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Kataller Toyoma J3 League – 2024 Season I thought we’d be good, but not that good Last season we were very much showing promotion winning form in the time at the club I had, so I was pretty confident that we should be able to achieve promotion this season after improving the quality of the first team squad and getting rid of some of the dissenting voices within the club. To say we started the season well would be an understatement, we were blowing teams away. In fact in the first half of the season our record stood at 18 wins and 1 draw in our 19 games which was beyond what I had thought we’d be able to manage. We did slow down a little in the second half of the season but were still far and away the best team in the league eventually winning the league by 28 points and falling just shy of the 100 mark. The league was not the area that gave me the biggest surprise however, as the cups went very well for us. The league cup saw us better two teams from our league in the early rounds before beating the top of the league above in the next to set up a tie against top flight opposition. In this two legged game we were only 1 minute away from reaching the semi-final before they equalised in 120+1 to take it to penalties and duly won. In the Emperors cup we did even better, knocking out 2 J1 League sides on the way to the Quarter Final here where we somehow ended up against a non-league side who had found their way through to this stage which after a lacklustre first half we fired 3 in the second half to reach the cup Semi-Final. Here we would face one of the pre season favourites in Kashima Antlers but again we gave them a good game and were ultimately leading 2-1 heading into the last 2 minutes. As they were pushing for an equaliser we managed to grab a 3rd on the counter and they collapsed as we scored twice more in stoppage time to record an impressive 5-1 victory and put us in the cup final. The cup final was not scheduled for a good time – the day after contracts run out – which meant a lot of our squad players actually retired before the game but thankfully our 3 loanees had their loans extended for 3 days so they could play. It was a tight game but not one that we were outclassed in, and with the game hanging in the balance we scored our only shot on target as one of the aforementioned loanees scored his final goal for the club and somehow, we won the cup. Progress I was not expecting anything to be updated in the second table for quite a while yet so I am actually at a loss as to what to do next. The original plan was probably to stay with Kataller Toyoma in the second tier and see where we got, but, with us winning the cup I’m not sure if there is an overall benefit. Winning the cup did actually qualify us for the Asian Champions league, but despite our cup exploits this season I don’t see much of a chance for us there. We have managed to complete two coaching courses and are now working towards our 3rd.

Yeah, it was largely due to inexperience/lack of reputation in comparison to them, but it was then enhanced when I annoyed them by complaining at a performance in a post match team talk where we hadn't played that well. Most of the problem players have either left over the off season or have come to better terms now we're in a new season.

Kataller Toyoma J3 League – 2023 Season Everybody hates me As I knew when I took over the job, the team on the whole was underachieving against their pre-season billing, but there was quite a few gaps in their squad, fullbacks and central midfield being the main culprits so I improved them in the initial transfer window. Our first game in charge was against the then first place team and I was left thinking I was onto a winner as we got a very handy 5-0 win away from home. We were brought back to our senses with a disappointing home loss before throwing away a two goal lead for a draw in the next two games respectively. Generally though, our form overall was very strong to end the season, essentially maintaining promotion winning form for the second half of the campaign. Alas we were very far away when we started so ultimately finished 8th – which I am very happy with. The off season will see a lot of changes as many players are out of contract, and given the entire top of the player hierarchy opposes me, so I am probably going to let them all go and do a full rebuild so I have the support of the players. It could backfire in weakening the squad and having a full new squad to gel but the players out of contract are also wanting more than I want to offer them in anycase. Next season aims and Challenge progress Obviously we have not much to show for progress yet in terms of the challenge, but next season I will be having the aim of gaining promotion to the second tier in Japan. I am currently working on a coaching badge too which is a positive and hopefully once I have that I will be able to start on the next one.

Kataller Toyoma I had not too long of a wait for my first job as I took over at Kataller Toyoma in J-League 3 to give my first venture into Japan. I was split between this job and one in the South African second tier, but ultimately the want for something new settled me on a trip to Japan. The season is already midway through with us sitting 16th of 20 teams at the halfway point of the season. The season preview does suggest that the previous manager was underachieving however as they have us to finish 10th. The team I've inherited has an ok blend of older players and some young high potential players, but it is lacking in right backs on the whole, not really any. Thankfully, there is an open transfer window to give me some time to get this team more rounded to where it needs to be. This season though, will just be about familiarising myself with the team although we have promised to get a top half finish this season which is 9 points above where we are currently which is maybe an uphill task.

Figured I'd give this another bash in FM24, maybe for once I'll be able to see it through instead of taking a break from my save to never return Starting manager profile, I've loaded a lot of leagues up to start with for a wider choice of initial clubs so really, I could end up on any continent for the first job

Ilkeston Town - Season 26 – Premier League–3rd Champions League – Champions! Challenge Complete Transfers -- Squad -- League -- Key Player -- Hot Prospect League: This season we were pretty poor defensively, we conceded as more in our opening 3 games then we did in the entire second half of the season last time out. Thankfully, we were still potent offensively but it was still frustrating to see such a difference compared to how we’d ended the season prior. The season pretty much followed the path of us scoring plenty goals and conceding plenty, usually we scored more than we conceded, but when you concede as much you do lose and draw more than you would hope and that ultimately cost us in any chance to win the league for the second time. Europe: Our Champions League campaign was largely similar to how the league was going, conceding quite a lot of goals but scoring more usually. We did draw one and lose one in the league phase as to Liverpool and Villereal respectively but progressed to the round of 16 fairly comfortably in the end. Our reward here was a tie against an Arsenal side who would ultimately win the league this season but despite being outplayed in the opening leg we managed to come away with a draw which we then repeated in the 2nd leg to win on penalties. Barcelona was our opponent in the next round and really, it was straight forward in the end as we came away 2-0 victors in both legs. The semi-final did not get off to a great start as we faced off against PSG. We were comfortably second best and could have easily conceded more but found ourselves 2-0 down with it all to do. The second leg was in some ways a reverse of the first with us deserving of the victory on the night and we had managed to equalise the tie by half time but could not find a 3rd goal to win it outright so instead we had to settle for penalties which we seem to be well practiced on now. The final was actually a rematch of sorts from our Europa League win as we faced off against the same opponents in Villereal. We started the game very well and looked like we were going to be quite comfortable victors before they scored first against the run of play. Thankfully we were gifted a way back into the game just before half time as we were awarded a penalty which we duly converted. The second half saw us again the dominant team but Villereal creating a few more chances. It seemed as though the game was going to go to extra time but in the 90th minute up popped Gary Joyce 10 to win us the game. Youth Intake A little underwhelming intake though some useful enough prospects nonetheless. Robert Salamaj 26 – He doesn’t have the best of personalities, but looks to be the best of the bunch of this years intake. I am training him to be a wing back as I think his attributes are fairly well rounded for that. He does need to improve quite a lot physically if he is to be a good option in the future. Charlie Pycock 26 – A central defender which is actually a position we do need as one of my regular starters is starting to decline due to age. He has been developing nicely since coming through and probably will be in the first team fold in the next few years. Overview We played the season with a reduced capacity on our stadium and we are immediately expanding the capacity to the limit of 59k. I don’t know that I’ll continue on till next season, but we’ve got to aim to win the league next time out. I am a bit worried that my squad is aging with not many new players of decent quality coming through from the youth team. Key Players Tariq Caton 20 – Caton was back to his best this season averaging around a goal a game in all competitions finishing top scorer in both the league and Champions League. He also won the Ballon D’or for the second consecutive year. Ahmed Al-Akchaoui 17 – Al-Akchaoui did attract interest at the start of the season with us rejecting north of £100m for him, but as one of the two standout players he is unsellable. He proved his credentials this season with 24 goals and 16 assists in all competitions. Gary Joyce 10 – Joyce continued to be a consistent performer for us, his 5th in a row with double figures for goals and assists. This time 16 goals and 11 assists for the season including the all important Champions League final winner.

