DaneBramage

Newport County - September 2027 A loss to Wrexham is never ideal, and it's especially disappointing after finishing so far ahead of them last year. But any suggestion that we may have taken a step back was forgotten about when we managed to hold Cardiff to a draw (despite them having four times our xG), and then we beat Swansea too. It looked like 27a Mark Regan had scored the only goal of the game, but they equalised in the 90th minute. The crowd erupted just seconds later when Rio Pemberton grabbed the winner directly from the restart. We've also progressed in both cups with the second-string getting a couple of run outs, though it did need the hairdryer treatment at half-time to turn things around against Barry Town. Incredibly, 15 year old 27a Mark Regan already has 10 goals this season, and Basilio Rieno-Socoliche is also in double-figures for assists. Swansea are setting the early place, and we're not too far behind. Wrexham are also looking strong. Cardiff are eight points behind, but they should never be written off and do have three games in hand. Being the only side still in European competition might harm them though.

Newport County - August 2027 Not the most taxing of months to start the domestic season. An easy win in the league cup, then three victories with clean sheets in the league. But the flipside of an easy August is that September will be tougher.

Newport County - July 2027 The early rounds of Conference League qualifying are a coin flip. You could get a tiny club from some footballing backwaters, or a decent side from a mid-sized league. In the first qualifying round the draw went in our favour, battering Fola Esch from Luxembourg. With the job done in the first leg 27a Mark Regan started the home fixture and scored his first goals for the club. But the coin flip went the other way in the second qualifying round. We managed a very respectable home draw against Gent, but then got a hammering away in Belgium. So this year's European adventure didn't last very long, but at least we received £776k for our troubles.

Newport County - July 2027 A few back-ups left, along with Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko when his loan deal expired. I thought we'd agreed a deal to sign him permanently, but he made a last-minute decision to move to Colombia instead. I've said before I don't like players who can play in both defence or midfield, then I go ahead and sign Jake Rooney (DC/MC, English, 24). Amateur mistake. Good player, but he'll probably spend most of his time on the bench. The only other signing was Rio Pemberton (AMRLC/ST, English, 22) when he was released by Preston. Again, due to being able to play so many positions he'll probably be a sub, but should get lots of gametime. I need to sign a goalie, probably on loan, just to make sure I have some cover. Otherwise it's just last year's second-choice now starting, then a 17 year old.

Some of these scorelines are like dice football, could be anything. I did a journeyman a while back where I learned 23 different languages, so there's a target for you to beat.

2026/27 Wales wrap-up Domestic Competitions: Under new manager Danny Cowley Cardiff made it three league titles in a row, and made it a double by beating Pontypridd 8-0 in the Welsh Cup final. Wrexham won their first trophy since the move back to Wales, beating Swansea on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the League Cup final. Trophy Totals and Manager Hall of Fame Welsh Clubs in Europe: A great year all round, hopefully the coefficient is improved enough for clubs to start entering these competitions a little later. Cardiff City: Lost 3-1 to Spartak Trnava (Slovakia) in the Champions League first qualifying round, beat Pennarossa Calcio (San Marino) 14-0 in the Conference League second qualifying round, beat Tirana (Albania) 4-0 in the third qualifying round, beat Universitatea Craiova (Romania) 4-0 in the fourth qualifying round, qualified from the league phase in 14th place, beat Spartak Trnava again 4-3 in the play-off knockout round, eliminated after losing 4-1 to Lyon (France) in the round of 16. Swansea City: Beat Crusaders (Northern Ireland) 2-0 in the Conference League first qualifying round, beat Sepsi OSK (Romania) 4-2 in the second qualifying round, beat sc Heerenveen (Netherlands) 9-3 in the third qualifying round, eliminated after losing 3-2 to Braga (Portugal) in the fourth qualifying round. Newport County: We beat Gomel (Belarus) 5-3 in the Conference League first qualifying round, beat Maccabi Haifa (Israel) 2-0 in the second qualifying round, Aktobe (Kazakhstan) 4-3 in the third qualifying round, eliminated after losing 2-1 to Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic) in the fourth qualifying round. Wrexham: Beat B36 Torshavn (Faroe Islands) 5-2 in the Conference League first qualifying round, beat Osijek (Croatia) on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the second qualifying round, beat Ashdod (Israel) 5-2 in the third qualifying round, beat Celtic (Scotland) 2-0 in the fourth qualifying round, eliminated after finishing 27th in the league phase. National Team: Finished 3rd in their UEFA Nations League A group (also involving Croatia, Germany, and Switzerland) to avoid relegation. Have earned four points from the first two games in their attempt to qualify for Euro 2028. Most Expensive Signings: Cardiff spent £3.4m on new players, the biggest signing was Jack Vale (ST, Welsh, 25) from Blackburn for £2.4 million. 33 goals in 42 appearances meant he was a very good acquisition. Swansea spent £1.5 million, the largest outlay was £1.3 million on Jacob Murphy (AMRL, English, 31) from Newcastle. 3 goals and 10 assists in 29 appearances seems a bit underwhelming to me. Wrexham spent £74k, the other nine clubs spent less than £12k combined. Most Lucrative Sales: There were no significant sales, the total received from all 12 clubs was roughly £50k.

