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habeasdorkus posted:I think where we build the dragon we should have a monument park to the greats of Wrexham history. As the most successful president in team history, Sky Shadowing definitely deserves a bust and a plaque. Et tu Scott? Don't you see that this only promotes more embezzelment and thus ruins your funds. I advice to make this a backseat issue (barring the already approved Dragon) at least until your retirement... Still as managing director I think the best way is to hold a design contest among our dear supporters for the statue to combine the presidents promise with a fan event/involvement. CVE fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Apr 25, 2014 |
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Apr 25, 2014 17:20
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You know, I thought that the owners of the club were, due to the low origins of the club, a few guys who hang out in a tavern once a week to discuss how the boys were playing this week. Now they're in the realm of megabastards, making decisions that affect the entirety of Wales and beyond, have secretaries and office hours and all that like - but they still meet at the pub to do all the real business. After all, they're still the local sports team, right?
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Apr 25, 2014 17:28
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habeasdorkus posted:Actually, I'd prefer a shorter term contract. 2-3 years in length. That AAV is about what I'd be looking for, though. It'd leave me well below what the top managers earn (tops is about 100k/wk), but ahead of the lower midtable scrum. Yeah, but I figure based on performance that you're worth more than that AAV (and certainly a whole bunch of clubs could bang down a 60k per week contract for 3 years tommorrow), so given that Wrexham would like to retain you but is relatively poor, a longer term contract is the best solution that Wrexham can afford. After that 10 year deal you're set for life, so there are big incentive to sign (even if you manage to somehow get relegated after 1 year and this disaster is so horrifying you never work again you still clear 10 million quid which is enough to retire on probably). A three year offer is kinda of a joke given the circumstances.
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Apr 25, 2014 18:27
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Cthulhu Dreams posted:A three year offer is kinda of a joke given the circumstances. Just so you know that I may come back after a few years and demand a new contract. I certainly won't be signing a contract that doesn't allow me to leave for a different job offer, though the club signing me would have to pay compensation to Wrexham for hiring me away and thus the overall amount of the contract would probably discourage most interested parties.  berryjon posted:You know, I thought that the owners of the club were, due to the low origins of the club, a few guys who hang out in a tavern once a week to discuss how the boys were playing this week. Yeah, the club management has come up in the world but they're still locals from a fairly small town. We're going to end up like a Barcelona, where the team is run by a set of professional front office people, but the supporter's trust are effectively shareholders. Barca has, I think, something like 220,000 socios who each pay €177 a year. They limit membership to those who are family of current members, I'm guessing to keep people from gaining a stake in the club who aren't really supporters of the club, but fans can go through a process to become full members over the course of several years. I think it's a really neat arrangement, it allows the club to be fully professionalized while at the same time retaining really strong ties to its fanbase. Plus, socios have real power beyond merely voting for the board and the club presidency. Just a few months ago a soci was able to get a judge to order a review of how much Barcelona actually paid for wonderkid Neymar when the soci came across reports and information about under the table kickbacks that escalated the transfer costs from the disclosed 57m euros to as high as 95m euros. That scandal, raised by one ordinary fan who was a club member, forced the president of the club to resign in disgrace. So if that's the future of Wrexham, that's pretty awesome. eta: I should mention that Real Madrid has the same ownership structure, and while I'm not sure precisely how the German sports club setup works, I don't think they're owned by single individuals or a small group of private investors. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Apr 25, 2014 |
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Apr 25, 2014 19:01
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habeasdorkus posted:
German clubs can sell up to 49,99999% of their shares or to put it bluntly they themselves have to own 50% +1 share. So every german football club owns itself more or less or at least can decide on their own. So investors can still come to the club but are prevented from ever calling the shots at it (and thus usually don't come). On top of that all german clubs have to be profitable to a certain degree (or not make a debt too large) or they get denied their license for the following season meaning they are automatically relegated out of professional football and back into the 4th division in extreme cases. I personally like the system a lot but it obviously creates a certain gap to the megabastards club that just get injected with money whenever some rich dude feels like it.
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Apr 25, 2014 20:20
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CVE posted:I personally like the system a lot but it obviously creates a certain gap to the megabastards club that just get injected with money whenever some rich dude feels like it. Yeah, though at the moment Bayern Munich is probably the best overall team in the world and last year it was Bayern and Dortmund facing off in the Champion's League final, so the German clubs aren't doing too bad for themselves
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Apr 25, 2014 21:04
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habeasdorkus posted:Yeah, though at the moment Bayern Munich is probably the best overall team in the world and last year it was Bayern and Dortmund facing off in the Champion's League final, so the German clubs aren't doing too bad for themselves True. Bayern is kind of an outlier since they started far earlier with merchandising and just all around sound financial decision so their lead is basically untouchable due to their works in the years before. Still even Bayern can probably not throw around money like PSG did. I really hope Dortmund can continue their growth and doesn't make the same bad decisions they did in the 90's which almost ruined them. In the end I think Bayern was stronger last year with the more direct style of football Heynckes played as Pep still hasn't found an answer to being stonewalled as seen in the recent CL matches.
