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I love how this has evolved so much just because you lost the game and changed to another team. Now you have some real rivals
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Jan 1, 2014 04:34
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(Assertively) Something is wrong with this picture (Assertively) Can you tell me what it is?
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Jan 1, 2014 04:40
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KDavisJr posted:(Assertively) Something is wrong with this picture Tackleford doesn't have a proper crest? Also they're on top of us. Fuckers.
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Jan 1, 2014 05:00
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Hey, Tackleford has more money and more talent than any other team in our league! That they're not 10 points up on everyone else is a sign of how terrible the current manager is! I built a goddamned lower league juggernaut. Which is why I'll be surprised if we win promotion, since we'll probably have to go through them to earn it. And if you mean Luton being atop the league, don't worry. I'm sure they'll gently caress up soon. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Jan 1, 2014 |
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Jan 1, 2014 07:53
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habeasdorkus posted:Hey, Tackleford has more money and more talent than any other team in our league! That they're not 10 points up on everyone else is a sign of how terrible the current manager is! I built a goddamned lower league juggernaut. Actually meant Tackleford, but I forgot the new manager has your talent to work with. I'm sure you'll make the Red Dragons a powerhouse as well eventually. It's okay if you aren't the best as long as you're getting better if at least a little.
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Jan 1, 2014 17:32
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Chapter the Eleventh: The thing I love about youth intake players is that I keep getting older... March 11, 2015-March 28, 2015 And they stay the same age.  I'm not sure if any of them will be real prospects, yet, but it means that Welsh and English teams have brought in youth players. Elgan Ratcliffe is a potential find, but he's not at all polished and it'll be several years before he can start featuring for the first team  No! He's still our backup and right now he's the only keeper with the team while Nsangou is off playing in the youth African Cup of Nations. I've been playing with no backup keeper the last few games because our youth side GKs are so bad that I'd rather just risk Senior getting hurt or sent off than waste a bench spot on them. vs. Dartford, March 14, 2015 Skrill Premier  We have a 2-1 possession advantage in the first half and make nothing of it. We push through just half a minute after the second half whistle, though, and it proves to be enough. It's not a strong result, though, and I have to take the team to the woodshed in the postgame talk in an effort to try and shake them from the slight slump we appear to have entered, especially with a tough road match against Tackleford City in two weeks. Wrexham 1-0 Dartford  It wasn't the best example of the beautiful game and won't create many die-hard fans, but the additional boost at the gate doesn't hurt.  Everyone but Ratcliffe is dross, and only suitable for organizational filler. Hopefully we can find some better juniors from other teams.  Like this guy. Chris Todd Centerback  Wales is OK! I found this kid at Afan Lido, and he looks like he could be the future rock of our defense. 500 pounds is a price I'm happy to pay for that level of potential. I haven't had a whole lot of other successes so far, the best young talent has already been hoovered up by the top clubs. I'll probably be able to introduce one or two other additions by the end of this update, but now that we're in the Skrill Premier they won't be joining us until the transfer window opens in June unless we sign them directly on a pre-contract. Since the price to sign him directly was £22k and we could get him for so much less via a transfer I decided that it wasn't vital he join the team immediately. vs. Morecambe, March 17, 2015 Skrill Premier  It's an evenly matched game throughout the first forty-five minutes and I'm already putting the finishing touches on my verbal rear end-kicking when Danny Hopkins pulls us ahead in stoppage time. Hopkins adds his second 20 minutes later, and the fans are in raptures. Morecambe makes it interesting with a late goal, but other than Hopkins being denied his hat trick by the post the final ten minutes has little drama. We win, and we're a mere point back from a promotion spot. Wrexham 2-1 Morecambe  Bull's not in my long term plans, and he's already 24. While he's still got a high ceiling the chances of him reaching it are slim. If someone else wants him they can have him.  And often when you tell them that they'll be leaving the team, they stop whining after a while and decide they want to stay. Footballers are changeable folk.  Our second youth signing of the year. Tony Holt Attacking Midfielders  This guy we grabbed via straight pre-contract rather than a negotiated transfer, and while he's not quite good enough to play for the main squad yet he should develop into a passable attacking midfielder. He's going to need a lot of work on his first touch and decisions, though. Expect to see him in cup matches and as a sub several times next year.  This is why I've had my scouts spending their time looking at the U-19 and U-18 leagues in the British Isles, quite often a small team will develop a really high ceiling youngster and they'll be free to pick up because no one else knows about them. It's much easier to do for non-English kids, as there's so many good youth academies in England that it's rare for the highest ceiling players to be at some small club, but Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and especially Scotland have a lot of small teams that have youth players who could eventually be League One to Championship quality players, and each year or two you'll find someone with the talent to reach the Premier League. James Fulton Striker  Fulton, for example, was at the University of Sterling squad (great little town in the lowlands of Scotland about half an hour from Edinburgh, has a really awesome castle and nifty old streets). He's got the potential to be a Championship quality striker, but he's starting from a fairly low level and will have to develop quickly to reach it. But for a transfer fee of zero and 100 pounds a week in salary we've got a lottery ticket.  More free talent. Anthony Hay Striker  Hay comes over from Gala Fairydean Rovers, which is the best name for a club I've ever seen. He's going to have to develop quick, he's already 17, but once again he's a lottery ticket and better than the current players in our youth side. Even if only one or two of these signings develop they'll be homegrown players that can play on our side for several years at higher levels.  