Motlhen

Sep 2024 We're unbeaten after the first 6 games and playing some good football too!

Transfer In Chris Arthur joined us as a big improvement at left back. After joining, he almost immediately was receptive to an altered contract offer to also take up coaching and scouting responsibilities. The board also agreed to further his impressive coaching qualifications and we now have the best coaching and scouting teams across the leagues at the eleventh tier. Interestingly, I actually knew Chris Arthur in real life! I was born in the same room as his brother, our parents became friends and we went to the same primary & secondary school. Great to have him as a strong member of our backroom staff and I'll be making an extra effort to make sure we keep hold of him as long as possible.

Transfer & Loan In We've signed two more forwards. Morgan is 40 and has some great technicals. Smith is 17 and is more a physical presence. I expect neither will be around for more than this season, but I hope they will be able to help push us to promotion.

Pre-Season (& First Match) We flew through pre-season with one (big) blip and continued our goalscoring form into the first game of the league season with new signing / assistant / scout Charles breaking the record for most goals scored in a league match on his debut! Our squad has improved massively since this time last season and that is reflected in the pre-season odds. Our first & second XI is currently this group of 22 players. We are very top-heavy in terms of where our star ratings are, but I have faith that the 3 youth prospects in our back 4 are up to the task this season and can help us push for the one promotion spot into the 10th tier.

Transfer Out After signing Sam Byles the day before our first competitive fixture last season, he has left pretty much as soon as the season was over. I thought he could be one of the best players at the club, but in truth, I never knew which position to play him and wherever I did play him, he played mediocre at best. Transfer Out We made good use of loans last season and Mallinson has come in to our second XI to provide backup to the two youth players (Schofield & Edgerley) who will be starting games for us this season. Hopefully we can continue to look into the loan market to improve our squad depth.

Staff Addition After spending the whole of last season continually attempting to add more staff members to our backroom without success, I thought we might be without an assistant manager for a long time after Lew left. But luckily, we have managed to land Ryan Charles, who will be a player, scout AND assistant manager. He's 34 years old and comes in as the best player in the squad! (So we won't look too long at his staff attributes).

Interview Offers Over the summer I have received interview offers from the following 3 clubs, including a team 2 tiers above where we are now! Club Tier New Milton Town 11 AFC Uckfield Town 10 Long Melford 9

Staff Departure Another Enfield-born person has become a manager, but it is not good news for us. Our Assistant/Scout/only other member of staff at the club has been poached by Minehead (tier 12). It is very important for me to find some new staff members to get quick second opinions, do scouting, training etc.

Ethan Nwaneri has shown incredible promise for a 17 year old winning both the U18 Premier League Newcomer of the Season as well as the UEFA Youth League Top Talent. He's now made 2 appearances in the past 2 seasons for Arsenal's first team and will definitely be one to keep a keen eye on, especially with the media comparing him to Martin Odegaard!

Enfield Staff Overview Managers There are 6 managers from Enfield. Chapman has the longest tenure by over 12 years and counting. Mehmet Ali's salary rose from £2k to £4.6k and he is the highest paid manager, but there are 2 Enfield-born members of staff paid more than him and they are both coaches at Tottenham, Ryan Mason (£12kp/w) & Matt Wells (£8kp/w). Name Qualification Team Tenure Contract Type Wage Danny Chapman National B Licence Harlow 12 years, 61 days Part Time N/A Seanan Winser - Bedford Albion 331 days Part Time N/A Mehmet Ali Continental Pro Licence Leyton Orient 254 days Full Time £4,600 p/w John Ross National C Licence FC Peterborough 183 days Amateur N/A John Mackie National A Licence Hucknall Town 156 days Part Time £300 p/w Steve Morison Continental Pro Licence Sutton Utd 53 days Part Time £900 p/w

