England)

 

FIFA Ballon d'Or: Domenico Papa (Manchester City).

World Soccer World Player of the Year: Pereira (Paris Saint-Germain).

European Golden Shoe: William Schmidt (Real Madrid).

UEFA Best Player in Europe: Domenico Papa (Manchester City).

FIFA/FIFPro World XI:

• Andy Boyes (Manchester City and England)
• Cristian Soriano (Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina)
• Marcel Schaap (Barcelona and Holland)
• Bernardo Sierra (Real Madrid and Argentina)
• Cristiano Magnolo (Juventus and Italy)
• Rafael Pinau (Lyon and France)
• Juan Manuel Sanz (Real Betis and Spain)
• Ricardo Venturelli (Empoli and Argentina)
• Julian Milenkovic (Paris Saint-Germain and Croatia)
• Domenico Papa (Manchester City and Italy)
• Pereira (Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil)

[CFuller]

FIFA World Cup review: Argentina 2034

Qualification

Egypt were the only side anywhere to qualify for the 2034 World Cup with a 100% record. South Africa and Tunisia were also unbeaten in the African qualifiers, as were Saudi Arabia in Asia. Five European teams - including holders England and former champions France and Spain - qualified without losing. Brazil topped the South American qualifying table, with Paris Saint-Germain striker Pereira scoring 16 goals in the process.

 

Turkey's Sancak Turhan led the global scoring chart with 24 qualifying goals, although his team had to come through a play-off against Albania to reach the finals. Holland also qualified via that route, but Denmark - Quarter Finalists in 2030 - were eliminated by Wales. Japan's intercontinental play-off defeat to Chile saw the Samurai Blue miss out on qualification for the first time since 1994, and Ghana's absence was their first since 2018.

 

Though there were no debutants at this year's World Cup, DR Congo made their first appearance in their current guise, having previously competed as Zaire in 1974. Wales qualified for only their second World Cup, an incredible 76 years after their first, while Peru returned to the global stage after sitting out every tournament post-1982.

 

QUALIFIERS: Argentina (hosts), Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, DR Congo, Egypt, England (holders), France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Wales.

 

Group Stage

There was a major sensation in Group A, as the seemingly imperious England drew with Croatia before suffering 2-1 defeats against Egypt and the United States! The USA progressed with a 100% record, and Egypt also went through, as Nemanja Covic's defending champions were sent home in disgrace. There were no such wobbles from fellow big-hitters Brazil, who won all three of their Group B matches and qualified for Round 2 alongside Italy.

 

Holland banished their 2030 demons, becoming the latest team to reach Round 2 with an unblemished record. Colombia also progressed from Group C, but Canada failed to register a single goal, let alone a point. Group D contained hosts Argentina, who required a 94th-minute winner from Emiliano Bravo to overcome Wales, and then drew their next two games. Despite that, La Albiceleste avoided a premature exit after finishing just behind Turkey in 2nd.

 

Group E saw an ominous resurgence from Spain, who swept all before them with 14 goals, six of which were scored by Paris Saint-Germain superstar Mario. Russia joined them in the next phase after a 2-0 win over Nigeria in the final round of group games. Germany won an exceedingly-tight Group F on goal difference from Mexico and Uruguay, who were absolutely dead-level in 2nd, even after considering every tie-breaking criterion! In the end, Mexico - who needed a 90th-minute winner against Ukraine to even stay in the tournament - went through via the drawing of lots!

 

France sprinted through Group G with three wins, three clean sheets, and 10 goals, including four against Saudi Arabia from Monaco's Ruben Leblanc. Portugal were runners-up in that group, while Switzerland and Australia completed the Round 2 line-up after progressing through Group H. The Socceroos won their first two matches and would've topped the group had they not lost 6-4 to the already-eliminated DR Congo.

 

GROUP A: United States* (1st, 9 pts), Egypt* (2nd, 4 pts), Croatia (3rd, 2 pts), England (4th, 1 pt).

GROUP B: Brazil* (1st, 9 pts), Italy* (2nd, 6 pts), Tunisia (3rd, 3 pts), Costa Rica (4th, 0 pts).

GROUP C: Holland* (1st, 9 pts), Colombia* (2nd, 6 pts), South Africa (3rd, 3 pts), Canada (4th, 0 pts).

GROUP D: Turkey* (1st, 5 pts), Argentina* (2nd, 5 pts), Wales (3rd, 3 pts), South Korea (4th, 2 pts).

GROUP E: Spain* (1st, 9 pts), Russia* (2nd, 4 pts), Nigeria (3rd, 3 pts), China (4th, 1 pt).

GROUP F: Germany* (1st, 5 pts), Mexico* (2nd, 5 pts), Uruguay (3rd, 5 pts), Ukraine (4th, 0 pts).

GROUP G: France* (1st, 9 pts), Portugal* (2nd, 4 pts), Chile (3rd, 3 pts), Saudi Arabia (4th, 1 pt).

GROUP H: Switzerland* (1st, 6 pts), Australia* (2nd, 6 pts), DR Congo (3rd, 3 pts), Peru (4th, 3 pts).

* through to Round 2

 

Round 2

The United States reached their first World Cup Quarter Final since 2002 after shutting out Italy. Manchester United striker Sean Jordan bagged what would prove to be the decisive goal after 10 minutes. Egypt's competition came to an end, though, at the hands of Brazil. Selecao centre-backs Jardel and Alvaro José each scored in the first half, while Pereira completed a 3-0 rout on 88 minutes, scoring via an intercepted free-kick from Egypt keeper Sameh Ahmed.

 

Colombia twice came from behind against Turkey before squeezing through 3-2. Tottenham Hotspur's Alvaro Carrascal scored an own goal early in the second half, but he would go on to score the winner after 86 minutes. Argentina became the third South American nation to reach the Quarter Finals with a 2-0 victory over Holland. Boca Juniors team-mates Pablo Silva and Bravo were the goalscoring heroes for the home favourites.

 

Perennial bridesmaids Germany came unstuck again, with Russia halting their progress at the last 16. The only goal of that match came in the 6th minute from Celta Vigo's Yury Tolmachev, who scored from the rebound after his initial effort was saved by Dawid Wisniewski. Meanwhile, Spain made slightly heavier work of Mexico than expected. José Ramón Álvarez netted twice for La Furia Roja in a hard-fought 3-2 win, with Silvio Rimoldi also on target.

 

First-half goals from Rui and Casca saw Portugal defeat Switzerland 2-1, despite losing midfielder Ivan Paiva to a red card late on. The final game in Round 2 was a real thriller between France and Australia. The Aussies managed to draw level from 2-0 down at half-time, only to choke in the dying moments. PSG winger Landry Camara scored in the 90th minute, and then again in injury time, to complete a hat-trick and send Les Bleus through 4-2.

 

RESULTS: United States 1-0 Italy, Brazil 3-0 Egypt, Colombia 3-2 Turkey, Argentina 2-0 Holland, Russia 1-0 Germany, Spain 3-2 Mexico, Portugal 2-1 Switzerland, France 4-2 Australia.

 

Quarter Finals

The first Quarter Final between Brazil and Argentina was a rather tense affair, with neither team looking at their best in the opening half. Home fans would eventually come away delighted after Adrián Gargiulo came off the bench to score twice in the second period and send Argentina through! Colombia wouldn't join them in the Semi Finals, though, after suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat to the United States. Jordan struck twice for the competition's surprise packages, while attacking midfielders Spencer Traynor and Peter Maurin also found the net.

 

Denis Bordes gave France a 7th-minute lead against Russia, only for Tolmachev to cancel that goal out just before half-time. 30-year-old Marseille striker Alan Giacomaso would eventually win the game for France with his first ever international goal ten minutes from time. Spanish superstar Mario made it 73 goals in a mere 65 caps as La Furia Roja saw off Iberian rivals Portugal 2-1. The 27-year-old scored both of Spain's goals in the second half - the latter one arriving after he'd had a penalty saved by Rodolfo - while Casca netted for Portugal in between.

 

RESULTS: Argentina 2-0 Brazil, United States 4-0 Colombia, France 2-1 Russia, Spain 2-1 Portugal.

 

Semi Finals

The United States were up against the odds again in Santa Fe when they took on France in the opening Semi Final. However, Lyon winger Traynor upset the form book in the 50th minute, when he put the USA ahead from defender Mike Martin's flick-on. Then, on 82 minutes, France's Juventus centre-back Sweetzer Pontes scuffed the ball into his own net in trying to clear a Michael Holocher cross that had rebounded off the bar! Gregg Berhalter and Team USA had won 2-0 and - to the delight of over 300 million compatriots - were into their first World Cup Final!

 

The second Semi Final in Avellaneda began with a brilliant free-kick from Sebastián Núnez, who gave Argentina the lead against Spain after just eight minutes. La Furia Roja retorted in the 62nd minute with an equally impressive set-piece from Real Sociedad's Marcel Henrique. At 1-1, the tie went to extra-time, and then to penalties. Sevilla full-back Jonathan Álvarez missed Spain's fourth spot-kick, allowing Adrián Gil to power La Albiceleste to a 5-3 victory. Were Argentina - managed by Daniel Ramírez - set to taste World Cup glory for the first time since 1986?

 

RESULTS: United States 2-0 France, Argentina 1-1 Spain (5-3 penalties).

 

3rd Place Play-Off

Spain vs France wouldn't have made a bad Final, but they were the teams contesting 3rd place in Santa Fe. Unsurprisingly, this was a low-key affair with few highlights, aside from a sensational solo goal in the 58th minute from France's Manchester United right-back Matheo Honoré. Although striker Leblanc came off with a shin injury late on, Les Bleus held on for a 1-0 win and secured their best finish at a World Cup for 20 years.

 

RESULT: France 1-0 Spain.

 

Final

The first World Cup Final since 1950 not to feature any European teams took place at the Avellaneda Arena near Buenos Aires, where hosts Argentina targeted a third global title. However, it was the underdogs from the United States who drew first blood after seven minutes, through Jordan's close-range header from Daniele Gatti's cross. La Albiceleste's problems grew when holding midfielder Leandro Raffo suffered a game-ending injury in the 27th minute.

 

Argentina missed a number of attempts to draw level before Patricio Galeano finally succeeded with a free-kick on 62 minutes. In the 73rd minute, though, the USA were awarded a penalty after Brian Saavedra was tripped by Damian Escudero. Jordan stepped up... and Argentine goalie Daniel Villafane pushed his spot-kick away to help take the Final to extra time. Jordan forgot about his penalty miss in the 94th minute, when he bundled in his 9th goal of the tournament - and his most crucial one! La Albiceleste were unable to strike back from 2-1 down, and so - for the first time ever - the World Cup trophy would be awarded to a team from North America!

 

Team USA's goalkeeper and captain Stephen Palacios was given the honour of becoming the first American man to lift world football's biggest prize in triumph. As Americans rejoiced at the most sensational result in their country's soccer history, coach Berhalter announced his retirement after eight years in charge. He had ended Europe's 28-year dominance of the World Cup, and he might well have kicked off a new age of supremacy for the United States.

 

RESULT: United States 2-1 Argentina (aet).

 

Award Winners

Golden Ball: Mike Martin (United States).

Golden Boot: Sean Jordan (United States, 9 goals).

Yashin Award: Gustavo Coronel (Argentina).

Best Young Player: Alun Harding (Wales).

Goal of the Tournament: Matheo Honoré (France, vs Spain - 3rd Place Play-Off).

Dream Team:

• Gustavo Coronel (Argentina and Boca Juniors)
• Jamie English (United States and Hamburg)
• Mike Martin (United States and Manchester City)
• José Luis (Spain and Manchester United)
• Shane Horner (United States and Real Madrid)
• Landry Camara (France and Paris Saint-Germain)
• Valdivia (Brazil and Chelsea)
• Brian Saavedra (United States and Porto)
• Spencer Traynor (United States and Lyon)
• Mario (Spain and Paris Saint-Germain)
• Sean Jordan (United States and Manchester United)

[CFuller]

JULY 2034

When I arrived at Dagenham & Redbridge in 2022, I could never have imagined that, 12 years later, I would be leading them into their first ever Premier League campaign. But here we were... the promised land. Our journey from non-league to the big league was at an end, but a new challenge now lay ahead of us.

 

Since the Premier League's formation over four decades ago, more newly-promoted clubs have been relegated straight after their first season than stayed up. As top-flight novices, we would be at a greater disadvantage, which became even starker when you considered that NONE of our players had ever played a single minute in the PL before.

 

In order to build up a squad capable of surviving in the top tier, I'd been given a transfer budget of £17million, about a third of which I'd already spent by the start of July. Five new players - including the seven-figure signings of holding midfielder Seb Brennan and right-back Albert Khumalo - had bolstered our ranks, and there were likely to be at least two more in place by the start of the season proper.

 

The Daggers board gave me an extra incentive to keep us up with a new four-year contract worth £15,000 per week. They also offered a new long-term deal to my dependable assistant manager Fabio Saraiva, who'd now been in the role for a decade.

 

In the cut-throat world of Premier League football, I was unlikely to give as many opportunities to our younger players as I normally would. Because of that, a high number of prospects would be leaving the Daggers on loan this term. Among them were goalkeeper Courtney Gallagher and playmaker Martin Thompson, who would spend the season at AFC Bournemouth and Cardiff City respectively. Meanwhile, right-back Kevin McManus was sent on a year-long loan to non-league Burton Albion.

 

A couple of youngsters were loaned out for the next seven months, during which striker Christophe Smith will be plying his trade at Wrexham, and right-winger Shaun Powell will be turning out for Leeds United.

 

Versatile midfielder Nigel Atta, who had a run in the Dagenham first-team late last season, returned to Queens Park Rangers until the New Year. Centre-half Adrian Bailey went to Ipswich Town for a similar amount of time.

 

A trio of teenage Daggers - Thompson, Bailey, and defensive midfielder Neil McCann - began this season in Switzerland, where they would represent England at the UEFA European Under-19s Championship. The Young Lions had narrowly fallen short in recent years, but would this be their time for continental glory? Time would tell.

 

Back at home, our new-look first-team would be putting in the hard yards over the coming weeks. While most PL teams would play only five or six games during pre-season, I felt we needed as much match practice as possible in our situation. I therefore set up NINE friendlies in the lead-up to our league opener on 19 August. We had four home matches against strong foreign teams, a couple of trips to lower-league clubs, and a tour of France to look forward to.

 

First on the schedule were a little Dutch club by the name of Ajax, who kicked off our final campaign at the grand old Victoria Road stadium. Managed by ex-Arsenal boss Kenneth Vermeer, De Godenzonen have won a record 37 Eredivisie titles, but they lost out to PSV last season by a single goal.

 

8 July 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Ajax

A couple of Ajax's attacking midfielders picked up knocks early on. One-time Spain international Graciano was forced off briefly for treatment after clashing with Daggers defender George Darvill in the first minute.

 

Two minutes later, winger Henrique Paulo damaged his knee cap in a rough foul from Dave Hutchinson, thus bringing his game to an early end. Brazilian colleague Fred came on as a replacement, and it was he who forced Mariusz Tylak into his first Dagenham save after 10 minutes. Mariusz was looking assured... or at least he was until Fred beat him with an excellent header from Bruno Leroy's deep cross in the 20th minute.

 

Seven minutes after Ajax took the lead, Tylak gifted them another goal. The Pole strayed from his six-yard box to hoof away a back-pass from Darvill. To his horror, Godenzonen midfielder Denis Shapkin was first to the clearance, which he volleyed home from 40 yards! The gap in class was now becoming obvious.

 

Our tackling became worryingly rash just after the half-hour, as midfielders Hutchinson and Hamzah Jaafar went into the book within seconds of one another. At the other end, Souleymane Nomaou and Stipo Brkic each fired Dagenham shots off target before the former did find his mark on 41 minutes. Nomaou's low drive into the bottom corner gave us fresh hope at 2-1 down heading into the second half.

 

Ajax resumed their attacking efforts shortly after the second half got underway. On 47 minutes, French striker Laurent Denis exchanged passes with minor namesake Shapkin before swerving forward a shot that was pushed away by our substitute goalkeeper Kieran Whalley. Two minutes later, Denis (Laurent, not Shapkin) narrowly flicked wide a cross from Godenzonen skipper Tim Dijkstra.

 

Things took a rather worrying turn for us in the 53rd minute, as Whalley hurt his ribs. Although Kieran was in obvious pain, I had little choice but to tell him to stay on. His agony could've increased on 57 minutes, as Shapkin smashed the crossbar with another blistering volley. Ajax had another chance to move 3-1 up after 70 minutes, but Whalley caught Mohamed Solhi's header after the Morocco international received an excellent crossfield ball from Fred.

 

We then moved forward again a couple of minutes later, with visiting goalie Guy Visscher having to push away Daniel O'Reilly's piledriver behind and keep us a goal down. By the 73rd minute, though, Visscher's luck had slipped away from him. Matthew Fraser fired a blistering shot against the post, and the ball rebounded off Visscher's back before crossing the line!

 

We'd got a surprise equaliser... but our delight would only last for a couple of minutes. Ajax regained the lead in the 75th minute after Graciano's corner was nodded home by centre-back Nobuhiro Okuno - an 86-cap South Korea international, despite the Japanese name.

 

De Godenzonen never looked back after that, with Egypt midfielder Reda Abdel Salam effectively sealing a 4-2 win in the 86th minute. Indeed, there was still time for star man Shapkin to drive in a FIFTH Ajax goal just before the final whistle. The 25-year-old Russian and his equally brilliant team-mates had thoroughly outclassed us.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Nomaou 41, Visscher og73)

Ajax - 5 (Fred 20, Shapkin 27,90, Okuno 75, Abdel Salam 86)

Friendly, Attendance 6,996

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak (Whalley), Banton (Khumalo), Darvill (Moran), Radosavljevic (Moser), O'Reilly (Djuzel), Jaafar (Brennan), Hutchinson (Fraser), Virgo (Barnes), Brkic (Egueh (MacKenzie)), Polomat (Honeyball), Nomaou (Faithfull). BOOKED: Hutchinson, Jaafar.

 

"That's the standard you've got to play at from now on, lads," I told my team at full-time. "Ajax are about as good as most Premier League clubs, and they dominated us from start to finish. There are a lot of things that we have to take away from today, that's for sure."

 

I felt that my side needed rather more quality up front, so I brought in a 25-year-old Brazilian striker on a season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion. Edmundo De Santis, who liked to be known simply as Edmundo, was a pacey advanced forward with plenty of flair. Although he had spent two seasons in the Premier League with Brighton, he was loaned out to Championship side Reading last term.

 

Edmundo would make his Daggers debut when we played our feeder club Leighton Town - at Kenilworth Road in Luton. The Reds lost in the League Two Play-Off Semi Finals last season.

 

11 July 2034: Leighton Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Leighton strikers Jody Jones and Andrew McCready gave our defence plenty of problems in the first half. McCready was especially unlucky not to give his team an early lead, as he sent no fewer than three shots narrowly off target within the first 15 minutes.

 

Jones' match was put in serious doubt on 24 minutes, as he landed hard on his elbow after being brought down by Dagenham centre-back John Moser. He carried on, though, as the Reds edged closer and closer to taking the lead. After 30 minutes, Daniel Craddock swung a corner to the near post, where McCready had a header saved by Jerome Farrell. Teenage custodian Jerome showed great composure again in the 35th minute, catching another McCready header, albeit one from a further distance.

