Season review:
Our first game of the season is a cushy home tie against Southend, yet Saints make very hard work of it and are very much flattered by a 2-0 win. Dean Ashton grabs his first for the club and Joe Cole shows that he will be a force to be reckoned with again this season by scoring the second. We follow this up with an away game at Doncaster in which we lose 1-0, missing chance after chance. More worryingly, an injury to last season's top scorer Alan Hill (possibly the most injury prone player in the world) sees us without our first choice strike partnership for the rest of the month. I ask former Brescia striker Enrico Muratore to make the step up and he duly delivers, scoring three great goals in victories against Crewe, Sheff Wed and Mansfield. Not only is he scoring goals but they are beautiful goals too. Do you remember how nearly every goal that Roberto Baggio scored involved rounding the keeper and tapping into an empty net? Well, Muratore seems to have the same knack for one-on-ones and has thrilled the Saints fans so far.
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At the beginning of September, I take charge of my first game with Turkey. It is a tricky away tie against France who are ranked 5th in the world. I have picked a rather conservative squad, with few changes from the last manager's selection. I notice that Turkey are lacking in decent natural wide players, thus I choose to play a narrow and defensive 4-1-3-2 formation. I have a feeling France will be too strong for us and so it proves, as we lose 2-1 despite a very spirited display. France go top of the group by two points, with three games left. It seems likely that this result will cost us automatic qualification and may result in our having to play in the play-offs. Already things are not going too swimmingly in my international career!
Fortunately, this game was part of a 'double-bill' of qualifiers, which meant that I would get the chance to put things right in 4 days time against Norway in Istanbul. I am a big believer in creating a system to match the players you have at your disposal and I feel I didn't do that well enough in my first game in charge. I think the narrow 4-1-3-2 experiment didn't exactly do us many favours - I didn't get the right balance.
Despite the lack of wide players, there are a number of attacking players who can also play as attacking wingers, plus we have a very good target man. Therefore, I decided to try creating an attacking 4-5-1 layered formation, which switches to a 4-3-3 when attacking.
So, for the visit of Norway, I played 4-3-3 for the first time in my career. Expecting Turkey to overwhelm their opposition, I was disappointed when they put on the most boring display of football ever. However, we got a 2-0 result somehow, which actually left me feeling a bit guilty, as Norway had clearly been the better side. More tactical tweaking is clearly necessary but for now it was job done.
I flew back into Luton Airport and resumed club management, putting Turkey to one-side for now.
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Saints faced an early potential promotion deciding game, in the shape of recently relegated Aston Villa at Villa Park. Early first-half goals from Muratore and Ashton have me smiling, yet we concede two goals late in the game to draw 2-2. I worry about our inability to hold on to our lead and wonder if this was due to a lack of stamina or confidence. I regret not giving the boys more of a pat on the back at half time and I also regret that we didn't use some dirty time-wasting tactics late on in the game. Still, I feel that a draw is a decent result and I am especially happy with the way that Enrico Muratore is playing. I feel that we haven't quite got out of the starting blocks yet. It seems to me that we could still step up a gear or two. Yet this start is the best that we have had for the last few years.
Major rivals Swansea were next up. They had taken Frazier Campbell off my hands and were up there every season challenging us. This season would clearly be no different and the opposition manager was playing mind games in the media in the build up to our clash at St. Albans stadium. I decided upon a cautious tactic and was pleased to see the lads triumph 1-0 in a tight game.
A solid draw against Wolves and a good win against Leeds, both on the road, continued our upward momentum. Yet, following this, newly-promoted Bournemouth came to St. Albans stadium, made us work hard and scored a last minute goal to take a 2-1 victory against the run of play.
Defeat at home had looked a possibility all season, with us gifting our visitors far too many chances. Nobody else seemed to have had the staying power to get into the game, but plucky Bournemouth had played well on the counter. I came to the conclusion that my very attacking tactics at home had us commit too many men forward during attacks. I would tighten things up in the next home game and concentrate on keeping a solid defensive unit together. Three points dropped was not the end of the world, as long as we could turn it around quickly. A defeat to Bournemouth was embarrassing though and I felt we had some work on to get back on track.