Ilkeston Town - Season 25 – Premier League–3rd Transfers -- Squad -- League-- Key Player -- Hot Prospect League: We’re not great starters in the league, even more so this season as we were very inconsistent to start the season. 7 losses in our opening 13 games as we found ourselves many points behind. In our poor start we made our first change to our starting goalkeeper in 17 seasons as long standing Darren Kerr 7 started the season poorly. The change in goalkeeper looked to have a very positive effect as we had an incredible rest of season, as after the opening 13 games we conceded a miserly 12 for the remainder of the season and only 1 loss before the end of the season. This improved form did give us an outside shot of the title, but ultimately a little bit poorer end to the season – and the deficit we had to make up, meant that we had to settle for 3rd. Europe: Our first foray into the Champions League saw us perform very well in the group stage, we did lose once although we were the better team in that game, but comfortably qualified in the top 8 and automatic qualification for the round of 16. Of course we were drawn against the team that had beaten us in the group stage, but again we were the better team in both legs though on scoreline we did only scrape through. An all English affair awaited us in the Quarter Final as we faced Manchester City. The first leg was a tie that lacked discipline as it ended 9 for Man City vs 10 for us. Thankfully, we just about took advantage of our man advantage to lead 1-0 in the first leg. The second leg was a lot more entertaining on the goals front as there as the overall lead of the tie changed on a few occasions ultimately after a 114th minute goal for us went to penalties. Unfortunately, we immediately put ourselves on the back foot by missing our first penalty, and though it did eventually go to sudden death we lost and were out. Youth Intake An ok intake, a few players who look like they could be reasonable for us in the future even if they are missing the top, top potential. Harry Wright 25 – He’s naturally a striker, but he be used as more of a playmaker as his attributes are much more suited to that role. His personality is not the most ideal but I’m still hopeful he can be a first team player in the future. Daniel McCarthy 25 – An interesting player, in that I’m not really sure which position he’d be best suited to as he has some ability to play all through the middle or maybe even as wing back. I’ll just let him develop to start with and evaluate I guess based on where he shows improvement most, though I am training him as a central defender in the interim. Rob Farrell 25 – Farrell I’m actually quite happy with, he looks to have some pretty good attributes for left fullback role which is a position we don’t have a huge amount of depth. He also has a good personality which should hopefully help his progression. Overview Yet again, we are unable to request for improved youth facilities which is a disappointment. Our move to our new stadium was also delayed until a few months into the season, but we have already agreed to expand the capacity even more as we are consistently selling out. We also managed to win our first domestic competition this season as we won the League Cup. Next season, the aim is to do better in the Champions League whilst maintaining a good enough position in the league to qualify for it again. I may start to integrate some more younger players into the squad as we are aging a little in some areas on the pitch. Key Players Garry Joyce 10 – Joyce seems to just be getting better with age, 15 goals and 20 assists in all competitions is very good. He’ll likely start to decline in the next few seasons, however, as long as he performs as he does the better it is for us. Lee Redmond 19 – Our new goalkeeper, after our poor start to the season he forced his way as first choice and had a fantastic time of it. 18 clean sheets in the league is very good showing and a key part of our form this season. Tariq Caton 20 – Caton missed the start of the season following his broken leg at the end of last season. He still managed to positively impact our season although he was a little less prolific overall than last time. 36 in all competitions but he did win every award he could.

