Constantine Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Youth Academy Challenge Thanks to C19 and upcoming quarantine over the weekend, i've decided to channel my inner Sisyphus and start yet another youth save. England seems like a great place to torture myself during this challenge. Why Enfield Town? I like the badge. Like the name. No other reason. And to fit entire Greek tragedy theme, they start with lowest possible level of facilities. With next to nothing in the bank. And such a small squad. Well, not that small. But to keep it that way, i'm gonna have to renegotiate each and every contract. That's not gonna be tiresome at all... They're relatively new club, with trophy cabinet waiting to be filled. Club culture, meh, we don't care about that. Gonna stick to the rules of this challenge. No signings. No loan ins. Nothing. Nada. Nichts. Good thing is, expectations are really low. With this tiny squad, we just have to survive till the intake. Easy Peasy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 (edited) Preseason As always, my approach toward friendlies is more focused on building fitness and morale. There will be a lot of challenges and tough matches when official games start. Staff has been rebuilt from scratch. Looked for people with great personalities, hoping they'll rub off on my players and here's what we came up with. And, for this challenge, most important among them. Great personality. Big determination. Nice playing style. Hopefully he'll produce some decent younglings. Though it is a question how much can he do with facilities as bad as ours currently are... And here are players that will most likely make our starting XL. Not much of a choice here, one and only goalie we have. Defense, at least on paper, isn't that bad. With the exception of Hatton, rest of them is still pretty young and could play for us for long time. If we manage to keep them that long... We lack width, lack speed in the wide areas, we lack lots of things. Silver lining, our captain is driven and that'll surely be helpful down the line. For tutoring purposes and whatnot. Bricknell is good but is getting old and, in my experience, his legs aren't getting any better. His rapid decline is imminent. Charles, on the other hand, is brilliant. Hope we can keep him. Edited December 12, 2020 by Constantine Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 Well, this will hit us hard... Taaffe is coming in for Bricknell but we need bodies on the bench so this fella is gonna get few minutes in the sun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 Just saw the news on upcoming elections... Hopefully, someone new gets into office as current chairman isn't really cooperating (he's rejecting EVERYTHING!!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 August & September 2020 To quote Lord Emperor Sun God Trump... STOP THE COUNT!! If we end this season around this place, middle of the table, i'd be really, really happy. It's gonna be hard to maintain this form of ours, with such a small squad and nonexistent quality on the bench. Also, i've decided to include 2 tenets in Enfield's philosophy. Same tenets the club i once supported claim to follow but... Yeah, they don't. 1. FK Partizan Enfield Town will always play with two men upfront. Attacking football must be ingrained in this club. 2. Enfield Town will always have academy graduates in starting XI. Well, second one is easily implemented, considering the nature of this challenge. First one will demand some... Flexibility. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 Well... At least we'll have some bodies to fill the bench. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 October, November & December 2020 Not exactly the greatest period behind us as we crashed out from both Cups but... At least we're on track in the league. Still in middle of the table. Keep it that way, please. That impressed my board enough, they handed me out new contract. Yet they still refuse all my approaches regarding improvements. Can't say i blame them right now because we're slowly slipping in the red... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 Class of '21 Yeah, they're rubbish. Still, 13 players signed as we desperately need some depth. We're stuffed in midfield. But, it's good to have options... Best of this generation, according to my staff. But that pace is atrociously low, even for this division. We've had gray keepers that looked better than Hawkins. But beggars can't be choosers, in first team he goes. Lovely personality though... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 Season 2020/21 Pretty uneventful end of the season for us. Never got close to either relegation or fight for promotion so i just decided to ride it out. Happy with 10th place. League leaders per scored goals but relegation contender when we take goals conceded into consideration. Well, one more thing to work on... Best performers: Charles was the real standout. Easily our best player. Top scorer. Bawling has some consistency issues but, overall, plays well. Della Verde, that lad is making me mad. No matter what i do, what i say to him, he just trains so, so poorly and his attributes decrease as a result. Obligatory no-transfers screenie. Finances... Augh, not good. It's only gonna get worse. No progress has been made off the pitch, even our stadium expansion got delayed. And i have no idea how to generate money... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 (edited) Preseason That was a long one... Two reasons for it. One, improving our finances. It ain't much but we gained about 1k per match played. Still in the red but... Could've been worse. Two, gelling the squad, as i promoted quite few of the younglings, and to provide a necessary morale boost ahead of season. Veteran Glenn Wilson left us to return home and wind down his career. It wasn't much of a problem as he was backup for us. Much bigger problem is that Scott Thomas left us. Vital part of our midfield. He wanted way too much money, we negotiated and negotiated up till the final day but no deal was struck. Rest of them were a victim of costs cut. One James Potton = six or seven kids on our payroll. Here's how we look ahead of 2021/22 season. Edited December 13, 2020 by Constantine Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 Just how much... How bloody ****ing much must something cost that we can't upgrade it when it is currently on a minimal possible level?!?! We've got some money now. Thanks to our more than fortunate cup run that ended in an embarrassment but a cup run nonetheless. As for the league... Meh. We've started out terribly but improved over time to climb up to those sweet spots in middle of the table. