crouchaldinho

CHAPTER 10- Season 2014/2015 CHAMPIONSHIP

Pre-season: Once again, I began the season with a great deal of doubt and anxiety. With no money to spent pre-season and those debts looming large, I sold 9 players, recouping £1.3m. The chairman sold one two of them on my behalf and we had a slight disagreement. But at the end of the day, I knew the financial situation. I was down to the bare bones and expecting little.
The chairman gave me a few pennies back from the money I had brought into the club with the player sales and I went out and spent 250k on one or two players, including Tony Fox, a young centre-back who is good in the air, and Jason Parker a young and talented looking goalkeeper. Another important signing was that of Chris Joseph on a free transfer. He looked like a real talent - an ex-Bolton youth product, with excellent technique and flair, plus good teamwork and workrate. In short, he was going to be perfect for that role of playing just behind the front two.
Somehow, with the sale of all those players, and in the process putting £1.3m in the bank, I managed to lower the wage bill to around the right level. I also arranged friendlies against Celtic and Rangers (beat Celtic somehow and drew 3-3 in a cracker of a match versus Rangers) and that brought the money in!

Ah, and the good news, legend John Dawson did resign for the club for another few seasons, as my sentimentality got the better of me!

Before the season began I reworked all of the training schedules and redesigned my tactical strategy, starting again from scratch. I didn't expect it to bed in too quickly, so I worried about a slow start.

Season review:
Somehow City were back in the red come the start of the season. I have my suspicions that the chairman is secretly gambling away the clubs funds and spending thousands on high class hookers. Where is the money going to? The new stadium can't come quick enough, I'll tell you that for sure!

What with the debt problems and the chairman accepting transfer offers all over the place, I didn't have high hopes and this was exacerbated by my best target man (the captain) Ryan Taylor declaring that he had personal problems. He would miss the start of the season with a leave of absence. To make it even worse, nearly everyone in the squad is p*ssed off and wants to leave, except good old faithful John Dawson, who is playing well above his level, and who I should have sold long ago - I am far too sentimental to be a good football manager!

However, despite all of the club problems, i.e. debt, players being sold by the chairman, a young squad with the only additions in the form of some risky free transfers, a new training and tactical set... we were winning football matches!
What's more is, I won my very first manager of the month award at this level!

I really think the training sets have picked a few players up and got them working hard. Plus, my new tactical philosophy seems to be keeping the team playing well as a unit, keeping it tight at the back and really battling for results.
Another season gone and an incredible improvement! After two consecutive 21st place finishes, Saints achieved the unthinkable this season and made 3rd place!

The basis of my success would seem to be the complete overhaul in training and tactics, plus one or two free transfer signings, one of which was simply outstanding sitting behind my two strikers (Chris Joseph) and is worth £2m now – my most expensive player ever!

The saga of the season was Ryan Taylor, my star target man and captain, who spent the whole season travelling up to Rotherham and back due to his personal problems and never managed to shake them off. John Dawson, absolute City legend, stepped up and did fairly well, considering he has no technical ability whatsoever and is so out of his depth at this level. My other striker Frazier Campbell, who really kept us up for two seasons in a row, made up the other half of the strike partnership and hit just under 30 goals for the season. At the back, the youngsters had bloomed, with Jim Pirie in particular being chased by several Premiership clubs and Rob Marshall and Freddie Owen looking fantastic.

Our home form was the real reason for our league position in our last season at Clarence Park. We will really miss our home. I'm holding back the tears...

The away form really let us down towards the end of the season. We finished some way off 2nd place and never looked like getting automatic promotion as a result the away form, so I think that the away tactics need an overhaul for next season.

So you must all be wondering if Saints are now playing Premiership football after such a successful season and after managing to qualify for the play-offs?

Well, the playoffs started away to Birmingham, where the lads defended for their lives and came away with a 0-0 draw to take back to Clarence Park. A week later, in the second leg, Brum came at us and had a really good go. It was 2-2 with minutes left and then Frazier Campbell went on a mazy run and smashed one into the back of the net. 3-2! Thank you very much! Saints through to the final to play Cardiff.

I was seriously worried about Cardiff. The lads were tired plus we had lost to Cardiff in the last game of the season away from home. Taylor was still up in Rotherham, so Dawson took on the target man role. Taylor is also my captain, so the armband was passed onto a very proud Freddie Owen (my best central defender, who has been at the club for 6 years now). He led the team out at Wembley.
But Saints never really got going and the fairytale ending never came, with Dawson looking very poor and Campbell missing the few chances we had. Cardiff scored in the second half and took the 1-0 win. I was devastated.

What’s more is, after the game Frazier Campbell (top scorer for 3 seasons in a row, and lead scorer this season with 29 goals) said he wanted a new challenge. He swiftly went and packed his bags for Swansea – the b******! I couldn’t believe it and even tried to talk him round with a new contract.
The whole squad then seemed to want to follow him out, with most of my talented youngsters desiring to play their football elsewhere. I stayed tough, told them they were going nowhere and also had to refuse a few transfer requests.