Ilkeston Town - Season 24 – Premier League–1st Champions! Europa League Winners Transfers -- Squad -- League-- Key Player -- Hot Prospect League: Again in terms of results our start of season was less than ideal, losing two of the opening 3 games, but even in those defeats I was happy with how we were playing. Thankfully, we turned the performances into results losing just 1 of our next 13 games winning the majority as we pushed our way up to the very least, top 4 contention. I wasn’t really anticipating us managing to win the league at that stage but was confident we could secure Champions League qualification but we then played two of our title rivals back to back winning 6-2 and 3-0 against Everton and Arsenal respectively which put us right in the hunt soon after topping the table for the first time. Such was the closeness of the title fight at that stage however, we entered one weekend top and ended it 3rd after only drawing our game. Ultimately, we had a favourable run in, and found ourselves only needing a point from our last two games to secure the title (although goal difference meant it was probably sewn up). We did eventually end up picking just the one point from the last two games as we played pretty unconvincingly in both, but it didn’t matter as we secured an unlikely title. Incidentally, our winning points tally of 79 is the 3rd lowest winning total since the start of the save. Europe: Our group stage fixtures looked to be a step up in general to last season, but we managed to do one better than last season and win all 8, albeit with a much lower goal total. In the knockouts we had similarly straight forward progression with comfortable victories over Granada and Porto. The semi-final was a little less fluid from us, but we managed an arguably undeserved 2-1 victory away against FC Koln but we have been much better at home so wasn’t too concerned on the second leg. I perhaps should be as it was a good match between the two sides with the game finishing in a 2-2 draw just sending us through on aggregate. The final was against a team that we had beaten in the group stages – Villarreal. It was a very much cagey start with us barely creating anything before Gary Joyce 10 fired us into the lead just before half time. After the interval we quickly managed to double our lead before Joyce got him self sent off needlessly. However, whilst we did invite more pressure following the dismissal, we held on to make it a league and Europa League double. Youth Intake A better intake this season, a few players who look at a reasonable level to develop into good players for the club. Ethan Kavanagh 24 – Kavanagh looks really well rounded to start out to be a strong defender for us in the future, the obvious downfall his height, so may end up as a defensive midfielder but he doesn’t have terrible jumping reach at least. Sean Seery 24 – Another defensive prosect in this intake. Again not the tallest, but has some decent attributes and already ability to perform at some level in both fullback positions which will add versatility. Ricky Watts­-Vincent 24 – His potential has been downgraded since the intake, however, I think he does have a decent set of attributes, but not really any suited to his positions. As an attacking midfielder I think he can develop into a useful option. Overview We managed to improve our training facilities back to state of the art, however, we have not been able to request an improvement of our youth facilities which is a real shame. This was our last season before our new stadium which is a positive moving forward. Next season we will be mostly focusing on giving ourselves a good shot in the Champions League now we have won the league. In the league however, we have got to aim to get at least another top 4 finish. Key Players Tariq Caton 20 – A huge factor in our massively successful season was Caton. He retained the NxGn award to make it 3 in total and just scored goals. 34 goals in the league in 29 games and 15 in 11 in the Europa League. Unfortunately, he picked up a long term injury in the Quarter finals of the Europa League otherwise he could have scored even more in both. Gary Joyce 10 – Joyce had his best ever season for us this time out though he did play more infrequently than perhaps he would have liked as he is in a position where we have strong competition. 12 goals and 17 assists in all competitions is a strong showing nonetheless. Ahmed El-Ackchaoui 17 – We managed to tie down El-Ackchaoui to a long term deal on significantly more money than everyone else in the team, but he repayed it with another great season. He was more selfless this season as he managed 10 league assists which is double his previous best.

Ilkeston Town - Season 23 – Premier League– 6th Transfers -- Squad -- League-- Key Player -- Hot Prospect Two major sales this summer but neither were really anywhere in the first team reckoning as Alex Ingram 14, and Corby Brodella 19 left for £6m and £8.5m respectively two deals we certainly got the better end of. We also received £20m as Ethan Humphries 10 finally left Aston Villa to join Tottenham. League: We didn’t actually get off to a great start in the league winning just 2 of our opening 7, however, the fixtures had given us a tough opening with only 2 games against teams who weren’t fancied to do well in the season. That was the general trend for the first part of the season, beating losing to the best teams, but otherwise performing well and winning games. We were well on our way for a successful season but played even better after the halfway stage in the league putting on an unlikely charge for the Champions League spots which we did find ourselves in right until the last game of the season which we lost against third placed Manchester United to ultimately see us finish 6th (somehow we have only qualified for the conference league however). Europe: We got ridiculously good draw luck in the Europa league us not really facing any of the best teams in the group stage as we comfortably qualified top, only drawing on the last group stage game but amassing a +30 goal difference in 8 matches. Our draw luck continued in the last 16 and quarter final as we easily made our way through to the semi-final where we had our first test – West Ham. This tie went similarly to Napoli in the conference league last season, we managed to secure a comfortable lead for the second leg before they came within a goal to make it cagey, but ultimately we prevailed and were into our second European final in as many years. This time, we didn’t win it, we were second best to a Tottenham side who’d had a poor league campaign. Youth Intake This intake is easy to sum up – terrible. Not a single player that I have any hope of making an impact for the first team. It is getting a little worrying the lack of players with decent potential that we have in our youth system, not really many looking at all likely to break into the first team. Overview I haven’t had the option to request improved youth facilities this season which is a shame as it would be nice to get it finished. Our training facilities have also been downgraded as the season ended but I have requested them to be upgraded again so hopefully that will come to fruition. Next season another season challenging for the European places will be fantastic. Our main concern is in defense as we have very little depth in case we get any major injuries. Key Players Matthew Edwards 14 – Edwards was a man possessed this season managing 21 goals and 17 assists in all competitions. Previously he’s not demonstrated that much in consistency of good performances but he really impressed this time. Tariq Caton 20 – Caton is developing into a very good striker. 39 goals in all competitions at only 18 is fantastic and he won European Golden boy and retained the NxGn award also making his full England debut this season. Unfortunately, he is complaining about the strength of the squad so is not entertaining a new contract, though he still has 4 years to run on his deal. Ahmed El-Ackchaoui 17 – El-Ackchaoui really came to the fore this season with 15 league goals from attacking midfield and has developed into a very good player. Like Caton though he is unwilling to sign a new contract due to the squad lacking quality and Liverpool have made him their top target for the summer so he may end up moving on but still has 3 years on his current deal.

Ilkeston Town - Season 22 – Premier League– 11th – Europa Conference League Winners Transfers -- Squad -- League -- Key Player -- Hot Prospect League: The season started pretty poorly with back to back defeats but then we did pick up a little as we pushed up the table a little. It was obvious early on though that we wouldn’t quite have the same league success as last season as we had definitely regressed defensively conceding goals with a lot more regularity. That said, we did find ourselves up in and around 8th where we finished last season before 3 losses on the bounce in January did set the tone for a tough second half of the season as we found points tougher to come by but we were never really in any threat of relegation which was positive. We could still have finished as high as 9th but we ended the season with back to back losses to end up 11th. Europe: Despite losing our opening leg in the qualifiers for the Conference League we did ultimately qualify comfortably and took that through to the group stage winning all but our final match where we rotated. The first knockout round we easily found our way through before getting drawn against the toughest potential opponent as we faced a Napoli team who this season ran away with Serie A. We needn’t have worried as we took a 3-0 win to Naples and in the second leg took the lead on the night just before half time before Napoli fought back scoring 3 in the last 15 minutes to make it cagey towards the end but ultimately we were through. After that, both the Semi-Final and Final were pretty straight forward with us looking comfortable throughout, the final ending up being a 4-1 victory against FC Utrecht. Youth Intake A bit better of an intake this time out, but it wasn’t enough to stop me from replacing my HoYD, but still some reasonable players. Brennan Osment 22 – A good prospect at central defender, a good spread of attributes for the position, though hopefully he will grow a little as he is probably shorter than would be ideal. Seamus Wiggins-Thomas 22 – I’m not too sold on Wiggins-Thomas but our coaches think he has some potential and he’s already wanted by some of the bigger teams in England. His finishing is a bit low starting for him to be an effective striker in the future but will see how he develops. Overview We’ve finally managed to get the board to agree to upgrade our youth level to 1 which should hopefully mean this season I can get them to upgrade the youth facilities to the best level. We have also agreed to build a new stadium of 39k capacity, though I’m very disappointed that they are naming it after the one other Club Legend. I imagine next season will be similar to this one, but I’m hoping at least we will improve defensively. I doubt we will be able to have similar heroics in the Europa League as we did in the Conference League, but any improvement in reputation will be welcome. Key Players Patsy Bennett 12 – Bennett wasn’t really a first choice player for us this season, but when called upon he was a strong performer. 8 goals and 8 assists from 19 starts and 19 sub appearances. Drew Clarke 14 – Clarke had his best season so far for the club 15 goals and 7 assists playing in a similar position to Bennett. In terms of attributes he’d probably do even better for us if we played with wingers but he’s still contributing well. Tariq Caton 20 – Whilst not towards the top end of the average ratings, Caton had a great season for the club with 25 goals in all competitions for the 17 year old. He won the NxGn award this season and is constantly improving so despite a bit more rotation this season, he will likely be first choice striker next season.