I want to keep track of any landmarks made by Enfield-born players and staff over the course of this save. Each season I will add an unemployed manager to the save to be able to look at international caps, transfers, new staff appointments etc. This will not let me see any of the players attributes and when I am done I will revert to a previous save file as if the unemployed manager never existed. Enfield Player Overview International Caps I've created a list of all of the Enfield-born International players that I can find. Chipolina managed another 5 caps for Gibraltar aged 41 before retiring from football to become a coach. He holds the record for the most caps by an Enfield-born player and it is not a record that will be broken for a long, long time! Currently, he also holds the record for the most goals scored Name Nation Years Total Caps Caps in 2023/24 Total Goals Goals in 2023/24 Youth Caps Youth Caps in 2023/24 Youth Goals Youth Goals in 2023/24 Roy Chipolina GIB 2013 - 2024 73 +5 5 Andre Boucaud TRI 2004 - 2021 48 2 Corrin Brooks-Meade MSR 2015 - 2023 21 Steve Morison WAL 2010 - 2012 20 1 Neil Kilkenny AUS 2006 - 2012 15 10 Daniel Phillips TRI 2021 - Present 14 +7 Jazzi Barnum-Bobb VIN 2022 - Present 13 +9 Mikele Leigertwood ATG 2008 - 2012 11 1 Reece Beckles-Richards ATG 2015 - Present 9 +8 1 +1 Hector Kyprianou CYP 2023 - Present 8 +8 3 1 Jeriel Dorsett MSR 2023 - Present 8 +8 Jake Livermore ENG 2012 - 2017 7 Dean Morgan MSR 2014 - Present 6 +3 Reiss Greenidge GUY 2021 - Present 4 +3 Kevin Stewart JAM 2022 - Present 4 +2 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 +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 Alfie Dorrington ENG 2023 - Present 1 +1 Total 272 +54 10 +1 90 +1 19 0 Monetary Transfers I've created a list of the historical transfer fees for Enfield-born players where the fee was disclosed. The only recent transfer of note was made by Hector Kyprianou. He transferred for £450k last season and £1.3M at the start of this season to jump up from League 2 to League 1 and now the Championship. 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 Michael Duberry 1999 Chelsea → Leeds £4,500,000 Henri Lansbury 2017 Nottingham Forest → Aston Villa £3,500,000 Hector Kyprianou 2023 Peterborough Utd → Sunderland £1,300,000 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 Neil Etheridge 2020 Cardiff → Birmingham £600,000 Mikele Leigertwood 2006 Crystal Palace → Sheffield United £600,000 Steve Sedgley 1997 Ipswich → Wolves £500,000 Hector Kyprianou 2022 Leyton Orient → Peterborough Utd £450,000 Mikele Leigertwood 2004 Wimbledon → Crystal Palace £155,000 Neil Kilkenny 2008 Birmingham → Leeds £150,000 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 Josh Davison 2022 Charlton → AFC Wimbledon £75,000 Martin Grainger 1993 Colchester United → Brentford £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 Jack Roles 2023 Woking → Crawley £20,000 Scott Neilson 2008 Ware → Cambridge £20,000 Glen Southam 2004 Bishops Stortford → Dagenham & Redbridge £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 Nathaniel Knight-Percival 2010 Histon → Wrexham £5,000 Alan Connell 2005 Bournemouth → Torquay £5,000 Steve Phillips 1977 Northampton → Brentford £5,000 Gary Bennett 2000 Sudbury → Chelmsford City £3,000 Free Transfers These are a pick of the other free transfers that happened over the course of the first season. Ben Watt from Norwich to Waterford (Ireland). Dillon Barnes from Haringey to Mount Pleasant FC (Jamaica). Josh Onomah was picked up by Sheffield Wednesday as a free agent. Kevin Stewart was picked up by Portmore United (Jamaica) as a free agent. Richard Bryan was picked up by Lincoln as a free agent.

Off Field Improvements The board surprised me by announcing they wanted to build a new stadium in Enfield. I am delighted to be relocating from Ware back to where we belong, but do wonder how we are going to fund this. On the Club Info page, I found that they are looking to build a 1,272 seater stadium, which is ever so slightly bigger than our largest home attendance last season of 38. This size stadium should prove useful if we continually rise through the leagues, but if we end up stagnating in a division for a few years, or even get relegated, I can see the financial side of a new stadium build catching up with us. However, this is all speculation for now as I do not know how much it will cost us. Before I knew about the new stadium plans, I requested for both youth coaching and youth recruitment improvements. Both were accepted and I am currently very happy with Mick Sampson (Chairperson). During pre-season, I also asked and was granted permission to start training for my first coaching licence, our under-18's got invited into a youth league and we got the news that we had doubled the number of season ticket holders from last season! All of this progress has to be matched with improved performances on the pitch and a push for promotion this season.