 

Leighton were bossing this game, although we did have a couple of opportunities to take the lead late on. Derek Wright had a shot parried by Micky Ormondroyd on 38 minutes before Stipo Brkic missed the target a minute later.

 

Then, in the 42nd minute, a mistake from young centre-half Carl Quinn saw us fall behind. Carl could only chest his clearance from Roger Ford's cross on to Jones, who volleyed in what would be the only goal of the first half for Leighton.

 

Jones should've scored a second goal in the 47th minute, but Farrell got enough of his fingertips to an angled shot to divert it behind the byline. Harry Hinton then spurned a second opportunity to send Leighton two clear on 50 minutes.

 

Having been massively let off the hook, we set out to restore parity in the 54th minute. Midfielder Daryl Ryan II, who got the day off school to play in this match, provided an excellent assist for fellow up-and-comer Peguy Kasongo. The Congolese striker half-volleyed in his first senior goal, and we were level!

 

That would be one of Daryl's last contributions before he got a well-earned rest, but things didn't end quite so well for one of Leighton's best teenage talents. Forward Greg Allen was injured in a challenge from Daggers left-back Ante Djuzel, thus ending his second-half cameo midway through the period.

 

It was also a largely forgettable day for our new star striker Edmundo, whose only shot of the match was a 75th-minute diving header that Josh Milton easily caught. England youth international Tristan Egueh replaced Edmundo for the closing stages, and he too wasted a potential winning opportunity on 88 minutes.

 

This match would end in a rather underwhelming 1-1 draw, though not before the Daggers' substitute goalie Mariusz Tylak denied left-back Simba McCormack an injury-time winner for Town.

 

Leighton Town - 1 (Jones 42)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Kasongo 54)

Friendly, Attendance 1,608

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Farrell (Tylak), Quinn (Moran), Khumalo (Darvill), Moser (Habu), Banton (Pearson), Djuzel (Mazzola), Jaafar (Barnes), Ryan (Brennan), Brkic (Polomat), Edmundo (Egueh), Wright (Kasongo (MacKenzie)).

 

That result was disappointing, but I wasn't too surprised. We'd always found Leighton to be difficult opponents in pre-season, and we were not long into our preparations for the new campaign. I believed it would take us a little bit longer to get into our stride.

[CFuller]

JULY 2034 (continued)

Velimir Radosavljevic signed a new four-year, £12,500-per-week contract early in July, thus allaying any fears about his long-term future. Unfortunately, his build-up to the coming Premier League season suffered a setback in the middle of the month. He strained his wrist in weight training, thus putting him out of action for around a fortnight.

 

With our players steadily building up their fitness, I felt confident that we would get our first win of pre-season when we travelled to Dartford. Carl MacAuley's Darts had just enjoyed their best ever season in League One, finishing in 3rd place, though they couldn't quite clinch promotion to the Championship via the play-offs.

 

15 July 2034: Dartford vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Our first attack of the match came after just two minutes, when George Darvill flicked Matthew Fraser's free-kick dismally wide. Five minutes later, Dartford striker Igor Vesely got his head to a cross from Alan Shaw... and got the better of our goalkeeper Mariusz Tylak. Fortunately for us, the Slovakian was flagged offside and the scoreline remained untouched.

 

Things didn't get particularly better for us in the first half, mind. Target man Robbie MacKenzie sustained a knock in the 9th minute, while midfielder Dave Hutchinson was booked four minutes later for pushing Darts counterpart Phil Wigg.

 

Our best chance of that opening period was wasted by Souleymane Nomaou in the 26th minute, who could only find the side netting from a difficult angle. Dartford fared little better, with wing-back Bryan Taylor scuffing wide a long-distance strike just before half-time.

 

I made a host of changes at half-time as I looked to liven the match up. My strategy paid off after 48 minutes, as two substitutes linked up to open the scoring. Midfielder Hamzah Jaafar knocked an excellent ball to Kent-born 16-year-old Toby Faithfull, who broke away from Dartford defender Brandon Beckham and provided a cool finish!

 

In the 53rd minute, one of the Darts' half-time subs - Lee Love - attempted a piledriver that was blown well off target. The hosts wouldn't trouble us again until Tylak was called upon to punch away a Taylor header in the 62nd minute.

 

At the other end, Dartford goalkeeper Gordon Canning made two vital saves in the 65th and 66th minutes to prevent either Daniel O'Reilly or Matthew Fraser from doubling our lead. Canning also made light work of a 75th-minute drive from Stipo Brkic. Dartford tried to launch a counter-attack, but things didn't get going for them until Dagenham midfielder Tom Virgo inadvertently knocked the ball into our penalty area! Virgo was left in despair as Dwayne Gardiner pounced on his mistake to drill the loose ball home.

 

Our lead had disappeared, and by the 80th minute, it was Dartford who held the advantage. Love outjumped Carl Quinn to head in a corner delivery from Rob Kenny and make it 2-1 to the home team. A shock defeat to League One opposition looked on the cards... until Virgo made amends for his earlier error.

 

Two minutes before full-time, Tom floated a fantastic cross towards senior debutant Lee Allen on the edge of Dartford's area, and Lee powered it right into the top corner! Thanks to a couple of 16-year-old goalscorers, we had narrowly avoided an embarrassing result.

 

Dartford - 2 (Gardiner 75, Love 80)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Faithfull 48, Allen 88)

Friendly, Attendance 4,248

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak (Farrell), Moser (Quinn), Darvill (Habu), Khumalo (Quinn), Mazzola (O'Reilly), Brennan (Pearson), Fraser (Virgo), Hutchinson (Jaafar), Charles (Brkic), MacKenzie (Edmundo), Nomaou (Faithfull). BOOKED: Hutchinson, Mazzola.

 

That was another poor performance against lower-league opposition, and the excuse that we were not match-fit didn't really apply anymore.

 

Frankly, we would have to dramatically up our game if we were to stand a chance in the Premier League, and the title odds reflected that. Manchester City were the Evens favourites, followed by champions Chelsea on 3-1, Manchester United on 5-1, and West Ham United on 14-1. Unsurprisingly, we were rock-bottom of that list at 2,000-1.

 

Before our next match, I ratified the departure of an EIGHTH Daggers reserve on loan. 21-year-old striker Derek Wright will spend the entirety of this season at Adams Park with League One side Wycombe Wanderers. The Chairboys will be the fifth different loan club of his young career.

 

Now, onto that next game. We were at home to Bundesliga regulars Fortuna Dusseldorf, whose squad contained a couple of familiar names. Forwards Frode Krovel and Thomas Wikstrand both play under me for the Norway national team, and Wikstrand would be a particularly serious threat to our defence.

 

19 July 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Fortuna Dusseldorf

Fortune favoured Fortuna in the second minute, when Daggers stalwart Matthew Fraser's close-range free-kick rattled their crossbar and deflected back into play! The German side got rather lucky again on 7 minutes, as goalie Philipp Hubert beat away a shot from William Barnes. The ball deflected to Dusseldorf right-back Lutz Hofmann, but Will muscled the ball off him before Edmundo squared it towards Jacques Polomat. Jacques withstood pressure from centre-half Gonzalo Aguirre to knock the ball back to Stipo Brkic, who drove in our opening goal!

 

Fortuna continued to struggle thereafter, as left-back Alexandr Meshkov and attacking midfielder Ilya Isaev each received bookings. By the 17th minute, our visitors were wishing they hadn't boarded the plane to England. A fantastic corner from Fraser was nodded home by German-born Austrian centre-half Hamzah Jaafar, and we were 2-0 up!

 

Another Fraser corner would lead to us pulling THREE goals clear after 20 minutes, with Polomat the scorer this time around! Although George Darvill and Seb Brennan were each booked shortly afterwards, we were looking very comfortable, and only the crossbar prevented Seb from making it 4-0 on 24 minutes.

 

Thomas Wikstrand tried to put Dusseldorf back in contention late in the first half, but he would be left disappointed on each occasion. Firstly, on 33 minutes, Wikstrand ran onto an Isaev through-ball and was thwarted by a superb point-blank save from Kieran Whalley. Isaev then drove the rebound wide.

 

Wikstrand's next opportunity went begging when his 36th-minute header from Fortuna captain Didier Haman's cross clipped the post. I wouldn't have minded it had my Norway striker found some decent scoring form; I just didn't want Thomas to find it against my club side!

 

Wikstrand's woes got worse on 57 minutes. After exchanging passes with young midfielder Nils Zampach, he floated a shot over the crossbar. Three minutes after that, we subjected Thomas and his team-mates to yet more pain. Arran Banton's right-wing cross was powered home by Edmundo, who broke his Daggers duck and effectively sealed victory for us.

 

Polomat sought a fifth Dagenham goal - and a second for himself - in the 66th minute. Jacques' header from Ante Djuzel's delivery couldn't quite beat Hubert, but it was at least pleasing to see the Frenchman back in form.

 

We would coast through the final half-hour, as Dusseldorf barely stretched our defence. Their best scoring chance came from Isaev on 88 minutes, but our second-choice goalkeeper Mariusz Tylak bravely blocked the Ukrainian's shot to preserve our clean sheet. Fortuna had already lost skipper Haman to injury by then, thus capping off a torrid night for the Germans. And yes, you could say that I was feeling a sense of schadenfreude!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Brkic 8, Jaafar 17, Polomat 20, Edmundo 60)

Fortuna Dusseldorf - 0

Friendly, Attendance 6,482

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley (Tylak), Banton (Khumalo), Darvill (Moser), Jaafar (Habu), Djuzel (O'Reilly), Brennan (Virgo), Barnes (Allen), Fraser (Hutchinson), Brkic (Charles), Polomat (Nomaou), Edmundo (Honeyball). BOOKED: Darvill, Brennan.

 

Admittedly, Dusseldorf only finished 15th in the Bundesliga last season, but it was still a great result to beat a team of their quality so emphatically. We were seemingly getting back to something like our best, and that boded well as we prepared to cross the Channel for a mini-tour of France.

[mark wilson27]

Congratulations on the promotion and good luck with the forthcoming season. As for the World Cup, bloody hell USA winning, its why I love these FM games

[CFuller]

1 hour ago, mark wilson27 said:

Congratulations on the promotion and good luck with the forthcoming season. As for the World Cup, bloody hell USA winning, its why I love these FM games

Thanks. I didn't think we had it in us to get promoted, but now we've got to beat the odds again just to stay up.

There've been some outstanding players coming out of the United States, particularly over the last decade. To name but two of their star men, Sean Jordan's been scoring goals for fun at Manchester United, while Manchester City's Mike Martin is one of the best central defenders going. I honestly don't think that the USA's World Cup win is a fluke - they could be at the top of world football for a while yet.

In my universe, it seems that Donald Trump ploughed millions into the American soccer infrastructure after becoming President, hiring many of the world's best coaches to produce a steady flow of outstanding US talent. That probably explains why the likes of Brendan Rodgers and Didier Deschamps 'mysteriously disappeared' from my save in the 2010s and early 2020s. 

Incidentally, Canada have produced some surprisingly excellent footballers as well (including my almost-signing Ivan Fuller), but their 'golden generation' is on the way out, hence their awful showing at the last World Cup.

[CFuller]

JULY 2034 (continued)

We spent the latter part of July touring France, where we had been invited to play some friendlies against lower-league opponents.

 

We started off our mini-tour in the south of the country - specifically, in the Rhone-Alpes region. Our first opponents were Grenoble, who were a Ligue 1 club about a quarter of a century ago but were now playing in the third-tier Championnat National.

 

Grenoble is famously the hometown of the late wrestler André Roussimoff, otherwise known as André the Giant. On this occasion, though, his compatriots would be playing the role of would-be 'giant-killers'.

 

24 July 2034: Grenoble vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Our French tour got off to a flier as we took the lead after just 22 seconds! Tom Virgo's through-ball was knocked on by Grenoble midfielder Jean-Michel Tissot into the path of our Congolese striker Peguy Kasongo, who drilled in a very early opener!

 

If we thought it would be plain sailing from there, we would be proven very wrong in the 13th minute. Grenoble's own Congolese frontman Dikulu Mbele curled in a cross that deflected off two Daggers defenders before being finished by Jean-Philippe Vacher.

 

Five minutes after GF38's leveller, Peguy tried to fire us back into the lead. In the end, his effort was well held by Grenoble goalie Brice Bernard, who also saved a banana shot from Daniel O'Reilly on 25 minutes. Four minutes after that, our own shotstopper Kieran Whalley kept out an effort from 17-year-old local boy Abdérémane Attoumani.

 

When another home attack broke down in the 34th minute, we quickly hit them on the break. Robbie MacKenzie played a killer ball through space to Kasongo, who slipped home his second goal of the evening! Peguy had a couple of opportunities to secure a hat-trick late in the first half, but he couldn't convert either of them, and so we remained only one goal ahead at the interval.

 

We pushed for a third goal shortly after the restart, with Stipo Brkic forcing Bernard into a tricky save. In the 49th minute, a clever pass from Brkic teed up a chance for his much younger Danish compatriot Jonas Kjaerulff. Just two days after his 16th birthday, Jonas was twice denied a belated present - first by Bernard's save, and then by a poor follow-up shot. Another Daggers attack on 55 minutes ended with left-back Daniel O'Reilly winning a corner off GF38's right-back Lotfi Rouabah.

 

Grenoble tightened up significantly afterwards, restricting our scoring chances for the best part of half an hour. Even a single-goal victory was looking far from certain for us when midfielder Matthew Fraser was hurt in an 84th-minute collision with Rémi Guillon.

 

Two minutes after that, though, Kjaerulff intercepted a poorly-taken goal kick from Grenoble substitute Florian Goncalves. Jonas moved forward and squared the ball to Jacques Polomat, whose shot was parried by Goncalves and then deflected behind by centre-half Bruno Tessier.

 

The subsequent corner would result in the match-winner, as Velimir Radosavljevic marked his return from a wrist injury by heading in Joel Honeyball's delivery. We hadn't exactly scaled the heights at the Stade des Alpes, but we did at least return to base camp with a 3-1 victory under our belts.

 

Grenoble - 1 (Vacher 13)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Kasongo 1,34, Radosavljevic 87)

Friendly, Attendance 1,616

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley (Tylak), Pearson (Banton), Darvill (J Bailey), Habu (Radosavljevic), O'Reilly (Mazzola), Virgo (Ryan), Barnes (Fraser (Nomaou)), Hutchinson (Charles), Brkic (Polomat), MacKenzie (Honeyball), Kasongo (Kjaerulff).

 

Matthew Fraser's injury was thankfully not a serious one. That said, I decided not to risk him in our next match, which saw us travel to Normandy in the north-west.

 

We were up against Pacy Ménilles - a regional league club based in the tiny commune of Pacy-sur-Eure. I wasn't exactly sure on how playing those semi-professionals would help prepare us for taking on the likes of Manchester City, but I still expected us to give our all.

 

28 July 2034: Pacy Ménilles vs Dagenham & Redbridge

We almost followed our first-minute opener against Grenoble with another in this match. Unfortunately, midfielder Daryl Ryan II's strike clipped the outside of the Pacy post. Both of the hosts' wingers - Michael Blaise on the right, and Frédéric Breton on the left - then picked up bookings in the next five minutes for clumsy fouls. Our own tackling was very poor as well, and the same could be said about our shooting.

 

Although Stephane Delahaye caught a 10th-minute attempt from Ryan, most of our shots failed to get near the Pacy goalkeeper. Joel Honeyball missed arguably our best opportunity on 22 minutes, striking the post after running onto Ante Djuzel's square pass.

 

A third Dagger would strike the woodwork just before the half-hour, as Tom Virgo cracked a powerful shot against the bar from just inside the penalty area. Tristan Egueh then wasted a real opening from a counter-attack after 42 minutes, leaving me wondering if our heart was really in this game.

 

Failure to score against a semi-professional side in the first half was unacceptable to me, so I made a host of substitutions before the restart. One of those who came on was attacking midfielder Jacques Polomat. After just over 50 minutes, Polomat collected a pass from his fellow Frenchman John Moser, and then hammered in a delightful shot from 20 yards out!

 

Our first goal was followed less than a minute later by Pacy's first shot on target. Jacques Morel struck the ball on the half-volley from way out, but he never really looked like beating Mariusz Tylak in the Dagenham goal. Mariusz wouldn't be required to do much more in this match as we gradually took greater control on proceedings.

 

Delahaye prevented William Barnes from doubling our lead after 60 minutes, and we would have to wait quite a while before we could seriously threaten the goal again. In the 76th minute, Souleymane Nomaou's fierce effort from a Kjaerulff set-up prompted Delahaye into another fine catch.

 

Ten minutes after that, Jonas tried to find Sol with a left-wing cross. Pacy couldn't sufficiently clear the danger, and when Barnes' delivery was volleyed home by Nomaou, it was 2-0 to the Daggers.

 

Sol would complete the win with his second goal - and our third - in stoppage time. The Niger international collected a lob from Arran Banton and drilled it into the net from a tight angle. Considering how disappointing the first half had been, I suppose a 3-0 win wasn't too shabby for us.

 

Pacy Ménilles - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Polomat 51, Nomaou 86,90)

Friendly, Attendance 1,606

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak (McAnuff), Jaafar (Darvill), Moser (Moran), Radosavljevic (Habu), Khumalo (Banton), Djuzel (Mazzola), Virgo (Brennan), Ryan (Barnes), Honeyball (Polomat), Edmundo (Nomaou), Egueh (Kjaerulff). BOOKED: Djuzel.

 

We should've played another friendly after that, against Ligue 2 side Stade Reims. Unfortunately, due to scheduling problems, that game had to be cancelled. Our tour of France came to an early end and we returned home.

 

Meanwhile in Switzerland, England played in their third UEFA European Under-19s Championship Final in four years. The Young Lions team that took on Italy in Luzern contained no fewer than three Daggers prospects - Adrian Bailey, Neil McCann, and Martin Thompson.

 

England went a man down and a goal down midway through the first half, but Liverpool's Marcus Bradley equalised, and the game eventually went to extra-time. Both sides scored once more in the additional 30 minutes, and so, after a 2-2 draw, the European title was decided on penalties. A tense shoot-out went all the way to the eighth round... and it was the Young Lions who eventually prevailed 7-6!

 

Adrian, Neil and Martin had the joint honour of becoming the first Dagenham & Redbridge players to win a major international title at any level. In addition, Thompson was named in the competition's Best XI! I'm expecting really big things to come from the young midfielder while he's out on loan at Cardiff City this season.

[CFuller]

AUGUST 2034

Following the premature end to our tour of France, I hastily arranged one more away friendly back in England. Barnet answered the call, and so we travelled to The Hive at the start of August. The Bees had been in the Conference Premier for a decade and had spent much of that time in mid-table.

 

This match would see midfielder Neil McCann - one of our signings from last season - make his long-awaited first appearance for Dagenham & Redbridge. Fresh from winning the European Under-19s Championship with England, the young Mancunian was eager to make an impression at club level.

 

1 August 2034: Barnet vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Neil McCann would not need very long to stamp his mark on this game. After just seven minutes, Neil's inswinging corner was headed into the Barnet goal by fellow 19-year-old Paul Habu, and we were off to a blistering start!