Ilkeston Town - Season 21 – Premier League– 8th Transfers -- Squad -- League-- Key Player -- Hot Prospect A big aim for this season was to improve on what was a woeful away record, to do this I decided to start playing a 5-2-1-2 formation away from home rather the 4-2-3-1 we were employing at home. It immediately bore fruit, in fact, our last season we managed 6 points all season away from home and we equalled that in 2 games this season including an impressive victory to the title holders Liverpool. As well as improved away form we continued to perform well at home with most of the losses we were suffering coming against the teams who would ultimately go on to secure continental qualification. Our overall form was as such that we were flirting with continental qualification places for much of the season but we never quite bridged the gap to that 7th place and back to back losses to end the season made it look further away then perhaps it might have been. After reaching 8th place after game 16, we somehow did not move a single position for the rest of the season. Youth Intake Given we were having a good season and we’d improved our facilities recently I was disappointed with the intake to not get a single elite talent coming through. The main positive was that the players with the highest potential were more defensive players which certainly is an area we welcome prospects most. Phil Crosbie 21 – Actually has not terrible attributes for a defender although he is a little shorter than I would like. His personality isn’t the best but I think he can still potentially develop into a solid option for us. Ashley Burke 21 – Other than his much worse tackling, he’s not really too dissimilar to Crosbie, fairly decent attributes for his position that he can hopefully improve. Overview We’ve managed to improve our youth facilities alongside securing a decent number of overseas affiliates which will hopefully see our intake quality improve. Our stadium finished it’s final expansion and we’re in the process of looking to buy it, but ideally I think we would want a new, bigger stadium as we sell out every game. Next season I will settle for survival, I do not think we would be able to replicate this season in terms of final league position but I hope we can at least replicate it via comfortable survival. {Edit} A few continues later and I guess based on who won each of the European Competitions, we've actually qualified for the Conference League next season. Key Players Drew Clarke 14 – Clarke shone this season, easily his best for the club before his season was curtailed due to injury. 9 goals and 8 assists was a solid return for him though. Patsy Bennett 12 – Despite our overall better season, Bennett had a generally worse season 5 goals and 5 assists a little bit down on his last seasons contribution, but he was still one of the top performers in the team. Despite this, I can see him getting somewhat phased out the team in the next few seasons to accommodate high potential players coming through, regardless he will at the very least be a useful squad player. Gary Joyce 10 – Joyce had a pretty terrible start to the season, he didn’t have a goal to his name after 20 games but improved to finish the season with 8 to his name alongside his 5 assists. Hopefully next season he starts scoring earlier on and gets his best return in the Prem (currently 10 goals)

Maybe so, but on the flip side I don't see them ever being able to sell him for any high amount. He's worth that much but he's 27 now and has never hit double figures in either goals or assists in a season for Villa so can't see anyone wanting to pay so much money anytime soon. Still would would have been nice to get a decent option for selling the clause

What a deal! £62k for 50% of sale for a player worth £166m

Ilkeston Town - Season 20 – Premier League– 14th Transfers -- Squad -- League -- Key Player -- Hot Prospect Whilst we did have a little bit of interest in a few of our players it was just one outgoing as Dean Huxley 15 without ever coming close to the first team was sold on for £8m. Despite playing not terribly to start the season, it wasn’t a fruitful one in points return failing to win until our 7th game. For the most part we were seeming a lot more competitive that last time in the division though the big teams were still handing out heavy defeats. Ultimately, whilst we were good value to stay up, that was largely contingent on our home form as away we were not good, 1 win 3 draws all season. Youth Intake A slightly better intake with finally a defender who has some potential though a bit far off on his current ability. Tariq Caton 20 – Another decent attacking prospect through our intake, seems to be the area we get our best prospects through. I think he will end up a squad player already next season for us whilst I send players out on loan for gametime. Jay Brice 20 – Our long awaited prospect central defender. He does have a fair bit of improvement required especially in his mental attributes but I feel he can develop to be a decent prospect for us in the future. Overview We spent most of the season in a 40k seater stadium, but have moved back to our modest 14k, following expansion. I have agreed for another expansion to take place this time to it’s ultimate capacity of 19k which based on the number of fans we attracted this season probably still isn’t big enough. We’ve managed to get a couple of overseas affiliates this season which will hopefully help to improve our intakes in the future and the board are slowly increasing our youth level as we are lagging behind on our youth facilities. I imagine we’re in for another tough season next time out, I want to integrate new players into the starting XI but it’s a balancing act of trying to maximise our chances of survival with maximising chances of better players for us in the future by giving game time at the highest level. Key Players Patsy Bennett 12 – Bennett as ever was a strong performer for us this season 5 goals and 9 assists in the league is a great return and even without scoring/assisting he always seems to put in strong performances. Benjamin Abdul 14 – Abdul started every game he was available to for us in the league, missing 2 through suspension and overall performing well. It’s actually one of his most consistent seasons in terms of game time and performances and still has room to improve. Darren Kerr 7 – Whilst Kerr has had better seasons, he was again ever present for the side and has this season become the highest league appearance record holder for the club (530 apps) and overall all time appearance maker (600 apps). With our lack of upcoming goalkeeper, he is going to continue growing his appearances even further.

