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[FM11] Cymru fo am byth! (Prestatyn)

DSYoungEsq

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DSYoungEsq

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How high can we go? - 2021/2 Initial Report

The Board expect another season of the same.

The 2021/2 Season Squad. Some upgrades: see below.

The "reserves." The only person sticking around is Paul Young; the others are on their way out.

The youth team intake. Notice the Romanian!

Still stuck in the same pattern as last year. Slow but steady upgrade of the squad in progress. Like the tide, we inevitably will go further in Europe; like the waves we'll have our years where we recede. Domestically, I'm aiming to do two things: dominate more convincingly, while seeding the WPL with better quality players who will help the other clubs do better in Europe.

In Europe this year, I'm not sure what will happen. I'm not convinced I'm that much better this year than last. I've got more strikers, but I've not got better strikers. And I've yet to find anyone at the level of a Kevin Irvine willing to come here in any other position. I'm going to lose Bradley and Djilali soon to age; Bradley is 33 this season, so it's likely his last productive year, and Djilali will need a replacement within two years or so (he's 30, but plays the wing). And I would REALLY like to pull in a DM/MC of top quality, so that I can play in Europe group games with a solid 4-1-2-2-1. So far, no one fits the bill.

Last year's transfer results were good business, nevertheless. I upgraded the back line significantly, with a new 'keeper, a DR who should eventually take over for Tait, and a DC who might be better than Kay with time. I also added a striker who I believe (and the scouts agree) will produce very good things for us (de Lange). Of course, the $16K spent to loan Tyrrell was a waste, but it didn't seem so when he started with 3 goals in 4 games; it was his broken leg in that fourth game that made the money a waste.

I have made one additional good signing:

Óscar González – ST:

A very good signing for us, I hope. I arranged a late season friendly with Leeds while he was on trial, just to see what he could do; he promptly cracked in a lovely 25 yard shot and generally wrecked havoc on the Leeds defense. I'm starting to get top-heavy with strikers, but I expect to sell Adam Crawford on soon, and Sam Taylor keeps itching to leave as well, so...

I'd be remiss if I didn't make note of the fact that Liam Mason didn't turn out as well as the scouts touted him. I've got a couple scouts who apparently are pretty optimistic about players; I'll have to keep this in mind in the future. I've already signed a different back-up AMR (Bortnik).

Youth Intake was not great, but it was notable for the presence of one person.

Graham Watkins Y11 – DC:

At 6'5”, this guy might actually see some playing time with my club, even if he's not that good in the end run. Sadly, he's not expected to be very good in the long run.

Viorel Doros Y11a – DR:

This is the notable recruit. Note the country of origin: Romania! For the first time EVER, Prestatyn Town FC have recruited to the team a youngster from outside of Wales, and we didn't just creep across the border. If the club has enough notoriety to pull in a Romanian, it portends very good times down the road for us! I had to check twice to be sure: he's NOT a Romanian from England.

Minor turnover in the staff, mostly a matter of letting go coaches whose contracts were up and who hadn't really panned out that well. Like the players, better and better coaches are willing to be a part of PTFC each year. I'm quite satisfied with how my Ass. Man., Phil Catlin turned out. Unless I manage a real coup, I won't bother to update staff changes any more.

$264K of money for the WPL TV rights this year, which is an amazing amount. The other clubs will be quite happy with this; it means making it into the WPL from the lower leagues is a financial bonanza for them.

Club Overview.

Finances.

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DSYoungEsq

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Paging crouchaldinho, your help is needed!

Recognize any of these players?

@rancer890: it's my way of protesting the whole silliness that is the issue over using names and licensing. Fußball-Club Bayern München are the same club regardless of what someone calls it. As if there were any other Bavarian football club one would mean with FC Bayern.

I'd protest the same thing when it happens in Latvia, except I don't think anyone really cares. :D

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Crumbs from the table – Qualifying Phase report - 2021/2

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Position Graph

My squad. The lineup is for our Europe games.

The Reserves.

The “Youth”.

