[FM23] Keeping it Local - U18 Academy

[Motlhen]

 

 

This job offer was not accepted, rather a counter-offer was made.

As part of the on-going project at L7 FC, an agreement has been made to allow:

1. Bush Hill Rangers have a first option to sign any L7 FC player on their 19th birthday for free (as they are no longer eligible to play for L7).
2. In return, L7 FC will be owed 50% of any future sales of these players.
3. Bush Hill Rangers will be limited to only sign players from L7 FC.

Jenna Schillaci will remain in charge of L7 FC who will be playing in the 11th tier next season, and we welcome Michael Duberry to the project as Bush Hill Rangers manager who will start with a rebuild after their relegation to the 12th tier.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Next Season thoughts:

The board have some lofty expectations for our first season in the 11th tier.

 

We had a brilliant season and have just had a phenomenal intake.
I don't see us being able to improve on the quality of the squad too much through the transfer market over the summer.

Our main aim will be to keep as many players at the club as possible to look forward to seeing how they fare in the league next season.

 

 

 

The board expect us to bounce straight back up & they are investing in a new stadium too.
I haven't been given much information on the impact the stadium build will have on our financial situation.

 

 

The squad already contains a healthy number of Enfield-born players who we will keep for now.
But there's a big drop in quality between the top 4 players and the rest of the squad.

Once L7 players join Bush Hill Rangers, they will be favoured over the current squad.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Jun 24

Transfers from L7 to Bush Hill Rangers

 

There have been two transfers from L7 to Bush Hill.
First off was Hurst, who moved to become Rangers' Assistant Manager.

 

 

Barker is the first player to make a transfer between the clubs under the new affiliation.
Overlooked by L7, the Bush Hill Rangers staff believe he could provide squad depth and maybe even challenge for a first team spot.

 

Comparing him to the 'best-rated' player in the same position, it seems Barker is a much more well-rounded winger.

 

 

The transfer was of no monetary value as the player was on an amateur contract.
If & when either club is semi-pro the 50% of next sale clause will be added to the transfer details.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

 

Finishing in the top 3 places has changed to top 4 places, but with the board providing more facility improvements, the pressure is on the deliver!

 

 

Staff

We lost Sheringham-Cork, so replaced him with Raynor.

 

 

Squad

This is the starting XI, a backup XI and an emergency backup GK, defender, midfielder & attacker.
These will be the members of the squad we use this season, barring any transfers in/out.

 

 

 

 

The board have relaxed their expectations after the dust has settled on the agreement between the clubs.
It is going to take some time for players from L7 to join us at Bush Hill as no one has yet turned 19.

 

 

Players at L7, not in L7's Squad

We will be looking to sign any of the players that are not listed in L7's 26-man squad.

 

 

We were successful in signing Jonnie Stirling.
Hopefully he is the first of many to add some depth to our squad.

Edited August 24, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Pre-Season 2024

 

We were still relying on Bullman through pre-season to bag the goals.
Eliot is back from injury for the first game of the season & Hien should also be fit in time (8 days).

We have a healthy squad and despite the drop-off in quality to our backups, I rate our chances for a back-to-back promotion.

 

 

 

 

The board matched L7 with two facility upgrades this month.

 

Our pre-season has been all over the place.
Tumber has been a consistent scorer, but we'll have to have other players chipping in to stand a chance of pushing on above the mid-table expectations.

 

 

The squad is a bit bare, especially in defence.
We're relying on there being some signings from L7 over the course of the season to flesh out the team.

Edited August 24, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Transfer from L7 to Bush Hill Rangers

We've lost our first player to the academy's U18 age restrictions.

Stewart has become ineligible to play for L7 on his 19th birthday and so was released and picked up by Bush Hill Rangers.
He made 8 appearances in his first season, but was never a very remarkable player. Hopefully he can produce more at Rangers.

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

[Note: there were some issues with my game crashing so I lost all of pre-season. I've gone back and updated the posts on this page with the updated version of events.]

