Part 51: Chapter the Seventh: Post-Christmas cheer.

Chapter the Seventh: Post-Christmas cheer.
December 26, 2016-January 8, 2017

Hey, who's up for some more brutal scheduling? We start off the second half of the season with back to back games against a shockingly good Oxford United squad on Boxing Day, and then to York on the 27th, and cap the year with a match against Torquay on New Years Eve. Then we get one day to recover from our hangovers and play Tranmere. Four games in eight days? Sounds like fun!



Bailey is a guy who's getting an incredible amount out of fairly limited natural ability. I'm poleaxed that he's been so great in League Two, but at this rate he might still be good in League One.

At Oxford United, December 26, 2016
League Two


Oxford was touted to finish near the bottom of the table this season, but instead a win could see them to the very top of it. We beat them for our first match of the season, though it was a good deal closer than I would have hoped. At the time I thought it was a problem with our team. Now I realize that everyone underestimated Oxford. Because of the back to back games I'm going to have to play a rotated team, which means that you'll be seeing youth players in this and the next game.

Formation: 4-5-1 Counter.
Starting 11: Al-Beloushi, Thomas (c), Todd, Poole, Smissen, Kadhim, Cobb, Bailey, Netala, Franks, Spilsbury.
Subs: Higgs, Peters, Reid, Jenkins, Sinclair, Price, Read.

Oxford takes it to us from the very start. They use impressive flowing movement to create their first goal, and keep us from creating many chances of our own. Our attackers let the team down, failing to make anything of those chances, and Oxford capitalizes on a mistake by Ashti Kadhim to score again. We go down to our first defeat in a month, and are still on the outside looking in at promotion.




Oxford 2-0 Wrexham



I would give a lot for Mujkic to have gotten his friggin' flu shot. The flu shot is free with pretty much any insurance plan in the United States, so I have to imagine it's covered by the NHS. Get yours, save an infant or someone with a compromised immune system from possibly contracting what would be a life threatening illness.

At York City, December 27, 2016
League Two


No time to dwell on the Oxford result, but we're going to be playing a nearly entirely rotated team given the nature of the schedule. It's another match on the home turf of a promotion contender, but York has impressed me less than Oxford, so I hope we can at least manage a result.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter
Starting 11: Higgs, Tench, Reid, Lewis, Ashton, Jenkins, Simpson (c), Sinclair, Coulson, Price, Read.
Subs: Al-Beloushi, Peters, Curran, McCarthy, Cobb, Franks, Morgan.

The referee awards us a soft penalty just fifteen minutes into the match. It's all we get, but it's all we need. Tench, Lewis, and Simpson provide excellent defensive work that allows us to hold onto the one-nil lead for the remaining hour. It's frustrating for York, but they have to understand that they can't blame the ref for their own inability to crack our defense.



Man of the Match: Gary “the Tenchman” Tench




York 0-1 Wrexham



We have a LOT of contracts coming up at the end of the season. Coulson, Bailey, Poole, Price, Simpson, Tench, Smissen, Higgs are all probably going to be brought back, the rest are much more up in the air. I might try to sell Price and Ashton this window, Price has been solid but has to fight for playing time with Coulson, Netala, Mujkic, and Franks, as well as our up and coming youth players such as Read. Ashton has just been bad, and doesn't even seem to have much more potential to improve. Price is desired by Portsmouth and Rotherham, both League One sides, so I'll see what they'll offer me for him.



Screw off, you're not getting him for free.



I just went through contract negotiations with ten players and four staff. Cobb's not getting a new offer.



And the contracts start getting signed. We sign nine players and four staff to extensions, which increases our wages by about £2,300 a week. That's affordable. The agent fees come out to just shy of £40,000, a good fourth of our transfer budget.



Bailey comes back at the same wages, which is hilarious considering how good he's been. I get several players to accept a team option on their contracts, which leads to slightly higher wages for them while allowing me to cut bait if they turn out not to be able to handle League One. I also refuse to offer any yearly or promotion based wage increases, which will save us a lot of money when we get promoted.



I'm an idiot. I forgot to exclude foreign clubs when offering Ashton to other teams, meaning that two Scottish teams have offered him pre-contracts. That would be the worst, as we'd be stuck with him for the rest of the year and still get nothing for him before he left. I offer him on a free transfer to both teams, hopefully we'll at least be rid of his wages.

vs. Torquay, December 31, 2016
League Two


Because we're playing again in just two days I'm forced to field a weaker lineup than I'd like. But Torquay is a bottom of the table team, so we shouldn't need our very best to win. We do need to win, though, given that there's still so many teams ahead of us.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack
Starting 11: Higgs, Thomas (c), Todd, Lewis, Ashton, Kadhim, Jenkins, Bailey, Franks, Netala, Spilsbury
Subs: Al-Beloushi, Tench, Poole, Simpson, Price, Coulson, Read.