 

The Bees tried to fight back in the 15th minute, when striker Luke Bircham was denied a leveller by a brilliant low save from Kieran Whalley. Kieran's Barnet counterpart David Williams then had to push away a drive from Daggers midfielder Stipo Brkic on 20 minutes. Williams' goalkeeping looked rather more suspect a minute later. Tristan Egueh powered in a centre from Albert Khumalo to beat Williams at his near post and bolster our lead to 2-0.

 

By the 22nd minute, it was 3-0 to the Daggers. The Bees were stung on the break by Brkic's delivery to Toby Faithfull, who tucked the ball sweetly into the bottom corner.

 

This looked like turning into a rout, but Williams stemmed the bleeding by pushing away a fierce strike from Khumalo on 31 minutes. Albert and Stipo each missed further chances before the half-time whistle blew with us comfortably in front.

 

Robbie MacKenzie replaced Egueh for the second half, two minutes into which he almost powered in our fourth goal. The shot was blown into the stands, and we lost some of the momentum we had from that opening period. On 52 minutes, Barnet winger John French curled an excellent ball towards Bircham, whose half-volley was superbly blocked by Whalley. Three minutes later came a fantastic save at the other end from Williams, who punched a MacKenzie header behind his goal.

 

Both teams got a bit rough in their tackling after that, and it wasn't until the 65th minute that the game saw its next scoring chance. Barnet defender Seedy Sterling sent a corner delivery to 15-year-old winger Gareth Lee, whose shot took a heavy deflection off his captain Ally Sharp and found the net.

 

On another day, that Bees goal could've been a sting in the tale. As it turned out, Barnet would not threaten us again. Williams tried his best to prevent us from scoring in the second half, catching an 85th-minute shot from Joe Charles, but his efforts would prove to be in vain.

 

On 86 minutes, Joe teed up a powerful strike from Robbie that sent us away from north London with four goals to our credit. We also racked up four yellow cards, but with the league season getting closer and closer, an aggressive display wasn't necessarily a cause for concern.

 

Barnet - 1 (Sharp 65)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Habu 7, Egueh 21, Faithfull 22, MacKenzie 85)

Friendly, Attendance 3,755

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley (Farrell), Khumalo (Moser), Quinn (J Bailey), Habu (Radosavljevic), Djuzel (O'Reilly), Jaafar (Brennan), McCann (Barnes), Hutchinson (Fraser), Brkic (Charles), Egueh (MacKenzie), Faithfull (Honeyball). BOOKED: Egueh, McCann, Barnes, MacKenzie.

 

Following that match, I sent two more Daggers out on loan - to the north-west. Right-back Ross Pearson and striker Peguy Kasongo will spend the next six months gaining League One experience with Bolton Wanderers and Oldham Athletic respectively.

 

As far as incomings went, I tried to sign a very exciting 17-year-old attacking midfielder from Portugal by the name of Orlando Salvador. However, Braga rejected a couple of my offers, both of which would have broken our transfer record.

 

I won't give up on Salvador just yet, though. One way or another, and sooner or later, I'm going to get him.

 

The last two Saturdays of pre-season would see us play host to a couple of top-flight European clubs. On the first of those days, it was Italian side Pescara - part of the Serie A furniture since 2019 - who entertained us at Victoria Road. The Delfini had become a solid mid-table club under Lee Wallace since he was appointed manager six years ago, although they had graced the UEFA Champions League on a couple of occasions in the past.

 

5 August 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Pescara

Pescara won a couple of early corners to give us plenty to think about. Dagenham goalkeeper Mariusz Tylak punched away the second of them, from Brazilian winger Luiz Gustavo, in the fifth minute.

 

Our first scoring opportunity came a minute later, after Delfini midfielder Tony Chessa was booked for barging into Jacques Polomat. Jacques set up a shot for William Barnes from the resulting free-kick, but Will's effort drifted high and wide. Barnes tried again in the 23rd minute, and this time, Pescara goalie Tonino Donatelli had to tip a bending shot behind.

 

Although the visitors dealt with Matthew Fraser's corner, we went for goal again shortly afterwards. Sadly, Tom Virgo's volley sailed well wide. We would fare rather better with our next attack after 28 minutes. Polomat's promising pre-season continued when he knocked the ball through to left-back Rocco Mazzola, who got the better of his Italian compatriots with an impressive finish!

 

Four minutes after that, Matthew floated a threatening free-kick into Pescara's penalty area. Luiz Gustavo headed the ball away for the Delfini, and Barnes tried to nod it back into the dangerous area. Pescara's heavily-built holding midfielder Clifford Moloi then clattered into Will, who went down in obvious agony. While his colleague was writhing on the pitch, Polomat kept our attack going with a wicked shot that clipped the bar and went behind. Only then was Barnes stretchered off to be replaced by Neil McCann, who would miss a couple of chances to put us 2-0 up just before half-time.

 

Half-time substitute Robbie MacKenzie failed to impress with either of his first two shots at goal. Another Daggers hotshot would do much better in the 54th minute, as Polomat powered in his third goal of pre-season from Souleymane Nomaou's excellent square ball!

 

Our lead seemed a bit more secure now, but Pescara gave us a real scare just two minutes later. Dagenham right-back Albert Khumalo's tackle on Chessa in our area succeeded only in knocking the ball on to young Brazilian striker Felipe. Victoria Road braced itself for the start of a Delfini fightback... and then Tylak heroically got a glove to Felipe's shot and palmed it behind!

 

Mariusz would remain unbeaten in the Dagenham goal, though he survived another close call on 69 minutes. Former Italy Under-21s winger Corrado Alvigini met Oz Ben-Harush's cross to the far post with a diving header that narrowly found the side netting.

 

That miss effectively signalled the end of these not-so-killer Dolphins, who were fortunate to return to Italy with only a two-goal deficit. Dagenham forwards Tristan Egueh and MacKenzie each missed the target with long-distance shots late on, but we still racked up an impressive fifth win in a row.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Mazzola 28, Polomat 54)

Pescara - 0

Friendly, Attendance 6,150

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak (Whalley), Banton (Khumalo), Darvill (Moser), Radosavljevic (Jaafar), Mazzola (Djuzel), Virgo (Brennan), Barnes (McCann), Fraser (Hutchinson), Polomat (Brkic), Nomaou (Egueh), Edmundo (MacKenzie).

 

Delight at an excellent win quickly turned to despair when the extent of William Barnes' injury became clear. Scans revealed that our captain had torn his hamstring, and not for the first time in his career. Barnes would miss at least our first two - possibly three - months in the Premier League.

 

Will's injury left us without an obvious ball-winning midfielder. Hamzah Jaafar could play to a decent standard in that role, but he was more of a central defender, and Tom Virgo wasn't quite brave enough for my liking. It looked like I would have to scour the transfer market for another midfield aggressor.

 

Our final pre-season friendly would almost definitely be our toughest one of the lot. We were up against Spanish giants Valencia, who finished 4th in La Liga last term. Their squad was crammed full of international talent, while Vlado Giljen was regarded as one of Europe's best young managers.

 

12 August 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Valencia

Jacques Polomat won us a corner with a first-minute shot that deflected behind off Valencia defender Mahmoud Adel. That pretty much represented the high-water mark of our match. Los Che took an ominous lead after five minutes, when Russia winger Valentin Yershov cut inside Daniel O'Reilly and drilled in a clinical finish.

 

Valencia threatened to score again two minutes later, when striker Rolf Voss' strike was parried by Kieran Whalley. Austria striker Voss would go on to play a big role in the visitors' second goal when it did come after 16 minutes. Diego Vittone swung an excellent corner to Voss, whose shot rebounded off the post before being fired home at the second time of asking by ex-Fulham forward Dino Kelava.

 

Whalley had to produce an excellent save in the 19th minute to prevent Kelava from scoring again. At that point, most of the Victoria Road faithful must have been fearing a thrashing. Velimir Radosavljevic could've eased their fears on 26 minutes, but the Dagenham defender's header from a Matthew Fraser corner unfortunately rattled the bar.

 

Although we won a couple more corners from that attack, Los Che eventually pushed us back into our half. In the 29th minute, Velimir tripped up Kelava to concede a free-kick that Yershov duly powered into the top corner.

 

After Valencia went 3-0 up, Voss had three chances to add another goal before half-time. He struck the woodwork with the last of them, after 39 minutes. We were being thoroughly outplayed in almost all departments, though Robbie MacKenzie did give us a flicker of hope with a promising 42nd-minute shot that was parried by the visitors' goalkeeping captain Karel Abraham.

 

Abraham was forced into action again in the first minute of the second half, catching an effort from Dave Hutchinson. We would have another chance to beat the Czech Republic number 1 in the 50th minute. Stipo Brkic found skipper Joel Honeyball in space, but Joel slipped his shot just the wrong side of the post.

 

Valencia almost rubbed further salt into the wounds a minute later from a counter-attack. Voss picked up a long clearance from Los Che midfielder Agustín Hernández, and then raced past Daggers centre-back Carl Quinn to leave himself with just Whalley to beat. Voss chipped a shot over Kieran... and the ball deflected off the bar before bouncing into touch.

 

Two minutes after that close shave came another Daggers opportunity - from right-back Albert Khumalo, who was thwarted by the impressive Abraham. My other seven-figure signing, Seb Brennan, was also left cursing his luck when a 64th-minute piledriver whistled just over the Valencia bar. Although we were still stuck on nil, it was at least refreshing to see that we were finally giving the Spanish behemoths a proper game.

 

Well, at least we were until the 75th minute. Los Che demonstrated their class again when Italian left-winger Vittone powered in a 30-yard free-kick following a clumsy foul from Daggers teenager Jefferson Moran. Four minutes after that fourth Valencia goal, Kelava went within inches of scoring a fifth. The Croatian headed a fantastic delivery by man of the match Yershov against the bar before Quinn desperately slid it into touch.

 

On another day, Valencia might well have reached double figures. In the end, a crushing 4-0 defeat against far superior opposition actually felt like a flattering result from our perspective.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Valencia - 4 (Yershov 5,29, Kelava 16, Vittone 75)

Friendly, Attendance 11,863

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Habu (Quinn), Moser (Virgo), Radosavljevic (Jaafar), Khumalo (Banton), O'Reilly (Djuzel), Hutchinson (Brennan), Fraser (Moran), Polomat (Brkic), MacKenzie (Egueh), Honeyball (Edmundo).

 

Oof... that was quite a beating. With the gap in quality about as wide as the Grand Canyon, I was now quite worried about how we would fare in the Premier League!

 

Based on his pre-season performances, it seemed that Joel Honeyball was perhaps not cut out for top-flight football. I therefore decided to take the vice-captaincy away from Honeyball and hand it over to Kieran Whalley, who would lead the Daggers while William Barnes was out injured. Joel reluctantly accepted my decision and vowed to work harder to try and regain his first-team place.

 

Elsewhere, the number of Dagenham players out on loan increased to 12. Left-back Rocco Mazzola was sent to Crewe Alexandra - a club with a real knack for developing young talent - for the next five months. Centre-half Jameel Bailey will spend a similar amount of time at Walsall in League Two.

 

There was a short midweek international break immediately before the start of the PL season. Jameel picked up his first Jamaica Under-20s cap during that break, while Toby Faithfull made his England Under-19s debut, and Velimir Radosavljevic won a maiden senior cap with Serbia. Other Daggers who added to their senior international appearances were Matthew Fraser, Hamzah Jaafar, Daniel O'Reilly and Souleymane Nomaou.

 

Following that brief interlude, it was time for us to take a massive step into the unknown. We were about to go toe-to-toe with English football's heavyweights for the first time.

[CFuller]

Dagenham & Redbridge squad - Start of 2034/2035 season

(All information correct as of 1 August 2034)

GOALKEEPERS

1. Kieran Whalley (age 23)

English [capped at Under-19s level]

I am very confident that first-choice keeper and new vice-captain Kieran will acquit himself well in the Premier League. He's a very commanding shotstopper who has a wise head on his still fairly young shoulders.

13. Mariusz Tylak (age 23)

Polish [1 cap, 0 goals]

With his strong focus and his excellent reflexes, Mariusz will provide strong competition for Whalley.

DEFENDERS

2. Arran Banton (age 24)

English

Arran was my regular right-back in the Championship but may well play a reduced role in the top flight.

3. Daniel O'Reilly (age 26)

Irish [11 caps, 0 goals]

Daniel is one of the most influential players in the Daggers dressing room. The intelligent left-back is fairly well-rounded, though it remains to be seen whether he can cope in the Premier League.

5. John Moser (age 20)

French [capped at Under-21s level]

Whether it's as a covering centre-half or a marauding right-back, John is likely to be in the Dagenham squad for years to come. That said, he'll really have to kick on quickly after a disappointing pre-season.

6. George Darvill (age 21)

English [capped at Under-21s level]

George was outstanding at the back last term, and he'll need to carry that form over into the big time if we're to survive. With his calmness under pressure and his exceptional marking ability, I reckon he'll be fine.

16. Velimir Radosavljevic (age 21)

Serbian [capped at Under-21s level]

Velimir was our Player of the Year from our promotion campaign and is set to continue his rapid ascent. If the brave central defensive stopper has a minor flaw, it's that he's not particularly quick out of the blocks.

19. Ante Djuzel (age 19)

Croatian [capped at Under-21s level]

Hard-tackling left-back Ante has been hit-and-miss so far but still has a lot of time to develop.

24. Hamzah Jaafar (age 28)

Austrian [35 caps, 0 goals]

I might just have found an absolute steal in Hamzah - a Bosman signing from Rapid Wien. The centre-back will use his experience to help us adjust to the PL and give our younger defenders some invaluable pointers.

25. Rocco Mazzola (age 22)

Italian

Rocco's still a little raw, so a loan spell at Championship side Crewe Alexandra will surely do him a lot of good.

27. Albert Khumalo (age 21)

South African [8 caps, 0 goals]

If our record signing Albert realises his full potential, the next few years could be very exciting. I'll mainly be using him as a right-back, where he could take the PL by storm if he brushes up on his crossing.

30. Adrian Bailey (age 19)

English [capped at Under-19s level]

Versatile defender Adrian's short term currently lies at Ipswich Town, where he is out on loan.

MIDFIELDERS

4. William Barnes (age 25)

English [capped at Under-21s level]

William's hamstring injury in pre-season couldn't have come at a much worse time for us. We always seem to play significantly better when our combative and multi-faceted captain is leading the team from midfield.

7. Shaun Powell (age 21)

Welsh [2 caps, 0 goals]

Winger Shaun needs regular first-team football, and he'll be getting that at Leeds United until February.

8. Stipo Brkic (age 29)

Danish [capped at Under-19s level]

Creative attacking midfielder Stipo will play a major role in our first top-flight season. The Dane's a little inconsistent, but as he showed in the Play-Off Final, he really can provide big moments in big matches.

12. Neil McCann (age 19)

English [capped at Under-19s level]

Budding midfield playmaker Neil is a European youth champion with plenty of stamina and athleticism.

14. Matthew Fraser (age 27)

Scottish [11 caps, 2 goals]

Matthew notched up 10 goals and 10 assists as he took his game to another level last season. His old injury problems seem to have subsided now, so expect even more heroics from our playmaker extraordinaire.

17. Tom Virgo (age 22)

English [capped at Under-19s level]

Though he's certainly a capable defensive midfielder, I'm not entirely sure that Tom will ever be PL quality.

18. Dave Hutchinson (age 19)

English [capped at Under-19s level]

Dave recently burst onto the first-team scene and is getting better and better very quickly.

21. Jacques Polomat (age 22)

French

Jacques found his calling as a deep-lying forward last season, grabbing 15 goals in all competitions. He can also be used in attacking midfield, where his eye for a killer pass comes in particularly handy.

23. Seb Brennan (age 25)

English

Seb doesn't look outstanding at first glance, but this defensive midfielder could be deceptively effective. I really like his work rate and his tackling ability - two traits that will be invaluable in a holding role.

FORWARDS

9. Souleymane Nomaou (age 30)

Nigerien [42 caps, 30 goals]

Souleymane scored 34 goals in his first two Dagenham seasons but really should've had more. We desperately need the quick forward to find a bit more consistency, especially after our promotion.

10. Robbie MacKenzie (age 25)

Scottish

Robbie's a fantastic target man, but I fear that his game is not suited to the more technical Premier League.

11. Edmundo (age 25)

Brazilian

Edmundo has arrived on a season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion to give us some more quality up top. He's fast, composed, and a cool finisher, so he could be our main source of goals over the coming months.

15. Joel Honeyball (age 26)

English

Having been with us since he was a teenager in the Conference Premier, local favourite Joel deserves a crack at the top tier. He probably won't be a regular anymore, but his experience is a real asset.

26. Tristan Egueh (age 18)

English [capped at Under-19s level]

Djibouti-born Tristan's not quite ready for regular first-team football yet, but he is developing rapidly.

 

RESERVE & YOUTH PLAYERS

Goalkeepers: Jerome Farrell, Courtney Gallagher (on loan at AFC Bournemouth), Matthew McAnuff

Defenders: Jameel Bailey (on loan at Walsall), Paul Habu, Jazzi Howley, Thomas Jones, Marcel Mafe, Kevin McManus (on loan at Burton Albion), Jefferson Moran, Evans Okyere, Ross Pearson (on loan at Bolton Wanderers), Carl Quinn, Craig Ridings, Duncan Rivers

Midfielders: Lee Allen, Nigel Atta (on loan at Queens Park Rangers), Joe Charles, George Conlon, Dan Judge, Thomas Lye, Daryl Ryan II, Martin Thompson (on loan at Cardiff City)

Forwards: Anthony Agbonifo, Toby Faithfull, Peguy Kasongo (on loan at Oldham Athletic), Jonas Kjaerulff, Rae Liversedge, Christophe Smith (on loan at Wrexham), Derek Wright (on loan at Wycombe Wanderers)

 

BACKROOM STAFF

Manager: Christopher Fuller

Assistant Manager: Fabio Saraiva

Coaches: Jamie Cochrane, Richaee Derby, Lewis Proudfoot, Marco Verratti

Fitness Coaches: Andy Boles, David Wheater

Goalkeeping Coaches: Scott Carson, Andy Lonergan

Physios: Adam Hutchings (head), Andrew Marks

Scouts: Callum Donnelly (chief), Chris Lewington, Dylan McGeouch, Thierry Monteny, Antonino Pirozzi, Nicky Reynolds

 

Reserves Manager: Sean O'Callaghan

 

Head of Youth Development: Curtis Langton

Under-18s Manager: Tom Ince

Under-18s Assistant Manager: Aaron McEwan

Under-18s Coaches: James Dunne, Joseph Yoffe

Under-18s Goalkeeping Coach: Tunde Shoretire

[CFuller]

And the depth chart...

GK: Whalley / Tylak

D/WB L: O'Reilly / Djuzel / Barnes
D C: Darvill / Radosavljevic / Moser / Jaafar / Khumalo / Habu
D/WB R: Khumalo / Banton / Moser / Brennan

DM C: Brennan / Virgo / Barnes / Hutchinson / McCann

M/AM L: [I don't use wingers currently]
M C: Barnes / Fraser / Brennan / Hutchinson / McCann / Virgo
M/AM R: [I don't use wingers currently]

AM C: Brkic / Polomat / Charles

F C (strikers): Edmundo / Nomaou / Honeyball / Egueh
F C (centre-forwards): Polomat / MacKenzie

[JayR2003]

Squad looks salty.  Hopefully they can hang with their PL brethren.  Are you currently running a 4-1-2-1-2 narrow diamond or variations of it?  I noticed you have WBs in the chart, so maybe you have a more attacking 4-3-1-2 or something like that...