Newport County - 2026/27 Squad Stats Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko had a second very good season on loan. Just like last year, his Arsenal contract is running out so we've got to wait and see what they're doing. At the moment he won't entertain joining us permanently, but perhaps if he gets released his mind will change. Due to injury Daniel Barden came in for the last few games of the campaign and did well enough. Alex Kirk was the main man in central defence, equalling the same average rating as last season. At right-back Harrison Holgate also played well, and managed a decent amount of assists. I would not have guessed that Aaron Wozencraft was our top creator, or that he'd even played that much. In my mind he's the back-up left-winger, I'm clearly not paying enough attention. Sam Bowen had the highest average rating in the squad and also managed double-figures for assists, the club captain is leading by example. Basilio Rieno-Socoliche is frustratingly inconsistent at times, but a combined 20 goal contributions can't be ignored. Up front it was all about Omar Bogle and Kieran Wakefield, both hitting 25+ goals and adding a number of assists too. Great work lads. Every year I look at the former and wonder if he has another season in him, and each year he proves that he does. He was voted fan's player of the year for a third time.

Newport County - April 2027 Our junior coaching has been upgraded again (now 14/20). Youth recruitment is 9/20, training and youth facilities are both 8/20. A good win over Wrexham set us up nicely for the penultimate game of the season. If we beat Swansea, 2nd place would be ours. Unfortunately it wasn't to be, and the goal that separated us was scored in somewhat controversial fashion. Our right-back got injured making a challenge, Swansea were in a dangerous attacking position so didn't put the ball out, and capitalised on the numbers advantage. They were well within their rights to carry on, but it stung nonetheless. On the final day we beat Cardiff in a pretty dominant manner. We've actually beaten them four times in the last seven encounters, with only one loss (but the overall record still has them a long way ahead (W6, D8, L12, GD-22)). 27a Mark Regan came on for the last 15 minutes, becoming our youngest debutant (15 years, 136 days) as well as setting the new Cymru Premier record. We just missed out on 2nd place, instead making it into our usual 3rd position. It was still enough to qualify for the Conference League qualifying rounds again Look at the ridiculous goals conceded totals by Cardiff and Swansea though, we just couldn't compete with that. But we did set a new club points record, beating our previously tally by seven. And only six points off the top is by far the closest we've come. Top scorer was Victor Akinwale (Cardiff) with 23, followed by Jack Vale (Cardiff) on 22.

Newport County - March 2027 I only signed three players from this year's intake. No one from previous batches has made a proper breakthrough into the first-team yet, but if 27a Mark Regan meets his potential he stands a good chance.

Newport County - March 2027 There was a worrying moment at the start of the month when Alexei Rojas Redorushchenko suffered a stomach injury in training, probably ruling him out for the rest of the season. So newbie Daniel Barden was thrown straight in behind the sticks and did well in these two games. The real excitement was at the other end of the pitch though, we definitely had our scoring boots with us. Our final three games our Wrexham (h), Swansea, (a), Cardiff (a).