 

Sep 24

 

Loans In

Two Enfield Town players agreed to join on loan.
I rate South highly, so despite our overload of wingers already I thought I'd bring him in to see how he performs.
Matthew has great jumping reach and is a centre-back, which we do not have a lot of. I imagine he'll be featuring often as cover and from the bench.

 

Fixtures

We were on the wrong end of a goal fest to open the season, but we've looked pretty assured from that point onwards.
Our goalkeeper Kelly is our top goalscorer so far with 4 goals already this season.

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

We started with 3 wins on the bounce, only losing to Stanton due to an early red card.
Both strikers have been in on the action, but Barker who never featured for L7 FC got a goal on his Bush Hill Rangers debut!

 

 

 

Other Enfield Clubs

I saw some strange staff movements at Enfield Town (I've never seen this before in FM):

The DoF was sacked, the Manager moved to become the DoF and they are looking for a new manager.

[Motlhen]

Oct 24

Transfers from L7 to Bush Hill Rangers

 

There were three transfers this month, but first a loan move:

South joined L7 on loan from Enfield Town at the start of the season, but had not featured in or around the first team. Bush Hill made an offer to take over the existing loan which was accepted by all parties and Rangers now have an exceptional young winger. I doubt it'll be the last time we employ this tactic to sign players for Bush Hill Rangers.

 

Suraj joins his 3rd Enfield club after some decent appearances in a short stint with L7.

 

Defender Billington is a great scoop for Bush Hill as he was still making appearances for L7 this season.
We're short on Enfield-born defenders, so whilst L7 will miss him, Bush Hill will find him invaluable.

 

Ajayi only featured for L7 in their first season. I don't expect him to be much more than a backup at Rangers either.

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

A perfect month, including scoring 6 twice in a row.
Eliot has been on fire!

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

We've struggled this month.
The new signings will need time to settle in and our strong start puts has helped to put us in a positive position despite the need to find a winning formula again soon.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

 

Today is a sad day for the club.

We're losing Ade Bullman on his 19th birthday.
Injury stopped him from playing in his final game, but he has been a staple in the first XI since the first season and will be missed.
(The game isn't showing his ineligibility due to his injury, but once he recovered from injury, the ineligible icon appeared.)

 

Records

Bullman currently holds the following records at the club:

Most league goals by a player - 57
Most overall goals by a player in a season - 28
Most league goals by a player in a season - 28
Highest average rating - 7.65 (26 apps)
Most goals by a player in a match - 3
Most goals by a player in a league match - 3
Most player of the match awards in a season - 11
Oldest goalscorer - 18y 344d
 

 

 

Rangers will be hoping they can sign Bullman, but talks are yet to be positive.

[Motlhen]

Nov 24

 

 

 

(Potential) Transfers Out

Clubs have started to sniff around some of our players. Where I can, I have rejected the bids and no personal terms have been agreed yet.

 

 

Player Released (19yo)

Bush Hill Rangers have not agreed terms with Hams, so he has been released.

 

 

Records

You know we have been doing superbly well when we get this message in November!

 

 

Fixtures

We are romping the league.
We've been superb since the 2nd gameweek of the season, long may it continue.

& we still have to play point-less Hoddesdon Town Reserves twice this season.

 

 

 

 

We have been trying to sign 3 players for a while now.
The problem we have is that players will ask for money (which we cannot offer), unless I promise them that they will be a star player for us - which I do not think will be the case for these guys. I might cave in eventually and sign them with that squad status and hope they don't get upset when they aren't playing as much as expected. We'll see.

 

 

Fixtures

We got back to winning ways with a great victory over high-flying Bacton, but then threw away a 2- and 1-goal lead in the next 2 games.
We need to improve the squad to make sure we can see out the full 90 minutes.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Dec 24

Transfers from L7 to Bush Hill Rangers

 

Two more defenders have made the switch.
Including Driscoll (YP1G) who came through the first youth intake we had at L7.

 

 

 

Main has been released by L7 and we are trying to secure him for Bush Hill but we are having the same problem: he wants to be a Star Player, or he wants to be paid.
We can't do the 2nd one and I am hesitant to sign many more star players. We have 4 already:

 

 

Main remains a free agent for now, along with Swift (RB) and Walker (AML).