Our European qualifying effort seems very unsatisfying, somehow. It's definitely been a remunerative blow (UCL groups =$10M). But after so many successes, tasting relative failure is bitter, even if it still puts us ahead of where we could reasonably have expected to be a mere four or five years ago.

Europe:

The qualifying run should have been relatively straight-forward. We were seeded the second highest of the clubs going into Qualifying Round 2. We got handed Myllykosken Pallo -47 (Kouvola) (FIN) for our first tie (known quaintly as MyPa). The away leg was no trouble; we handed them a smack on the bottom with a 3-1 victory. But the home leg was a harbinger of things to come: we escaped with a 4-3 victory after leading 4-1 at the half.

I was never happy with the draw of FK Mlada Boleslav (CZE) for the next leg. Czech teams are tough customers, especially at home, and tend to be under-ranked in the points system. Still, we managed a comfortable 2-0 win at home, so any result in which we managed an away goal should see us through. However, the away leg repeated the gift-them-goals theme. We were down 3-0 before 12 min. were gone, and even after we scored the vital away goal before halftime, I had a sense it was not going to end well. Sure enough, they came out after the interval and smashed two home on us, to put them up 5-3 in aggregate; we now had to score twice to survive. We managed one, but any chance of a second was ended when Gareth Tait got himself sent off for a stupid professional foul. Thus, our UCL adventure was ended.

Nor was our group presence in the EURO Cup secure. Israeli teams are truly tough nuts to crack, and Beitar Jerusalem was no pushover. When we went down 0-2 on the away leg, putting us level on aggregate, I began to despair. But this time, we managed a fightback, and scored two in the second half to see us into the EURO Cup groups.

Our reward was this grouping: Sporting Lisbõa, Olympique de Marseille and Banik Ostrava. I was pleased with this group, despite the presence of the French powerhouse, because we do well against Portuguese teams and I wanted revenge on the Czech league. Further, there were some really obnoxious groupings we managed to avoid. AND, I'll point out, we were in the THIRD seed pot for this tournament!

Home Front:

The WPL is starting as expected. Afan Lido are our main competitors, it seems. The rest of the League shouldn't trouble us, much.

I could not resist some fun with the friendlies this season. We were offered the chance to play two clubs with illustrious English Football histories; well, at least they would have such histories if they would simply allow dafuge and crouchaldinho to manage them! So we opened with a comprehensive dismantling of Tooting & Mitcham, and used a thorough stomping of St. Albans to set up our first qualifying match. The Tooting & Mitcham lineup is here, though I doubt there's much there that dafuge would recognize, and the St. Alban's lineup is here, though I doubt crouchy would recognize many of them, either.

Oh, and there was this gem of a friendly against Blackburn Rovers. Cracking game that one! Note also that the Second Team managed to dismiss SPL side Falkirk. Despite all this success, notice what the press said about our drubbing of Sutton Utd.. You'd think we'd have earned a better rep than this!

We've modified the squad, and I believe in a way that will really solidify us:

Chris Proctor – DC/DM/MC:

This kid will hopefully be our defensive hole plug for some time, replacing Owain Tudur-Jones. He's got some good talent, and his physical abilities are excellent. He'll be seeing much playing time in Europe in future years, in the vital DM role.

Jake Taylor – ST/AMC:

This is the guy who will make Adam Crawford expendable. He's got a cheekiness to him that I like; and he's got some speed with the scoring ability. We need someone like that; can't rely upon González all the time.

James Schooley – D/WB®/ D/WB(L):

This is the player that finally got me to splash some cash. $350K of cash, to be precise. I've been going nuts trying to find cover at the DL position; this guy not only covers it, he plays it at least as well as Stephan Bergsma does. Added to that, he's better than Gareth Tait on the right, and possibly as good as Thomas Andersen will be when he's matured. It's like getting two birds with one stone. Well, 350K stones, but you get the idea!

