Motlhen

Transfer Out We have lost our first choice goalkeeper on deadline day! Terrible news. I have Donkor who I brought in on loan in January ready to step up, but without any goalkeepers from Enfield coming through our youth intake, this is an area we're quite thin in.

Transfer In Alongside our youth intake, Weymouth released a 17yo striker who becomes a very strong backup. Welcome Hamilton who has made 6 sub appearances 5 tiers above our level!

Other players from the youth intake that move into our 1st & 2nd XI

Youth Intake 2024 (12 of 16 from Enfield) 2025 (9 of 16 from Enfield) I was hoping for a bump in CA and we definitely got that! It's a shame that we have to release 7 (almost half) of the intake, especially the 3* CA DLC and GK as these players would go straight into our first team. Once the non-Enfield players were released and the Enfield players signed, this is how their (BH02) star ratings compare to our previous intake (BH01) and one of our highest rater players Arthur (although he is in charge of star ratings, so there could be some bias involved). Clarke is obviously the stand out. Webb is good, but we have so many players in attacking positions, I doubt I will be able to find space for him in the 1st or 2nd XI.

Feb 2025 All of a sudden our dominance and league lead has disappeared. Lemsford's Will Dale scored a hattrick of penalties against us in a pivotal match at the top, we then dropped points at St Lawrence and at Hatfield and Lemsford are 1 point behind us with 9 games to go. Promotion seemed a formality, complacency has crept in and we need to improve to make sure we get promoted this season! We've managed to progress further in the cup than last season and find ourselves against one of 2 remaining teams from the tier below in the quarter finals. I checked out our opponent and we are up against a team already promoted, top of the table and unbeaten all season. It's going to be tough to stop that sort of momentum!

Jan 2025 Of course mentioning that we were unbeaten at the halfway point of the season meant that we lost our next game. Hopefully it's a blip. I've managed to start my next coaching licence too.

Transfer In We did make one big signing this window and that is getting Waller-Lassen on loan. He will fit straight into the AMC slot, but can provide cover on either wing or up-front.

Transfers In I brought in quite a few players in January, but without impacting the first team as much as I had hoped. We have loaned in a better backup goalkeeper in Donkor, a better backup striker in Taylor and also reunited the Thrower brothers after Josiah's return from a poor spell in Birmingham.

Dec 2024 A perfect month to end the year and at the mid-way point in the league we're 7 points clear and unbeaten!

Youth Intake Preview I would love a decent goalkeeper! Hopefully if he is decent, he's also from Enfield. With the 3 sets of double improvements on Youth Recruitment & Youth Coaching since taking over, I am hoping we will get some players with a higher CA than last year.

Transfers In A centre-mid to be a backup in an area we are not very strong and a youth player for the U18's.

Nov 2024 A couple of off-field improvements alongside continuing our unbeaten run mean we are in a really good place. It would have been even better if we could have held onto our lead against 2nd place Lemsford, but an early red card meant that in the end I was happy with a draw.

Our current Ass Man Ryan Charles joined us as a Player / Scout with 'secondary' job as Assistant Manager (the reason it was this way around was that promising him a non-playing role as a Scout was the only way I could convince him to consider a contract offer, and then the Scout job part was non-negotiable). On his debut he stepped up and scored 4 goals and a perfect 10.0 rating! But since then he hasn't scored and hasn't performed. In our first match in November, he managed to grab a brace after 11 hours of not scoring and in response he immediately hung up his boots to retire!? I guess he wanted to finish on a high, but it took me by surprise and if we didn't have such strong backups in attacking areas, I think I'd be a bit angry at this rash reaction. As it is, he will stay at the club as a Scout / Ass Man.

Oct 2024 A perfect month, finished off with a win over top of the table, means we are now the only unbeaten side in the league and are sitting pretty at the top. I've completed my first coaching licence, but not allowed to continue onto the next one straight away. And we've had our first international call up for a player in our squad with 41 year old Morgan looking to add to his 6 caps for Montserrat.

Our old Ass Man Lew was my first assistant manager (& scout). He left to become manager of Minehead in the tier below (12) but things have not gone very well for him, lasting only 12 games and not managing a single win in his 157-day tenure. I would welcome him back with open arms (purely because we only have 3 members of staff, including me), but as with everyone else on my staff shortlist, he is not interested in moving (back) to Bush Hill.

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