2007/2008
Ipswich Town Football Club, Championship, England.
I went into this season with my job on the line. The fans were calling for my head, and the club's board were becoming increasingly restless about my distinctly average performance as manager of the club. I knew even in January of the previous season I needed improvement and had moved then to improve my defence. Signing 3 players then, they all joined the club for free in the summer. First was Gabor Kiraly, from Crystal Palace. An experience goalkeeper. Next up was Alessandro Parisi, a big shooting left back from Messina and set piece specialist. Completing the coup was Welsh centre back Carl Fletcher, from West Ham. Good defence I thought, with Lescott too I would great. But then Portsmouth got interested in the big centre back. They bid �2,800,000 during the summer and I, in desperate need of money, had to accept the bid, and soon Lescott was out the door.
I began a search for a new central defender. Looking first at the Premiership, I saw a quick, young English guy named Jay McEveley at Blackburn. I couldn't afford him. I began to look elsewhere but with no success. The summer months were fast running out, the opening game against Gillingham getting ever closer, and still I was without a partner for Carl Fletcher. When I suddenly got the message I wanted. McEveley had been released from his contract at Blackburn. I moved quickly, securing him on a 3 year deal. Beating the likes of Aston Villa and Leeds to his signature.
Also on the shopping list during the summer was a new striker. Two would be handy, and I got my wish. Jason Roberts joined for free from relegated Wigan Athletic, and the Grenadan was a big hit with my fans. I was winning them round... finally. Thinking maybe Healy and Roberts weren't the most secure strike force, I looked for another young striker. I found one in the form of Danny Graham, a highly rated Englishman from Middlesbrough. He joined on loan initially, but I persuaded Boro to let him go for �200,000. I hoped he would be a capable backup. Also joining the club in the summer were 2 youngsters. Ben Parker, a left back from Leeds for �45,000 and Stephen Clark, a double sided winger on a free transfer.
The season started well. Very well in fact. Winning my first 5 games easily, conceding just 2 goals in the process, I was making good headway. The only disappointments being Jason Roberts who had failed score, and Danny Graham, who was fast making his case for being dropped. I eventually did drop him to the reserves, and brought Dean Bowditch into the first team. He hadn't played all last season, and when the 16-goal, David Healy got injured, I began to worry my plan would start crumbling. But nevertheless, I played Bowditch and he scored a blinding hat-trick in his first game of the season. Jason Roberts soon followed suit, and set about getting his scoring boots on. Hakansson was also playing well. So well in fact, that Sheffield United made a �3,100,000 bid for him in October. Hakansson was a good player, �3,100,000 was a huge figure and despite his talent, he wasn't worth this, so I had no choice but to accept the bid. I succeeded in delaying the transfer until the following summer however, so I could keep the crowd favourite for one last season in my push for promotion.
With this money I bought some new strikers. Due to being outside the transfer window, they wouldn't join until January so instead of older, more experienced players, I bought youth. Namely, 17-year old Mauro Volpi from Italian club Crotone. I splashed out �1,000,000 on him. I also bought Marco Calamita, a 25-year old German from lower league German club Elversberg II. He had been scoring on average a goal every game and a half in Germany. A great record and a snip at �16,000.
Coming into November, I had pulled out a 14-point lead in the Championship, and I was unbeaten in 22 games in all competitions. Which included a run to the Quarter Finals of the League Cup. November would turn out to be a tough month. Ian Westlake had been in superb form all season, and other clubs had begun to notice this. Going into the month, I was trying to fend off the advances of Leicester City when disaster! A clause in Westlakes contract meant I was forced to sell him for �1,800,000 to one of my chief rivals. Not good at all. This also left a gaping hole in my midfield. I was forced to push Hakansson onto the left wing, as Jiayi still was playing badly in the reserves.
Losing Westlake knocked my team alot. I lost the balance of the team, and thus lost a game for the first time during the season, 1-3 to Aston Villa in the League Cup QF. I follwed this with a poor run of form throughout November and December during which time I threw away my huge lead. Going into New Year, I was sitting 3rd. Behind Derby and Portsmouth. The 2 new strikers joined, and it was immediately obvious that young Volpi was not ready for first team football. He was talented, no doubt about it. He was valued at �5,000,000 for crying out loud. Calamita also disappointed. Failing to score for the first team all season in fact, I eventually started playing Supat Rungratsamee and the German joined Danny Graham in the reserve squad. To shore up midfield, I signed Columbian Freddy Guarin on a free transfer, to join the club in March. He was a very talented young player, and I thought he would become a huge star for my club.
I pulled myself out of my poor run of form during January, and I was soon pushing for top spot, trading places with Portsmouth game after game. I had not managed to stop the leaking of goals which had again happened during the winter. My excellent "Goals Against" stats were gone now and the only plus point was going forward where, to put it bluntly, I was fucking awesome. Bowditch continued to surprise me, finishing the season on 25 goals. Healy, in his last season with me, scored 22. Hakansson and Roberts chipped in 16 and 15 respectively, and Alessandro Parisi, the left back in his debut season scored 10, all from set-pieces. Five players there in double figures, and 3 others not far off.
Like I said, I traded places with Portsmouth for the rest of the season, but going into the last game, they were 3 points clear of me. To win the title I needed them to lose, and for me to beat Hull. In 3rd place were Queens Park Rangers, 2 points behind me. I had to pray I didn't lose the final match, or all my hard work during the season would be wasted. Quarter final appearances in both cup competitions, I was finally knocked out 1-5 by Chelsea in the FA Cup, would not be any consolation for missing out on promotion on the last day of the season.
And so the last weekend of the season and I was unbeaten in 10, although most of these were draws. Sadly, it was soon clear the title would be beyond my grasp, as Portsmouth were 3-0 up at half time in their match. Behind me, QPR were losing. Yes! At this point, who cared about the title? I was going up. In my match, Hull were putting up a fight. It stayed 0-0 to the end. I looked at the latest scores. QPR had won their match 3-1. I looked at the table holding my breath. Yes! I was up on goal difference. My superior strike force had done the business. I was promoted the Premier League, the fans were happy, the board were happy.. the only question was, could I survive the rock and roll life at the top? I went into the summer waving goodbye to Jesper Hakansson, the best player Ipswich had had for a long time, and I had said goodbye to 2 top players during the season, but I was there. I'd made it and I thought i'd done a pretty damned good job too...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25 8 13 93 54 88
Biggest Loss
Top Scorer
Most Assists
Fans Player
Of The Year
1-5 Chelsea
Dean Bowditch, 25
Alessandro Parisi and Jesper Hakansson, 14
David Healy
