Making Football Great Again

[JerseyShoreDave]

Started out unemployed on 1/1/17, I was kinda picky to find a small club somewhere that never had been anything before and to make them something.  After checking out club after club... I found one.

 

 

Annan Athletic is in League 2 Scottish Football and never made it higher than this league, with a small 2,500 capacity arena with synthetic grass seemed an ideal starting spot.  We signed a nice little contract with them.

I inherited a nice little squad, they were suppose to get 6th but are currently in 9th

Tactics are the same I noticed that a lot of clubs are using so I'm using them as well at this point... 4-2-3-1 wide.

With only 6 matches remaining not sure I can meet their expectations but we can try.  I doubt we'll be on the bottom of the league.

I'll run down the season and see what happens.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2016-2017 Season - Ladbrokes League 2

We didn't lose a match in the last 6 matches we had.  We actually have a good team, they were predicted to be 6th when I joined the club.

We moved up to 8th in the league, everything else was completed before we joined.

Our Finances are ok but they are slipping slowly...

We strengthened the team for the season by adding some players from our agreement from Carlisle in the English League 2.  Otherwise we waited till the end of the season to strengthen the team.

We added some good players, but I never expected the preseason expectation to be second in the league.  The season expectations were always a lagging indicator in the past, but right now it makes me think we have a chance to get promoted this coming season.

The season expectations are obviously in line with the preseason odds.  I'm unsure how realistic the cups are but the league I think is doable due to not losing a match at the end of the season.

Got our Group Draw for the Betfred Cup and it could be worse but we don't really have a shot at winning, to me it's just another source of revenue.

I got 2 players on load from Carlisle for the upcoming season, and I still have 1k leftover for any great players that may appear.  Every position has at least 3 players who can cover a particular position and we're ready to rock the new season, however it ends up.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2017-2018 Season - Ladbrokes League 2 - First half of the season

We got taken over finally after a long multi-month affair that led to this:

We started work on our National C License:

We did quite well playing wise.  Betfred Cup was the downpoint.  The upside was we scored in every match at least.  We got knocked out of the Challenge Cup as well by St. Mirren in League 1.  In League 2 we only lost 2 matches.  Overall we're doing well where it counts.

We don't have much of shot in the Scottish Cup, since St. Johnstone is a Premiership club.  In the league we're in first but it's still pretty tough.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Doing very well Dave.

[JerseyShoreDave]

7 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Doing very well Dave.

Thank you... Its getting tight up top... we'll see how it goes.

[Deisler26]

Best of luck!

[JerseyShoreDave]

10 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

Best of luck!

Thanks... We're trying!

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2017-2018 Season - Ladbrokes League 2 - End of Season

We didn't win the League we got second place.

We made the League 1 Relegation finals... we ended up 3-3 in Leg 1:

In Leg 2 at home, it went to extra time... Stranraer finally scored and then we tied it up... leading to penalties where we lost:

We lost 4 matches after January... wasn't quite good enough...

Scottish Cup, lost against Premiership St. Johnstone in the 4th Round

Betfred Cup, Lost every match

Challenge Cup, lost in Second Round to League 1 side St. Mirren

I signed a new 1 year contract:

7 of our players are part of the team of the year:

Finances are ok, we pay 1,000 towards our 60k in debt I believe.  We need promotion

Transfers In:

We brought in 3 loanees which I don't think even played in a single match since they're backups

Danny Stoney and Ryan Baptie became stars, while everyone else were bench warmers

Transfers Out:

Deadwood...

Our Polish AMC Przemyslaw Dachnowicz was sold for 2k, could rise to 3.2k.  He wasn't an important member of the squad and its money so why not?

Our Squad is very strong for this League, we couldn't quite handle the worst League 1 team though.

Key Players

David McKenna - Our 31 year old Scottish striker had an awesome season.  In 45 appearances he scored 29 goals with 6 assists, 6 player of the match honors with an average rating of 7.10.  I believe he's  got what it takes still in this league although some staff don't think he's good enough for this League oddly enough.

Danny Stoney - Our 22 year old Scottish Advanced Playmaker we our second best goal scorer and second best assister for the team.  In 42 matches he scored 17 goals, had 9 assists with 5 Player of the Match honors for an average rating of 7.15.  Young player who I believe will be good in League 1 as well, but not much better than that.

Blair Currie - Our 24 year old Goalkeeper is a top 3 keeper in our league, and he had a great season.  In 45 matches he conceded 68 goals and had 12 clean sheets with an average rating of 6.77.  Unless I happen to come across a better keeper, he'll remain on top for now.

Rabin Omar - Our 21 year old Scottish Right winger had a great season for us as well.  In 45 appearances he scored 11 goals with 12 assists with 2 Player of the match honors with an average rating of 6.93.    There's more to come for him as well.

Peter McGill - Is our 21 year old Scottish Left winger, and he had a great season as well.   In 44 appearances he scored 9 goals, with 14 assists with 1 Player of the Match honors for an average rating of 6.98.  There's more to come from him as well.

Ryan Baptie - Our 23 year old Scottish left full back was great as well.  In 45 matches he scored 5 goals with 9 assists... converted 3 penalties with 3 Player of the match honors.  Yeah he got 3 yellow cards... but had an average rating of 7.09.   He's probably going to be good thru League 1.

Thoughts

Short term set up of not getting promoted isn't the end of the world.  I believe that we'll be favorites for promotion this season.  Our team will be intact this season as we have no contracts expiring all we can do is strengthen the team, and we do have it.  We have a transfer budget of over 14k and 1.38k p/w in wage budget available.  So if we find some exceptional players, we'll have the means to possibly bring them in.  We changed our third formation to a 5-1-4 which makes our loan midfielder an advanced playmaker, and eliminating our AMC playmaker and making a second striker out of that spot while keeping our wingers in tact.  Instead of 4 defenders we put one of the midfielders there as a Defensive Centre Back as  stopper.  Would it work?  4-2-3-1 just seems to popular right now.  

[JerseyShoreDave]

World Cup 2018 Update

Nothing that odd here, Portugal beats France in the Final.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2018-2019 Season - Ladbrokes League 2 - Half Season

Uk leaves the EU but nothing changes in regards to work permits or how the UK handles EU players.

Reaching the playoffs is the minimum expectation, I think we're going to be there.

Betfred Cup... at least we beat Queen's Park.  We almost beat Dumbarton but lost in Penalties...

Half Season Schedule results:

Preseason wasn't the best.  One of our players of 10 years had a testimonial with the Polish Club that got our guy last season (who has since been released).  Watson has no real future at the club.  Betfred Cup 1 win.  Got knocked out of the challenge cup to  Motherwell under 20s who are beastly.   Got knocked out of the Scottish Cup thanks to the Highland team Huntly 4-0... which was quite pathetic to be honest.   We're not bad in the League but sadly not 1st place.

Highlighting our competitions, we're in second place, just 2 points out of first.  We're going back to 4-2-3-1 from 5-3-2.  This change I believe will lead us to the title.

Squad bonuses, Its all about the league so we keep that high while saving money with Domestic Cups

Preseason Odds are 4-1 for us to win the League

Our board confidence is stable at the moment while I somehow lead the sack race with 9-2 odds of being sacked... I find it interesting.

The experiment with different formations at this point was disappointing to be honest.  I hope its more my players not being as suited for other formations/roles than it is whether or not 4-2-3-1 wide is just too OP the way I run it.  Either way I noticed at least in the beginning of the game many clubs used it so since I aim to compete with the best I should use tactics that mimic the best in my opinion.  We'll see.  I'll be surprised if we don't get promoted this season

 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Unlucky on losing the playoffs Dave.

[JerseyShoreDave]

11 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Unlucky on losing the playoffs Dave.

Thanks, but I think at the end of the day it helped us get better for this season.  No worries.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2018-2019 Season - Ladbrokes League 2 - End of Season

First we have bad news.  Our top striker, 32 David Mckenna has retired from football after getting a broken leg.  He ended up being the second best striker of the season.  In 31 matches he scored 18 times, had 7 assists with 3 Player of the match honors and 1 yellow card for an average rating of 7.01.   He will be missed.

