KibworthBull

February 2029 A nice quirk in this save, we are unable to arrange friendlies between November and the end of January which means that match sharpness falls off a cliff. Something to do with when the youth teamers go on holiday. It's a pain in the arsenal. In February we can put friendlies in and give the squad some football. Away to Benesov is a tough place to start, they sit 3rd. It was not even a contest... Only 3 of our players are considered "Good" for this level. I don't see why the board think anything better than Relegation candidates is where we are at. Vltavin B are in the relegation zone so it's a point which does us more favours than them. They bought travelling numbers though which was a nice boost. Record attendance. 6th is probably our ceiling. 7 games to go, we play both of the bottom two again as well as the side top of the table.

January 2029 It's the battle of the louns to start of 2029. Our in-ability to hit a barn door with a banjo right now is costing us. A third straight loss. Rado showing his teeth by releasing one of the 1st intake, Tomáš Dort (1A), after 94 games, he's not featured for two seasons and is not likely again. He was on an amateur deal too, so no money was saved, it was just a chance for Rado to be mean. The other match in the month was at home to Sokolov B - 3rd in the table. Petr Polák (6C) came in for his debut in goal - the decision to drop Vladimír Vostárek (4A) was not an easy one, but it feels like the correct call. A victory and even Tomáš Kotrba (4M) helped himself to a goal. A massive victory. 9 more matches remaining. I would hope 30 points will be enough, so that will mean 7 points from those 9 matches.

December 2028 2 matches, both in the "winnable" category. And also, a first look at an intake. Nikola Ćirić (4O) got us off to a flier, but sadly it was a case of scoring too early. Varsim B coming back to get the Double U.. And yeah.. Tatran were in the relegation zone. A bad defeat. We are 8 points clear of the drop zone. Relegation surely should NOT be on the cards from this position. The intake is classed as "Excellent", strength all over the pitch. We never seem to get left backs.

The positive is that its lowered expectation slightly and allows the narrative to cull some players

Get rid. At this level you can always find better - especially at the end of a season. Raid the reject bin from prem academies and you can build a new squad each year

November 2028 Two game months have now kicked in. Really tough start, away at Dobris, 2nd in table. Not helped with 4 players away on International Duty. We stunk the place out and converted a penalty. A big victory, new manager bounce is real folks.. It's all about Jerry Petitjean (6F), our Haitian, 4 more goals to consign Bohumin to defeat. Up to 6th Rado has been busy in his first couple of weeks, sacking Assistant Manager Radek Petrášek after 3 years, and replacing him with Bohumil Wiesner. A huge upgrade Performance Analyst Jaromír Valenta and Coach Jakub Malý have also been given their P45s - no replacements forthcoming for these two. Jakub was fitness coach (fitness = 1) for 6 years.

October 2028 part 2.. Boothby had a reputation for being Attacking, gung ho, and try and outscore the opposition. 124 goals in 43 matches. Radoslaw will do things in a more relaxed, defensively rigid approach. Nikola Ćirić (4O) was bought into the fold for the first time this season and he responded with a double and we get the 3 points and Chomutov are put in their place. 7th and mid-table

Chapter 3.. Former player Radosław Banaszak has been appointed as the new manager after he retired - although he appeared to lie about his age somewhere along the line... The board have decided that mid-table will be enough. Let's hope Rado can do the biz..

October 2028 Dressing Room Angst.. Another international in the ranks - Dimitris Nikolopoulos (6A) gets his nod for Greece. He's another that has switched nationality, so that's 14 we've produced. 2 goals in the last 5 minutes turned a 1-0 win into a 2-1 defeat against Tochovice and immedieately the board requested a word. Unbelievable! Harsh... A 65% win percentage is clearly not good enough! The 2nd chapter ends 9th in the 4th tier.

September 2028 More International Stars - Talgat Suleimenov (6B) makes his Kazakhstan U21 debut, and Dimitris Nikolopoulos (6A) was asked to join the Greece U19s but didn't feature. Which meant we were without 4 players for the match against Ústí nad Labem B, top of the tree, so the defeat was no surprise. We seem to be playing all the inform teams at the minute, a real dilly-ding dong tie against Cizova ended against us. These guys know nothing.. 3 defeats in a month.