[CFuller]

8 minutes ago, JayR2003 said:

Squad looks salty.  Hopefully they can hang with their PL brethren.  Are you currently running a 4-1-2-1-2 narrow diamond or variations of it?  I noticed you have WBs in the chart, so maybe you have a more attacking 4-3-1-2 or something like that...

I mainly use a narrow 4-4-2 diamond, or an Antonio Conte-esque 3-5-2 with wing-backs. Every now and then, I go to the narrow 4-3-2-1 'Christmas tree' (made famous by Terry Venables - he's from Dagenham, y'know), though consistent results are hard to come by with that system.

To be honest, I do not think I'll be going back to using wingers any time soon. They're just too inconsistent for my liking.

[CFuller]

AUGUST 2034 (continued)

As you would expect, we completely sold out of season tickets for our first ever campaign in the Premier League. 9,720 season tickets were snapped up, virtually ensuring that there would be a lively atmosphere in every match at Victoria Road this term.

 

There was a real sense of excitement in Dagenham when the first day of the Premier League season finally arrived. We were at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, who had graced the top flight since 2016 and had qualified for the UEFA Champions League on a couple of occasions. Wolves were more of a mid-table outfit these days, having had a host of different managers in recent times. Vladimir Weiss - ex of Huddersfield Town, Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur - was the present incumbent.

 

19 August 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

After a nervy start from both teams, this match took its first major turn in the 10th minute. Dagenham playmaker Stipo Brkic knocked the ball to Souleymane Nomaou in the Wolves penalty area, and our main goal-getter was scythed down by England midfielder Thomas Groves. Penalty to the Daggers!

 

While Nomaou hobbled off the pitch to receive treatment on a gash, Scottish midfielder Matthew Fraser stepped up to take the spot-kick... and he fired it emphatically into the net! It seemed only fitting that a player who'd been with us since we were in League Two should score our first ever Premier League goal!

 

Home delight lasted just three minutes, though, before we conceded our first goal in the top division. It was a very smart move from Wolves that undid us, as South Korea winger Kim Chang-Hoon ran onto an excellent pass from Shaun Murray and slipped it beyond Kieran Whalley.

 

Both teams would then miss chances to make it 2-1 midway through the first half. George Darvill headed wide a Fraser free-kick in the 19th minute, while Wolves wasted an opportunity of their own three minutes later. Kim's left-wing centre deflected off Daggers defender Hamzah Jaafar and fell towards Mario Poljak, who half-volleyed it well over. The visitors would soon rue that miss.

 

On 36 minutes, Fraser tussled with Groves in the Wolves penalty area before playing the ball back to Daniel O'Reilly. The Irish left-back powered forward a shot that was deflected into the Wanderers net by a header from the fit-again Nomaou! Sol was back to his best, and we were leading Wolves for a second time!

 

Like Nomaou, Jacques Polomat had hurt himself during the first period. Wary of Jacques' injury record, I decided to take him off at half-time and bring on Robbie MacKenzie. It would be a very smart move. In the second minute of the second half, Robbie found Sol in space, and the Nigerien striker broke away from the Wolves defenders before slotting in another goal!

 

The visitors looked in disarray at 3-1 down, and their cause wasn't helped when Groves came off with a knock in the 52nd minute. Four minutes later, 34-year-old Brazilian attacking midfielder Edson Pedro - who cost Barcelona £43million in his prime - fired wide a poor shot that wasn't even worth two bob to Wolves.

 

As our opponents' confidence dipped, ours went to new heights. Our two Africans combined for a great chance to bolster our lead to 4-1 after 66 minutes. Debutant full-back Albert Khumalo threaded the ball through to Nomaou, who went for a hat-trick but couldn't keep his shot on target. That miss wouldn't really matter a great deal, as we did score our fourth goal about five minutes later. A fantastic display from Fraser culminated with him whipping in a corner that was headed home by Velimir Radosavljevic!

 

Wolves' last glimmer of hope was snuffed out in the 78th minute, when Murray's close-range header was caught by Whalley. Manchester United loanee Murray would not be able to finish the game, as he was hurt badly in a tackle from Dagenham substitute Joe Charles two minutes later.

 

19-year-old Joe then helped to heap more misery on Wolves in the 87th minute. Charles found the run of Khumalo, whose cross from the right flank was controlled and then drilled home by MacKenzie! Wolves tried to have the last say in injury time, but Kieran's late save from Paraguay striker Marcelo Galeano Zarza ensured that we would record the biggest win on the opening day of this Premier League season! Not bad for a bunch of newcomers, eh?

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 5 (Fraser pen11, Nomaou 36,47, Radosavljevic 71, MacKenzie 87)

Wolverhampton Wanderers - 1 (Kim 14)

Premier League, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 1st, Wolves 20th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Jaafar, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Khumalo, O'Reilly, Hutchinson, Fraser (Brennan), Brkic (Charles), Polomat (MacKenzie), Nomaou.

 

As debut efforts go, that was the footballing equivalent of "Appetite For Destruction" by Guns 'N' Roses. Less than two hours after being welcomed to the Premier League jungle, we were already leading the way! Mind you, it was extremely unlikely that we would still be on top in 37 matches' time!

 

The other two nouveaux arrivés in the PL also registered positive results on the opening day. Derby County took the lead against the mighty Manchester City before settling for a 1-1 draw, while our fellow top-flight rookies Rochdale battled from behind to grab a late 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.

 

Rochdale's first home Premier League game took place the following weekend... and we happened to be the visitors to Spotland on that historic occasion. Dale's frontline was headed by former Daggers hero Mario Tortora, who'd scored the equaliser at Forest before setting up Garry Swan's match-winner.

 

26 August 2034: Rochdale vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Souleymane Nomaou tried to carry over his form from the Wolverhampton Wanderers game into this one, having a pop at goal in just the second minute. Unfortunately, Sol's first effort was parried away by Rochdale goalkeeper Callum Johnson.

 

Things would get rather scrappy over the first 15 minutes, with Dagenham midfielder Tom Virgo and Dale wing-back Jake Jenkins each picking up bookings. Jenkins' yellow card came after a shove on Virgo that led to Robbie MacKenzie firing a free-kick against the crossbar.

 

Rochdale's first real chance to take the lead would come in the 16th minute, when Garry Swan's header from a Wes Ashby cross was caught by Whalley. When Swan collided with Daggers midfielder Stipo Brkic in the 21st minute, the Dale skipper sustained a knock that briefly forced him off for treatment.

 

Stipo's match didn't get a great deal better after that, as he was booked for a shirt pull before blasting a long-range shot wide on 32 minutes. An astute Rochdale defence restricted us to only a couple more efforts, both of which were fired wide by Virgo, before we went into the half-time break still at 0-0.

 

By the 56th minute, it was becoming clear that we were not controlling our discipline very well. After Matthew Fraser became the third Dagger to see yellow following a trip on Liam Lewis, I instructed my team not to dive into any more tackles unless necessary.

 

I didn't want to lose a player to a red card, which had been arguably the deciding factor the last time we played Rochdale in February. On that occasion, Dale midfielder Lewis was the man sent off as his team chucked away a 3-1 lead and lost 4-3. This time, however, Lewis would be the hero, converting Geng Haoran's through-ball in the 60th minute to break the deadlock for Rochdale.

 

I made major tactical changes to try and turn the tide in the final half-hour, but our filthy-rich opponents were now looking at their imperious best. Centre-back Andrei Isache, who had an absolute shocker against us back in February, almost scored a superb 20-yarder in the 67th minute, with only the crossbar saving our skins.

 

Lewis then missed another chance for the hosts on 69 minutes before I played my final card, replacing the disappointing Nomaou with debutant Edmundo. The Brazilian had been on the pitch for barely two minutes when the game saw its second goal after 79 minutes.

 

It wasn't a goal that Dagenham centre-back Velimir Radosavljevic would want to remember for very long. Velimir tried to nod a Jenkins header away from danger, only to see the former Aston Villa right-back collect the loose ball and drill it in off the far post. Game over.

 

Radosavljevic had put in a brave performance at the back of us, but that couldn't excuse the fact that we had conceded from each of Rochdale's only two shots on target. That very early Nomaou effort would prove to be our sole shot on target from 10 in total. That just wouldn't do for us, and certainly not in the Premier League.

 

Rochdale - 2 (Lewis 60, Jenkins 79)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 10,179 - POSITIONS: Rochdale 4th, Dag & Red 9th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Khumalo, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Djuzel, Brennan (Banton), Fraser, Virgo (McCann), Brkic, MacKenzie, Nomaou (Edmundo). BOOKED: Virgo, Brkic, Fraser.

 

We looked for an immediate return to form when we entered the League Cup in Round 2. We had been given a fairly tricky draw against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. The League One champions were flying high early on in their return to the Championship, sitting in 5th place after six matches.

 

Although several key players were left behind when we travelled to South Yorkshire, I still reckoned that the squad I selected would be good enough to beat Wednesday. Joel Honeyball would've captained the Daggers had he not sustained a rib injury in training on the eve of the match. Daniel O'Reilly took the armband instead.

 

29 August 2034: Sheffield Wednesday vs Dagenham & Redbridge

While Sheffield Wednesday were high on confidence, we were still hurting from our defeat to Rochdale. It would take us exactly 15 minutes to register our first shot at goal, which Owls goalkeeper Daniel Richards saved from Edmundo. Richards was alert again in the 17th minute, when he parried a rare attempt from Dagenham right-back Arran Banton.

 

Focus would soon turn to Wednesday's own attack. One half of the Owls' strike partnership was ex-Arsenal trainee Marc Wright, who would be booked in the 21st minute for pushing John Moser. The other half would have a much better first period. When Banton made a hash of Nick Munn's cross into the Dagenham box in the 26th minute, former Bristol Rovers striker Steve Taylor gobbled up the loose ball and delighted the Hillsborough faithful with a cool finish.

 

Although we were 1-0 down, I didn't look overly concerned... at first. Then Gerry Hogan almost made it 2-0 in the 36th minute with a powerful shot that Daggers newcomer Mariusz Tylak did well to stop.

 

The scoreline would remain 1-0 to Sheffield Wednesday after a first half that culminated in three late cards. In the 42nd minute, the referee brandished a yellow card each to Edmundo for diving, and to Owls winger Steven Shelton (remember him?) for tripping Tom Virgo. Tom would also have his name taken in injury time... but he received a RED card after inexplicably elbowing Wednesday midfielder Leon Cook in the face! Virgo's dismissal had left us with a huge mountain to climb.

 

We adopted a counter-attacking strategy for the second half, and we got our first chance to put that into effect on 48 minutes. Substitute Tristan Egueh nodded a Banton clearance across to Robbie MacKenzie, who made a promising run towards goal before pulling the ball off target.

 

Sheffield Wednesday would put us back under pressure in the 57th minute, with veteran winger Callum Fordham flicking a Shelton cross just off target. Wright went closer to grabbing a second home goal in the 64th minute, forcing Tylak into another decent save.

 

Seb Brennan and Egueh then missed for the Daggers before Wright had his next pop at our goal on 71 minutes. Dagenham midfielder Hamzah Jaafar's attempted pass to MacKenzie went long and was intercepted by Wednesday captain Mike Foster, who pumped it into our penalty area. On the other end of the Wales international's long ball was Wright, who got his header all right and put clear daylight between Wednesday and us.

 

I could sense then that the game was up, so I gave 16-year-old midfielder Daryl Ryan II a competitive debut for what little time remained of our League Cup campaign. Sheffield Wednesday pushed for a third goal late on, but Tylak capped off a solid enough debut with two impressive saves from Owls substitute Paul Findlay. To be fair, Mariusz didn't deserve any blame for this defeat. Had a certain someone else not left us to play the second half with 10 men, things might have ended differently.

 

Sheffield Wednesday - 2 (Taylor 26, Wright 71)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

League Cup Round 2, Attendance 11,735

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak, Banton, Moser, Jaafar, O'Reilly, Brennan (Ryan), Virgo, McCann, Polomat (Habu), MacKenzie, Edmundo (Egueh). BOOKED: Edmundo, Banton. SENT OFF: Virgo.

 

I'd had serious doubts about Tom Virgo's Premier League capabilities before this match, and his dismissal for violent conduct was the last straw for me. I immediately fined Tom a week's wages and placed him on the transfer list.

 

When transfer deadline day came around, Linfield made a £300,000 offer to sign the 22-year-old defensive midfielder permanently. I accepted that offer, but the deal collapsed at the last minute, as the Northern Irish champions couldn't raise the required funds.

 

Virgo would still be leaving Dagenham & Redbridge, though - at least temporarily. Former England manager Sir Sean Dyche persuaded me to let Tom join his Aberdeen side on a season-long loan, with a view to a permanent £300,000 transfer next summer.

 

I also tried to move on a handful of other players, without much success. For example, Robbie MacKenzie turned down a couple of loan offers from Oxford United and our League Cup conquerors Sheffield Wednesday. Another striker did agree to go out on loan, as budding 17-year-old Toby Faithfull joined Wycombe Wanderers in League One until the end of January.

 

You won't be surprised to learn that, after many long and frustrating hours, I did manage to sign two new players for the Daggers on deadline day. I'll tell you about them a bit later...

[CFuller]

SEPTEMBER 2034

The transfer window had shut until the New Year, but I did squeeze through a couple of signings just in the nick of time. I suppose you'll want some names now, so here goes...

 

The first of them was 32-year-old striker Rob McLoughlin, who was capped once by England in 2026. He scored 79 Premier League goals over the course of about a decade at West Ham United before an ill-fated three-season stint at Huddersfield Town that ended this summer. McLoughlin's a lethal poacher who still looks excellent physically, even when you take his age into consideration.

 

If Rob's a potentially brilliant short-term signing, my second one of deadline day could be an exceptional long-term deal. At just 22 years old, Greg Killick had already made 199 league appearances for his boyhood club Crewe Alexandra and was firmly established as one of the Championship's best midfielders. The Cumbrian's pinpoint passing and excellent tackling had also helped him to win nine caps for England Under-21s.

 

I'd been keeping tabs on Killick for some time and really wanted to bring him in. In the end, I would have to break the Dagenham & Redbridge transfer record once again - at £4million - and offer Greg a five-year, £13,000-per-week contract to get my man. The lad's not exactly cheap, but trust me - he'll be worth the investment.

 

Meanwhile, Velimir Radosavljevic's meteoric rise continued with him being named as the Premier League Young Player of the Month. Fellow Daggers defender Albert Khumalo was also in the running for that accolade, even after our disappointing 2-0 defeat at Rochdale.

 

Our PL debut continued on the second day of September, with a home match against Southampton. The Saints, who finished 17th last season, were amongst the early pacesetters following a couple of three-goal victories.

 

2 September 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Southampton

Despite crashing out of the League Cup to League One Millwall in mid-week, Southampton didn't take long to pick up from where they'd left off in the league. After just four minutes, striker Maurice Hockley outjumped Daggers full-back Albert Khumalo to flick in Nicky Till's cross at the near post and put the Saints ahead.

 

The visitors pressured us again by winning a corner in the 7th minute, though we saw that attack off. That was followed over the next four minutes by a couple of half-chances from our left-back Daniel O'Reilly. His first deflected off Saints captain Daniel Phillips before being caught by goalkeeper Adaílson, but the second was blasted well wide.

 

Hockley then missed a couple of chances to double Southampton's advantage before doing just that in the 24th minute. After collecting a pass from midfielder Alasdair Wood, the 21-year-old turned past Velimir Radosavljevic and drove in what was already his sixth goal of the Premier League season!

 

At 6ft 7in and nearly 15st, Hockley was a big and strong unit... and he was also quite feisty. Hockley was booked in the 29th minute for pushing over Velimir, who'd struggled to deal with him all game.

 

Our own strikers would also find the going tough against Southampton. Edmundo drove a long-range shot off target in the 32nd minute, while Jacques Polomat had a spectacular volley blocked by Adaílson a minute later. Those would be our last chances to claw a goal back before the interval.

 

Edmundo's slow start to his Dagenham career continued in the second half. Another crashing drive from distance went wide in the opening minute, and although the Brazilian did force compatriot Adaílson into a save five minutes later, his game wouldn't get any better. I'd lost patience with him by the 64th minute, when I subbed him in favour of debutant Rob McLoughlin.

 

Shortly after that, Radosavljevic gave away a free-kick - and received a yellow card - for pushing Southampton substitute Hasney Mitchell. Saints midfielder Wood lined up the set-piece, but his swerving effort was caught by Daggers captain Kieran Whalley. The visitors kept us in our half for much of the final 30 minutes, and the pressure would soon tell.

 

In the 82nd minute, Wood squared a pass to Mitchell just inside our penalty area, and the 23-year-old striker was brought down by a clumsy tackle from Khumalo. Penalty to Southampton, and a hat-trick opportunity for Hockley. Unsurprisingly, the red-hot striker sent Whalley the wrong way to take the match ball home and give Ben Turner's men yet another three-goal win. Southampton had only had four shots on target all game, but they'd certainly made the most of them.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Southampton - 3 (Hockley 4,24,pen83)

Premier League, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 11th, Southampton 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Khumalo, Darvill, Radosavljevic, O'Reilly, Brennan (Banton), Fraser, Killick, Brkic, Polomat (Nomaou), Edmundo (McLoughlin). BOOKED: Radosavljevic.

 

The reality of what was required to survive in the Premier League was now starting to hit home. We'd suffered three successive defeats in all competition without scoring. Our next six fixtures didn't fill me with much hope that we could get back to winning ways soon, either. This is what we had in store:

 

16 September: vs Burnley (A), 23 September: vs West Ham United (H),

30 September: vs Tottenham Hotspur (A), 7 October: vs Chelsea (H),

21 October: vs Manchester United (H), 29 October: vs Liverpool (A)

 

Nightmare. It was just as well, then, that we had a fortnight to prepare for what was likely to be our most difficult run of the season.

 

While I went off to help Norway begin their bid to qualify for UEFA Euro 2036, a couple of my players did likewise with their national teams. Matthew Fraser created a couple of goals for Scotland as they recorded a comfortable 4-0 win in the Faroe Islands. Centre-back Hamzah Jaafar found it just as easy in San Marino, where Austria won 3-0 without facing a single home shot on target.

 

Meanwhile, we had no fewer than SIX Dagenham & Redbridge players in the England Under-19s squad at the same time! Adrian Bailey, Tristan Egueh, Dave Hutchinson, Neil McCann, Ross Pearson and Martin Thompson all played in a 1-1 draw against Spain in Leicester, before Egueh scored during a 3-2 defeat to Portugal in Walsall.

 

Upon his return to club duty, Hutch was given a second Premier League start in an away game against Burnley that also saw Rob McLoughlin make his full Daggers debut. Lee Clark's Clarets had racked up only two points from their first three PL games and were eliminated from the League Cup by bottom-tier club Hereford United.

 

16 September 2034: Burnley vs Dagenham & Redbridge

The match was barely 20 seconds old when Burnley centre-back Karl Marsh, who'd just won his first cap for England, brought down Daggers striker Edmundo with a poor sliding tackle. We were awarded an early free-kick, which Matthew Fraser flighted just over the bar.

