Pints of Whisky Posted February 9, 2005 Author Share Posted February 9, 2005 Having taken Hull City to world domination in CM 03/04 I decided to have another crack at it in FM. The task is made a little easier as I start a league higher than I did last time and have a few more quality players. Season 2004/2005 - Preseason I have £600k to spend and a little space in the wage budget. The squad is pretty good and a expect to be in at least a playoff place come the end of the season. With a few good signings automatic promotion wouldnt be out of the question. The defence looks a little weak with only Damien Delany having any real talent. In come strong centre back Markus Heikkinen from Aberdeen for £28k, right back Dean Holden from Oldham for £160k and utility man John Hardiker from Stockport for £60k along with the 3 month loan of young centre back Ben Clark from Sunderland. A bid of £825k from Sunderland for Damien Delany was too good to turn down but I had adequate cover for his departure. The midfield needed the least amount of strengthening only bringing in Craig Pead on loan from Coventry to shore up the centre with Junior Lewis. Jason Price was surplus to requirements and left to free up wage space. The front line was fairly good but quite thin and with Ben Burgess out for the season I needed to invest. In came popular hometown boy Dean Windass for £8k, he was delighted to be returning to the club he had started out at so many years before. Also in came Junior from Derby for £100k and Trevor Benjamin from Leicester for £95k. That was the end of the transfer activity for the time nad the friendlies were a mixed bag really. A 2-1 home defeat to Norwich was ok and achieved the main goal of bringing in a lot in gate reciepts. Next up were Marine who were brushed aside 5-0. After losing 1-0 to St Johnstone, preseason ended with unconvincing wins over Maidenhead and Queens Park 3-2 and 4-2 respectively. With preseason finished and plenty of new talent brought in it was time to kick off the season. And I was quietly confident... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Having taken Hull City to world domination in CM 03/04 I decided to have another crack at it in FM. The task is made a little easier as I start a league higher than I did last time and have a few more quality players. Season 2004/2005 - Preseason I have £600k to spend and a little space in the wage budget. The squad is pretty good and a expect to be in at least a playoff place come the end of the season. With a few good signings automatic promotion wouldnt be out of the question. The defence looks a little weak with only Damien Delany having any real talent. In come strong centre back Markus Heikkinen from Aberdeen for £28k, right back Dean Holden from Oldham for £160k and utility man John Hardiker from Stockport for £60k along with the 3 month loan of young centre back Ben Clark from Sunderland. A bid of £825k from Sunderland for Damien Delany was too good to turn down but I had adequate cover for his departure. The midfield needed the least amount of strengthening only bringing in Craig Pead on loan from Coventry to shore up the centre with Junior Lewis. Jason Price was surplus to requirements and left to free up wage space. The front line was fairly good but quite thin and with Ben Burgess out for the season I needed to invest. In came popular hometown boy Dean Windass for £8k, he was delighted to be returning to the club he had started out at so many years before. Also in came Junior from Derby for £100k and Trevor Benjamin from Leicester for £95k. That was the end of the transfer activity for the time nad the friendlies were a mixed bag really. A 2-1 home defeat to Norwich was ok and achieved the main goal of bringing in a lot in gate reciepts. Next up were Marine who were brushed aside 5-0. After losing 1-0 to St Johnstone, preseason ended with unconvincing wins over Maidenhead and Queens Park 3-2 and 4-2 respectively. With preseason finished and plenty of new talent brought in it was time to kick off the season. And I was quietly confident... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrone the Magazine Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Welcome to FMS and good luck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 11, 2005 Author Share Posted February 11, 2005 August 2004 The preseason confidence showed as we went unbeaten through August. Stockport were comfortably pushed aside 3-1 in the opening game with Junior and Stuart Elliott opening their accounts for the season, the third was courtesy of Mr O Goal. A trip to Wallsall was next and it ended 2-2 but any ideas of stealing all three points were sscuppered as Dean Windass was sent off in injury time. Brentford were the first visitors to the KC 'and the Sunshine Band' Stadium of the season and their plan to thwart our attacks paid off in a pretty dull 0-0 stalemate. The first big Yorkshire derby of the season saw Huddersfield dispatched 3-1 with goals from Delany, Junior and Nicky Barmby. The midweek game saw a break from the league as we travelled to Wallsall for the second time already this season for the first round of the league cup, goals from Barmby, Junior and Pead saw us scrape through 3-2. A 3-1 win at Chesterfield finished the month