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Turkey was calling me again for two world cup qualifiers against Armenia and FYR Macedonia, both away from home. I knew that it would be tough to catch up with France in first place but at the same time I knew that we had pretty much guaranteed our qualification for the play-offs.
Boldly, I sent the side out to play a cautious layered 4-3-3-type formation. The side would line up in a 4-1-2-2-1 similar to my St. Albans City experiment of last season, except with two attacking wingers and a tight compact midfield unit sitting behind them. A thrilling 3-2 draw against Armenia followed - their goals came from a defensive error and a set piece, thus I felt that the tactics had done their job. However, the side was clearly low on confidence.
After this game, Turkey were surprisingly top out of all of the second-placed teams. With the top second-placed team qualifying automatically, it seemed that we might be lucky and avoid the play-offs. We had to beat a decent FYR Macedonia side, who were 3rd in the group and certainly stronger than Armenia. Turkey made very hard work of FYR Macedonia as well, in another amazing 3-2 victory. It had been a very even game, however we had looked fairly solid despite another defensive error and set piece conceded. Unbelievably, after 4 games in charge, 3 wins and 1 loss, 6 goals scored yet 6 conceded, I had managed to get Turkey to the World Cup as the best second-placed team in the European qualifiers! Turkey would be going to Uruguay, who were hosting the 2018 tournament in the summer!
We had qualified, but it had been far from convincing, having conceded 6 goals in 4 games during my stint in charge. Understandably, the Turkish supporters were still cautious about my appointment. They were hoping for better things in the World Cup and so was I.
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Following the home defeat to Bournemouth, I made a managerial decision to be more cautious in our tactical approach to games. I wanted the side to play good football, but not at the risk of conceding goals. This season, I had decided to value clean-sheets over goals scored. I went to work on tweaking our tactics, ensuring that we were defensively solid and set-up in way that would be difficult for teams to break down. A difficult trio of games was approaching, with Norwich and Derby away, then Fulham at home. Saints, under more defensive instructions, drew these three games 0-0, 1-1 and 1-1. However, I felt that we had played well enough to win two of the games and so I wasn't worried about a loss of form.
A solid 1-0 victory at home to promotion rivals Hull, and then more of the same away to Southampton, put us straight back into the race for automatic promotion. Boring, boring City? I couldn't care less if we won every game 1-0. I was happy with the boring tag and I asked my players for more clean sheets. 0-0 against Sheffield United followed. It was official; we were George Graham's Arsenal or Gerard Houllier's Liverpool. We bored everyone to tears!
A 2-1 away defeat to surprise-package Leyton Orient brought me right back down to earth. Yet I felt that we had created enough chances to win the game and had been really unlucky. I wondered if I was turning into Gerard Houllier in his last season at Liverpool, in complete denial, quoting endless statistics about shots-on-target to the press.
One of the most important games of the season followed against promotion rivals Reading. They had been making decent progress in the league and had an excellent side with some really decent individual talent. I sent the lads out to play a balanced and slightly cautious tactic and so was devastated when the side conceded in the first five minutes. At 1-0 down, I doubted our ability to make a come back and thought that Reading would park the bus. There had been a few afternoons like this last season, where the side had gone down early and failed miserably to come back and spurned chance after chance. Yet this side has more character and more experience and when Dean Ashton equalised on the half-an-hour mark, I always felt that we would go on to win the game. Goals from Enrico Muratore and Jim Pirie late on won us the three-points at St. Albans Stadium and we celebrated the victory by moving up into second place in the division. Now, I don't want to sound even more like Monsieur Houllier, but I felt the side had turned a corner. Last season and the season before, having gone 1-0 down, I would have been very anxious about the side's chances of getting back into the game. This season, I felt that the player's had the grit, the determination and the fight. They had forged an extremely strong understanding and they wanted this promotion as much as the Saints supporters, and as much as I did. This game, in particular, made me believe that the side could do it. There was a long way to go yet though.
