Written by Dear friends, the promotion buzz in Thurrock is not done yet and we are still indulging in the celebration after a successful season. Things are certainly not going to get easy in league 2 as there are a lot of quality teams such as Bradford, Carlisle and Walsall facing us in the upcoming season. We immediately have a good news for the fans after the close season when the chairman announced that Thurrock will turn professional with immediate effect.
It was a proud day for the club and fans who had supported us all this while. We must never let the fans down, in order to do this we have to get quality players in to stay in the league 2. This is our first ever participation for league football and the board certainly don’t expect us to do well in the league. They expected us to fight for the relegation this season, but i choosing the option of avoiding relegation as i think we have the ability to do that.
The wage budget was better than last season but i believe we are still having the lowest operating budget in this league. After changes to the contract which increase the wages of the players due to promotion, my hands are quite tight in signing new players. Though i released some players, i can only sign 2 -3 new players. I need to get in the rest of the players through loans. Here is my transfer news.
I released a few of my first team players most notably my first choice goalkeeper Scott Tynan, Midfielder Simon Heslop and Striker Marc Richards. Scott Tynan had been making a lot of mistakes last season, Simon Heslop don’t do particular well in training and i am disappointed with the form of Marc Richards. I though he should be doing better. I bring in 3 free players and 4 loans. I terminated one of them as i thought it will open up one slot for a long term long, but i do not know once you had completed the long term loan, it is consider made and i can’t sign any new player for long term loan anymore.
A brief introduction on the players, Niki Bull will be my new first choice goalkeeper. He is 31 and i hope his experience can help the defence to be more stable. Graham Alexander is a veteran striker which is used as back-up. Paul Sturrock is a regen player who is a right back. These 3 players were signed as free and the others were on loan either long term or short term. The position they played were right and left winger, a midfielder and a striker. If you would like to know more about them, I had made a page for all the transfer news so you can take a look on their screenshot here.
Before the start of the friendly games, i was offered a new 3 year contract and i accepted immediately hoping that my commitment to the club will raise the morale of the players before the first friendly game. Now i am going to stay in Thurrock till 2016 which give me a significant amount of time to build on the foundation that i had made. My assistant manager arranged 6 friendly games for us and we had a nice workout to the season. Here is the friendly results.
I was particular pleased with the win over Tranmere as they are in the same league as us now. A few number of high score games so the players are definitely in good shape and i can’t wait for the new season to start.
I got to admit that my transfer activity is not that impressive this season, but i have confidence on the nucleus of players that we have. I believe they have the quality to stay up and fight for a play-off spot. What do you think my friends? Do you think we can stay in league 2?
We are going to start the first month with 6 games to be played including our first ever appearance in the league cup which is against Southend Utd a championship team. It certainly won’t be easy but i am looking forward to the challenge and a new chapter in Thurrock’s history.
Dear friends, here is my latest updates and i will leave you for now. Thanks for reading this post. I will see you back for my next post Thurrock-August 2013 result.
Well done. I looked at your signings and the loan ones especially are good buys. Don’t get too downhearted about the buys because I think they are pretty good. I think you can stay up this year but I don’t think you will be able to get a play-off spot. I really hope you do though.
Good Luck!
A pretty good pre season there Lye. Nice to see that you’ve extended your contract, the board have rewarded you for all your good work! I think you will have a difficult season but I think you will stay up. Good luck!
.-= Laxeyman´s last blog ..Notts County Story – February 2014 =-.
Hello Lye
Excellent signings there and a good build up to the pre-season with lots of goals. Congrats on your new three year contract which as you say is good for club morale. All the best for life in League 2.
PS Singapore is a beautiful country, nice and clean too!
@Calum
Thanks Calum, the financial situation is still very bad in the club. So i will depend more on the loan players this season. But luckily attendance to the club will improve so hopefully there is more revenue for the club. Its going to be a challenge hopefully we can stay up and do well.
@Laxeyman
Thanks Laxeyman, its going to be a difficult season but i need to remain positive and try to inspire the players to good results this season.
@Kevin
Thanks Kevin, i am glad i had committed myself to Thurrock for another 3 years. The challenge will get bigger and bigger as it is not easy for life in league 2. Lets see how the season goes when the first game is played.
Singapore is famous for its clean and well organized garden layout throughout the whole city. The only thing is its always summer here with occasionally showers not like in the north now, it is so cold.
Your FM story has inspired me man! Great job.
The signings look pretty good Lye, especially that Spanish forward although I can’t see him playing more than 60 minutes per game. Having most of the players from last season could be a plus, the squad won’t need too much time to gel. Good luck mate, I think you’ll be in for an exciting season!
.-= Johnny Karp´s last blog ..Notts County Story – February 2014 =-.
Lye, how much debt are you in?
@Terence
Thanks Terence, glad that you are here and i hope you can share your story with us too if you have one.
@Johnny
Thanks mate, i believe promotion to league 2 is beginning to see us loaning better players. I thought Gonzalo Vicente has great technical attributes as a forward but as you say he is a bit weak on the physical side.
I think my players still has the ability to perform in league 2 thats why i kept most of them. I hope the decision does not backfire as the season goes along.
@Calum
We are still having 170k in debt, thats why my board doesn’t allow a bigger wage budget for me.
ok
Good season Lye and you made some good signings. I’m sure you will do well this season, good luck!
.-= Dan Monksfield´s last blog ..A Shaky Start to the New Season =-.
Thank you for your comments Dan, i hope we will do well this season. The target is to stay up and reduce the club debt then hopefully we can get more quality players in.