Slow yew down Bor! Taking Watton United from Level 12 to the Top!

[ToMexico!!]

Watton United FC

I've been enjoying reading the lower league file saves that have sprung up on the forum recently and whilst the theme seems to be Scottish I have chosen to start with my local team Watton United FC. I moved to the quiet Norfolk town in 2020 with my now-wife in the dark times of Covid-19. I've taken in a fair few Watton United first-team games in those few years along with my football-mad son. 

I wanted to start with another club close to my heart, the village I grew up in Watlington Sports & Social FC but they are a few divisions lower in the Anglian Combination pyramid in Division 4 which I don't see being available in a save file anytime too soon. 

Watton United FC start the save at Level 12 of the English football pyramid in the Anglian Combination League Division One. The Anglian Combination League pyramid itself consists of 96 teams across seven leagues of which division five is split into two regional leagues. It operates in East Anglia with clubs based in Norfolk and northern Suffolk, all clubs in the division must be based within 50 miles of the centre of Norwich. 

Despite the badge saying established in 1893, Wikipedia suggests they were formed in 1888 meaning the club is between 130 and 135 years old. The club played in the local lower leagues from its inception until the Anglian Combination was created in 1964, Watton the league and cup in the 1966-67 season for the first time. they retained the league title a season later but were relegated in 1975. In 1985-86 they won the Premier Division again and were promoted into the Eastern Counties League, finishing 8th and winning the Norfolk Senior Cup against Poringland. 

More recently the club found themselves in financial difficulties and had to withdraw the first team from the First Division and take over from the reserves in Division Five. Subsequent promotions in the years between have seen the club rise back up to the First Division having won the Division Two in 2022/23. 

Watton's FA Cup record above

The club play their home games at Watton Sports Field, a multi-purpose facility where Football, Cricket, Hockey, Squash and Bowls can be played. The game has it listed as having a 600 capacity.

 

 

As you can imagine, the club is amateur and possesses Poor training and youth facilities along with basic academy coaching and limited youth recruitment. We have no money in the bank, which may be a save file thing rather than the game giving us nothing to start with. Ticket prices are £2 per game and £10 for a season ticket, of which we have one season ticket holder. 

We're predicted to finish mid-tabled in 8th place and that's where the board also aligned their ambitions for the season. 

We have a full squad of players of which there are a couple of standout players; 

• Tom Dyer, CB - Aggressive, brave and determined. Can tackle to a degree with good positioning. 
• Abdulrahman Mohamed, LB/RB - 16-year-old left or right back, can tackle, mark and cross. Good enough for me. 
• Marc Jepson, ST - Brave, good work rate and importantly quick, will score goals. 

As an amateur club, we can lose any player at any time but we can also do the same to other clubs. We'll try and build a team competent enough to compete in the division. 

Up the Brecklanders!

Edited December 12, 2023 by ToMexico!!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I am so used to you doing certain saves that it feels weird you doing a non-league save but weird in a good way. 

Are you going to be signing any African players if possible?

 

[ToMexico!!]

6 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I am so used to you doing certain saves that it feels weird you doing a non-league save but weird in a good way. 

Are you going to be signing any African players if possible?

 

I've done a few non-league saves in the past, Downham Town (where I used to live), Bury Town and AC London to name a few. 

There are no plans to sign particular nationality players, just play the game naturally and rise up the pyramid with my local team. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

3 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

I've done a few non-league saves in the past, Downham Town (where I used to live), Bury Town and AC London to name a few. 

There are no plans to sign particular nationality players, just play the game naturally and rise up the pyramid with my local team. 

Oh ok I am just used to your exploits in exotic countries. 

I look forward to seeing how far you can take them.

 

[phnompenhandy]

Good luck with this. When I'm not doing lower league Scottish saves, I'm in England. I did one with my childhood village in Level 12 and later my college where I did my Masters;, in Level 11 I think, so I do love a proper lower league English adventure!

