Magician's Dover Saga | S4E02 Pre Season

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. 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.

Before we started pre-season preparation, I went on a short holiday to Spain. First, I spent a few days relaxing in Tenerife. However, it’s very crowded there during the summer, so I wouldn’t really recommend visiting at that time of year.


The main reason I chose Spain as my holiday destination was that I wanted to met with the agent of several Barcelona youth players who were due to be released. Unfortunately, none of them were interested in joining us at that stage.

Usually I would say it was a busy period, but that would be a lie this time. I did spend some time trying to convince players to join the club, but they simply weren’t interested. Perhaps I’ve lost the magic touch or maybe it’s because we are considered relegation favorites. That certainly doesn’t help attract players.

At the first board meeting, we agreed that the realistic objective this season is to keep Dover in League One. I didn’t argue with that. I also raised the Under-21 proposal again, but the answer remains no.




The next day, Jim called to inform me that we had received a cash injection from TV rights – £513,000. That is a good news as we need cash flow.


The main candidates for promotion this season are Blackburn, Wrexham and Bolton. Luton and Sheffield are predicted to finish in the play-offs.

As previously mentioned, Cian Dillon signed on a free transfer from Galway United.

On 6 July we received an offer for Thomas Lissi. Due to his release clause, we had no choice but to accept 230,000 offer from Charlton. The good news is that he will return to Dover on loan until the end of the season.

I decided to terminate Ramon Enriquez’s contract. He was a useful player, although injury-prone, but I needed to free up an ESC slot and had someone else in mind for it.

The same day I have received a phone call from one of the agents informing me that a few youth from Barcelona will explore option to move to Dover. I have to say I was very happy, as this year most of the English player relisead by clubs had no interest to join.

On 7 July, our first signing was confirmed – Iu Martinez, a 19-year-old Barcelona youth player who featured for their B team last season. He looks decent for this level and has the potential to develop further.


Just as things seemed to be progressing, a few players became unsettled. The first was Antonio Raimondo, who demanded a new contract. Was I surprised? Not really. Some players have very big egos. I told him he still has plenty of time remaining on his current deal and that we would not be discussing an extension now.


I then decided to sell Singeer to Carlisle for £115,000, as he had not developed as we had hoped. It was simply time to part ways.

Soon after, I received confirmation that our second former Barcelona player had accepted our terms. The only complication was his work permit, which required me to use an ESC slot. I was more than happy to do so, as he is a quality player. His name is Tomas Marques.


On 17 July, Jim informed me that we had sold 1,459 season tickets. Not ideal, considering we have a 5,000-seat stadium.

On the same day, Di Stefano’s ESC work permit slot was reviewed and he was granted a work permit.

I have also decided to loan out young Marin Zgomba. I told him he needs to start developing, as this could be his final season with us. He joined Stevenage on a half-season loan.

A week later, Antonio Raimondo showed his Italian temperament again and went directly to Jim to discuss his contract. At that point, I realised we would probably have to sell him, as he could become disruptive. I told him to remain professional and respect the terms of his contract.
The problem with young players these days is that they lack patience.


Since I was unable to secure many permanent signings, I turned to the loan market. I found a young player at Stuttgart who had no issues obtaining a work permit, so we signed him on a season-long loan. He is a promising left wing-back. From now on, we will simply call him Giannis, as his surname is rather difficult to pronounce.


I have no idea what happened with Kamara, but he came into my office demanding more playing time. I have told him that the league season had not even started yet – what matches was he referring to?
He became angry, said a few unnecessary things, and as a result he has been transfer-listed. He will be leaving.


Just before the end of the month, I sent Federico Colombo to Swindon on a half-season loan. He either starts developing properly or he will be sold.

As in previous seasons, I delegated the pre-season matches to my assistant, allowing me to focus on recruitment – particularly a striker, given the uncertainty surrounding Raimondo’s situation.