retired_amyslack

What An Impact

There was no doubt that our impact on the Premiership had been significant and the sports pages were full of stories about the upstart Lurgan Celtic and when their challenge would disintegrate. New Year’s Day had never been my favourite time to play a football match and for the trip to Distillery we were down to the bare bones with youngster Stephen Graham having been drafted in from the reserves to make up the numbers in midfield. The 18-year-old had impressed in the youth team and had continued to play well for the reserves so he was well worth the risk. The teenager did well on his senior debut, setting up our opening goal in the 2-2 draw although a booking also indicated that he had a quick temper to match his undoubted skills.

At the weekend we welcomed the visit of Linfield and I was very impressed how well my makeshift team performed. We were all over the visitors for long spells but a missed penalty and some inspired goalkeeping limited us to a 1–0 win but the three points were gratefully received nonetheless. Mindful of the thinness of our squad I blew the remainder of my meagre transfer budget to snag promising midfielder Declan McDermott from Rangers. He made his debut a few days later at Portadown and we also welcomed back David Potter who was finally fit enough to be named amongst the substitutes after an eight-game absence. He played well on the left side of midfield but once again it was Andrew Young who stood out in the excellent 3-1 win.

Potter and Maginness were reunited in attack for the visit of neighbours Glenavon but neither could find the target and although we made most of the running the game ended in a frustrating 0-0 draw. A few days later striker Brian Rea’s season ended prematurely as he tore a groin muscle in training. With surgery and a long recuperation required we would not be seeing him back in action anytime soon. Jellyman made a welcome return for our Irish Cup 5th round tie at home to Newry but we made heavy weather of it, allowing the Second Division side to take us to a replay. We also lost midfielder Graham, another victim of the dreaded groin strain.

A hard midweek replay that went to extra time was not exactly what I wanted but it was exactly what I got, two extra-time goals giving us a 3-1 win on the night. Our tiredness showed in our next match at Cliftonville and we looked weary during the goalless draw. However the good news was that none of our rivals could seem to sustain a winning run and we were now six points clear of Carrick who were leading the chase. The bad news was yet another injury as McDermott “did a Rea” and tore his groin muscle, ending his season after just three appearances. Our problems in front of goal continued at home to bottom club Crusaders and we gained our 3rd consecutive goalless draw in the league.

We entered February still sitting at the top of the Premiership and with eight games left to play it seemed that we were now being taken seriously as genuine title contenders. To be honest I was as surprised as anyone at how we had upset the odds and taken the division by storm. To some extent it was because we were an unknown quantity but I’d like to think that it was mainly to do with how I had the team playing. We had a solid and organised defence and had conceded just 10 goals in 22 league games. I played with three attack-minded midfielders who were encouraged to get forward at every opportunity and although the goals had dried up recently we remained the second top scorers in the division.

A 2-0 win at Dungannon extended our unbeaten league run to 12 games, a club record. The next weekend a penalty, won and converted by Potter, was enough for a 1-0 win at home to Omagh. Having broken his scoring drought our top scorer found the net again as we beat Distillery 3-1 in the Irish Cup. Our trip to Loughgall ended goalless but with Carrick losing for the first time in 19 league games we inched ever closer to the title. By now the boys were beginning to play like champions and a 4-0 win at Ballymena United gave notice of our intentions.

We progressed into the Semi Finals of the Irish Cup with a 1-0 win at home to Omagh where we would face another Celtic, First Division Donegal providing the opposition. As we prepared for the visit of Coleraine we were hit with a number of injuries with no fewer than three of our first team centre backs ruled out. Reserve Michael Wilson was also unavailable through suspension so midfielder Brian Moore was drafted in as emergency cover. The lad did well enough in helping us keep a clean sheet, our 24th in all competitions. Seconds after the final whistle sounded news came through from Belfast that Cliftonville had defeated Carrick with a late goal and we could not be caught. We were Premiership champions at the first time of asking, a terrific achievement.