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Apr 25, 2014 21:09
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Chapter the Seventh: Leap year. February 1, 2020-March 1, 2020 Our first three matches this month are pretty easy, against Newcastle (15th place), Derby (11th) and Watford (16th). Things get tougher after the international break, when we travel to Naming Right's Stadium at White Hart Lane to play Tottenham. If we can get seven points from these matches we'll have done well for ourselves.  Transfer season is over. I'm pretty happy with our additions, Kovacevic and Cirjak should be with us for many years if they develop their potential, and Boumsong is a superstar in the making.  It's nice to see Walley doing well, even if we're not going to own him for that much longer. It should bump up his value.  Shirra also wins a young player of the month award, and I have to imagine that he'll win young player of the year the way his season has been going.  I remain untouchable, despite the disappointment in the FA Cup. At Newcastle United, February 1, 2020 Premier League  Newcastle are very much struggling at the moment, but most of that can be chalked up to a very difficult schedule over the last two months. They've had to play Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham in that stretch, and to their credit they lost only two of those games. But coupled with losses to teams like Norwich and Wigan it means they've won just one Premier League game since December 4th. Their manager is under a lot of fire, and he'll be desperate to get a win against us. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Hurst, Lewis, Todd, Durand, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Mejasic, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Thompson. The first fifteen minutes are even, with neither side able to create anything. But Newcastle finally forces a corner, and on the ensuing kick Dejan Djurovic comes over the back of a Newcastle player and a penalty is awarded. We've been horrible at stopping penalty kicks in the past, I don't think Higgs ever stopped one in all his years with us. But we've got Kovacevic now, and he stonewalls the Newcastle effort to keep the score love-all. He can't stop Newcastle's next effort, though, and we fall behind before the 20th minute. A second goal comes a quarter hour later after a masterful through ball, and we're in a deep hole. I scream 'til I'm red in the face and panting at the team, and switch us to the 4-5-1 in an effort to strike quickly after the half. I look a genius when Mujkic scores just 51 seconds after the whistle restarts play, but we're screwed as the side judge calls him offside despite there clearly being a defender that had played him onside, and despite him also having been played onside by the ball itself.  I'm powerless to do more than stomp about the technical area whilst cursing in tongues, and moments later it's Newcastle 3, Wrexham 0. We trade goals around the hour mark, and Newcastle win thanks to some exquisite finishing and many, many defensive lapses on our part.   Newcastle 4-1 Wrexham  Eyre started the love fest between us before our match by announcing that we were the real deal, and I repaid the complement by defending him at length in the pre-game press conference and saying that to fire him would be pure idiocy. While it's fun to be an antagonistic jackass to other managers, developing good relationships with them will make it easier to work out transfer deals and the like in the future.  The most easily achievable escalator clause ever. I needed to do it in order to get him to sign with us, but it does make him our highest paid player.  I decided not to wait on Shirra, if he turns in the same level of performance through the end of the season that he's shown thus far he'd be even more expensive. The new contract, combined with Kovacevic's bump, puts us at a weekly salary of 340k, just over the budget of 333k. I'm not concerned about being slightly over budget, the board will be slightly displeased but our success will more than compensate for the slight decline in confidence over my control of wages.  I understand why fans put an emphasis on players from their own country, it's nice to see players who might also feature in your nation's World Cup team play for your club. But beyond that, I think it's madness to focus on domestic players at the expense of talent. Imagine if a Major League Baseball team decided that they were going to focus on bringing in players only from the United States to the exclusion of talent from Latin America and Japan. They'd be seriously hurting themselves competitively, and frankly people care more about winning than who the players are. Winning makes those players fan favorites. At Derby County, February 8, 2020 Premier League  Derby have been just as impressive as us through 2/3rds of the season. They actually just moved past us on the table on goal differential, and their decision to sell Shahed Parr and reinvest the proceeds in the club has clearly worked to near perfection. We're both sitting at 34 points, and it's generally considered that 36 points is enough to avoid relegation, and thus with 13 games left to play we're both assured of another season in the Premiership. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Hurst, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Youssouf, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Thompson, Harrison. It's a drizzly, chilly day in Derby, but the Rams are looking heated early. They control possession with aplomb, and within minutes force Hurst to make a foul that earns him a yellow card. Their first goal comes when, in the words of the announcer, “Chris Todd stupidly gave the ball away” by overrunning it, giving their striker a can't miss opportunity. They pile on even more pressure after that, and have 11 shots to our lonely one at the half, with two big chances and three more half chances. We're lucky to only be down a goal, and our defense is a shambles. I once again make changes at the half, after first scouring the defense for their errors. It's perhaps too much pressure to put on the 20 year olds, as Hurst and Todd both look stressed by my harsh treatment. But I also order the team to stop sitting back so much and to challenge for the ball, we've been giving Derby far too much room to set up their attacks. It seems to work when the game restarts, we start winning the ball in better position, and that helps our attack immensely. In the 57th minute Todd makes an interception near midfield, and two quick passes later Djurovic makes a run up the flank before delivering a through ball to Shirra in the box. Shirra shows a deft first touch, chesting the ball down and takes two steps before firing across the goal and into the net at the far post. Ten minutes later Shirra feeds Bastable a great ball that Bastable knocks past the keeper, but the goal is negated as Bastable was a bare foot offside. His next isn't coming on an archetypal counter-attacking run with 16 minutes remaining in the game. Derby isn't dead yet, they have a shot hit the crossbar just minutes later, and have another excellent chance go begging with 10 left to play. But we seal the game with another goal from Bastable just before stoppage time, and accomplish a marvelous turn-around after having looked like chumps the whole first half. Man of the Match: Rocky Bastable   Derby 1-3 Wrexham  That's why you pay me the big bucks... Wait a second.  They must have turned off the match at halftime. We were the better team after, though we were admittedly lucky to only be down one when play resumed.  