[FM24] Wherever the Wind Blows... or who Pays the Most.

[danmcconnell1]

My next save will be a journey of greed. My sole aim is to make as much money as I possibly can, even if that means loyalty, or what's left of it in football, goes out of the window. The rule is simple, I begin as I would in real life, with no coaching badges and just Sunday League playing experience, then see where the wind takes me. If a club approaches me and offers me a higher salary, I take it, no matter where in the world it may be. 

I have a plethora of leagues loaded and was offered a job pretty quickly, luckily not too far away from home either.

Dartford FC play in the Vanarama National League South, one of the two lowest leagues available in England. Dartford are situated in the county of Kent, but not too far away from the capital, London. The club play their matches at Prince's Park, a 4100 seater stadium which was erected in 2006. 

There hasn't been too much in the way of success in the club's history, so it's absolutely my aim to try and change that before hopefully moving on in the future. I joined the club in April 2024 after beginning the save later in the season to try and reach the summer window sooner.

I joined a few days before the match against Truro which we drew 1-1 at home. The lads had already confirmed a play off spot before my arrival so it was all about trying to finish as high as we could with a win against Truro, however we didn't manage it. Luke Coulson gave us the lead but Truro equalised in the 2nd half to rescue a point. This meant we'd been drawn against favourites to win the league at the start of the season Torquay United in the Playoff Eliminator. 

Before we get to that playoff though, let's have a quick look at the squad.

It's not a big squad by any means, however we're only permitted 5 subs in this league, so there's no need for it to be huge. The defence are putting up decent numbers so far this season, with 3 of the back line scoring at least 5 goals and weighing in with assists too. In midfield, there are some decent talents too, Luke Coulson being the most impressive stats wise at this point. The name which really stood out for me was Charlie Sheringham, the son of former Tottenham and Man U striker Teddy. He's 36 himself these days which seems inconceivable in my mind after watching his dad play towards the twilight of his career, however he's not the top scorer, that accolade so far goes to Alex Wall, his striking partner who has 11 goals.

One piece of news ahead of the playoff match against Torquay was that the Chairman is looking to sell the club, just over a week after hiring me. Not sure what to make of it, however if it brings extra money in the club it can only be a good thing.

We beat Torquay by a goal to nil in what was a tense affair. Brandon Barzey scored the only goal 4 minutes into the 2nd half and we held on for a place in the Playoff Semi Finals where we will face the side who finished 2nd in the league table, Farnborough at the Saunders Transport Community Stadium in 3 days time.

We won the semi final too thanks to a 91st minute winner from left back Sam Odaudu. Shomoton had a shot from outside of the box following a corner which deflected around the 6 yard box before falling to Odaudu and he blasted home to send us to the playoff final where will face Hemel Hempstead Town at their stadium. I was surprised to find out these playoff finals are played at the higher seed's stadium instead of Wembley, however, in just my 4th match as a manager, we could be about to achieve promotion to the Vanarama National League.

Edited April 26 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

The Playoff Final was a brilliant affair for us as we raced into a 2 goal lead within 4 minutes thanks to two Luke Coulson goals. Charlie Sheringham then fired home from the spot 8 minutes before half time to make it 3-0 at the break. We held on despite a couple of scares in the 2nd half to our clean sheet to confirm promotion and chaos ensued in that almost 800 strong away end at the Focus Community Arena.

We didn't have an out and out goal scorer this season by any means which is definitely something I will try to address following promotion (Hemel Hempstead have some great talent that I may take a look at), but this battling squad have defied the odds to achieve promotion. Luke Coulson has been outstanding in the short period I've been at the club as he scored 3 goals in 4 matches, including 2 in the playoff final. He's certainly a player I'd like to stick around next season if possible. 

[danmcconnell1]

The start to the season was a difficult one with just 1 point picked up from our first 5 matches which came against Oldham in our first home match at this level. We suffered defeats to Gateshead, South Shields, Eastleigh and Barnet. Our first win (and goal) at this level was at home to Woking thanks to centre back Joash Nembhard's header.

September began with another defeat against the other side who were promoted alongside us from the National South league last season, Yeovil. We then went on a 3 match unbeaten run, beginning with a thumping win at home against bottom club Dagenham & Redbridge, beating them 6-0 thanks to a brace from Akinwale, Rob Hall and Faal, who all scored their first goals for the club, Odaudu and Coulson scored the other 2. We followed that up with a goalless draw with Dorking and then ended the month with another big win, this time in stature instead of quantity of goals against top of the table Rochdale. Full back Maxwell Statham scored the only goal after we had 2 early goals disallowed too, meaning we could very easily have won more comfortably. We were due to take on Southend on the 28th however this was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch so will now be played midway through next month.

After our first 2 months in the National League, we sit in 19th in the table after 3 wins and 2 draws so far, giving us a total of 11 points after 10 matches. We currently sit 6 points above the relegation zone which I'm very happy with at this point.

Latham was first through the door in the summer, a brand new keeper who's taken over the number 1 shirt and done pretty well for us so far, conceding 10 goals in 10 matches, keeping 5 clean sheets.

Ben Wyatt is a left back who can play further forward however is currently backup to first choice left back Odaudu. He's made just 2 appearances so far but has been out injured for a period which has halted his training.

Elliot Andrew was next in, a striker who'll provide backup to our forward line. He'd made 5 appearances so far, all off the bench without scoring yet.

Anthony Jeffrey is one of the club's flagship signings this summer, a winger who can play either side and also upfront. He's yet to score but has got 3 assists and has really performed well for us so far.

George Fowler was next through the door, a versatile defender who's done really well considering he was initially brought in as backup to our defence, he's made 10 appearances so far, including 9 starts, so I'm really happy with his start for us.

Alfie Pavey is another striker providing backup to the first team and has only made 1 appearance off the bench so far, but again has spent time in the treatment room.

Rob Hall is one of 3 signings we made towards the end of the window which I'm really hoping will change our fortunes going forward. He's an experienced player at higher levels than what we're at. He's only 30 too, which means he's definitely got a good couple of years at least left in his legs, or so I hope. He has 1 goal and 1 assist in his 10 appearances so far.

Victor Akinwale is a young striker who I'm very excited about who's come in following his release from Crystal Palace. He made 5 appearances for Palace last season, including 3 in the Premier League, so definitely has the pedigree to play at a much higher level than where we're at currently. I'm really hoping once he finds his feet in the National League that he could become a really dangerous player. He only has 2 goals so far, both coming from the penalty spot in the 6-0 demolition of Dagenham & Redbridge, I'm really hoping he can hit a run of form and score a few for us this season. 

The final man through the door this summer was Muhammadu Faal, a forward player who can play anywhere across the front. He has 64 goals in his last 3 seasons with 3 different clubs, however they have all been at lower levels. The only time he's played National League football was with Barnet a few years ago where he failed to score in 19 appearances, however has broken his duck with us, scoring 1 goal in his first 8 for us.

And here is the stats of the squad after the first 2 months of the season, let's hope this little run of form can continue going forward.

[danmcconnell1]

October was, on the whole, another successful month for us as we picked up 10 points from 6 league matches, however we were knocked out of the FA Cup. We began with another high-scoring match at home as we thrashed Aldershot 6-1, Akinwale scored a hat-rick, his first for the club, Faal got another and Rob Hall managed a brace. We couldn't make it back to back wins though with a poor 3-0 defeat away to Bromley. As mentioned previously, our FA Cup defeat was a poor match at home to Hampton & Richmond who are in the division below us, so that was very disappointing. A 2-2 draw followed at home to York a week later, which was definitely a point gained after we were 2-0 down inside 20 minutes. The rearranged match away at Southend was 3 days later and we won on the road for the first time, outclassing Southend and winning 5-2 in the end. Maloney, Faal, Adebowale and an Akinwale brace saw us take the 3 points back home. Then just 4 days later we faced a long trip north to Hartlepool where we were unlucky to fall to a 3-2 defeat. Akinwale scored again for us whilst Andrew scored his first goal for the club but we couldn't hold on to the draw and conceded late to give the home side the points. Finally, we managed a slender win to end the month at home to Fylde. An OG gave us the lead but another Akinwale goal, his 10th of the season from just 17 so far, gave us a late winner to continue his good form, making it 5 from his last 4 appearances and 8 goals for the month in total. 

The league table is certainly looking a lot healthier for us too as we now sit in 14th after 16 matches, 21 points amassed so far from 6 wins and 3 draws. Our goal difference is looking decent at this stage too, absolutely helped by the big goal scoring hauls against Dagenham & Redbridge, Aldershot and Southend so far.

Victor Akinwale is playing really well for us in the opening 3 months of the season. He's only slightly underperforming in terms of his xG with 10 goals from his first 17 league appearances for us. He's scored both penalties he's stepped up for and has 3 Man of the Match awards to his name already. This is his first real taste of regular first team football and aged just 20, he really could have a bright future in the game if he can continue this level of goal scoring. He's also joint 2nd in the goal scoring charts in the league too, tied with 3 other players who have all scored 10 also.

[danmcconnell1]

We began November with a slender win away from home in Boston thanks to a solitary Akinwale goal, then followed it up with a disappointing draw at home to Kidderminster. We then welcomed surprise strugglers this season Solihull Moors to Princes Park and beat them 3-1 thanks to goals from Smith, Andrew and Barzey. That was followed by another disappointing result against a side struggling in the league, recently relegated Crawley, who's new manager bounce took effect in Gary Bowyer's first match in charge. Two Akinwale goals weren't enough as we fell to a 3-2 defeat. We ended the month by stealing a point at home to high flying Altrincham, late goals in each half from Smith and a Pavey penalty saw us share the spoils.

Despite it being quite an inconsistent month, we do move up 2 places to 12th after 21 matches, which for a newly promoted side at this level is not bad at all in my opinion. With a good result and other results going our way we could very easily find ourselves as high as 9th by the end of our next match, all being well, so there's plenty to play for. There is a bit of a gap opening to reach the top 8 which is concerning, however if this season ended right now, with us in 12th, we'd be ecstatic. We shouldn't look to run before we can walk. 

In other news this month, we formed a partnership with Championship side QPR. This will see us be able to sign young players on loan from the West London club without the cost of wages for us and we will host an annual friendly which will boost our coffers each summer. There's no annual fee which was disappointing, however the only other alternative for an affiliate club was AFC Wimbledon, which wasn't a huge fee anyway, so we decided to go for QPR who'd be able to lend us a better calibre of player, or so we hoped.

