House of Flying Daggers

[CFuller]

Premier League Table (End of December 2036)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Man Utd                20    14    5     1     57    13    +44   47
2.          Man City               19    13    5     1     46    16    +30   44
3.          Arsenal                20    11    6     3     37    19    +18   39
4.          Liverpool              20    11    3     6     37    28    +9    36
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5.          Dag & Red              19    10    5     4     34    26    +8    35
6.          Wolves                 20    11    1     8     38    29    +9    34
7.          Chelsea                20    10    4     6     34    29    +5    34
8.          West Ham               20    8     8     4     26    17    +9    32
9.          Norwich                20    9     3     8     28    27    +1    30
10.         Rochdale               19    8     4     7     25    20    +5    28
11.         West Brom              20    8     3     9     26    36    -10   27
12.         Derby                  20    7     5     8     26    31    -5    26
13.         Southampton            20    6     7     7     25    23    +2    25
14.         Burnley                20    6     6     8     37    40    -3    24
15.         Blackburn              20    6     4     10    35    48    -13   22
16.         Fulham                 19    6     3     10    27    32    -5    21
17.         Brighton               20    4     3     13    25    31    -6    15
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18.         Tottenham              20    4     3     13    23    48    -25   15
19.         Nottm Forest           20    2     3     15    24    52    -28   9
20.         Ipswich                20    2     3     15    17    62    -45   9

 

[CFuller]

JANUARY 2037

Denzel Gallen's New Year got off to a great start when he was named as the Premier League's Young Player of the Month for December. Gallen had looked shaky in his first couple of outings for us this season, but the on-loan goalkeeper really hit his stride last month with some consistently strong performances.

 

Meanwhile, Welsh right-winger Shaun Powell committed his long-term future to Dagenham & Redbridge by penning a new three-and-a-half-year deal. Also receiving new terms was our injured striker Tristan Egueh, who agreed to stay at Rainham Road until at least 2041.

 

I then asked the board if they would renew my own contract, as my current deal only had 18 months left to run. Chairman Neil Booth was only too happy to oblige, and after a couple of days of negotiations, my new deal was signed. I was now contracted until the end of the 2039/2040 season, and my weekly wages had more than doubled to £35,000, making me one of the Premier League's highest-paid managers.

 

I signed my new contract on the morning before we faced Yeovil Town in Round 3 of the FA Cup. I'd brought a largely second-string team to Huish Park and expected us to encounter few problems against the team ranked 17th in League Two.

 

3 January 2037: Yeovil Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Matthew Fraser was unfortunate not to give us the lead in stunning fashion after four minutes. The Glaswegian stalwart's free-kick was acrobatically tipped over by Yeovil's goalkeeping captain Jacob Barnes.

 

Our first attempt at goal had been fruitless, but that would not be the case for the Glovers. The Daggers defence was caught too far upfield in the 14th minute, when Yeovil midfielder Ben Siddall volleyed the ball over our backline and found Andrew McCready. McCready cushioned a header to strike partner Terry Garbutt, who powered a low shot home, to the delight of the Huish Park faithful.

 

Less than half a minute after restarting play, though, we had wiped out the hosts' early advantage. Shaun Powell sauntered past left-back Jeremy Pears and crossed to Christophe Smith, who volleyed in an instant reply for the Daggers.

 

The match then took an aggressive turn midway through the half, as the referee booked three players in as many minutes midway through the first half. By the 25th minute, five players - including three of ours - had already been cautioned. The Daggers' tackling was of particular concern, as our plan to assert our physical dominance on Yeovil was drawing plenty of attention from the officials.

 

The half ended with both scorers attempting to put their respective sides ahead. Smith's drive for Dagenham in the 35th minute went awry, but Town's experienced frontman Garbutt almost lobbed our goalkeeper Stephen Palacios six minutes later.

 

We went for a more attacking approach in the second period, and the Yeovil goalie would have plenty of work to do early on. Barnes proved up to the challenges, saving a banana shot from Elliot Hernández in the 50th minute and a header from our giant substitute Robbie MacKenzie in the 54th.

 

On 60 minutes, Robbie got behind the Glovers' defence to meet Chris' flick-on with a diving header that bobbled inches wide. Yeovil then launched a swift attack from Barnes' goal kick. Midfielder Shaun Alabi volleyed his keeper's long ball out wide to Abby Keshi, who took it up the right flank and floated a cross into our box. McCready got to the cross before Daggers right-back Ross Pearson, and a clinical header left us chasing the game again.

 

This time, there was no immediate riposte from Smith, who scuffed a shot into the side netting after Ante Djuzel had sent him one-on-one with Barnes. By the 68th minute, a major FA Cup upset was looking more and more likely. McCready burst through our defence again, running onto Glovers defender Symon Scarlett's clearance to leave himself with just Palacios to beat. The striker managed to drill his shot past Steph... but the post deflected it clear!

 

Having come within a lick of paint of trailing 3-1, we now looked to draw back level and save our behinds. Though MacKenzie couldn't quite pull off an attempted lob over Barnes in the 78th minute, he would get another chance four minutes later. Robbie ran onto a left-wing cross from Ante, which he thumped against the post. Fortunately, the ball then deflected off Yeovil right-back Aaron Deady and fell to our other Scottish frontman Smith, whose follow-up strike made it 2-2!

 

Our third Scots squadmate Fraser had to come off with a knock just before full-time, but when that final whistle was blown, we were at least still in the FA Cup. Granted, we would have to face Yeovil again on home soil, but it could've been a whole lot worse.

 

Yeovil Town - 2 (Garbutt 14, McCready 60)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Smith 15,82)

FA Cup Round 3, Attendance 9,665

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Palacios, Pearson, Radosavljevic, Gridelli, Djuzel, Powell (Gross), McCann, Fraser, Honeyball (MacKenzie), Hernández, Smith. BOOKED: Djuzel, McCann, Honeyball.

 

That could easily have been the biggest embarrassment of my career, and I only had myself to blame for it. I'd been bitten by plenty of lower-league teams after fielding weakened sides in the League Cup, but going out of the FA Cup to a club from three divisions below would've been a new nadir.

 

As it was, we remained in the hat for the FA Cup Round 4 draw. If we could beat Yeovil in the replay at Rainham Road on 13 January, we would be rewarded with a home tie against either Burnley or Fulham later in the month.

 

Funnily enough, Fulham provided the opposition when we returned home for a midweek league game. The Cottagers had been battling relegation before they appointed former Arsenal and Ajax boss Kenneth Vermeer as their new manager last month. Since then, Fulham had claimed impressive victories over the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool, and had pulled six points clear of the drop zone.

 

7 January 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Fulham

We quickly assumed control of the game and created several opportunities to take an early lead. However, our captain Mark Washington seemed determined to give Fulham as many lifelines as possible. After pulling a 20-yarder wide in the 13th minute, and then hitting the post from closer to goal in the 15th, he finally gave goalkeeper Joe Allen something to think about in the 18th. Mark dribbled past Cottagers defender Michel before unleashing a long-range strike that was met by a simple catch from the England international.

 

Allen also caught Kenneth Jorgensen's powerful drive in the 22nd minute. Kenny's chance was set up by his fellow Daggers midfielder Neil McCann, who had been booked a few moments earlier after tripping Fulham winger Biyoko N'Gabsi.

 

Neither N'Gabsi nor any of the visitors' attacking players would get near our goal in a tame first half that looked set to finish 0-0... until Washington finally came good in the last minute of normal time. Both teams scrapped for the ball in Fulham's half before Mark delighted the home fans by powering in his 14th goal of the season.

 

The second half began with Daggers substitute Christophe Smith winning a very early corner, but Colin Fox's inswinging delivery was headed inches over by Tomo Kurtovic. Fox then had a scare after 50 minutes, as the left-back hurt himself in a tackle on N'Gabsi. Colin was thankfully not too badly injured, but a strong challenge from Greg Killick on Fulham's Rodrigao in the 59th minute had the potential to harm our lead. The visitors' Brazilian midfielder took the subsequent free-kick and curled it just wide.

 

Several more shots followed from the Cottagers, but our defenders managed to block all of them and keep Denzel Gallen untested in our goal. George Darvill was very impressive (then again, when isn't he?), as the centre-half made well over a dozen interceptions and won almost as many headers.

 

Holding midfielder Jorgensen also did quite well until he hurt himself in a mistimed slide tackle on Fulham playmaker Leo Cortesi in the 79th minute. Kenny hobbled off and was replaced with Elliot Hernández, who wasted a couple of chances to finally get his first competitive goal for the Daggers. Elliot's continued struggles didn't affect us too much. Mark's goal on the stroke of half-time proved enough for a narrow win, which moved us two points clear of Liverpool and back into the UEFA Champions League places!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Washington 45)

Fulham - 0

Premier League, Attendance 17,848 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Fulham 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Darvill, Kurtovic, Fox, Jorgensen (Hernández), Killick, McCann (Fraser), Salvador, MacKenzie (Smith), Washington. BOOKED: McCann.

 

A couple of our fringe players went out on loan before our next game. Right-back Ross Pearson had struggled to adapt to the Premier League, so he dropped back into the Championship with Watford until the summer. I then allowed teenage defensive midfielder Daryl Ryan II to join Yeovil Town for the rest of the season (don't worry; he can't play in the FA Cup for them).

 

Our next Premier League fixture looked straightforward on paper, as we visited bottom side Ipswich Town at Portman Road. The Tractor Boys' last 13 league games had seen them pick up just two points and concede a whopping 45 goals. Indeed, their new manager Jamal Fyfield was still awaiting his first victory since succeeding James Marshall in late November.

 

10 January 2037: Ipswich Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

I was a little worried when, after less than four minutes, Mark Washington blasted a desperate shot off target from well out. My fears would soon be realised, as Ipswich proved much more clinical with their first attempt on goal two minutes later. Our defenders were guilty of standing off the Tractor Boys, and they were punished when Simon Hazel's centre from the right wing was drilled home by midfielder Alan Byrne.

 

The atmosphere at Portman Road kicked up a notch, and we were soon at real risk of falling further behind. On 16 minutes, Byrne found his midfield colleague Tommy Watters in space, and the local lad unleashed a vicious strike that Denzel Gallen had to tip behind. We tried to counter from the resulting corner, but when Watters dispossessed Neil McCann, Ipswich launched a breakaway of their own. Ron Bell took the ball forward and then sought out the unmarked left-winger Giannos Sotiriou, who shot from the byline and clipped the post.

 

Ipswich goalkeeper Joshua Regan then caught our first shot on target - a header from defender George Darvill - in the 23rd minute. Six minutes later, a poor clearance from Darvill was volleyed goalwards by Watters, and Gallen again had to stretch out his hand to divert the shot over.

 

Both teams had further chances to score late in the first half, but we were particularly unlucky not to draw level after 36 minutes. Regan pushed away an effort from Daggers winger Dario Curnis, and Washington scrapped for the loose ball with Town defender Jason Nolan before he too was thwarted by the young Australian. Had the leakiest defence in the Premier League suddenly gone into lockdown?

 

Our wingers had failed to stretch out Ipswich's three-man defence, so I took them off and reverted to a diamond for the second half. One of the players I brought on was 18-year-old holding midfielder André Gross, who made his league debut. André got off to a nervy start, as Ipswich midfielder Ben Warburton coasted past him in the 54th minute before firing a shot into Denzel's hands.

 

The next 20 minutes or so were incredibly scrappy, as we tried to find gaps in a home defence that was leaving surprisingly few. Our frustrations soon boiled over as we conceded more fouls, though we were lucky not to pick up any bookings.

 

Then, after 73 minutes, our much-maligned left-back Ante Djuzel shot himself in the foot - twice. Ante's first error was to let Hazel get past him and whip in a cross that Daggers right-back Vicente Gridelli intercepted and tried to head behind. Djuzel kept the ball in play, but his header was cut out by Hazel, who flicked it forward to Luke Boot. The Ipswich captain then did the rest, giving us a 2-0 deficit that we could not feasibly recover from.

 

Though McCann had a late strike saved by the impressive Regan, we would leave Portman Road beaten - for the first time in six games - and goalless. Fortunately, Liverpool's 0-0 draw with Norwich City meant we remained in 4th spot, though only by a single point.

 

Ipswich Town - 2 (Byrne 6, Boot 73)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 17,800 - POSITIONS: Ipswich 20th, Dag & Red 4th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Gridelli, Radosavljevic, Darvill, Djuzel, Killick, McCann, Powell (Hernández), Salvador (Honeyball), Curnis (Gross), Washington.

 

My full-time team talk was one of my angriest the season. "That, gentlemen, was diabolical - absolutely F***ING DIABOLICAL! You've beaten some bloody good teams already this season, but then you come up against the side who concedes three goals every game and you suddenly forget how to score!

 

"If you play like that again on Tuesday, you'll all become national laughing stocks, because Yeovil will just lap it up and then kick us out of the FA Cup! You don't want to be known as the Premier League team who lost to Yeovil Town, do you?"

[CFuller]

JANUARY 2037 (continued)

It had been a surprisingly tricky start to the New Year. An unexpected Premier League defeat to rock-bottom Ipswich Town had badly shaken our confidence going into an FA Cup Round 3 Replay at home to Yeovil Town, who'd already come close to knocking us out at the first time of asking.

 

This time, there would be no taking the League Two minnows lightly. Even though we would be hosting Blackburn Rovers in the league just four days later, I decided to play most of my regular starters from the outset. The exceptions were Mark Washington, who would remain on the bench unless absolutely necessary, and Greg Killick, who was too tired to play any part in this game.

 

13 January 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Yeovil Town

It didn't take us long to right our wrongs from the original tie. After four minutes, Yeovil goalie Jacob Barnes caught a fierce strike from Matthew Fraser. Barnes rolled the ball out to defender Symon Scarlett, who was swiftly closed down by Daggers target man Robbie MacKenzie. Glovers midfielder Ray Grand tried to take possession back, but he could only slide the ball to our other frontman Christophe Smith, who fired in an early opener!

 

We almost grabbed another goal in the 11th minute, but defender Tomo Kurtovic was unfortunate to head MacKenzie's free-kick against the crossbar. Yeovil launched their first attacking move three minutes later, only for right-back Aaron Deady to be stopped dead in his tracks by a superb slide tackle from our left-back Colin Fox. Yeovil appealed for a penalty, but didn't get any joy.

 

We then reasserted our authority on this match with a couple of scoring chances midway through the half. Barnes denied Smith what would've been his second goal after 22 minutes, and he also got his gloves to a fierce strike from Orlando Salvador after 34.

 

We would eventually take a 2-0 lead in the 40th minute, through a maiden Daggers goal from Kenneth Jorgensen. Barnes punched away Matthew's corner, but Orlando quickly took the ball and played in Kenny, who drilled it into the bottom corner. A Glovers defence that included former Daggers icon Wayne Coton was now seriously struggling to cope with our greater quality.

 

Barnes caught a curling strike from Fraser two minutes into the second period. He then waved wide a couple of poorer strikes from Fox and Kurtovic before a poor pass from the latter allowed Yeovil to counter in the 59th minute. Tomo lost the ball to Yeovil winger Abby Keshi, and our Croatian centre-half was then beaten to Grand's through-ball by the pacey Terry Garbutt. Fortunately, Garbutt blazed over Yeovil's first shot at goal, which would also turn out to be their last.

 

Although the League Two club survived shots from Kurtovic, MacKenzie and Fraser later in the second half, their defence could not hold out for the full period. I used the final quarter-hour to blood winger Shaun Powell in an unfamiliar attacking midfield role, and the Welshman thrived in his new position.

 

With three minutes to go, Shaun received the ball from Matthew and dribbled past Town substitute Giles Gibson before smashing in just his second goal of the season. That goal sealed a 3-0 win for the Daggers, and despite needing a couple of bites at the cherry, we had made it through to Round 4 of the FA Cup.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Smith 5, Jorgensen 40, Powell 87)

Yeovil Town - 0

FA Cup Round 3 Replay, Attendance 17,220

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Scheepens, Darvill, Kurtovic, Fox (Pratt), McCann (Gross), Jorgensen, Fraser, Salvador (Powell), MacKenzie, Smith.

 

Job done, and with the minimum of fuss this time. We discovered our Round 4 opponents 24 hours later, when Fulham and Burnley met in their Round 3 Replay. It was Fulham who prevailed 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, and so we would be receiving a visit from the Cottagers later this month.

 

The next team to visit Rainham Road, however, were 15th-placed Blackburn Rovers. Although Rovers weren't in immediate danger of being sucked into a relegation battle, they'd won just four matches since the start of November and were looking badly out of shape.

 

I beefed up our midfield options before this match by signing 22-year-old Manchester United reserve player Karl Kéita on loan until the end of the season. The former France Under-21s international, who was born in the Central African Republic, is an aggressive ball-winning midfielder who will mainly provide cover for Greg Killick.

 

17 January 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Blackburn Rovers

Although the weather at Rainham Road was drizzly, it didn't exactly rain down goals early on. Our first few efforts on goal were poor ones, as Mark Washington missed the target twice, and his strike partner Elliot Hernández headed wide in the third minute.

 

We finally appeared to be getting somewhere in the 14th minute, when a fantastic strike from Washington was pushed behind by visiting goalkeeper Jordan Shields. Mark's subsequent corner was headed out of the box by Rovers defender Nicky Tate, but Kenneth Jorgensen unleashed a volley that Shields somehow managed to beat away.

 

Captain Washington was back on the attack in the 18th minute, and this time, he would not be denied. The American striker got past Tate to collect a first-time pass from Orlando Salvador and drive it beyond Shields' reach. 1-0 to the Daggers.

 

Washington could have claimed a second goal just three minutes later, but Shields easily gathered his header on that occasion. The latter part of the first half was rather low-key, and though Tim Higginbotham headed wide for Rovers in the 26th minute, it looked like the away team would go into the break without seriously testing us.

 

Then came the second minute of injury time, when Blackburn right-back Piotr Bebenek found midfielder Declan Facey just outside our penalty area. Facey's shot was blocked by George Darvill, but the young Welshman lobbed the ball over our defence and to striker Bill Nolan. Nolan played a backheeled pass to Higginbotham, whose strike was parried by Denzel Gallen. Blackburn tried to launch another attack moments later, but George headed away left-winger Souza's cross to keep our heads in front at the interval.

 

Though we'd been dead lucky to maintain our lead, there was no stroke of fortune involved when we doubled it four minutes after the restart. An excellent performance from Ante Djuzel at left-back continued when his cross found Hernández, who took it past Rovers defender Peter Adam before blasting in his long-awaited first competitive goal for the Daggers! Virtually all our outfield players rushed towards a relieved Elliot to celebrate with him, and we were now well in control.

 

Matthew Fraser could've all but sealed the win with a 55th-minute strike that forced Shields into another difficult save. Three minutes later, Blackburn midfielder Oscar Staple flew into Salvador with a reckless slide tackle. Staple somehow escaped with only a ticking-off from the referee, while Orlando sustained a knock and was fortunate not to be severely injured. That said, I didn't want to take any risks with Salvador, so I took him off as soon as I could. Jorgensen was subbed at the same time as I gave wingers Dario Curnis and Shaun Powell rare run-outs at home.

 

Blackburn looked a bit more dangerous after those changes, though Gallen preserved his clean sheet with a couple of simple saves from Higginbotham in the 70th minute and Nolan in the 75th. Meanwhile, loanee Karl Kéita enjoyed a solid Dagenham debut after replacing Greg Killick, who was outstanding once again in midfield, for the closing stages. Washington narrowly missed a chance to score his second and our third goal after 89 minutes, but the hard work had already been done, and we wrapped up a 2-0 win.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Washington 18, Hernández 49)

Blackburn Rovers - 0

Premier League, Attendance 17,739 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Blackburn 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Darvill, Kurtovic, Djuzel, Jorgensen (Powell), Killick (Kéita), Fraser, Salvador (Curnis), Hernández, Washington. BOOKED: Jorgensen.

 

After that match, Greg Killick asked me for a new and improved contract. I don't normally accept such requests from my players, but with Greg in such blistering form this season, I was willing to make an exception for him. After a couple of days of negotiating, Killick signed a new £25,000-per-week deal that will run until 2041.

 

On that same day, we announced the signing of 23-year-old South Africa international Thulani Mazibuko from Serbian SuperLiga club Banat Zrenjanin for £6.5million. Thulani was a very well-rounded defender - he had the strength and aerial presence to play at centre-half, and he had the pace and crossing ability to do a decent job at right-back, despite being left-footed.

 

Mazibuko had only won one cap for South Africa, but he didn't require a work permit, because he held a Serbian passport. His arrival meant that our other Serbian national - Velimir Radosavljevic - would have to leave, at least temporarily.

 

No fewer than 20 clubs offered to take Velimir on loan, but only Saint-Étienne of Ligue 1 were willing to pay all his wages AND guarantee him first-team football. The defender would therefore be spending the rest of this campaign at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

 

New recruit Mazibuko took his place on the bench when we played a midweek league match at West Bromwich Albion. Three of our previous five meetings with the Baggies had ended in draws, so this was likely to be another very tight affair.

 

21 January 2037: West Bromwich Albion vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Mark Washington pulled wide a chance for Dagenham in the second minute, but most of the early attacking would be done by our opponents. Poor Daggers passing contributed to a strong start for West Brom, whose right-winger Jordan Holder was unlucky not to open the scoring after six minutes. Holder received the ball deep in the Albion half and cut inside en route to the penalty area, where he cracked a shot that Denzel Gallen pushed wide.

 

The hosts' left-winger Luis Sevilla also had an opportunity in the 8th minute, but he fired it well wide. Tomo Kurtovic then headed over Colin Fox's corner for Dagenham in the 13th minute. Two minutes later, a foul from Daggers winger Dario Curnis started a Baggies move that ended with midfielder José Veloso driving a shot into Gallen's hands. Denzel then watched Miljan Todorovic fire wide on 19 minutes after some far from assured defending by the Daggers.

 

Our goalkeeper would make his next save after 33 minutes, when he caught a piledriver from Albion midfielder Alan Hare. Curnis concluded the half with a couple of opportunities for the Daggers, but his 36th-minute header was caught by West Brom goalie Ahn Ki-Sung, and his low effort in the 44th was pulled off target. Dario was out of form and already carrying a yellow card, so I decided to substitute him during the interval.

 

Another Dagger would see yellow just seconds after the restart, as Fox was penalised for barging into Holder. A couple of minutes later, our right-winger Shaun Powell brilliantly dispossessed West Brom's left-back Rémi Jourdan and played in Elliot Hernández, who swerved a banana shot wide.

 

Washington was also unable to get us off the mark with a fierce strike in the 51st minute. Powell almost did that in the 59th minute, but after playing a one-two with Hernández, the Welshman was unfortunate to see his shot tipped over by Ahn. Our purple patch ended there, and both teams would toil through the next 20 minutes or so without creating many openings.

 

Dagenham midfielder Karl Kéita was booked in the 74th minute for a shove on Cezao, and he soon came off to make room for our new signing Thulani Mazibuko. Thulani had a quiet debut in midfield for us, but one of West Brom's substitutes did threaten to change the game in the 82nd minute. Striker Stephen Walsh tackled Kurtovic to start a counter-attack that ended with Sevilla swinging a cross into our box. Daggers right-back Vicente Gridelli got ahead of Walsh to try and head it over the bar... but he would've flicked it into the net had Gallen not been in the right position to palm it away!

 

That wouldn't be our last hearts-in-mouths moment in a dramatic climax. Brazilian forward Cezao was mightily close to heading in a Sevilla corner just seconds into injury time. Denzel then had to catch late hit-and-hopers from Hare and Philippe Delamare before we eventually squeezed out a goalless draw.

 

West Bromwich Albion - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 31,955 - POSITIONS: West Brom 12th, Dag & Red 4th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Gridelli, Kurtovic, Darvill, Fox, Powell, Kéita (Mazibuko), Jorgensen, Curnis (Honeyball), Hernández (MacKenzie), Washington. BOOKED: Curnis, Fox, Kéita.

 

We were back in the Premier League's top four, but now our focus turned towards the second chapter of what I hoped would be a lengthy run in the FA Cup. Fulham came to Rainham Road for the second time this month, eager to avenge their league defeat by crushing our cup hopes in Round 4.

[CFuller]

JANUARY 2037 (continued)

24 January 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Fulham

Dagenham goalkeeper Kieran Whalley was untroubled by a third-minute header from Fulham's Belgian winger Biyoko N'Gabsi, but his opposite number would face a more severe test ten minutes later. It took a top-drawer save from Niger goalie Djibril Abdoulaye to keep out Robbie MacKenzie's effort after the big Scot had been played through by Orlando Salvador.

 

N'Gabsi's quick free-kick for Fulham in the 18th minute was nodded away by Daggers centre-half Tomo Kurtovic, but only as far as visiting striker Daniele Gatti. Whalley caught Gatti's header, but their next confrontation seven minutes later would have a different outcome. Though Kurtovic cleared a dangerous cross from N'Gabsi, he couldn't stop a follow-up delivery from reaching Gatti, who toe-poked in a simple finish. 1-0 Fulham, and our FA Cup hopes were again in real peril.

 

Captain Mark Washington tried to save our skins in spectacular fashion on 33 minutes, but his vicious drive clipped the top of the Cottagers' bar and went behind. Five minutes after that, we were lucky not to fall two goals behind. Kieran blocked another attempt from N'Gabsi before Gatti crossed the loose ball to Pat McCann, who headed wide.

 

That double let-off would prove telling. Although Abdoulaye made a fantastic fingertip save from Greg Killick in the 40th minute, he was unable to reach MacKenzie's incisive strike a minute later, and the game was back level!

 

The Cottagers were proving tough to break down, but I hoped that telling my team to pass the ball into space more often in the second period would make a difference. This new approach showed promise when Washington forced Abdoulaye into a tricky save after 47 minutes.

 

Six minutes later, Daggers defender George Darvill made a great interception from a cross by Fulham right-back Sélim Benoit. George played the ball out of our penalty area before moving it forward to Orlando, who then took it into the visitors' half. Although our first counter-attack fizzled out after a while, our second - just moments later - would deliver the goods. Salvador picked out Washington in the box, and our unmarked marksman Mark made his mark with a lethal strike! We were 2-1 up!

 

Abdoulaye did well to deny Washington a second goal on 58 minutes, while MacKenzie went close to securing his brace via a free-kick two minutes later. Our failure to convert those chances would return to haunt us in the 65th minute, when we discovered the perils of passing into space.

 

Shortly after Fulham intercepted a corner delivery from Washington, Salvador claimed the ball and - despite having several passing options ahead of him - decided to play it all the way back to Whalley! Our goalkeeper looked as surprised as anyone at Rainham Road, and the home fans recoiled in horror as Kieran scuffed a clearance to the feet of Cottagers winger Victor Berceanu! Whalley tried to recover the situation by closing Berceanu down as the Romanian bore down on goal... but it was too late. Berceanu had grabbed a Fulham equaliser out of nowhere, and the momentum had shifted once again.

 

Three minutes after squandering our lead, it seemed that Whalley was hell-bent on throwing away our FA Cup dream - literally! The Dagenham goalkeeper put too much power into a quick throw that bypassed George and ended up with Berceanu, who got beyond Darvill to go through on goal again! Lightning wouldn't strike twice here, however. Whalley parried the 31-year-old's shot, and Fox then made a fantastic sliding tackle to keep the rebound away from N'Gabsi.

 

Kieran would hold his nerve again when Berceanu had another attempt on goal after 72 minutes. Fulham's best chances to move 3-2 up had come and gone... and come the 77th minute, we were leading by that scoreline! A sensational performance from Salvador continued when he fed Washington for the American's second goal of the afternoon, and the 17th of his season!

 

Two minutes later, though, yet another wayward delivery from Whalley put our advantage in jeopardy! Fulham sub Martyn Thomas intercepted Kieran's goal kick and nodded it to Gatti, who charged the through and tried to slip the ball between our keeper's legs. Whalley once again saved his own bacon by blocking Gatti's strike just in time and keeping us in front.

 

Then came a potentially costly mistake from the Cottagers' defence after 80 minutes. Centre-half Michel tried to nod a long pass from Daggers playmaker Matthew Fraser back to Abdoulaye, only to watch Washington burst clear and head it over the onrushing goalkeeper! Mark thought he'd secured his hat-trick... but the officials said otherwise, ruling that he'd impeded on Abdoulaye.

 

Our skipper was undeterred, though. Washington did make it 4-2 to Dagenham in the 82nd minute, when he assisted Salvador for the match-winner! We had successfully come through another battle in the FA Cup, but just like Yeovil Town in Round 3, Fulham had pushed us to our very limits!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (MacKenzie 41, Washington 53,77, Salvador 82)

Fulham - 2 (Gatti 25, Berceanu 66)

FA Cup Round 4, Attendance 17,848

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Scheepens, Darvill, Kurtovic, Djuzel (Fox), Killick, Kéita (Jorgensen), Fraser, Salvador (Smith), Washington, MacKenzie. BOOKED: Djuzel.

 

Following one of the most thrilling matches of our FA Cup history, we now found ourselves in the hat for Round 5. We had another home tie to look forward to on Valentine's Day - but we would have to get past the Reds of Liverpool if our cup romance was to blossom any longer.

 

We would actually visit Liverpool in the Premier League at the end of January, but not before we took on Rochdale at Spotland. The Dale had recovered from a shaky start and were now 10th, but barring a late-season surge, it looked very unlikely that they would challenge for European qualification.

 

27 January 2037: Rochdale vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Thulani Mazibuko made his full Dagenham debut at centre-half, and he would be given plenty to think about early on. Ex-Daggers left-back Rocco Mazzola almost opened the scoring for Rochdale in the 13th minute with a vicious drive that Denzel Gallen parried away before Mazibuko cleared it into touch.

 

Another of our former charges would go close to putting Dale ahead five minutes later. Striker Mario Tortora leapt above both Thulani and Greg Killick to get his head to Mijo Djuzel's corner, which he flicked over. Another Djuzel set-piece also caused us some bother in the 23rd minute, though the experienced midfielder couldn't quite get his free-kick on target. Rochdale would only enjoy one more scoring chance before half-time. That was in the 33rd minute, when Tortora flicked a Mazzola cross into the safe hands of Gallen.

 

We started to test our hosts' defence late in the first half, with Mark Washington and Orlando Salvador each missing chances to put us ahead against the run of play. Those two would link up for our best attacking move on the stroke of half-time. Washington ran onto a long header from Mazibuko and took the ball towards the Rochdale penalty area before cutting back to Salvador. Orlando tried his luck from 30 yards out, but Petar Kus made a comfortable catch.

 

Rochdale boss Joe Doyle made his first personnel change at half-time, bringing on midfielder Alasdair Wood for Geng Haoran, who'd picked up a knock just before the interval. Doyle's next substitution came in the 56th minute, as striker Gus Maguire made way for Jordan Connor. However, Connor would only last a couple of minutes before a slide tackle from Mazibuko left him with a nasty gash on his leg. The substitute would himself have to be substituted, with midfielder Kevin Thomson taking his place.

 

We then put the wounded hosts under more pressure by winning a couple of corners in quick succession. However, our inability to convert either of those set-pieces into a goal would be punished on 67 minutes.

 

Thomson beat Killick to intercept a headed clearance from our right-back Vicente Gridelli. The Scot unleashed a shot from the edge of the area, and the ball ricocheted off the bar before Tortora sent it across the goal line with a diving header. Mazibuko could've done more to get to the rebound and save our skins, but I held Killick most culpable for that goal and subbed him almost straight away.

 

Despite now having a 1-0 lead, Rochdale's injury problems threatened to resurface five minutes later. Defender Stjepan Buljubasic came off worse following an aerial collision with Washington, but Dale's medical team gave the Croatian the all-clear to play on after a thorough assessment.

 

Elliot Hernández could've drawn us level on 75 minutes, when his first-time effort was parried by Kus. Then came a couple of opportunities for Rochdale to finish us off. A fantastic attacking move in the 86th minute ended with Denzel frantically palming away a strike from Thomson. We were then lucky to see our old mate Mazzola curl a shot inches wide in injury time. Despite that, the Dale still emerged 1-0 winners, and our hopes of breaking into Europe took a hit.

 

Rochdale - 1 (Tortora 67)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 14,129 - POSITIONS: Rochdale 10th, Dag & Red 5th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Gridelli, Mazibuko, Kurtovic, Fox, McCann (Powell), Killick (Kéita), Jorgensen, Salvador (Honeyball), Washington, Hernández. BOOKED: Killick.

 

Joel Honeyball's substitute appearance was his seventh in this Premier League season, but he was unlikely to get many more. Our longest-serving player damaged his Achilles tendon in training a few days later and wasn't expected to play again for at least three months.

 

Even though he was only 29, and still contracted to us for another couple of years, Honeyball was beginning to realise that his playing career was perhaps drawing to a close. Joel had already planned for a future in coaching, and he would now start studying for his UEFA B Licence during his enforced spell on the sidelines.

 

In other news, forward Peguy Kasongo and winger Mirko Saric completed their six-month loan spells in League One. Peguy had fared reasonably well at Peterborough United, getting nine league goals for the Posh, but Mirko found the going rather tougher at Wigan Athletic.

 

Meanwhile, 18-year-old goalkeeper Kayo Rowe left the Daggers for his first loan spell - at feeder club Ceské Budejovice. Kayo would be joining his colleagues Jameel Bailey and Engilbert Sverrisson in the Czech Republic until the end of June.

 

Our final match of this month was a crunch game at Anfield against Liverpool. The Reds were one place and two points behind us and would overtake us with a win. However, if we could silence the home supporters and do the double over Liverpool, it would send out a clear message about our top-six credentials.

 

31 January 2037: Liverpool vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Liverpool went into this match without striker Liam Baldwin, who'd scored at Rainham Road in October but would miss the rematch with a dislocated shoulder. Reds boss Sergey Mustafin had to contend with another serious injury after nine minutes. Right-winger Pavle Oljaca tore his hamstring in a tackle from Dagenham midfielder Matthew Fraser, bringing his game to an early end.

 

Some home fans must've been fearful, but they need not have worried, as Oljaca's replacement made an instant impact. Nermin Salihovic retook the ball for Liverpool after Daggers defender George Darvill tried to clear away a corner from Adi Music. The Bosnian then dribbled into our area and unleashed an unstoppable shot to put the Reds 1-0 up, after a smidge over 11 minutes.

 

Though our captain Mark Washington was narrowly denied a 14th-minute equaliser by a fine save from home goalie Gavin Stopforth, the game would soon slip further away from us. Greg Killick was booked in the 18th minute for a push on Angel Luleyski, and another Daggers midfielder was in trouble two minutes later, when Kenneth Jorgensen suffered an injury to his wrist.

 

Liverpool would soon find the net again in the 24th minute, as Salihovic's cross was flicked on by Javier Montenegro and finished by England striker Dave Weaver. That goal was disallowed for offside, but I now felt that I had to make a change in our midfield to stop our opponents from pulling away. Though Kenny was in obvious discomfort, I felt that Greg was faring even worse, so it was he who came off for Karl Kéita midway through the first half.

 

The change shored us up for a little while, and Jorgensen defied his wrist injury to test Stopforth with a header in the 31st minute. Eventually, though, we would let our guard down again five minutes from time. Our defence didn't know what to do when Montenegro nodded a Salihovic centre in front of Reds captain Weaver, who grabbed the goal his performance had deserved. It would take a near-miracle for us to come back from 2-0 down.

 

I abandoned the diamond for a wider 4-4-2 during the break, bringing on our two main wingers as replacements for Jorgensen and Orlando Salvador. Though the plan was to stretch play out a bit more, Liverpool would almost stretch their lead further in the opening stages of the second period. Music and Weaver each sent efforts wide in the 50th and 53rd minutes respectively.

