Part 160: Chapter the Tenth: Player three has entered the game.

Chapter the Tenth: Player three has entered the game.
April 1, 2024-April 20, 2024

Getting knocked out of the FA Cup has actually been something of a blessing as it means we don't have an incredibly cramped schedule throughout April and our matches will mostly be four days apart. I tend to rotate our squad much more than any other team, with none of our players getting more than 2/3rds of the starts in any single season. That leaves us fit and comparatively rested, giving us a vital advantage over clubs that have had some players start every single game of the season. Just consider how Cyril Boumsong of Manchester United feels chasing Thiago around when the latter has logged a thousand fewer minutes on the pitch over the last nine months.



You took your sweet time giving me one of these this year, Football Association.




Thiago's been on fire the last month, scoring 11 goals in seven matches and has at least one in each of his last five appearances.

vs Borussia Dortmund, April 2, 2024
Champions League, Quarterfinal Home Tie


We've been crap against opponents in the Champions League away from the hills of Wales, so taking a big lead against Dortmund is important. I don't want to go to Germany needin a win.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Reed, Laux, Hammatt, Taffarel, Mair, Petts, Collett, Stringel, Mujkic (c), Thiago.
Subs: Fitzgerald, Cirjak, Loseille, Quiboulaz, Taborda, Parr, Aarts.

We get off to a fast start as Mujkic finds Thiago at the far post and the lanky Italian's header carooms off the underside of the bar and over the goal line. It's Thiago's 10th goal and Mujkic's 9th assist in the Champions League this season. Dortmund are denied by the post minutes later, but that leaves them vulnerable to a counter attack, and Stringel feeds Thiago a perfectly weighted ball that he deposits in the back of the net. We proceed to squander a number of chances thereafter, and can't increase our lead.

That's not good, because Dortmund's attacking midfielder Luca Jara is causing all sorts of havoc. He gives Dortmund an away goal on the counter attack, and we're doing an awful job containing him. Even after Mair is assigned to mark him tightly, Jara is able to get free and level the match at two-all in the second half. That's before Mair blows his top and gets sent off for a wild and idiotic two footed tackle, ending any chance we had of winning the match in the final minutes. We're going to need a win in Germany to advance.

Man of the Match: Thiago




Wrexham 2-2 Dortmund




He's going to be suspended for at least the away leg, and possibly for the rest of the Champions League if they give him a four game suspension. What a moron.



Laux has gone from being a rock at the heart of our defense to wildly inconsistent. In some games he's that rock, and in others his lack of discipline and concentration cost us dearly. His refusal to take responsibility for his poor play is a bad look, and his problems are Quiboulaz's opportunity to earn more time in the starting 11.

At Aston Villa, April 6, 2024
Premier League


Assuming that United win their game in hand we're two points up on them. If we retain that advantage, it means that a draw at Old Trafford in the penultimate week of the league keeps us in first place. Villa haven't scored in four games, so I expect them to take two shots all game and for us to lose 2-1.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Fitzgerald, Cirjak, Laux, O'Hanlon, Loseille, Mair, Ünsal, Collett, Taborda, Mujkic (c), Aarts.
Subs: Kovacevic, Reed, Quiboulaz, Maloney, Allan, Stringel, Thiago.

Collett puts it in the back of the net in the 7th minute, but even he knows that it's getting called back as he's wildly offside. It's a good sign that our offense will be able to find space to work in, though. That proves true when Taborda flicks on a cross from Mujkic which Aarts volleys in seven minutes later. Villa haven't threatened much during the match, but they're able to equalize on a spectacular free kick from well outside the box.

The fine goal uses up whatever luck Villa had for the day, and from there it's all Dragons all the time. First Aarts catches the Villa defenders ball watching on a Cirjak cross from the touchline, arriving perfectly in sync with the ball for his second goal of the match. Then Mair gets lucky when the keeper utterly misplays his poor cross and lets it into the back of the net. That's followed by Aarts capping his day with a hat trick in the 70th minute when he crashes the near post during a corner. Finally Taborda makes the scoreline embarrassing for Villa after he's left all alone about 20 feet from the net. I was right about Villa getting a lucky goal despite their punchless offense. I was wrong about our own offense, they lit up the home team like a Christmas tree ignited by an electrical blaze.