We're not done yet, but I actually had to spend some money on this one. Ioan Peters Right Back  Ioan Peters is a Welshman from Bangor, and is good enough to get some time as a defensive sub on the squad as it stands. If he develops we're looking at a good rotation option with Wright. He could use more pace, but his acceleration is enough to keep most players at our level from leaving him in the dust. I'm guessing Ioan is pronounced "Ewan"- correct me if I'm wrong. vs. Salisbury, March 21, 2015 Skrill Premier  Oh, hey, we also play soccer matches in this game. Salisbury is the epitome of a perfectly average team, in 14th place with a +1 goal differential, so I expect them to give us a whole hell of a lot of trouble. We take the lead on a questionable penalty call in the opening minutes, but I'm not going to complain as goals are goals. We double up in the 7th minute off of a corner where Stuart Martin goes unmarked, and the only question now is whether we let ourselves down over the next 80 minutes. Senior makes more than one good save in the first half to keep Salisbury off the board, and after several good chances go begging we push two more across in the second, with one coming from Martin on another corner. The final humiliation comes from a Cannon goal in the 80th minute. It's the best performance we've put in since January, and I am quick to tell the players so.  Wrexham 5-0 Salisbury  Big spenders, us. I think you understand now why this update takes place over just two weeks. Gareth Rainey Right Winger  Gareth is an extremely raw teenager coming over from Irish side Finn Harps. He's going to need a good mentor to improve those mental stats, because otherwise it doesn't matter that he's decent technically and physically. His weakness in the scout report is listed as “Intelligence.” Insert your own Irish joke.  Another free transfer, this time from Rossvale in Scotland. Neil Sinclair Attacking Midfielder  Another player who's weakness is “Intelligence.” If I ever end up playing Sinclair and Rainey together we're going to need to field a Mensa member somewhere to bring the side's intelligence up to average. Still, I'm not going to turn down a player that costs only 20 pounds a week more than our current youth players and has the chance to become useful.  Higher coaching licenses translates to better coaching stats. The only downside is that you have to pay for the courses, and the higher the level of the class the harder it is to pass. Continental Pro Licenses are the highest level a coach can get. You're considered to have one ingame.  That's the FA Trophy final. Haw haw, no trophy for Tackleford.  This should be our final youth signing, barring my scouts telling me about someone wonderous. Our total expenditure was £28,000 for eight players. Anthony Curran Centerback  Curran is a very, very unformed centerback. If he can improve his anticipation he could turn out to be pretty decent, but as with all of these youth players only a few of them will turn out to be as good as they could be. We have a good enough youth program that they should be able to develop, however, thanks to our current staff.  When you win 5-0 you tend to have a lot of players in the team of the week.  It's time to enter the Thunderdome! Press Conference, March 27, 2015 The Racecourse Grounds   : "David Holyoak, Daily Post. You come face to face with your old side today. Are you as excited as we are at the chance to put one over on them?" : (Assertively) "I am extremely excited at showing them what they are missing, yes. Nothing would give me more joy than crashing them out of the promotion playoff chase.": "Tackleford City are currently lying in 4th place. They've won four of their last five home games. Do you think they could take all the points at the Fig Poll tomorrow?": (Calmly) "It's going to be a tough match, Tackleford City is a very good team. I should know, considering I built it with my own blood, sweat, and tears. But if we play well I think we'll come away with the win. After all, they're missing a manager their players can respect." : "Sean Osman, The Non-League Paper. The pitch at the Fig Poll has come in for some criticism lately, what impact do you think the poor condition of Ed Phillips pitch will have on the game?": (Assertively) "It's a worry. The pitch is in awful shape, and it makes good, flowing soccer difficult. Maybe that's why Ed doesn't want to fix it, you'd have to ask him.": "How important has Michael Coulson been for Tackleford this year?": (Calmly) "I think he's one of the best players on that team. That's why I brought him in before the board there thought a trained monkey could do my job. No disrespect, Ed. I'm sure you're a very smart monkey." I know there's not much he can do about it, but it doesn't hurt to try and get inside his head.  Big crowd, they must all be here to see me. At Tackleford City, March 28, 2015 Skrill Premier  There's six games left in the season. We've got 73 points, Tackleford has 74. Whoever wins here will be in the drivers seat to make the promotion playoff, and might be only three back of league leading Forest Green. Tackleford City presses us the entire first half but can only get off four shots, despite a ludicrous 13 corners.  We maintain our form and don't let ourselves get caught out defensively, and shortly into the second half a misplaced Tackleford pass allows Simpson to spring Bah for the first goal of the game. We stay within ourselves for the rest of the game, and though Tackleford gets several more shots off our defense stifles them and prevents them from getting a good look at the goal. We win, and as we get on the team bus back to Wrexham I blow the entire miserable burg of Tackleford a big, sardonic kiss.  Tackleford City 0-1 Wrexham  We've got five games left. The first is a home fixture against Macclesfield, currently in 22nd place and a likely relegation candidate. The next two are both away, against Southport and Farnborough, in 23rd and 20th place. Farnborough is only a point clear of relegation at the moment. Our last two games come at home against slightly sterner opposition, Worcester (17th) and Tamworth (12th). We should be able to win at least four of these games, and winning all five is not out of the question. If we do so, we'll make the promotion playoff, and it's not impossible that we might catch league leaders Forest Green, who are six points above us but have to play a much tougher schedule of Halifax, Luton, and Braintree. It's going to be an exciting end of the season however it turns out. 
habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 01:32
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Smashing Tackleford on the home pitch....  ... and then telling them that their pitch is a piece of garbage 
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Jan 2, 2014 02:03
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Hell yeah, Stirling Uni represent! Keeping my eye on James Fulton in the (hopefully) several years to come!
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Jan 2, 2014 02:08
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I hope both Wrexham and Tackleford get promoted, if that's even possible. We get the league lead and they win the playoffs? I want to milk this rivalry for all it's worth.