 

Our first shot at goal after the restart wouldn't come until the 61st minute, but Shaun Powell pulled it ridiculously wide. We would launch a more promising attack a couple of minutes later. Stopforth could only punch Tomo Kurtovic's cross as far as Robbie MacKenzie, though the England goalkeeper quickly made a more convincing save from our Scottish target man's header. MacKenzie's effort would turn out to be our final shot on target from another poor away game.

 

Liverpool controlled the rest of the game, despite losing Luleyski to a rib injury six minutes from the end. The Reds also threatened to score a third goal after 87 minutes, when Music's free-kick was caught by Gallen. Music had done alright on Liverpool's left wing, but it was the Reds' other Bosnian wideman - Salihovic - who had played all the right notes in a virtuoso performance.

 

Liverpool - 2 (Salihovic 12, Weaver 40)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Premier League, Attendance 51,188 - POSITIONS: Liverpool 5th, Dag & Red 7th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Darvill, Kurtovic, Djuzel, Jorgensen (Powell), Killick (Kéita), Fraser, Salvador (Curnis), MacKenzie, Washington. BOOKED: Killick.

 

Kenneth Jorgensen's wrist turned out to be sprained, not broken, but it was still bad news. Kenny will miss our next league game against Brighton & Hove Albion on 7 February, though he should be fit for our rematch with Liverpool in the FA Cup a week later.

 

While our home form in January had been perfect, we only picked up one point from our four away league games. Our erratic performances outside of Rainham Road could cost us a place in Europe next season, unless I can find a cure for the 'away-day blues'.

[CFuller]

Premier League Table (End of January 2037)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Man Utd                24    16    6     2     63    17    +46   54
2.          Man City               23    16    5     2     55    18    +37   53
3.          Arsenal                24    13    7     4     44    25    +19   46
4.          West Ham               25    11    10    4     38    21    +17   43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.          Liverpool              25    12    7     6     44    33    +11   43
6.          Chelsea                25    12    6     7     42    36    +6    42
7.          Dag & Red              25    12    6     7     37    31    +6    42
8.          Wolves                 25    13    2     10    46    41    +5    41
9.          Norwich                24    11    5     8     34    31    +3    38
10.         Rochdale               24    10    4     10    32    25    +7    34
11.         Southampton            25    8     7     10    29    33    -4    31
12.         Derby                  25    8     7     10    32    38    -6    31
13.         West Brom              23    9     4     10    29    41    -12   31
14.         Burnley                25    7     8     10    44    50    -6    29
15.         Blackburn              25    8     4     13    42    55    -13   28
16.         Brighton               25    6     4     15    34    40    -6    22
17.         Fulham                 24    6     3     15    31    43    -12   21
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.         Ipswich                24    5     4     15    26    65    -39   19
19.         Tottenham              25    5     3     17    27    58    -31   18
20.         Nottm Forest           25    4     4     17    32    60    -28   16

 

[CFuller]

FEBRUARY 2037

The transfer window closed early in February with little activity at Dagenham & Redbridge, apart from a couple of loan outgoings. I reckoned that midfielder Neil McCann and striker Christophe Smith needed to build up more experience in the Championship before they could seriously challenge for regular first-team football. McCann was sent out to Bolton Wanderers, and Smith to Crewe Alexandra, until the end of the season.

 

A dozen of our players then went away on midweek international duty. Among them were defenders Ante Djuzel and Tomo Kurtovic, who helped Croatia record a thumping 4-0 win over Holland. 18-year-old striker Jonas Kjaerulff - currently on loan at Xerez - earned his first call-up to the senior Denmark squad, but he would have to wait a bit longer for his maiden cap.

 

After the international interval, we faced relegation-battling Brighton & Hove Albion at Rainham Road. Striker Tristan Egueh and playmaker Billy Stevenson returned to the squad after recovering from their injuries, with Tristan playing from the start alongside Mark Washington. We hadn't scored in any of our previous three league matches, but would we get back on track here?

 

7 February 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Tristan Egueh quickly got back up to speed, ending our goalless league run just a couple of minutes after kick-off. Orlando Salvador tried to feed the ball to Mark Washington in Brighton's penalty area, but a tackle from visiting defender Tom Dakin knocked it into the path of Egueh, who drilled home the opener!

 

Having taken a very early lead, we went close to strengthening our position further in the sixth minute. Washington's cheeky backheel teed up a long-range piledirver from Karl Kéita, which Brighton goalie Pat Fehmi had to push away.

 

The Seagulls then launched a couple of their own attacks, with a former Dagger going close to drawing them level on 15 minutes. Edmundo jinked past Tomo Kurtovic and attempted to beat Denzel Gallen from a tight angle, but our young keeper stood his ground and parried the Brazilian striker's shot behind.

 

We next threatened to go 2-0 up in the 29th minute, when Washington's drive stung Fehmi's palms. Egueh's next attempt, in the 38th minute, was an awful one, but we would soon pull further ahead of our struggling opponents. Orlando lobbed the ball over Albion defender Andrew Locke and found captain Mark, who chested it beyond the onrushing Fehmi before tapping it into an empty net! That capped off a comfortable first half in which our 20-year-old playmaker Salvador had caused the Seagulls all kinds of problems.

 

Gallen retained our 2-0 lead in the 52nd minute after catching a free-kick from Edmundo. Five minutes later, though, we weren't ahead by two goals anymore... but by three. Although Kéita was credited with his first Daggers assist, it was Washington who did pretty much everything by himself, dribbling at the Brighton defence before drilling in his second goal of the afternoon!

 

We could almost take it easy now, but Salvador didn't - he wanted to get his name on the scoresheet. It sadly wasn't to be for Orlando, who was denied twice by excellent saves from Fehmi in the 60th and 61st minutes. Salvador would come off to a rapturous reception on 69 minutes, shortly after former Manchester City winger Taariq Khan had missed a chance to head Albion back into the game.

 

The contest was finished off once and for all in the 72nd minute, as Salvador's replacement - the fit-again Billy Stevenson - lit up Rainham Road. Stevo used his breathtaking dribbling ability to get past Seagulls midfielders Andreas Klok and Tsietsi Sono before curling his strike beyond a helpless Fehmi!

 

4-0 was how the match would finish, although we missed opportunities to put even more goals past Cauley Woodrow's Albion side. This was undoubtedly one of our sweetest and most enjoyable performances this season, so much so that I called it 'ice-cream football'! Alan Partridge, eat your heart out!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Egueh 2, Washington 42,57, Stevenson 72)

Brighton & Hove Albion - 0

Premier League, Attendance 17,848 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Brighton 16th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Darvill (Mazibuko), Kurtovic, Djuzel, Killick, Kéita (Gross), Fraser, Salvador (Stevenson), Washington, Egueh. BOOKED: Salvador.

 

That thumping win continued our imperious home league record, which now read: Played 12, Won 8, Drew 4, Lost 0. There were only two other teams in the league who remained undefeated on home soil - and it'll come as no surprise to you that those two teams were Manchester City and Manchester United.

 

We switched back to FA Cup mode a week later, when we faced Liverpool at Rainham Road in Round 5. The 2-0 defeat that Sergey Mustafin's Reds had inflicted on us at the end of January was still fresh in our minds, but I had a plan to shut out their winged wizards this time...

 

14 February 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Liverpool

I took a more direct approach to this match, fielding a 5-3-2 formation, with Ante Djuzel and Thulani Mazibuko playing as wing-backs. Liverpool could've wrecked my plans as early as the second minute, but Kieran Whalley's excellent save from Reds winger Mark de Groot calmed our nerves. A minute later, Greg Killick set up our first scoring chance for big Robbie MacKenzie, whose strike was stopped by Liverpool goalkeeper Gavin Stopforth.

 

We also won a corner in the 7th minute, though Mark Washington's delivery was headed away by Ken Moore. Our right-back Mazibuko was first to the loose ball. Much to my astonishment, he dribbled towards goal himself and then smashed in an absolute rocket! The South African had taken our breaths away with his first Daggers goal!

 

Our confidence shot up after that, and we were very much chasing a two-goal lead by the 12th minute. Washington crossed to Scottish giant MacKenzie, who was unfortunate to see Stopforth tip his header over.

 

In the 19th minute, lightning almost struck twice for Bafana Bafana defender Mazibuko, who ran at the Liverpool defence and looked set to score another stunner before Stopforth pushed his latest effort away. Another Dagenham chance went begging a minute after that, as Mark's spectacular volley was cleared by the visitors' Welsh right-back Moore.

 

The remainder of the first half was fairly quiet, save for a 34th-minute booking for Moore, who had upended Daggers midfielder Orlando Salvador. Our single-goal lead would remain firmly intact at the half-time interval.

 

The second period began as slowly as the first had ended, but the action would pick up again after 60 minutes. That was when Mazibuko turned past de Groot and whipped in a cross that Stopforth was somewhat lucky not to spill into his own net. A minute later, Killick fearlessly won the ball off Liverpool left-back Neftalí Carrada to start off a fast-paced Daggers counter-attack. Within moments, the in-form Salvador had found the run of MacKenzie, who beat Stopforth for 2-0!

 

It wasn't quite all over for the Reds, mind you. 19-year-old substitute forward Gary Worrall would cause panic in the Daggers dugout when he made bids for goal in the 63rd and 69th minute. On each occasion, Worrall would dribble inside from the right flank almost unchallenged before pulling the ball wide of goal. It wasn't until Worrall fired wide another chance in the 76th minute that I started to truly believe that the match was ours.

 

Not even a serious injury to Killick late on could prevent us from progressing to the FA Cup Quarter Finals. Greg came off with a suspected broken jaw after clashing with Liverpool striker Javier Montenegro in the 78th minute, and so the returning Dave Hutchinson had to replace him for the closing moments.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Mazibuko 8, MacKenzie 61)

Liverpool - 0

FA Cup Round 5, Attendance 17,848

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Mazibuko, Gridelli, Darvill, Kurtovic, Djuzel (Fox), Killick (Hutchinson), Jorgensen, Salvador, MacKenzie (Hernández), Washington.

 

For the first time in five years, and for only the second time in our history, Dagenham & Redbridge were in Round 6 of the FA Cup. Arsenal and Chelsea had both been knocked out, although the Manchester giants were still alive, while there were some tasty lower-league teams in the running as well. Had we been paired with either Championship side Plymouth Argyle or the winner of the all-League One clash between Millwall and Wycombe Wanderers, I would've fancied us to at least make the Semi Finals, if not go all the way.

 

Guess who we got instead? That's right - Manchester United, at Old Trafford, on 7 March. Oh boy.

 

Greg Killick was a major doubt for the FA Cup Quarter Final, having dislocated his jaw late on against Liverpool. Left-back Ante Djuzel would definitely miss that game after sustaining a broken shoulder in our elongated preparations for our next Premier League fixture.

 

As Manchester City had been held to an FA Cup Round 5 replay by Nottingham Forest, their visit to Rainham Road - which would've taken place on 25 February - was postponed until the end of March. That meant we wouldn't resume our league campaign until three days later, when we went to 3rd-placed Arsenal. We'd won our last two games at the Emirates Stadium, but the question was: could we make it a three-peat?

 

28 February 2037: Arsenal vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Counter-attacking had worked a treat against Arsenal in the past, so I saw no reason to abandon that strategy here. We bided our time early on and gave the Gunners little space to exploit. Midfielder Liam Wood had a shot from distance in the 11th minute, but Dagenham goalkeeper Denzel Gallen comfortably pushed that effort away.

 

In the 12th minute, Arsenal captain Clive Johnson went down under a challenge from Daggers right-back Patrick Scheepens in the penalty area. The referee thought that Johnson had dived, so he booked the 34-year-old, who would be feeling even more disgruntled four minutes later. A string of quick passes from Dagenham ended with Orlando Salvador slotting the ball underneath the dive of Gunners goalkeeper Josip Prtenjaca!

 

The home fans fell quiet, and they wouldn't get any louder when Wood pulled an awful shot wide in the 29th minute. Gallen's goal kick was flicked on by Kenneth Jorgensen towards Karl Kéita, who hit the ball long towards Robbie MacKenzie. The Frenchman put too much power into the pass, which looked to be bouncing harmlessly out of play... until Prtenjaca charged out of his box to try and clear it. When the Croatian slipped on the soaked Emirates Stadium surface, Robbie took the loose ball on the edge of the box and crossed to Mark Washington at the near post. Captain Mark's 20th goal this season was his easiest yet!

 

Our 2-0 lead remained intact at the break, as Johnson and striker Shane Hay each fired blanks for the Gunners late on. Arsenal's other frontman Marc Bennett did hit the bar with his header from a Johnson corner in the 40th minute, but that was as close as the hosts would come to getting back in the match.

 

Gallen withstood a couple more ambitious strikes from Wood early in the second period as Arsenal's attacking woes continued. More frustration would come for the hosts in the 56th minute, when Bennett missed the target from another corner delivery by Johnson. Not even the introduction of England Under-21s striker Doug Higgs could reinvigorate their attack.

 

Our five-man defence remained watertight, with the especially impressive Tomo Kurtovic heading clear Higgs' first attempt on goal in the 60th minute. Higgs tried again four minutes later, but his low drive didn't cause Gallen too much bother. Indeed, Denzel would only appear seriously rattled once in this match. That was after 69 minutes, when he pushed a right-wing cross from Hay against the underside of his crossbar, but Kéita came to his rescue by clearing the ball behind the byline.

 

Otherwise, it was another excellent goalkeeping display from Gallen, who was so confident that he kicked away a dangerous centre from Arsenal left-back Connor Smith in the 75th minute! Three minutes later, though, one of our best performers at the other end - attacking midfielder Salvador - hurt his knee in a firm challenge from Wood. Orlando's match came to a premature end, and we backed up even more before grinding out an incredible third consecutive win at the Emirates!

 

Arsenal - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Salvador 16, Washington 29)

Premier League, Attendance 60,361 - POSITIONS: Arsenal 3rd, Dag & Red 6th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Gridelli, Mazibuko, Kurtovic, Fox, Kéita, Jorgensen, Salvador (Stevenson), MacKenzie (Hernández), Washington (Egueh). BOOKED: Kéita.

 

Orlando Salvador would be out for the next fortnight with a twisted knee. That being said, his injury didn't overshadow what had been another fantastic result in a fantastic month for Dagenham & Redbridge.

 

Our place in the top six now looks that little bit more secure as we head into March. It might soon be time for Daggers fans to start dreaming about Europe...

[CFuller]

MARCH 2037

It would be fair to say that Mark Washington had enjoyed February. Both of his goals against Brighton & Hove Albion were nominated for the Premier League's Goal of the Month, and the first of those strikes would win him that accolade.

 

Mark was also a candidate for Player of the Month, as was Tomo Kurtovic. Unfortunately, they would both miss out to Manchester City's free-scoring Dutch striker Hassan Ben Ayad. In similar fashion, Orlando Salvador was narrowly beaten to Young Player of the Month by another City player - left-back Mohammed Ali.

 

Having twisted his knee a week earlier against Arsenal, Salvador was unable to take part in our FA Cup Round 6 tie against Manchester United. This was the first time we had visited Old Trafford since its expansion to 94,872 seats was completed last September.

 

History would beckon for us if we could silence the home fans and record what would be our greatest ever victory. We had never beaten United in six previous attempts, and we had also never reached the Semi Finals of the FA Cup, which our opponents had lifted a record 15 times.

 

7 March 2037: Manchester United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

I selected what I considered to be my strongest available XI for this match, save perhaps for Kieran Whalley going in goal instead of Denzel Gallen. You couldn't say that about the selection made by Manchester United boss Alexander Mejía. A few first-team regulars were included, such as captain José Luis and winger Arturo Samario, but the absentees were even more noticeable. Three days after a gruelling UEFA Champions League draw at Paris Saint-Germain, Mejía dropped Moses Penfold to the bench and left his partner-in-crime Sean Jordan out altogether.

 

Among those who came into United's starting XI was 18-year-old full-back Tim Hall, who had their first shot at goal after eight minutes. Unsurprisingly, it did not seriously threaten Kieran Whalley in the Dagenham goal.

 

Kieran's opposite number Dave Pierce would make his first save for the Red Devils in the 12th minute, when he caught a header from Tomo Kurtovic. Another Daggers chance went to waste two minutes later, as left-back Colin Fox pulled a shot into the side netting when he could perhaps have centred to Tristan Egueh or Mark Washington instead.

 

Attacking midfielder Billy Stevenson looked threatening in the 23rd minute until Pierce pushed away his drive. Three minutes after that, Tristan outmuscled the Welsh goalkeeper to head in a free-kick delivery by Mark. It wasn't to be the breakthrough goal, though, as the officials called a foul against Egueh - and rightly so, to be fair.

 

The rest of the half was fairly tame, as both teams struggled to create any real scoring opportunities. Mejía's bold call to play emerging talent Craig Aitken up front for United showed no sign of paying off when the 16-year-old Scot volleyed well wide in the 38th minute. With the deadlock still intact at the break, Mejía decided to take Aitken off and bring on a more fearsome weapon. Were we about to feel the wrath of Penfold again?

 

Well... judging by the first 15 minutes of the second half, the answer was likely to be no. Although Daggers midfielder Dave Hutchinson sustained a knock after 49 minutes, our defence would be untroubled by Manchester United in the opening stages.

 

Indeed, a stray pass from United midfielder Pablo López four minutes later gifted us an opportunity to hit the hosts on the counter-attack. Stevo took the ball and dribbled up the left flank before crossing to Egueh, who was in bags of space with just Pierce to beat. We held our breaths in the away dugout... and then we saw Pierce palm away Tristan's point-blank strike. It was a truly agonising moment for us, and more pain could've followed.

 

Penfold finally got a chance to have his say in the 65th minute, but his header from Marcus Cowley's cross whistled just over the bar. Cowley also nodded the ball goalwards on 68 minutes, though his attempt from a tight angle didn't get past Whalley.

 

Kieran would make an even better save two minutes later, tipping behind Ewerton's header when the Brazilian forward had looked a dead-cert to score. López's subsequent corner was flicked on by Samario to José Luis, and the giant Spanish centre-half powered yet another United header towards the target. Whalley was unable to get to the ball, but the crossbar deflected it away from goal before Kurtovic put it behind for another corner. This time, George Darvill - Tomo's colleague in the centre of our defence - would make light work of Denis Bosnjak's set-piece and ease some of the pressure off our shoulders.

 

George hardly looked flustered all match, although a poor clearance in the 79th minute threatened to put us under the cosh again. Fortunately, Whalley bailed his team-mate out by saving a long-distance effort from López. Kieran then saved an 81st-minute strike from Hall that would prove to be the Red Devils' final match-winning opportunity.

 

Our last chance to cause a shock at Old Trafford came a couple of minutes later, but Pierce pushed Stevenson's drive away to ensure that we would be shut out as well. This goalless FA Cup tie would have to be decided on another day.

 

Manchester United - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

FA Cup Round 6, Attendance 90,993

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Scheepens, Darvill, Kurtovic, Fox, Jorgensen, Hutchinson (Gross), Fraser, Stevenson, Washington, Egueh (Hernández). BOOKED: Fox.

 

We had taken the mighty Manchester United to an FA Cup Round 6 replay, which would be held at Rainham Road on 18 March. That was fine by me - after all, only United's great rivals Manchester City had beaten us at home all season long.

 

While a couple of our league matches were hastily rearranged, everything was put in place for the FA Cup Semi Final draw. The other three teams left in the competition were Manchester City, Brighton & Hove Albion... and Millwall, who were the first team from the third division to reach this stage since 2001.

 

The first ball to come out of the pot was City's, and they were paired with Millwall. That meant whoever won the replay between us and United would get to face Brighton at Wembley, where a place in the FA Cup Final would be on the line. Opportunity knocked.

 

Before our cup replay, I looked at the newest youth prospects at Dagenham & Redbridge. This year's candidates weren't overly impressive in losing a trial match to our Under-18s, though I did sign seven of them to youth scholarships. The most promising of them were perhaps winger Alex Ketchell and forward Paddy Rattle, while another of the lucky septet - striker Alex Hunter - sounded like he belonged in a video game from 20 years ago.

 

We then had a Premier League game to negotiate at Craven Cottage against Fulham. Kenneth Vermeer's Cottagers were still trying to pull themselves clear of the relegation zone, so I was expecting a real battle.

 

15 March 2037: Fulham vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Left-winger Dario Curnis took the game to Fulham in the first minute, dribbling through their defence before forcing a save out of Djibril Abdoulaye. The Cottagers' Nigerien goalie also saved a header from our right-winger Shaun Powell after seven minutes.

 

One of Fulham's wide attackers would us a bit of bother shortly afterwards, with Dominic Turner cutting inside before striking a tame shot that Denzel Gallen comfortably secured. Daniele Gatti went closer to putting the hosts in front after 12 minutes, when he lobbed the ball against Denzel's crossbar. Five minutes later, Daggers captain Mark Washington's corner was headed just over the Fulham bar by Robbie MacKenzie.

 

The next time either team would go close to scoring was when Washington's 34th-minute header was caught by Abdoulaye. As for our opponents, midfielder Daniel Chávez and Gatti each pulled shots wide in the closing moments of a first period that would ultimately end goalless.

 

MacKenzie had a chance to break the deadlock just over a minute into the second period. Unfortunately, Robbie couldn't quite get his free-kick on target after Shaun had been fouled by Fulham's tenacious Brazilian midfielder Catatau. The Cottagers attacked straight from Abdoulaye's goal kick, and they would soon edge in front. Gatti was unsurprisingly involved, flicking Martyn Thomas' lob into the path of attacking midfielder Leo Cortesi, who drilled it into the far corner. You might remember that I'd tried to sign Cortesi when he was a teenager about five summers back, so to see the Italian score against us rankled me somewhat.

 

Fulham were now ahead, but their hopes of stretching their lead further took a hit in the 49th minute, when half-time substitute Pat McCann came off with a thigh strain. Our own half-time sub Tristan Egueh, who'd replaced the disappointing Washington up front, was also hurt in the 59th minute after a strong challenge from Cottagers defender Faisal Mensah.

 

Tristan would soon bounce back in stunning fashion, but not before Gallen narrowly kept out a close-range Thomas shot that could've put us 2-0 down on 60 minutes. The game's second goal was scored two minutes later. MacKenzie found Egueh in bags of space, and Tristan dribbled through unchallenged before firing past Abdoulaye!

 

We were back level at 1-1, but Gatti threatened to restore Fulham's lead almost straight from the kick-off. The American's 30-yard strike rattled the crossbar, and Kenneth Jorgensen - another Daggers sub - had to pass the rebound out of danger before Gatti could reach it.

 

There would be a few more nervy moments at both ends in the closing stages. MacKenzie curled a promising shot into Abdoulaye's hands after 76 minutes, while his replacement Elliot Hernández blazed another effort over after 81.

 

The hosts' last major attack was snuffed out with five minutes to go, when Jon Williams' square ball to Thomas was intercepted by a last-ditch tackle from Daggers defender Tomo Kurtovic. It was thanks in no small part to Tomo that we would leave Craven Cottage with a creditable 1-1 draw.

 

Fulham - 1 (Cortesi 47)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Egueh 62)

Premier League, Attendance 23,697 - POSITIONS: Fulham 15th, Dag & Red 6th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Gridelli, Kurtovic, Darvill, Fox, Powell, Kéita, Fraser (Jorgensen), Curnis, MacKenzie (Hernández), Washington (Egueh).

 

Despite moving a point closer to locking down a top-half finish, results in midweek damaged our hopes of breaking back into the top five. Arsenal and Chelsea both won to pull further ahead of us, although Liverpool slipped up with a defeat to lowly Tottenham Hotspur. I wasn't overly concerned, though, as my thoughts were now on what was arguably our biggest match of the season.

[CFuller]

I'm writing this on the morning after the night before... that night at the Embassy of Ecuador.

Thank you to all those who voted for "House of Flying Daggers" to win 'English Story of the Year' and 'Story of the Year' at the 2017 FMS Awards. I truly appreciate the support you have given to me, and to my stories.

I have never enjoyed either playing or writing about a Football Manager save as much as this one. This is by far my longest-running save, having started it in June 2013. I am currently a couple of months into the 29th season (2040/2041) as I write this, so I'm three-and-a-half seasons ahead of the story.

Naturally, having progressed so far, I've begun to notice a few anomalies and quirks within the save game, though I've not encountered any game-breaking bugs, despite using an edited database. This save still has a few more seasons left in it, but I've now got to the point where I feel the end is not too far away. Of course, it'll be a long time before you readers get to see the epilogue.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that this story has been a huge part of my life. I have what many people would call a 'learning disability', though you probably wouldn't tell from how I act on the forums, and I have been unable to work in recent years. Playing FM and writing fan fiction has stopped me from wallowing into the depths of depression, which - I'll admit - I went through on more than one occasion during my teenage years. The support you've shown to my story has helped me even more.

When the current in-game season has finished, I will be taking an extended break from FM13. One of the main reasons behind that is that I am very likely to be moving house within the next few months. I will be leaving Essex behind and relocating closer to my sister and her husband, who live in Shropshire. I will reveal more details closer to the time.

Once that is all sorted, I will have to figure out exactly what I want to do in my life as a full-time job, whether related to writing or not. As such, in the long-term, I might not be here as often as I am currently. Rest assured, this story will still be regularly updated, as will "An Impossible Man", and "Sometimes Love Is Not Enough" until its conclusion.

Anyway, this is turning into a bit of a ramble, so I'll leave it there. Thank you once again for following my stories, and I hope you enjoy the next installment of this one.

Christopher Fuller (CFuller)
9 October 2017

[CFuller]

MARCH 2037 (continued)

It was 7:45pm at Rainham Road on 18 March 2037. Within the next two to three hours, Dagenham & Redbridge's FA Cup dream would be either made or broken.

 

If we could defeat reigning Premier League champions Manchester United in an FA Cup Round 6 replay, it would arguably be the greatest result of our 45-year history. A mouth-watering Semi Final against Brighton & Hove Albion at Wembley awaited the victors, who would surely be odds-on favourites to move into the Final. It was a dream ticket I really didn't want us to miss out on.

 

18 March 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Manchester United

5-3-2 had helped to shut out Manchester United at Old Trafford, so I reverted to that formation in the replay. Thulani Mazibuko came in at the heart of our five-man defence to replace George Darvill, while five other players returned to the starting XI.

 

United manager Alexander Mejía didn't want to take any chances after failing to win the replay at home, so he fielded arguably his strongest available line-up, even though the likes of José Luis and Sean Jordan were struggling for fitness. Jordan's regular strike partner Moses Penfold was on the bench again, while Emerson - José Luis' usual colleague at centre-half - was suspended.

 

The returning Greg Killick almost fired us into a surprise lead after four minutes, but Manchester United's veteran goalkeeper Carl Baker just about clawed his strike away. The Red Devils went close themselves four minutes later. Marcus Cowley tried to curl in a free-kick from out wide, but Dagenham left-back Colin Fox heroically headed it off the goal line!

 

The match then went into a bit of a lull before the 21st minute, when a foul on Jordan earned Kenneth Jorgensen our first yellow card. United launched another attack from the resulting free-kick, but Daggers goalie Kieran Whalley superbly tipped away a powerful shot from the visitors' Spanish midfielder Pablo López. On 28 minutes, Fox tried to head another Cowley delivery out of our area. Alas, Colin got his diving header all wrong, leaving Jordan free to thunder in the opener for United.

 

We would soon find ourselves firmly under pressure, and desperately trying to keep our heads above water. It took an astonishing double save from Whalley to prevent Cowley or Dudu Ashkenazi from doubling the Red Devils' lead.

 

Kieran's heroics would be for little reward, though, as he was caught off guard by a low drive from Shaun Murray in the 40th minute. The 23-year-old Yorkshireman drilled in a centre from former Huddersfield Town left-back Tarek Taider, and we would go into the break trailing 2-0 at home. Were United about to record only the second away victory at Rainham Road this season?

 

"You've been a little unfortunate, lads," I reassured my players at half-time. "You're giving United a run for their money, but I'm sure we can push them even more and really make this a contest." I then talked them through a change of tactics, saying, "We'll be switching back to the diamond for the second half. United will just attack us all day long, so it's clear that we need to dominate the midfield and exploit any gaps that they leave."

 

In terms of personnel, Jorgensen and Robbie MacKenzie made way for homegrown youngsters Dave Hutchinson and Tristan Egueh. I also moved Mazibuko up from the defence and into a midfield role. My changes would pay off handsomely in the 49th minute, when Thulani closed in on a pass from Murray and moved the ball back into Manchester United's half. Mazibuko then chipped the ball to Egueh, who chested it past centre-half Leszek Michniewicz and half-volleyed in the goal that halved our deficit!

 

Our bright start to the second period continued when we won a host of corners, but we were unable to strike from any of them. Then, after 59 minutes, the Red Devils struck back. Killick muscled the ball off Ashkenazi, but Sebastián Núnez reclaimed possession and skipped past Greg before drilling in a centre from the byline. The Argentine's delivery towards Murray was then prodded into the net by his compatriot Vicente Gridelli, whose unfortunate own goal put us 3-1 down.

 

Vicente had looked shaky through much of the game, so I decided to take him out of the firing line almost immediately. Mazibuko went back into the defence, and Matthew Fraser came on to provide our midfield with a bit more experience. That was my final substitution used up after one hour's play, and with potentially one more to go if we played our cards right.

 

Billy Stevenson almost played his cards right on 61 minutes with a powerful shot that Baker pushed away. When Daggers right-back Patrick Scheepens was booked in the 67th minute for a trip on Red Devils winger Arturo Samario, though, the match seemed to be slipping from us again.

 

Just two minutes after that, the tide turned once more. Stevo broke through a tiring United backline with a weighted pass to Dagenham captain Mark Washington, who drove it beyond Baker and reduced the visitors' lead to 3-2! Game on... again!

 

Occasionally in football, you get moments that make you feel that Lady Luck is rooting for your team. One such moment came our way after 73 minutes. Firstly, Cowley whipped in a corner to Jordan, and the usually prolific American headed it against our crossbar. The ball then deflected to José Luis, but Patrick blocked the United captain's strike before Greg scrambled it away!

 

Another stroke of luck came our way on 82 minutes. Murray's diving header from Cowley's right-wing cross had Kieran beaten... but the ball bounced inches wide of the Dagenham goalie's left-hand post.

 

A couple of minutes later, Scheepens won us a corner off Taider. Although Washington's corner was cleared behind by José Luis, we would have better luck with the follow-up. This time, it was Colin who curled in an outswinger that Thulani flicked home to send the Rainham Road crowd wild! It was now 3-3... but the drama wasn't over yet!

 

When Taider felled Egueh deep in United territory, Washington had the chance to secure us an improbable win in injury time. Mark lined up his free-kick, took a deep breath... and hooked it wide. Nonetheless, with the scores still level, we now had an additional 30 minutes to complete the fightback - and knock Manchester United out of the FA Cup.

 

Though our players were looking fresher than United's and were able to control the tempo a bit more, I was also aware that Mejía still had two substitutions left. Six minutes into the first period of extra-time, the Colombian decided to make one of his changes, bringing on Brazil striker Ewerton as a replacement for Murray.

 

Two minutes later, a clumsy tackle on Núnez earned Hutch a yellow card, and the Red Devils a free-kick in a dangerous position. Former FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Núnez powered the free-kick towards goal... and he clipped the top of our crossbar! Another couple of minutes passed, and then Ewerton went down in the Dagenham penalty area under a slide tackle from defender Tomo Kurtovic. United's players cried for a penalty, but the referee ruled that Ewerton had dived, and so the yellow card came out again.

 

Mejía then made his third and final change, replacing Jordan - a 30-year-old goal machine who'd won virtually every major honour in elite football - with 16-year-old rookie Stuart Thompson. That substitution didn't exactly fill us with fear as we launched another attack in the 103rd minute.

 

A first-time pass from the impressive Hutchinson found Washington, who turned past José Luis and unleashed a vicious strike that flew into the top corner! An array of cheers went up around Rainham Road, as the scoreline was now Dagenham & Redbridge 4 Manchester United 3! We had been 3-1 down at one point, don't forget!

 

The second period of extra-time was all about whether we could hold our nerve. Red Devils captain José Luis tested our resolve as early as the 107th minute, when he flicked fellow Spaniard López's corner inches past the upright. We also survived an effort from United hotshot Moses Penfold, who'd entered the field midway through the second half in normal time but hadn't made much of an impact. The England ace finally got a pop at goal in the 112th minute, but Hutchinson got in front of Ewerton to block Penfold's header. Ashkenazi then attempted a cross that Whalley calmly plucked out of the air.

 

United continued to up the ante late on, even though their megastars appeared to be spent forces physically. When play ran over into a 121st minute, the Red Devils summoned up the energy for one final assault. Thompson found a way past the rock-solid Mazibuko to curl in a left-wing cross and pick out López in the penalty area.

 

Our fans held their breaths as López nodded the delivery goalwards... and Whalley punched it clear. However, the referee then blew his whistle... for an offside call against López. That was it.

 

Egueh fired one last Daggers shot into Baker's hands before the ref finally called time on an unforgettable match. Dagenham & Redbridge had come from 3-1 behind to win 4-3 in extra time, and we were through to the FA Cup SEMI FINALS!!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Egueh 49, Washington 69,103, Mazibuko 85)

Manchester United - 3 (Jordan 28, Murray 40, Gridelli og59)

[after extra time]

FA Cup Round 6 Replay, Attendance 17,848

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Scheepens, Gridelli (Fraser), Mazibuko, Kurtovic, Fox, Killick, Jorgensen (Hutchinson), Stevenson, MacKenzie (Egueh), Washington. BOOKED: Jorgensen, Scheepens, Hutchinson.

 

Back in January, we were just eight minutes away from crashing out of the FA Cup to Yeovil Town. It was quite simply astonishing, then, that we found ourselves in the Semi Finals - and on the road to Wembley!

 

Daggers fans could now clear their diaries for 12 April, when we would face Brighton at the home of English football, for the right to play in the biggest match on the domestic calendar. The Seagulls may have been 17th in the Premier League, but make no mistake - they would be as desperate to make only their second ever FA Cup Final as we would be to reach our first.

 

An international break gave us ample time to recover from our epic tussle with the champions. No fewer than 15 of our players were in action for their countries, with five - American Mark Washington, Croatian Ante Djuzel, Welshman Shaun Powell, and Scottish duo Matthew Fraser and Colin Fox - adding to their senior caps. There was also a first call-up to the England Under-19s squad for the fast-developing Elliot Cook, who scored in a 1-1 draw against current European champions France.

 

Unfortunately, Denmark's Kenneth Jorgensen and Croatia's Tomo Kurtovic had to withdraw from their national squads after picking up minor injuries. They would also miss our next league game, as would third-choice goalkeeper Stephen Palacios, who suffered a bruised thigh, and target man Elliot Hernández, who was ruled out for three weeks with a back strain.

 

That next league match was at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were on the prowl in 8th place. If we could win here, we would move seven points clear of Wolves with a couple of games in hand.

 

28 March 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Wolverhampton Wanderers

Dagenham playmaker Billy Stevenson had the first scoring chance at a rainy Rainham Road after five minutes. Stevo turned effortlessly past Wolves midfielder Morten Larsen before unleashing a shot that was just about pushed away by goalkeeper Barrie Pollitt.

 

About a couple of minutes later, Billy tried to find Mark Washington with a weighted ball into the Wolves box. Wanderers captain Amine Ben Said intercepted it, but a poor first touch allowed Mark to burst through and had a pop at goal. Although Washington's strike clipped the post, Stevenson reacted quickly to stab in the rebound and put us 1-0 up!

 

We then pushed for a second goal in the 10th minute, when George Darvill's header was narrowly tipped behind by Pollitt. Another Darvill header soon afterwards went wide, although Tristan Egueh would force Pollitt into another save on 14 minutes. Six minutes after that, a misstep from Wolves defender Richard Valkucak opened the door for Washington to run onto a through-ball from Stevenson. Mark tried to curl the ball over Pollitt... but a breeze sent it just the wrong side of the far post.

