retired_amyslack

Season Thirteen– 2016/2017

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Having succeeded in splitting the Old Firm everyone at the club was delighted with a pretty successful season. Everyone except me that was. I couldn’t argue that we had exceeded expectations but be that as it may we hadn’t actually won anything. And to be honest, with the resources at the club’s disposal and the ambitions of the Board restricted to European qualification, we seemed unlikely to be challenging for trophies. For me it would be a season of rebuilding. A number of older players were allowed to leave at the end of their contracts – Bojan Djordjic, David McCracken, Robert Sloan, Hang-Bok Song and Jure Gonc amongst them. Talented full back Scott McDonald refused a new contract and he would be a loss. A whole raft of youngsters graduated from the Youth Academy although it remained to be seen how many would be capable of making the grade. With all of the departures I at least had some room in the wage budget as many of the higher earners at the club had departed.

After a productive pre-season schedule, during which time we followed the exploits of the Scottish national side who amazingly reached the European Championship Final before losing 2-0 to Italy, it was all too soon time for competitive action to begin. At that point I had not been hugely active in the transfer market, my only significant deal being the £100K that I paid for 25 year old Danish keeper Lars Hedemann Christiansen, although I had picked up several unattached youngsters on the advice of my scouting team. The squad was a pretty young one but I was reasonably optimistic for the forthcoming season nonetheless.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Duffy | GK | IRL | 27 | £80K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Lars Hedemann Christiansen | GK | DEN | 25 | £140K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Crawford | D R | SCO | 22 | £80K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jukka Santala | D C | FIN | 31 | £140K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Daly | D C | IRL | 19 | £240K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ryan Wood | D/DM R | SCO | 19 | £50K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Clarke | D/DM L | IRL | 18 | £12K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Scott Boyd | D/DM L | SCO | 18 | £180K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Craig Fraser | D/M C | SCO | 25 | £75K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tony Pearson | DM LC | SCO | 20 | £35K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stuart Gordon | DM C | SCO | 20 | £18K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen McCarthy | AM L | IRL | 19 | £8K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Paul Kelly | AM C | IRL | 29 | £45K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Richard Hackforth-jones | AM/F RLC | ECU | 31 | £220K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Derek Fitzpatrick | AM/F LC | IRL | 18 | £30K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Robertson | F RC | SCO | 25 | £40K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter Rooney | F LC | IRL | 26 | £50K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Robert Smith | F LC | SCO | 23 | £150K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Robert Brennan | F LC | SCO | 21 | £140K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Neil McCann | F C | NIR | 27 | £400K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mark Wright | S C | ENG | 26 | £375K | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
We got off to the best possible start with the increasingly deadly Neil McCann scoring a hat trick in our 6-0 win at Motherwell. Over the next few days a number of developments took place with regard to the playing staff. Firstly two new faces appeared at Tynecastle within a day of each other – 24 year old Irish forward Gareth Scully was an £80K capture from Portsmouth and, at a year younger, midfielder Jamie Davies cost £240K from Sunderland. Next up was a bid from Rangers for promising full back Scott Boyd – we knocked back their £180K offer and cheekily asked for £1M and I had mixed emotions when they responded positively. He was an excellent talent for sure but with the club so deep in debt the Chairman was adamant that this was an offer that could not be refused. Ironically the teenager made his final appearance for the club against his new employers, enjoying a 2-0 win courtesy of two late goals from substitute John Paul Kelly. The club’s coffers were swelled further with a sell-on fee received when former goalkeeper Andy Watson made a £3M move from Coventry to Sunderland, the £325K a welcome addition to the current account.

As the month progressed and the closing of the transfer window loomed closer and closer I was still looking to bring in another centre back as with only three central defenders in the first team squad we were seriously exposed. My main target was Aussie international Mark Milligan and with a deal agreed with his club it was all down to the work permit application. Alas, after a drawn out appeal we were unsuccessful and left clutching at straws. Several other targets had rejected our advances and we finally plugged the gap by taking teenager Phil Watkins on loan from Liverpool for the season. On the pitch we lost our momentum to some extent although consecutive draws with Gretna and Aberdeen kept us surprisingly on the top of the table at the end of August.

September brought my first ever taste of the group stages of the Champions League. Having been seeded we didn’t have to go through qualifying, which was a real novelty for me, and we were drawn in Group F alongside Panathinaikos, Loko (Plovdiv) and the mighty Real Madrid. We faced the Greek champions in Edinburgh minus top scorer McCann and without him we offered very little goal threat as the 0-0 scoreline testified. In the league we continued to excel with wins over Partick and St. Johnstone and we were preparing for the visit of defending champions Celtic when my world was turned upside down once more.

