retired_sachin_g006

Cracking goal prince, really enjoying the story. one of a few good ones in here keep it up

retired_acivin

Thanks mark wilson, I am really enjoying writing it too. FM is now a whole new experience altogether. Your stories in particular have definitely been inspirational. And yes, the goal was just great


20th March, 2024
New day, new game. And a very important one at that. Gunners were visiting their London counterparts, Dons. Although the media was up in arms about this game, a draw was a highly probable result from both sides’ perspective.

Moreover, Dons were in a comfortable position to go on to win the Premiership, so I wasn’t too worried. This game should be alright, I kept telling myself.

I change to my original 5-3-2 game-plan and instructed players to play wider, and a high tempo game, since playing at home, we would have a slight advantage.

The match begins:
This plan worked in our favor as Lea scored a corner set piece in the 11th minute. It was a good return; after Freeman, the Gunners’ striker had tried taking on Davenport on a difficult one-on-one chance a few minutes ago. 1-0 to us.

Another chance was almost converted in the 13th minute. But Russell, the Arsenal keeper showed great hands to save a certain goal. Few more attacking moves saw the Dons stretching the clock past the 35th minute.

By the end of half time, the score was 1-0 to AFC Wimbledon. And it could have been way more, if the Gunners did not have Russell between the sticks.

Second half:
The story continued as Arsenal made a quick attack to score in the 51st minute to draw the scores level. This was becoming a habit now. Eustace was the scorer. 1-1.

“Carlos, remind me next time to ask the players special precautions when going on the field for second half. It seems we have been giving away needless goals soon after first half. And we need to rectify that.” I said.

Things turn for the better as Baudry soon scored from a through ball by Vieira. Baudry had been impressive this season, and was certainly carrying around the torch from the last season, when he was named player of the year by the Dons fans. 54th minute and 2-1 to us.

The game went on as both teams tried to attack and counter-attack in order to score. However, both the keepers played really well, and stopped anything getting close to the net. Even substitutions made by the Gunners did not inspire them to salvage s draw. And by the end of the game, Dons were comfortably home, winning 2-1.

There was one qualm though. Comeback goals in the second half. They were becoming highly irritating, and there was certainly something that could be done about it. Perhaps, change the strategy for the first 10 minutes of the second half.


Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- AFC Wimbledon 2-1 Arsenal --------------------------------------------------------- Lea (11)|Eustace (51) Baudry (54)| --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>

retired_acivin

21st March, 2024
The Times

23 AFC Wimbledon players have been called up for international duty
In a surprise move, 23 of Dons’ players have been called up for international duty. This was a record number for Dons' in their playing history, since been established in 2002. Now-a days, where teams don’t have many international players, Dons seem to be the most successful team, carrying the largest number of international players.

Credit must also go to their management, which has seen 15 of these 23 players debuting for their country while playing for Dons. Surely, Dons are going up to be the European super-power everyone talks about.



22nd March, 2024

In our 5th consecutive home game, we were host to Aston Villa. Almost 2 months ago, on this day, Villa were soundly beaten by Dons at Kingsmead. 2-0, the scoreline read at that time. This time, I was hoping for a similar outcome.


The match begins:
The team for this match saw only one change in comparison to the one that played against Gunners a few days ago. Bayle replaced Carvajal in the midfield.

Villa had met their expectations so far. Predicted to finish 6th, they were lying 7th in the league, hoping to finish higher up in order, to be able to play in Europe.

Shots went high and wide as Villa tried to dominate play. And in the 25th minute, Gonzlez tried to latch onto a beautiful cross from Perez on the right wing. It was parried away by the Villain’s goalkeeper.

By the 44th minute, it was the same story. 0-0 to both teams. It was an even match so far, and both teams were playing defensively.


Second half:
Hopefully, Carlos’ motivational team talks would work today, I tell myself. Giving some final instructions to players, I send them out on the field.

We attacked, and by the 50th minute, prospects were looking good as Dons lined up for a corner. But that was not converted, which meant that the score was still a dull 0-0.

However, things changed for the better as Baudry latched onto a pass from Fabbrini and turned in the penalty area to score the first goal of the game in the 54th minute. That would take some pressure off us. But I also knew that a slender lead of 1-0 was not strong enough to hold any opposition down, so I stuck to my guts and asked the playewrs to attack even more. 1-0 to us still.

At the other end, by the 65th minute, Villa players were trying their luck. But the wayward shots meant that they had no success yet. As for the Dons, Gonzalez missed an open goal, only to head the ball into the lower stands. It was still the 71st minute, and the game seemed to be going slower than before.