Real Life Christmas done. Crap Football Performance endured. Time to go to the Czech Republic.. August 2028 Banik Sokolov B are HUGE favourites for the title, like us they are unbeaten. A very even game and we were the one that lost our 100% record. There are a lot of vultures circling our big talents. Vladimír Vostárek (4A) turns down a deal with a 2nd tier side to commit to us for a bit longer. Big nationality news - Talgat Suleimenov (6B) has decided he is a Kazakhstani and not a Czech, so becomes the 13th nation we've produced. At times during the Benesov match we were 0-2 and 2-3, so to come out with a 3-3 draw is a good result. A no-win month, but another point in the final game, Jerry Petitjean (6F) with a late goal. A month that shows that back to back promotion is probably not happening but we should have more than enough to stay at this level without much concern.

July 2028 We enter Czech Fourth Division B and the board want us to achieve a top half finish. We are also in the Czech FA Cup for the first time. I've already checked and there is no money for winning games until the 4th round. We are in the Qualifying round. Vlasim B are our first tier 4 test, and 2 unexpected players passed with flying colours. Antoine Lecocq (4F) got man of the match - remember that bit in the previous post about Left Back being a problem area, and goal-shy Tomáš Kotrba (4M) scored the only goal of the game. Dimi holds the record across 2 levels now. Another Kotrba goal and we are two from two. I'm starting to gauge that the gap in between T5 and T4 isn't very big, we may not be at this level for too long (in a good way) Louny were dispatched as well. Our first ever FA Cup tie finished the month and it was against Police nad Metuji - as far as I can tell they are not a Police team. The market town is actually called Police nad Metuji. They are the same level as us so feeling very confident. I want to report a theft... no idea how we didn't win.. okay, well I do know, we didn't score and they did.. but you know what I mean. Most of our squad are in discussions with clubs at our level right now - the perils of playing well and being Non-Contract - still can't actually offer players any money, but assuming everyone else at the level is in the same boat. The only player we lost between seasons was Michal Rataj (2D), our 4th choice keeper, who went to Sibrina (T5) First game in August is away to Sokolov B, the massively overriding favourites for the league. That will show where we are.

2027/28 Review Promotion in Boothby Graffoe's first season in charge, the 7th season of the save. We are no longer on the bottom rung Attendances were down but our twitter followers are up! Most Wins, Most Goals and Most Points in a season Financial positions means we are unable to improve any of the key metrics for youth only saves, but our coaching and recruitment will be far better than most at the new level 2 players recieved international recognition - Tony Thomas (5D) - 8 caps for Gibraltar U21s and Rostislav Tarlovskiy (5B), 2 caps for Belarus U21s - ticks off an achievement on the save!! Goalkeepers: All about one man. Vladimír Vostárek (4A) didn't miss a single minute of the season. He'll be No.1 for the forseable future. Left Back: Our problem area. Both Caner Can (4E) and Antoine Lecocq (4F) shared the responsibility but neither really performed. We need one of the 6 we have to step up and claim that No.3 shirt Right Back: Very stable, Zdeněk Cibulka (4C) is one of the best players at the club and is the reason we didn't sign any of the Yr6 Right Back options Centre Back: 15 goals from our Centre Halves last season, slightly abnormal numbers as Martin Levcik (4B) is one of our penalty takers. He was a regular, and worked mainly alongside Michal Selicha (2B). I expect Jaromir Vosahilik (6D) to challenge them next season. Left Midfield: I love it when an original stays the course and Miroslav Majer (1E) is still doing the business, I really hope he can make the step up to the 4th tier. All of the chasing pack are decent enough, but are not Miro.. Right Midfield: Vaclav Rehak (5F) will feel agrieved, he didn't put a foot wrong and along came Dimi Nikolopoulos (6A) and he's been relegated to the bench. Think how Kim Cahill (1D) feels! Same boat, older shoes. An area of the pitch where we have real strength. Centre Midfield: It's whoever plays with Pavel Koubek (5A) in the middle, he only missed 1 game. Lukas Kindlmann (4H) and Rostislav Tarlovskiy (5B) shared the duties, Lukas in the 2nd half of the season. Jan Vajs (4D) is a fantastic little player but is an AMC, which we don't really use so he plays mainly from the bench. Strikers: Tomas Kotrba (4M) is our best striker on paper, he just doesn't seem overly keen to score too many goals - especially compared to Jan Stochl (4N). If you look at the letter values for each of the player then they are never that good when they first arrive. Jerry Petitjean (6F) could become some player if he gets a good run at it. The Challenge: The Map: Our first foray into North America - a small green splodge for Haiti. Poland and Norway are orange because we've had a player, but they are yet to play.