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I was called away once again by Turkey, this time for two friendly games with Turkey, the first away to Northern Ireland and the second at home to Georgia. I will make short work of describing these games. Against N.Ireland I decided to experiment tactically at the cost of a poor performance and a 1-0 defeat. Still, isn't that what friendly games are for? At home to Georgia, I returned to my 4-3-3 layered formation, choosing to make it a little more attacking and I was rewarded with a wonderful performance as Turkey coasted to a fantastic 7-1 victory in Istanbul.
The Turkey supporters don't know quite what to make of me yet. My six games in charge had been a mixture of mediocrity with occasional brilliance shining through. Very occasional brilliance. They wanted performances like the ones against Norway and Georgia, but they feared that they would get performances like the ones against France and Northern Ireland. I would have to get the side playing well at the World Cup. I awaited the draw for the group stages with incredible anticipation.
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Saints picked up some form, with a four-game unbeaten run, highlights including a 4-1 thrashing of QPR at home and a 3-1 victory away to Cardiff. These results led us comfortably into December, with our league position fluctuating between 1st and 3rd. Aston Villa and Bristol City were proving to be worthy adversaries in the fight for promotion.
Meanwhile, we had been making good progress in the league cup, where I had been rotating players like mad and yet we were still rolling sides over and getting through the rounds. A quarter final away to Premiership side Sunderland, however, brought an unlucky 2-1 defeat. Saints have always been crap in the cups, mostly due to the fact that I couldn't give a toss about them. The league has always been utmost in our objectives for the season and I rarely put the kind of tactical planning into the cup-ties as I do into our league games.
I was feeling immensely confident of my side's abilities. I had begun to abandon my previous defensive leanings and had encouraged a more creative attacking style. Muratore was a godsend upfront and had forced last season's top scorer Alan Hill to spend a great deal of time on the bench. Hill was still throwing a wobbly over a new contract and as a result was not getting many minutes on the pitch. Carlos Rodriguez, my scapegoat for last season's failed play-off campaign, was also sulking due to the fact that I had overlooked him in favour of Muratore. Even youngster Ashley Parkes has got the odd game in front of him! I would be trying to find Rodriguez a new home in the transfer window.
Dean Ashton had been chipping in with the goals, yet I had noticed a massive decline in his physical game. With him playing a target man role, his physical attributes needed to be good, and I felt his performances were tailing off. Another old-timer, Kevin Doyle, stepped up and showed that he could still do the business despite his age. So it was Doyle and Muratore as the first-choice strike partnership. Height and speed, strength and flair. They gave every opponent a massive headache and we continued our excellent progress, with highlights including 3-0 at home to Doncaster and 3-1 away to Crewe, with a Muratore brace and a goal from Doyle in each match.
January was looking like a tough month, with games against Aston Villa, Swansea and Wolves to look forward too. First up was a slightly less challenging tie away to Mansfield - or at least this was what we thought. A humiliating 3-1 defeat halted any complacency in my mind. I had got it so, so, so wrong. Sending out the side to attack, when I should have been a little more cautious against a hard-working team who were playing well at home.
Despite this setback, I felt confident going into the Villa game. We had drawn with them at Villa Park earlier in the season and I felt we could take all three points at home. And both sides served up an absolute thriller at St. Albans Stadium.
I decided to ask the side to use Enrico Muratore's pace, as Villa looked like they were a little slow at the back. They had real physical presence and I felt that Doyle was not going to win many headers. Muratore, our Italian genius, scored a peach of a goal on three minutes to send us 1-0 up. But, as always, disaster was just around the corner for the Saints. Six minutes later, Ryan Lynch upended Daniel Sturridge in the penalty area and Villa scored from the resultant penalty kick. The rest of the first-half was an end-to-end game and at half-time I felt that we had slightly edged it so far. It was a real tactical battle - Villa were using their physical presence at the back to reduce the impact of Muratore, who was getting kicked and fouled. He was also up against a towering full-back, who was also fairly quick. In short, it seemed to me that Enrico Muratore was getting marked out of the game. This called for a different approach and I spent the entire second-half trying out new ideas, asking Muratore to work in different areas of the field, in order to cause confusion in the Villa defence. It was working - Villa conceded a penalty when Muratore was tripped by his Villa marker and our old-head Kalenberg put the ball in the bag of the net. Yet Villa replied instantly to make it 2-2 with 25 minutes to go.
