Season Review:
The fixture computer had given us a real challenge to start with - Manchester United at home. What a surreal and wonderful moment. St. Albans Stadium full, a sea of yellow and blue, with a pocket of Manchester United fans singing loudly in the away end. I have never been a fan of United but you have to give their away fans credit.
St. Albans City FC had made the big time. It doesn't get much bigger than kicking off the season against the Red Devils.
I always feel that the first game of the season sets a down a marker and that it is important to make a good start no matter your opposition. Fully aware that Gary Linker and Alan Hansen, among others, would be analysing our performance with the fickleness of a typical football fan, I wanted to make a good impression.
Tactically, I would stick with my beloved 4-4-2 diamond - I had played this formation in four different divisions. On the tactical side of things, there were major changes to the way we would play our football. We were technically poor compared to the Manchester Uniteds, Chelseas, and Arsenals. Yet, for what we lacked technically, we made up for in our workrate and the physical side of our game. This season, my side would play a compact 4-4-2 diamond, sitting fairly deep, soaking up pressure, using the physical side of our game to win the midfield battle. We would attempt to use our pace to hit sides on the break. Defenders would play fairly long passes forward, with attacking players holding up the ball and playing a patient slow tempo game. We would tackle hard, keep men behind the ball, waste time, hold on to the ball, try to soak up pressure - ultimately try to frustrate our opposition. I wanted plucky little St. Albans City to battle hard and raise a few eyebrows.
So, back to the St. Albans Stadium and in the changing room I was keen to lessen the pressure on the players. I told them that there is no pressure and that they should go out and enjoy their football. We kick-off and it's an immediate disaster, as within ten minutes we concede a sloppy goal and United go 1-0 up. In the words of Victor Meldrew, I don't believe it! Yet, 15 minutes later Italian genius Enrico Muratore is tripped in the box and we win a penalty. But I am shocked as youngster and new signing Anders Lindgren steps up to take the penalty. Clearly, I have made a big mistake here - I have forgotten to instruct the players about who I want to take the penalty. I gesture wildly at the players, but they can't hear me. Lingren steps up … and scores! Phew! Despite having the wrong player take the penalty, we had scored it. 1-1. I had been too preoccupied with the start of the season to fully instruct the players regarding set-pieces etc. I would have to sort this out and ensure that everything else was straight after the game.
Manchester United huffed and puffed for the rest of the first half, but they didn't really create anything and at half-time I fancied us to go on to claim our first Premiership point. Yet in the second half we look like a different side (in a good way). I ask my assistant, 'is this St. Albans City playing in yellow and blue?'
We only go and bl**dy win it! First Kevin Doyle and then Enrico Muratore embarrass one of the biggest clubs in the country! Loan signing Stuart McNamara sets up both goals and takes the MoM award. We only went and beat bl**dy United 3-1. And we're only top of the table after one bl**dy game! What a start! The beginning of a new era!
After this game I learn that our stadium expansion is completed and we're now up to 18902 seats. I'm still waiting for the chairman to do something about the training and youth facilities. Adequate facilities just won't cut it at this level.
Aston Villa, who are the side who won the playoffs and got promoted with us last season, lose both of their opening games. Shockingly, so do Manchester United. They prop up the league. Our second game of the season is on Sunday, live on television, away from home against Leicester City. Leicester are one of the sides who I believe make up our mini-league at the foot of the Premiership table this season, along with Villa, Bristol City, Ipswich and us. This game looks like it will be a key indicator of our chances this season. Before the game, I enjoy some mind games with the Leicester City manager, telling him that his team will be relegated, after he targets my side in the press. He started it and I really hope we beat his side now, the cocky b*stard.
One or two of my lads are looking rather cocky too after our display against United. Therefore, I drop two of them and Brazilian youngster Marivaldo is given his debut. We play very defensively and the result is a tribute to our dogged defending as we draw 0-0 in a boring and tedious game. I am very happy to come away with the point though.
Unbelievably, in another Sunday game Bristol City pour more misery on Manchester United by pulling off a draw against them. Bristol City are now undefeated in their first three games. Their manager deserves a medal. They continue to make a mockery of the odds - last season they should never have got promotion, as the quality in their squad was questionable. This season, they have barely signed anyone, and I can't understand it. I feel like calling up their manager for some tips!