May 2028 2 games left, 1 win and we are champions (with our goal difference) 5 players are suspended for the trip to Banik Albrechtice, these guys are 4th and they were the side that beat Roudnice nad Labem. We are 11 games unbeaten. We never stood a chance... It's all level. With one to play. I've been in this position before - it didn't end well last time. One man who will be working at a higher level next season is Vojtěch Dvořák - our HoYD has moved up a level to Kolin. It all hinges on Libus. A win and we are champions. A draw and it could be enough - even a defeat could be enough IF Roudnice nad Labem do the unthinkable and lose. Which they wont. Breathe.. Breathe.. Roudnice nad Labem drew... 5-5... they were 0-2, 2-2, 2-3, 4-3, 4-5 and then 5-5 in the 91st minute. A step forward - or maybe one back - costs will rise, so facilities wont improve. But if we can tie down our best players then we might be able to become a selling club!

April 2028 April Fools Day - away to 3rd in the table. Will we be laughing by the end of it? 2 Yr6 graduates in the starting line up, 3 more on the bench. Dimitris Nikolopoulos (6A) makes himself an instant hero - after squandering a 2-0 lead, our Czech/Greek scores a 91st minute winner. Roudnice nad Labem won as well. Batov sit bottom of the table. Quite frankly, anything other than a win and we don't deserve promotion. At 0-1 questions were being asked, but FINALLY Tomáš Kotrba (4M) has found a little bit of form - a hat-trick but most importantly another 3 points. Roudnice nad Labem won as well. We've all seen enough rags to riches tales to know there has to be a twist somewhere. I didn't show off Jerry Petitjean (6F), our new Haitian player, I will now. A massive hattrick in only his 3rd game. Roudnice nad Labem won as well. 2 more games left. 1 win will do it.

March 2028 Death or Glory.. 7 games left - they are all winnable. But we've won the last 6 so I predict we will blink at some point. Polepy are 14th and in terrible form. 54 minutes on the clock and 1-1 and everyone was a little bit twitchy but sub Aleš Nečas (5N) helped ease worries. The biggest news came when we got back to the dressing room. Roudnice nad Labem lost. Xaverov B are 15th - but their seniors are at a higher level so we might catch a better side than we would normally face. It took us 5 minutes to sow up the game. A very calm 4-0 Roudnice nad Labem clearly decided that they still had some fight in them - they destroyed Batov 5-2. 5 games left to play Youth Intake: We've improved our Right Wing straight away with Dimi and there is potentially 3 more nations to tick off once they have played for the side. Dimitris Nikolopoulos (6A) Talgat Suleimenov (6B) - we don't currently utilise AMC in the tactic so Talgat will either work on being a Striker, or focus on RW, but Dimi will be ahead of him.

Tighter than a ducks... It will either be our greatest triumph or another dusting down of the CV

February 2028 The win last month will mean NOTHING if we drop points against the lesser teams. Cliche alert.. Cliche alert.. It did mean something as Predni Kopanina are dispatched - the chaser won as well so it's as you were. 5 straight victories have certainly improved the boards opinion of me - but 1 defeat will change that. My word... We so nearly let Petrin Plzen in - we were done at 2-0 and then let them back into it to level it up but as ever, Miroslav Majer (1E) comes up with something to give us the win. Another unbeaten month One of us or Roudnice nad Labem is going to be sooooo p*****d at the end of the season.

January 2028. Happy new year. I'll make a prediction. If Lounovice are still playing in the Lower Division in 2029, Boothby Graffoe will be back in England, playing his gigs and making lots of people laugh. As Jan Štochl (4N) smashed in his 4th I did start to question whether he could save some goals for the next match maybe? Tomáš Kotrba (4M) is our best striker on paper, but 4 goals in 16 is not the return we need, this goal against Sparta Brno was his first in the league since August. Defeat against Roudnice nad Labem doesn't officially finish us off, but we would be 6pts behind them with 9 games remaining. A draw helps them more than us. Jan the man DID have another goal in his locker. We went behind but powered back to take it 3-1. Simply HUGE!!!! 9 games left, we now have the simple(!) task of just having a better record than 2nd and 3rd in those matches.