English League One side Hull City had contacted the Hearts Chairman to seek permission to talk to me about their managerial vacancy. I decided that it would do no harm to have a chat and within 30 minutes Adam Pearson had convinced me that my future lay with his club. His sheer enthusiasm carried the day, sweeping aside my doubts about walking away from a team that looked like it was going to have a very fine season. I begged leave to sleep on it as I obviously wanted to talk it over with Viv as she would have a big say in any final decision. Her answer was simple – take the job and aim for the holy grail of any manager, the Premiership.

retired_amyslack

A New Town, A New Club

My decision made it took a surprisingly short time to sever my ties with Hearts and before I could draw breath I was standing outside The Circle, Hull’s impressive 25,000 all-seater arena. I had barely met my coaching team, never mind my playing staff, when it was time for my first match in charge, a visit from Huddersfield. I was happy to leave the team selection to Alan Walsh, the club’s Assistant Manager who had been working in a caretaker capacity since Daniel Jensen had taken over at Motherwell a month ago. On my arrival the club sat in 6th position in League One and harboured serious hopes of making it to the Championship. My first impression was that a small playing staff of not much more that 20 senior players would make that aim quite a challenge. The resulting 1-1 draw kept us in the playoff places and also offered a very illuminating view of our strengths and weaknesses as well as providing an insight into my new assistant. I took control of team selection for our next match a few days later, a trip to Port Vale in the Vans Trophy, and we returned with a 2-0 win.

There were a number of familiar names at the club though, amongst them a cadre of veteran Scots players including Jamie Langfield, Andy Webster, Kevin McNaughton and Chris Burke. There were also a pair of highly rated strikers in the shape of David Phillips and Owen Price and a young keeper, Malcolm Marshall who was reputed to be a star of the future.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Jamie Langfield | GK | SCO | 36 | £2K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Malcolm Marshall | GK | ENG | 18 | £1.8M | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Andy Walker | GK | ENG | 27 | £350K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Dominic Roma | D RC | ENG | 30 | £550K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin Parker | D C | ENG | 25 | £90K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Andy Webster | D C | SCO | 34 | £12K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Kasper Bøgelund | D/DM R | DEN | 35 | £3K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin McNaughton | D/DM RL | SCO | 34 | £3K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Michael Cole | D/DM RC | ENG | 27 | £24K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Derek Hunter | D/M LC | SCO | 27 | £40K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Graham Richards | M C | ENG | 28 | £35K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Leigh Rose | M C | ENG | 28 | £150K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Chris Burke | AM R | SCO | 32 | £20K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Jan Kristiansen | AM RLC | DEN | 35 | £6K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Joe Ledley | AM L | WAL | 29 | £350K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Gary Dunphy | AM C | IRL | 27 | £50K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Ben McCoy | F RC | ENG | 18 | £14K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Chris Chapman | S C | ENG | 24 | £180K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Dean Evans | S C | ENG | 29 | £150K | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | David Phillips | S C | ENG | 26 | £1.7M | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| | Owen Price | S C | ENG | 29 | £1.1M | | -----------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
My initial assessment was that we were not too badly off in midfield and up front and that our goalkeeping situation was good. My main concern was a lack of both depth and balance in defence and it also looked like we could do with a solid holding midfielder. I also needed to build my backroom staff and I made a very quick decision that I wanted to bring in my own right hand man. Ideally I wanted to have Gerry Scully join me from Hearts but we had several issues – the amount of compensation that would have to be paid, his wage demands and, most significantly, his aspirations to turn his current caretaker role into a permanent appointment. However he was good enough to recommend an alternative and fellow Irishman Liam Collins was soon on board, the disgruntled Walsh offered a sideways move that he reluctantly accepted.

Over the next few weeks I gradually began to make my presence felt, starting with some additions to the backroom staff and some new training schedules. I made a few modest additions to the squad to bolster the areas of weakness – veteran Canadian defender Michael Klukowski after he had been released by Coventry, Irish holding midfielder Ian Smyth who cost £12K from Swindon and former Aston Villa favourite Liam Ridgewell who joined for a nominal fee from Doncaster.

We had a good 3-1 win at Rushden at the start of October and then beat Mansfield 4-0 at home in the middle of the month with Phillips bagging a hat trick. A slightly fortunate 2-0 win at Watford followed, a result that was notable in that it took us to the top of the table on goal difference over Peterborough. Our 5th straight win came with a 3-0 victory at home to Brentford with veteran Danish midfielder Jan Kristiansen rolling back the years and pulling the strings in the centre of the pitch. A thrilling first month in charge ended with a 2-0 win at Peterborough to cement our place at the summit of League One. After such a flawless month it was no great surprise to feature in the monthly awards – Owen Price won Player of the Month with Kristiansen 3rd and I was voted Manager of the Month.