We didn't do very well in Cups, but we did win the League by 10 points to ensure our promotion!

We only lost 2 matches in the new year!

When it came to the new year transfer window, we were highlighted for reason 

We signed a new contract, sadly it's only for 1 year.

Our initial budgets are looking good.

Our finances aren't the best...

At least we got a new kit sponsor!

Transfers

In:

Bryan Wharton/Dale Gillespie/Colin Charlesworth - Overrated and gone

Gary Fraser - top goal scorer

Ciaren Lafferty - Future top Striker

Max Brown, Rhys Groves, Jaic Miller, Joseph Bull - back up players on loan from Carlisle.  Joseph Bull was actually a good attacking midfielder unfortunately his club wanted 300k for him...

Out:

Peter Watson - Was with the club for a decade, had his testimonial and then left.

Darren Ramsey - Good player at this level but didn't enjoy being backup

Ricky Frame - left for 9.5k, was good youngster but wasn't good enough for the first team, plus we needed the money

Everyone else was just surplus.

(Ended up not saving soon enough so my squad is very thin now cause the contracts already expired)

Raffi Krissian - The 24 year old Lebanese defender had a great season.  In 43 matches, head 3 assists, 4 player of the match honors, with 2 yellow cards for an average rating of 6.90.

Rabin Omar - Our 22 year old, right winger had a great season.  In 43 matches he scored 9 goals with 9 assists with an average rating of 6.85.

Peter McGill - Our 22 year left winger had a great season too.  In 40 matches he scored 10 goals, and had 18 assists with 1 player of the match honor for an average rating of 6.97.

Blair Currie - Our 25 year old sweeper keeper had a great season too, in 38 matches he conceded 66 goals, with 8 clean sheets, average ratings 6.75.

Gary Fraser - He's a 32 scottish striker who save us after Mckenna had to retire.  In 34 matches he scored 18 goals, with 4 assists and 1 Player of the match honor for an average rating of 6.82.

Adam Asghar - Our 24 year old midfielder was a star this season.  Unfortunately he was a bit season this season, but when he played he was one of the best on the pitch.  In 21 matches he scored 4 goals, had 7 assists with 3 Player of the match honors with an average rating of 7.20.

Ciaren Lafferty - The few times we played him, he didn't perform too well but this coming season he'll have time to move into his own.  The 22 year old scottish striker played in only 6 matches, scored twice for an average rating of 6.67.  We got him in January and we hope he performs a lot better.

Next season we need to fill out the squad and hopefully not get relegated.  Everything else is gravy.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2019-2020 Season - Ladbrokes League 1 - Half Season

UK leaves the EU but nothing changes in the world of Football

Gotta admit, mid table finish scared me a bit... but they were good at predicting.

New 2 year contract extension signed!!

Betfed Cup, at least we're in a position to get some results given this group!

Our odds are to be relegated, somehow I doubt that'll happen... 

Win Bonuses adjusted

Interesting Matches:

We won 2 Betfred cup matches but didn't qualify for the next round.

We played Rangers Under 20s in the 4th round of the Challenge Cup in front of 14 home fans and lost in Penalties...

In the league we've been very competitive.

We have literally a 3 way tie at the top with 35 points... We've definitely overperformed this season.

Challenge Cup exit... great match but we lost 9-8 in penalties...

Change season expectations... why bother for only an extra 60 pounds when we're already under the wage budget by about 1100 pounds...

Finances could be better, could be worse... we're keeping an eye on things, if we come across a great player in the transfer window we'll pick 'em up, otherwise I'm very happy with our team.

We're doing way better than I thought we would. Bottom line is the Championship is much tougher than League 1, at least it's my perception at this point.  I think I'd like a season to consolidate in League 1 than to get promoted, but can I really turn down the opportunity to get promoted??? I've always done what I thought is best to get the job done and I don't want to do any less than my best.  But if it doesn't happen, I'm not worried at all.  I think we're definitely in the playoffs at the very least.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2019-2020 Season - Ladbrokes League 1 - Second Half of Season Takeover Saga

The neverending story of takeover or no takeover was just crazy and its still not resolved....

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2019-2020 Season - Ladbrokes League 1 - Season Review

Got my National B License

We lost in the Quarter Finals of the Scottish Cup... We Finished 3rd in the League and got knocked out in the playoffs.

Alloa and Forfar got Promoted.  I'm amazed that Cowdenbeath didn't get promoted after knocking us out.

We ended up not doing as well in the second half of the season.  But we excelled in the Scottish up beating Championship side Hibernian and then beating league 2 side Arbroath before getting trounced by Premiership side Hamilton.  The playoffs started out well enough with a 1-1 tie at home.  But away we fought hard and fell a little short.

Financially we're better though it can only get better!

18k transfer budget with 8k a week salary.  On salary we currently have about 50% of the cap.  I think we just need a few more players to make the push to the Championship.

Transfers

In:

Martin McNiff, Stephen Stirling, Michael McKenna, Willie Dyer, James Severn, and Carlo Monti are all players who made a difference.

Out:

Lots of players didn't want to be back up.  Sam Henderson came and left within months, but at least we made some money on him.

Our Squad is stronger than ever.   Our B team isn't as good as our A team but its getting better.  We got 5 people on loan from Carlisle for backup and they didn't make much of an impact.  We'll highlight our stars.

Ciaren Lafferty - Our 23 year Scottish Striker was our best scorer.  In 47 appearances he scored 23 goals, had 7 assists with 5 player of the match honors for an average rating of 6.94.  I hoped he would of done better, hopefully we can see about getting a better striker.

James Severn - Our 28 year old English Goalkeeper.  We took a chance and he's one of the best keepers.  He made 38 appearances, conceded 45 goals with 12 clean sheets for an average rating of 6.81.   Statistically he one of the best keepers in the League, not sure if he's good enough for the Championship, but when that time comes we'll sort it out.

Adam Asghar - Our 25 year old Scottish midfielder is one of our star players.  In 44 matches he got 4 goals with 6 assists and 2 Player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.04.  He's necessary to get to the next level at this point.

Michael McKenna - Our 29 year old Scottish midfielder had a great season as a shadow striker.  In 45 appearances he scored 11 goals with 8 assists, with 1 Player of the match honors with a yellow card, with an average rating of 6.89.  We'll see whether or not he'll be with us once we're in the Championship, but for now I think he still could be key for Promotion.

Rabin Omar - Our 23 year old Scottish Winger had a great season.  In 46 matches he scored 12 goals with 13 assists with 2 player of the match honors for an average rating of 6.94.  He might be good enough for the Championship.  We're the only club he ever player for and that's odd for me.

Steven Black - Our 28 year old Scottish defender who is also our Captain.  In 45 appearances he had 4 assists, 6 Player of the match honors with 1 red card and an average rating of 7.15.  Our Captain was critical in defense this season, and we wouldn't of been in the playoffs without him

Raffi Krissian - Our 25 year old Lebanese Defender is the other defender who has done great this season.  In 44 matches he scored 2 goals, 1 assist, with 5 Player of the match honors... with 3 yellow cards and 1 red card for an average rating of 7.19.  He is also key to our defense in order to get promoted.

Overall we did quite well, I would of liked to get promoted to the Championship however since we're STILL dealing with a takeover it could be devastating for our promotion possibilities if we can't strengthen the team.  If we were promoted and in this situation it would of sunk us.   So there is a silver lining.  Also I'm not totally thrilled with our 4-2-3-1 wide setup... I'm thinking of going back to old reliable 4-3-3 narrow.  It might not happen this season but before we get to the Premiership its going to be necessary in my opinion.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2020-2021 Season - Ladbrokes League 1 - Preseason

The takeover Saga is still NOT resolved... Now at least this first message makes SENSE... to "Speed up their takeover of the club that ensures I can operate during the forthcoming xfer window"... but alas it fell on deaf ears.

