Christmas break is over.
It is time to make progress on and off the pitch by collecting more points and fixing the financial problem.
On Saint Stephen’s Day we beat MK Dons 3–0.
Then we won against Port Vale 4–1, coming from behind. This was our last match of the year.
Then on 1 January, Karl Robinson, our assistant manager, took a job as West Brom manager. This resulted in a lot of issues with the game crashing in the later stages, but the latest patch fixed that problem.
The same day we received a reminder that we are failing Financial Fair Play again.
The good news is that the squad morale is still good.
The transfer window opened again and, as usual, we kept getting offers for Finn Mahar. This time it was Leeds with £975k plus add-ons, but I rejected it. Someone must be sold, but I didn’t want it to be him.
Then we added a win against Newport, 4–0.
We also received an extra £75k from the Kamara deal as he played 20 matches.
It was time to face Stockport at home in the FA Cup. It was 0–0 after 90 minutes, but I thought we had been the better team and decided to go more attacking. It paid off as we scored in the 118th minute. The FA Cup has been a successful campaign this season, but I also really like the prize money that comes with it. This time we cashed in £126k.
On the 8th I decided to sell Owen Dodgson to Luton for £600k. It was mostly to reduce the wage imbalance, and his contract was also due to finish, so it was better to capitalize now than lose him for free.
Then the London Emanalo offers started coming in, firstly from Brighton and Blackburn at £1.1 million plus add-ons. I increased the asking fee, which resulted in both teams cancelling their offers. Obviously it made London unhappy, but I have mentioned to the players many times that he can leave at the end of the season, not now.
We got back on the pitch to play Blackpool, who were sitting in 3rd position. Surprisingly they are doing very well this season, especially as they have also just been promoted. As always, they are tough opponents, but we came away with a 1–0 win.
Brighton then came back with an improved offer for Finn, but unfortunately it still wasn’t good enough, so I had it rejected. Eventually they gave up, and that was enough for Finn to stay.
The reason I don’t want to sell Finn is that he is really developing well.
Then our next opponent was Preston. It was a rather dominant performance from the team which led to a 3–0 victory. This was our 30th unbeaten match.