Interesting to note: despite my efforts to get rid of him, Phil Morris Y7 keeps forcing his way back into the squad. Jack Compton left us (too old, too slow), and Morris promptly pointed out I had no other options on the left side, unless I wanted Kieran Djilali to play 60 matches a year. So I gritted my teeth and stuck him back in for some friendlies and the WPL games; he's managed a vital goal already, saving the result against Afan Lido. I can see I'm going to have to eat some something and make use of this product of our youth system.

Our only exit of note at this point is Dan Wylde, who left on a free transfer for Wrexham. I was sad to see him go; he was a VERY versatile player, and was the perfect S2 for me. I find it very interesting that, at the beginning of my time with Prestatyn Town, I would have killed to take players from the famous Welsh side Wrexham; now they are taking my leftovers.

Club overview.

Boardroom overview. I'm almost full on staff.

Financials. The lack of a strong group payout will eventually hurt us this year. Thank goodness we cleared $6.5M in profit last season.

And in our final note: I was not the only successful Welsh club in Europe this year! Afan Lido are turning out to be a strong contender for #2 Welsh Club. I know a certain poster who will delight in this.

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SOOO Close! – Europe Group report - 2021/2

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Position Graph

My squad.

The “Youth”.

We almost did it. We were aced out by the narrowest of margins from moving on to Spring European footie. An agonizing, yet amazingly satisfying group campaign for Prestatyn Town FC!

Europe:

Our first group game, as it turned out, did us in, though we could hardly have known it at the time. Seeded the #3 team, we certainly should not be dreaming of knocking off a team like Sporting CP, even at home. And I think the lads felt that way, as they gave up two goals in the first half. But I stiffened them up, and they almost got us back to level. Had they done so, we'd have qualified.

I had counted on wins in both the games against Ostrava, and my team did not disappoint there. The away win was a nervy 1-0 victory, where we had to hold our early lead for longer than was comfortable. OM then invited us in to the bicycle races, and a football game broke out. Sadly, having frustrated them for the whole first half, they snuck one in on us in injury time, and we couldn't grab it back in the second half. So with half the group done, we were on three points in third, without much hope of progressing.

We invited OM to our stadium right away, and the football game that occurred was an awesome display. I've posted the result from it before. We were able to keep OM out of our goal, and with growing frustration on the part of Les Marseillais, they hauled down one of our strikers in the box, and gifted us the go-ahead goal from the spot. Then we defended like demons, and managed an exclamation point goal at the end, to create the most famous PTFC win ever!

Off to Lisbõa we went. I had some hope, now, as we have historically done well against Portuguese teams. Sure enough, we snuck back out of the city with a 1-1 draw in our pocket; I'm sure the officials there are wondering how we got that through their border. I, too wonder, since both goals were scored in the last 5 min. of the game, and ours was in injury time!

This brought us to our last game, at home to Ostrava. I knew we would win the game, in all likelihood, and we did indeed do. But the fact we had a 0-1-1 record against Sporting meant that they had to beat OM, or we couldn't progress. Sadly, at home, the French team prevailed, and we were out of Europe, despite our best campaign ever.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought we could achieve more. I question the evaluation, but it is gratifying to be seen that way!

Home Front:

The WPL has been an unusual league to watch this season. Notice the sudden reappearance of The New Saints at the top of the table. Notice also that only 5 points separate 2nd from 8th place. We have plenty of lead, and a game in hand, so we're not in any trouble. However, our one loss (which we seem to inevitably produce) did put our position in question at the time. I'm sure Robbie Savage, manager at Llanelli, got some great glee out of that.

We've added one more player:

George Cairney – D/WB(L), D(RC):

Intended mostly to act as the S2, since he can play any of the back line positions. Not intended as a major player, just insurance.

We are now, btw, averaging 350 people in attendance at our WPL games, largest in the League. That's three times what we were averaging 11 years ago when I arrived. If this trend keeps up, they might actually expand the stadium. That will make Nobby happy.

Club overview.

Financials.

Boardroom Overview.

Oh, and there was one tiny piece of other news...

Douglas Young offered job of Poland U-19 coach. I dithered for all of 30 seconds, just so I didn't look too eager, then accepted the job.

