Task 4 - Olly, Marky, Nadz (Team POWER)

As Nando has been abdicated, the Apprentice starts here with Mr Trebs at the helm. I have noted past performances, but it is largely this task onwards which is where the process will be won and lost.

One of the current National League sides has been expelled with immediate effect. Mr Trebs has stepped in quickly, and will be competing in the National League starting this week.

I have acquired a stadium with a capacity of 6,000 and will be chairman of a new London-based team. We have a special agreement with the National League to start the season on 50 points, which puts us in a competitive position. The target is promotion.

However, the transfer window is now closed and we are unable to make any signings. So for this season, we will have to rely on free agents only. We will also need a manager, and any coaching staff as required. Note that you will have to explain yourself, so while Patrice Evra may currently be a free agent, he would not be joining a National League side.

The budget for the next six months is £600,000. I expect the side to get promoted. Further funds will be available in the summer as we look to progress, but that is outside of the scope of this task. Assume all staff you bring in will be on a contract for this 6 month period only.

To summarise, your submission should include:
- General team overview - Starting XI/Playing Style
- A squad list of 23 players
- Any other staff to be appointed
- Costings for six months

Those who made it to Task 3 are automatically eligible for this task, and Fernando has requested a place in the process. The teams are therefore as follows:

Team 1 - Fernando, BamBam, Hero
Team 2 - Olly, Marky, Nadz

You have until next Wednesday 14th at midnight to complete your submissions. The boardroom will take place next Thursday. Love will not be in the air, as at least one of you will be fired.

All right lads this will be a tough task but if we work together we can achieve our goal.

Firstly we need to clarify some stuff. We'll ask Lord trebs these questions when we got them all sorted out.

Which team will we be replacing in the national league?
Can players with £0 price on transfermarkt count as free agents?
Will we be able to sign the removed clubs players for no fee?

I'd say yes to signing those from the wound up club.

I wonder if loans are a possibility?

I assume we can sign semi-pros for no fee also

Don't assume that. Semi pros have contracts too.

- General team overview - Starting XI/Playing Style
Right. Formation? Once we know what system and style we can look to bring players in.

- A squad list of 23 players
Go for at least two in each position based on the formation, if we play 1 up front then have 3 strikers and 2 in every other position.

- Any other staff to be appointed
New manager and assistant? Not bound by the transfer window so licence to be a bit more creative as long as it's within budget.

- Costings for six months
£600k is not a lot so we're going to need to be very clever here.

Big name (and not necessarily unachievable) free agents include;

GK Ross Turnbull (formerly of Chelsea, free agent since leaving Leeds)
GK Michael Poke (free agent since leaving Woking, formerly of Southampton/Portsmouth/Brighton)
RB Lewis Buxton (free agent since leaving Bolton)
RB Aaron Jones (English and early 20's, free agent since leaving Philadelphia Union)
RB Reece Wabara (formerly of Man City, free agent since leaving Bolton)
CB Steven Caulker (free agent since leaving QPR)
CB Sebastien Bassong (free agent since leaving Norwich)
CB Kelvin Wilson (free agent since leaving Rotherham)
CB Adam Lockwood (formerly of Reading, just left Guiseley)
CB Miles Addison (free agent since leaving Kilmarnock, formerly of Derby and Bournemouth)
CB Remie Streete (free agent since leaving Port Vale, formerly of Newcastle and Rangers)
CB Danny Livesey (free agent since leaving Barrow, formerly of Bolton and Blackpool)
CB Addison Garnett (free agent since leaving Crawley Town)
LB Kieran Richardson (formerly of Man U, last seen at Cardiff)
DM Nathan Doyle (free agent since leaving Luton)
CM Brian Howard (formerly of Barnsley, half the Championship, free agent since leaving Whitehawk)
CM Giles Coke (free agent since leaving Ipswich)
CM Lewis McGugan (free agent since leaving Northampton)
CM Kagisho Dikgacoi (formerly of Cardiff)
CM Oliver Bozanic (formerly of Reading)
CM Nigel Reo-Coker (formerly of West Ham, free agent since leaving Norway)
CM Mark Davies (free agent since leaving Bolton)
CM Alessandro Diamanti (formerly of West Ham, Watford, and half of Italy, free agent since leaving Palermo)
CM Sulley Muntari (free agent since leaving Pescara, formerly of Inter/AC/Portsmouth when they were good)
CM Abdou Traore (free agent since leaving Bordeaux, former Mali international)
CM Jermaine Jones (free agent since leaving LA Galaxy, former Schalke, Leverkusen and Blackburn player)
AM Steven Pienaar (formerly of Everton, Spurs and Sunderland, just left a South African side)
Winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie (journeyman, former Arsenal youth, most recently at NEC Nijmegen)
Winger Muhamed Keita (formerly of Lech Poznan, just left NY Red Bulls)
Winger Dale Jennings (formerly of Bayern, free agent since leaving MK Dons)
Winger Sanchez Watt (former Arsenal youth, free agent since leaving Crawley Town)
ST Ishmael Miller (free agent since leaving Bury)
ST Dexter Blackstock (free agent since leaving Rotherham)
ST Leon Best (free agent since leaving Charlton, but does have a big knee injury which may or may not be discovered by Trebs )
ST Kris Commons (free agent since leaving Celtic)
ST Victor Anichebe (free agent since leaving China)
ST Anthony Stokes (free agent since leaving Hibs)
ST Richard Brodie (former Crawley Town goal machine, recently left Solihull Moors)

The costings will be the hard part. i worked out the average wage we'd have to pay each player not including the staff. The average wage would be 1,087 pounds per week for a 6 month period.