Newport County - February 2027 The loanee goalie we had from TNS was recalled (predictably as he only made one appearance), so Daniel Barden (GK, Welsh/English, 26) came in as our replacement back-up keeper. I was annoyed that I had three players who could all play in central defence or midfield. I don't like that, prefer players who specialise in one or the other. So as part of the preparation for phasing them out I spent money for the first time to sign Daniel Williams (MC, Welsh, 25) from TNS where he'd played over 140 league games. Stefan Scott (ST, Welsh, 19) scored 18 goals in this division on loan at Bala Town last year, so gives us a bit more firepower. We played Cardiff at a good time, in between two European fixtures. While their attention was elsewhere we managed to snatch a cheeky win. We also nabbed a point from Swansea, thanks to a rock solid defensive and goalkeeping performance. Our xG was just 0.08 compared to their 1.75. I was livid after the loss to Haverfordwest though. I thought we were really in contention to win it this year, we should not have lost. We had 24 shots, 11 on target, with an xG of 2.29. They only had six shots for an xG of 1.35, but all three of those on target went in. Someone had to suffer for the loss to Haverfordwest, and it was Arthur Penney who paid the price. A very nice month in the league. Miles ahead of Wrexham now, take that Ryan Reynolds.

Newport County - January 2027 Louis Phillips spent the second half of last season on loan at Bala Town, where he scored 12 times in nine appearances. He hasn't really made much of an impression for us yet, his playing time has mainly been infrequent appearances from the bench, disrupted by injury. So finding the only goal of the game against Caernarfon was a good time to get off the mark. We ended the first phase of the competition with the standard loss to Swansea. I think we're pretty much already nailed on for 3rd place, but we now have to go through another 10 games in the next phase. Jack Vale (Cardiff) and Josh Thomas (TNS) are leading the way with 17 goals apiece.

Newport County - December 2026 Another upgrade approved. Our facilities are obviously still a long way off Cardiff's and Swansea's, but I think they're better than everyone else's now. The draw with Cardiff Met Uni was annoying. We were coasting at 2-1 up, then a centre-back gave the ball away in a dangerous area to let them equalise. Between that and the hammering from Cardiff we had a bit of a miserable Christmas. Normal service has resumed. Cardiff have caught up with their games in hand and gone steaming into first place. Our dropped points have also allowed Swansea to overtake us. So we're in our traditional 3rd place, but well clear of the rest.

Newport County - November 2026 Chanka Zimba was allowed to leave for a minimal fee. He managed 20 goals in 21 (39) appearances, which is actually better than I realised, but he was never a first-choice pick and had made it clear a while back he wanted to leave, so wasn't in the picture this season. We beat Wrexham for the second time this season, that's always an enjoyable moment. Dropping points to Penybont though, that shouldn't happen. Their goalie was MotM but it wasn't a superkeeper performance, it was just our forwards having an off-day. We got away with one against Cardiff, they missed an early penalty and that left the door open for Sam Bowen to curl home a late equaliser. Still top! Madness. Josh Thomas (TNS) has 14 goals so far, next up is Omar Bogle on 13.

Newport County - October 2026 The loss to Swansea was a close-run game, but it's a defeat nonetheless. That's our 14th loss to them in 22 games (with 5 wins and 3 draws). Omar Bogle's second goal against Bala Town was his 74th in the league for the club, making him our all-time league top scorer. Newtown packed everyone behind the ball and when we went down to 10 men after a red card I thought we were only getting to get a point, but then they also had a sending-off late on and we made the breakthrough. Still top, but Cardiff are looming with three games in hand. They're in the Conference League group stage which is playing havoc with their scheduling. Annoying, Wrexham have also reached the Conference League group stage. But at least their domestic performance is suffering for it.

@BML Scotland's not a bad shout. To keep things going along quickly the only other leagues I have on are England (down to Conference N/S), so I've amended that down to just League Two and added the top two Scottish divisions instead. The rule that keeps catching me out is the requirement to have two U19 players in the matchday squad. Should probably start scouting youth competitions.