 

 

 

 

 

The board have agreed to max-out our Junior Coaching as well as improving our Youth Recruitment (not sure I've seen above average as a description before).
But the youth intake preview tells me we are getting more attacking right mids. We need more defensive players!

 

 

Transfers In

Jones will only be available for 2 months (before he turns 19), but in that time should provide decent cover.
The long-term aim will be to get him into the Bush Hill Rangers starting lineup.

 

 

 

Fixtures

Halfway through the season, we've surpassed the previous highest goal tally by 7.
We are on fire. Our players are way too good for this level. Will we keep them until their 19th birthday's or will they start to draw interest from bigger clubs?

 

 

 

 

 

Youth Intake Preview

Very, very happy about the wealth of defenders coming through the ranks.

 

 

Fixtures

We've been playing well most of the time, but we went 4-0 down to Stanton after 25 minutes which I think has ended any hope we had of nicking a promotion spot.
The aim now, with only 8 games to play, will be to make 3rd place our own.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

I've changed the way I'm nicknaming my youth prospects. Managing two clubs, I want to make sure I have a distinction between who came from where without having to check. So the new format will be ([2-letter club name]-[Year][Letter ranked by potential]. E.g:

Here we can see Wilkinson was 12th (L) in rank from the 2023 intake and Byrne was 1st (A) in rank from the 2024 intake.
L7- will be replaced with BH- for Bush Hill Rangers' future intakes.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Jan 25

 

Every time I get this message about a young player signing a new deal on their 17th birthday, all it makes me think of now is that this message means I have exactly 2 years until the player leaves the club.

 

 

Released Players (19yo's)

None of the released players this month have yet been picked up by Bush Hill Rangers.

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

We lost a game!
After being on a perfect run since the first day of the season, it is disappointing, but we got straight back to winning ways against Brimsdown in an all-Enfield derby so I'm not fussed about a little slip up.

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

A solid month! 
With 6 games to go, maybe a push for promotion is still on?

 

 

 

Other Enfield Clubs

Eventually, I think there will be a third club involved in this project.
I think it's too soon to know now, but my current favourite is Cockfosters - mostly due to the fact that their reserves squad also plays in a competitive division.

[Motlhen]

Feb 25

 

Released

Another one of the heroes of our first few seasons has left the club.

 

 

Fixtures

The goals are absolutely flooding in!
We haven't kept a clean sheet this month, conceding over a third of our total goals against.

 

 

 

 

 

Transfer In

Jones was signed by L7 as a backup with 2 months to go until his 19th birthday.
His destination was always intended to be Bush Hill Rangers and he will be a starting centre-back for the remainder of the season.

 

 

Fixtures

Our late push for promotion is over.
It was a 6-point game against Bacton and losing means we are 7 points off of 2nd, after having played a game more than the surrounding teams AND we've dropped to 4th.

 

 

Mathematically, there's still a chance.

[Motlhen]

 

CHAMPIONS

Halfway through March, with 6 games to go, we have claimed the title.
It's the first silverware we've won and despite the inevitability of the result from halfway through the season, it still feels good.

 

 

The board have celebrated by providing another facility improvement!

[Motlhen]

Youth Intake 2025

 

Only 9 players from the intake were from Enfield this time, which is less than we've had before.
Does improving the recruitment increase the range the scouts look for players?

 

Looking at the CA against our current team, we've seen another big jump in ability!

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Youth Intake 2025

 

11 players from Enfield, with some great names!

 

Comparing CA to the current squad, we can see that South, who is on loan from Enfield Town (via L7 FC) is still the highest rated player.
But we have 3 players who are defensive that are supposedly the next best!

 

 

Rhian Borrett is going to have a lot to do to prove his rating, but I'm very happy with Happe!

[Vakama2619]

I think I read through your first save with Enfield Boro around December, I really like the concept you're attempting here, will defo be following

[Motlhen]

5 hours ago, Vakama2619 said:

I think I read through your first save with Enfield Boro around December, I really like the concept you're attempting here, will defo be following

Awesome, thanks mate!

