The Luke Henderson Story

#043 - Who said you need some sleep?

02/09/2025 -- The transfer window is closed, the pre-season period is over and with the first few matches of a brand new season already played. It was an exciting period for Hearts, but now the time is there to harvest points. Many points, because the board is expecting us to finish within the first five and so qualifying for European football. Forget Rangers, Celtic and even Aberdeen. They are years ahead of us currently. So finishing fourth is probably the best we can achieve under normal circumstances. Which will be a remarkable performance for sure. Realistically spoken we can end anywhere between 4th and 10th I suppose. Hibernian, Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Hamilton, Motherwell and us are quite on an even level currently. I’m already happy when we do better then last year, meaning ending seventh or anything above. But a few upgrades can make a huge difference to be honest. So we had some important things to do on the transfer market since we lost a whole bunch of players because of work permit issues…



The first signing we’ve attracted to join us is called Reegan Mimnaugh. Attributes wise definitely not the best player in Scotland, but over the last three seasons he performed very well at Premier League level for Hamilton (every time an average score above 7.00). Last season he took care for 15 assists! That’s a huge number to be honest and I’m very surprised Hamilton would get rid of him. He was put on the transfer list for £500,000 which we paid to incorporate him. The second new central midfielder is called Liam Laird. A Scottish youngster from Southampton. We loaned him in for the rest of the season, only paying his wages of £1,700 per week. Just before closing day we did one last signing. Not because of we need him that hard, but his value for money looked quite good. 22-year old Daniel Scullion is coming over from Aberdeen for £1,000,000. His physical and mental abilities are pretty damn good and his technical key attributes are all double figures. I will use him as a back-up player in the first place, but if he take his changes as a sub that can be different in a few months. Furthermore we signed a 17-year old talent, but he will not joining the first squad this season.







Okay. Strikers then. We didn’t have anyone yet so we need at least two new guys. The first one is on loan from Celtic. David Easton is still a talented player, but since Celtic is attracting pretty good strikers from all over Europe, their own youth is barely given any chance. We paying him his wages only, which is quite fair. He still looks promising, hopefully he can develop himself in our team. But he’s not the big catch we wanted. That honour is given to Joe Tompkins. A bit of a gamble because he didn’t played that much over the years so far, but his attributes looked incredible and our scouts do believe he will be a future legend. Tompkins was valued at more than £7,000,000 but we paid only £3,200,000 without any future clauses. A big deal for us, but I think he’s worth it. I’m only a bit concerned he isn’t very ambitious, but hopefully that turns around if he can find some happiness again when he is starting scoring goals. He definitely is capable for doing so. Also up front we signed a talented youngster called Ben Masson from Dundee United. He will also join our reserve team or will be send on loan if there is some interest.





I think we did a good job. The bunch of pre-season matches we’ve played looked promising so far. Usually I play around 5 or 6 of them, but now I did eight because of the huge amount of new players who joined us and practicing our new tactic. This new 5-3-2 tactic seems to work good until now, So I have some good confidence in it. Although that can change dramatically after the first run of games! As you probable have seen over the years I like to sign non-foreign players. I’m always trying to achieve at least half the team is from the country I’m managing in. It doesn’t feel right to have 25 players who aren’t English for example like most of the top teams in England for some years around 2010 (although it’s slightly getting better in recent years luckily). So if I have to chose between two more or less equal players with one being Nigerian and one Scottish you probably know which one I pick.




Our first results
After an acceptable run of practicing games the real work has started against Dundee. It’s only 1 match out of 38, but winning the first one is so important. Our pre-season efforts are rewarded, it creates confidence in our working methods immediately and it’s boosting the players morale. So, no matter how, we just need to win this game. And so we did. We played a pretty good game to be honest with Joe Tompkins scoring in his debut match. The game was already over when Dundee scored a late against goal from a corner kick.

We played a draw in the next two games and winning the fourth at Saint Mirren. The draw against Saint Johnstone was quite remarkable. We were by far the better team, but Saint Johnstone was in a 2-1 lead with only five minutes left to play. But substitute Sean Clare saved our ass with a magnificent strike in the upper right corner of the goal just from outside the box. Also the first goals scored by Docherty was a missile from distance. Beside the fact we had to win this game I’m pleased we saved a point. After four matches we are fifth in the league, but that doesn’t say very much with so many games left. The last game we played was our second round League Cup game against Partick Thistle. Because Hearts finished within the first 10 last season we don’t need to play in de group stage, which is a good benefit. We beat them with a solid 3-0 victory. In the next round we are facing Queen of the South.






