I knew I'd be on a hiding to nothing in the Champions League it's just full of teams that look to me on the limit. AC Gloomanti (guess at name as, yep you guessed it, the servers are down) we gave a good account of ourselves away from home but their quality won through in the end two late goals and 2-0. So we're 1 point from three games and looking like we're going out of the comp, still I think we did well to get there.
The limit is so tempting for many teams, basically you keep the players to a minimum have no youth policy and get the most quality on the pitch at a high average wage. It definitely works in the short term Gloomanti had a squad with players at the peak of their game, mostly 29 - 30, on sizable wages and pushing over £200k a day wage. You then gamble that you can sell one of your prize assets for a younger version and just do that a few times a season and you should carry on.
Other clubs trade like heck to sustain their position, it's all good and one of several ways you can macro manage your club. My route has been to really try to find a young core back it up with good youth policy and hopefully I should be able to build something sustainable with less risk. Time will tell...
The temjptation is always there is to do the same thing I could slap £7m on the table for a big name and make the final push to this level but I would be cutting myself up over how I would sustain it.
On a more positive note we bagged another three NFA Premier League points against a team that I wasn't confident of beating at all, AFC Plymouth. It was scrappy affair at home and that point was underlined with the only goal coming from a mistake as Wendall pounced from a bad back pass. This really could have gone either way as Plymouth had several chances to win the game.
At youth level we continue to do well I can't really do better than rank of 1st. In saying that the pressure is always on to recruit more talent I keep bringing in the odd youth that i think is good now with low potential and hope I see some improvement. The best prospects I have are not necessarily those with high potential which sounds odd but is true.
My biggest gamble (apart from Macualey) is Hefferson (I think that's his name) basically this kid is 16 and has breathtaking pace, mental attributes that are good for a striker (composure etc) and Technicals all in the 8 or 9s. The gamble is a £5k a day one. Quickly working it out, £5k x 30 x 4 (takes him to 20) and a £600k gamble. I'm pretty sure I could get that for him now so no gamble really. He's actually not bad in the air and for a 16 year old isn't weak so he could really become something special.
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