We completed our league campaign by beating Larne and Glentoran and drawing with Ballyclare, the point just enough to take them out of the playoff place second-bottom of the table. In between times it took another replay to squeeze past Donegal Celtic and take our place in the Irish Cup Final. There we would face non-league Downshire who had defied the odds to reach the Windsor Park showcase. With most of the country cheering them on the underdogs had recent cup success on their side, having won the Steel & Sons Cup for the last two seasons. The neutrals were to be disappointed however as we secured a wonderful double with a 3-1 victory.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | LURGAN CELTIC | 30 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 44 | 12 | +32 | 63 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Cliftonville | 30 | 13 | 12 | 5 | 33 | 19 | +14 | 51 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Carrick | 30 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 36 | 20 | +16 | 48 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Glentoran | 30 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 37 | 31 | +6 | 47 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Portadown | 30 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 42 | 36 | +6 | 43 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Coleraine | 30 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 42 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Dungannon | 30 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 36 | 40 | -4 | 42 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Linfield | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 33 | 27 | +6 | 41 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Larne | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 29 | 21 | +8 | 40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Omagh | 30 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 24 | 32 | -8 | 39 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Glenavon | 30 | 11 | 6 | 13 | 33 | 43 | -10 | 39 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Loughgall | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 27 | 38 | -11 | 35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Ballymena Utd | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 25 | 44 | -19 | 32 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Ballyclare | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 32 | 37 | -5 | 29 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Crusaders | 30 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 24 | 35 | -11 | 28 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | R | Distillery | 30 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 27 | 48 | -21 | 25 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Our star player Andrew Young finished runner-up in the Player of the Year stakes, top scorer David Potter was the division’s top scorer with Young finishing just behind. Our prize collection was completed when I was crowned Manager of the Year for good measure. It brought to a close a season that we could never have imagined a year ago when we secured promotion. There were some excellent performances from the players and our loan signings proved to be crucial. Our success was built on excellent defending and some ambitious attacking play.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andrew Young | 43 (1)| 15 | 10 | 11 | 78% | 1.21 | 0.72 | 52% | 7.77 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Joe McGrath | 16 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 77% | 2.23 | 1.83 | 20% | 7.69 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Dixon | 29 | - | - | 2 | 66% | 3.37 | 0.31 | - | 7.52 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jimmy Jack | 32 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 76% | 1.77 | 1.74 | 24% | 7.41 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Gareth Jelleyman | 37 | - | 1 | - | 69% | 2.44 | 0.48 | - | 7.38 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tony Shields | 37 (1)| 1 | 3 | 2 | 69% | 2.93 | 0.34 | 9% | 7.37 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Phil Webb | 40 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 68% | 2.61 | 0.20 | - | 7.33 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Potter | 34 (1)| 18 | 8 | 2 | 80% | 0.82 | 1.68 | 68% | 7.31 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Sean Fox | 25 (6)| 1 | 9 | 2 | 76% | 1.51 | 1.27 | 28% | 7.26 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kerrea Gilbert | 16 | - | 1 | - | 66% | 4.21 | 0.52 | - | 7.25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Robbie White | 3 (6) | 1 | 1 | - | 76% | 1.67 | 1.50 | - | 7.22 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Martin Paterson | 43 | - | - | - | 72% | 2.97 | 0.12 | - | 7.19 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Neil Wilson | 44 | - | 1 | - | 47% | - | - | - | 7.14 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Maginness | 28 (2)| 10 | 4 | 1 | 73% | 0.68 | 1.21 | 47% | 7.13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Michael Piper | 13 (6)| 11 | 2 | - | 84% | 0.62 | 1.46 | 66% | 7.11 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Brian Moore | 9 (8) | - | 1 | - | 70% | 3.20 | 0.46 | - | 7.06 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Declan McDermott | 3 | - | 1 | - | 83% | 2.17 | 1.63 | 50% | 7.00 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Donal McCourt | 7 (7) | 3 | 1 | - | 81% | 0.89 | 1.27 | 50% | 6.93 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Brian Rea | 7 (4) | 2 | 3 | - | 78% | 0.43 | 1.43 | - | 6.91 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Allison | 2 (6) | - | - | - | 72% | 3.08 | - | - | 6.88 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Graham | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 77% | 2.28 | 2.69 | 23% | 6.83 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Smyth | 3 (6) | - | - | - | 71% | 2.46 | - | - | 6.78 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Matt Price | 1 (2) | - | - | - | 83% | 0.70 | 0.70 | - | 6.67 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alan Walton | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>After a suitably wild party I headed back home to Kilkenny to see Viv and cheer my former team on in their efforts to regain their place in the top flight.

retired_amyslack

Season Ten – 2013/2014

Great Expectations

One of the implications of our unexpected triumph was that we would begin our season much earlier than usual with our first ever experience of European Football in the 1st qualifying round of the Champions League. This involved a contest against Latvian side Multibanka with the first leg being played away from home. Not only did I need to get the players back into training early, I also had to look to bring in some new faces in a pretty short timescale. I had decided to release nine players at the end of their contracts and we also lost the services of our loan signings as well, leaving the squad light on numbers. By the time of our trip into the unknown I had brought in seven new lads, two of them on loan deals.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alan Walton | GK | ENG | 25 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Neil Wilson | GK | NIR | 23 | £45K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Michael Wilson | SW/D RC | NIR | 24 | £1K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kerrea Gilbert | D R | ENG | 26 | £4K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Dixon | D R | SCO | 25 | £6K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Dave Lumsden | D RC | ENG | 16 | - | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Martin Paterson | D C | SCO | 21 | £12K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Phil Webb | D C | SCO | 23 | £4K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alan Rooney | D C | IRL | 18 | £3K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Declan Connolly | D/DM RL | IRL | 17 | £4K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Brian Moore | D/DM RC | NIR | 19 | £3K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Gareth Jelleyman | D/DM L | WAL | 32 | £3K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Derek Whelan | D/S C | IRL | 21 | £7K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tony Shields | DM C | IRL | 33 | £4K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Allison | DM C | NIR | 20 | £2K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andrew Young | M C | SCO | 24 | £75K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter Turner | M C | ENG | 19 | £12K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jimmy Jack | AM RC | SCO | 19 | £12K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Graham | AM RC | NIR | 18 | £7K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Declan McDermott | AM LC | IRL | 22 | £10K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Darren Pratley | AM C | ENG | 28 | £5K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Chris Bailey | F LC | ENG | 23 | £16K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Maginness | S C | NIR | 27 | £35K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Brian Rea | S C | NIR | 24 | £2K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mark McDonagh | S C | IRL | 24 | £35K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter McLoughlin | S C | IRL | 19 | £12K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
We suffered a major blow when veteran left back Gareth Jellyman was ruled out for up to six months with a serious ankle injury so youngster Declan Connolly moved up to the seniors. We travelled to Latvia not knowing what to expect and in many ways fearing the worst. But to everyone’s delight striker Stephen Maginness scored a hat trick inside half an hour and we returned with a fine 3-1 win. The return leg was a fairly dire affair but our sellout crowd didn’t care a jot as we progressed into the next qualifying round.

Our next opponents were the former giants of Hungarian football, Ferencvaros and once again we would play the second leg at home. There would be no repeat of our Latvian heroics as we conceded early and late to lose 2-0 and left ourselves with a mountain to climb in the return. We had three more players in the treatment room by the time of the second leg and although we worked hard a missed penalty on the night resulted in a 1-0 defeat and our European adventure was over.

Unlike last season we had a torrid time in the group stages of the League Cup, managing just one win from our six matches, and we failed to progress to the knockout stages. One of our main problems was a lack of goals and we were certainly missing the contribution of Potter in that area. Another concern was the form of key midfielder Andrew Young. The 24 year old Scot had already expressed a desire to play his football at a higher level and he was not best pleased that I had dismissed several transfer bids for him though he had not yet gone as far as making a formal transfer request.

