It gave us a great boost, peaking with us beating league leaders Celtic a few games later. In fact against the big teams and rivals we did well. In the open season we played Celtic twice, Hibs twice and Rangers once. We won every game against them. If only we'd kept that going...
For some reason we kept slipping to silly losses and the smaller teams and it hurt us. Before the split we were still in second but we were left with a lot to do if we wanted to overhaul Celtic. 7 points wasn't a huge gap, it would drop to 4 if we beat them but Celtic still had the upper hand. We'd have to win pretty much all of them and they'd have to drop points.
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| Almost there... |
We were in a good position though otherwise. We only needed a win really to secure a European place which meant no matter what we had at least met board expectations.
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| Nice run of form at the end but it wasn't enough |
We started well. We breezed past Kilmarnock, beat Celtic for the 3rd time in a row and brought the gap down to 4 points. A thrashing of Hamiliton brought us even closer as it was paired with a loss from Celtic...and then things went a bit wrong. I was screwed by my old team, Aberdeen. The Dons had been on red hot form and were really pushing me for 2nd place. We couldn't break them down and to be fair they probably should have won. But even scraping a draw didn't help - we dropped points, Celtic won and then by the time the Rangers match came around the title was theirs.
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| It'll do... |
In a similar fashion to last season with Plantanias I shouldn't feel disappointed with 2nd, we've vastly overachieved, but we have missed out on a golden opportunity. The title could have been ours. We beat Celtic three times! We had the quality but we lost it against the lower table teams. We need to be able to finish games off.
End of Season Review
We'd more than met our aims. We'd qualified and qualified well.
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| Everyone loves playing on a Thursday |
The squad was shaping up and the players that had been brought in had done well.
We needed to build on this next season and get the squad exactly where we needed it. At this point we had a lot of players leaving, and still plenty that needed to leave (an £11k a week player for example). I wanted to cut the wage bill, balance the squad size/make up, get in line with my new transfer policy of mainly home nation players. And I wanted to do all this and improve the team. I wanted to make sure that when we played next season that we had the players to beat the likes of Falkirk and Celtic. I didn't want to waste points like we had here.
Despite point wasting we had some good players in the team. Many doing very well.
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| Dean 'Dead Eye' Dalziel |
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| Dougie 'I have a more Scottish name than you' Donald |
Dougie was originally a bench warmer of sorts when I arrived but I gave him a chance and he got better as the season went on. There were one or two games where the defense was shaky but that was usually despite his best efforts.
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| 'Unbelievable!' Geoff Harding |
I thought Harding might be a risk but he settled in well. Admittedly he didn't grab the same volume of goals as he had in league 2 but I was playing him more as a DLF, and he was sending plenty of dangerous balls through. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do over an entire season.
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| Gareth Howells |
A bit like Dougie. I brought him in to the starting 11 due to an injury and he pretty much stayed there until the end of the season. Defensively better than his stats suggest and he offers something going forwards.
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| Jon Karlsson |
He didn't play much so I'm not including him here as a key player. I'm just showing off how much he's improved through training. Going full time has made a big difference and I'm going to give him and Lifbom some cup time next season.
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| Eddie 'Leg Breaker' Kearney |
Kearney started playing straight away and set about ruining players. Strong in the tackle and he constantly close people down. Even though he spent most of the time just as a MC-s he controlled the midfield from top to bottom.
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| Philip Lifbom |
Like Karlssson Lifbom's stats have shot up. He actually grabbed a winning goal against Celtic! Again he's going to be rotated in and given cup runs but I can see him becoming a good striker very quickly. He just needs the opportunity.
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| Stuart McCluskey |
Initially McCluskey worried me. In the first 3 games he was at fault for a lot of the goals but he picked up and over the course of the season ended with the most clean sheets. He still got some years left in him and his experience at the back should really help.
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| 'Mickey 'Sick Note' Snodden |
Bought at the same time as Kearney he ended up in the Physio room from day 1. Once he'd recovered though he started and there was never any doubt as to why. He picks out some amazing passes and is very compose in midfield.
At this point I'd normally end but I thought I'd put the transfers on here for the start of next season, seeing as most of them were completed before the season ended.
Transfers
A lot of players were shipped out. I finally managed to get rid of the players on the stupid wages and the over all wage costs dropped like a stone, even with all the players below recruited. At the start of the new season we were only spending £85k a week on wages. Below our £110k limit, and a lot of teams around us. We didn't need to be so frugal but in the long run it would only help.
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| Chris 'Magic' Magill |
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| Gavin Guy |
Coyne and Donald only have a year on their contracts and they aren't playing nice in contract negotiations so I started to recruit defenders just in case. Guy is young and doesn't look like the finished article yet but the scouts and coaches think that he'll make it in time. I've sent him on loan for a season to see how he does. If it doesn't work out then I can happily write off the £60k fee for him.
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| Matt Lowry |
I had been chasing a Scottish left back but Hamilton wanted an obscene amount for them so I just got Lowry for £300k instead. He looks well rounded and when you consider his age I think he's only going to get better. I'm very happy that he's actually a WBL as well rather than a defender I have to train.
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| Neil Forde |
Forde was bought as part of the defensive replacement drive. It helps that he can also cover midfield. He'll be back up and will rotate into the squad.
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| Pat Quirke |
Like wise for Quirke. He'll be cover this year with a view towards being a long term replacement. And if it doesn't work out? Then he and Forde only cost about £150k in total.
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| Raymond Neil |
Buying strikers is fun. Signing ones released by Arsenal is just as fun. They let Raymond go so I decided I would snap him up and send him to Raith, our feeder club, the league below to see how he does.
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| Richie Vickers |
Bought Vickers for the cheap sum of £80k during the season. He then torn a muscle and spent the rest of it recovering. He might not be the player he was or could potentially be, when I signed him. He's still injured and I think I'll keep him at the club when he's able to play so I can build his fitness up.
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| 'Rocket' Rory Simpson |
Simpson is going to be great I think. He has what it takes to terrorise teams down that right hand side whilst helping keep clean sheets. I bullied Hamilton until they let me sign Simpson for the cheap price of £575k. He had been a SPL regular for a good team (Hamilton and Aberdeen are top 5 teams now) and he is a regular international. With him, Lowry, Snodden, Kearney and Magill I have a huge N.Irish contingent. They form the backbone of the starting 11.
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| Erwan Robert |
And here's Erwan the back up to Simpson. Got him on a free and although he is not a WBR I think he can be shaped into one well enough.
And that was it really for signings. I had plenty left in the wage budget, and about £800k left to spend. I also had a watch list of about 5 or 6 good young (ish, younger than 25) 'local' players. I didn't want to splash the cash on them though as I thought I had a nice balance to the squad.
Good players for each position. Plenty of promising cover and depth. I also got two players sent to me on loan by Spurs as well; a German defender and an English striker dubbed the new Rooney! I was sticking to my transfer policy too and I only have, discounting the loan player, 3 non-British or Irish players in the first team.
I'm hopeful for the coming season. We have a good team, money to spend in January if need be and wages to spare. We're in the black and we have Europe to look forward to.
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