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 This is fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 This is fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 This is fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 December 2021, January & February 2022 Nothing much to report. Ended our winless run. It's ridiculous how much we're missing our captain Blackman. Still hanging around middle of the table, far away from fights on both ends of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 No idea how it happened... Guess we're richer now, when we have 60something k's less in the bank. But... IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 (edited) Class of '22 Not sure whether our new upgrades kicked in or not... Stars wise, it seems pretty much the same as it was last year. Finest of the bunch, according to coaches. And i agree, he does look decent. Nice technique, fine physicals, either footed. Now, where to fit him in?? Central defender first but he can cover both left and right side. Doesn't look that bad. I can see a lot of cards in his future since he have that dreaded high aggression/low decisions combo. This fella was further down the pecking order but i like him. Edited December 14, 2020 by Constantine Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 Season 2021/22 Could've been better, could've been worse. Finished one step below compared to our last year standing but we finally made some sort of progress off the pitch since our board finally allowed us to upgrade something. The boys did alright. Some of the kids got (and took) their chance and bought their place in starting XI. Although, i have to say, it's ridiculous how hard we suffer when one or two players go missing, either due to injuries or suspension. Blackman got injured, our midfield looked like they just saw each other for the first time on the pitch. Ellesley or Payne got suspended, we can't keep a clean sheet to save our lives. Top performers: Hands down, our best player. I think he scored half of goals in our team. Ridiculous. I have no idea how he do it. Trains for ****, i always have to reprimand him but Lyle always delivers on the pitch. Main man in our defense. We're terrible back there but i fear to think how bad we would look without him. Finest younglings: Our new starting RB. Hatton was losing his legs and i decided to throw this lad in the fire. Shaky at first but he improved massively. No doubt his personality helped... Similar story for our Danny boy here. Bricknell was loosing his footing, Taaffe couldn't hit a barn door so he got his chance. I was more patient with him due to his age and somewhere during January he hit the ground running and cemented himself as Ken Charles's partner in crime. Mark hasn't developed as those previously mentioned but he played well enough. Had a big boots to fill after Scott Thomas left and he did alright. Pressure and/or massive amount of fixtures must have been getting to him since i saw red arrows next to his attributes multiple times. In other news: Bricknell's retiring. Our shaky finances are taking another hit when once delayed stadium expansion have to be done. No other incomings/outgoings during the year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 And apparently this is somehow a thing... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 It's official now... Knew he would retire since he wouldn't sign new contract except as a coach. Now let's see whom of the kids will be retrained to fill the void... Also, why are we receiving less money now that our reputation improved (tiny bit but improved) and now that we're playing in better division than we were when previous contracts were signed?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 15, 2020 Author Share Posted December 15, 2020 Preseason Lots of friendlies played. We tried to raise some money as well as give our now extended pool of kids a chance to show off. All of that and we got little to show for. Still, better than being in the red. At least the boys are ready and raring to go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 15, 2020 Author Share Posted December 15, 2020 A bit of good news... A bit of bad news... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 16, 2020 Author Share Posted December 16, 2020 New Year's Eve 2022 Nothing much to report, really... Bad news first, we're out of both cups. Way too early. Both kinda undeservedly. Both matches decided early on, when my players got sent off. I was fuming!!! In the league, we're doing well. Better than expected, honestly, despite our sluggish start of the season. Occupying play offs place while expecting our usual fallout to happen. Rubbish as usual though i really hope at least this goalie is good. We need goalkeeper desperately. McDonald is leaking in some really stupid goals, free kicks are like penalties against him and kids we currently have are not up the task. And yeah, new contract signed. So this misery can continue tad bit longer... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 16, 2020 Author Share Posted December 16, 2020 January & February 2023 Long story short, because i really want to get back into game. Records have been broken. We've played marvelously (except against bigger sides). And our best player won't be available for a month or so. Maybe more. And i don't have to say it, we're in the endgame now... F***!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 16, 2020 Author Share Posted December 16, 2020 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 Class of '23 Rubbish intake but we've got a lovely goalie who's already better than previous two we've produced. I can easily put him on the bench right now. McDonald needs some competition. Lots of things to like about him but quite few to worry about too... Decent, defensive minded midfielder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 In the Play Offs we go!! Brilliant!! Just bloody brilliant. We were so, so good during March and we got a pole position in PO as a result. Gloucester was class apart, there was no catching them so we mixed it up a little during those last few games, just to keep everyone safe and injury-free for upcoming challenges. And now we wait for our first opponent... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 Chester it is... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 (edited) We're in the Final!!! That was ****ing cathartic... Horrible start, early goal by Lolos, who, by the way, terrorized us all game long. Ellesley pulled one back after one set piece. While we were better of the two, rest of the game was pretty much tug of war which i expected to go into overtime. Luckily, our Danny boy has had enough of it and with a laser guided strike from the edge of the box got us past Chester and into grand final. Where we'll face Southport. Edited December 17, 2020 by Constantine Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 Vanarama Prem, here we go!!! Season review after breakfast. WE ****ING DID IT!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 Season 2022/23 In case you haven't noticed, we got promoted to Vanarama National League. Turns out, third (season) is truly a lucky charm for us. Lads were absolutely brilliant, each single one of them. Two of them leading the line, both literately and figuratively. Hasn't scored in PO. He wasn't fully fit, still recovering from nasty injury he suffered but Charles got us here. Without him, there's no Play Offs. Without him, there's no promotion. He showed glimpses of greatness during last season but this year Danny exploded. Let's see how he does in VNL. Have to mention him. MVP of final tournament. Brilliant in big games. Heart of our defense. Still in the red. (First and only time i'll say it) We're going deeper and i don't like it. Especially with yet another bloody stadium expansion coming. Don't know where we'll find the money for it, nor how we'll repay loans raised for it but i know that our youth development really suffer because of it. Still on basic level. And competitions aren't getting any weaker... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 17, 2020 Author Share Posted December 17, 2020 Preseason Usual preseason friendly service from us. Morale boosted, finances (temporarily) back in black. Three academy players released (Sawyer was generated in holiday season). And Taaffe. He was a decent rotational player for us but he was deteriorating badly and considering he was on huge-ish wages (400 euros p/w + generous bonuses) it was only logical to let him go. We have replacement for him, our first international. One would think Greece shouldn't have to look at English 5th tier to fill their squads but hey, you won't hear me complaining... About this, at least... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lodi Lemmer Posted December 17, 2020 Share Posted December 17, 2020 Congratulations on the playoff win and promotion! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 18, 2020 Author Share Posted December 18, 2020 That's our expansion, done and dusted. We'll have a lot of empty space as just a bit over 1k people comes to watch us. But all league's regulations are now on point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 19, 2020 Author Share Posted December 19, 2020 New Year's Eve 2023 Couldn't have asked for a better New Year gift... It was annoying few months, as board rejected my approaches time and time again but as soon as we were projected to finish in black during the next three seasons, they finally decided to go ahead with upgrades. Heck, even our intake doesn't look as bad as before. (Though this was captured month or so before any upgrades were done) All of this was made possible because of our cup runs. Because we did really, really well in cups. Up to the second round of FA Cup and we made it past first round in FAT, which was unbeknown before. Still have those two stadium expansion loans to pay out but... This looks great. But all of this had its price. We're struggling in the league. Badly. Still have our heads above water but it's an uncertainty. And i don't like those. Hopefully, when our schedule become a little less hectic, we can start picking up points regularly... The state of our squad. We need a morale boost. Pronto. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 19, 2020 Author Share Posted December 19, 2020 (edited) Class of '24 One change from now on, i'll link here pics of all the kids we signed so i can follow their development. So... This year's crop. Four players bagged and tagged. Great looking talent in Vargas, three of them that need work. The rest isn't worth mentioning. Rubbish. Just pure rubbish. Comparing to all the goalkeepers we previously got, this one looks the most balanced of them. I like pretty much everything about him. His attributes are all over the place. But he's left footed, defensively decent, with great crossing, so i'm seriously considering retraining him to play left back. Fletcher is terrible, Muleba is playing out of position since this save began so Marriott could give us another option. We're currently stacked on CD but Crook looks decent enough. Gotta work on that personality, though... Could make one fine BBM... Edited December 19, 2020 by Constantine 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted December 21, 2020 Author Share Posted December 21, 2020 Season 2023/24 We never actually were in any danger of relegation. Flirted with it, yes, but always remained with our head above water. Went past Farnborough to face York in 3rd round of FA Trophy. We actually won against illustrious opponent but my power went out and that time they beat us. Could've been better but i don't mind. Our primary objective is fulfilled. We managed to survive. Now it's time to consolidate, get some upgrades done. Best among them, as usual, Kenny Charles, Danny Wilson, Lyle Della Verde. Decent but projected to get back into red sometimes during next season. Let's not let that happen... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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