[Motlhen]

Mar 25

 

Staff In

We have signed Enfield Town's old Assistant Manager as our new coach.

 

 

We also made an offer to sign one of Bush Hill's new youth players.
The "purchase" would essentially be a loan until the players 17th birthday dependent on personal terms.

But unfortunately Happe wasn't willing to discuss terms with L7.

 

 

Fixtures

We haven't kept a clean sheet in 2 months now, but we're scoring plenty!
Our defence fragility could become problematic for next season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

Jones didn't have a bad debut!
We've played well but we're only fighting for 3rd place.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Apr 25

 

Fixtures

It's been a phenomenal season and we wrapped it up in style.
In a way I'm worried about our defensive work and disappointed at the 2 losses we had this season - but it's time to celebrate now & I'll try to sort out the issues for next season.

 

 

Released Players

Our defence will definitely be worse off without Williams.
Devitt is now also a free agent & Swift moved straight to Central Ajax, instead of Bush Hill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

A solid end to the season sees us nip back into 3rd.
Promotion has to be the aim for next season!

 

 

 

Transfers In

We've signed 3 ex-L7 players who will probably only be backups.

[Motlhen]

 

Squad

These are the players who featured this season who still remain at the club, sorted by the number of apps they made this campaign.

Quite a few players turned 19 (and were released) over the course of the season and we will lose a few more before another ball is kicked.
Most notably our defence is starting to look very thin with Watson about to depart and Williams already gone.

 

 

Records

Watson (apps) & Bullman (goals) have set the bar for what I think will be two tightly contested records (as no player will ever be at the club for more than 4 years).

 

 

Competitions

After an opening day loss, we didn't look back. One blip mid-season wasn't enough to allow any other team close.

 

 

Finances & Expectations

As an U18 team, I didn't think we would be competing in the cups, but a small part of me did hope that we would be.
Level 10 is where teams enter the FA Cup & Vase and we are only 'competing in one competition next season.'

That'll give us more of a focus on the league and gaining back-to-back promotions.

 

This decision will have big implications as we have not really had to worry about finances at all so far.

 

I'm hugely disappointed to not be offered a wage myself.

 

As well as potentially having wage expenditure increase, the most recent facility improvements have had a big impact on our financial forecast as we start to see a sharper decline month-on-month.

 

Youth Setup Expenditure:

 

 

Transfers Out

We've had our first player poached by a bigger club.
Devastatingly, it's a defender.

 

Totton have just been promoted into Level 6, so I understand his decision.

 

 

But I hope we are not about to see a mass exodus...

Edited September 4, 2023 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Squad

The squad got bigger and bigger as the season went on with the additions from L7 and eventually the youth intake.
Over the summer, I'll be looking to create a 1st team and a backup XI to keep the focus on, and then we'll consider what to do with the rest.

We have to be considered as favourites to go up as Champions next season after all the improvements made this season.

 

 

Records

 

 

Competitions

We touched top, but a dip in form early in the season let two clubs break away and we caught up to 3rd just when it mattered.

 

Finances & Expectations

Promotion is the expectation, but we've still got building a new stadium hanging over us in a financial sense - I am not sure how this will affect the club in the long run.

One thing I think that could change once the stadium is built is the regional league we end up in. 
For now, our stadium is in Ware which is why we are in the Suffolk & Ipswich League. If we were to move back to Enfield, I think that we'd be back in the same league that L7 (and the rest of the Enfield teams) have played in.

 

 

Transfers

3 more players have joined.
I'm going to work out where everyone fits in my plans going forward now...

 

 

[Motlhen]

Squads for Next Season
 

 

First XI

We have a wealth of talent, but only one decent centre-back.
This means that even our first XI has someone from the club's first youth intake who has previously only played 1 game for the club.

 

 

 

Second XI

We only have one other centre-back on our books and a very weak defensive backup overall. Every other position, I am happy.