So despite being the bookmakers’ favourites to retain our title I was not at my most confident as we started our campaign with a trip to Linfield. An early injury to striker Maginness did little to help our cause and the game petered out into a dull goalless draw. A missed penalty at Carrick the next weekend saw another two points dropped in a 1-1 draw and our first home game of the season against Glentoran failed to produce a goal. The visit of Portadown also ended goalless and our run of draws ended with a hard-to-swallow 1-0 defeat at neighbours Glenavon.

We scored our first league goal from open play at the start of November, Derek Whelan smashing home a rebound to give us a 1-1 draw at home to Coleraine. We recorded the same scoreline at Crusaders for our 6th draw in seven games. Finally on November 23rd we recorded our first league win of the season, a 2-0 victory at Ballymena United. I had become so desperate to find a goalscorer that I had called up 16 year old Ryan Kerr from the youth team and in just his second start he scored our opening goal. His impact matched that of another youngster as hot prospect Dave Lumsden was excelling at right back since his elevation a few games earlier. However this improvement did not herald a turnaround as over the next week we drew 0-0 with Cliftonville and then lost 1-0 to Omagh to end the month in a very poor 12th place.

Plagued by injuries and unable to score to save our lives our season was in grave danger of disintegrating completely. The only good news came from Viv who called to let me know that Kilkenny had made it through the playoffs and were back in the Premiership. I was delighted for my former club and even more pleased that she would soon be with me in Lurgan and that cheered me up no end. Struggling with an ever-growing injury list, a dwindling support and an extremely unsympathetic Board, it was a relief to have a friendly face around the place.

December came and went with two wins, two draws and two defeats and at the start of January I had eight players with long-term injuries and I was beginning to think that I had used up all of my luck last season. For the New Year’s Day trip to Portadown I was barely able to name a fit 14 to fill the bench so our 2-1 win was a major surprise. Another surprise came when Viv told me that she did not intend to renew her contract at Kilkenny as she was no longer prepared for us to spend extended periods apart. I was delighted at this turn of events and we even began to tentatively talk about the “M” word.

retired_justin99099

crackin' read mate
keep goin, sure you can get another title in the bag! :thup:

retired_amyslack

Thanks richard - appreciate the support.

Time To Move On

And then the morning after we had fashioned a decent 1-0 win at home to Linfield I received a phone call from my agent with an offer that gave Viv and I the perfect opportunity to make a fresh start. Scottish Third Division outfit Albion Rovers were in search of a new manager and Chairman David Shanks wanted me to be the man. To be honest I was so disillusioned with the situation at Lurgan that I called him immediately and agreed a deal on the phone without even travelling to Coatbridge. The club had money in the bank, currently sat in 7th place in the league and were seeking no more than a mid-table finish. I was keen on making the move as I felt that I needed to move beyond the parochial confinements of Irish football and it was an easy decision to make.

Albion had rarely ventured beyond the lowest level of Scottish football and to be perfectly frank I saw the move as simply a stepping-stone to greater things as well as an ideal opportunity for Viv and I to start a new life together. I contacted Brendan Murphy, an old friend of mine who had only recently hung up his boots and gained his coaching badges. I offered him a job as my Assistant, he immediately accepted and off we went. When I arrived at Cliftonhill I quickly took stock of the situation – with only 25 players on the books we had a thin squad so I took steps to boost our strength by making enquires about a few players that I had been following at Lurgan. The current Assistant Manager Martin Reilly agreed to a sideways move (well it was either that or lose his job) and we set to with some new training regimes. For our opener at home to East Stirling I left Martin to pick the team having first briefed him on the basic formation that I wanted to use. I was quite impressed with the 3-0 win, but then again we were playing the bottom club.

My first proper game in charge was at 3rd place Elgin and despite the 2-1 defeat I was reasonably encouraged by what I saw. We had several players out injured and would certainly be strengthened when they returned. A 2-0 win at home to 2nd place Dumbarton at the end of the month was further evidence that the team had something to offer. February saw us win three games out of four including an epic 3-0 victory at leaders Hamilton. I was fortunate to be able to select a settled eleven that was really beginning to gel with a couple of my new signings making decent contributions.

We lost much of our momentum in March, managing only one win from our five matches, a 2-0 victory at East Stirling. We dropped points by drawing with Ayr (conceded a late goal) and Stenhousemuir (poor finishing) and suffered narrow 1-0 defeats to Elgin and Dumbarton. The latter was a particularly frustrating as we had them on the rack for most of the game but just couldn’t kill them off.

We ended the season with a nice unbeaten run, three wins and two draws, and our final position of 4th was more than acceptable to the Board and the supporters. But I couldn’t help feeling that had we not thrown away so many points in March then we could have sneaked into a promotion place. Nonetheless it was a fairly satisfactory start to my new career and if I could bring in some new players over the summer then we should more than be capable of a top-two finish next season.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Hamilton | 36 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 51 | 37 | +14 | 59 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Arbroath | 36 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 51 | 46 | +5 | 58 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Dumbarton | 36 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 43 | 37 | +6 | 55 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | ALBION | 36 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 44 | 31 | +13 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Ayr | 36 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 40 | 33 | +7 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Elgin | 36 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 50 | 47 | +3 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Stranraer | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 45 | 39 | +6 | 51 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Forfar | 36 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 39 | 51 | -12 | 36 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Stenhousemuir | 36 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 31 | 51 | -20 | 36 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | East Stirling | 36 | 9 | 8 | 19 | 33 | 55 | -22 | 35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_rblake

Good Luck with your Scottish adventures.

Up The Albion!!

retired_amyslack

Thanks Gennaro


Season Eleven – 2014/2015

Why Does No One Want My Money?

A busy summer saw Viv scouring the housing market whilst I focussed on the transfer market, with both of us meeting with some success. On the home front we secured a cosy little cottage on the outskirts of town not too far from the Cliftonhill stadium.

