Dorchester Town Story: Preparing For Europe

Hello folks and welcome back to the Dorchester Town Football Manager 2010 story! It’s time for the pre-season report, I had lots of work to do to improve the squad and prepare it for another Premier League season but also for the Europa League. We were a bit lucky to finish 6th last season but it was a great achievement for the club and that gave us the honor of playing European football in my seventh season in charge at Avenue Stadium. Let’s see how our summer went.

The board was quite generous, I set my expectations to continental qualification and they gave me a good 35 million pounds budget to spend and also an increased wage budget, I was quite happy with their contribution this time.

I felt that the squad needed some dramatic improvements, I’ve seen the players on the pitch last season and many of them proved that they are not up to the challenge. So I decided to keep a nucleus of 11 players and sell another eleven, mostly on a «buy one, sell one» basis. That brought another 23.5 million into the club’s coffers but not much of that returned into the transfer budget.

I brought in 15 new players to give the squad more quality and better depth as well. The total was nearly 40 million pounds and I can’t say that I’m entirely satisfied but I tried to do my best with the funds that were available.

Now let’s see how we stand in each department. I was quite satisfied with my goalkeeper last season, Davide La Rocca was supposed to be my number one for another year but things changed when I had the opportunity to get David De Gea on a free transfer. He is a world class goalkeeper so I offered him a hefty sign on fee and a good wage so he agreed to join the club! La Rocca will remain with us but I’m afraid he will be just a backup since De Gea really seems to be in a whole different league. Overall I think he is our best deal of the summer.

We had serious problems with the full backs area last season so I brought in three new right/left backs that should improve our defense. First there is Ronan Dunne who came for 1 million pounds from relegated Newcastle. He seems to be a reliable full back with some room for improvement and he can also serve as a backup for the right midfielder position. Francesco Tosto remained at the club and he will provide good cover for Dunne.

On the left flank I brought in Tunisian youngster Imed Bejaoui, a pacey left back that should be my first choice next season. Ryan Carolan is still at the club as I promised not to sell him unless he wants to, he will provide cover if needed.

I couldn’t rely solely on Carolan for backup though so I brought in another left back on loan from Galatasaray, Turkish under 21 international Can Kahveci. Unfortunately he picked up a rather bad injury during the last friendly match of the summer and he will be out between two and three months.

The middle of my defense also needed serious improvements and I managed to bring in a new pair of centre backs that should do well for us both in the Premier League and in Europe. First there is experienced defender John Heitinga, he came for 4 million pounds from Everton. He is a versatile player that could also provide cover in midfield and on the right flank but I expect him to be the leader of the defense in the new season. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

The summer’s most expensive transfer was the capture of Finnish defender Daniel Nilsson for 7 million pounds from Italian side Siena. He is the type of centre back that I need, a lad with awesome pace and good teamwork. He is still rather young so I guess he could make some progress along with the team. I also have Arturo Bahamondes from last season and youngster Raul Munteanu could provide additional cover if needed along with Francesco Tosto and Ryan Carolan.

Moving on towards midfield, I kept only two of my central midfielders from last season: Iulian Marin and Fran Merida. I brought in three new lads to compete with them for a place in the first team starting with hard working Scottish midfielder James McArthur. I bought him for 1.6 million from Hamilton, the only club in his career until now! He might need some time to settle in but I hope he will be the workhorse that we need in our midfield.

I needed to add some home grown players too because of the Premier League and Europa League rules but I reckon I would have signed Lewis McGugan even if the was Japanese. I paid 6 million pounds to Wolves or him and some of the fans criticized my choice but I feel that a strong and skillful midfielder like him will surely help us a lot during the season.

The last addition to my central midfield is Ukrainian youngster Volodymyr Grinchenko, bought for 2.4 million from Spanish side Getafe. He is a quick midfielder with decent skills and I think that he can be a solid backup or maybe even more, we’ll see.

My squad definitely needed some new faces on the wings but I have to admit that I would have wanted to bring in some better players in this area. However, I think that the pair of wingers that joined the club should do a good job. First there is Brazilian winger Anderson from Arsenal, I had him on loan a few seasons ago. Arsenal let him go for only 2.3 million and I think that he will fit in very well given his good speed and work rate.

The second winger that I brought in is Portuguese player Silvestre Varela who came for 1.7 million pounds from German side Wolfsburg. He is a solid player overall with some good experience in Europe and although he is 30 years old I think that he has another one or two seasons to play at this level.

I also kept three of my wingers from last season, Laszlo Tamasi, Dacian Varga and Packie Doolin and although we were pretty well covered in that area I decided to bring in a winger/striker as well: Gael Kakuta. His main position is the striker one but his skills surely allow him to do a good job on the left wing and also in the middle of the park if needed. Sevilla let him go for only 2.5 million and I guess it was a bargain I couldn’t resist.

I have another two strikers that can also play on the right wing, Sean Scannell and Liam Parker so that area of the team is perfectly covered. The biggest improvements were made upfront, I brought in three new strikers that I thought were well worthy of playing in the Premier League. The first one is Brazilian player Rafael Coelho, he came for a reasonable 4.5 million from Corinthians. Like most Brazilians he can dribble, has good pace and he can also find the target from distance so I think he has what it takes to succeed in the Premier League. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Since all of my strikers were quick but not too strong I decided to bring in a couple of stronger strikers that could give me more options to use during the upcoming games. I was quite pleased to snap up Uruguayan striker Christian Stuani on a free transfer, he has great experience and he could be the man who will head in a few crosses next season.

Last but not least, a quite expensive loan signing: Craig Carlisle. He spent a few months on loan with us around three seasons ago but since then he developed into a really good player. Manchester City requested a hefty 3.6 million loan fee for him but I agreed to pay since I believe that he can help us a lot this season. He is very strong but also fairly quick and skillful so I think he is the type of complete forward that I was looking for.

Here’s how the squad looks like, 26 men that will try to prove their worth in Europe. I feel that we are pretty well covered in all departments with a few above average players in every area of the pitch.

Here’s how my assistant evaluates the situation but I have to say that I disagree with him on a few choices. Anyway, I guess all the players in the squad will be given a chance to shine so I don’t really have a best eleven figured out yet, at least not entirely.

The friendly games went very well, I was particularly pleased with the win over Betis, a strong Spanish side.

The media see us finishing 11th this season, not too bad considering they always predicted us to finish last until now.

The first month of the season will see us making our debut in the Europa League against Swedish side AIK Stockholm, I guess we should get through to the next round.

That’s how our summer was my friends, there will be no more transfers from us because we are over the weekly wage budget (again). The team doesn’t look too bad on paper but we will need some time before the new players will settle in and start performing like I think they can. Thanks a lot for reading, I’m looking forward to your comments about the new players.