Part 66: Chapter the Seventh: Swooping isn't all bad.

Chapter the Seventh: Swooping isn't all bad.
January 1, 2018-February 1, 2018

I don't have many plans to change up the team during the transfer window. If we can find a very good fullback I'm willing to drop some cash on him, and we have a couple of backups that I'd like to move, but I don't want to mess with success.



You stay the hell away from my Meteor.



Vote early, vote often.



Sky Shadowing is unstoppable. Though he is the guy who counted the votes.



The changes in our tactics means we lose a little familiarity with them.

At Preston North End, January 6, 2018
League One


We've been on a crazy hot streak, not losing in the last eight matches. Preston has moved themselves up to eighth on the league table, which means they'll be a challenge.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter
Starting 11: Higgs, Tench, Todd, Lewis, Smissen, Simpson (c), Holland, Bailey, Coulson, Mujkic, Harrison.
Subs: Taylor, Peters, Curran, Price, Gorman, Rainey, Baker.

More Premier League coaches slumming it in the stands to watch Chris Todd, this time it's Everton. Preston takes an early lead, but a classic Harrison breakaway levels it. Shortly after halftime Harrison takes an injury he can't run off, which could be a huge problem if it turns out to be a serious injury. Sinclair puts us on top with a goal from a corner, but Coulson misses a sitter that would have put the game out of reach. Our defense is dodgy towards the conclusion, but we hold on to win again. We're atop the table, but Sunderland has two games in hand.

Man of the Match: Mark Holland




Preston 1-2 Wrexham



Harrison's injury is a minor one, he'll be back in no time. That's a good thing, as losing him would be a real blow to our offense.



Holland gets recognition for bossing the midfield.



Justin Bailey, lower league superstar.

At Leyton Orient, January 13, 2018
League One


Leyton Orient is not having a good time in League One, they haven't won in five games and are near the relegation zone. Naturally we're going to screw this up after having beaten Preston. It won't help that Harrison isn't quite back to full health.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter
Starting 11: Higgs, Tench, Poole, Lewis, Smissen, Simpson (c), Holland, Bailey, Rainey, Mujkic, Read.
Subs: Taylor, Thomas, Curran, Price, Gorman, Coulson, Baker.

Mujkic gets us off on a flyer in less than a minute. Leyton Orient has the advantage throughout the rest of the first half, but we're the ones on the scoreboard. Yohan Netala, our previous loanee, is playing for Leyton Orient and scores in the second half. Holland gives us back the lead in the 70th minute, but Leyton Orient manage a late equalizer. It looks like a draw, but in the final minute of regulation Leyton Orient gifts us three points with an own goal. Not how I'd prefer to win the game, but I certainly won't begrudge the luck.

Man of the Match: Stuart Simpson.




Leyton Orient 2-3 Wrexham



How do they not come to me with this? Have they seen the job I've done with youth?



Well, I've never seen that before. I move his personal focus training up to “heavy” but I'm not sure that will be enough to satisfy him.



Holy cow that's a lot of money. I've submitted it to an emergency board vote. The result was an order to negotiate with Tottenham, and see if anyone was willing to one-up their offer to us.

vs. Mansfield, January 20, 2018
League One


We've won seven games in a row. That's awesome. It makes us a big scalp for other teams to pick off, that's not so awesome. Mansfield is on the edge of the promotion playoffs, and they're going to be looking to take us down a peg.

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

We look good, real good. Tons of pressure from the start, and we're not letting up. That pressure gets to Mansfield in the 25th minute in the form of an own goal. It's disappointing, then, to go up into halftime only up by one. We lose that lead almost from the word go, and rack up yellow cards like candy as our players get a bit techy. Meteor settles us down in the 63rd minute with a goal, and we regain control of the match. The five yellow cards we pick up double our total for the year, but no one gets two and it doesn't have a bearing on the result. Our winning streak is now up to eight games, and with Sunderland losing we're now atop the table on goal differential.

Man of the Match: Mateo Mujkic.




Wrexham 2-1 Mansfield



Good to have him back. Our captain has been pretty great in the box to box midfielder role, so having him able to move up from defensive midfielder if/when Bailey or Holland are tired makes us more flexible.



Tottenham won't give us a dime over £5.5m after initially being receptive to a £6.3m deal, and I can't get anyone else to join the bidding war. When I asked for £6 million they cancel the offer. Looks like we're keeping Todd.



Doesn't change that we're gonna get paid. Upson is probably not going to be better than Harrison, and we also have Read in our youth program.

vs. Chesterfield, January 27, 2018
League One


Another game against a good team. Chesterfield is fifth in the league. We're going to lose eventually, it's just a question of when. If we can win the next two matches, though, a ten game winning streak is really impressive.

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

It's a drab first half. No goals, not even any good scoring chances. We're in control of the game, but not doing anything with it. That continues in the second half, and our best chance to win the game goes begging when Michael Coulson misses a wide open net from mere feet away. Not only is our winning streak over, but so is our twenty game scoring streak. Sunderland predictably wins, and we're back down to second place.




Wrexham 0-0 Chesterfield

Still waiting on that Upson deal to wrap up.

At Fleetwood, January 30, 2018
League One


Are we going to win, or are we going to fall into a swoon that threatens our promotion hopes? I don't know! Let's find out.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter
Starting 11: Higgs, Peters, Todd, Poole, Smissen, Simpson (c), Holland, Bailey, Rainey, Mujkic, Harrison.
Subs: Rogers, Thomas, Curran, Harper, Price, Gorman, Baker.

Fleetwood scores goals at the start of both halves. We've played wretched, disjointed football for the first 45 minutes, and I'm forced to throw us entirely onto the attack. William Harrison scores a mind-bending goal in the 67th minute, but no matter how pretty it was it still only counts for one. Our unbeaten streak is looking like it's over, until Ryan Gorman finally does something worth mentioning with a goal late in stoppage time to pull us level. We escape with the draw, and it was an excellent show of character for the team to not give up after going down by two. It still means we fall further behind Sunderland, they're now four points up on us.

Man of the Match: William Harrison.




Fleetwood 2-2 Wrexham



Well, that's too bad. Just like our players are starting to draw attention our coaches will be pinched from us by higher division teams.



Or not. Yay, loyalty.




Leeds and Celtic also want Upson, but aren't willing to pay nearly as much as Swansea. They can take a hike.



We'll also get 10% of any future transfer fee. Our bank balance just jumped from £250,000 to £2,250,000.



I was able to sell off Cian Fox, our backup backup goalkeeper, but Gavin Baker remains with us for the present. I didn't add anyone to the club.



Stop stealing my awards! I'm on a twelve game unbeaten streak!



Eleven points from five matches is a good pace, though I'm concerned that we might be approaching a slump. We've given ourselves a four point buffer on an automatic promotion spot, though Sunderland's jumped back up to a four point lock on first place after we briefly surpassed them. We also did a good bit of business in selling Upson, two million pounds is a huge amount of money for us and Upson isn't someone I was looking to as a major part of the team in the future. That also means we don't suffer from the Todd deal falling through, we still get a lot of cash while not losing someone I'm already trying to work into the starting 11.



Board Vote

(Luxuriantly) I'd like to reinvest some of the money we made from the Upson sale into the team, specifically an upgrade to the Tom Cannon Memorial Youth Barn.

A) We'll be able to make millions more selling future youth who get even better than Upson? Yes.
B) If the Memorial Youth Barn was good enough for Upson, why should we improve it? No.

Voting will close at the posting of the next update.