Muratore, however, had his own take on the game and decided it wasn't over yet. Somehow he meandered through the Villa defence, went one-on-one with the keeper and hit the ball into the back of the net! Our Italian genius had done it again - another wonderful brace and we had the victory over our main rivals for promotion. It ended 3-2 - what a game!
There are days where you get it right as a football manager, like I did against Villa, and days where you get it wrong, like I did away at Mansfield. Regrettably, the next game against Swansea fell into the latter camp too. Swansea had taken the legendary Frazier Campbell from me and won the FA Cup two seasons ago in the most improbable cup run ever. The Swans were always up for promotion every season, and like us they always managed to miss out and underachieve. I felt that they had become our major rivals in the division and my record against them was pretty good. What was even better was that Frazier Campbell had always played awfully whenever he was up against his old club. This was possibly because I always instructed my centre-backs to go in hard on him and give him a good kicking. I know it's not in the spirit of the game, but getting one over on any player who used to be your star before he abandoned you for a rival club always feels good.
Swansea were having a bad season by their standards and were loitering around midtable. This encouraged me to send Saints out with an attacking tactic to get up their noses and cause them problems. As I said before, Frazier had always played badly against us and had never hit the back of the net when playing his old club, but that changed as he put the Swans 1-0 up early in the first half. Throughout the game, I felt we matched them but they always looked dangerous. A stunning strike from Joe Cole was not enough as Swansea took the game to us and scored late on to win it 2-1. It was the narrowest of victories. However, I felt that it was down to my tactical choices. Had we played more defensively, I felt we would have come away with a draw or possibly even edged it. Sometimes you get it wrong and I had learnt my lesson again.
My disappointment at coming away without the points in this tough game showed how much I had come to expect of my players. They were an amazing bunch at this level, with real quality and strength in depth. I had been rotating the strikers, to keep Doyle, Ashton, Muratore, Parkes and Alan Hill match fit and happy. The same was true of my midfield options, with Joe Cole, Joseph, McGurk and Kahlenberg all being rotated in order to keep things fresh. At the back, I kept things more consistent, with Jim Pirie proving himself to be a class act and attracting the attention of the likes of Liverpool and Celtic. I felt I was going to have a hard time keeping hold of him in the next few years.
Anchorman Fernando Estrada was being rotated with Thomas Moritz and both were performing excellently in our 'midfield sweeper' role. Regrettably though, Arsenal came calling for youngster Moritz in the January transfer window. John Gibson, our ever-supportive chairman, interfered and accepted a £4million bid for him behind my back. I was furious with him as our finances were looking very healthy and Moritz was starting to look like a real prospect. We didn't need the money and I couldn't understand his decision. I resisted the desire to go and spend some of the incoming cash - if Saints managed to get promoted we would need to spend some money wisely next season.
Saints quickly got over the disappointment of losing to Swansea and of losing Thomas Moritz and managed to comfortably beat Wolves 3-0 at St. Albans Stadium. With this victory, we went top and opened up an 8-point gap between us and 3rd place. We were starting to dream!
A sincere word must be said here about three members of the side who had been quietly going about their business and performing exceptionally, yet not getting the headlines that Enrico Muratore had been enjoying. The first of these players is Jim Pirie, who had begun his St. Albans City career as a young right-back and now matured into a graceful and wonderful centre-back. His progress could be compared to that of Jamie Carragher, who played across the back four for Liverpool, but never really had the opportunity to shine until he was given the chance to play in the thick of things at centre-back. Pirie had been outstanding for us again this season. Another unsung hero was Paul Hill, who had stepped up to first-team duties due to an injury to Ben Davies. Paul was another Mr Versatile, a player not blessed with amazing technique, but a rather workmanlike and enthusiastic midfielder. He had been regularly performing well for Saints, working hard on the flanks and never forgetting his defensive duties. The last player who deserves a great deal of praise is Fernando Estrada, who was operating in the 'midfield sweeper' role and was doing a marvellous job of winning the ball and setting attacks in motion. All hail the unsung heroes of St. Albans City FC.
