Summer 2035
This summer was always set to be part 2 of the overhaul. Every player earning over 5kpw was sold or released, with Shilton as the exception (and he was only on 6kpw), with a slashing of the initial wage budget making sucha policy more importantTthat left a few holes to fill even before we got to the areas I really wanted to improve, like a new first choice goalkeeper. Just like last year, Reading gave us our big sale though it wasn't as much as before, especially as it mainly installment-based. Still, it was hopefully enough for now. Shilton would have followed if we had gotten enough but we were already low on central defenders as it was and I wasn't sure getting rid of another key player was a good idea.
We retained a strong central defence but with no backups left, meaning that was the priority. We were pretty much left rumaging in the free agent bin anyway but I wanted to be careful on wages as well to give us that depth for as little as possible. Once those signings were secured, I could really go to town on ticking off my wishlist. With the exception of the two defenders and the last signing, every new player represented an upgrade (even if the bar wasn't that high), the on-loan Oakley up front (though that was a low-priority position), Mulcahy as a playmaker, Stoyanov out wide, Dias at left back (where we badly needed another player anyway) and Milic to hopefully be a more reliable keeper than Perkins. I also really wanted to invest properly in a good young player after that (with a couple of players having caught my eye when looking for earlier signings) and finally Basic seemed to fit the bill perfectly, even down to the expected country of origin. I think that's actually the first non-compensation fee I've paid this career!
This makes 18 signings since the start of last summer, and budgetary room for a couple more who might catch my eye, like last year's autumn free agent signings. However the bar for new signings is much higher now for most positions which means that the hopefully I can slow down considerably on that front and wait for this team to gel and develop as I feel I have laid down some very strong foundations. This has been the overhaul I really needed to make, improving the team considerably while also raising money through sales and slashing the wage bill, now standing at just 90kpw as the third lowest in the division. We're still not going to compete with the stronger teams in this division (and their insane wage budgets of up to 500kpw!) but this is definitely a team that can make some big steps in the right direction.
Basic
Bernard
Delic
Dias
Milic
Mulcahy
Oakley
Stoyanov