Magician's Dover Saga - S5E11 End With A Bang

Gary: Welcome back.
Me: It’s nice to be back.

Gary: It’s been a while since our last public meeting, and there are plenty of topics I’m interested in.
Me: Yeah, things have been crazy lately. Since we got promoted again, I’ve had to spend time adapting to the new reality. As far as I know, you’ve found yourself in a new reality too.

Gary: I assume you’re talking about Salford. Yes, David and I made the decision to sell the club. It wasn’t working, and the fans were quite unhappy, so we decided it was time to let it go. So far, Dover doesn’t seem to have that problem. How do you do it?

Me: I’ve always believed in process and progress. I spend a lot of time analyzing different aspects of the game and constantly improving the team performance. I’m not a big fan of so-called “meta exploits” in a tactical approach. I want to be part of the game experience, and the way I use tactical instructions during matches reflects that.

Gary: Meta exploits?
Me: I’m talking about those repeated tactical instructions managers use just to get results. They’re usually based on a much higher tempo, a very low defensive line, and direct passing in conjunction with an attacking mentality.

Gary: What system are you using?
Me: The same since season one. I rarely adjust my out-of-possession instructions, which are almost always set to a lower defensive line and counter-press. Depending on the opposition I’m facing, a 4-3-3 is mid-block, and RAF is high press.
When it comes to in-possession instructions, they are flexible and adjusted depending on match statistics and indicators.



















Gary: I won’t argue with that, as you have a much better managerial record than I do and the results proof it is working.

Gary: How do you deal with unhappiness in the squad?

Me: Finn is young and inexperienced and easily influenced by his agent. That person is just trying to make money from commission, not thinking about the player’s best interests. I told him he should leave him, but so far he hasn’t.

Other players are mostly complaining about contracts. I wanted to offer them improved deals, but on the other hand they are asking for unrealistic money. Lorenzo Ignacchiti, for example, is asking for £25k per week, which is four times his current deal. I consider that unrealistic.

Gary: Yes, we had a similar problem. There are things I want to talk about, but they are not strictly related to football. Can we talk about influencers?
Me: Yes, I have no problem speaking out on any subject.

Gary: Your comments about YouTubers and Patreon have made big news in the media. What do you think about it?
Me: I didn’t notice. I don’t watch TV and don’t use social media. False information is present in every aspect of our lives, so it’s not just them I was referring to.

Gary: Are you planning to sign up for some PR lessons?
Me: No, I enjoy my freedom of speech, but I have joined a “sarcasmoholics” group to reduce the impact of sarcasm on my daily life.

Gary: That sarcasm could get you in trouble. Are you not afraid you’re going to lose your followers?
Me: Followers? I’m assuming you’re referring to social media followers. I only have a YouTube channel to show some highlights from Dover matches, but this is free content, so the number of followers doesn’t bother me.

Gary: You have also said things about Patreon. Can you elaborate?

Me: Yes. I don’t think content creators should do their work for free—I’m far from that. I just disagree with some of their methods. Using titles like “perfection” or “the best meta” is childish to me. They should be attracting followers by creating valuable content and not by presenting flashy titles, unrealistic achievements, and bold statements.

It has become something of a pattern that influencers complain about how they are treated by viewers. I do agree that some comments cross the line and should be addressed, but not every comment is abuse.

There is a growing trend where all forms of constructive criticism are labelled as abuse. In my opinion, that’s not how it should work.

You know it yourself—I read a newspaper article that was quite condescending towards you and David after you lost to Dover in our last meeting. Did you get offended?

Gary: No. It was deserved criticism, which made us rethink our approach, and as I mentioned before, we decided to sell the club.
Me: You see, this is the problem—I think it’s all about perspective. My perspective is that we should not only consider the mental wellbeing of those influencers, but also the people who consume their content.

I haven’t seen anyone talking about those consumers who are encouraged to buy or use some of the products that content creators are promoting. What if it doesn’t work for them? What if they end up feeling disappointed or even depressed?

There are always two sides to every coin, and influencers often present themselves only as victims. That narrative needs to change, because it isn’t right.

As far as my sarcasm goes, I will always stand up for people who are being taken advantage of.

Gary: Yes, I certainly understand your logic now. I think we can end on that. It was a pleasure, as always.
Me: Thanks, I’ve enjoyed it myself.

Before our matches begin, there’s one piece of news I want to share with you. A couple of weeks ago, Nike reached out about providing new kits for the team. We’ve been using the same ones since season one to keep costs down, but now they’re happy to supply new kits for free.
I guess with the team becoming more popular, it’s a good marketing move for them too. Either way, it’s a great outcome for us.