Note: So far so good, hopefully we can continue our current form! Yeah it was a hell of a job Scott! It took me hours to get through all of this to be honest. But after the good start it was definitely worth it. In the next update I will do one last review from the last years with Spartans (with highlighting some players), and from then on we pick up the pace again with Hearts!

Pleasing start! Hopefully the beginning of a more enjoyable time with Hearts.

Nice start to the season, making your decision look worth it already!

#044 - Spartans, I hope you do alright

03/09/2025 -- We are a couple of weeks on the road now in the new season, so it’s a good moment to deliver my promise to do a look back in the past when I managed Spartans over the last six years. I’m quite enjoying it to see how former players are achieving right now, hopefully you guys do so as well. I’m starting with the very first year when I joined Spartans.

1st year, Spartans finished 8th in League One
It was a proper start of my career. I didn’t had the opportunity for bringing in new players because I turned down the first transfer window, so I had to work with the players who were already there. It was not the best team in the league for sure, but finishing eight was a very decent achievement. There were a couple of good players though, but just as many very bad ones. I remember me one player in particular. The goalkeeper, who was really awful. He gave me some headache to be honest. Luckily I could bring in a new guy in the winter transfer-window (Grant Adam, you probably remember him because he stayed with us the following two seasons as well). But I want to highlight the bad one, Adam Carswell his name was.

After he forced to play half of the matches for Spartans this first season he was send to the bench immediately after Adam came in and there after he didn’t play one single game. After this season he moved to Clyde were he surprisingly played a full season but there after his career fell down rapidly. He barely played a match anymore, not really surprising if you take a look at his current attributes… Even my dog can perform better by accident then this dude…






2nd year, Spartans finished 8th again in League One
Although we performed slightly better this season it was a quite disappointingly one. We missed the play-offs by one point (or had to perform better against the two teams who finished 6th and 7th given the fact they ended with the same amount of points). The only highlight this season was our Third round Scottish Cup replay match against Hearts at Tynecastle Stadium, which provides us a huge amount of money and so securing our finances for the next two seasons.

This season there was not any player in particular who noticed something remarkable. So I pick a random player who joined Spartans that season and has already left the club before I left Spartans myself. I chose Greg Pascazio to highlight. Our very first signing for who we had to pay a small transfer fee. At the start he seemed an upgrade for us, but he never reached the level of football I was expecting from him. He left us after just one season and joined League Two side Linlithgow Rose. He forced promotion with this team, but played not that many games anymore at League one level. He moved to Camelon were history repeats itself before joining Bonnyrigg Rose and do the opposite; playing most of the games in League one, but now he relegated with his team.






3rd year, Spartans finished 1st in League One
A brilliant season, ending with the only prize Henderson has won in his career so far. Our run in the Challenge Cup was decent as well reaching into the semi-final. It was the year when goalkeeper Joe Young joined Spartans and currently he is still there. But it was more the year for which we heavily struggled to find a decent back-up striker behind Bryan Griffiths. We signed Sean Brown, Ben Reilly and Declan Hannah, but none of them could even become close to the achievements Griffiths showed. Although he didn’t even score that many goals in that specific year. But I want to highlight Gregor McFarlane. He was the very first talent from our youth intake who did make it into the first squad. He developed himself quite good and was ready to take part of the starting eleven this season. But the very last day of the transfer window changed everything.

Dundee United made a bid for him which we couldn’t refuse, but luckily we were able to hiring him back on loan immediately. Although he played not all matches because of his downgraded status in the squad he performed quite well. But how did he develop the years there after? It’s easy to say he didn’t made his best choice ever. How could he even think about competing for a spot in the first eleven at Hearts and Rangers? Not really a big surprise so ever he only played two official games over the last three seasons… When his contract expires at the end of this season we are probably seeing him back somewhere in the Championship or the basement of the English Football system. A classic example for how somebody is ruining his career…






4th year, Spartans finished 8th in Championship
Solid. Just a really solid season I would say. Finishing eight in our first season in the second tier of Scottish Football is a really good performance. We reached into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup when we lost against Kilmarnock, which wasn’t a bad achievement either. It was after this season when a couple of Premiership sides showed some interest in me for being their new manager. But it wasn’t the time yet. I felt there was something more to fight for with Spartans. Although you already know how that has ended…

This was the season when we hired a player who really looked like a beast. A huge upgrade, someone we never could buy or sign on a free. He was by far the highest valued player in our squad. I’m talking about Mike Henn. The Estonian international from our affiliated club Hearts. Only 17 years old he achieved a solid season but a lack of good players surrounding him hasn’t made him any better to be honest. After this season Hearts send him on loan again at Dundee United, but didn’t developed himself and played quite anonymous. Without playing a single game for Hearts he left the club one year ago to join Rotherham United, participating in the English Championship. Probably we never hear much of him in the future anymore.






