2006/2007
Ipswich Town Football Club, Championship, England.
The summer did not go well for me this time around. Due to basic snobbery, Darren Bent and Matt Richards point-blank refused to sign new contracts, citing a reason of "wanting to move to a bigger club". Bent then joined Crewe... Richards, to be fair, did move into the Premiership with Wolves, but Darren Bent's move did not please me.
Moving past this rather major setback, I set about the new season with fire in my heart and determined the make the playoffs for the 2nd time in 3 years. The pre-season friendlies went well. In particular a 7-1 thrashing of a full-strength Rangers side at Ibrox. David Healy bagged 4 goals in this match, Jesper Hakansson chipped in 2 and Dimitris Skouloudis slotted home a last minute penalty to score on his debut. I followed this with a comfortable 6-1 victory over Kings Lynn, playing mostly youth-team players.
The loan signing from last season, Sebastien Svard, was released by Arsenal in late July, and I moved quickly to snap him up for free. Despite not having a great season in 05/06, I felt the young Dane had it in him. Especially with Drissa Diallo also leaving the club on a free, a right-back was the top priority. I also signed Chinese left-winger Shao Jiayi, as cover for Ian Westlake, who was injured for a couple of months. Overall, Jiayi was a major disappointment during pre-season and actually lost his place to Jordi Cruyff, who was in his last season with the club.
The regular season came upon me quickly, and I conspired to throw away a 2 goal lead in my opening game against Crewe, ending up losing 2-3. To rub salt into my wounds, it was the traitor Darren Bent who scored the last minute winner for Alex. Despite this small setback, I charged into my next few games with my head held high. I sat comfortably in the top half of the table, until the middle of November when I started my annual slide down the table. I couldn't see any glaringly obvious problems, but I began to play club-captain Jason De Vos in central defence again, in preferance to the talented youngster Aidan Collins, this seemed to tighten the back, but up front I was also having problems. Dimitris Skouloudis was not settling in whatsoever. One goal in 15 games was not what I had in mind when I signed him, and when I finally dropped him, the young man from Greece was not happy.
I started looking for a replacement striker. Deals with Bosko Balaban and Szilard Nemeth fell through, and I was forced to take injury prone Latvian Marian Pahars instead. To say this didn't work out, is an understatement. He spent most of his time at the club on the injury table. And after 3 months, I'd had enough. I released him on a free transfer, glad I didn't pay any money for the clown in the first place. I signed Dexter Blackstock on loan to fill the gap, with Dimitris Skouloudis still playing awfully for the reserves. Blackstock promptly broke his leg, and I sent him on his way back to Southampton. Coming the other way, also on loan, was left back Kyle Critchell. With only one really good striker, I switched my formation back to 4-1-4-1 from the 4-4-2 I'd been playing all season.
After the departure of Matt Richards in the summer, left-back had a huge hole in it. Young Scott Barron did well, but not up to standard which is the reason I signed Critchell. The youngster just wasn't good enough, and I attribute my poor defensive record during the season, mostly on him. Seeing the defence as a major stumbling block (De Vos wasn't getting any younger), I set about shoring it up for an assault on promotion next season. I had given up on this campaign by February in all honesty, and with my employers getting ever more anxious, I felt a change was in order. I signed 3 quality players on pre-contract agreements in January, to join the club in the summer for free. Left-back Alessandro Parisi, goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly and centreback Carl Fletcher, a replacement for Jason De Vos I felt. I also grabbed the young Thai player, Supat Rungratsamee for �10,000 from Portsmouth. The striker had impressed on trial earlier in the season.
In a drab, boring season my only "success" came in the cup competitions, where I reached the 3rd round in the League Cup and the 5th in FA Cup. Losing both times to Premiership opposition. After the FA Cup exit in March, I hit a small run of form, and was once again pushing for a playoff place. It didn't work out however, and I finished a rather disappointing 9th. With the club's board unsatisfied with my performance as manager, I knew I needed a huge improvement next season. Would I get it?
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18 15 13 62 63 65
Biggest Loss
Top Scorer
Most Assists
Fans Player
Of The Year
1-6 Burnley
David Healy and Jesper Hakansson, 21
Ian Westlake, 13
Jesper Hakansson