And the rest of messages that kept on coming during the Preseason:

Season Expectations - Kept everything as low as possible due to my fears coming true...

Betfred Cup group was drawn... we actually can win 2 matches!

The preseason expectations

Team bonus normal for league, low for cups

We got from 150-1 of winning the league to 1000-1 of winning the league thanks to the non takeover takeover...

Let's hope the takeover happens in before the January Window... but we're not doing bad considering...

On a side note, Spain beats Holland 2-1 in the final.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2020-2021 Season - Ladbrokes League 1 - to Winter Transfer 

Takeover completed and new loan... at least its cheap!

Started my National A Licence

Still sticking to the same season expectations

We started out great with our friendlies and even did decent with the Betfred Cup.  In the Challenge cup and Scottish Cup we fell to Dundee.  In the League we didn't do that well and even though we're in 3rd, I fear this is going to be another failed promotion at this point.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2020-2021 Season - Ladbrokes League 1 - End of Season

We signed a new Contract!

I got my National A Licence

I'm in the running for the Montreal Impact Manager, it's interesting considering I'm just a League 1 Manager in Scotland...

We got 4th place in the League but won the playoffs to the Championship, If we had given up just 1 more goal or had we not scored 1 goal we wouldn't of made it.

In other Competitions Dundee knocked us out of 2 competitions... we did well enough in the important competition

Not the best results in the schedule... capping off with our 6-1 loss to Dundee United right before the playoffs... where we had to play Dundee in the finals!!!

Finances are ok, but could be better

Xfer budget of 12.5k and the wage budget of 9.25k p/w... Too little I think

We were only able to bring in a few players due to our takeover Saga.

In:

Calvin Cloquhoun - good midfielder was really only backup

Owen Gallacher - Turned into our top Striker

Out:

Everyone who was let go ended up retiring

The Squad - Our team is not as strong as I would of liked, we'll see how things sort out considering most of the team have a year left on their contracts.  It'll be interesting if we can now establish a 4-3-3.  

Rabin Omar - Our 24 year old Scottish winger had a great season.  In 44 matches he scored 10 goals with 15 assists and 1 player of the match honors for an average rating of 6.85.  Not sure how good he'll be in the Championship, and since we might not have wingers anymore we'll see what happens.

Stephen Stirling - the 31 year old Scottish midfielder did great for us.  In 44 matches he scored 7 times with 10 assists with 3 player of the match honors and 2 yellow cards for an average rating of 7.10.  I think he'll be great in the 4-3-3 if we can achieve it this season.

Jordan Holsgrove - Our 21 year old Scottish midfielder in 44 appearances scored 11 goals with 5 assists and 2 player of the match honors for an average rating of 6.95.  I can see him being a midfielder in our 4-3-3.  He's still improving and think he can be a great Championship player.

James Severn - The 29 year old English Goalkeeper had a good season.  In 44 appearances he conceded 69 goals, had 11 clean sheets with an average rating of 6.75.  It's quite possible we'll find a better keeper, so his future as top keeper is in peril sooner or later.

Michael McKenna - The 30 year old Scottish midfielder did great this season.  In 40 appearances with 8 goals with 7 assists with 3 Player of the Match honors along with 7 yellow cards with no red cards shows his smarts along with the average rating of 7.12.  I think he'll do fine in the midfield, but I don't think he's going to join us if/when we hit the Premiership.

Carlo Monti - The 30 year old Scottish winger had a good season.  In 40 matches he scored 7 goals with 9 assists, with 2 penalties, got 4 yellow cards with an average rating of 6.71.  He's a good winder and if we convert to the 4-3-3 he'll be out of the job.  Otherwise he'll be there next season more than likely.

Raffi Krissian - The 26 year old Lebanese defender is one of our best.  He played the last match injured with injections and did great.  In 39 matches he scored 1 goal, had 5 Player of the match honors with 4 yellow cards and an average rating of 7.09.  He'll be back by the time the new season starts.

Owen Gallacher - The 22 year old scottish Striker saved the season for us.  In 31 matches he scored 16 goals with 3 assists, 2 Player of the Match honors with an average rating of 7.02.  Not sure if he's good enough to be the prime striker in a 4-2-3-1... but if we do go to 4-3-3 then I can see him being one of our strikers.

As long as we don't go thru another takeover Saga I'm happy.  I'm looking forward to see if montreal wants me to manager them... I won't go now that we're promoted.  I'm worried to see if the team can hang at that level, so we'll need a few new key players to join us I think, I was wrong about the toughness of the League 1 though so we'll see.  Depending on the players we can bring in we'll see if we hit 4-3-3.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Great work reaching the Championship.

[JerseyShoreDave]

7 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Great work reaching the Championship.

Thank you, but this is getting tough now... so far not so good...

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2021-2022 Season - Ladbrokes Championship - Half Season

Commercial Summary - Finances getting better slowly!

Season Expectations - Avoiding Relegation, otherwise its normal

Betfred Cup Group - We didn't get out of the group again but we didn't do that bad...

Squad Bonuses - All about the League, Cups are low still

Promotion Odds 200-1, I thought I would of been second to last but We're Last...

Competitive Expectations - Nothing new

First Half the season Schedule - Friendlies went alright, Betfred Cup won half, lost half, not too bad.  Challenge Cup we failed early... but demolished Albion Rovers in the Scottish Cup since they're just League 2.  Otherwise the Championship isn't going our way... However with enough Ties and victories against a few lower end clubs I think we'll eek out survival.

Competitions: Most importantly is the Championship and we're currently 8th.  I don't think we'll end up 10th but I can see us potentially moving down to 9th just cause they're pretty close to our strength.  Ayr is also a team we have 2 wins over so it's not looking too bad if we can get  a good number of ties.  Also we have a couple good people joining the club in January who should make us a little more competitive.  

Finances - Currently 75k in the hole... it'll work itself out by the end of the season I think

Quite a few lower end clubs throughout Europe have approached me to become their manager.  Mostly Czech, Russian, Slovakian, English, and French clubs.  The 2 top clubs that approached were both New York City Clubs oddly enough.

Overall I hope to sell of some surplus players (lots of luck of that happening) and bringing in some new blood to hopefully turn things a little better for us.  Tough League to get a hold in, but it makes things a lot more interesting.

[cerud]

Hey @JerseyShoreDave

Just curious if you've been using your 4-2-3-1 formation all the way through each season. Have you modified it as you moved up in leagues? Or throughout the season if there has been a dip in form?

[JerseyShoreDave]

1 hour ago, cerud said:

Hey @JerseyShoreDave

Just curious if you've been using your 4-2-3-1 formation all the way through each season. Have you modified it as you moved up in leagues? Or throughout the season if there has been a dip in form?

Up until this season I did and I used Control/Fluid with it.  Now I'm back to my old reliable 4-3-3 Narrow with Control/Fluid.   To me it just doesn't play right, perhaps its other settings I employed, not sure.  I'm happy with my offense now, just have to work on defense as usual.

[Nobby_McDonald]

You're only five points of the promotion playoffs. Look upwards, not downwards.

[JerseyShoreDave]

3 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

You're only five points of the promotion playoffs. Look upwards, not downwards.

Indeed, it's a very tight league as I learned this season.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2021-2022 Season - Ladbrokes Championship - End of Season

The Table - Ended up 4th place, We made some Shrewd purchases in January that turned some of our fortunes around.

Past Positions - It took time but we fought our way into a respectful position

The Competitions - Other than the League we didn't perform quite well

The Schedule:  One can see that once February came around we were firing on ALL cylinders.  End of April we fell apart but when the playoffs starts we woke up and scored our first 2 victories over Kilmarnock till we met Queen of the South who at that point just have more than we had.  I thought we would of been fighting for survival but it turned out to be a lot better than that.

The Finances - Our Finances are the best they've been... how long it lasts is another question

Initial Budgets are 11k/week and almost 36k xfer budget... Its getting there.  I hope per person salaries go up already...