On the playing front I brought in nine new faces with half a dozen players taking their leave. The club had given me a very generous transfer budget but I soon discovered that a small Division Three club had less pulling power than a pushbike trying to haul a caravan so most of the lads that came in were promising youngsters. There was little doubt that some of them would feature in the first team as a club like ours presented an excellent opportunity for decent teenagers to see some action.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Jamie McCulloch | GK | SCO | 21 | £9K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Michael Findlay | GK | SCO | 22 | £1K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Brian Burns | D R | SCO | 23 | £5K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Gary Anderson | D R | SCO | 21 | £5K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Declan Brady | D L | IRL | 20 | £3K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Kerr Potter | D C | SCO | 27 | £2K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Ryan Craig | D C | NIR | 25 | £6K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Jason Perry | D/DM RC | NIR | 26 | £2K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Whelan | D/DM L | IRL | 20 | £1K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Jack | DM R | SCO | 24 | £2K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Quinn | DM C | IRL | 22 | £3K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | James Bell | M C | NIR | 28 | £5K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Martin Maher | M C | SCO | 30 | £2K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Darren Cross | AM R | SCO | 28 | £7K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | David Brown | AM C | NIR | 17 | £12K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Patrick Hudson | AM/F LC | NIR | 25 | £2K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Liam Boyle | F LC | IRL | 17 | £35K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Luke Rowe | F LC | ENG | 18 | £12K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Martin Steele | F C | SCO | 19 | £5K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Robert McArthur | S C | SCO | 27 | £16K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Lee Miller | S C | SCO | 22 | £6K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| | Craig Duffy | S C | SCO | 23 | £6K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Our pre-season preparations were uninspiring and in our first competitive match we were dumped out of the Challenge Cup by Stirling Albion. Despite this the bookmakers made us odds-on favourites for the title but a 0-0 draw at perennial strugglers East Stirling in our first league match failed to meet that expectation. A 1-0 win at home to Stranraer was a slight improvement but August ended with a disappointing 1-0 defeat at early leaders Elgin.

We travelled to Dundee at the start of September for our CIS Cup tie in hope more than expectation but for the first time in the season the team really clicked and we returned with an excellent 3-1 win over the Division One side. The win gave us a big confidence boost and we went on to win our next three league games. The victory over Dumbarton sent us to the top of the table but came at a price as we had four players injured. That gave us half a dozen senior players in the treatment room and it left us seriously short on numbers for the visit of Dundee United in the next round of the CIS Cup. Despite losing two more players to injury during the course of the game the lads responded magnificently and we took the First Division outfit to extra time before losing 1-0.

For our final league game of the month I had nine players out injured and four more struggling for fitness so I was forced to field a variety of reserves and youth players. Nonetheless they did me proud by holding visiting Montrose to a goalless draw, although our injury jinx struck again as we lost yet another player during the game. A weekend off for World Cup qualifiers brought us some welcome relief but I had real worries about our spate of injuries as I was concerned that either our training schedules were too intensive or our physios were just not up to snuff. Despite having agreed with Viv that I’d do my best to keep work at the front door I couldn’t help bringing this particular problem home with me. She quickly agreed to come down to the club and work with the backroom staff for a few weeks to review things and see if she could identify any obvious problems.

She was quick to spot that we were being too ambitious with some of our fitness regimes, reminding me that the players were all part timers and that we needed to ease off on some of our training schedules. She also did some intensive work with one or two of the walking wounded and we were able to get three first teamers back in action for the visit of Clyde in early October. Despite this we were unfortunate to lose a tight game 1-0, although we did retain top spot in the league. A 1-1 draw at Stenhousemuir the next weekend saw us drop down a place in a very competitive division where a mere three points separated 1st and 8th. We ended the month with a 1-0 win over East Stirling in a match much more one-sided than the scoreline suggested, a victory that took us back to the top of the table.

We started November well with wins over Stranraer and Elgin but then lost out at Ayr who took over at the top of the table before ending the month with a disappointing defeat at home to Forfar. We were without prominent midfielders Brown and Quinn for both of our defeats which served as another reminder just how thin the squad was.

December began with a midweek trip to Dumbarton and midfielder James Bell put in a sterling performance, scoring both goals in our 2-1 win as we ended our two-game scoring drought. A lack of goals remained a problem though and whilst we had by far the best defensive record in the league having conceded just 9 goals in 15 games we were barely managing a goal a game with top scorer McArthur having found the net 5 times thus far. We had been making chances but time and again we had been failing to convert them. The pattern continued at home to Stenhousemuir and the official stats showed that we had 20 scoring attempts, 12 of which were on target. We did end up with a 2-0 win, both goals coming from midfielders, although we did contrive to miss a penalty, a sad reflection on our general inability to find the back of the net.

retired_amyslack

All Change
Whilst I was pondering how to address this situation I was presented with a golden opportunity when I was informed that Hearts Chairman George Foulkes wanted to talk to me about the vacant managerial position at Tynecastle. To be honest his offer was just too good to refuse, and with Viv’s blessing I immediately accepted. Quite frankly it was an easy decision to make and despite my shock at being given the chance to take over a top flight side I had no hesitation in saying yes. The team were struggling near the foot of the SPL and the offer came just 24 hours after they had sacked Eric Black who had been in charge for less than 12 months.

