Thanks, Radii! There's quite a few CM4 dynasties now, all of them currently in the Conference. It should be interesting to compare and see who's getting a promotion first...
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My new club proudly announce their hiring and tells everybody that's prepared to listen that they expect to achieve a mid-table finish, and to help achieve this I've been given a transfer budget of £2K. Wow.
It's the 22th of June, and the Fans Player of the Year award has just been given to Nigerian striker Kayode Odejayi.
When looking at the squad, we have the following options:
Goalkeeper - Steve Perrin, a 32-yr old with good reflexes and nice jumping ability. He's backed up by youngster Ellis Glassup, 20, who's strong and agile.
Defenders - starting at left fullback where we'll probably pick Stephen Jenkins, 23, a strong and agile man with decent pace. In the middle there's Jamie Impey, 25, another strong boy with superb crossing ability, and Paul Dodsworth, 19, who's a stud in the aerial battles. At right back the choice is 19-yr old Darren Jones who's the best tackler of the back four. Physically an imposing line. There's also Jon Richardson as the backup, but we need one or two more here.
Midfielders - Alex Sykes play left winger, he's a team leader with great intangibles. Inner midfielders are Gary Owers, another man with very good touch on the crosses, and 20-yr old Brazilian Paulinho, who's a great passer. Matthew Russell on the right wing should be alright as well. The midfield as a whole isn't as physical and there's a worrying lack of pace here. There's a lot of options here, though, as we also have Adams, Futcher, McLoughlin (an Irishman with 42 caps, currently injured), Williams and Allen as backups.
Attackers - the only options here are Alex Meechan, 23, and the 21-yr old Nigerian, Odejayi. There's also Neil Grayson, but he's 38 and set to retire.
I immediately scan the transfer wire for players without contracts and put out several offers to see who's biting. I'll probably hire a coach as well we only have one who's awful. The assistant manager is pretty good, however.
I find out there's a transfer coming in - from my old club, Sheff Utd, no less. It's striker Lewis Killeen who's coming on a free, that's good to know. The economy of the club is actually quite decent, as we are £3300 under the wage budget.
Next day, we sign two coaches, Rob Campkin and Julian Carrera. The old one is kept on the wage roll as I don't want to pay £2000 in compensation for releasing him. We also sign 33-yr old defender Carl Tiler, who has played with Portsmouth and Charlton.
As the first week rolls on, we get lots of rejections from players who's basically offended that I dared suggest they would come to Forest Green. In the midst of all this we actually get a commitment from former Russian international Andrei Kanchelskis, formerly of Derby. He'll need his work permit approved first, of course. He has previously played for clubs such as Manchester United and Everton.
We get two friendlies scheduled, with Bath and Dover Athletic. The squad is put on pre-season training and the two new coaches start their work. The old one is told to stay out of the way.
We get Newcastle's young talent Richard Offiong on loan. He's not very fast, but a deadly finisher.
On the July 9th, we get the news that Kanchelskis' work permit has been approved, and he's allowed to join Forest Green.