To be honest, after the play-off final loss and Frazier Campbell suddenly decided he was off, I was ready to leave the Saints and say goodbye to Clarence Park. Yet, I knew this season we would be getting a new stadium and I felt that finally, with a bit of money, we might be able to seriously challenge for the premier league.

crouchaldinho

CHAPTER 11 - Season 2015/2016 CHAMPIONSHIP

Pre-season: Everyone was hoping that this season might be the one that led us to the dizzy heights of the premier league.
I spent this summer bringing in some free transfers and trying to add depth to the squad. Lots of dead wood was also shipped out. Our reputation has increased to ‘national’, which I found quite exciting, except it makes no difference – we can’t afford the wages of anyone decent!
My main concern has been recruiting a striker to take the number 9 shirt over after Campbell left. I managed it with the acquisition of Alan Hill, a young centre-forward with great skill and pace, probably the best player the club have had. I have kept the core of last season’s squad.
Some exciting signings include, Andy Plumley, an ex-Arsenal youth, on a free transfer, Paolo Terminiello, an ex-Liverpool and Italy U21 international on a free and an aging Scott Parker to act as a sub to shore up the midfield plus add depth.
On the players out front, the biggest news was that Darryl Duffy, a previous top scorer, decided he was leaving and then retired. Saints wish to thank Duffy for his services, especially in the league two promotion campaign.
The good news is that the club have finally managed to get back into the black, thanks to some of the pre-season friendlies, against the likes of Liverpool and Ajax!
However, the bad news is that the bl**dy tight-arse chairman John Gibson has REDUCED the wage bill limit even further than last season and given me f*** all to spend! This despite the fact that we are several million in the black at last!

It’s hard work this football management lark.

Ah, and don't let me forget that we moved into the new St. Albans Stadium during this summer.


Season review:
The new season started miserably, with three games lost and only two won very narrowly at the new St. Albans Stadium. Alan Hill, in particular, has been a shower of sh*te and has managed to get himself injured too! Great judgement from the manager - what a signing!
I decided to let the new lads bed in and try to work on the away form.
Ryan Taylor (captain and target man) has gone back up to Rotherham again with his personal problems... John Dawson stepped up and scored three in three games straight away, so I was tempted to tell the b****** to stay in Rotherham forever!

The season can really be summed up by telling you all about the saga of my strikers. After losing last seasons top goalscorer and club favourite Frazier Campbell to Swansea in the summer, I signed Alan Hill, a promising ex-Sunderland striker, on a free transfer. Backup for him was a young lad called Andy Plumley (England U19 international) also signed during pre-season on a free.
Alan Hill spent most of the season picking up injuries that put him out for 2 to 4 weeks at a time and disrupted his rhythm. Plumley turned out to be absolute crap, with low composure causing him to sky every shot over the bar. After discovering the amount of chances that Plumley was missing, I turned to my last resort, James Sinclair, who was rotting in the reserves. He was just as rubbish, but seemed to form a half decent partnership with my revolving door frontline.
As you all know, I like my Saints team to play with a big target man. Ryan Taylor usually leads the line, as well as acting as captain for the side, but once again his personal problems ruined his season and I sent him up to Rotherham only for him to come back and get injured again. What a waste. I had to rely on City legend John Dawson, who almost single-handedly won us the conference and league two.

Just to give you an idea of how crap the strikers were this season, here are the top scorers for St. Albans city in season 15/16:
- Alan Hill (young exciting talent) 34 games played, 12 goals scored
- Chris Joseph (attacking midfielder and star player) 36 games played, 12 goals scored
- James Sinclair (reserve team striker) 18 games, 6 goals
- Andy Plumley (youngster with no composure) 18 plus 14 subs, 6 goals
- John Dawson (Target man and aging City legend) 27 plus 13 subs, 5 goals

Our injuries were atrocious this season, especially when it really mattered, but more about that later.

As I have already alluded to, the start of the season was awful. Saints couldn’t score goals at the new St. Albans stadium and couldn’t manage much on the road. We were down in 14th place about halfway through the season. My tight-arsed and generally idiotic chairman started warning me and at one point, for the first time in my career, he said he was dissatisfied with me! I thought I was going to get the boot.
The thing is, expectations at St. Albans City had gone up. A 3rd placed finish the season before left the media thinking we could achieve 6th place and the chairman demanding a top half of the table finish. But the chairman didn’t give me any money to spend and lowered the wage bill further, so I had only a paltry £50k wage budget for a championship promotion campaign! The fans never lost faith in me and were always happy with my performance. They were filling the new St. Albans Stadium to the brim and singing 'Oh when the Saints, go marching in' every game. A really good atmosphere can be generated at the St. Albans Stadium, so I was hoping that the home form could get us through the season with that 'extra man' behind us.

Anyway, I certainly discovered that the squad has plenty of dead wood and not enough depth to sustain good form when hit with an injury crisis. At Christmas, I called a player meeting (good feature this one, only just spotted it)
and asked captain Ryan Taylor to chair it (in between trips to Rotherham!)
It seemed to clear the air and then the highlight of the season arrived. January came and a short but sweet FA cup run, beating the likes of Arsenal and Bolton, then getting knocked out to Liverpool after a replay, really helped pick the team up. For starters, my chairman said that although he had doubts about me, he was beginning to have faith again (after the result against Arsenal).
The team then went on an outstanding unbeaten run, which took City up from 14th place to 4th, but very slowly, so we arrived there with three games to go and unbelievably still had a chance to automatically qualify.

Three games to go, 4 points to make up on QPR in 2nd place, yet I have an injury list as long as can be. At one point I ended up with two reserve wingers, two reserve fullbacks and two reserve strikers in the starting XI. They weren’t good enough and capitulated to Southampton away from home to lose 3-2 with two games to go. We were out of the race for automatic promotion.
In the end, we ended up in 4th place, which was a fantastic achievement considering the nightmare first half of the season and the injuries. Saints finished with one more point than last season, although a vastly inferior goal difference, having scored 20 fewer goals!

A playoff tie against Hull City awaited us, with Saints still missing 4 first team regulars. Damn these injuries! And the backups just aren't good enough, but somehow we went to Hull, missed a penalty, scored a goal, conceded a dodgy equaliser late on and came home happy(ish) with a 1-1 draw.

I was hopeful for the home leg. What’s more is I really felt that we were playing the best side in Hull City and that we could beat whoever got to the final from the other game.