5th year, Spartans finished 9th in Championship
This was the first year we began to struggle a little bit to attract better players then we already had. We could only add some squad depth, which basically upgraded our overall level somewhat, but we had an awful season. In particular the second half of it. The tactic collapsed heavily and most of the players didn’t reached their normal level of football. We finished ninth, miles away from place sixth which provides us a play-off spot. Also our run in both Cup tournaments already has come to an end when it nearly has started… So, all summarized it was a season to forget very soon.

A little glimmer of prosperity was Dougie Grant. The player I spend the most for in my six year period at Spartans. £16,500 to be precise. Ha, that’s just a generous tip right now… But for Spartans it wasn’t and he rewarded every pence of it. He scored five goals, took care for 11 assists and was judged as our best player after Max Ashmore. The year there after he did well again, although he struggled a bit with some competition for his position in the starting eleven. Currently he is still at Spartans, but the club with the new appointed manager Neill Hastings is not achieving very well at the moment, which affected Grants performances. He played all six games so far, but couldn’t make a difference.






6th year, Spartans finished 7th in Championship
Henderson’s last year. That was already clear for him at the beginning of the season, although he lengthened his contract just a week before it expired (but Hearts came in very soon afterwards). Or the club has to upgrade into a full professional side before the end of the season, but that was wishful thinking. The 47-year old manager had his reasons, obvious. Henderson couldn’t attract better players anymore, he just made some replacements for players who are getting old or were a bit disappointingly the season before. Spartans achieved a decent year again with finishing seventh in the league, so you could say Henderson has took the maximum out of it, holding three professional organized clubs underneath Spartans. Which is a really good performance to be honest. The difference between a professional organized club and a semi-professional club is huge, as you probably all now.

I’m highlighting not only one player this time, but two. And you probably all know which two. Max Ashmore and Bryan Griffiths are the true legends over the past six years with Spartans. The only two players who were already there and stayed during my whole period at the club. I was a little bit doubting about Griffiths at the beginning, but at some point he proved himself and he never let me down. The last three years he crowned himself as the top goalscorer in the Championship, which is a stunning performance. As you can see his average rating over the years is really good, a bottom half Premier League club really should give him a chance on that level of football I would say…

The performances of Ashmore are probably even more striking. As I said a couple of times before his attributes aren’t that good, but he is just king. Look at his growing average rating over the last three years. Absolutely stunning! He is well known for his huge amount of key passes throughout the seasons, creating a lot of chances. But currently Max Ashmore isn’t a Spartan anymore… For some reason he has left the club after he played only three competition games this season. Maybe he and new appointed manager Neill Hastings don’t like each other or something. We probably should never know. But the most surprising thing is that no other club picked him up. He would be a key player for every Championship side for sure. Just absurd. I’m already thinking about offering him a contract for our reserve team if he didn’t find a new club after the winter transfer window has closed...










Note: So, that's all it about Spartans. A new episode has already begon, hopefully it will be just as fun as it was with Spartans before. I will certainly do a new overview in the past after we are a few years further from now on. I'm kind of enjoying it to see how my former players are achieving after I left them. From now on the focus will be fully at Hearts, with the following update answering the question if our promising start of the season will be extended!

I enjoyed that update. A good review of everything in one post.

#045 - Time to pick up the pace again

21/11/2025 -- After a couple of updates about the Hearts take-over and our heads-up with Spartans it’s time to pick up some pace again. After our decent start we lengthened our good performances into the next two months beside a little blip against Hibernian at home. But that result was an indication already that our qualities are not as good as I expected. We played most of the games so far against the smaller clubs in the league, but after our solid victory over Patrick Thistle it all went wrong against number three in the League Kilmarnock (although everything was against us this game with a wondergoal from them, a missed penalty for 2-2, etc. etc.) and there after we loss another three matches… You can lose against Rangers and Aberdeen of course, but that bad run of form affected our morale, so we did lose also against Alloa Athletic, the bottom club in the league. Not a big surprise for me to be honest, I think since I’m playing FM (from ’12 or so) I lose around 50 percent of the matches against the bottom club in the league… No matter what club or in which country I’m managing... I’m not insinuating anything though…