Meanwhile, Adam McGurk was giving me some serious headaches in terms of team selection. His recent performances as our enganche were fantastic. I was resting Joe Cole more often, as his stamina was questionable, and Chris Joseph was often being played up front, with Kahlenberg on the left of midfield. This was keeping them all happy, but it was hard work! I loved having the selection headache though. It had been missing from the vast majority of my St. Albans career!
Yet, despite this squad depth, a minor injury crisis had reared its ugly head. I was without my two first-choice centre-backs, captain Jim Pirie being one of them, and two of my right-sided midfielders. We faced a difficult selection of games without some of our best players and I hoped we would be able to keep the momentum going.
We had been making quiet progress in the FA Cup and had made it to the fifth round, where we were drawn to play Premiership side West Ham at Upton Park. This fixture put us up against one of our old St. Albans City legends, centre-back Rob Marshall, who had left for greener pastures after seven years of long service in yellow and blue. I had nothing but respect for the lad, who had given his all to St. Albans City and had helped us up the tables as he blossomed from a diffident youngster to a confident and imposing centre-back. Regrettably for Rob, he was at fault for the only goal of the game, as he went up for a header with Doyle, missed it and that allowed Alan Hill to waltz past the keeper and put the ball into the back of the net. 1-0 and despite feeling sorry for Marshall, who was clearly at fault, I jumped for joy as we had managed another wonderful cup victory against the odds. Despite the fact that I couldn't give an arse about the cups, we had managed a few decent upsets over the last four years, with Bolton, Arsenal, Chelsea and now West Ham on the list. I hoped for a nice draw in the next round.
Next up, Saints had two tough away games against Bournemouth and Fulham. Both of these sides were in play-off berths and pushing for promotion. Yet City won them at a canter, with a 3-0 victory at Bournemouth followed up by a 4-1 thrashing of Fulham. To score 7 goals in two away games is outstanding and Muratore had scored a brace in both, which was becoming his trademark. This outstanding form had opened an amazing 11-point gap between us and 3rd place. Automatic promotion was in our hands and quite frankly we would have to mess up dreadfully to lose it now!
My potential games of the season so far could include the win at home to Villa, or the fine cup victory over West Ham. However, it would more likely include either one of the next two games, at home to Derby County and Norwich.
Derby County at St. Albans Stadium was one of those games where we struggled from the off and created nothing at all for the majority of the game. The chances we did have went begging. The first-half, quite frankly, was the most lacklustre affair I had seen at home all season. There had been many occasions last season where we had failed miserably to break down the opposition, and worse still had conceded on the break. Against Derby, I opted for a half-time b*llocking, which seemed to make no difference in the second half. I then decided, rather boldly, to make three substitutions all at once, bringing on the attacking talent of Chris Joseph, Adam McGurk and hardworking midfielder Paul Hill. The side amazing upped the game and the attacking talent clearly made a difference. Yet it was defensive midfielder, Fernando Estrada, who did the business and scored a cracking goal to make it 1-0 to us and win us the game. It was an awful performance. I am told that you have to play badly and win in order to win titles. We did that against Derby and it was a proud moment for me to see the side fighting hard for results.
Norwich at St. Albans Stadium adhered to the same formula - a poor under-whelming first-half display, but worse still, we conceded a goal. At half time with us 1-0 down, I decided to try and get the players going. I asked them for passion and I asked them to prove a point and I picked out individuals such as Alan Hill who could make a difference. Alan Hill responded immediately with a fiery second-half display and scored a goal early in the second half. Gary Caldwell put us 2-1 up with a header on 75mins. Second-half substitute Adam McGurk put the game surely beyond doubt when he hit the back of the net on 86mins. Yet Norwich keep fighting and worry us with a goal on 90mins. However, we stay in control to win the game 3-2. What a game! What a great comeback by the Saints! Job well done. And more importantly, Saints are now 13 points clear of 3rd place with 10 games to go. We are approaching the business end of the season and we could not wish to be in a better position.