Another thing to bare in mind is that Njoya's 19th birthday will make him ineligible to play for us on 16th Jan.
Shields-Charlton & Njoya only turn 19 in April, so will be ineligible for the final month of our season.

We are going to need to make defensive signings.

 

 

Backups

The idea here was to have one backup goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and attacker.
But we've had to stick a midfielder in as the defensive cover.

Top, third & fifth from our first intake have missed out on the squad as well as the more surprising exclusion of Nelson.
Stafford & Rogerson will both become ineligible this side of Xmas.
Nelson doesn't fit with how I want to play and hasn't impressed so has been omitted from the focus group.

 

 

 

 

 

First XI

The strikers are the only players not from the youth intake to claim a first team spot.
Marques was with us from the start at Bush Hill and got 31 goals+assists in 24 games last season and will start up front alongside the legendary Bullman.

 

 

Second XI

We have a mix of strengths through our second team.
Borrett is rated higher than I value him & Billington has never lived up to the level I would expect him to be at.

 

 

Third XI

These guys will mostly play in the U21 and U18 non-competitive games.
Barker was the first L7 player to make the transition to Bush Hill so it is surprising to see him so far down the pecking order, but is also testament to the improvements we've managed to make in a short space of time.

 

 

Backups

The guys that are highlighted are going to be released.
The rest are surplus to requirements, but I'm keeping them around for now to see how the squad develops up until the first games of the season.

 

Suraj is unlucky to be this far down, but I just don't think his attributes fit his position.
Plenty of clubs disagree with my valuation of him though, so I doubt he'll be around for much longer.

[Motlhen]

 

Our CB Problem

Our centre-backs are not up to the standard of the rest of the team (or league).
We actually only have 3:

 

To make improvements, or at least have more backups, we've been scouting for all U18 Enfield-born central defenders and this is who we've found:

 

Any attempt at signing Bush Hill players has fallen down at personal terms.

 

But as we are now a semi-pro club, any of the players who are interested in joining now want a wage.
I always want to be the highest paid person at the club (self-imposed rule) and the board offered me a non-contract (& won't give me a new one yet) so we are stuck to offering non-contracts which means it is looking very unlikely we will make a signing any time soon. I am however hoping that we will be able to find someone to come in on loan.

[Motlhen]

 

Great news!
I was wrong about about playing in one competition next season.

We'll be in the FA Vase - a chance for some prize money!

 

Another facility improvement is very welcome!

 

We're favourites, but I'm predicting some very high scoring games with our stacked attack and weak defence.

 

& we are reunited with rivals Welwyn. This time it's their U21s.

 

 

 

 

The board have kept up with the facility improvements.

 

We're favourites and should be coasting to promotion this season.

[Motlhen]

 

We've lost my favourite player from our the 2024 intake.

38 goals in 36 appearances, Eliot leaves with the highest Average Rating of any player at the club.

 

 

We tried to re-sign Makaay on loan, but he had no intention of coming back sadly.

 

 

 

Where L7 have lost out, Bush Hill have benefited.

 

 

Although we didn't get both of the centre-backs we wanted to.

[Motlhen]

Aug 25

 

Cup Draw

£900 prize money up for grabs, but it's a tough draw against tier 9 Stanway Pegasus.

 

 

Fixtures

We had a near-perfect pre-season and continued our form into the league.
Disaster in the cup though. Burke got sent off in the 21st minute, they converted the resulting penalty and we couldn't get back into the game from then on.

 

 

 

 

We have longer to wait for the season to kick off in tier 12.
Our pre-season results have been all over the place.

[Motlhen]

Sep 25

 

After the loss in the cup, we had a repeat.
We gave away an early penalty, but this time even with 11 men still on the pitch we couldn't find a way back into the game.

We've been great since, but we're already seeing a 2-horse race for the title developing and we play Sporting Hackney next. Huge game!

 

 

 

 

A very solid start.
Marques has been key!

 

 

Don't ask for what you don't really want.

The board have agreed to push our training facility's to the next level, but it's cost us 90% of the club's overall balance to do it!

