Welcome back! During Episode 1, Reynolds set out his vision to turn Wrexham FC into a Global Force. This involved time-travelling & tapping into markets across the world via the playing staff. The goal is to win the Premier League within 4 seasons. All continents & USA must be represented in the starting XI and the squad can only have 1 player per nationality.
This episode focusses on recruitment. We sit down with Reynolds and the board to discuss the two-fold strategy:
- Coverage
- War Chest
Coverage is self-explanatory; we need players from around the world. We debated sending out scouts, but we discovered a wonderful piece of software that lets us find players anywhere on the planet at the click of a button. The software tells us who would be interested in coming to Wrexham and even if they are available for transfer or not. Bloody brilliant.
War Chest needs a little more explanation. Reynolds’ £2m is welcome but if we’re going to mix it with the big boys and become a Global Force, we’re going to need a lot more than that. Good players win league titles. And good players can be expensive. With a small stadium and little or no history, we are going to need to build a War Chest.
Reynolds is a funny guy but don’t let that fool you. He is a shrewd businessman and expects returns on his investment. He has demanded back-to-back promotions and has set bank balance targets of £20m by the end of the season 1 & £30m by the time we reach the Premier League.
The mantra until we reach the promised land is BUY LOW, SELL HIGH – REINVEST, REPEAT. As such, everyone is for sale at the right price. Although, we will have to balance this to comply with Coverage & to make sure we have a good enough side to achieve promotion.
It was an interesting board meeting.
Right, so let’s start recruitment.
Here’s a reminder of the current squad
Europe & USA/North America are covered, so the first 5 bids are going in for players of the missing continents
- Antarctica; Rozental guarantees goals. Should be able to sell on for a decent profit too
- Australasia; Slim pickings from Down Under so going for Moore who is a decent right back at this level. Would have preferred Carl Veart but he is unavailable.
- Asia; Sritong-In is one of the best options Asia has to offer. We might have to keep hold of him.
- South America; Paraguayan Ruiz Diaz should be solid between the sticks.
- Africa; Again, slim pickings here. Got no idea who Mahove is but he has decent stats and is from Roger Milla-land, so he fits the bill.
Do the dance Rodge.
Good man.
Good news, all those signings come through. Now we need to protect our investments.
Craig, Sebastian & Natipong all have big-club release clauses. Now I don’t mind selling, but we aint letting them go on the cheap. (Sucking eggs disclaimer) The best way to protect big-clubbers is to put them on loan list. If a player is listed for loan you will only get loan offers – which can be rejected.
Moore & Rozental go on the loan list.
If the board veto like with Natipong here, it’s not the end of the world.
The way to stave off cheeky big-club bids in this situation is to maximise player value so it puts clubs off making an offer in the first place. You need to keep on top of this though, adjusting after every game.
When the players reach a decent value, you can set to the price to automatic and sell for decent cash.
So, 5 in – let’s get five more. Got £900k left
- Poland; Adamczuk. Great player in the lower leagues
- Scotland; James is a good player but an even better cash cow. I’ll be disappointed if I don’t secure at least £3m profit here
- Colombia; Fernandez is a solid DC. Good enough for Division 1 if I hold onto him
- Norway; Heidenstrom needs no introduction.
- Canada; Caldwell. Now he looks proper dogshite. But as a cheap sub GK and that will help cover North America, he’ll do for now.
We suffer a little setback as Fernandez opts for Belgian side, Lemmel. But the rest are through the door at The Racecourse Ground.
Incoming bid! Ruiz Diaz has only been here a week and Bolton make a bid of £2.8m. He’s worth £3.5m but for a £2.6m profit without playing a game, Reynolds packs his bags. Off you fuck.
Remember it’s BUY LOW – SELL HIGH. Now we REINVEST. We need a replacement keeper, who’s available?
Ah! Legend!
Do the kick Rene!
Top man.
A few more signings later and game day is swiftly upon us. Let’s check the starting XI and recruitment so far:
- Higuita – COL
- Moore – AUS
- Humes – ENG
- Cifer – SLO
- James – SCO
- Mahove – CAM
- Adamczuk – POL
- Wegerle – USA
- Rozental – ANT
- Sritong-in – THA
- Rodriguez – PER
- Fan – CHI
- Caldwell – CAN
- Owen – WAL
7 continents & USA covered in starting XI & 14 different countries. Global interest.
Happy Ryan?
Join us next week when we talk tactics and play our first fixture away at Northampton.