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Jan 2, 2014 02:28
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habeasdorkus posted:
Which one is it meant to be? You're right though a perfect record let's us catch Forest Green if they drop two games.
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Jan 2, 2014 03:04
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JT Jag posted:I hope both Wrexham and Tackleford get promoted, if that's even possible. We get the league lead and they win the playoffs? Vice versa is more likely, I think. But yeah, I kind of want them to parallel their way to the top with us. Cthulhu Dreams posted:Which one is it meant to be? You're right though a perfect record let's us catch Forest Green if they drop two games. Whoops. Fixed. Five games left.
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Jan 2, 2014 03:08
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habeasdorkus posted:Vice versa is more likely, I think. But yeah, I kind of want them to parallel their way to the top with us. It would be nice to have a climatic championship match with them. With tackles set to hard.
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Jan 2, 2014 04:00
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Or the magic of save editing can assist the narrative...
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Jan 2, 2014 05:26
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habeasdorkus posted:
Honestly, I have a feeling this one is just because now you're actually giving him some game time.
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Jan 2, 2014 05:40
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i81icu812 posted:Or the magic of save editing can assist the narrative... Eh, not worth it. The emergent storylines are the most fun ones. I'll be sad if we don't make it to the promotion playoffs, but not especially so if we have to spend another year in the Skrill Premier. And really, I could have just edited myself back into Tackleford without mentioning it, but it's been much more fun to view myself as fired. I'm hoping that they stay in the same league that we do, because a Coach Brown Derby would be a lot of fun.
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Jan 2, 2014 05:59
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I have to admit that I yelped out a little, "Yeah!" when I saw the result against Tackleford.
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Jan 2, 2014 06:44
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Half-off again on Steam for the next 24 hours.
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Jan 2, 2014 19:11
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Putting this up early, I'll have updates the next two days but wanted to give more time for people to vote. Feel free to wait to vote until after the updates, there's going to be 24 hours between the second update and the close of voting. Board MeetingAs it is the end of the season, there are several decisions the board must make. First are the team financial records, to help with your decisions, and then five choices the board must make.  Expenses are about in line with what we expected, they're slightly up this month due to tax liability from the end of the season. Overall, though, we're spending about £250,000 a month during the season. This will decrease in the summer months as we will not have match day expenses or player bonuses to pay. We are expected to spend roughly £300,000 in June and July.  We have £10,830 a week (~£44k/month) in wages coming off our books at the end of June, and have signed eleven youth players and one first team player for a total of £2,400 a week starting in June. Our current wage budget is £35,800/wk, and we have £71,000 remaining in our transfer budget.  The club turnover increased 60% over last season, and we earned £4.1m this year. We are likely to earn somewhere around £600,000-700,000 from season tickets based on previous season's numbers.  Given our current balance of £926,000 and the aforementioned income and expenses we should have a balance of £1.2-1.3m at the start of next season prior to any modifications. The board must make the following five decisions: 1. Hiring Additional Coaching Staff (Assertively) I would like to request funds to hire new coaches for the senior squad. At the present time our Assistant Manager is overseeing five different training catagories, and doing poorly at all of them. If we want our players to reach their potential, they need skilled instructors. Coaches at our level would likely have salaries between £300 and £400 a week. A) We feel that the current coaching staff is sufficient for these goals. (No change in monthly expenses) B) We feel that some additional coaches are warranted, but do not wish to spend more than £1,000 a week on additional staff salary. (Up to £4,000 a month increase in expenses) C) We feel that an increase in the coaching budget of £1,500 a week would be more than enough to establish a strong staff. (Up to £6,000 a month increase in expenses) 2. Relaying the Pitch (Calmly) I would like the board to consider relaying the pitch, as we're currently playing in what amounts to a well trampled pasture. A better pitch is more conducive to short passing, possession based football, and has a somewhat lower likelihood of injuring players. A poor pitch also hurts our reputation and makes players less likely to want to play for us. A) We see no need to relay the field, this is how football was meant to be played. (No expense unless the FA forces us to fix it. Pitch remains in Terrible condition) B) We should relay the field, it's an embarrassment to the club. (Paid for by our landlords, Glyndwr University, Pitch is changed to Perfect condition) 3. Improve Youth Facilities (Passionately) In order for our team to succeed at higher levels we will need to develop talent through our youth system. Please improve our youth facilities from an unheated barn outside of Wrexham to a heated barn located near the rest of the team facilities. A) We see no need to spend money on improving our youth facilities. Unheated barns were good enough for Baby Jesus, they're good enough for footballers. (No expense, Youth Facilities remain at Poor) B) We agree that we should improve the youth facilities. We will begin planning the Tom Cannon Youth Barn and Practice Pasture immediately. (£330,000, one time expense, Youth Facilities increased to Fairly Poor) 4. Increase Youth Setup Category (Assertively) For our youth players to improve, they need more training from a younger age. I would like to raise us from category four to category three, which