Part 59: Chapter the First: A fullback, my kingdom for a fullback.

Chapter the First: A fullback, my kingdom for a fullback.
June 9, 2017-August 1, 2017

We're sadly not getting sent to camp this season, I'm not sure what the criteria are for a training camp but we didn't meet them this year. So no ghost stories in the woods this year, and hopefully we'll see a concomitant decline in injuries.



Everyone returns healthy and ready for training, our extensive team rotation has essentially kept any of our players from wearing out and needing extended vacations beyond the standard year end break.



I moved the expiring contracts to the reserves so that they wouldn't clutter the senior team screen, especially as I'd brought up a lot of the youth players to practice with the first team for the pre-season. Al-Beloushi takes umbrage to this.



There wasn't any option where I could tell him that I was just organizing the squad so I instead acted like a jerk to Al-Beloushi. I'm sorry Naser! You didn't deserve that!



♫All around the world statues crumble for me♪ Beat it, Sugar Ray. I'm replacing you with someone who's better at your job. I upgrade several coaching positions as the current coaches reach the end of their contract, we now have four stars in all the non-goalkeeping categories for the senior and reserve squads.



We get our defensive midfielder. Now all that's missing is perhaps a fullback.

Dean Harper
Defensive Midfielder



Harper has a lot of the same qualities as Simpson, but is slightly less impressive mentally while possessing greater physical gifts. It would be nice if he was slightly more creative, but as our defensive midfielder he won't be called upon as a playmaker. He's also got a fair amount of versatility, able to fill in at centerback and left back in a pinch. In any case, he's a huge upgrade on Kadhim.



One of our new scouts informs me of a Belgian right back who would fit our team very, very nicely. He goes elsewhere. Nothing is ever easy.



Meanwhile, several teams want to sign Matthew Poole away from us. It's just not going to happen unless they offer far more than he's worth.



Because there's been limited player turnover we start with a high level of familiarity with our tactics, meaning that we'll be back to tactical perfection much sooner than if we had brought in a whole new team.



Our club has seen a meteoric rise in the quality of our reputation, we're now at “national” level, which puts us in the same range, reputation wise, as the midtable and lower Premier League clubs. Ingame it means that players are going to be more interested in signing with us than they were before, allowing us to pick up better talent. The amount we rose was pretty amazing, we were solidly regional before last season, I have to think that making deep cup runs and winning League Two are what really pushed it as high as it's gone. We're also higher than Tackleford, which has just a “regional” reputation.



Fiddlesticks. I'm going to need to find another backup keeper now. Damnit, Taylor.



Backup keeper, second attempt.

Cian Fox
Goalkeeper



He's not very good, but he's better than our current youth keepers. He's also got two intact hamstrings. Higgs is going to get virtually all of the playing time this season, and once Taylor gets back I'm likely to send Fox on loan for the second half of the season. It does ruin my hope of saving money at the backup keeper position, between Taylor and Fox we're spending about £1,100 a week, or almost what we were paying Higgs to start last season.

At Drogheda Town, June 24, 2017
Friendly


This marks the first time we've crossed an ocean to play a match, even if it's just a jaunt to Ireland. The hosts of our first tuneup, Drogheda, shouldn't have a chance against the awesome firepower of our League One team. Crush em, boys!

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack
Starting 11: Higgs, Tench, Todd, Lewis, Smissen, Simpson (c)< Cobb, Bailey, Gorman, Mujkic, Harrison.
Subs: Rogers, Thomas, Peters, Curran, Reid, Poole, Harper, Shirra, Holland, Coulson, Price, Baker.

Well, we don't crush Drogheda, but we are up three-nil after the first forty-five, thanks to goals from Gorman, Harrison, and an own goal that opened scoring in the 21st minute. We thoroughly dominate the game, and this match meets all my expectations as our first match of the new season. There are a few injuries, Ioan Peters and William Harrison both have minor knocks and Daniel Thomas has to be pulled in the 60th minute due to something more serious. Hopefully they don't require much missed time. Interestingly, this is listed as occuring in the 2016-2017 season. FM apparently considers English seasons to be June 30th through the next calendar year, regardless of when you set your pre-season start.

Man of the Match: Ryan Gorman




Drogheda 0-3 Wrexham



I really do need to add another fullback. We're down to three healthy ones at the moment.



It would have been a surprise if they had picked anyone else.



I should start paying more attention to when I give these out, they could get expensive in the future.



I haven't been able to renegotiate my contract yet, so it's not properly set up and thus for some reason I have an avoid relegation bonus clause. Mujkic has just about every bonus imaginable as I tried to sweeten his deal to get him to commit to the club.



A lot of these guys are still 18. I'm going to keep them on the U18's for as long as possible, but I might have to send some of them out on loan so they're not crowding the reserves and getting irritable at their lack of first team time.



Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.