Kick off at St. Albans stadium, everyone just keep their head, score City an early goal and the premiership dream might just be ours. 22 minutes gone, my central defender Rob Marshall of 7 years gets himself sent off! Just after the break Hull score first, but James Sinclair equalises for City – it’s passionate, gritty stuff. But Hull have too much for City and score to goals in extra time to see us knocked out.

Another season goes by and it’s another crushing play-off defeat. I don’t feel as angry and fed up as last season, because we barely looked like even qualifying for the playoffs for most of the season.

Ah, almost forgot to mention the most depressing game of the season, my 500th in charge of the club was a pathetic performance and a 2-0 loss to Bristol!

I really want the chairman to put his money where his mouth is now and do something about the training facilities and the youth academy, because quite frankly they are absolute rubbish at the moment and I think are a major thing that is holding us back.

The most bizarre moment of the season goes to former Saints striker Frazier Campbell and his Swansea team though, who missed out on the playoffs by 3 points, but instead won the FA Cup with Campbell scoring a goal in the final against Manchester United. That lad is good, I’m telling you. I suppose at least someone connected with the club in some way, all be it in the past, was successful! And he got the trophy that he kept complaining to me that he would never win at Saints! I want him back – he has St. Albans City in his favourite clubs, could I tempt him, I wonder?

mark wilson27

Excellent story keep it up, really enjoying reading it

crouchaldinho

CHAPTER 12 - TEN YEARS IN CHARGE

A lot has changed at the club during my ten years in charge, so I thought I would just have a quick summary before beginning the 2016/2017 season.

It's been a fantastic adventure so far, but we've been stuck in the Championship for four years and are struggling to find our way out of this tough division. Next season we've got to push for automatic promotion - will it be the season Saints finally make it to the Premier League?!

Dvd12345

You are a god Crouchaldinho. :thup:

crouchaldinho

The saga continues...

CHAPTER 13 - Season 2015/2016 CHAMPIONSHIP

Pre-season: During the summer, my mind was occupied by one thought: should I continue my managerial career with St. Albans City? Could I face one more season of being so close to making the top flight, only to be denied by the play-offs? I spent my holiday in Italy, drinking Chianti and Nastro Azzurro in the sun, and contemplated beginning a new chapter of my managerial career in Italy's lower leagues.
I had often watched Italian football, especially during its heyday in the nineties, and desired to ply my trade there. I used to watch the managers on the touchline smoking cigars and cigarettes, dressed in their long coats, faces red from Chianti. I watched them in awe as they furiously gestured at their players looking more like philosophers than football managers and playing chess-like tactical games with their opponents. All of the players' names sounded amazing - for instance, Roberto Baggio sounded like a player who was going to be good. That was what football management was about! Yet, I had spent 10 years playing long ball football that Wimbledon would be proud of, with players who are called non-exotic names like John Dawson. Still, I guess it is poetic in its own way… isn't it?

Despite all of this, my emotional attachment to St. Albans City FC was too great. I longed to lead the club to the big time. I desired, so much, that first season in the top flight, with the whole nation looking on at the plucky underdogs playing in yellow and blue. This was the dream.

I felt that St. Albans as a city deserved a Premier League club - there is no doubt about it. The city has a larger population than Hertfordshire's other major club, Watford, for starters. Plus, it's a much nicer city, with beautiful parks and roman ruins and, apparently, the most pubs per square metre in Britain - this last fact alone was a great selling point for potential players interested in signing for the Saints!
The city is full of great pubs, which I made frequent use of and I could often be found drowning my sorrows after another play-off defeat at the Ye Olde Fighting Cocks pub, which is said to be the oldest pub in Britain. I had to face facts - I had fallen in love with the city and its charms. Furthermore, the yellow and blue of City was running through my blood now. Ten years at this football club, dragging them up the divisions. Ten years of the Saints fans, who were full of the spirit of a perennial underdog and were our twelfth man on match days. Our new stadium said everything about our ambitions and I wanted this season to be a memorable one for our fans. I decided that one major job would be to make the St. Albans stadium into the kind of fortress that Clarence Park once was. Last season's home form was under-whelming and nearly cost me my job. This season, I wanted the side to go all out for the title, not just for the play-off spot, and I wanted the lads to do it in style. What's more is, I was going to try to fulfil my destiny as an Italian-style manager, just like the ones I had so admired during my youth. Smoking cigarettes on the touchline was out due to the smoking ban, but I could wear a long coat and drink Chianti as good as anyone I knew. What's more is, I would sign one or two players with good names and I would practise my philosophical expressions and chess-like strategies.

One thing I didn't want to bring with me from Italy was the defensive side of things - I wanted to create a side who entertained! Since I have been at the club, we have been the underdogs, we have been plucky little St. Albans. This season, I wanted the 'little Brazil' nickname to stick and not just because we play in yellow and blue. My idea was to work on our tactics and ensure that the side played entertaining football. I wanted the team to play short passing, attacking football, with lots of width and creativity. I wanted to win and win with style and for the first time in our history I felt that we might have a first eleven who could do that. In particular, players like Alan Hill and Chris Joseph would be given free roles and a license to be as creative as they wanted. This was my idea. And to attain this goal I knew that I would need to add some more talent to the squad. So began the revolution at St. Albans stadium.
As far as I was concerned, it was time to sort the men from the boys - and there seemed to be a lot of boys at the club who were unable to reach the standard expected. I donned my Anne Robinson disguise and went around telling the playing staff 'you are the weakest link, goodbye'.

I lost reserve striker James Sinclair on a free transfer after he refused to renew his contact and it was the same story with want-away striker and all-round enigma Ryan Taylor, who decided he wanted to ply his trade north of the boarder at Dundee United.
In addition to those two, I wielded my axe viciously at anyone who looked mediocre, basically at the whole squad! I free transferred a shocking 29 players, mostly youth players who were never going to make it at this level. No more Mr Nice Guy - this season was going to be the most challenging we'd ever had and we needed a very decent playing squad.