We’re not doing too badly ourselves though and a 2-2 draw at home to Blackburn in a thrilling encounter is another good result as far as I am concerned. Lindgren, who I predicted would struggle in the Premiership, is loving life at this level. He opened the scoring, before an injury to Kevin Doyle forced him off the field. New Spanish striker Jonathan Soriano came on and grabbed another goal. However, Blackburn replied with two good goals of their own and in truth they deserved the point - although I felt we might have edged it. In our mini-league, Leicester, Ipswich and Villa are all still without a win. Bristol City and St. Albans City FC, the most unlikely Premiership duo in the history of the league, sit ecstatically in the top half of the table. I sincerely hope Bristol City stay up as I have become rather fond of them now - yet not at the expense of my club obviously.
Going into the international break at the end of August, I was fighting off advances from Manchester United and Chelsea who were both gazing seductively at Jim Pirie. Pirie was called up for his first Scottish senior International cap at the end of August and performed well. Scotland were in the same group as Turkey, so it looked as though my international exploits would bring me up against one of my favourite players of all time in the near future.
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My first European Qualifying game with Turkey was away to Italy. What a game to start a new campaign with! The fixture computer had been hard on me at club and international level!
I wanted to switch the side to 4-4-2, yet still felt that the players suited the 4-3-3, so I stuck with my instincts. However, I dramatically altered the 4-3-3 to be far more defensive, employing a tight man-marking scheme, a deep defensive line and a counter-attacking approach.
Italy 0 - 0 Turkey
I am finally starting to feel that this squad is mine. They are showing the determination and character that I want from all of my sides. This was a solid defensive performance. In truth, Italy could have won by 2 or 3, but some excellent defending really paid off, plus some excellent luck. It was just the kind of start we needed for our qualification campaign.
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Back to the Premiership and Saints were still riding high after our opening day victory over Manchester United. Our fourth game of the season would bring us up against another side in the 'relegation candidates' mini-league, Aston Villa, at Villa Park. Villa have had a quite frankly shocking start to the season and are still without a win.
These relegation battle games would really count come the end of the season. Ryan Lynch was out for us, making us look especially weak on the left side, yet I felt immensely confident. I believed that we could win this one and so set the side out to play a balanced and fairly attacking formation. I didn't want to get drawn into a physical battle with Villa, who had plenty of muscle in the middle of the park. I felt that our best chance would be to let out superior creativity and technique shine through by attacking from the off. It was a mistake. The game itself was a game of two halves, to use a ubiquitous footballing cliché. The first half was one in which the St. Albans City manager got it hugely wrong, and Villa went 1-0 up. The second half was one in which the St. Albans City manager deepened the defensive line, made his players battle for the ball, tackled hard and counter-attacked. Lucky for us, Villa didn't finish us off in the first-half, and we equalised through Jonathan Soriano, on as a sub, late on to get a point. Phew! I was really riding my luck. This had been a tough game, mostly due to the fact that I had got it all wrong. Relegation battles are about grit, determination, solid defending and a mistake or an inspired moment. I had nearly ruined it all by trying to play champagne football. Villa had out battled us and nearly got away with all the points. It was a lesson well learnt and luckily we had not had to pay the price of a loss. We had drawn away from home against two of the mini-league sides. Meanwhile, two of the other mini-league sides had played and a triumphant Bristol City had got a point away at Leicester City. Things were looking pretty bad for Leicester already, but by contrast things could not have been better for Bristol City! How were they managing it? More to the point, how were we managing our good form at the start of the season?
In short, our good form didn't continue for long. West Ham came to St. Albans City, scored two first half goals due to a couple of calamitous defensive mistakes, and took the three points. We had been desperately unlucky, matching West Ham and also scoring a goal of our own. I felt we deserved a least a point, but we ended up with a 2-1 defeat - the first defeat of the season.
Next up, Chelsea away. I was beginning to loathe the Premier league in some ways now. There was never an easy game! It doesn't get much harder than going to Stamford Bridge. So, we reverted to our ultra-defensive, tight man-marking frustration tactic and managed to come away with an incredible point after a 0-0 draw. In fact, we almost snatched a goal late on, but we wouldn’t have deserved any more than a point. Meanwhile, Villa, Ipswich and Leicester make up the bottom three, without a win between them all. Bristol City, unbelievably, remain undefeated at this early stage in the season.