Ilkeston Town - Season 19 – SkyBet Championship– 2nd Promoted Transfers -- Squad -- League This was a bit of a weird season, we were pretty much always in the playoff and automatic hunt but often I was not so thrilled with how we were playing. We just seemed to concede lots of goals this season, which based on the quality of our defenders probably makes sense, but last time at this level we were fantastic defensively. This season we lost 3 games 3-0 and drew 3 games 3-3. Incidentally, one of the 3-0 losses we amassed 30 shots at goal and contrived to lost without scoring. We ultimately secured our automatic promotion with a good victory over the team in 3rd who were chasing us. Another quirk of this season was that despite mostly being within 3 points throughout we didn’t once find ourselves atop the table. Youth Intake Our intakes have been not fantastic for the past few years but I think this could be the worst for a while. Steve Brennan 19 – He has fairly decent attributes for striker so I feel he could have some impact on us in the future. The main issue he has is that pretty much all of our promising players are attackers, if he was a high potential centre back with similar current ability he would likely be straight into the first team, as an attacker he has a lot of improvement ahead of him before playing. Overview We finally got a board takeover, the takeover process lasted pretty much all the off season and then till October. The new owner immediately allowed me to request improved youth facilities which I hadn’t been able to do under the previous stewardship for 5 years which is obviously some hinderance to our intakes. Despite us looking for a site for a new stadium, the new owner has made the sensible decision to instead expand our current ground which will take a year. Whilst the expansion takes place we have relocated to a 40,000 capacity stadium. Weirdly, I feel less prepared for the Premier League this time then two seasons ago. I imagine we will again be relegated, but I am probably going to be rotating a lot more to try and integrate more of our youth players into the team to serve us better for the future. Key Players Matthew Edwards 14 – Edwards has had a fantastic season for us this year. 32 goals from 37 games as he really cemented himself as our first choice striker. Patsy Bennett 12 – Bennett has generally been a strong performer for us and this season was no different. It was the first time he’s managed double figures in goals and assists with 11 of each. Dalton Sergeant 10 – Alongside Bennett Sergeant also put in stellar performances this season joining Bennett with double figures for both goals and assists. Attacking wise on the whole we were much better this season.

Following a few underwhelming intakes I changed my HoYD this season. He has decided that one season with us is enough and has announced his retirement...

Ilkeston Town - Season 18 – Premier League– 18th Relegated Transfers -- Squad -- League Nothing in the way of transfers this season Despite losing our starting left back in pre-season to an ACL injury for 7 months we had a reasonable start to the season a win and a draw from our opening 5 without looking too far behind the pace, but then we played a Manchester City team who have been dominating the premier league since the start of the save and got battered 5-0 which seemed to remove the general confidence that we had from winning the league last season. We spent most of the season from there on thick in the relegation fight, mostly between 17th and 18th position. January was where we started to be resigned to a likely relegation as we went 8 games picking up only 1 point and amassing only 4 goals. Towards the end of the season it happened that we were playing a lot of the teams around the relegation battle, unfortunately, despite generally closer games than we had for the rest of the season we came out second best and ultimately got relegated with a game to go. We incidentally had our best performance of the season in the last game as we drew 2-2 to title winners Manchester City who with this title win became the record holders for most Premier League titles. Youth Intake Another less than stellar intake but a few players who look promising. I did offer all players offers because our youth teams are quite baron due to loanees out of the club. Oliver McAteer 18 – We have been lacking depth in defensive terms for a little while now, so McAteer is a welcome addition through the intake. Left back is where we had a long term ACL injury for the regular starter and we ended the season with the back up there picking up an ACL of his own so I actually think he could get quite a bit of gametime next season. Armel Mayulu 18 – A decent prospect on the left wing, the main issue being us not playing with wingers. Though hopefully should he develop well he can force us to change our formation. Phil Slowe 18 – As mentioned, we do not have the best depth in defensive terms, so Slowe is a player that will hopefully come good. He doesn’t have terrible base attributes for central defense so hopefully can improve to be a good option for us there. Overview We improved our training facilities again this year but yet again the board would not agree to improve our youth facilities. Despite us searching for a site for a new stadium we have yet any construction confirmed which means we have sold out every game this season. It is obviously a huge disappointment to be relegated, however, I am content that next season will be a bit more fun in terms of winning more games. I think we have to aim for at least the playoffs given we won the league two years since, but aside from monetary benefits, I’d be happy with losing in the playoffs really. Key Players Patsy Bennett 12 – Considering we were low scoring this season Bennett had a fantastic return, 7 goals and 5 assists is a great showing. Weirdly, I am now retraining him as a defensive midfielder rather than attacking but given his contribution I doubt he will play in the more defensive areas. Darren Kerr 7 – It was obviously a pretty miserable season defensively, but Kerr still put in some admirable performances he ended up with 5 league clean sheets but even when conceding generally he wasn’t really at fault for the goals. He’s also surpassed 500 all time appearances for the club taking him second on the rankings. Kyle McKenzie 11 – McKenzie has been a consistent performer for the last 4 seasons for us, just missing out on key player for the season status in previous seasons. This season again he was a strong player for us in defensive midfield.

