Getting to Know You

By: Matt | March 21st, 2009

As mentioned in my last post I’ll have to do some wheeler dealing before the season kicks off. Top of the list is a Goalkeeper as my current no. 1 is only on loan until January. A back up left sided Midfieder to cover for Davies is necessary along with a decent right sided Midfielder. With 6 Strikers in the squad that’s one position I don’t need to look into, which brings me nicely to my first signing Federico Almerares. A Striker.

There is reason for this. Out of those 6 Strikers only 2 of them have the ability to play in League 1 and one of them, Richard Walker, is a loan signing from Bristol Rovers. He’s 30 years old so his best years are probably behind him so he’s not a player I will be looking to bring in on a permanent move. My Scout salviated over Almerares and despite him being worth £40,000 FC Basel have only slapped a £3,000 asking price for him.

I’m hoping that if I can build a team of League 1 players our promotion should take care of itself and once we’re in League 1 we’ll have a great chance of staying up. Whilst loan players are important at this level I don’t want to be relying on them each week. Once Almerares signed on the dotted line I terminated Walker’s loan deal. This is a bit of a bold move, especially looking at the Fitness level of Almerares I’m fearing he may pick up injuries quite easiy. It may come back to bite me but Almerares is only costing me £500 per week whereas Walker was on £1,400 so I’ve freed up almost a grand a week for other new faces.

Robert So good he only needs one name.

At 35 he’s coming to end of his playing days but if I can get a decent season and a half out of him I’ll pleased for the £3,000 I paid for him. He has a Crossing ability of 13 so hopefully he’ll be able to overlap my RM and whip some balls into the box.

Mustapha Hadji

When looking for players I tend to filter by certain attributes depending on the position such as Pace, Flair and Crossing for Side Midfielders, Height, Jumping and Heading for CBs. I initialy dismissed Hadji because of his age of 36 when looking for a RM as I didn’t think he’d have the legs to run down the flanks anymore but when he appeared in my filtered results for an attackingly minded MC I took another look and signed him on a free.

He’ll probably only play for 60 minutes or so if he starts, or come on as a sub but he has the stats to change the game and make things happen.

Charles Devineau

A backup for Davies on the left side but also another attackingly minded MC with a Long Shot attribute of 16 and Crossing of 15. I’ve pictured him as a Gerrard-esque player, feeding the Strikers with beautful long balls as well as scoring some absolute screamers from outside the box. I’m so pleased with this signing I’ve already started calling him Charlie D in tribute to Stevie G himself.

Aurelien Brugniaud

A 21 year old CB/defensively minded MC. Picked up on a free, I don’t know whether he’ll be starting straight away but he’s got the potential to be a great signing.

Finally I managed to sell one of my many Strikers, Dave Hibbert, to Torquay for £18,000. I’m still looking to offload a few players to reduce the wage bill but to try and avoid morale issues I’m only going to offer players to clubs which other teams have shown an interest in.

Next up an overview of my pre-season friendies and my masterplan to bring in better Staff without paying massive termination costs. Is there anything else I need to mention…..? Oh yes, I haven’t signed a Keeper yet.