Even though Dons were dominating possession, Villa kept trying to score so as to make the scores even. But in the end, Dons won 1-0. Surprisingly, it was Baudry’s second consecutive game, where he had scored in the 54th minute. Another narrow win.

A win none-the-less.


Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- AFC Wimbledon 1-0Aston Villa --------------------------------------------------------- Baudry (54)| --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>

retired_iva terry

nice story going...KUTGW :thup:

retired_acivin

Thanks for the kind words Damien, appreciate it.


26th March, 2024
“Most of the Dons players away on international duty performed well”, Carlos tells me.
“Any exceptions?”
“Well, Amauri was a bit of disappointment for Poland. Other than that, Fabbrini is still going strong at 32, and played his 108th match for Italy.”
“Well, That sounds good”, I say, “We should be all set for Stoke then.”


30th March, 2024
While Middlesbrough sacked 62 year old - Pat Holland, Dons were preparing for their away game against Stoke. In the previous encounter, Stoker were beaten 1-0. But this game was being played at Stoke, and so it was a chance for them to even out the balance.

I decided to stick with my away strategy which had got me the best results. Even though this formation had a single central defender, and was vulnerable to fast-paced attacks; it had held its own in the past few games.


The match begins:
Sticking with a similar side from the previous game, Ruiz was the one big change and was set to open after a long time. Moreover, the 21 year old-Italian midfielder Santarelli was set to play in his first league game for Dons.

The match started, and my heart sank.
Within the second minute, Arthur lost possession near the goal and gave away the ball to opposition strikers. And surprisingly, they managed to miss an open goal and hit the post.

By the end of 20th minute, Stoke were unable to convert one of many chances given to them by the Dons’ shaky defense. But things changed in the 22nd minute. Stoke actually converted one.

A through ball saw Davenport coming out of his area, only to head the ball to a nearby striker, who neatly chipped over Davenport’s head to make the score 1-0 to Stoke. And it was another ex-Wimbledon player who scored. Traitors, I sometimes call them.

Things changed for the better as Santarelli scored on his debut. The goal came from Ruiz’s pass, and was blazed into an open goal, left by the Stoke keeper, who was trying to close down Ruiz. One blunder cancels out the other. 1-1, and still the 31st minute.

More interestingly, it was another ex-Dons’ player , Manuel Barth; whose mistake led to the goal. “Things have a way of balancing out”, Lea tells me.

Endo’s beautiful through ball saw Ruiz one on one with the Stoke keeper in the 38th minute. However, Ruiz could not convert the chance and this lead to a corner. This corner lead to a counter attack by the Stoke midfielders, but resulted in them missing one-on-one as well.


Second half:
The score line was not too bad. It could certainly be better. Arthur was on a yellow and was substituted by Lea. Mark (Lea) had been a bit nervous while away from home this season. I consoled him and asked him to calm his nerves for this match, since he had nothing to lose and the end of season was drawing to a close anyways.

For a while, nothing changes. But then Fabbrini was tripped by the Stoke defender, and that earned Dons a penalty. This penalty was duly converted by Ruiz as he smashed the ball to the top right corner. Clock read 60 minutes, and 2-1 up, I was confident of getting a result.

I bring on Baudry instead of Perez and swap Ruiz’s and Baudry’s position. Perez was not having a good time on the field. An ex-wonderkid, his performances had been joy to behold, but in this game, he just wasn’t performing.

A counter by Stoke in the 63rd minute brings Davenport into play, as he manages to parry off a screamer from 20 yards out. And by the 70th minute, Stoke began to put a lot of pressure on the Dons defense. But the defense stood their ground, and the scoreline remained unchanged at 2-1.

The players were instructed to waste time, and playing defensively, I knew that this was a difficult option. If someone was caught dallying with the ball in our own half, an attack could mount up, leading to a goal. Still, I took the risk in order to secure the maximum points.

Stoke keep on piling the pressure and this sees the clock past 88 minutes. Only a few more minutes to go, and I was very confident of a win. As the Stoke strikers tried to get on the ball, a lot of off-sides are given. And eventually, Dons grab a deserved away win. 2-1.


Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- Stoke 1-2AFC Wimbledon --------------------------------------------------------- Jackson (22)|Santarelli (30)|Ruiz (pen 60) --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>

All in all, a wonderful day. An inch closer to winning the EPL.

retired_acivin

31st March, 2024

I hear a knock on my door.
“Come in.” It was Dale.
“Oh hey Dale, how is everything going?”
“Not bad Raj, not bad.”, he continues, “I know that losing in the League cup was a setback, but the board has been thrilled by your commitment this season. Even the fans want you at the helm of this club.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, I assume..right?” I replied.
“Yes, very good thing actually. And so I came here to bring you a contract, if you would like to sign a new one, that is!”
“Ah..yes. I completely forgot that my contract is ending in another 3 months.”

