Part 28: Chapter the Thirteenth: The first crucible.

Chapter the Thirteenth: The first crucible.
April 26, 2015-May 31, 2015

Either we win promotion and bring Wrexham back into the Football League for the first time since 2008 or go into the offseason facing another year in the Skrill Premier. If I wasn't a little nervous I'd be lying.



We'll be well represented in Wycombe, I'm glad to see that the faithful are willing to travel three hours to see us play our first match.

Press Conference
April 28, 2015
The Racecourse Ground



: “David Holyoak, Daily Post. Your Dragons have surprised the league in making it to this semifinal, am I correct in saying that you believe you can win promotion?”

: (Assertive) “Yes, Dave, you are. I don't see why we can't go all the way after coming this far.”

: “A follow-up, Coach? How does playing the first match away affect your game plan?”

: (Calm) “Well, these playoff ties often come down to the slimmest of margins, so having the second game at home is certainly an advantage. That being said, we can't put ourselves in a hole and expect to dig ourselves out of it.”

: “And, again, another follow-up if I may. I know the Tamworth match wasn't how you wished to close out the season. How are your players reacting to it?”

: (Assertive) “I have no doubt that the players will have learned from that match and will be all the stronger for it.”

: “And, excuse me, I know Wycombe is certain to seek a result from this match, but how do you feel you stack up against them?”

: (Calm) “I'm confident in this team and in our preparation. If we come to play, we'll win. Does anyone other than David here have questions?”

(Chuckles are heard on the recording)



: “Sean Osman here for the Non-League Paper! Given what's at stake, you must be feeling a fantastic amount of pressure! Especially with how much your fans are hungering for a victory!”

: (Calm) “I personally relish the extra pressure. I was born for it, I was bred for it. You're in the wrong business if you can't enjoy a challenge like this and come out on top.”

: “It certainly seems like you handle pressure very well, can the same be said for Wycombe's manager, Lee Mason?”

: (Assertive) “He may not be showing it, but I think under the surface the pressure is starting to get to him, and it'll show during the match. That'll be all for today, thank you.”



Looks like we got underneath someone's skin, huh? I play mind games with opposing coaches, if done properly and to the right person it can lead to mistakes our team can exploit during big matches. If done wrong, or to the wrong person, it can make it harder to win.

At Wycombe, April 29, 2015
Skrill Premier, Playoff Semi-Finals


I send us out in a counter-attacking mindset, reminding the boys that this is what they've played all season for. It works perfectly at the start of the match, with Liam Franks finding a wide open Ryan Watts on the other side of the field in the 11th minute, giving us an all important away goal. Bah and Watts both miss big chances shortly thereafter, and I start to worry about wasted chances. Wycombe knots it at one-all when Nsangou fails to come off his line to play a free kick. The Wanderers take the lead in stoppage time when our defense appears to believe that the half time break had already begun. At the 60 minute mark it's still 2-1, and Nsangou has been abominable, earning a 5.8 rating. At this rate he's going to play himself out of a job. In the 76th minute I take off Bah, who has done nothing despite good service, and tell the Cannon to get out there and make some noise. Ryan Watts sends a ball into the side netting after 90 minutes that half the ground thinks is a goal, but even with seven minutes of stoppage time we're unable to get the draw. The away goal is huge, however, and if we win 1-0 at home we're through to the final. The players seem to understand, and look more confident for our next game.



Wycombe 2-1 Wrexham



That doesn't keep Lee Mason from bragging about how he got the better of me, though.



(Through Gritted Teeth) Yeah, we're all friends here.



I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.



I can't complain, after all turnabout is fair play.



As I said, turnabout is fair play.

vs. Wycombe, May 3, 2015
Skrill Premier, Playoff Semi-Finals


In home and away ties the team with the aggregate score between the two matches wins. If the aggregate score is tied after 90 minutes there's a 30 minute extra time period, which is not sudden death. If things are still tied then the team that's scored more goals away from their home pitch wins, this is the away goals rule. And if things are tied even after that there's the dreaded penalty kick shootout, which is the worst way ever devised of determining a winner. I'm hoping to just win this match by two and avoid all of that.