Here's the Poland U-19 squad as it stood when I was given the job.

Here are the squad's matches for the year. The last two friendlies were played under my control, but had been arranged prior to my hiring. The Bulgaria result was nice, since squad morale had been low.

The Poland U-19 campaign in the European U-19 Championships this year could have been better. Fourth place behind Luxembourg; I wonder why the prior coach was sacked?

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It's not a guarantee! - The 2021-2 End of Season Report

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The Position Graph.

The Welsh Cup (last four rounds)

The League Cup

The Squad.

The Squad's stats (combined).

The Reserves. These are mostly people on the way out.

The Youth Rated.

This Spring's campaign reminded the Prestatyn Town FC that, even after all this time of dominance, it isn't a guarantee that we will take home the silverware! Nor can we count on dominating all the WPL teams, just because we are PTFC. They might even, you know, try to WIN and things.

The image above regarding the Welsh Cup is not a mistake. We did not make it past the 4th Round; Neath dumped us out. We played them three straight games, two League fixtures sandwiching the Cup tie. We hammered them 4-0 at home in the first League game; a week-and-a-half later, we stomped them at their place 2-0. But in between, we got all complacent about a 3rd min. goal, and let them score two in the last 15 min. to dump us out. The fans were NOT pleased, needless to say. Neither was I.

When we followed that sequence up with two 1-1 home draws, I blasted the team. They responded with 7 wins in 8, including a solid League Cup win. Then, on the last day of the season, they booked their flights out mid-game and gave up a last-day loss. I guess they think I won't remember when they come back in the summer. Wrong.

Of course, the League WAS a cake-walk, and we weren't really challenged in the League Cup, so I suppose I can understand the complacency. It had just better not happen any more.

I'm fairly happy with the squad. Mark Bradley has reached the end of his usefulness with us, but I've got solid replacements for him. I'd like a good back-up winger for Djilali and Bortnik, but that's a minor issue, since I can always play a narrow diamond if one of them is injured. I'm so happy with the squad that I've not really worked hard to bring in any new blood. I've got my eye on a few people, but so far the ones I want are refusing to work for PTFC. I suppose they'll change their mind when the new ratings come out, and the WPL is a two-star league. :)

The WPL Team Statistics. We did dominate a lot of categories. Note who now leads the League in attendance!

The WPL Player Statistics. Not sure if any of ours are going to be PoY.

Club Overview. This now also shows info about the Poland U-19s.

Boardroom overview. Haven't asked for anything new, yet.

Finances. Lousy year for us; first time we've lost money in a long time.

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DSYoungEsq

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So close in Europe...
I know. And the silly thing is, I would not have expected it, and if it had not been so close, I would not have been unhappy. But being so close, you ache for not having achieved what you really didn't expect!
Title's in the bag again then!

Good to see you making progress in Europe too. Really unfortunately to be knocked out on previous results against Sporting. 3rd seeds is definitely an improvement though!

I'm very pleased to be a third seed. Now if I can make third seed in a UCL group...
Ouch, bad luck in Europe, however I have to say....

UP THE LIDO! :-D

Hehehe, they are doing well, but TNS pipped them this year.
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What are your facilities at now?

And what is 'Relay Field' in your developments section in the boardroom?

Grats on another title. And so close in the Champions League. Has you attendance shot up as a result of this good season?

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DSYoungEsq

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What are your facilities at now?

And what is 'Relay Field' in your developments section in the boardroom?

Grats on another title. And so close in the Champions League. Has you attendance shot up as a result of this good season?

Attendance is now top in the League, at three times what it was at the start of the game. We are now at 24% of capacity for League games on average. That's been increasing at a strong pace lately; it's not a linear progression.

The "relay field" was the club putting down a new pitch; the grass had gotten terrible. Now, it looks nice and lovely. :D

We have adequate training and adequate youth facilities, plus an academy. I'm going to hit them up for better facilities right after our next $10M payday for a UCL group appearance.