Man of the Match: Bram Aarts




Aston Villa 1-5 Wrexham



He's been with the club for three years now, and is only now getting to his 50th appearance due to injuries. I'm still a Taborda fan, he's got 7 goals and 6 assists in 19 matches this season, but he would be so much better if he could just stay on the pitch.



I'd forgotten about the clause even existing, and doing some digging I found a screen that contains all contract and transfer clauses in one handy location. It also tells you which clauses you can buyout for a lower price. In Hammatt's case there's no way he doesn't get into 14 more matches with us and so it saves us money to buyout the clause.



United have only played through four rounds of the FA Cup so far. They're an offensive monster, likely to score over 100 goals in the league. They're still quite a ways off the real FA Cup record, Preston North End's Jimmy Ross scored 19 goals by himself way way back in 1888. I'm betting a lot of those came during his club's 26-0 drubbing of Hyde in the first round.




As an international manager one of my responsibilities is to make sure my players know that I'm thinking of them when they get hurt. My call lifts Toninho's spirits. He'll be out until mid-May, and back in plenty of time for our friendly against Spain. It's best to use this feature whenever one of your players suffers a bad injury, it helps their motivation to get healthy, makes them like you more, and improves morale among the squad.



If we get past Dortmund he's out for the first leg of the semifinal. Otherwise the ban will carry over to next season.



Citing his goal scoring record this season creates a pretty self refuting article, tuttomercatoweb.com.



United are terrifying. Thumping Ajax 7-3 is surprising, but it should be downright impossible to thrash Bayern flippin' Munich 7-1.

At Borussia Dortmund, April 10, 2024
Champions League, Quarterfinal Away Tie


We need to win, a draw won't cut it unless we somehow score three goals. I've had the boys drilling defensive positioning, if we can take a lead I want to make sure we can hold onto it. That's going to be harder since all three of our best defensive minded midfielders are out, Ünsal because he's cup tied, Bailey due to his torn hamstring, and Mair because he's a freakin' idiot.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Reed, Quiboulaz, Hammatt, Taffarel, Petts, Taborda, Parr, Stringel, Mujkic (c), Thiago.
Subs: Fitzgerald, Cirjak, Loseille, Laux, Allan, Collett, Aarts.

What could have been a vital early goal goes begging when Thiago misses by inches 60 seconds into the match. Then Taborda can't make a set piece count, he got loose in the six yard box and had a free header that hit the post. We've been the better side through the first half, and our defense has been especially impressive in denying Dortmund any space to opperate in, but we're still 45 minutes from elimination.

I order the players to work down the flanks more in order to take advantage of Mujkic and Parr outclassing their opponents, and tell them that I expect us to be advancing to the semifinal come full time. Their response is immediate and gratifying, with Meteor streaking down the left side in the 46th minute and jinking past the Dortmund keeper before depositing the ball into the net. Late in the match I bring on Collett and Cirjak for Taborda and Reed, both of whom have picked up yellow cards. Just a minute later we catch Dortmund on the break to take a two goal lead, as Thiago heads in a rebound off the keepers gloves. We thoroughly outplayed Dortmund and did it in Germany. It's booked our return to the semifinal.

Man of the Match: Ed Hammatt




Dortmund (2) 0-2 (4) Wrexham




What was that I heard from our new President in Thief about docking my pay?



Why do you need elbows to play soccer anyways?



The phrase I'm looking for after the draw is “pleased as punch.” That's because Atletico, while a very good club, is not Manchester United. United get drawn against City, meaning that if we can hold up our end of the bargain it'll be another Wrexham vs. The Manchesters battle for a trophy.



Leeds has made it to the final of the FA Cup, ensuring a place in Europe next season as their opponents, Manchester United, have clinched Champions League qualification. I'm going to be pulling hard for Leeds, if they somehow beat United then we could at least tell ourselves that the only reason we didn't add a second Cup to our trophy cabinet was because we lost to the eventual winner.

vs West Ham United, April 15, 2024
Premier League


Manchester United will actually have three games in hand on us after this match, and since they're completely capable of sweeping all three matches we need to keep up the pressure by nailing the Hammers to the wall. I don't think that's technically a mixed metaphor. At least our central midfield of Ünsal and Mair is well rested.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Reed, Laux, Hammatt, Taffarel, Mair, Ünsal, Collett, Stringel, Mujkic (c), Thiago.
Subs: Fitzgerald, Cirjak, Quiboulaz, Maloney, Petts, Taborda, Aarts.