Well, I can see why they're putting us on TV. I look very dashing on the sidelines in my customary three piece suit and the cane I use to violently gesture at the ref.  I'm going to play him for an hour and then sub him out as he's not 100% recovered. He needs to get accustomed to the team, and we're about to go on a 12 day break for international competitions. vs. Watford, February 11, 2020 Premier League  I hope we're still riding our comeback high, this game is just three days after the one at Derby. Watford are in the relegation mix, but they have an appreciable five point advantage over Norwich thanks to a recent run that included a victory over Chelsea. The bottom three teams in the league are truly execrable, Crystal Palace and Wigan each have just 19 points while Norwich is not much better with their 22. There may not be much of a competition to stay up in the final two months of the season given how deep a hole those three have dug themselves. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Attack Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjack, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Harley, Harrison. I send the team out with instructions to attack rather than to sit back for the counter, we're at home and we should play confidently. It works to give us a great chance early, but Bastable's shot isn't good enough to keep a defender from getting between it and the net. We keep up our domination of Watford, though, and after fifteen minutes have had 74% possession. That pays off in short order when Shirra pokes in his 10th goal of the season, thanks to a cheeky back heel pass from Bastable. The two have been an inspired strike combination, playing together as if they were of one mind. Our mastery carries into the half, but we're still up by just one. I'm quick to remind the players about Derby's dominance in the first half of last game, and almost to a man they seem more attentive. They keep that focus into the final third of the game, and we almost put the game away with another goal that's called back due to Bastable being a fraction of a second too early in making his final surge past the defense. He gets his timing right as the clock winds down, and runs across the field making airplane arms. It's our best performance from start to finish all season, allowing Watford just four shots total, only one of which was not from long range. Man of the Match: Rocky Bastable   Wrexham 2-0 Watford  We're in seventh at the moment. If teams that finish fifth or higher win the Capital One Cup and the FA Cup, the Europa League qualification spots that come with those trophies go to the teams in sixth and seventh place in the league. We're currently only three points behind Everton, who are in fifth place, but our atrocious goal differential means we could have real trouble finishing that high on the table as we'd lose the tiebreaker to any potential competitor. So we're going to have to hope the megabastards win the cups. The Capital One Cup final is between Arsenal and Stoke in two and a half weeks, if Arsenal wins that will probably open up an additional continental qualification spot on the table as they're very likely to finish in the top five.  Cardiff's insane tycoon owner continues to try and make the Bluebirds more like Wrexham by attempting to lure away the manager. I'm content with President AJ_Impy's offer to open contract discussions after the season ends, and frankly I'm not sure I'd want to go to Cardiff considering the disparity in potential the players on each squad have.  That's two weeks in a row we've been moved to one of the prime broadcast times. We're getting popular. Or more likely we're playing popular teams.  Make that three weeks in a row. At least it's good for our visibility.  How am I not on the list of considered replacements? Did they not notice who kicked their rear end in December?   I'm shocked that he wants to leave. He isn't a Premier quality player, the best he can hope for is a starting role in League One or a rotation spot in the Championship. But this does save me the trouble of having to give him the Old Yeller treatment after the season ends. At Tottenham Hotspur, February 23, 2020 Premier League  Spurs are in a fight for the final Champion's League spot, a win could move them into 4th. This won't be easy. A draw would be nice, a win would be amazing. We've actually won a game more than Tottenham this season, it's very weird that we have just one draw through 27 matches. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Durand, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Thompson, Harrison. Tottenham has the lion's share of possession from the start, but the crowd gasps first at the post denying Rocky Bastable a goal in the sixth minute. Spurs hit woodwork of their own seven minutes later, and after fifteen minutes are getting far too much time with the ball. That results in them striking first. I throw us onto the attack, ordering the lads to play a very high tempo game. I'm hoping to catch Tottenham sleeping, and it results in 25 minutes of inspired play by our boys. Bastable earns a penalty at the half hour mark, but our golden opportunity to equalize goes to waste as Shirra can't convert. We keep knocking at the door, and finally Bastable breaks through just before the interval. I switch us back to a more balanced approach, but keep the tempo higher than usual to keep us pressing the advantage. My tactical tweaks keep working even after play begins anew. We have another chance denied by the woodwork on a corner kick, giving us just one goal on five clear cut chances. Tottenham makes us pay for our wastefulness, scoring twice late to send us to defeat. I'm irate, we should have won this game.   Tottenham 3-1 Wrexham  Why the hell did you schedule World Cup qualifiers after the goddamned international break, Asia? Are you trying to make me go mad? We should still have Bastable and Mujkic for the Man City game on March 2nd, with any luck they'll be too tired to play against Uzbekistan two days later and thus be perfectly fresh for our game against Liverpool on the 8th.  Hey, check it out, a leap day. A whole bunch of kids will be born and in 4 years be teased about only just turning a year old.  The turning point of this season was clearly the team Thanksgiving. Before then we had lost nine and won just three in our first twelve league games. That's a pace that would leave us at serious risk of relegation. Since then we've lost five games while winning ten and drawing one, a pace that if sustained for a full season would win us entry to the Champion's League. It's clear that we now have the quality to contend with all but the very largest clubs in the league, and thus we have the quality to contend with all but the biggest clubs in the world. (I forgot to get a screenshot of the table before our next match, we're in 8th place, one point off 7th.) habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Apr 25, 2014 |
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Apr 25, 2014 22:11
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It's good to see that
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Apr 25, 2014 22:57
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I think I speak for everybody when I say that we probably don't want to discover what the fan reaction would be if Scott Brown got successfully headhunted by Manchester loving United or someone and uses their insanely fat bags of cash to get all of Wrexham's talent to follow him like ducklings following their mama.