Another brilliant season domestically but unlucky with Europe, hope you have some better luck in the new season.
I'll just be happy to get stomped in a UCL group and make the money.
Out in the 4th round of the Welsh Cup!?!? :eek: It's just not acceptable! ;) Good to see the DLR kicking in, the WPL is rated at 2 stars now you say?
As the next update will show, we are at 2 stars now. Indeed, the League Cup is now a 1.5 star competition. Big things for Wales!
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WOW, you're the level of Iceland in my game (before it takes into account I got to the group stages). But gratz as you started at a much lower rep than I did!

It's been interesting to watch the progression of countries where the players were first unwilling to come to my club, then marginally willing, then really willing, then not good enough to compete on my team. Iceland definitely was above me to start, and it's players are still at times resistant to come to Bastion Gardens.

Nevertheless, Breiðablik are unable to compete with us head to head.

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The Year End Summary - 2021/2

Results:

WPL: 1st 19 pts. ahead of The New Saints

WC: 4th Round 1-2 v. Neath (Away)

LC: Winner 2-1 v. Neath

Europe: Won 1st tie v. MyPa (FIN) 7-4 2nd Qual Phase UCL (Champions)

Won 2nd tie v. Mlada Boleslav (CZE) 4-5 3rd Qual Phase UCL (Champions)

Won 3rd tie v. Beitar Jerusalem (ISR) 4-2 4th Qual Round EURO Cup

Finished 3rd EURO Cup Group I W3 D1 L2 Pts 10

0-1-1 v Sporting CP (POR) 1-2 H, 1-1 A

2-0-0 v Banik Ostrava (CZE) 1-0 A, 3-0 H

1-0-1 v Olympique de Marseille (FRA) 0-1 A, 2-0 H

Prestatyn Town FC Honors

WPL Player of the Year:

Kieran Djilali

WPL Young Player of the Year:

Adam Carr (twice in a row!)

WPL Team of the Season: Nine of the eleven this year: – Ben Brook, Tom Williamson, Cornelius Payne, Stephan Bergsma, Michal Bortnik, Dean Young, Kevin Irvine, Kieran Djilali, Gary Carr.

Fan's Player of the Year: Kieran Djilali.

WPL Manager of the Year: Yours Truly.

News for Prestatyn Town FC:

We have officially passed Barry Town for most WPL wins ever!.

Prestatyn are now 70th in Europe! That puts us in touch with heavy hitters. I was expecting 75th; the extra elevation comes from the extra points won during the group campaign. We may well lose ground this year; we've got to replace 6.5 points, which will require some substantial results in the group phase.

The Wales Season Summary. A good year for Prestatyn Town FC.

We haven't had the news about money yet; we lost about $1.5M. I never did figure out why we weren't paid as much this season for the group phase of the EURO Cup as we had been in the past.

News about Wales and the World:

Wales Overview 6/2022. World ranking slipped 4 places.

The WPL makes a move up in Europe to 91st. That's just behind the Italian Serie C leagues. It also makes us a two-star league, finally!

Wales has the same European slots. We missed out by one place on moving up to where no one had to go into the first round of the EURO Cup qualifiers. That's probably good, as it gives the last qualifier next year a better chance to win their first tie. Still 7 spots to go to a fifth team in Europe.

In other news of the world:

There was none. Quiet year.

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Can we kill a giant? - 2022/3 Initial Report

The Board expect another season of the same.

The 2022/3 Season Squad. Some upgrades: see below.

The "reserves." Again, the only person sticking around is Paul Young; the others are on their way out.

The youth team intake. Nothing remarkable; no new Romanians.

This is the season that determines how this group of players will be remembered. Kieran Djilali is 31, Jake Taylor is 30, Mark Bradley is 34, and will have at best a statesman's role. We have new found respect in Europe, so better players will now be willing to transfer in. For this group right now, this is the year to make their defining statement.