 

That could've been a costly miss, as the visitors launched their first attack on 32 minutes. Darvill did brilliantly to block a shot from Wanderers striker Abderraouf Rouissi, and midfielder Janusz Blaszczyk pulled the follow-up wide. The rest of the half was fairly quiet, though Pollitt did prevent Stevo from doubling his and our goal tally after 37 minutes.

 

Wolves brought on their leading scorer Marcelo Galeano Zarza for the second half, while also replacing the disappointing Valkucak with Italy centre-back Franco Vitone. Neither of manager Josh Carson's changes would pay off. Although the West Midlanders gave our goalkeeper Denzel Gallen in the 51st minute through winger Tom Telfer, we were soon looking to strengthen our one-goal lead.

 

Tristan unluckily chipped a shot just over the bar after 52 minutes, while Mark had a spectacular volley saved by Pollitt a minute later. Washington's persistence would eventually pay off in the 57th minute, as the skipper made the most of a superb slide-rule pass from Egueh.

 

With the score now at 2-0 to Dagenham, Carson made his final change, replacing left-winger Jonathan Gorman with Thomas Saabye. The 23-year-old Dane almost made things very interesting when he headed a Stef de Haan corner against our crossbar in the 59th minute. That was Wolves' best chance to get back in the match.

 

Daggers stalwart Matthew Fraser sent a long-distance piledriver just over the crossbar in the 68th minute. Egueh then came off with a knock in the 77th minute, two minutes before his strike partner Washington killed the contest off with our third goal. Mark ran onto a defence-opening lob from Dave Hutchinson and slammed it past Pollitt for his 20th Premier League goal this season! There was now no way back for a dirty - and very sloppy - Wolves side who'd conceded 20 fouls in total.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Stevenson 8, Washington 57,79)

Wolverhampton Wanderers - 0

Premier League, Attendance 16,717 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 6th, Wolves 8th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Mazibuko, Darvill, Djuzel, Hutchinson (Powell), Killick, Fraser, Stevenson (Salvador), Washington, Egueh (MacKenzie).

 

A third win in four league games mathematically guaranteed our Premier League survival, as if it was ever really in doubt. More importantly, my dream of leading Dagenham & Redbridge into European competition had moved one step closer.

[CFuller]

Premier League Table (End of March 2037)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    EL    Man City               28    20    6     2     73    25    +48   66
2.          Man Utd                30    19    7     4     70    22    +48   64
3.          Chelsea                31    17    7     7     54    40    +14   58
4.          Arsenal                31    16    9     6     58    35    +23   57
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.          Liverpool              31    16    7     8     58    40    +18   55
6.          Dag & Red              29    15    7     7     47    32    +15   52
7.          West Ham               30    12    12    6     44    31    +13   48
8.          Wolves                 31    14    3     14    50    51    -1    45
9.          Rochdale               31    12    6     13    39    36    +3    42
10.         Norwich                29    11    8     10    38    37    +1    41
11.         Derby                  30    11    7     12    37    42    -5    40
12.         Southampton            30    10    9     11    35    38    -3    39
13.         West Brom              31    11    6     14    41    54    -13   39
14.         Burnley                31    9     10    12    51    59    -8    37
15.         Blackburn              31    8     6     17    45    64    -19   30
16.         Fulham                 28    8     4     16    38    46    -8    28
17.         Brighton               31    7     5     19    42    56    -14   26
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.         Tottenham              31    7     5     19    41    73    -32   26
19.         Nottm Forest           31    7     4     20    40    71    -31   25
20.         Ipswich                31    6     6     19    33    82    -49   24

 

[mark wilson27]

Mr Fuller you have fully deserved all the awards that you have won and that you will win in the future (Which I have no doubt)

You are one of the finest writers on this forum and this is one of the best here, no doubt once it has been completed it will surely be a contender for the Hall of Fame.

Anyway back to the story get a couple of wins with your game in hands and Europe could be a very big possibility

 

[JayR2003]

Echo everything Mark said.  Well done!

[CFuller]

22 hours ago, mark wilson27 said:

Mr Fuller you have fully deserved all the awards that you have won and that you will win in the future (Which I have no doubt)

You are one of the finest writers on this forum and this is one of the best here, no doubt once it has been completed it will surely be a contender for the Hall of Fame.

Anyway back to the story get a couple of wins with your game in hands and Europe could be a very big possibility

13 hours ago, JayR2003 said:

Echo everything Mark said.  Well done!

Thank you again. The support I have received on FMS since I started posting "Welcome To Romford" in 2014 has been incredible.

A top-six finish looks on the cards, but even if we can't hold on, we might get into Europe anyway if we beat Brighton in the FA Cup Semi.

[CFuller]

APRIL 2037

The race for UEFA Champions League qualification was heating up. Manchester City and Manchester United were well clear at the top, though there were five strong contenders for the two remaining English places at Europe's top table. Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool - all former European champions - were the bookmakers' favourites, but we were closing in on them. Our east London rivals West Ham United couldn't yet be discounted either.

 

Here were the end-of-season Premier League run-ins for those teams ranked between 3rd and 7th:

 

Chelsea's run-in (3rd place, 58 pts, 7 matches to play)

5 April: vs Manchester City (A), 11 April: vs Norwich City (A),

18 April: vs Arsenal (H), 25 April: vs Fulham (H),

2 May: vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (A), 9 May: vs West Ham United (A), 16 May: vs Burnley (H)

 

Arsenal's run-in (4th place, 57 pts, 7 matches to play)

4 April: vs Ipswich Town (H), 11 April: vs West Bromwich Albion (H),

18 April: vs Chelsea (A), 25 April: vs Blackburn Rovers (A),

2 May: vs Rochdale (H), 9 May: vs Liverpool (H), 16 May: vs Brighton & Hove Albion (A)

 

Liverpool's run-in (5th place, 55 pts, 7 matches to play)

4 April: vs West Bromwich Albion (H), 11 April: vs Rochdale (H),

18 April: vs Blackburn Rovers (A), 25 April: vs Brighton & Hove Albion (A),

2 May: vs Derby County (A), 9 May: vs Arsenal (A), 16 May: vs Manchester City (H)

 

Dagenham & Redbridge's run-in (6th place, 52 pts, 9 matches to play)

4 April: vs Burnley (A), 8 April: vs Norwich City (H), 15 April: vs Southampton (A),

18 April: vs West Ham United (H), 25 April: vs Derby County (H), 29 April: vs Manchester City (H),

2 May: vs Nottingham Forest (H), 9 May*: vs Tottenham Hotspur (H), 16 May: vs Manchester United (A)

* Match to be rearranged if Dagenham & Redbridge reach FA Cup Final

 

West Ham United's run-in (7th place, 48 pts, 8 matches to play)

1 April: vs Norwich City (H), 4 April: vs Southampton (H), 11 April: vs Nottingham Forest (H),

18 April: vs Dagenham & Redbridge (A), 25 April: vs Manchester United (A),

2 May: vs Tottenham Hotspur (H), 9 May: vs Chelsea (H), 16 May: vs Ipswich Town (A)

 

Having two games in hand on Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool was a double-edged sword for us. We had some more time to overhaul the big boys, but having such a packed schedule meant that we were likely to tire ourselves out at some point, especially if we went all the way in the FA Cup.

 

West Ham had a chance to move closer towards the top four by winning their own game in hand on the first day of April. However, they blew it big time, losing 2-1 at home to a Norwich City team who were also looking to make a late surge into the European places. The Hammers could hardly afford any more slip-ups now.

 

Our run-in began with a potentially tricky match at Turf Moor against Lee Clark's Burnley. The Clarets were in 14th place, though they were unbeaten in four games and unlikely to be dragged into a relegation battle.

 

4 April 2037: Burnley vs Dagenham & Redbridge

This match got off to a lively start, and we could easily have fallen 1-0 behind after just two minutes. Burnley striker Peter Edwards found his team-mate Tomislav Gusic in space, but the Bosnian right-winger fired his shot against the post.

 

We also wasted an early scoring opportunity in the fourth minute, with Mark Washington pulling an effort wide. Two minutes later, though, we were celebrating the opening goal. Welsh wideman Shaun Powell picked out Greg Killick, and the midfielder thundered in an excellent drive to put us in the ascendancy.

 

Mind you, we were looking far from assured at the back. In the 11th minute, Edwards found Gusic with another incisive pass that the latter somehow skewed wide from close range. It was becoming clear that our defence had to be tightened up much more. After giving George Darvill some instructions from the touchline, we became noticeably more rigid, leaving Burnley with fewer gaps to exploit.

 

We also gave the Clarets a bit more to think about at their end. Home goalkeeper Souza had to push away a shot from Dario Curnis in the 21st minute, and the Brazilian was lucky not to be beaten by a 28th-minute free-kick that Washington fired against the bar.

 

Then came another potential tide-turner in the 31st minute, as Killick twisted his ankle in a tackle from Gusic. Greg had to come off, and we noticeably struggled without him. Dagenham goalkeeper Denzel Gallen was called upon to save an attempt from Clarets striker Lyle Donaldson on 36 minutes, and though we remained 1-0 up at the break, we were anything but in control.

 

I decided to play into Burnley's hands a bit more in the second half, adopting a counter-attacking strategy. That approach started to pay dividends in the 54th minute, when a Daggers breakaway resulted in us winning a corner that Darvill flicked wide. We were soon back on the defensive, as Clarets captain Li Jingdao tested Gallen with a banana shot shortly afterwards. That was to be Burnley's best scoring opportunity in a frustrating second half for the hosts.

 

George and co continued to keep our defence watertight and give our attackers licence to counter whenever the opportunity arose. Robbie MacKenzie had a crack at the Clarets from a 66th-minute free-kick, though Souza made a comfortable save, much to the home fans' relief. Washington would give them another fright nine minutes from the end, pulling Powell's weighted pass inches wide.

 

There would be no goals for Mark at Turf Moor, but it was his corner that led to us securing victory in the last few seconds of normal time. The captain's hanging ball was met by an unconvincing clearance from Burnley defender Danijel Dedic. Dagenham anchor Dave Hutchinson passed the ball back into the Clarets' area, and Powell's goalward drive was finished by MacKenzie. That made it 2-0, and a fourth win in five league matches for the lethal Daggers!

 

Burnley - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Killick 6, MacKenzie 90)

Premier League, Attendance 17,616 - POSITIONS: Burnley 14th, Dag & Red 6th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Mazibuko, Darvill (Kurtovic), Djuzel, Powell, Jorgensen (Hutchinson), Killick (Fraser), Curnis, MacKenzie, Washington.

 

Elsewhere, there were victories all round for Arsenal, Liverpool and West Ham United. However, Chelsea slipped up on Sunday, suffering a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City that left them more vulnerable to a Dagenham overtake.

 

Meanwhile, the news surrounding Greg Killick's ankle injury was somewhat worrying. Our star ball-winner would definitely miss the upcoming game against Norwich City, and he was now in a race against time to be fit for the FA Cup Semi Final.

 

Our last game before that Semi Final was at home to 8th-placed Norwich, whom we had never beaten in five previous Premier League meetings. With just four days to go until our trip to Wembley, I took a big risk on our Champions League hopes - and our unbeaten home league record - by resting several key players, including Billy Stevenson and Mark Washington.

 

8 April 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Norwich City

Norwich knew that they could go within five points of us with a win, and they took the game to us early on. Former Manchester United striker Luís Soares floated a free-kick just wide of our goal in the 9th minute after his team-mate Antony Joli had been pushed by Orlando Salvador.

 

Our first near-miss came four minutes later, when stand-in captain Colin Fox floated a first-time cross that his Scottish compatriot Robbie MacKenzie flicked over the bar. Shortly after that, a strong challenge from Dagenham midfielder Dave Hutchinson left Norwich playmaker Paul Doyle with a rib injury that he couldn't play through. Canaries boss James Wallace had to make a quick change to his midfield, and we began our first period of extended attacking pressure.

 

Tomo Kurtovic had a header saved by goalkeeper Stuart Burns in the 17th minute, as did MacKenzie in the 19th. Tomo tried his luck again on the half-hour mark, but he still couldn't find a way past City's stalwart netminder. Kurtovic's header from a Fox corner was tipped behind by Burns, and his next effort - also created by Colin - missed the target.

 

Norwich then turned the heat on us, with Denzel Gallen having to make saves from Soares and substitute Garry Steadman in the 39th and 40th minutes. In the 41st, Canaries midfielder Aldin Hodzic played an outswinging corner to Soares, who found his captain Rubén Palma in the six-yard box. Gallen parried the Peruvian defender's effort away, but he was beaten by a follow-up strike from midfielder Neil Cable - a strike that Fox heroically nodded off the line! Were it not for our captain, we would've gone into the break trailing 1-0.

 

I switched formation from the 4-4-2 diamond to a 3-5-2 for the second half, while also replacing right-back Vicente Gridelli with Thulani Mazibuko. I made my next substitution 11 minutes after the restart. Orlando had just been booked following another altercation with Joli, so I took him off and gave the now 18-year-old Elliot Cook his first league outing this season.

 

When the action resumed, Norwich defender Shaun Colbeck headed wide Joli's free-kick delivery into our area. Shortly afterwards, in the 58th minute, Mazibuko ran at the City defence and unleashed a blistering shot that Burns did well to keep out. There was also some assured keeping from Gallen when he dealt with a Soares header on 61 minutes.

 

Neither goalie would look particularly flustered in the final half-hour, though Denzel watched another Joli free-kick sail just over his bar in the 76th minute, while Burns had to make another save from Thulani four minutes later. The game's biggest talking point would come after 81 minutes, when Cook bravely rose above Soares to head behind a cross from Canaries defender Antonio José Alcázar. Soares accused Elliot of unfairly impeding on him, but the referee was unmoved, and a tight match would remain goalless.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Norwich City - 0

Premier League, Attendance 16,921 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 6th, Norwich 8th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Gridelli (Mazibuko), Darvill, Kurtovic, Fox, Hutchinson, Kéita (Gross), Fraser, Salvador (Cook), MacKenzie, Egueh. BOOKED: Salvador.

 

Okay, so our chances of a top-five finish had taken a hit. I wasn't too concerned.

 

We remained undefeated at Rainham Road in the Premier League this season, and our unbeaten run in all competitions since the start of February was now at nine matches. If we could stretch that run into double figures in our next game, it would be because of the most incredible achievement in Dagenham & Redbridge's history.

[CFuller]

APRIL 2037 (continued)

12 April 2037 was the day after my 52nd birthday. More importantly, it was Dagenham & Redbridge's date with destiny. The Daggers were about to embark on their fourth trip to Wembley Stadium since I became manager, but this one wasn't for a Play-Off Final or an FA Trophy Final. Oh no. There was an even bigger prize at stake here.

 

This was the club's first ever FA Cup Semi Final. The only team that stood between us and the holy grail of the Final itself was Brighton & Hove Albion. The Seagulls were second-from-bottom in the Premier League, and they'd already suffered a couple of defeats to us this season. On paper, we were strong favourites to beat them again.

 

Mind you, even though we'd already knocked out Liverpool and Manchester United, I wasn't going to dismiss Brighton as easy pickings. They had some fantastic players, such as club-record scorer Carmine Fabris, and South African winger Taariq Khan - a former UEFA Champions League winner with Manchester City.

 

The Seagulls also had one of English football's best young managers in Cauley Woodrow - a ruthless disciplinarian who's also a true gentleman. Before the game, Cauley said of my work with the Daggers, "Christopher's a miracle maker. He's done tremendous things at Dagenham & Redbridge, taking them from non-league to the Premier League, and now he's building a dynasty with them. It will be a really tough match on Sunday."

 

The previous day had seen Manchester City ruthlessly dispatch Millwall 3-0 in the first Semi Final, so they would be lying in wait for the victors. It was very much a bittersweet day for fans of the lowly Lions, whose relegation from League One to League Two was confirmed later that afternoon.

 

As City were all but certain to qualify for the Champions League via a top-four finish in the Premier League, that meant their FA Cup Final opponents would be set to enter the 2037/2038 UEFA Europa League.

 

With so much on the line, both Dagenham & Redbridge and Brighton & Hove Albion would be going all-in at Wembley. Anything was possible over the next few hours.

 

12 April 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Kenneth Jorgensen, Billy Stevenson and Mark Washington all came back into the Dagenham starting line-up after being rested for our goalless league draw with Norwich City. There was also a recall for regular cup goalkeeper Kieran Whalley, while Greg Killick was named on the bench after being given painkillers to get him through an ankle injury.

 

Brighton boss Cauley Woodrow made three changes to the Seagulls team that had suffered a 2-1 Premier League defeat at Derby County in midweek. Full-back Zema Hilton and ex-Daggers loanee Edmundo both returned to the starting XI on the right flank. Woodrow also gave a surprise call-up to 18-year-old midfielder Ciarán O'Connor, who had not yet made his debut in the PL.

 

Considering that a capacity crowd had watched the previous day's Semi Final, I was a little disappointed that Wembley was less than half-full for this one. Nevertheless, we would give our travelling supporters plenty to get excited about early on. An opening emerged for young striker Tristan Egueh in the second minute, but he could only smash Washington's square pass against the crossbar. That near-miss was followed in the next three minutes by a couple of efforts from veteran midfielder Matthew Fraser, both of which were saved by Brighton goalkeeper Pat Fehmi.

 

We continued taking the game to our opponents, and Fehmi was forced into another save after 13 minutes, when he caught Washington's header from Ante Djuzel's left-wing cross. Shortly after that, Daggers midfielder Stevenson dribbled past a couple of Seagulls defenders, only to put his shot past the post.

 

Though we hadn't yet made our dominance count, we were at least creating plenty of chances, with Stevo causing the opposition plenty of bother. Captain Washington was also doing that to some extent, as he went close to scoring with a 22nd-minute free-kick that Fehmi did well to keep out.

 

Two minutes later, though, Brighton threatened to take the lead against the run of play. Taariq Khan sent a cross from the byline and into our six-yard box, where Albion vice-captain Carmine Fabris looked set to head it home. That was until Daggers goalie Whalley met the Swiss frontman's header with a stunning fingertip save. Khan and Fabris linked up brilliantly again in the 31st minute, but Whalley again managed to hold firm and keep out the latter's header.

 

Brighton would have arguably their best scoring chance just before half-time, when their other striker - captain Leo Veenboer - flicked Edmundo's free-kick inches over. By then, Tristan had missed a couple more glorious opportunities for us, including a half-volley that he cued horribly wide. We headed into the dressing room still goalless, and some of my players perhaps needed some encouragement.

 

"Okay, guys, that wasn't too bad," I reassured my squad in the dressing room. "We're controlling the game very nicely, which is just what I expected of you before kick-off. You just need to be a bit more patient when you're around the penalty area. If we can work the ball into the box more efficiently, and create better opportunities for Tristan or Mark or even Stevo, then I have no doubt that you'll do the business."

 

The players took my advice to heart, creating their best attacking move yet three minutes into the second period. Stevenson found Washington on the edge of the Brighton 'D', and our skipper took the ball into the area. Unfortunately, Mark was dispossessed by Albion right-back Lee Bowden, who had replaced Edmundo during the break. Fortunately, Stevenson was quickest to the loose ball, which he tapped into the bottom corner of Fehmi's net! It was 1-0 to Dagenham & Redbridge in the FA Cup Semi Final!

 

Brighton responded brightly, with Khan winning them a corner in the 52nd minute after his deep cross was nodded behind by Daggers defender Tomo Kurtovic. Khan's corner was then intercepted by Washington, but Veenboer got to the attempted clearance and thundered it just wide. That would be a costly miss from the 26-year-old Holland striker.

 

In the 56th minute, Brighton's Irish teenager O'Connor was knocked off the ball on the halfway line by Jorgensen, whose midfield colleague Karl Kéita then initiated a counter-attack for the Daggers. Moments later, Kenny found Karl with a lob towards the Brighton area. Kéita then slid the ball across to Stevo, who smashed it home to double our lead! We were now seemingly well on our way to the FA Cup Final!

 

As the match entered its second hour, O'Connor looked to make amends for inadvertently playing his part in us going 2-0 up. The Brighton youngster found Fabris with an impressive corner delivery, but Fabris' luck continued to elude him when he flicked it against the top of the crossbar. Woodrow continued to persist with his misfiring frontman, but I'd lost faith in my own. Egueh had missed a great opportunity for 3-0 prior to that corner, and he would soon be replaced with Robbie MacKenzie.

 

Another young Dagger who gave me reason for concern was Djuzel. The Croatian left-back was booked after 67 minutes following a clumsy tackle on Hilton. To his credit, Ante did clear the resulting free-kick from O'Connor, kicking off a breakaway that ended with Stevenson attempting to secure his hat-trick. Fehmi denied Billy his crowning moment by pushing the Yorkshireman's strike away, and he would do so again in the 72nd minute.

 

Woodrow made his second substitution for Brighton three minutes later, replacing Hilton with Costa Rica winger Walter Rojas. I would soon follow that up with a change of my own. Kéita had worked tirelessly all game but was starting to tire, so I sent Killick on to replace him, even though Greg was not at full fitness. After a shaky start to Killick's cameo, I was soon wondering if I'd made the right move.

 

In the 81st minute, a quick counter-attack from the Seagulls led to Veenboer picking out Fabris in a great position just inside our penalty box. Fabris drove it towards goal... and clipped the outside of Whalley's right-hand post. Dagenham right-back Thulani Mazibuko then knocked the ball away from his compatriot Khan to dispel the danger... for the time being.

 

On 84 minutes, a fantastic long ball from Bowden led to another opportunity for Fabris, who scooped it over the bar. At that point, I told my team to back up a bit and give the fast-paced Swiss striker less space to exploit. I also subbed off George Darvill, brought on Patrick Scheepens, and moved Mazibuko from right-back to centre-half.

 

In the 89th minute, Thulani was outsmarted by two of his blue-clad countrymen. Albion midfielder Tsietsi Sono fed the ball through to Khan, who evaded Mazibuko and drilled in his first goal for the Seagulls. More importantly, that goal gave our opponents a ray of hope when there was still just enough time for them to equalise.

 

Brighton gave their all to try and draw level in injury time... but when Khan's last-minute corner was booted into touch by MacKenzie, I celebrated as if it was a match-winning goal. The referee blew his whistle shortly afterwards, giving us the go-ahead to celebrate in earnest! We'd only gone and bloody made it to the FA CUP FINAL!!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Stevenson 48,56)

Brighton & Hove Albion - 1 (Khan 89)

FA Cup Semi Final, Attendance 40,395

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Mazibuko, Darvill (Scheepens), Kurtovic, Djuzel, Jorgensen, Kéita (Killick), Fraser, Stevenson, Washington, Egueh (MacKenzie). BOOKED: Djuzel.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge will play Manchester City in the FA Cup Final on 9 May 2037. Incredible. Just incredible.

 

I was almost lost for words as I spoke to the media afterwards, though I made sure that I gave our two-goal hero Billy Stevenson his due. "This was Stevo's Semi Final," I told one journalist. "Billy's had some really bad luck with injuries this season, but he threw everything at Brighton today. I can't put in words just how incredible a player he is."

 

After that interview, I returned to the dressing room, where my players were still celebrating wildly. Things would then take a rather dark turn, as midfielder Greg Killick - still nursing a twisted ankle - slipped in the shower and cried out in agony.

 

I'd feared all afternoon that Killick would aggravate his ankle injury at some point, and my worst fears were soon realised. Head physio Adam Hutchings assessed Greg's ankle, shook his head, and told me, "It's broken. He's done for the season."

 

Understandably, Greg was devastated. This had been his best ever season at Dagenham & Redbridge, but now he would have to miss the Cup Final, and our final seven league fixtures. He tried to look on the bright side, saying, "At least I got to play at Wembley. Cheers for that, boss."

 

Of course, getting to the Final virtually guaranteed the Daggers a place in next season's Europa League, but that didn't mean we were going to take our foot off the accelerator. We still had a chance to go one better, and qualify for the Champions League by finishing in the top four of the Premier League. To do that, though, we would have to keep on winning.

[CFuller]

APRIL 2037 (continued)

Three days after our momentous victory at Wembley, we visited the rather less grand St Mary's Stadium in Southampton for a showdown with the mid-table Saints. Victory in Hampshire would see us go level on points with 5th-placed Liverpool, and just two behind Chelsea in 4th.

 

15 April 2037: Southampton vs Dagenham & Redbridge

We opened up a lead after just 57 minutes, thanks in no small part to a stroke of luck. Karl Kéita played the ball out wide to Shaun Powell, whose cross took a deflection off Southampton left-back Peter Beardsley and fell to Robbie MacKenzie in the area. Robbie gladly took his golden opportunity, and we were 1-0 ahead... briefly.

 

Just a couple of minutes later, Saints striker Maurice Hockley ran through an open channel in our backline. The England star withstood constant pressure from George Darvill before tapping in a swift equaliser.

 

That wasn't George's finest hour, and he continued to struggle with the threat that Hockley posed to our lengthy unbeaten run. Darvill tried to stop Hockley from reaching a free-kick from Southampton goalkeeper Dimitri Driesen in the 17th minute, only to pick up a yellow card for pushing his adversary. Hockley then beat our usually dependable centre-half to a 23rd-minute cross from Bill Middleton, which we were relieved to see him head over the bar.

 

Southampton captain Jason Pack sent a piledriver wide in the 25th minute before the winger was tripped by Dagenham counterpart Dario Curnis three minutes later. Pack's subsequent free-kick was a big one, as home centre-back Jodey Halliwell broke free from our defence to nod the delivery over Denzel Gallen and into the net. It was now 2-1 to Southampton.

 

After 31 minutes, however, we retaliated with a free-kick of our own. In a carbon copy of the previous goal, Kéita found enough space to get his head to Mark Washington's set-piece and leave Driessen helpless.

 

Karl's first Daggers goal would send us into the interval level at 2-2, although both teams had chances to score their third goal before half-time. Gallen had to push away a strike from Saints midfielder Peter Huisman on 39 minutes, while MacKenzie would narrowly miss out on his second goal a minute later.

 

Southampton made a quick start to the second half, with Hockley and Pack each going close to giving them a 3-2 lead early on. Denzel saved both of their efforts, but he was unable to stop the Saints' next shot in the 51st minute. A free-kick proved our undoing once again, as Holland international Huisman jumped clear of Daggers left-back Colin Fox to flick in Pack's delivery.

 

On each of the previous occasions where a team had moved ahead in this match, the opposition went on to equalise quickly. That pattern continued after 56 minutes, as we drew level from - surprise, surprise - a set-piece. This time, it was Fox's corner that did the damage, as his giant Scottish compatriot MacKenzie rose above Driesen and headed the ball past the Belgian. 3-3!

 

Neither team had looked particularly great when defending set plays, and we could've exposed the Saints' vulnerability through another on 58 minutes. Another free-kick from Washington led to a mini-scrap in the hosts' area before Daggers defender Tomo Kurtovic slid the ball harmlessly towards Driesen. Tomo had not impressed me in this game, and I would soon replace him with Vicente Gridelli. I also subbed my other centre-back George in the 71st minute, though not before Denzel withstood a couple of Southampton shots from Hockley and Viktor Berglund.

 

The Saints went back on the offensive in the 80th minute, but Daggers right-back Patrick Scheepens blocked a free-kick from Nick Foster before tackling the rebound off the Australian winger. We'd need our other full-back to bail us out three minutes later.

 

After playing an incisive one-two with Beardsley, Hockley broke into our area, prompting Gallen to charge at the striker... and bypass him! Kenneth Jorgensen tried to slide the ball off Hockley's feet, but Beardsley was on hand to knock it towards an open goal. The St Mary's crowd were about to celebrate a late winner when Fox saved us at the very last moment, effortlessly passing the ball away as if he'd done it hundreds of times before!

 

Cool Colin would make another big clearance in the 87th minute, booting a loose ball away from a lurking Pack after Denzel had parried a bending effort from Saints forward Fatmir Malaj. After surviving all those late scares, we just about secured a 3-3 draw.

 

Southampton - 3 (Hockley 3, Halliwell 28, Huisman 51)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (MacKenzie 1,56, Kéita 31)

Premier League, Attendance 23,995 - POSITIONS: Southampton 12th, Dag & Red 6th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Darvill (Hutchinson), Kurtovic (Gridelli), Fox, Powell, Jorgensen, Kéita, Curnis (Salvador), MacKenzie, Washington. BOOKED: Darvill.

 

I wanted a nice, relaxing away day out after the stress of the FA Cup Semi Final! That certainly wasn't what I had in mind!

 

We were now unbeaten in 11 matches - our best such run since 2029. Of course, that wasn't quite as impressive as our record of 14 consecutive home Premier League games without tasting defeat this season. (The record actually stood at 16 if you took last season into account as well.)

 

Both of those proud runs would be put on the line over the next three weeks, as we played out our final five home league matches of the season back-to-back. First up were 7th-placed West Ham United, who realistically needed to beat us to keep alive their top-six aspirations. This was the first time we had faced the Hammers since former Lyon and Marseille boss Sanel Jahic replaced Abdoulaye Soumaré as their manager last month.

 

18 April 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs West Ham United

West Ham pushed for an early opening goal through Portuguese striker George Mkhwanazi, who blazed a shot just over our crossbar in the 8th minute. Another audacious attempt from Mkhwanazi three minutes later ended up in the safe hands of Dagenham keeper Kieran Whalley, who was standing in for the ineligible Denzel Gallen.

 

Keeping goal at the opposite end was Republic of Ireland international Seán Rooney, who made a comfortable save from Daggers captain Mark Washington's free-kick in the 15th minute. Rooney then waved another Washington effort wide before West Ham went back on the offensive midway through the half.

 

Forward Armando Raimundo and winger Martín Salcedo each missed the target from distance, but it was England midfielder Ben Clarke who went closest to breaking the deadlock for the Hammers after 22 minutes. The 26-year-old's header from Salcedo's corner skimmed our crossbar, and the Dagenham fans breathed a huge collective sigh of relief. Home relief turned into joy ten minutes later, as United midfielder Moussa Ouattara paid the price for a very sloppy pass. Orlando Salvador intercepted it and played in Washington, who dribbled from the halfway line to the Hammers' area, where he beat Rooney for 1-0!

 

West Ham looked to retaliate straight away through Salcedo, but Whalley managed to palm the Colombian's 30-yarder clear. The visitors would find themselves further behind shortly before half-time. Salvador made another superb interception from a deep Rooney free-kick. He then flicked it towards Washington, who then followed another sublime solo run with another cool finish! Two goals for captain Mark, and 2-0 to the Daggers!

 

With European qualification slipping away from them, West Ham had to try and strike back shortly after the restart. They could've done that through Salcedo on 50 minutes, but Whalley clawed the former Valencia winger's shot away just in the nick of time for us. We then had a couple of chances to go 3-0 up through Robbie MacKenzie. Robbie's first attempt on 55 minutes went well wide, but his next effort three minutes later did at least trouble Rooney.

 

In the 68th minute, with the Hammers no closer to getting themselves back in contention, United boss Sanel Jahic decided to send for creative midfielder Patrik Petrus. The Slovakian substitute's first act was to lunge in on Kéita with a strong but - in the referee's view - fair challenge. Karl sustained a knock and was quickly replaced with Dave Hutchinson.

 

Just nine minutes after coming on, though, Dave was also struggling with an injury. Hutch hurt his elbow in a collision with Mkhwanazi, who piled on further pain in the 79th minute by powering an excellent shot past Whalley.

 

Right-back Patrick Scheepens came on in Hutchinson's place, and Tristan Egueh took over from the tiring Washington up front, as we battled to hold onto what was now a 2-1 lead. That advantage could've disappeared completely had an 89th-minute drive from Raimundo been on target, but we needn't have worried.

 

West Ham captain Nathan Guppy killed off his own team's hopes in injury time, when the defender blocked Thulani Mazibuko's attempted cross to Egueh with his hand. The referee awarded us a penalty, which MacKenzie drilled past Rooney to mark his 100th league appearance for Dagenham with his 30th goal! Three more points went in our bag, and we were now on 60 for the season, with five games left to play!

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Washington 32,45, MacKenzie 90)

West Ham United - 1 (Mkhwanazi 79)

Premier League, Attendance 17,848 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 6th, West Ham 7th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Mazibuko, Gridelli, Darvill, Kurtovic, Djuzel, Kéita (Hutchinson (Scheepens)), Jorgensen, Salvador, MacKenzie, Washington (Egueh). BOOKED: Jorgensen.

 

Karl Kéita was given the all-clear by our physiotherapists after the game, but Dave Hutchinson wasn't quite so lucky. Hutch had damaged his elbow and was expected to be out for around a fortnight.

 

The best news to come out of that derby win was that we had now guaranteed ourselves a top-eight finish. A top-six finish looked all but secure as well, with just four more points needed to make that a certainty. Indeed, there was still a decent chance that we could finish even higher!

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
3.          Arsenal                34    18    10    6     65    36    +29   64
4.          Chelsea                34    18    8     8     57    44    +13   62
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.          Liverpool              34    17    9     8     62    41    +21   60
6.          Dag & Red              33    17    9     7     55    36    +19   60
7.          West Ham               34    13    12    9     49    40    +9    51
8.          Norwich                34    14    9     11    47    43    +4    51

 

We'd already wildly surpassed our expectations this season. Could we really do the impossible - and qualify for the UEFA Champions League?

[CFuller]

APRIL 2037 (continued)

If our outstanding home record was to end at some point this season, it would surely end in our next game. We had originally been scheduled to host Manchester City on 29 April, but because of City's run to the UEFA Champions League Semi Finals, that match was pushed forward by six days.

 

Citizens boss Rogier Molhoek was rather disgruntled, as his team would have just one day's rest following the first leg of their Champions League tie with Arsenal before they travelled to Rainham Road. The scheduling didn't exactly suit us either, as we'd be playing another home game against Derby County just two days later.

 

Although City were in 2nd place, a hectic schedule was taking its toll on both their form and their fitness. They'd lost all their previous three games, and star winger Domenico Papa fractured his ribs in the second of those, at West Bromwich Albion. After racking up an incredible 12 goals and 38 assists, the Italian's season appeared to be over... and that was great news for us!

 

23 April 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Manchester City

With Manchester City missing arguably their best player, I felt confident that we could hit his colleagues with a solid, counter-attacking approach. Our first chance to strike the Citizens on the break came when we won a corner in the third minute. It wasn't to be, though, as Mark Washington's outswinger was nodded just over the bar by Thulani Mazibuko.

 

Both teams then had midfielders pick up knocks in the early stages. City's Mohammed Ali was to come off briefly for treatment after being strongly tackled by our on-loan Manchester United aggressor Karl Kéita in the 7th minute. Five minutes later, Daggers playmaker Kenneth Jorgensen was injured in a battle with Citizens striker Jozef Kral. After being assessed by our physios, Kenny was given the all-clear to play through the rest of the half.

 

This was turning into a bit of a scrappy game, though the attacking action would soon pick up. Another impressive corner from Washington on 22 minutes found Tomo Kurtovic, whose header was kept out of the City goal by keeper Sergio González. Our own gloveman Denzel Gallen would make a decent catch himself five minutes later from Hassan Ben Ayad - the Premier League's leading scorer with 27 goals thus far this season.

 

When the deadlock was broken in the 33rd minute, though, it wasn't by Ben Ayad or any of the Sky Blues' other fearsome frontmen. A quick Dagenham counter-attack caught the visitors off their guard, and when left-winger Dario Curnis' deep cross into the six-yard box was tucked away by his right-sided colleague Shaun Powell, we went 1-0 up!

