Mansfield Town Expectations The board do not have great expectations as they only demand I battle bravely against relegation (can be found in the season 5 thread). That should be no problem at all and my personal goal for the season is promotion. Last season Mansfield ended 13 pts behind the playoffs in 10th, but that season was hampered by injuries and the players brought in late in the season looked very convincing and will be with me all season now. In november Durgham El-Bawi will join from Stålkameratene after I tried to get him since last offseason. His club would not agree to a reasonable fee (I offered over 10 times his worth) so now I'm waiting until his contract ends in november before he joins for free as he has agreed with a new contract with Mansfield. Key Players S C - Paul Wheatcroft: Brought him in on loan last season and I just had to get him signed and he was signed as my most expensive transfer ever at 525k. He is very versatile and will probably see some time at right wing and attacking midfielder in my 3-5-2 system. D/DM RC - Shaun Derry: He is my defensive anchor at midfield (MC) and is imperative that he is having a successful season as the competition for this spot is not of the best, atleast until El-Bawi joins. Team Analysis/Breakdown Goalkeepers: The team is set in goal. The starter for 3 years running Tony Roberts has gotten competition from last season signing Paul Cuss and Steve Phillips. All was impressive in preaseason games, but Steve Phillips will get the nod (he sucked up to me thinking I was an extremly competent manager) as he won the starting rights from Roberts. Roberts will be the backup and ready to take over if Phillips is not up to the task as Roberts really never did anything to lose his starting job. It is just that his time is running out, being 36 yrs old. Defense: As always this is the teams achilles heal - to get the defense set. I'm back to using a 4 line back, but still has my 3-5-2 to fall back on. When I'm playing with full-backs in my 4-4-2 newly signed Kjetil Steen will man the left side while Tim Cole mans the right side. Henrik Kristensen backing both up and is also close to winning a starting job. Manning the central will be Alistair Asher and Marcus Lindberg. Stuart Reddington lost the starting job last season can easily win back his spot if he gets his form back. Midfield: My two central midfielders usually have one being defensive while the other being more attacking in nature. Shaun Derry is a clear choice for the defensive duties. Danny McDonald might go straight from the reserves to be the starter for the other spot. Backing up these two is Marc Cleeland (def), Sean McClare (both), Jeremy Illingworth (att). Lee Williamson (R/L) and Ricardo Beckford (L) is running the wings. Paul Wheatcroft will run the right wing if needed while Ged Allen backs up Beckford. If I'm running the 3-5-2 I have one extra midfielder as a link between midfield and attack. This spot is open for Jeremy Illingworth, Liam Lawrence, Rory Hamill, Paul Wheatcroft, Danny McDonald. Attack: The attack is the strongest/deepest part of the team with Paul Wheatcroft, Kevin Kyle, Rory Hamill all really deserving to start every game with only room for two - this is the reason why Paul Wheatcroft might be playing right winger to make room for all. Rory Hamill can also be drawn back to the "link" position if I play 3-5-2. Graeme Porter and Lee Jones will probably see significant time as backups too. System: I will use two system this season, an attacking 4-4-2 with both full-backs and wings running the side or the 3-5-2 I switched to last season. What I end up using will very much likely depend on how my defense reacts and if it struggle again (probably even expected) I will not hold back in bringing new, and hopefully good defenders this time. Depthchart GK: Steve Phillips, Tony Roberts, Paul Cuss DR: Tim Cole, Henrik Kristensen, Gary Hodgson, Philip Bardsley DL: Kjetil Steen, Henrik Kristensen, Gary Hodgson DC: Alistair Asher, Tim Cole, Chris Walker, Kjetil Steen DC: Marcus Lindberg, Stuart Reddington, Gary Hodgson, Henrik Kristensen MR: Lee Williamson, Paul Wheatcroft, Dan Rownham, Sean McClare, Henrik Kristensen ML: Ricardo Beckford, Lee Williamson, Ged Allen, Henrik Kristensen MC: Shaun Derry, Marc Cleeland, Sean McClare, (Durgham El-Bawi) MC: Danny McDonald, Jeremy Illingworth, Gary Fisken, Sean McClare AMC: Danny McDonald, Rory Hamill, Paul Wheatcroft, Liam Lawrence, Jeremy Illingworth SC: Paul Wheatcroft, Rory Hamill, Lee Jones SC: Kevin Kyle, Graeme Porter, Liam Lawrence Prospects D R - Philip Bardsley D/M R - Dan Rownham DM C - Sean Broller M C - Gary Fisken M LC - Richard Dell M RC - David Savage AM/F C - Danny McDonald AM L - Ged Allen F RLC - Luke Coates The best prospect might very well be Luke Coates, but the problem is he is a primadonna doing whatever he wants. I dont know how many times I have had to fine him for being late for practice. It has been too many. He also show poor fitness several times and my backroom staff has voiced concerns over him. The latest time I fined him for being late (just now) other players protested my strict line of fining players. I hate players forcing me to alter my fining ways and this might very well be what makes me take on a new challenge (if I can get the hell out). Luckily just a day later some of them are not unhappy anymore, but I still suspect that I have to be more lenient with the fines now, and find other ways of punishing players, like not playing them. Problem with Luke is that he is a prospect and I cant take away playing time he dont have.
My board expects the team to battle bravely against relegation. I have news for them. I plann to battle bravely for promotion. After last seasons strong showing the Blues are ready to win D1. The loss of Michael Jack and the continously oft injured Lee Matthews may make that task difficult but We plan on bringing in some new talent to help our chances to move up.
The expectations from the board is not true expectations I believe. It is just what they will allow you before firing your arse. So a low expectations is good in a way and at the moment it looks like just about the right level too for both of us. My patience with my defense did not last long as I brought in one central defender in Richard Hinds and moved TIm Cole over to central defense too. I probably will bring another defender too to really "fix" things, and if that wont work the rest of the team will fall under scrutiny too. Luckily it has started to go a bit better for me.
