[FM24] Born & Bred: Rising from Tier 11 only signing players born from one city

[Motlhen]

Transfer In

We've had two left backs rotating in and out of the starting XI (Pirone & BH02o Matt Elliott), but neither have showed the quality we need, so to bring in Thompson who has bags of quality in comparison, he'll be going straight into the starting lineup (after the cup game, as he's cup tied).

[Motlhen]

Staff Out

We've lost our Assistant Manager / Scout Charles. He was on an amateur contract and so we lost him with no compensation. I'm having to take charge of the U18s games now and I am worried about the lack of other interested Enfield-born staff. Hopefully we can fill the Ass Man position soon!

[Motlhen]

Jan 2026

We've progressed again in the cup and had a great start to 2026 until drawing with Stotfold and then losing this time round to league-leaders MKDons U20s. 

[Motlhen]

Staff In

After losing Ass Man / Scout Charles, we needed to get a pair of staff members in to cover both roles. We've added £85pw to the wage budget for something Charles was doing for free (and was better at it!) but we need both of these roles filled to be successful as a club. We've welcomed Byles back to the club, he was touted as our best player in our first season, but never delivered. Hopefully he'll be better as a scout!

 

[Motlhen]

Feb 2026

A perfect month, including getting to the quarter finals of the FA Vase! We're looking likely for the playoffs, but the gap to Moulton is probably too big to consider automatic promotion.

[Motlhen]

Youth Intake 2026

2024 (12 of 16 from Enfield)
2025 (9 of 16 from Enfield)
2026 (8 of 16 from Enfield)

The top 3 players are from Enfield, as well as our first Enfield-born goalkeeper coming through the youth intakes in what is a phenomenal year. The number of players from Enfield is down to half, so we are releasing the other half immediately.

 

Once we had signed all of the Enfield-born players, this is how they stacked up (in terms of star rating) to our current squad. Tim Slade at GK is so important for us, as 6 of our 10 best players have just come through in this intake!

[Motlhen]

Goalkeeper Improvement

Tim Slade is BH03g (with 'g' meaning the 7th best to come through the latest youth intake). But his impact on the immediate squad is the most noticeable. We have struggled for GKs with only 3 at the club, with our first choice, Botawala only on loan for this season. The comparison between 16yo Slade and 19yo Botawala below gives you an idea on how much of an impact he could make - we need to make sure he is tied down to a long contract as soon as possible!

[Motlhen]

Top 3

The top 3 prospects are a very attacking left full back, a decent right winger and a centre-back with great heading. Each of these players will walk into the first team.

[Motlhen]

Others

The rest of the players from this year's intake will become squad players - fighting for a spot in the 2nd XI and to be considered for next season.

[Motlhen]

Mar 2026

We lost in the QF of the FA Vase against a team 2 tiers above us. The game was tight, but as we pushed for an equaliser to make it 3-3, they ran away with the game. We can hold our head up high after a more-than-decent cup run this season.

In the league we're storming into the last month of the season - I can only hope we keep this winning streak up and into the playoffs! It was a risk adding the players from the new intake into the squad during this winning run, but they're quality shows as they haven't missed a beat.

[Motlhen]

Mar 2026

We have managed to keep up the win-streak into the playoff where we'll be facing 6th place at home.

 

Playoffs

[Motlhen]

Playoff Semi-Final

We've scraped through. We went ahead twice and then in the 2nd half started coasting and got a rude wake up call in the form of a fantastic free-kick to level the game late on. Luckily we went straight to penalties as our team was tired and we didn't miss from the spot to set up a final against 4th place St Margeretsbury. We need to play a whole lot better than we did in the semi-final to deserve promotion!

[Jimbokav1971]

Only just started reading this so apologies if I me tonight something that you have covered since then. 

As a Barnet fan who's club used to have a historic rivalry with one of the Enfield Town clubs that no longer exists, (I think at least a couple are phoenix clubs), the number of players I see in the game, (irl), who are either born in Enfield or have played for 1 of the Enfield clubs kn the oast on their way up the pyramid, is enormous. They just keep appearing. 

Enfield is a Town rather than a City? Right? I suspect it was a typo. 