Call it £1k a week x 23 players x 26 weeks = £598000

For the record I think we should play 4-4-2, the stock formation for English non-league sides. Also makes it easier to find players when we know we need 2 keepers, 4 fullbacks, 4 centre backs, 4 midfielders, 4 wingers and 4 strikers to make up 22 of our 23 man squad!

Agree re: formation - national league isn’t a league for pretty football (as shown by teams like Sutton United, Macclesfield etc)

Younger players (or not as good older ones) released by other lower league sides wont be able to command £1k per week, we'd be able to get some down to £500 or £750 per week, the older ones from bigger clubs, offering them £1k a week would be enough.

Olly and Nadz, unless you don't feel comfortable enough doing it, could you go through the list and rule out those who you don't think we should pursue?

I’ll have a look tonight

Managerially, I know for a fact the Bournemouth coach John Yems wants to get into management, having had experience in lower leagues and I legit want him to be the next Crawley manager (he does too), he'd be a good candidate to be our manager. Doesn't live Bournemouth way, he commutes from near Crawley so he'd be well suited to a London job.

Failing that, an ex player? Maybe one of the older free agents in a player manager role to save some money?

Good idea that, maybe offer some ex player a chance to get his coaching badges while working with us as incentive

https://www.discountfootballkits.com/blog/fa-coaching-badges-how-to-be-a-football-coach/

Someone like Lescott (who is a free agent but is also coaching at Man City at the moment) would be tempted by a player manager role in the Conference I think.

Lescott is a good option. How would we work out the wages for someone like him tho?

Personally I think we should go for someone with national League experience for manager

GK Ross Turnbull (formerly of Chelsea, free agent since leaving Leeds)
GK Michael Poke (free agent since leaving Woking, formerly of Southampton/Portsmouth/Brighton)
RB Lewis Buxton (free agent since leaving Bolton)
RB Aaron Jones (English and early 20's, free agent since leaving Philadelphia Union)
RB Reece Wabara (formerly of Man City, free agent since leaving Bolton)
CB Steven Caulker (free agent since leaving QPR)
CB Sebastien Bassong (free agent since leaving Norwich)
CB Kelvin Wilson (free agent since leaving Rotherham)
CB Adam Lockwood (formerly of Reading, just left Guiseley)
CB Miles Addison (free agent since leaving Kilmarnock, formerly of Derby and Bournemouth)
CB Remie Streete (free agent since leaving Port Vale, formerly of Newcastle and Rangers)
CB Danny Livesey (free agent since leaving Barrow, formerly of Bolton and Blackpool)
CB Addison Garnett (free agent since leaving Crawley Town)
LB Kieran Richardson (formerly of Man U, last seen at Cardiff)
DM Nathan Doyle (free agent since leaving Luton)
CM Brian Howard (formerly of Barnsley, half the Championship, free agent since leaving Whitehawk)
CM Giles Coke (free agent since leaving Ipswich)
CM Lewis McGugan (free agent since leaving Northampton)
CM Kagisho Dikgacoi (formerly of Cardiff)
CM Oliver Bozanic (formerly of Reading)
CM Nigel Reo-Coker (formerly of West Ham, free agent since leaving Norway)
CM Mark Davies (free agent since leaving Bolton)
CM Alessandro Diamanti (formerly of West Ham, Watford, and half of Italy, free agent since leaving Palermo)
CM Sulley Muntari (free agent since leaving Pescara, formerly of Inter/AC/Portsmouth when they were good)
CM Abdou Traore (free agent since leaving Bordeaux, former Mali international)
CM Jermaine Jones (free agent since leaving LA Galaxy, former Schalke, Leverkusen and Blackburn player)
AM Steven Pienaar (formerly of Everton, Spurs and Sunderland, just left a South African side)
Winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie (journeyman, former Arsenal youth, most recently at NEC Nijmegen)
Winger Muhamed Keita (formerly of Lech Poznan, just left NY Red Bulls)
Winger Dale Jennings (formerly of Bayern, free agent since leaving MK Dons)
Winger Sanchez Watt (former Arsenal youth, free agent since leaving Crawley Town)
ST Ishmael Miller (free agent since leaving Bury)
ST Dexter Blackstock (free agent since leaving Rotherham)
ST Leon Best (free agent since leaving Charlton, but does have a big knee injury which may or may not be discovered by Trebs Laugh )
ST Kris Commons (free agent since leaving Celtic)
ST Victor Anichebe (free agent since leaving China)
ST Anthony Stokes (free agent since leaving Hibs)
ST Richard Brodie (former Crawley Town goal machine, recently left Solihull Moors)

The ones in bold are the ones I think you could realistically fit into the wage structure and who would play non league

Addison Garnett was just released by League 2 Crawley and would only be on something like £500 a week, so he should definitely be considered. Only early 20's.