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Apr 26, 2014 01:11
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So one thing I forgot about reaching the Premier League is how fast the season goes. Especially when you bomb out of a cup competition early like we did with the FA Cup. The lower leagues play 46 matches a year, while the Premiership has 38 matches. We're going to play 43 games across all competitions this season, last year and two years ago we played 51. In 2016/2017 we played a whopping 59(!) thanks to our run to the League Trophy final. What I'm trying to say is that there's another update imminent. The total number of games is going to skyrocket if we make the Europa League, the group stage is six games on it's own.
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Apr 26, 2014 01:50
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Chapter the Eighth: In like a lion. March 1, 2020-April 1, 2020 From the start of March through April Fool's Day the schedule gets progressively easier. It starts off with a near impossible ask, a trip to the Etihad to play second place Manchester City. City has lost just three games all year, and won every single home fixture. After that we host Liverpool, in the midst of another disappointing season but still showing some fight in 8th place. Then we get to ease up a bit, playing relegation bound Wigan and 15th placed Blackburn to finish out the month of March.  Shirra is tied for third on the Assists leaderboard. He's like our Raheem Sterling. He's also now described as a wonderkid, an appellation reserved for only the best young players.  Meanwhile, Bastable is presently the leading scorer in the entire Premier League. He's scored in each of the last five games, and in six of the last seven. I expected him to be good, it's why I was so eager to bring him to Europe from the football (and literal) desert of Qatar, but this is beyond all expectation. He and Shirra are 6th and 8th in average rating, making it very likely that they'll be on the Team of the Year and will get shortlisted for the Player of the Year award.  With Arsenal taking the Capital One Cup, finishing 6th in the league will grant Europa League qualification. Now we just need one of the top of the table clubs to win the FA Cup as well and we can qualify by finishing 7th.  Our young keeper on loan at Arsenal was the man between the sticks in their Capital One Cup final against Stoke. He acquitted himself admirably. At Manchester City, March 2, 2020 Premier League  Why do I feel like we're walking into the lion's den? Bastable and Mujkic haven't left for Uzbekistan yet, so at least we have that going for us. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Harrison. We concede in the 11th minute, and what was already an uphill slog steepens to nearly verticle. We have a few chances following first blood, but can't make anything happen and City reasserts control over the match at the 25 minute mark. They add a second goal before the half and we're now trying to advance up a sheer cliff-face. It's not even that we're clearly outmatched, we had the same number and quality of chances as City did. But they're making full use of their opportunities while we are not. With no other choice I send us out to attack, we might get blown out in the second half but our goal differential is going to be horrible regardless of the score in this game. The team rewards me by blowing another easy chance. When the final whistle blows the score remains the same, and we go down to defeat for the same reason we did against Tottenham. We failed ourselves, and now we're six points back of Europa League qualification with nine games to play.   Man City 2-0 Wrexham  Despite having just played two days earlier that dastardly down-under drip who manages the Australian team started both Bastable and Mujkic. And even so he couldn't manager to beat lowly Uzbekistan. I loathe him.  It's that time of year, when a young man has his thoughts turned to entering a youth academy and I scour them for superprospects. vs. Liverpool, March 8, 2020 Premier League  Liverpool have improved as the season has gone on, but they've done about as well as we have across the whole season. We could give ourselves more room for error by winning this match, and we might need it. While our schedule does get somewhat easier after this match we still have to visit Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and play Arsenal on the last day of the season. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Standard Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Harrison. We boss Liverpool for the opening half hour, but the scoreboard remains blank. Liverpool play better from there on out, and we can't take advantage of our early display. At the hour mark, it's still scoreless, with just 9 shots between both teams. I set a more aggressive approach, and it nearly pays off but Shirra can't get his shot on target. When the game ends it's a bore draw. Not the worst result in the world, but not something that we should be very happy about. At least our defense played well. Man of the Match: Stewart Lewis   Wrexham 0-0 Liverpool  Our own youth academy disgorges it's crop of 15 and 16 year olds, and this year the big prospect is Tim Jefferies.  Jeffries should be able to keep up with our foreign signings when it comes to his potential, but he's up against a lot of competition as a striker.    Mujkic is once again chaffing to go to a larger club, I expect I'll still be having this competition with him even when we're in the Champion's League. I may have mentioned this already, but I once had a player want to chat about moving to a bigger club the season after we had won the Champion's League.  That's rich, coming from a guy who is going to be coaching in the Championship next season. vs. Wigan Athletic, March 14, 2020 Premier League  Wigan is not mathematically locked into a relegation spot yet, but with just 18 points and a full 10 points between them and safety they're essentially finished. We need to win this game. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Attack Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Harrison. The start goes exactly as planned, we backfoot Wigan immediately and score before three minutes have passed. We control throughout, allowing Wigan a mere four shots all match, and our persistence is rewarded with Bastable's second goal late in the second half. That seals the win, and we accomplish exactly what we set out do to. It's an excellent pick-me-up after a tough run of games. Man of the Match: Rocky Bastable   Wrexham 2-0 Wigan  Bastable is a regular feature these days in the team of the week, and he's run his lead in goals scored up to three over his closest competitor for the Golden Boot.   I'm in contention for the Liverpool job. You better hope they don't offer it to me, I have to take that interview if they give it to me.  I think I've shown a lot of loyalty to this club already, thank you very much. I've turned down probably 20 job interviews at this point.  But Liverpool instead decides to go with a retread. I'll admit I was hoping to get a job interview so I could force the Wrexham board to pay me as well as the top echelon of managers in the world.  I'm withdrawing our first team players from the friendlies, I can't risk them getting injured with a spot in Europe on the line. At Blackburn Rovers, March 21, 2020 Premier League  Blackburn's had a rough season, but they beat us when we played at the Racecourse grounds in November. I'm going to play them straight up, it really helps us that our last set of matches have come at a weekly pace, allowing me to play the same squad without needing to become concerned about the player's fitness. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Standard Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Harrison. The Rovers jump all over us from the start, and I gesticulate wildly to the players to move them into position to riposte when Blackburn overextends. It works immediately, the Rover's defense finds itself backpedaling frantically as Petts, Shirra, and Bastable racing up the center of the pitch and Shirra finishing off the move with a well placed shot. The second half gives us both possession and opportunities in the opening minutes, but Shirra can't bag his brace nor can Bastable beat the keeper on his breakaway attempt. It's no matter, later in the game we score when a Petts free kick crosses the penalty area to find Bastable all alone. The Bastard has plenty of time to settle the ball and pick out his shot. The Blackburn keeper can't save this one. It's a convincing win, and moves us momentarily into seventh place. It also runs Kovacevic's streak of not allowing a goal to 317 minutes, or more than three and a half games. That's impressive, especially given that our back line is by a good margin our worst aspect as a team.   Blackburn 0-2 Wrexham  Our third Musketeer from the midseason reinforcements is finally healthy again. That's very good, as Chris Todd has been in a very poor run of form and Boumsong's health gives me a legitimate third option at centerback.  It'd be nice to win one of these televised games. I feel like we're a jobber brought in for the crowds to jeer before the popular club steps into the ring and beats us about the head and neck with a metal chair.  One Mr. Petts, Dick to his friends, joins the Bastard Team of the Week, along with half the Swansea team. Swansea beat Crystal Palace resoundingly, this past week, but more importantly they only managed a draw against Cardiff. That gives both of them four points in the Cwp, two behind our total. With no more games against Cardiff or us, Swansea will not be taking home the title this year. Cardiff has one more game against us, coming up on April 25th. If we win or draw, we win the Cwp. If we lose, it goes to Cardiff. Welsh supremacy will be on the line.  If you're wondering where the youth signings are, there haven't been any. I haven't found anyone that we can afford given our current wage budget crunch and depleted transfer budget that I view as worth bringing in. Youth signings at this point essentially have to have the potential to be contributors on one of the 10 best clubs in the world, as that's where we'll be in the 5 years when they're ready to play.  Hey, maybe one of these days the sale of Southampton will actually happen. If this charade drags out like the last two have it'll screw up yet another transfer window for the club.  Seven points is as many as we could have expected from those four matches. It puts us tied on points but behind on goal differential with 7th placed Reading. With six more games to play we've got a mix of hard, moderate, and easy matches remaining. Chelsea and Arsenal will be very tough matches where we can't expect points, but we should be able to beat one of Cardiff or Reading. We play Stoke between those two matches. Stoke has fallen to pieces after their blazing hot start, suffering an 11 game winless streak. They've righted the ship some by beating weak sisters Wigan and Norridge, but we should be able to take them. There's also a match against Norwich that by all rights we should win. We can absolutely take home 7th place this season, and we have a realistic hope of finishing 6th. Both would be immense accomplishments for this club, and going to play in Europe would be a huge reward to the players who've worked so hard to get us here. 
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Apr 26, 2014 02:03
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Incredible work from the team - so happy to see this LP going again.
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Apr 26, 2014 02:16
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Mad Wack posted:Incredible work from the team - so happy to see this LP going again. I occasionally need a breather for a few weeks to refresh my batteries, but I'm a slave to FM. You'll only have to wait a month or two before I start getting the itch again.
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Apr 26, 2014 02:19
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habeasdorkus posted:I occasionally need a breather for a few weeks to refresh my batteries, but I'm a slave to FM. You'll only have to wait a month or two before I start getting the itch again. This thread is the best thread. Thanks for all you do habeas, I'm generally pretty uninterested in EPL but drat if I'm not fully invested in the tale of Scott Brown and the mighty Dragons.
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Apr 26, 2014 13:48
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Can you build a rivalry with Australia like you have with Tackleford?