Be careful with what Facilities you upgrade. The problem with upgrades is that at some point you will stop getting players from Enfield and start getting players from further afield. While this is normally what we're looking for, this isn't something that would suit the specific nature of the challenge and I know that @Makoto Nakamuraand someone else, (sorry, mind gone blank and Im on my phone so cant check), encountered just such issues when they managesmd in Scotland quite recently. My advice is that reputation is good, and Youth Fcilities are good, and Junior Coaching and Training Facilities are also good upgrades, but that Youth Recruitment might be a double edged sword, (even quite early in the save). While of course it will improve the standard of the players coming through, it will also start searching for them further afield as it improves. Reputation might also play a part in this, but to a lesser degree.

Anyway, good luck with this. Sounds fun. 👍 

[Jimbokav1971]

Ps. Is Joe Kizzi on your list? Approaching the age where he might be willing to step down a few levels?

[Motlhen]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

As a Barnet fan who's club used to have a historic rivalry with one of the Enfield Town clubs that no longer exists, (I think at least a couple are phoenix clubs), the number of players I see in the game, (irl), who are either born in Enfield or have played for 1 of the Enfield clubs kn the oast on their way up the pyramid, is enormous. They just keep appearing. 

Enfield is a Town rather than a City? Right? I suspect it was a typo. 

Hey! First off, love your threads and appreciate your time reading and commenting on my thread

Enfield FC was formed in 1893 and has the historic rivalry with Barnet. Enfield Town FC were formed in 2001 as a fan-owned phoenix club as Enfield FC dissolved (before reforming some years later).

Enfield Town is part of the London Borough of Enfield which consists of other areas like Palmers Green, Winchmore Hill etc. According to FM though, Enfield is a city. And it's one of the most populous cities in the country! AND doesn't have a big team within the city (so my thinking is, less local competition for the best players the area produces.)

Largest Cities in England:

Edited August 16 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Be careful with what Facilities you upgrade. The problem with upgrades is that at some point you will stop getting players from Enfield and start getting players from further afield. While this is normally what we're looking for, this isn't something that would suit the specific nature of the challenge and I know that @Makoto Nakamuraand someone else, (sorry, mind gone blank and Im on my phone so cant check), encountered just such issues when they managesmd in Scotland quite recently. My advice is that reputation is good, and Youth Fcilities are good, and Junior Coaching and Training Facilities are also good upgrades, but that Youth Recruitment might be a double edged sword, (even quite early in the save). While of course it will improve the standard of the players coming through, it will also start searching for them further afield as it improves. Reputation might also play a part in this, but to a lesser degree.

Anyway, good luck with this. Sounds fun. 👍 

Brilliant insight, thank you! I had some plans to test exactly this, but now my test will be to reaffirm your (or makoto's) findings. More to come

 

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Ps. Is Joe Kizzi on your list? Approaching the age where he might be willing to step down a few levels?

Joe Kizzi is on our shortlist, but not interested in joining yet. Hopefully a promotion or two will help us attract some better players like him! Is he a favourite of yours?

[Jimbokav1971]

20 minutes ago, Motlhen said:

Joe Kizzi is on our shortlist, but not interested in joining yet. Hopefully a promotion or two will help us attract some better players like him! Is he a favourite of yours?

He's only just joined us this Summer so not a favourite. I just noticed his place of birth. 

Mo Faal was another who was certainly not a favourite, but I know he scored about a million goals for 1 of the Enfield clubs in a couple of different spells, (although born somewhere else I think). 

[Motlhen]

14 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

He's only just joined us this Summer so not a favourite. I just noticed his place of birth. 

Mo Faal was another who was certainly not a favourite, but I know he scored about a million goals for 1 of the Enfield clubs in a couple of different spells, (although born somewhere else I think). 

Kizzi is still at Sutton in this save, and despite his advancing years, still seems way too good to want to drop down to our level.

 

Faal had two incredible spells with Enfield Town, scoring 53 in 65 games in total. Interestingly though he started his career in Italy and was born in London (so wouldn't be eligible for us to sign).

[Motlhen]

Biggest clubs from each of the biggest cities in England:
(as of the start of the save 2023/24 season)

London (Population 5 - 10M)
Premier League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Fulham & Brentford

Birmingham (Population 1 - 2.5M)
Premier League: Aston Villa

Brighton (Population 250 - 500K)
Premier League: Brighton

Liverpool (Population 250 - 500K)
Premier League: Liverpool & Everton

Manchester (Population 250 - 500K)
Premier League: Manchester City & Manchester United