Spurs come to St. Albans Stadium and this game saw the return of a St. Albans City legend. Mitchell Bryant played for us as an 18 year old and pretty much won us promotion from league two on his own. In fact, Mitchell still held the record for most goals in a season for City. I was glad to see that Mitchell, now 27, had made the grade at a Premiership club. However, I was even more pleased that our new hero, Enrico Muratore, grabbed the opening goal. Predictably though, Mitchell Bryant replied for Spurs with a wonder goal, running past the Saints defenders like they didn't exist and rounding the keeper. It was another draw. I wondered could you stay in the league by drawing every game?
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My second game with Turkey in the Euro 2020 qualifiers brought Moldova to Istanbul.
Turkey 3 - 0 Moldova
This was a straight-forward, comfortable and solid victory. Moldova didn't even manage a shot. Job done.
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During the international break, some work had been completed on the youth and training facilities, and we were now up to a good standard. We were finally looking more like a Premiership club.
St. Albans City had the lowest average squad age (24 years old) in the Premier league. I felt that we had some wonderful prospects for the future. This is why I felt that although this season would be tough, if we could just manage to stay in the division, our lads would have matured and would be much improved for the campaign next year.
We had not managed a win in 6 games, since our unexpected victory over Manchester United on the first day. Our next opposition was Liverpool at their New Anfield stadium. I have to confess, this is one of the games I had been looking forward to. I was a huge Liverpool fan as a child and still held the club close to my heart. During my early teens I had regularly been to Anfield to support the mighty reds. So, managing my side against Liverpool felt like a dream to me. However, Liverpool were currently top of the league, having won 7 out of 7. The press had the game down as 'mission impossible' for Saints. I quickly forgot my dream of managing City against the Reds and began to panic! To make things worse, we had injuries to six first-teamers and two players were called up for international duty. This had me without several key players and we were down to our fifth-choice centre-back and our third-choice keeper. There was lots of pressure on 19 year olds Kaczmarek and Pereira respectively. We were really scraping the barrel. I felt we might be absolutely hammered at New Anfield. Tactically, we would try to do the job that we did so well at Chelsea.
Shivers ran up and down my spine as 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was sung loud and proud by the opposition supporters before kick-off, but my sentimentality didn't last long as Liverpool scored first and it seemed almost impossible for us to resist their advances on our goal. Yet, somehow, my little Italian genius, 22-year-old Enrico Muratore, scored a beauty on the break and had me dancing around the technical area. Despite this the Liverpool fans were in good humour and I enjoyed their renditions of 'Poor Scouser Tommy' and 'Fields of Anfield Road' having sung them myself as a kid sitting on the Kop. Unofrtunately we were about to give them even more to sing about. I had picked out Anders Lindgren as being a player who was not yet mature enough to play at this level. He had so far surpassed all of my expectations. Today, however, he was showing his immaturity with a poor performance. He picked up a booking early on for a poor challenge and then, worse, conceded a penalty. Unbelievably, youngster Pereira saved the spot-kick, but five minutes later Anders Lindgren had completed a hatrick of poor challenges and was shown a second yellow card. Following this, it was only a matter of time until Liverpool scored a winner. We had held out admirably, but conceded late on to be denied the point. It ended 2-1 and I was gutted. So unlucky, but the immaturity of the side had shown itself in our inability to keep our composure. Pereira, to his credit, walked off with the MoM award, but it was no consolation. The press deemed Liverpool's winning goal to be controversial as well, but to be honest they deserved the win. A narrow defeat like this is upsetting, but Saints will march on.
Newcastle United were coming to St. Albans Stadium next. The Geordies were celebrating a new and successful era, consistently challenging the top four. Indeed, they had even managed to win that long-awaited trophy over the last decade. They were an extremely good side, expected to challenge for the champions league places. Our first-half performance was a real credit to the hard-working ethic we have built here at Saints. Yet, our back-up fullback Nicolas Thomas (another player who I admitted during pre-season wasn't good enough at this level) gets himself sent off. Following this, Pirie all but gift-wraps a goal for Newcastle United with a poor decision to come and challenge for a ball. It is a big mistake indicative of a side who are low on confidence. Newcastle score a second with ease and although Alan Hill grabs one back, we never look like getting back into it and we lose 2-1.
This defeat results in us drifting down towards the relegation zone. However, I am not panicking just yet. I feel that we can match every side that comes to St. Albans Stadium and we will pick up points at home. We clearly need to work on our discipline, but I feel that we can turn this bad form around. However, it gets much worse in our next game as we are knocked out of the league cup very early by Wigan. They were very fortunate and to be quite honest I couldn't give an arse about the cups this season. Staying in the Premier league is the priority and the only thing I care about. I don't care about cups - they are just an unwanted distraction.
