Magician's Dover Saga | S4E01 PREAMBLE

Our next opponents in the FA Cup were the “famous” Spurs. Unfortunately for us, they are in top form this season, sitting second in the league.


They were far too good for us to realistically expect to progress, so I told the players we were going there with no pressure — just to enjoy the occasion. It was a great experience for the squad, and hopefully one day we’ll have a stadium of that quality ourselves.


They picked quite a strong starting eleven, so when I looked at the team sheet I knew we had to focus on defending first. I chose the Grumpy Dwarf tactics with a balanced mentality.


It didn’t work this time. After 12 minutes we were already 2–0 down, and they added a third in the 38th minute. The tie was effectively over — it was just a question of whether we could at least score a goal. Sadly, we couldn’t. It just wasn’t our day. I tried to make changes and even introduced the D-Day tactics, but they were simply too good for us.


Next, we travelled to York and managed to grind out a 1–0 win. It looks like the players have had some finishing issues in recent matches, but I’m hopeful we’ll sort that out soon.


Then we were at home to Barrow. We couldn’t break them down until the 76th minute, and eventually added a second in the 90th to win 2–0.


That made it 40 unbeaten home matches.


We had to play a couple of games without Maher and Scanlon as they were away on international duty, but it wasn’t a problem against Blackpool away — we beat the second-placed side 4–0. That only proves how strong we are this season.


Then came another home match. We don’t usually lose at home, and it was another win — 3–1 against Barnet.


Goal highlights:
Now it is time for some off-field news — it’s been a busy period.

Firstly, I decided to sign some coaches before Jim changed his mind. I didn’t mention earlier that he decided not to introduce the U21 team after we had agreed on it. I signed three U18 coaches, two first-team coaches, and appointed Simon Mignolet as Head of Youth Development.












I also sold Sam Rak-Sakyi to Kwara United for 215k. He was unhappy about his lack of playing time, so it was an easy decision. He’s not a bad player, but he isn’t developing as we’d hoped.


London Emenalo and Alex Campos both signed contract extensions. That was very good news, as they each had £235k release clauses and would have been easy targets for rival clubs.



Jim also agreed that our training facilities need upgrading, and the work is scheduled to be completed by September.

On 14th April we played a home match against Gillingham. They were fighting for a playoff spot, and since they’re our rivals, we wanted to remind them where they belong — in League Two.

I used the RAF formation with a positive mentality because it was a home match, and we wanted to dominate from the start.
There were only a few away fans. They knew Dover would remember the circus insults, and since we are champions, we proved them wrong once again.


We scored in the 25th minute and controlled the game for most of the match. But the fans weren’t happy with just one goal, so I decided to make some changes. We scored again in the 71st, 78th, and 85th minutes — but that still wasn’t enough. The players kept pushing until the very end, and Raimondo grabbed the fifth goal from penalty spot.


I wasn’t expecting such a big result, but I was more than happy to take it. I decided not to attend the press conference — I usually get carried away in those kinds of matches, and I didn’t want to pay another fine. Jimmy was happy to step in. Instead, I celebrated with the players in the dressing room.

We still had three matches left to finish the season.

First, we travelled to Wimbledon and beat them 5–0.


Then we scored three more against Chesterfield. It looked like we had found our rhythm again.


The final match was against Harrogate Town, and we won 1–0. I think the players already had the end-of-season parade on their minds, which was taking place the next day.


We finished the season with 129 points — 42 wins, 3 draws, and just 1 loss. Almost invincible. And who cares? We were supposed to be mid-table, not sitting at the top.

The joy on the faces of the people — and ours — was incredible. We did it again.


We went out to celebrate with the fans.
The players are all over 18 now, so drinking was allowed — but we kept it private.

After a few drinks, I received a message from Gary Neville congratulating us. I replied saying he should join us so we could all celebrate together. Then I added, “See you next season,” since his team didn’t get promoted again.
He didn’t reply — but I’d love to see his face. I bet he looked as grumpy as I did back in the old days.

Goal highlights:

The season is over and we did much better than expected. We have only lost one match and drew three; we collected 129 points.


Fixture https://fmshots.com/image/w69eTc





Our youth intake is decent, but the prospects have average potential ability, so I don’t think any of them will match Finn Maher’s ability.


I won the April Manager of the Month as well as the Manager of the Year award.


Owen Dodgson won League Two Player of the Season and Finn Maher won League Two Young Player of the Season.




Here are some stats:






We have been the best team at scoring and defending.

The reason why Breeze didn’t win Best Goalkeeper of the Year was due to the rotation I introduced.

When it comes to goals from corners, it is really hard to predict. I have scored some, then none in the next couple of matches. It sometimes looks like the better the familiarity, the worse the execution. So I make small tweaks occasionally, but execution varies depending on the players in the match-day squad.

Eventually, Finn forgot about not joining Sunderland and signed a new contract.


Finances

Our sponsorship income is one of the worst in the league. I will elaborate more on this aspect as it is quite an important factor for next season.






Preston, Luton and Millwall are relegated to League One, so they will be our opponents.




One more funny fact is that the 25-year-old Bradley Griffin is going to retire by the end of the season. He was our Performance Analyst.


If you want to see any other screens, just let me know.

FINANCIAL ASPECT:
For those who don’t remember, this save was created using Berserk Pack v2, which introduces additional financial restrictions.
I want to briefly demonstrate how this looks after three seasons. I have also added managers to several larger clubs to provide a clearer comparison of how their finances have developed under the same conditions.

DOVER:


Sponsorship income:
Blackpool – 2.9m
Dover – 110k



Season ticket revenue:
Blackpool – 675k
Dover – 240k



Now competing in League One, my club’s sponsorship income stands at 230k — the lowest in the division — while Wrexham generate £13.75m.





Financial Fair Play rules state that clubs in League One must spend no more than 60% of their turnover on player wages.
At the moment, this is a major problem for us.

This is a bit of a spoiler, as I’ve already played some matches — but once the club stopped receiving money from TV rights and transfers, we were no longer able to comply with Financial Fair Play. This is despite the fact that we still technically have room in the wage budget.

In November, we’re allowed to spend around 77k per week on wages. Just a month ago, that figure was almost 80k. That means we’re currently overspending by roughly 3k per week, which has resulted in us failing to meet FFP requirements — and a transfer embargo has now been imposed.



For comparison, here’s Blackpool’s situation.


I’ll try to rebalance things as soon as possible — either by selling players or hopefully earning some prize money. Injecting money on monthly basic is impossible as this is not up to me but Chairman.

It’s going to be challenging, but not impossible. I already have a decent squad that should be strong enough to keep us in the league. A few players have left, though some departures were unavoidable due to release clauses being activated.

BIG TEAMS:








OTHER NEWS:

I’m currently working on the write-up for each episode and plan to release the first one on Friday or Saturday.
The opening matches were played using the older version of the Match Engine (ME), but from October onwards the new ME was introduced. Some people suggest it’s more difficult to beat — and in practice, it certainly feels that way.
I’ve particularly noticed a change in late-game behavior. When teams are behind, they now commit far more bodies forward and adopt a much more aggressive attacking approach in the closing stages. As a result, you really need to manage those moments carefully and adjust accordingly.

I’ll be sticking with the same formation as last season. There may be slight tweaks depending on new signings, but the core system and tactical identity will remain unchanged.

The plan is to publish an update every two days, with the occasional one-day break — most likely at weekends.

I’d also be interested to know whether you’d still like to see goal highlights included. Subscriptions aren’t important to me; I’m sharing this save purely for entertainment.