I sent out my second string for the visit of Stoke in the next round of the Vans Trophy and they put up a good fight before going down 2-1 after extra time. Our bubble threatened to burst in our next league match at Wycombe as we not only missed a penalty but due to some pretty harsh refereeing also had two players sent off in a mad five-minute period around the hour mark. But somehow we dug deep enough to fashion a goal and an amazing 1-0 win. Injuries and suspensions limited my selection options for the visit of Stoke in the league and, a goal down late in the game, we looked like losing a league match for the first time since my arrival until a stoppage time strike from Phillips rescued a point. Two more injuries hit before our next match, an FA Cup tie at home to Brentford, and despite lacking our two first-choice strikers we managed to gain a 2-0 win, confirming my belief that we had some strength up front.

Further injuries during the week meant that I had to call up two youngsters from the reserves to fill the bench for the league match at Brighton and although we won 1-0 we had another player sent off and lost yet another to injury. This meant that for our midweek visit to Chester we had six players under treatment, one suspended and two more back in training but not even fit enough to sit on the bench. Yet more indiscipline saw us have another player sent off as the game ended goalless and I was left wondering just how long my luck would hold out before we went on a losing streak. A 3-0 win at home to Colchester showed that the bubble had not yet totally burst but during that match we lost striker Chris Chapman for 3 months with a torn calf muscle.

With Christmas less than a month away I was delighted when Viv and I were able to move into permanent accommodation, a charming little cottage in the East Riding countryside. Jock the dog was very happy with his new home and all of the extensive country walks that were literally on our doorstep.

The 2nd round of the FA Cup was next and we managed a comfortable 2-0 win at Conference side Leigh RMI and even managed to get through 90 minutes with no injuries! Back in the league we kept up our excellent form with a 2-0 win at home to the MK Dons to stay at the top of the table. A quick look back at our results since I had arrived showed that we had now played 16 games and conceded just 5 goals, a testament to my veteran defenders if ever their was one. I rested a few weary sets of legs for the trip to Oldham and a fractious encounter ended all square at 1-1, although we won the yellow card contest by a count of 5 to 3!

There were some enforced changes for the visit of Notts County because of injuries and suspensions and with no recognised strikers on the bench I wasn’t too unhappy with the 1-1 draw. I was less pleased to lose yet another first teamer, Chris Burke picking up a groin strain. He was joined in the treatment room by Joe Ledley before our Boxing Day trip to Luton but with Phillips and Price reunited in attack we were well worth our 3-0 win. Just two days later we welcomed the visit of Cambridge and the 0-0 draw was undoubtedly a reflection of two rather weary teams struggling to create scoring chances. The dropped points saw us overtaken at the top of the table by Fulham with Derby just a point behind and breathing down our necks.

retired_brianrt

Bob, Ive just read this through and its a hell of an effort. Good luck in the English phase, and lets hope you achieve the Holy Grail
KUTGW :thup:

retired_amyslack

Thanks sherm

Pain Is All In The Mind Lads!

With the transfer window due to open I was hoping to use some of the funds available to freshen up the squad but the only one of my initial targets that I was able to secure was my former Kilkenny and Hearts player, Peter Rooney who had been put in the transfer list by my former employers. It was a measure of what was fast becoming the Hull injury jinx that when he rolled up at the start of the year he was carrying a slight knock and would not be fit to play for at least a week.

Our New Years Day trip to arch rivals S****horpe gave us a good 3-1 win, a result that pleased the fans and the Board no end. With little sign of being able to attract any players that I felt would enhance the squad I did manage to secure a short term loan deal with young midfielder Chris Watson coming in from St. Johnstone for three months. The 20 year old came off the bench to good effect in our FA Cup tie at Torquay but the 1-1 draw meant another game to be played in an increasingly busy fixture list.

The first of two crunch league games in four days featured a visit from promotion chasing Bradford City and despite creating some decent chances we failed to find the net and the game ended goalless. Next up were new league leaders Derby and an open and attacking encounter produced much excitement but no goals and with Fulham suffering an unexpected defeat the fight for automatic promotion was pretty tight.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Derby | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 47 | 23 | +24 | 55 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | HULL | 26 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 41 | 15 | +26 | 54 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Fulham | 26 | 17 | 2 | 7 | 46 | 23 | +23 | 53 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
I decided to rest as many players as possible for our midweek FA Cup replay at home to Torquay and thankfully we managed to end our recent goal drought with a comfortable 3-0 win. I made a few chances for the 4th round tie at home to Yeovil at the weekend as a lot of the fringe players were far from match fit and in the circumstances our 2-0 win was surprisingly comfortable. The Tuesday evening visit of Southend caused me some selection problems as five of my six senior forwards were unfit for action. Thankfully the relegation strugglers rarely threatened and we ran out 2-0 winners. Our final match of a packed month was a trip to Crewe and our defence performed admirably in the 1-0 win as we racked up our 6th successive clean sheet.

Loanee Chris Watson had seen a fair amount of action in January and had impressed sufficiently to take the Young Player of the Month award for his fine displays. He kept his place in the first team for the visit of Fulham in what would be a key encounter in our push for promotion. The London side had been on a slump in recent weeks, having lost their last four league matches and we had them under the cosh from the first whistle. However we were unable to get on the scoresheet and had to settle for a point in a goalless draw.