Whilst keen to take the job on I was aware that I would be their 8th manager in 9 years and I had no illusions that the pressure would be on from the start. Mr. Foulkes made it clear that whilst there was money in the bank for transfers he also needed to have the current wage bill reduced so I would have quite a juggling act on my hands. When I arrived in Edinburgh the club sat in 11th place in the SPL, just four points above bottom club Falkirk and my primary objective was to turn their recent form around and ensure that we moved well away from the relegation dogfight.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Celtic | 17 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 33 | 14 | +19 | 37 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Rangers | 17 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 31 | 19 | +12 | 34 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Gretna | 17 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 21 | 19 | +2 | 27 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Inverness CT | 17 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 23 | 24 | -1 | 24 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Airdrie Utd | 17 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 21 | -4 | 24 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Hibs | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 21 | 22 | -1 | 22 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | St. Johnstone | 17 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 25 | 28 | -3 | 22 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Kilmarnock | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 21 | 21 | 0 | 21 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Morton | 17 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 22 | 24 | -2 | 21 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Motherwell | 17 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 23 | -6 | 19 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | HEARTS | 17 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 17 | 23 | -6 | 18 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Falkirk | 17 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 18 | 28 | -10 | 14 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
A quick review of the situation at Tynecastle revealed two things immediately – the backroom team was sadly inadequate and the club had way too many players on the books. With 65 players contracted to the club and just three coaches including the current Assistant Manager Donald Park, it was a ludicrous state of affairs. One of the first actions I took was to get in touch with my former right hand man at Kilkenny, Gerry Scully and ask him to come to Scotland to help me get things into shape. We quickly approached several coaches and physios that we knew to strengthen our boot room and tried to get to grips with the playing squad as soon as we could.

All too soon it was time for my first competitive match in charge and they don’t some much harder than a visit from the league leaders Celtic. Frankly there was a lot of guesswork involved in selecting the starting lineup but I did make sure to include Hearts stalwart Stephen Simmons in midfield and former Celtic striker Craig Beattie up front. In the circumstances the goalless draw was a very acceptable result and although we created very little going forward we stifled the Celtic attack very effectively.

I was fortunate that Edinburgh was in easy commuting distance from our rented home and although I spent most of my waking hours at Tynecastle I was at least able to get home to Viv at night. We enjoyed a low-key Christmas together before the Boxing Day trip to Hibs for my first Edinburgh derby. I made a few changes to the starting eleven and was rewarded with a 2-0 win, both goals coming from former Man United and Rangers player Bojan Djordjic. The 32 year old midfielder was in his first season at Heart having plied his trade at a variety of clubs in his career and had been placed on the transfer list prior to my arrival. But one of the first things that I had done was to make sure that all of the players knew that it was a clean slate as far as I was concerned and everyone would be given a chance to impress.

During January I began to see some signs of improvement as I got to grips with the huge playing squad and began to identify my strongest eleven. A 3-1 defeat of Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup was sandwiched between league defeats at home to St. Johnstone and away to Kilmarnock. But then back to back wins at home to Gretna and Rangers gave us a real boost and we ended the month in 8th place in the table. Djordic was key to our revival and he deservedly took the Player of the Month award with fullback John Crawford getting a mention in the Young Player voting and striker Mark Wright runner up in Goal of the Month for his effort against the Gers.

We started February with a defeat, exiting the Scottish Cup with a 2-0 loss at Aberdeen to leave us with just the league to focus on. We then beat Airdrie United and Falkirk, drew with Morton in a game that we should have killed off long before their late equaliser and then lost 1-0 at Motherwell. With a mere seven points separating 3rd and 9th we had now climbed to 5th place on the back of our decent form. Midfielder Richard Hackforth-jones was our star, the unlikely-sounding Ecuador international putting in a string of fine displays to be voted Player of the Month. John Crawford did the double for us by lifting the Young Player prize, the right back also excelling.

My goal for the season had now crystallised into a simple objective – make the top six before the split in mid-April. We made it, but only just, edging out Airdrie United on goal difference. We were well on track but then lost the two games just prior to the split, both played away from home and both by narrow 1-0 margins. But the important thing was that we made it, as a top-six finish in the SPL is important and given the level of debt at the club it was pretty much a financial imperative for us. Not only would it mean increased prize money at the end of the season but it also could give us a place in the UEFA Cup as the SPL had four slots up for grabs. The final outcome would depend on the Scottish Cup – with the Old Firm guaranteed the two Champions League spots and Rangers and Gretna having already contested the CIS Cup then one of the bottom six clubs would need to make the final for us to be denied.

Sadly, that was as good as it got in the league as we managed just one win in our final five matches. The bizarre nature of the end of season split was revealed by the fact that we still were officially in 6th place at the end of the season even though the two teams below us had more points! The good news was that neither Inverness nor Aberdeen could win their cup semi finals, leaving an Old Firm final (won by Celtic incidentally) and allowing us to snatch the final UEFA Cup spot.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Celtic | 38 | 27 | 8 | 3 | 82 | 25 | +57 | 89 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Rangers | 38 | 22 | 11 | 5 | 75 | 36 | +39 | 77 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Gretna | 38 | 16 | 9 | 13 | 41 | 44 | -3 | 57 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Kilmarnock | 38 | 16 | 6 | 16 | 50 | 43 | +7 | 54 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Motherwell | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 46 | 52 | -6 | 49 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | HEARTS | 38 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 43 | 46 | -3 | 45 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Inverness CT | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 45 | 42 | +3 | 56 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Airdrie Utd | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 31 | 47 | -16 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | St. Johnstone | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 45 | 56 | -11 | 43 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Hibs | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 38 | 54 | -16 | 40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Morton | 38 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 33 | 64 | -31 | 38 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | R | Falkirk | 38 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 37 | 57 | -20 | 34 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
There were a few positives that I could take from the few months that I had been in charge. We did have a handful of players recognised in the end of season awards – Richard Hackforth-jones was 3rd in the Player’s Player of the Year and the Football Writer’s Player of the Year, defender Tony Pearson was voted Young Player of the Year and the veteran Bojan Djordic joined them both in the SPL Select. That apart I saw little to encourage me for next season and it was pretty clear that a fundamental rebuilding exercise would be required. I anticipated a clearout at the end of June when a number of contracts would be expiring and despite some severe financial constraints I hoped to be able to bring in some new blood over the summer.