Thiago is truly great, and his brilliant interplay with Mujkic has lead to oodles of goals. This one comes in the 30th minute and is his 31st of the year. The two link up again for a second goal, this time off a corner, just before the break. The Hammers come out strong after intermission, and for the opening ten minutes of the second half have us on our back foot. But they scuff their best chance, and we withstand their bluster throughout the second half. That said, I was concerned enough to bring in Quiboulaz as a midfield destroyer for the final 10 minutes due to their persistence, but we have the last laugh when Ünsal springs Meteor in stoppage time and our captain gets on the scoresheet himself to go along with his two assists.

Man of the Match: Meteor Mujkic




Wrexham 3-0 West Ham



The game is much more rigid than anyone in real life about determining when a team clinches a Champions League spot, we've had fourth place wrapped up for a month now.



Despite the overall quality of our recent performances there are still some players suffering tepid runs of form. Collett hasn't been outright bad, but he's well behind the rest of the club in his performances. I feel it's better to let him know that I'm watching and want to see more from him than have it go unaddressed and potentially fester into an out and out slump.



America's spot in the top 20 is going to go poof when the Gold Cup results from last June don't fully count anymore. We're going to get Mali'd, the only question is how far we fall.



Once is coincidence and twice is happenstance, but this is suspicious. I'm guessing that we've seen AJ_Impy and Sky Shadowing take over clubs because they were forced to leave their Presidency due to term limits enforced by the savegame editor, and their ingame character still wants to run a football club. And since the game doesn't differentiate between presidents of Fan Trusts and rich guys who can buy their own club the game decides that they have the resources to plonk down millions of pounds for a new one.

Reading appear safely midtable with four games left to play, while Sky Shadowing's Southampton needs one point to clinch promotion from the Championship back to the EPL. It looks like Wrexham is taking over the Premier League in a wholly seperate manner than I intended.



Eh, you're no Pattison.

vs Arsenal, April 20, 2024
Premier League


Arsenal present the second most difficult remaining league matchup, the trip to Old Trafford in two weeks will be worse, but we can control our own destiny until then with a win here and against Stoke City in a week. Arsenal are sitting in third place and have clinched a top four finish, but City are two points behind them and they could have to go through a playoff before the group stage next season if they fall behind.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Quiboulaz, Hammatt, Taffarel, Mair, Ünsal, Collett, Stringel, Mujkic (c), Thiago.
Subs: Fitzgerald, Loseille, Laux, Maloney, Petts, Taborda, Aarts.

Collett gives up the ball far too easily in our half of the field, which turns into an early Arsenal lead. A Cirjak to Meteor header gets us back to even, Mujkic has really been coming on strong as the pressure rises. Matty Collett makes up for his mistake, roofing the ball on a volley, and the goal gives Tonci Cirjak his second assist of the day. Collett scores again, too easily, after finding himself all alone ten yards from the goal and with Stringel's pass at his feet. Our speed is too much for Arsenal's back line to handle, and it's made the score 3-1 after the initial 45.

We continue pushing Arsenal around in the second half. Collett has completely recovered from his blunder at the dawn of the game and is putting on a clinic from the right wing, his accurate delivery to Stringel puts us up 4-1. Arsenal aren't threatening from open play, but do manage a second goal via free kick. It's not enough to keep them from getting so frustrated that one of their centerbacks hacks down Stringel with 10 minutes remaining, getting himself sent off in the process and leaving them at even more of a disadvantage. We coast the rest of the way to victory. It puts us on 91 points with three Premier League matches remaining.

Man of the Match: Matty Collett




Wrexham 4-2 Arsenal



I didn't say a single negative word about him before the match, other than that I figured he was trying to play mind games with me by hyping our rivalry. What a prat.



