Motlhen

Game Setup I didn't share this at the start of the save, but I am running quite a few playable leagues. The interest from Penybont for our 9th tier defender is the exact kind of transfer interaction I think I've missed out on in saves where I've limited the leagues loaded. This will also give me more opportunity to follow Enfield-born players/staff in more detail when they travel abroad. This does come at a cost of a slightly slower game - especially because of the number of leagues down as far as Level 12 in England. I started with Level 12 loaded, but removed it once all of the Enfield clubs were clear of relegation (from the 11th tier) after the first 2 seasons. A few seasons on from that decision and both Brimsdown & Cockfosters Reserves are still down in the 11th tier and in serious danger of relegation this season. I don't want to lose any Enfield-based clubs out of the database, but I definitely don't want to add Level 12 back in to the game and that leaves me with one option: save them myself. If either club sacks their manager (Cockfosters will have to sack their manager for me to be able to take over Cockfosters Reserves), I will add in a 2nd manager who will attempt to save the them (also using only Enfield-born players & staff) and build up their facilities and attempt to rise up the leagues too. The only difference will be that this manager's career will be speed-run: all things delegated and Instant Result for matches. The focus will still be on Bush Hill Rangers. They've both begun a bounce-back in form in recent weeks, so hopefully they can save themselves, but I'm ready for plan B!

Transfer Interest Jake Clarke has gone from strength to strength and it's not going unnoticed by teams in divisions way higher than us. He's played 120 games for us now and is still only 19 years old. There's active interest from the likes of Bury, Torquay or Welsh Premier league side Penybont and even a couple of League 2 teams are sniffing around. It could be a long winter transfer window...

Dec 2027 A great end to the year as we have finally hit some consistent form. Hamilton got injured for 6 weeks and Ndefo has claimed the spot up front ahead of Greenidge. Over the past few months I've been tinkering tactically, but I finally think I've got something that works with our squad.

After another drab draw, Bricknell and the scouting team called an emergency recruitment meeting: And I also found out the board have scrapped our 5-year plan and are looking to sell the club.

Nov 2027 We've dropped off again and we're losing touch with the playoff spots and out of the FA Vase. Disappointing after a couple of big wins to start the month had me thinking we might start hitting some consistent form. When we win, we win big. But our league form has been patchy. League Form:

Thanks! I'm loving it too Yeah, he scored everywhere he went! He also had a pretty good rate of assists for his time at Enfield Town too: Enfield Town P38 G21 A16 Some sources even had his goal ratio higher than a goal per game!

Transfer In Well, we no longer have a striker problem! We've managed to sign Greenidge as a 2nd marked improvement to our depth up front, who knows maybe I'll even play two up front?!

..continued..

First Youth Intake (BH01) We have lost a few of the players from our first intake recently, most notably centre-back Edgerley who was still around the first team squad. He was kicking up a fuss about first team football every couple of weeks until I promised to let him leave. He left for free with a(n ambitious) 50% of next sale clause stuck in there. He was only getting bids from amateur teams so I never expect this to turn into anything valuable, it was more of an experiment to see if the board will still negotiate some sort of buyout fee for us. These are the other players from our first intake that have moved on from the club, including top prospect BH01a Blake.

Oct 2027 We scored 5 goals two games in a row against bottom-of-the-leage Reading (with Ndefo getting a goal on his debut) and tier 10 Holyport. We should never have lost against Ascot (who we recently scored 5 against in the cup) and Edgware were too good for us and went top with the 3 points. Things are looking a lot better than this time last year. We're pushing for the playoffs and both the board and supporters are happy with everything we're doing (apart from the finances...) I have 187 days of less responsibilities and still have no idea what the board are doing instead of me

Transfer In After mentioning that we had come close to signing striker Ndefo on a couple of occasions, we managed to land our man this month! He comes in as a much needed alternative to Hamilton who has been in very patchy form the past 2 seasons.

Staff Bid Technically, this is the highest bid we've had for anyone so far and it is for our HoYD / Coach Conteh. He is way too good for us, He played for us 13 times before taking up the staff role permanently, and I think him having me as one his favoured personnel helped massively in convincing him to stay!

Nominal Bid Jake Clarke has had another tiny bid come in for him. I am intrigued by how far a Percentage of Next Sale could take us, but I think the club we were selling to would have to have a much higher reputation than Warrington. Either way, £675 is a joke and no where near what I would consider, even if the PoNS was 50%.

Sep 2027 Well, wow. Our scoring has definitely improved. Players from all over the park have been chipping in with goals as we hit 7 and then 5 in the two cup games. We're up to 5th and I hope we can cling on to the last playoff position.

The other strikers at the club (should I be considering these guys?!)