So yeah, it’s not going well currently. I still have faith in my 5-3-2 tactic (I have to, we just can’t change anything because we didn’t have the players for it), but we need to pick up some form very soon, to start with the game against Ross County in the Scottish Cup. Probably our only chance for qualifying for European football next year, which the board is expecting. In the league we are already far behind for doing so…





An honest Henderson is explaining where it’s going wrong currently: “It’s tough. Really tough. There is not enough squad depth and too many players who are just decent but nothing more. There is no natural leader who can take the lead and on top of that our potential best player, Joe Tompkins is heavily injured for another five months… Beside of that our reserve team is horrible so we can’t replace anybody and is the youth academy heavily neglected in the years before. Only time can save us. We can’t expect that we are going to win prices and rebuilding the club at the same time. First the rebuild needs to be done before we even can think about winning a price at some point. The board is aware of that, but the fans are probably not as patience as we are… It will take years, hopefully the board can give me that time, but how strong are they if the fans are beginning to grumble someday…”

Rome wasn't built in a day, remember. There is work to be done and patience is necessary.

#046 - I survived Christmas thanks to our Christmas tree

11/02/2026 -- If you thought it couldn’t be any worse at some point then it will be. After our loss against Rangers in the League Cup we were eliminated in the Scotch Cup as well a few days later after a replay against Ross County… We played just shit again, but to be honest we were slightly the better team in both games. Although that doesn’t count if you are lacking scoring goals. Penalties must bring an outcome, but after we scored the first two Deli, Harrop and Docherty missed the following three. Ross County missed only two, which brought them into the next round. A terrible result and the board isn’t happy at all currently…

In the following match against Hamilton we lost 2 points after they forced a late equalizer wen the ball suddenly fell into their strikers feet: 2-2. We deserved more than this, but currently everything seems against us. The following game away against Dundee United we forced an early goal, but again we screwed a result. After this horrible game the angry fans let them hear, the press asked for my resignation and the board seemed heavily disappointed. This season looks already over right now. Did they make the wrong choice for appointing Henderson as their new manager? It just can not end like this. There must be happening something. Very soon.

After the loss against Dundee United I decide to change our tactic radical. I had already made some tweaks in our 5-3-2 system with upcoming wingbacks over the last few weeks, but it doesn’t sort out anything. Because of our lack for attacking players there was just one opportunity left. The well-known Christmas Tree system: 4-3-2-1. I had to do something rather than just let it happen. But, from then on everything changed. Suddenly we won a game, we played a great draw away against Rangers, won another game, another one, and another one. It seems like I’m not such a tactical genius at all given the fact we started this season with that doomed 5-3-2 system, but this change has turned everything in my favour currently. The players are believing again, the board has made the right decision to let me sit down, and even the fans calmed down. Although it will be a though battle anyway to fight for a fifth place in the league and so qualifying for European football, at least there is some confidence again.

We won another five games and played a draw against the other big team in the league, Celtic. Although we were slightly the better team, but winning the game wasn’t given to us already. Not today. Currently we are sixth in the league, but that will be probably it. The gap in front of us is ten points. Unless we are winning almost every game till the end of the season, to begin with beating Rangers in the upcoming match. Unfortunately I forgot taking a screenshot from our new 4-3-2-1 tactical system, but I'm pretty sure you guys know how it looks like. Pretty much like a christmas tree, ha-ha!






More dead wood to get rid of
The winter transfer window has passed. Unfortunately we couldn’t manage to bring in a new player who is an upgrade immediately. We were close for signing one guy, but currently we could only offer a maximum wage of around £13,000 weekly. Not the amount of money for which we can compete with the best teams in the league, so we can only hope a player would come to us because it’s Hearts, rather than the amount of money another club can offer. So we have to deal with the players we currently have I'm afraid.

After half a season I have a better view of my current squad now and its obvious that there isn’t much quality to be honest. Some guys are actually just shit… One of them is called Ben Osborn. An 31-year old left wing-back from England. Some bright club member from the past paid even £4,700,00 for this jerk. Could you believe? But there’s even more: The technical staff thought it was a good idea to give him a 4-year deal and making him the best paid player from the club with distance. Completely ridiculous I would say. So if you was still asking yourself if it’s a mess at this club? Yeah it definitely is.