This run of form in February wins me my first manager of the month award this season.
The run of games from March until May is going to be tough and we face a number of tricky fixtures. First up, it was Hull away from home. They had been yo-yoing between the Premier League and the Championship over the last few seasons and as a result their side was packed with the sort of talent you would expect from an ex-Premiership club. I played down our run of form in the press. The game itself was a real chess-like tactical battle, player-for-player. It ended in a 2-2 draw and with serious concerns about an injury to Enrico Muratore. It looked as though he was going to be out for the rest of the season. In addition to this, I was worried about our defensive capabilities when we were playing without captain Jim Pirie (who was still injured). We looked leaky at the back. I suspected that we would have serious problems against Premiership opposition without Pirie.
Next up we had a narrow FA cup win over fellow Championship side Leeds United, winning 1-0 at St. Albans Stadium. We went through to our second consecutive FA Cup semi-final and we were drawn against Chelsea - a side we had beaten in the 6th round of the cup last season. I wasn't expecting a repeat performance - as far as I was concerned it was mission impossible. A real test of character for the team.
So it was back the league and a rather sobering result against Sheffield United away from home, as we lost 1-0. The alarm bells were going, as we had 11 shots with only 3 on target and dominated the game, unable to put the ball in the back of the net. We were missing Muratore already.
Due to the poor league performances over the last few games, I send the side out to play cautiously at home to Millwall. I also decided to give 19 year old Ashley Parkes a go at filling Muratore's boots. A dire 0-0 draw followed. We were limping towards the finishing line.
In the next game, a 0-0 draw against Southampton at home makes it 4 games without and win, and 3 games without a goal. We were very fortunate that the sides around us, like Bristol City and Aston Villa, were similarly faltering. We can't rely on that though. We needed a goalscorer desperately and I lamented the loss of Enrico Muratore more than ever.
I gave youngster Parkes another go against QPR away and he rewarded my faith as he scored his first ever senior league goal in a narrow 1-0 win. At last, we had stopped the rot! Bristol and Villa, in 2nd and 3rd respectively, play each other and draw.
5 games to go. Automatic promotion is so very close now.
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My fledgling international career is starting to progress well. Turkey had two big friendly games before the World Cup. First, the crescent-stars beat Columbia narrowly at home, before travelling out to Brazil and getting a great 1-0 win against the odds. What a juxtaposition for a manager, from winning 1-0 at Loftus Road, to playing at a huge stadium in South America and beating the infamous Brazil! I am very proud of that result indeed, however I was devastated to lose my best striker - he would definitely be missing the World Cup finals.
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Before the international break we had a tough run of games. Next was an away tie against Reading, which suggests that things are not about to get any easier. A hard-working performance earns us a 0-0 draw. Still we are lacking goals.
We knew that a win in our next could send us up, such was the gap between us and Villa in 3rd place. The game was against Leyton Orient at home and I felt that we would cruise this one. Yet we wobbled again and drew 0-0. Bristol City and Villa gain on us and suddenly they are back in it.
It gets worse. A 1-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace shows us to be missing Jim Pirie and Enrico Muratore massively. We were awful, miserable, dismal, lacklustre, dreadful. We are not even limping towards the finishing line now, more crawling pathetically. Could we throw it away at this late stage? Could we throw it away after leading the table for so long?
Lucky for us, Swansea came to the rescue and got a result again Bristol City to keep us on top of the table by 1 point. It is too close to call with two games to go in the league. The next Championship game sees us play Bristol City away from home in a title decider.
First of all, we have the distraction of our FA Cup semi-final against billionaires Chelsea at Wembley. We have been here before, last season, where we were defeated by Manchester City. I would have fancied our chances this season, against Chelsea, if it were not for the loss of Muratore. Enrico was back in training, but not fit enough to even make the bench. With him in the team, anything can happen. Without him, we couldn't even score goals.