Newcastle (Population 250 - 500K)
Premier League: Newcastle

Sheffield (Population 250 - 500K)
Premier League: Sheffield United

Wolverhampton (Population 250 - 500K)
Premier League: Wolves

Bristol (Population 250 - 500K)
Championship: Bristol City

Coventry (Population 250 - 500K)
Championship: Coventry City

Hull (Population 250 - 500K)
Championship: Hull

Leeds (Population 250 - 500K)
Championship: Leeds

Leicester (Population 250 - 500K)
Championship: Leicester

Stoke-on-Trent (Population 250 - 500K)
Championship: Stoke

Bradford (Population 250 - 500K)
League Two: Bradford City

---

Bromley (Population 250 - 500K)
Vanarama National League: Bromley

Ealing (Population 250 - 500K)
(7th tier) Southern League Premier South: Hanwell

Enfield (Population 250 - 500K)
(7th tier) Isthmian League Premier Division: Enfield Town

Croydon (Population 250 - 500K)
(9th tier) Combined Counties League Premier South: AFC Croydon Athletic

Hillingdon (Population 250 - 500K)
(9th tier) Combined Counties League Premier North: Harefield & Broadfields Utd

Southwark (Population 250 - 500K)
(9th tier) Southern Counties East Premier Division: Fisher

 

The bottom 6 "cities" are all London Boroughs. Bromley are flying up in the 5th tier with Enfield and Ealing two tiers below and then Croydon, Hillingdon & Southwark 2 tiers below that. I started with Bush Hill Rangers another two tiers down (tier 11), have already been promoted once and am about to play the playoff final to potentially jump up to the same level as the final 3 in this list.

Over time it would be good to keep track of how the best teams from each of these cities is doing and try to catch up to them one at a time!

[Motlhen]

Promotion!

After a tetchy semi-final, we went into the final fired up and it was 4-0 by half time, which is how it stayed! We broke our gate receipt and attendance records and have seen a good chunk of the squad have their contracts extended because of our promotion. 

[Motlhen]

Season 3

We finished 3rd, got promoted and were the biggest overachievers in the cup. The 3 standouts in the squad were Farr, Hamilton & Clarke who also featured the most over the course of the season.

[Motlhen]

Bids In

We've started to receive a lot of offers for our players - all have been offers of zero, so all have been rejected!

 

 

Monetary Bid

We did also receive our first monetary bid too. Hamilton was our top scorer last season, but with 12 months on his contract and wanting over £100pw for a new contract, I accepted the offer to ensure we didn't lose him for nothing. But Sheringham only offered Hamilton the same wage he's on with us, so he has rejected the contract and stayed!  

 

 

Transfer Out

My favourite, and one of key players, Farr has decided to leave. He initially signed a youth contract with an amateur contract lined up from the day he turned 17. Once he turned 17 (two months ago), he was never interested in entering talks for a new contract and as soon as KLSC came in, I had a terrible feeling he would leave and he has. The only positive I see is that he has joined KLSC on an amateur contract, meaning at some point we may be able to entice him to come back to the club as he will be sorely missed in our midfield. 

[Motlhen]

Player Development

We've seen some of our players improve, but none more so than Jack Clarke. His mental attributes have been flying up and he is key to keep hold of over the next few years.

[Motlhen]

Attendances (2023 - 2026)

Our average attendance in the league dropped from last season and I am left guessing as to why? We're in a higher division so I assume it would go up. We're moving into a new stadium after this season coming so I hope that it'll increase at some point. In the cups we managed to go a lot further so our overall average attendance has increased year-by-year

Edited August 20 by Motlhen

[Muttley84]

7 hours ago, Motlhen said:

Our average attendance in the league dropped from last season

Statistically 81 to 77 is pretty much the same, so I don't think we can talk about a drop. 

I found in previous instances that in lower leagues the spectators are more related to the reputation of the oposition that to your own performances. So I would not be to worried about it (especially as the league attendaces this low cannot bring alot of money).

[Motlhen]

1 hour ago, Muttley84 said:

Statistically 81 to 77 is pretty much the same, so I don't think we can talk about a drop. 

I found in previous instances that in lower leagues the spectators are more related to the reputation of the oposition that to your own performances. So I would not be to worried about it (especially as the league attendaces this low cannot bring alot of money).

Your comment made me realise that I'd made a mistake! I was looking at overall attendance both home and away rather than looking at home games only (which would be affected less by the reputation of the opposition.) Thanks @Muttley84!

 

Home Attendances (2023 - 2026)

Our average home attendance has gone up slightly (or is pretty much the same) as last season. 