[ToMexico!!]

Pre-Season - 2023/24

A busy pre-season in which we won every game. 

As an amateur club, we tried to sign pretty much anyone we could. We ended up bringing in the 12 players above before the season started. I won't go through them as many of them won't be here long due to the lack of contracts. We'll highlight a player in the squad each month instead. We signed players who were previously at league clubs like Blennerhassett at MK Dons, Kane at Colchester and Danso at QPR.

[ToMexico!!]

September 2023

Six games in the league this month with five wins, dropping points only once at Castle Acre. We advanced in the Mummery Cup with a big win over Kirkley & Pakefield Reserves. 

2nd behind Fakenham Town Reserves. 

The first player we look at is Ferrell Danso, the teenage striker who dropped down the leagues after being released by QPR. An athletic player with good finishing and composure, we'll try and get as many goals out of him before he inevitably leaves for a higher league team. 10 goals this month including a hattrick in the cup. 

[ToMexico!!]

October 2023

A quieter month but a successful one all the same, all home games too which helped. Three good wins in the league including a 6-1 win over Loddon. Another 6-1 win in the Mummery Cup this time over Beccles Town from the division above. 

Top by two points after nine games. A huge goal difference already too. 

The second player we're going to look at is Tommy Blennerhassett, the striker partner to Danso and also younger than him at 18 years of age. The youngster was released by MK Dons in the summer and was one of the first players to join the club. He's played second fiddle to Danso but just as important, he's scored seven goals but also made eight assists. 

[Vakama2619]

Haven't seen many lower league saves in England for a while, definitely following, love reading your saves.

[ToMexico!!]

5 minutes ago, Vakama2619 said:

Haven't seen many lower league saves in England for a while, definitely following, love reading your saves.

Thanks, Vakama, early days but enjoying the save so far. 

[ToMexico!!]

November 2023

A month of league games and its five wins from five games. We end the month by hammering Bradenham & Mattishall 8-1. 

Still unbeaten and 10 points clear of Fakenham Reserves at just over the halfway point of the season. 

Albie Keith is the player we're looking at this month, the former Hashtag United player has scored nine goals and made three assists from the left midfield position as a defensive winger. 

[ToMexico!!]

December 2023

[ToMexico!!]

December 2023

We end 2023 in decent form. We beat Easton 6-1 in the Mummery Cup to advance to the semi-finals, and we face Loddon in March. A close game with Castle Acre Swifts but we luckily came out on top but we dropped points at Thetford Rovers. We win another match 8-1 as we smash Caister with Danso netting five, a new league and club record. 

14 points clear with nine games remaining. +50 GD already is very good. 

This month we'll take a quick look at Cameron Dear, the 26-year-old can play all down the right flank. Originally he was at Boston United but left and bounced around some Northern Counties and Premier sides. Since joining he's scored nine goals and made 13 assists as a defensive winger on the right-hand side. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2024

Just three games this month and three more wins. The win over Norwich Utd U21s confirmed promotion to the Anglian Combination Premier Division. 

17 points clear of Bungay. 

Robert Adams is this month's highlighted player, the young midfielder has been in good form in central midfield. The former Billericay player has scored seven goals and made nine assists. 

[ToMexico!!]

February 2023

Just two games this month as we dropped points against Loddon. The 4-0 win over 2nd placed Bungay confirmed the title. 

18 points clear with four games remaining. 

Pier Gyamfi is highlighted this month, the left-back has been in good form with 11 assists to his name. He was formerly at Notts County. 

 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2024

Michael Shaw | Jaroslaw Droszczak

Spoiler

[ToMexico!!]

March 2024

We reached the final of the Mummery Cup having beaten Loddon 4-0. We beat Fakenham Reserves before Brandon Town dealt us our first defeat of the save. 

15 points clear as Bungay confirmed as another promoted side. 

