Before we get started lets have a little reminder about the save and the self imposed rules we are working with.
If you want to start from the beginning of the journey you can do so here.
Save Rules & Aims
Aims
To become a professional football team for the first time in the clubs history.
Become a League Club.
Win some major silverware.
Rules
Only Sign English Players
This may sound like an easier save rule, however I like the idea of limiting the scope of our signings.
Promote 3 Players a season from the youth intake into the first team squad.
This will focus the save upon developing the local lads to become the future of the club.
Fill the backroom staff with former players and legends along the way.
This will add a different twist when trying to improve the clubs standing. Developing staff as well as players.
Youth Intake Preview
We start with our annual Youth Intake Preview. This is a huge part of this journey because of our commitment to promote 3 youth players a year to the first team as you can see in the above section.
Lets hope for some good additions to the club.
Ok, so it says its an excellent youth intake but realistically we are looking at a Goalkeeper and a Wingback with the possibility of an Attacking Midfielder as our pick of the bunch.
Hopefully they are real stand outs because they are three positions which we are pretty covered in.
We have two months of the season left and our promising start had been slightly derailed over the past few months to drop our unlikely title push to struggling to guarantee the playoffs.
Lets cover the final push of this rollercoaster of a season
March 2023
We reach March in one hell of a slump, 8 games without a win and really struggling.
I have decided against any massive tactical changes at this time but have tweaked some roles and individual instructions.
Lets see if it has helped.
Difficult start against Barnet but my word is it not fantastic to see some green in that screen shot.
Getting that first win was massive for the confidence in the squad and after that we looked a different side. The two draws were disappointing considering we scored so early in both and couldn't hold on to the lead.
This has reignited the belief we can grab ourselves a lucrative Playoff spot.
The squad was starting to look a bit thin in certain areas and with an important push coming that I would add some fresh faces to the squad.
Jordan Piggot - With the steady decline of Massey and De Havilland in recent months and with Piggot only signed on a week to week basis he will act as a strong squad member.
Matthew Moloney - Definitely one for the future but will play a part in the rest of the season for sure.
Roco Rees - A promising young Goalkeeper Rees will challenge regular starter Gyollai for the starting position and hopefully add some much needed improvement in that area.
You'll quickly notice that all of these additions are defensive players. We are conceding way too many goals and the clean sheets are few and far between so it was clearly and area that needs addressing.
Youth Intake
We take another break from the action as we welcome our newest batch of youth players.
The Preview stated that we should expect a decent goalkeeper, a decent wingback and a promising attacking midfielder
Lets see who accurate it was.
To be fair it was dead on. A couple of 5* potential players to have a look at.
Mark Dickin - Another promising Goalkeeper after Hugo Smith last year. Dickin has some huge potential and will need to be developed carefully.
Toby Hill - Central midfield is another position which we are stacked in. His mental stats are strong for his age but is technical attributes need some work.
Tebogo Gumede - A young wingback who although was one of the better players through this intake doesn't look like will make the grade. Its a shame as its a position we need cover for .
Its going to be interesting to see how I will be able to fit these youngsters into the first team squad next season.
April 2023
We return for the final month of the season and as it stands we are occupying the final playoff place with a 4 point buffer to 8th place FC Halifax.
Plain and simple we have 5 games left and we need to better FC Halifax's in the first three games to secure a playoff birth.
The fact that we go into the last month of the season only 8 points from the top is still just insane to me.
Here we go.....
Well these are just results on the screen to you, lets just see what they mean.....
GET IN!!! Playoffs secured. An incredible achievement for Maidenhead United FC.
Final League Table
We finished the season 9 points clear in the last playoff places and only 10 points off of top spot.
With the play offs secured we will roll this season over to one more episode which will cover the play offs as well as an end of season review.
A huge moment in this journey!
Hope to see you all next time.
Cheers
Panda
If you want to check out our other FM22 Save The Darmstadt Dream why not start from the beginning right here?
Or our most recent series, Growing up in Guernsey which you can start from the beginning here