So I put him on the transfers list and offered him to other clubs for £0 to get rid of his wage. But of course the board didn’t agreed with me when some clubs made an offer. I offered him again for £850,000 and luckily there was a stupid club who was interested. Although the board wants a minimum of £1,350,000. At the end I could convince them to sell Osborn, because I’m not going to make use of this dumbass anymore. Luckily they agreed, so at the end he moved to Charlton Athletic. Problem solved. Although we have to pay a little bit of his wage in the next two years, which I'm not a fan of, but there was no other way to do so in this particular situation.



Because we have to deal with some injuries and our back-up keeper (Bonham) seemed even more worse than tiny Harry Stone, I made the decision to promote 20-year old talent Graham Graham into the first squad. He played the last four games and conceded only one against Celtic. Stone is already fit again, but as long as Graham doesn’t make any stupid mistakes I will give him a proper chance. At least he is 1,94 m tall, which I prefer much more than being technical like Stone. We will see how things sort out. Furthermore I have send Ben Masson into the main squad as well. I purchased him as a young talent at the beginning of the season, but beside Easton no other player can play as a striker. With Tompkins still being injured I need some more squad depth for this position. Masson has already played a couple of games and so far he did quite well. He has to learn a lot more to become a key player, but his start is definitely promising.






Note: Thanks Scott for your reply again! You are definitely right, but you probably know the board isn't as patiance as the manager is. Luckily it seems getting far more better now, so I have some good convidence again that I can make a difference with Hearts. Coming up next: Our results in the next ten league matches (just because we didn't act in any of the cup tournaments anymore sadly).

A fantastic improvement in results under a new tactical system. Well done!

Great end to last year and potentially an even better start to this new year with a point against Celtic being a massive result. The tactic switch seems to have worked wonders.

Getting Osborn of the wage bill should give you some room to bring some new players in, in the future and ones that you will actually use.

#047 - Not enough quality

17/04/2026 -- We did what we possibly could over the last ten games, but the only possible conclusion is bitter and harsh at the same time: we don’t have enough quality in the squad currently to compete with the bigger clubs in the league. Sometimes we do achieve a good result against one of them, but a week later we can lose against one of the bottom teams in the league which ruined our result earlier before against one of the top clubs. Although we managed to win the last three matches there’s already nothing to play for anymore. We can’t finish within the first five, wherefore the board is heavily disappointed… There might be a chance I get sacked, but I hope they give me another chance next season. The current morale in the squad is good, most of the players are with me and if the board took a realistic and bright view over the current squad they should be realising that this is pretty much it. Although our opponents above us are not really cooperating this season. From 5 out of the last 6 seasons a total amount of 62 points was enough for finishing fifth or above, an amount of points we almost have reached… As I said before, the game is against me way to often ha-ha.





Currently I’m concentrating myself for next season already. If I survive this summer of course! But it doesn’t seemed any better soon next year because of most of the current players contracts are not expiring this season. Only three players contracts are ending at the end of this season… A tough job already, because next season I definitely need to finish within the first five, otherwise my 2-year contract will not be lengthened for sure. I’m pretty sure this three players are leaving us, which I will reveal after the last match. Given the fact our transfer budget is not reaching until the moon I need to be very creative this summer transfer-window. That’s a problem for later, first I need to finish this season with a couple more victories which hopefully can convince the board to let me sit down for next season as well. It would be a huge failure for me personally if they don’t…

I'm sure you'll retain your job. I would be surprised if not!

Hopefully the squad can be strengthened in the summer, under your guidance of course. Despite not finishing in the top five, it's been an improvement on last year so hopefully the board take that into account.

#048 - My destiny is in the hands of the SFA

13/05/2026 -- Okay. Definitely not the end of the season were I as hoping for. It was just hopeless to be honest… Mainly because we had nothing to play for anymore, which obvious didn’t motivated the players anymore, but at the end we were even passed by Hamilton at the table, who went seven points behind us only four matches ago… The day after the last match the board invited me to have a chat with them and I probably know what is going to happen… They will pay me the rest of my contracts money (around £130,000 so that’s not bad to be honest, ha-ha) and kicking me on the street together with their last week garbage bins…

But with some flattering, pleading guilty about the bad results this season and promising them next season everything will be different; they give me a very last chance to convince them that I’m a good manager (am I?). Surprisingly though. There’s only one little requirement: I need to win eleven points out of the first five matches next season… If that is what these directors want to see, if that is where they will judging me for; well, than I suppose we do it like that. So basically my destiny is in the hands of the Scottish Football Association. If they do create a schedule in which we are facing Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen and - give it a random pick - Ross *fucking* County, I’m pretty much screwed I think… Honestly, that doesn’t make any sense… But yeah, apparently I just have to deal with it. It’s never going to be easy huh...?