would allow us to train our youth academy players from age eight and up on a part time basis. This will mean our youth players no longer have to play catchup when first starting professional training at the U-18 level in their mid teens. A) We see no need to do this, our youth can learn just as well playing pickup games on the street as they can in a centralized program. (No changes in expense, youth setup remains category 4) B) We think this is a fine idea. No one ever got anywhere having a childhood. (Roughly £5,000 to 10,000 more in monthly expenses, increase to category 3, better youth candidates in the future) 5. Set Wage and Transfer Budgets (Calmly) We need to set the budgets for next year. We are expected to have a starting salary cost of roughly 27,500 pounds a week, or £1.4m a year. Our current wage limit is 35,800 pounds a week, or £1.8m. We have 71,000 pounds in the transfer kitty. By comparison, our opponents in League Two had a median wage bill of £1.2m, with a high of £2.1m and a low of £770k. The accountants have stated that a wage budget of up to £46,000/wk and a transfer budget of £96,000 is feasible given the club's current financial standing (i.e. that was the initial budget set for me by the ingame board). A) We should maintain the present wage budget, it will be more than adequate at this level. (35k/71k Wage and Transfer budget) B) We should modestly increase the wage and transfer budgets, but take care not to spend rashly. (40k/100k Wage and Transfer budgets) C) If the eggheads in accounting say that we can afford it, then we can afford it. Follow their recommendations. (45k/125k Wage and Transfer budgets) D) Make it rain! (50k/200k Wage and Transfer budgets) Voting closes at 5pm EST on Saturday, January 4th. (I'd personally vote C, B, B, B, C) habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 19:41
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1. B) We feel that some additional coaches are warranted, but do not wish to spend more than £1,000 a week on additional staff salary. (assertively) We're Wrexham, not Man U. That said, we're a professional Football organization in contention for promotion and we should develop our coaching programme. 2. B) We should relay the field, it's an embarrassment to the club. (passionately) Yes, yes. The landlords really should do something about the state of the place, especially since our coach just spent his last interview popping off about the sate of Tackleford's pitch. 3. B) We agree that we should improve the youth facilities. We will begin planning the Tom Cannon Youth Barn and Practice Pasture immediately. (assertively) Our strategy for the future is predicated on a very strong youth development programme. While this will be a major expense, we feel it's in the long-term best interests of the club. 4. B) We think this is a fine idea. No one ever got anywhere having a childhood. (calmly) Agreed, this would be in line with our emphasis on youth development. 5. B) We should modestly increase the wage and transfer budgets, but take care not to spend rashly. (assertively) Really, Coach Brown! We've agreed to a large outlay for our main strategy of increasing the quality of our youth development, and we've shown that we can be competitive at current salary levels. With the outlay that we've approved for additional coaching staff and a small increase in wage/transfer budgets, we'll be just fine.
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Jan 2, 2014 20:21
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BBBBB (Calmly) Relaying the pitch and overhauling the Youth Setup should be our primary concerns over the summer. Increasing the quality of the first team coaches is also important to get the best out of our players during training, but let's not go too overboard now. It was only a short while ago that you received additional funding for more scouts. We're not a rich club by any means, so make do with what we're willing to spare. As for the Transfer Budget, for now a modest increase seems to be in alignment with our future aims. (Though that could change depending on whether or not we're promoted)
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Jan 2, 2014 20:26
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CBBBD Make our club a winner and make it rain trophies by any means necessary.
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Jan 2, 2014 20:35
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BBBBB, I think that's the way to go without hurting to much our finances.
Average Lettuce fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 20:35
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BBBBB A) The board of directors still needs walking around money and prawn sandwiches and so forth. B) We had a nice windfall, but we can't just burn through it all and expect ManU in the cup every year. This sort of windfall is ideal for one time expenses to improve our youth set up, but letting the wage bill rise too fast could leave the club high and dry.
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Jan 2, 2014 20:41
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CBBBD We have money in the bank, it's doing no one any good gathering dust. See this cheque? See my signature? WRITE SOME NUMBERS IN THE NUMBERS COLUMN.
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Jan 2, 2014 20:46
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B, for all of them!
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Jan 2, 2014 20:51
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 ALL THE BEES
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Jan 2, 2014 21:02
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CBBBC
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Jan 2, 2014 21:23
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AAAAA (Assertively) This board has given you everything you've asked for, and you just continue to ask for more and more. If you continue to make absurd demands, the board may need to look into terminating your contract.
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Jan 2, 2014 21:32
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CBABD. (Assertively) By all means, the finest coaches, the youngest and best prospects, and the best playing surface (that last at someone else's expense). But are you seriously asking for Three Hundred and Thirty Thousand Pounds Sterling just to become, and I quote, 'Fairly Poor'? Bollocks to that. Come back with a proposal for a youth facility that's actually worthy of the name or don't waste my time. We'll revisit this in future seasons if you can garner a bit more ambition on this front.