And that's not even all of them. Several of the players are out of contract in a week, though, so we're actually shedding salary once you account for their wages coming off the books.



Look out everyone, Tackleford's spending again. Their big splash is a 1.3 million pound spluge on fullback Luke Middlemas of Millwall, who is a pretty fantastic young talent and who I looked at with longing eyes when he was transfer listed.



The board springs a new parent club onto the team out of nowhere. I was planning on having a board vote about who we linked up with, but Sky Shadowing is apparently tight with some Genoans and hooked us up with Serie A side Sampdoria. The good news is that they'll have some very fine players in their reserves to choose from, the bad news is that we can't scout them as we're currently limited to just the UK and Ireland.



Again, there's more to this list than just the players shown. Some of them have option years in their contract, but overall I'm going to be furiously negotiating around Christmas once more this season.



Great, a Championship club. Guess we're getting our giant killing boots out early.



Goodbye, Luke. I can't have anyone else over the age of thirty on this club. I am the patriarch!



Cobb's close to turning thirty, I don't trust him! Is that a grey hair? Out, out you haggard old man! Also, while he was decent last season he wasn't particularly great, and our new players should be better than he has been. I hadn't planned on selling him, but it makes sense for the club and thus he's out the door faster than you can say some folksy idiom.

At Bangor City, July 2, 2017
Friendly


We've played Bangor City before, this should be another walkover where we can primarily focus on getting into shape, blending the new signings into the squad, and giving the youth players a chance to show why they should get a chance to play when it matters this season.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack
Starting 11: Higgs, Tench, Todd, Lewis, Smissen, Harper, Holland, Bailey, Gorman, Mujkic, Harrison (c).
Subs: Fox, Thomas, McCarthy, Curran, Poole, Read, Price, Shirra, Coulson, Rainey, Baker, Upson.

Bangor City are like boys playing against men, despite the fact that our oldest player is now 26 year old Tony Price. We can only put one in before the half, a header from Stewart Lewis, but just after the restart Bangor puts one in the back of their own net and then wonderboy Scott Shirra follows up with a goal. We cruise from thereon out, and while I'd prefer to be winning by greater margins I don't have anything to really complain about.

Man of the Match: Sam Smissen




Bangor City 0-3 Wrexham



More international glory for England. Pfah.



I admit, we're playing all of our pre-season friendlies away from home because I don't want to degrade the pitch and risk it getting into horrible shape before the end of the season.

At The New Saints, July 8, 2017
Friendly


TNS is a real step up from the first two teams we've played, and they beat us 2-0 two years ago. We're a better team now, and we really should be winning this match without a problem, but they're definitely a sterner test than the likes of Bangor and Drogheda.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack
Starting 11: Higgs, Thomas, Todd, Lewis, Smissen, Harper, Holland, Bailey, Gorman, Price, Harrison (c).
Subs: Fox, Petit, Poole, Curran, McCarthy, Simpson, Shirra, Sinclair, Holt, Coulson, Rainey, Read.

TNS strikes with celerity, and before five minutes have elapsed we're down by one. Stewart Lewis pulls us level in the 34th minute, but we can't score again before I have a chance to rage at the players. I keep most of the starters on to start the second half, but as the game wends towards the end I'm hoping one of the substitutes can at least salvage a victory. Matthew Poole does, scoring in the 86th minute to save us the ignominy of a draw with the smaller club. It remains to be seen how we do against the tougher clubs I have scheduled.

Man of the Match: Stewart Lewis




TNS 1-2 Wrexham




Some of these Sampdoria players are really good, unfortunately they're all up for loan or transfer which means we might not get any of them because Sampdoria is trying to sell them all. I've put in loan requests for a whole bunch of them, I don't want to risk my second or third choice being sold while I'm waiting on the first choice to decide whether he wants to spend a winter in northern Wales.



Now we really need another fullback. I'm going to have to resort to playing people out of position in the upcoming friendlies. I've been searching like crazy for one, but there hasn't been a single decent option to cross my radar this whole time.

At Brighton and Hove Albion, July 15, 2017
Friendly


Brighton and Hove Albion, aka one of the most quintessentially English monikered football clubs, has established itself as a Championship division fixture over the last five years. This is the type of match that will tell us what type of team we have.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Defense
Starting 11: Higgs, Tench, Todd, Lewis, Thomas, Simpson (c), Holland, Bailey, Coulson, Mujkic, Read.
Subs: Fox, Petit, Poole, Curran, McCarthy, Harper, Holt, Shirra, Rainey, Morgan, Gorman, Baker.

I wish I could report an upset, but Brighton is able to find a goal whereas we are not. We don't play badly, but we can't convert on our one big chance. We actually have more shots on target than Brighton, so this loss is somewhat hard done, and it's more heartening for our team's prospects than the narrow victory over TNS the previous week. Daniel Thomas is also injured in this game, I can only hope that it's not serious or someone is going to be playing out of position.