The chairman, John Gibson, had once again decided to offer me f*** all in terms of transfer fees - how does this guy expect me to win promotion without any decent funds? However, he did agree to get those awful training and youth facilities looked into. I accepted this olive branch, along with a 70k wage budget (20k more than the last four years)!
Now I just needed to bring some good players in, some players with good sounding names. My vision of treating the fans to some attacking and exciting football this season was going to be somewhat problematic without new signings due to the sheer ineptitude of last season's attack. I set my sights on scoring 20 more goals than last season and worked hard in the transfer market looking for strikers and attacking midfielders.
Joe Cole, the aging ex-Chelsea playmaker, was soon winging (whinging?) his way over to St. Albans on a free - one of the most exciting signings we've ever made and definitely the player with the biggest reputation to have pulled on the yellow and blue jersey of St. Albans City. Joe is now 34, but could clearly still play in the premier league in my opinion. His stamina and the general physical side of his game is still looking fairly decent and I think he might even play for at least two more seasons before hanging up his boots.
Other attacking players followed him through the door including target man Jonathan Pringle and attacking midfielder Adam McGurk. Both have Premier League experience, coming on frees from West Ham and Villa respectively. Both are unlikely to make the first-eleven week in, week out, but will add some much needed depth to the squad.
I am still looking to fill the boots of Frazier Campbell, so another very important signing was a striker named Carlos Rodriguez, again on a free, formerly of Yeovil. Clearly, Rodriguez has the best name ever (as good as Roberto Baggio) so I have done something right here. Although having said that, he has never been particularly prolific, netting just 5 goals for Yeovil two seasons ago when they were relegated from the championship. His record in league one last season was 18 goals in 45. Let me be clear about this signing - it’s a risky one. I needed some pace up front and I hoped, at the age of 22, that there was plenty more to come from him. Plus, he has got a great name. Carlos Rodriguez receives the number 9 shirt previously held by Frazier Campbell and will partner Alan Hill in attack.
Other signings include full back Ryan Lynch (who will walk straight into the starting 11), young Scottish defensive midfielder Chris Kelly and ex-Ajax youth goalkeeper Martin Tol.
With 13 players joining the squad in total, I hope that the balance will not be upset too much and that the new lads will settle in well.
In terms of the actual first team, I feel that defensively we are sound, but intend to move Jim Pirie to centre-back, as he is clearly our best defender. A young Italian called Terminiello, signed last season, will debut at right-back. In midfield, everything stays the same and up-front, the inclusion of Rodriguez should inject some much needed pace into the attack.
I am feeling very pressurised this season. Normally City are expected to do badly and then we overachieve, but this season we're everyone's favourites. It's a position I am not used to.
For the first time in my managerial career I start to feel rather like my hero, Rafael Benitez. I am celebrating having plenty of depth in my first-team squad and being the outside favourites for a title that we will probably not win. Indeed, I even consider growing a dodgy goatee and giving interviews like Benitez.
'Yes for sure, we have a lot of possibilities, for sure, this is my idea to play football, for sure, and in the first half we score a goal for sure, but sometimes if you concede a goal it is a bad idea for sure…' etc etc repeat ad nauseam…
In fact, this season, for the first season ever, I may actually rotate the squad a little bit! Exciting times at St. Albans City - attacking football, a European-style rotation policy and a wannabe-Italian (or Spanish?) English manager with a goatee! Plus we've even got a few Johnny Foreigners in the squad! We’re definitely all set for the premier league and should really qualify on this basis alone.

So, anyway, moving on… I always undertake a pre-season draft list of my anticipated first team, so I thought I would post it on this journal. This is how I saw us lining-up.

That is the squad that I anticipate will be involved in this historic season. You will notice that youth is a common theme, but there is plenty of experience waiting in the wings too. I have just got to hope that the new signings bed in well.

So, this was my 11th season in charge, with the most pressure I had experienced in my career, as the Saints fans demanded promotion and the media tipped City for the title and at least a 4th place finish.
I had wielded my axe and made serious changes to the squad and I had worked extremely hard in the transfer window to bring in new signings who could make the difference. In particular, the major failing of last season was the lack of goals and so the pressure would fall on the shoulders of last season's signing Alan Hill and new signing Carlos Rodriguez to hit the back of the net on a regular basis. Noel Hunt, a veteran who has been at the club for a few years, along with new signing Jonathan Pringle were also under pressure to produce.
The fans wanted the title. They're a fairly cultured bunch of supporters, the 'Saints ultras', as I like to call them. Now, with representatives from Holland, Italy and Spain lining up in yellow and blue, the Saints ultras were obviously getting a bit cocky. They expected the side to challenge for the league title and wanted the side to get promoted at the very least.
I had, once again had a tactical rethink and decided that St. Albans City would be the 'little Brazil' of the Championship. The team would play short passing football, seeking to get the ball out wide to Ben Davies and Jonathan Hayes, who would be given a creative license and encouraged to beat their men and get to the by-line. Chris Joseph would be given ultimate creative freedom and allowed to wonder in a free role and to terrorise defences. My Italian influences and Benitez-inspired revolution were in place. I wanted the side to win the league and win it with style.

crouchaldinho

Season Review:

I have put the season summary at the end of the narrative this time, hopefully to build the suspense.

Despite growing my own facial hair based on Rafael Benitez's attractive goatee and drinking lots of Chianti like my Italian managerial heroes, I felt very nervous about this season. At the start of the season, I had the feeling I would either win and win and win and then bring the title home, or get sacked halfway through the season after a lethargic and embarrassing campaign and with all of my new signings failing to make an impact! The latter wouldn't exactly make for a great story.
Things started pretty well actually despite the fact that I was still trying to make additions to the squad and that I was still tweaking my tactics right up until the end of August.

