Thurrock 2021/22 Pre-Season report

Hello friends, welcome to the Thurrock 2021/22 pre-season report. It will be our first ever appearance in the English top flight and everyone are hugely anticipating the arrival of the new season. Prior to that, we need to invest and strengthen the squad if we need to ensure that we survive in our first season. We are given 29.4 million for TV rights for the forthcoming season. First of all lets take a look at the board expectations and how much they are willing to give me for buying new players.

Board expectations

The board doesn’t have any high expectations in our first season. They are happy if we attempted to avoid relegation and give me 10 million pounds. I told them we could avoid relegation and the transfer budget increased to 11.75 million and the wage budget was 130k. I was quite happy due to the fact that this is our first season and we are a poor club. Since i have the budget, it’s time to start scouting for new players and below is the transfer news.

Player in/out

Surprisingly there was not much transfer activity by me. Only 2 players were released. David Martin has been unhappy about playing second fiddle to David Cook and Tottenham paid 300k for his services. Ben Lynn has not been featuring much under me and off he went to Crystal Palace for 275k. Since i am only able to sign six players, i will not releasing too many players as i have a thin squad. I have no problems in fulfilling the home grown rule but slightly short to fill up all 25 players. Lets take a look at the new signings.

New signings

First player is a young Turkish youth international Hakan Metin who was bought from Galatasaray for 5 million. I wanted to have more bite and steel in the midfield area. He was brought in to partner Colin Madden in the center. His job is to protect the back four and allows Colin Madden room to support the attacking players. He is brave, hardworking and good in tackling. The only problem is his fitness level. At 19, he is a player for the future, hopefully he will become a midfield enforcer in Thurrock.

Brian Sorensen is a Danish international signed for 4 million from Brondby. He is not that kind of player who can run past defenders easily. I signed him mainly to use him as a target man. He is a tall lad with a strong presence in the air. He is a player in the mold of Peter Crouch. He is good in his heading, jumping and strength so I am looking at him to win the long balls up front. With Jim Beardsley playing alongside him, we have two players who are strong physically and Jim Beardsley do have the pace to create havoc on the defenders.

As the defence area is always our weakest, i need to look for a defender to partner Jose Antonio Castellano in the central defence. With not much funds left, Holmar Eyjolfsson a team mate of Brian Sorensen was brought in for 2 millions. He is  very familiar with English football as he learnt his trade in West Ham when he is young. He stayed 6 seasons there and fulfilled the home grown rule. He is good on marking, tackling and strength while i am only worry at his lack of pace. But his experience should make up for it.

These are the three players that will go straight into the first team. The other three are mainly back up players. Uche Okpara, a Nigerian international was brought in for 575k to provide back-up to the wingers as he is comfortable at playing on the left or right. Filippo Agostini is a Italian goalkeeper who was signed for a free to become our 2nd choice goalkeeper. Danny Hird is a English midfielder who is a young prospect and will be going on loan for some first team experience. I believe it will be a difficult season for us. After getting all the players in, i am already over the wage budget and have no more budget to sign any more new players. We are going to stick with what we have and see how the season goes.

Title Odds

Looking at the title odds, we are the underdogs of the underdogs. 5000-1, i don’t think anyone believe that we could survive. Even the most loyal Thurrock fans will think that our chances are slim. But still we are going all out for the survival.

Friendly games

We arranged 6 friendly games before we kick off our campaign in the Premiership. The main purpose is to ready the players on their fitness and testing how the new players settle into the squad. Brian Sorensen seems to adapt well as he scored a few goals there although the opposition is poor.

August Fixtures

Our first ever game in the Premiership kick off against Liverpool follow by Burnley and Fulham. We finish off the month with a difficult trip to Manchester City who is favorites to win the title.

I have committed another three years with Thurrock and when that ends, it means i have managed them for almost 15 years. That’s quite a long time even in real life.

Wrap Up

Dear friends, this is my pre-season report for the new season. Not many players in. Do you think we can survive? I think the first month will shape that out. Thanks for reading and i am looking forward to your comments.