Dale hands me the contract and I give it a thorough read.(A brief pause)

“You are going to stay with Dons next season, aren’t you? I mean you promised that you and I would help to make AFC Wimbledon a superpower in the world of football.”
I looked up.
“Oh yes Dale, I am definitely going to say. Although I have a couple of requests.”
“Well..go on.” Dale said.

“You see, I am helping my kids start a property development business, and I was hoping that a slightly higher wage would go a long way in ensuring that I can do the best for them. I mean, If I could get £42.5K instead of £39K you are offering, it would be great. Even if not, my commitment to the club won’t falter. I would still give it my 100%, and”, I continued “Could I please get a professional statistician under AFC Wimbledon’s payroll for the next season, someone to keep me updated with all the numbers and figures from the games gone by and such?”

“Well, The money shouldn’t be any problem. I will get you a new contract and you can then sign it. But as for the statistician, I am afraid we cannot officially appoint one. But if you really need one, make sure that you find one. And send me his wage bill, I will take care of it.”
“Thanks Dale. That’s really useful.” I was happy.

That evening I signed a new contract, and the board rejoiced. Admittedly, I had some Champagne too. I was glad about the fact that I would be able to stay here for another 2 years.

retired_acivin

1st April, 2024

Knock..knock
“WHO IS IT?” I shouted. The knock on my hotel door woke me up with a hangover.
“It’s the cleaners, Sir. Mr. Hammond asked me to check on you, to see if you were ok?”
“Yes, I…I am fine. Thank you.”

I got up in a hurry and dressed up, managed to get into the office by noon. Carlos was already waiting.

“Hey Chief, late night last night?”
“You don’t say”, I mumbled.
“I’ve got the list of awards from last month. I have also marked down the ones concerning our club”, Carlos said while pushing a file in my direction.

I opened and read it:

Perez has won the young player of the month for March.

A brief overview: With a combination of hard work and good luck, explosive winger Perez has the potential ability to become a very god player for this club. The right winger has been on a good run this season and his recent performances have shown his desire and commitment to play well for the club.

Raj Sachdeva won his consecutive manager of the month award, after winning 5 games out of 6, in the last month. Moreover, Stevens and Baudry were given 1st and 2nd prize for goal of month.


“Well. All this sounds pretty good”. I said to Carlos, who was just about to leave.
“Congrats on your award chief”, Carlos smiled and remarked while closing the door behind him.

...

retired_acivin

2nd April, 2024
Swindon become the first team to get relegated from EPL this season. Losing their away game against Bolton, the manager was very upset after winning only 1 of their 32 League encounters so far.


The day before, Dons’ German coach, Christian Burkhdart had asked me for a meeting. Christian was a humble backroom staff and I personally never had the chance to speak to him properly. So him arranging this meeting was rather surprising. It was 5 PM.

“Hey Christian, how can I help?” I queried as Christian entered the office.
“Hey Raj, well, actually it was me who wanted to help!”
“How’s that?”, I asked.

“Well, you know how you have been having trouble including all the strikers at your disposal into the first team. I found a way around that. I think it would be best if we play a 3-4-3 formation, with the two strikers feeding ball to the central one.”

“Hmm..It could work.”, I was pensive about this idea. On paper, it was very good, but Christian was not known very well for his tactical nous. I continued, “Perhaps we can discuss this idea in detail and maybe use it tomorrow against Arsenal?”
“No Problem, I’ll run you through it.”

The informal presentation lasted half-an hour. And at the end of it, I was convinced that this would be the best way to over come the problem we had been currently having, in relation to the strikers on the bench.



Today, the Dons, flying high, had to take a trip to their neighbours, Arsenal for the Champions League quarter-final away leg. On the other side, Man Utd. were playing host to Spanish giants, Barcelona. Newcastle was the only other English team surviving in the Champions League at this point.

The match begins:
Starting with the 3-4-3, I decided to play Ruiz and Stevens surrounding Baudry, as the finisher. Ruiz was naturally a winger; but had not been training well for that position. “He would still come through”, I had hoped.

The match started well, with Dons attacking, making chances. And by the 5th minute, Dons had tried to score thrice, without success. Even though it was too early to say, it seemed that the plan was working.

It was only in 20th minute when Gunners took their first chance from their second corner of the game. The in-swinging ball was met by the head of Rodriguez, Arsenal’s winger; and was well held by Davenport. Score was still 0-0.