So I guess we have some big work to do! First I will take you with me for a squad review. As already said much of the players are still on a 1-year deal, so next season I have to deal with them as well because I don’t think many clubs are interested for these guys or even think about paying a transfer fee. Starting with our goalkeepers. I have learned pretty much this season about them. In essence Harry Stone is a decent goalkeeper, but he is just 1,80 tall… Or short if you wish. And you probably know what my thoughts are about this fact… Only a world class goalkeeper might be able to compensate this, but that doesn’t count for Stone obvious. But his competitors aren’t much better. At some point I gave Bonham a chance for 6 games in a row, but he didn’t impressed me. The next one then: youth talent Graham Graham (good name by the way!) played the last 18 matches of the season, but he didn’t save points for us neither… Although he was not as bad compared with Bonham. So priority number one next season: signing an experienced (and tall) goalkeeper who shows tranquillity and if possible can act as a team captain as well (which we are really lacking). Stone will be our back-up goalkeeper, Graham has to learn a lot so we send him on loan if anyone is interested and we are trying to sell Bonham.

Our defensive line then. The contract of right wing-back Jordi Osei-Tutu is expiring. Ralston is by far a better right wing-back, so Osei-Tutu (from Cameroon) is leaving us. Centre-backs Imrie, Strang, Williams and Findlay are staying with us. Imrie and Strang are very young with some good potential, Williams and Findlay are decent and experienced. A good mix I would say. The only centre back who seemed not needed anymore is Halkett. He is over 30 already, wants a new challenge and didn’t convinced me anyway. Unfortunately his contract is not ending yet, so hopefully we can sell him. On the left hand side wing-back Tom Field is not that bad, but he is our only left wing-back so I think we need to search for an upgrade or a decent back-up. We also need a new right back and it would be nice if we can sign a fifth centre-back as well for having enough squad depth, but it’s not necessarily.

Mwoah. I’m talking about our midfielers. Just mwoah. Definitely not spectacular and for sure not as important as Ashmore was for Spartans… My two signings at the beginning of this season, Minmaugh and Scullion, performed alright, but to be honest I expected a little bit more. But we give them another chance next season, they are definitely better then the guys who were already here like Docherty, Deli, Clare and Henderson. But none of their contracts are ending, so we have to deal with them next season as well if no other clubs are interested for buying them. Next season I want to play with a new tactic, a very simple 4-4-2 system. So I’m searching for a right and left winger and if possible an experienced central midfielder who can act as a captain (again, we didn’t have a natural leader, which we really need).

The amount of attacking players is a bit limited because of I sold most of them last season because of all that work permits bullocks. Josh Harrop is one of the few players who has an expiring contract, so that was an easy one. He is over thirty already and didn’t achieved anything last season, so we say goodbye too him. McAllister has also an expiring contract but after some very long and hard doubts I decided to give him a new deal. Mainly because he can play nearly everywhere, which is very positive because of our squad debt is a bit of a concern and with him we don’t need to buy a whole bunch of new players. Hopefully he is paying me back!

We succeed to extend the loan term of Easton with another season. He did quite well, but was a bit of a victim of our tactic we had to use last season. Youngster Ben Masson came into the squad after Tompkins was heavily injured. He was not bad to be honest, so there might be a good chance he is into the first squad for next season as well. Tompkins than. Our only huge signing this season but he missed a lot of games because of his 6-months recovery time. He returned some eight games before the end of the season, but he didn’t scored a single goal… He is a bit of a concern to be honest. I paid £1,600,000 per goal… Hopefully he can return strong next season, otherwise my big investment seems worthless. Summarized I don’t think we need a new striker. For sure not if you take in count a rough gem in our youth intake day joined us this season. I will show him as soon he is promoted into the first squad.



Because we invested around £4,500,000 for upgrading our youth academy and our training grounds we can’t splash a lot of money for new players. We do have a transfer budget of around £5,800,000 and there is some space left in our wage budget as well, but that amount of money is equal with our total balance in the bank. So if we spend all this money we are creating future problems for sure. We just need to be creative and hopefully we can sign some free agents. We are looking for new players in every line, excluding our attackers. Next time I will show our new signings and the pre-season results, which will give us an indication if we are able to make a good start of the season, with gaining at least 11 points out of the first 5 matches. Otherwise…

Best of luck next season...