Before the transfer window was up, last season's signing and general flop of the year, Andy Plumley, was shipped out to Sunderland for 750k (all profit, as he was signed on a free). I hope that my latest attempt to replace the legendary Frazier Campbell (who, by the way, I did try and tempt back to St. Albans, but could not afford the transfer fee) would fair a great deal better than him. Indeed, Rodriguez scored in his first game for the club against Mansfield, in a 3-1 win. I hoped there would be more like that to come from him! The team, having outclassed and outplayed Mansfield, then went out and lost 3-2 to Colchester at home in a deeply embarrassing display. I remained calm, thought about how disjointed the pre-season had been and hoped for better things to come once the side had settled into a rhythm.
My Rafa Benitez beard had not gone unnoticed in the changing room and the playing staff had also noticed my Chianti-induced rosy cheeks. I felt that the lads were giving me more respect. Lacklustre draws followed, yet clean sheets were always a great bonus. Perhaps Catenaccio would get us promoted? Let's face it; I don't really care how I get us promoted to be honest. The playing nicely bit is just a sham and a farce. If I could get us in the premier league by winning every game 1-0, I would!
A 3-1 away defeat to Barnsley brought me back down to earth and also reminded me how far away we were from the premier league. This was followed by a 3-1 home defeat to promotion hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday. Back-to-back 3-1 defeats for a side looking to getting promoted is awful and so I locked the side in the changing room and did my best Alex Ferguson hair-drier impression. Those in particularly deep trouble were goalkeeper Martin Tol, winger Ben Davies, striker Carlos Rodriguez and, well actually, the whole damn team. My post-match team talk went something like this (look away now if you are easily offended):



'You f****** think you've f****** arrived, but you're a shower of *****! You think you're going to get promoted? You stupid ***** can't defend to save your f****** lives. You didn't even turn up today! Martin, what the hell were you doing coming out and gifting them a goal? Carlos, have you played football before? You have to put the ball in the back of the f****** net, not sky it over the bar. You lot are absolute s**** - why am I wasting my time with you losers?' etc etc etc…
It was back to the drawing board. I felt that we weren't playing that badly but I was sure a tactical rethink was in order. Maybe we needed a strategy that would bring something completely fresh to the side. I needed to study the squad and find its strengths, and redesign our tactics. I knew that completely changing everything was probably the wrong way to go about it, but to be honest, keeping everything the same wasn't going to work either! We were looking rubbish! I feared for my job.

After finishing a bottle of Chianti and a few glasses of Scotch single malt (yes, being St. Albans City manager is turning me to drink!) it became clear that it was time to make some dramatic changes to my footballing philosophy. I've always been a big fan of the English game - direct football, long ball out to a tricky winger who beats his man to get to the by-line, or up to a big target man in the box who wins the ball and flicks it on to other players. Saints have made this their trademark for the last ten years. However, in this division, my wide players are more workman-like than tricky and most of my creative attacking talent resides in the middle of the park, with the likes of Chris Joseph, Joe Cole and Adam McGurk. With this in mind, I changed our long-serving 4-4-2 diamond to my own formation, a 4-1-2-2-1 with two attacking midfielders supporting a lone striker. Our lads would play with width to open up the space to play a short-passing game through the middle of the park. The wide players would get forward in support of attacks, but their priority would be to close down the opposition and open up the space in the centre of the park where the play would be focused. The two attacking midfielders, who would be given ultimate creativity, would exploit this space and would operate in a free role. I was well out of my comfort zone, but I felt that we needed to take a risk to get back in with a chance of promotion. I hoped that this new tactical strategy would get us playing the attractive football that I craved, and more importantly, start winning us games.

The new strategy meant a place in the side for Adam McGurk, our flamboyant new attacking midfielder, who up until now had been warming the bench. He would partner Chris Joseph. It also meant that the lone striker position would be fiercely contested by Alan Hill, Carlos Rodriguez and Jonathan Pringle - a rotation policy would give them all a chance and keep them fairly satisfied.
The new tactical ideas did not begin well, with a 2-0 home defeat to Plymouth (always our bogey side) resulting in more tweaks to the system and more hairdryer action in the changing room. A 0-0 draw with recently relegated Everton, currently topping the league, made me a happier manager. Then we became unbeatable. If Northern Ireland were nicknamed 'Northern Ireland Nil' due to their calamitous run a few years back, then St. Albans City would have become 'St. Albans City Two' in the lead up to Christmas. Saints became every punters home banker, winning five games in a row 2-0 and then going unbeaten until January, beating the previous club record and going a staggering 17 games unbeaten. In the process, I won the October and December manager of the month award and headed into the new year a very happy manager indeed.
It wasn't just the results; it was the football. One touch passing in the middle of the pitch, great movement and Chris Joseph playing like some kind of Brazilian genius. In particular, a 1-0 win over Derby County at home saw the side score the best goal I had ever seen. Sublime one touch passing - McGurk to Hill to Davies - who then picked out Joseph and he struck the ball from outside the box into the top corner. Arsenal and Argentina have got nothing on St. Albans City FC.
December had seen us rise into 3rd place with title challenging form, yet Everton and Barnsley, the two sides above us, just kept winning every week.

January brought bad news with it, as Rob Marshall left the club for West Ham on a free transfer despite persistent contract offers from Saints. He had served the club well and I was so very sad to see him go.
Meanwhile, I had regained my old big 'ead status - indeed, Cloughie himself would look down on me with pride. I expected to win every game, so when second-placed Barnsley came to St. Albans Stadium at the end of January, I sent the lads out to attack. I saw it as a wonderful chance to close the gap between us and the automatic promotion spots. We dominated the game, but failed to convert our chances and conceded a fluky goal. It ended 1-0 to them and I was absolutely devastated. Normally, I tend to play a more balanced formation against the big sides and I felt that we might have got something out of the game if we had kept things tighter at the back. With a 17 match unbeaten run ended, this defeat really hurt, not least because we dominated from start to finish and should have taken our chances. I can't help feeling that I should have been more cautious or balanced in my approach, but I guess I just have to face up to the fact that sometimes games like this happen. It left us 5 points away from automatic promotion with 16 games left and a side low on morale. We needed to get back to winning ways quickly.