We lose that away goal advantage in the 41st minute when Daniel Clarke puts the ball in the back of our own net, and I'm looking up synonyms for despondent when Ibrahima Bah lifts my spirits by pulling us level just before the break. I give the boys the old hairdryer treatment, reminding them that they still need two goals to win, and run them back out on the pitch. The screaming and yelling seems to have worked, they play like a team possessed over the second half, tying up the match on aggregate in the 51st minute when Stuart Martin crashes in on the near post unmarked. We hold serve, unable to break through but not conceding ourselves, until the 74th minute when Bah adds his second of the day and pulls us ahead on aggregate. That opens the floodgates, and we score twice more in quick succession to put the game out of reach. At the end of the match we have four separate players with ratings over 9, with the pace set by Justin Bailey and his three assists. It was so glorious we even got a clip on the Guardian's sports page of the goals. We're going to the finals.

Wrexham 5(6)-1(3)Wycombe



Credit where credit is due, I was pretty magnificent.



Someone is making excuses. You'll have plenty of time in the offseason to do that, Mason! Maybe you can last more than five months at this job.



If you come at the king, you best not miss.



No worries about playing surface in our next match, the final is at Wembley. For those who don't follow soccer, Wembley is England's national stadium, the current model of which is a billion dollar facility that opened in 2007. It hosts the lion's share of English National Team matches, and is where the NFL plays during their yearly sojourn to London. We'll be taking on Forest Green, last seen beating us 4-1 back in March. The match isn't for another two weeks, however, so we have plenty of time between now and then to get ready.



I use the intervening weeks to negotiate contract extensions with our staff. I'm keeping most of them, they don't ask much by way of raises and they already know the team. I'm holding off on our Ass Man Turley and our Physio, though, as I think there might be better options available this summer and don't want to commit to them for another year yet.



I don't know why you want to stay. You're pretty far down the depth chart.



I haven't mentioned this because we don't have anyone even modestly intriguing out on loan, but each month your Chief Scout will put together a report on how your players are doing in their loan assignments. It's useful for making sure that they're getting regular playing time, and seeing how they're performing. You'll also get updates from your scout if they're not being played as was agreed upon in the loan offer along with the ability to recall the player, which means that you'll avoid sending a promising player on loan for a season only to realize in March that they've played two first team games and had their development stunted.



Simpson has improved a great deal over the course of the season. He'll never be pacey enough to be a top level mid-fielder, but his mental skills have gotten much, much sharper in the last half year and his technical skills have bumped up a notch as well. I'm considering him as a replacement to Tierney as Captain, Tierney's attributes are starting to drop and if we manage to win promotion I don't think he's got the ability to play at a higher level.



Swansea wins the FA Cup, making them the first Welsh team since the 1927 Cardiff City squad to win it. Seems like a peach of a game, too. Swansea had only 10 men for most of it, and scored a desperation goal to tie it up in the 89th minute before finally winning on penalty kicks. Poor Scousers. Up the Swans! Wirioneddol yn ddiwrnod gwych ar gyfer yr holl Gymry!



Silly Berwick. Don't they know that the time to negotiate with Holt was before he accepted my contract offer?



With nothing to do but train for the next two weeks my wandering eye looks over players that can be brought in for free in order to strengthen the team for next season and beyond. I don't tap into the transfer budget, but I do make offers for three more youth players and a backup striker to replace the soon to be out of contract Cannon.

Anthony Walsh
Striker


Somehow this guy didn't have a team. I'm happy to give him a home and see if he turns into anything. His biggest goal in the youth side will be improving his off the ball movement, as well as working on his finishing skills.



I'm going to get Eoin and Ioan Peters confused.

Eoin McCarthy
Midfielder


Eoin joins us from Cobh Ramblers in Ireland. I would have passed him up as having too low a ceiling to be worth his 95 quid weekly salary, but his physical attributes caught my eye. There's not many teenagers running around with pace 15, acceleration 13 that you can pick up for nothing. He might be able to turn into a do-anything rotation option up and down the spine of the team.



My scouts discovered Morgan while looking at the other kid we brought in from Afan Lido, Chris Todd.

Anthony Morgan
Striker


He was available for free, and his salary requests was reasonable, so hopefully in a few years both he and Todd will be playing together in the first team. He needs work on his off the ball skills if he's going to find space to knock in goals, however, and his technical skills also need work.



This is the Cannon's replacement.