 

Burnley launched their first attack after three minutes, when Australia left-back Mark Dobson cut inside and powered a shot that was too high. The Clarets struggled to open our defence early on, and their cause suffered a major blow in the 18th minute. Experienced Latvian midfielder Jevgenijs Vasiljevs twisted his ankle in a slide tackle on George Darvill and had to be replaced.

 

The Turf Moor faithful were fearing that their team's poor start would continue, but that all changed five minutes later. Enigmatic winger Marciel Quadros bent in a low cross that Ion Pavelescu drove through a crowded six-yard box and into the net. 1-0 to the Clarets.

 

That wasn't a disaster, but what happened to Fraser in the 25th minute certainly was. Burnley right-back Roman Feurstein, whose Austria team lost to my Norway side a week earlier, bundled Fraser over after Rob McLoughlin played an excellent pass to the Scot. Matthew landed heavily on the turf and looked in total agony, so I had little choice but to substitute him and bring on Greg Killick.

 

Daggers centre-back Darvill didn't get injured in the 35th minute, but he might as well have shot himself in the foot after meeting a Hamzah Jaafar pass with a heavy first touch. Burnley's Chinese skipper Li Jingdao claimed the loose ball and raced through before tucking away the hosts' second goal. Everything that could've gone wrong was going wrong for us.

 

Dagenham's goalkeeper/captain Kieran Whalley would be quite a busy man in the second half. Both of Burnley's wingers - Kenneth Yende on the left flank, and Quadros on the right - had chances to beat Kieran either side of the half-hour mark. Whalley saved each of their efforts, but he would be beaten for a third time in the 63rd minute.

 

Not for the first time in this match, Darvill was guilty of defending that would embarrass a schoolchild. George could only hook a Dom Scott clearance straight back at the 34-year-old former West Bromwich Albion forward, who lofted the ball over Whalley from a tight angle and increased our arrears to 3-0.

 

Scott's striking partner was another veteran in 32-year-old Perry Darlington, who'd made 'only' 183 Premier League appearances in about 15 years with Manchester City's first-team before moving to Turf Moor this summer. In the 67th minute, Darlington headed a Quadros corner goalwards, but Kieran tipped the ball behind to deny him a first Burnley goal. The wait would only last another 20 seconds or so, as Darlington did score from the follow-up corner by Quadros.

 

The Clarets were 4-0 to the good, and Lee Clark could now relax. I certainly couldn't, as my team looked utterly out of their depth. We were miscuing passes and losing tackles on a regular basis, and we would only have a single shot on target in the entire match. Forget the Premier League - this was more like a Sunday League performance from the Daggers.

 

Burnley - 4 (Pavelescu 23, Li 35, Scott 63, Darlington 68)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 20,322 - POSITIONS: Burnley 10th, Dag & Red 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Jaafar (Moser), Darvill, Radosavljevic, Khumalo, O'Reilly, Hutchinson, Fraser (Killick), Brkic, Edmundo (Polomat), McLoughlin.

 

It seemed that we'd completely forgotten how to score, how to defend, and even how to pass the ball without finding an opponent. With four of last season's top six awaiting us over the next few weeks, I was beginning to wonder when our rut would end.

 

As if all that wasn't bad enough, midfielder Matthew Fraser would be out for at least a month with fractured ribs. To lose William Barnes for the opening stages of this season was bad enough, but to lose Fraser as well? God help us...

[CFuller]

SEPTEMBER 2034 (continued)

In the midst of our biggest confidence crisis yet, we needed everybody to pull together and work their way out of our four-game losing run. The last thing I needed was for one of my players to try and get going when the going got tough. On this occasion, the player Billy Ocean might have been referring to was Ante Djuzel.

 

Ante had played just once in all competitions so far this term - in the 2-0 defeat at Rochdale that began our slump. I still preferred to field Daniel O'Reilly at left-back, but Djuzel felt that he deserved better. Instead of quietly working harder on his game to try and oust O'Reilly, the teenager slapped in a transfer request. I was not impressed.

 

"If you think you can get your own way, you are badly mistaken," I told him. "There's a good reason why Daniel is starting over you. He's got a professional attitude and he always puts everything into his performances.

 

"Daniel is a man. You are still a boy, and if you want to make it as a top-level footballer, you've got to learn from him and grow up very quickly.

 

"I don't like shirkers, and I REALLY don't like cowards. Prove to me that you're neither of those, and you'll get your chance to be a first-team regular. Until then, you're staying on the bench - at best."

 

Djuzel quietly nodded and left my office dejectedly. O'Reilly would keep his place in the starting line-up for our next match, which would see 19-year-old centre-half Paul Habu make his Premier League debut. I was taking a massive risk on Paul, considering that this was perhaps our biggest game thus far this term.

 

On 23 September, West Ham United made the short trip to Victoria Road to contest the Premier League's first East London derby. The Hammers had finished 4th in consecutive seasons but had begun this campaign slowly, sitting in 13th place after four games. Would their greater quality return to the fore here, or would this be the match in which we got our season up and running?

 

23 September 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs West Ham United

I experimented with playing Hamzah Jaafar as an anchor man in this match as I sought to fix our defensive problems. That seemed to have a positive effect at first, with West Ham struggling to break through our backline early in the first half.

 

At the other end, Robbie MacKenzie had a couple of chances to fire us into the lad. After 14 minutes, the giant Scotsman struck a fierce free-kick that bounced off the Hammers' wall and behind for a corner. 6ft 7in MacKenzie then got the better of West Ham's 6ft 6in captain Francis Windsor to reach Stipo Brkic's inswinging corner... and head it against the bar!

 

The visitors would win a corner of their own in the 19th minute, but record signing Jérémy Jossic's delivery was headed away by Daniel O'Reilly, who justified his continued selection at left-back for the Daggers. Daniel seemed to have the measure of right-winger Rob Houben... but then he bundled the Belgian over from behind in the 29th minute. O'Reilly was booked for his troubles, and there would be worse to come. Two of West Ham's local boys turned England internationals combined to open the scoring, as centre-half Nathan Guppy headed midfielder Marcel Game's free-kick into the net.

 

In fact, seven of United's starting line-up had come through the club's academy and become first-team regulars. Among them was goalkeeper Carlton John-Lewis, who saved a couple of late shots from Albert Khumalo and Stipo Brkic to keep us on the back foot at half-time.

 

Five minutes into the second period, full-back Bill Middleton sent a cross over from the right flank to Jossic, who outjumped Khumalo and nodded the ball goalwards. Kieran Whalley dropped his attempted catch, but France winger Jossic - a £19.75million summer signing from Marseille - could only fire the rebound into the side netting.

 

Whalley got away with that mistake, while his counterpart John-Lewis looked rather more composed when he caught MacKenzie's header in the 60th minute. Both goalkeepers were being supported by strong defences, with homegrown heroes George Darvill of Dagenham and Guppy of West Ham looking particularly impressive for their respective sides.

 

As you'd expect from a local derby, there was plenty of rough tackling at both ends, and although the teams conceded 31 fouls between them, O'Reilly was the only player to receive a booking. Daniel drove wide an equalising attempt in the 71st minute.

 

I brought on three substitutes at once after that miss, and one of them would go close to scoring on 75 minutes. Jacques Polomat's free-kick on the edge of the area was tipped over by John-Lewis, who seemed happy to shut up shop and send the Hammers home with all three points. However, the long wait for a Daggers goal would end in the 87th minute, thanks partly to the 'power of love' from our supporters.

 

The Victoria Road faithful roared on Neil McCann to swing in a devastating corner that Robbie headed past the goalkeeper to send them jumping delightfully in the stands! We had 'only' clawed back one point, but in a massive game against strong local opposition, this draw felt like a victory!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (MacKenzie 87)

West Ham United - 1 (Guppy 30)

Premier League, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 16th, West Ham 13th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Khumalo, Darvill, Habu, O'Reilly (Djuzel), Jaafar, Killick, McCann, Brkic (Polomat), MacKenzie, Nomaou (McLoughlin). BOOKED: O'Reilly.

 

I would have another reason to smile the following day. The board had accepted my request to improve our senior and youth teams' training facilities, and they were now planning to build new grounds in the local borough. The developments will cost a total of around £5million and will hopefully be fully completed within the next two years.

 

The West Ham game was the first of three successive matches against London opposition. The second was at the AIA Stadium against Tottenham Hotspur, who were flying high in 4th place. Spurs' only blip thus far this season had been quite a spectacular one - a 4-0 defeat at Manchester United.

 

30 September 2034: Tottenham Hotspur vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Souleymane Nomaou had a shot for Dagenham after eight minutes, although he couldn't quite get it on target. Tottenham would go close to taking the lead three minutes later. Daggers midfielder Dave Hutchinson could only clear Lu Lu's header to Spurs winger Adi Nasser Al-Din, who unleashed a powerful volley at goal. Kieran Whalley needed to make an excellent catch to prevent the Israel international from scoring.

 

Tottenham had another opportunity in the 17th minute, but Gerald Parsons could only flick Ed Rowland's deep cross past the post. Our target man Robbie MacKenzie then had a 23rd-minute long-ranger caught by Tottenham goalkeeper Stephen Palacios, who'd captained the United States to victory at this summer's FIFA World Cup.

 

Four minutes after that, Spurs right-back Jamie Samuelson floated a cross into the Daggers box. George Darvill's mistimed interception led to the cross finding 23-year-old Denmark wideman Daniel Poulsen, who prodded it into the net.

 

Tottenham were 1-0 up, and we were very fortunate that they wouldn't score again in this half. Spurs captain Rob King unsuccessfully argued for a penalty in the 31st minute following an aerial challenge with MacKenzie in our penalty area. On 38 minutes, Parsons turned away from Darvill and lashed in a shot that clipped the bar and deflected behind.

 

We continued to live dangerously in the 47th minute, when right-winger Alvaro Carrascal drilled the ball towards our six-yard box. Albert Khumalo very nearly knocked the ball into his own net, but he just about diverted it behind for a corner. Carrascal would cause us more problems after 51 minutes. The Colombian was bundled to the floor by Daniel O'Reilly as he tried to latch onto Lu's through-ball, prompting the referee to award Tottenham a penalty. Carrascal took the spot-kick himself... but it was a poor effort, and Kieran made a comfortable save to keep our deficit down.

 

Stipo Brkic tried to erase our arrears in the 54th minute, but the Danish attacking midfielder's shot swerved wide and he failed to cancel out his compatriot Poulsen's goal. That would be a costly miss, as Spurs built on their slender lead in the 61st minute. Carrascal finished off a fantastic solo run with a low finish that oozed class, and we were facing a real uphill struggle.

 

At that point, I went for broke and threw on two wingers - Edmundo on the right, and Premier League debutant Joel Honeyball on the left. Although the pair would give Tottenham's full-backs plenty to think about, they weren't quite able to turn the game around. Our best chance to pull a goal back came in the 69th minute from Nomaou, who was denied by a strong Palacios save.

 

Spurs would compound our misery with a third goal after 85 minutes. Vladimir Sipcic's corner was flicked on by Parsons to the back post, where Poulsen got past Khumalo and slid it across the line. The Dane's double had consigned us to yet another defeat, though Honeyball could've sent us back home with a consolation goal in injury time. Alas, Joel's late effort was stopped by Palacios, and our wait for an away PL goal, let alone a point, continued.

 

Tottenham Hotspur - 3 (Poulsen 27,85, Carrascal 61)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 49,191 - POSITIONS: Tottenham 2nd, Dag & Red 17th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Khumalo, Darvill, Radosavljevic, O'Reilly, Brennan (Honeyball), Killick, Hutchinson, Brkic (Edmundo), MacKenzie (Polomat), Nomaou.

 

We are now down in 17th - perilously close to the relegation zone. To make matters worse, we've got the champions next. HELP!

[CFuller]

Premier League Table (End of September 2034)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Man Utd                6     6     0     0     17    2     +15   18
2.          Tottenham              6     5     0     1     15    6     +9    15
3.          Southampton            5     4     1     0     12    1     +11   13
4.          Man City               5     4     1     0     10    1     +9    13
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.          Norwich                5     4     0     1     8     6     +2    12
6.          Liverpool              6     3     1     2     12    8     +4    10
7.          Rochdale               6     2     3     1     6     4     +2    9
8.          Wolves                 5     3     0     2     8     8     0     9
9.          Arsenal                4     2     1     1     6     2     +4    7
10.         Chelsea                5     2     1     2     5     6     -1    7
11.         Everton                4     2     0     2     4     3     +1    6
12.         Derby                  6     1     3     2     2     4     -2    6
13.         West Ham               6     1     3     2     5     9     -4    6
14.         Huddersfield           6     1     3     2     3     8     -5    6
15.         Burnley                6     1     2     3     5     5     0     5
16.         Fulham                 6     1     1     4     4     11    -7    4
17.         Dag & Red              6     1     1     4     6     14    -8    4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.         West Brom              5     0     2     3     3     13    -10   2
19.         Nottm Forest           6     0     1     5     4     15    -11   1
20.         Brighton               6     0     0     6     5     14    -9    0

 

[CFuller]

OCTOBER 2034

For the second month in a row, one of our centre-backs was named as the Premier League's Young Player of the Month. George Darvill took the honour for September, having seen his regular partner Velimir Radosavljevic receive that award in August.

 

Although George and Velimir were continuing to perform admirably for the Daggers, we had a poor defensive record in the PL, and I could tell that the young lads needed some help. More specifically, they needed more competition from an experienced campaigner who'd been there and done that.

 

33-year-old Stevo Buac had been there and done that. The former Serbia international centurion had recently left Chelsea after making 293 Premier League appearances in 11 years at Stamford Bridge. He'd won the UEFA Europa League and the League Cup twice apiece with the Blues, although he only played a minor part in their successful PL title defence last term.

 

Although he was no longer at the very top of his game, Buac still had tremendous quality - and plenty of knowledge to pass onto the younger defenders in our squad. I offered Stevo a deal to play for us until the end of the season, with the proviso that he'd get an automatic one-year extension if he made 20 league appearances. Much to my delight, he accepted my offer.

 

Stevo was banned from our next match at home to his former club Chelsea, having picked up a red card in his final game for the Blues. I had hoped to get him fit enough to make his Daggers debut against Manchester United on 21 October. Unfortunately, my plans were scuppered when Buac strained his groin during his first week of training, thus delaying his debut until our away game at Liverpool on 29 October at the earliest.

 

Another Daggers defender was already on the sidelines by then. Right-back Albert Khumalo had damaged his foot in training and was unable to face Chelsea. That was far from ideal preparation for facing the league champions.

 

Lee Nicholls' Blues had made a pretty poor start to their title defence. They were in 12th position, with their only victories from their first six league matches coming against the current bottom two - Brighton & Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest. Unless we could replicate our unlikely upset against Chelsea in last season's FA Cup, there was a real chance that we could join Brighton and Forest in the relegation zone.

 

7 October 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Chelsea

Chelsea winger Maximiliano Fernández, who was signed from Arsenal for £13million a couple of months earlier, tried to make his mark early. Things didn't quite go as well as he'd planned for them to, though. The Uruguayan blasted a shot well wide in the first minute, and was then booked two minutes later for diving on the edge of our penalty area. Fernández would make a more positive contribution in the 6th minute, when his cross from the left found Gianni Improta. The Italian hotshot got his head to the ball, but Kieran Whalley was equal to his effort.

 

On 11 minutes, Improta ingeniously chipped the ball over our defence and to his strike partner Glyn Mitter, whose diving header beat Whalley but still bounced past the far post. A poor pass from Dagenham right-back John Moser on 13 minutes presented Fernández with another chance to open the scoring, but he too was off target.

 

In the 20th minute, South Korean midfielder Kim Byung-Ki - another of the champions' summer buys - was booked for persistent fouling. Two minutes later, Kim's byline cross was nodded wide by Improta, who was looking nothing like the 28-goal striker from last season. Another three minutes passed, and then Fernández powered an effort into Whalley's hands.

 

Mitter would go on to miss a couple more sitters before Kieran faced his next major test on 44 minutes, catching a banana shot from Blues midfielder Almir Murtic. Although Chelsea had kept us in our own half for almost the entire first period, they somehow hadn't yet broken the deadlock.

 

I told my players that, if they kept their cool during the second half, there was still a chance that they could cause a surprise. Sure enough, the Daggers stayed calm and managed to create some early scoring opportunities against the run of play. In the 50th minute, Rob McLoughlin exchanged passes with Edmundo before pulling a poor shot wide.

 

We would have our first shot on target a couple of minutes later. Chelsea defender Yoav Cohen's interception from a Seb Brennan corner drifted towards the far post, where George Darvill flicked forward a header that was caught by Humberto Cano. George had another opportunity to strike in the 56th minute. Brennan's next corner managed to evade all of Chelsea's defenders, including captain Christopher Khan, before local boy Darvill sent the Dagenham fans into ecstasy with a powerful finish! 1-0 to the Daggers!

 

The Blues continued to wilt in the next few minutes, as Improta was booked before Murtic and Valdivia wasted potential equalisers. Then, on 61 minutes, Whalley pumped a goal kick deep into the Chelsea half. McLoughlin got above Cohen to flick the ball on to Polomat, who volleyed it first-time ahead of Edmundo. The Brazilian just had to beat Cano, and with a clinical finish, he ended his wait for a first competitive Daggers goal! We were 2-0 up on Chelsea - again!

 

The Blues fans could hardly believe what they were seeing from their team. Indeed, had Cano not managed to catch a long-range put from McLoughlin on 68 minutes, there was a real chance that we would've moved even further ahead. I was happy enough with 2-0, though, so I instructed my team to sit deeper for the closing stages.

 

After 81 minutes, my conservatism almost backfired. Some awful defending from the Daggers left Chelsea sub Roland Pot in bags of space, but after collecting an excellent ball from Mitter, the 34-year-old Holland winger incredibly pulled his shot miles wide!

 

Further signs that this would be our lucky day came when Whalley made a couple of saves to prevent either Improta or Mitter from pulling at least one goal back for Chelsea in injury time. The final whistle then confirmed an unbelievable result for the Daggers. We had finally managed to record a Premier League clean sheet and rack up a first win since the opening day - and we had done so against the league champions!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Darvill 56, Edmundo 61)

Chelsea - 0

Premier League, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 15th, Chelsea 12th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Moser, Darvill, Jaafar (McCann), Djuzel, Brennan, Hutchinson, Killick (Radosavljevic), Polomat, McLoughlin (MacKenzie), Edmundo. BOOKED: Jaafar.

 

We seem to have a voodoo sign over Chelsea at the moment. We've now won our last three meetings against the Blues - in a friendly, the FA Cup, and the Premier League - without conceding a single goal!

 

Now, if we can do that against some of the other big boys, we might just about be alright...

[CFuller]

OCTOBER 2034 (continued)

I probably could've mentioned this before we beat Chelsea, but I've loaned out a couple more defenders to lower-league clubs. Carl Quinn will be playing for League One's Kidderminster Harriers, and Jefferson Moran for Swindon Town in the Conference Premier, until early January.

 

I make that a grand total of 16 Dagenham & Redbridge players who are currently out on loan. I can still just about remember when the Daggers were lucky to have 16 players in their entire first-team!

 

One of those loanees was Courtney Gallagher, who was performing fairly well in League Two for mid-table AFC Bournemouth. Courtney also became the latest Dagenham youth product to feature for England Under-19s when they got through the first round of qualifiers for the European Championship. He was joined in the Young Lions squad by three other Daggers.