We then had a midweek trip to Norwich to make up our game in hand over the rest of the division and to my great surprise we suffered our first league defeat in the four months that I had been in charge. And quite a defeat it was too as we went down to a 3-0 loss with a very lacklustre display. I was hoping to see us bounce back at struggling Huddersfield but having led for most of the match we conceded late on to end with a 1-1 draw.

We had a week’s break before our next match, a trip to Manchester to take on City in the 5th round of the FA Cup. Owen Price gave us a surprise lead ten minutes before half time. We managed to defend our slim advantage until the 83rd minute when the Premiership side found an equaliser. They pushed hard for a late winner but we managed to hold firm, thanks mainly to a fantastic display by keeper Andy Walker, to set up a replay ten days later. Back in the league a midweek visit from Watford ended 3-1 in our favour and our trip to Brentford at the weekend also brought three points with a 2-0 victory.

The TV cameras were in town for our FA Cup replay against Manchester City and a sellout crowd enjoyed a very competitive encounter. We took the lead shortly before half time but the visitors squared the game with 15 minutes remaining. Both sides had chances to secure the win in normal time but were unable to convert and an extra 30 minutes was required to produce a result, the visitors scoring the crucial winner in the second period. Despite the defeat I was delighted with the way that the lads had played but I couldn’t help but fear that such a draining match would have a negative affect over the coming weeks.

The immediate impact was that I had to rest a number of key players for the visit of 4th place Peterborough and a missed penalty cost us dear as we lost 2-0. Two days later we were off to Stoke with lots more players rotated and I could not honestly remember that last time that I named the same eleven for two consecutive matches. But we showed a lot of fight to overcome a first-half deficit and secure a 2-1 win, a result that very much kept us in the frame for automatic promotion. We kept up our push for the Championship with a 3-1 win at home to Wycombe but then somehow contrived to lose 1-0 at Mansfield despite dominating the midweek match.

Our hopes took a further blow at the weekend when we lost 1-0 at home to Chester before getting the boost of a 3-0 win at home to Rushden. But we did have bad news on the playing front as we lost two midfielders – Gary Dunphy out for a month through injury and Leigh Rose agreeing an offer from Brentford when they came in with a bid that matched his release clause. Another very long month concluded with a good 3-0 win at Colchester as we took one more small step towards promotion.

With Chris Watson once again capturing the Young Player of the Month award I was desperate to extend his loan deal but sadly his employers would not play ball and we lost another key midfielder. He made his final appearance for us in our 3-1 win at Brighton, fittingly scoring the final goal and taking Man of the Match honours for his display. The win guaranteed us a playoff spot, took us to within four points of leaders Derby and kept us eight points clear of Fulham although the Londoners did have a game in hand.

A week later a late goal gave us a narrow 1-0 win at the MK Dons but then during the week we lost two more midfielders to injury. Nonetheless we still managed a 1-0 win at home to Oldham at the weekend and with Fulham losing at Rushden it was enough to push us over the line and guarantee promotion. With Championship football secured for next season the last few games were somewhat of an anti-climax as we beat Notts County, drew with Luton and lost at Bradford City.