28th minute saw Dons taking the lead. Baudry took the keeper on in a one-to-one, and finished a good run with the ball ending at the back of the net. 1-0 to us.

Both teams tried to score after that, but the respective keepers played well to fend off the ball and managed to keep the score 1-0 in Dons’ favour. This scoreline stayed put till the half time.


Second half:
Sticking to the same strategy of play, I instructed my players to start taking time on the ball, to slow down the speed of the match. A goal’s advantage would be a very good situation to be in when Arsenal come around knocking next week, I had announced in the dressing room.

The game continued in a similar vein and both team tried their chances, only to miss them on several occasions. Baudry in particular had the goal to his mercy, but could not convert many of the chances thrown at him.

In the 68th minute, Gunners’ striker, Freeman tried to convert a brilliant move into a goal, but was stopped by Barragan.

The second half was a bit slow, and came to an end with the score standing at 1-0 in Dons’ favor.
I was a happy man.

Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- Arsenal 0-1 AFC Wimbledon (1st leg) --------------------------------------------------------- | Baudry (28) --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>

retired_acivin

3rd April, 2024
As the media praised ‘Bewitching Baudry’ for his continued excellence, I was beside myself with the club’s overall performance in the recent games. Our defensive record seemed to have been bettered, albeit at the loss of many goal-scoring opportunities.

And as far as Baudry was concerned, I was feeling very confident. However, Carlos had this to say about him:

Flamboyant striker Baudry is capable of becoming a class act for the club. The player has put in some steady performances this season and his form is not likely to vary much.
I am keen to also discover whether we can get anything more out of the striker as he does not always appear to be fully dedicated.

I was a bit surprised by the last point. In my eyes, the French international’s performance had been fairly consistent, and he had scored 5 goals in the past 6 games. So I was worried that Carlos might know something that I do not.

On the other hand, we had an injury scare. Nothing major, but Dominguez was ruled out for 3 weeks, and this meant that Amauri was able to step into the first team. Bad luck for some, good for others!



5th April, 2024
Baudry must be stopped.

As we took the bus to St, James Park to face Newcastle, I decided to stick with the 3-4-3 and instructed the players to play well, keeping in mind that this was another game on the road, and we were inches away from winning the title. Newcastle’s 2nd position meant that this game would be quite difficult, but the lads felt confident, and I was assured of a win, although I knew that it would be difficult.


The match begins:
I decided to stick with Baudry as a poacher, and Bayle and Ruiz played around him. Santarelli was handed another game after his recent performance in the champions league.

13th minutes into the game, and Barragan, playing on the right wing got injured after a rash tackle. My physio later told me that he would be out for a couple of weeks, at-least. It was a blow, but we had enough back-up. Hidaka substituted with Barragan and this pushed King onto the right wing. Since his £23M move to AFC Wimbledon, King had been less than spectacular for the Dons. But I also bought him for sentimental reasons, so I didn’t care.

Most of the match was carried out in the midfield, as neither of the teams threatened their opposition’s defense. Clock ticked quickly as Dons dominated possession but did not try to score. Things were not going to plan, “but a draw at this stage is much better than a loss”, I thought to myself.


Second half:
Newcastle soon started attacking, but by the 61st minute, nothing was changed as the scores remained at 0-0. “This is going to be a dull match”, I mumbled.

Davenport had to make a couple of brave saves, but that was the only time he was tested. Baudry, on the other end, missed a header in 74th minute. Other than a few wayward shots, Dons really hadn’t imposed themselves on their opposition today. This was a concern, but looking at the bigger picture, it didn’t matter.

As the referee blew for full time, I looked at Stevens face. He had not enjoyed his day at bench. I had not enjoyed my day in the dug-out either. I didn’t know what to feel about the result, happy or sad! We just hadn’t created enough chances.


Final Score:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> --------------------------------------------------------- Newcastle 0-0AFC Wimbledon --------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>

retired_acivin

7th April, 2024
I was meeting with Brad today. He had urgently messaged me to tell about this player he had been tracking in Italy. I met him in the hotel where he was staying. He could not control his excitement while showing me the player profile:

Name: Marco Giusti
Age: 19
Contracted to: Inter
Pro’s: Giusti could become a leading Premiership midfielder in the near future. He also possesses a great amount of pace.
Cons: It would take a bid of at least £10M to capture his signature.

The Cons should not be a problem, I thought.
But I wondered if he would be a good buy, considering we already had a battery of central mid fielders, all vying for the first slot. However, this looked like too good a chance to turn down; and after a few negotiations, Inter decided to sell Giusti to Dons. “This would be a very good buy”, Brad had told me.

I hope he was right.