 

Income

I can't split the below by home or away, and these numbers include the cup games too, but our match day income & gate receipts are our 2nd and 3rd highest source of income. Without our sponsorship money we would be well into the negative and I am uncertain whether our big money deals will get renewed when they run out, which is why I am keeping a close eye on how much we can increase the number of fans coming to see us. Hopefully another promotion will have helped! Especially as we are more likely to be playing slightly higher reputation teams this season.

[Motlhen]

Youth Recruitment Reduction

Following @Jimbokav1971's advice, I'm going to start to reduce our youth recruitment. This should reduce the number of non-Enfield-born players coming through our intake. A full emphasis will be placed on maxing out our Junior Coaching and if we ever have enough money in the bank, we'll look to improve our Youth Facilities too.

 

 

At some point in this save, I'll be playing with more than one manager - as we will want to produce as many top Enfield-born prospects as possible - so it makes sense to be in charge of the clubs that produce these players. As I understand, there is a pool of players each year and they all get assigned to a club on the day of the youth intake preview (which players come to your club is determined by youth recruitment). These players then come through your youth intake with a certain CA (determined by the level of youth coaching). I'm looking to understand how we can do 2 things:

1. Increase the volume of players coming from Enfield
2. Increase the quality of players coming from Enfield

I am not sure that number one is possible (two clubs might fight for the same players from the same pool), but number two should be possible by increasing youth coaching (at as many Enfield-based clubs as possible).

[Motlhen]

Other Enfield Clubs 2025/26 Season

Tier 7

For a 2nd season in a row Enfield Town finished 17th, narrowly escaping relegation!

 

 

Tier 8

Enfield FC 12th

 

 

 

Tier 9

Hinton 1st Promoted
Hinton have been promoted as Champions for a THIRD season in a row. They are storming up the league and I wonder when they will hit a ceiling?!

 

 

Also Tier 9 (but a different league)

Cockfosters lost out in another playoff final. Last season they climbed up the table to finish 5th, this season they dropped out of the automatic promotion spots with 1 game to go and agonisingly fave another season in the 9th tier. Next year?

 

 

Tier 10

Bush Hill Rangers 3rd Promoted (via the playoffs)
Enfield Borough 15th

 

 

Tier 11

Brimsdown 11th
Cockfosters Reserves 10th

 

 

Overall since the start of the save we have seen one relegation (Brimsdown) and 5x promotions (3x Hinton, 2x Bush Hill Rangers) for Enfield-based clubs. 

Edited August 21 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Top 10 Most Valuable Players by Year

Key (per year)
Largest Value
Biggest Increase
Biggest Decrease
New Entry into top 10

Name	2023	2024	2025	2026^
Alfie Dorrington	£10,000,000	£13,500,000	£28,000,000	£40,000,000
Ethan Nwaneri	£35,000,000	£37,000,000	£39,000,000	£32,000,000
Hector Kyprianou	£1,800,000	£3,500,000	£5,000,000	£8,600,000
Josh Onomah	£0	£6,200,000	£9,200,000	£3,100,000
Ben Watt	£18,000	£425,000	£650,000	£650,000
James Wiles			£700,000	£450,000
Luca Gunter	£275,000	£240,000	£0	£425,000
Paul Appiah	£50,000	£0	£190,000	£375,000
Daniel Phillips	£300,000	£475,000	£240,000	£350,000
Rio Cardines	£475,000	£950,000	£850,000	£275,000
Tola Showunmi	£160,000	£180,000	£210,000	£210,000
Jeriel Dorsett	£500,000	£425,000	£275,000	£190,000
Josh Davison	£180,000	£140,000	£0	£60,000
Jake Livermore	£750,000	£0	£16,000	£0

 

Alfie Dorrington's value jumped up by £12M and he has become the most valuable Enfield-born player. Tottenham loaned his out to Celtic where he won a domestic treble and got all the way to the Champions League Quarter Finals before Celtic were knocked out by Liverpool. I didn't notice this last season, but he also won the U21 Euros which will have helped him on his way to his first full England cap this year. The future is bright for Dorrington!

 

 

Ethan Nwaneri's price tag dropped by £7M after he made one single appearance in the league for Arsenal for the fourth consecutive season. He has won a flurry of personal awards (U18 FA CUP Talent of the Season, UEFA Youth League Top Talent) and youth competitions (UEFA Youth League, FA Youth Cup), but really needs to be playing more first team football to not stifle his development.

 

 

Hector Kyprianou's valuation has been steadily increasing over the past 3 years. The 24 year old Cypriot has been playing well for Sunderland in the Championship as they missed out on promotion via the playoffs this season. He's come a long way from his National League days at Leyton Orient!