At the end of the January transfer window, I tried to add some more steel to the midfield with the signing of a young Mexican defensive midfielder called Fernando Estrada. It cost us 450k to bring him to these shores from Spain and so I spent the cash that I had recouped from the Plumley deal during August. I planned to introduce him slowly. Of course, what actually happened is that I chucked him straight in the squad and he got injured in his second game with the Saints! What a manager I am! In addition to this, just before the window closed, Saints snapped up Carlos Tevez, now 33 yo, after his former club had released him on a free. He will perhaps bring some experience to our young attack, however physically his best days are well behind him. Still, I hope he might teach the younger players a thing or two and maybe make a few appearances as a sub. In addition, Jermaine Pennant (33 yo) was also signed up on a free after being released by Spurs. I am always tempted by a big name and City are starting to look like an old people's home, what with Scott Parker plying his trade here last season, and now Joe Cole, Carlos Tevez and Jermaine Pennant wearing yellow and blue. I didn't know if they would get a game, but they were asking for next to nothing in wages and were only given one-season contracts.

After the transfer window, the side went on a three-match barren run, unable to find a win. Some harsh words followed, plus a few tactical tweaks. Chris Joseph had been making some ridiculous contract demands, which the club were unable to fulfil, and he had been very unhappy - it was clearly having an effect on his performances. I dropped Chris Joseph and Carlos Rodriguez (who had also been poor) and brought in Joe Cole and Alan Hill, who paid their dues and scored 6 goals between them in an amazing 7-1 victory at St. Albans stadium against a woeful Watford side. However, what followed this game was a 2-0 home defeat to Doncaster, which left me wondering how the side could go from winning 7-1 to losing so pathetically to a poor side.
Our poor performances had opened up a ten-point gap between us and the top two. I felt that we had blown the chance of automatic promotion. Securing a play-off berth seemed the only realistic ambition we could aim for. I also wanted us to beat our previous points record in this division.
Looking back over the games where the points had been lost, it quickly became apparent to me that we had been found out. A few sides had been lining up to counter our tactics, playing a shape in order to reduce the effects of our creative Brazilian-like midfield. In short, some of the more canny managers had worked out how to play against us. It was clear that a few sides had managed one or two lucky results against us recently. What's more is that we have been having a lot of chances off target, which seems to indicate that either our key attacking players are under too much pressure, i.e. being tightly marked, or we're running out of attacking ideas and shooting from distance. With 12 games to go, it was back to the drawing board to come up with some new tactical ideas to bring out the best of the side for the final run in. I decided that the 41221 formation really suited us and I didn't want to do away with that. Yet, we had been too one-dimensional. I asked the lads to mix the game up and get the ball down the flanks as well as playing through the middle. Ben Davies, my most creative winger, was given more creative freedom. The two attacking midfielders would still be given a license to roam and create, but there would be other options for the team. A few solid victories followed.

In the FA cup, we had been making good progress and managed to make the sixth round for the second season in a row, which saw us drawn against Chelsea at home in the middle of March. This was sandwiched between three of the most important away games of the season in the Championship, in the shape of promotion hopefuls Cardiff, Sheffield United and unbeatable table-toppers Everton (who had only lost 3 out of 34 games so far this season). This was going to be the most important month of the season - make or break for the side's promotion hopes. My strategy for these games would be to defend, defend, defend and hope to get something on the break. First up, Cardiff and a brave 0-0 draw. Then Sheffield United, who we restricted to shots from distance, only for Alan Hill to score on the break in the 80th minute and win us the game 1-0! So far so good!
For Chelsea at home, which would see Joe Cole play against his former side, I would play something more balanced and have a go at them. It was a poor first half, so at half time I brought on Alan Hill, hoping he might make a difference. It only took him 5 minutes to score a goal and shock Chelsea! After that, 40 minutes of backs-to-the-wall defending saw us get our most famous win ever, 1-0 over billionaires Chelsea! This season was starting to look up! Through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup to face Manchester City!
Last but not least out of this potential nightmare run, was Everton at Goodison. This was a must win game - it looked impossible for us to get automatic promotion, but a loss against the Toffees would put us out of it for sure. I sent the lads out defensively and told them to do it for the fans, but they had conceded within 15 minutes. However, two goals from Paul Hill and Alan Hill (I don't think that they are related) either side of half time had me dancing around the technical area (my sofa). Everton pushed everyone forward, but another goal in the 90th minute by Alan Hill made it 3-1 and game over! Unbelievable! We were only the forth side to beat Everton this season. Old big 'ead was back and I was sure that it was my tactical tweaks that were making the difference. We were back!

When I say 'we were back' we were actually still 8 points behind Barnsley and Everton with 7 games to go. We did, however, have a game in hand. I went back to the more attacking version of my 41221.
An Alan Hill hat-trick against Leeds United at home, in a thrilling 3-2 win, saw us close that gap to 6 points, with us still having a game in hand. We had played our way back into the race for automatic promotion! We began to dream again.
Alan Hill was on fire again with a brace in a 2-1 win over promotion hopefuls Reading - I did not want to have to play them again in the play-offs. This was our game in hand and now the gap was down to 3 points. Also, the recent run of form won me the manager of the month award for March, my third manager award of the season.

