Season 11/12 - Derby County
Hoping to finish above the bottom 3 in our first year of Premier football was all I hoped for. Anything else is icing on the icing. So this season was nothing short of successful.
Paying for the stadium expansion left precious little left over for transfers (5M) but I made do. I managed to transfer in a young foreign striker from Liverpool for 1.4M who my scouts were high on. I also brought in an older DC on a Bosman and a strong, young DL to shore up the defense. For whatever reason an AMLRC who my scouts were drooling over was released on a free by Newcastle so I snapped him up as well.
Our first Premiership campaign was never a worry. We were mid-table the entire season but went through spells where we gave up 2,3, and 4 goals a game...prompting the press to ask me what the hell I was going to do about it on more than one occassion. We managed a late season surge and we were actually in 4th postion with 4 games left. To be honest, a Champions League spot would not have seemed resonable...and sure enough we dropped 3 of the final 4 to finish 7th in the table.
Nonetheless...a spot in Europe next season is so much more than expected. Even if it is the Euro Vase.
The League cup was a disappointing 2nd rd. exit on PK's at home against L1 QPR .
The FA Cup was a success...we lost to Chelsea in the semi's at Wembley after a string of favorable draws against lower division opposition.
The Silverware:
Derby County: 17 8 13 - 59 points
Premier: Arsenal Championship: Portsmouth
L1: Brighton L2: Rotherham EC: Stevenage
League Cup: C. Palace FA Cup: Chelsea
Champions League: Barca UEFA: Werder Bremen
With the 7th place money and more TV revenue coming in I hope to be able to splash some cash next season on a new keeper. I need to keep the ball out of my own net!
Cheers from America....Go Rams!
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