[Motlhen]

Oct 25

 

Injury

We've lost Adams for the rest of the season. He'd been in and around the first team so will be missed.
An injury for one season is a quarter of the time we're able to keep a player. He'll be 18 by the time he plays again and will become ineligible to play on his 19th birthday in April next year, so he has less than a full season left with us now.

 

 

Transfer Out

Wright is another huge loss.
He provides goals and assists consistently and is going to be hard to replace.

 

 

Released Player

Stafford turned 19 this month.

 

 

Fixtures

After 44 games without a draw, we were matched by joint-top Sporting Hackney.
They dropped points later in the month and our month included a good win against our rivals Welwyn to push us into pole position with a 3-point gap.

 

 

 

 

 

Transfers In

The floodgates opened this month. A lot of players who we couldn't agree terms with previously must have seen our form and want to be part of the squad now!
No one is jumping straight into the first team, but they are stronger backups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

We're storming ahead!

[Motlhen]

Nov 25

 

Loan In

Shane Spain came through the youth intake at Bush Hill Rangers and has played well so far in the 12th tier.
He's been brought in just after his 17th birthday to play at centre-back for L7 who are lacking in quality in this position.

 

 

 

Transfers Out

We've lost Goodacre who was featuring from the bench still the season, as well as our 3rd choice keeper.

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

We dropped points twice this month and allowed Sporting Hackney to get back on level terms.

 

 

 

 

 

Loan In

After departing L7 to Rugby Town, Goodacre has come back on loan but to Bush Hill Rangers.

 

 

 

Fixtures

We weakened our defence by sending Spain on loan to L7 and immediately saw the difference.
We're still top, but not by much. There's 3 teams broken away from the rest of the pack and we can't fall outside of the top 2.

[Motlhen]

Dec 25

 

Transfer Out

After losing our 3rd choice keeper last month, we've lost our 2nd choice this month.
Having one keeper at the club is not ideal. I really need to sort out a new contract with the club so that I can start offering contracts out myself again.

 

 

 

Released Player

Our top-rated player from our first intake, Rogerson, departs the club having played in 3 different tiers.

 

 

 

Youth Intake Preview

Great to see 2 defenders.
But more strikers AND wingers!?

 

 

 

Fixtures

Another couple of games where we've dropped points as we are definitely off the boil.
We need to get back to dominating as Sporting Hackney have crept above us.

 

 

 

 

Youth Intake Preview

A lot of centre-backs and -mids. Happy with that!

 

 

Fixtures

We lost to Benhall in a drab game and then couldn't hang on against Somersham, conceding in the 89th minute to stay below them (despite a game in hand).

A familiar position in tier 12: we are too reliant on Bullman's goal. They've dried up recently and we've suffered.

[Motlhen]

Jan 26

 

Loans In

We've brought in 3 players to help in our push for promotion:

Happe joins from Bush Hill Rangers to join Spain at centre-back.

 

 

I'm delighted to get Eliot back to the club. Hopefully he can get back the same goal-scoring vein we saw from him before he left.

 

 

We've also loaned Mackaay back. He can play both right back & left back so will provide invaluable support in our shaky defence.

 

 

 

Released Player

Signing Spain & Happe at centre-back makes the release of Njoya easy.
He was only one of 3 centre-backs at the club at the start of the season, so to have not needed him that often is a blessing.

 

 

 

Fixtures

Eliot has got 4 goals in his first 3 games back!
We did lose to MK Irish before that - they've clawed their way up to add another horse to the title race.
The whole team looks a lot more assured with the signings we've made, hopefully we can start to push on towards winning the title now & stay ahead of the 2 clubs behind us.

 

 

 

 

Transfer In

 

 

Fixtures

We lost to Kesgrave to allow them to get closer to us and with 7 games to go, there are 4 teams pushing for the two promotion spots now.
It will be interesting to see if we can make it over the line after losing our 2 main centre-backs to L7.

[Motlhen]

Feb 26

 

 

 

Fixtures

Eliot got us back on track and we're now 7 wins on the bounce, but still only 3 points ahead of Sporting Hackney, who we play next.
& then shortly after we face off against rivals Welwyn. Two big games coming up!