On a personal note Viv and I were almost stupidly happy together and she provided wonderful support in the limited time that I was able to spend with her. She had thrown herself into the task of making us a home and had even gone as far as adopting a wee dog from a local animal rescue, a Highland Terrier that we immediately named Jock. The three of us were able to spend some time relaxing at the end of the season but all too quickly it was back to work for me as Gerry Scully and I got busy with our rescue plan.

retired_emily_destefano

Go Paddy! . Can't wait till you geat to England! Great job till now

retired_amyslack

Thanks Ali

Season Twelve– 2015/2016

The Irish Invasion

The summer saw the departure of almost 20 players, a mix of ageing veterans and no-hope youngsters. None of them commanded a fee but the net result was that our weekly wage bill was slashed by over £20K, a reduction that was welcomed by the Board who faced not just a £2M short-term overdraft but also long term loans that touched £20M. To fill the gaps I turned to the Auld Country, bringing in five Irish lads, include my former Kilkenny striker Peter Rooney who had spent a year in Japan before moving to Kilmarnock last season. This boosted the Irish contingent at the club to no less than 14 players, half of whom were in the first team squad.

Gerry Scully had excelled himself in arranging our pre-season schedule and we enjoyed victories over both of the Dundee sides, suffered a narrow 1-0 loss to Swansea and drew with Sunderland. But the highlight was undoubtedly our 4-1 defeat of Manchester United, a televised encounter that not only provided a very impressive win but also a chunk of much-needed cash. Heading into the first game of the season I was quietly confident that we would meet the Chairman’s target of a safe mid-table position. Although I had not gone public with this I was privately hoping to meet the fan’s expectations of gaining a place in European competition. The squad looked reasonable and I still had the option of dipping into the transfer market if necessary.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Duffy | GK | IRL | 26 | £150K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David O'Brien | GK | IRL | 21 | £8K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Crawford | D R | SCO | 21 | £35K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jure Gonc | D RC | SVN | 30 | £30K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Scott McDonald | D L | SCO | 22 | £130K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Daly | D C | IRL | 18 | £200K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David McCracken | D C | SCO | 33 | £30K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ryan Wood | D/DM R | SCO | 18 | £35K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Song Han-Bok | D/DM RC | KOR | 31 | £80K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Scott Boyd | D/DM L | SCO | 17 | £110K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Craig Fraser | D/M C | SCO | 24 | £170K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tony Pearson | DM LC | SCO | 19 | £10K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stuart Gordon | DM C | SCO | 19 | £16K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen McCarthy | AM L | IRL | 18 | £3K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Robert Sloan | AM L | SCO | 32 | £40K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Bojan Djordjic | AM LC | SWE | 33 | £45K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Paul Kelly | AM C | IRL | 28 | £55K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Richard Hackforth-jones | AM/F RLC | ECU | 30 | £190K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Derek Fitzpatrick | AM/F LC | IRL | 17 | £5K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Robertson | F RC | SCO | 24 | £22K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter Rooney | F LC | IRL | 25 | £60K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Robert Smith | F LC | SCO | 22 | £70K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Neil McCann | F C | NIR | 26 | £160K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Robert Brennan | S C | SCO | 20 | £60K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mark Wright | S C | ENG | 25 | £375K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
I was mightily encouraged by the way we started the season, enjoying a 3-0 win at Inverness with Peter Rooney scoring on his competitive debut. I came crashing back down to earth the next weekend however as, with three players absent through injury, we were humped 4-0 at Ibrox by a rampant Rangers. Thankfully we bounced back with a 2-0 win at home to Gretna before a weekend off for World Cup qualifiers.

September was a pretty busy month for us and we were missing star player Hackforth-jones who had sustained a bad shoulder injury. We were drawn against Belgian side Mouscron in our UEFA Cup qualifier and returned with a 2-1 lead from the first leg. The return at the end of the month saw us under the cosh for the majority of the game but good fortune was on our side and we repeated that winning scoreline for a fortunate 4-2 aggregate victory. The draw for the group stage saw us pulled out of the hat alongside Parma, PSV, Stabaek of Norway and Partizan Beograd from Serbia & Montenegro. With the top three progressing my hope was that wins over the latter two might be achievable and would move us to the next phase.

Our league form that month was less impressive, our only win coming in a 3-0 triumph at bottom club Airdire United. We lost twice to Glasgow opposition, 1-0 at home to Partick and a 4-1 annihilation at Celtic Park. We also faced an Edinburgh derby, a boisterous affair that saw ten yellow cards produced, one of them going to our own Peter Rooney at the start of the second half. Earlier in the match he had conjured up an equaliser after the visitors had taken the lead and we managed to survive with ten men to take a point.

We had a delayed start to action in October due to Euro 2016 qualifiers and I was able to watch my adopted nation qualify for the finals in Denmark as Scotland topped their group whilst Ireland secured a playoff and would face Russia for a place in the finals. When we got back to work our star man Hackforth-jones was the pick of the bunch in a thrilling 3-2 win at Motherwell in midweek. This was followed by a tight 1-1 draw at home to Kilmarnock before we began our UEFA Cup group with a visit from Stabaek. My hopes of progression took a severe blow when a lost 1-0, our failure to convert chances into goals costing us dearly. The month closed with a laboured 1-1 draw at home to Morton to leave us in 7th place in the league table. Hackforth-jones continued to impress however, and was voted Premier League Player of the Month with John Crawford runner up in the Young Player voting.