Newport County - September 2026 With our recent windfall from the Conference League I managed to get our junior coaching improved to the next level. Six more wins to make it nine in a row, perfect. None of them were against tougher opposition, a full complement of points and progression in the Welsh Cup is what should be expected from these games. Both Kieran Wakefield and Omar Bogle have reached double-figures for the season, and they cleaned up against Guilsfield with four and three goals respectively. They were both outdone though by Basilio Rieno-Socoliche who bagged a five goal haul. 13-1 is obviously the biggest win of this career so far, but in truth I'm a little disappointed. It should have been more. We were 11-0 up after just 25 minutes, we should have scored at least 20! Top of the table! But we have played an extra game, and not faced Cardiff or Swansea yet.

Newport County - August 2026 I realised we only had one senior and one junior goalie in the squad, so a back-up was brought in just in case. Chances are he won't ever see a minute on the pitch. Our European dream carried on a bit longer as we knocked Aktobe out of the third qualifying round. A draw at our place in the first leg probably should have been a win and we gave ourselves some work to do, but we just about came out on top in Kazakhstan due to a display of efficient finishing. We even managed to hold on for more than 30 minutes with just ten men after a red card. In between these games we hosted Swansea in the second round of the League Cup. I just wrote this game off, threw in the second string and a few kids. They got whooped, fine, whatever. Not a priority. In the Conference League we came up against Viktoria Plzen, and I think it was obvious our run was going to end here. A 2-0 loss in the Czech Republic gave us an uphill task and although we won at home, it was just by a single goal so it wasn't enough. A great run nonetheless though, and we pocketed a very nice £1.6 million for our troubles. In the league we've made an unbeaten start, three wins from three. I thought we'd struggle playing two games a week and we might take a hit in these matches, but we got away with it. I am glad that we'll be going to a more relaxed schedule in September though.

Newport County - July 2026 If I ever have children, my firstborn is being named Omar. When everyone else was making a mess of the away leg in Belarus, Omar Bogle rescued us a draw. Going into the second leg 3-1 down would have been difficult and maybe we wouldn't have managed the home win we did, but going in level made it a lot more comfortable and gave us a good opportunity to knock Gomel out. We were better than Maccabi Haifa in the away leg, but their keeper was MotM and kept us at bay. But then the second leg came along and we turned on the style, and Omar Bogle grabbed another brace to secure progression. That's the first time we've gotten past the second qualifying round.

Newport County - July 2026 Arsenal gave Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko a one year contract renewal so we weren't able make an approach to sign him permanently, instead we've got him back for another year on loan, still not paying any of his wages. That's the only business we've done this summer. Any contracts that were due to expire were renewed, so we've got a full squad in place.

2025/26 Wales wrap-up Domestic Competitions: Swansea might have won the first two Cymru Premier titles of this era, but Cardiff have now firmly taken over as the top club with a second league win. They also won the League Cup for a third time in a row, beating Penybont 2-1 in the final. Swansea did pick up one trophy though, hammering Merthyr Town 4-0 in the Welsh Cup. Welsh Clubs in Europe: One good run in the Europa League, but a couple of disappointing early eliminations. Cardiff City: Beat Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) 3-0 in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, then beat Glentoran (Northern Ireland) 4-2 in the second qualifying round, but drew 2-2 and lost on penalties to Maccabi Haifa (Israel) in the third qualifying round. Beat Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic) 2-0 in the Europa League play-off, before being eliminated in the group stage after finishing 30th. Swansea City: Beat Progres Niederkorn (Luxembourg) 4-0 in the first qualifying round of the Conference League, then lost 2-0 to St. Johnstone (Scotland) in the second qualifying round. Wrexham: Lost 5-1 to Dunajska Streda (Slovakia) in the first qualifying round of the Conference League. Newport County: We lost 3-1 to Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) in the first qualifying round of the Conference League. National Team: Failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after a miserable qualifying campaign. Finished 4th in their group on 6 points, below Netherlands, North Macedonia, and Hungary, but above Malta. Claude Puel resigned and was replaced by David Moyes. Most Expensive Signings: Cardiff spent £5.75 million on new players, with the bulk of it on Emmanuel Longelo (DL, DR Congolese/English, 25) from Birmingham for £5.5 million. A 7.10 average rating, 7 goals, and 4 assists over 37 (7) appearances suggests he's a good player, but you'd hope so for that price. Swansea spent £3.1 million, with the big money signing being Craig Halkett (DC, Scottish, 30) from Huddersfield for £2.4 million. He played very well, a 7.39 average rating over 37 (2) appearances. The other 10 clubs spent less than £75k combined. Most Lucrative Sales: There were no high value players leaving, all 12 clubs combined made less than £75k from sales.