April started with a Joe Cole hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Fulham at St. Albans stadium. Cole followed this up by single-handedly winning us our home game against West Brom. I have never been a massive fan of the showboating whinger in real life and I hadn't expected him to have such an impact this season! Meanwhile, Barnsley only managed a draw to leave us 2 points points behind them. It was going to be an exciting run in!
Joe Cole was the only member of the over 30s club to be playing regular football and had more than shown he was worth the chance I had given him this season. Meanwhile, Pennant was warming the bench and Tevez had scored 4 goals in 3 games for the reserves. With Rodriguez out with a cold, Tevez would get a place on the bench for the next few games and could become the first Argentinean to play for City.

In the middle of April, Kevin Nolan (34 yo) joined my Premiership old boys network, after being released on a free by his former club. Once again, seduced by a big name(?), I offered him a contract until the end of the season. With 3 games to go in the league and an FA cup semi-final, I had a feeling these big names would offer experience and a winning mentality when the squad most needed it.

Three games left and next up we had the unwelcome distraction of an FA Cup semi-final against Premiership side Manchester City. I decided to play this one cautiously and so I couldn't believe it when we came in at half-time 1-0 up thanks to a goal from Joe Cole. I was dreaming of an FA Cup final, how sweet that would be - the first of the clubs history. However, the second half was a different matter and we conceded twice to send us crashing out. Tears were shed by the players and I must say that I was absolutely gutted. I could have cried - the side had matched Manchester City in every respect and even outplayed them for spells. I had to remind myself (and the team) that we had a more important mission for this season. I would prefer getting a promotion to playing in a cup final - that much was sure. But I couldn't help but think of how we had missed out on the biggest day the club have ever had. And I couldn't help but feel that this cup defeat didn't bode well for our last three games in the league. There have been a few moments this season that have really hurt, such as the 1-0 defeat to Barnsley and the 2-0 defeat to Doncaster, both at home. It seemed to me that fairytale endings just don't happen to St. Albans City anymore.

So, here is the run-down to the end of the season - the last three games.
First of all, the bad news was that Joe Cole, who had been amazing recently and had scored something like 6 goals in 3 games, was injured and definitely out for the remaining three games. Barnsley, in 2nd place, had played another game and drawn it, meaning that we had a game in hand with two points to make up. Our game in hand was against Sheffield Wednesday away from home. I played a fairly bold attacking tactic and was dancing in jubilation around the technical area when Fernando Estrada scored a wonder goal from well outside the box. I had brought him in to sure up the defence as a defensive midfielder, and I certainly hadn't expected goals like that from him. My jubilation was short lived, as we failed to hold onto our lead, and despite creating plenty of chances, drew 1-1.
With two games to go we were one point away from Barnsley. Next up, another away game, this time against Bristol City - I did not like playing Bristol City, as they were often a bogey side for us. Indeed, my 500th game in charge of City was this fixture last season and we had lost 2-0.
I dreaded this game, but knew we had to at least draw to keep any chance of automatic promotion. So, of course, Bristol City scored in the first half, in a game that we were dominating. Only one thing was worse than that, which was that Alan Hill had been injured. So, for the second half, I brought on two from the old boy network, Tevez and Pennant. The latter provided a pin-point cross for Adam McGurk who got us back into the game, but it was all to no avail, as Bristol City went straight back up the other end and scored to make it 2-1 and seal up the three points. My side had once again collapsed under the pressure. The only relief for us was that Barnsley drew, but that was also a dreadful thing, because it made me think of what could have been. We could have gone into the last game a point ahead, rather than being two points behind.

Everton had already got the Championship title in the bag so Barnsley were the only team in our sights. The last game brought Millwall to St. Albans stadium, meanwhile Barnsley played host to Leeds United.
Now for the maths part: Saints had to beat Millwall regardless of anything and would only be promoted if Barnsley did NOT win. Our superior goal difference meant that if Barnsley drew and we won, we would go up.
We have a good record against Millwall (although I wish I wasn't writing that in this journal in case it curses us! I have been writing this as I play, so even I don't know how the story of this season ends). Barnsley, on the other hand, have a fairly mediocre record against Leeds. In addition, they have drawn their last three games. I was hoping that the combination of these things was a good sign.
And so, it all comes down to the last game of the season. Saints have been in this kind of situation before, only in a relegation battle during our first season in the Championship. We needed results to go our way that day, plus we needed a win, and we managed to be successful on that occasion. I wanted things to go our way on this occasion too. We had been unsuccessful in three play-off campaigns and I wanted automatic promotion more than anything.

Chris Joseph was going to be key for us in this last game, with Joe Cole injured. He had played a blinder in the first half of the season, but the greedy ******* had demanded a new contract that the club couldn't afford and had gone into a complete sulk afterwards. His form had taken a nosedive over the second half of the season. With two games to go until the showdown with Millwall, I took the bold move of criticising him in the press in the hope that it might get a reaction out of him and bring him out of his practically comatose state. He seemed to accept the criticism, so we would see if he upped his game for us on Saturday.

Jim Pirie rallied the troops and I told the press we would beat Millwall. On match day, I told the lads that whatever happened would be for the best. We would win this and if results went our way elsewhere then we would go up. Otherwise, we could go and win the play-offs! I told the side they could win today and send themselves into the Premier League.
So they went out and conceded a penalty in the first 20 minutes. After that, the team looked like they couldn't have scored a goal in five football matches, nevermind one. They were absolutely crap. A 1-0 loss to f****** Millwall - it didn't actually matter, because Barnsley won anyway. But we were going to the play-offs yet again. I could have cried. This team is the biggest bunch of big-game bottlers I have ever had the misfortune to manage. What was worse was that our points total would have won us promotion in every other season in the last 11 years. How can you not get automatic promotion with 89 points? It is an outrage - we should be promoted on a concessionary basis. We were clearly too good for this crummy division. 89 points and third place - it's a joke!