[Motlhen]

Top 10* Highest Paid Players by Year
*Not sure if I mentioned this before, but I am writing "Top 10" and then showing a list of 18 players which might be confusing without an explanation: If you were in the top 10 in any year you remain in the list. I.e. Obika was 5th in the top 10 highest paid players in 2023 but has since retired (hence the blanks). He remains in the list for comparison: 5th place in the list over the past four years has been paid £1,500, £3,500, £4,000 & now £4,200 p/w. 

Key (per year)
Largest Value
Biggest Increase
Biggest Decrease
New Entry into top 10

Name	2023	2024	2025	2026^
Alfie Dorrington	£1,000	£8,500	£20,500	£52,000
Josh Onomah	£0	£23,500	£29,500	£29,500
Ethan Nwaneri	£220	£1,000	£18,250	£20,000
Hector Kyprianou	£3,500	£8,250	£16,750	£16,750
Rio Cardines	£220	£3,900	£4,000	£4,200
Paul Appiah	£750	£0	£300	£2,000
Jack Roles	£1,200	£850	£850	£1,800
Daniel Phillips	£1,000	£1,600	£1,200	£1,700
Joe Kizzi	£1,000	£775	£775	£1,600
Luca Gunter	£3,500	£3,500	£0	£1,500
Jake Livermore	£15,000	£0	£1,300	£1,300
Dillon Barnes	£0	£1,600	£0	£1,300
Tola Showunmi	£450	£1,200	£1,200	£1,200
Josh Davison	£1,800	£2,200	£0	£975
Jeriel Dorsett	£1,200	£775	£775	£950
Deniz Mehmet	£950	£950	£950	£0
Kevin Stewart	£0	£2,100
Jonathan Obika	£1,500

 

Dorrington's valuation will have been helped out massively by a new contract over-doubling his previous wage.

2nd place is Josh Onomah who has gone from yo-yo-ing between the Championship and the Premier League, to yo-yo-ing between League One (where he played last season and the 2nd half of this season) and the Championship (where he played two seasons ago and the first half of this season).

Edited August 21 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Monetary Transfers

Daniel Phillips came runner up in the Scottish Cup in the same season he was relegated with St Johnstone. Hearts paid £160k for him to return to the Scottish Premier League where he helped Hearts to a strong 5th place finish and ended up in their Season XI despite a poor average rating of 6.58.

 

 

Jack Roles was bought for £94k (rising to £110k) by TNS and won a domestic treble with them in his first season (if you count the SPFL Trophy as a domestic competition?) He was also shortlisted for player of the season and is another Cypriot international from Enfield to keep an eye on.

 

 

 

Name	Year	From		To	Fee
Ryan Mason	2016	Tottenham Hotspur	→	Hull	£12,500,000
Jake Livermore	2017	Hull	→	West Brom	£10,000,000
Jake Livermore	2014	Tottenham Hotspur	→	Hull	£7,000,000
Josh Onomah	2019	Tottenham Hotspur	→	Fulham	£5,000,000
Michael Duberry	1999	Chelsea	→	Leeds	£4,500,000
Henri Lansbury	2017	Nottingham Forest	→	Aston Villa	£3,500,000
Steve Morison	2011	Milwall	→	Norwich	£2,800,000
Hector Kyprianou	2023	Peterborough Utd	→	Sunderland	£1,500,000
Mikele Leigertwood	2011	QPR	→	Reading	£1,100,000
Henri Lansbury	2012	West Ham	→	Nottingham Forest	£1,000,000
Jay Simpson	2010	Arsenal	→	Hull	£1,000,000
Steve Sedgley	1994	Tottenham Hotspur	→	Ipswich	£1,000,000
Mikele Leigertwood	2007	Sheffield United	→	QPR	£900,000
Michael Duberry	2007	Stoke	→	Reading	£800,000
Steve Sedgley	1989	Coventry	→	Tottenham Hotspur	£750,000
Mikele Leigertwood	2006	Crystal Palace	→	Sheffield United	£600,000
Neil Etheridge	2020	Cardiff	→	Birmingham	£600,000
Steve Sedgley	1997	Ipswich	→	Wolves	£500,000
Hector Kyprianou	2022	Leyton Orient	→	Peterborough Utd	£450,000
Daniel Phillips	2026	St Johnstone	→	Hearts	£160,000
Mikele Leigertwood	2004	Wimbledon	→	Crystal Palace	£155,000
Neil Kilkenny	2008	Birmingham	→	Leeds	£150,000
Steve Morison	2015	Leeds	→	Milwall	£150,000
Ben Watt	2025	Waterford	→	Sligo Rovers	£145,000
Greg Heald	1997	Peterborough	→	Barnet	£135,000
Keith Bertschin	1977	Ipswich	→	Birmingham	£135,000
Steve Morison	2009	Stevenage	→	Milwall	£130,000
Alan Connell	2011	Grimsby	→	Swindon	£115,000
Jack Roles	2026	Crawley	→	TNS	£94,000
Josh Davison	2022	Charlton	→	AFC Wimbledon	£75,000
Martin Grainger	1993	Colchester United	→	Brentord	£60,000
Roger Gibbins	1978	Norwich	→	New England Tea Men	£60,000
Steve Phillips	1980	Brentford	→	Northampton	£40,000
Greg Heald	1994	Enfield	→	Peterborough	£35,000
Glen Southam	2004	Bishops Stortford	→	Dagenham & Redbridge	£20,000
Jack Roles	2023	Woking	→	Crawley	£20,000
Scott Neilson	2008	Ware	→	Cambridge	£20,000
Scott Neilson	2010	Bradford City	→	Crawley Town	£15,000
Jack Chisholm	1949	Sheffield United	→	Plymouth	£12,000
Roger Gibbins	1989	Torquay	→	Newport County	£10,000
Greg Heald	2003	Barnet	→	Leyton Orient	£9,000
Alan Connell	2005	Bournemouth	→	Torquay	£5,000
Nathaniel Knight-Percival	2010	Histon	→	Wrexham	£5,000
Steve Phillips	1977	Northampton	→	Brentford	£5,000
Gary Bennett	2000	Sudbury	→	Chelmsford City	£3,000