Newport County - 2025/26 Squad Stats Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko, what a loan signing he was. His name's a pain to write but he had a great season, conceding an average of less than 1.0 goal per game. A huge upgrade on anything we've had before. His contract with Arsenal is running out in a few weeks so I'll be keeping an eye on that, but at the moment he won't even negotiate as he doesn't think we can offer enough. None of the defensive numbers really stand out as being particularly strong, and Alex Kirk was on the only one to manage a green average rating. But given our defensive record clearly it was a good year for them. All of the midfielders contributed, but again there's a scarcity of green average ratings. This was our best season so that does seem a bit harsh. Basilio Rieno-Socoliche had a really good first half of the season but massively died off after Christmas. Sam Bowen finished with the highest average rating and most assists, and was voted fan's player of the season. Omar Bogle reached double-figures for the fourth time in a row, though he was long way below his 2023/24 peak. Kieran Wakefield was top scorer in his first full season at the club managing 20 goals. It was Chanka Zimba who had the best minutes-to-goal ratio though, but for some reason I just don't feel like he fits into our strongest XI. He's considering his options and wants to move to a bigger club, but there's no interest at the moment.

Newport County - April 2026 A point from Cardiff and a narrow loss to Swansea, I'll take it. Last year we went through a period of being mullered by the other big clubs, while this year the largest loss was 3-0 to Cardiff and the other defeats only had a one goal margin, so that's a big improvement. We were 4-0 up against Haverfordwest and coasting after just 25 minutes, both strikers scoring twice. Then we completely switched off after half-time and did our best to let them get back into it. We just about held on but it was a nervy ending to the game, half the squad were already on the beach. 69 points, nice. Our highest tally so far. 61 goals is the fewest we've scored but it's still nearly 2.0 per game so it's okay, even if it is going down every year, Only conceding 29 is much improved though, less than half the amount we shipped last year. Also, Conference League qualification is confirmed. We made it in due to the Welsh Cup winner coming from the top two. Joel Piroe (Swansea) was top scorer with 26 goals, the second time he's won this after 2023/24. Josh Thomas (TNS) was second with 24.

Thanks! When I start a save I often delegate most recruitment tasks, then bring them over to myself after a couple of years. In 2022/23 and 2023/24 the recruitment team dealt with transfers, I just made the occasional interference to fill in a gap if needed. They found good players, but also were too reliant on loans. I think I took control for 2024/25. But I realised that the scouting budget was only set-up to look at the current division (£300 p/m), so options were limited. Again, a lot of loans. I changed the scouting budget at this time to cover all of the UK & Ireland (£10k p/m, or until the budget runs out). The 2025/26 window was largely a case of signing players released from English clubs. They generally weren't interested if I made them an offer with time remaining on their contracts, but trying again when the contracts were just about to expire and their demands were a lot more reasonable. Of the seven permanent signings six have been regulars in the first-team (and the other went out on loan). We were a lot less reliant on loans ourselves, bringing in just two. So that's basically the strategy going forward. We don't have the money to make signings, so we're looking out for talented players being released, and just a couple of loans to fill a gap or provide a level of quality above what we already have.

Newport County - March 2026 A good win over Haverfordwest, a disappointing draw with TNS, and a solid point from Wrexham. The latter game was a boring affair though, not one for the neutral. The Welsh Cup game with Swansea was also a dull one, neither team created much, but they won a penalty and that made the difference. With three games to go we're guaranteed 3rd place. We need four more points to beat our previous record.