Brighton 1-0 Wrexham



That's a relief. We'd be completely shafted if we had three of our four fullbacks with significant injuries at the same time.



You're a lousy parent club, Sampdoria.



Seriously, a real stinker.



At least now we've got three healthy fullbacks, so we're not completely screwed for the moment.



Always go with high win bonuses when you can. It makes the players happy, and it's generally not that expensive. It does reduce the amount of money you have available for transfers, which I believe is a change from older versions of the game, but given that we have a wage cap of £42,000/wk and we're only spending £30,984/wk we can reallocate money if we need to.



I'd put money on us to get promoted at those odds.



We're picked to finish 12th, if we outperform the preseason predictions by eight spots like we have the last two seasons we'll finish fourth and be in the promotion playoffs. I don't know if we'll do that well, but League Two really isn't that much worse than League One, the real change in team quality comes when you get to the Championship, and then again when you reach the promised land of the Premier League.



Oh for cryin' out loud. I know you want to show off how swole you are for your teammates, Peters, but have you given any consideration to the fact that I'm trying to run a friggin football team here and I need players who are healthy?

At Aston Villa, July 22, 2017
Friendly


Aston Villa is a storied club, with seven first division league titles in their hundred and forty three year history. They were relegated from the premier league last season, which has to gall their large number of supporters. Despite the fall to the Championship they still have multiple players earning more than our entire team combined. They're giants, not on the level of Liverpool or Chelsea, but a team with history and prestige. They're still not as old as we are, though. By the time they were founded in 1874 Wrexham had been around for a over a decade. Newcomers.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Defense.
Starting 11: Higgs, Tench, Poole, Lewis, Thomas, Simpson (c), Holland, Bailey, Gorman, Price, Harrison.
Subs: Fox, McCarthy, Petit, Curran, Harper, Shirra, Sinclair, Upson, Rainey, Coulson, Baker, Read.

We jump out to an early lead with a trademark Harrison breakout, but Villa respond with a quickfire double in the 21st and 29th minutes. They're not dominating the stats, we're creating the better chances as Harrison causes their defenders repeated heartburn, so I keep the first team on after the half to keep building their fitness. Harrison scores a second goal, this time from a corner, and we're level. A Villa defender hacks down Tony Price in the 75th minute, earning a penalty, and despite being slow to get up from the hard tackle Price converts the opportunity, and we're leading 3-2. I'm excitedly planning my victory speech in the third minute of stoppage time when Villa scores just before the final whistle, and while it's disappointing to draw after having been ahead so late in the game it's still an excellent result.

Man of the Match: William Harrison




Aston Villa 3-3 Wrexham

Nothing of note happens in the four days between the Aston Villa fixture and the Tackleford friendly, though I do continue to page through every last potentially available fullback in the British Isles and yet still come up with no potential additions.

At Tackleford City, July 27, 2017
Friendly


I have a bad feeling about this game. I've been leaving a lot of our first team players out of the match day squad because they're now fully match fit, and playing backups and youth. This is the culmination of that process, and we're going to be missing a whole bunch of our usual players. Tackleford is a good team, and are most certainly not following the same fitness regimen we are.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Defense
Starting 11: Fox, Tench, Poole, Petit, Thomas, Harper, Simpson (c), Holland, Coulson, Gorman, Read.
Subs: Higgs, Harrison, Lewis, McCarthy, Bailey, Sinclair, Shirra, Fulton, Rainey, Upson, Morgan, Baker.

We hold on for dear life throughout the first half, we can't create any type of offense and Tackleford batters our defense. It's still 0-0 at halftime, though, and I'm starting to think we can pull off a draw. Those nascent hopes are squished shortly after the second half whistle when Tackleford scores thrice in the span of ten minutes, and we lose miserably to our rivals. I need to stop scheduling these friendlies, or I need to start treating them as big matches, because I hate losing even meaningless games to these wankers.




Tackleford City 3-0 Wrexham



No reason to upset the applecart, Simpson and Williams are still first team starters and will be on the field enough to merit their positions as captain and vice-captain.



As we approach opening day I send the youth players back to their position, and order our Director of Football to sell three of our reserve players whose contracts are up at the end of the season and who aren't going to play a role in the club's future.



We made £900,000 in season ticket sales this year, an increase of over 50% from the previous year. That leaves us with a very healthy balance sheet going into the season, we shouldn't even need a cup run to turn a nice profit this season.




I'm not sure what to take away from our pre-season. We didn't run up the score against our easiest opponents, but we played Brighton level and nearly beat Aston Villa before a much weakened squad was thumped by Tackleford. All of the matches were away, which makes our performances against the Championship squads even better and is a partial excuse for our loss to Ed Philips miserable band of mercenary maroons. Hopefully our giant killing boots are warmed up, Hull City is in just over a week in the League Cup and are as hard a first round opponent as we could have been drawn against.