We beginning to lose some players, centre-back Namory Kane has joined Loughborough Dynamo on £110 p/w. Whilst Rossington Main has just offered Chakawa a contract and both strikers are now wanted by Corinthian. 

Edited December 12, 2023 by ToMexico!!

[ToMexico!!]

April 2024

The league season is over, the last few months have been a slog between games. Mikey Harker scored twice on debut to help defeat Holt Utd as Danso was out injured. 

We finish 19 points clear of Bungay who are joined by Fakenham Town reserves in promotion joy. 

[ToMexico!!]

2023/24 Season Review

There was one more game to be played in May, the Mummery Cup final. Before the final we'd lost both centre-backs, Kane going to Loughborough Dynamo and Chamberlin-Gayle joining Rugby, so we're having to play two youth centre-backs there. 

A comfortable 4-1 win at the Watton Sports Centre gives us our first domestic cup win of the save. Danso was welcomed back to the first team after a short period on the sidelines but it was Blennerhassett who stole the show by scoring a hat-trick. 

With the comfortable league win, we gained promotion to the 11th tier. We lost just once in the league this season which was to Thetford Rovers. We scored 102 goals in our 26 league games and conceded just 29 goals. 

Top Scorer - Ferrell Danso (42) - an outstanding goal-scoring contribution from Ferrell, 35 of those goals came in the league. Unfortunately, he wants £275 appearance fee to sign a new contract. 

Most Assists - Cameron Dear (19) - Cameron was one of five players to achieve double figures for assists. He also scored 13 goals this season. 

Average Rating - Ferrell Danso (8.35) - Danso also contributed 13 assists and was named player of the match on 10 occasions. 

We're in the red but it's to be expected, we've turned semi-professional so we can now offer non-contracts to players and have been given a budget of £767 p/w to spend on wages. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2024

Nine season ticket holders paying nothing 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2024

We've gone into the wrong league. 

Bungay who are in Suffolk go into the correct league (Anglian Combination Premier) and Fakenham Reserves go into the Cambridgeshire County League. 

I'm going to continue in the meantime but this could break the save. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2024

We started the season on the last day of August against Halesworth, a good test to see where we are as a newly promoted club. A comfortable 2-0 win which gave us confidence into September. A good month overall, with three wins, albeit three goal-fests with no clean sheets. Sold 4-1 and 4-2 wins at home and ding-dong battle at Stowupland. 

Four wins from four, the only unbeaten side left in the league. 

We signed a few players in July and August to plump the squad out but we also lost some players to higher league teams which was to be expected. 

Our first signing of the summer is our highlighted player for the month. Dion Ragan was deemed not good enough to extend his short stay at Hull having come through their academy last season, the 16-year-old striker has scored five goals in four games including a hat-trick against Wickham Market but was sent off against Debenham in the last game of the month. 

[ToMexico!!]

October 2024

Another month of green. A comfortable 4-0 win over Old Newton and a 6-2 win over Leiston St. Margeret including a Danso hat-trick. A nervy 1-0 away win over Tattingstone in Ipswich, we dominated the game with 26 shots and created an xG of 3.61 but only scored once. 

Seven points clear after seven games with seven wins. 

[ToMexico!!]

November 2024

The first loss of the season which was to Haverhill Borough. We came back well against lowly Leiston U23s and scraped a 1-0 win over Haughley Utd. 

Three points clear to 2nd placed Haverhill. A small group of four are pulling away from 5th and 6th. 

[ToMexico!!]

December 2024

[ToMexico!!]

December 2024

A busier month which was nice. Five games and four wins. Ragan scored a hat-trick against Westerfield and goals in three of the other games. A few too many mince pies and pints over Christmas possibly saw us drop points against Copelstonians. 

We've extended our lead to six points over Haverhill. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2025

Another good month for Dion Ragan, the now 17-year-old scored another five goals this month. We also see our attendance creep over the 100 mark for the first time this season in two consecutive games no less. 