Ilkeston Town - Season 17 – Sky Bet Championship– 1st Promoted Transfers -- Squad -- League No major outgoings, but a star of yesteryear did leave the club Gary O’Brien 5 His first season after coming through the intake in the national league north was prolific, 31 goals and 8 assists. In fact, all seasons he played in non-league he hit at least 18 goal contributions aside from one off season. He never really was good enough beyond that and ultimately found himself slipping down the pecking order and £350k was a health amount to get for him. It was an ok start to the season but not great, winning two and losing two of our opening 4, but then went on a 10 game unbeaten run to see us challenging in and amongst the playoffs. We maintained strong form but it there was a few more defeats dotted around than our previous game spell but were generally hanging around 2nd even still. In January however, we just started being incredibly hard to beat and more often than not won the games we played in fact winning 12 of 15 games from January perhaps more impressively 11 of those wins were without conceding. That run of form propelled us to within touching distance of promotion when we came to play 2nd placed Reading. We needed to avoid defeat to win promotion and to win for confirmed winner of the league. Their goalkeeper must have wanted us to win as within 3 minutes he had passed the ball to our striker twice for 2-0. They did pull it back to 2-2 but we did grab the winner to win the league with 3 games to spare. Youth Intake Underwhelming intake to say the least only really one player worth noting. Ahmed El-Akchaoui 17 – Our coaches are pretty keen on him but currently he doesn’t fit that well into how we play. I think I will maybe retrain him as an attacking playmaker as it probably suits his attributes more than an out and out striker. Overview We improved our training facilities again this year but the board would not agree to improvement in the youth facilities, but with Prem riches we should hopefully start getting more and more requests approved. I’m probably expecting to be relegated straight back down next season which is fine as we will be financially set in that instance, but avoiding relegation would be incredible. Key Players Dalton Sergeant 10 – A strong season from one of our attacking midfielders consistently performing well and having his best scoring season with 11 goals in the league, add to that 8 assists and it was a strong season especially as comparably this was a low scoring season for us. Josh Buckley 7 – One of our longest serving first team players and his performances show why he is still in the team. Defensively as a team on the whole this was our best ever season only 35 goals conceded and he was a large part of that. Darren Kerr 7 – Like Buckley, a long term servant of the club in goal and he had his best ever season for us managing 23 clean sheets in the league which is very good going. He actually prevented over 18 xG in the process. He’s signed a new long term deal which is good as we’ve had no one really any close to him come through the intake.

Just noticed this in my save Brighton got relegated from the Premier League last season whilst winning the Europa League so are playing in the Championship whilst in the Champions League

Ilkeston Town - Season 16 – Sky Bet Championship– 12th Transfers -- Squad -- League A few outgoings this season, two of which were very frustrating. Paul Smith 12 A player who has featured once of the bench for us amongst some underwhelming loan spells so I was happy for him to leave for £900k. I didn’t get any sell on clauses in his contract but I suspect he’ll eventually leave Norwich on a free transfer. Arron Lee Clarridge 13 Clarridge was a player who I thought could develop into a good player for us, but he had barely developed since coming through so when teams came sniffing I took the chance to get a good price for him. £3.9m with 40% of profit is a good deal, though I don’t think he will be sold for profit if he continues his development path that he had with us. Reco O’Dea 13 Deadline day, and the board accepted an offer without me even having the chance to protest nor renegotiate. O’Dea had become our first choice central midfielder managing 9 assists in the league and was developing well, but the board, as ever, jumped at the money. It was ok amount, but I would have rather kept him - £8.5m rising to £10.75m and a sell on fee. Jared Carline 12 Deadline day sale number 2. As above, the board accepted an offer with me having no say and following our starting midfielder out the door was our starting defender as we lost two of our best players on one day. We got £6.5m rising to £8.75m with sell on fee promised. We started the season pretty well 7 points from our opening 4 games was a return I was happy with as a newly promoted team. However, we then decided that we didn’t want to play for a month as we lost 5 league games on the spin despite not really being outperformed in them. Thankfully, after that, we did win and started putting up some strong form winning more often than not. We even put on an unlikely charge towards the playoffs before we decided to have another month of not playing as we lost 5 of 6 games which ruined any outside chance we had. Youth Intake Not the best of intakes, but a few players who look an ok prospect. Luke Daly 16 – The pick of the bunch, he could be trained as a Striker, but I will be training him as a right back as he looks to have good attributes to be a strong option there. He has a poor personality which is a shame but that’s something that can be fixed. Jordan Rennie 16 – A centre back prospect, who could have something about him. He will need to improve his physicals to be a real option for the first team. Overview The board eventually agreed to improve our training facilities which should complete in the off season. There again has been murmurings of a takeover which yet again didn’t go anywhere. I hope we do get a takeover as the board are really frustrating me in selling players. Despite only moving into our new stadium 3 years ago, and an expansion capacity of almost double it’s current capacity the board have also decided that a new stadium is a fantastic use of club resources. Little detail about it yet so I expect it will probably end up being scrapped, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a new stadium so soon. Next season I think we should be aiming for a midtable position again and to try and continue to improve our reputation and consolidate at this level. Key Players Josh Buckley 7 – Buckley’s had his best ever season for us contributing 2 goals and we had our best ever defensive performance this season, 48 goals conceded in the league which was the 5th best in the league. Patsy Bennett 12 – Another strong season from Bennett, 9 goals and 7 assists is a positive return. He’s one I could see interest in so I have offered him a new contract which should hopefully allow us to keep him. Kyle MacKenzie 11 – MacKenzie put in some great performances from defensive midfield, he only managed 1 direct goal involvement but his role was more defense minded which he did well in.

Ilkeston Town - Season 15 – Sky Bet League 1– 4th Promoted via Playoff Transfers -- Squad -- League One sale this season Shaun Cole 10 Yet another player that the board sold from under me, though for Cole, I am not really that disappointed as we received £5m for a player who was not close to challenging the first team after 3 years out on loan, if the board didn’t accept the offer I would have anyway. We played really well this season, last season particularly despite us making the playoffs we weren’t really a good team, just picked up the points. This season I was very happy with how we were playing. Most of the games this season we felt like we were in with a chance not getting massively outplayed all season. In fact, through the entire season we only lost by more than one goal on two occasions. The main issue we had this season was perhaps losing or drawing those close games when often we were the better team in them which ultimately cost us automatic promotion. Coming into the playoff campaign I was actually fairly confident based on how we had played in the season despite losing our previous 9 playoff campaigns. In the end we dominated the first leg of the semi-final only to concede a later equaliser before a much more even second leg where we just about managed to gain the upper hand after going behind late in the first half. The final drew us against a side that we had lost only once to in our 13 previous encounters including a previous playoff victory over them in the National League. We were very good in the final perhaps a little poor in front of goal, but the final in the end was as one sided as a 1-0 victory could be as they didn’t really have much of a look in – their goalkeeper getting the player of the match award. Youth Intake Nothing much to write home about on this intake, though the preview did suggest it was not going to be a great one. Pedro Rodrigues 15 – The pick of the bunch, and really he’s not too bad, good passing and technique makes me think he could develop into a good midfielder for us. Thankfully we do have a lot of depth in midfield now so he has plenty time to develop before he might be called upon. Chidi Udoka 15 – We have not had many decent potential goalkeepers through in recent years at all so I’m happy enough with Udoka. His goalkeeping attributes are all very middling, but maybe there is a good option there Overview We have improved the youth and training facilities this year with training facilities in the process of being upgraded again and the board have agreed to improve our youth level which will hopefully enhance our intakes. Survival will obviously be the aim for next season, my starting eleven is getting stronger, but in reserve we do not have all too much in the way of quality in depth in most positions. Key Players Dalton Sergeant 10 – Sergeant had a lot of injury issues this season which saw him miss out on 16 league games, despite this he still recorded 19 goal involvements with 7 goals and 12 assists maintaining his year on year performance improvement. He won the league one player of the season award thanks to his performances this year. Patsy Bennett 12 – Bennett had spent last season out on loan in the lower leagues where this season he nailed down a starting spot with, like Sergeant, 19 goal involvements this time flipped, 12 goals and 7 assists including the winner in the playoff semi-final. Gary Joyce 10 – There was a point earlier in the season that Joyce looked far away from being a key player this season – we were facing a team where there striker had just hit his 24th in all competitions whilst he had mustered only 4 – thankfully he then hit 5 in the cup and didn’t look back. He eventually ended the season on 32 league goals including the playoff final winner.