 

Predictably, though, Manchester City would draw back level in the 40th minute. A poor clearance from Mazibuko led to City steadily building up a passing move before Ali set up an equaliser for Kral. The Slovakian then missed a chance to make it 2-1 to the Citizens in the 43rd minute, shortly before his compatriot Peter Jakubicka did likewise.

 

Manchester City continued to up the pressure in the second half, with Ben Ayad forcing Gallen into a stunning fingertip save just moments after the restart. That said, there were signs early in the second period that we were building up towards taking a 2-1 lead ourselves. After 50 minutes, an excellent chip from goalscorer Powell found captain Mark Washington, whose header was caught by González.

 

We had a major let-off in the 62nd minute, as Citizens centre-back Mike Martin's free-kick bounced behind off our crossbar after Curnis had fouled Ali in a dangerous position. Four minutes later, Dario went from potential zero to hero. The Italian floated a sublime cross to our Scottish frontman Robbie MacKenzie, who towered above City's other centre-half Ciro Latarullo and flicked in his ninth goal of the season! A famous first Daggers win over the 15-time PL champions was now looking like a serious possibility!

 

City responded to falling behind again by having four shots at goal in as many minutes. Firstly, on 69 minutes, Ben Ayad was denied a leveller by a superb low save from Gallen. Denzel also thwarted Martin and Jakubicka in subsequent minutes, but he would finally come a cropper in the 72nd.

 

Kéita clumsily brought down Dario Laraia just outside our penalty area, giving right-winger Diogo Dias an opportunity to float in a free-kick. The Portugal centurion's delivery was so impressive that it caught Gallen completely unawares on its way into the top corner! City appeared to have stolen one point from us, and now they were after two more.

 

Ali looked set to hammer in the Citizens' third goal on 74 minutes until Gallen tipped the versatile 22-year-old's strike over his bar. Thankfully, that was the last major threat our young goalkeeper would have to face.

 

González was a rather busier goalkeeper in the closing stages, as late saves from substitute Tristan Egueh and on-form MacKenzie prevented us from taking the lead again. Though Manchester City had the edge over us on chance creation and possession, we'd pushed them all the way and - for the first time in six meetings - come away with more than just our pride intact. A 2-2 draw gave us a valuable point that edged us above Liverpool and into 5th position.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Powell 33, MacKenzie 66)

Manchester City - 2 (Kral 40, Dias 72)

Premier League, Attendance 17,848 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Man City 2nd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Gridelli (Darvill), Mazibuko, Kurtovic, Fox, Powell, Kéita, Jorgensen (Fraser), Curnis, MacKenzie, Washington (Egueh).

 

As FA Cup Final dress rehearsals go, that wasn't a bad one. We'd done brilliantly to avoid defeat against Manchester City and were now feeling more confident that we could go one step further at Wembley on 9 May.

 

We had less than 48 hours to recuperate after another hard-fought match, and then we were back to business against 12th-placed Derby County. Despite picking up a knock against City, Kenneth Jorgensen recovered amazingly quickly and was given the go-head to start. Kenny was part of a four-man midfield that also included German teenager André Gross, who made his first Premier League start.

 

25 April 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Derby County

Though our record against Derby was notoriously patchy, that didn't stop us from attacking the Rams early. A breakaway move in the ninth minute resulted in us winning a corner after Derby winger Javier de Gregorio slid the ball off the advancing Mark Washington's feet and behind. Corner connoisseur Washington bent his set-piece to the head of George Darvill, whose finish delighted the home fans at Rainham Road!

 

George had outjumped County midfielder Paul Sherwood to head in Mark's delivery, but Sherwood would soon seek early revenge. His 12th-minute through-ball to Mike Husband was drilled just wide by former Manchester City right-winger Mike Husband. Eight minutes later, Sherwood beat Darvill to an excellent corner from de Gregorio, and it appeared that the tables had turned. Crucially, however, Dagenham right-back Patrick Scheepens cleared Sherwood's header off the line to keep us in the lead!

 

Sherwood nodded another de Gregorio corner goalwards in the 24th minute, only for Denzel Galen to push it behind! The remainder of the first period was fairly even, with each team pulling wide a couple of scoring opportunities. Husband and Belgium striker Yassine Allali were both off target for the Rams, whose profligacy allowed us to remain 1-0 up at half-time.

 

Any Dagenham fans who were worrying about a potential County countback would have their fears eased in the 51st minute, thanks to a Derby defensive disaster! Goalkeeper Maguila attempted a first-time pass to centre-back Larry Coburn, who was struggling with an elbow injury that he'd sustained earlier on. Coburn was left in even more agony when Daggers striker Tristan Egueh muscled him off the ball and applied a simple tap-in! It was a welcome return to form for a forward who hadn't scored in any of his previous five games.

 

Washington couldn't join Egueh on the scoresheet when he missed the target in the 53rd minute, though he would set up our third goal six minutes later. Mark latched onto a long ball from Denzel and played it through to Orlando Salvador, whose finish gave us a comfortable 3-0 lead!

 

The Rams were being battered, and a poor free-kick from de Gregorio in the 61st minute suggested that their belief had gone. Come the midway point of the second half, I felt confident enough to take both Mark and Tristan off the field, and play Elliot Cook and Elliot Hernández up front for the final 20 minutes or so.

 

Neither Elliot would add to our goal haul, though Hernández did have a great opportunity saved by Maguila two minute from the end. By then, Derby had already grabbed one consolation goal through an 80th-minute header from Bosnian defender Vedran Pasic, but the contest was still well and truly over.

 

This result saw us lock down a top-six finish and climb up to 4th - one point ahead of Liverpool, who stole a late win at Brighton & Hove Albion, and Chelsea, who could only draw at home to local rivals Fulham. We were also just behind 3rd-placed Arsenal on goal difference, following the Gunners' surprise 2-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Darvill 10, Egueh 51, Salvador 59)

Derby County - 1 (Pasic 80)

Premier League, Attendance 16,694 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Derby 12th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Kurtovic, Darvill, Djuzel, Gross, Jorgensen (Kéita), Fraser, Salvador, Washington (Hernández), Egueh (Cook).

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
3.          Arsenal                35    18    10    7     65    38    +27   64
4.          Dag & Red              35    18    10    7     60    39    +21   64
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.          Liverpool              35    18    9     8     64    42    +22   63
6.          Chelsea                35    18    9     8     57    44    +13   63

 

This really could be happening!

 

Our final two home games are against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Forest, who are both in the bottom three and desperately battling to stay up. If we can take six points from those games, and the three teams around us all slip up, then our final-day trip to Manchester United might become irrelevant in terms of UEFA Champions League qualification.

 

Of course, it could all go very wrong in these last three rounds of league fixtures. As things stand, though, the ball is in our court.

[CFuller]

MAY 2037

This was, without any doubt, the most momentous month in the 45-year history of Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club. 13 years after lifting the Conference Premier and the FA Trophy in the same season, we found ourselves on the cusps of claiming an even bigger prize.

 

Before that FA Cup Final against Manchester City, though, we had to finish off our home fixtures for the Premier League season. We only needed to avoid defeat against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur - both of whom were battling relegation - to complete the entire season without losing a home league match. What's more, a couple of good results would give us a great chance of qualifying for next season's UEFA Champions League.

 

Our recent rise into the top four was down in no small part to Robbie MacKenzie, who notched up five goals in April to earn the Premier League's Player of the Month award. The giant Scotsman's contract was due to expire in the summer, but I'd promised to offer Robbie a new deal if he scored 10 goals in all competitions this season. He only needed one more to reach double figures.

 

MacKenzie was in the starting line-up for our penultimate home clash, against 18th-placed Nottingham Forest. Would Will Grigg's Tricky Trees pull up trees by ending our proud record at Rainham Road?

 

2 May 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest tried to unsettle us quickly, with striker Adam Gazzola heading wide from winger Aleluia's delivery into our box just seconds after the restart. Our first shot at goal also missed the target, with George Darvill glancing Mark Washington's corner just over the bar on nine minutes.

 

Captain Mark was also heavily involved in our next attack in the 13th minute. He ran at the Forest defence before playing the ball through space to Robbie MacKenzie, who only had to beat goalkeeper Joao Paulo for his 10th goal of the season. Unfortunately, Robbie's low drive clipped the post, and his new contract would have to wait.

 

MacKenzie had a couple more attempts at goal in the 15th and 20th minutes, but Joao Paulo denied him on each occasion. The Portuguese keeper also tipped behind a 21st-minute strike from Orlando Salvador before catching Shaun Powell's header from the Washington corner that followed.

 

Then, on 24 minutes, Nottingham Forest found our net against the run of play. Aleluia's free-kick was headed home from point-blank range by Terry Swann... but the veteran striker was well offside, and so his goal wouldn't count. We had another stroke of luck a minute later, when Darvill cleared away a left-wing cross from Aleluia just before Swann could slide it home.

 

George almost became our hero at the other end in the 31st minute, but he headed another Washington corner over the crossbar. A goalless first half then petered out somewhat, though not before Mark received a late booking for a foul on Forest left-back Robbie James.

 

The second period started frustratingly for us, as Joao Paulo made two more class saves to keep Salvador and Darvill off the scoresheet in the first five minutes. We struggled to create any more chances before the hour mark, at which point I decided to change tactics. I sacrificed both my wingers as the standard 4-4-2 was replaced by its narrower diamond variant.

 

The switch would pay off after 66 minutes, when one of my subs turned the match in our favour. Attacking midfielder Billy Stevenson tormented Nottingham Forest by dribbling into their area and then teeing up a shot from Washington, whose 27th strike this season put us in the ascendancy!

 

However, we wouldn't stay in the lead for long. Right-back Patrick Scheepens conceded a free-kick deep in Daggers territory after 70 minutes, and though that set-piece wouldn't directly lead to Forest equalising, it would galvanise them enough to draw level. Visiting captain Arjan Krasniqi found Swann in our area, and Dagenham left-back Ante Djuzel's slide tackle on the latter could only divert the ball to Gazzola, whose strike was deflected in off the post.

 

Ten minutes later, it looked like the Canadian frontman would turn the game completely on its head. Gazzola turned past Salvador and Scheepens from the left flank before hitting the post again... but this time, the upright managed to divert the ball away from our goal. Substitute Dave Blake also missed out on a late winner for Forest in the 82nd minute, but we still weren't out of the woods.

 

When Salvador tripped James deep into injury time, our young Portuguese midfielder picked up a yellow card and gave the visitors one final opportunity to break our hearts. With just seconds remaining, Aleluia swung his set-piece into the box and found Swann. The Rainham Road faithful held their breaths as Swann let rip... and Gallen got his gloves to the shot before Karl Kéita tackled it away from Swann's feet!

 

The referee then blew the final whistle to end a thrilling 1-1 draw. We'd now gone 15 games without defeat in all competitions, and 20 without losing a league game at home, though only by the skin of our teeth.

 

Our rivals for the UEFA Champions League places all had mixed results. Arsenal - with whom we were level on points - were also held to a home draw by Rochdale, but Chelsea jumped above both of us into 3rd after an Alun Harding-inspired 3-2 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Meanwhile, Liverpool lost 3-1 away to Derby County and were now a couple of points behind us.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Washington 66)

Nottingham Forest - 1 (Gazzola 70)

Premier League, Attendance 17,848 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Nottm Forest 19th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens, Kurtovic, Darvill, Djuzel, Powell (Stevenson), Salvador, Jorgensen, Curnis (Kéita), MacKenzie, Washington (Honeyball). BOOKED: Washington, Salvador.

 

Good grief, we almost threw it away there! On paper, Nottingham Forest shouldn't have been a match for us, but were it not for those late interventions from Denzel Gallen and Karl Kéita, they would've spoiled our unbeaten record at the last-but-one opportunity.

 

The players got a real dressing-down from me in the dressing room at full-time, with Patrick Scheepens bearing the brunt of my criticism. The Dutch right-back had played very poorly and was dropped to the bench for our next game against Tottenham Hotspur four days later.

 

This final home match was a crucial one for so many reasons, and not just with regards to the Champions League or those unbeaten records. With two games to go, Tottenham were bottom of the Premier League, and three points adrift of 17th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion with a vastly inferior goal difference. As a lifelong Arsenal fan, I would relish the opportunity to effectively condemn Spurs to their first relegation from the top flight in 60 years.

 

The FA Cup Final was just three days away, so I chose to rest a few of my most important players. Kenneth Jorgensen and Robbie MacKenzie both stayed at home, while captain Mark Washington would only come off the bench as a last resort.

 

6 May 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur centre-backs Luke Bowles and Maciel had a combined age of 67, so it was no surprise that Tristan Egueh quickly exploited their lack of pace. Five minutes into the match, Tristan latched onto a pass from Karl Kéita and turned past Maciel before drilling a clinical strike into the net.

 

Kéita had helped put Spurs on the back foot, and he would cause them more problems in the 8th minute, when he went down after a tackle from midfielder Vladimir Sipcic. The Tottenham players accused Karl of diving, but referee John Johnson saw the incident differently and booked Sipcic.

 

We then continued our aggressive start, with George Darvill forcing visiting goalkeeper Richard Malmborg into a save on 10 minutes. Dario Curnis headed a Shaun Powell cross wide two minutes later, but our wingers would link up to more devastating effect another six minutes after that. Shaun swung the ball in from the right, and Dario got above Maciel to nod it in at the back post! 1-0 became 2-0... and we were soon looking good for an even bigger lead!

 

Elliot Hernández's attempt to volley in a third Daggers goal on 19 minutes was brilliantly turned away by Malmborg. Two minutes later, Tottenham had their first scoring opportunity, which was fired goalwards by Gerald Parsons and caught by Denzel Gallen. Parsons' strike partner Graham Crawford went close to getting a goal in the 34th minute, heading Sipcic's corner into the side netting.

 

Another minute passed, and then Egueh ran rings around Spurs' geriatric defence again to bolster our lead. It was an impressive pass from Matthew Fraser that gave Tristan the freedom to run through the chasm-like gap between the centre-backs and fire a beauty into the top corner. Just like at the AIA Stadium in December, we were 3-0 up against a Tottenham side who looked increasingly doomed.

 

Mind you, if Spurs were to go down, they were to go down fighting. They hit us on the break in the 42nd minute, when Tomo Kurtovic left Parsons in enough room to smash Sipcic's through-ball into Gallen's net. Was that the beginning of a miracle escape?

 

Four minutes into the second half, it looked like this potential Tottenham comeback had legs. Crawford flicked a Malmborg goal kick towards our goal, and a missed interception from Darvill allowed Parsons to go one-on-one with Gallen. Denzel charged forward at just the right time to knock Parsons off the ball, but the two-time England striker won back possession before hooking a shot wide.

 

Darvill wasn't a particularly quick covering defender, and I feared that Parsons would eat him alive if given another opportunity. I therefore took George off, brought on Patrick Scheepens at right-back, and moved Thulani Mazibuko into the centre. Tottenham boss James Marshall would also make an early second-half substitution, though more out of necessity. After 51 minutes, left-winger Jean Maa Boumsong hurt himself whilst tackling Powell. The Cameroonian limped off injured, and on came Daniel Poulsen, whose 54th-minute free-kick was fired wide by Sipcic.

 

Crawford later missed a couple more opportunities for Spurs before the game took a potentially significant turn on 69 minutes. Curnis was already on a yellow card for diving when he appeared to have been brought down in the Tottenham area by right-back Jamie Samuelson, who was on a booking himself. Mr Johnson blew his whistle... and then called Dario over to issue him with another yellow card, followed by a red! After two stupid cautions for unsportsmanlike conduct, Curnis was now suspended for the FA Cup Final!

 

As far as this match was concerned, I now had to adapt to us going a man down, with Joel Honeyball replacing Elliot and slotting into Dario's left-wing slot. 20 minutes might've been more than enough time for a strong team to come back from 3-1 down with an extra man, but Tottenham were a shadow of their former selves. They would only register one more shot on target in this match, and that was Parsons' 71st-minute strike, which Gallen pushed behind.

 

Spurs ran out of steam very quickly, and they whimpered to a defeat that would all but consign them to Championship football next season. Meanwhile, the triumphant Dagenham players took a post-match lap of honour around Rainham Road, where our followers celebrated another great achievement in a season of many.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Egueh 5,35, Curnis 18)

Tottenham Hotspur - 1 (Parsons 42)

Premier League, Attendance 17,848 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 3rd, Tottenham 20th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Mazibuko, Darvill (Scheepens), Kurtovic, Fox, Powell, Fraser, Kéita, Curnis, Hernández (Honeyball), Egueh (Stevenson). BOOKED: Curnis. SENT OFF: Curnis.

 

Excluding the Manchester clubs, no team had gone through an entire Premier League season without losing at home since Chelsea in 2015 - until now.

 

Just two years after moving into our new stadium, we had transformed Rainham Road into a fortress. Only one team - Manchester City in the League Cup - had beaten us there all season long, and you had to go back to 19 April 2036 to find our last PL defeat on home soil, against Manchester United.

 

Premier League Home Record (2036/2037)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
Dag & Red                          19    12    7     0     38    15    +23   43

 

While we were making history, City were playing out a 2-0 home win over Fulham that secured their qualification for the UEFA Champions League. Their victory ensured that we would be playing in Europe as well next season, whether it be in the UEFA Europa League or - if we really got lucky - the 'Big Cup'.

 

Speaking of big cups, another would soon be up for grabs at Wembley... and it really would look nice in the trophy cabinet at Rainham Road.

[CFuller]

MAY 2037 (continued)

The 156th FA Cup Final took place at Wembley Stadium on 9 May 2037. Over the years, 45 different teams had won the oldest cup competition in association football. Dagenham & Redbridge were bidding to become the 46th.

 

It was incredible to think that we had made it this far, considering that we had come very close to being knocked out by Yeovil Town back in Round 3. After surviving a major scare against the League Two Glovers, we battled past Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion to reach our first major final.

 

We arrived at Wembley on the back of an astonishing 16-match unbeaten run that had lasted for over three months. We were guaranteed our first ever finish in the Premier League's top six, and lifting the FA Cup would be a fitting way to cap our greatest season.

 

Unfortunately, we had left-winger Dario Curnis suspended from this match, while midfielder Greg Killick was absent with injury. That said, I had complete faith in the 11 players I'd selected to start the biggest match in the Daggers' history:

 

Dagenham & Redbridge Starting XI - 2037 FA Cup Final

Kieran Whalley (Goalkeeper, age 26, English) I may have preferred Denzel Gallen in the league, but Kieran was still my main keeper when it came to cup matches. This well-rounded custodian had made some key saves in our FA Cup run and would relish playing in the Final against the club where he started his career.

Thulani Mazibuko (Right-Back, age 23, South African) Thulani had more than justified the £6.5million we paid to sign him back in January. The versatile defender would start the big game at right-back, from which position he produced a sublime solo goal on our way to beating Liverpool in Round 5.

Tomo Kurtovic (Centre-Back, age 25, Croatian) Commanding defensive stopper Tomo had played in all our FA Cup ties, bar the initial Round 3 game against Yeovil Town. Though he was sometimes prone to losing his focus, the Belgian-born Croatia international would be a great leader at the back.

George Darvill (Centre-Back, age 23, English) Hometown boy George had made over 250 appearances for the Daggers since his debut eight years ago. You could always be guaranteed consistently strong performances from the centre-half, even if his lack of acceleration did sometimes hamper him.

Ante Djuzel (Left-Back, age 21, Croatian) Ante was the youngest member of our starting XI but was finally starting to come of age. He had become noticeably more disciplined over the last 12 months and had managed to displace the experienced Colin Fox as our regular left-back.

Kenneth Jorgensen (Defensive Midfielder, age 24, Danish) Club-record purchase Kenneth had excelled in a holding midfield role since his arrival from Serie A side Pescara last summer. His strong tackling and pinpoint passing would be key in our transitions from defence to attack.

Karl Kéita (Centre Midfielder, age 22, French) Karl was filling in for the injured Greg Killick as our chief ball-winner, and he was doing it with aplomb. The Manchester United youngster had shown real determination to impress since I brought him in on loan during the January transfer window.

Matthew Fraser (Centre Midfielder, age 30, Scottish) Matthew was coming to the end of his 11th season with us and was a true Daggers icon, at least in my mind. Though his productivity and physical fitness had waned in recent years, he remained a shining example to our younger players.

Billy Stevenson (Attacking Midfielder, age 25, English) Without Billy's brace in the Semi Final, we probably wouldn't have got to this stage. The Yorkshire-born advanced playmaker always had the potential to change games, even though he hadn't played many of them this season due to injuries.

Robbie MacKenzie (Forward, age 28, Scottish) As far as target men went, 6ft 7in giant Robbie was unstoppable in the air, and not too bad with his feet either. He'd served us well over the last four years and was hoping to earn an extended stay, but this was likely to be his final game for the Daggers.

Mark Washington (Forward, age 25, American) Mark had become an attacking freak since taking the captaincy, notching up 27 goals and 15 assists this season. With pace, power, and a predatory instinct, the man from Columbia, Maryland was fast emerging as a complete Premier League forward.

 

If we were to lift the FA Cup, we would have to do something we had never achieved before - defeat Manchester City. Rogier Molhoek's Citizens were targeting a cup treble, having already won the League Cup and reached the UEFA Champions League Final, though they were set to miss out on the Premier League to Manchester United.

 

While we had no previous FA Cup pedigree to go on, City were full of it. They'd won the competition on 12 occasions, most recently in 2030, and had finished as runners-up five times. Though this was the first time they'd made the big game in seven years, it was easy to understand why most bookmakers rated them as heavy favourites to win here.

 

City's form going into the Final was not particularly great - they'd won just two of their previous eight matches, albeit in a very packed schedule. Molhoek was missing the key Italian midfield duo of Domenico Papa and Dino Laraia due to injury, but he could still field a starting line-up chock-full of quality players:

 

Manchester City Starting XI - 2037 FA Cup Final

Reece Flemming (Goalkeeper, age 26, English) Flemming was usually second-choice to Sergio González in terms of goalkeepers at City but would get the nod for cup games. The ex-Tottenham Hotspur gloveman was a commanding presence in goal and not particularly prone to errors.

Álvaro Oliveira (Centre-Back, age 23, Portuguese) Though he'd only played in two league games for the Citizens thus far, Oliveira had performed consistently well during their FA Cup run. With his positional awareness and his calmness under pressure, he would've got into most Premier League teams' starting line-ups.

Mike Martin (Centre-Back, age 33, American) Martin had been a defensive rock since his move to Manchester from Lyon a decade ago. A FIFA World Cup winner with the United States in 2034, he was still one of global football's elite centre-backs, despite his advancing years.

Ciro Lattarulo (Centre-Back, age 25, French) City signed Lattarulo last summer after his contract at Rennes expired, and they'd found themselves a real bargain. The France international was one of the most stringent markers around and had already played in 62 club matches this season!

Bojan Abramovic (Right-Winger, age 26, Croatian) Abramovic was a £22million summer signing from Juventus but had almost exclusively been used in cup games. The explosive right-winger/striker played for Chelsea earlier in his career, scoring against us in our first FA Cup Quarter Final.

Kike Martínez (Centre Midfielder, age 29, Spanish) Martínez was appointed as City's captain on the eve of this season, following the retirement of club legend Martin Klonz. This cultured midfielder had a reputation as one of the most accurate and incisive passers in world football.

Mohammed Ali (Centre Midfielder, age 22, English) Born in the United Arab Emirates, Ali moved to Manchester when he was a child and subsequently came through the Citizens' youth academy. The versatile left-back or central midfielder had played in 95 PL games for his club and won 22 caps for England.

Andrea Broli (Left-Winger, age 31, Italian) Broli was a midfielder by trade, but shifted to the left wing in the absence of his godlike compatriot Domenico Papa. Though not a great crosser or dribbler, the former Inter Milan and Cagliari star could still cause us problems with his technical abilities.

Jozef Kral (Forward, age 27, Slovakian) Kral had scored 52 PL goals for the Sky Blues since they bought him off West Bromwich Albion in 2034. With his rocket-like pace and his incredible shooting accuracy, not to mention his record of 46 goals in 53 Slovakia caps, it wasn't hard to understand why he was feared by many.

Hassan Ben Ayad (Forward, age 29, Dutch) Ben Ayad was a rotation option at Bayern Munich when City signed him last June - and turned him into a monster. The flying Dutchman's record in his first season at the Yaya Touré Arena stood at 43 goals and 11 assists in 59 games, and he wasn't finished yet!

Souza (Forward, age 31, Brazilian) Souza was one of three active PL players with that moniker, but he was by far the best. The ex-Juventus frontman was another player who Molhoek usually saved for cup competitions, where he could lay siege to opposition defences with his powerful shooting.

 

I think it bears repeating that we'd played the Citizens seven times previously and had never beaten them. Still, there's a first time for everything, so why couldn't our 'first time' be on the biggest stage in English football?

 

9 May 2037: Manchester City vs Dagenham & Redbridge

The stirring renditions of "Abide With Me" and "God Save The King" by the crowd before kick-off appeared to bring home the magnitude of the occasion to us. Our defence looked nervy as early as the second minute, when Tomo Kurtovic was beaten to a cross from Manchester City winger Bojan Abramovic by striker Hassan Ben Ayad. Thankfully, Kieran Whalley made a composed catch for the Daggers.

 

Ben Ayad and City would go back on the attack just two minutes later. The Dutchman weighted an aerial ball towards his fellow striker Souza, who headed it past Dagenham right-back Thulani Mazibuko and then broke into the penalty area. Kieran was left utterly helpless as Souza fired the favourites into an early 1-0 lead.

 

Souza would cause us more agony in the fifth minute, when his challenge on Matthew Fraser left our Scottish midfielder with a gashed leg. Matthew bravely played on, but it was soon becoming clear that City were taking a very aggressive approach to this Cup Final.

 

A strong tackle from their vice-captain Mike Martin on our skipper Mark Washington in the 16th minute started off a counter-attack that almost resulted in us going 2-0 down. Andrea Broli's left-wing cross found Abramovic at the back post, but the Croatian volleyed it against the upright. Seconds later, though, Abramovic got past our left-back Ante Djuzel and crossed to Ben Ayad, whose header forced Whalley into another catch.

 

We then countered the counter-attack about a minute later, with Mazibuko bursting forward from right-back. Unfortunately, Thulani's angled shot thumped the post and was then pushed away by Citizens goalie Reece Flemming.

 

The rest of the first half was fairly mediocre, and characterised by a string of serious fouls from our opponents. We didn't test the referee's patience until the 30th minute, when Robbie MacKenzie was booked for a shove on City midfielder Mohammed Ali.

 

While I questioned the consistency of Brad Blakeman's officiating, I was also left doubting whether our attackers were pulling their weight. In the 35th minute, Whalley scrambled away a long ball that bounced towards Washington, who flicked it dismally wide. Billy Stevenson was also off target in the 38th minute with our last attempt before the half-time whistle. We would return to our dressing room with plenty of work to do if our name was to be inscribed on the famous trophy.

[CFuller]

MAY 2037 (continued)

"It's far from over, lads - it's still only 1-0," I reassured my Dagenham & Redbridge players in the dressing room during the break. "We've got plenty of time to turn it around, but I reckon the key will be to exploit those flanks. Matt, Stevo, you've both done all you can, but I need to take you off and give our wingers their time to shine." Matthew Fraser and Billy Stevenson reluctantly came off, with Joel Honeyball and Shaun Powell entering the game in time for the second period.

 

Manchester City boss Rogier Molhoek also used up a substitution at half-time, as winger Bojan Abramovic made way for Diogo Dias. The Dutch coach would soon be compelled to make another.

 

In the 48th minute, while Citizens defender Álvaro Oliveira was being treated for a knock, Dias threw the ball to Dagenham full-back Ante Djuzel for reasons unknown. Ante accepted the gift, playing a one-two with Kenneth Jorgensen before moving the ball to Karl Kéita in the middle of City's half. Kéita then lobbed the ball ahead of Robbie MacKenzie, who flicked it into the penalty area. Robbie's target was captain Mark Washington, who made the most of our opponents' temporary disadvantage by volleying in an equaliser!

 

Molhoek was left stunned, and he took immediate action by replacing Oliveira with Willy Danza in the centre of his defence. Three minutes after that, his charges bounced back by exploiting some real uncertainty in our defence.

 

Dutch destroyer Hassan Ben Ayad beat a shaky George Darvill to a Reece Flemming goal kick, which he flicked ahead of Jozef Kral. Tomo Kurtovic then charged out of his position to try and close Kral down, leaving Souza in bags of space to fire home the inevitable square pass from the Slovakian.

 

The Citizens were now 2-1 up, but the situation could've changed again within moments of the restart, when MacKenzie headed a Honeyball cross against their bar. Then, on 53 minutes, Darvill received a yellow card for pushing Ben Ayad to the ground deep in our half. George's error went unpunished that time, as City captain Kike Martínez sent a free-kick just wide.

 

Less than two minutes later, though, Darvill lost track of Ben Ayad, who broke free and tapped in a through-ball from Souza. That goal was rightly ruled out for offside, but it seemed that our best centre-back had saved the worst performance of his career for the FA Cup Final.

 

If Darvill was struggling to survive on the biggest stage, Washington was thriving on it. After 61 minutes, Mark received a pass from Karl and cut inside from the left flank. Once he was on the edge of Manchester City's area, Washington drilled a shot that evaded Flemming's dive and rustled into the net! For the second time in this match, our captain had come to the rescue with an equaliser!

 

Sadly, just like earlier on, his heroics would be rendered academic within three minutes. To be fair, it took a truly wonderful strike to put us on the back foot for a third time. City's slick passing game was at its best in a beautiful move that ended with Ben Ayad's square ball being fired into the top corner by Wembley's new hat-trick hero Souza. With 64 minutes gone, it was now 3-2 to Manchester City.

 

Three minutes later, City's 16th foul of a dirty game - Kral's needless trip on Daggers midfielder Kenneth Jorgensen - finally resulted in their first yellow card. When Kral upended Kenny again in the 70th minute, one could sense that the referee's patience was being tested to its limits.

 

My own patience with Darvill ran out shortly afterwards, and I replaced the out-of-sorts centre-half with right-back Patrick Scheepens before he could get himself sent off. Molhoek was probably wishing he had such hindsight in the 73rd minute. When Kral was accused of diving in our penalty area, there was little doubt that Brad Blakeman would reach for his red card and reduce Manchester City to 10 men!

 

Kral's exit prompted Molhoek into his final substitution, as he sacrificed skipper Martínez for an extra defender in Vinicius. We now had a clear midfield advantage, so the question was: could we make it count?

 

Our first serious attempt at equaliser number 3 came after 76 minutes. Washington's corner delivery into the Manchester City area found Thulani Mazibuko, who got his head to it... and hit the bar! Flemming them fumbled the rebound before he was redeemed by a goal-line clearance from makeshift left-back Danza.

 

Flemming showed greater composure in the 79th minute, when he got his fingertips to a header from Washington and diverted it behind. Make no mistake, we were putting up a real fight from 3-2 down.

 

In the 83rd minute, though, it seemed that the bell was about to toll for us. Ben Ayad, whose quartet of goals had knocked us out of the League Cup in September, was set to end our FA Cup challenge when he dribbled through our backline and left himself with just Kieran Whalley to beat. That was when our dependable goalkeeper came up with a brave save that arguably kept us alive, if only for another ten minutes or so.

 

We again looked to postpone our execution in the 90th minute, when Mohammed Ali's foul on MacKenzie gifted the latter a free-kick in a fine position. The Scot knew that he would earn a new contract at Dagenham & Redbridge were he to equalise. He took a deep breath, flighted his set-piece towards goal... and sent it inches wide.

 

Never mind, as one final opportunity would come MacKenzie's way in injury time. Honeyball - now playing up front alongside MacKenzie and Washington - laid the ball wide to Powell on the right flank. Shaun then advanced forward and whipped in a last-ditch cross to Robbie.

 

Up rose our 6ft 7in behemoth, who planted his head onto the cross... and struck the crossbar for the second time in the second half! The agony on Robbie's face said it all. Our last chance at salvation had come and gone, and it would soon be confirmed that our first FA Cup Final had ended in defeat. The trophy was heading to Manchester yet again, and not Dagenham.

 

Manchester City - 3 (Souza 4,51,64)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Washington 48,61)

FA Cup Final, Attendance 90,000

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Mazibuko, Kurtovic, Darvill (Scheepens), Djuzel, Jorgensen, Fraser (Powell), Kéita, Stevenson (Honeyball), MacKenzie, Washington. BOOKED: MacKenzie, Darvill.

 

It really had been a valiant effort from the Daggers, but there would be no reward for it. Our journey up the many Wembley steps and to the Royal Box was to end with us receiving our runners-up medals from the guests of honour - King William V and Queen Catherine.

 

Despite scoring two brilliant goals for us, Daggers captain Mark Washington had to walk past the FA Cup, and then watch on as it was lifted by his Manchester City counterpart Kike Martínez. "That'll be me next time, I'll make f***ing sure of it," Mark told me as the Spanish midfielder hoisted the trophy aloft.

 

It put a smile on my face to see the players react so positively to such a devastating defeat. We'd shown that Dagenham & Redbridge deserved to be placed amongst the big boys when it came to English football clubs. Now we had to cement that status - by qualifying for the tournament that only the best clubs earned invitations to.

[mark wilson27]

A cracking performance just a shame about the result. It's looking very good for the future Mr Fuller

[oche balboa]

Unlucky mate. But fantastic effort 

[lusignang]

Long time reader. First time poster. 

What a truly stupendous read! I've just finished this and your Romford tale, a great lesson in sticking with a sustainable recruitment strategy.

You've laid some strong foundations for Dagenham & Redbridge and I hope you continue for a few seasons yet. I think there's a bit more life in this save still.

[CFuller]

9 hours ago, mark wilson27 said:

A cracking performance just a shame about the result. It's looking very good for the future Mr Fuller

2 hours ago, oche balboa said:

Unlucky mate. But fantastic effort 

It was an incredible effort, though I can't help thinking, "What if?" Once City had Kral sent off, I thought we were in with a chance of finally beating them, but we just didn't take our chances.

Incidentally, this was the first match throughout my entire FM13 career that I watched on 'Full Match' highlights (I usually have it on 'Extended'). Lasted 50 minutes from first whistle to last. I think I'll just play future finals on 'Comprehensive'. 

Anyway, it's now time to focus on another Manchester giant. If we can beat United, we're in the Champions League. Sounds easy, right? 

18 minutes ago, lusignang said:

Long time reader. First time poster. 

What a truly stupendous read! I've just finished this and your Romford tale, a great lesson in sticking with a sustainable recruitment strategy.

You've laid some strong foundations for Dagenham & Redbridge and I hope you continue for a few seasons yet. I think there's a bit more life in this save still.

Welcome to FMS, lusignang. I always love receiving feedback from readers for the first time.

I've learnt over the years not to over-exert myself in the transfer market. I always stay well within my budgets and look to keep plenty of money in the bank for infrastructure improvements. I'd like to think my sustainable approach explains why Romford have remained steady over the years (and gradually moved up to the Conference Premier) instead of hurtling straight back to the Isthmian North.

As for the Daggers, there is a lot more to come - at least FOUR seasons more, in fact. I will definitely look to post up one more full season before the year's out, but you might have to wait a while for the rest (I explain why here).

[CFuller]

MAY 2037 (continued)

As we were contesting the FA Cup Final, our rivals for UEFA Champions League qualification played out their penultimate league games. Arsenal jumped above us into 3rd place with a 2-0 victory at home to Liverpool, who were now unable to displace us from the top four. Chelsea suffered a 2-0 defeat at West Ham United, leaving them a couple of points behind both us and the Gunners.