The run of play is in our favor from the start, but it takes until late in the first half for us to make something of our advantage. Chris Todd sends a perfect ball up to Spilsbury, who cashes in on the opportunity. We have the game well in hand in the 60th minute, so I take off Bailey for Price, and Price quickly makes his mark on the game by scoring off of a corner just six minutes later. Most impressive is our defense, which allowed just one shot on goal the entire game, and only one shot that was not from long range.

Man of the Match: Chris Todd




Wrexham 2-0 Torquay



Happy new year everyone!



Aww, Davies didn't even make the top three.



I don't lose a game all month and I still can't win the Coach of the Month award. Yeesh.



He better pay his own way.



I've been here long enough and handled the players well enough that I'm starting to get onto their “favored personnel” lists, which makes them easier to motivate, easier to sign, and more likely to trust me.



Whew, we're going to be able to offload Ashton's contract. I still feel like an idiot, we could have gotten five figures for him most likely.

vs. Tranmere, January 2, 2017
League Two


Our first team is nearly all present, but the subs are mostly youth players. Bailey's pretty tuckered at the moment, so it's likely we'll see the debut of Tony Holt. If we can jump out to a big lead in the first half that will make it easier for me to sub in youth players to get some experience.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack
Starting 11: Al-Beloushi, Tench, Reid, Poole, Smissen, Simpson (c), Cobb, Bailey, Coulson, Mujkic, Read.
Subs: Higgs, Peters, Curran, McCarthy, Holt, Price, Morgan.

Once again we control the game from whistle to whistle, and once again we find it difficult to put the ball in the net. Our defense is even more stout than the Torquay match, giving up just three shots all game. But it takes until I bring on the youth players to replace ineffective starters to get a goal. Anthony Morgan scores his first goal for the team from a well played set-piece in the 78th minute. We have no trouble seeing out the match, and it gives me a chance to get Anthony Curran on the field for a a cameo in the waning minutes of the game. Tony Holt also makes his debut, he and Curran are presently undefeated in their first team careers.

Man of the Match: Anthony Morgan.




Wrexham 1-0 Tranmere




It would have been an incredibly soft penalty if it had been given and I'd be screaming like a loon about it. Tranmere's coach is right to not harp about it.



What? I was agreeing with you, you nonce! Stop looking for scapegoats for the reason your crap team is buried down at the bottom of the table after being predicted to be in title contention.



And I get the last word after his temper tantrum. Time to turn our focus to the FA Cup.



This will be our largest crowd yet, we'll actually be selling standing room only seats as we have just 10,000 seated capacity.



We've already beaten one Championship team this year. Who says we won't beat another?



Go out there and show your old boss what he's missing, Cobb.



Thanks for the locker room bulletin board material. It'll make beating you all the sweeter.



Essentially one in every ten people who live in the county are at this game. I talked a fair amount of trash in the pregame press conference, I want to pile pressure onto Derby and frankly I think we're going to win.

vs. Derby, January 7, 2017
FA Cup, Third Round


We've been practicing our defensive positioning in the run-up to this game, but I want to start by coming out and trying to seize the lead. If we can grab a goal or two early it'll help us make life hell for Derby. If it doesn't go well I'll be quick to back off, but Derby's looking vulnerable and I want to give them a surprise.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack
Starting 11: Al-Beloushi, Tench, Reid, Poole, Smissen, Simpson (c), Cobb, Bailey, Coulson, Mujkic, Spilsbury.
Subs: Higgs, Thomas, Lewis, Kadhim, Jenkins, Price, Read.

The first half goes better than I could have hoped. We don't score, but we play straight up with Derby and if anything look superior. Even better, Derby scores for us via an own goal, giving us the lead. I expect Derby to react to this by attempting to crush us, and switch over to defense. Derby is happy to take a ton of possession in the second half, but can't do anything with it. Meanwhile, we devastate them via corner kicks. We score on three of our four corners in the second half, and the crowd roars in delight at each one. This is our second Championship pelt of the season, to go with our stropping of Wigan in August.

Man of the Match: Justin Bailey




Wrexham 4-0 Derby



Prize money is slowly increasing. These amounts are nothing to Premier League teams, but for us it's very welcome.



Oh please let us draw Scunthorpe. We'd be able to make it to the fifth round of the FA Cup if we do!



The downside of playing with fake players is that the record books are wiped clean. The upshot is that Justin Bailey is now the most prolific midfield maestro in the history of the FA Cup. So that's nice.




Told you it was our biggest crowd. It's not the haul we took from games against the Manchester megabastards, but it's still a very solid haul.



Dang. There were plenty of beatable teams we could have gotten, but instead we're up against France on the Tyne. They've got a big stadium and the Geordies support the hell out of their team, so at least we'll get a giant payday.



We've moved ourselves into an automatic promotion spot, though we're still six points off the league leaders, and we beat the piss out of Derby. We're flying high right now, and we're due a huge payday from our next FA Cup match. I'm also still at 0% confidence from set pieces, despite scoring something like a half dozen of them over the last four games. It's clearly bugged, and I'll be removing it ASAP.