We took advantage of the new partnership almost straight away by bringing in Micah Anthony on loan until the end of the season. He's a winger who I'm hoping will be able to provide competition to Jeffrey and Faal who are our first choice, but be a capable backup too.

Edited April 28 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

December began with our introduction to the FA Trophy in the 3rd Round as we took on St Albans at Clarence Park. We were behind until the 69th minute when Tommy Block scored from the spot for us then Paul Rooney scored a late winner to send us into round 4 where we'll take on Boston United in the new year. Unfortunately, the rest of the month was one to forget. We were pegged back from 2-0 up to 2-2, then went 3-2 up only for Ebbsfleet to equalise late on to deny us the win at Stonebridge Road. Jeffrey, Faal and Akinwale scored our goals. Back at home and we took on the other relegated club from League 2 last season, former Premier League club Bradford City. We were well beaten with as Vadaine Oliver scored a perfect hat-rick for the visitors, despite us taking the lead through Akinwale. Another defeat followed, this time away to Oldham, we were 2-0 down before Maloney scored to pull one back, then Hall got us back level in the 2nd half before Oldham won it late on. A goalless draw against Gateshead on Boxing Day was a decent result considering they're fighting for the title, however the final match of the year at home again, this time to South Shields, was an utter embarrassment. We were 3-0 down inside the opening quarter of an hour before Anthony pegged one back before half time, his first start since joining on loan from QPR brought his first goal in senior football. The 2nd half didn't bring the comeback I wanted and we were put to the sword, losing 6-1 in the end.

This poor month has seen us free fall down the league table into 17th, however we are still 7 points clear of danger, so are managing to keep the threat at arms length for now. I do hope that we can find an upturn in form as the new year comes though as it's much needed at the moment.

[danmcconnell1]

The start to 2025 has, on the whole, been a very positive one as we enter March. We began the new year with a 1-1 draw away at Eastleigh, Fowler scoring a late equaliser for us. We then followed that up 3 days later with a big win at home to Barnet, beating them 1-0 thanks to a Victor Akinwale goal. Akinwale was on the score sheet again as we drew 2-2 with Boston in the FA Trophy 4th round, Andrew scored off the bench to level it up late on to take us to penalties where we unfortunately lost and were knocked out. We responded brilliantly the following weekend though, thrashing Woking away from home 6-2 in Robbie Fowler's first match in charge of the home side. Akinwale bagged another hat-rick, Faal scored 2 and Hall got the other as we convincingly beat the side from Surrey. An even bigger win in terms of stature followed, beating Yeovil, who at the time were flying high in 2nd. Faal and Akinwale with the goals as we beat them 2-1 to make it back to back wins. We made it 3 wins in a row to end January with a 3-1 win over bottom side Dagenham & Redbridge, Smith, Akinwale again and Adebowale with the goals there. 

February began with a goalless draw at home to Dorking, which was followed by a defeat away to top of the league Rochdale. Maloney with our only goal there. We drew at home to Southend thanks to an Akinwale goal, he then scored the only goal in our 1-0 win over Aldershot. We ended the month with another convincing win, this time at home to Bromley, beating them 4-0 thanks to goals from Maloney, Barzey and an Andrew brace.

We've played one match in March so far, beating York 2-0 away from home, Faal and Hall with our goals to make it 3 wins in a row.

All of this means we sit in a healthy position in the league up in 10th place with 9 games left to play. The play offs are certainly not an impossibility for us as we sit just 3 points outside them at the moment and with us in decent form winning the last 3, I'm hoping we can continue this good run and challenge for a top 7 spot, which for a newly promoted side remember, is certainly not bad going. We're still semi professional too, so would really be up against it if we did manage to reach those play offs, however we have proven that we can more than compete in this league and despite a bad run of results over the festive period, on the whole we've been pretty consistent. 

Victor Akinwale's goal scoring exploits now see him top of the goal scoring charts and in line to win the National League's golden boot. He's currently on 23 league goals, 24 in all competitions for us, which in his debut season playing first team football, is certainly a very good return. He's under contract with us for another year, however we may face a battle to keep him in the summer as other clubs are already sniffing around.

We have also signed another goalkeeper, arguably an upgrade on Latham. Ted Cann was a free agent and initially brought in on trial, he impressed and was snapped up on a 2 and a half year deal. He's performed well so far, making 7 appearances, conceding 4 goals and keeping 4 clean sheets.

[danmcconnell1]

March was a disappointing month on the whole with lots of dropped points and missed opportunities. We began with a comfortable 2-0 win over York thanks to goals from Faal and Hall, but followed that up with a defeat at home to Hartlepool who scored in stoppage time to take the spoils. We then travelled north to Fylde and were really poor in a 3-0 defeat. We responded well with a 3-0 win of our own over Boston thanks to Akinwale, Barzey and Pavey's goals, but 2 draws on the road against struggling sides in Kidderminster and Solihull really dented our play off hopes.

We remain in mid-table in 11th place, however with just 4 games to go and 12 points to play for, we're 11 points off the play offs, those draws against Kidderminster and Solihull were the final nails in our coffin as far as I'm concerned in terms of the play offs. However, when we look back at the season, we have to be happy with our efforts. For a semi-pro side to have competed as well as we have and to not be in any danger of relegation at any point throughout the season is testament to the players efforts and ability. The best league position we can realistically hope for now would be 9th personally, but we can't finish any lower than 18th as things stand, so even if we did slip at the end of the season, I'm happy with the campaign as a whole and feel as though Dartford are a competitive side in this league and could potentially go on to bigger and better things. Whether I'm the one to take them to those things remains to be seen.

[danmcconnell1]

Our final 4 matches of the season didn't go our way at all, conceding 3 goals in all but one of the run in matches. We lost 3-2 at home to Crawley, Akinwale's goals were not enough to take a share of the points in that one. We then followed that up with another defeat, this time away to Altrincham, Hall and Rooney with our goals there. We did pick up a point against Ebbsfleet in our final home match of the season thanks to Adebowale and a late Block penalty. We then lost our final game away to Bradford, Faal and Maloney with equalisers, but we still managed to concede again just a minute later as Bradford won it.

Our poor final month meant we slipped down to 14th as the season comes to an end for us. It's been a very successful one in my eyes, we picked up some very big wins and were very rarely outplayed, with our biggest defeat of the season coming away to now relegated South Shields in the final match of 2024. South Shields join Eastleigh, rather surprisingly Solihull Moors and Ebbsfleet in relegation down to the North/South divisions.

Dorking take on Barnet and Yeovil face Altrincham in the eliminators, the winners of those will face Rochdale and Oldham respectively for a place in the play off final. Hartlepool won the league therefore are promoted automatically back to the football league.

[danmcconnell1]

After chairman Lee Harding announced he would be stepping down and selling the club this summer, we have a 2nd change in ownership during my 13 months at the club. Jordon Elliott is the club's new owner and has promised investment in not only the playing staff but the club as a whole. His first piece of work was to secure my signature for another year...

I agreed a 1 year contract extension, but with some caveats this time. Firstly, I'm being paid an extra £50 a week, taking my basic weekly salary to £550pw. If we win the league, I get a bonus of £6k, the same bonus applies if we reach the 3rd round of the FA Cup too. If we were to win the FA Trophy, arguably the most likely of those 3 scenarios, I'd also get a £6k bonus. I have now withdrawn interest in jobs elsewhere as part of signing this deal too. There'll be at least one more year here at Dartford.

[danmcconnell1]

To top up my salary with Dartford, I've taken a huge increase alongside my club job with the Fijian national team, taking a wage of £4600pw.

Fiji finished 2nd in their qualification group for the World Cup, however I do believe there are further qualifiers for the winners of the group New Zealand. It doesn't matter now anyway, Fiji aren't going to the next World Cup, so it's more local tournaments we have to look forward to for the foreseeable.

[danmcconnell1]

The new season begins today after a busy summer and our pre-season results were good as we remained unbeaten, despite playing 2 sides from the football league, even beating one of them in Newport County.

So far we've brought in 3 players, Charlie Wakefield and Connor Stevens on frees and exciting young striker Junior Dixon on loan from Birmingham City.

Wakefield is the kind of player I really like at this level and I feel is essential to any kind of success you may have. With very little money available at this level of the game, it's vital to find versatile players who can do a job if required in multiple areas of the pitch, coupled with the fact we can only name 5 subs too, Wakefield I'm sure will be a player we call upon lots this season.

Connor Stevens comes in on a free also from Barnet. The central defender can play on the left too which is helpful, however when he does play it'll predominantly be as a centre back. 

Junior Dixon is a player I'm very excited about. He's come in on loan from Birmingham and by all accounts knows where the net is. Another former Palace youngster, Dixon partners his former colleague Akinwale now, so we may well see a change of shape going into the new season to accommodate 2 strikers, we'll see.

Both Alfie Pavey and Brandon Barzey were released this summer, hence the replacements coming in of Wakefield and Dixon in those positions while we look to bolster the defence by bringing in Stevens.

This is the squad for the upcoming National League season. Manny Adebowale has been made available for transfer as we feel we have some very good youngsters coming through, plus with the signing of Stevens too, Manny has fallen down the pecking order, however we haven't received much interest in him as of yet. Both Sam Oduadu and Anthony Jeffrey have expressed their desire to explore their options at the end of their contracts, so we're also exploring the possibility of moving them on this summer to garner some much needed income. There is interest in both, however we may need to compromise on the asking price for both of those.

Noah Adams came through our youth intake last season and looks promising. His determination in particular is perfect at such a tender age, as are a lot of his mental attributes. He could be one to watch as the season progresses, he'll certainly get his chance this season.

[danmcconnell1]

The season got underway with a trip to Altrincham. We fell 2-0 behind before Jeffrey and Akinwale scored to make it 2-1 and 3-2 but in truth we were never really a match for the home side and began the new season with defeat. Things looked a lot rosier a week later in our first home game where we faced Rochdale. An Akinwale brace gave us a 2-0 win, our first of the new season. Another defeat on the road followed, this time away to Gateshead. We were 3-0 down when Dixon scored his first for the club then Akinwale got another one to make it interesting towards the end but again we fell to defeat. We managed a 1-1 draw back at Princes Park against Boston, Dixon scoring for us again. Unfortunately we ended the month with a defeat on the road again, this time in the Midlands at Walsall. 

All of this meant that after the first 5 matches of the new season we sit in 18th place on 4 points after what's been a difficult and inconsistent start for us.