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Jan 2, 2014 21:41
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Chapter the Twelfth: The final five. March 28, 2015-April 25, 2015 Time to finish this. This being the regular season, of course.  Oh come on. We're on the verge of promotion and this is what you want to talk about? Stop being a jerk, Nsangou. You haven't even been that good. An average rating of 6.5 from the starting goalkeeper is very unimpressive.  I'm thinking that Holtham and Bailey will get new contracts, but beyond that everyone else is going to go. Including Tierney and the Cannon. If we do gain promotion they won't be good enough for the next level, and if we don't they'll just keep aging and end up stuck to the end of the bench by midseason.  Uh, no, I'm not going to give you a contract that's nearly double your current one. We'll leave this negotiation for after the season.  Holtham is much more amenable to a new contract with a meager raise.  Getting real tired of you, waterlogged pitch.  I wonder who will win?  Congratulations on your victory, though whoever was elected would immediately have their name changed. Our directors remain the same, so I can't name anyone new to the board.  Oh, I see how it is. I do all of this work to drag us to the verge of promotion and you get reelected on my coattails yet you won't spring for new toys. vs. Macclesfield, April 6, 2015 Skrill Premier  We're gonna be on TV! And it's a good showcase for us to start, at half time we're up 3-0. We play some horrid football in the second half, however, and it's only luck that keeps us from coughing up a three goal lead. I'll take the win, but it's really frustrating to watch us play like rubbish. Seriously, look at those stats. Ugh. Makes me sick. The players don't even seem to realize how lucky they were to win this game, and get huffy when I barge into the locker room to start haranguing them. Wrexham 3-1 Macclesfield At Farnborough, April 11, 2015 Skrill Premier  Farnborough has something to play for, avoiding relegation. So I don't expect them to roll over for us. They fail to disappoint me. They take the lead in the 17th minute, and add another in the 35th minute. I switch us to a 4-4-2, but while we play better we still can't score until a gift penalty call in the 57th minute when Liam Franks dives and draws a call. Even so it's not enough, and we lose to relegation bait. You can imagine my furor with the team. We are still in position to make the playoffs, but our margin of error has gotten much narrower. Farnborough 2-1 Wrexham  Tierney will be back next season, having triggered his extension clause. At Southport, April 14, 2015 Skrill Premier  Southport is doomed one way or another to relegation, they'd need an improbable series of events to stay up even if they won all their remaining games. It's another game where we batter a defense but can't get on the scoreboard. But thanks to our continuing excellence on set pieces we find the back of the net thrice and take a solid victory home with us. It seals Southport's fate, and enhances ours- with two games left to play we're in third place, four points back of Tackleford and Forest Green and four points ahead of sixth place Grimsby. If Grimsby drops any points or we win one of our last two matches we'll seal a playoff berth. Southport 0-3 Wrexham  Sorry, Southport. Thems the breaks.  Oh, so now people will take our unwanted players from us. Not back in January when it could have saved us some money.  Three of the players are from Tackleford. Coulson, Duchamps, and Callum Williams are all shorlisted. I refuse to vote for them on principle. Drew McGarry gets my vote, 24 goals and 11 assists for a middle of the table team is pretty impressive. Coincidentally, we play his team next. vs. Worcester, April 18, 2015 Skrill Premier  We're leading the game and looking good until Alan Tierney makes a huge mistake and plays a terrible back pass to Senior which results in a Worcester goal. Worcester then takes the lead in the 89th minute, and I'm worried that making the promotion playoff will come down to our final game of the year. The team rallies, though, and Bah gives us the equalizer late in injury time. A near run thing, and we're definitely not in good form at the moment. Wrexham 2-2 Worcester  Whew. It's not essential that we win promotion, but making the playoffs was the very least I wanted from this season. vs. Tamworth, April 25, 2015 Skrill Premier  This game was so much in our favor that I expected Tamworth to pull out a last second goal to win the match. We had numerous opportunities, and nothing came of them. Over and over again. We had two goals called back for offsides, and out of six total chances we created nothing. It's inauspicious to have this sort of performance just before the start of the playoffs. Wrexham 0-0 Tamworth  And stupid Tackleford won the league. That was supposed to be my title!  Gag me with a spoon. Sure, it was some random manager hired of the scrap heap that's responsible for winning the league, not the squad I put together. Galling, that's what this is. If we don't win promotion to League Two I'll never hear the end of it.  The promotion playoffs involve home and away fixtures between the playoff teams. The winners of the two semi-finals then face each other in a single match that determines promotion. We've been drawn against Wycombe, and play there first on April 29, and then at home on May 3. It's going to be imperative to get at least one away goal during the first match.  Given that we finished 8 points behind Tackleford, our poor form towards the end didn't end up costing us the title. If we'd won out we'd have finished one point behind them, which might have felt even worse than finishing in third. I don't like going into a playoff tie stuttering the way we have, though, so I'll be pulling every motivational tool I can think of out of my bag of tricks to make sure we take the Dragons back to the Football League. 
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Jan 2, 2014 21:47
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AJ_Impy posted:CBABD. Hey, if we could upgrade more quickly I'd be happy to. Unfortunately we can only improve our facilities one step at a time. It's a zoning ordinance, or something.
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Jan 2, 2014 21:48
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(Threateningly) I feel like we need to spend more MONEY! C) We feel that an increase in the coaching budget of £1,500 a week would be more than enough to establish a strong staff. (Up to £6,000 a month increase in expenses) B) We should relay the field, it's an embarrassment to the club. (Paid for by our landlords, Glyndwr University, Pitch is changed to Perfect condition) B) We agree that we should improve the youth facilities. We will begin planning the Tom Cannon Youth Barn and Practice Pasture immediately. (£330,000, one time expense, Youth Facilities increased to Fairly Poor) B) We think this is a fine idea. No one ever got anywhere having a childhood. (Roughly £5,000 to 10,000 more in monthly expenses, increase to category 3, better youth candidates in the future)
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Jan 2, 2014 21:57
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habeasdorkus posted:Hey, if we could upgrade more quickly I'd be happy to. Unfortunately we can only improve our facilities one step at a time. It's a zoning ordinance, or something. That's my vote and I'm sticking to it.  Be grateful that not every director feels as I do.
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Jan 2, 2014 22:04
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BBBBB Well, the bright side of Tackleford winning the league: 1. They're not in the play-offs, so we don't have to face them. 2. If we do win promotion, another year of hate! 
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Jan 2, 2014 22:31
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All As. (Imitating your mum) We're not made of money, young man!
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Jan 2, 2014 23:01
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 (All of the) Bubbles!