So, it was going to be my third play-off semi-final in a row - much as I hated the idea.
I decided to prepare differently for this one. I was going to treat it like a tournament. I planned to pick a squad of players to get a team spirit together and I was going to rework the tactics too. We were going to be prepared for it this time and we were going to give it our best shot.

I named 23 players in my 'play-off squad'. Jonathan Hayes was ruled out with a broken leg, Paul Hill ruled out with a fractured arm and Joe Cole was doubtful, but would probably play some part.

This was the list:
We were drawn against Derby County in the semi-finals. Having finished 17 points clear of them, I was feeling very resentful at having to play them for a place in the final.

On match day, I made a big decision to drop our top scorer Alan Hill for Carlos Rodriguez. I felt that the Derby defence lacked pace and that Carlos may fare better running on to through balls. Our trip to Pride Park was a lovely one, with us dominating the occasion. Unfortunately, there was bad news too, as Paolo Terminiello was injured. In a comical moment, not so funny to the City fans and myself, I accidentally subbed-on Jermaine Pennant to play right-back. It happened when I pointed at him instead of Kevin Thomson - I can't work out why nobody intervened and told me what I had done! I corrected the mistake with another substitution and we outplayed Derby, somehow only managing to win 1-0 with Jim Pirie providing the winner with a deflected free-kick. I hoped the second leg at St. Albans stadium would be as enjoyable. I would play a more cautious formation than normal in the second leg and would try to use the pace of Rodriguez again.
The second leg, played out in front of a packed St. Albans stadium, was a tense affair. But Derby County never really threaten my Saints side as we breezed past them, creating chance after chance that we failed to convert. The game ended 0-0! We were through to our second final in three years and we would face West Brom - a team we had beaten home and away this season and a side who finished 16 points below us. I felt that this was the best chance we had ever been presented with. And Joe Cole looked like he would be fit for the final! One game away from potentially joining the elite and playing in the top flight of English football.

For the final against West Brom, I favoured Carlos Rodriguez over Alan Hill again for his pace. I felt that he could really put the opposition defence under some pressure.
Saints got off to the worse start possible, as West Brom's James Brown scored a goal in the 1st minute. Seeing Brown as a dangerous player, I had briefed my players to tightly mark him and go in hard on him plus send him onto his wrong foot. Tony Fox obviously misunderstood me and thought that I had said 'pass the ball to James Brown'. Fox had dallied on the ball and ended up giving it away for the goal. However, I was smiling sooner rather than later as Rodriguez repaid my faith in him by scoring a cracker to put us back in the game. At half time, there was no difference between the two sides really and so I asked the lads for more of the same. In the 57th minute, West Brom were awarded a throw-in deep in our half and the City defenders stood like statues and watched as Ben Turner received the ball and smashed it into the Saints net. I felt the thud as it hit the back of the net in my throat and in my heart. I can honestly say that I felt like crying (both the real me and the virtual me in this story). The big game bottlers had done it again. I brought on Alan Hill and Chris Joseph, both of whom were sulking over new contracts and had been dropped due to their poor form. Both failed to make an impact as my team of big-game bottlers failed miserably. Rodriguez even had the ball in the back of the net, only for it to be ruled out for offside. The referee and linesman were clearly rooting for West Brom. Yet another decision went against us in the 88th minute as we conceded a controversial penalty. West Brom scored it to send them up to the Premier League and to force St. Albans City to play their football in the Championship for yet another season.
After the game, I contested the decision about the penalty, saying that it was a 'shocking decision that had ruined the game'. The FA remained silent about my outburst - they always do that when they know that you were right and that the decision was a bad one.

Devastated isn't even the word I would use to describe how miserable I am. Why the hell can't we win these playoff games? Yet another playoff final lost. We had outplayed the opposition once again, with 55% of the possession, a passing rate of 75%, 15 shots with 7 on target. Rodriguez quickly became my scapegoat, having had 7 shots and only 3 on target. My search for the new Frazier Campbell had obviously failed. My side were bottlers - they just couldn't do it on the big occasion. They had accumulated enough points to be promoted in any other season, but they just couldn't keep up with the top two. And then, in the play-offs, against a side who we'd beaten twice previously during this season, not to mention a side who had finished 16 points below us, we bottled it. You could blame the injuries to Paolo Terminiello, Paul Hill and Jonathan Hayes - certainly we were very week on the left of midfield. You could blame Rodriguez for failing to convert his chances. I was ready to blame anyone.

(You know the handy tips that come up when the game is processing? Well they quite wonderfully told me that 'to resign as manager of your current team, click on manager and resign' just after I had lost yet another playoff final. Ah, so tempting…)

This season had seen everything, from complete ineptitude to excellent attacking football. New nationalities were turning out for the Saints and ex-Premiership stars had agreed to play their football at St. Albans stadium. The manager had adopted a new formation and tactic and had got Saints playing the sort of football that every fan wants their club to play. The side had got into the semis of the FA Cup and beaten Chelsea along the way. And City had managed to accumulate 89 points - a club record - looking back over the last eleven years, there has never been a side with that many points who has not finished in the top two and been promoted. 89 points is more than enough for a title win normally! What an unbelievable season - what unbelievably bad luck we have had.

With the fans and the chairman still delighted with me, it was going to be a long summer of deliberation and reflection. One thing was sure - St. Albans City FC would be playing Championship football again next season.

moza2k7

fcukin hell!!! that promotion WILL come eventually, and you should be well ready for the Prem when it does. How unlucky can you get! hows the money situation lookin now?

Dvd12345

You can do it C! Don't give up. Your new players will have gelled by next season and I'm sure you can win promotion.

arsenal_2111

Great story, it has encouraged me to start a game as Darlington, bit nervous, as i havent been down lower than the Champ before!!


The promotion will come soon!!