Back to the league and for our next game we visit Manchester City and go up against another former St. Albans City player, Ben Kerr. He played for our club briefly at the age of 20 and was a solid left-sided midfielder. If I remember correctly, my chairman sold him behind my back for much less than he was worth. He has blossomed into a very good player.
Before the fixture, I play down our chances of getting anything out of the game, both to the local press and to the players in the changing room. Enrico Muratore goes out and scores within the first 15 mins, only for us to do our usual self-destruct routine. New lad Billy Dennis gets himself sent off and we lose 2-1.
Draws against Bolton and Portsmouth follow, home and away respectively. Against Bolton, we concede first and after a half-time Fergie-style hairdryer impression from me Muratore is our saviour again as he scores in the second-half to make it 1-1. Against Pompey, we take the lead and then do our usual pathetic falling apart in the second half to concede and almost lose the game.
Meanwhile, things aren't exactly harmonious in the changing room. Martin Tol and Fernando Estrada hate each other and have been fighting. Estrada has taken his concerns to the press. I don't know what to do about this mess. In the end, I decide to drop Tol and see if things blow over in the meantime.
Charlton Athletic came to St. Albans Stadium with a long list of injuries and suspensions. We had a few of our own but I really fancied us to do the business against the Addicks.
Leicester and Villa had won the day before. This was a must win game now. Bristol City were now struggling and so were we - both clubs were propping up the table. Ipswich were sitting just above us.
Who else would you put your money on but Enrico Muratore to open up the scoring against Charlton? A good first-half performance meant that we came in 1-0 up at half-time. Typical Saints though, as we conceded an equaliser due to some horrendous defending (if you can even call it defending) at the start of the second-half. However, some lovely play from Enrico Muratore set up Kevin Doyle who scored his 100th league goal to make it 2-1. This was scored with 10 mins left and fearing another episode of self-destruction by the lads in yellow and blue, I asked them to go deep and defensive - backs to the wall. Saints held on to win our first league game in 13 attempts. Enrico Muratore had now scored 7 goals in 12 league starts and I was feeling that he might just keep us up with his ability to grab a goal from nothing.
The win against Charlton couldn't have come at a better time. We were away to fellow relegation battlers Ipswich in the next game and we needed to take some confidence into it. An injury to Estrada put youngster Steve Hill (we seem to have all of the Hills - 3 now in the squad!) in for his first game. He would play in our 'midfield sweeper' role in front of the back four.
It was a very closely fought game and I sent on Soriano in the second half to see if he could make any difference. Indeed he did and he grabbed a goal on 77 mins to send us 1-0 up. The last 10 mins are very tense, but we hold on. Saints have won their second game in a row!
I always feel that if you can get your home form going, the away form will often follow. It's a confidence thing - if you're winning at home, you'll pick up the odd unexpected win on the road too. Yet, when you're struggling at home, you don't have any chance away. This result is a very important win for us. Bristol City, on the other hand, have gone from bad to worse. Their great start seems to have completely fallen by the wayside and they are struggling to pick up a point anywhere right now.
After this game, I am told that Martin Tol and Fernando Estrada seem to have kissed and made up, which is lovely for all concerned. So for our next game against Middlesborough away I give Tol a place on the bench, but continue with McPherson in goal. Freddie Owen is given a rare start, as we are still missing Fox and several other lads are out at the back. Boro' lack pace, so I figured Muratore would murder them. Yet, in a moment that has become typical of our season, Freddie Owen gets himself sent off and ruins the game for us. What an idiot. Eventually, the ref evens things up by sending off a Boro' player too, but it's a poor game and neither side deserve all three points. Having said that, I'll go and contradict myself here - we should have won. Boro' were poor and if we could take our chances and keep eleven men on the pitch, we'd be a decent Premier league outfit.
At the end of November, Bristol City come to St. Albans Stadium having run out of steam. That incredible start has turned into an incredible lack of ability to win. Rather like us, they can't seem to beat sides, but we, at least, are turning losses into draws. Poor old Bristol City are really doing poorly.