Derby were crowned champions with Hull taking the runners-up spot and Peterborough coming through the playoffs to secure the final promotion slot.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Derby | 46 | 30 | 7 | 9 | 85 | 38 | +47 | 97 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | HULL | 46 | 27 | 12 | 7 | 67 | 28 | +39 | 93 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Fulham | 46 | 24 | 7 | 15 | 74 | 46 | +28 | 79 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Brentford | 46 | 23 | 9 | 14 | 62 | 49 | +13 | 78 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Watford | 46 | 19 | 19 | 8 | 60 | 36 | +24 | 76 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | P | Peterborough | 46 | 21 | 11 | 14 | 63 | 52 | +11 | 74 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Chester | 46 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 54 | 40 | +14 | 72 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Brighton | 46 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 61 | 51 | +10 | 69 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Mansfield | 46 | 18 | 14 | 14 | 58 | 41 | +17 | 68 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Bradford City | 46 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 49 | 43 | +6 | 67 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Norwich | 46 | 17 | 14 | 15 | 60 | 53 | +7 | 65 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | S****horpe | 46 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 50 | 54 | -4 | 59 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Colchester | 46 | 16 | 11 | 19 | 46 | 59 | -13 | 59 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Luton | 46 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 43 | 60 | -17 | 59 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Rushden | 46 | 15 | 12 | 19 | 39 | 49 | -10 | 57 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Cambridge | 46 | 14 | 13 | 19 | 47 | 54 | -7 | 55 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Stoke | 46 | 12 | 17 | 17 | 57 | 65 | -8 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Wycombe | 46 | 14 | 11 | 21 | 48 | 61 | -13 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Crewe | 46 | 11 | 18 | 17 | 43 | 62 | -19 | 51 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Huddersfield | 46 | 11 | 14 | 21 | 47 | 71 | -24 | 47 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | R | MK Dons | 46 | 11 | 13 | 22 | 42 | 64 | -22 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | R | Oldham | 46 | 9 | 16 | 21 | 40 | 62 | -22 | 43 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | R | Notts Co | 46 | 10 | 12 | 24 | 39 | 63 | -24 | 42 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | R | Southend | 46 | 10 | 9 | 27 | 44 | 77 | -33 | 39 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Needless to say I was very happy with what had been achieved in my nine months at Hull and how well the players had responded to my management. But I knew that I had a core of veterans all approaching the end of their contracts and I would have to give some serious thought to how many of them I would keep on board.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Phillips | 39 (8) | 20 | 8 | 7 | 78% | 0.59 | 2.08 | 61% | 7.47 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Dominic Roma | 39 | - | 3 | 1 | 74% | 3.32 | 0.58 | - | 7.31 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andy Webster | 37 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 75% | 3.33 | 0.16 | 37% | 7.30 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Liam Ridgewell | 23 (3) | 1 | - | 2 | 77% | 2.90 | 0.33 | 33% | 7.27 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ian Smyth | 32 (2) | 1 | 2 | - | 78% | 3.34 | 0.28 | - | 7.26 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jan Kristiansen | 43 (5) | 16 | 8 | 4 | 79% | 0.93 | 1.51 | 39% | 7.23 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin McNaughton | 42 (1) | - | 3 | - | 70% | 2.17 | 0.76 | - | 7.21 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Chris Chapman | 10 (7) | 2 | 4 | - | 83% | 0.71 | 2.05 | 50% | 7.18 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Owen Price | 37 (2) | 10 | 6 | - | 77% | 0.58 | 2.27 | 56% | 7.18 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin Parker | 42 (1) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 78% | 2.54 | 0.15 | 36% | 7.16 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andy Walker | 50 | - | 2 | 2 | 56% | - | 0.02 | - | 7.14 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter Rooney | 6 (6) | 3 | 3 | - | 77% | 1.09 | 0.94 | 53% | 7.00 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Dean Evans | 16 (14) | 7 | 2 | 1 | 80% | 0.53 | 2.49 | 52% | 7.00 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Derek Hunter | 24 (8) | - | 3 | 1 | 79% | 1.67 | 0.57 | 50% | 6.97 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kasper Bøgelund | 15 (5) | - | - | - | 74% | 1.90 | 0.30 | - | 6.90 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Gary Dunphy | 26 (12) | 2 | 4 | 4 | 76% | 1.76 | 0.86 | 42% | 6.89 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Michael Cole | 15 (3) | - | 2 | 1 | 73% | 2.54 | 0.53 | 27% | 6.89 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin Richardson | 4 (3) | - | 1 | - | 66% | 1.08 | 0.65 | - | 6.86 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Joe Ledley | 26 (4) | 2 | 5 | 2 | 74% | 0.95 | 2.37 | 38% | 6.83 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Graham Richards | 5 (4) | 1 | - | 1 | 68% | 2.04 | 0.16 | - | 6.78 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Michaël Klukowski | 3 (1) | - | - | - | 71% | 1.19 | 0.30 | - | 6.75 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ben McCoy | 8 (9) | 2 | 1 | - | 82% | 1.53 | 1.41 | 41% | 6.53 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jamie Langfield | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

At the end of season awards we had some success with David Phillips getting his name on the teamsheet for the League One Select and yours truly runner up in the Manager of the Year voting. So with a feeling of a job well done the players and staff were all sent off on their summer break and I looked forward to some quality time with Viv before coming back in a few weeks to begin yet another season in the demanding and exciting world of football management.

retired_amyslack

Season Fourteen – 2017/2018

Consolidation Is Key

After an all too brief holiday I was soon back at work with my backroom staff as we set about some serious squad rebuilding work. After much consideration we decided that three of our veterans would be offered one more year – Liam Ridgewell, Kevin McNaughton and Jan Kristiansen. A total of seven players were allowed to leave the club and over the course of the summer we brought in the same number of new faces, a mix of youth and experience.

The experience came from Danish international centre back Leon Andreasen who arrived from Celtic; former Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien who came from Aston Villa; defensive midfielder Alessandro Alinosi from Middlesbrough, all on free transfers. The younger players were teenage winger Colin Rose from Hearts, a player I knew from my time at the club; Chris Watson who had impressed on his loan spell last season; Spanish midfielder David from VfB Stuttgart and French midfielder Ouillon Remi from Lyon – a total outlay of £600K, over half of my budget for the season.