Leeds downed Man U in what I hope is a preview of the FA Cup Final. It means that we can afford to lose to United when we play them in Manchester two weeks from now and still win the league so long as we defeat Stoke and Everton.



We clinch the Premiership title with two more wins, or with a win and a draw at United on May 4th. We've returned to the Champions League Semifinal, and facing off against a club we should be able to handle in Atletico.

Only one team in the last forty-five years has done the league/Champions League double in back to back years. That would be the team we're fighting for the Premiership and will most likely face again in a Champions League final- Manchester United. They did it in 2020 and 2021. I doubt they expected their primacy to be challenged so quickly. I especially doubt they expected the challenge to come from Wales. Supremacy is within reach, all we need do is grasp hold and secure it.



BOARD VOTES

(Debonairly) Welcome, gentlefolk of the Board. It is time for our annual financial review and planning meeting.



This season has seen us spend down the nest egg we created last summer as we moved to bring in one of the best players in the world, Sinan Ünsal, on a record deal. As we are not yet printing our own currency a la Manchester United or Real Madrid, this will not be a commonplace occurance. At the end of the season it is expected that the club will have anywhere between £10,000,000 and £35,000,000 cash on hand.



Wrexham's income is already £100,000,000 greater than the previous season's total, but that is largely an artifact of a £128,000,000 increase in player sales. Once we take that into account we see that we're on course to earn approximately £40,000,000 than we did last season. These improvements are split primarily between increased merchandise sales, greater commercial sponsorship income, and an increase in gate receipts and season ticket sales.



As you can see, our transfer expenditure is over £100,000,000 greater than the previous season. The difference can be entirely attributed to the purchase of Ünsal. Of the remaining increase over last years expenses, another £30,000,000 can be attributed to one time costs related to facility improvements and agent fees. After taking into account the next two and a half months of salaries and bonuses, we can estimate that expenses outside these categories will have risen by roughly £40,000,000 as compared to the prior year. Wrexham is presently a self sustaining operation, and requires no player sales to fund the current squad.

Due to our recent transfer spending, I have decided to hold off requesting the final upgrades to our youth and senior team training facilities for the moment. That leaves two questions I'd like the board to give consideration to:

QUESTION ONE: Unified transfer and wage budget allocation.

(Prudently) Our current unified transfer and wage budget is set at £155m, £11m more than originally set thanks to the effect of sales on our transfer budget. We are currently spending £1.75m/wk (£90m/yr) on player wages, good for fifth in the Premier League and 13th worldwide but still less than 2/3rds of what the Manchesters spend and less than half of PSG's wage bill. Still, I feel that as a club we have no significant weaknesses to address and reducing the sum to £130m would protect the financial health of the club. If I need more money I will either ask for it or sell players.

Please list a sum between £100m and £175m, the final amount will be the average of all votes.

QUESTION TWO: Feeder clubs.

(Evenly) I noticed that the first action of the new board after the elections was to cancel our link with Radnicki Nis, without having asked my opinion on the matter. I would now like to ask the board to consider forming links with other clubs for two purposes.

One, it would be useful to form another affiliation like our link with Chivas USA to improve our global name recognition and increase our income. Two, it would be helpful to establish a parent/feeder relationship with a lower-mid table club in one of the top four European Leagues in order to have a place to send our prospects who aren't quite ready to contribute to our senior team but are far too good to languish in the reserves.

A) (Mammon-iacally) Our merchandise sales are up over 100% from last year! Just wait until we break into the Chinese market! (Seek a foreign affiliate to boost visibility and income)
B) (Overestimating-ly) There's no point in having players like Rouissi, Ikeda, Gabbianelli, and Allan sit in our reserves all season when they could be getting better. Some midtable wretch such as Chelsea, perhaps? (Seek a top division feeder where we can send players on loan)
C) (Supportively) We should clearly do both, first the farm club affiliate so that it's in place prior to the start of next season, and then the economic affiliate. (Seek a top division feeder to send players on loan and seek an affiliate that will improve visibility and income)
D) (Dreamsicle-ly) You're the manager of this club, nothing more. We make the business decisions around here, and we don't need to consult you. (No new affiliates)

Voting will close on Friday, September 5, at 12pm EST.