Edited August 21 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Internationals

Both Daniel Phillips & Jeriel Dorsett got 10 caps each, with a strong group of 5 players pushing into their number of caps up. Phillips could yet catch Boucaud for 2nd place on the all-time list! 
Alfie Dorrington broke into the England setup featuring twice for the first team as well as 6 times for the youth squad alongside Nwaneri who managed to get his first 2 youth caps. Reiss Greenidge also got his first international goal.

Name	Nation	Years	Total Caps	Caps in 2025/26	Total Goals	Goals in 2025/26	Youth Caps	Youth Caps in 2025/26	Youth Goals	Youth Goals in 2025/26
Roy Chipolina	GIB	2013 - 2024	73		5
Andre Boucaud	TRI	2004 - 2021	48		2
Daniel Phillips	TRI	2021 - Present	36	+10	5	+3
Jazzi Barnum-Bobb	VIN	2022 - Present	32	+9	2	+1
Jeriel Dorsett	MSR	2023 - Present	27	+10
Hector Kyprianou	CYP	2023 - Present	24	+8			3		1
Reece Beckles-Richards	ATG	2015 - Present	23	+6	4	+1
Corrin Brooks-Meade	MSR	2015 - 2023	21
Steve Morison	WAL	2010 - 2012	20		1
Reiss Greenidge	GUY	2021 - Present	15	+5	1	+1
Neil Kilkenny	AUS	2006 - 2012	15				10
Mikele Leigertwood	ATG	2008 - 2012	11		1
Jake Livermore	ENG	2012 - 2017	7
Dean Morgan	MSR	2014 - 2024	6
Kevin Stewart	JAM	2022 - 2024	4
Alfie Dorrington	ENG	2023 - Present	2	+2			13	+6
Scott Sutter	SWI	2012	2				2
Elliott Charles	GRE	2011	2
Joe O'Cearuill	ROI	2007	2
Nathan Smith	JAM	2011 - 2012	2
Jack Roles	CYP	2018 - Present	1				6		1
Dillon Barnes	JAM	2021 - Present	1
Ryan Mason	ENG	2015	1
Henri Lansbury	ENG	2009 - 2013					16		5
Keith Bertschin	ENG	1975 - 1978					13		7
Steve Sedgley	ENG	1987 - 1989					11		2
Josh Onomah	ENG	2016 - 2018					8		2
Michael Duberry	ENG	1996 - 1997					5		1
Cian Hughton	IRE	2009 - 2010					5
Danny Hill	ENG	1995					4
Harry Kyprianou	CYP	2018					4
Sean Shields	NIR	2013					2
Ethan Nwaneri	ENG	2025 - Present					2	+2
Total			375	+42	21	+6	104	+8	19	0

 

 

 

Year-by-Year Progress

Overall the number of caps has dropped year-on-year. Chipolina's retirement could solely be to blame for that - but I'm hoping the number pick up over the next few seasons.