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Jan 2, 2014 23:12
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Chapter the Thirteenth: The first crucible. April 26, 2015-May 31, 2015 Either we win promotion and bring Wrexham back into the Football League for the first time since 2008 or go into the offseason facing another year in the Skrill Premier. If I wasn't a little nervous I'd be lying.  We'll be well represented in Wycombe, I'm glad to see that the faithful are willing to travel three hours to see us play our first match. Press Conference April 28, 2015 The Racecourse Ground  : “David Holyoak, Daily Post. Your Dragons have surprised the league in making it to this semifinal, am I correct in saying that you believe you can win promotion?”: (Assertive) “Yes, Dave, you are. I don't see why we can't go all the way after coming this far.”: “A follow-up, Coach? How does playing the first match away affect your game plan?”: (Calm) “Well, these playoff ties often come down to the slimmest of margins, so having the second game at home is certainly an advantage. That being said, we can't put ourselves in a hole and expect to dig ourselves out of it.”: “And, again, another follow-up if I may. I know the Tamworth match wasn't how you wished to close out the season. How are your players reacting to it?”: (Assertive) “I have no doubt that the players will have learned from that match and will be all the stronger for it.”: “And, excuse me, I know Wycombe is certain to seek a result from this match, but how do you feel you stack up against them?”: (Calm) “I'm confident in this team and in our preparation. If we come to play, we'll win. Does anyone other than David here have questions?”(Chuckles are heard on the recording)  : “Sean Osman here for the Non-League Paper! Given what's at stake, you must be feeling a fantastic amount of pressure! Especially with how much your fans are hungering for a victory!”: (Calm) “I personally relish the extra pressure. I was born for it, I was bred for it. You're in the wrong business if you can't enjoy a challenge like this and come out on top.”: “It certainly seems like you handle pressure very well, can the same be said for Wycombe's manager, Lee Mason?”: (Assertive) “He may not be showing it, but I think under the surface the pressure is starting to get to him, and it'll show during the match. That'll be all for today, thank you.” Looks like we got underneath someone's skin, huh? I play mind games with opposing coaches, if done properly and to the right person it can lead to mistakes our team can exploit during big matches. If done wrong, or to the wrong person, it can make it harder to win. At Wycombe, April 29, 2015 Skrill Premier, Playoff Semi-Finals  I send us out in a counter-attacking mindset, reminding the boys that this is what they've played all season for. It works perfectly at the start of the match, with Liam Franks finding a wide open Ryan Watts on the other side of the field in the 11th minute, giving us an all important away goal. Bah and Watts both miss big chances shortly thereafter, and I start to worry about wasted chances. Wycombe knots it at one-all when Nsangou fails to come off his line to play a free kick. The Wanderers take the lead in stoppage time when our defense appears to believe that the half time break had already begun. At the 60 minute mark it's still 2-1, and Nsangou has been abominable, earning a 5.8 rating. At this rate he's going to play himself out of a job. In the 76th minute I take off Bah, who has done nothing despite good service, and tell the Cannon to get out there and make some noise. Ryan Watts sends a ball into the side netting after 90 minutes that half the ground thinks is a goal, but even with seven minutes of stoppage time we're unable to get the draw. The away goal is huge, however, and if we win 1-0 at home we're through to the final. The players seem to understand, and look more confident for our next game.  Wycombe 2-1 Wrexham  That doesn't keep Lee Mason from bragging about how he got the better of me, though.  (Through Gritted Teeth) Yeah, we're all friends here.  I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.  I can't complain, after all turnabout is fair play.  As I said, turnabout is fair play. vs. Wycombe, May 3, 2015 Skrill Premier, Playoff Semi-Finals  In home and away ties the team with the aggregate score between the two matches wins. If the aggregate score is tied after 90 minutes there's a 30 minute extra time period, which is not sudden death. If things are still tied then the team that's scored more goals away from their home pitch wins, this is the away goals rule. And if things are tied even after that there's the dreaded penalty kick shootout, which is the worst way ever devised of determining a winner. I'm hoping to just win this match by two and avoid all of that. We lose that away goal advantage in the 41st minute when Daniel Clarke puts the ball in the back of our own net, and I'm looking up synonyms for despondent when Ibrahima Bah lifts my spirits by pulling us level just before the break. I give the boys the old hairdryer treatment, reminding them that they still need two goals to win, and run them back out on the pitch. The screaming and yelling seems to have worked, they play like a team possessed over the second half, tying up the match on aggregate in the 51st minute when Stuart Martin crashes in on the near post unmarked. We hold serve, unable to break through but not conceding ourselves, until the 74th minute when Bah adds his second of the day and pulls us ahead on aggregate. That opens the floodgates, and we score twice more in quick succession to put the game out of reach. At the end of the match we have four separate players with ratings over 9, with the pace set by Justin Bailey and his three assists. It was so glorious we even got a clip on the Guardian's sports page of the goals. We're going to the finals. Wrexham 5(6)-1(3)Wycombe  Credit where credit is due, I was pretty magnificent.  Someone is making excuses. You'll have plenty of time in the offseason to do that, Mason! Maybe you can last more than five months at this job.  If you come at the king, you best not miss.  No worries about playing surface in our next match, the final is at Wembley. For those who don't follow soccer, Wembley is England's national stadium, the current model of which is a billion dollar facility that opened in 2007. It hosts the lion's share of English National Team matches, and is where the NFL plays during their yearly sojourn to London. We'll be taking on Forest Green, last seen beating us 4-1 back in March. The match isn't for another two weeks, however, so we have plenty of time between now and then to get ready.  I use the intervening weeks to negotiate contract extensions with our staff. I'm keeping most of them, they don't ask much by way of raises and they already know the team. I'm holding off on our rear end Man Turley and our Physio, though, as I think there might be better options available this summer and don't want to commit to them for another year yet.  I don't know why you want to stay. You're pretty far down the depth chart.  