The Saints fans were desperate for us to get to our first cup final. Our supporters, a sea of yellow and blue, out-sung the Chelsea followers, but it was a shame that their team were not superior on the pitch. One look at the Chelsea midfield scared me to death - millions of pounds worth of talent and so much creativity. We would play fair, but be very hard and physical. Despite that, they cruised to a 2-0 score-line by half-time. They were just too good and this was a real wake-up call. Even if we did make the Premiership, it was going to be very hard to stay there with teams like Chelsea.
Unbelievably, after a few tactical tweaks and a team-talk and a half in the interval, our lads turn it around. Alan Hill does the business and following that a bizarre Chelsea own goal makes it 2-2. Our trip to Wembley has suddenly become a much more enjoyable experience. We hold out for the 90mins and it goes to extra time. But Chelsea have far too much for us and some major errors eventually give them a 3-2 lead. They go on to win and send us out of the cup. I am deflated, depressed and devastated. To turn the game around, to comeback against Chelsea when 2-0 down, that is special. You have the feeling that luck is on your side. But to concede like we did in extra time is soul destroying. It is just like Saints - always the way with our football club. So near yet so very far away. The team playing in blue had some incredible talent at their disposal and we did well to go so close. After the game, our left-back Ryan Lynch and centre-back Freddie Owen take responsibility for their defensive mistakes in the press.
After that game, which left us high and dry, we had to take on Bristol City away from home in our penultimate Championship game. This game would decide the title. It doesn't get much bigger than this. Premiership football is at stake. I decide to throw caution to the win and I starting with a very attacking tactic. Win it and we win the title. Lose and we probably hand it to Bristol City, bar a miracle in the last games on the season. It was also possible that we would not get automatic promotion if we dropped all 3 points today. Villa were still hot on our tails.
When Alan Hill strikes early on for Saints, I am jumping around like a maniac. Could this be it? Could this be the moment I have been waiting for. Six years in the Championship, twelve years at Saints - I have waited for the moment when we make the top flight of English football. But no - Bristol City equalise thanks to a mistake from Jim Pirie, in his first game back after injury. The game is exciting stuff, with both sides going for the win. It ends in a draw - probably a fair result, although we created more chances.
After the game, I learn that 3rd place Villa only draw and therefore we are up! Automatic promotion for Saints! Premier league football next season. Pinch me! We were going to be strutting our stuff in the most overrated, over-hyped league in the world! Fans all over the world would be watching St. Albans City next season, perhaps some of them adopting us as their favoured club! I tried to imagine Asian football fans wearing St. Albans City shirts and scarves! Young lads would be playing in the streets of England, pretending to be Enrico Muratore with jumpers for goal posts etc!
My board say that are pleased the moment has finally arrived. That's a bit of an understatement! The fans love me! They were going to be partying hard on the streets of St. Albans this evening! I imagined the pubs full to the brim with punters in yellow and blue. The normally fairly reserved streets of the city full of ecstatic football fans!
Back to the football though. Celebrations were on hold. We had one more game, which brought us up against Cardiff at home. We needed a result to win the title. I wanted the titled badly, especially seeing as we had led the league for so long this season.
Enrico Muratore was back and he was set to enjoy the party atmosphere at St. Albans Stadium. He bagged the first from a freekick, set up the second for Paul Hill and scores the third. The third goal in particular is as good as anything I have seen him do this season. He wins the ball, turns, beats two players and belts it past the keeper. Saints end up winning 5-0, with Muratore taking the Man of the Match award. The party atmosphere goes on late into the night. The title was ours in the most perfect end to the season I could have imagined. For a while, when the games weren't going our way, it looked like it was going to be another season of tragedy. But this is more than I could have wished for. What a way to finish the season. Saints fans going mad, the team going mad. Next year, Enrico Muratore would be terrorising Premiership defences. I couldn't quite believe it.
We win the Championship after 6 seasons of trying. The supporters are in awe of my managerial ability! I win manager of the year! My reputation turns to continental. Muratore wins goal of the season. Amid all of the celebration, John Dawson, City legend, announces he will now retire. I salute you John Dawson - without you City would not be where they are now. That is the one sentimental sad moment in the happiest day of my football managing life.