Ilkeston Town - Season 14 – Sky Bet League 1– 6th Lost Playoff Semi-Final Transfers -- Squad -- League Some more outgoings this season Lefteris Ioannou 10 I was looking to sell Ioannou this season as last January when we rejected bids he proceded to be absent for 2 matchdays and we have a decent roster of fullbacks. Unfortunately though, the board prevented me from getting as much as I otherwise would for him as they just accepted an offer from under me, it was still a healthy £1.7m (and we cashed in an additional £1.4m from buying sellons) but this season the board have tried selling so many players from under me. Scott Wild 11 Another player which was sold because the board just accepted an offer. It was a good amount - £2.4m – for a player who had not really developed that much, but it is still frustrating not having control of the transfer offers. It was a weird season as we started out ok, but just weren’t really matching our results to performances with the majority of the season we were well under our expected goals and points floating around in upper mid-table. We did tweak our formation a little bit which did start to improve our fortunes a little. Eventually though, we were looking very underwhelming a lot of the time, keeping a lot of the ball but barely even having shots – thankfully though we did often enough over the course of games do enough to win ultimately finishing in 6th and the playoffs. We again did not have a good playoff campaign, in the first leg, we were arguably the second best team but equalised in the 89th minute to enter the second leg level. The second leg we were second best from the off conceding inside 15 minutes and didn’t have a single look in until they went down to 10 in the 52nd minute and then we got a 74th minute penalty. After that we created disappointingly little against 10 men and the tie ultimately ended on penalties where we lost. Youth Intake I was underwhelmed with this intake, the preview suggested ‘A’ rated players in 4 or 5 positions, and we didn’t really get that. I immediately sacked my HoYD after this intake as his past few have not been great. Alex Ingram 14 – Our best striker through – an area we have very few prospects – he has some ok attributes, but nothing that suggests he will be our answer up top. He can probably develop enough to end up a more supporting striker but not so convinced. Benjamin Abdul 14 – Central midfield option but needs to improve on his attributes to have much chance of making a first team impact. A good personality will hopefully mean he will develop nicely though. Overview We are currently improving both our Youth and Training Facilities so hopefully that will bring some improvement to the playing squad in the coming years. There were no takeover murmurings this season, though I would welcome a new chairman who doesn’t try sell everyone. At the end of his contract, leading appearance maker Timmy Browne 1 who made 595 appearances (529 league), has decided to leave, which whilst it is a shame, he is not really of the quality that we need to go to the next level. I do worry for next season actually, I’m not really convinced that we’ll be able to manage playoffs next term as we have not often looked convincing this season. I may need to do some tactical tweaks to try and improve our productivity. Key Players Josh Buckley 7 – Solid enough performer for us at the back he and Ojo are pretty much our starting centre back partnership now, especially as Browne is moving to pastures new. Gary Joyce 10 – Joyce last season played on the wing, this season he played as our out and out striker managing 34 league goals which is a great showing, unfortunately, he often puts in terrible performances when he’s not amongst the goals and we don’t have any real back up. Dalton Sergeant 10 – Sergeant put in some good performances this season managing to score 4 and assist 9 and is developing pretty well. He’s improved performances year on year so I’m hopeful he can do the same next time out.

Ilkeston Town - Season 13 – Sky Bet League 1– 4th Lost Playoff Final Transfers -- Squad -- League I started the season with a formation change which I thought might get the best out of my squad. We were getting ok results with it, but largely we were not really playing well in those games even if we won them so ultimately I switched back to the formation that has served us well so far despite lack of depth to play it. It worked almost immediately as we started to push upwards towards the playoffs however, it wasn’t without it’s inconsistencies that we had seen in seasons prior with us just going on some runs where we looked just awful. However, there was more good games than bad and we were actually challenging to get automatic promotion but we did have a shaky end to the season which saw us qualify only for the playoffs. We lost in the first leg of the semi-final before a good performance in the 2nd leg secured us a spot at Wembley and a chance for promotion. The final was pretty one sided with Hull having all of the chances until we took the lead and inexplicably doubled our lead shortly into the second half. Unfortunately Hull fought back with a goal and just as it looked as though we’d held on a 90+3 minute direct freekick took the game to extra time. Hull had the chances in extra time and even got a penalty in the first half which we saved before conceding from the resultant corner. 8 playoffs we have played now, not a single success. Youth Intake I’m a bit disappointed with the intake this time out, we did get a couple players who maybe will have some potential, but largely not fantastic. Aaron Lee Clarridge 13 – We do lack a lot of depth up front with so I am hopeful that Clarridge can develop to be a good option for us up front. Technically and physically he’s fairly strong but does need to develop his mentals. Reco O’Dea 13 – O’Dea perhaps will develop into a good midfielder he does have some good attributes in the correct areas though will need to develop physically to make an impact on the first team. Shane McKenzie 13 - Similar somewhat to O’Dea, he does have some ok attributes, but he will need to develop a lot to be an option for us in midfield. Overview Nothing has really changed on the club infrastructure side, though there has been some murmurings of a board takeover which so far haven’t been forthcoming. Next season, I guess we have to aim for the top 2 positions in the league, we’ve shown that we are comfortable competing towards the top end of the table but I do not have confidence in my teams consistency if we had to face the playoffs again. Key Players Gary Joyce 10 – A fantastic season from Joyce 16 goals and 16 assists in the league and developing nicely. We have been receiving multiple transfer offers for him and I anticipate this to continue so hopefully the board don’t decide to accept any from under me. Darren Kerr 7 – Kerr again has had another great season for the club which is good because we still lack any sort of back up in the goalkeeping position. He did concede more than the season prior but not by many and that’s not really his fault per se. Josh Buckley 7 – Buckley maintained his position as one of our starting centre backs and had another solid season. His heading is still a big question mark over his overall longevity in the team but for now he is performing fairly well.