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Apr 26, 2014 14:16
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"Liverpool? That lot over the border? Oh, Scott.  I'm very disappointed you would come out and say things like that publicly. It hurts club morale, and the fans who have backed us through thick and thin would be worried sick. You know we're going to give you a better deal, I've promised you a better deal, and you're getting yourself even more money if you an end up in the European places. But this? This is a dagger in the back. Scott, we all have our own allegiances. I'm more than partial to one of the North London clubs myself. But we have to put aside such things for the good of the team, for the good of the game, for the good of Wrexham. Now, let's have no more fishing around for other clubs. We want to supplant these teams, not kowtow to them and give them the best of what we have. Think of the glory of taking one team to the pinnacle of every division, and on to the pinnacle of Europe, all of it unquestionably by your own hand. Can taking someone else's superstars and doing much the same with them compare to all the hard work, and the rewards thereof, you've put in here, for us?"
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Apr 26, 2014 14:31
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This thread got me to buy the game and start in the Skrill South. My starting salary was 1,300 pounds a week. Granted, for a team that seems to like throwing buckets of money out the window, but still. Also, my randomly generated starting right back is named Scott Brown. I signed him on a free when he couldn't agree on a new contract with his old team. If the Scott Brown here keeps getting hurt then it's really spooky.
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Apr 26, 2014 17:41
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Liverpool? Why would you trade down to a mid-league team 
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Apr 26, 2014 17:45
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Finally caught up with this thread and I've been extremely entertained. I hope this LP goes on forever or at least until you get a quadruple (Wrexham triple plus a Brown led team wining the World Cup)
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Apr 26, 2014 18:09
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AJ_Impy posted:"Liverpool? That lot over the border? Oh, Scott. He's planning to leave and take Rocky and Meteor with him. Keep him talking late at the pub and get him drunk if you can. I'll come by with a couple of boys and some clubs and a carpet to roll the body up in.
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Apr 27, 2014 02:37
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How are Tackleford doing?
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Apr 27, 2014 12:55
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Chapter the Ninth: End of the line. April 1, 2020-May 11, 2020 We're going to finish somewhere between 6th and 12th, but our exact position will be determined by these last six games. I'm aiming for sixth, it would get us into the Europa League, but regardless it will be an excellent finish for us.  Totally worth the £5.5m transfer fee. Just imagine how good he'll be when he learns English!  The one prospect that I decided to sign instead chose to stick with his second division team in Spain. That means I bring in a big fat nothing to add to the youth squad.  Romanchuk is a putz. Leave Dick Petts alone! At Chelsea, April 4, 2020 Premier League  I'm not going to lie, it would warm the cockles of my heart if we took four or more points from Chelsea this year. Their manager is under fire for “only” being in 3rd place, a loss to us might get him fired. We've already secured safety from relegation with six games remaining after being predicted to finish 18th this season. Starting Formation: Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Boumsong, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Lewis, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Harrison. We don't concede from open play in the first half hour, but Chelsea goes up thanks to a free kick just before the half-hour mark. We limp into the lockers without giving up a second goal, but we are being decidedly outplayed. Things are better after the interval, but we still can't force ourselves back to level, and the game is decided when that demon Angel Suarez scores incisively with fifteen minutes left. Shirra gets us on the board in stoppage time, but it's too little, too late.   Chelsea 2-1 Wrexham  Why would I even consider taking this job? They're currently in 18th place, and it would be a fight just to stay up this year. It's not even like they have more financial resources than Wrexham does. Are they just trying to play mind games in the week before we face off?  It's nice that Bastable and Shirra are both shortlisted for this award, but they should really be shortlisted for the Player of the Year award. They've been that good.  Shirra is shortlisted for the writers award, at least.  They're on a five game losing streak at present. I told everyone who'd listen that they were going down. They have 18 points so far, which is very bad but doesn't come close to setting the record for futility in the Premiership era. That belongs to Derby County in 2007-2008, who had just one win in 38 games, earning 11 points on their way to humiliation. vs. Norwich City, April 11, 2020 Premier League  This is in all probability our easiest remaining game. I'm telling the boys to go out there and send Norwich back to the Championship where they belong. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Attack Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Boumsong, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Lewis, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Harrison. We're now a different class of team from Norwich. Thrice we seriously threaten in the first six minutes of play, and it's poor luck that we only score once. Our ability to dice the Norwich defense carries through the entire game, but we cannot finish to save our lives. Luckily, neither can Norwich. They get multiple opportunities late in the game, but fail to make us pay. When the team has assembled in the changing room after the game I tell them that we were not nearly good enough, and lucky to earn our result. We did a great deal well, but we didn't finish and we got sloppy late in the game. The win puts us level on points with 7th place Reading and 6th place Tottenham, but each of them has a game in hand on us and an insurmountable goal differential advantage.   Wrexham 1-0 Norwich  Harrison set that record in 44 games played. The Bastard broke it in 33.  I'd wager our accountants have never been happier while writing out a bonus check/chequeueue.  Two down, one left to fall. It's either going to be Norwich or Newcastle, with an outside shot that Watford takes the plunge if they crater completely.  The FA Cup final will include either Bolton or Swansea, meaning that even if they lose the final to Manchester City they'll get into the Europa League. Thus, we can't afford to drop any more points if we want to finish sixth.All of our remaining matches have become must wins if we're to reach our raised expectations. vs. Stoke City, April 18, 2020 Premier League  Stoke went from winless over the course of eleven league games to having only lost once in their last five games. We're at home, though, so we should be able to beat them up. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Standard Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Todd, Boumsong, Mejasic, Matko, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Lewis, Simpson, Bailey, Djurovic, Harrison. Our finishing has been awful for the last month, and today is no different. Twice Bastable has the goal at his mercy in the early going and twice he's left hanging his head after a howler of a miss. Thus it is that Mujkic picks a good time for his third goal of the season, finally putting us ahead after 40 minutes of frustration. We keep on missing chances from there, and it's not just the Bastard who's the culprit. I swapped him out for Harrison in the 75th minute, and Harrison promptly went on to waste a chance of his own. We're fortunate to win one-nil, Stoke also had a number of looks at the goal and failed to pick up any of them. Still, when you have seven clear cut chances in a game and score only one goal, you should be ashamed of yourself, and instead of congratulating the team on an important win I take the offense to the woodshed. Man of the Match: Scott Shirra   Wrexham 1-0 Stoke  I don't disagree. We need to get our heads straight before it bites us in the rear end. vs. Cardiff City, April 25, 2020 Premier League  This is it. The Cwp final. A win or a draw here makes us champions of Wales. A win is also necessary to keep up our drive for Europe. We're now two points up on Tottenham and three back of Reading with three games left to play. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Standard Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Boumsong, Todd, Mejasic, Matko, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Lewis, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Harrison. Our opponents still can't finish, though that's partly because Kovacevic stood on his head for a couple saves.. Cardiff carves us open twice but we draw first blood when Bastable remembers that the ball is supposed to go into the back of the net for the first time in a couple games. I don't let the team off the hook at the half, keeping my slave-driver impersonation going as I pick on every player not named Kovacevic or Bastable for mistakes they made in the first half. If they won't fear failure, they'll fear me. The team gets the message. Kovacevic is forced to make another great save, but otherwise we play much better through the next 20 minutes, and double our lead thanks to Stuart Mair. It's an important goal, as Cardiff finally gets one past Kovacevic, but we restore the two goal lead when Shirra converts from the spot after a questionable penalty is levied against Cardiff. Dinko Mejasic adds a fourth goal to our tally, and it's time to turn out the lights, the party's over. Cardiff gets a meaningless goal in the final minutes, but we're the ones with the Cwp. Wrexham is once again rightly the mightiest team in all of Wales. Meanwhile, Reading falls to Arsenal, making our next match against them the likely determinant of who finishes in sixth and earns a spot in Europe next year. Man of the Match: Scott Shirra   Wrexham 4-2 Cardiff  Tottenham is having a late season meltdown. Just a couple months ago they were within spitting distance of a Champion's League spot, now they've fallen to ninth and we have a four point advantage over them. I think they hired Tim Sherwood again.  Four players in the team of the week, almost entirely thanks to their second half efforts. Bawling your players out can absolutely work wonders when they're being complacent, don't be afraid to do so if your team is under-performing despite having a lead.  Oh, a rival to my throne?  Well, a CONCACAF Champion's League title isn't that shabby. The top Mexican teams are probably as good as lower-mid table Premier League teams. Still, what type of biased media would laud him as so great without mentioning me? Have they not noticed what I'm doing here in Wales? Maybe that's why I haven't been given the keys to the national team yet.  This is marvelous news. His retirement will release us from our obligation to pay him £1.5m over the next two seasons.  We need a nickname for Shirra. Given Mujkic's modest season, Shirra is now without a doubt our best or second best player.  Our youth crop continues to draw praise, with Dinko Mejasic finishing third in the month's young player award voting. At Reading, May 2, 2020 Premier League  I know it's a couple of days before my birthday, but I'd really appreciate being given a win against Reading. It's especially important as our final game is against Arsenal, and while we could conceivably beat Arsenal they're still Champion's League semi-finalists and we're just newly promoted upstarts. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Boumsong, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Lewis, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Harrison. This was as exciting a nil-nil draw that the world has ever witnessed The game was fast paced, the offensive movement on both sides was excellent, and the woodwork got a work out. Either side could have come away with a victory today, and I can't believe that I watched the posts and crossbar deny us four times. This result deeply damages our Europa League aspirations, though. We're now just two points up on Tottenham, and thus need a win against Arsenal while Reading draws or loses to Everton for a shot at sixth place.   Reading 0-0 Wrexham  I'm tempted to send my save file to recently sacked David Moyes to show him that in an alternate reality he became a worthy successor to Sir Alex, but I think it might tip him over the edge of the nervous breakdown he's been working on since just after Christmas.  Impressive. vs. Arsenal, May 10, 2020 Premier League  When the season started I looked at the schedule, noticed Arsenal, and thought to myself “we're going to need to win that game.” I expected to need a win in order to stave off relegation, instead the win will give us a chance at Continental soccer. It's not a sure thing, though. Even if we win we could still find ourselves on the outside looking in if Reading wins as well and Swansea defeats Manchester City in the FA Cup final on May 16th. But if we can't win we're likely to finish eighth. That's something to be proud of, but it will still feel like a letdown even so. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Attack Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Boumsong, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable. Subs: Love, Hurst, Lewis, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Harrison. I want us to come out and try to surprise Arsenal. It works, and through the first half we're taking the game to them. But our late season lack of finesse continues to haunt us, as we miss chance after chance. Bastable finally puts the ball in the back of the net just seconds before the first half whistle, but it's called back for offside and we've junked a whole half where we outplayed our opponent. The second half is more of the same. We keep outplaying Arsenal, doing everything but scoring. I'm keeping a careful eye on the Tottenham and Reading scores, and after 94 minutes we're sitting in 7th place. We finish in a goalless draw, in seventh place and outside of European qualification thanks to those Southern Welsh maroons in Swansea making the FA Cup final and being assured a Europa League berth win or lose.   