November opened with a goalless draw at St. Johnstone before we travelled to Italy to face Parma in our next UEFA Cup match. When we conceded a goal inside the first five minutes I was not hopeful of the final outcome but we rode our luck somewhat and managed to find an equaliser just before the break. Once back on terms the lads visibly grew in confidence in the second half and we were perhaps a shade unfortunate not to have found a winner. Nonetheless I was pretty pleased with the unexpected point and the overall quality of our play. We then had what turned out to be a two-week break for the Euro 2016 playoffs and I had to endure the agony of watching Ireland crash out 4-3 on aggregate to the Russians. Once our schedule recommenced we travelled to Falkirk in the CIS Cup and returned with a 2-0 win. A goal ahead with time running out we were under severe pressure but managed to catch the home side on the break when their keeper came up to contest a corner, Rooney netting from well inside his own half. A Neil McCann hat trick was the highlight of our nail-biting 4-3 victory at home to Partizan in the UEFA Cup, a result that gave us a chance of getting out of the group. At the end of the month we travelled to Gretna for a dress rehearsal of our CIS Cup Quarter Final and returned with a 1-1 draw.

A double from Robert Smith and a stoppage time strike by McCann gave us a dramatic 3-2 win at PSV in our final UEFA Cup group match to take us through to the knockout stages. I rested some weary players for the visit of Inverness and a missed penalty cost us two points as we racked up our 6th draw in 13 league games. Our CIS Cup tie at home to Gretna remained goalless for 120 exhausting minutes and was finally settled on penalties, the visitors triumphing in the end. Back in the league we fought back from a goal behind to win 3-1 at Partick and then later that week we got the news that after the conclusion of the group matches that we had been drawn against Shakhtar Donetsk in the first knockout round.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Parma 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 8 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | HEARTS 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 7 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Q | Partizan 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | PSV 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 4 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Stabæk 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 4 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
We then had a frustrating goalless draw at home to bottom club Airdrie United before entertaining 3rd place Rangers in Edinburgh two days before Christmas. We were out of the blocks early and strikers McCann and Smith both found the target inside the opening ten minutes. We enjoyed the better of the first half but the visitors looked stronger after the interval and pulled a goal back with 20 minutes remaining. We were under significant pressure thereafter with Rangers rattling the crossbar late on. But substitute Rooney broke away in stoppage time to sneak a goal against the run of play and give us an excellent 3-1 win. The fixture computer gave us Boxing Day off but in return scheduled a local derby at rivals Hibernian on the 27th. A ludicrous red-card decision against midfielder Paul Robertson after ten minutes had us on the back foot immediately and we never recovered, a poor 3-0 defeat undoing all of our good work a few days earlier.

retired_amyslack

McCann The Man

The turn of the year saw us sitting in 4th place in the SPL, five points adrift of Rangers whilst Celtic had established a three-point cushion over unlikely title challengers Kilmarnock. The December awards saw young Crawford mentioned in the Young Player stakes once more whilst I took the bronze medal position in the managerial prize, a rare mention indeed.

Neil McCann was having a stellar season for us and he showed his worth once again as we started the New Year at home to Celtic. A wonderful first-half hat trick gave us a 3-1 lead at the interval and although the visitors came back strongly and reduced the deficit a penalty save by Stephen Duffy and a favourable offside decision in stoppage time kept our noses in front, the 3-2 win giving us a big morale boost. A week later we travelled to high-flying Kilmarnock and once again McCann and Duffy were the heroes, the keeper gaining the Man of the Match award and the striker scoring the only goal of the game four minutes from time. A Hackforth-jones double had us on top early on in our Scottish Cup 3rd round tie at home to Inverness and we eventually ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.

Our great form continued with a 4-0 win at home to Motherwell, McCann’s treble taking his strike rate into goal a game territory. With money still available in the transfer kitty I was tracking a number of players and I was particularly keen to give us more strength in central defence. I lost out on a couple of my targets but with the transfer window drawing to a close I finally snagged Finnish centre back Jukka Santala from Gretna for £140K. The month ended with our 5th straight win in all competitions as we returned from Morton with a 3-1 victory, although the fact that keeper Duffy was the Man of the Match recipient indicated that the game was far from one-sided. Our wonderful January resulted in a clean sweep in the monthly awards with Neil McCann, Tony Pearson and myself all being recognised.

Our recent fluency was absent for the visit of St. Johnstone but the goalless draw kept us 9 points clear of our nearest rivals for 4th place. We moved into the last eight of the Scottish Cup with a 6-1 demolition of struggling Airdrie United, Hackforth-jones showing the way with an excellent hat trick. However, our goal touch deserted us in Europe and the home leg of our UEFA Cup tie against Shakhtar ended goalless. We looked tired in our next match at home to Gretna and slumped to a poor 1-0 defeat after a jaded display. We showed a bit more spirit in the Ukraine but after losing the first goal we never really looked like getting back on terms and our UEFA Cup adventure came to an end with a narrow 1-0 defeat. With a number of players struggling for fitness after a demanding season I had to make changes for the trip to Airdrie United and despite being behind twice we fought back for a hard working 2-2 draw.

March began with a thrilling 3-3 draw in midweek at Rangers, the home side scoring twice in the closing few minutes as our lads tired rapidly. At the weekend we scored three goals at Inverness, this time our opponents only registering one, the win taking us to within a point of second place. Our Scottish Cup Semi Final at home to Falkirk got off to a bad start when the unfancied visitors scored inside the first five minutes but with Bojan Djordjic pulling the strings in midfield we played our way back into the game and finally ran out 3-1 winners. A rather harsh penalty decision denied us all three points at home to Partick but the point was enough to move us ahead of Kilmarnock and into the top three. Our third Edinburgh derby of the season failed to produce a goal and in our final game of the month a McCann double gave us a point at champions elect Celtic.

The visit of Kilmarnock in early April produced a goalless draw that was as uneventful as the scoreline suggests but with their title challenge having collapsed the result kept us two points above them in 3rd place. We then managed a narrow 1-0 win at Motherwell before facing Celtic in the Semi Final of the Scottish Cup. We never recovered from conceding an early goal and lost 2-0 in a frustrating afternoon at Hampden Park. We followed this with another bore draw at home to Morton in a game in which neither keeper had to make a save all evening. In the final game of the season before the top-six split we managed a welcome win, a comfortable 3-0 victory at St. Johnstone. We faced the same opponents a week later and despite being at home we could only scramble a 2-2 draw.