Trebs wrote:Which team will we be replacing in the national league?
For arguments sake we'll say Bromley. But this should not have a bearing on the task.

Can players with £0 price on transfermarkt count as free agents?
No, only players unsigned to a club.

Will we be able to sign the removed clubs players for no fee?
No, the removed club's players are not a factor for the purposes of this task.

Can we loan players?
Yes, you may have five players in the squad on loan.

Can we sign semi pro players from other clubs?
If they are under contract, then no. Unless someone can suggest to me otherwise that this would be a legal signing outside of the transfer window.

Interesting developments. We can loan 5 players.

I'd immediately say we should loan Dean Cox from Crawley as he spent all of January linked with a loan to Orient and he's incredibly gifted, AM or LW cutting in.

Get Cameron Norman from Kings Lynn - did well at Woking, former Norwich player who has 9 goals and 21 assists this season. Lot of L1/L2 clubs looking at him

What are the chances that we could loan in players from the reserve sides of premier league teams, like Domingos Quina of West Ham for example or is that too rich for us?

We definitely could. Depends on the players wage I suppose, but plenty of clubs loan players while paying nothing towards the wages as the club recognise the player would benefit, so worth a scout.

I'll have a look tonight and rustle up a list of targets.

Max Johnstone - Goalkeeper - Man United u23's
Trevor Chalobah - Centre Back - Chelsea u23's
Dennis Adeniran - Centre Mid - Everton u23's

What do you lot think about any of these?

Please note that I am going to tweak the task slightly. I originally asked for 23 players, with five loans permissable.

This is to be modified to 11 players, with up to three loans. However, the budget will now be halved to £300,000. Please let me know if there are any questions.

Makes it a bit easier I guess

Gonna need to start building the team tomorrow if we can lads.

I'd go with;


Adamant that loaning someone like Cox from League Two would be better than loaning a Premier League Academy kid.

Also if not Cox or Jennings then Sanchez Watt is an option

The only one from there I'm familiar with is Turnbull I'll trust you two on picking the team as you know more about them. But I do still think we should get at least 1 academy player from the prem in. They are young, hungry and have a point to prove.

An academy LB would kill two birds with one stone then

I was thinking Joe Riley of United's u23 team. He is their captain so don't think we could get him tbh.

Let's be ambitious. Go for him. And maybe an academy RM or ST ahead of Jennings/Watt or Brodie if you can think of one.

I'll be captain and write it up if you like? Seeing as we never appointed one

8 players on £1k per week and 3 loans = £208k of the £300k budget

I'd say keep Brodie as a proven Conference goalscorer and loan an academy RM/RW as well as the third loanee after the LB and Dean Cox

Yeah I think it would be best if you wrote it

I'll have a look at finding an RW.

To summarise, your submission should include:
- General team overview - Starting XI/Playing Style

Playing Style, there would be a lot of emphasis on getting the ball to the front two, creativity from deep in Howard and Cox, pace wide from our Academy loanees, RW on the right and Riley overlapping Cox on the left as Cox cuts in. Defensively solid with two banks of four, Nathan Doyle breaking up play in front of an experienced (at this level) centre back pairing.

- Any other staff to be appointed
John Yems of Bournemouth to be our manager, legitimately after a management role in the south east, applied for the Crawley Town job last summer, knows non league and the lower league from his previous roles and including his current role as a coach at Bournemouth before they went from League 2 up to the Premier League. We would allow Yems to name his own assistant.

- Costings for six months
8 players costing no more than £248k over 26 weeks.
3 loanees at £0 per week as we have selected three players who we feel their parent club would be more than happy to let us have for the remainder of the season, on the premise we would be giving them regular gametime, and playing a standard of football that suits their style. We absolutely feel that we would deliver on both of those demands.
1 manager at £1250 per week over 26 weeks = £32.5k
1 assistant manager (to be named by the manager) at £750 per week over 26 weeks = £19.5k

Nadz (or Olly) I'm going to need at least one Academy RM we could loan, ideally someone who can run and cross a ball, no need to overcomplicate it.

Alex Bradley, a RW who plays for West Brom's u23 side is the best I could find. I did youtube him and he looks decent.

Happy to go with him.

Any objections to what I've done so far? Need to add costings but that's it. Deadline of midnight

I think you've gotten how many weeks there are in 6 months wrong

52 weeks in a year
26 weeks in half a year
6 months is half a year

Oops my bad Was counting it as 4 weeks per month for some reason