I haven't mentioned this because we don't have anyone even modestly intriguing out on loan, but each month your Chief Scout will put together a report on how your players are doing in their loan assignments. It's useful for making sure that they're getting regular playing time, and seeing how they're performing. You'll also get updates from your scout if they're not being played as was agreed upon in the loan offer along with the ability to recall the player, which means that you'll avoid sending a promising player on loan for a season only to realize in March that they've played two first team games and had their development stunted.  Simpson has improved a great deal over the course of the season. He'll never be pacey enough to be a top level mid-fielder, but his mental skills have gotten much, much sharper in the last half year and his technical skills have bumped up a notch as well. I'm considering him as a replacement to Tierney as Captain, Tierney's attributes are starting to drop and if we manage to win promotion I don't think he's got the ability to play at a higher level.  Swansea wins the FA Cup, making them the first Welsh team since the 1927 Cardiff City squad to win it. Seems like a peach of a game, too. Swansea had only 10 men for most of it, and scored a desperation goal to tie it up in the 89th minute before finally winning on penalty kicks. Poor Scousers. Up the Swans! Wirioneddol yn ddiwrnod gwych ar gyfer yr holl Gymry!  Silly Berwick. Don't they know that the time to negotiate with Holt was before he accepted my contract offer?  With nothing to do but train for the next two weeks my wandering eye looks over players that can be brought in for free in order to strengthen the team for next season and beyond. I don't tap into the transfer budget, but I do make offers for three more youth players and a backup striker to replace the soon to be out of contract Cannon. Anthony Walsh Striker  Somehow this guy didn't have a team. I'm happy to give him a home and see if he turns into anything. His biggest goal in the youth side will be improving his off the ball movement, as well as working on his finishing skills.  I'm going to get Eoin and Ioan Peters confused. Eoin McCarthy Midfielder  Eoin joins us from Cobh Ramblers in Ireland. I would have passed him up as having too low a ceiling to be worth his 95 quid weekly salary, but his physical attributes caught my eye. There's not many teenagers running around with pace 15, acceleration 13 that you can pick up for nothing. He might be able to turn into a do-anything rotation option up and down the spine of the team.  My scouts discovered Morgan while looking at the other kid we brought in from Afan Lido, Chris Todd. Anthony Morgan Striker  He was available for free, and his salary requests was reasonable, so hopefully in a few years both he and Todd will be playing together in the first team. He needs work on his off the ball skills if he's going to find space to knock in goals, however, and his technical skills also need work.  This is the Cannon's replacement. William Harrison Striker  Harrison is going to be our backup striker behind Bah. He's exceptionally flamboyant, a born leader, and very, very fast, but needs to develop his finishing if he wants to challenge for first team time. I have high hopes for him, and at barely half of Cannon's salary (and two-thirds his age) I think he'll be with us for a while.  So my 100th game coincides with the promotion final, huh? All the more reason for my players to win the game, then.  Not nearly the largest crowd we've ever played in front of. And this time we're not playing against Man U. vs. Forest Green, May 17, 2015 Skrill Premier, Promotion Playoff Final  Forest Green plays us evenly throughout the first half-hour, with neither side creating much by way of opportunity. Ibrahima Bah is injured early, but stays on despite obvious discomfort. He shows that he's not done yet in setting up the first goal of the game, passing back to Wright who moves the ball to Sumner about 10 yards from the goal. Sumner has his back to the goal and is well marked, but a spin to his right opens up just enough daylight for him to confidently put the ball into the far corner of the net. Wrexham one, Forest Green nil. Just after the restart centerback Stuart Martin goes down in a heap as a result of a stiff Forest Green challenge that fails to draw a card. He continues to limp along, and if he doesn't recover I'll have to pull him for Damian King. The injuries continue to pile up when Forest Green's striker, Jonny Murphy, gets the worst of a collision with Liam Franks, and has to come off. I make a double switch in the 62nd minute, pulling the wounded Bah and Martin for the Cannon and King. The game continues, with neither side able to create much opportunity, until the 70th minute, when a foul by the Forest Green right back finally draws a yellow card. Franks, who has been essential to our success in the latter half of the season, coolly places the ball for the free kick, sizes up the opposition, and sends a line drive into the near post corner, right over the heads of the Forest Green wall. Wrexham two, Forest Green nil. With 15 minutes left I shout at the players to make sure they aren't caught out of position against the coming Green flurry. It doesn't succeed, as they pull themselves back into the game with plenty of time to go on a brilliant volley that we couldn't do anything about. Wrexham two, Forest Green one. But in the span of five minutes Forest Green goes from hopeless to hopeful and back again, as they repeat the mistake of giving Liam Franks a free kick just outside the penalty area. He lasers in his second free kick goal of the game, and our traveling contingent is in heaven. Wrexham three, Forest Green one. The clock ticks down and Forest Green presses desperately to get back into the match, but as stoppage time commences they're still two goals shy. Stuart Simpson will not be on the field when the whistle peeps, however, as he becomes the third Wrexham casualty of the game and cannot continue. McGuinness comes on as his replacement. Four minutes of stoppage time ticks by slowly, but the scoreline stands.  Wrexham 3-1 Forest Green  You hear that, Tackleford?  Don't sing my hosannahs yet. I've only just led the club out of the wilderness and we've still a ways to go yet before we reach the promised land. What do you mean “messianic imagery” and “God complex”?  League Two is only the start. Though in retrospect I was a little excited about the result and should have stated that we're probably going to need a consolidation year before we can expect to win promotion again.  Ah, good. I was concerned it was something like a thigh tear that would keep him out until late fall. Neither of our other two scuffed up players have lasting injuries.  Well, I can't begrudge the players their bonuses.  Especially when we're getting twice that in prize money.  Now you want to leave again. Make up your mind. Don't you know we're supposed to be celebrating?  Hah, Ed Phillips of Tackleford City isn't even on the shortlist. We are. Take that, Tackleford!  