 

The October international break also saw Hamzah Jaafar win his 40th cap for Austria and Souleymane Nomaou score four times for Niger during an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Burkina Faso. Several other Daggers featured for various countries at youth levels too, including 16-year-old Jonas Kjaerulff, who followed up his Denmark Under-21s debut last month by winning another cap.

 

Our stars would need to hit the ground running upon their return to club duty, as we resumed our Premier League campaign by welcoming the mighty Manchester United to Victoria Road.

 

The Red Devils lost their manager Sylvain Marveaux to England over the summer, but new coach Alexander Mejía was three months into his reign and had not yet been beaten. United had dropped just two Premier League points thus far (against West Bromwich Albion) and were in 2nd place, behind only their great rivals Manchester City on goal difference.

 

United would have been imposing enough had we been able to call upon a full squad. Our task was made even harder when Kieran Whalley damaged his knee cartilage in training on the eve of the match. Whalley was ruled out of around a month, so Mariusz Tylak would have to deputise in goal for the time being, and left-back Daniel O'Reilly was temporarily handed the captaincy.

 

21 October 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Manchester United

Mariusz Tylak's Premier League debut got off to an awful start, with Manchester United scoring after just three minutes. Daggers right-back Albert Khumalo slid the ball off United winger Arturo Samario's feet as he dribbled into our penalty area, but he could only knock it into the path of Sean Jordan. 28-year-old Jordan was the top scorer when the United States won the FIFA World Cup this summer, and he was never going to waste such a blatant sitter.

 

Jordan's strike partner - England international Moses Penfold - almost added a second goal in the 10th minute, when he rode past a couple of tackles before blazing a shot inches over. It looked like being a quiet day for United goalkeeper Carl Baker, but the Welshman was called into action in the 18th minute. Daggers midfielder Greg Killick met an Edmundo pass with a well-controlled low strike that Baker had to get down to stop.

 

Normal service then resumed, with widemen Dudu Ashkenazi and Samario missing chances to double the Red Devils' lead. It would take a goal of top quality to do just that after 30 minutes.

 

The fateful attack began when Killick was softly dispossessed by Ashkenazi deep in our half, but there was nothing soft about Jordan's breathtaking sidefooted volley from a Samario cross just moments later. Hand on heart, it was one of the best goals I'd ever seen in many years at Victoria Road. With Manchester United so firmly in control, we had to do very well to restrict them to just those two goals in the first half.

 

Our toughest Premier League test yet resumed early in the second period. Jordan was narrowly denied a hat-trick in the 51st minute, when his header from Matheo Honoré's cross was caught by Tylak. Six minutes later, Argentina midfielder Sebastián Núnez bent an edge-of-the-area shot just wide.

 

United next threatened our goal after 63 minutes, as centre-half Emerson tried his luck from 25 yards and was denied by Tylak. Mariusz would make another save two minutes later - from a Penfold header - as we showed some backbone against the Red Devils. Although we didn't have the quality to push forward at all and cause United's defence any problems, we were at least on course to keep a second-half clean sheet.

 

After a very shaky start, Mariusz had settled into his goal and didn't look like being beaten again. Well, at least he didn't until the 89th minute. With full-time looming, Red Devils left-back Steffen Stampe weighted a pass to Penfold, who powered a strike past Daggers centre-half Hamzah Jaafar and completed a 3-0 away win. This was as professional a performance as they came from Manchester United, and one could only look on in awe as we were taught a real footballing lesson.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Manchester United - 3 (Jordan 3,30, Penfold 89)

Premier League, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 16th, Man Utd 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak, Jaafar, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Khumalo (Moser), O'Reilly, Hutchinson, Killick, Polomat (Brkic), McLoughlin, Edmundo (Nomaou).

 

To be fair, we had not played poorly against Manchester United. That said, I could sense that Velimir Radosavljevic was struggling a wee bit with the rigours of the Premier League. I decided to rest the young Serbian centre-back for the next couple of games, so that he could rediscover his best form again in the reserves.

 

Velimir was not in the travelling party that arrived at Anfield the following Sunday to face Liverpool, but there were a couple of significant inclusions. Matthew Fraser had recovered from injury and was ready to start, while captain William Barnes was set to make his long-awaited PL debut from the bench following a serious hamstring tear. Also on the bench was Stevo Buac - the 33-year-old former Chelsea defender who'd recently joined us on a free transfer.

 

Our opponents were a pale shadow of their former selves. Liverpool had (in)famously not won the Premier League since 1990, when I was five years old, and they hadn't even qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the last seven years. Now managed by former Canada midfielder Sergey Mustafin, the Reds were 5th in the table.

 

29 October 2034: Liverpool vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Liverpool had won four of their previous five matches, and they would make a strong start to this game. There was a scrap for the ball in and around our penalty area in the second minute before Reds midfielder Angel Luleyski fired in a shot from just inside the box. Mariusz Tylak parried it, but he was beaten by the rebound strike from Liverpool captain Dave Weaver - a veteran of over 50 England caps, and an east Londoner to boot.

 

Three minutes after his team took the lead, home goalkeeper Gavin Stopforth stopped an audacious 40-yard attempt from Dagenham forward Robbie MacKenzie. Wingers Pavle Oljaca and Adi Music then missed opportunities to put Liverpool 2-0 ahead just before the 15-minute mark.

 

We were at risk of being outclassed again, although midfielder Greg Killick did show some fighting spirit in the 20th minute, when he scythed down Weaver to prevent the Reds skipper from collecting a Billy Short throw-in. Greg was booked for that foul, but another Dagenham middleman would make a more positive impact on the game eight minutes later.

 

Matthew Fraser chipped a long ball over the hosts' defence and to Stipo Brkic, who nodded it across to Souleymane Nomaou. Sol had seen that Stopforth was some way off his goal line, so he let fly... and beat the keeper from 25 yards out! Nomaou had scored our first ever away goal in the Premier League - and, more importantly, we were level! Liverpool did have chances to restore their lead before the break, but neither Dutch playmaker René Wijmer nor Bosnian left-winger Music could hit the target.

 

Both managers made a change apiece at half-time. I took off Killick to give William Barnes his top-flight debut, while Liverpool's Sergey Mustafin sent on 23-year-old England midfielder Anthony Diallo for striker Liam Baldwin. Diallo hurt himself quite badly when he slid into the giant frame of MacKenzie just four minutes after the second half kicked off, but he was cleared to continue after coming off for some treatment.

 

Liverpool's first opportunity to score after the restart would come in the 59th minute. Oljaca's free-kick found the head of France centre-half Christian Keller, but Tylak was equal to it. Six minutes after that, MacKenzie turned past Keller and went for a piledriver that fizzed just past the post.

 

Things then rather quiet until the 69th minute, when Mustafin sacrificed Music and brought on Mijo Djuzel. The experienced Croatian would go on to hit the woodwork not once, but twice - in the 77th and 80th minutes, and each time from an Oljaca set-piece. Mijo's younger cousin Ante was on the Dagenham bench, but I decided not to bring my teenage full-back on. Instead, I gave Stevo Buac a 20-minute run-out at centre-half, and I sent Jacques Polomat on once Fraser had run himself into the ground.

 

Jacques' fresher legs would revitalise our attack in the dying moments of normal time. Polomat was involved in a one-two with MacKenzie before the big Scot squared the ball to Brkic, who then knocked it through to Nomaou. Sol had found a gap in the Liverpool defence after Keller had pushed forward to try and close Stipo down. However, the Reds' other centre-half Erik Molenaar did well to shut off a route to goal, and Nomaou could only pull his shot wide.

 

That attacking move was followed by three minutes of injury time, during which Dagenham hearts skipped a beat as Tylak tipped behind a vicious drive from Liverpool left-back Neftalí Carrada. The Reds couldn't break through again, and so we left Anfield with a deserved point.

 

Liverpool - 1 (Weaver 2)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Nomaou 28)

Premier League, Attendance 51,203 - POSITIONS: Liverpool 5th, Dag & Red 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak, Khumalo, Jaafar (Buac), Darvill, O'Reilly, Brennan, Fraser (Polomat), Killick (Barnes), Brkic, MacKenzie, Nomaou. BOOKED: Killick.

 

A draw at Anfield feels like a win to me. Indeed, I'm feeling quite confident about our survival chances, as we've come through a tough run of fixtures still four points clear of relegation.

 

Our next five fixtures in November are perhaps a bit... well, if not easier, then certainly less gruelling, compared to our previous five. It's vital that we get some wins on the board next month, and prove that we deserve to stay in the Premier League.

[CFuller]

NOVEMBER 2034

Surprisingly, we tightened our hold on the Premier League Young Player of the Month award in October. George Darvill's consistently impressive performances at centre-half saw him win that accolade for a second month in a row. He'd taken to PL football like a duck to water, but there were serious doubts about whether the rest of our team was up to scratch.

 

On the eve of our next match at West Bromwich Albion, I listened to some comments from Burnley boss Lee Clark that left me fuming. Clark was talking about how strong the Clarets' relegation rivals were when he moved on to us.

 

"And then there's the likes of Dagenham & Redbridge," he said, "who are just not cut out for Premier League football. I don't think we'll be worrying about them come the business end, because they'll already be down by then."

 

I still remembered the 4-0 spanking Burnley gave us in September, but those words were still utterly disrespectful. I had expected much better from Clark, who - at the age of 62 - was one of the old guard when it came to Premier League managers.

 

The following afternoon, I made my players listen to the Geordie's comments while they were on the coach trip to West Bromwich. They would arrive at The Hawthorns all fired up, and desperate to prove him wrong. Victory against West Brom, who were second-from-bottom and still without a league win, would certainly be a good start.

 

This match saw Stevo Buac make his full debut for the Daggers, and he would lead us out as the captain. There were a few grumbles in the dressing room when I made this decision, but Stevo's top-level experience was unparalleled, so I felt he would make an excellent stand-in skipper for the tired William Barnes.

 

4 November 2034: West Bromwich Albion vs Dagenham & Redbridge

West Brom had kept just one Premier League clean sheet thus far, and we ripped into their fragile defence throughout the opening half-hour. In the 6th minute, Greg Killick played an excellent lob upfield to Robbie MacKenzie, who chested the ball and then skied it over the bar!

 

Stipo Brkic also scooped a shot over in the 8th minute after Souleymane Nomaou had played him through on goal. The resulting goal kick from Baggies goalkeeper Eudald Teijo was intercepted by George Darvill, and we were pushing forward again within moments. This time, it was Nomaou who went goal... but he got nowhere near the target. Sol sensed another opportunity in the 12th minute, but his header from a byline cross by Ante Djuzel rattled the bar! When MacKenzie drilled our next effort narrowly wide on 15 minutes, I was left wondering if we would ever break the deadlock!

 

It would've been typical had West Brom scored from their first attack in the 22nd minute, but I was greatly relieved to see Canada midfielder Dino Lord's volley fly over the bar. Seven minutes later, the Baggies left our right-back Albert Khumalo in too much space out wide. Albert collected a pass from Stipo and then slid the ball into the penalty area for Robbie to drive it home from a tight angle!

 

Our patience seemed to have paid off... but we didn't count on Albion cancelling MacKenzie's opener out just before half-time. We were undone by an excellent Richard Boucher set-piece that West Brom's Serbian striker Miljan Todorovic volleyed in to level the scores.

 

Todorovic had a couple of opportunities to put the Baggies in front early in the second half. We could thank our goalkeeper Mariusz Tylak that he didn't. The Pole was more than equal to a header that bounced straight towards him in the 49th minute, and also to a long-range attempt in the 58th.

 

Two minutes after that latter chance for West Brom, the home defence was opened up again. MacKenzie was criminally unmarked when he latched onto a first-time pass from Brkic and hammered it past the rushing Teijo! 2-1 to the Daggers!

 

The Baggies didn't learn from their mistakes, and when Nomaou got past captain Justin Gibbs to run onto a through-ball from Hamzah Jaafar in the 65th minute, it looked for all the world that we would go 3-1 up. It wasn't to be, though, as Sol's effort fizzed just the wrong side of the post.

 

Three minutes later, West Brom midfielder Boucher swung a free-kick into our area as the hosts attempted to go back level. MacKenzie got above Mama Sakiliba to head Boucher's set-piece away, but the Malian defender argued that he'd been unfairly impeded by our big target man. The protests went unheeded, and in the 79th minute, MacKenzie almost secured us the win with a hat-trick goal. It took an excellent fingertip save from 37-year-old former Spain keeper Teijo to keep out Robbie's header from Fraser's corner. That save would prove fateful, as would a couple of awful errors from our goalie two minutes later.

 

Tylak's first mistake was to miscue a goal kick that was intercepted by Todorovic, who was free to race through on goal. The second was to try and close Todorovic down as he was forced wide. The striker cleverly sent the ball across goal to winger Brahian Báez, whose shot struck Djuzel and deflected into an unguarded net. Two big points had gone begging.

 

Mariusz redeemed himself somewhat by turning behind an 86th-minute half-volley from Todorovic that could've seen us slump to defeat. In the end, though, a draw saw us slump to 17th - our lowest PL position yet.

 

West Bromwich Albion - 2 (Todorovic 45, Báez 81)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (MacKenzie 29,60)

Premier League, Attendance 28,951 - POSITIONS: West Brom 19th, Dag & Red 17th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak, Khumalo, Buac, Darvill, Djuzel, Brennan (Jaafar), Fraser, Killick, Brkic (Polomat), MacKenzie, Nomaou (Edmundo).

 

We really should've won that game, but let's not forget that West Bromwich Albion finished 5th last term. Indeed, factor in some of our earlier results, and we had already taken points off FOUR of last season's top six! When it came to playing the big boys, we were certainly giving a good account of ourselves.

 

That Albion game was the first of three in succession against Midlands opposition. The following weekend saw us play host to Nottingham Forest, who were four points behind us in 18th place. Forest's only win so far had come three weeks earlier, when they thrashed West Brom 6-1. Funnily enough, they lost their very next game by the same scoreline against Manchester United!

 

11 November 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Nottingham Forest

George Darvill was normally so composed in defence, so imagine my horror when Nottingham Forest striker Terry Swann tackled him off the ball after barely half a minute! Swann slid the ball on to his Canadian strike partner Adam Gazzola, who really should've gone on to put Forest 1-0 up. He didn't, though, as Mariusz Tylak blocked Gazzola's first strike before watching the follow-up sail wide.

 

Visiting goalkeeper Colin Clark also made some big saves for his team early on. The Yorkshireman - a first-team regular at just 18 years of age - superbly diverted behind a shot from fellow teenager Dave Hutchinson in the fourth minute before thwarting Robbie MacKenzie three minutes later.

 

In the 10th minute, Forest winger Aleluia shot past our captain Daniel O'Reilly before - thank the Lord - he skied his shot high and wide. The visitors would be in real need of some divine intervention ten minutes later. They appeared to get it when an excellent edge-of-the-area free-kick from Matthew Fraser rattled their crossbar. However, Forest couldn't clear the danger, and Fraser's follow-up shot stung Clark's palm before finding its way into the net!

 

We would remain 1-0 up for about a quarter of an hour, with MacKenzie missing an opportunity to double that lead in the 25th minute. Then, on 37 minutes, Daggers centre-back Albert Khumalo made a disastrous mistake.

 

Albert tried to knock away a left-wing delivery by Nottingham Forest captain Stefan Thulin, but his awful first touch led to a clear-cut opportunity for Swann. The 31-year-old had scored exactly 100 league goals for the Tricky Trees... and this would be number 101. To add to our disappointment late in the first half, midfielders Seb Brennan and Hutchinson each picked up bookings just before half-time.

 

Khumalo didn't look fully comfortable at centre-half, so I moved him to his more customary right-back position for the second half and added John Moser to the middle of our defence. The second period was about six minutes old when Albert injured himself while heading the ball. The South African felt some stiffness in his neck, but after a quick examination, he was given the green light to play on.

 

Not long after that, in the 54th minute, MacKenzie flicked wide a promising free-kick from Fraser. Nottingham Forest full-back Paolo Massimo then frightened us with a free-kick of his own nine minutes later. Darvill and Tylak both went after the delivery... and the pair almost collided before Mariusz managed to punch the ball away.

 

Other than that, Forest hardly gave us anything to fret about on the defensive side of things during the final half-hour. Indeed, the same applied vice versa, with only a couple of long-distance punts from Fraser and Khumalo to show for our efforts late on. Matthew had excelled in midfield for us, as had Seb to a lesser extent, but we still only mustered a 1-1 draw from a winnable fixture.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Fraser 20)

Nottingham Forest - 1 (Swann 37)

Premier League, Attendance 11,893 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 15th, Nottm Forest 18th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak, Banton (Moser), Darvill, Khumalo, O'Reilly, Brennan, Fraser, Hutchinson (Barnes), Brkic, MacKenzie (Polomat), Nomaou. BOOKED: Brennan, Hutchinson.

 

Although we were up to 15th and still four points clear of the drop, I couldn't help but feel that we had missed a couple of tricks. But for defensive errors, we would likely have won both of those last two matches and put some clear daylight between us and the bottom three.

 

Our first midweek Premier League game was next, as we travelled to Derby County on a Wednesday night. Derby had been yo-yoing between the top two divisions through the first half of this decade, but it seemed that they'd finally found their mojo in the PL. After spending £34million in the summer, John Sullivan had led the Rams up to a comfortable mid-table position.

 

15 November 2034: Derby County vs Dagenham & Redbridge

This was Dagenham captain William Barnes' first Premier League start, and he could've marked it with a goal after 13 minutes. Alas, Will could only flight a free-kick just the wrong side of the post. Derby had threatened to take the lead a minute earlier, when a poor clearance from George Darvill gifted a chance to Marcus Pitman. Mariusz Tylak caught the Rams winger's diving header just in time, but our Polish goalkeeper would be beaten in the 20th minute.

 

A corner delivery from Mohamed van Aken led to a couple of chances in quick succession for each of Derby's centre-halves. Jamie Collett's effort was parried by Tylak, but Larry Coburn pounced on the rebound. County were 1-0 up, and they would soon put our defence under further strain.

 

Had it not been for a couple of clearances from George Darvill and Velimir Radosavljevic, we might have gone 2-0 down on 23 minutes. Four minutes after that, Daggers midfielder Jacques Polomat sustained a dead leg. He hobbled through the rest of the period, but was then substituted at half-time and ruled out of our next fixture. We were fortunate to have gone into that interval still only trailing 1-0, as Tylak had to catch a 39th-minute header from Coburn to keep our heads above water.

 

Derby's dominance continued into the second half, when they won a couple of corners. After 55 minutes, van Aken whipped the second of them to substitute Matt Woodward, whose header forced Tylak into another catch.

 

Woodward and van Aken linked up again in the 63rd minute, when the former Crystal Palace striker flicked the Dutch winger's cross over the bar. Woodward would spurn another chance four minutes after that. Radosavljevic inadvertently found Woodward as he tried to flick a Pitman cross behind, but the Serb was relieved to see his adversary strike the post.

 

On 69 minutes, Barnes registered what proved to be our only shot on target - a free-kick that was comfortably secured by Skinner. Captain Will had been booked earlier in the second period, and he would come away from this match very disappointed with his performance. Right-back Arran Banton also underperformed before Albert Khumalo replaced him with about 20 minutes to go.

 

Centre-backs George and Velimir had actually played quite well, but they did not exactly have their finest moments in the 83rd minute. Neither of them were putting Woodward under any pressure when Daggers midfielder Greg Killick slid the ball off Aarran Bryant's feet and towards the substitute, who capitalised on Greg's error with a simple finish. The Rams won 2-0, and we were now just three points above the bottom three.