Striker Problems These are our strikers, how would you use them? Decent Acceleration and good Finishing. Winger with no pace or finishing. Clearly not a striker. Not featured. These are the players from Enfield who can play as a striker (that our scouts know about). I've come close to signing Ndefo on a couple of occasions but he's gone to clubs paying him a higher wage. Greenidge currently won't accept a trial offer and wants way too much (£500+p/w) to join. Beyond that, the next best available strikers are not improvements on our squad and so we are a bit stuck. My fingers are crossed for a superstar striker in the next intake!

Aug 2027 Two wins on the bounce put us in a great position, but then we stopped scoring. Our home tie in the FA Cup wasn't helped by having centre-back Gutzmore in goal for 80 minutes! They scored with one of their 2 shots on target in a game we really should have put to bed, and then we were unlucky to go out on penalties in the replay. Two more games followed with so many chances falling our way, but no clinical striker to finish them!

Staff In Initially I wasn't going to sign Pogue as he is not an improvement on anyone we already have, but then I noticed that he doesn't mind being a Physio! We haven't had a physio at the club at all yet and it seems rare to find any Enfield-born physios, so despite not being great I am happier to have a physio than not have one so we welcome Pogue in as our U18s manager (but really he's here to be a physio).

Jul 2027 We succumbed to a late winner against Tower Hamlets in front of over 10k fans, then filled our stadium to claim a last minute winner in a feisty FA Cup tie! Tower Hamlets are predicted 2nd in the league and we've now gone farther in the FA Cup than ever before, so I'm seeing this as a positive start. We've broken our attendance and gate receipt records and I'll be keeping an eye on how much more money our new stadium is generating us.

First Day at Our New Stadium As our first competitive fixture of the season was away, our first day at our new stadium would be our FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie against Welwyn. Unfortunately for us, the away game in the league was against Tower Hamlets who had also just moved into their own stadium, which is 8.5x bigger than ours. This made our move seem rather underwhelming, but at least we can say we sold out our stadium The squad is ready for the new season:

Staff In Billy Bricknell, formerly of Enfield Town, joins us as our Chief Scout!

Back to Bush Hill Rangers. 2027/28 Season Preview At the end of last season we managed to tie our top goal scorer Hamilton to a new contract & managed to re-sign Gary Farr, who's goals from midfield were sorely missed last season. We added a brilliant new intake and another decent winger in Hayden-Smith to what is looking like a very strong squad. Over the summer, there were no new signings and we only saw unwanted players leave or go out on loan despite being absolutely bombarded with £0 offers for all of our best players. The only player who we received a monetary offer for was our star player Clarke and it's safe to say it was no where near big enough to consider. The board expect us to reach the playoffs this season and we are predicted 3rd. We have to improve massively on last season to get close to those pre-season expectations!

Club Managers Danny Chapman has been relegated in his 16th season with Harlow Town. He's had 3 promotions and now 2 relegations in his time with the club. We've seen 3x new managers from Enfield this season, including our old left-back/scout/coach Chris Arthur who took charge at Whickham in January but couldn't save them from relegation.

International Manager Mikele Leigertwood's Antigua & Barbuda came in 2nd place in their Nations League group for a 3rd time in a row and for a 2nd time in a row they also lost out on penalties in the Gold Cup playoffs.

Top 10 Highest Paid Staff by Year Mikele Leigertwood has been on this list in the past, but I had only been including his club wage (£800 - £925 p/w) and not including his national wage (£2,000 p/w). Including both sees him rise up to 3rd on the list. Steve Morison has retired after his phenomenally fast fall from grace (Sutton -> Sacked -> Sutton Utd -> Sacked). I am surprised that Ryan Mason & Mehmet Ali have both not picked up jobs and hope that they will again this season. That leaves Matt Wells still coaching at Tottenham (contracted til 2029) top of the list with Fulham's U18 coach Gary Sawyer getting a decent 50% pay rise! Key (per year) Largest Value Biggest Increase Biggest Decrease New Entry into top 10 Name 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 Matt Wells £8,000 £8,000 £8,000 £8,000 £8,000 Alan Connell £3,000 £3,000 £3,000 £3,000 £3,300 Mikele Leigertwood £2,800 £2,825 £2,825 £2,925 £2,925 Stuart Douglas £2,000 £2,000 £2,000 £2,000 £2,000 Cheye Jude £0 £0 £0 £1,800 £1,800 Gary Sawyer £300 £425 £875 £1,000 £1,500 Danny Talbot £1,500 £1,500 £1,700 £1,200 £1,400 Piero Mingoia £600 £650 £700 £775 £850 Jonathan Obika £600 £600 £625 £625 Henri Lansbury £0 £425 £425 £425 £425 Hakan Hayrettin £500 £190 £190 £190 £0 Ryan Mason £12,000 £12,000 £12,000 £0 £0 Mehmet Ali £2,000 £4,600 £4,600 £0 £0 Steve Morison £3,000 £900 £0 £0