 

 

 

 

Transfer In

He probably won't play, but backup defenders are rare.

 

 

Fixtures

Two wins from two, including an absolute epic against Wenhaston.

 

5 games to go and we're 5 points ahead of 3rd.

 

 

But we've lost one of our stars of this season & last.
Marques broke his leg and will be out for a year almost. He's going to be hard to replace.

[Motlhen]

 

We capitulated in our next game against Sporting Hackney & the GD-swing takes them above us.
To make matters even worse, we lost Eliot during the game and he could be out for a couple of games.

 

 

There's 8 games left to play!

[Motlhen]

 

Youth Intake Day

It couldn't have come at a better time as we were side-swiped by a couple of big Transfers Out

 

 

 

Here you can see we only kept the 9 players from Enfield.

 

 

We've agreed to sign each player on a youth contract apart from James Still who wants a part-time contract straight away - which we can't afford.
Hopefully further down the line he will agree to join but for now we cannot use him.

 

 

 

Whilst Hassan was rated the lowest from the intake, I actually prefer him to our current starting goalkeeper.

[Motlhen]

 

Youth Intake Day

Again, we can see that we only kept the 9 players from Enfield.

 

[Motlhen]

Mar 26

 

Fixtures

Sporting Hackney beat us at the start of the month and MK Irish at the end of the month.
Jordan scored a hattrick against Eaton Socon just before our other loss of the month against Risborough with a bunch of debutants from our youth intake.

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures

We are extremely reliant on Bullman and his legendary status across both clubs will be certain if we can maintain this run to finish as Champions.

[Motlhen]

Promotion Run-In

 

 

Sporting Hackney have to face 4th place Risborough, who just beat us.
If they don't drop points there, I don't see them dropping points in their final 3 games and even if they do, we have a tough away game against 5th to round off the season.

Could we be playoff bound?

 

 

 

 

We've got two tough away games and they stand in between promotion and another season in this tier.
I do feel slightly bad for Stowupland Falcons final 3 games.

[Motlhen]

 

We've just managed to stay top after going 2-0 down early on to 4th-place Stowupland in what feels like a massive moment!

[Motlhen]

 

& we are back in pole position with L7 too after winning our game and seeing Risborough force a stalemate with Sporting Hackney!

[Motlhen]

 

We immediately handed Sporting Hackney back the advantage by not being able to beat Buckingham.
The sending off didn't help (and won't help going forwards) but we had more than enough chances to win this game.

 

...and they took top spot back emphatically.

[Motlhen]

Before potentially throwing it away again!!!

 

We play our penultimate game tomorrow & MK Irish have dropped too many points to catch up now.

 

We need to win because of their superior goal difference.
It could all come down to the last day.

[Motlhen]

Our turn to unravel - neither club seems to want to win the title!?

 

Leaney got two yellows in 3 minutes and then 5 minutes later we gave away a penalty.

 

To mark a horrendous day out - we'll be without key man Eliot for the final game of the season too.

 

 

This is how the table stands with a game to go.

[Motlhen]

 

Things are a lot calmer at Bush Hill.

After Kesgrave dropped points, we managed to clinch not only promotion with a game to go, but we will go up as Champions!

[Motlhen]

 

We're playoff bound.
Sporting Hackney won their game and we didn't win ours. With the form we're in, I'm worried we might spurn the chance for promotion altogether.

 

 

Harpenden's win against us sealed their 5th place spot, so we're up against them again in the semi-final.

[Motlhen]

 

We got our revenge!!!

[Motlhen]

An emphatic way to clinch promotion.

 

 

Despite doing it the hard way, I'm happy.
Sporting Hackney pushed us all season and ultimately were the better team. We lost some key players throughout the season so it's got to be seen as a positive to still be taking the next step up to the 9th tier.

 

 

 

Spoiler

Edit: Ffs

This takes me back before the Harpenden game.. *sigh*

 

Edit2:

Fixed!

Edited September 15, 2023 by Motlhen