William Harrison
Striker


Harrison is going to be our backup striker behind Bah. He's exceptionally flamboyant, a born leader, and very, very fast, but needs to develop his finishing if he wants to challenge for first team time. I have high hopes for him, and at barely half of Cannon's salary (and two-thirds his age) I think he'll be with us for a while.



So my 100th game coincides with the promotion final, huh? All the more reason for my players to win the game, then.



Not nearly the largest crowd we've ever played in front of. And this time we're not playing against Man U.

vs. Forest Green, May 17, 2015
Skrill Premier, Promotion Playoff Final


Forest Green plays us evenly throughout the first half-hour, with neither side creating much by way of opportunity. Ibrahima Bah is injured early, but stays on despite obvious discomfort. He shows that he's not done yet in setting up the first goal of the game, passing back to Wright who moves the ball to Sumner about 10 yards from the goal. Sumner has his back to the goal and is well marked, but a spin to his right opens up just enough daylight for him to confidently put the ball into the far corner of the net. Wrexham one, Forest Green nil.

Just after the restart centerback Stuart Martin goes down in a heap as a result of a stiff Forest Green challenge that fails to draw a card. He continues to limp along, and if he doesn't recover I'll have to pull him for Damian King. The injuries continue to pile up when Forest Green's striker, Jonny Murphy, gets the worst of a collision with Liam Franks, and has to come off. I make a double switch in the 62nd minute, pulling the wounded Bah and Martin for the Cannon and King. The game continues, with neither side able to create much opportunity, until the 70th minute, when a foul by the Forest Green right back finally draws a yellow card. Franks, who has been essential to our success in the latter half of the season, coolly places the ball for the free kick, sizes up the opposition, and sends a line drive into the near post corner, right over the heads of the Forest Green wall. Wrexham two, Forest Green nil.

With 15 minutes left I shout at the players to make sure they aren't caught out of position against the coming Green flurry. It doesn't succeed, as they pull themselves back into the game with plenty of time to go on a brilliant volley that we couldn't do anything about. Wrexham two, Forest Green one. But in the span of five minutes Forest Green goes from hopeless to hopeful and back again, as they repeat the mistake of giving Liam Franks a free kick just outside the penalty area. He lasers in his second free kick goal of the game, and our traveling contingent is in heaven. Wrexham three, Forest Green one. The clock ticks down and Forest Green presses desperately to get back into the match, but as stoppage time commences they're still two goals shy. Stuart Simpson will not be on the field when the whistle peeps, however, as he becomes the third Wrexham casualty of the game and cannot continue. McGuinness comes on as his replacement. Four minutes of stoppage time ticks by slowly, but the scoreline stands.



Wrexham 3-1 Forest Green



You hear that, Tackleford?



Don't sing my hosannahs yet. I've only just led the club out of the wilderness and we've still a ways to go yet before we reach the promised land. What do you mean “messianic imagery” and “God complex”?



League Two is only the start. Though in retrospect I was a little excited about the result and should have stated that we're probably going to need a consolidation year before we can expect to win promotion again.



Ah, good. I was concerned it was something like a thigh tear that would keep him out until late fall. Neither of our other two scuffed up players have lasting injuries.



Well, I can't begrudge the players their bonuses.



Especially when we're getting twice that in prize money.



Now you want to leave again. Make up your mind. Don't you know we're supposed to be celebrating?



Hah, Ed Phillips of Tackleford City isn't even on the shortlist. We are. Take that, Tackleford!



I choose not to mention how many of them won't be with the team next season, but the squad is enthused at the challenge. I like these guys more than Tackleford's players. They were all mopey when I told them to challenge themselves in the Skrill Premier to get just a top half finish.



Our offseason will be fairly short, our squad is going to need a lot of practice if we're going to keep our heads above water in the Football League. No more beating up on semi-pro teams, we're going to be playing against actual talent now.



That is a satisfying conclusion to a year that was crashing and burning by October. Now we've got to decide how we proceed into the 2015-16 season, in terms of staffing, improvements, and budgets. See below for the Board Meeting and votes!



Board Meeting

As it is the end of the season, there are several decisions the board must make. First are the team financial records, to help with your decisions, and then five choices the board must make.



Expenses are about in line with what we expected, they're slightly up this month due to tax liability from winning the promotion playoffs. Overall, though, we're spending about £250,000 a month during the season. This will decrease in the summer months as we will not have match day expenses or player bonuses to pay. We are expected to spend roughly £300,000 across June and July.