 

Those results left the state of play looking like this:

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
3.    EL    Arsenal                37    19    11    7     67    38    +29   68
4.    EL    Dag & Red              37    19    11    7     64    41    +23   68
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.    EL    Chelsea                37    19    9     9     60    48    +12   66

 

And here was what lay ahead on the final day for the three Champions League contenders:

 

• We - Dagenham & Redbridge - were away to Manchester United, who were to be crowned Premier League champions for the third consecutive season. United were also bidding to complete back-to-back campaigns without losing a home league game - a stunning achievement, considering they'd spent all of last season, and the first few weeks of this, away from Old Trafford.
• Arsenal were visiting Brighton & Hove Albion, who were in 17th position but almost guaranteed to stay up. A point would secure the Gunners' place in the top four, but we would need to better their result to overtake them in the standings.
• Chelsea were at home to 14th-placed Burnley. They could only break into the top four if they won and either we or Arsenal lost. That meant we would ensure we finished above the Blues by taking a point from Old Trafford, although we were realistically relying on Lee Clark's Clarets to do us a favour.

 

If we could finish above both Arsenal and Chelsea in 3rd place, we would qualify for the Champions League Group Stages. Staying in 4th would also get us into the CL, though we'd have to win a two-legged qualifying tie to reach the competition proper. However, if we dropped to 5th, we'd have to settle for a spot in the UEFA Europa League. To be fair, that wouldn't be a bad consolation prize.

 

The next 90 minutes of football would decide whether Dagenham & Redbridge were deserving of a place in Europe's elite cup competition. In all probability, we would have to get some sort of result at Old Trafford to earn our invite. No pressure...

 

16 May 2037: Manchester United vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Manchester United made a positive start to the season finale, almost taking the lead after four minutes. South Korean winger Kim Chang-Hoon, who was signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers in January, turned sharply past our right-back Thulani Mazibuko before blazing a shot over the bar. Shortly after that, we received some news from the AMEX Stadium, where Brighton & Hove Albion had scored an early opener against Arsenal!

 

We would be going above the Gunners if things stayed as they were... but they didn't. After 12 minutes, United striker Shaun Murray pounced on a lethal corner from right-winger Marcus Cowley, volleying it in off the palms of Denzel Gallen. That made it 1-0 to the Red Devils, and a second home goal was soon looking likely.

 

A missed interception from Daggers defender Tomo Kurtovic in the 21st minute saw Tarek Taider's cross find Cowley, who surely would've doubled the hosts' lead but for a last-ditch save from Gallen. Denzel came under more pressure a minute later, when he had to tip away a dangerous byline cross from striker Ewerton.

 

Our poor passing was contributing to United's dominance, but we were given an unlikely lifeline in the 24th minute. Murray went from hero to zero when he pushed Orlando Salvador in the Red Devils' penalty area, and we were awarded a spot-kick! Up stepped Dagenham captain Mark Washington, whose 12-yarder was too powerful for goalkeeper Carl Baker to keep out. Mark's 30th goal of the season drew us back level, and with Arsenal still losing and Chelsea still failing to beat Burnley, we were heading for 3rd place.

 

The situation would change again when Manchester United fired themselves into the lead again after 28 minutes. Further hesitancy from Kurtovic was punished when Ewerton volleyed home a left-wing cross from Kim. Alexander Mejía's champions were in control once more.

 

United won a host of corners later in the first period before finding the net in the 41st minute. Ewerton beat Gallen to head in a deep cross from young right-back Dewi Gray... but the offside flag went up against the Brazilian, and our deficit remained at 2-1.

 

I tried to calm my players' nerves during the interval, in the hope that a more relaxed outlook would allow them to pass more freely. I also adopted the 5-3-2 formation that had helped to shut Manchester United out on our last visit to Old Trafford, for the FA Cup Round 6 tie in March. Sadly, things would go pear-shaped for us within three minutes of the restart. Cowley's attempted cross to Moses Penfold in our six-yard box was clipped into our net off the unlucky Kurtovic's shin, and that own goal left us 3-1 down.

 

Arsenal were still 1-0 behind against Brighton, but that would be irrelevant unless we could peg United back. We were now hoping that Burnley continued to shut out Chelsea, and thus keep us in the UEFA Champions League places. Then, after 52 minutes, news filtered through that Bart Abels had broken the Clarets' resistance, giving Chelsea a 1-0 lead that would bump us down into 5th.

 

It was now critical that we battled back at Old Trafford. In the 62nd minute, two minutes after Penfold hit the crossbar with a header that could've effectively finished us off, we were handed another lifeline. Tristan Egueh's attempted long ball to strike partner Washington was met by an awful headed interception from Taider. That allowed Mark to come in from behind and fire the ball past Baker!

 

With the scores now at 3-2, I changed tack again, adopting a direct 4-4-2 and replacing Egueh with target man Elliot Hernández. Alas, we could not fashion any opportunities to equalise, and we'd left ourselves more open at the back. Penfold almost took advantage when Kim weighted a deadly through-ball to him in the 70th minute, but Gallen got a glove to the England goal machine's effort.

 

Eight minutes after that, Penfold ran onto a lob from United's 16-year-old substitute Craig Aitken. There was no chance of Penfold wasting that opening, and at 4-2 to the Red Devils, we were now destined for defeat.

 

Even when the hosts were reduced to 10 men by a knee injury to Cowley in the 82nd minute, there was little prospect of us launching a late fightback. Our Champions League dream was now out of our hands.

 

After the referee called time on our first league reverse since the end of January, we anxiously awaited the final results from elsewhere. We couldn't now overhaul Arsenal, whose 1-0 loss at Brighton proved academic. What we needed was an equaliser for Burnley at Stamford Bridge.

 

Burnley winger Branko Simeunovic had a chance to make himself an unlikely Daggers icon in the 92nd minute... but the Croatian fired it straight into Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Thomas' hands. The Blues held on for a 1-0 victory that saw them finish 3rd, while Arsenal came 4th, and Dagenham & Redbridge had to make do with 5th. There would be no fairytale ending to a dream season for the unfortunate Daggers.

 

Manchester United - 4 (Murray 12, Ewerton 28, Kurtovic og48, Penfold 78)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Washington pen24,62)

Premier League, Attendance 91,491 - POSITIONS: Man Utd 1st, Dag & Red 5th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Gallen, Scheepens (Gridelli), Kurtovic, Darvill, Djuzel, Mazibuko (Powell), Jorgensen, Hutchinson, Salvador, Washington, Egueh (Hernández).

 

While it was disappointing to miss out on the Champions League on goal difference, I was still delighted with how the season had gone. To finish in 5th place and qualify for the Europa League in only our third Premier League season was an incredible achievement.

 

The Daggers had taken English football by storm, and I was being hailed as one of the best managers in the country. Indeed, when the Premier League's Manager of the Season award for 2036/2037 was handed out, the lucky recipient was Yours Truly, Christopher Fuller.

 

There was also recognition by our captain Mark Washington, whose 25 Premier League goals placed him 3rd in the Golden Boot race, behind only Manchester City's Hassan Ben Ayad and Chelsea's Alun Harding. The American also came 2nd in Goal of the Year for his stunning first strike against Brighton & Hove Albion in February. That wasn't all, as Mark was also named amongst the substitutes in the PFA's Premier League Team of the Year.

 

With European football coming to Dagenham & Redbridge, and Rainham Road being sold out more often than not, I felt it was an opportune time to ask the board to expand our stadium.

 

"We're way ahead of you, Chris," chairman Neil Booth interjected. "We'll announce plans to expand Rainham Road by about 8,000 seats tomorrow. While that expansion work's taking place, we'll be playing our home games at the Boleyn Ground next season."

 

Hold up - the Boleyn Ground?! Wasn't that demolished after West Ham United relocated to the Olympic Stadium in 2016? Erm, yes... and no.

 

I think you need a history lesson. The original Boleyn Ground was knocked down in 2017, and the site lay dormant for a couple of years. That was when ambitious local businessman - and lifelong West Ham fan - Mark Bradbury received planning permission to build a modern 35,000-seater stadium there for his newly-formed rugby union team, the Newham Knights.

 

Construction of the New Boleyn Ground was completed in 2022, and the Knights won promotion to the Premiership - the top division of English rugby - a year later. Newham had since won 8 of the last 14 Premiership titles, along with three European Champions Cups. Bradbury's fortune swelled even more, and things came full circle for him in 2032, when he became chairman of West Ham after buying out Thorsteinn Magnússon's majority stake in the club.

 

Mr Booth was a good friend of Bradbury's, even if their sporting allegiances lay on opposite sides of east London. Bradbury was happy to rent the New Boleyn Ground to the Daggers while our stadium at Rainham Road was being expanded to a capacity of 26,772. Thank you, good sir.

 

There was a little more business to tend to before the players went off on their summer holidays. I handed out improved contracts to several players, including George Darvill, who signed a new four-year deal that increased his wages to a club-record £35,000 per week.

 

There were also new long-term contracts for left-back Ante Djuzel, versatile defender Vicente Gridelli, and attacking midfield wonderkid Orlando Salvador. Orlando's haul of 16 assists was the most by a Dagenham & Redbridge player in a single season since we started keeping records.

 

Goalkeeper Alex Lund, centre-half Bradley Charles and right-back Mathew Davies all turned professional after completing their youth scholarships. I also gave a new deal to 21-year-old reserve forward Peguy Kasongo, whom I will try to integrate into the senior team a bit more next season.

 

We then said goodbye to our trio of loanees, as goalkeeper Denzel Gallen returned to West Ham United, winger Dario Curnis to AC Milan, and midfielder Karl Kéita to Manchester United. I'd tried to sign Denzel permanently after two successful loan spells, but we could not agree a fee with West Ham, so I'd have to look elsewhere for a new first-choice keeper

[CFuller]

Premier League Table (End of 2036/2037)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C/CL  Man Utd                38    27    7     4     87    26    +61   88
2.    CL    Man City               38    23    8     7     88    44    +44   77
3.    CL    Chelsea                38    20    9     9     61    48    +13   69
4.    CL    Arsenal                38    19    11    8     67    39    +28   68
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.    EL    Dag & Red              38    19    11    8     66    45    +21   68
6.    EL    Liverpool              38    19    9     10    68    48    +20   66
7.    EL    West Ham               38    16    12    10    56    41    +15   60
8.          Norwich                38    15    11    12    50    45    +5    56
9.          Rochdale               38    14    10    14    49    43    +6    52
10.         Southampton            38    13    12    13    49    46    +3    51
11.         Wolves                 38    15    5     18    62    66    -4    50
12.         Derby                  38    14    8     16    50    57    -7    50
13.         West Brom              38    13    8     17    50    66    -16   47
14.         Blackburn              38    11    9     18    53    70    -17   42
15.         Burnley                38    10    11    17    56    72    -16   41
16.         Fulham                 38    10    8     20    48    61    -13   38
17.         Brighton               38    10    7     21    51    64    -13   37
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.   R     Tottenham              38    8     7     23    48    88    -40   31
19.   R     Ipswich                38    8     7     23    41    94    -53   31
20.   R     Nottm Forest           38    8     6     24    49    86    -37   30

 

[CFuller]

Dagenham & Redbridge Player Statistics (2036/2037)

(Includes stats from all first-team matches & 3 Essex Senior Cup matches)

 

GOALKEEPERS               APPS    CON  CLN  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Denzel Gallen             27      31   11   0    72%  -    -    0    0    6.94
Stephen Palacios          4       9    0    0    81%  -    -    0    0    6.83
Kayo Rowe                 2       4    0    0    64%  -    -    0    0    6.65
Kieran Whalley            18      22   7    0    69%  -    -    0    0    6.92
OUTFIELD PLAYERS          APPS    GLS  AST  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Roy Anderson              2       0    0    0    73%  1.50 100% 1    0    7.35
Bradley Charles           0 (1)   0    0    0    62%  0.00 0%   0    0    6.90
Elliot Cook               1 (4)   0    1    0    72%  1.61 0%   0    0    6.80
Dario Curnis              16 (4)  2    5    1    76%  3.76 47%  3    1    7.07
Milen Danchev             1 (2)   0    0    0    78%  2.50 0%   0    0    6.60
George Darvill            40 (2)  3    1    6    73%  3.05 36%  5    0    7.59
Mathew Davies             1       0    0    0    85%  5.00 -    0    0    7.20
Ante Djuzel               26 (1)  1    2    2    83%  4.87 25%  8    1    6.99
Tristan Egueh             19 (9)  12   4    1    79%  2.60 49%  1    0    7.15
Colin Fox                 22 (3)  0    2    0    79%  7.32 0%   2    0    7.13
Matthew Fraser            24 (6)  1    6    0    86%  7.00 45%  0    0    7.24
Vicente Gridelli          18 (4)  0    0    0    78%  3.54 -    1    0    7.03
André Gross               3 (7)   0    0    0    66%  2.87 0%   0    0    6.53
Keith Hamilton            0 (1)   0    0    0    100% -    -    0    0    -   
Elliot Hernández          11 (12) 2    2    0    75%  2.04 53%  0    0    6.95
Joel Honeyball            4 (11)  1    0    0    78%  3.61 33%  2    0    6.77
Dave Hutchinson           11 (10) 1    4    0    84%  6.05 25%  1    0    7.05
Neal Jacobs               2       0    1    0    84%  1.30 33%  0    0    7.60
Kenneth Jorgensen         37 (3)  1    3    2    84%  7.95 44%  5    0    7.26
Karl Kéita                12 (5)  1    5    0    82%  8.97 25%  2    0    7.22
Greg Killick              27 (3)  4    3    3    84%  10.1 37%  6    0    7.44
Tomo Kurtovic             36 (1)  3    0    2    75%  2.73 50%  1    0    7.41
Robbie MacKenzie          19 (9)  9    4    1    72%  1.90 47%  1    0    7.23
Thulani Mazibuko          12 (3)  2    1    2    73%  4.55 70%  0    0    7.46
Neil McCann               8 (4)   0    1    0    83%  5.50 33%  2    0    6.99
Niall Nash                1       1    1    1    76%  2.00 100% 0    0    8.60
Ngalim Ould Mafoud        1 (1)   1    0    0    73%  -    67%  0    0    7.20
Ross Pearson              7 (5)   1    0    0    81%  2.84 66%  1    0    6.78
Shaun Powell              17 (11) 3    6    0    76%  3.50 63%  2    0    6.98
Carl Pratt                3 (3)   0    0    0    82%  5.19 0%   1    0    7.05
Velimir Radosavljevic     12 (2)  2    0    0    75%  2.23 75%  0    0    7.27
Tommy Russell             1       0    0    0    81%  2.00 -    0    0    6.70
Daryl Ryan II             1 (1)   0    0    0    78%  9.43 -    1    0    7.05
Orlando Salvador          26 (6)  4    16   2    82%  5.38 43%  4    0    7.46
Patrick Scheepens         30 (5)  0    2    0    81%  5.69 33%  4    0    6.99
Christophe Smith          2 (5)   5    0    1    85%  2.31 50%  0    0    7.32
Kirtys Sterry             1       1    1    1    83%  1.00 50%  0    0    8.60
Billy Stevenson           13 (5)  5    2    1    83%  3.81 39%  1    0    7.43
Axel Svonne               1       0    0    0    50%  -    -    0    0    5.70
Colin Thompson            0 (1)   0    0    0    50%  0.00 -    0    0    5.40
Mark Washington           42      31   15   7    71%  2.67 47%  1    0    7.62

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

 

[neilhoskins77]

Superb season for the Daggers and yourself mate. It's going to be an interesting summer, some of the PL's big clubs have struggled with the Thursday-Sunday schedule that the UEFA Europa League throws up, and your squad management is surely going to be tested in 2037/38. I'm sure you'll find a way to deal with that particular challenge. 

[CFuller]

20 hours ago, neilhoskins77 said:

Superb season for the Daggers and yourself mate. It's going to be an interesting summer, some of the PL's big clubs have struggled with the Thursday-Sunday schedule that the UEFA Europa League throws up, and your squad management is surely going to be tested in 2037/38. I'm sure you'll find a way to deal with that particular challenge. 

After two seasons in lower-mid-table, I was only aiming for a top-half finish! Reaching the FA Cup Final and finishing 5th had completely surpassed all expectations!

You're right about the Europa League. In this save, it's not uncommon for teams who qualify for the EL to struggle at the wrong end of the Premier League table. I will probably need to beef up the squad to avoid that, whether that be by recruiting new players or just promoting them from the reserves.

[CFuller]

JUNE 2037

There were no real surprises when Dagenham & Redbridge's supporters named their Best XI for the 2036/2037 season. Their dream team from an exceptional season consisted of Denzel Gallen, Patrick Scheepens, George Darvill, Tomo Kurtovic, Colin Fox, Greg Killick, Matthew Fraser, Kenneth Jorgensen, Orlando Salvador, Mark Washington, and Robbie MacKenzie.

 

Captain Mark Washington was the resounding winner of the Fans' Player of the Year award. With a record of 31 goals and 15 assists from only 42 matches, it really couldn't be anyone else but the 25-year-old American. Mark really is turning into an exceptional striker, and I'm hoping to sign him up to a new contract later in the summer.

 

There weren't too many gaping weaknesses in my squad, so I wouldn't be making mass changes on the same scale as last season. That said, I perhaps needed to add some more depth, considering that we would be playing in the UEFA Europa League soon. As the FA Cup runners-up, we would go straight into the Group Stage of that competition instead of having to negotiate those pesky early-season qualifying rounds.

 

The board gave me a transfer budget of around £25million, as well as a weekly player wage budget of £500,000. We were spending just over £425,000 on player wages per week at the end of the season, so I was still had plenty of freedom in that sense.

 

My first signing of the forthcoming campaign was 22-year-old Sweden international Axel Rubarth. This lightning-quick left-winger had excellent dribbling ability and a deft first touch. He cost us £2.9million from Young Boys, for whom he made 14 assists in the Swiss Super League last term.

 

I then swooped for a new goalkeeper to take us through our first European campaign. Several targets were considered before I turned to the United States, and struck a £5.5million deal with Los Angeles Galaxy for their 24-year-old gloveman Ben Perk.

 

Perk had made over 200 Major League Soccer appearances for his home city club since bursting onto the scene as a 16-year-old. He was now the first-choice goalkeeper for the USA, who were playing in the FIFA Confederations Cup in Australia. We sent our top negotiator Down Under to thrash out terms and complete the deal.

 

Even though Ben has never played club football in Europe before, and even though there are doubts about his mental fortitude in big matches, I think we've got a top-quality goalie on our hands. He's a fantastic communicator, he's very commanding between the sticks, and he'll rarely be seen out of position.

 

Perk wasn't my most expensive signing this season. That was Enrico Messina - a 21-year-old Italian forward whom we had bought off Inter Milan for £7.5million. For someone who had scored 14 Serie A goals for Inter in the season just gone, that wasn't a particularly high price to pay.

 

Although there was already plenty of attacking firepower in the Dagenham & Redbridge ranks, there were a few reasons why I went in for Messina. Firstly, both of our target men would be leaving us this summer (more on them later), and I needed a frontman who could be physically imposing in the air and on the pitch. Enrico fitted the bill, as he was 6ft 3in tall and incredibly strong.

 

I also needed someone who could dovetail with captain Washington and ease some of the scoring burden off our captain's shoulders. Enrico could be the ideal 'number 10' for our 'number 9' Mark, and with Tristan Egueh and some other exciting young attackers on the fringes, nobody will want to mess with our strikeforce next term.

 

I made one more signing in June - that of a very promising schoolboy by the name of Michael Walters. At 15 years of age, the Port Talbot-born centre-back had already made five Welsh Premier League appearances for his local club Afan Lido and been capped twice by Wales Under-21s.

 

I sensed that Walters had something about him, and so I snapped him up from Lido for £50,000 compensation. Michael will join our youth team once he completes his education back home, and after that, who knows where his career will lead?

 

Those were our early arrivals, but what about departures? The first player to leave us this summer was Robbie MacKenzie, who'd scored 31 goals in 102 league games for the Daggers over the course of four seasons. The giant Scottish centre-forward hadn't quite done enough to earn a new contract with us, and so he moved on to a new challenge at Blackburn Rovers.

 

Our other target man Elliot Hernández is also likely to depart soon, whether it be temporarily or permanently. Hernández cost us £6million last summer, but only provided one goal and one assist in 22 senior matches during his first year with us. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he'd been one of the worst signings, if not THE worst, of my Dagenham & Redbridge tenure.

 

Speaking of poor American signings, that brings me onto Stephen Palacios. Steph played in only three cup matches for the senior team during his time at Rainham Road, where he was our third-choice goalkeeper and basically little more than an expensive mentor. It was a pitiful end to the 38-year-old United States legend's career, as he announced his retirement after being released.

 

Reserve goalkeeper Courtney Gallagher was also let go, along with the youth sextet of Roy Anderson, Ollie Brothers, Liam Hamsher, Djibril Ibrahim, Axel Svonne and Colin Thompson. Gallagher - who'd spent most of this season at Scunthorpe United - was among 13 Daggers who'd been out on loan.

 

Jameel Bailey, Kayo Rowe and Engilbert Sverrisson all returned from Ceské Budejovice after guiding our feeder club to 10th place in the Czech First League. Teenage goalkeeper Kayo had performed reasonably well in the Czech Republic, and I rewarded him with a new contract.

 

Danish striker Jonas Kjaerulff also signed a new long-term deal with the Daggers after coming back from Xerez in Spain. Jonas scored only three goals in 16 appearances for Los Xerecistas, who finished bottom of La Liga, but I felt that he was almost ready for more senior football with the Daggers.

 

Kjaerulff is bidding to become a first-team regular next season, but so is another striker in Toby Faithfull. I was pleasantly surprised to see Toby score 16 Championship goals for Newcastle United, who only just lost in the Play-Off Final to Sheffield United. Could he be the next Daggers prospect to break through?

 

Neil McCann, Martin Thompson and Ross Pearson all played reasonably well in the Championship and will hope to be back in first-team contention soon. I also retain high hopes for 18-year-old ball-winning midfielder Lee Allen, whose year-long tenure at Swansea City in League One was unfortunately hampered by injuries.

 

I can't see Velimir Radosavljevic, Daryl Ryan II or Christophe Smith staying with us for much longer after they all fared terribly elsewhere. I'm particularly disappointed that Irish midfielder Daryl hasn't kicked on since he emerged as one of our most exciting youth prospects a few years back.

 

Our backroom saw a few new additions. The Nigerian former Genk defender Godwin Okafor joined us as a fitness coach, replacing David Wheater, who departed after 13 years of service. Meanwhile, the Under-18s team got a new physio in Ben Wheeler, following his recruitment from Millwall.

 

We also recruited a new South American scout - 34-year-old Brazilian national Odair da Silva, otherwise known simply as Silva. The retired striker had spent much of his playing career in eastern Europe and was most recently part of the scouting set-up at Serbian SuperLiga club Radnicki Nis.

 

In other news, Dagenham & Redbridge announced an exciting new tie-in with Chinese second-division club Shanghai Shenxin. This agreement will help to grow the Daggers 'brand' in China, where we've agreed in principle to tour next year.

 

This coming pre-season will see us go further afield than ever. Our nine-match schedule will include a match in Russia, followed by a three-game tour of the United States. It'll be the first time that the Daggers have ever played outside of Europe.

 

As far as the 2037/2038 Premier League schedule is concerned, our opening fixture will be against Liverpool at home on 15 August. (Don't forget that we'll be renting the New Boleyn Ground whilst Rainham Road is being expanded.) Our first away game will come a week later at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

 

The local derbies with West Ham United have been scheduled for 19 September (away) and 2 February (home). Our first league match against Manchester City since the FA Cup Final is set to take place at the Yaya Touré Arena on 19 December.

 

The new campaign will be more hectic for us than ever, as we try to juggle domestic competitions with the Europa League. Many a Premier League team has struggled to compete on both fronts in the past, so we've got to be careful to avoid a similar fate.

[CFuller]

Romford watch: 2036/2037

Romford were taken over by a Belgian consortium midway through last season before finishing 13th in the Conference Premier. Could manager Dominic Shimmin take them into the top half this time around?

 

Conference Premier: 11th

Romford couldn't have started much worse, as they picked up just two points from their opening four games. The Boro's early nadir was a 4-0 thumping at Matlock Town. They finally secured a win at the fifth attempt against Darlington, but couldn't follow it up in any their next four games. That left Romford bottom of the Conference Premier before a hard-fought 1-0 win at Tranmere Rovers finally got their season up and running. They would eventually climb out of the drop zone after their next victory, against Eastbourne Borough, at the end of September.

 

Wins became a more regular occurrence for Romford in October, although a couple of 4-0 home defeats against Boston United and Mansfield Town hinted at serious defensive failings. That was followed by a run of four losses in five games, and a return to the bottom four by late November. However, a 1-0 revenge win over Matlock set the tone for an unbeaten December that pulled the Boro clear of relegation. Indeed, Romford would lose just once in eleven games until mid-February and rise as high as 11th.

 

A late surge into the play-off places looked to be on the cards for Shimmin's side. Unfortunately, they would soon start leaking goals again, and four defeats in a row effectively ended their slim hopes of promotion. The Boro then drew 2-2 at Maidstone United before finishing the season with four successive wins - at home to Leyton Orient and Blackpool, and then away to Lincoln City and Staines Town. They ended up returning to 11th position, which was two places higher than last season's finish, and only 10 points adrift of the play-off spots.

 

FA Cup: Qualifying Round 4

The FA Cup was a bust for Romford this season. They were favourites to win their qualifying tie at home to Conference South outfit Eastleigh, but surprisingly succumbed to a 2-1 defeat.

 

FA Trophy: Round 4

Romford had better luck in the FA Trophy, batting off Staines, Farnborough and Hednesford Town without conceding a goal. That put them to a last-eight tie with Eastbourne Borough, who held them to a 1-1 draw at Ship Lane despite having a couple of players sent off. When it came to the replay at Eastbourne, it was Romford who saw red, with right-back Craig Innes getting dismissed late on in a 3-2 defeat. The hosts had gone 3-0 up, but retaliatory goals from Darren Cunningham and Innes proved academic as far as Shimmin's men were concerned.

 

Essex Senior Cup: Round 4

Romford entered their county cup in Round 3 with a comfortable 2-0 win at Tilbury. However, they would fall to a single goal in the very next round against eventual runners-up Concord Rangers.

 

Best Players

Former Tottenham Hotspur youth striker Cunningham joined Romford midway through last season, but he really came to life in his first full campaign at Ship Lane. His tally of 24 competitive goals was the most in a single season by a Boro player since the great Duncan Greenwood in 2021/2022. Romford's next-highest scorer was on-loan Charlton Athletic youngster Will Dunne, who just about reached double figures. The top assist-makers were midfielder Steven Studley on 11, and left-winger Carl Callander on 10.

 

With the popular Ruben Coombes now at Canvey Island, Shimmin brought in the experienced George Swan as his new first-choice centre-back. Swan struggled for consistency, as did his fellow central defender Glen Holmes. Left-back Tom Worthington was also largely disappointing, and he looks set to join his old mate Coombes at Canvey next season after nine years with the Boro.

 

The Future

Romford have broken into the Conference Premier's top half in just their third season up. Mind you, it's hard to see Shimmin and co launching a serious bid for the play-offs next term without major alterations to their defence. The manager could also do with another striker to take some of the burden off Cunningham - the Boro were the division's joint-fifth-lowest goalscorers.

[oche balboa]

Great season mate. Hopefully a good run in the Europa League next season. 

 

Have been reading your stories all over again (They are that good) What career did Morath-Gibbs have in the end?

[CFuller]

55 minutes ago, oche balboa said:

Great season mate. Hopefully a good run in the Europa League next season. 

Have been reading your stories all over again (They are that good) What career did Morath-Gibbs have in the end?

I'm afraid that, like most of my Romford players, Garry Morath-Gibbs did not progress to the professional levels. He left Romford in 2023 (a year after me), and spent three years at Concord Rangers and one at Ashford Town before retiring from football at the age of just 26. He would be 36 years old in-game right now.

Curiously, there is a 16-year-old George Morath-Gibbs in the Romford youth team, and he looks a bit like Garry, so I'm going to assume that he is Garry's son.  Mind you, he's not very good.

I have now completed 25 seasons of this FM career. If anyone else would like to ask me anything about the in-game universe or any of my former Romford/Dagenham players, please fire away. 

[CFuller]

2036/2037 season round-up: Part 1

Premier League

Manchester had a monopoly on all the major trophies this season. Manchester United, whose captain José Luis was once again imperious at the back, returned to a newly-expanded Old Trafford and staved off Manchester City to win the Premier League by 11 points. Alexander Mejía's United also wrestled the UEFA Champions League title from the grasp of their local rivals. Mind you, City did claim both the League Cup and the FA Cup, and their new big-money signing Hassan Ben Ayad topped the PL's scoring charts with 30 goals.

 

The battle for the other two Champions League places went all the way to the final day. Chelsea - with PFA Player of the Year Gianni Improta continuing to bang in the goals up front - beat Burnley 1-0 to leap up into 3rd place. Arsenal were knocked down to 4th, but they still finished above surprise FA Cup runners-up Dagenham & Redbridge on goal difference and Liverpool by two points.

 

West Ham United claimed the last remaining UEFA Europa League spot after staving off Norwich City in the battle for 7th. Rochdale returned to the top half after spending close to £45million on new players in the summer, while League Cup finalists Wolverhampton Wanderers ended the season poorly and had to settle for 11th. Meanwhile, Fulham's dismal placing of 16th was their lowest for nearly 30 years.

 

The PL's three worst defences were all relegated after shipping at least 86 goals apiece. Nottingham Forest didn't win their first league game until late in November, and they never really recovered. Ipswich Town's return to the top flight lasted just a single campaign, while Tottenham Hotspur's chickens came home to roost after years of neglect and mismanagement. This coming season will be Spurs' first in the second tier since 1977/1978.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C/CL  Man Utd                38    27    7     4     87    26    +61   88
2.    CL    Man City               38    23    8     7     88    44    +44   77
3.    CL    Chelsea                38    20    9     9     61    48    +13   69
4.    CL    Arsenal                38    19    11    8     67    39    +28   68
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.    EL    Dag & Red              38    19    11    8     66    45    +21   68
6.    EL    Liverpool              38    19    9     10    68    48    +20   66
7.    EL    West Ham               38    16    12    10    56    41    +15   60
8.          Norwich                38    15    11    12    50    45    +5    56
9.          Rochdale               38    14    10    14    49    43    +6    52
10.         Southampton            38    13    12    13    49    46    +3    51
11.         Wolves                 38    15    5     18    62    66    -4    50
12.         Derby                  38    14    8     16    50    57    -7    50
13.         West Brom              38    13    8     17    50    66    -16   47
14.         Blackburn              38    11    9     18    53    70    -17   42
15.         Burnley                38    10    11    17    56    72    -16   41
16.         Fulham                 38    10    8     20    48    61    -13   38
17.         Brighton               38    10    7     21    51    64    -13   37
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.   R     Tottenham              38    8     7     23    48    88    -40   31
19.   R     Ipswich                38    8     7     23    41    94    -53   31
20.   R     Nottm Forest           38    8     6     24    49    86    -37   30

 

Championship

An emotional return to Goodison Park for new manager Ross Barkley inspired Everton to a 17-match unbeaten run that saw them take the Championship title. They'll be returning to the Premier League next season, as will Reading, who bounced back emphatically after suffering the agony of relegation 12 months earlier.

 

Coventry City's late surge into the Play-Offs couldn't get them past 3rd-placed Newcastle United, who won their Semi Final on penalties. The Magpies' win set up a Final meeting with a Sheffield United side who'd knocked out Huddersfield Town. Travis Richardson scored his 30th league goal of the season for Newcastle at Wembley, but his day out was to end in disappointment, as Shaun Barrow's extra-time strike earned the Blades a thrilling 4-3 victory.

 

Aston Villa's promotion charge ran out of steam late on as they finished in 9th. A couple of places below them were Sunderland, who had a very underwhelming campaign after three successive play-off failures. In contrast, Chesterfield were delighted to finish well clear of relegation in 15th, while Corby Town narrowly stayed up to guarantee themselves a third consecutive season in the Championship.

 

York City's first season at this level for over 60 years was a nightmare one. The Minstermen won only six times - and just once at home - as they brought up the rear. Leicester City were also relegated straight back to League One, while Oxford United joined them there, despite club legend Reis Collins topping 20 league goals for an 11th season in a row!

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Everton                46    29    6     11    91    52    +39   93
2.    P     Reading                46    25    12    9     82    55    +27   87
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Newcastle              46    24    11    11    90    68    +22   83
4.          Huddersfield           46    25    5     16    87    58    +29   80
5.    P     Sheff Utd              46    23    11    12    71    55    +16   80
6.          Coventry               46    23    8     15    68    62    +6    77
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Bolton                 46    21    11    14    84    63    +21   74
8.          Watford                46    22    8     16    73    53    +20   74
9.          Aston Villa            46    19    16    11    75    60    +15   73
10.         Stoke                  46    20    12    14    79    66    +13   72
11.         Sunderland             46    18    12    16    75    74    +1    66
12.         Crewe                  46    18    12    16    60    68    -8    66
13.         Luton                  46    18    11    17    71    65    +6    65
14.         Sheff Wed              46    15    11    20    64    69    -5    56
15.         Chesterfield           46    15    10    21    64    85    -21   55
16.         Plymouth               46    14    12    20    63    65    -2    54
17.         Crystal Palace         46    13    15    18    51    66    -15   54
18.         Notts County           46    15    8     23    68    83    -15   53
19.         Bradford               46    14    11    21    59    75    -16   53
20.         Charlton               46    13    10    23    68    81    -13   49
21.         Corby                  46    12    10    24    50    73    -23   46
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.   R     Oxford                 46    10    14    22    51    74    -23   44
23.   R     Leicester              46    10    13    23    52    81    -29   43
24.   R     York                   46    6     11    29    44    89    -45   29

 

League One

Karl Scully - one of the Football League's youngest managers at just 30 years of age - inspired Stockport County to win promotion back into the Championship. County also saw off the late challenge of Leeds United and their more experienced coach Gary Rowett to win the League One title.

 

Cardiff City won an all-Welsh battle with Wrexham to reach the Play-Off Final against Wycombe Wanderers, who'd denied Hull City a second successive promotion. Wycombe were bidding to win a first ever promotion into the Championship, and their dream would come true at Wembley. Homegrown striker Tom Weait's 10th-minute goal was all that the Chairboys needed to give them the greatest victory in their 150-year history.

 

Curiously, Cambridge United scored as many goals as champions Stockport but still finished bottom of the pile! Just ahead of them were a Millwall side whose run to the FA Cup Semi Finals distracted them from their battle for survival. Colchester United and Rotherham United were the other two teams who dropped into League Two.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Stockport              46    22    14    10    64    40    +24   80
2.    P     Leeds                  46    24    7     15    63    43    +20   79
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Cardiff                46    21    14    11    69    49    +20   77
4.          Hull                   46    20    13    13    77    55    +22   73
5.    P     Wycombe                46    20    13    13    60    51    +9    73
6.          Wrexham                46    19    15    12    75    57    +18   72
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.          Wigan                  46    20    12    14    51    45    +6    72
8.          Hereford               46    20    11    15    62    56    +6    71
9.          Bristol Rovers         46    18    12    16    63    63    0     66
10.         Doncaster              46    18    10    18    56    60    -4    64
11.         Leighton               46    18    9     19    61    63    -2    63
12.         Scunthorpe             46    17    12    17    60    75    -15   63
13.         Northampton            46    17    10    19    50    60    -10   61
14.         Dartford               46    16    13    17    47    60    -13   61
15.         Swansea                46    16    12    18    64    65    -1    60
16.         Exeter                 46    14    15    17    60    53    +7    57
17.         Peterborough           46    15    12    19    47    57    -10   57
18.         AFC Telford            46    17    6     23    51    66    -15   57
19.         Kidderminster          46    13    16    17    55    59    -4    55
20.         Oldham                 46    13    14    19    45    54    -9    53
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Rotherham              46    14    10    22    55    67    -12   52
22.   R     Colchester             46    12    15    19    63    78    -15   51
23.   R     Millwall               46    13    9     24    42    56    -14   48
24.   R     Cambridge              46    11    14    21    64    72    -8    47

 

League Two

The battle to win League Two was won by Southend United, who survived a late wobble to end a 27-season exile from League One. Gillingham and AFC Bournemouth each came within two points of the Shrimpers and also went up automatically. The Gills finished their campaign with eight victories on the bounce.