Last season the reverse of this fixture was the title decider. This season, this fixture could be a relegation decider when we look back at the end of the season. Bristol City lack pace, so I decide to give Alan Hill a start as our
enganche and put McNamara and Muratore up front. That is some frightening pace for anyone to deal with. We are full of confidence for this important game. Yet, as hard as we huff and puff Bristol City's house won't fall down. They sit very deep and are absolutely solid. Saints lack cutting edge and make bad decisions in the final third. We make enough chances to win, but fail to give ourselves anything clear-cut. It is a poor game and Bristol City succeed admirably in frustrating us. They have so often been our bogey side, we just can't seem to get results against them. The month of December would bring trips to play current Champions Arsenal and one of the favourites for the league title in Manchester United. We had missed an excellent chance to get another 3 points here and it was clear that December was going to be a difficult month for us now.
December began with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Gareth Southgate was now in charge at the Emirates and had done extremely well so far - Arsenal were the reigning champions. I have always thought of Southgate as a thoroughly nice guy and this was confirmed to me before the game, as he sent some kind words of support regarding City's difficult relegation battle. Before the game, I noticed that Kevin Doyle isn't really performing anymore. I have noticed a decline in his game since the start of the season. It seems to me that he is past his best now and so I decide to give Jonathan Soriano a start. Already, he has come off the bench this season and scored a couple of goals and I wanted to see what he would do with a place in the starting line-up alongside Muratore. As usual, I tell the team there is no pressure on them before the match. It makes no difference, as we concede very quickly. Yet, somehow, with a keen and spirited display, we defend well and create a few chances of our own. Anders Lingren is the man of the moment, as he gets the by-line, beats his man and cuts inside, then places the ball past a badly positioned Arsenal keeper. The youngster, desperate to prove himself, has scored a cracker and got us back into the game. We hold on for the draw. We really are the draw specialists. I reckon punters are putting us down for draws every week now. This was a wonderful result against the champions.
A home game against Everton follows and this was a very close game, with Everton creating as much as us. Soriano opens the scoring, only for us to let Everton back into the game in the second half. It is a typical Saints performance, except Soriano goes and wins it for us on 88 mins! We really don't deserve all of the points, but I couldn't care less. This important result puts us 6 points clear of 18th place. There are some tough games to come though, so I've a feeling this little gap will come in very handy.
We are now around the mid-point of the Premiership season, so here is a good point to summarise what I have learnt about my side so far.
I feel that at home we can match anyone, but really need a bit of luck to get the win. Normally we create quite a bit, but poor defending allows our opposition to create as well. Away from home, our defensive frustration scheme is working amazingly well.
I have never been relegated as a football manager with Saints and I don't want to start now. Of course, back in our first season in the Championship, we had come extremely close to relegation indeed. In fact, in that season as we went into our final game I was quite sure that we were down until John Dawson and Carlos Lopez managed to turn things around for us. It was a miracle on the last day that kept us in the Championship that time. I felt that I had developed as a manager since then and that we wouldn't get ourselves into the same kind of trouble. During that poor season, I had not managed to keep any stability in terms of morale and tactics. In short, I had panicked and changed the line-up, tactics and got angry with the players as I tried to turn the form around. These were all big mistakes.
This season, I have kept calm and stuck with what I think is my best side, rather than making huge changes. I have stuck with my tactics and I have tried to keep the pressure off for my squad. Morale in the dressing room has been decent all season and I think this is key. Keeping things consistent and keeping heads held high gives you a chance to get something from every game. Despite our patches of bad form this season, I have seen nothing wrong with the way we are going about things. We have lost games narrowly and not been played off the park. Therefore, I have tried to pick out positives for the players, praised them and tried to keep confidence high. Don't get me wrong, there have been some angry words, but I have motivated the squad very well. I think I'm managing this relegation battle very well thus far. Perhaps I am tempting fate? Ask me will we stay up this season and I would answer maybe, but we'll need a bit of luck here and there.
The cold December weather had made me feel very reflective and I saw the opportunity, during City's long trip up the country to Sunderland, to rework my tactical philosophy. I decided that Saints should have more of a go at teams when playing away from home. Up until now, we had been sitting deep, playing on the counter and ultimately wasting time from the off. I wanted to play a little bit of football and to up the tempo. And the result, against Sunderland, showed that this was extremely effective, as old boys Joe Cole and Kevin Doyle grabbed the goals to send us home victorious after a 2-0 win. Yet the joy of this result was short-lived, as we went to Old Trafford in our next game and were beaten 2-0, as the Red Devils got their revenge for our famous result on the first day of the season.