[danmcconnell1]

September was another month of struggle on the whole, despite only losing once. We began with a 2-2 draw with neighbours Maidstone at Princes Park. We couldn't hold onto our 2-0 lead given to us by goals from Akinwale and Wakefield in the first half as the visitors roared back in the 2nd half to share the points. Then came the trip to Dorking where we lost 2-1, Jeffrey scoring our goal. He's now scored 2 this season, 1 more than he managed in the whole of last season. Next came a goalless draw at home to Halifax, then a 3-3 draw away at Dagenham & Redbridge. We were 3-1 up early in the 2nd half thanks to goals from Dixon and an Akinwale brace, however again couldn't hold onto our lead and were pegged back to only pick up a point. The month ended with probably the best performance of my time as Dartford manager. We faced Barnet at home, a very decent side in their own right, their league position so far didn't reflect their ability as a team. However their poor start to the season continued as we absolutely annihilated them 8-3 in the end. Junior Dixon bagged a hat-rick, only for Akinwale to beat him to the match ball with 4 goals, Rob Hall scored the other in what was an absolutely outstanding performance where almost everything we touched ended up in the back of the net.

But for the huge win over Barnet we would be in the bottom 3, however that win gave us a much needed 3 points and a big boost to our goal difference too. We sit in 18th after 10 matches played and I really hope that win at the end of the month can be a springboard for a good run of form to help shoot us up the table. My strike partnership of Junior Dixon and Victor Akinwale has already produced 17 league goals, I'm excited to see how many they can produce before the end of the season together.

My first two matches in charge of Fiji didn't quite go to plan, however I'm not too worried as they're friendlies. We lost at home to North Korea by a goal to nil, then travelled to Samoa for a goalless draw.

Edited May 1 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

October began with the continuation of brilliant form with a 2-0 win over York thanks to goals from Maloney and Dixon, another 2-0 win this time over Kidderminster thanks to Akinwale and Wakefield, then a 4-2 win over Chippenham in the FA Cup 4th qualifying round. Faal, Akinwale and Wakefield scored all before an OG got us a 4th to send us into the 1st round proper where we'd take on Peterborough away from home. Our good form continued once more with a narrow win over Woking, former Liverpool and Derby man Andre Wisdom scoring an OG to give us the 3 points. Unfortunately though, our form started to dip as we lost the last 2 matches of the month, both at home to Sutton United and Crawley. Faal did score against Sutton but were were outplayed whilst Crawley scored a late winner to take the points.

We entered the FA Cup 1st round with a trip to Peterborough and held them to a very admirable draw, Faal scoring our equaliser to take the match to a replay back at Princes Park in 2 and a half weeks' time. We followed that impressive result with another one, this time beating Bromley 3-1 away from home in what turned out to be our only win in all competitions this month. Stevens, Akinwale and Wakefield scored our goals there. We then lost at home again, this time to Scunthorpe with Dixon and Coulson scoring late goals for us in a game we were never really in, the final score line flattered us in all honesty. We did hold Yeovil to a goalless draw away from home who're flying high so I was happy with the point. Then came the visit of Peterborough, we took them all the way to penalties after taking the lead through Junior Dixon only for Malik Mothersille to equalise for the Posh. Unfortunately Taylor Maloney missed the target with his penalty which in the end was the decisive one as Peterborough were perfect from their 5 penalties to progress into round 2 against Vanarama North side Tamworth. I was very happy with the performance though, we took a League 1 side to a penalty shoot out after a replay which is no mean feat for a side of out stature. We returned to league action with a 3-2 defeat at home to Fylde, our home form has really fallen off a cliff recently which needs addressing as soon as possible. Akinwale and Hall got our goals in that one, while Dixon and Hall again helped us claw back from 2 down away at Aldershot to rescue a point in our final match of the month.

We remain in 18th after a couple of poor months on the whole. Our form heading into October was brilliant however we've shot ourselves in the foot by not capitalising on that form and kicking on. This could be a season of mid-table struggle in all honesty.

I was offered the chance to manage Curacao however their offer of £1500pw is nowhere near the wages I'm getting from Fiji, so the offer was declined, despite what would have been a good opportunity at a higher level of international football.

Speaking of Fiji, I recorded my first 3 wins in a row against Belize, Tuvalu and Afghanistan, before ending the year with a defeat away in Tahiti. I'm not sure when competitive action begins with Fiji, however I'll look forward to it.

[danmcconnell1]

After being approached by numerous clubs for interviews since the summer (which I attended), Charlton were by far the biggest to offer me one. I had an offer on the table from Port Vale with a weekly wage of £875, but was waiting to see if Charlton were to offer me the position of their manager too.

And they did. An almost quintupled weekly wage of £2.5k per week and bonuses for promotion to the Championship from League 1 for Charlton made it a very easy decision to make. I had a great time at Dartford, however the reluctance to make the step up to professional status meant that there was an artificial ceiling in place which was stalling any kind of progress I could have made with them. I wish them well for the future as they gave me my first chance in football, but now it's time to concentrate on Charlton Athletic.

Charlton play at the Valley in south London which holds 27,111, a huge step up from the 4,100 Princes Park of Dartford. Charlton Athletic played Premier League football from the early to mid 2000's, however haven't been back to the top division since their relegation back in 2007. There have been multiple relegations and promotions in that time between the Championship and League 1, it's now my job, after taking over from England legend Wayne Rooney, to get them back to the Championship.

Charlton's form over the last few months has been sketchy to say the least, however some could argue my Dartford side had a very similar run of results. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Gillingham last month and have won just 2 of the last 10 matches in the league which ultimately was the demise of Rooney, so I'm hoping I can push the team on to a good run of form and get them back up the table. They're also already out of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy too after being knocked out by Arsenal's Under 21 side.

We sit in 11th in the table after 22 matches played on 30 points, just 2 points outside the play offs as things stand. There's still plenty of football left this season so absolutely no reason why we can't be in and around that play off picture come the end of the season. We also have a Carabao Cup quarter final to look forward to later this month away at Brentford. 

It's a very big squad here at Charlton, far bigger than I'm used to in lower league football, so we may well see some outgoings in January if there are any takers. There are also ready some players on the transfer list so I may well be taking advantage of those potentially leaving the club, as well as possibly moving on a few others too.

[danmcconnell1]

My start to life in south-east London hasn't been great to say the least. My first match in charge was the defeat at Mansfield as we fell to a 2-0 defeat. Just 4 days later was the Carabao Cup quarter final and despite performing much better, we fell to a 3-2 defeat at the Gtech Community Stadium. We were 2-1 up with 7 minutes left after 2 goals from Victorio Ramis, however 2 goals in as many minutes for the home side saw the tie turn on its head and we were knocked out.  Then came my first home match in charge against top of the table Derby and we again were defeated, this time 2-1, Daniel Kanu scoring from the spot. We then faced a playoff chasing Barnsley side, losing 1-0 at Oakwell before ending the month and year at home to Wigan, losing 2-1, our goal coming from former Barcelona and Villa man Louie Barry.

This means we have dropped 6 places since my arrival down to 17th from 11th, still on 30 points. There's still a lot of football to be played, however the longer we go without a win the more difficult it becomes, especially for a new manager like myself. We have matches against sides struggling towards the foot of the table, as well as promotion chasing sides in January, so if we can get some points back on the board there's no reason why we can't look to try and get back in the playoff picture again.

I made it my mission to bring Noah Adams with me to Charlton from my previous club Dartford and he was only too happy to follow. The young defender is still very promising even at this level and playing at a higher level in our youth teams will, I hope, stand him in good stead and help him to improve.

[danmcconnell1]

Our form in this new year has been patchy at best. The new year began with a 1-1 draw away at Bristol Rovers, Kasey Palmer scoring for us, followed by another draw by the same score line at home to high flying Lincoln, Daniel Kanu scoring in the last minute for us. We then lost 2-0 away to Blackpool in a poor performance. We could only manage a goalless draw at home to bottom of the league Leyton Orient which I was really disappointed with, however did respond with a 1-0 over Port Vale in the Potteries, Lynden Gooch scoring our goal. We ended January with a 1-1 draw away at Bolton, new signing Scott Twine scored his first goal for the club.

February began really well with a big 4-1 win away at Portsmouth, another new signing, a huge coup for the club in Andres Iniesta scored a debut brace, whilst Kanu and Twine scored another 2 to give us a gigantic win. We followed that with a 3-2 defeat at home to Reading, Barry and Kanu scoring our goals in a game we were never really in despite the score line. Then came my biggest win since my arrival, a 7-1 win over Stockport. Campbell got 2, Mubama, Iniesta, Gooch, Twine and Edun scored all of the other as we thrashed the side from Greater Manchester at The Valley. We ended February with 2 more poor results though, losing 4-1 away at bottom of the table at the time Wimbledon, Gooch scoring an equaliser for us, then a 3-3 draw away at Plymouth. Twine scored a brace while Barry scored our equaliser.

We now sit in 14th with 9 games to go. We're 8 points clear of the drop and 15 off the playoffs, so it looks like we'll have to settle for a mid-table finish this time around. It's been a frustrating time as this side are so inconsistent, we do need somewhat of a clear out this summer as the squad is still huge, however that's partly my fault now after a busy January. 

First through the door is a man we've already mentioned, Scott Twine. He has started really well for us, despite giving away 2 penalties in his first 2 appearances, he also has 5 goals in 7 matches for us. He's been a breath of fresh air and I'm really hoping he can continue this good form as we move towards the end of the season.

Next in was another loanee, this time Sinclair Armstrong from QPR. He's a bulky centre forward who can play on either wing too, so a good versatile option to have. He's made 3 sub appearances so far after picking up an injury soon after arriving at the club.

Nathan Ferguson joined from Crystal Palace for a lowly fee of £150k. He's a versatile and still young defender at just 25, I'm really hoping he can kick on now and find some form which he's never really done at Palace, hopefully at this level he can get more regular minutes.

Jack Taylor joined us from Ipswich for just £12k. He's a battling midfielder who has pretty good attributes all round, at this level he should be bossing the middle of the park.

Ryan Wintle is another central midfielder, this time joining from Cardiff for just £300k. He's another player who's got a point to prove after never really pulling up any trees in the Welsh capital, I'm really hoping he can become a mainstay in our midfield and perhaps even chip in with the odd goal here and there too.

The final man through the door is one I've mentioned already, Spanish World Cup winner Andres Iniesta. I just couldn't resist bringing him in, even at 41, he's still a supreme talent. He already has 3 goals, including a penalty, and an assist in his 4 matches for us so far, making it 1 goal involvement per match already. He signed an 18 month deal so isn't just coming here to pick up a wage and leave this summer, he's here to contribute and he's done exactly that so far.