 

The Play-Off Semi Finals saw AFC Wimbledon defeat Shrewsbury Town on penalties after a 5-5 aggregate draw, while Middlesbrough saw off Cheltenham Town 4-1. The Boro were hot favourites to win promotion, but it all went wrong for them in the Final. Andrew Mullin's opener was soon followed by a Sam Austin hat-trick as Wimbledon won 4-0!

 

A terrible start from Barnsley ultimately cost them their Football League membership after 139 years. Port Vale were relegated alongside them, despite a typically valiant battle to stay up. Pre-season title favourites Portsmouth finished just one point above Vale in 22nd, while Birmingham City were also rather fortunate to survive.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Southend               46    26    8     12    63    39    +24   86
2.    P     Gillingham             46    25    9     12    69    42    +27   84
3.    P     Bournemouth            46    26    6     14    77    51    +26   84
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.          Middlesbrough          46    23    12    11    68    51    +17   81
5.    P     AFC Wimbledon          46    20    15    11    65    45    +20   75
6.          Shrewsbury             46    20    13    13    72    55    +17   73
7.          Cheltenham             46    20    9     17    60    51    +9    69
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.          Grimsby                46    18    13    15    58    59    -1    67
9.          FC Halifax             46    18    12    16    51    52    -1    66
10.         Aldershot              46    18    9     19    53    54    -1    63
11.         Kingstonian            46    16    14    16    61    60    +1    62
12.         Bristol City           46    16    13    17    52    46    +6    61
13.         Fleetwood              46    16    13    17    53    52    +1    61
14.         Preston                46    17    9     20    50    55    -5    60
15.         Ashford Town           46    16    11    19    57    57    0     59
16.         Yeovil                 46    15    14    17    40    47    -7    59
17.         QPR                    46    17    7     22    48    63    -15   58
18.         Chester                46    11    19    16    38    53    -15   52
19.         Walsall                46    13    12    21    49    64    -15   51
20.         Southport              46    13    12    21    42    62    -20   51
21.         Birmingham             46    11    17    18    42    58    -16   50
22.         Portsmouth             46    10    18    18    41    52    -11   48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23.   R     Port Vale              46    11    14    21    49    63    -14   47
24.   R     Barnsley               46    10    13    23    39    66    -27   43

 

Conference Premier

Despite a very shaky start, Morecambe took top spot midway through the Conference Premier season. They would ultimately win the title by four points from Mansfield Town and earn an immediate promotion back to League Two.

 

Mansfield's narrow Play-Off Semi Final win over Gateshead saw them book a Final showdown with Hartlepool United. Hartlepool had already seen off Harrogate Town, and Leigh Anderson's 118th-minute winner at Wembley would fire Pools back into the Football League at the third attempt.

 

It was a sorry season of relegation for four clubs based in London or Surrey. Staines Town, Leyton Orient, Barnet and Woking will all be gracing the Conference South with their presence next season.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     Morecambe              46    23    15    8     73    43    +30   84
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.          Mansfield              46    21    17    8     79    53    +26   80
3.          Harrogate              46    21    16    9     68    36    +32   79
4.    P     Hartlepool             46    20    16    10    69    49    +20   76
5.          Gateshead              46    20    14    12    61    40    +21   74
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Torquay                46    19    16    11    71    48    +23   73
7.          Maidstone              46    19    14    13    63    53    +10   71
8.          Forest Green           46    18    14    14    59    48    +11   68
9.          Tranmere               46    18    13    15    54    50    +4    67
10.         Boston Utd             46    18    12    16    64    62    +2    66
11.         Romford                46    18    10    18    49    61    -12   64
12.         Barrow                 46    15    15    16    61    66    -5    60
13.         Lincoln                46    15    14    17    44    51    -7    59
14.         Darlington             46    16    10    20    53    59    -6    58
15.         Blackpool              46    16    10    20    49    59    -10   58
16.         Horsham                46    15    12    19    58    64    -6    57
17.         Swindon                46    13    16    17    52    56    -4    55
18.         Matlock                46    13    16    17    50    54    -4    55
19.         Eastbourne Boro        46    15    10    21    46    55    -9    55
20.         St Albans              46    12    18    16    58    75    -17   54
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Woking                 46    12    13    21    55    70    -15   49
22.   R     Barnet                 46    10    16    20    46    62    -16   46
23.   R     Leyton Orient          46    11    11    24    50    74    -24   44
24.   R     Staines                46    10    10    26    33    77    -44   40

 

Conference North

Promoted: Altrincham (1st, 80 pts), Macclesfield Town (5th, 69 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Marine (2nd, 77 pts), Tamworth (3rd, 74 pts), Bury (4th, 72 pts).

Relegated: Hinckley United (20th, 31 pts), Worksop Town (21st, 30 pts), Cambridge City (22nd, 18 pts*).

* 10 points deducted

 

Conference South

Promoted: Crawley Town (1st, 85 pts), Eastleigh (2nd, 83 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Brentford (3rd, 78 pts), Stevenage (4th, 76 pts), Ebbsfleet United (5th, 66 pts).

Relegated: Yate Town (20th, 40 pts), Farnborough (21st, 34 pts), Sutton United (22nd, 33 pts).

 

Regional Premier Divisions

Promoted from Northern Premier League Premier: Sheffield (1st), Retford United (3rd).

Promoted from Isthmian League Premier: Potters Bar Town (1st), Milton Keynes Dons (2nd).

Promoted from Southern League Premier: Tiverton Town (1st), Weston-super-Mare (2nd).

[CFuller]

2036/2037 season round-up: Part 2

Major Transfers

• Manchester United bought a couple of new strikers this summer - Inter Milan's Massimo Bruscaglia and West Ham United's Ewerton - for a combined £39.25million. Unsurprisingly, they both struggled to displace the lethal strike partnership of Sean Jordan and Moses Penfold, who notched up 59 goals between them this season. The Red Devils' biggest single purchase would come in January, when South Korean left-winger Kim Chang-Hoon arrived from Wolverhampton Wanderers at a cost of £26million.
• Manchester City might have said goodbye to club legends such as Andy Boyes, Martin Klonz and Stuart Lindsay, but manager Rogier Molhoek was now building a new team of icons. Molhoek's top purchase this summer was Dutch striker Hassan Ben Ayad, who bagged a whopping 45 goals following his £20.5million signing from Bayern Munich. City also paid Juventus a combined £37million for a couple more forwards in Bojan Abramovic and Souza, the latter of whom would score a hat-trick in the FA Cup Final.
• Much-loved Arsenal midfielder Willy Wawa left the Emirates Stadium after 13 seasons last summer, returning to his former club Rennes. One man who's hoping to follow in Wawa's footsteps and become a Gunners icon is the 23-year-old Colombian centre-back Jhon Jairo Pena. He enjoyed a solid first campaign in North London after being acquired from Las Palmas for £22.5million.
• Chelsea captain Christopher Khan left Stamford Bridge in the summer, moving to Spanish giants Real Betis for £23million. The now 29-year-old England defender had an excellent first season with Los Béticos, who finished 2nd in La Liga. The Blues also sold striker Javier Montenegro to Liverpool for £14.5million, and then saw the Argentinean score 16 Premier League goals for his new team.
• Another big-name transfer in La Liga concerned the midfield playmaker Peter Maurin, who moved from Sevilla to Real Madrid for £33million. Real's plan must've simply been to weaken Los Nervionenses, as they only gave Maurin eight competitive appearances in his maiden campaign at the Santiago Bernabeu. To be fair, the United States international did miss three months of the season with a torn hamstring.
• West Ham sold their record signing Jérémy Jossic in January after accepting a £23.5million offer from Porto for the 25-year-old French winger. Jossic would quickly become a key player in a Porto side that won their seventh Primeira Liga title in a row - their fifth under the management of Moanes Dabour.

 

Managerial Movements

• Paul Clement's retirement last summer prompted Abdoulaye Soumaré to leave Anderlecht and succeed him as West Ham United manager. Soumaré promised to deliver UEFA Champions League football back to the Olympic Stadium, but he was sacked in March after failing to meet expectations. He was replaced by two-time Ligue 1 winner Sanel Jahic, whom Soumaré subsequently replaced at Marseille!
• Jahic's move to London came four months after his Bosnian compatriot Asmir Begovic was sacked from Fulham in late November. Former Arsenal and Ajax boss Kenneth Vermeer took over from Begovic and went on to oversee the Cottagers' worst Premier League finish since 2008.
• Tottenham Hotspur were just above the relegation zone when they dismissed Steven Davis after the first 10 games of the season. They hoped that James Marshall, who'd taken Ipswich Town to the top flight, would be the man to keep them up. However, the move backfired for all concerned. Tottenham were relegated to the Championship, as were Ipswich under their new manager - former Heart of Midlothian chief Jamal Byfield.
• Ross Barkley's reign as Nottingham Forest manager lasted just six months before he was ditched in favour of Will Grigg. The Northern Irishman's decision to leave Aston Villa did not pan out well, as Forest finished bottom of the PL. Barkley was very much having the last laugh at the end of the season, having returned to his former club Everton and taken them back into the top tier as champions of the Championship!
• Barcelona and Real Madrid each made surprisingly slow starts to the La Liga campaign, prompting them to sack their respective managers Dirk Orlishausen and Ard van Peppen. Ex-Turkey striker Fevzi Acar resigned from Fenerbahce to take over at Barca and eventually lead them to 3rd place. Gianni Bruno fared even better after being lured to Real, as he guided Los Merengues through an excellent run of form that would see them crowned champions!
• Bruno's departure to the Santiago Bernabéu resulted in AC Milan naming Hajduk Split's Lovre Kalinic as their new manager. The Rossoneri went on to finish 4th in Serie A, just behind Napoli, who sacked Alessandro Budel very early in the campaign and replaced him with Luca Lezzerini. Second place behind perennial champions Juventus went to Empoli, who enjoyed a solid first season under new boss Federico Macheda. The 45-year-old had spent nearly a decade cutting his managerial teeth at Genoa.

 

Other Major Stories

• Incredibly, the Premier League provided all four teams in the UEFA Champions League Semi Finals. Holders Manchester City had produced a miraculous escape in the Quarter Finals, recovering from a 4-0 first-leg deficit to knock out Real Madrid 5-4 after extra-time. The Citizens then launched another comeback against Arsenal to set up a Final meeting with Manchester United, who comfortably saw off Liverpool 5-1.
• The all-Manchester decider in Munich would see United dash City's hopes of becoming the first back-to-back European Cup winners since 1990. Sean Jordan put the Red Devils ahead after 26 minutes, and a couple of second-half goals from Moses Penfold completed a convincing 3-0 win for Alexander Mejía's side.
• Bayern Munich finished a full 20 points clear of Borussia Dortmund to claim a record-equalling fifth successive Bundesliga title - their 40th in total. Dortmund were also runners-up in the DFB-Pokal, losing to second-tier Karlsruhe 4-2 on penalties following a 2-2 draw in the Final.
• As Juventus wrapped up their fourth consecutive scudetto, FOUR players shared the Capocannoniere - Serie A's Golden Boot award. Napoli's Pietro Paolo Farris, Crotone's Luca Gennaro Iannicelli, and Empoli duo Emanuel Vico and Per Nielsen all scored 17 goals - the lowest tally for the leading scorer in Italy's top division since 1987/1988. The winner back then was a certain Diego Maradona.
• Former England goalkeeper Boyes retired at the age of 39, having played in a record 707 Premier League matches for Watford, Manchester City, and finally Derby County. His old national team boss Sir Sean Dyche also called it a day, having led Aberdeen to the heights of... erm, 7th in the Scottish Premier League.
• Danny Ceciliano - the most capped male international football of all-time - ended his Costa Rica career in January after an unbelievable 209 caps and 82 goals over the course of 16 years. The 34-year-old winger then won the Swiss Super League with FC Basel before hanging up his boots completely. Other notable retirees included Roma and Portugal defender Pedro Nunes, and former Barcelona midfielders Claudio Aureli and Inaki Arce.

 

Cup Winners

FA Cup: Manchester City 3-2 Dagenham & Redbridge.

League Cup: Manchester City 3-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers (aet).

Community Shield: Manchester United 2-0 Derby County.

Football League Trophy: Oldham Athletic 1-1 Cheltenham Town (3-2 penalties).

 

UEFA Champions League: Manchester United 3-0 Manchester City - at Olympiastadion, Munich.

UEFA Europa League: Benfica 2-1 Anji Ramenskoye - at Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna.

UEFA Super Cup: Manchester United 5-3 Anderlecht (aet) - at Stade de Geneve, Geneva.

FIFA Club World Championship: Sao Paulo 3-0 Manchester City - at BMO Field, Toronto.

 

Major European Leagues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Award Winners

PFA Player of the Year: Gianni Improta (Chelsea).

PFA Young Player of the Year: Maurice Hockley (Southampton).

FWA Footballer of the Year: Domenico Papa (Manchester City).

Premier League Manager of the Season: Christopher Fuller (Dagenham & Redbridge).

PFA Premier League Team of the Year:

• Carl Baker (Manchester United and Wales)
• Emerson (Manchester United and Brazil)
• Nathan Guppy (West Ham United and England)
• José Luis (Manchester United and Spain)
• Tarek Taider (Manchester United and Tunisia)
• Dudu Ashkenazi (Manchester United and Israel)
• Liam Wood (Arsenal and England)
• Mohammed Ali (Manchester City and England)
• Domenico Papa (Manchester City and Italy)
• Hassan Ben Ayad (Manchester City and Holland)
• Gianni Improta (Chelsea and Italy)

 

FIFA Ballon d'Or: Andrzej Wolanski (Real Betis).

World Soccer World Player of the Year: Andrzej Wolanski (Real Betis).

European Golden Shoe: William Schmidt (Real Madrid).

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

FIFA/FIFPro World XI:

• Ander Bengoetxea (Paris Saint-Germain and Spain)
• Alois Backer (Juventus and Germany)
• Nathan Guppy (West Ham United and England)
• José Luis (Manchester United and Spain)
• Juan Manuel Abad (Real Sociedad and Italy)
• Tomeu (Marseille and Spain)
• Rafael Pinau (Lyon and France)
• Matteo Caurla (Paris Saint-Germain and Italy)
• Andrzej Wolanski (Real Betis and Germany)
• Adrián Gil (Bayern Munich and Argentina)
• Clive Johnson (Arsenal and England)

[mark wilson27]

A well deserved Manager of the Year, and its also good too see Man.Utd thrashing Liverpool then beating Citeh. A very good story all round 

[CFuller]

On 10/21/2017 at 13:28, mark wilson27 said:

A well deserved Manager of the Year, and its also good too see Man.Utd thrashing Liverpool then beating Citeh. A very good story all round 

United were absolutely incredible last season. Don't count on them retaining the Champions League next year, though. No team has successfully defended the European Cup at any point in this save - unlike in real life, AC Milan's record as the last back-to-back winners in 1989 and 1990 still stands!

[CFuller]

JULY 2037

How on Earth do you follow up a season like our last one? Dagenham & Redbridge went all the way to the FA Cup Final, and then finished 5th in the Premier League to secure qualification for the 2037/2038 UEFA Europa League. Indeed, had it not been for a solitary Chelsea goal on the final day, we would've been playing in the UEFA Champions League.

 

Realistically, I know that a repeat of our heroics from the previous campaign is unlikely to happen this time around. More PL teams will be looking to up their game against us, and it remains to be seen whether our squad can cope with the rigours of competing on multiple fronts, at least during the first half of the season.

 

My aims for this season are rather modest. Another top-half finish, and a decent run in the Europa League, would suit me to the ground. It's probably too early for us to be thinking about the Champions League.

 

An awful lot had changed at Dagenham & Redbridge since I took charge of a faltering Conference Premier side 15 years ago. In fact, our team was barely recognisable from that which won promotion to League Two barely a decade ago. Only Joel Honeyball and Matthew Fraser remained from our days in the fourth tier.

 

This was Scotland midfielder Fraser's 12th - and possibly final - season with the Daggers. Unfortunately, Matthew would miss the whole of pre-season after injuring his hip in training. Don't expect to see him again until September at the earliest.

 

Before our pre-season kicked off in earnest, I managed to free up some space in our ranks by moving on a couple of surplus strikers. Elliot Hernández - our £6million dud - was sent on a season-long loan to Scottish Premier League side Celtic, who'll pay his wages in full and give us an additional £70,000 per month. Good Bhoys.

 

Scotland Under-21s forward Christophe Smith also left the Daggers - for good. Smith was given the option of joining either Sheffield United or Sheffield Wednesday. Unsurprisingly, he chose the newly-promoted Premier League club, completing a £750,000 transfer to United.

 

I then made my fifth signing of the summer. Joining Axel Rubarth, Michael Walters, Ben Perk and Enrico Messina at Dagenham would be a very exciting 16-year-old attacking midfielder in Michal Twardzik. Michal was brought in from Czech First League giants Mladá Boleslav for £800,000, and he could develop into an awesome player if our scouts' predictions are on the money.

 

With that transfer administration dealt with, I could now concentrate on our opening pre-season friendly against Leighton Town. Our Bedfordshire-based feeder club broke into the top half of League One last season, with ex-Daggers Ollie Reynolds and Derek Wright leading their frontline.

 

7 July 2037: Leighton Town vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Both of our wingers had headers at goal in the opening stages. Shaun Powell's effort in the fourth minute went wide, but three minutes after that, the Welsh right-winger set up a great opportunity for his new colleague Axel Rubarth. Unfortunately, Axel's header from Shaun's cross rattled the Leighton bar and deflected clear.

 

Our new-look striking duo were also unable to open the scoring early on, as Mark Washington had a 10th-minute attempt saved by Town captain Micky Ormondroyd before Enrico Messina scuffed an effort wide in the 12th.

 

At the other end, winger Tommy Cunningham and striker Derek Wright both spurned chances to fire Leighton into the lead. Their team-mate Ian Robertson would not be so wasteful in the 28th minute. The Glaswegian right-winger dribbled pat our left-back Ante Djuzel and through a channel before smacking in a shot at Dagenham keeper Ben Perk's near post.

 

Leighton were 1-0 up... at least until our own right-wing wizard rectified the scoreline just two minutes later. A fabulous run from Powell was followed by a clinical finish beyond Ormondroyd that drew us level. Things could've got even better for us in the 38th minute, but Messina put a shot just the wrong side of the post.

 

I replaced Enrico with Tristan Egueh during the interval, and that change would quickly pay off. Although Tristan dragged wide an opportunity to score in the first minute of the second half, he wouldn't spurn his next opening. Captain Washington punished a sluggish Leighton defence by weighting a perfect pass for Powell, who then squared it for Egueh. The England Under-21s striker drilled it home, and we were leading 2-1 after 55 minutes.

 

Tristan nearly followed that goal up with an assist for Mark shortly after the kick-off, but Washington could only head his lob into Ormondroyd's hands. There were further misses from our frontmen before Reds goalscorer Robertson swerved wide a potential equaliser in the 62nd minute.

 

Town hardly threatened us again, and when former Liverpool midfielder Jake Bailey damaged his kneecap in the 85th minute, their last realistic chance of salvaging a result ebbed away. Leighton also picked up a couple of injury-time yellow cards before the final whistle blew on our first pre-season victory over our feeder club since 2031.

 

Leighton Town - 1 (Robertson 28)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Powell 30, Egueh 55)

Friendly, Attendance 6,059

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk (Whalley), Pearson (Scheepens), Bailey (Radosavljevic), Kurtovic (Gridelli), Djuzel (Fox), Powell (Danchev), Allen (Gross), McCann (Salvador), Rubarth (Honeyball), Messina (Egueh), Washington (Cook). BOOKED: Djuzel.

 

I loaned out a couple of reserve players to Leighton after that match. Left-back Carl Pratt went to Bell Close for the full season, and striker Elliot Cook would be playing there until January.

 

André Gross will also be spending this coming season away from Dagenham. The 19-year-old midfielder returned to Germany to begin a year-long loan at Bundesliga side St Pauli. Another midfielder - the transfer-listed Daryl Ryan II - has been loaned to Forest Green Rovers in the Conference Premier until his contract expires next summer.

 

Next up for the Daggers was our first ever trip to eastern Europe - in fact, we travelled about as far east in Europe as you could get. Not many Premier League clubs had even contemplated going to the Russian republic of Chechnya for the summer, but we liked to do things differently at Dagenham & Redbridge.

 

When Russian Premier League club Terek Grozny invited us to the Akhmat-Arena for a pre-season friendly, I couldn't really say no. For one thing, this match would help us to prepare for some potential long away days in Europe. For another, we would be reunited with our former loanee Baldur Hreidarsson, who was in his third season at Terek and had developed into a fine top-flight striker.

 

10 July 2037: Terek Grozny vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Baldur Hreidarsson was at the heart of several early attacks from Terek Grozny. The Iceland forward fired a couple of excellent shots towards our goal in the 4th and 8th minute, only to be denied on each occasion by his old mate Kieran Whalley. In the 9th minute, however, Dagenham's goalkeeper was almost caught out by Terek's other striker. Vitaly Kravchenko beat Whalley to a right-wing cross from Careca, and only the crossbar prevented us from falling behind.

 

The hosts' bar would also take a beating after 18 minutes, as Tristan Egueh's header from Billy Stevenson's corner ricocheted off the woodwork. Tristan might have been unfortunately denied the opening goal, but Billy would fare better three minutes later. Ante Djuzel's pass into the Terek area was knocked on by Orlando Salvador towards Stevo, whose low drive squirmed underneath the dive of goalkeeper Maicon and went in off the post.

 

A 1-0 lead then looked like becoming 2-0 in the 33rd minute. Sadly, Egueh had an attempt blocked by Terek centre-half Yury Pivovarov, and Jonas Kjaerulff's follow-up cross was hacked away by left-back Paul Ismodes.

 

The remainder of the first period would see some very nervy moments at our end. We successfully defended against a couple of corners, but very nearly fell short in the 41st minute. On that occasion, Ismodes had a header parried by Whalley, and Djuzel then heroically volleyed the ball away from our goal line to keep us in the ascendancy.

 

A slow second half ignited into life after 60 minutes. Our substitute right-back Patrick Scheepens evaded a slide tackle from Terek Grozny left-winger Alexandr Buznikin and curled a cross towards Enrico Messina. Sadly, Enrico - or 'Ricky', as many of his new team-mates had christened him - would have to wait a bit longer for his first Daggers goal. Maicon tipped the Italian's header against the bar. There was another Dagenham near-miss three minutes later from Dave Hutchinson, who met Engilbert Sverrisson's corner delivery at the near post but couldn't quite head it home.

 

As for Terek, they wouldn't go close to equalising until our record signing Kenneth Jorgensen messed up a clearance in the 81st minute. A goal kick from Maicon bounced deep into our half, and Kenny tried to head the ball back to substitute keeper Kayo Rowe. The Dane got it disastrously wrong, as he awkwardly flicked the ball towards Terek striker Evgeny Lobanov and fell flat on his face! Had it not been for Rowe's quick reaction save, Lobanov would surely have punished Jorgensen and erased our lead!

 

Things also went wrong for our other Nordic midfielder in the 88th minute, as Sverrisson's game was ended by a strong tackle from the hosts' Chinese international Wen Pingfeng. Thankfully, Engilbert escaped serious injury, and his Icelandic compatriot Baldur was most certainly not on fire for Terek. Indeed, none of the Chechens' attackers would leave our defence terrified, and we moved on from Russia with a solid shutout win.

 

Terek Grozny - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Stevenson 21)

Friendly, Attendance 15,481

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley (Rowe), Mazibuko (Scheepens), Radosavljevic (Kurtovic), Darvill (Bailey), Djuzel (Fox), McCann (Jorgensen), Thompson (Hutchinson), Salvador (Killick), Stevenson (Sverrisson (Washington)), Egueh (Messina), Kjaerulff (Kasongo). BOOKED: Kjaerulff.

 

We'd not made the most convincing of starts to pre-season, but two wins from two left us in reasonable spirits as we moved on to "the land of the free". Daggers-mania was about to hit America.

[CFuller]

JULY 2037 (continued)

Dagenham & Redbridge had developed quite a substantial following in the United States over the last couple of years. Maryland native Mark Washington's free-scoring antics had encouraged more and more Americans to adopt us as their Premier League club. He had since been joined by another national team colleague in Californian goalkeeper Ben Perk - the latest in a growing line of US-born Daggers.

 

It didn't come as a surprise, then, that Major League Soccer invited us to tour America in mid-July. We would spend the best part of the next fortnight travelling through some of the northern states, from the west coast to the east.

 

The first destination of our US tour was the seaport city of Seattle in Washington state, not too far from the Pacific coast. Seattle was known to many as the birthplace of grunge music, Jimi Hendrix, Meredith Grey and Amazon - and also as the home of arguably the noisiest supporters in major American sport.

 

Few sets of fans in MLS cared as passionately for their team as those who backed the Seattle Sounders at the CenturyLink Field. The Sounders had only won the MLS Cup twice (in 2014 and 2020), but they lost the 2036 Final to Real Salt Lake and were ranked amongst the strongest teams in North America's top flight. We were sure to face a very stern challenge.

 

14 July 2037: Seattle Sounders vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Colin Fox had never scored for Dagenham, but the Scottish left-back almost broke his duck in the 5th minute, when he flicked a Vicente Gridelli cross inches wide. Another early Daggers chance fell to our captain Mark Washington, whose 11th-minute free-kick was pushed away by Sounders reserve goalkeeper Joe Waltman.

 

Four minutes later, Sweden striker Janne Friberg played a Seattle free-kick short to winger Patrich Salvadori, who knocked the ball through our defence and into the penalty area. 16-year-old defender Gary Durán eyed up a potential opener for the hosts... but his shot struck the bar and deflected clear.

 

Durán's defensive namesake Gary Fuentes (I had no idea Gary was such a popular name in the Hispanic community!) then made a big contribution in the 20th minute. Fuentes nodded Ross Pearson's cross out of the Seattle box just before Martin Thompson could nod it home. Daggers midfielder Thompson's game would sadly end in the 32nd minute, as he pulled his hamstring in a tackle on Sounders right-back Brian Donaldson. The first half quickly fizzled out after Martin's exit, and the scores remained 0-0.

 

Seattle had defended manfully in that first period, and they didn't leave our attackers much exploit in the second half either. A hopeless long-distance punt from Billy Stevenson in the 53rd minute was the best effort we could muster early on. A minute later, Stevenson nobbled Daniel Hobbs, leaving the teenage Seattle midfielder with a knock that he couldn't shake off.

 

A more serious injury would befall our right-back Pearson on 68 minutes. Ross went down clutching his groin following a tackle from Erik Rodríguez, forcing him to leave the field. On came winger Shaun Powell, who would have our best scoring attempt yet in the 73rd minute. Alas, the Welshman's strike was stopped by the Sounders' first-choice goalie Simon Brooks.

 

The 5-3-2 formation I'd adopted for the second half soon became a more attacking 3-5-2, with Axel Rubarth coming off the bench to play at left-wing. We still couldn't find a way through the hosts' defence, though. A fantastic fingertip save from Brooks in the 82nd minute denied Peguy Kasongo a late Daggers winner before Dave Hutchinson hit the post moments later.

 

At full-time, I shook the hand of Seattle's head coach - a genial Welshman named Owain - and congratulated him on a well-earned draw. The home fans were still in full voice at full-time, and understandably so, as the Sounders had done superbly to shut us out.

 

Seattle Sounders - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Friendly, Attendance 32,020

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk (Rowe), Pearson (Powell), Gridelli (Mazibuko), Darvill (Hutchinson), Fox (Djuzel (Rubarth)), Allen (Killick), Jorgensen (Kurtovic), Thompson (McCann), Salvador (Stevenson), Washington (Honeyball), Faithfull (Kasongo).

 

Unfortunately, both Ross Pearson and Martin Thompson had to leave our American adventure early as a result of the injuries they sustained. Ross would be out for around six weeks with a torn groin muscle, while Martin could expect to be on the sidelines for three weeks with a pulled hamstring.

 

As Pearson and Thompson returned home, we moved on to Minneapolis - the largest city in the mid-western state of Minnesota. Before our next friendly, I took the time to meet an old friend who lived in the area. The self-proclaimed 'curmudgeon' was now in his 70s, but he remained as sharp and witty as he was when I'd first met him many years ago.

 

The Daggers were back in action that weekend against the local professional team - the Minnesota Stars. Minnesota were top of the second-tier North American Soccer League, having picked up 10 wins and 3 losses in their 13 matches thus far this year.

 

18 July 2037: Minnesota Stars vs Dagenham & Redbridge

I used this game as an opportunity to blood some our less established players, one of whom would get on the scoresheet after just 36 minutes. Minnesota winger Randell Gardner was muscled off the ball deep in his own half by Jonas Kjaerulff, who fed the ball through for Engilbert Sverrisson to thunder home.

 

We had assumed control of proceedings straight away, and Thulani Mazibuko - who was being trialled at left-back - could've doubled our lead from a free-kick after seven minutes. Though Stars keeper Ron Cantu caught the South African's strike, he would be beaten again four minutes later. Dave Hutchinson intercepted a pass from home right-back Ross Gregor and played it forward to Daggers skipper Joel Honeyball, who took the ball forward before passing to Sverrisson in the penalty area. Though Engilbert was tackled by Mike Ahmetovic, Joel slid the loose ball into the net for 2-0.

 

Though he was fast nearing his 30th birthday and was no longer a first-team regular, Honeyball was determined to show that he could still hack it. He would bag a second goal after 15 minutes, heading in a right-wing cross from Kjaerulff.

 

This was fast turning into a procession, and a 4-0 Daggers lead was looking likely on 39 minutes. Honeyball played an excellent weighted pass to Kjaerulff, who would've scored a well-deserved goal but for a brave save from Cantu. Joel did get an assist two minutes later, as he teed up Engilbert for the Icelander's second goal of the night.

 

Minnesota's players were seeing stars, but they were unfortunate not to hit back on the stroke of half-time. Ahmetovic's close-range free-kick rebounded off the Dagenham wall, and his follow-up volley was palmed behind by our promising teenage goalkeeper Kayo Rowe.

 

Minnesota had had two players booked in what was a very difficult first period for them. A couple more Stars would be cautioned shortly before one of our rising stars added to their misery in the 64th minute. Lee Allen lifted an excellent long-distance free-kick into the hosts' penalty area, and Argentine defender Vicente Gridelli rose highest to head in his first senior goal for the Daggers!

 

Conceding a fifth goal completed a miserable night for Cantu, who would soon be replaced between the Minnesota posts by Melchi Santy. In the 72nd minute, left-back Collen Jata made it 5-0 to Minnesota on yellow cards, following his clumsy tackle on Milen Danchev. 16-year-old Bulgarian winger Danchev set up a chance for Enrico Messina to score his first Dagenham goal on 82 minutes, but Sainty thwarted the big Italian's advances.

 

Sainty then made another excellent save shortly before the end, tipping over a Gridelli header that could've seen Vicente join Joel and Engilbert as a double-scorer. Our winning margin remained at 'only' five goals, but I couldn't really complain about that.

 

Minnesota Stars - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 5 (Sverrisson 1,41, Honeyball 11,15, Gridelli 64)

Friendly, Attendance 5,245

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Rowe (Lund), Scheepens (Davies), Charles (Gridelli), Bailey (Darvill), Mazibuko (Radosavljevic), Allen (Jorgensen), Hutchinson (Saric), Killick (Twardzik), Sverrisson (Danchev), Kjaerulff (Faithfull (Kasongo)), Honeyball (Messina).

 

That was a good workout for some of our fringe players. It was great to see the omnipresent Joel Honeyball get back to scoring ways and young Engilbert Sverrisson put in an excellent attacking midfield display.

 

Our tour of the United States was coming towards an end, but before returning home to England, we had one more match to play - in New England. The Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts was home to the National Football League's all-conquering Patriots, but we were there to play another big Boston sports franchise.

 

New England Revolution had completed in Major League Soccer since its inception in 1996, though they hadn't reached the MLS Cup Final for nearly three decades, let alone won the championship. Would they cause us any problems on our final day Stateside?

 

21 July 2037: New England Revolution vs Dagenham & Redbridge

New England midfielder Baldomero Moore fired a fierce shot well over our crossbar after just four minutes. There were similarly wayward efforts at the other end from Dave Hutchinson, Axel Rubarth and Enrico Messina early on.

 

Though we were taking the game to our American opponents, we weren't getting the ball into their penalty area with great regularity. The Revolution didn't have that problem in the 23rd minute, when Ian Colbeck's right-wing cross was met by an excellent bullet header from Joe Golomb. It took a fine fingertip save from our goalkeeping captain Kieran Whalley to divert Golomb's attempt behind and keep the deadlock intact - momentarily.

 

That deadlock would be broken just five minutes later. Not long after having a shot saved by Revs goalkeeper Moanes Azam, Daggers winger Axel Rubarth cut inside from out wide and entered the penalty area. He then squared the ball to Tristan Egueh, who thundered in our long-awaited opener.

 

Now it was up to Messina to try and join Tristan on the scoresheet. Ricky got an opportunity when he ran onto Shaun Powell's through-ball in the 41st minute, but Azam pushed his shot away just in time. We still had a fair bit of work to do.

 

I thought that Messina had been a bit lazy in that first period, and I told him so in no uncertain terms during the interval. Though the Italian's understanding of the English language was still very basic, my comments left him feeling angered... and motivated. In the 55th minute, Ricky got into New England's six-yard box and met Colin Fox's cross with an excellent header. Though his shot unfortunately ricocheted off the bar and then the post, Tristan was on hand to finish the rebound and secure his brace.

 

Egueh then tried to set up Lee Allen for a potential third goal on 60 minutes, but the young midfielder's shot deflected off Revs defender Luke Vidmar and safely into Azam's hands. Three minutes after that, Allen brought down Revolution captain José Cordero with a strong challenge that left the Costa Rican midfielder nursing a broken arm. Cordero's game ended early, and - in the 66th minute - so would the hosts' chances of salvaging a result.

 

A free-kick from Daggers goalkeeper Ben Perk evaded the jump of New England defender Liam Ortiz and bounced towards Messina. Our new summer signing then lashed a sensational strike into the top corner!

 

3-0 would become 4-0 in the 78th minute, as another forward joined the Dagenham goal rush. An awful header from Revs winger Brian Wingert was punished by Neil McCann, and the midfielder kicked off a quick Daggers attack that resulted in Jonas Kjaerulff firing home just his second goal for the senior team!

 

Now all that was left was for our captain Mark Washington to complete a clean sweep of scoring strikers. Though Mark was denied by a fine save from Azam in the 79th minute, he wouldn't spurn his next opportunity in the 85th. Kevin Ralston's tackle on Daggers playmaker Billy Stevenson succeeded only in sliding the ball towards Azam's left-hand post, where Washington poked in our fifth and final goal of the evening!

 

It wasn't quite the perfect end to our US tour, though. Roger Urbany's 88th-minute consolation strike for New England ensured that we wouldn't leave with a third straight clean sheet.

 

New England Revolution - 1 (Urbany 88)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 5 (Egueh 28,55, Messina 66, Kjaerulff 78, Washington 85)

Friendly, Attendance 12,145

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley (Perk), Scheepens (Davies), Radosavljevic (Bailey), Mazibuko (Charles), Fox (Djuzel), Powell (Allen), Hutchinson (Killick), Jorgensen (McCann), Rubarth (Stevenson), Messina (Washington), Egueh (Kjaerulff).