I'm hoping that means that this is the year we achieve a group breakout. We almost did it last year, in the EURO Cup. I am firmly convinced this group could, if it really tried, manage either 3rd in a UCL group, or 2nd in a EURO Cup group. If they can't, it isn't going to happen until we manage to thoroughly revamp the squad over the next couple years.

There are some hard choices being made this year, too. I'm having to push out the door a few players who I was quite attached to, especially Gareth Tait – DR. I've let Adam Crawford – ST/AMC go already, for $20K to Newport Co. And Phil Morris Y7 – ST/AML is refusing to sign a contract extension, despite the fact he played his way back into contention for a spot on the team this season. Additionally, Josh Kay - DC has finally outlived his usefulness, so he'll be moving on, though he hasn't been told that, yet. And sometime this season, I forsee biting the bullet and letting Mark Bradley find some club to finish out his career with, as he'll see time only as a sub for us, at best.

On the positive side, I am pleased to report that I've got some youth coming up into consideration for spots on the team. Nathan Passmore Y9 – GK has proved he's equally good to Vladimir Djuricic in goal, so he's going to take over the #2 GK spot and Djuricic will be free-transferred to wherever he is wanted (he was never more than a stop-gap anyway). And Paul Young – MC/AMC has done enough to prove he deserves regular call-ups for the League team. He doesn't have a “Y” designation because I went out and brought him in from elsewhere. The same is true of Ian Cook, but the quality of my strikers has surpassed what Cook can accomplish, so he's on the block.

I have made one additional good signing, and have one player on trial I intend to sign:

Danny Jordan – M/AM(RC)/ST:

A decent reserve winger on the right, I think. I arranged a late season friendly with Norwich while he was on trial, just to see what he could do; he was very serviceable in our 5-2 demolition of the Canaries. I don't have any cover at the moment for either Djilali or Bortnik, so this is an important signing, and crucially, he plays all the right and center mid positions (M and AM) as “accomplished”.

Roddy Morrison – DC:

A quality central defender, who makes Josh Kay expendable. The one thing my defense has lacked his decent height at the back. This 6'4” player will remedy that. And he's projected to play as well as Williamson or Payne eventually. Good bye, Josh Kay and your stupid dive-in tackles that miss.

I would like to follow-up on one player I signed last year: Michal Bortnik. Fans of the blog will recall I said I had signed him as a back-up right wing for Kevin Irvine. Well, turns out he wasn't back-up ANYTHING; he was the real deal. The only reason he wasn't the WPL PoY in my opinion is that he didn't play enough games in the WPL to make enough of a splash. It's a good thing he came out so well, because it allowed Irvine to drop into Bradley's spot as an MC, as Bradley's ability started to tail off during the season.

Youth Intake was not great, nor was it notable. One of my worst intakes.

Phillip Roberts Y12 – ST:

Will never see a first team appearance, unless my Ass. Man. is totally wrong.

Greg Vaughan Y12a – M/AMR:

Again, not even worth the effort, really. Tagged only to track eventual results.

No staff turnover at all. Been a while since I could say that.

$394K of money for the WPL TV rights this year! This is more than a ten-fold increase from the amount we received back in the 2010-1 season. Our popularity is translating to cold, hard cash. To really put it into perspective: my entire EXPENDITURES in that first season were $432K.

Club Overview.

Finances.

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World Cup 2022 (Australia) Results:

NEWS FLASH: ENGLAND WIN WORLD CUP DOWN UNDER

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Player statistics

England's group results. They were a powerhouse team. Notice the total demolition of Chile in the semis.

The other notable aspect was New Zealand drawn into Group A with Australia. Neither made it out of the group.

None of the other home nations made it to the Finals; Wales came closest, dumped by Austria on away goals.

2030 to be held in Germany.

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Rangers in Sight – Qualifying Phase report - 2022/3

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My squad. The lineup is for our Europe games.

The “Youth”.

Europe according to plan, though nearly not. González has woken up, however, and is, as they say, en fuego. As a result, we've gone where we hoped, and reaped the reward.

