Welcome back to the Hometown Hero save as we attempt to find glory with my hometown club of Maidenhead United.
If you want to start this save from the beginning of the journey, you can do so here.
Before we get started let's have a little reminder about the save and the self-imposed rules we are working with.
Save Rules & Aims
Aims
To become a professional football team for the first time in the club's history - COMPLETED
Become a League Club - COMPLETED
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.
Changes on & Off of the Field
We came back from our end of season break to some huge news.
Hopefully this will not hinder our preparations for the season.
We also have the first opportunity to follow one of our save rules as we welcome Alan Massey to the backroom staff after a stellar career for the Magpies making over 300 appearances.
He Joins the U18's coaching staff.
The rumblings of the takeover continued through the summer.
It was finally confirmed a few days later.
With this finally completed we could focus on improving the squad.
Transfers In & Out
At the end of last season, we capitalised on some released players to pick up some bargains.
Kaelean Casey - A young centre back signed to offer back up after Massey's retirement. Plenty of potential and one for the future
Neil Hoskins - Another youngster, this time a winder signed for free following his release from Man City.
Tristan Koppers - Another central midfielder but one definitely for the future. Signed after his release from Arsenal.
We start the summer window with one of the biggest transfers of the save so far. Sadly it is a departing player. Left sided player Jahziah Linton was sold to Middlesbrough.
After activating his minimum fee release clause, we were powerless to stop the sale going through.
It is the first time we have received a sizeable fee for a player and one that we signed for free too.
Part of the deal was Linton returns for a season long loan.
The rest of the transfer business is below.
As you can see, I dipped heavily into the loan market as I made key signings in the centre of midfield and attack.
Reyes Cleary - Signed to lead the line, Reyes joins from West Brom and should bag some goals this season.
Chad Tomkinson - Signed from Aston Villa with his passing and technical ability i see Chad as a deep lying playmaker.
John L'Estrange - Another loanee, this time from Brighton will offer backup for the central midfield roles.
Archie Woods - You may see a rend here as Archie joins from West Ham. Another Central Midfielder. We have some serious strength in depth in the centre of the park.
Tactics
With all of the new signings and improvements to certain areas ive made some changes to the system.
I am trying to move away from the "Small club" mentality as we try to solidify our league status.
This means trying to take the game to teams instead of sitting back hoping for rewards on the counterattack.
Preseason
A relatively successful Pre-Season only suffering defeat to Bournemouth and picking up some nice wins too.
We are set for a very important season.
We will start the season in the next episode which will probably include the run up to the January Transfer Window also.
Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed getting more info on the Hometown Hero.
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