I choose not to mention how many of them won't be with the team next season, but the squad is enthused at the challenge. I like these guys more than Tackleford's players. They were all mopey when I told them to challenge themselves in the Skrill Premier to get just a top half finish.  Our offseason will be fairly short, our squad is going to need a lot of practice if we're going to keep our heads above water in the Football League. No more beating up on semi-pro teams, we're going to be playing against actual talent now.  That is a satisfying conclusion to a year that was crashing and burning by October. Now we've got to decide how we proceed into the 2015-16 season, in terms of staffing, improvements, and budgets. See below for the Board Meeting and votes!  Board MeetingAs it is the end of the season, there are several decisions the board must make. First are the team financial records, to help with your decisions, and then five choices the board must make. Expenses are about in line with what we expected, they're slightly up this month due to tax liability from winning the promotion playoffs. Overall, though, we're spending about £250,000 a month during the season. This will decrease in the summer months as we will not have match day expenses or player bonuses to pay. We are expected to spend roughly £300,000 across June and July. We have £10,830 a week (~£44k/month) in wages coming off our books at the end of June, and have signed eleven youth players and one first team player for a total of £2,400 a week starting in June. Our current wage budget is £35,800/wk, and we have £71,000 remaining in our transfer budget. The club turnover increased 60% over last season, and we earned £4.1m this year. We are likely to earn somewhere around £600,000-700,000 from season tickets based on previous season's numbers. Given our current balance of £926,000 and the aforementioned income and expenses we should have a balance of £1.2-1.3m at the start of next season prior to any modifications. The board must make the following five decisions: 1. Hiring Additional Coaching Staff (Assertively) I would like to request funds to hire new coaches for the senior squad. At the present time our Assistant Manager is overseeing five different training catagories, and doing poorly at all of them. If we want our players to reach their potential, they need skilled instructors. Coaches at our level would likely have salaries between £300 and £400 a week. A) We feel that the current coaching staff is sufficient for these goals. (No change in monthly expenses) B) We feel that some additional coaches are warranted, but do not wish to spend more than £1,000 a week on additional staff salary. (Up to £4,000 a month increase in expenses) C) We feel that an increase in the coaching budget of £1,500 a week would be more than enough to establish a strong staff. (Up to £6,000 a month increase in expenses) 2. Relaying the Pitch (Calmly) I would like the board to consider relaying the pitch, as we're currently playing in what amounts to a well trampled pasture. A better pitch is more conducive to short passing, possession based football, and has a somewhat lower likelihood of injuring players. A poor pitch also hurts our reputation and makes players less likely to want to play for us. A) We see no need to relay the field, this is how football was meant to be played. (No expense unless the FA forces us to fix it. Pitch remains in Terrible condition) B) We should relay the field, it's an embarrassment to the club. (Paid for by our landlords, Glyndwr University, Pitch is changed to Perfect condition) 3. Improve Youth Facilities (Passionately) In order for our team to succeed at higher levels we will need to develop talent through our youth system. Please improve our youth facilities from an unheated barn outside of Wrexham to a heated barn located near the rest of the team facilities. A) We see no need to spend money on improving our youth facilities. Unheated barns were good enough for Baby Jesus, they're good enough for footballers. (No expense, Youth Facilities remain at Poor) B) We agree that we should improve the youth facilities. We will begin planning the Tom Cannon Youth Barn and Practice Pasture immediately. (£330,000, one time expense, Youth Facilities increased to Fairly Poor) 4. Increase Youth Setup Category (Assertively) For our youth players to improve, they need more training from a younger age. I would like to raise us from category four to category three, which would allow us to train our youth academy players from age eight and up on a part time basis. This will mean our youth players no longer have to play catchup when first starting professional training at the U-18 level in their mid teens. A) We see no need to do this, our youth can learn just as well playing pickup games on the street as they can in a centralized program. (No changes in expense, youth setup remains category 4) B) We think this is a fine idea. No one ever got anywhere having a childhood. (Roughly £5,000 to 10,000 more in monthly expenses, increase to category 3, better youth candidates in the future) 5. Set Wage and Transfer Budgets (Calmly) We need to set the budgets for next year. We are expected to have a starting salary cost of roughly 27,500 pounds a week, or £1.4m a year. Our current wage limit is 35,800 pounds a week, or £1.8m. We have 71,000 pounds in the transfer kitty. By comparison, our opponents in League Two had a median wage bill of £1.2m, with a high of £2.1m and a low of £770k. The accountants have stated that a wage budget of up to £46,000/wk and a transfer budget of £96,000 is feasible given the club's current financial standing (i.e. that was the initial budget set for me by the ingame board). A) We should maintain the present wage budget, it will be more than adequate at this level. (35k/71k Wage and Transfer budget) B) We should modestly increase the wage and transfer budgets, but take care not to spend rashly. (40k/100k Wage and Transfer budgets) C) If the eggheads in accounting say that we can afford it, then we can afford it. Follow their recommendations. (45k/125k Wage and Transfer budgets) D) Make it rain! (50k/200k Wage and Transfer budgets) Voting closes at 5pm EST on Friday, January 3rd. (I'd personally vote C, B, B, B, C)
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Jan 2, 2014 23:26
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I figured why not just post the update until saving it for tomorrow. Then I can play more tomorrow night!
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Jan 2, 2014 23:27
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All the B's from me. Congrats on promotion! Any chance of a look at how the other English leagues ended up at the end of the season?
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Jan 2, 2014 23:37
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Promotion baby!!!! What a great way to end the season. Now we can kick Tackleford's teeth in again all year next year.
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Jan 2, 2014 23:47
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