2005/2006
Ipswich Town Football Club, Championship, England.
After the relative success of the last season, I went into the 05/06 pretty confident. Despite losing the core of my midfield, Steffen Freund and Jim Magilton (who retired), my squad was good I felt. Over the summer I had purchased the promising English centreback Joleon Lescott from Wolves for �925,000. He was quite a bargain, and I hoped he would form a formidable partnership with big Jason De Vos at the heart of my defence. I only brought in two other players during the summer, Irish striker David Healy from Preston on a free and Danish midfielder Jesper Hakansson who was without a club. With Healy and Bent up front I felt in both defence and attack I was strong. I wasn't expecting much from Hakansson. How wrong would I be?
Very was the immediate answer, the Dane performed brilliantly on the left wing in the 2 pre season friendlies he played in. Setting up 5 goals in the 6-0 win over Torquay. Out with a minor calf strain for the high profile match with Paris Saint Germain, he was sorely missed, even as I scored an unlikely win over the French Champions. Ian Westlake scoring a simple, close range tap in after a Hadji thunderbolt hit the Paris bar.
The wage issues of last season had subsided, mainly due the mass exodus of youth players, and the transfer to Bristol City of utility man, Richard Naylor. The only problem was money. I had blown my budget on Joleon Lescott. To save splashing out with money I didn't have, I gambled on unproven Arsenal right back, Sebastien Svard, taking the young Dane on a season long loan deal. I hoped my transfer dealings would pay off during the season.
Playing a 4-4-2, they looked to have done as the season got under way. Winning my first game against Gillingham 4-0, I was looking forward to a successful campaign. I stayed unbeaten until the 6th game, and only lost one further game in the first ten. It was then that the defensive problems which dogged the beginning of last season, came back to haunt me. After failing to win in the next 7 league games, I reverted to the tried and tested 4-1-4-1 formation, with Fousseni Diawara playing defensive midfielder, and Darren Bent dropping down from the starting lineup to the bench. This barely improved matters, and I settled into a hit and miss run of form, which included the best cup run I'd had so far. Reaching the 3rd round of the League Cup before going down 1-3 away at Premiership Portsmouth.
Going into December, I again hit a small patch of form, scoring 8 goals in my first two games of the month, I expected another turn around, like last season. This turn around never materialised, and when the draw was made for the FA Cup in January, nothing seemed to be going right. Drawn against Premiership high-flyers, Aston Villa I harboured little hope of progress in the cup. And going into the match more bad news struck me, as both my top strikers, David Healy and Darren Bent, were injured.
The game started well, Jesper Hakansson putting my boys into an unlikely lead on 10 minutes, with a superb 30-yard shot past Thomas Sorensen in the Villa goal. I settled back into my own half, leaving 3rd choice striker Shefki Kuqi up field on his own. Amazingly, despite immense pressure from the Villa attack of Vassell and Angel, I held on to my lead until the 40th minute, when after winning a fortuitous corner, Jason De Vos was brought down in the box. Penalty! The flying Finn, Kuqi stepped up and.. 2-0. He blasted the ball past Sorensen and maybe the unthinkable was happening. Shortly after the restart, Kuqi stole the ball from Lee Hendrie, through on goal with only the goalie to beat, all it needed was a good finish. And I got it, a fantastic lob from Shefki and I couldn't believe my eyes, 3-0 against Premiership opposition. Brilliant.
Villa came out punching in the second half, and quickly scrambled a goal back. Angel punting in from close range after a mix up in my defence. Shortly later, Gareth Barry unleashed a massive shot and my keeper, Kelvin Davis had no chance. 3-2 with still half an hour to play. Could I hold on? Villa kept coming, 70 minutes passed, I was still ahead. They threw on another striker, I was up against 3 now. 80 minutes. Still ahead. 90 minutes! They were playing 4 strikers, could I hold on? YES! I did it. My boys won through. Fantastic.
Sadly, the heroics of round 3 came to nothing, as up against League Two outfit, Boston United in the next round, I slipped up. Crashing out of the Cup 1-2 at home. For the second season in a row, poor opposition had ended my hopes of cup glory.
Back focused fully on the league, my form was neither spectacularly good, nor spectacularly bad. Putting in the wins consistently, but not enough, I found myself pushing for a play-off spot yet again with a few games remaining. Back playing 4-4-2, to accomodate Bent, in the small hope that he'd sign a new contract, my style of play was very much attacking. And with Hakansson whacking in marvellous goals match after match from midfield, I had no problem going forward. Yet again it was the back which was my downfall. I hit bad form in the run in, and eventually finished in 8th place, 5 points off the play offs.
Not many good things came from this season, with the glaring exception being the emergence of a new star in Jesper Hakansson. The midfielder did himself proud, scoring 16 and setting up 15 goals during the season, and winning Man of the Match 11 times. The young man from Denmark won Fans Player Of The Year of the year too, in an exceptional debut season in England. How much more was to come from him? And what about this new Greek kid I signed for �50,000 in April, Dimitris Skouloudis. At 18 he seemed to have a big future ahead of him.. was I right?
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22 11 13 77 48 77
Biggest Loss
Top Scorer
Most Assists
Fans Player
Of The Year
0-3 Millwall
David Healy, 19
Jesper Hakansson, 15
Jesper Hakansson