Europe:

We had old friends week to lead off our European campaign, when Differdange of Luxembourg came to visit. We had good, happy memories, and they translated to good, happy soccer. It's not often you almost manage not just a hat trick, but a whole hat rack (three hat tricks in one game). We weren't particularly worried about blowing a nine-goal lead on the away leg, and although we finally allowed them to score, we weren't very upset by the final scoreline.

Our next opponent had me a bit concerned: FC Universitatea Craiova are one of those clubs who don't have a properly high rating for their skill. And indeed, we were very lucky to escape from Ion Oblemenco with a win, courtesy two strikes in the last 10 min of the game, one a dubious penalty. On the home leg, the Students of Oltenia came in and smashed two home to put us behind, but a delightfully cheeky goal right before half-time by González put some heart back into our side. I exhorted the lads to go out and die on their shields, or some such thing, and they responded magnificently. Thus we were past the point where last year's squad bowed out and headed for easier climes.

We got lucky with the draw for the Playoff. Lurking were Red Star Belgrade and Sparta Prague. But we were handed FC Haka (FIN), the lowest rated team in the bottom half of the draw. They promptly showed us that Finnish football is not to be sneezed at. After we got pegged back 1-2 in Valkeakoski, we had to do something pretty good at home, or face dropping again into the EURO Cup. Once again, it was González who rose to the challenge, with two second-half goals to send us into the Group Phase. Accompanying that was the usual $10M payday, tyvm!

We never get good draws in the UCL. This year was no exception. We could have had City, Sporting CP and Shakhtar. Instead, we get handed the Nerazzuri, Bayern, and 'Gers. If we are to take a shock 3rd place from THIS group, it's gonna have to come from something like four points off of 'Gers, and a point from one of the other two, then hope that 'Gers are handled by the big boys. Wish us luck!

Home Front:

The WPL got off to a shock start as holders Prestatyn were held 0-1 by the resurgent TNS. It should be noted that TNS are utilizing the services of two ex-Seasiders (Aaron Evans Y2 and Elliott Chamberlain), along with star striker Peter Quinn. They won't keep up with us in the long run, but we've got to stop being complacent about teams like TNS and Afan Lido, who are beefing up to compete, and have the money to do so, courtesy the TV rights we've made possible. I may actually have to play the top players from time to time in the League, just to maintain the proper position.

Friendlies were not as good to us as usual. Newcastle pegged us back 1-0 (they are a Championship side this season). Of course, we managed a real shock when we sent the Toffies home on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline! But Forest held my League team 0-0, and with the exception of a thorough thrashing of Wooten (no one named Smith on it, or even Cook), we were pretty dull in our warm-up games.

I have added a couple players:

Jordan Stamp – D/WBL:

Liberated from Aberdeen for $240K. I expect he'll eventually replace Stephan Bergsma, who has never really produced like I thought he would. I kept getting beaten about the head and neck with rumors I was after the guy, so I finally said “what the heck” and got him.

Matt Morris – M/AML:

On loan to us from Reading. Gives me back-up for Djilali, and lets me have someon at AML in the League without having to play one of the kids.

I got a very surprising request for a price on Dean Pearson from Newport Co. Pearson has always been someone I had around solely for his speed; he's never been more than a three-star person. So I quoted $60K, figuring that would put them off. It didn't. So it's clear my players are truly desired by other clubs. Makes me feel good.

Our only other exit of note at this point is Josh Kay, who was given his walking papers the day after he got a red card in the TNS loss. He was in there solely because Chris Proctor wasn't healthy. He promptly did exactly the sort of dumb thing he's done routinely for us since I hired him. This time, I had no patience for it. I simply handed him his freedom and said get out.

Club overview.

Finances. Makes up for the loss of $1.9M last season.

I found this news interesting: Alex Nimely signed a contract extension with Hull for $1.7M. His career since leaving PTFC hasn't been too shabby. He certainly wouldn't be signing a contract that big with us!

Btw, both Afan Lido and TNS managed to win their first EURO Cup qualifying ties. That means Welsh teams will be getting some decent points this year. Now it's up to us to sneak home a win!

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