Year	Total Caps	Total Goals	Youth Caps	Youth Goals
2024	+54	+1	+1	0
2025	+53	+5	+6	0
2026	+42	+6	+8	0
Total	149	12	15	0

[Motlhen]

Top 10 Highest Paid Staff by Year

Ryan Mason (previously 1st) has left his position as coach at Tottenham leaving his ex-colleague Matt Wells (also a coach at Spurs) top of the list. Bournemouth's U21 Manager and Physio take up 2nd and 3rd spot respectively, whilst Cheye Jude is a regen loan manager at Sunderland. 

Key (per year)
Largest Value
Biggest Increase
Biggest Decrease
New Entry into top 10

Name	2023	2024	2025	2026
Matt Wells	£8,000	£8,000	£8,000	£8,000
Alan Connell	£3,000	£3,000	£3,000	£3,000
Stuart Douglas	£2,000	£2,000	£2,000	£2,000
Cheye Jude	£0	£0	£0	£1,800
Danny Talbot	£1,500	£1,500	£1,700	£1,200
Gary Sawyer	£300	£425	£875	£1,000
Mikele Leigertwood	£800	£825	£825	£925
Piero Mingoia	£600	£650	£700	£775
Jonathan Obika		£600	£600	£625
Henri Lansbury	£0	£425	£425	£425
Hakan Hayrettin	£500	£190	£190	£190
Ryan Mason	£12,000	£12,000	£12,000	£0
Mehmet Ali	£2,000	£4,600	£4,600	£0
Steve Morison	£3,000	£900	£0	£0

[Motlhen]

International Manager

Mikele Leigertwood finished 2nd in the 2nd Round of World Cup Qualifiers, but finished 3rd in the 3rd round in a tough group. This year he has a good chance of success in the Nations League with a relatively easy group. (All whilst balancing his national responsibilities with being Reading's U18 Manager).

...

[De Nile]

I'm going to wait to see if FM25 is alright then I'll try out Enfield Town, I read they got promoted to the Southern Conference for the 24/25 season. 

[Motlhen]

29 minutes ago, De Nile said:

I'm going to wait to see if FM25 is alright then I'll try out Enfield Town, I read they got promoted to the Southern Conference for the 24/25 season. 

You're right! They lost on opening day to Torquay (crazy to think those two teams are playing at the same level now). They got their first win in tier 6 against Weston Super Mare but yesterday they got sent for 6 by Slough Town so it looks like it could be a big challenge for FM25.

[Motlhen]

Club Managers

Mehmet Ali finished 6th in League One in his first season as Leyton Orient manager but with the club lingering close to relegation midway through his 2nd season, he lost his job due to poor performance in the league.

Danny Chapman has been in charge of Harlow Town for over 5000 days (14+ years) now and he has just managed back-to-back promotions taking the club from tier 10 to tier 8 so I think the only risk of him leaving is him being poached by a bigger club.

 

My old Assistant Manager Lew can't keep a job! He's had 3 managerial roles at 3 different clubs getting sacked twice by Minehead & Tisbury Utd and most recently relegated with Welling Park who have kept him as manager for the upcoming season, but I suspect he might not last long again.

 

John Ross could actually be worse than Lew. He's lost 4 jobs in 3 seasons and hasn't last longer than a year in any of them!

 

 

Seanan Wisner has done well at Bedford Albion achieving a promotion and two more promotion pushes, falling just short the past two season of going up into Tier 10.

 

Alex Pratley was poached from his job at Feckenham by UoB and achieved a reasonable mid-table finish.

 

Remi Hoey & Tambeson Saka are two regen managers from Enfield plying there trade in the 10th tier.

[Motlhen]

Interview Offers

Over the past 3 seasons I've had 14 interview offers, surprisingly as high as the 5th tier. The only jobs I'm interested in are Enfield clubs, so there's been no problem declining these.