Injecting 170k did help our finances... just sayin'

Commerical Summary - Our income is improving as we improve

We're going for our Continental C License!

One thing I found out, we're averaging 1k fans per match... we're getting a bit more popular now!

We had many offers from other clubs to join them, Including the Vancouver Whitecaps and FC Dallas

Brought in many people, some of which were good others not so good.  Our January intakes made the difference.  Our Strikers Boden and Bowman made a difference as did our new midfield Mulgrew and our new keeper McCabe.  We need to upgrade our back line most of all.  4-3-3 I think is now a success.  I'm happy with how we play now.  Not sure if we'll get promoted this upcoming season, the money is good enough.  With 2 good teams from the Premiership coming down to our division it'll be like last season except we'll perform better I think.

Our Squad is huge, but thankfully most of the benchwarmers will be gone, its what happened thanks to the looooong drawn out takeover saga.  Also my Director of Football signed some contracts that I couldn't deny for whatever reason when I'm the one under responsibilities the one to finalize contracts so I'm not sure what happened but he's gone asap.

Michael McKenna - Our 31 year old scottish midfielder had a great year.  sadly slowly he's in a slow decline due to age, but he did well in 47 appearances he scored 11 goals with 8 assists, converted 2 penalties and had 6 Player of the Match honors with 3 yellow cards for an average rating of 7.11.  He'll be good here but not the Premiership.  Time will tell if he stays in the midfield or is relegated to backup.

Jordan Garden - Our 24 year old Scottish striker had a great first season for us.  In 39 matches he scored 16 goals with 9 assists and 1 player of the match honor with 1 yellow card and an average rating of 7.05.

Ciaran Lafferty - Our 25 year old Scottish striker was injured a bit this season and his skills have diminished a bit.  He did well though, in 38 appearances he scored 14 goals with 7 assists and 2 Player of the match honors for an average rating of 6.95.  Overall not bad but we're eyeing other strikers for the 4-3-3 narrow lineup and he could find himself on the backup squad.

Colin McCabe - Our 25 year old Irish keeper is new to the squad, and he didn't have the best season.  In 26 appearances he conceded 44 goals with 2 clean sheets for an average rating of 6.84.  We need a better defense to compliment him.

Scott Boden is our 32 year old English Striker who did well in his first season with us.  In 24 matches he scored 11 goals with 6 assists and 1 Player of the match honors for an average rating of 6.90.  He's great for this level not sure if he's premiership material but that's not the issue at the moment.

Our 27 year old Lebanese defender who's been with the club since before I came has been performing well.  In 47 appearances he scored twice with 1 assist and 3 player of the match honors with 2 yellow cards for an average rating of 7.04.  He's done great at this level and he's more than likely to be a starter.

It's not true that a great offense is the best defense as we were both the League's top goal scorers as well the team who gave up the most goals.  It still amazes me we made the playoffs and even had a decent showing.  With the right defensive purchases we can make a run.  Depending who's on the market and who we can attract to the club.  I figure we could be a top 4 club, not that the odds would predict it.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2022-2023 Season - Ladbrokes Championship - Pre-Season

We have a long way to go to get the sponsorships of other teams...

Review of last season - We're highlighted cause we're just that damn good 

Season Expectations - I think it's safe to say we'll avoid relegation

Betfred Cup - I think we might just make round 2 finally...

We've now acquired our Continental C License...

The Preseason odds of winning the League is 300-1???? we got 4th place last year.

2022 World Cup.. Senegal defeats Germany 2-1.  In the second Round Senegal gives up only 1 goal.  Great team.

We strengthen the team nicely, I'm looking to be in the playoffs.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2022-2023 Season - Ladbrokes Championship - January Xfer Window

Win Bonuses same as last season

We qualified out of our Betfred Group!

More MLS clubs and other clubs around the world want me... we denied them all... 2 examples:

First half the season has been a bit disappointing, sure we got 2nd in our Betfred Cup only to get knocked out by Rangers.  Challenge Cup came to an end in the Quarter Finals vs. TNS in extra time.  In the Championship we just never got things going.  

In the Scottish cup we have Raith which is a 50/50 chance of victory.  In the League we're 7th but only on Goal differential.  Its been a disappointing season so far.

Finances - Only 30k left, its going to get worse...

Overall disappointing season so far. We're not getting good results and overall I'm not sure where we're going wrong.  I don't know if the playoffs are even realistic.  I can see that we were predicted to be last place for a reason that I obviously haven't seen.  I'm not sure if we can attract the right player given how small our club is.  We have the smallest stadium, our finances just can't compete with the other clubs and what they can attract in terms of talent at the moment.  Some of our good players want to move on, so if we can achieve some sales and able to attract good cheap talent maybe we can make that push.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Senegal didn't give up one goal in the Second Round, they won 3-0.

[JerseyShoreDave]

46 minutes ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Senegal didn't give up one goal in the Second Round, they won 3-0.

Oh I meant after the Group Phase they only gave up 1 goal... sheesh  and that was in the damn final!

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2022-2023 Season - Ladbrokes Championship - End of Season

Many clubs wanted my services including Falkirk in the Scottish Premiership...

Naturally we were overachievers in the League... but 7th isn't anything to really be proud of

Our stadium needs to be filled and expanded so we can really compete at this level...

This is not enough to get the job done

Show me the money!

St. Johnstone just won the league by 31 points... we're languishing in 7th

Our match of the second half of the season was 4-4 against St. Johnstone.  Otherwise we were mediocre

We're not making enough money

We did good with transfers but not good enough...

The Squad - I'd like to think we have the strongest team we ever had but I guess maybe I'm wrong

Cameron Mackay - Our new 26 year old scottish Keeper came in January.  In 12 matches he conceded 14 goals with just 2 clean sheets for an average rating of 6.83.  He's not keen on renewing but I hope he does stay especially with our new and improved defense we got during the summer break.

Kyle Cameron - Our 26 year old Scottish central defender was purchased in January.  In 19 appearances he had 2 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.00.  Looks like he'll be starting this upcoming season so he'll be crucial to our success!

Calvin Colquhoun - Our 26 year old Scottish midfielder did well.  In 45 appearances he scored 4 goals with 11 assists for an average rating of 7.02.  With our midfield upgraded I hope he'll perform better, we'll need it.

Joe Nuttall is our 26 year old English Striker who had a lot of hype but didn't quite live up too it. In 45 matches he scored 14 goals with 10 assists, 5 player of the match honors with 1 yellow card with an average rating of 6.95.  So far in preseason he's a benchwarmer.  Maybe he'll be able to get back in but he'll have to perform!

Ryan Bowman is our 31 year old English striker who was our top goal scorer last season.  In 41 matches he scored 21 goals with 4 assists, converting 1 penalty kick with 5 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.06.  He's a starting striker for us this season.

Jordan Garden is our 25 year old scottish striker.  In 44 matches he scored 17 goals with 6 assists, 5 player of the match honors with 1 yellow card for an average rating of 7.10.  Right now he's not starting due to some new acquisitions but that doesn't mean he won't find his way back in.

Well the betfred Cup could be worse... not sure we're good enough for second round but we'll see how it plays out,

On the one hand I'm happy all we're expected to do is attempt to avoid relegation but at the same time I want to win the league already

It like every season our odds go lower and lower...  I can't imagine we're THAT bad...

I've played in the preseason right up to the start of the Betfred Cup.  We had a real coup with a striker coming to us who use to make several thousands in salary, if he plays up to his hype things should get interesting.  Our defense is stronger, and our midfield isn't as highly regarded now but there is nothing better available to us at the moment.  We'll see what happens, we're hampered by finances more than anything else at this point.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2023-2024 Season - Ladbrokes Championship - Winter Xfers

Squad Bonuses... Normal for League, low for Cups

Promotion Odds - 650-1...

Our Keeper got a decent bid after getting a 1k one... but we reject it and due to how we are right now he signed a new contract!

We won our Betfred Group for the first time!

Our first player is called up for international duty.  Too bad they're a filthy winger...