 

All in all, I'd say that our spell in the United States had been a success. We went back home with our unbeaten pre-season record still intact, and all of the senior Dagenham strikers looking sharp.

[CFuller]

JULY 2037 (continued)

This season wouldn't just see Dagenham & Redbridge's senior team make their debut appearance in European competition. Our reserve team had received an invitation to the prestigious UEFA Youth League - a continental tournament contested between 24 of the best Under-19s teams in Europe.

 

The Dagenham reserves were drawn into Group F with the youth teams of Borussia Moenchengladbach, Dynamo Kiev and Real Betis. Those group matches would take place between August and November.

 

In the meantime, the first-team had another Borussia to contend with. German giants Borussia Dortmund provided the opposition for our first home game in our temporary lodgings at the New Boleyn Ground.

 

Managed by BVB legend Ilkay Gundogan, Dortmund had finished runners-up to Bayern Munich in each of the last two Bundesliga seasons. Although they left their all-time record scorer - 33-year-old Ersel Akercan - at home, they still brought over the likes of Argentine defensive rock Diego Corvalán and Holland midfielder René Wijnen.

 

25 July 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Borussia Dortmund

I'm afraid that the first half of this contest was almost totally forgettable. We struggled to warm to our new surroundings during the opening half-hour, where we only produced a couple of speculative shots. Midfielder Neil McCann sent a drive deep into a stand in the 19th minute, though captain Mark Washington was at least on target with a 30th-minute effort that was caught by Dortmund goalkeeper Amos Okeke.

 

Meanwhile, BVB were showing very little of their exceptional quality. Their only major attack in the first half came on 35 minutes, when Colombia midfielder Luis Murcia half-volleyed just over the bar after Alexander Wiedmann's cross had been headed away by Daggers defender Tomo Kurtovic.

 

Tomo had impressed me, but Enrico Messina most certainly hadn't. Ricky's slow start to life with the Daggers continued when he had a tame shot caught by Okeke in the 43rd minute of a goalless first period.

 

I replaced four players - including Messina - before the second half, but our teething problems at the New Boleyn Ground wouldn't be sorted out in this match. Borussia Dortmund were in control of the midfield battles throughout the match - not very surprising when you consider who was managing them. Mind you, we still managed to stretch Ilkay Gundogan's team out wide occasionally and create some real scoring opportunities.

 

Thulani Mazibuko was warming to the idea of playing at left-back, as he showed with an excellent cross to Washington in the 61st minute. Sadly, Mark's header hit the post, and the American couldn't react to the rebound before it was fired into touch by Dortmund defender Daniel Ipoua.

 

Another Washington chance went begging on 66 minutes, when two-time Germany international Tim Peitz caught his free-kick. BVB then countered, winning a penalty within about a minute. Velimir Radosavljevic didn't do his chances of re-establishing himself as a Daggers first-teamer much good when the Serbian defender bundled Bodo Friedrich over in our area. Velimir then looked on grimly as Austria striker Friedrich slotted his penalty kick past Ben Perk to give Dortmund a narrow 1-0 lead.

 

Joel Honeyball's quickfire attempt to draw level was pushed away by Peitz, who would then make an incredible save to deny Tristan Egueh deep into injury time. That latter opportunity had been set up by young left-back Keith Hamilton, who'd narrowly missed out on his first senior goal after 77 minutes, when his volley deflected behind off Egueh. To be honest, we hadn't got much in the way of good fortune against the Bundesliga big boys.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Borussia Dortmund - 1 (Friedrich pen67)

Friendly, Attendance 17,495

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk (Whalley), Scheepens (Hamilton), Kurtovic (Gridelli), Darvill (Radosavljevic), Djuzel (Mazibuko), McCann (Jacobs), Jorgensen (Hutchinson), Killick (Allen), Stevenson (Salvador), Messina (Honeyball), Washington (Egueh). BOOKED: Djuzel, Killick, McCann, Mazibuko.

 

That may have been our first loss in pre-season, but I still felt optimistic about the campaign ahead, both in the Premier League and in the UEFA Europa League. We hadn't even remotely disgraced ourselves against a consistent UEFA Champions League team - and we'd be playing a couple more of them before we got our first taste of competitive European football.

 

With regards to the Premier League, most bookmakers had given us our shortest title odds yet - of around 25-1. Of course, we were still a long way behind the likes of perennial favourites Manchester City (Evens), defending champions Manchester United (5-2), and London giants Arsenal (5-1) and Chelsea (6-1).

 

A couple of reserve defenders went out on six-month loans to lower-league clubs before our next game. Right-back Mathew Davies will have a little over half a season in League One with Swansea City, while centre-half Bradley Charles will be playing in League Two for Cambridge United.

 

Having graced pitches in Russia and the United States earlier on, our final away friendly of pre-season was in the rather less exotic surroundings of south London. We entered The Valley for a reunion with Charlton Athletic, who'd narrowly avoided relegation in each of their last four seasons in the Championship.

 

29 July 2037: Charlton Athletic vs Dagenham & Redbridge

An excellent pre-season for Shaun Powell continued when the Welsh wizard fired us into the lead after just 53 minutes. Dave Hutchinson nodded a Kieran Whalley goal kick on to Powell, who ran through the Charlton defence before slipping the ball beyond goalkeeper Michael Hewson!

 

Shaun also had our next two shots at goal, but he could not repeat his scoring heroics in the 7th or 9th minutes. That was followed by a couple of chances for assist-maker Hutchinson to get his name on the scoreboard. Sadly, Dave was thwarted by two excellent saves from Hewson on 14 and 21 minutes.

 

Those attempts came either side of a 19th-minute booking for Charlton midfielder Jack Pedersen, who was cautioned after pushing Hutch's Daggers colleague Neil McCann. That was about as much aggression Athletic would show in a very one-sided first period that somehow saw one goal.

 

Tristan Egueh had a nightmare in front of goal, wasting no fewer than three late chances, the last of which came in injury time. Egueh's strike partner Toby Faithfull had got behind the Addicks' backline to run onto an incisive pass from left-back Colin Fox and drill it across to Tristan, who incredibly volleyed wide from point-blank range.

 

The second half began with a booking for Powell, and then another missed opportunity from Egueh in the 51st minute. Tristan looked set to double our lead when he connected with a Hutchinson through-ball, but he was stopped by a strong save from Hewson and a similarly impressive from Addicks left-back Claude Walker.

 

After Egueh screwed wide one more effort in the 58th minute, I lost patience with him and sent Enrico Messina on in his place. Ricky took a while to settle into the game before he eventually came good on 73 minutes. Our 16-year-old Bulgarian winger Milen Danchev surged past Charlton's 18-year-old full-back James Long and floated a byline cross to Messina, who easily tapped it into the net.

 

We were now 2-0 up, but we couldn't build on that lead, as Messina and Jonas Kjaerulff each fired over long-distance shots during the closing stages. Things looked better from a defensive perspective, as we didn't allow a mediocre Charlton team a single shot on goal... until very late on.

 

Addicks midfielder Will Dunne finally found a way through our backline in injury time, when he knocked the ball through to teenage striker Chris Pegler in our area. Thankfully, young Dagenham goalie Kayo Rowe managed to push Pegler's shot away and preserve our clean sheet.

 

Charlton Athletic - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 2 (Powell 1, Messina 73)

Friendly, Attendance 20,604

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley (Rowe), Gridelli (Scheepens), Kurtovic (Radosavljevic), Bailey (Darvill), Fox (Hamilton), Powell (Danchev), Hutchinson (Sverrisson), McCann (Killick), Rubarth (Honeyball), Egueh (Messina), Faithfull (Kjaerulff (Rattle)). BOOKED: Powell.

 

That was a nice, comfortable win for us - perhaps too comfortable. Hopefully our final two friendlies will provide us with some tougher challenges.

[CFuller]

AUGUST 2037

Our pre-season concluded with a couple of games at the New Boleyn Ground against very strong European opposition. The first of those fixtures saw us take on Napoli, who'd come 3rd in Serie A for three consecutive seasons. In Pietro Paolo Farris, they had arguably one of the most-feared strikers on the continent.

 

2 August 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Napoli

An early misstep from Dagenham left-back Ante Djuzel left us open to a potential second-minute opener for Napoli. Brazilian right-winger Cauan Oller advanced past Ante to take Gennaro Longobardi's pass into our area and force Daggers goalie Kieran Whalley into taking swift action. Whalley did well to save us there, but he would be left helpless moments later, when another excellent Longobardi ball teed up a simple finish for Pietro Paolo Farris.

 

The Italians had moved 1-0 up, though one of their compatriots could've restored parity for us on 15 minutes. Enrico Messina's ambitious 25-yard effort skimmed the top of the Napoli crossbar. That miss could've proved costly six minutes later, when the Partenopei went within inches of moving two goals clear. Only the outside of Whalley's right-hand post denied Farris what would've been his and Napoli's second goal after an excellent attacking move from the visitors.

 

In the 22nd minute, Cauan Oller moved inside from out wide before turning sharply and cutting a low shot towards goal. Kieran needed to get down and tip it behind just in the nick of time. Our vice-captain would then make a couple more saves, from Cauan Oller and Longobardi, either side of the half-hour mark.

 

We notched up our first shot on target shortly afterwards, in the 33rd minute. It didn't particularly worry Rich O'Reilly, mind you, as Napoli's American goalkeeper easily caught Vicente Gridelli's header from a Mark Washington corner. We'd need to be much more clinical than that if we were to get back into the game.

 

Ben Perk took Whalley's place in the team for the second half, and our own United States international keeper would make a strong start to his game. Ben kept out shots from each of the visitors' Brazilian wingers - Cauan Oller and his left-wing colleague Deyvison Denílson - in the 47th and 51st minutes respectively. The latter would have another pop at goal on 63 minutes, but he thundered it high and wide.

 

Shaun Powell had headed wide a rare Dagenham opportunity from a Billy Stevenson corner in the 56th minute. After that, we were restricted to shooting hopelessly from outside the penalty area. That was partly down to some outstanding defending from Napoli - and their giant South African centre-half Lee-Raoul Hendricks in particular.

 

More worryingly, our attacks looked one-dimensional and generally lacked imagination. In contrast, Napoli's frontline was causing our backline all sorts of problems. Perk needed to be on top form to save a trio of Italian shots between the 72nd and 77th minutes, but not even he could hold the door shut infinitely.

 

With nine minutes remaining, Napoli's Daniel Hassan squared the ball to midfield colleague Gianmarco Frasca in the 'D', and the Italy international fired an unstoppable bullet into the bottom corner. The Partenopei returned to Naples with a comfortable win, and we were still looking for our first goal at the New Boleyn Ground.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Napoli - 2 (Farris 2, Frasca 81)

Friendly, Attendance 13,689

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley (Perk), Scheepens (Seburn), Darvill (Bailey), Gridelli (Kurtovic), Djuzel (Radosavljevic), Powell (Ketchell), Jorgensen (Allen), Salvador (Kasongo), Honeyball (Rubarth), Washington (Stevenson), Messina (Kjaerulff). BOOKED: Djuzel.

 

Toby Faithfull was an unused substitute for that match, and the now 20-year-old striker would soon be sent out on loan to Championship side Aston Villa. Toby is expected to spend the whole of this season at Villa Park, though I could potentially call him back to Dagenham in January.

 

Another player whose short-term future lay elsewhere was goalkeeper Alex Lund. Our fourth-choice custodian joined his team-mate Daryl Ryan II on loan at Forest Green Rovers in the Conference Premier for six months.

 

Meanwhile, playmaker Neil McCann and right-back Ross Pearson committed their long-term futures to the Daggers by signing new five-year contracts. Defender Velimir Radosavljevic and midfielder Martin Thompson were also in the last year of their existing contracts, but neither had played well enough to earn fresh terms.

 

Velimir and Martin were both put on the transfer market to gauge any potential interest in them. Though no bids were made for Thompson, La Liga side Levante submitted a £2million offer to sign Radosavljevic. I accepted their proposal, and after some persuasion, Velimir reluctantly agreed to move to Spain.

 

Velimir Radosavljevic had made 132 league appearances in five seasons with the Daggers and was very popular amongst our fans, especially during that promotion season of 2033/2034. As dependable as the Serbian centre-half was, though, he couldn't quite keep up with the rapid progress that the team was making in the Premier League. I therefore felt that it was time to move forward without him.

 

There was some other interesting news when 11 of our players were called up to their senior national teams for upcoming friendly matches. Among them were a couple of uncapped players, as new signing Enrico Messina received his first Italy call-up... and ball-winning midfielder Greg Killick was selected for England.

 

I'd expected us to get a player in an England squad sooner rather than later - but I was certain that it'd have been our consistently brilliant centre-back George Darvill. Instead, it was the 25-year-old Cumbrian Killick who found himself on the brink of entering the record books. Were he to feature against Nigeria at Wembley in 12 August, he would become Dagenham & Redbridge's first full England international.

 

Greg had an opportunity to impress England manager Sylvain Marveaux four days before then, when we played our final friendly against former La Liga champions Real Betis. Coincidentally, Los Béticos were coached by Nemanja Covic - the man that Marveaux succeeded as Three Lions boss in 2034!

 

8 August 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Real Betis

Real Betis' quality was clear to see from the off, as they took the lead from a counter-attack after only four minutes. Playmaker Andrzej Wolanski dribbled up the right flank before laying the ball back to former West Ham United right-back Ciro Antonio. The Brazilian then curled a first-time cross into the box, where young striker Adrián powered a header that bounced in off the underside of our crossbar.

 

Los Béticos threatened to strike again in the 12th minute, but Greg Killick cleared a Wolanski free-kick from our area. Our teenage frontman Jonas Kjaerulff latched onto the long ball and raced past Ciro Antonio to leave himself one-on-one with Betis keeper Daniel Villafane. Ciro Antonio managed to get back and force Jonas wide before tackling the ball off him.

 

We were gifted another chance moments later, as Killick intercepted visiting left-back Cristian Ramón Duarte's clearance and nodded it to Tristan Egueh in the Betis box. Unfortunately, Villafane managed to smother the ball before Tristan could get a shot in. Real Betis would attack us again midway through the first period, with Adrián putting a couple of shots off target in the 25th and 27th minutes.

 

Five minutes after the latter miss, their Dutch midfielder Bas Wever was tripped by Killick, who was booked as a result. Greg was perhaps feeling pressured by the presence of England's manager, as he never looked comfortable at any point in this match. A poor long-distance strike in the 40th minute would be his last major contribution before he was subbed at half-time.

 

A couple of Real Betis' German dangermen put our goalkeeper Ben Perk under real pressure early in the second period. Midfielder Denis Schumacher had a couple of close-range attempts saved by Perk on 48 and 52 minutes. In the 53rd minute, a miscued clearance from George Darvill opened the door for striker Erdinc Gundogdu to potentially double the Spaniards' lead. Thankfully, Ben was on hand to parry Gundogdu's strike. Wolanski then played the rebound back to Ciro Antonio, who swerved it harmlessly wide.

 

Speaking of 'harmless', that was exactly the right word to describe our shooting. We had no fewer than four shots from inside the Betis are between the 62nd and 76th minute... but Orlando Salvador, Neil McCann, Enrico Messina and Joel Honeyball were all unable to hit the target. It said it all about our fallibilities going forward that Argentina goalkeeper Villafane didn't have to make a single proper save for Los Béticos during the 90 minutes.

 

Perk would also remain unbeaten in the second half after clawing away an 81st-minute drive from Gundogdu, but that was hardly any consolation at all. Even though we'd restricted the La Liga runners-up to just a single goal, this was yet another disappointing home performance.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 0

Real Betis - 1 (Adrián 4)

Friendly, Attendance 15,771

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk, Mazibuko (Scheepens), Kurtovic (Walters), Bailey (Darvill), Djuzel (Fox), Jorgensen (Thompson), Hutchinson (McCann), Killick (Allen), Stevenson (Honeyball), Egueh (Salvador), Kjaerulff (Messina). BOOKED: Killick.

 

Good grief. Three home friendlies played, three defeats, and not a single goal for the Daggers. This could be a long and hard season at the New Boleyn Ground.

 

Converting scoring chances at our temporary home was proving to be a real problem, so I made the team work extra-hard on their attacking movement in the build-up to our season-opener against Liverpool. Mind you, the international break meant that I was without most of my first-teamers at the beginning of the week.

 

Wednesday 12 August 2037 was a milestone day in the career of new Dagenham & Redbridge striker Enrico Messina, who won his first senior cap for Italy in a 2-1 home loss against Uruguay. Right-winger Shaun Powell also had a night to remember, scoring his maiden international goal to earn Wales a draw against Czech Republic. Meanwhile in Greece, 33-year-old left-back Colin Fox led Scotland out for the first time as full-time captain on the night of his 100th cap.

 

Jameel Bailey, Tristan Egueh and Kayo Rowe all played for England Under-21s as they suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Germany. This was centre-back Jameel's first appearance for the Young Lions, having previously been capped at Under-20s level by Jamaica - the country of his birth.

 

I spent the evening at Wembley, where I'd hoped to see Greg Killick make his senior England debut against Nigeria. I probably shouldn't have bothered turning up. England won 5-2, but no thanks to Killick, who wasn't even named on the Three Lions' bench!

 

After that disappointing anti-climax, it was back to work the next day. While my assistant Fabio Saraiva oversaw training, I ratified loan deals for a couple of our brightest prospects. Teenage wingers Milen Danchev and Mirko Saric were both sent to the Czech Republic to begin season-long loan stints at Ceské Budejovice.

 

Our fourth season in the Premier League was now about to begin, and just about anything was possible.

[CFuller]

Dagenham & Redbridge squad - Start of 2037/2038 season

(All information correct as of 1 August 2037)

GOALKEEPERS

1. Kieran Whalley (age 26)

English [capped at Under-19s level]

Vice-captain Kieran was reduced to second-choice goalkeeper last season but is still an excellent backup.

13. Ben Perk (age 24)

American [24 caps, 0 goals]

Expect Ben to be our main goalkeeper for at least the next few years. The Californian has made some outstanding saves in pre-season and could become the consistent custodian we've perhaps been lacking.

DEFENDERS

2. Patrick Scheepens (age 27)

Dutch [capped at Under-21s level]

Patrick remains our leading right-back for now, even though his performances are generally solid rather than stunning. The flying Dutchman rarely misses a tackle and will always give his all for the club.

3. Ante Djuzel (age 22)

Croatian [7 caps, 0 goals]

This is a potentially make-or-break season for left-back Ante, who's as unpredictable as he is gifted.

5. Thulani Mazibuko (age 23)

South African [3 caps, 0 goals]

I honestly believe that Thulani can become a club legend at Dagenham. Though the bulky 6ft 4in defender is most natural at centre-half, I see his long-term future at full-back - possibly on the left flank.

6. George Darvill (age 24)

English [capped at Under-21s level]

George is perhaps coming towards the peak of his exceptional defensive powers. He continues to consistently excel as a covering centre-back, although the quickest forwards can sometimes expose his lack of pace.

19. Tomo Kurtovic (age 25)

Croatian [28 caps, 1 goal]

Tomo is a top-quality defensive stopper who rarely loses a header or makes a bad decision. Motivating him can sometimes be a problem, but that's one of the very few qualms I have about the tall Croat.

24. Colin Fox (age 33)

Scottish [99 caps, 1 goal]

Colin did very well for as at left-back last term, adding some much-needed experience to our ranks. Time is perhaps catching up with the wily Scot, though, and he might be usurped by Djuzel before too long.

25. Ross Pearson (age 21)

English [capped at Under-20s level]

Ross needs to seriously improve his crossing if he is to ever become a consistent Premier League right-back.

33. Vicente Gridelli (age 19)

Argentinean [capped at Under-20s level]

Wonderkid Vicente can play anywhere across the back line but is best utilised as a centre-half.

MIDFIELDERS

4. Kenneth Jorgensen (age 24)

Danish [26 caps, 1 goal]

Kenneth has proven to be £9million well spent so far, as the hard-grafting Dane has held our midfield together like glue. Whether he's serving as a playmaker or just an anchor man, expect him to deliver the goods.

7. Shaun Powell (age 24)

Welsh [17 caps, 0 goals]

Explosive right-winger Shaun can cause full-backs all sorts of problems whenever I field a standard 4-4-2.

8. Billy Stevenson (age 25)

English [capped at Under-21s level]

Though Billy was badly hampered by injuries last season, I expect him to come back with a vengeance. The Yorkshire-born playmaker excels on the big stage and has an eye for a defence-splitting pass.

11. Axel Rubarth (age 23)

Swedish [11 caps, 1 goal]

Axel has the dribbling ability and the physical fitness to develop into an excellent left-winger.

12. Neil McCann (age 22)

English [capped at Under-19s level]

Tireless roaming midfielder Neil still has plenty of time to find his best role in the first XI.

14. Matthew Fraser (age 30)

Scottish [30 caps, 3 goals]

After 329 league appearances in 11 seasons, Matthew's Daggers career may be drawing towards a close. Though he rarely lets me down in midfield, he might struggle to bounce back after injuring his hip in pre-season.

17. Greg Killick (age 25)

English [capped at Under-21s level]

Greg has gone through a 12-month transformation from a rotation player to an England squad member. That's down to not only his work ethic, but also his pinpoint passing and his strong tackling.

18. Dave Hutchinson (age 22)

English [capped at Under-21s level]

Dave is a decent defensive midfielder, but I'd like to see him sharpen up on his positioning.

21. Orlando Salvador (age 20)

Portuguese [capped at Under-21s level]

Orlando seems destined for superstardom after racking up 16 assists in his first season at Dagenham. The creative playmaker looks so amazing already that I can't wait to see him when he's reached his peak!

28. Martin Thompson (age 21)

English [capped at Under-21s level]

Central midfielder Martin's development has slowed down of late, and I might let him go sooner or later.

FORWARDS

9. Mark Washington (age 25)

American [17 caps, 5 goals]

Mark exploded upon taking the captaincy last season, scoring 31 goals and assisting for 15 more. The poacher's finishing is up there with the Premier League's best, while his set-pieces aren't too shabby either.

10. Enrico Messina (age 21)

Italian [capped at Under-21s level]

If Enrico realises his full potential, I really believe he can become THE complete forward. The former Inter Milan youngster and Azzurri newcomer is quick, strong, and lethal with both his feet and his head.

15. Joel Honeyball (age 29)

English

Joel is now restricted to occasional first-team cameos and is preparing for a future coaching career.

20. Jonas Kjaerulff (age 19)

Danish [capped at Under-21s level]

With cool finishing and intelligence beyond his years, Jonas might not be far from a breakthrough.

26. Tristan Egueh (age 21)

English [capped at Under-21s level]

Tristan really upped his game last term, finding the net on 12 occasions. Although he's not quite as clinical from close range as our other senior strikers, he is an excellent dribbler and has a resolute personality.

 

RESERVE & YOUTH PLAYERS

Goalkeepers: Kieron Dunlop, Alex Lund (on loan at Forest Green Rovers), Kayo Rowe

Defenders: Jameel Bailey, Bradley Charles (on loan at Cambridge United), Mathew Davies (on loan at Swansea City), Keith Hamilton, Kevin Hawes, Akin Mapes, Carl Pratt (on loan at Leighton Town), Lassina Sanou, Wayne Seburn, Michael Walters, Ian Williams

Midfielders: Lee Allen, Milen Danchev (on loan at Ceské Budejovice), Sam Ellensohn, André Gross (on loan at St Pauli), Neal Jacobs, Alex Ketchell, Niall Nash, Tommy Russell, Daryl Ryan II (on loan at Forest Green Rovers), Mirko Saric (on loan at Ceské Budejovice), Kirtys Sterry, Engilbert Sverrisson, Kyriakos Thymiopoulos, Michal Twardzik

Forwards: Elliot Cook (on loan at Leighton Town), Toby Faithfull (on loan at Aston Villa), Elliot Hernández (on loan at Celtic), Alex Hunter, Peguy Kasongo, Jay Lewis, Ngalim Ould Mafoud, Paddy Rattle, Hani Yehia

 

BACKROOM STAFF

Manager: Christopher Fuller

Assistant Manager: Fabio Saraiva

Coaches: Henry Cleminson, Jamie Cochrane, Richaee Derby, Daniel Poustka, Matt Warren, Marco Verratti

Fitness Coaches: Andy Boles, Godwin Okafor

Goalkeeping Coaches: Scott Carson, Andy Lonergan

Physios: Adam Hutchings (head), Andrew Marks

Scouts: Callum Donnelly (chief), George Green, Chris Lewington, Dylan McGeouch, Kevin Mensah, Thierry Monteny, Antonino Pirozzi, Nicky Reynolds, Silva, Roscoe Young

 

Reserves Manager: Sean O'Callaghan

 

Head of Youth Development: George Elokobi

Under-18s Manager: Tom Ince

Under-18s Assistant Manager: Aaron McEwan

Under-18s Coaches: Mario Djokic, James Dunne, Joseph Yoffe

Under-18s Goalkeeping Coach: Tunde Shoretire

Under-18s Physio: Ben Wheeler

[CFuller]

And the depth chart...

GK: Perk / Whalley / Rowe

D/WB L: Fox / Djuzel / Mazibuko
D C: Darvill / Kurtovic / Mazibuko / Gridelli / Hutchinson / Bailey
D/WB R: Scheepens / Mazibuko / Pearson / Gridelli

DM C: Jorgensen / Killick / McCann

M/AM L: Rubarth / Honeyball / McCann
M C: Killick / Jorgensen / Fraser / Hutchinson / McCann / Salvador / Thompson
M/AM R: Powell / Mazibuko

AM C: Stevenson / Salvador / Sverrisson / Powell / Honeyball

F C: Messina / Washington / Egueh / Kjaerulff / Honeyball / Kasongo

[CFuller]

AUGUST 2037 (continued)

The opening day of the 2037/2038 Premier League season would give us a real idea of whether we were capable of another top-six finish. Our first opponents were Sergey Mustafin's Liverpool, whom we had pipped to 5th place last term.

 

Matthew Fraser and Ross Pearson both remained out injured for us, and we also went into this game without goalkeeper Kieran Whalley after he was taken ill with flu. That meant teenager Kayo Rowe went on the bench as a potential deputy for first-choice goalie Ben Perk, who made his PL debut alongside striker Enrico Messina.

 

15 August 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Liverpool

Enrico Messina made a mess of his first shot at goal after two minutes, but he went on to set up an opportunity for Orlando Salvador just a couple of minutes later. The Portuguese attacking midfielder's low drive was well caught by Liverpool and England goalkeeper Gavin Stopforth. Another of the Reds' England stars - captain Dave Weaver - was bodychecked by Ante Djuzel in the 11th minute, prompting a yellow card for the Daggers left-back.

 

Ante and his fellow Dagenham defenders would come under increasing pressure as the first period went on. Liverpool full-backs Erick Rodriguez and Ken Moore each put dangerous crosses into our box, with the latter winning a corner off Djuzel after 25 minutes. The resulting corner delivery from René Wijmer was devastating, as Reds centre-back Christian Keller beat Daggers counterpart George Darvill to nod it home.

 

Liverpool had moved 1-0 up... but we were soon looking to rectify that. Captain Mark Washington had a 27th-minute drive saved by Stopforth before putting another fierce effort over the bar ten minutes later.

 

Then, after 39 minutes, Javier Montenegro's trip on Daggers midfielder Kenneth Jorgensen gave Mark the opportunity to swing a free-kick into the visitors' penalty area. Anthony Diallo attempted to nod the free-kick clear for Liverpool, but Messina popped up with a header that looped over Stopforth and bounced into the net! That was our first goal at the New Boleyn Ground, and it seemed fitting that our big-money debutant had scored it!

 

After a shaky start to the second period from both teams, Liverpool boss Sergey Mustafin looked to change the game with a 57th-minute substitution. Montenegro came off, and on went Liam Baldwin, who'd scored against us at Rainham Road in each of the last two seasons. A counter-attack from Liverpool two minutes later would see Baldwin continue his excellent form in east London.

 

Shortly after Keller tackled the ball off Salvador, Weaver threaded it forward to Baldwin, who dribbled through a wide-open gap in our defence. Once he turned past Patrick Scheepens and Jorgensen and reached the edge of our area, there was no doubt that Baldwin would make it 2-1 Liverpool.

 

Five minutes after that, though, the match took another major turn. Baldwin's slide tackle on Kenny inadvertently knocked the ball back towards his own penalty area.d Washington then exchanged passes with Messina before he smashed in our second equaliser of the afternoon!

 

I was now on the hunt for victory, as I showed with my two substitutions. Djuzel and Salvador came off, and on went Colin Fox and Billy Stevenson. Stevo was renowned for his fancy footwork, and I got my hopes up when he mazily dribbled into the Liverpool area on 69 minutes. It wasn't to be, though, as Stopforth tipped behind a cross from Billy to keep the scores level.

 

Matthew Gikas tried to put Liverpool back in front after 78 minutes. Thankfully, the Australian winger's header from Patrik Horak's cross was met by Ben Perk's first competitive save in a Daggers jersey.

 

That was a big moment, and another would come in injury time, when Reds defender Billy Short tripped Stevenson on the edge of Liverpool's penalty area. Washington lined up a free-kick in the 'D'... and he powered it serenely into the top corner to send our fans wild!

 

Things then seemed to get even better for us when Liverpool completely messed up the kick-off! Baldwin's backwards pass to centre-back Victor Hugo was intercepted by Messina, who took the ball forward before finding his partner Washington in space! Though the post denied the American a hat-trick, we would not be deprived of an 3-2 victory on the opening day.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Messina 39, Washington 64,90)

Liverpool - 2 (Keller 26, Baldwin 59)

Premier League, Attendance 25,621 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 4th, Liverpool 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk, Scheepens, Kurtovic, Darvill, Djuzel (Fox), Jorgensen, Hutchinson (McCann), Killick, Salvador (Stevenson), Messina, Washington. BOOKED: Djuzel.

 

Though it was worrying that Liverpool had scored from two of their three shots on target, I was delighted to see us start off with a win. We're going to be at the New Boleyn Ground for the whole season, so it's vital that we make it feel like Rainham Road.

 

Midway through the week, we announced our sixth summer signing - and this was another purchase for the long-term. 16-year-old goalkeeper Bruno Rommel was bought from Dinamo Zagreb for £350,000. Rommel, who was born in Croatia to a German father, has exceptional kicking ability, and he could become a fantastic custodian once he develops the rest of his game.

 

That very same day, I watched our reserves play their first UEFA Youth League match at home to Real Betis. An excellent performance from Jonas Kjaerulff helped us to go 3-1 up, but the Spanish giants pegged us back and salvaged a 3-3 draw.

 

Next up for the first-team was a trip to Molineux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers. The boys from the Black Country, who had drawn their opening fixture at Brighton & Hove Albion, were without several key players due to injuries.

 

22 August 2037: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Dagenham & Redbridge

Wolves attacked from the kick-off, but when left-back Derlis Palacios' cross was cleared out of our area by Neil McCann, we got ready to hit them on the break. Billy Stevenson took the ball into the opponents' half and then tried to lob the ball ahead of Enrico Messina. Defender Franco Vitone intercepted the pass, but his headed back-pass to goalkeeper Antonio slipped past the Brazilian and went behind for a corner.

 

Wanderers recovered quickly from their shaky start, and they created their first serious scoring opportunity on 13 minutes. Inside-forward Thomas Saabye got past our right-back Thulani Mazibuko and laid the ball right to Tunisian striker Abderraouf Rouissi, who pulled his shot wide.

 

Wolves' other frontman Bruno Vukcevic would be more clinical when an opening came his way on 24 minutes. Captain Amine Ben Said played a killer crossfield pass to Saabye, who raced past Mazibuko before swinging a byline cross into our box. Vukcevic then got beyond Tomo Kurtovic to slide it past goalkeeper Ben Perk and send Molineux rocking.

 

We could've quietened the boisterous home fans four minutes later, but Antonio denied Greg Killick a swift equaliser after our midfield destroyer ran onto Washington's weighted pass. Mark went one better in the 37th minute, swinging a free-kick over Antonio and into the net. However, his goal was disallowed after Messina was accused of barging into the Wolves goalie. Another Washington in the 41st minute ended up safely in Antonio's hands, and we went into the interval still looking to restore parity.

 

I switched to 4-4-2 for the second half, and the pace of our right-winger Shaun Powell was soon causing problems for Palacios. Washington was also starting to come into the game a bit more. On 51 minutes, he collected a Killick flick-on and turned past Ben Said before attempting to find Messina with a through-ball. Antonio got there first but spilled the ball, and the Wolves custodian was left very relieved when Mark slid the rebound inches wide.

 

Our goalie looked rather more composed in the 54th minute, when Perk held onto an effort from Saabye. Four minutes after that, a poor free-kick from Ben Said put Wanderers back under pressure. Thulani headed the set-piece long to Mark, who ran at Ben Said and unleashed a 25-yarder at goal. Although the ball rebounded off the bar, Washington beat Ben Said to the follow-up and delighted our travelling supporters with a cool finish!

 

Mark's goal would've meant nowt, though, had Wolves converted any of the numerous scoring chances they had during the final half-hour. Midfielder Janusz Blaszczyk half-volleyed wide on 69 minutes, while Saabye sent a free-kick inches over the bar two minutes later.

 

As far as we were concerned, Washington had a promising effort parried by Antonio in the 79th minute. Mark then had an opportunity to repeat history with an injury-time free-kick, after Daggers left-winger Axel Rubarth was fouled by Wolves right-back Stef de Haan, Sadly, our captain couldn't not replicate his Liverpool heroics, as the American's free-kick flew over the crossbar. Mind you, I was still satisfied with a 1-1 draw at Molineux.

 

Wolverhampton Wanderers - 1 (Vukcevic 24)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Washington 58)

Premier League, Attendance 30,852 - POSITIONS: Wolves 12th, Dag & Red 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk, Mazibuko, Kurtovic, Darvill, Fox, Jorgensen, McCann (Rubarth), Killick, Stevenson (Powell), Messina (Egueh), Washington.

 

Following that game, I sent centre-half Jameel Bailey out on a five-month loan to high-flying Championship club Huddersfield Town. The 20-year-old is very close to being ready for regular first-team football with us, but he perhaps needs another stint in the second tier beforehand.

 

Then came the draw for Round 3 of the League Cup. We would begin what I hoped would be another lengthy cup run at Norwich City on 22 September, just four days before we were scheduled to host the Canaries in the league.

 

Our last league game in August was at home to newly-promoted Reading, who were last season's Championship runners-up. The Royals had begun their latest foray into the top flight with back-to-back draws. Enrico Messina had been laid low with a cold before the match, so Tristan Egueh partnered captain Mark Washington up front for us.

 

29 August 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Reading

We quickly set about hassling Reading and putting them on the back foot. In the 10th minute, Neil McCann took the ball away from Royals left-back and captain Martin Murray before squaring the ball to Greg Killick via Orlando Salvador. Killick's first-time drive had to be pushed away by James Bowerman in the Reading goal. Three minutes later, the fourth member of our midfield diamond - Kenneth Jorgensen - was cautioned following a trip on his visiting counterpart Geoff Clark.

 

Tristan Egueh and Mark Washington then missed chances to put us ahead before a 24th-minute mistake from George Darvill almost resulted in Reading taking the lead. George's miscued headed interception from a long ball by Royals defender Salim Muzinic opened the door for striker Ryan Galbriath to race through on goal. Daggers goalkeeper Ben Perk then came to our rescue, forcing Galbraith wide before parrying the England Under-21s star's shot.

 

Galbraith was left frustrated, and when he was booked for upending McCann deep in his own half after 41 minutes, we were given a great opportunity to break the deadlock. Washington chipped in an excellent free-kick that was volleyed home by Egueh. However, Tristan was flagged offside, and so the scores remained at 0-0.