It was also a busy January in terms of departures. The biggest deals were George Dobson joining MLS side Minnesota for £4.5m, Alfie May joining fellow League 1 side Burton for £1.6m and Victorio Ramis joining Polish side Jagiellonia for £350k. Overall I'm very happy with the business we've done and I do think we have a better squad in terms of quality heading into the remainder of the season. The aim for next season will also be to improve the quality whilst perhaps reducing the quantity of players at the club again.

[danmcconnell1]

March began with a comfortable 3-1 win over Shrewsbury, Kanu, Palmer and Coventry with our goals at The Valley. We then followed that up with a 1-1 draw away at Carlisle, Coventry scoring again. Our only defeat of the month came at home to Peterborough, losing 1-0 which was disappointing. However we responded well after the international break with a 1-0 win of our own over Gillingham away from home, Lynden Gooch scoring a penalty to give us the 3 points.

Picking up 7 points from a possible 12 has seen us move up a place into 13th in the table. We are 12 points away from both the relegation zone and the playoffs, so very much a mid-table team this season. With 5 games left, the best we could possibly hope for, realistically, is a top 10 place, but even that'll be difficult as we need lots of other results to go our way.

Fiji returned to duty with a 2-2 draw at home to the Philippines, Jennings and Nalaubu scoring for us, then we travelled to Papua New Guinea where we recorded a 2-1 win thanks to late goals from Dogalau and Naresh. I'm still not entirely sure when competitive football starts again with Fiji, however I'll remain with them while they're paying me so handsomely, unless another international job comes along with a bigger pay packet. I have already turned down Curacao and the Ivory Coast due to their meagre pay offers, despite having better chances at major tournaments with those nations.

Edited May 3 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

The final month of the regular season saw us play 5 matches in total as we beat Stevenage 2-1 at The Valley to make it back to back wins, goals from Iniesta and Wintle won it for us in the 2nd half. We travelled to Burton and drew 1-1, Gooch with our goal which turned out to be the only time we dropped points this month. 3 wins in a row to end the season began with a 3-0 win over Wycombe, Mubama, Taylor and Palmer scoring there, then a 2-0 away at Notts County, Mubama again and Kanu from the spot at Meadow Lane before we ended our campaign with a dead rubber against Mansfield at The Valley, beating them 4-2 thanks to a Mubama brace, Twine and a Conor Coventry screamer to end the season on a high.

The final league table saw us finish in 12th, slap bang in the middle of the table. We ended the season 9 points away from the playoffs as our good form came too late in the end, however did steer clear of the drop by an impressive 18 points in the end, with that end of season unbeaten run helping us stay well away from danger.

For those who're interested, my old Dartford side won just 4 times after I left the club, with Akinwale failing to score again all season after my departure. They ended up going down with a whimper in the end back to the Vanarama South. I thought they had plenty of firepower to keep themselves up but evidently not. It does make me think that it may have been my tactics that helped Dartford to somewhat over achieve in that league though, so I hope I can have the same effect at Charlton.

Here's the majority of the squad and their numbers at the end of this campaign. Mubama and Kanu share the top goal scorer award with 10 each. I'm pleased to see that goals were spread around the side though, with Louie Barry getting 7, Campbell, Palmer Twine and Gooch all got 6 each while Iniesta and Coventry both got 4 each. There will be transfer activity this summer so watch this space.

[mannojunior]

Enjoyed following this so far. Terrific job done at Dartford and hopefully you can push for promotion next season at Charlton.

[danmcconnell1]

On 03/05/2024 at 20:01, mannojunior said:

Enjoyed following this so far. Terrific job done at Dartford and hopefully you can push for promotion next season at Charlton.

Cheers! Appreciate the kind words! Been quite the summer...

[danmcconnell1]

On the eve of the new season getting underway, we achieved a perfect pre-season, scoring 18 goals without conceding in wins over Welling, Hastings, Morecambe, West Bromwich Albion and Boreham Wood. We will take on recently relegated Preston in our first game of the new season.

This is the squad that will see us into the new campaign. Plenty of departures throughout the summer whilst there were plenty of arrivals too. Let's take a look at who left the club first of all.

First out of the club was Adedokun who joined Walsall on loan. Conor Coventry wasn't happy at the club following the failure to achieve promotion so requested a transfer, he joined Cardiff for £1.8m in our biggest outgoing of the summer. Tennai Watson joined Chesterfield for £160k, Tyreece Campbell went to Bolton for £550k and Ukranian goalkeeper Artur Rudko moved to Bristol City for £1m. Another keeper left in Harry Isted, he joined Swindon for £90k. A few young players went out on loan whilst the other major outgoing player was Ross McCrorie who joined Reading for what could reach £205k, meaning we've brought in a total of around £3.75m.

We've brought in a total of 7 players in total, the vast majority will bolster us at the top end of the pitch.

However, first in was Guillaume Hubert, a goalkeeper on a free from Molenbeek in Belgium. He'll be our number 1 going into the new campaign, however will be under pressure from number 2 Ashley Maynard-Brewer.

After a successful loan spell in the second half of last season, Scott Twine joins the club on a permanent deal this time after being released by Burnley. He's a player I really like who can play pretty much anywhere across the front, his versatility will no doubt be an important factor going into the new season.

Chris Willock joins us on a free following his release from QPR. He's another versatile midfielder who can play anywhere across the front again, we now have plenty of options at the top end of the pitch.

Filip Stevanovic is another winger who's joined on a free again following his release from Manchester City. He's still young at just 23 so I'm really hoping some regular football will help see him progress as he could become a very important player for us.

George Hall joins on loan from Birmingham, he's a central midfielder who likes to play further forward, I'm really hoping he can become an important part of our midfield this season.

Michael Ndiweni is a young striker who was released by Newcastle in the summer, he joins to bolster our front line. He's very pacy and aged just 22, has plenty of time to progress into a decent striker.

Daniel Gudjonsen is another striker who has come in from Malmo for a fee of £1.1m. He's the son of former Chelsea and Barcelona man Eidur, so certainly has pedigree. He began his career in Barcelona's La Masia before joining Real Madrid. He went to Scandinavia to join Swedish side Malmo where he's barely played. He spent time on loan at Notts County last season and scored a couple of goals for them in 15 matches, I'm really hoping a big move for him can spark his career into life.

Finally, the biggest news of the summer personally for me, fresh from winning the World Cup, France offered me the national side job following the departure of 3 time World Cup winner (once as a player and twice as a manager) Didier Deschamps quit the role after winning it again in the USA. Deschamps is a legend of French football so to follow him will be very tough after he won 2 World Cups, Euro 2024 and 2 Nations League titles in his 14 years in charge. 

It's some rise for me personally, from managing Dartford back at the beginning of December in the Vanarama National League to managing the likes of double World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe at international level, it's a very exciting time. I do of course feel for Fiji, I didn't get to manage them in a competitive match which I'm disappointed about, however the chance to manage the World champions, with a significant pay rise too, was too much of a pull.

[danmcconnell1]

We've had a flying start to the new season which began with a 3-0 win over recently relegated Preston North End. Ryan Wintle scored a brace while Daniel Gudjohnsen scored his first goal for the club. Our First round tie in the Carabao Cup was at home to Cambridge and we went one better to beat them 4-0 with a much changed side. Chris Willock scored on his full debut, Gudjohnsen managed a brace this time while Karoy Anderson marked his first appearance back at the club with a goal after spending last season on loan at Chesterfield. Next up was our first league match of the season at home against Portsmouth and we beat them comfortably thanks to goals from Scott Twine and a first for the club by loanee George Hall to give us a 2-0 win. We conceded for the first time this season away at Burton as we couldn't keep up our winning start, Lynden Gooch getting our equaliser in the 2nd half, however we got back to winning ways with a bang a week later at home to Gillingham, beating them 4-0 thanks to a Kanu brace, Gudjohnsen and Gooch both getting one each again. Then came the most impressive result of the month as we beat Premier League side Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup 2nd round at The Valley. Taylor opened the scoring whilst 2 late goals from another new signing Filip Stevanovic sealed our progression into round 3 where we'll take on recently relegated to League 2 AFC Wimbledon in South West London. The month ended with the first London derby of the season for us as Leyton Orient came to The Valley and we comfortably dispatched of them 2-0 thanks to 2 Lynden Gooch goals, he's had a great start to the new season.

All of this means we sit top of League 1 after 5 matches played, level on points with Peterborough, Wrexham and Plymouth, our goal difference being the most impressive at +11. It's been an outstanding start to the new campaign and all I can hope for is that we continue playing as well as we are, the rest should take care of itself.

We've brought in some more reinforcements at the back as Tom Holmes joins from Luton for £750k. He fits the theme of signings this summer, a versatile player however a defender instead of forward thinking player. He didn't get much game time at Luton over the last 3 years or so, so we're hoping he can find that form he did at Reading which earned him the move to Premier League Luton at the time.

[danmcconnell1]

After a brilliant start to the season I hoped that we could continue this form going into September. We began with a comfortable 3-1 win over AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup 3rd round with Daniel Kanu scoring a brace and Michael Ndiweni scoring his first for the club to see us into round 4. We then rather surprisingly lost away to Port Vale 2-1, Ndiweni scoring for us again but we succumbed to our first defeat this season. Then came the thrashing of Northampton in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, beating them 6-0 thanks to goals from Gudjohnsen, Willock, Ferguson, Holmes and a Jack Taylor brace to get us off to the perfect start in that competition. We followed that up with a 2-1 win away at Notts County thanks to late goals from George Hall and Louie Barry. Then came another win, this time 5-3 against Chesterfield at home, Barry scoring another 2 while Kanu matched that and Gudjohnsen with the other. That was followed by another 2-1 defeat on the road, this time away at Lincoln, Barry scoring for the 4th time in 3 matches. We ended the month against fellow fast starters this season Peterborough and absolutely wiped the floor with them at The Valley, putting 4 past them with no reply, Twine scoring 2 while Kasey Palmer and Ryan Wintle both scored off the bench.

Plymouth now set the pace at the top with 23 points alongside Peterborough, we sit a point behind on 22 after 10 matches played. I really do feel like we will be in with a shout in the promotion race this season, whether that be in the automatic places or the playoffs, I do think we'll be there or thereabouts.