10 points clear now over Haverhill with a far superior goal difference. 

[ToMexico!!]

February 2025

A sea of green for the month. Dion Ragan netted another six goals this month which propelled us to the title. 

Seven games remaining and we're 24 points clear of Haverhill who we beat in the last game of the month to confirm the title. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2025

Jose Martinez | John Harvey

Lots of PA not much CA. Pretty poor personalities across the intake, loving the nationalities including a Mexican  and a half-Japanese player. 

Spoiler

[ToMexico!!]

March 2025

Despite the league win already I wanted to keep winning and scoring goals. Another Ragan goal-fest with five more goals in three games. 

30 points clear with four games remaining. 

[ToMexico!!]

April 2025

A really solid end to the season despite not needing to. Ragan scored in every game whilst Danso scored five goals this month. 

An easy league win in the end, 34 points clear of 2nd place. 

[ToMexico!!]

2024/25 Season Review

League - Suffolk & Ipswich League Senior Division - Winners 

Haverhill gave us a scare back in November when they beat us to close the gap down to three points but from that point beyond we didn't lose another game, we only dropped points in one other game all season. 97 goals scored in 30 games, we conceded a goal, and game 30 goals through the course of the season. 

No Cups this season which probably isn't correct but we'll persevere. 

Top Scorer - Dion Ragan (32) - thirty-two goals from just 26(1) games for the 17-year-old forward, he outscored his xG by 10 goals. Currently wanted by Hartpury Uni and Bilbrook. 

Most Assists - Cameron Dear (12) - a second consecutive season with the most assists but he made seven less than last season but we were in a tougher league. 

Ave Rating - Dion Ragan (7.95) - Ragan also assists seven goals and was named POTM on nine occasions.

A bit of a loss this season due to increased wage expenditure and no cup competition(s) to get prize money from. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2025

Lovely 100% increases to the ticket prices. We had 29 season ticket holders last season, hopefully that doubles again this season. 

We've already lost last season's top scorer, he joins the U18 side at Colchester on nearly £500 a week. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2025

We're back into the correct division-lineage, we face an old flame and my former place of residency Downham Town and we find MK Dons U20's in the same league now. 

Somehow we're predicted to finish in 3rd place, which would be a play-off place. 

[ToMexico!!]

August 2025

A forty-game season so plenty of games each month now. A tight opening game of the season but a win away over Framlingham. We continued to win for the remainder of the month to win all six games. 

Six from six and the only unbeaten team remaining. 

Zac Denman was the star of the month with nine goals in those six games. He was released by Notts County in the summer, pretty poor physically but has good technicals for this level. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2025

Only three games this month, we drop points for the first time this season having been 2-0 up at Sheringham only to draw 2-2. A week later we beat Diss comfortably 3-0. We're out of the FA Vase at the first time of asking, we lost 3-1 to Pagham which is down near Bognor Regis. 

We drop to second having played one game less than MK Dons U20s.

[ToMexico!!]

October 2025

We traveled to Boston and beat Wyberton thanks to two penalties from Denman. A first loss of the season away to Colchester-based Stanway but we improved a few days later to smash Haverhill and then beat Downham Town. We end the month with a 12-goal thriller against MK Dons U20s, with Danso and Denman both scoring hat-tricks. 

A game in hand on MK Dons U20s. 

[ToMexico!!]

November 2025

A huge month for us with seven games and seven wins. We scored four goals on four occasions, against Whitton, Swaffham, Cambridge Uni Press and Towcester. Fatigue was catching up with us towards the end of the month, only 2-1 wins over Leverington and Northampton Sileby. 

Eight points clear of MK Dons now even though they can't be promoted. 

[ToMexico!!]

December 2025

[ToMexico!!]