Other Enfield Clubs 2023/24 Season Halfway through the season, Enfield Town looked like they could push towards new heights for an Enfield-based team, but they couldn't mount a promotion challenge and fell to mid table, where most of the Enfield teams finished this season. Hinton won promotion to level 10 and Brimsdown were relegated to level 11, meaning we will have the same number of teams at each tier as we did last season. Level 7 Enfield Town 8th Level 8 Enfield FC 12th Level 9 Cockfosters 9th Level 10 Enfield Borough 19th Brimsdown 21st (Relegated) Level 11 Hinton 1st (Promoted) Bush Hill Rangers 3rd Cockfosters Reserves 12th

Apr 2024 Our winning run continued with two huge wins. Our biggest margin of victory previously was 3 goals, so to win two games by 5 goals, with 7 of the 10 goals being scored by players from the recent youth intake, means we finish the season very strong. Despite our unbeaten run, we could only manage a draw on the final day of the season, meaning we slipped back to 3rd place.

Mar 2024 With our new additions, we have managed the longest winning streak of the season. This gives me more confidence going into next season that we can push for the title and promotion, after Hinton ran away with the title this year.

The rest of the intake:

Youth Intake breaking into the 1st & 2nd XI After evaluating all of the youth intake, I was very surprised to think that my favourite two players were the two centre-backs rated the worst from the intake by my assistant. These two will be immediately starting the last few games of the season as I rate them higher than any of the centre-backs that we still currently have at the club. The only other player going straight into the starting XI is Blake. He looks like a great asset on the wing and will also be taking all of our corners and free-kicks. These are the other players from the intake that will be part of the squad.

Youth Intake 12 from the 16 youth players were from Enfield, including the top 4 by current ability, which is great news! The non-Enfield born players have immediately been released. Below I have shown that I have renamed each of the players with the BH0Xy where X is the intake number and y is the position in the list. I have also renamed the players that we released so that I can keep track of their progress away from our club. *Gardner was signed to an amateur contract, but as I'm posting this I realised he's from not from Enfield, so he's been released - not sure how I missed that first time round.

Transfer Out Sure enough, Thrower leaves his brother (and cousin?) behind and becomes the first of the signings I made whilst in charge of Bush Hill to also depart.

Non-Contracts It looks like we are about to lose the best of the Thrower family. Josiah has had interest for a while, but over the past few days he's been bombarded with offers and I don't expect him to be around for much longer. This is the reality we are likely to face when any player performs well and we are still an amateur club. If we push for semi-professional status too early, we could end up in financial difficulty. If we stay amateur for too long, the quality of player moving into our starting XI will keep decreasing. The quicker we get up the leagues, the less risk there will be involved in turning semi-pro so next season we have to aim for the one automatic promotion spot!

Feb 2024 A month of draws, with one win and one loss (which was a also a draw). The cup loss was hard to take as we got a very early red card and I feel we would've been able to get through to the next round easily if we didn't have the man disadvantage. The board aren't too happy about the cup loss. They want us to finish in the top 4 in the league, so now there is a much higher emphasis on making sure we do just that!

Loans In Since taking over I've been making the odd, sporadic loan offers to anyone who might be available to us. It's only now in February that we have had a couple of successful offers. Joining us is Angel, a third member of the Thrower family, as well as Whitney from two other Enfield teams.

Jan 2024 A couple of disappointing results at the start of the year, despite our new signing getting off the mark in his debut after 2 minutes. Hinton look like they are going to run away with the title after extending their lead at the top to 11 and knocking us down to 3rd in the process.

Transfer In We've signed a very well-rounded attacker (for our level), he's fast and strong, has decent (6+) attributes across all of the relevant technicals. The only issue is he is tiny (162cm = 5'3") and has a jumping reach of 1. I think his best position is as a diminutive winger on the left side and I'm hoping he can immediately contribute to the goals.

I absolutely loved this journey, thanks for sharing! Now to start reading the Rangers side story...