By the time we travelled to Celtic they had already been crowned SPL champions, retaining their title with games to spare. We were very poor in the first half and reached the interval with a two goal deficit. We showed a lot more fight in the second half and thanks to two late own goals we managed to scrape a 3-3 draw. The 4-1 scoreline at Motherwell in midweek slightly flattered us, although we certainly deserved the three points. Our excellent 2-0 win at home to Rangers moved us level on points with the Glasgow giants and with an identical goal difference they stayed above us on goals scored. We knew that if we could somehow get a better result that the Gers in our final game of the season then we could finish as runners-up. Both teams won, Rangers 2-1 at home to Motherwell and us 3-1 at Kilmarnock, a combination that was just enough to propel us into their best finish for almost ten years.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Celtic | 38 | 24 | 10 | 4 | 72 | 29 | +43 | 82 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | HEARTS | 38 | 16 | 17 | 5 | 63 | 41 | +22 | 65 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Rangers | 38 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 66 | 45 | +21 | 65 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Kilmarnock | 38 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 37 | 32 | +5 | 56 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | St. Johnstone | 38 | 10 | 19 | 9 | 37 | 38 | -1 | 49 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Motherwell | 38 | 9 | 15 | 14 | 44 | 52 | -8 | 42 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Inverness CT | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 40 | 54 | -14 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Hibs | 38 | 10 | 15 | 13 | 29 | 31 | -2 | 45 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Partick | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 39 | 49 | -10 | 41 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Airdrie Utd | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 33 | 61 | -28 | 40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Gretna | 38 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 28 | 43 | -15 | 38 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | R | Morton | 38 | 7 | 16 | 15 | 30 | 43 | -13 | 37 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
For me the star of the season had undoubtedly been striker Neil McCann who had scored 31 goals in all competitions. There was good competition for the right back slot with both John Crawford and Ryan Wood having played very well. Another young defender, Scott Boyd, had also broken into the first eleven. Veteran centre back David McCraken had been solid and Jukka Santala had played well since his arrival. Hackforth-jones, Djordjic and Paul Robertson had ended up as my first choice midfield trio with Tony Pearson as anchor man. Stephen Duffy was the clear choice in goal and Robert Smith had been the most productive of our other strikers.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Scott Boyd | 14 | - | 2 | - | 78% | 3.07 | 1.36 | - | 7.71 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Neil McCann | 40 (1) | 31 | 7 | 8 | 84% | 0.51 | 2.03 | 70% | 7.66 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Crawford | 38 | - | 4 | 1 | 75% | 3.71 | 0.88 | - | 7.45 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ryan Wood | 15 | - | 1 | - | 77% | 2.18 | 0.98 | - | 7.40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Richard Hackforth-jones | 32 (6) | 10 | 12 | 4 | 83% | 1.99 | 0.87 | 46% | 7.39 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jukka Santala | 14 (1) | - | - | - | 75% | 3.19 | 0.21 | - | 7.33 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Scott McDonald | 34 | - | 1 | 1 | 75% | 2.65 | 0.99 | - | 7.32 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Robertson | 38 (3) | 3 | 7 | 1 | 78% | 2.31 | 3.45 | 37% | 7.27 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tony Pearson | 39 | 1 | 3 | - | 76% | 2.67 | 0.33 | 36% | 7.26 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Bojan Djordjic | 43 (4) | - | 16 | 3 | 76% | 1.69 | 2.28 | 14% | 7.21 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mark Wright | 21 (4) | 4 | 6 | - | 84% | 0.55 | 1.91 | 53% | 7.20 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Derek Fitzpatrick | 21 (27) | 8 | 9 | 3 | 82% | 2.06 | 0.85 | 48% | 7.19 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David McCracken | 40 | 1 | - | - | 76% | 2.68 | 0.17 | 36% | 7.17 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Robert Smith | 27 (11) | 17 | 4 | 1 | 82% | 0.51 | 1.79 | 82% | 7.16 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jure Gonc | 6 (1) | - | - | - | 74% | 2.91 | - | - | 7.14 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Duffy | 51 | - | - | 6 | 55% | - | - | - | 7.12 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Craig Fraser | 23 | - | 1 | 2 | 77% | 2.95 | 0.13 | - | 7.09 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter Rooney | 13 (17) | 6 | 3 | - | 83% | 0.73 | 1.85 | 50% | 7.07 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stuart Gordon | 8 (3) | - | - | - | 66% | 2.66 | 0.12 | - | 7.00 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Paul Kelly | 19 (11) | 4 | 6 | 1 | 75% | 1.44 | 2.10 | 40% | 6.97 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Daly | 21 (1) | - | 1 | - | 76% | 2.24 | 0.29 | - | 6.95 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Song Han-Bok | 5 (10) | - | - | - | 79% | 2.12 | 2.01 | - | 6.93 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen McCarthy | 2 (13) | - | 1 | - | 75% | 2.79 | 1.86 | - | 6.67 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ryan McGowan | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
McCann’s season we rewarded with a whole fistful of awards – 3rd in the Player’s Player of the Year and the Football Writer’s Player of the Year, Top Goalscorer, and member of the SPL Select. Crawford won Young Player of the Year with Pearson finishing in 3rd place with Crawford and Hackforth-jones also in the SPL select. I was runner-up behind Celtic’s Mick McCarthy in the annual managerial award.

Financially the club had almost cleared their overdraft by the end of the season and if we could make some progress in the Champions League next season then our finances could improve markedly. All in all I was extremely satisfied with my first full season in the SPL and although the demands of the job meant that I had not been able to spend as much time at home with Viv as I would have liked we were both still head over heels for each other and the time that we did have was just fantastic. I was looking forward to the two of us taking a well deserved holiday before returning to work and knuckling down to making the team stronger for next season.