Our first match in February was against Southampton — a top-table team. It was a home match, but the opponent was very demanding, so I used a more defensive setup to counter them. Did it work? Yes. Thanks to Diego and Florian, we got the win.

Breeze made another mistake. This is becoming a pattern lately. When the team is in control, the goalkeeper must provide stability, not problems. This is why I need to buy someone who can keep the balance at the back in crucial moments of the season.

The match ended 3–2. We scored three goals from four shots — efficient finishing. Will is not at his level. I am trying to help him, changing his role to make him more useful for the team, but at this moment he is not ready to replace Raimondo.


Twenty-one games unbeaten — good. But I do not celebrate runs; we will celebrate when we achieve promotion, not records.

Fulham came with £5 million plus add-ons for Finn. I said no. Our finances are still in good order, so there is no need to sell anyone. We are still receiving monthly instalments from players sold in the past, and this helps maintain a healthy income.


We then played Burnley at home, a team in the top four. Again, I used a 4-3-3 and we scored three goals. As the stats showed we were in control, I decided to switch to a more controlled approach. It was enough, as the match ended 3–0.




Due to complaints from a player and a coach, Dunne’s position was changed to winger, but he cuts inside with the ball since he can only use his right foot. It seems this has worked, as he is no longer concerned about his playing outside his position.

Our first away match this month was at Cardiff. Since they are bottom of the league table and playing defensive football, I switched to RAF formation. We did concede two goals, but overall, winning 4–2 was more than deserved. We are still maintaining a 10-point lead over Villa.


Next, we played at Stockport, a lower-league team who defended well for most of the match. We were much more dominant but could not score. Luckily for us, Hills got a red card in the 60th minute, so I switched to an attacking approach. We scored two goals in the space of two minutes, and I then went back to a positive mentality. The match ended 2–0.


We had plenty of corners, but the same problem with defenders being outside the box persists, so we are not taking those chances.

I have been working on some contract extensions and was able to agree a new deal with Raimondo. The deal will take effect when the season ends, so it will not affect the current wage budget.

This month we also had a match in the FA Cup against Oxford. In theory, we should have won this easily. The stats confirmed that, but it all went wrong. Diego missed a penalty in the 68th minute to give us a 2–0 lead, and they got a goal back in the 83rd minute. I went more attacking, as we were the better team, but it did not work. Eventually, it went to penalties and we lost. Unfortunately, Diego missed again as the second taker, so we were under pressure and this time we did not handle it well.


Was I disappointed? Yes, naturally, as we were the much better team. But sometimes it is up to the players to show character, and they failed this time. Maybe it was my fault that they were overconfident, but I will make sure to address that in the next match preparation meeting.

Our next opponent was Bristol City, and the match was televised, so we needed to look good. Unfortunately, it all went wrong when S. Armstrong scored in the 24th minute for Bristol — a long shot from outside the box past Breeze. Again, an easy goal conceded, and we needed to respond. As usual, around the 25-minute mark I made adjustments, this time just telling the players to be more expressive. Just before half-time, we were already 3–1 up.


In the second half, I introduced some substitutions and they created another three goals, making it 6–1. Raimondo scored a hat-trick — repaying the trust shown in his new deal.


I am trying to teach Will to play on the left wing as an inside forward, and since he is not familiar with that position, there are mixed results. Ignacchiti has been playing good football lately as a box-to-box midfielder.

This win guaranteed a play-off spot, but considering that Burnley are third in the league and we have 30 more points than them, we should avoid the play-offs if we keep winning matches.


Our last match in February was against Charlton. They are 10th, but I decided to go with the RAF formation. I was not wrong — we won 4–1. On the other hand, Villa only drew with Leicester, so we extended the gap to 15 points.


Finn is playing well lately and showing positive development. The only two things not improving in training are his heading and concentration. Despite being 181 cm tall, I would like him to improve his heading. Most irritating is the concentration attribute — he has played 153 league matches and it has only increased by one.




On 1 March, we received two pieces of good news: we complied with FFP, and I won the Manager of the Month award. Hard work pays off.

On the 2nd of March, we had an away match against Watford. As they were sitting in the lower part of the league table, I decided to rotate the squad. I had grown frustrated with Breeze’s recent performances and chose to give Curd an opportunity as well.

The rotation didn’t pay off, so I brought on Maher, Florian, and Raimondo. It took them just five minutes to make an impact, scoring the opener before adding a second goal in the 83rd minute.


This is it — we are now officially promoted to the Premier League. It took us five seasons to get here. An incredible achievement.


John set a new wage and transfer budget, and we now have decent room in the wage structure to sign players. I will focus on signing free agents first, and if we can’t strengthen the squad sufficiently, I’ll turn to the transfer market.