December 2025

This felt like a poor month, dropping points in two of the three games. We lost for a second time this season, this time at home to Framlingham. We needed a 92nd-minute winner to beat Parson Drove and then had to come from behind for a point against Norwich CBS. 

The lead has been cut to three points but as MK Dons can't be promoted we could say its 11 points. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2026

In a better month, we demolished Sudbury U21s before dropping points against Harleston. A good win at home over Sheringham was followed by a ding-dong battle away at Diss, we ran out as 5-3 winners in the end. 

The gap opens back up to six points. 

[ToMexico!!]

February 2026

The month was going pretty well until we faced Haverhill. A couple of really good attendances at home with wins over Wyberton and Stanway. 

The gap has gone due to MK Dons having played a game more than us. 13 points clear of 3rd. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2026

A good start to the month as we beat Downham on my in-game birthday, we then beat MK Dons only to unravel the hard work by losing to Whitton and then draw with Holbeach. 

Still a game in hand over MK Dons. We have four games remaining. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2026

A pretty poor intake, we're in no position to make improvements to the Junior Coaching or Youth Recruitment yet. Every player who has English as a first nationality was born in Watton whereas before it was more widespread. Abdoulaye Keita is the best player.

Spoiler

[ToMexico!!]

April 2026

A better month with promotion sealed after the win over Cambridge University Press and the title confirmed a week later with a win over Towcester. 

Up to level nine we go. 

[ToMexico!!]

2025/26 Season Review

Predicted around the top of the table, the board wanted a top-half finish. 

Eastern Counties League First Division North - Champions - 115 goals scored and 50 conceded. Most points, most wins, most goal records achieved. 

FA Vase - 2nd Qual Round - out in our first foray against Pagham. 

Top Scorer - Zac Denman (41) - fantastic goal return from the former Notts County man. 

Most Assists - Cameron Dear (16) - an improvement on last season's total, will need replacing though next season.

Average Rating - Ferrell Danso (7.49) - scored 28 goals and made six assists.

[ToMexico!!]

July 2026

We're back to where we were and we've made some different signings and managed to keep some players we lost before. 

The above signings have seen us jump from being predicted 6th by the media to 1st. 

We've been drawn against Brentwood in the Extra Preliminary Round for the FA Cup.
 

Edited December 19, 2023 by ToMexico!!

[ToMexico!!]

August 2026

A decent enough start to life in the Eastern Counties Premier Division. Just one loss from the six league games in July and August with a commanding 4-0 win over Cambridge City the result of the month. 

Three wins in the FA Cup, we started in the Extra Preliminary Round beating Brentwood convincingly at home with a record crowd and gate receipt to boot. We then traveled to Great Wakering to face White Ensign, a pretty comfortable 3-1 win saw us matched up against Bedford in the 1st Qualifying Round. Bedford are in the tier above us but at home, we had a chance. A late Blennerhassett equaliser was followed by an even later own goal from their young left-back to send the record crowd into raptures. 

We're second in the table but Hadleigh have a game in hand on us. 

 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2026

Just one league game this month as the remainder of the games were in the cups. We beat Thetford thanks to two Micah Khumba goals. We then traveled the 160 miles to Nottingham to face Basford Utd in the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round and we returned with the victory and a 3rd Qualifying Round tie against National League North side Chorley. Before that game, we faced Barrow Town who made the journey from the East Midlands, Dom Weston scoring twice to help earn a first FA Vase victory. We welcomed the mighty Chorley to the Watto Sports Centre as a capacity crowd witnessed a nine-goal thriller in which we came out on the wrong end a 6-3 loss, a valiant effort nevertheless. 

We drop down to 3rd having played one less than a few sides around us, Gorleston top the table at the moment. 

[ToMexico!!]

October 2026

Absolutely hammered by Mildenhall, a hangover from the defeat in the FA Cup perhaps. We got back on track with a win over Great Yarmouth before beating Wallingford & Crowmarsh in the Vase. 

4th after 10 games.