Date	Club	Tier
2024-06-06	New Milton Town	11
2024-07-01	AFC Uckfield Town	10
2024-07-01	Long Melford	9
2024-09-18	Charnock Richard	9
2024-10-13	Racing Club Warwick	8
2024-10-14	Fleet Town	9
2024-10-30	1874 Northwich	8
2024-12-08	Cinderford Town	9
2025-10-20	Biggleswade Town	7
2025-10-23	Ashton United	7
2025-10-27	Concord Rangers	7
2025-12-04	Ebbsfleet United	6
2026-03-12	Maidenhead United	5
2026-07-02	Kidderminster Harriers	6

[Motlhen]

Transfer In

The only signing we made over the summer was a backup right back. There's a big gap between the players coming through the youth intake and those we can attract in the transfer market so I've stuck with the squad that got us promoted plus the brilliant new intake and I am hoping that it is enough to compete again this season.

 

 

Transfers Out

The departure of Gary Farr is still hurting. We lost another couple of potential squad players too. Medine is more of a loss than Dadson.

 

[Motlhen]

Season 4 Preview

We're playing in the 9th tier for the first time which means we are also playing in the FA Cup too! We have been drawn away against Berkhamsted in one of 3 cups we'll feature in this season. Despite the lack of transfers, we're predicted off of the bottom of the table, but as usual, my expectations are higher than where we are predicted to finish.

[Motlhen]

Jul & Aug 2026

We drew our opening 3 games, it was a massive shame to go out of the FA Cup on penalties but we couldn't hold on to our lead in both the away and home fixture, the latter of which we broke our gate reciept record for. It's been a tough start to life in the 9th tier, 2 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses. 

 

 

---

 

 

Something a little concerning is that the fans kicked up a fuss about us not achieving a top half finish. We were only 3 games into the season at the time AND we were in the top half of the table!? Hopefully this doesn't have any adverse affects on the game!

\

[Motlhen]

Transfer In

We've managed to re-sign Fordjour who was our main GK for the first 2 seasons. He is much better than any of our other backups and it's great to have him back after he never really made it after his move to Chard Town.

 

 

 

Wages

Our wage expenditure has been creeping up and up since we turned semi-pro despite me limiting contracts for players to a maximum of £25p/w. We're close to £700p/w overall now and some of the players I signed to paid contracts are not featuring for the first team so it makes sense to try to loan these players out to reduce our wage bill as much as we can. 

[Motlhen]

Sep 2026

Our rough start to the season continues as we're out of 2 of the 3 cups and only have one win in the league. I've been tinkering with the tactics trying to get something to work and the only win this month came in a game where we went down to 9 men and managed to hold on with this formation below. 

 

 

We've loaned out a few players as I am trying to get our finances back to 'Okay' rather then 'Insecure'. We have the lowest annual salary in the league, so maybe it's unsurprising that we're struggling?

[Motlhen]

Oct & Nov 2026

We only had 2 games each month and managed to get another win in the league and we're into the QF of the league's cup too, but we're not in any rhythm right now. December is packed with 9 games and will be pivotal to our season as we are battling to stay away from what I am thankful is only one relegation spot.

[Motlhen]

Youth Intake Preview

We are getting a lot of defenders this season, but my priority is a decent striker as it is looking ever-likely that will be losing Hamilton at the end of the season (because he wants £100pw and I'm not willing to budge over our £25pw self-imposed limit) as well as Monks (our backup striker who barely features, even from the bench) who is retiring. 

[Motlhen]

Re-Signing Ruben

Ruben Medine played 27 times for us on an amateur contract before being lured away by North Warnborough. He's back with us for the rest of the season on loan and we've managed to get him without having to pay his wages.

[Motlhen]

Dec 2026

Tinkering with the tactics seemed to pay off in the middle of the month as we strung a couple of good results together, but we've had way too many red cards this season which have badly affected our chances of climbing away from the bottom of the table. In 21 games we've had 5 red cards and 43 yellows!

[Motlhen]

Jan 2027

Things have not been going well at all and a few more losses led to the board threatening my position at the club. Looking at our results, we failed to score in 4 games this month, but have also only conceded 4 goals in 6 games. Our main striker Hamilton has gone off form, been complaining about the position in the league and our backup striker Monks announced his retirement at the end of the season, but then abruptly left the club. We need to get our scoring boots back on to save my job!

[Motlhen]

Promises

Looking at the promises section after my chat with the board, it seems I have agreed to less responsibilities (twice?). I've checked a few areas like Staff Responsibilities but I can't seem to figure out what has changed, does anyone know how to check? And does the "453 days left" imply that's how long I have to save my job, or how long I am giving up these mysterious responsibilities? 

Lots of questions, my fingers are crossed that things get resolved quickly!

[shd34_216_42]

Mouse over the "has accepted reduced responsibilities for a while" text, that will give you more detail (hopefully).