I took charge of France for the first time this month too, starting my reign in Sarajevo against Bosnia where we managed a 3-1 win in our first Nations League group stage match. William Saliba, Ousmane Dembele and Kingsley Coman all scored, the latter 2 both off the bench to make my start to life with Les Bleus a winning one. We then welcomed Belgium from across the border to Paris for my first match in charge at the national stadium, the Stade de France and we beat them 2-1 this time, goals from Coman and Allan Saint-Maximin, who was a late call up after the withdrawal from the squad of Marcus Thuram. We sit top of the group after 2 matches played.

[TelcontarTargaryen]

Honestly surprising to see that France offered you the job, but of course who would not accept such an offer. Congratulations.

[Domoboy23]

40 minutes ago, TelcontarTargaryen said:

Honestly surprising to see that France offered you the job, but of course who would not accept such an offer. Congratulations.

Bit of a side note, but the rep skew has been off for human manages for 2/3 editions now.

If you have a lot of coaching badges then your experience is largely irrelevant. The badges cause huge rep increases. Sadly, even if you go down the route of not getting badges you still a few seasons in get better offers than you should.

Badges shouldn't cause rep increases, only coaching attribute increases. Your performance should be used for rep (taking country, level, importance etc into account) but that's a different debate for a different thread. 

Really enjoying this one though and following! 

[danmcconnell1]

19 hours ago, TelcontarTargaryen said:

Honestly surprising to see that France offered you the job, but of course who would not accept such an offer. Congratulations.

So was I, but the chance to manage top players, and a very decent wage increase too was too much to pass up

19 hours ago, Domoboy23 said:

Bit of a side note, but the rep skew has been off for human manages for 2/3 editions now.

If you have a lot of coaching badges then your experience is largely irrelevant. The badges cause huge rep increases. Sadly, even if you go down the route of not getting badges you still a few seasons in get better offers than you should.

Badges shouldn't cause rep increases, only coaching attribute increases. Your performance should be used for rep (taking country, level, importance etc into account) but that's a different debate for a different thread. 

Really enjoying this one though and following! 

Yeah I agree with this, hopefully the new-look FM25 will look to address this issue, however I do fear they have bigger fish to fry with a new match engine.

[danmcconnell1]

October and November have been 2 very contrasting months. We managed consecutive 1-0 wins against Stockport in the league and Plymouth away in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy with goals coming from Barry and Willock respectively to begin October, followed by another win, this time 2-1 away at Blackpool thanks to a brace from Barry who's in good form. Barry scored again in the 1-1 draw with Carlisle before we comfortably dispatched of Mansfield at The Valley 4-2. Hall, Edmonds-Green, Kanu and Holmes with the goals that day. We then drew 1-1 with Wycombe, our goal coming from Ndiweni. We then lost at Stamford Bridge to Chelsea in the 4th round of the Carabao Cup before beating Bristol Rovers 4-3 in the 1st round of the FA Cup to end October, goals from Barry, Jones, Stevanovic and Willock.

Then came the poor run of form which coincided with the start of November with a defeat at home to Huddersfield, losing 3-2. Ndiweni and Barry scored for us. We then welcomed Wrexham and were 3-1 up thanks to goals from Ndiweni, Twine and Stevanovic but were pegged back late on to only pick up a point. We won our only match of the month in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy against West Brom's Under 21 side, beating them 2-1 thanks to goals from Kanu and Willock. Consecutive 1-0 defeats came on the road at Barnsley and the MK Dons before another defeat, this time at Plymouth, losing 3-1 with Kanu scoring our consolation. We were also knocked out of the FA Cup in the 2nd round by Preson at Deepdale.

A poor November has seen us drop to 5th in the league on 34 points from 20 matches. Every team goes through a rough patch of form and I'm hoping that was ours and things start to pick up again soon. We take on QPR in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy South section 2nd round early in December which is a competition I'd like to do well in as we could do with a distraction from our poor league form at the moment.

Both Hull City and Ipswich Town approached me for interviews, which I of course attended, however both clubs overlooked me for the position of first team manager on this occasion.

Moving onto French duty, October saw us welcome Switzerland to the Stade de France in a match we won 3-1 thanks to goals from Mbappe, Coman and Badiashile. We were then defeated in Brussells against Belgium, losing 2-0. November began in Paris again with a 3-1 win over Bosnia, Nkunku, Dembele and Mbappe with the goals, with Kylian becoming France's all time top goal scorer with his penalty, scoring his 59th goal for France, now 1 clear of Olivier Giroud on 58. We ended the Nations League group campaign with a dead rubber against Switzerland, beating them 2-1 in Geneva thanks to goals from Thuram and Kolo-Muani.

These results meant we finished top of the group, therefore qualified for the Nations League semi finals where we will take on Portugal in the summer. The other semi final sees England take on Italy.

Our Euro 2028 qualifying group has also been drawn and we'll be taking on Armenia, Greece, Luxembourg and Norway, the latter of which will see Kylian Mbappe take on Erling Haaland which will be exciting ties. We shouldn't have any issues getting out of the group, anything less than winning it would be seen as a disappointment in my eyes.

[danmcconnell1]

December began with the aforementioned visit of QPR in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy South 2nd round and we drew 3-3 with them in what was a brilliant 90 minutes, Gudjohnsen ending his scoring drought with a brace and Anderson with the other. We won the tie on penalties 5-3 after Maynard saved Hepburn-Murphy's opening penalties for QPR. We then beat them again 3 days later at The Valley again, this time Jack Taylor scoring in a much changed side from the one a few days earlier. We couldn't continue the good form though as we lost away at Exeter 3 days after that though, losing 1-0 at St James Park. We then welcomed a Wigan side who're in the playoff hunt with us and could only manage a 1-1 draw with them, they equalised in the 93rd minute.

These results means we have dropped to 6th in the league midway through December.

Now, you may notice that December has been cut short, which is odd as it's arguably the busiest month of the English footballing calendar. This is because I have a new job...

My rise up the English football pyramid continues after being offered the Sheffield Wednesday job in the Championship. I leave Charlton after just over a year in charge and have left them in a playoff place and with a much more balanced squad than the one I came into a year ago. Despite not being in great form, I do still believe Charlton are in with a shout of promotion this season, however it may have to be via the Playoffs as Plymouth and Wrexham are starting to pull away at the top now.

Moving onto my new role, the Owls have won their last 2 before my arrival against Derby and Bristol City, so I come into the match against Blackburn next with the side in good form. 

These are the players I have at my disposal. There are some familiar names to Championship fans with the likes of Darnell Furlong, Will Vaulks, and Callum Paterson playing a lot of their career's in this league, as well as some very exciting talents with the likes of goalkeeper Pierce Charles, Lewis Warrington and Bailey Cadamarteri all looking like very good prospects. The latter of those 3 is having a great season up to now, scoring 13 goals in 23 appearances, all of which have come in the Championship.

[danmcconnell1]

Oh, and of course, there's another significant wage increase in joining Sheffield Wednesday...

The Owls have quadrupled my earnings at club level from £2500pw to £10000pw, which added onto the £46500pw I get from France, takes my total earnings to £56500pw. Considering I was on around 1% of that not much more than a year ago, I'm pretty happy with my work up to now in management and despite the loyalty not quite being there, that's not what this save is about. It's about making money.

[danmcconnell1]

My first 3 matches in charge of Sheffield Wednesday ended up with 2 wins and a defeat. We beat Blackburn at Ewood Park 2-1, Popovic with his first goal for the club and Cadamarteri with what turned out to be the winner on the stroke of half time with our goals. We also won on Boxing Day in my first match in charge at Hillsborough, beating Coventry 2-1 again, this time Cadamarteri got both, the 2nd of which from the penalty spot. We ended the year with a 1-0 defeat away at Middlesbrough though.

This means we end 2026 in 13th place in the Championship, those 4 wins in a row, 2 of which under my stewardship, really helping our league position as we sit comfortably in mid-table at the moment.

Despite only being in charge for 3 games, I can see why there is such a fuss being made about Bailey Cadamarteri. He's scored 3 goals for me already in 3 starts at aged just 21 and currently the top scorer in the Championship with 16 league goals, we could face a battle to keep him in January. I hope he stays until at least the summer as he's the kind of striker who could fire us to promotion. He's scoring goals in this ill-balanced side already, imagine what he could do with better quality around him, he's really one to be excited about.

[danmcconnell1]

The new year began with a 2-0 defeat in the FA Cup 3rd round away to Nottingham Forest, followed by a 3-0 defeat away at Sunderland just 3 days later in the league. We did win our only home match of the month against Hull, beating the bottom side 3-0 thanks to goals from Wilks, Bowler and Cadamarteri. After an 11 day break, we travelled to the south coast to take on Southampton but lost it thanks to a 92nd minute penalty scored by Ryan Manning after Bailey Cadamarteri missed a penalty for us. Fortunately, we ended the month with another much needed win ahead of a difficult start to February as we beat struggling Watford 3-0 at Vicarage Road, Crew and a Cadamarteri brace giving us the points.

We remain in 13th place, solidly mid-table. We're 15 points clear of danger and only 10 points off the playoffs, so it's not impossible to suggest we're still in with a shout of reaching them should we hit a good run of form with 15 matches still to play.

Cadamarteri's great season continues as he now sits on 19 goals, all of which have come in the league. He's 1 clear of 2nd top scorer Ryan Mmaee from Stoke.

We did some business in January, offloading a few players including the likes of Djeidi Gassama to Maastricht for £250k, Gabrielloni for £600k to St Louise CITY, youngster Shipston joined QPR for a potential £300k and Sofian Bahloul joined Stockport on loan until the end of the season.

There's very little to spend in the transfer budget even after those departures, so there was only one player incoming this month. Leandro Ciccolini joins on loan from Argentinian side Lanus until the end of the season. The 31 year old winger can play either side and through the middle in attacking midfield roles, so he'll hopefully be a good addition to the squad for the remainder of the campaign as we look to consolidate a place in the league and try to strengthen more next season for a playoff push.

[danmcconnell1]

We had a tough run of matches to begin February with the visit of Fulham getting us underway. We managed a 1-1 draw with the Cottagers, Darnell Furlong scoring our equaliser early in the 2nd half. 3 days later we welcomed, at the time, 2nd place Birmingham in what would be a another difficult match. The score line doesn't show that though as we beat them 5-2, Cadamarteri with a 1st half brace, then Webster and Furlong, incidentally making it 2 in 2 for him, gave us a 4-0 lead before the half hour mark in the 1st half. Blues did get 2 back however a Josh Bowler strike with 9 minutes left put the game to bed and saw us pick up a very valuable 3 points. We then travelled to league leaders Leicester CIty and were soundly beaten 3-1, Charlie Crew scoring our goal. Another defeat came a few days later, this time at home against Norwich, losing 3-2 this time. Bowler and Paterson did get a couple back however the score line flattered us in all honesty. We ended the month with back to back wins, beginning with the trip to Rotherham and a comfortable 2-0 win on the road, Diaby and Wilks with the goals. The final match of the month was a 3-0 drubbing of Swansea at Hillsborough, Zach Robinson stepping in for the injured Cadamarteri and bagging a hat-rick.