 

We survived an early second-half scare when Galbraith headed Reading substitute Nikki McKay's corner over the bar in the 47th minute. Seven minutes after that, Egueh showed great tenacity to win the ball off Royals winger Walter Rojas on the touchline. Tristan dribbled inside and entered the penalty area, where his shot was parried by Bowerman. The ball was pushed on to Washington, who drilled home his fourth goal of the season from a tight angle! Persistence had paid off, and we were 1-0 up!

 

Mark was now looking to hammer home our advantage with another goal, although attempts in the 58th and 68th minutes left plenty to be desired. Tristan could not strengthen our position, and neither could Danish teenager Jonas Kjaerulff, who replaced him up front for the final 15 minutes.

 

That didn't seem to matter, as Reading seemingly lacked the quality to threaten our defence. That was until the third minute of injury time, when an excellent through-ball from Rojas sent Scotland midfielder McKay racing through on goal. Ben did brilliantly to push McKay's shot round his post, and also to punch away the resulting corner from Georges Robert. Perk's late heroics earned him his first Premier League clean sheet, and us a narrow 1-0 win.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Washington 54)

Reading - 0

Premier League, Attendance 16,882 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Reading 15th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk, Scheepens, Kurtovic, Darvill, Djuzel, Jorgensen (Hutchinson), McCann, Killick, Salvador (Stevenson), Washington, Egueh (Kjaerulff). BOOKED: Jorgensen.

 

We were still unbeaten at the end of August, but I could sense that we weren't quite firing on all cylinders. It was probably just as well that we now had a couple of weeks to fine-tune our game ahead of our first crack at the UEFA Europa League.

[mark wilson27]

Not a bad start too the season especially the win over Liverpool hahaha

[CFuller]

On 10/27/2017 at 14:07, mark wilson27 said:

Not a bad start too the season especially the win over Liverpool hahaha

We wouldn't be the Daggers if we didn't beat Liverpool! You know I set out to destroy them just for you, don't I? 

Seven points from three games is not a bad start, all told. Mind you, we could certainly be playing a bit better.

[CFuller]

SEPTEMBER 2037

Deadline day was a rather quiet affair at Dagenham & Redbridge. All attempts to sell or loan out Martin Thompson failed, while we rejected a couple of loan offers from Ipswich Town for another young midfielder in Dave Hutchinson.

 

Speaking of young Dagenham midfielders, that brings me onto my latest signing. I liked the look of an up-and-coming playmaker in the Chelsea Under-18s squad who hadn't yet been offered professional terms at Stamford Bridge. I successfully lured Warren Johnston to Dagenham with the promise of a full-time contract, which would take effect upon his 17th birthday about a week later.

 

We had to pay Chelsea £925,000 in compensation for poaching one of their brighter prospects. You never know what to expect with young footballers, but I have a feeling that - with the right attitude - Warren could develop into a decent midfielder indeed.

 

One Dagger who'd already become an exceptional player at such a young age was 21-year-old forward Enrico Messina. After winning his first senior cap for Italy in August, Ricky dropped back into the Azzurri's Under-21s during the September international break. Although he scored four goals against Andorra, and another against Spain, it wasn't enough to keep alive Italy's hopes of qualifying for next year's European Under-21s Championship.

 

Orlando Salvador remained on course for next year's finals in the Netherlands after helping Portugal to secure a play-off place with two goals against Hungary. England will also be in October's play-offs, with Tristan Egueh playing in their final group game in Armenia.

 

As far as our senior internationals were concerned, Mark Washington was in the United States team whose 1-0 win over Honduras secured the defending world champions' spot at the 2038 FIFA World Cup. Scotland probably won't be travelling to Australia next summer, but the fit-again Matthew Fraser won his 31st cap and played alongside Colin Fox in a respectable 2-2 away draw against France.

 

Ante Djuzel played in both of Croatia's qualifying victories against Slovenia away and Romania at home. His colleague Tomo Kurtovic also featured in the first game, but he then suffered a back strain in training that would unfortunately rule him out for the rest of the month.

 

Meanwhile, the draw for the 2037/2038 UEFA Europa League Group Stage took place. I was at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland to see the Daggers get drawn into Group I alongside Ligue 1 giants Lyon, Turkish outfit Galatasaray, and APOEL Nicosia from Cyprus.

 

Lyon would be hot favourites to win Group I, and with good reason. They won the UEFA Champions League in 2034, and in Rafael Pinau, they had one of world football's foremost midfield playmakers. We would most likely be battling it out with Galatasaray - winners of the Super Lig on a record 28 occasions - for second place, and qualification for the Round of 32. APOEL were the group's underdogs, but they couldn't be completely written off.

 

Our first ever competitive match in Europe would be at home to Gala on 17 September. Five days before then, we resumed our Premier League campaign by facing 8th-placed Rochdale at Spotland. Kurtovic would sadly miss both of those matches, and so too would Egueh, who'd sustained a wrist injury during a training session.

 

12 September 2037: Rochdale vs Dagenham & Redbridge

A visit to Spotland meant another reunion with Mario Tortora, who fired wide Rochdale's first scoring opportunity in the eighth minute. Tortora was now Dale's captain, and he would lead by example when another chance came his way three minutes later. Former Manchester City forward Jon Williams cut inside from the left and unleashed an edge-of-the-area strike that was parried by Daggers keeper Ben Perk. Rochdale left-back Rocco Mazzola put the ball back into the area, where Tortora tucked it away.

 

Rocco and Mario had come back to haunt us, and another Dagenham alumnus almost doubled our deficit in the 20th minute. Fortunately, defender Albert Khumalo's header from Antony Joli looped just wide.

 

A minute later, we caused Rochdale's defence problems with a free-kick of our own. Captain Mark Washington's set-piece was cleared by Mazzola, but Kenneth Jorgensen retook the ball and rifled a shot towards goal. Dale goalkeeper Seán Rooney could only push it into the path George Darvill, who cut in an equaliser!

 

Another quickfire Daggers goal could've followed on 25 minutes, but Enrico Messina agonisingly struck the bar with a header from Thulani Mazibuko's lob. Another Italian frontman almost made it 2-1 shortly afterwards, only for Perk to deny Tortora a second goal for the hosts.

 

In the 30th minute, Tortora sliced our defence open with a fantastic weighted pass to Cristiano Machado, who somehow managed to pull his shot wide. Machado would not be so wasteful with his next chance in injury time. The Portugal midfielder slipped through a channel to run onto right-back Graeme Muir's centre and dispatch the goal that left us trailing 2-1 at half-time.

 

Machado was high on confidence after scoring late in the first half, and he tried his luck again very early in the second. Perk was relieved to see the 31-year-old's drive fly over his crossbar, and also to see a similar effort from Williams go the same way in the 53rd minute.

 

At the other end, a stubborn Rochdale defence barely gave us a sniff at goal. A wayward 56th-minute punt from Jorgensen was about the best we could muster until the 81st minute, when Washington had a fierce drive caught by Rooney. By that point, Dale were well on top of proceedings, and it would only be a matter of time before they finished us off.

 

Sure enough, it was Tortora who killed us off in the 85th minute, beating Daggers defender Vicente Gridelli to a weighted pass from Jordan Connor that he fired comfortably past Perk. 3-1 to the big-spending Mancunians, and we returned home with our unbeaten start in tatters.

 

Rochdale - 3 (Tortora 11,85, Machado 45)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Darvill 21)

Premier League, Attendance 14,208 - POSITIONS: Rochdale 6th, Dag & Red 8th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk, Mazibuko, Gridelli, Darvill, Fox, Jorgensen, Hutchinson (Powell), Killick, Stevenson (Salvador), Messina, Washington (Kasongo).

 

Rochdale had invested £55million in their squad this summer, so it was perhaps not too surprising that we had come a cropper against them. Indeed, I have a funny feeling that the Dale will really kick on this season and qualify for Europe.

 

Speaking of Europe, our reserves played their first away game in the UEFA Youth League the following Wednesday. They followed up a 3-3 draw against Real Betis in the opening round by sharing six more goals with Borussia Moenchengladbach in Germany. Jonas Kjaerulff scored an excellent double in the first half-hour, and we were on course for a famous 3-2 victory before Gladbach converted a stoppage-time penalty.

 

Our first-team's first foray into continental competition came 24 hours later. It was time to get used to playing on Thursday nights in front of the Channel 5 cameras, because this was the UEFA Europa League.

 

Galatasaray provided the opposition in our opening Group I match. Not only were they the most successful club in Turkish football, but they also had experience of winning this competition, albeit when it had a different name. It was Gala who broke my 15-year-old heart by beating Arsenal on penalties to win the 2000 UEFA Cup Final.

 

The board had expected us to at least get to the knockout rounds of the Europa League. Considering that our group contained former European champions Lyon, it was paramount that we started off with a home win against the team who would perhaps be our greatest rivals for 2nd place.

 

This match would see Matthew Fraser make his first competitive appearance for us this season following a hip injury. Joel Honeyball - another Daggers icon who'd played against the likes of Aldershot Town and Port Vale in League Two all those years ago - was named on the substitutes' bench.

 

17 September 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Galatasaray

Not surprisingly, Galatasaray's line-up contained a host of fully-fledged Turkey internationals. One of them - defensive midfielder Cenk Koksal - had a close-range header saved by Daggers vice-captain Kieran Whalley in just the second minute. That chance had come from the first of several corners that 'Cim Bom' won early on. Our defence withstood all of them, and we were soon going on the attack ourselves.

 

Though George Darvill's 13th-minute header went well off target, Enrico Messina did trouble Gala's goalkeeping captain Vitezslav Vitek three minutes later. Between those chances came a worrying development regarding Matthew Fraser, who damaged his elbow in a clash with the visitors' Serbian midfielder Borislav Bjelanovic. Matthew came off briefly for some treatment, but this was his first match of the season, so he was understandably eager to play on - at least until half-time.

 

In the 29th minute, Fraser took the free-kick that eventually resulted in us opening the scoring. He played the ball short to right-back Patrick Scheepens, whose first-time pass sent Orlando Salvador dribbling towards goal. Atalay Tuncer slid the ball from Salvador's feet, but back towards his own goal, where Messina was on hand to drill it home! It may've been a soft goal, but our fans were delighted all the same!

 

Mind you, our centre-backs Darvill and Vicente Gridelli weren't delighted to be on the wrong end of some rough challenges from Galatasaray players later in the first half. George and Vicente each had brief spells on the sidelines before the half-time whistle blew with us clinging onto a 1-0 lead.

 

Albanian left-winger Spiro Jakupi pulled wide a tame shot for Galatasaray in the 47th minute. In the 52nd minute, Washington played a one-two with Greg Killick before forcing Vitek into an excellent fingertip save. Though both teams looked evenly-matched early in this second half, the momentum gradually shifted towards the Turkish side as play went on.

 

After 67 minutes, Gala's half-time substitute Gokhan Topcu chipped the ball across to veteran Turkey striker Gokhan Nukan, whose drive was parried by Whalley. Kieran would make another big save four minutes later, catching Paraguay centre-back César Domínguez' header from a cross by Colombian right-winger Daniel Londono.

 

In the end, Londono and co would leave east London with nothing to show for their efforts. We controlled the game very professionally late on, and we were unlucky not to double our lead after 83 minutes. Mark's chipped free-kick fell towards Thulani Mazibuko, whose half-volley was met by a stunning save from Vitek.

 

Mazibuko's misfortune didn't matter, as we began our UEFA Europa League bid with an invaluable 1-0 win. Group favourites Lyon also enjoyed a victorious start to their quest for glory, easing past APOEL Nicosia 3-1.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Messina 29)

Galatasaray - 0

UEFA Europa League Group I, Attendance 15,253 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 2nd, Galatasaray 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Scheepens, Gridelli, Darvill (Mazibuko), Djuzel, Jorgensen, Fraser (Thompson), Killick, Salvador (Powell), Messina, Washington. BOOKED: Killick.

 

Our physios gave Matthew Fraser's elbow a closer examination at the final whistle, and subsequently ruled our Scottish stalwart out for the rest of the month. It was another blow for Matthew, who was being dogged by injuries again in the twilight of his Dagenham & Redbridge career.

 

Our next European match would be away to APOEL Nicosia at the start of October. Before then, we had to face one of our bogey teams twice in the space of five days.

[CFuller]

SEPTEMBER 2037 (continued)

As we were playing in a continental competition this season, we were allowed to bypass the first two rounds of the League Cup. That meant we would, for the first time in our history, enter that cup at Round 3. If we were to go any further, though, we'd need to clear a couple of hurdles that we had never previously overcome.

 

We arrived at Carrow Road on 22 September still looking for our first ever victory over Norwich City. We'd previously faced the Canaries on six occasions in the Premier League, drawing twice and losing four times.

 

Then there was our poor record in the League Cup. This was only the fourth time that we'd ever played in Round 3, and we'd never won at that stage. Defeats to Chelsea in 2026/2027, Aston Villa in 2031/2032, and Manchester City last year had seen Round 4 continue to elude us.

 

We were desperate to right both those wrongs, but it wouldn't be easy. As we were due to host the Canaries in the Premier League just four days later, I opted to prioritise the league and field a largely rotated team in the cup. That meant Mark Washington and other key men were rested, while four backup players - Jonas Kjaerulff, Ross Pearson, Axel Rubarth and Martin Thompson - were given their first starts of the season.

 

22 September 2037: Norwich City vs Dagenham & Redbridge

We got off to a poor start by our recent standards, so it was a relief to see Norwich's attackers also struggle. In the third minute, Canaries midfielder Dale Shotton played a short pass to Paul Doyle in our penalty area, only to see the former Nottingham Forest forward pull it well wide. Doyle's strike partner Garry Steadman also fared badly when attempting to score from distance in the 12th and 13th minutes.

 

Though we were restricting Norwich to long-range punts, they only got those chances because our passing was so wayward. Another cause for concern was that we were giving away too many fouls for my liking. One foul from Neil McCann on Darren Croft after 20 minutes saw City earn a free-kick in a dangerous position. Though Croft's free-kick cleared our wall, Daggers captain Kieran Whalley plucked it out of the air just before it could fly into his top corner.

 

In the 27th minute, Dagenham winger Shaun Powell's foul on Canaries left-back Sibusiso Radebe saw Shaun pick up a yellow card. Moments later, though, Jonas Kjaerulff came very close to putting us in front. After his initial shot was blocked by Norwich defender Gu Minghua, Jonas fired the rebound against Stuart Burns' left-hand post. It looked like our other striker Enrico Messina would get to the loose ball, but Burns smothered it before he could.

 

Our own woodwork then took a beating in the 40th minute, with a powerful shot from Shotton going behind off the bar. That miss would prove telling four minutes later. Daggers left-back Thulani Mazibuko volleyed a deep cross into the Norwich area, where Messina nodded it over Burns to give us a surprise half-time lead!

 

Centre-back Vicente Gridelli became the second Dagenham player in the book on 49 minutes, when he pushed Doyle. Doyle would later make way for Portugal striker Luís Soares, but it was homegrown youngster Shotton who made Norwich's next scoring opportunity. The England Under-21s star aimed a strike for the top corner in the 56th minute, only for Whalley to deny him with a top-drawer save.

 

Four minutes later, Messina skimmed the hosts' bar with a crashing drive. Later in the second half, I decided to give some gametime to a couple of youngsters in midfielder Lee Allen and defender Michael Walters. 16-year-old Walters almost scored a dream debut goal in the 67th minute, but his header from Welsh compatriot Powell's free-kick was caught by Burns.

 

Shortly after that, Whalley had to catch a diving header from Norwich's substitute striker Ido Haliva. An excellent display from Kieran continued after 71 minutes, when his block denied another Canaries sub in midfielder Chaker Radhouani. City barely threatened us again, thanks not only to Whalley, but also to a similarly impressive performance by Mazibuko.

 

Meanwhile, Kjaerulff had a chance to kill the Canaries off in the 80th minute. The Danish teenager outmuscled defender Rúben Palma to reach Shaun's through-ball and leave himself one-on-one with Burns... but it was the keeper who prevailed.

 

Jonas would be replaced with Joel Honeyball for the last few minutes, during which Messina beat Burns with another header in injury time. Ricky's second 'goal' was chalked off by the offside flag, but his earlier strike proved to be enough to get us into the next round.

 

Norwich City - 0

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Messina 44)

League Cup Round 3, Attendance 12,839

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Pearson, Hutchinson, Gridelli (Walters), Mazibuko, Powell, McCann, Thompson, Rubarth (Allen), Messina, Kjaerulff (Honeyball). BOOKED: Powell, Gridelli, Mazibuko.

 

The League Cup isn't exactly the most prestigious competition around, especially not if you're a top-flight club, but it meant so much to me that we'd finally made it to Round 4. And for all we knew, it could start another lengthy cup run to rival last season's exploits in the FA Cup.

 

If we were to reach the Quarter Finals, we would have to get through another tricky away tie - against Huddersfield Town - in late October. Huddersfield were top of the Championship as things stood, so they would certainly fancy their chances of causing an upset.

 

In the shorter term, I now had my sights on racking up back-to-back wins over Norwich. Could we follow up our cup victory at Carrow Road by silencing the Canaries again at the New Boleyn Ground in the Premier League?

 

26 September 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Norwich City

When Greg Killick impeded Norwich winger Chaker Radhouani in the third minute, Darren Croft was given a great chance to fire his team into an early lead. Croft's 30-yard free-kick bent wickedly in the air, but it only just cleared our crossbar. Our opening shot also went off target, with Kenneth Jorgensen missing in the fourth minute.

 

We then won a couple of corners before Enrico Messina headed the ball past Norwich goalkeeper Stuart Burns in the 15th minute. Sadly, Ricky had already been flagged offside. A minute after that, the Canaries launched a counter-attack that resulted in Scotland striker Joe Shepherd's half-volley being diverted behind by Daggers goalie Ben Perk.

 

Norwich had missed a trick there, and by the 23rd minute, they were behind. Messina put his aerial ability to great use again when the Italian nodded home a chipped free-kick from captain Mark Washington, giving us a 1-0 lead!

 

Ten minutes later, that lead was looking rather more secure. Though Washington's attempted centre to attacking midfielder Orlando Salvador was blocked by City's anchor man Aldin Hodzic, Mark rushed onto the loose ball and smashed in his fifth goal of the season!

 

We were all set to return to our dressing room 2-0 up... until the Canaries put a cat amongst the pigeons just before half-time. Former Blackburn Rovers and Fulham left-back Mathieu Retailleau sent a deep cross into our box, and Portuguese striker Luís Soares' header was far too clinical for Perk. 2-1, and game on again.

 

I feared that Norwich would continue their fightback in the 48th minute, when Marco Paiva's cross from the right flank found Shepherd in point-blank range. Thankfully, Ben managed to get his fingers to Shepherd's half-volley and keep our noses in front.

 

Then came a couple of chances for Dagenham midfielders Billy Stevenson and Killick, both of whom were denied by Burns in the 52nd and 57th minutes. In the 62nd, another of our midfield maestros - Kenneth Jorgensen - caught Paiva with a cynical elbow into the face. Kenny was very lucky to escape with a yellow card, but I opted to send the Dane off myself, with Lee Allen taking his place for the remaining half-hour.

 

Replacing our main holding midfielder with a 19-year-old reserve might've been risky against a team whose shooting was more accurate than Norwich's. At least four City shots went either high or wide over the next 10 minutes before we dealt the Canaries a fateful blow.

 

In the 76th minute, Stevenson cleared the defence with a header to Washington, who fired a half-volley beyond the onrushing Burns. The shot came back off the bar and was then unconvincingly cleared by Norwich right-back Danny Kelly. Stevo subsequently flicked the ball into the path of Daggers substitute Tristan Egueh, who effectively secured victory by making it 3-1. The visitors never recovered, and an injury to Paiva eight minutes from the end only served to compound their misery.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 3 (Messina 23, Washington 33, Egueh 76)

Norwich City - 1 (Soares 45)

Premier League, Attendance 17,950 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 5th, Norwich 14th

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk, Scheepens, Gridelli, Darvill, Fox, Jorgensen (Allen), McCann, Killick, Salvador (Stevenson), Washington, Messina (Egueh). BOOKED: Jorgensen.

 

Watching Norwich lose successive matches against us must've triggered something in the mind of chairman Marc Martin. Barely an hour after the final whistle, it was announced that he had sacked James Wallace as City manager, even though the Canaries hadn't exactly made a disastrous start to the season.

 

I have no doubt that Mr Martin will once again try to lure me to Carrow Road. He can offer me all the money, chocolates and glamourous women in Norfolk for all the difference that it'll make. I will not be leaving Dagenham any time soon, and that is that.

 

I rounded off a productive month by snapping up one of my long-term transfer targets. Nearly three years after I first attempted to sign Croatia Under-21s international Dzenan Genjac from Dinamo Zagreb, the attacking midfielder will finally be joining us at the start of January.

 

It was only as recently as May that the now 19-year-old Genjac signed a new long-term deal with Dinamo. However, his agent - the same guy who represents Ante Djuzel and Bruno Rommel, no less - snuck a release clause into Genjac's contract that allowed foreign clubs to buy him for the low, low fee of £800,000. When I heard that Ligue 1 side Rennes had invoked said release clause, I had a decision to make.

 

Genjac is very much an attacking midfield player who fits the Fuller mould. He's hard-working, flamboyant, very quick, and he's so much of a perfectionist that he'd make even the great Cristiano Ronaldo look lazy. At such a bargain price, of course I couldn't resist putting in a bid for him!

 

Dinamo were obliged to accept our offer, and we subsequently completed negotiations with the player and his agent, who didn't even try to pull any nasty tricks on us. Dzenan will be our man come the New Year - and if Premier League defenders thought that Orlando Salvador was terrifying enough, then they haven't seen anything yet!

[CFuller]

Premier League Table (End of September 2037)

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Man City               6     5     1     0     23    5     +18   16
2.          Arsenal                6     4     2     0     9     3     +6    14
3.          Chelsea                6     4     2     0     9     4     +5    14
4.          Man Utd                5     3     2     0     11    3     +8    11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.          Dag & Red              5     3     1     1     9     7     +2    10
6.          West Ham               5     2     3     0     10    5     +5    9
7.          Burnley                6     3     0     3     9     11    -2    9
8.          Blackburn              6     3     0     3     5     7     -2    9
9.          Southampton            6     2     2     2     8     5     +3    8
10.         Derby                  6     2     2     2     6     6     0     8
11.         Rochdale               6     2     2     2     5     5     0     8
12.         Liverpool              5     2     1     2     6     5     +1    7
13.         Everton                5     2     1     2     5     6     -1    7
14.         Norwich                6     2     1     3     10    12    -2    7
15.         Wolves                 6     1     2     3     10    19    -9    5
16.         Sheff Utd              6     1     1     4     5     9     -4    4
17.         Reading                6     0     3     3     3     11    -8    3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.         Fulham                 5     0     2     3     3     8     -5    2
19.         Brighton               6     0     2     4     6     13    -7    2
20.         West Brom              6     0     2     4     2     10    -8    2

 

[CFuller]

OCTOBER 2037

We started October with our first away game in the UEFA Europa League. Sunny Cyprus was our destination, and our opponents were unquestionably the best team on the island - APOEL Nicosia. They'd reached the Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League on several occasions, but not since 2030/2031.

 

APOEL were, in my book, the weakest of our three Group I rivals. I selected a largely second-string line-up for this match, with most of our big-hitters being reserved for the home league game against Manchester United three days later.

 

1 October 2037: APOEL Nicosia vs Dagenham & Redbridge

We set out our stall quickly, hammering APOEL with three shots inside the first three minutes. Though Axel Rubarth and Greg Killick were each narrowly off target, Jonas Kjaerulff was only denied a second-minute opener by a miraculous fingertip save from goalkeeper Stavros Irakleous.

 

Jonas' wait for his first competitive Daggers goal continued, but centre-back Vicente Gridelli did break his duck after six minutes. The Argentine knocked left-back Thulani Mazibuko's corner in at the near post to give us an early lead.

 

Vicente almost scored again a couple of minutes later, but his half-volley was hacked off the line by APOEL captain Samuel Adu. We'd started this match so brilliantly that it came as no surprise when we doubled our lead in the 16th minute. Right-winger Shaun Powell met midfielder Martin Thompson's centre with a diving header that Irakleous tipped away. Unfortunately for Irakleous, left-winger Axel Rubarth was on hand to fire in his first Daggers goal at the back post!

 

Powell was soon looking to add his name onto the scoresheet, but a couple more Irakleous saves in the 17th and 22nd minutes kept him waiting for a while longer. The Welshman's moment would come on 31 minutes. After receiving the ball from Daggers right-back Ross Pearson, Shaun turned past APOEL wing-back Zaza Nikuradze and curled in a breathtaking shot with his left foot!

 

A fourth Dagenham goal would surely have killed the match off, and Enrico Messina could've scored it in the 36th minute. Sadly, his deft lob over the rushing Irakleous drifted narrowly off target. Shortly after that, an APOEL counter-attack ended with forward Nikos Kaiafas half-volleying a shot against our upright. Had 'Thrylos' missed their chance to get back in contention?

 

No, they hadn't. I'm afraid that we got a little too complacent early in the second half and gifted APOEL some more scoring opportunities. Though Kaiafas pulled wide a dreadful shot for the Cypriots in the 48th minute, one of his team-mates would be much more clinical eight minutes later. A fine passing move by APOEL resulted in American midfielder Omar Munoz prodding in a lovely ball from substitute left-winger Theodoros Kolokotronis.

 

Our nerves were starting to jangle, and it didn't help matters when Messina hit the post after 60 minutes. On 62 minutes, APOEL's 20-year-old Greece striker Antonis Siafos stubbed his toe in a tackle from Mazibuko, who narrowly missed the target with a free-kick five minutes after that.

 

While Siafos was struggling, his strike partner Kaiafas was not. When he drilled in an excellent centre from Munoz to make it 3-2 after 69 minutes, we found ourselves on the brink of throwing away a comfortable lead.

 

A change was badly needed if we were to reassert our dominance, and so we switched to a diamond formation for the closing stages. However, Messina and Kjaerulff continued to miss chances, with the latter being replaced by Joel Honeyball in the 83rd minute. A minute before then, Daggers captain Kieran Whalley had to beat away a strike from Kaiafas that could've seen our lead disappear altogether. Thankfully, 'Thrylos' would not frighten us again after that.

 

After saving late strike from Powell and Thompson, Irakleous was eventually beaten for a fourth time in injury time. Shaun capped off a sterling display on the right wing by swinging in a cross that Messina headed home. Ricky's fifth goal of the season wrapped up a 4-2 win, and we went to the top of Group I after Lyon were held to a 2-2 draw at Galatasaray.

 

APOEL Nicosia - 2 (Munoz 56, Kaiafas 69)

Dagenham & Redbridge - 4 (Gridelli 6, Rubarth 16, Powell 31, Messina 90)

UEFA Europa League Group I, Attendance 10,403 - POSITIONS: APOEL 4th, Dag & Red 1st

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Whalley, Pearson, Hutchinson, Gridelli, Mazibuko, Powell, Killick (Jorgensen), Thompson, Rubarth (Djuzel), Messina, Kjaerulff (Honeyball). BOOKED: Killick, Messina.

 

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Dag & Red              2     2     0     0     5     2     +3    6
2.          Lyon                   2     1     1     0     5     3     +2    4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.          Galatasaray            2     0     1     1     2     3     -1    1
4.          APOEL                  2     0     0     2     3     7     -4    0

 

Now, onto that game against Manchester United. The three-time back-to-back Premier League champions were still unbeaten in all competitions this season, though they had dropped points at home to Chelsea and away to Derby County.

 

United were the last team to defeat us on home soil in the league, way back in April 2036. We'd since gone through 24 successive PL home games without losing, but the Red Devils were arguably more capable of ending that run than most teams.

 

4 October 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Manchester United

Manchester United winger Kim Chang-Hoon was quick to put Ben Perk under pressure, forcing our keeper into a couple of saves in the 4th and 11th minutes. By the 13th, however, Kim's luck was very much in. United midfielder Sebastián Núnez took the ball off Kenneth Jorgensen's feet deep in the Dagenham half to kick off a move that resulted in the South Korean finding the far corner.

 

The Red Devils were 1-0 up, and their dominance was clear to see. They were enjoying far more possession than us, they were more incisive with their passes, and their defence restricted us to only a handful of counter-attacking shots from distance. Mark Washington and Neil McCann each missed hopeless punts prior to Kim's opening goal, and Mark floated a free-kick over the United bar three minutes after it.

 

Washington didn't really need a lesson in how to take a free-kick, but visiting winger Dudu Ashkenazi gave him one anyway in the 29th minute. After McCann tripped Kim about 50 yards from our goal, Ashkenazi swung a set-piece deep into our box. Once Moses Penfold latched onto it, there was no stopping the England marksman notching up the 199th league goal of his illustrious career.

 

Penfold's even deadlier strike partner Sean Jordan had over 200 league goals to his name, and he should've got another in the 43rd minute. However, Perk did brilliantly to tip behind his fellow American's header from a right-wing cross by Matheo Honoré. Núnez curled the resulting corner to the near post, and Kim headed it against the bar. With a little more luck, the Red Devils would surely have improved on what was already a solid 2-0 lead.

 

Switching to a 5-3-2 helped to tighten our defence up early in the second half. After Daggers centre-half George Darvill nodded away a cross from Honoré in the 53rd minute, we sprung a counter-attack on the Red Devils. Kenny cushioned George's clearance to Greg Killick, who hit the ball long to Mark in the opposing half. Washington then exploited a wide-open gap between United centre-backs Emerson and José Luis, dribbling through it before popping in a potential lifeline goal!

 

Our captain's goal could've been rendered meaningless had Penfold reached his 200-goal landmark in the 66th minute. Perk, for one, was very relieved to see Penfold blast a dangerous attempt over his crossbar. Ten minutes after that, we were ready to hit the Red Devils on the break again.

 

Daggers substitute Matthew Fraser - making his first Premier League appearance this season - drove an excellent pass to Washington, who dribbled forward and drew United captain José Luis towards him. That opened up space for Enrico Messina, who looked a dead-cert to equalise when Mark knocked the ball through to the Italian striker. The home fans at the New Boleyn Ground jumped off their seats in anticipation... but Ricky's strike hit the bar and went behind.

 

Things would get worse for Messina in the 84th minute, when a rough challenge from José Luis left our big summer signing with a dislocated shoulder. Ricky was stretchered off, and we had to play out the last few minutes with only 10 men.

 

It won't surprise you to learn that United ended the match very much on top, with Kim having a couple of hopeful late shots saved by Perk. Darvill and his fellow Daggers centre-back Vicente Gridelli also deserved credit for helping to keep our deficit down. While our great unbeaten record at home in the league was now over, there was no shame in only losing 2-1 to the champions.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Washington 56)

Manchester United - 2 (Kim 13, Penfold 29)

Premier League, Attendance 27,523 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 9th, Man Utd 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk, Scheepens, Gridelli, Darvill, Djuzel, Jorgensen, McCann (Mazibuko), Killick (Fraser), Salvador (Stevenson), Washington, Messina.

 

Unfortunately, Enrico Messina's altercation with José Luis would result in our young Italian frontman missing the next two months with a dislocated shoulder. Ricky had made a bright start to his Dagenham career, racking up five goals in eight matches, but now someone else would have to step up and share the goalscoring burden with Mark Washington.

 

That 'someone else' would not be Jonas Kjaerulff... not yet, at any rate. After representing Denmark Under-21s during the international break, the teenage striker returned to our reserve team and scored the opening goal of a 5-1 UEFA Youth League home win over Dynamo Kiev. Sadly, he strained his groin during said game and would be on the sidelines for the next three weeks.

 

Several Daggers played in FIFA World Cup qualifying matches during the international period. United States striker Washington could be joined at next year's finals by Ante Djuzel and the fit-again Tomo Kurtovic, who helped Croatia secure a play-off place. Meanwhile, England's Tristan Egueh and Portugal's Orlando Salvador inspired their countries to qualification for the UEFA European Under-21s Championship.

 

Meanwhile, youth goalkeeper Bruno Rommel went on a month-long emergency loan to League One side Hull City. The 17-year-old would provide cover for the Tigers' first-choice keeper Ali Buttery while he was out with a knee injury.

 

Our next Premier League fixture was at home to 4th-placed Chelsea, whose unbeaten league start had ended at Derby County two weeks earlier. Having been knocked off our own stride by Manchester United at the same time, could we now bounce back and get moving in the right direction again?

 

17 October 2037: Dagenham & Redbridge vs Chelsea

Dagenham defender George Darvill had our first scoring chance in the fifth minute, when his header from Mark Washington's corner was caught by Humberto Cano. We then withstood a couple of Chelsea corners before trying to hit our visitors on the break in the ninth minute.

 

Our counter-attack broke down when Billy Stevenson's long ball to Tristan Egueh was met by a wayward header from the young striker. Blues centre-half Libor Mach intercepted the header and moved it forward to Callum Lea, who was tackled by Greg Killick. That tackle knocked the ball on to Manuel Paiva, and the Portuguese winger unleashed a shot that deflected in off the far post.

 

We were 1-0 down, and we were very fortunate not to go further behind on 15 minutes, when Lea's header narrowly cleared our crossbar. Eight minutes after that, Dagenham goalkeeper Ben Perk had to tip behind a vicious strike from Paiva and concede another Chelsea corner. Darvill made light work of a poor delivery by Guillermo Mas as we managed to hold firm.

 

Then, on 35 minutes, we launched a quickfire counter-attack. Kenneth Jorgensen played a one-two with midfield colleague Matthew Fraser before firing the ball long to Mark, who nodded it towards the edge of Chelsea's penalty area. Tristan got to the ball ahead of Blues defenders Sébastien Etoundi and Mahmoud Gaafar, and he made up for his earlier error with a fantastic leveller!

 

Egueh's equaliser took us into the second half with renewed self-belief. Just over five minutes after the restart, Greg Killick drove forward an ambitious 30-yard shot that Cano did well to catch. The Spanish-Argentinean was keeping his cool, but another in the Chelsea ranks would lose his after 55 minutes. 21-year-old midfielder Emanuel Hontoria flew in on Daggers defender Tomo Kurtovic with a late lunge, prompting referee Bradley Fidyk to reach for his red card and send him off!

 

With the Blues down a man, we looked to crank up the pressure and crack them open again. In the 59th minute, Egueh had a shot charged down by Mach, while Stevenson was dispossessed by Chelsea captain Almir Murtic just before he could have a pop at goal.

 

Before long, though, the quality of the visitors' players was starting to win out over the quantity of ours. Gianni Improta went close to restoring Chelsea's lead on 67 minutes, and his team-mates Paiva and Mas would also miss chances shortly afterwards.

 

Eventually, after 73 minutes, the Blues would find a way to exploit the weakest link in our defence. A poor clearance from left-back Colin Fox was intercepted by Paiva, who dribbled past the Scottish veteran and teed up Improta for a lethal finish at the near post. The 10 men were 2-1 up.

 

Chelsea remained ahead after Kurtovic flicked a header wide of their goal in the 81st minute. Though Perk tipped over a blistering volley from Blues winger Maximiliano Fernández in injury time, that did little to quell my disappointment over a match that had slipped away from us.

 

Dagenham & Redbridge - 1 (Egueh 35)

Chelsea - 2 (Paiva 9, Improta 73)

Premier League, Attendance 28,247 - POSITIONS: Dag & Red 10th, Chelsea 3rd

DAG & RED LINE-UP: Perk, Mazibuko, Kurtovic, Darvill, Fox, Jorgensen, Fraser (Thompson), Killick, Stevenson (Salvador), Egueh (Kasongo), Washington.

 

You don't lose a home league game for 18 months, and then you lose two on the trot. Typical.