Dorchester Town Story: Preparing for the Premier League

Hello dear friends and welcome to the Premier League! After celebrating the unlikely and unexpected promotion from Coca-Cola Championship me and my players along with the Dorchester Town board of directors had to prepare for the Premier League season, the first ever in the club’s history.

As you know our stadium had only around 600 seats and a capacity of 5009, an expansion was inevitable. The board announced that more than 7000 new seats will be installed and we will have to play away from home until the works will be completed, that’s until the 8th of January 2015! The board reached an agreement with Southampton to host our home games at St. Mary’s Stadium for a symbolic rent of 1 pound per year.

Between new sponsorships and TV rights he club’s financial situation improved dramatically once we got promoted, the club’s coffers saw more money than they did in the previous 100 years!

The board expected us to fight bravely against relegation, I offered them a mid-table finish for an extra 6 million pounds on the transfer budget and around 10,000 pounds added to the weekly payroll budget. I couldn’t hope for more money to be honest, I was quite satisfied.

There was a lot of work to do though, the pre-seasons reports from the staff were quite pessimistic. We needed to improve almost all areas of the squad and when we started spending that money didn’t seem too much anymore.

I had to offload nine of the players that worked hard for the promotion and some of those decisions were quite tough to make. You might be surprised to see that I sold two of the best players from last season, Coloccini and Tchité, but I think that I found better and younger players to fill in for them. In fact, the entire squad was rejuvenated in an attempt to build a solid future for the club.

We brought in 13 players plus another two on emergency loans. The basic rule was to bring in good players on free transfers and spend money only on good young prospects. Some of the transfer budget was moved into the wage budget but it still wasn’t enough, we’re around 30 K over the weekly payroll budget!

Now let me describe our new squad in more detail. I have made no changes in goal, the two goalkeepers that served us well last season were confirmed for another year at a higher level. Davide La Rocca will be my number one while Gabriel Nicolau will be his backup.

The big problem is in the full backs area, I didn’t manage to secure any of the transfers that I chased around all summer long so we will have to do with our full backs from last year: Nemanja Rnic and Eddie Kelly on the right flank, Angelo Rossini and Ryan Carolan on the left. I was a bit desperate though and I also brought in two full backs on loan from Holland, Kees Esseboom and Sjors Daemen. These two should provide good backup, hopefully.

Major work has been done to improve the middle of our defense: only one of our centre backs remained at the club, young Italian Francesco Tosto. I managed to bring in another three great prospects in defense, starting with 19 year old Chilean Arturo Bahamondes from Paris Saint Germain. I paid 5 million pounds for him and also offered him a very high wage just to lure him in because there were many big clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich chasing him. I was delighted that he agreed to join us and even more pleased when he was finally given a work permit after the appeal. He surely is a great talent and I hope that he will fulfill his potential with us. 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 next centre back comes from Romania, I paid 2.5 million pounds to Steaua Bucharest for 20 year old Petre Micu. He is the type of centre back that suits my high defensive line and I hope that he can further polish his skills.

The last of the three new centre backs is another Romanian, 19 year old Vasile Popa. I managed to get him on a bargain deal from Sparta Prague, only 60 K because his contract was expiring. He should compete with the other three for a place in the first team.

Now let’s move higher up the pitch to the wingers section. I sold Tiberiu Paduraru and Matt Richards, while Mancini decided to hang up his boots and remain at the club as a coach. So, we had only two wingers left, Packie Doolin and Graeme Owens. The first winger that we managed to bring in is a great 19 year old prospect from Hungary, Laszlo Tamasi. We paid 3.9 million pounds to CSKA Sofia for him but I think that he’s a great investment for the future.

We were a bit short on money so we had to complete that area of the squad with free transfers… The one that I chose was Romanian 29 year old right/left winger Dacian Varga, a talented player that could really have done a lot more in his career. He never managed to get a contract outside Romania and I hope that he will make the most out of the opportunity that I have given him.

The next player makes the transition from wingers to central midfielders as he can cover both roles: Fran Merida, released on a free by Arsenal. He is a very talented player that could really make a difference in our midfield.

I had to rely mostly on free transfers for the middle of the park but I think that I have managed to find decent players. Willo Flood joined us from Middlesbrough, a hard working and mature player that should provide great backup for the CM and RM positions.

Chris Cohen came on a free transfer from Burnley and he should also be a reliable presence in our midfield.

But we’ll also have a new star in our midfield, our new number 10 is Iulian Marin, a 20 year old Romanian with great skills and also very good mental attributes. I had to pay 2.5 million pounds to Steaua Bucharest for him but I’m quite sure that I won’t regret that price tag. Only one of the midfielders from last season remained at the club, Jonathan Dos Santos. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

And now the most spectacular area of the team, the strikers. Omar Koroma and Peter Singh remained at the club and they will have to compete with three other strikers for a spot in the first team. The first signing was a free one, Sean Scannell from Championship side Wigan. He has no Premier League experience but he should be a great counter attacking player considering his speed.

The next striker that joined the club is 18 year old Spaniard Jonathan Ezquerro from Real Madrid. I paid only 300,000 pounds for him and he appears to be a pretty good prospect. His stats so far are quite impressive, he scored 23 goals last season for Real Madrid C.

The biggest signing in the club’s history is Liam Parker, a player that you already know from last season when he was with us on loan from Manchester United. He scored 15 goals in the Championship for us and I was quite keen on signing him. Manchester United wanted 7.5 million pounds and I gladly paid, I think that this lad will be the player who will drive the club forward.

Another signing completes our summer window, a transfer for the future: 16 year old centre back Raul Munteanu. This kid has great potential and I hope he can develop quickly as I paid quite a lot for him, 500K!

With the new players gradually coming in we had a mixed bag of friendly results. I was quite pleased to hold A.C. Milan to a 1-1 draw but rather disappointed by the 3-0 defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough. That was a special game though as we had a man sent off around the 30th minute.

The assistant manager report points out our weak spots, the two full back positions. Unfortunately there’s nothing I can do about that at this point because we are already way over the weekly wage budget… However, I think that we have enough strength in the other areas of the team. I might also try a new tactic with no full backs, we’ll see.

Here are some interesting facts about our team: it’s the youngest squad in the league, we have the lowest average wages but the most under 19 internationals!

The bookmakers were not impressed with those stats though, everybody thinks that we are going to finish last. Well, that’s what they always said :)

Our first month will start with a killer double, at home with Liverpool and then away at Arsenal but then we’ll try to pick up some points against Bristol City and Hull. We also might have a Carling Cup fixture in between those games, I’m not sure.

So, that’s what we managed to do during the transfer window, thanks for reading this update. I am a bit frustrated because I couldn’t manage to bring in the full backs that I wanted, I had offers accepted for three good full backs but all of them decided to sign contracts with other clubs. Anyway, I think that we’ll put up a good fight in the Premier League and I hope that we will manage to stay up this season in order to continue building for the future.