I wasn’t surprised — well, maybe a little — when I opened my laptop a day later and saw messages saying that Fredricson, Maher and Breeze are happy to stay in Dover.


Next stop, Bolton away. I used the RAF formation and didn’t have to do too much, as we were clinical in a 3–1 win. Florian is picking up form, scoring three goals and providing two assists in the last three matches.


Campos joined the “happiness club” and decided he no longer has issues with his playing time and wants to stay. What a surprise — how a couple of days can change the mood in the dressing room.

I also delegated the training schedule to my coaches so I could focus on researching the transfer market. I made a few calls to agents I’ve worked with in the past, and they recommended that we take a look at Giovanni Bonfanti at Pisa.

He’s certainly good enough to be a first-team player, and more importantly, his contract is running out—meaning there would be no transfer fee. I’ve made an offer, and now I’m waiting to see how things unfold.


I’ve tried a number of solutions to resolve our issues with corners, and another step I’ve taken is hiring a new assistant manager. I chose Cameron Campbell, a 38-year-old whose last role was at Southampton. He seemed keen to work with me and learn from my approach, so contract negotiations were straightforward.

The only amusing detail is that he holds a Continental Pro License, while I only have a National A License. Still, that’s just paperwork—it hardly reflects our standing, and at the moment I’m the more established name in English football.



I will ask him to take responsibility for updating the set-piece routines list, and hopefully the problem will finally be resolved.

Then, on the 15th, news arrived that we had our first signing of the season — a 27-year-old centre-back from Pisa.


It is time to get back on the pitch as we had a home match against Portsmouth. We were dominant, which resulted in a goal in the 26th minute — Florian again. There were no more goals in the match, but we controlled the game for almost the full 90 minutes.


A week ago, Campos stated that he was happy to stay in Dover, and now he’s gone public saying he is very unhappy. All I’ll say is that if he is trying to force me into doing something, he’ll learn the hard way that public statements don’t work on me.


On the other hand, Finn has accepted a contract extension, which is very good news. The contract will take effect at the end of the season.


Our next match was against Aston Villa, so I spent extra time with the players discussing the potential threat up front. They have very pacey players like Thierno Barry, Guessand, and Nico (ex-Man City) in midfield, so that was something I needed to address.

I started with a 4-3-3, and it worked to some extent, but we conceded in the 35th minute — Barry and Guessand combined well, so the preparation didn’t work as planned. At half-time, I analyzed the performance and decided to switch to RAF. We didn’t have to wait long to see the difference — two minutes later, it was 1–1.

But I had a feeling we could do better. I gave the players more tactical freedom around the 50th minute, and it proved to be a crucial decision. We scored our second goal in the 60th minute — Boniface again, but this time providing an assist.


Around the 73rd minute, I noticed that Villa were pushing forward and decided to adopt a more controlled approach.


They were attacking, but it was us who scored three minutes later thanks to Diego. Then we added a fourth, and the game was over. An outstanding performance from the team.


Florian exposure to matches at a higher level is providing a good platform for his development. I’m planning to keep him, as I like players with strong determination and a proper work rate — he meets those requirements.


Finn was called up to the Republic of Ireland and made his first appearance for the senior team. It’s great to see that a product of our academy is making a name for himself on the big stage.

The feeling of getting promoted was still fresh in our memory, but that win over Aston Villa proved decisive in the championship race. We knew we needed only a couple more points—well, just one, in fact—to secure our fifth championship title in a row. All we had to do was draw against Oxford.

We remembered beating them 5–0 in our first Championship match, but we also knew that since then they had become a much better team, as shown in our FA Cup match, which we lost.

The fans were in the mood to show their appreciation for our achievement with a new tifo banner. I thought this would be enough to motivate the players to put in a strong performance.



Looking at the stats, we were the better team, which is why I told them to play with a more attacking mentality. We scored and went ahead, controlling the game. I wanted to be more proactive, so I switched back to a positive mentality and also brought on substitutes.

Somehow, against the run of play, we conceded a goal. We didn’t manage to win the match, but I didn’t even have time to get angry with the players, as the coronation ceremony took place afterwards.





After the ceremony, the fans ran onto the pitch, celebrating with the players. It will be hard to forget that day—the first time in history Dover will be playing in the Premier League.



The players went to celebrate with the fans, while I had to attend a post-match interview.



Reporter: Congratulations—what an achievement. Five championships and five promotions in five years.
Me: Thank you. It’s been quite a journey. It may look easy, but there were difficult moments along the way.

Reporter: Definitely. For some reason, no manager has achieved anything similar in history, so it’s certainly not an easy task. What are your plans now?
Me: Firstly, I’ll give the players a day off so they can enjoy the moment. The season isn’t over yet, so the club celebration will take place at the end of the season.