We more offers for jobs than I want to post, but FCNYC is the biggest of the offers

We signed a new 2 year contract @ 1k p/w

Finances - Aren't bad right now... could get better...

Now THIS is the team of the week!  Since we run a 4-3-3 I don't think we can ever get everyone on...

Amazingly  We got knocked out again out of the Betfred Cup by Rangers

We're in the Scottish League Challenge Cup semi finals... and could actually reach the finals we got Queen of the South up next.

Scottish Cup we have Premiership Side Dundee up next, doesn't look good to advance.

In the League we're in 1st place.... 4 new recruits and tightening up of our defenses is what it took

Past Positions - We fought our way up and I am confident that we'll be at least in the playoffs

Schedule - Other than a friendly loss to Dundee, our Betred Cup defeats and 1 league loss to Inverness we either won or tied all our other matches... We even had a 6 game winning streak!

Change of season expectations - Why change when all i get is 60 pounds... 

During winter break we've already recruited 2 new midfielders and we're in the process of a new backup keeper to bring our number up to 3.  Other than that and selling a few people (hopefully) we won't be doing much in the xfer market.  Our young Scottish winger got 16 15k bids so we're selling him as he has no future at the club.

 

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2023-2024 Season - Ladbrokes Championship - Season Results

Getting my Continental B License

During the Transfer window we brought in 7 players since our players demanded better quality, and cause we needed to shore up the team

Challenge Cup Review - We we part of the best match, and we had the leading assister in the competition

Guess I didn't mention that we won the Championship!

The Championship Table - Gave up the least goals, got the most points and only lost 3 matches!

Season Review - We've filled out stadium on average 53%.

Schedule - Second half of the season we did alright.   We lost the scottish 4th round to Dundee by just 1-0.  Queen of the South who  got second in the league knocked us out of the Challenge Cup.  And Dundee United kicked our butts.

Initial Budgets - wage budgets 12,250 p/w and transfer budget of 108k... wage budget is too small

We're now a Professional Club

Our Scouting Range is now all of Europe

Commercial Summary - We're making more money...

Finances - Best ever!

Transfers - We got rid of a lot of youngsters and dead weight.  Made a few key purchases.  The free transfers overall did better than the paid transfers for us, but such is life.  The high performing ones are highlighted later on.

The Squad - Going into our first Premiership season its looking not too bad...

Cameron Mackay - Our 27 year old had a great season... in fact he had the best season of any keeper ever in the Championship.  In 36 matches in the championship he conceded 26 goals, had 20 clean sheets for an average rating of 6.88.  Overall in 47 matches he conceded 38 matches with 23 clean sheets with an average rating of 6.86.  He's signed a 3 year contract and he's our top keeper for the time being.

Louis Appere - Our 25 year old Scottish striker is our best striker.  He use to make a lot more money at his previous club but no one would buy him so we did.   He wanted us to strengthen our midfield which I don't think we really accomplished but he's happy to be playing as a poacher.  In 44 matches he scored 19 goals with 12 assists, convert a penalty, had 3 player of the match honors for an average rating of 6.98.  All our striker at the end of the season had dry spells which lowered their ratings at the end of the season.  I'm counting on him to perform well for us, he's now on a 3 year pro contract.

Robert Thomson - Our 31 year old scottish striker did well this season.  In 43 matches he scored 14 goals with 11 assists and 3 player of the match honors for an average rating of 6.99.  Not sure if he'll be a starter this upcoming season but will probably be an backup.

Jordan Garden - Our 26 year old scottish Striker also did well this season.  In 42 matches he scored 11 goals with 9 assists and 2 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.01.  I'm not sure if he'll be a starter this upcoming season.  he'll be a part time backup player.

Connor Ward - Is our 23 year old scottish playmaking midfielder.  In 38 matches he scored 4 goals, had 3 assists with 3 Player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.17.  He's a great improving player that we're most likely keeping in this role in the Premiership.  He's signed a 3 year professional contract.

Charlie Mulgrew - Our 24 year old Scottish Midfielder had a good season.  Due to injuries he reappeared in the starting lineup.  In 30 matches he scored 3 goals with 7 assists and 1 player of the match honor for an average rating of 7.12.  Overall he did great considering, he'll be at best a part time substitute.

Kyle Cameron - Our 27 year old Central Defender performed great.  In 47 matches he scored once, with 2 assists, 5 player of the match honors with 4 yellow cards for an average rating of 7.20. He did great and depending on our new players may or may not be in the starting lineup, but he definitely help us get to this level.

Robbie Deas - Our 24 year old Central defender did great this season.  In 47 matches he scored twice with 1 assist and 4 player of the match honors with 1 yellow card for an average rating of 7.24.  I believe he'll be in the starting 11 in the Premiership.

Getting into the Premiership and becoming a professional team are both huge steps alone... but even more so together.  We had to reinforce the team so not all of our players could become professionals yet.  I probably won't be able to bring anyone more players in until next summer due to wage restraints.  We're all in this season.  We were able to defend far better by just making our defensive line normal from slightly higher under instructions.  We're keeping the 4-3-3 with last season's settings except maybe new roles within the formation depending on our recruits talents.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Well done reaching the top flight.

[JerseyShoreDave]

16 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Well done reaching the top flight.

Thanks, So far so good!

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2024-2025 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - Winter Transfer

In the European Championships... England beats Germany in Penalties 

Championship Review from Last season...

Season Expectations... Low as possible.

New 3 year contract. 1,300 p/w

BetFred Group draw... we ended up winning all the matches

Got the Continental B Licence.

Finances -  Kinda broke

Squad Bonuses - normal bonuses for league and low bonuses for cups

Title Odds - 12th.  Not the best.

Change of season expectations... no way I'm touching.

Schedule

Betfred Cup - Did well till Motherwell beat us in extra time

Scottish Cup - so far so good.  We beat Cove Rangers.  Either Forfar Athletic or Celtic in the 5th round.

League - Beating Ross county 6-2 was amazing,  beating Hearts was our biggest victory.  The top teams beat us regularly for the most part.  Our Keeper and all 3 top strikers were out for periods of times.  If we slack we could still get relegated.

A new record for goals in the Premiership...

The Competitions

The Table - 7th Place, I think we're good enough for 8th by the end of the season 9th at the worst side.  We have some very tough games coming up so I doubt we can go top 6 before the league breaks in half.

Scottish Cup - Hopefully we get Forfar... Celtic is more than likely a loss.

Betfred Cup - Motherwell was too good.

We had no money for transfers but I think we'll survive.  Most of the time our Stadium has been full at 2,500.  Even though it costs money to expand, we need it to survive.  The hard stuff starts now, to grow big enough to get into the Euro cup, than Champions League.  Celtic is by far above everyone they'll be the tough nut to crack if its even crackable.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2024-2025 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - Season Review

I noticed a huge strange result while time was flowing In-game so I ended up researching it to see what was going on.  Well there is a team whom I feel bad for and don't like in England named Sunderland.  In the 23-24 season they won the FA cup.  The ended up winning their Euro Cup group which was very easy.  Then they faced Inter.  In Italy they lost 1-0 but in the second leg at home, they win 6-0.  That's what caught my eye.  They ended up losing to FCP in the very next round but still it was one of those moments.

Here's the Premiership Table before the League split, and we were 8th place.

The table pretty much remained the same.   We scored the most goals and gave up the most goals... so we have work to do.

Schedule:

Scottish Cup - We started out in the 4th round by knocking out League 1 team, Cove Rangers in a simple 3-1 win. We then had an epic battle against Celtic that actually gave us the lead by 2-1 at half time but sadly this wasn't meant to be at the end of the match we were knocked out.  

Premiership - The top teams beat us over and over for the most part.  The highlight was the 3-2 home win over Aberdeen.

After the split I thought we would of done better, but injuries of our lesser players as well as simply being tired... added up leading up to a 6-4 loss to St. Johnstone and an even worse 7-1 trouncing by Ross County which showed our secondary team doesn't belong on the pitch.

