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Wednesday 10th August 2022 Finances

I know, @Pearomaniac. I admit I may have overdone it, but I was focussed on improving the squad and, at the back of my mind, I was only too aware that any football club could offer any of my players a contract and they could be gone the next day.

Staveley Miners Welfare New STRIKERS -- -- --

Staveley Miners Welfare New MIDFIELDERS -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Staveley Miners Welfare New DEFENDERS -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Staveley Miners Welfare New GOALKEEPERS -- --

Staveley Miners Welfare New Signings Before I was appointed, Staveley Miners Welfare signed Max Rhodesfrom Maltby Town and during pre-season I've signed a further 25 new players. In signing that many players, I'm building up a large first-team squad but, at least, with none of the players being paid, I'm not over budget because we do not have any wage budget. And I'm still looking to improve the squad with offers made to three more players.

Staveley Miners Welfare Coaching Staff During the pre-season, I was able to assemble a backroom staff - all of us working for nothing. My Player / Assistant Manager Pat Lindley was already in place when I was appointed and Pat's been a great help during pre-season. Joining us to help with the first-team is a Goalkeeping Coach and a Fitness Coach. -- We also have a Scouting team. -- And we also have a Medical team.

Staveley Miners Welfare Tactics Given the level at which we'll be playing, Tier 10, I'm trying to keep things simple for the players so we've been training a basic 4-4-2 with three slight variations. My preference, which we used during pre-season, is a Wing Play style: Closely followed by a Controlled Possession style, which we also used in pre-season: Finally, we've been training a more Direct (Route One) style but didn't test that in pre-season: -- I want my Goalkeepers and Defenders to defend. My Wide Midfielders to be wingers, possibly reverting to wide midfielders or even defensive wingers when we're holding onto a lead. My Central Midfielders will play according to their preferred roles and I'll endeavour to find the right partnership in the early games of the season. Likewise, with my Strikers - again they will play according to their preferred roles and I'll endeavour to find the right partnership in the early games of the season.

Wednesday 10th August 2022 Pre-season Results With the 3-3 draw at Home to Whitehaven Amateurs, we completed our pre-season schedule. It was a mixed bag of results with only one victory in 11 matches, of which I was in charge for all but the first friendly against Coalville Town U21s. Overall, I'm not too disappointed, because all but three of the fixtures were against teams higher than us, or much higher than us, in the football pyramid. We were competitive in each and every game and nobody outplayed us. I was disappointed that we went 0-3 down in our final friendly match against Whitehaven, but the players showed great character to fight back and draw 3-3. To be fair, my focus was on bringing in trialists to assess them in friendly matches with the aim of improving the squad. I believe we achieved that, but it was at the expense of fielding a consistent, settled side. Any way, it is what is, and we'll see how prepared, or not, we are for the Northern Counties East League Division 1 season when we host Selby Town at Inkersall Road on Saturday.

Tuesday 9th August 2022 Staveley Miners Welfare v Whitehaven Amateurs We decided just before the Nottingham Forest U21s game to squeeze in one last friendly against a team from a lower team. We opted for Whitehaven Amateurs who play in the West Lancashire League Premier Division, which is below Tier 10 (as it's not a playable league on the Level 10 custom database I'm using). We made some substitutions at the break and changed to a Positive mentality (from Balanced). Around the hour mark, we changed to an Attacking mentality (from positive).

It does look very nice, @Punch. In the new year, I’m planning on going to watch a game there.

£60.00. I'll let you have one for the knock-down price of £40.00 @Pearomaniac! 😂⚽️🤣

Sunday 7th August 2022 The Staveley Miners Welfare FIFTY By the end of the month I'll probably be on first name terms with all 50 of them.

Saturday 6th August 2022 Staveley Miners Welfare v Nuneaton Borough Nuneaton Borough play in the Southern League Premier Central division (Tier 7), three tiers above us.

Wednesday 3rd August 2022 Staveley Miners Welfare v Nottingham Forest U21s We entertain the Under-21s of Premier League Nottingham Forest, probably the best team we will face in pre-season.

Saturday 30th July 2022 Prestwich Heys v Staveley Miners Welfare Prestwich Heys play in the North West Counties League Premier Division (Tier 9), a tier above us.

Absolutely 🍕

Good luck in the Final, @Pearomaniac. Go win that Pizza Trophy!

No squad numbers, @Pearomaniac. No. The players wear 1-11 with the subs then having incremental numbers, but no #13 by the look of it. We get 15 substitutes in friendly matches, but I think it will be a lot less in the competitive matches.

Wednesday 27th July 2022 Staveley Miners Welfare v Sheffield United U21s We entertain the Under-21s of Championship club Sheffield United.

Congratulations, @Pearomaniac. You’ll be getting offers from bigger clubs soon at this rate!

That's my problem, though, @Punch I do tend to get attached to players. This summer, in real-life, I saw Salford City had signed Stevie Mallen and my first reaction was, oh boy, I managed Stevie Mallen at Hibs on FM21 and took him with me to Celtic and then Sampdoria!

@Punch the break for the Qatar World Cup adds an interesting dimension which you didn't have at Accrington but did at Rotherham, Preston and now Bristol City. I may be wrong, but I'm guessing those three football clubs won't have lost many players on World Cup duty. So how do you handle the six-weekish break? Give players time off or work them? Arrange friendly matches or not? Go like it's a second pre-season or not? And have you varied your approach from football club to football club?

Great win and great form, @Pearomaniac. Pleased to see Harrison Foulkes doing well.