Reporter: Yes, we’ll be there too. Are you planning anything yourself?
Me: No, I don’t celebrate until the season is finished.

I will definitely spend more time on the transfer market, as the club’s reputation has skyrocketed and this will be reflected in the market, with better players willing to join.

Reporter: Do you have someone in mind?
Me: Not particularly. I need to improve a couple of positions, as some players will leave—mostly in the attacking core, since Iu is going to Wolves and Dunne is returning to Monaco.

Reporter: I hope the chairman is offering enough money to achieve that?
Me: He seems to be in good form lately, but this is no surprise. He took over the club last year, and now we are in the Premier League.

Reporter: It looks like Arsenal are trying to beat Spurs for this year’s title. That’s probably not the best news for you, since you’re a Spurs fan.
Me: Tottenham won it last year, so repeating that will always be difficult. This year, Manchester City and Liverpool have been underperforming so far, but there are still matches to be played, so things may change.

Reporter: I have one more question. Dover’s following on social media has almost doubled in the space of two months. You had 33k, and now you have nearly twice that number. That should attract sponsors.
Me: I hope so. I don’t want to rely only on selling players to bring money into the club. If we want to make progress from now on, we need to keep our best players.

Reporter: I know you are eager to get back to your players and continue celebrating, so I would like to say congratulations again.
Me: Thank you.

The financial report at the end of the month shows that we are still complying with FFP.




I have also received the evaluation of this year’s youth intake, and I was quite disappointed. We cannot produce a player who matches Finn’s potential.

I have a plan this year to continue upgrading the facilities and bring in new coaching staff. I have been trying to sign a new Head of Youth Development, but so far I haven’t found a better option.

What an irony. Edan left Dover to play for Leicester, as they had better chances of getting promotion to the Premier League. A few months later, we are playing against them and they are forming a guard of honor for us. Where is Edan? On the bench. He couldn’t believe that he is staying in the Championship while we are going up again. I felt for him, as one of the reasons he was sold is that we needed the money.


The match itself ended with a draw. I would say that was a fair result. One of the reasons for that could have been that some players ended up drinking heavily with fans after the last match. I will give them a pass this time, but next match I would demand a better performance.


Aston Villa have beaten Southampton 1–0 and have been promoted to the Premier League as well.


Corners are still an issue. I have tried almost everything now—Guinti, who is 194 cm tall, is still outside the box.


Despite the corner problems, we still scored three goals and beat QPR.


Next stop - Derby. I have to be honest—we were rubbish. Up to 70 minutes, we didn’t create too many chances, although we looked like the dominant team, so I switched to an attacking mentality. This produced a momentum as we scored a goal, and I thought that would be enough. Set the mentality back to positive and switch to control mode. Nine minutes later it was 1–1 as we conceded from a corner.

We had 10 minutes plus added time to change the result. I kept it attacking until the 87th minute, but I was getting annoyed that we are dropping points after being a better team again. I need to make sure that players learn how to kill of the game as next season there will be less room for errors.

There was a bit of tension in the air and, like in the old days, the players knew I wasn’t happy. I wanted to win this, so we turned on desperation mode. It provided the outcome I wanted—we got two goals in the 90+ minutes and came away with a 3–1 win.


After that match, I scheduled additional match preparation training to remind the players that the season is not over yet and that I want to win the remaining matches. It seems this worked well enough in our next match, as we beat Millwall 3–1.


Then we collected another three points, beating Middlesbrough 5–2.


And then came our last match of the season against Stoke. We were attacking, but their goalkeeper was performing miracles that day. We couldn’t score. On the other hand, Curd was terrible. A shot from outside the penalty area went past him and we were 1–0 down.

I tried to get back into the match by changing to a more attacking 3-4-3 formation, but it didn’t work. On top of that, we conceded from a counter-attack and it was over. A 3–0 loss in the last match is not how I wanted to end the season.


Season ended with a record of 38 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses not bad for a team who suppose finish in relegation zone. Now we are in big league. It is going to be much more difficult task than previous seasons. Signing a new established and more consistent GK is a priority.


I have switched back to the default skin because my game keeps crashing. I’m not sure if it’s mod-related, as I’ve only used the data for this save along with skin mods.

During the Easter break, I played several matches, but the game kept crashing randomly. I’ve also experienced matches getting stuck in a replay loop, which forces me to close the game completely.

Because of my saving policy, I’ve sent the save file to SI to see if they can identify any issues. In some cases, the game crashed during the fifth match, and I had to replay all of them again, which is very frustrating. I never had any save issues in FM24.