Our league position hasn't changed at the end of another month as we remain in 13th place. We're now 21 points clear of the drop zone and just 7 points off the play offs, so still in with a shout with just 9 games remaining if we can put a run of wins together, there's always 1 side who come out of nowhere to be in with a shout of the playoffs, hopefully this year it could be us.

One piece of news came after the transfer window in England closed which was that Bambo Diaby would be returning to his native Spain in the summer to join Levante for £5m. The deal was done too late for him to leave immediately, therefore we keep him until the summer.

[danmcconnell1]

March was an outstanding month for us as we are now in the midst of that winning run that I mentioned previously. 3 wins from 3 this month began in Stoke with a 2-1 victory, Bowley and Byers with our goals at the bet365 Stadium. We then welcomed Ipswich to Hillsborough 10 days later and thrashed them 4-0 thanks to a Robinson brace, Warrington and Wilks getting 1 each. The final match before the first international break of the calendar year was away at The Den against Millwall and it was another high-scoring affair for us, beating the Lions 5-2. Furlong scored another goal midway through the 1st half, Cadamarteri with a brace, Oscar Kelly and Robinson scored our goals.

After 5 wins in a row stretching back to last month, we now find ourselves further up the table in 8th place, just 4 points off the playoffs. If we can continue our good form then there's no reason why we can't force our way into the top 6.

Our good form has earned me the Manager of the Month award for March too.

As mentioned before, my France side were back in action at the end of the month as we got our qualification campaign for next summers' Euros in Italy. We began in Marseille against Armenia, beating them 4-2, Mbappe and Kolo Muani both scoring 2 each. We then travelled north to Oslo to take on Norway at Ullevaal and we beat them 4-2 as well, Nkunku with a brace while Mbappe and and Saliba also got on the score sheet.

We top the group after 2 matches played having already beaten Norway who will arguably be our biggest challengers in this group, so I don't expect too much trouble going forward.

[danmcconnell1]

The Championship season has now come to a close after the final 6 games of the season were concluded. We kept up our winning streak in early April, coming from behind to beat Luton 2-1, Oscar Kelly and Cadamarteri scoring our goals. However that was to be our final win of the season as we stuttered over the line, losing away to Oxford 1-0, then 4 draws to end the season, beginning at home to Reading, Kelly scoring our goal in 1-1 draw there, then the same score line away at Bolton with Cadamarteri scoring for us from the spot. Our final home match of the season was a thriller against Cardiff which ended 3-3, Webster, Bowler and Cadamarteri on the score sheet. We very nearly won it late on but Bowler had an effort ruled out for offside in stoppage time. The final match of the season came away at Derby and ended in a goalless draw.

All of this meant we limped across the finishing line this season finishing 9th in the end. I'm happy with our efforts overall though, considering when I came into the club we were down in 15th, to finish 9th and only 6 points off the playoffs in the end is a decent achievement for a side lacking in forward options. 

Bailey Cadamarteri ends the regular Championship season as top goal scorer with 26 goals. All of his strikes this season came in the league. He'll be vital to any success we may have in the future, so keeping hold of him is essential for us, however every player has his price, so if an offer comes in over the summer that's too good to refuse, we may well be able to invest any potential incoming transfer money into a deeper, more efficient squad going forward. 

[danmcconnell1]

After topping our Nations League group, this saw us progress to the Nations League finals where we took on Portugal in their home land in the semi final. We thrashed the home side, beating them 6-0. Mbappe bagged a hat-rick while Dembele, Nkunku and Kolo Muani got the other 3 as we breezed past the Selecao. 

Then came the final in Lisbon 3 days later against a very good England side, however the score line suggest otherwise. Mbappe scored all 3 again, making it 2 hat-ricks in the Nations League finals, I don't believe that's been done before as we lift the Nations League for the 3rd time in just 5 editions of the competition being played, as well as consecutively for the first time too.

Kylian Mbappe is of course the poster boy of French football and has been outstanding since I arrived in Paris. He's scored 11 goals following my arrival, including the consecutive hat-ricks in the Nations League. He's a player for the big occasion and has already played and scored in 3 World Cup finals including a hat-rick in the 2022 final against Argentina in Qatar, winning 2 World Cups in Russia and Canada/USA/Mexico in 2026. He also helped France to European glory in 2024 in Germany, however only scored once in that tournament as he helped them to victory again. Hopefully he can fire us to the next Euro's for us to defend our crown.

[danmcconnell1]

After a successful summer with the French national team, I got back to domestic matters and started the season pretty well all things considered. We began with a 5-2 drubbing of Luton at their new stadium, Power Court. An OG then goals from Bailey Cadamarteri, Oscar Kelly and 2 from George Byers gave us the thumping win on the opening day to send us straight to the top after 2 match played. We then beat Leyton Orient in the Carabao Cup 1st round with goals coming from Robinson, Furlong and Cadamarteri. Our first league match of the season at Hillsborough was one for the ages, a 6-4 win over Reading. Robinson scored 2, Cadamarteri got another whilst Josh Bowler scored a hat-rick to give us a huge win. We then drew 3-3 with Peterborough away from home Robinson with our first and a Cadamarteri brace weren't enough for the 3 points. Our next match saw us welcome Birmingham and we lost for the first time this season. Warrington and Moran scored for us, however a late Miyoshi goal won it for the Blues in the 92nd minute. We responded well a few days later though with a win over Sunderland, Freitas and Ayari with our goals there. Then came the 2nd match against Peterborough this month, this time in the Carabao Cup 2nd round. We beat them this time thanks to a Warrington brace and Kanu goal. Kanu then scored again in the trip to Fulham. The score was 1-1 until the 86th minute when keeper Dawson had to go off with an injury, however we'd already made all 5 subs, so Freitas volunteered to go in goal. He let in 3 in just 4 minutes a Fulham won the match by a flattering score line.

This means after the first month of the season that we sit in 9th after 6 games played on 10 points. It's been a good start so far and one I hope we can keep up, the Fulham match being the exception, despite bad luck towards the end.

This is our incoming business so far as the window closes in September.

First in was one of my former players at Charlton, Nathan Asiimwe. The RB cost us £2.2m following Charlton's failure to get promoted via the playoffs in League 1. He's a player I enjoyed working with at my former club.

Next in was Duje Milisic from Hajduk Split in Croatia. The young LB joined for a fee which could reach £1m, however is yet to make his debut after picking up a shin splint injury in pre season.

Yasin Ayari was next in following his release from Brighton, he's a player I really like the look of and hope will continue to progress into an all round midfielder. He's pretty versatile so will no doubt be used in a multitude of positions come the season's conclusion.

Another one of my former players at Charlton joined us following his release from The Valley is Nathan Ferguson. He did well for me across multiple positions at Charlton so to bring him in for nothing, despite the step up in league, was a no brainer for me. He's on very low wages too for a player of his ability in my opinion, I think he's a real steal.

Another player to join on a free following his release from Brighton was Andrew Moran. The Irishman is an exciting midfielder who's started well for us and his value has sky-rocketed to a maximum of £16m already, so I'm really happy to have brought him in for nothing. He is a high earner but hopefully he can be a key player for us as we look to try and reach the playoffs this time around.

The 3rd and final player I brought in from Charlton was Daniel Kanu, a loan deal this time for the season. He's got a couple of goals already and I'm really impressed with how he's done so far. There's no option to buy included in the loan so we'll see what happens next summer as he'll have 1 year left on his deal at Charlton. If he does well then we may look to try and bring him in permanently.

The 2nd player to join us on loan was versatile, left sided player Harvey Vale from Chelsea. He can play pretty much anywhere besides CB, so I'm really happy to have a player of his ability at the club. 

Gustavo Puerta is the final loanee of the summer (so far at least). He joins from Leverkusen in Germany and will bolster our central midfield this season.

The first player in this summer was Andy Giglio, following his release from Manchester United. He's an exciting young midfielder who's made 5 sub appearances for me already, however following Puerta's arrival, it may be prudent to send him out on loan for more regular first team minutes. 

We made approximately £6.5m from sales this summer. The biggest was Diaby who left for Levante, a deal that was done back in February, the other was another deal done early in the summer as Callum Paterson joined Huddersfield for £1.5m The remainder of the deals were mostly loans out of the club. We did reject a huge £24.5m bid from recently relegated and now League 1 side Watford for Bailey Cadamarteri. I'm not sure how they managed to put that amount into one bid for a player as a League 1 side, however Bailey didn't want to drop down a league so it was an easy decision to reject the bid. I hope he'll be worth than and some by the end of the season if we can challenge for promotion.

Edited May 14 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

Our 2nd month of the new season began with the 3rd round Carabao Cup tie at the Emirates against Arsenal, however we were thrashed 5-1. Despite taking the lead and holding it until half time, given to us by Gustavo Puerta's first goal for the club, Arsenal roared back in the 2nd half to knock us out. We responded well though with a 2-0 win over Ipswich that weekend, Vale and Kanu scoring our goals. We then managed another win, this time against Stoke at the bet365 Stadium, Bowler, Moran, O'Neill with his first goal for the club in his 3rd season with us and Malik Wilks scoring a late winner to make it back to back league wins. We then lost against top of the table Wolves at home, Vale and new signing Taha with our goals, before ending the month with a convincing win on the road at Rotherham. Warrington, O'Neill again, Robinson and Byers with our goals at the New York Stadium.

These results means we sit in 3rd after 10 matches played and just 3 points off the top 2, although West Brom do have a game in hand. I'm happy with our efforts so far and hope we can challenge for the top 2 spots, if not then at least the playoffs.

We did do some more business before the transfer window closed, Kevin Silva joined us on loan from Boca Juniors in Argentina to replace a permanent departure which I'll get to. He's a good CB and will hopefully help to bolster our numbers at the back.

Younes Taha is a Moroccan Under 23 international having played at the Olympics who was released by FC Twente in the summer. He's an attacking midfielder who can play either side or through the middle and already has a goal to his name, he's another player who'll boost our attacking threat.