All in all I was pretty pleased with how the squad looked – my focus had been to strengthen our midfield unit and I had certainly succeeded in that objective and I looked forward to the new season with great anticipation. The Board were looking for mid-table safety and the bookies seemed to agree on that outcome but I was hoping for something a bit more ambitious than that.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andy Walker | GK | ENG | 28 | £950K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Malcolm Marshall | GK | ENG | 18 | £1.1M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Dominic Roma | D RC | ENG | 31 | £650K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Liam Ridgewell | D C | ENG | 33 | £20K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andy Webster | D C | SCO | 35 | £30K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin Parker | D C | ENG | 26 | £140K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin McNaughton | D/DM RL | SCO | 34 | £4K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin Richardson | D/DM RL | ENG | 18 | £35K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Michael Cole | D/DM RC | ENG | 28 | £35K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Leon Andreasen | D/DM C | DEN | 34 | £200K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Derek Hunter | D/M LC | SCO | 28 | £50K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alessandro Alinosi | DM RC | ITA | 30 | £475K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ian Smyth | DM C | NIR | 27 | £90K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | David | M RL | ESP | 22 | £700K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jan Kristiansen | AM RLC | DEN | 36 | £30K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Colin Rose | AM RLC | ENG | 17 | £425K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Michael Essien | AM RC | GHA | 34 | £70K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Chris Watson | AM L | SCO | 20 | £1.1M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Gary Dunphy | AM C | IRL | 28 | £90K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ouillon Rémi | AM C | FRA | 23 | £275K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter Rooney | F LC | IRL | 27 | £70K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Owen Price | S C | ENG | 30 | £350K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | Dean Evans | S C | ENG | 30 | £190K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Phillips | S C | ENG | 27 | £3M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Our season opener was at home to Millwall and I was delighted to see us come back from conceding the opening goal to end up 3-1 winners. Our next match was at Blackpool a few days later and we suffered a poor 3-0 defeat with another defeat following at home to Nottingham Forest. Our results continued to yo-yo for the rest of the month – victories over Crystal Palace and Bournemouth; defeats by West Brom (a 4-0 drubbing) and Port Vale (in the Carling Cup). At the end of the month we had registered a symmetrical three wins and three defeats in the league and sat firmly in mid-table. The performances of Alinosi, Watson and Andreasen had stood out but unfortunately David had singularly failed to impress thus far.

September proved to be a little more productive and despite starting the month with a disappointing 1-0 win at home to Rotherham we went on to beat Doncaster and Derby before our first draw of the season, 1-1 at Walsall. October started badly as we lost to Birmingham and Charlton but then we picked up a point at home to Preston before winning 2-0 at struggling Swindon. Goals were proving difficult to come by and in the 14 league matches that we had played we had scored just 15, with 16 conceded – not a very impressive statistic.

November turned into a bit of a nightmare as we lost three consecutive league matches, suffered several injuries to key players such as Watson and Essien and endured a couple of unnecessary sending offs. The one ray of sunshine was when we signed my former striker Neil McCann who had amazingly been without a club since he left Hearts in the summer. He made his debut at home to Sheffield United at the end of the month where we threw away a two goal lead in a match that ended in a draw.

December saw quite an improvement and we started the month with a superb 4-0 win in a televised match at home to Bolton in what was certainly our best performance of the season so far. We followed this up with wins over Ipswich and Southampton and started to climb the table. A dip in form followed with losses to Peterborough and Aston Villa, the latter a 4-0 collapse that saw the Villans top the table. Thankfully we bounced back with victories over Millwall and Blackpool and we reached the turn of the year in a comfortable 8th place.

retired_amyslack

Decisions, Decisions

New Year’s Day saw some rather weary players make the trip to Nottingham Forest and their 3-0 win took them back to the top of the table as they maintained their push for promotion. During the next week I decided that several of our veterans had been playing well enough to justify contract extensions so Alinosi, Ridgewell, Essien and Andreasen were all offered 12-month extensions. Our FA Cup campaign began with a visit to Premiership side Sheffield Wednesday and I was delighted when we returned with a giant-killing 2-0 victory that took us through to the 4th round. In our next league match we were unfortunate to be held 1-1 at home by Crystal Palace but on chances created we really should have won the game.

We were denied the services of Michael Essien for several weeks after he was selected in the Ghana squad for the African Cup of Nations but despite this we managed to extend our FA Cup run with a 2-0 win at West Brom. In midweek we suffered a disheartening 3-1 defeat at Bournemouth and then whilst I was preparing for the visit of West Brom I was presented with a very tempting offer by Charlton Chairman Martin Simons. The Londoners had been without a manager since the start of the year and the team sat in the playoff zone and was pressing hard for a return to the Premiership. Eleven seasons in the top flight had ended in the 2010/2011 season when they were relegated. Since then they had bounced back and forth with two promotions and two relegations in the last six seasons. I was offered a very handsome transfer kitty but I was also expected to significantly reduce the wage bill whilst still steering the club into the Premiership.