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Final league pos: 1st P46 W24 D14 L8 F76 A36 Pts86
FA Cup: Semi-final 3-2 aet defeat to Chelsea
League Cup: Quarter-final 2-1 away defeat to Sunderland
Average Attendance: 16776
Player of the season: Enrico Muratore by a mile! Estrada and Pirie are superb for us too!
Signing of the season: Enrico Muratore on a free from Serie B side Brescia
Top goalscorers: Enrico Muratore 26
Most Assists: Enrico Muratore 11
Most MoM awards: Jim Pirie 6
City Legends: Lee Clarke, John Dawson, Mitchell Bryant, Frazier Campbell, Freddie Owen, Rob Marshall, Jim Pirie, Enrico Muratore (What a season! The most skilful player we've had playing in yellow and blue).
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Now for a concise and very brief account of my World Cup campaign with Turkey.
Prior to the tournament, I felt that I would leave my international post once the competition was over. I had inherited a squad with plenty of talent in midfield, but one that really lacked decent strikers and depth in attacking positions.
The supporters and the FA wanted a good campaign and targeted the knockout stages, with anything else a bonus. The supporters were still cautious about my managerial abilities. Turkey had been drawn in a tough group with Japan, France and Ghana. I flew out to the World Cup in Uruguay, having only been in post long enough to learn some basic Turkish. I was tempted to revert back to my favourite 4-4-2 diamond which served me so well at club level, yet I kept faith with my 4-3-3 formation which better suited the players at my disposal. We were missing our top scorer, best player and lead striker.
GROUP STAGES
Japan 1 - 1 Turkey
Poor, poor, poor. We were favourites to win. My second-choice striker is young and has low composure. He skied every shot over. Japan scored first and it took a penalty in the last 10 mins to save our blushes.
Turkey 2 - 3 France
What a tough game. I decided to give my third-choice striker a chance. He scored twice as we outplayed France in the first 45 mins. The second half was a different story and France went on to win the game in the last minute of extra-time.
Turkey 5 - 0 Ghana
Well, we improved immensely in this game, although that may have something to do with the standard of the opposition. We needed a win to qualify and the lads did the business.
SECOND ROUND
Belgium 1 - 2 Turkey
Three players injured for us in this tough game, including our top scorer for the tournament and also our captain. We were 2-0 up at half-time and it was a backs-to-the-walls job in the second half. I didn't know the Turkish for this, but the lads got the idea and we went through.
QUARTER FINAL
Switzerland 0 - 0 Turkey (The Swiss win 3-2 on pens)
Anything beyond the second round was a bonus, but I felt we could beat Sweden and get to a semi-final. My mind was whirling with that thought. Anything can happen then. We outplay the Swiss, but we are missing a world class striker and it shows. Unbelievably, the Swiss have three players sent off and only one shot on target all game. We dominate, creating 13 chances, which we fail to score. The blame falls on the shoulders of our young, compsureless striker. Unbelievably bad luck.
SUMMARY
Even more unbelievable, the Swiss go on to win the cup in the most unlikely way, winning the final on penalties again. We are left wondering what might have been.
The Turkish FA say they are pleased with our performance. The fans still aren't sure.
I get offered the Croatian job, but turn it down. I decide to stay with Turkey after all. There are a couple of decent looking youngsters coming through the ranks and I feel that I owe the Turkish FA for their faith in me. The fans haven't taken to me yet, so I am determined to turn that around. The European Championship qualifiers await.
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What a season it had been for me at club level. Saints playing lovely attacking football, and in the end, fighting tooth and nail for a chance in the Premier League. Our Italian genius, Enrico Muratore, had taken us to a high place. The side had gelled together and taken the league by storm.
The dream is reality - Premier league football is ours. Foreign managers, foreign players, millions of pounds, fantasy football, Anfield, Old Trafford, Match of the Day… just to think that Alan Hansen would be commentating on our 'diabolical defending' next season was too much for me! We had made the big time! So many failures and it was all the more sweeter this time. Roll on next season!
Would Saints survive and mix it with the big boys?
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