Brad Hills asked to leave the club on deadline day, so when Rotherham came in with a £375k bid it was difficult to turn down, hence the arrival of Kevin Silva late on to replace the outgoing Hills.

Moving to French duty, we beat Greece in our next qualifier for the Euros, thrashing them 8-1 in Paris despite going 1-0 down. Mbappe scored his 3rd consecutive hat-rick, Tchouameni, Nkunku, Dembele, Salibia and Kolo Muani all scored too to give us a big win. We then travelled across the border to Luxembourg and were given an almighty fright in the micro state. We fell behind very early before Kephren Thuram equalised for us, then Camavinga gave us the lead after just 11 minutes. We then found ourselves 3-2 down with 18 minutes left before Mbappe came off the bench and equalised, then another sub Bradley Barcola scored just a minute later to complete the turnaround and give us the 3 points.

We sit top of the group, level on points with Norway with 1 better goal difference, however have played 1 match less, so the upcoming matches against them and Armenia will restore parity in terms of matches played in the group and hopefully, send us 3 points clear with another couple of wins, all being well.

One final piece of news this month is that Sheffield Wednesday have given me a new contract, with again, an increase in wages by 25% to £12500pw, extending the contract to the summer of 2030.

Edited May 15 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

October began with a 2-0 defeat at home to Bristol City which was disappointing, however we responded well to beat Bolton with 2nd half goals from Warrington and a 97th minute winner by Kevin Silva, his first for the club. Just 3 days later we lost away to Oxford, but again responded well with a 3-2 win this time at home to Cardiff thanks to another 2nd half comeback with goals coming from Bowler, Wilks and Robinson. The month ended with a 3-3 draw at home to Wrexham with Bowler scoring 2 and O'Neill scoring his 3rd of the season.

We end the month still in the playoff spots in 6th, however need to improve our form if we want to stay there.

My French side managed a big win away in Armenia with goals coming from Thuram, 2 for Mbappe, Diaby, Konate and Saliba, but we could only manage a 1-1 draw at home against Norway, Odegaard opened the scoring for the Scandinavian side but Kolo Muani equalised as both goals came within the first 7 minutes.

We remain top of the group on goal difference, the win over Armenia really helping us. We still have a game in hand so I expect to beat Greece and Luxembourg in our final matches next month to qualify for the Euros as group winners.

[danmcconnell1]

November has been awful. 4 defeats which began away at Crystal Palace, only a 92nd minute consolation goal from Kanu gave us a crumb of comfort. After the international break, we travelled to struggling Swansea and lost again, 3-1 this time despite Cadamarteri scoring his first goal for us following his injury to give us the lead but the Swans came back to pick up the points. We welcomed Blackburn to Hillsborough 3 days later but again were poor in a 3-2 defeat this time, Cadamarteri again then Moran got us level however we conceded late again as we lost for the 3rd time in a row. Our final match of the month was also at home to Coventry, however we lost again in a feeble performance, losing 1-0.

This poor month has seen us drop down to 13th in the table, remaining on 26 points. We need an upturn in form over the Christmas period to recover our season.

My French side also played our final European Championship qualifiers hoping to secure qualification and we did with a 3-3 draw in Athens. Kolo Muani, Diaby and Fofana scored in Piraeus. Our final match of the group was back in France, this time in Marseile against Luxembourg as we won 3-1, Dembele, Leny Yoro and Mbappe gave us the points. 

These final 4 points picked up in November saw us win the group, 3 points clear of Norway who also qualify for the tournament with us.

[danmcconnell1]

December was a month of struggle until the Christmas period. We drew 2-2 in the first meeting of the month with Plymouth at Home Park, Warrington and Byers with our goals, before a harsh 1-0 defeat at home to West Brom as they scored in the 88th minute. We then had our first of 3 away matches in a row before Christmas away at Derby, drawing 2-2, our goals coming from Cadamarteri and Robinson. We then suffered two 2-0 defeats in a row away at league leaders Wolves, then at the Riverside in the North East against Middlesbrough. Our fortunes turned though on Boxing Day with a 4-1 win over Plymouth in the 2nd meeting against them in the league this month, a Daniel Kanu hat-rick and Vale goal gave us an important win, our first in 11 matches. We followed it up with an important 4 goal haul again, this time winning 4-2 against Stoke. Kanu and Vale were on the score sheet again, the others coming from Ferguson, his first for the club, and a late Moran goal to seal the 3 points and a perfect way to end the year.

We end 2027 in 15th place in the Championship after what's been a difficult end to the year with just 2 wins in our final 13 matches of the calendar year. If we can turn our fortunes around and go on somewhat of a winning run, hopefully we can get back into the playoff picture as there's still 20 matches left to play.

Jairo O'Neill came to me and told me he was going to let his contract expire with us and wouldn't be renewing it, so we decided to try and see what we could get for him in this January window. His boyhood club in Uruguay Penarol came in with a £115k bid, as did Bristol City and Ross County, but he decided to go back home.

To replace the outgoing O'Neill, we brought in another South America, Paraguayan left back Carlos Martinez from Tacuary for £500k. He's a very exciting youngster who I hope can progress into a top player for us.

[danmcconnell1]

The new year couldn't have gotten off to a better start with the huge 5-1 win away at Aston Villa in the FA Cup 3rd round. We were 1-0 down at the break thanks to a Richard Sills goal, however we came back with a vengeance in the 2nd half as Dan Kanu scored his first within 2 minutes of the restart, Popovic gave us the lead before Kanu got his 2nd from the spot. Kanu was so close to a hat-rick but the final touch came off Kerr Smith for our 4th, then Younes Taha scored our 5th to send us into delirium and into the 4th round away to Bristol Rovers. We then made it 4 wins on the bounce and 3 in the league with a 1-0 win over Bolton, Josh Bowler scoring our goal. Unfortunately our winning streak came to an end away at Bristol City as we were beaten 4-2 at Ashton Gate, Kanu and Taha scored our goals. Taha scored again in the same city a week later, only this time at the Memorial Stadium against Bristol Rovers in a 1-1 draw, the replay will take place in early February. We then managed another win, this time back at home again by a goal to nil against Oxford, Dan Kanu scoring it to continue his rich vein of form of late. Former Bluebird Josh Bowler scored our only goal to make it 2-1 after we conceded twice in the 1st half away at struggling Cardiff, I was very disappointed after that game.

We remain in 15th place after a better month, however still have a lot of work to do if we want to get back into the playoff picture, however it has been a much better month, we just need to try go on a good run of form again like we did over the festive and new year period to try and pick up a few points and build some momentum. There haven't been any more arrivals or departures this month, if there are then we'll recap at the end of February.

[danmcconnell1]

February was a very busy month with 8 matches in 28 days. We began with the FA Cup 4th round replay at home to Bristol Rovers and we beat them 2-1 thanks to goals from Taha and Cadamarteri to set up a 5th round tie at home to Manchester United later in the month which was exciting. Before that though we had to get our league form back on track, however lost away at Sunderland who were league leaders at the time 3-1, Moran with our only goal. We then got a late draw at home to Fulham which was a decent result considering they were up in 3rd. Diop scored an OG to get us level before Robinson scored our 2nd equaliser later on. Then came the most eye-catching result of my career so far probably, an 8-3 win over Rotherham at home. Harvey Vale and Taha both scored 2 each, while Asiimwe, Silva, Cadamarteri and Bowler all added to the score sheet to make it our biggest win of the season against relatively local rivals. Then came a bad run of form though as we lost 3-1 awat at Ipswich, Ayari with our only goal, 2-0 against Manchester United in the FA Cup 5th round, 3-0 at home to Crystal Palace and then a really disappointing 3-2 defeat away at Wrexham. We fell 2-0 behind pretty early but scored 2 to equalised before half time thanks to Wilks and Kanu, however Wrexham scored on the stroke of the break and that's how it finished.

Just 10 games remain and we sit down in 17th after what was on the whole a poor month in terms of results, despite the huge win against Rotherham. The playoffs are a highly distant possibility now, but I don't believe we're in any kind of danger of the drop either, in fact I don't believe we have a lot left to play for to be totally honest.

[danmcconnell1]

March began with a 3-0 drubbing at home against Swansea, we were awful, however I was approached by my boyhood club Birmingham City over their vacant managerial role and well, there was only ever going to be one outcome (provided they at least matched my current salary at Sheffield Wednesday, I've bent my own rule slightly for this job...)

Blues have had a difficult season to date and sit lower in the Championship than my previous side Sheffield Wednesday. 

However, there're only 3 points in it and we're still 13 points clear of the drop zone with just 9 games left, we should have enough already, but I'd still rather make it mathematically safe sooner rather than later.

This is the side I have to work with for the remainder of this campaign. Now, being a Blues fan myself, I like to think I'm somewhat familiar with the playing squad and its abilities, therefore to still see the likes of Bielik, Buchanan, Bacuna, Paik and James at the club, I'm excited. They're clearly under-performing this season, so it's my job to try and get them back to the levels I know they can perform at consistently.

I do have a lot of work to do with getting these players off the floor. Their form has been, frankly, atrocious since the turn of the year. They've won just once this calendar year which came against Fulham towards the end of last month and just 1 draw against Bristol City in that time, they've suffered 11 defeats in all competitions in the year 2028. We have 8 games left, beginning away at Bolton, a side I'd already beaten twice this season with Wednesday, was a kind start. We then take on struggling Cardiff in my first home match in charge before a trip to Portman Road to take on Ipswich at the end of the month. The final month then begins against my former club Sheffield Wednesday at St Andrews, that'll be one I'd love to win. We then travel to promotion chasing Sunderland, then Swansea on Good Friday. Easter Monday sees us take on Oxford at home, Crystal Palace is our final trip on the road, who incidentally also interviewed me just before I took the Birmingham job, then it's Derby at home on the final day.

[danmcconnell1]

My first 3 matches in charge at Blues went really well as we began with a 2-0 win away at bottom club Bolton. We dominated the match and did everything but score until the 91st minute when Kion Etete scored a header at the back post. It was Etete's header which hit the bar and came back off Bolton keeper Durkovic which gave us our 2nd in the 10th minute of added time too to confirm the 3 points. We then got another morale-boosting win in my first match in charge at St Andrews as we beat another side in the relegation zone Cardiff. Etete and Dembele put us 2-0 until Cardiff scored 2 quick goals around the hour mark to restore parity, but a late Di Serio goal gave us the win to make it back to back wins to start my tenure. We then ended March with a good draw on the road at Ipswich, Etete again scoring our equaliser to make it 3 in 3 for him.