Leicester City came to St. Albans Stadium in poor form and I decided that we would go all out attack. Steve Hill was in for Fernando Estrada and the youngster put the ball in the back of the net to put us 1-0 up. Leicester always looked dangerous on the break and eventually we conceded thanks to some calamitous defending. It finishes a draw but I can't help feeling we should have won. Steve Hill puts in an outstanding performance, which is a good positive to take out of this game.
The New Year brings my game of the season so far in the shape of a wonderful 2-1 win over Blackburn away from home. It is the nature of the performance that makes me so happy, plus my tactical tweaks. I sent the side out to play some high tempo football and we finished the game defending with everyone behind the ball. A Muratore brace and 3 points was surely the best way to ring in 2019. All in all Santa had been very kind to City over the Christmas period, gifting us a generous 7 points, with Blackburn the real highlight for me.
We take our form into January and beat an absolutely woeful Villa side 3-1 at home. I feel that City are currently looking like a decent outfit at this level. Villa were awful and they look unlikely to escape from relegation. On the other hand, we suddenly find ourselves well clear of relegation in a mid-table position. We're up so high in the table, that the City fans are getting vertigo. However, I have obviously let this wonderful run of form go to my head, as City are thrashed 4-0 away to West Ham in their next fixture. We are 3-0 down at half-time in an abject display and concede the fourth while hopelessly chasing a consolation goal. I knew that the good run couldn't last forever, but this display is so dreadful and spineless that I am shocked. All season so far, we have been playing decent stuff. We have been outclassed, but always stayed compact and tight. The pride of this Saints side was its solid defence and tight man-marking scheme. We couldn't claim to be a good technical side like the Arsenal's of this world, but we were hard working and well organised. I was really proud of that. But this display against the Hammers is pathetic. To make matters worse, Muratore is injured. We will miss our Italian genius.
Our season wouldn't be complete without a game against Swansea and the luck of the draw in the FA Cup brought us up against them. A hangover from the West Ham game caused us to draw 2-2 at home in a game that Swans should have won. In the replay, we handed out an absolute thrashing and pummelled them 4-0 away from home. It is a long time since we have won in this manner! That takes us through to play United in the cup at Old Trafford. United knock us out of the FA Cup, but not before an absolutely thrilling 3-2 game, with our keeper flapping and gifting them the winner. We feel hard done by, but it's probably a blessing in disguise. The league is our clear priority and the sooner we manage to get safe the better as far as I am concerned.
A solid 0-0 draw at home to Chelsea is followed up by a 1-1 draw away to Spurs. We really are the draw specialists.
Aston Villa are rock bottom of the league and in a recent game have been thrashed by Bristol City. Meanwhile, St. Albans City are enjoying our mid-table position, a clear 7 points from the drop zone.
Liverpool come to St. Albans Stadium in early February and I really fancy a scalp in this one. With the Reds sitting top of the league, I want my lads to play with passion and have a go. I always feel we can beat anyone at home. Regrettably, what actually happens is that City concede a poor goal on the break and although we create chances, we're someway short of Liverpool. On another day we might have got back into it, but c'est la vie. It's a good performance, but they've outclassed us and sometimes in football you have to put your hands up and say that. I'm proud of the lads and a 1-0 defeat to a team like Liverpool is nothing to be ashamed of.
Another draw away to Newcastle has us well and truly labelled as the draw specialists. The punters must be raking it in this season putting money on us to pull off draws. It's 0-0 and the press have us down as a solid, if unspectacular, organised team. Newcastle are very decent opposition these days, up there with Liverpool in the league, and I feel proud of this solid performance. Meanwhile Villa are humiliated by Arsenal, with the Gunners putting 5 past them at Villa Park. St. Albans City are now an amazing 9 points clear of relegation and I am very happy with that indeed.
Tony Fox is absolutely doing the business for us this season - what a player he is turning out to be. And Stuart McNamara, on loan from Arsenal, is a real star, setting up so many goals. I decide to move McNamara in the target man position, as he is great with the ball played into feet and not bad in the air. Meanwhile, I bring Chris Joseph back into the
enganche role. A 2-0 win over Manchester City is followed by a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanders. We are really not looking out of place in the division now. Suddenly it is all coming together. Joseph is particularly inspired and his fine performance is rewarded with a goal against Bolton. With our best XI is playing, I feel that we can challenge any team on our day.
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I am not feeling so passionate about my adopted country and beginning to find these international breaks to be a real nuisance. First of all Turkey play a friendly away to Croatia and manage a 1-0 win in a quite uneventful and dull match.
After that it's Scotland in an all important qualifier, then Belarus away from home.