I'm hoping since our stadium is 98% that we'll get an extension to our stadium, but think we have to solidify the team before asking for it, especially IF we can get Euro Cup football...

Commercial Summary - So far so good.  It's going up slowly... oddly enough this popped up before we got our League payout of over a million in prize money.

Finances - We're richer than ever!

Initial Budgets 16.5k/wk xfer budget of 287k... It'll have to do.

Premiership Review - We're the overachievers

Scouting - We can scout worldwide now... with 4 scouts

Sponsorships - We have a long ways to go!

The Squad - The best we've had

Transfers - Incoming Orestlis, Bates, Dair, Ashcroft, Von Kaenel all became important players.

Cameron Mackay - He was outspoken that the club needed to be strengthened, we tried but obviously not good enough, hopefully we achieve it this upcoming season.  Our 28 year old Scottish keeper didn't have the best of seasons, he was injured as well for 8 weeks which hurt us in the end as his backup keeper was even worse.  In 37 matches he conceded 82 goals with just 6 clean sheets for an average rating of 6.74.  We're simply not going to be able to buy a better keeper at a price the club can afford so we simply need to strengthen the team.

Robbie Deas - He also joined the club needed to be strengthen team and was the #2 guy upset over it.  Our 25 year old Scottish central defender had a fine season in between being out for some small injuries and his red card.  In 38 appearances he scored 4 goals with 4 player of the match honors with 4 yellow cards, 1 red card for an average rating of 7.08.  I imagine him being in the lineup this upcoming season.

Gavin Dair - An absolute midfield beast for us.  He was a steal for us and I'm keeping him with us for as long as he plays this well.  Our 25 year old Scottish midfielder had an awesome season In 45 matches he scored 18 goals with 11 assists, converted 2 penalties with 4 player of the match honors and 4 yellow cards for an average rating of 7.28.  He's a great player and is going to serve us well into his 30s I imagine.

Louis Appere - He was probably number 3 on the list of strengthening the club but got over it pretty quick.  Our 26 year old Scottish striker had a great season despite a few injuries along the way.  In 39 matches he scored 22 goals with 10 assists with 2 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.03.  I think he'll be good enough to stay on the first team, I like the way he plays better then his 2 other starting strikers.

Dominik von Kaenel - Our 26 year old Swiss striker had a great season.  In 42 matches he scored 23 goals with 15 assists, 2 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.06.  Overall he did have a great season.  I don't always like the way he plays on the pitch though.  I think we can do better than him as a starter, he could be here awhile as a backup for sometime I think.

Robert Thomson - He's a great player but at 32 years old, he's not going to be around at this level much longer.  That being said he had a great season.  In 45 matches he scored 22 goals with 13 assists with 4 player of the match honors with 1 yellow card and an average rating of 7.11.  I can see him being a backup player for sometime unless he wants to play more but his shelf life isn't long enough for us, although his salary is cheap enough to consider him longer.

Orestis Kiomourtzoglou - Is our 27 year old greek midfield playmaker.  He did well in 45 matches he scored 6 goals with 10 assists and 1 player of the match honor with 2 yellow cards for an average rating of 7.13.  I think he'll be our playmaker going into the next season too as we have more pressing areas like defense to strengthen.  Either way he's a good enough player to get the ball to the strikers at this level.

This season was the test for our future endeavors.  Our team is good enough for this level.  We were in our first season the best on offense and the worst on defense.  Overall I checked out our players and they are saying our attack needs upgrading... its our defense that needs it.   In a perfect world I'd get 4 defenders, 1 midfielder, and 2 strikers.  Right now I see 1 defender, 1 midfielder, and 3 strikers on my radar.  Can we afford them?  are they as good as I think?  I dunno.  

 

Another consideration is our Stadium... it needs expansion badly.  Now I could wait and see if I can get into the Euro Cup and that'll force expansion although I might have to get into the cup twice for that to happen.  When Celtic has a player that has a salary that is 4 times higher than my entire team... I know I have a long ways to go before being top dog in Scotland.  I hope 5th place is possible.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2025-2026 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - PreSeason Review

Betfed Cup Draw - We won all the matches!

We got the team to back us in avoiding to getting dragged into the relegation battle... but you'll see Mackay and Deas are pleased  the team is strengthened... then they complained later but by the time September came you'll see why they're satisfied.

Premiership Odds we're again in 12th... even Kilmarnock and Inverness are "above" us.  I figure at worse we're 9th.

Win Bonuses - League normal, Cup low as usual

Preseason transfer window - Celtic spent a lot and traded a lot as did Hearts.  We couldn't complete 2 deals for simple reasons those clubs wanted us to contribute to the player salaries and I said no.

Season expectations - Avoid automatic relegation and fifth round of the Scottish cup.  Fair enough.

The Premiership Table after 5 matches we're in first... literally tied with Rangers.  Look at Celtic... so far 10th and we play them next!

Results - Second round of the Betfred Cup was a little tricky but we got the win in Penalties over Championship side Cowdenbeath.  Next up in the Betfred Cup is championship side Queen of the South.  Also we tied Burnley who is an English Premiership side, and lost in the 93rd minute to Aston VIlla an English Championship side.  We also beat both Motherwell and Hearts for the first time I believe.  I'll take these results anyday.

Just a comparison of Premiership Stadiums, we got the smallest one!

Transfers:

We brought in 2 new srikers who are in fact Starting Kern and O'hara.  Kern is kicking ass, O'Hara not so much

2 new fullbacks Jake and Jordan. Jordan is a starter

Flanagan is our new midfielder so far kicking butt.

Placek is an expensive good backup keeper

Noel is a good central defender

Conroy is our new starting central defender that I hope to get into the club

Yates is just backup

With almost a perfect start, we just need to keep it going.  Never any guarantees, we've had a few minor injuries already which isn't a good indicator in my experience but there's nothing stopping us right now.  The Goal is 5th place or higher to get into Europa Cup at least.  We'll see how far we get.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2025-2026 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - Winter Xfer Window

We won the Betfred Cup

Change of Season Expectations... Not dumb enough to change expectations especially with no financial gain

Schedule

Betfred Cup - We had Championship side Queen of the South in the Quarters.  They took us to extra time when we turned it on.  In the Semi's we got our first ever victory over Celtic, and in the Finals we got the rare victory over Dundee.

Scottish Cup - We played League 2 side Brechin and won 6-1 so far.  Next up Livingston.

Premiership -  We were down to 4th by the end of November.  But since Celtic took us down in the beginning of December we haven't lost.  The remainder of the season will be tough especially since it looks like we'll be in the top half when the League split happens, and who knows how things will turn out.  We're currently second behind Rangers.  Celtic's manager went to English Premier League side Burnley and Hibernian's manager has taken Celtic up to 3rd.

Transfers

IN

Frank Ross - Late addition to the midfield, performing well.

Persson - A backup L/R winger

The other loanees from Carlisle are there due to all the backup injuries... never know

OUT

Sold Liam, our defender for about 30k  and one of our benched strikers for 14k

Finances - Still doing alright considering.  Surprised we still have over a million

Many of our starters had a great increase in their value.  I'm getting worried that some other richer teams will poach some our players sooner than later since our finances aren't the best.  Had a few star players looking for new contracts... it'll be painful in the summer.  Still no word on Stadium Expansion.  In the winter break we just tried to sell some unused players, didn't have any hope of bringing in new talent.  Interesting times.  surprisingly as well since I've been in the Premiership no one has come for my managerial services.  

[Nobby_McDonald]

Be careful how you spend that £11.

[JerseyShoreDave]

29 minutes ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Be careful how you spend that £11.

I didn't spend it, at least not till the end of the season!

 

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2025-2026 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - Season Results

I observed an interesting match... In the first Knockout Round Leg 1 between AC Milan and Olympiakos In Milan... Milan won that 4-2.  But in Greece in Leg 2... Olympiakos win the match 9-2 in Greece.  Sure in the 47th minute Milan went down a man, the win just seemed overdone to me.  Olympiakos made it to the semis where they lost to eventual champions BMG, but in the Greek League they finished just 7th.  