These results means we leapfrog my former side Sheffield Wednesday, who incidentally are our next opponents after the international break. A couple of wins in quick succession could see us move as high as 15th, so if we can manage them it would be a real help.

My France side faced 2 friendlies to begin the calendar year, firstly at home to the Ivory Coast who we beat 2-1. We fell behind in the 46th minute but goals from the Thuram brothers Khephren and Marcus turned it around in Lyon. We then travelled to Glasgow and Hampden Park to take on Scotland who we beat comfortably 3-0, goals again from Khephren Thuram, Diaby and Kolo Muani.

[danmcconnell1]

The season ended brilliantly for us, losing just once away at Sunderland and winning our remaining matches. The month began with a hammering of my former side Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 at St Andrew's, Etete scoring again while James and Al-Hamadi got our others to seal a great 3 points. Then came the defeat up at the Stadium of Light against league leaders and eventual champions Sunderland, a Pau Cubarsi OG was our only effort to show for the match. We then travelled to south Wales and beat Swansea 4-2, our goals coming from Etete again, Bielik, James and captain Sanderson. We managed another 4 over the Easter period, this time at home against Oxford with Etete getting a brace this time, Miyoshi and McKevitt also rounding off the goals. Then came arguably the most impressive result of the month, a 3-1 win away at Crystal Palace thanks to a Dembele brace and Etete scoring again. The season then came to a close with the visit of Derby County who we beat 4-1, Hall, Al-Hamadi with a brace and Bielik against his former club rounded off what was a great end to the season and a great start to my stewardship in charge at Blues.

All of this meant we finished 14th in the end, a far cry from the 19th position we were in when I arrived. Funnily enough, it's my old club that occupy that position now, so I'm glad I made the decision to join Blues and hope that with a decent sized transfer budget that was available to former manager here Tommy Elphick, I might see some of that bounty as we look to try and add to the squad and move further up the table next season.

[danmcconnell1]

Our only pre-tournament friendly was against Croatia in Marseille who we managed to beat 2-1 thanks to goals from Kolo Muani and Tchouameni. Then the real business started with a tough match to get our tournament underway at the San Siro against Spain who we managed to win 1-0 thanks to a solitary William Saliba goal. Saliba was the first goal scorer in our next group stage match as we obliterated Slovenia 6-0 with Marcus Thuram, Nkunku, Tel, Zaire-Emery and Darvich with the other goals for us. Our final group stage match was against Bosnia who we beat 4-1 thanks to goals from Dembele, Mbappe with his first and second goals of the tournament and Camavinga scored the other as we topped the group.

Our 2nd round tie saw us drawn against Scotland who we beat 3-1. Kylian Mbappe scored another brace then William Saliba scored his 3rd goal of the tournament to confirm our place in the quarter finals. We took on Austria in our quarter final, beat them 3-0 this time, Mbappe with another goal while Marcus Thuram scored 2 in quick succession as we breezed past them. Our semi final opponents were the surprise package of the tournament thus far as we took on Norway. Despite boasting huge names in their squad like Odegaard and of course, Erling Haaland, they're their best players by far. However our much more rounded squad managed another comfortable win in the business end of this tournament as we beat the Norwegians 3-0 as well as Kolo Muani, Diaby and Marcus Thuram got another to send us into consecutive Euro finals. We took on Portugal in the final, a repeat of the 2016 final in Paris which Portugal won, however we got our revenge 12 years on beating them 2-1, Camavinga settling the nerves early then Thuram just 5 minutes later to seal our second consecutive European Championship and France's 4th in their history.

Attention now quickly turns back to the transfer window for me as we've seen quite a few players leave the club for very decent money, I'll be hoping to reinvest some of the money brought in and hope to continue the decent end of season form going into the new campaign.

[danmcconnell1]

Pre-season was a mixed bag of results as we beat affiliate club Solihull Moors 4-3, lost against Bristol Rovers and Rangers, beat Watford and drew in Ilias Chair's testimonial against QPR.

This is our squad going into the first game of the new season against Ipswich. There have been some notable departures this summer, let's get onto those first.

First to leave was Nicolas Ioannou. The LB was asking for a new 3 year contract and at 32, I don't believe that was the right long term move, so he was sold for decent money, a deal which could reach £4m, to Maccabi Haifi in Israel. The next first team player to leave was former captain Dion Sanderson who joins Luton in a deal which could reach £17m. I really feel like we have got the very best value we possibly could with this deal and despite Luton being a divisional rival, I really feel like we can reinvest some of that fee and get a more rounded player to replace him. The next significant sale saw Juninho Bacuna join recently relegated to League 1 Cardiff for a crazy fee, worth up to £19.25m. For a 30 year old in our position, I felt like this was great business. Ebrima Colley left following the expiration of his contract which freed up some more room in the wage bill, he joined Oxford. Bielik was sold to Eibar in Spain. This was a difficult decision as he's a very important and versatile player, however he was making noise about letting his deal come to an end and leaving for nothing next summer, so it made sense to cash in on him now and we certainly have done that, getting £15m for him. Dembele was the same, letting his contract come to an end next summer, so we sold him to Derby for £6.25m One player I really didn't want to sell was George Hall. He's joined Reading in a deal which could reach £9.75m. He's of course a very talented young player, however he was set on playing in the Premier League with the Royals, so we couldn't stand in his way any longer. Lee Buchanan's release clause of £12m was met by Norwich in the final major departure this summer, he's another player I didn't want to leave however, release clauses mean there's nothing I can do about that.

We've only spent a small portion of the money brought in so far due to only 15% of revenue from sales being put back into the transfer budget, so I'm really hoping this summer will repair the club's finances and put us on a stronger footing going into future windows.

The deal for Anders Fallentin to join was already confirmed before I joined the club. He comes in on a free from Brondby in Denmark and is a promising CB with decent mental and physical attributes, we need to work on the technical side of his game though. 

My trusty defender Nathan Ferguson comes in from my former side Sheffield Wednesday in a deal worth up to £2.4m. He can play anywhere across the backline and is a solid addition to any Championship squad. This is the 3rd time I've signed Nathan and he's performed well for me at Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday, so hope he can do the same here.

I'm absolutely ecstatic to bring in GK Sam Tickle for nothing following his release from Wigan. He's a very good young goal keeper and absolutely has his best years ahead of him. Just to underline his talent, his value has skyrocketed to a maximum of £12.5m before he's even saved a shot in anger for us, so I've no doubt he'll be vital in goal for us this year.

Calum Logan is a player I worked when I first arrived at Sheffield Wednesday when he was on loan from Spurs and did really well for me in the 2nd half of that season. He's another versatile defender who'll predominantly play at CB, but can provide ample cover at LB too which is important following the departure of Buchanan. The deal is worth up to £1.2m so it's a steal for a very good player in my opinion, as his value now suggests, also going up to a maximum of £12.5m before a ball's been kicked.

The final man in before the season starts is Josh Wilson-Esbrand from Derby in a deal worth £550k. He's a LB who can play further forward too and I hope will be an important and capable replacement for the recently departed Buchanan.

There are plenty of irons in the fire in other positions too which I'm hoping will conclude our transfer business for the summer and stand us in good stead heading into what is an important season for the club.

[danmcconnell1]

It's been a very busy start to the season which got underway on the final weekend of July at home to Ipswich. We managed an opening day win thanks to a solitary Al-Hamadi goal in the 1st half. We then followed that up with an impressive win against recently relegated Nottingham Forest in the 1st round of the Carabao Cup at St Andrew's, Dylan McKevitt scoring the only goal from the spot on the hour mark. We then continued our 100% winning start with a goal frenzy against Oxford, Dowell scoring 2 and Al-Hamadi and new signing Dan Kanu also on the score sheet, the latter on debut from the spot. We then welcomed Middlesbrough and lost 2-0 back at home in a game we didn't really turn up in. We responded with a draw in the trip to Plymouth. McKevitt scored his 2nd of the season inside the opening minute, then academy product Zach Willis put us 2-0 up, however we couldn't hold onto the lead and conceded 2 late goals to take just a point from Devon. We then lost 3 days later away at Luton by a goal to nil too. Then came the biggest match of the month and arguably the season as a whole already, home to arch rivals Aston Villa in the 2nd round of the Carabao Cup. It's always a hugely exciting day when we welcome the Villa and we managed to get the win for the first time since we met in the same competition 17 years earlier at the quarter final stage, which Blues incidentally went on to win the trophy. New signing Marcus Rafferty gave us the lead before Vila equalised, then another academy product Jordan Phillips, making his senior debut, scored off the bench with just 2 minutes of normal time remaining to give us the famous win and send St Andrew's into delirium. We then welcomed Peterborough 3 days later and beat them 4-2 thanks to an Etete brace, Kanu and another new signing Ojeda scoring his 1st for the club. A busy first full month of the season came to an end with the trip to Elland Road in the Carabao Cup 3rd round. Unfortunately they knocked us out, winning 1-0.

We end the opening month of the season in 9th place on 10 points from 6 matches, a steady start and one we can be relatively happy with so far.

More outgoing business was done in the window, the most notable seeing Yan Dhanda sold to Huddersfield for £1.6m

There was also a fair bit more incoming business done too.

Romelle Donovan rejoined the club on loan from Nottingham Forest and is a player I'm excited about working with. He's still very young and has a bright future ahead of him I'm sure.

Dan Kanu is a player I've worked with before at Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday, only this time I've signed him permanently from Charlton and broke the club record transfer fee in the process. He did well under difficult circumstances last season for me at Sheffield Wednesday and I'm really hoping he can strike up a good partnership up top with Kion Etete.

Agustin Ojeda is one of the aforementioned irons in the fire, we were waiting for a work permit to sign him from Coventry for £2m. He's a forward thinking player who I hope can become a first team regular after failing to impress too much at our Midlands rivals.

Marcus Rafferty is surprisingly Swedish and has joined from Dynamo Dresden in Germany for £3m. He's another attack-minded player who has already endeared himself to the fans, scoring his first goal for the club in the derby against Villa.

Charlie Cresswell is a player I'm really happy to have brought in from Leeds. He's a commanding centre back and at just £2.8m is a real steal in my eyes. I hope he can become a regular and potentially a captain for us. 

The final man in is Jeremy Grandjean. He's come in on loan from Sochaux in France and we aren't paying a penny for the privilege of having him here. There's an option in the loan to buy for £7.25m which, if he impresses, will be an absolute steal I think. Who knows, if he does well and helps us to the Premier League, he may well be in consideration for a place in my French squad.