Career Dover Athletic F.C - My Philosophy - Experiment

[SSolas]

CHOOSING THE SQUAD

I chose  Dover Athletic F.C because I saw them a few weeks back having 0 points in the National League, which I found astonishing! The club are semi-professional, having moved to the national league in 2014 however the club fell on hard times with COVID & started this season with a 12 point deduction. I wanted to see if my philosophy could improve this result OR whether they were always destined to go back down to the National League South.

STADIUM & FACILITIES

The club appears to have an average infrastructure. The 1st team & Youth team facilities are 'adequate'. The stadium holds 6,500 supporters but on average, attracts 1,000 fans.

TRAINING, STAFF & FINANCES

The finances for the club are OK although we have overspent the wage budget improving the squad. The Assistant Manager Nicky Southall takes control of the teams training system. The staff room is full now too, with more scouts, a physio & a coach added. 

SQUAD

The key area of this career & substantial changes made in & out of the club with the hope of improving performances. Stsrting with outs, the entire original squad was released with mostly very young,very old or loanees who were not good enough. The players in were as cheap as we could get them whilst also being 16-30 yrs old with key attributes of PACE, TEAMWORK & DECISIONS.

TACTICS

I used my Attacking Tiki Taka tactic for this career. With the 7th best attack & the 3rd best defence in the National League, the tactic worked very well. We played very well during the season with mostly wins or draws with only one notable moment where we lost 5x matches in a row.

THE RESULTS

So, did I success with Dover Athletic F.C - Yes. We finished 7th in the National League, actually getting through to the playoffs although went out in the 1st Round. We understandably spent the half of the season trying to battle through relagation & the 12 point deduction , with the other half dedicated to a good finish in the league. The other thing to add is that I had the freedom of releasing all of the dead wood & starting again with fresh, better players. Outside of FMM22, Dover Athletic F.C are going down and only have 1 point to their name! With their current players as per the game, I feel like they might struggle for the next few seasons.

 

STEPS FOR SUCCESS

MANAGERS STATS

LEAGUE STATS

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by SSolas

[DanEnglish]

Wow - you do so many careers, am impressed.

You've also done well with Dover - without the 12 point deduction you would have finished 3rd in the league, is that right?

As a question for you, how sustainable do you think the club would be after your season in charge? Would it be a requirement for them to get promoted to 'balance the books', or do you think player sales would cover the costs ... or do you think it's sustainable without being promoted / selling players? The reason why I ask is that you spend 4x your wage budget and 325k on transfer fees in the VLN - which seems massive, so am wondering about your thoughts on the financial sustainability?

Cheers and keep up the good work!

[hhooo]

1 hour ago, DanEnglish said:

Wow - you do so many careers, am impressed.

You've also done well with Dover - without the 12 point deduction you would have finished 3rd in the league, is that right?

As a question for you, how sustainable do you think the club would be after your season in charge? Would it be a requirement for them to get promoted to 'balance the books', or do you think player sales would cover the costs ... or do you think it's sustainable without being promoted / selling players? The reason why I ask is that you spend 4x your wage budget and 325k on transfer fees in the VLN - which seems massive, so am wondering about your thoughts on the financial sustainability?

Cheers and keep up the good work!

This piqued my interest as well, it seems like they would get another point deduction next season! I might give it a go with Dover as well.

[SSolas]

On 11/05/2022 at 16:35, DanEnglish said:

Wow - you do so many careers, am impressed.

You've also done well with Dover - without the 12 point deduction you would have finished 3rd in the league, is that right?

As a question for you, how sustainable do you think the club would be after your season in charge? Would it be a requirement for them to get promoted to 'balance the books', or do you think player sales would cover the costs ... or do you think it's sustainable without being promoted / selling players? The reason why I ask is that you spend 4x your wage budget and 325k on transfer fees in the VLN - which seems massive, so am wondering about your thoughts on the financial sustainability?

Cheers and keep up the good work!

Thank you so much for your replies. 

I believe what you said about finishing 3rd is correct which is an impressive achievement.

I love your question on financial sustainability, thank you for asking it. The answer is No, the way I managed them this particular season would not be sustainable. 

I was given money by the club to improve the squad, maybe £130k so it would maybe be a case of getting rid of lower quality players but buying cheaper players or weighing up if the cost if new players would improve the squad enough to decide on spending the money.

My season was based on a one-off bases using my tips & tricks as a manager. That said, I feel confident 100% that there is a cautious way forward for Dover where finances are kept in check BUT progress is still made on the field. 

In the extreme, I believe promotion for Dover WAS achieveable at the start of this season BUT would need a few seasons & money to invest. Were definitely looking at a  rebuild to build up a much better squad than they currently have.

[DanEnglish]

Great answer mate 👍 

[SSolas]

2ND SEASON - DOVER - 2022/2023

The last post's played on my mind & I wondered what could have come of Dover Athletic FC. As a bit of fun, I did do a 2nd season with Dover Athletic FC. The club finished 1 point higher in 6th due to a lack of signings as a result of the many signings made the season before.

That said, We did finish in the playoff places for the 2nd season in a row, which is a remarkable feat considering the clubs awful position the season before. We were leading again Barnet in the 1st round, I went defensive to protect the lead, our defence wasnt good enough & they equalised. We ultimately went out on penalties which was a big dissapointment. 

As you can see though, shortly after this match, Northampton FC came in for me. I accepted their offer & it is a good way to end this challenge of sorts. 

This 2nd season, I think shows that with a good squad review, mixed with good signings & a quality tactic can get any squad in a better position, sounds simple but that's what took this Dover Athletic FC squad from oblivion to close to promotion! 

[mihhasd]

how did you get that design