This was a very tough decision for me – on the one hand I was really enjoying my time at Hull and Viv and I were happily settled in our home and loved the area. On the other I felt that Charlton offered a much better chance of achieving my ultimate ambition of managing in the top flight. After a long discussion with Viv and a mostly sleepless night I made my decision – I was going to London!

I officially took up my new position on Saturday January 27th 2018 and on the same day that my new team had a league match at Middlesbrough. I left team selection and tactics to Assistant Manager Duncan Shearer who had been operating as caretaker manager before my arrival, the narrow 1-0 defeat proving to be quite educational. Over the next few days I focused on evaluating my playing staff – there were over 45 players on the books, including no less than eight goalkeepers, but we lacked any kind of holding midfielder, a role that was crucial to my favoured tactical approach. The squad included some experienced players such as former Bolton defender Nicky Hunt and keeper Luke Steele who at the relatively young age of 33 was now in his 18th season as a pro. There were some highly rated young players at The Valley as well, perhaps the most notable being 20-year-old striker Chris Shaw, already valued at well over £5M.

The backroom staff seemed a pretty capable bunch and I was particularly pleased to see former England star Frank Lampard working as part of the physiotherapy team. Having said that I was always happiest when I was working with a trusted assistant so my first concrete action was to bring in my own right hand man. Gerry Scully agreed to join me from Hearts after having been denied the opportunity to take over when I left and Shearer made a sideways move. On the playing front I acted quickly to bring a holding player in, signing David Hernandez from Sunderland on deadline day and he made his debut in our match at home to QPR. Having asked the players to adopt to a slightly different formation than they were used to and I was very pleased with their performance in the 2-0 win. We followed this up with a 2-1 win at Bristol City in a televised match and then won again at midweek at home to Bolton. I then had a surprisingly emotional return to The Circle to face my previous employers and although the resulting 1-1 draw was a slight dent in our promotion hopes at least I didn’t have to deal with the aftermath of defeating the team that I had so recently left. The final game of the month was a very disappointing 1-0 defeat at strugglers Ipswich that left us in 5th place, still looking good for the playoffs but drifting away from the top two spots.

March proved to be a demanding month as we faced the top two in the table, both games being drawn. We scored in stoppage time to grab a 1-1 draw at home to Aston Villa and held Nottingham Forest to a goalless draw at the City Ground. We started the month with a low-key 1-0 defeat at home to Southampton, played Villa in midweek and then won 2-0 at Millwall. We were then held goalless at home to Blackpool, played the Forest in midweek and then ended the month with an excellent 4-0 win at home to Crystal Palace, probably our best display since I had taken charge.

April got off to a good start as two late goals gave us a 2-0 win at Rotherham and followed that up with the same scoreline at Bournemouth, a win that guaranteed us a place in the playoffs. With both first-choice strikers missing for the midweek visit of West Brom we struggled to turn chances into goals and the game ended goalless. Bottom club Doncaster were our next visitors and they put on quite a scrap before going down to a 4-2 defeat, a result that confirmed their relegation. We then suffered a surprise 2-0 reverse at Derby with a very poor display before rounding off the regular season with a 2-0 win at home to Walsall.

We entered the first leg of our playoff Semi Final against West Brom with seven of my first team squad just one booking away from a suspension. A well-contested game ended even at two goals apiece as we took the lead twice only for the home side to draw level on each occasion. As well as securing away goals we also came through the match with no further bookings and I was reasonably confident for the home leg. West Brom adopted a pretty robust approach to the match but despite their attempts to kick us off the pitch we concentrated on playing football and secured a comfortable 2-0 win. All of the players also came through the match unscathed, both in terms of injuries and bookings and I was hopeful of fielding my strongest eleven in the Final.