 

Derby County - 2 (Coburn 20, Woodward 83)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 32,898 - POSITIONS: Derby 9th, Dag & Red 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak, Banton (Khumalo), Radosavljevic, Darvill, Djuzel, Killick, Fraser (Jaafar), Barnes, Polomat (Brkic), McLoughlin, Edmundo. BOOKED: Barnes.

 

Aside from those two incredible wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea, we had never looked comfortable in the Premier League. Maybe the players weren't good enough. Maybe I was using the wrong tactics. Either way, I would have to identify and solve the problem quickly, otherwise we would potentially be just weeks away from slipping into the relegation zone.

[mark wilson27]

Not a great start but I'm quietly confident a man of your talent should be able to keep them in the Premier League

[CFuller]

On 6/17/2017 at 15:43, mark wilson27 said:

Not a great start but I'm quietly confident a man of your talent should be able to keep them in the Premier League

I still live in hope, but these results aren't exactly filling me with confidence. If these next couple of matches go badly, I really will be fearing the worst.

[CFuller]

NOVEMBER 2034 (continued)

It was only the middle of November, yet Dagenham & Redbridge were now on the verge of going six games without winning for the second time this season. I resorted to desperate measures to try and end our barren spell when we travelled to Brighton & Hove Albion.

 

I had abandoned the standard 4-4-2 some time ago, but now I felt that it was time to go back to basics. Joel Honeyball made his first Premier League start on the left wing, and Rob McLoughlin was placed on the right wing, with Robbie MacKenzie and top-flight debutant Tristan Egueh leading the attack.

 

Brighton had picked up two points from their first ten matches, and sacked their manager Robbie Simpson, before finally racking up a win at Southampton four days prior to our visit to the AMEX Stadium. Although the Seagulls were still rock-bottom, they were only five points adrift of us... and they had a game in hand.

 

18 November 2034: Brighton & Hove Albion vs Dagenham & Redbridge

It didn't take me long to remember why I had stopped using 4-4-2 in the first place. Our counter-attacking approach played into Brighton's hands, and in the fourth minute, their Dutch winger Leo Veenboer cut inside and skipped past Matthew Fraser before firing a shot just off target.

 

Veenboer wouldn't let us off again when he got another chance four minutes later. We inexplicably didn't have anyone marking Veenboer when he collected an incisive pass from Seagulls captain Andrew Loveless, and that left him free to drill the ball into the bottom corner.

 

You may remember that we beat up Brighton in the FA Cup right at the end of last year, and that seemed to serve as an added motivator for our hosts. After 14 minutes, some chaotic Dagenham defending resulted in Karel Urbanek blasting in Albion's second goal. Left-winger Ishmale Thurstan cut past our right-back Albert Khumalo, who made an unconvincing slide tackle. Urbanek knocked the loose ball off Neil McCann's feet before Khumalo meekly diverted it back to the Czech Republic midfielder, whose subsequent strike flew past an almost static Mariusz Tylak.

 

I immediately made changes, bringing Stipo Brkic on for Robbie MacKenzie, and switching to the old 'Christmas tree' formation I had occasionally experimented with in the Championship. I also instructed my team to press Brighton further up the pitch and really get stuck into them.

 

We would have our first scoring chance in the 25th minute, when Fraser's free-kick struck the Seagulls' wall. Five minutes later, Rob McLoughlin - now playing in midfield alongside Fraser and McCann - chipped a lovely ball ahead of Tristan Egueh. The 19-year-old now simply had to beat Albion goalkeeper Pat Fehmi for his first senior goal, which he secured when he found the far corner!

 

Carmine Fabris headed wide an opportunity to restore Brighton's two-goal lead in the 32nd minute. By the third minute of injury time, there was a real chance that the Seagulls wouldn't be leading at all come half-time! Their left-back Boy-Boy Ngcobo slid in on George Darvill in the penalty area and conceded a spot-kick, which gave Fraser the opportunity to draw us level. It wasn't to be, as Fehmi read Matthew's penalty perfectly, palming it away to keep us 2-1 behind.

 

Brighton attacked us again in the second half, and they went within inches of going 3-1 up inside six minutes. Thurstan's corner delivery was headed goalwards by Urbanek, but the crossbar came to our rescue, and the Czech's shot bounced wide.

 

Although Albion were still bossing this game, they would soon threaten to boil over in frustration. After 57 minutes, Fabris clattered into McCann and picked up what was - for him - a very rare yellow card. Fabris' team-mate Lee Bowden would also see yellow on 69 minutes, as the Welsh right-back was penalised for tripping Egueh.

 

Darvill could've headed us level in between those yellow cards, but his 64th-minute effort from a Joel Honeyball free-kick was nodded straight at Fehmi. Aside from another Darvill header that cleared the bar in the 86th minute, we wouldn't have another serious shot at goal.

 

The Seagulls were also unable to strike in the second half, as substitutes Jordan Holder and Christian Klein each had attempts saved by Tylak. That said, Albion's lightning-quick start had been enough to earn themselves a second straight win and consign us to yet another loss.

 

Brighton & Hove Albion - 2 (Veenboer 8, Urbanek 14)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Egueh 30)

Premier League, Attendance 18,712 - POSITIONS: Brighton 19th, Dag & Red 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Tylak, Khumalo, Jaafar, Darvill, O'Reilly, McLoughlin (Killick), Fraser, McCann, Honeyball, MacKenzie (Brkic), Egueh (Nomaou).

 

After our seventh defeat in 13 Premier League games, the gap between us and the bottom three was now down to ONE point. We were on the verge of disaster... yet I had cause for some optimism.

 

We had played significantly better after ditching the 4-4-2 and switching to the 'Christmas tree' at the AMEX Stadium. I decided to use that narrow 4-3-2-1 formation from the start when we were at home to 12th-placed Norwich City the following weekend.

 

The good news for us on the injury front was that goalkeeper Kieran Whalley and attacking midfielder Jacques Polomat were now back from their injuries. The bad news was that Greg Killick had twisted his knee in training, thus putting the ball-winning midfielder out of action for a fortnight.

 

25 November 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Norwich City

Norwich's England left-back Gareth Twyman made an uncharacteristic error in the third minute, as his crossfield pass was intercepted by young Daggers striker Tristan Egueh. The subsequent counter-attack resulted in a Dagenham corner, which centre-back Stevo Buac could only head into the hands of City goalkeeper Stuart Burns.

 

We would go on to win quite a few corners during the first half, and some poor fouls from Norwich led to a number of free-kicks as well. Captain William Barnes went close to scoring from one of them in the 21st minute, but Burns made a fine catch. Barnes was then subjected to some rough treatment from the Canaries' Portuguese midfielders Emerson and Marco Paiva, the latter of whom was booked for his foul on Will.

 

Paiva would hurt us even more after 38 minutes. After exchanging passes with Norwich right-back Anthony Whitton, he dribbled past our left-back Ante Djuzel and threaded the ball through to his compatriot Emerson. Returning Daggers goalkeeper Kieran Whalley couldn't do anything about Emerson's low strike, and we were 1-0 down.

 

Norwich had a chance to go 2-0 up in the 43rd minute, after Ecuador midfielder Denny Hidalgo was tripped up by Dagenham's Seb Brennan. Paiva fired the subsequent free-kick over our wall... and into the advertising boards. Despite that miss, the Canaries remained on course to take all three points when the referee blew his half-time whistle.

 

Norwich striker Shane Stevens was forced out of the game two minutes into the second period. Stevens sustained a rib injury in a firm but fair challenge from George Darvill and had to be replaced. Our hopes were briefly raised by that injury, but doubts crept in again after Matthew Fraser's 54th-minute free-kick was tipped behind by Burns.

 

By the 57th minute, those doubts had snowballed. Norwich's Portuguese men o' war stung us again, as striker Nuno's through-ball was slotted into the corner by Paiva. 2-0 to the Canaries, and there potentially could've been worse to come on 63 minutes. It took a fantastic save from Whalley to deny Nuno a hat-trick of goals for City's trio of Portugal internationals.

 

My desperation reached its height in the 68th minute, as I used up all three substitutions at the same time. That risky decision backfired three minutes later, when Norwich hardman Daniel Chávez lunged in on Jacques Polomat and caught the French attacking midfielder's knee. Jacques appeared to be seriously hurt, so I ordered him to come off, even though I knew it would leave us with only 10 men.

 

Strangely enough, we actually created more scoring opportunities after going a man down. Buac headed a Fraser corner wide in the 76th minute, while an incredible defensive calamity from Norwich gifted us another chance four minutes later. Canaries centre-backs Rubén Palma and Tigran Hakhnazaryan both misjudged the flight of a long ball from Brennan, leaving Daggers sub Edmundo free to run onto it and slot home just his second competitive goal for us!

 

Then, in the 86th minute, another mistake by Hakhnazaryan saw the Armenian veteran scuff a headed interception from Barnes' long ball square to Edmundo! Our Brazilian loanee was sensing a second goal and an equaliser... but his low drive failed to get it. Our defeat was confirmed a few minutes later, though not before Whalley made a couple of brave injury-time saves to prevent Norwich from bolstering their 2-1 lead.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Edmundo 80)

Norwich City - 2 (Emerson 38, Paiva 57)

Premier League, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 16th, Norwich 11th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Khumalo, Darvill, Buac, Djuzel (O'Reilly), Fraser, Brennan, Barnes, Polomat, Honeyball (Charles), Egueh (Edmundo).

 

And so we finished November - where we really had to rack up as many points as possible - with two draws followed by three consecutive defeats. Not a victory in sight, not even at Victoria Road.

 

Although we're unbelievably still outside the relegation places, we could not be any closer to slipping into the bottom three. As things stand, we're only above 18th-placed Huddersfield Town by a goal difference of +2... and we're away to them next. Piggin' hell.

 

What's more, we'll have to go into that crunch game without three young squad players. Jacques Polomat was ruled out for a fortnight after twisting his knee in that defeat to Norwich City. Striker Tristan Egueh and defender John Moser would also miss a couple of weeks at least after injuring their foot and back respectively in training.

 

It's all falling apart, and I don't know if I have the tools to fix it.

[CFuller]

Premier League Table (End of November 2034)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Man Utd                14    10    3     1     37    10    +27   33
2.          Man City               14    9     2     3     38    16    +22   29
3.          Southampton            13    9     2     2     22    6     +16   29
4.          Liverpool              14    9     2     3     27    13    +14   29
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.          Arsenal                13    8     2     3     24    9     +15   26
6.          Chelsea                13    8     1     4     14    11    +3    25
7.          West Ham               14    6     5     3     22    16    +6    23
8.          Tottenham              14    7     2     5     24    19    +5    23
9.          Derby                  14    6     3     5     12    14    -2    21
10.         Wolves                 13    6     2     5     17    20    -3    20
11.         Norwich                13    5     4     4     14    14    0     19
12.         Rochdale               14    5     3     6     19    20    -1    18
13.         Fulham                 14    4     2     8     16    24    -8    14
14.         Burnley                14    3     3     8     12    20    -8    12
15.         Brighton               13    3     2     8     15    27    -12   11
16.         Nottm Forest           14    2     4     8     18    30    -12   10
17.         Dag & Red              14    2     4     8     14    27    -13   10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.         Huddersfield           14    2     4     8     10    25    -15   10
19.         West Brom              12    2     4     6     15    31    -16   10
20.         Everton                14    3     0     11    13    31    -18   9

 

[JayR2003]

What is your status with the board at the moment (if you don't mind me dwelling on some perhaps bitter words...)?

[CFuller]

4 minutes ago, JayR2003 said:

What is your status with the board at the moment (if you don't mind me dwelling on some perhaps bitter words...)?

I don't remember what exactly it was at this point, but my job security was certainly above 50%, so it was Stable if not Secure.

The fact that the club's stature has changed so dramatically during my reign gives me a lot more leeway if and when things do go wrong. I'm not expecting the board to sack me any time soon, not even if we're relegated. (Famous last words.)

[CFuller]

DECEMBER 2034

The year was nearly over, and I was already looking ahead to the transfer window. It was clear to me that we had to strengthen in a few key areas if we were to have any hope of surviving in the Premier League. That inevitably meant some of my current players would have to be moved on sooner rather than later.

 

I had a couple of difficult conversations with Souleymane Nomaou and Jacques Polomat before we played our first match of December. Sol and Jacques had both served us well over the last few years, but unfortunately, neither of them were consistent enough to hold down starting places in the PL. I warned them that there was a high probability that I would sell them in January to bring in some fresh blood.

 

Arran Banton was another player whose long-term future was at risk. The right-back played just four times for us in the league this season and hadn't been up to scratch. Ross Pearson was developing rapidly on loan at Bolton Wanderers, so I would have to seriously ponder bringing the 18-year-old into the first-team upon his return and getting shot of Banton.

 

Time was running him out for Arran, but I offered him a lifeline by naming him on the bench for a massive away game against Huddersfield Town. Only a couple of goals separated us in 17th from the Yorkshire side in 18th. Were we to lose for the fourth time in succession, we would drop below them and into that dreaded relegation zone.

 

If you thought our form was bad, though, then have a look at Huddersfield's. The terrible Terriers had lost six matches on the trot, conceding 16 goals in the process. They also had a new manager in Robbie Simpson - the man who couldn't buy a victory at Brighton & Hove Albion before they sacked him and promptly won three games in a row.

 

2 December 2034: Huddersfield Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Argentine winger Mauricio Machado fired wide Huddersfield's first chance of the game after just 12 seconds. Our opening shot was also sent off target, as captain William Barnes missed from long range in the third minute.

 

Those misses set the tone for an edgy opening period that didn't really get going until Barnes set up a chance for Joel Honeyball in the 18th minute. Honeyball's strike was shinned behind by Huddersfield goalkeeper Diederik Reekers, and the resulting corner from Joel was cleared by Norman Alcock.

 

Town's next opportunity came about after 25 minutes, when Honeyball tripped their Venezuelan defensive midfielder Manuel Chacón deep in our half. Right-winger Armin Rizvanovic took the free-kick, but he floated it over the bar. We went on the offensive shortly after that, but the move broke down when Edmundo shot far too early to get near the target.

 

The Terriers would nip at our heels for the rest of the half, with Rizvanovic and striker Romeo Ghinea each having efforts saved by Kieran Whalley late on. At least we went into the break without conceding a goal, though.

 

When Ante Djuzel found Robbie MacKenzie with a pinpoint cross in the first minute of the second half, that really should have been us 1-0 up. Alas, Robbie's header flew just over the crossbar. Rizvanovic was also guilty of a poor miss at the other end for Huddersfield moments later.

 

The Terriers then had Brazilian midfielder Jeferson Douglas booked for persistent fouling, but that didn't stop them from throwing themselves into tackles. One particularly strong challenge from centre-half Kamen Genchev on MacKenzie in the 56th minute signalled the start of a promising counter-attack. That move ended with Ghinea half-volleying just wide from an Alcock lob, but the Romanian would make the most of his next opportunity five minutes later. When Romeo powered home from another excellent lofted pass, this time by Machado, I was left thinking, "Wherefore art thou, defence?"

 

I brought on teenager Joe Charles for Honeyball after that Huddersfield goal, but we were still struggling on the attacking front. Our defensive plan then fell to pieces again in the 72nd minute, when Rizvanovic got ahead of Matthew Fraser to head a Jeferson Douglas free-kick into the net. We were very fortunate that the Bosnian was flagged offside.

 

The officials would make another big call two minutes later - one that would go against us. Dagenham centre-back Velimir Radosavljevic claimed that Terriers skipper Théo Forster had impeded on him while heading a Fraser corner out of the Huddersfield area, but his protests were to no avail. Play continued, and we remained 1-0 down.

 

Our final chance to avoid yet another defeat faded away after MacKenzie pulled a shot into the side netting three minutes from time, and we would leave the John Smith's Stadium empty-handed.

 

Huddersfield Town - 1 (Ghinea 61)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 18,008 - POSITIONS: Huddersfield 15th, Dag & Red 19th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Khumalo, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Djuzel, Brennan, Barnes (Hutchinson), Fraser, Honeyball (Charles), MacKenzie, Edmundo (McLoughlin).

 

Four defeats in a row, and we were fell into the bottom three for the first time. Could we possibly sink any lower?

 

Oh yes, we could. By the time we kicked off at Craven Cottage against mid-table Fulham the following weekend, we had actually slumped to 20th and last place. West Bromwich Albion had pushed us to the bottom courtesy of a 3-3 draw at Manchester City in the early kick-off.

 

9 December 2034: Fulham vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Our on-loan Brazilian forward Edmundo looked keen to silence his critics at Craven Cottage. In the very first minute, his byline delivery into the Fulham area found Robbie MacKenzie, who unfortunately couldn't quite get his header beyond home goalkeeper Djibril Abdoulaye.

 

In the 11th minute, shortly after Fulham midfielder Catatau had a free-kick hit the Daggers wall, we struck the Cottagers with a more potent attack. Stipo Brkic took the ball into their area and then cut it across towards MacKenzie. Fulham left-back Irakli Kvaratskhelia made a meek interception, and Edmundo punished him with a deadly low strike!

 

Eight minutes after setting up our opening goal, Stipo was the victim of a strong challenge from 34-year-old Brazilian defensive midfielder Ronaldo. Brkic was bruised, but not beaten, and he soldiered on. Our defence looked a little shaky midway through the half, though, and we needed goalie Kieran Whalley to bail us out a couple of times. Cottagers captain Martyn Thomas and his fellow forward Daniele Gatti were each thwarted by fine saves from Kieran in the 25th and 27th minutes respectively.

 

In the 36th minute, home midfielder Wayne James jinked past Daggers counterpart Dave Hutchinson, who'd been booked just a few minutes earlier, and blasted a shot high and wide. Two minutes after that, James met Matthew Fraser's corner with a poor headed clearance. George Darvill nodded the ball back out to Fraser, whose first-time cross was flicked just past the post by MacKenzie. But for a few inches, we might've led 2-0.

 

Darvill was putting in another great shift at the back for Dagenham, but he almost scored an unfortunate own goal in the 47th minute. George attempted to block a goalbound header from Wales striker Thomas, and he nearly diverted it in at the near post before Kieran caught the ball just in time!

 

Fulham then lost James to a knee ligament injury three minutes later, after he put too much into a risky tackle on Fraser. Despite that setback, the Cottagers still had plenty of chances to draw level just before the hour mark. Left-winger Victor Berceanu and substitute right-winger Dominic Turner both went wide before Gatti had a header caught by Whalley. Kieran was being supported by a much tighter defence that included right-back Arran Banton, whom I had given "one last chance" to prove himself. Arran did well, although he was booked after 61 minutes for bringing down Berceanu.

 

On 65 minutes, Stipo sliced open Fulham's backline with a great ball to Edmundo, who was odds-on to score a second goal before his effort sailed wide. MacKenzie had wasted another opportunity just before then, and he would soon make way for 16-year-old first-team debutant Jonas Kjaerulff.

 

Brkic almost got his fellow Dane off to the perfect start with an excellent long ball in the 80th minute, but Kjaerulff pulled his shot wide after getting past Abdoulaye. Stipo would set up Jonas again in injury time, but an assured save from former England Under-21s goalkeeper Abdoulaye denied our rookie a debut goal.