Ilkeston Town - Season 12 – Sky Bet League 1– 7th Transfers -- Squad -- League This season we had our first two major sales. Orhan Cetinkaya 7 In the summer we got a bit of a bidding war for Cetinkaya as eventually we accepted a £3.4m offer from Leeds with 50% of next sale. Physically he was a very good player, but technically he was lacking a bit so I was happy enough with the fee we brought in. Ethan Humphries 10 Our best player, but as soon as the January window came about he was demanding a move so again I started a bidding war. Unfortunately, my board do not understand bidding wars as they decided to accept several offers that were ‘too good to turn down’ before I managed to attract offers of twice what we ultimately sold him for. £6.25m in the end was his fee, but with a 50% of next fee included and he’s already worth over £30m so this could be fruitful. Our first game was away against one of the promotion favourites but it seems we did not get the memo as we won 5-0. It seems it was a bit flash in the pan as we 4 of the next 6 (6 of 8 in all competitions). But streaky it seems we were as we ended our poor form with a 6-1 victory. We did eventually go on some fairly good form as we were flirting with the top 6 for pretty much the entire season never really falling out of the 6-9th position in the league. Towards the end of the season we unfortunately laboured to draws in games that we were comfortably the better team and whilst on the last game of the season after 14 minutes we went 6th in the live league table as we took the league, we again drew on the final day – though it wouldn’t have mattered as 6th place team won their final game in the end. The big disappointment this season was that per the xG table we should have scored an additional 10 goals this season. Youth Intake Not the most sold on this intake, but there are players that look to have some potential, but mainly at full back where we have a fair amount of strength. Paul Smith 12 – An ok looking left back though his dribbling I think is a big weakness for him to be that effective there. I think he could end up in the midfield as he doesn’t shape up too badly with his attributes there. Jared Carline 12 – A good prospect in central defense he’s already our centre back with the 2nd best heading. He has good base attributes though so I can see him becoming an important player for us in the future. Patrick Elnar 12 - Another fullback again with not fantastic dribbling and again who could end up in the midfield. Per the intake news item Elnar was considered the best player of the intake and he his mental attributes are certainly pretty strong. Overview With our big sales this season we have managed to get both Youth Facilities upgraded, and training facilities in the process of being upgraded. We have announced also that we will be building a new 10,000 capacity stadium which will be completed in a year. Next season, I am contemplating changing my formation which, considering the success outr current formation has brought us is a bit risky, but I feel with the increased number of defensive players that are coming through it may be time to move to a 3 at the back formation. Key Players Josh Buckley 7 – The first season that Timmy Browne 1 has not been our stand out defender. Buckley this season has cemented himself as our best defender playing pretty consistently well. His lack of heading ability does sometimes cause us a bit of an issue but ultimately a good season. Darren Kerr 7 – Kerr over the past season has developed very well and had a good season despite conceding 61 he managed 13 clean sheets . We were fielding bids for him in the summer and January, but he is irreplaceable right now as there is no real strong back up. DeAndre Reid 8 – When he wasn’t suspended which was unfortunately more than I would hope, Reid had a great season from right back. 7 assists is a good showing, but I think next season he may have less as if we change formation he might end up moving to play as centre back.

Ilkeston Town - Season 11 – Sky Bet League 2– 3rd Promoted Transfers -- Squad -- League We started life in professional football on fire, our opening 7 games saw us concede just 2 (two 1-1 draws) and win 5 which was beyond what we could have hoped for. Any hopes of walking away with the league were cut out before they could really be fostered however as we lost 4 of our next six. Our true form was somewhere in the middle of the two mentioned above as we won more often than not but did have a few losses and draws as we spent most of the season hovering around 3rd and 4th spot. As the season was reaching it’s conclusion however, we did go on some strong form and looked like we could even challenge for the title before 1 win from our next 6 instead threatened our automatic promotion position with us needing Wycombe to drop points from at least one of their last 2. In the end they dropped points from both as we returned to winning ways to secure promotion on the final day. Youth Intake Another pretty strong intake with a couple of midfielders which we have missed from many of the previous intakes. Matthew Taylor 11 – Taylor is comfortably the best midfielder we have come through the intake in maybe 4 seasons at least, perhaps longer. He does need some improvement in his physical attributes but he will be in and around the first team next season providing some much needed depth in the middle of the park. Scott Wild 11 – Another prospect in the striker position. He could probably do a job in the first team immediately, but we do have decent depth there so he will have time to improve. Again, he’s a little weak physically, I think he needs a bit more pace to be fully effective. Vernon Allard 11 - A decent looking right back, which is actually and area that we are pretty strong in, but Allard looks pretty well rounded to provide even more selection headaches there. It could ultimately allow for our current first choice right back to move to centre back which I think he can perform well at. Overview This season we got a board take over however it was just an internal takeover, though they have provided a couple of cash injections as we are losing money at quite a rapid rate. We did nearly make our first major sale this season as the board accepted a £500k rising to 900k offer for Cetinkaya which we couldn’t protest nor renegotiate so I offered him out and received a £1.3m offer. Cetinkaya then decided he didn’t want to leave and rejected both teams in for him. Next season, we have to aim for survival once more but I’m quietly confident that we will be able to survive fairly comfortably however, I am wary that the board might sell some of our players from under us. Key Players Ethan Humphries 10 – Only came in last intake and was considered the best player in League 2 this season by the media dream XI. He managed 23 goals and 7 assists this season which was enough for him to be 2nd top scorer in the league. I don’t expect to hold onto him for too long as he’s very good. Timmy Browne 1 – I fear that Browne’s days are numbered as our first choice centre back as we climb the leagues however, he still had a solid enough season for us. He has now also claimed the record for the most league appearances for the club reaching 424. Orhan Cetinkaya 7 – Cetinkaya had his most prolific season for the club with 16 goals and 8 assists in all competitions mostly from the left wing. I would be tempted to try him out at Striker should we lose Humphries although he has not the best finishing.