Birmingham were our opponents at Wembley at the end of May and like everyone at the club I looked forward to the occasion with great anticipation. My plan to send out my best eleven took one hit when loan signing Jonathan Thompson returned to Coventry two days before the big game. He had been immense for us at left back and I had already agreed a deal to sign him when his contract expired later in the summer but his club would not agree a short extension and he was forced to miss out on the culmination of the season. The players showed no sign of nerves on the day and we raced into a two-goal lead inside the opening quarter of an hour. Birmingham pulled a goal back before the break but we went on to score three more in the second half to record a thumping 5-1 win and take our place in the Premiership.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Aston Villa | 46 | 30 | 8 | 8 | 86 | 46 | +40 | 98 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Middlesbrough | 46 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 84 | 43 | +41 | 92 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Nottm Forest | 46 | 27 | 9 | 10 | 88 | 47 | +41 | 90 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | P | CHARLTON | 46 | 24 | 12 | 10 | 67 | 39 | +28 | 84 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | West Brom | 46 | 23 | 12 | 11 | 67 | 41 | +26 | 81 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Birmingham | 46 | 21 | 10 | 15 | 71 | 57 | +14 | 73 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Q.P.R. | 46 | 18 | 15 | 13 | 60 | 56 | +4 | 69 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Peterborough | 46 | 19 | 11 | 16 | 52 | 52 | 0 | 68 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Bolton | 46 | 15 | 18 | 13 | 71 | 58 | +13 | 63 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Sheff Utd | 46 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 54 | 49 | +5 | 63 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Southampton | 46 | 19 | 6 | 21 | 65 | 62 | +3 | 63 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Bristol C | 46 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 64 | 63 | +1 | 61 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Walsall | 46 | 13 | 21 | 12 | 51 | 51 | 0 | 60 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Hull | 46 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 55 | 60 | -5 | 58 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Blackpool | 46 | 12 | 21 | 13 | 47 | 48 | -1 | 57 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Bournemouth | 46 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 54 | 62 | -8 | 57 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Crystal Palace | 46 | 15 | 12 | 19 | 55 | 71 | -16 | 57 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Derby | 46 | 12 | 13 | 21 | 46 | 58 | -12 | 49 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Swindon | 46 | 10 | 16 | 20 | 41 | 64 | -23 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Rotherham | 46 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 39 | 69 | -30 | 45 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Millwall | 46 | 11 | 11 | 24 | 44 | 73 | -29 | 44 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | R | Ipswich | 46 | 9 | 17 | 20 | 34 | 64 | -30 | 44 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | R | Preston | 46 | 6 | 21 | 19 | 49 | 72 | -23 | 39 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | R | Doncaster | 46 | 7 | 12 | 27 | 36 | 75 | -39 | 33 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
There had been some solid performers in the squad – our midfield had been excellent with Bradford, Bell, Aliev and Hernandez all making big contribution and our top two strikers Shaw and Blake had hit 40 goals between them. In the end of season awards Richard Bradford was picked in the Championship Select, Sam Blake finished 3rd in the Top Goalscorer and I was runner-up for Manager of the Year.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Richard Bradford | 38 (3) | 8 | 5 | 8 | 79% | 2.81 | 2.55 | 52% | 7.71 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Neil Bell | 7 (3) | 6 | 2 | 1 | 78% | 1.95 | 0.65 | 70% | 7.70 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Olexandr Aliev | 29 (10) | 6 | 11 | 3 | 81% | 2.17 | 1.16 | 38% | 7.44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Hernández | 20 | - | 2 | 1 | 80% | 3.71 | 0.57 | - | 7.40 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Tetteh | 34 (1) | 3 | - | - | 73% | 2.28 | 0.17 | 58% | 7.34 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Luke Matthews | 2 (1) | 1 | 1 | - | 85% | 0.43 | 0.43 | - | 7.33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Chris Shaw | 41 (3) | 20 | 12 | 2 | 85% | 0.71 | 2.01 | 50% | 7.32 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Connolly | 36 (1) | - | 3 | - | 71% | 3.34 | 0.71 | - | 7.30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Luke Steele | 11 | - | - | - | 53% | - | - | - | 7.27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Gallagher | 44 | - | - | 1 | 51% | - | 0.02 | - | 7.23 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Sam Blake | 44 (6) | 20 | 4 | 1 | 83% | 1.12 | 2.28 | 64% | 7.20 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MartÃ*n | 42 (2) | - | 2 | 1 | 73% | 2.71 | 0.20 | 7% | 7.20 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Smith | 11 (6) | 5 | 4 | 2 | 84% | 0.77 | 1.79 | 47% | 7.18 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Nicky Hunt | 35 (6) | 1 | 1 | - | 68% | 2.99 | 0.28 | - | 7.17 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Scott Curtis | 6 (6) | - | 2 | 1 | 79% | 2.50 | 1.03 | 46% | 7.17 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Dave Morris | 6 | - | 1 | - | 68% | 2.10 | 0.38 | - | 7.17 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Neil Middleton | 28 (14) | 1 | 6 | 1 | 75% | 2.48 | 2.24 | 37% | 7.14 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stephen Farrell | 41 (4) | 3 | 13 | 4 | 81% | 1.96 | 1.91 | 27% | 7.13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Richard Fletcher | 3 (8) | 1 | - | - | 79% | 0.45 | 1.36 | 53% | 7.09 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Neil Jackson | 13 (9) | 3 | - | 1 | 86% | 0.53 | 1.96 | 62% | 7.05 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Nick King | 3 (8) | - | - | - | 63% | 2.97 | - | - | 7.00 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | César Arzo | 13 (9) | 1 | - | - | 69% | 2.04 | 0.08 | 58% | 6.95 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Alan Blake | 12 (14) | - | 1 | - | 67% | 2.75 | 0.51 | - | 6.77 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
So all in all I was absolutely thrilled with how thins had worked out for me since taking the plunge and moving to London. Now all I had to do was to rise to the challenge of keeping my team in the premiership for a season or two!