Wrexham 0-0 Arsenal  I shouldn't be disappointed with a seventh place finish in our first season playing top division soccer, but I am. One stinking goal in either of the final two games would have been enough to get us into the Europa League. Instead I'm left to stew on the near miss, and it hurts more than our success provides succor. Next season it's qualification or bust. We've proven we belong in this exclusive club, now it's time to prove that we deserve the best seats in the joint. Mateo Mujkic had an OK but not great season, with 3 goals and 8 assists, giving him a total G+A of 11. PotatoManJack and Sky Shadowing were closest to that number at 13, so it goes to the tiebreaker of Justin Bailey's assists. Bailey had 2 assists, which makes Sky Shadowing the winner. Let me know what you want changed.   BOARD VOTE(YOLOSwagginsly) Before we get to wage, transfer, and other discussions, we need to talk about my contract. I've held up my side of the bargain, and now it's time to pay what you owe. Currently the average Premiership manager earns £50,000 a week. My demand is a 3 year contract at £50,000/wk, with a 20% a year raise. I also want an increase to my base pay prior to yearly raises of £65,000/wk if we qualify for the Europa League and a raise to £80,000/wk if we reach the Champion's League. I realize I have one year left on my £1,300/wk contract, but I will not ignore the scores of teams interested in hiring me as I did this year if you turn down my request. QUESTION 1: Contract 1) (Ungratefully) How dare you have the gall to make demands of us? Remember, when we brought you in you had just been sacked from another job! We agree that you deserve a raise, but your entitled attitude is unacceptable. Go ahead and take those offers from soon to be relegated teams in Greece. No deal. (No new contract offer) 2) (Timidly) We'll have the contract drawn up immediately! Please, just don't leave us! (3 year contract at £50k/wk, 20% yearly raise, escalators to £65k/wk for Europa League qualification and £80k/wk for Champion's League qualification) Voting will be open until Monday, April 28, at 12pm EST. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Apr 27, 2014 |
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Apr 27, 2014 14:44
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AStrangeDuelist posted:How are Tackleford doing? Tackleford finished midtable in League One again. Somehow Ed Phillips still has his job.
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Apr 27, 2014 14:50
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Um, it says Wrexham 0 - 1 Norwich, but I'm sure that's a typo. So sad that we missed the Europe League.  Still, good work apart from that FA cup loss. Therefore I vote for for 2.
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Apr 27, 2014 15:05
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quote:Wrexham 0-1 Norwich This confused the poo poo out of me before I realized it was a typo.
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Apr 27, 2014 15:05
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Yeah Portland! If only we were performing that well in real life
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Apr 27, 2014 15:09
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Torrannor posted:Um, it says Wrexham 0 - 1 Norwich, but I'm sure that's a typo. Typo fixed. I worked on this over three days and must have skimmed over that typo a dozen times.
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Apr 27, 2014 15:16
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Silly question. I made you a promise and I will abide by it. 2.
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Apr 27, 2014 15:21
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Let's go with pay you more money.
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Apr 27, 2014 16:04
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2. We need to drop money on him until he is so weighed down that he is physically unable to cross the border to betray us in favour of the Liverpudlians.
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Apr 27, 2014 16:05
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Typical bloody Spurs, falling away at the end of the season like always... That Reading game sounded good, and a way better performance from them than the first match. If Reading get promoted via the playoffs this (real life) season, I may end up believing England can win the World Cup :P Well done on the 7th place, its still good despite being rightly aggrieved with missing out on Europe. Cant wait to see what the next season brings. Also 2, have all the monies
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Apr 27, 2014 16:07
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2, I say. Have your money.
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Apr 27, 2014 16:07
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You ungrateful little wretch! I vote for 1. You can rot in the US for all I care.
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Apr 27, 2014 16:16
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(2) Scott has achieved a lot for us it's time to pay our respects (with the money saved due to Youssof "choosing" to retire in peace).
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Apr 27, 2014 16:39
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Its disappointing we did not make it to Europe this year and the FA Cup was shameful but we would be foolish to let you go. I choose 2.
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Apr 27, 2014 16:54
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1 - What are you, in this for the money? How mercenary.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:03
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3 You get the 3 year contract at £50k/wk, 20% yearly raise, but neither of the other two escalators. You've certainly done well, you don't really have as much leverage as you seem to think you have. One year in 7th place in the Premier league isn't enough to get you to a megabastard club, which are really the only improvements over Wrexham you could get in England.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:14
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Two but those choices are dumb, I'd be looking to lock him up for much longer, he's succeeded at every level now. We'd be total muppets to let the best manager in football sign to only three years. Offer 10 to 15 (maybe 10+3+1+1) with the extensions as club options. Backload the salary so we can consolidate now.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:59
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| # ? May 29, 2024 01:19 |
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Before I make a decision, I must know the salaries of the managers on clubs closest to you on the table. i want my vote to be as informed as possible.
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Apr 27, 2014 17:59
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