We have £10,830 a week (~£44k/month) in wages coming off our books at the end of June, and have signed eleven youth players and one first team player for a total of £2,400 a week starting in June. Our current wage budget is £35,800/wk, and we have £71,000 remaining in our transfer budget.



The club turnover increased 60% over last season, and we earned £4.1m this year. We are likely to earn somewhere around £600,000-700,000 from season tickets based on previous season's numbers.



Given our current balance of £926,000 and the aforementioned income and expenses we should have a balance of £1.2-1.3m at the start of next season prior to any modifications.

The board must make the following five decisions:

1. Hiring Additional Coaching Staff
(Assertively) I would like to request funds to hire new coaches for the senior squad. At the present time our Assistant Manager is overseeing five different training catagories, and doing poorly at all of them. If we want our players to reach their potential, they need skilled instructors. Coaches at our level would likely have salaries between £300 and £400 a week.

A) We feel that the current coaching staff is sufficient for these goals. (No change in monthly expenses)
B) We feel that some additional coaches are warranted, but do not wish to spend more than £1,000 a week on additional staff salary. (Up to £4,000 a month increase in expenses)
C) We feel that an increase in the coaching budget of £1,500 a week would be more than enough to establish a strong staff. (Up to £6,000 a month increase in expenses)

2. Relaying the Pitch
(Calmly) I would like the board to consider relaying the pitch, as we're currently playing in what amounts to a well trampled pasture. A better pitch is more conducive to short passing, possession based football, and has a somewhat lower likelihood of injuring players. A poor pitch also hurts our reputation and makes players less likely to want to play for us.

A) We see no need to relay the field, this is how football was meant to be played. (No expense unless the FA forces us to fix it. Pitch remains in Terrible condition)
B) We should relay the field, it's an embarrassment to the club. (Paid for by our landlords, Glyndwr University, Pitch is changed to Perfect condition)

3. Improve Youth Facilities
(Passionately) In order for our team to succeed at higher levels we will need to develop talent through our youth system. Please improve our youth facilities from an unheated barn outside of Wrexham to a heated barn located near the rest of the team facilities.

A) We see no need to spend money on improving our youth facilities. Unheated barns were good enough for Baby Jesus, they're good enough for footballers. (No expense, Youth Facilities remain at Poor)
B) We agree that we should improve the youth facilities. We will begin planning the Tom Cannon Youth Barn and Practice Pasture immediately. (£330,000, one time expense, Youth Facilities increased to Fairly Poor)

4. Increase Youth Setup Category
(Assertively) For our youth players to improve, they need more training from a younger age. I would like to raise us from category four to category three, which would allow us to train our youth academy players from age eight and up on a part time basis. This will mean our youth players no longer have to play catchup when first starting professional training at the U-18 level in their mid teens.

A) We see no need to do this, our youth can learn just as well playing pickup games on the street as they can in a centralized program. (No changes in expense, youth setup remains category 4)
B) We think this is a fine idea. No one ever got anywhere having a childhood. (Roughly £5,000 to 10,000 more in monthly expenses, increase to category 3, better youth candidates in the future)

5. Set Wage and Transfer Budgets
(Calmly) We need to set the budgets for next year. We are expected to have a starting salary cost of roughly 27,500 pounds a week, or £1.4m a year. Our current wage limit is 35,800 pounds a week, or £1.8m. We have 71,000 pounds in the transfer kitty. By comparison, our opponents in League Two had a median wage bill of £1.2m, with a high of £2.1m and a low of £770k. The accountants have stated that a wage budget of up to £46,000/wk and a transfer budget of £96,000 is feasible given the club's current financial standing (i.e. that was the initial budget set for me by the ingame board).

A) We should maintain the present wage budget, it will be more than adequate at this level. (35k/71k Wage and Transfer budget)
B) We should modestly increase the wage and transfer budgets, but take care not to spend rashly. (40k/100k Wage and Transfer budgets)
C) If the eggheads in accounting say that we can afford it, then we can afford it. Follow their recommendations. (45k/125k Wage and Transfer budgets)
D) Make it rain! (50k/200k Wage and Transfer budgets)

Voting closes at 5pm EST on Friday, January 3rd.

(I'd personally vote C, B, B, B, C)