Schedule

Premiership we continued our run, had some losses along the way as most teams do, but overall I was quite pleased.

Scottish Cup - We won it solidly.  Amazing amount of money from the Semis on up... just what we need.

The Premiership Table

We were in second before the split of the League.  After the League split we fell to third.  No shame in being Third to Celtic and Rangers

Some Screenshots highlight our accomplishments from the season.  Our stadium was 99% full for the season.

In the Scottish Cup we set a new record for most goals in a season at 19.  Old record was 16 by Celtic

Louis Appere's 8 goals was a new Scottish Cup Record as well... the old record was Marcus Thuram with 7 goals

Commerical Summary - We're getting a lot more money in!

Initial Budgets 70k p/w and an xfer budget of 8.36m ... Now That's Money!

Stadium Expansion with no debt!  We're adding 100% of seats up to 5,008!

Finances - Almost 9 million in the bank!

Transfers 

We did bring in a good Scottish midfielder with Robbie McKenzie outside of the regular xfer market.

The Squad - Obviously the strongest Squad we had... our players are in the team of the year and other players got some money for over performing

Cameron Mackay - Our 29 year old Scottish keeper had a good season.  In 51 matches he conceded 72 goals with 11 clean sheets for an average rating of 6.92.  Is he good enough to take us to the next level or not.  For now I think we're keeping with him.

Jake Sheppard is our 29 year right defender.  In 40 matches he had 40 assists with 3 player of the match honors, 4 yellow cards and an average rating of 7.40.  I think we can find a better player but at the same time he played so well.

Dion Conroy - He was on loan from Carlisle, he's interested in staying with us but I don't think its going to happen.  He's a central defender who played quite well during the season.  In 46 matches he had 2 player of the match honors with 3 yellow cards and an average rating of 7.22.  Good luck to him.

Robbie Deas - Our 26 year cold central defender had a great season.  In 51 matches he had 1 assist with 1 player of the match honor with 1 yellow card for an average rating of 7.30.  Great solid player, I see him staying in his position unless I find someone else with kickass stats.

Orestis Kiomourtzoglou - Our 28 year old greek midfielder had a great season.  In 50 matches he scored 6 goals with 11 assists, 1 player of the match honors with 2 yellow cards and a red card for an average rating of 7.25.  Hard to say whether he's better as a central midfielder or advanced playmaker role but time will tell as I assume he'll be one of the top 3 midfielders on the team.

Gavin Dair - Our 26 year old Scottish midfielder had a great season.  In 47 matches he scored 11 goals with 10 assists and 4 player of the match honors with 6 yellow cards for an average rating of 7.30.  He's great and he gets the job done better than most.  Only thing he lacks is some higher stats... time will tell his future.

Our 3 strikers all got recognized for their greatness...

Leon Kern - Our 29 year old german striker was the creme of the crop.  In 49 matches he scored 39 times with 16 assists with 4 penalties, 5 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.41.  His 36 goals was a season record for us.  He won the Players' Player of the year award.  Won the Football Writers Player of the Year award with O'Hara getting second.  He also won the Premiership Top Goalscorer award.  Hopefully he signs a new contract with us and we get to continue winning.

Louis Appere - Our 27 year old Scottish Striker did great this season.  In 50 appearance he scored 33 goals with 20 assists, converted 1 penalty with 8 Player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.34.  He holds the assist record with 19 now at the club.  He also holds the club record for most league goals at 55.  His agent has been trying to get us to do a new contract but  wanted to wait till we were financial secured.

Kevin O'Hara - Our 27 year old striker had a good season.  In 49 matches he scored 23 goals with 22 assists with 3 player of the match honors and 3 yellow cards with an average rating of 7.33.  He broke of the record of assists for our club at 18 in the Premiership and 22 for club is a new record as well.  He was frustrating me for a lot of the season he wasn't a consistent scorer but he's rated higher than the other 2.

I am the Manager of the year as well as the Scottish Football Writer's Manager of the year who will soon have his Continental A license.

 This was the dream season, we have continental football, doubling our Stadium capacity by the new year.  Now we just need to find some star players.  Perhaps there will be a few World Cup players who'd be interested in coming over after their campaign.  Just have to continue our success which to me means winning the Scottish Cup to win those millions and making a good showing at the Euro Cup. 

[Lenzar]

This is An-nan amazing start to your career!

[JerseyShoreDave]

5 hours ago, Lenzar said:

This is An-nan amazing start to your career!

my GF said the same lol

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2026-2027 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - Pre-Season

 France beats Spain 2-1 to win the 2016 World Cup

Sadly Scotland fell from 14th to 19th Position in the EUropean Coefficients table so we go from 2 Champions Cup places to 1, and lose 2 Third Qualifying round places in the Euro cup to get 2 First Qualifying round places...

Carlisle United got rid of our link since our Reputation is too good for them...

Season Expectations... Win 1 round of the euro Cup, make a mid table finish, and make the 5th round of the Scottish Cup.  I think it's doable.

Squad Win Bonuses - All High

Title Odds - 10th is still a bit low but whatever.

2 Young players called up for international duty

Preseason Schedule

Betfred Cup - We played Championship side Partick Thistle and beat them 3-2 to get into the Quarterfinals vs. Celtic

Euro Cup - We beat Belgian side Genk home and away by tight margins but didn't sweat it making it to the Euro Cup Playoffs.  But in the Playoffs we played Dutch side Vitesse whom we tied in Scotland but ended up losing 1-0 away to get knocked out.  

League - We only lose 1 league match and we did beat Celtic which to me makes up for it.

Competitions - Premiership we're in 8th place, obviously have a long season ahead

Transfer Window - We brought in 10 players

Liam Hickey - Young right full back, highly recommended

Ivankovic - Croatian midfielder

Michael Nicholson - Scottish Midfielder

Dean Gallagher - Left Full back highly rated.

Thodoros Psaltis - Young Greek Striker with potential

David Lazar - Old backup keeper

Vangelis Tsetslllas young Greek central defender

Joe Walsh - old Welsh central defender

Stefanos Thymiandis - young greek right back

Samed Yesil - Turkish Striker

Finances - Over 6 million in the bank

We definitely kept spending down on purpose.  We signed contract extension to all we wanted too.  We can't sign the quality of player we want too quite yet.  We had an Australian Striker with 6 caps being turned down for a work permit for too few matches.  We got a few gems and wasn't able to sell anyone off which is sad.  We'll see at midseason what we need to push at least 4th place in the league for Continental Soccer and/or win the Scottish Cup.

 

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2026-2027 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - Winter Transfer Window

Dean Gallagher called up by Northern Ireland!  Our first full international.. I think.

Betfred Cup Review - Celtic won but our match with them was considered the best match of the cup...

Only a couple hundred more to move up from mid-table finish... not worth moving it.

Stadium Expansion completed we're up to 5,008 seats!

We got an 18 year old greek striker, Thodoros Psaltis.  In 16 matches he scored 5 times with 3 assists, 2 Player of the match honors for an average rating of 6.88.  We got him on a free transfer and Middlesborough wanted him so for $1.3 million we sold him, and the price can go to $2.5 million.

Results - Well we got knocked out of the Betfred Cup thanks to Celtic in the Quarter Finals 2-1.  We advanced to the 5th round of the Scottish Cup thanks to beating St. Johnstone 5-1.  In the League we had only 3 losses to Celtic, Rangers, and Hamilton.  And we're on a match winning streak thanks to our new players.

We're 4th place in the Premiership... 1 off from continental football unless we win the Scottish Cup.

Winter Transfer - 

First back in September we got a great Scottish Midfielder on a free transfer who is doing well for us, Greg Docherty.

We picked up danish midfielder Mogens Poulsen due to injuries to be our new playmaker... so far so good

We picked up Finnish international Phillip Persson from HJK in Finland.  What's 10k a week among friends??? His salary is expensive but seems worthwhile for now.