 

Mark de Groot had come within inches of heading Fulham level earlier in stoppage time, and the Dutch substitute would continue to make his, er, mark just before full-time. With about 20 seconds to go, de Groot got behind our defence and stroked compatriot Peter Huisman's weighted pass into the net! We seemed to have blown it.

 

The hosts' celebrations were cut short, however, when de Groot was flagged offside. After a late scare, we could finally start our own celebrations - for a first Premier League away win, and against our former landlords to boot!

 

Fulham - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Edmundo 11)

Premier League, Attendance 25,244 - POSITIONS: Fulham 13th, Dag & Red 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Radosavljevic, Darvill, Buac, Banton (Khumalo), O'Reilly, Hutchinson (Brennan), Fraser, Brkic, MacKenzie (Kjaerulff), Edmundo. BOOKED: Hutchinson, Banton.

 

That win moved us into 15th position, although other results in midweek meant we would be back down in 17th come our next home game. I had been looking forward to that particular fixture for quite some time.

 

On 16 December, we welcomed Arsenal to Victoria Road for the first - and almost certainly the last - time. When we faced the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium in the FA Cup last season, it took a sublime goal from the great Clive Johnson to knock us out.

 

Arsenal had changed their manager in the 10 months since that meeting. Ciriaco Sforza retired in the summer after leading the Gunners to their worst league finish in a decade, and Thomas O'Ware - the man who got Newcastle United relegated - took the reins. The 41-year-old Scotsman had made a steady but unimpressive start at the Emirates, as Arsenal sat in 5th place before their trip to Dagenham. They went into the game without club-record scorer Johnson, who'd strained his groin against Derby County the previous weekend.

 

16 December 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Arsenal

After we defended a couple of early Arsenal corners, our attacking midfielder Stipo Brkic had a swerving effort saved by Gunners goalkeeper Shaun Murat in the fourth minute. A minute after that came a wild strike from the visitors' Portuguese winger Plínio that went well wide. Daggers keeper Kieran Whalley faced a sterner test in the 10th minute, when he got his fingers to a shot from England forward Shane Hay.

 

We then withstood a couple more corners before racking up a few of our own. Rob McLoughlin nearly scored from one of them in the 13th minute, but his header was tipped behind by Murat. Arsenal's Canadian custodian also kept out another effort from Brkic on 22 minutes.

 

We were continuing to get into good attacking positions, though that also applied to the Gunners. Hay had a couple more shots on target in the 25th and 32nd minutes, but Whalley saved them, along with a 26th-minute attempt from Plínio. When Arsenal did finally break the deadlock after 34 minutes, they opened the scoring in a rather scrappy manner. Plínio's inswinging corner was shinned across the line by Gunners centre-half Álvaro José after our left-back Daniel O'Reilly was caught unawares.

 

Álvaro José's game ended just three minutes later after he collided with our own Brazilian star Edmundo and sustained a rib injury, but there would be more agony to come for O'Reilly. The usually dependable Irishman made another mistake in the 44th minute, bringing down winger Gordon Hubbuck in our penalty area. The referee awarded Arsenal a penalty, which Hay smashed home to give the Gunners a two-goal lead at the interval.

 

Unsurprisingly, I didn't keep O'Reilly on after his first-half horror show, with Ante Djuzel replacing him at left-back for the second period. In the 57th minute, our right-back Albert Khumalo lost track of Plínio, who cut the ball into our penalty area. Hay then knocked the ball on to his 17-year-old strike partner Doug Higgs, whose vicious shot was bravely blocked by Dagenham centre-back Velimir Radosavljevic.

 

That would be a vital intervention from Velimir. Three minutes after nearly falling 3-0 behind, we pulled it back to 2-1. It was a significant moment for McLoughlin, whose shot from a pinpoint Matthew Fraser pass slipped underneath Murat and went into the net! At the ninth attempt, Rob had ended his wait for that elusive first Premier League goal with the Daggers!

 

Our self-belief had been renewed, and that was evident when Edmundo turned past Arsenal centre-back Marijan Djulic and went for goal in the 64th minute. Unfortunately, Edmundo's strike hit the post, and the Gunners calmly passed it out of danger. We were soon having to defend again, as Kieran blocked a piledriver from Arsenal's midfield substitute Lloyd Mulvaney after 70 minutes.

 

Plínio and Higgs each missed further opportunities in the closing stages, and the Gunners failed to improve on their position. We had one last chance to shock them with an equaliser in stoppage time, but captain William Barnes flighted a free-kick inches wide, and we went down to a spirited 2-1 defeat.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (McLoughlin 60)

Arsenal - 2 (Álvaro José 34, Hay pen45)

Premier League, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 17th, Arsenal 5th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Radosavljevic, Darvill, Buac, Khumalo, O'Reilly (Djuzel), Fraser (Brennan), Barnes, Brkic, McLoughlin, Edmundo (Egueh).

 

It was a brave performance against Arsenal, but defeat once again left us on the brink of disaster. We were now narrowly above 18th-placed Everton on goal difference... and guess who our next opponents were? Yep.

[CFuller]

DECEMBER 2034 (continued)

It seemed that every other game we were playing was a so-called 'relegation six-pointer'. In the build-up to our latest titanic battle on the pitch, though, we announced some positive news off it.

 

Chairman Neil Booth proudly announced that Dagenham & Redbridge had entered into a partnership agreement with Ceské Budejovice, who play in the First League - the top football league in the Czech Republic.

 

The biggest benefit of this partnership for us was that we would have first option on any of Ceské Budejovice's first-team players and youth prospects. Notable players who've come through their youth system in the past include Karel Poborsky and Tomás Sivok, both of whom went on to represent the Czech Republic at various major tournaments.

 

Ceské Budejovice will also be in line to benefit from us loaning out some of our up-and-coming stars to them. We used to have a similar agreement with Salthill Devon in the Republic of Ireland, but that partnership has now ended.

 

Now, onto that big home game against fellow relegation battlers Everton. Were we to come unstuck against the Toffees, we would replace them in the relegation zone.

 

Everton finished 8th last season but made an awful start, prompting them to sack long-serving manager - and Goodison Park favourite - Leighton Baines. Ex-England striker Cauley Woodrow left Notts County to replace Baines, and he started his reign with a shock 1-0 win over Manchester United. Since then, however, Woodrow's Toffees had drawn with Nottingham Forest and lost to West Bromwich Albion.

 

23 December 2034: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Everton

Goodness knew how Everton did not score any goals in the first 10 minutes. Dagenham captain Kieran Whalley saved a couple of very early shots from Toffees right-back Christian Stucki and winger Biyoko N'Gabsi, the latter of whom also hit the post with a header after five minutes. Another frustrating moment for the visitors came two minutes after that, when captain Lukas Kucera's header from an Ole Kofod corner cleared the bar.

 

We then showed our attacking abilities by setting up a trio of chances for target man Robbie MacKenzie. The first was volleyed wide, and the second was saved... but the third was an astounding 20-yarder that flew into the top corner! After 14 minutes, Robbie had given us the edge with his fifth goal of the season!

 

N'Gabsi should've cancelled that out within six minutes, but the Belgian wideman powered his shot high into the stand after cutting inside. As Everton manager Cauley Woodrow rued yet another missed opportunity, Stipo Brkic looked to follow up his assist for that MacKenzie goal with a strike of his own. Stipo dribbled through the Toffees backline on 24 minutes, only for Christian Allinson to charge from his goal line and block the Dane's shot.

 

Allinson would then save another MacKenzie attempt in the 30th minute before Everton renewed their attacking efforts. The experienced Josh Bowerman sent what would be his only shot of the game miles wide after 33 minutes. Three minutes after that, Kieran brilliantly palmed behind a Kucera header. Following yet another dreadful miss from N'Gabsi, we went into the dressing room mightily relieved to still have a 1-0 lead in our possession.

 

The second half was nowhere near as frenetic as the first. For one, Everton looked rather laboured, not to mention low on confidence after their first-half exploits failed to produce anything. We would slowly tighten our grip on the game, with MacKenzie driving a shot wide in the 50th minute before midfielder Dave Hutchinson's attempt in the 59th was parried by Allinson.

 

Everton's woes at the other end would be summed up by an attack they launched after 70 minutes. Toffees left-winger Stacy Palmer cut past Velimir Radosavljevic and centred the ball towards Kucera. The Czech Republic international just about got in front of George Darvill to claim the delivery, but Whalley showed great reactions to tip the subsequent shot away.

 

Two minutes later, the Toffees found themselves in a very sticky situation. Stipo continued a virtuoso attacking midfield display for the Daggers by feeding the ball first-time to Robbie, who got the better of Allinson for a second time!

 

Brkic now had two assists to his name, so it felt fitting that he should seal the victory after 77 minutes. The Danish magician controlled an Ante Djuzel cross with his chest before half-volleying it into the net!

 

That was our fourth Premier League win secured, and we would go on to back it up with our third clean sheet. Everton could have ruined our hopes of that in the 86th minute, but the out-of-form N'Gabsi struck the post again from out wide.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (MacKenzie 14,72, Brkic 77)

Everton - 0

Premier League, Attendance 12,000 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 16th, Everton 19th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Radosavljevic, Darvill, Buac, Banton, Djuzel, Hutchinson (Killick), Fraser (McCann), Brkic, MacKenzie, McLoughlin (Egueh).

 

It was just as well that we did win that match, because our next one - on Boxing Day - had the potential to be massively one-sided. We faced the daunting prospect of travelling to Manchester City, who had won 13 Premier League titles this century and were 3rd in the table.

 

Let me put things in perspective. We have a weekly player wage budget of £200,000. City's weekly wage budget is over £3million, and Martin Klonz - their 33-year-old German striker who had scored 16 Premier League goals thus far this season - earns more than our entire squad!

 

In addition, while we have a creaking old ground that can't seat more than 12,000 spectators, the Citizens have a brand-new stadium with a maximum capacity of 84,315. City moved out of the Etihad Stadium this summer and into the state-of-the-art Yaya Touré Arena - named after the Ivorian midfield legend and cake connoisseur.

 

26 December 2034: Manchester City vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Manchester City winger Domenico Papa had won the FIFA Ballon d'Or twice before in his career, and he showed his undoubted quality early on. Although Papa sent a shot wide in the 9th minute, he provided forward Jozef Kral with an excellent cross into the Daggers box six minutes later. The 24-year-old Slovakian's header was well held by Kieran Whalley, who was back at his boyhood club and looking to shut out his former heroes.

 

Another Papa cross a minute later put us under further strain. Dagenham centre-half Velimir Radosavljevic could only head it as far as midfielder Andrea Broli, whose bending long-distance strike clipped the bar before going behind. City continued to take the game to us, but it wasn't until we made a couple of defensive errors in the 28th minute that they broke through.

 

Firstly, Daniel O'Reilly tried to show the Citizens right-winger Diogo Dias, only to leave the Portuguese just enough room to whip in a left-footed cross. Peter Jakubicka collected the cross, and he was brought down by a clumsy tackle from our other Serbian centre-back Stevo Buac. American defender Mike Martin stepped up to take the resulting penalty, and Whalley was easily beaten. 1-0 to Manchester City after 29 minutes.

 

Kieran brilliantly palmed away a fierce strike from Papa in the 32nd minute, but he was nearly beaten by a Dias strike that rattled the post two minutes later. It seemed that a second goal for the Citizens was inevitable. Sure enough, in the 36th minute, Jakubicka shinned a right-wing Papa cross into the path of his Slovak compatriot Kral, who made our improbably task nigh on impossible.

 

City's utter dominance of this first half was borne out by the statistics. While our opponents had around 70% of the possession throughout much of the half, our pass completion rate was closer to a pitiful 60%. Also, while the Citizens were up to double figures on shots, we only had one pop at their goal - a 38th-minute strike from O'Reilly that was well saved by Andy Boyes.

 

I switched to the seasonal 'Christmas tree' for the second half to try and gain a foothold on the game. The plan seemed to work early on, as we prevented Manchester City from creating any chances in the first quarter-hour. By the 65th minute, though, the Citizens were getting tantalisingly close to breaking through again.

 

The evergreen German goal-getter Martin Klonz chested a delivery from Papa and tried to power it in at the near post. Whalley made an acrobatic save to divert it behind, but he would concede from the resulting corner. Papa's set-piece was nodded against the bar by the unfortunate Dias, but Martin was on hand to bury the rebound for his second goal of the afternoon.

 

That third City goal aside, we had actually played significantly better after the interval. Midfield substitute Greg Killick looked like he could claw one goal back in the 67th minute, when his effort from the edge of the area was pushed away by Boyes. Four minutes after that, Greg half-volleyed a flick-on from Albert Khumalo just over the bar.

 

Another Daggers midfielder who had some bad luck was captain William Barnes, who hurt himself in a 75th-minute tackle on Broli and struggled through the rest of the match. On 77 minutes, City defender Willy Danza - who'd been booked very early in the second period - barged into the back of our attacking midfielder Stipo Brkic. Danza collected another booking, and the hosts were down to 10 men.

 

We sensed a real opportunity to claim a consolation goal with our extra man, but we found that 37-year-old Boyes, who won a record 184 England caps before retiring this summer, was playing like he was TWO goalkeepers in one! The legendary Yorkshireman kept out no fewer than four Dagenham shots in the closing stages - from Brkic, Fraser, Barnes and Joel Honeyball. We left Manchester with a 3-0 defeat, but what on Earth could we have possibly done to overcome a team of such incredible quality?

 

Manchester City - 3 (Martin pen29,66, Kral 36)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 81,356 - POSITIONS: Man City 2nd, Dag & Red 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Buac (Killick), Darvill, Radosavljevic, Khumalo, O'Reilly, Fraser, Barnes, Brkic, MacKenzie (Honeyball), Edmundo (McLoughlin).

 

Unfortunately, William Barnes would be forced to miss our next couple of games with a bruised rib. Our captain had just signed a new contract to commit his future to the club until 2038. Another midfielder - teenage prospect Neil McCann - also agreed a new three-and-a-half-year deal with the Daggers.

 

Neil was one of those who came into the starting XI when we visited mid-table Wolverhampton Wanderers on New Year's Eve, er, Eve. As we were scheduled to play Southampton just 48 hours later on New Year's Day, I decided to either bench or rest some of our regular starters at Molineux. Needless to say, I was not expecting a repeat of the 5-1 beating we dished out to Wolves on the opening weekend!

 

30 December 2034: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Dagenham & Redbridge

I'll be honest with you - the first half-hour was not exactly a memorable one. Robbie MacKenzie nearly prodded in a Daniel O'Reilly cross after 17 minutes, but Wolves defender Franco Vitone diverted the ball behind just before the giant Scot could strike.

 

The game then took a very scrappy turn before Wolves created their first real opportunity in the 31st minute. Striker Shaun Murray turned in the Dagenham penalty area upon collecting the ball from attacking midfielder Thomas Saabye, and he powered it well over the bar. Wolves knocked on our door again in the 37th minute, but midfielder Michael Zelenka couldn't keep his header on target.

 

Zelenka's miss was bookended by a couple of late opportunities from the Daggers. Jacques Polomat - playing his first league game in over a month - sent a free-kick just over on 33 minutes, while teenage striker Tristan Egueh's half-volley seven minutes later was pushed wide by Wanderers goalkeeper Álvaro Andueza.

 

I replaced two of our youngsters with more experienced faces after a goalless first half. Neil McCann and Tristan respectively made way for Matthew Fraser and Souleymane Nomaou, the latter of whom was also back in favour after spending about a month in our reserve side.

 

It was Wolves who had the first chance after the restart, but Kieran Whalley superbly stopped a vicious effort from Scotland winger Tom Telfer on 47 minutes. Eight minutes after that, our defensive wall withstood a blistering free-kick from Georgian Stanila - a Romanian striker whose former clubs included Juventus, Real Madrid, Empoli and (ahem) Kilmarnock.

 

Wolves' defence looked much tighter than it had been during our last meeting, but we still felt that we could open them up with some through-balls. One such weighted pass from Nomaou on 65 minutes found MacKenzie, who surely would've scored but for a brave charge by Andueza that put Robbie off the job at hand. Another ten minutes passed before I took off Polomat and sent on Stipo Brkic. The Danish playmaker was bang in form, and that would be evident again in the dying moments.

 

Four minutes before the end of what looked set to be a dull 0-0 draw, Hutchinson cut out Telfer's cross into our penalty area and played it out to Brkic. Stipo took the ball up about half the length of the pitch before spotting Sol breaking away from Wolves right-back Leigh Dean. Brkic weighted the ball perfectly to the Nigerien, who powered it home!

 

Wanderers were incensed, having believed that Nomaou was offside, and they would have more cause for anger in the 88th minute. The hosts accused MacKenzie of fouling their Paraguayan striker Marcelo Galeano Zarza in the penalty area, but their cries for a spot-kick went unheeded. We then held firm and ground out another narrow away win.

 

Wolverhampton Wanderers - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Nomaou 86)

Premier League, Attendance 23,232 - POSITIONS: Wolves 13th, Dag & Red 14th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Jaafar, Darvill, Radosavljevic, Banton, O'Reilly, McCann (Fraser), Hutchinson, Polomat (Brkic), MacKenzie, Egueh (Nomaou).

 

And so ends what has been undoubtedly the most incredible year in the history of Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club. Having won half of our fixtures in December, we'll now head into 2035 with plenty of belief that we can pull off yet another astonishing feat - and survive in the Premier League.

[CFuller]

Premier League Table (End of December 2034)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Man Utd                20    13    4     3     50    15    +35   43
2.          Man City               20    12    5     3     53    23    +30   41
3.          Liverpool              19    12    4     3     37    17    +20   40
4.          Southampton            19    11    6     2     27    9     +18   39
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.          Arsenal                19    11    5     3     34    13    +21   38
6.          Tottenham              20    10    4     6     34    26    +8    34
7.          West Ham               20    8     6     6     29    22    +7    30
8.          Derby                  20    8     6     6     21    22    -1    30
9.          Chelsea                19    8     5     6     18    17    +1    29
10.         Rochdale               20    8     4     8     28    33    -5    28
11.         Norwich                19    5     8     6     21    24    -3    23
12.         Fulham                 20    6     4     10    26    30    -4    22
13.         Wolves                 19    6     4     9     21    31    -10   22
14.         Dag & Red              20    5     4     11    20    33    -13   19
15.         West Brom              18    4     7     7     24    40    -16   19
16.         Burnley                20    4     5     11    20    31    -11   17
17.         Huddersfield           20    4     5     11    17    35    -18   17
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.         Everton                20    5     2     13    19    39    -20   17
19.         Brighton               20    4     4     12    29    48    -19   16
20.         Nottm Forest           20    3     6     11    26    46    -20   15

 

[mark wilson27]

It's a wee bit tight down that end of the table mate

[JayR2003]

6 hours ago, mark wilson27 said:

It's a wee bit tight down that end of the table mate

No joke!  I thought 2 wins would have separated you some from the mess at the bottom, but it appears tighter than ever down there.

[CFuller]

22 hours ago, mark wilson27 said:

It's a wee bit tight down that end of the table mate

16 hours ago, JayR2003 said:

No joke!  I thought 2 wins would have separated you some from the mess at the bottom, but it appears tighter than ever down there.

It is indeed incredibly tight, so it's very important that we string together some good results and get ourselves out of trouble quickly. Mind you, the next few fixtures don't fill me with much optimism.