Turkey 1 - 1 Scotland
Scotland are a very good side and they have two of my club players playing for them, that is Jim Pirie and Arsenal-loanee Stuart McNamara. I wish I had some of their talent available to me. Turkey are really lacking in wide players and attackers. An awful injury crisis has forced me to select a poor and unbalanced side. Turkey have such a lack of depth - this is no fun at all.
The Scots score first and we look poor. We really should create more at home, despite the poor quality of our first team. Lucky for me, a wonder goal saves my blushes on 88 mins. The Turkish FA will not be happy with a 1-1 draw against Scotland at home, but at least it isn’t a defeat. I feel very frustrated. In our group, Italy are flying, and qualification looks tough.
Belarus 0 - 1 Turkey
This is a game in which we dominate but fail to take our chances. It nearly cost us the three points today in a game we should have won much more comfortably. The warning signs are there and we are going to have to play a lot better than this to qualify. I am not the most popular man in Turkey right now. I need to have a rethink and turn this around.
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Back to Premiership football and we suffer an absolute disaster at the beginning of March against Pompey at home. Both of our centre-backs manage to get themselves sent off as Saints spontaneously combust. I am completely p*ssed off at the poor defending as we lose 4-2 at St. Albans Stadium. It is such a poor result and I am angry with the players, especially those sent off who cost us the game. I ask them to make it up to me away to Charlton. However, once more we self-destruct and are thrashed 3-0. We miss our first-choice centre-backs and just fell apart after the first goal. This is more like I expected our first season in the top flight to be. Two losses and seven goals conceded in two games. Back down to earth with a bump.
I ask the lads for a reaction in two big home games against Ipswich and Middlesborough and they duly deliver, with 4-2 and 2-0 results respectively. Both are great performances and McNamara is absolutely brilliant for us up front. The young Arsenal-loanee is amazing and I dream that we might be able to sign him. These two results mean we definitely stay up, such is the gap between us and the bottom three now. City have survived comfortably with four games to spare and quite frankly it is a relief! I am extremely happy, but keeping my feet on the ground. We now need to experiment with the remaining games. I don't want any talk of 'second-season syndrome' at my football club!
Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to stay up, but I feel that next season might well be even more challenging for St. Albans City, thus I am not getting too carried away. Make no mistake, this has been a magnificent season and I couldn't have wished for more. However, I'm concerned about next year for several reasons. First of all, McNamara is unlikely to return to Saints for another loan spell next season as he will most likely push for a place at Arsenal, leaving us looking very short up front. Furthermore, my golden oldies Joe Cole and Kevin Doyle will be retiring, leaving us short of experience and depth in their respective positions. I will have to lose a few players, like Freddie Owen and Kevin Thomson (despite their wonderful service to the club) as they aren't good enough at this level. Replacements will need to be found. To make matters worse, Arsenal are sniffing around several members of my young team and I would not be too thrilled at the prospect of losing any of my first XI.
Meanwhile, at the top of the table (which still seems a mile away despite our fairly lofty position for a club like ours) Liverpool have taken the league title without a real challenger in sight.
The first half of the season, when we couldn't buy a win, seems a long time away now and Saints are free to enjoy the remaining five games of the season, thanks to a fine second half of the season. We narrowly lose our two away games 2-1 and 1-0 at Bristol City and Everton respectively. Quite frankly, the Bristol City game is a farce and I don't see how they managed to beat us, as we were terrific.
Our home form in these last games, however, gives us a lot to smile about, as we record three victories, the highlight of which is a wonderful 1-0 win over Gareth Southgate's former champions Arsenal. Middlesborough and Sunderland are similarly humbled at St. Albans stadium, in 2-0 and 1-0 results respectively. This little run of form, picking up a very respectable 9 points in our last 5 games, pushes us up into an unbelievable position. Prior to the last game of the season, we had reached the dizzying heights of 10th place in the league. The win over Sunderland in our final game, who were in 9th place, meant that we leapt over them and, thanks to other results going our way, pulled off an 8th place finish! We had done 'a Reading' (or ' a Wigan') and managed an unthinkable and excellent finish in our first season in the division!
But you haven't heard the best bit yet. St. Albans City FC were invited to play in their first ever European competition, the Intertoto cup, next season! This would present the club with a real chance of qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history. This was a spine-tingling moment of wonderful ecstasy and I hoped that this might be the sign of things to come.