Besides Psaltis being sold... Belfour got sold for 25k and Ross got bought by Sydney FC...

Financially we got 3 million in the bank, thankfully we didn't overdo bringing in more players or more expensive players.

With our Stadium expansion it'll be interesting to see if we how filled up our stadium will be.  I doubt we'll get another one this season.  We've been injury plagued to with Orestis and Kern both getting hurt, at one point we had 7 injuries but we dealt with it.  Anything is possible as we have plenty of time to qualify for Continental Competition.  Hopefully the injuries will subside so we can perform at our best.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2026-2027 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - Season Results

Writers' Manager of the Year & Players' Manager of the Year!

We got our Continental A license, 1 more to go, and our club hasn't allowed us to get it yet...

Going into the the Premiership Split we were in third place... When it was over we were in 2nd only thanks to Goal Differential

The Schedule at the end of the season saw us losing in the league just to Rangers and Celtic.  Scottish Cup Final was lost in an epic 3-2 loss in extra time to Celtic.  However in the match just 6 days earlier we managed to beat Celtic 6-0

Euro Cup Tree - In the Finals Stoke City beat Real Madrid 4-2

Scottish Cup Review... we did alright considering

Average Attendance 66% Full...

We probably would of won the League if it weren't for the Injuries...

The Squad - Easily the strongest ever

Cameron Mackay - Our 30 year old keeper had a good season.  In 49 appearances he conceded 64 shots and 14 clean sheets for an average rating of 6.84.  If we find a great young keeper we'll be bringing that keeper in.  It's about time we upgrade the position since we finally have some willing hot, young talent available.

Robbie Deas - Our 27 year old Scottish defender is still in the mix slowly though we're going to be able to buy better, but for now he's still in it.  In 49 matches he scored 4 goals with 4 player of the match honors with 2 yellow cards for an average rating of 7.21.  Hard to say if he'll be a starter or backup in the new season

Orestis Kiomourtzoglou - Our 29 year old greek midfielder had a horrendous year... he was out 5 months due to a knee injury and then broke his ankle...  I think it safe to say that he's not going to be relied upon much anymore and well probably get sold when his contract is close to expiring or he'll be let go on a free.  In 14 matches he scored 5 goals with 1 assist and 3 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.25.  It's a shame he got busted up so bad.

Michael Nicholson - Our 26 year old midfielder had a great year.  In 35 matches he scored 5 goals with 8 assists, had 5 Player of the match honors with an average rating of 7.25.  He's still getting better and watching him play... he's someone I think we're keeping for awhile.  He's so good he was named the Scottish Players' Player of the Year as well as the Scottish Football Writers' Player of the Year.

Mogens Poulsen - Our 28 year old Danish midfielder is our new playmaker.  In 22 matches he scored 10 times with 5 assists and 3 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.50.  Not sure how long he'll stay as playmaker but for now it seems he's got it going.  He's pretty much not getting much better but he's going to be at least backup for as long as we can convince him.

Philip Persson - Our 22 year old finnish striker did great.  Yes he's expensive at 10k/week but hey he's good.  In 24 matches he scored 17 goals with 10 assists, 1 penalty shot converted, 3 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.30.  He's definitely the model of our future strike force.  I see him leading the team for awhile.

Leon Kern - Our 30 year old german striker was injured for a lot of the season.  In 28 appearances he scored 17 goals with 5 assists, 3 penalties converted with 4 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.16.  He's definitely moved into backup territory at this point doesn't match the type of talent we need to move ahead.

Louis Appere - Our 28 year old Scottish striker had a good year.  In 45 matches he scored 18 goals with 15 assists and 7 player of the match honors for an average rating of 7.13.  He's done well but overall we need some better stats from the players, we need more.  Depending on the talent intake we'll see whether or not he's a starter.

Since we didn't win the Scottish Cup our prize money as well as broadcast Revenue is down... everything else is up.

Initial Budgets - Wage budget of 115k/w and a transfer budget of 6.55M

Average Attendance this season was 3,574 thanks to our stadium expansion that finished in January.  That makes the next bit of news all the better!  The board is planning to build a new Stadium.  No details yet but we'll see how thing work themselves out.  I just hope it's named after me.

I think we have to go for a stronger team, our midfielder at least starters are quite strong, our defense can use some stronger players, and its probably time to get a new keeper as well as bringing in at least 2 new uber strikers and maybe we can get closer to winning the league and getting further in the Euro Cup.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2027-2028 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - Pre-season

The Premiership dropped 4 spots to 21... Annan are up 76 to 262th in the club rankings

Season Expectations... nothing new really.

Odds on winning the Premiership are 8th at 350-1.

Our 3 primary strikers are most likely to be the top goalscorers in the league

We're finally upgrading the training facilities

Win Bonuses are high

Persson is playing as a striker for Finland and Hickey plays for the Irish under 21s

Transfers

Incoming:

Claudio Ramos - 35 year old backup keeper with tons of experience in Spain

Lee Clarkson - good leading scottish central defender... almost good enough for national team

Velimir Anic - 25 year old Croatian Striker, can fill in when others are tired/injured

Ryan Henderson - 25 year old Scottish striker highly regarded and I think he could become national team material

Ray O'Connor - Our young 22 year old keeper who can play for either USA or Ireland.  I think Ireland is going to call him up

Jake Vincent - Stat wise the best player we've had. Former Norwich player was stuck in loan hell... we're going to try him up front at this level.

Outgoing notables

Jake Sheppard - full back who wasn't good enough anymore

Samuel Persson - Our finnish backup fullback who wanted more playing time...

Results up through transfer time

Preseason we had 2 good teams... German Bundesliga side BMG played us to a tie, and Championship side Reading played us to a 2-2 tie.

In the Betfred Cup we beat Falkirk in extra time, next round its Motherwell.

In the first 5 games of the Premiership season we had just 1 loss to Rangers.

In the Euro Cup 2nd Qualifying round we played Teplice of the Czech First Division and beat them twice 

In the Euro Cup 3rd Qualifying round we played Malmo FF from Sweden and beat them twice 3-1

In the Euro Cup Playoffs we played Vit. Guimaraes of Portugal and knocked them out to make the Euro Cup Group Phase.

In the Euro Cup Group Phase we get AC Milan, Braga, and Swansea.

Rangers are also in and get Bordeaux, Gelsenkirchen, and Rapid Wien...  I think it's an easier group than mine.

Now we're at the point to see how good are we, can we take the Premiership title and can we win some of our Euro Cup Group Phase matches???

[JerseyShoreDave]

Annan Athletic - 2027-2028 Season - Ladbrokes Premiership - Winter Transfer Window

We had a takeover, received a cash injection, and got a winter transfer budget added!  Plus the new Chairman wanted me to get a new contract and now I make 3k a week on a 3 year contract!

Got my Continental Pro License!

Euro Cup Group Results -  Rangers got last place, we got first place in our group!

Change of Season Expectations

Results

We lost too Motherwell 1-0 in the Betfred Cup Quarter Finals.  And Lost to Milan 2-3 at our Euro Cup Home.  Otherwise we did quite well.  We've been in first place in the Premiership for most of the season.  The Scottish cup doesn't look too bad at least for now.

The Transfers - We headlined the transfer Market

From Hearts we bought a good fullback and a good midfielder to strengthen the team.

We brought in Greek international Orlandis on a free transfer to be our central defender. 

We brought in a German fullback wehmeier and a portuguese defender on free transfers as well.

On the way out we sold our Irish Fullback to Middlesborough for 1.5 million up to 3 million total plus 50% of the profit.

We sold off our greek fullback who wasn't good enough for us but is good enough for the Spanish second division...

We have 11 million in the bank, we're flying high!

We're doing awesome, just have to play it through now.  I'm thinking we can win the Premiership and Scottish Cup...  I'm really curious though how well we can do in the Euro Cup.  We seem to perform better against Euro Cup teams then we do domestically.  I hope with the takeover that we can get our new Stadium built sooner than later.