December 2027 One game in December, We are missing 75% of our regular defenders We've got Jan Štochl (4N) and that gives us a chance at times. UNBEATEN MONTH!!!! Fine it's one game. But my fragile ego needed it. Our 42 points would top 7 of the 10 groups.. We host Roudnice nad Labem in January. Difficult to judge the intake quality of course.. We need a Left Back - none forthcoming, so a training mission on the WB No DMs - our two are really good but need some depth. 3 strikers - I really need one to be capable of scoring 25-30 goals next season

November 2027 We now hit the winter months, which means 2 games a month until the Spring Sprungs. Knives are out. I suspect Filip will be quite vocal for a while.. Rostislav Tarlovskiy (5B) has been selected for the Belarus U21s which is great for him, but we will miss him for our game. It's a tough one to start. Away at 4th place Ceska Trebova. The board and the fans are already grumbling about the results. The only positive about our defeat was that Roudnice nad Labem could only draw. Sumperk scacred the living daylights out of me. After 20 minutes we were 2 nil down. Before I had chance to create a back story for the next lamb to the slaughter, we had pulled it back to 2-2 thanks to Kim Cahill (1D) on his first start of the season with a double. Sub Ladislav Meszaros (4K) (on for Cahill) made it extra safe late on. 3 points is the gap

October 2027 A 5 game month. Batov were 16th and bottom and the old skool did the biz (or Miroslav Majer 1E as he is known... HOW the frick he was the 5th best when he came through...) Holeslov was a fixture that I feared when they were 100% after 6, after slipping to 4th it's less of a stress match but we still need to do the business. A partial success, a point. Results mean our lead extends to 3pts. This appears to be a needlessly dropping points month - Banik Albrechtice leave our ground with a fair share. It's 9 games unbeaten but the lead is back down to a single point. Whatever ultimately happens this season has been better than last season - by this stage we were already playing catch up. The last game of the month was a shocker. Our first defeat in 11. We are 2nd. Our first toys out of the pram moment for a few seasons. He's not played all season but has played a good part of the journey to date.

September 2027 A big blow for one of our originals - at a key development time, this injury will probably kill off the slim chance he had of playing again on a regular basis. My heart really cannot take it when we play like this.. against Xaverov B, we dominated, scored and then gave away a soft penalty, massively struggled to find another opening until the 92nd minute when Martin Levčík (4B) converted a penalty of our own. Officially our first international at any level No such heart murmours with Tony back in the squad against Petrin Plzen - all the goals in the first half and we could coast in the second. Holesov lost to 2 late goals. We go to the top of the tree. Nikola Ćirić (4O) has played precisely 12 minutes of football this season - still long enough to get us our 3rd win of the month. A perfect month in the end The only team to beat us this season are 2pts behind us. Holesov who won their first 6 games have fallen away.

Well it's either promotion or a 3rd Chapter, 4th Chapter, 5th Chapter... might get a couple of books out of the save at this rate!

August 2027 Prior to Humpolec we had won 6 out of 6 (3 last, 3 this).. They were also 3 played, 3 lost.. You can see where this is going... For 7 minutes I wasn't concerned, for 28 I was very worried, BUT the force appears to be strong with us this year. Old Boy (yes really...) Miroslav Majer (1E) the star performer. Roudnice nad Labem were our first big test - Semi Pro and recently relegated from the 4th tier. We failed it... Majer (1E) seeing red for the second time in his career, a stat which makes him our dirtiest player. A chance to bounce back and meet an old friend? A ding-dong tie, ultimately decided by 6'5 striker Aleš Nečas (5N) in the last few minutes of the game. A first for us.. He's only 15 so will need to take his parents with him. We cannot afford to drop many points. We snatch a late draw at Kopanina, we were 0-2 at one stage so could have been much worse. Holesov dropped their first points of the season as well. We play them in October. It's already a must win.