Aston Villa, Leicester City and Bristol City were relegated from the division. Bristol City had put up a wonderful fight and even taken it down to the last game of the season. They had been very unlucky and I sent my sympathy to their manager. They hadn't been quite ready for the challenge of the top flight. In truth, they had hugely overachieved to get the top flight in the first place and would need to build another squad to have another chance in the Premier League.
The end of season celebrations were wonderful, with the squad celebrating together in St. Albans, with myself and the chairman hosting a meal at a local restaurant. Our mix of nationalities, aside from arguing over the choice of wine, were happy together and had gelled incredibly well. Their language was the language of football. Youngster Enrico Muratore showed considerable maturity and took charge of the wine selection, in the end ordering a fine bottle from Northern Italy. After the meal, the players went off to celebrate in their own style. Seeing that the average age of the squad is somewhere around 23, they were no doubt going to be up to no good, but they deserved the opportunity to unwind and enjoy the success of this season. I celebrated in my own inimitable style, with a glass of Scotch, a good cigar, a book and a Beethoven symphony playing loudly in my living room.
What had I learned from this season? Well, I wasn't quite sure how we had done it to be honest. Results went our way in a number of close games, whether it was pulling off unlikely draws or even more unlikely wins, and sometimes this is due to the team pulling together and having a strong understanding that means they can snatch a result from the jaws of defeat. We had played very defensively, conceding only 42 goals, which is very impressive considering our status as one of the favourites to go down. We hadn't managed many goals, scoring only 43 all season as we concentrated our efforts on keeping it tight and not committing too many players forward. Next season I think teams will be more prepared to play us and the incentive may be on us to play a little more balanced and have a go at teams, especially at home. All in all I think that the Premiership is very close in terms of abilities towards the middle and bottom of the table. It would be easy for us to be sucked into a relegation battle, yet with a few half-decent runs of form we could push for Europe next season. It was a strange division in that respect really.
I had definitely seen the benefits of having a big squad at this level. My squad had been thoroughly rotated to offer me different options and to keep things fresh. I would have to replace some of the fringe players in the summer and I had my eyes on a few bosman signings. My plan was really to fully establish the side as a Premiership team next season, with another good strong midtable finish. The ultimate goal was to consolidate the league position and try to build the squad. At the moment, I was restricted to buying young unknown European talent in order to save money. My ultimate goal was to get the club into a position where I could try and bring in some homegrown talent and sign some British players, to give the side a British heartbeat. Hopefully, the boards plans to further improve the youth and training facilities would help the academy to produce some talent worthy of consideration in the future.
Exciting times were ahead for the club, as I reflected upon the season. Make no mistake, this season had been beyond all of my wildest dreams about the potential of the club. It was beyond anything I had expected when we gained promotion last year. Everything, from our amazing first win against United, had been fantastic.
If anyone had told me, after my first season in charge (and a 15th place finish in the conference), that fifteen years later that Saints would be in the Premier league and I would still be at the helm, I would have presumed they were drunk, on drugs, dangerously deluded, or all of the above. This season I had seen St. Albans City supporters all over Hertfordshire, especially in towns surrounding the city, such as Harpenden. The city itself was full of yellow and blue banners, shirts and memorabilia for sale and information about the club. St. Albans as a city had the feeling that it was home to a Premiership club, just as I had speculated it would do a few seasons ago. The fans had been fantastic again this season, with more and more locals coming to games to cheer the lads on. The team had captured the imagination of the city and the county, especially with its underdog status and amazing overachieving this season. I'd like to think St. Albans City had captured the imagination of all English football supporters. My plucky little side had upset the odds again and we were rolling in the right direction. City were going places, that's for sure and I hoped that I could keep the momentum going. It was going to be a long summer.
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Final league pos: 8th P38 W13 D14 L11 F43 A42 Pts53
FA Cup: Fifth-round 3-2 defeat to Manchester United away
League Cup: Third-round 2-1 away defeat to Wigan
Average Attendance: 18339
Player of the season: Jim Pirie has been fantastic and very consistent for us
Signing of the season: I really doubted Anders Lindgren, but he has developed at a startling rate and did well this season
Top goalscorers: Enrico Muratore 10
Most Assists: Stuart McNamara 17
Most MoM awards: Jim Pirie and Stuart McNamara both on 4
City Legends: Lee Clarke, John Dawson, Mitchell Bryant, Frazier Campbell, Freddie Owen, Rob Marshall, Jim Pirie, Enrico Muratore.
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