well but it didnt look to promising when Junior was sent off after 12 minutes for two yellow cards, both of which were for diving! Windass with his first goal since his return to the club, Clark and Craig Pead sealed the win to save Junior's blushes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacemaker7 Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Good to see you having a go, good start Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 14, 2005 Author Share Posted February 14, 2005 September 2004 The good form in the league continued in September with a 4-2 win at home to Bournemouth, a 1 all draw at t'Barnsley and a 5 nil trouncing of Tranmere courtesy of a Benjamin hattrick and a Windass brace. The League Cup run came to an end in the second round at Sunderland 2-0, but a 4-2 win at Barnsley saw us continue in the LDV. October Another month played, and another month unbeaten in the league! A last minute goal from Junior gave us a 2-1 win at Bristol City, and a comfortable 2-0 run out at Peterborough came before a disappointing nil nil at home to Port Vale.After a 2-0 home win against Wrexham we made a necessary signing in defence. With Ben Clark unwilling to return on loan from Sunderland for the rest of the season I decided to splash the cash and brought in Hayden Mullins from West Ham for £650k. Mullins went straight into the lineup and made his debut at home to Colchester and helped us keep a clean sheet as Windass scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 14, 2005 Author Share Posted February 14, 2005 November 2004 Not the best of months started with a 4-3 home defeat in the LDV to 10 man Blackpool, despite being 3-1 up with 7 minutes to go. A 3-1 win over Oldham appeared to signal normal service had resumed but the following game we suffered our first league defeat of the season, 2-0 at Torquay. A 4-0 cruise past Canvey Island in the FA Cup first round was followed up with a good win away to Bradford, two nil. The month ended the way it had begun, with defeat, this time on the road again at Sheffield Wednesday 2-1. December 2004 Apart from a shock 2-0 exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Cambridge we were free scoring in December, scoring five goals in three games in a row against MK Dons, Hartlepool and Luton. Christmas was spoilt a little by losing 2-1 to Doncaster but we went into the new year in high spirits after thumping Swindon 4-0. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 14, 2005 Author Share Posted February 14, 2005 January 2005 Trevor Benjamin kept the team in high spirits with a hatrick on New Years' Day against Walsall. We continued in fine scoring form, scoring three against Huddersfield, Brentford and Stockport, while only conceding the odd consolation strike.Chesterfield were beaten 2-1 at the KC but were slipped up by the same scoreline on the south coast at Bournemouth. A Windass brace saw us overcome Barsley. February 2005 February started poorly. A 1 nil reverse at Tranmere, a one all draw at home to Peterborough and 3-2 defeat in North Wales had us reeling. We showed great bouncebackability to win the next three games against Port Vale, Bristol City and Colchester to end the month on a high. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 14, 2005 Author Share Posted February 14, 2005 March 2005 The run in begins well. Windass scores twice to give us victory over Torquay and some revenge for ending our unbeaten run earlier in the season. Then it's Big Trev's turn as he rattles in a hatrick as we squeeze past Oldham 4-3. Losing 3-1 in Blackpool does little to dent our confidence as we are already looking odds on to win the title. Deano scores to send Sheffield Wednesday packing. April and May 2005 Confidence is sky high and we are free scoring once more. Defeat at Luton is a minor blip as we steamroller our way to the title winning 3-0 over Bradford, 4-0 over MK Dons, 3-0 over Hartlepool, 4-0 over Doncaster and 2-0 at Swindon. We are the CHAMPIONS, and by 19 points as well! Having played 46, won 33, drawn 5, lost 8, goals for 108, goals against 40, a goal diff of +68 and achieving an excellent 104 points. Hayden Mullins, Craig Pead, Junior Lewis, Nick Barmby, Trevor Benjamin and Dean Windass are all selected in the League One team of the year. Windass was very happy at the club and had a blinder of a season scoring 31 times in the league, 36 in total, and was named Hull player of the year. An average home attendance of 20,635 is incredible for a club in the third tier of football but no doubt we will better that next season in The Championship! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
suppitty Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Good work. I like how it doesn;t go into too much detail for every match. This way the story may last for 10+ years, and you won;t get too burnt out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 17, 2005 Author Share Posted February 17, 2005 Preseason 2005/2006 On to The Championship, and obviously the squad would need strengthening to stand a chance of staying up. I had £1.4m to spend but I wouldnt be forced into spending it just because I could. Instead I got rid of the deadweight cluttering up my reserves to bring in a little revenue but more importantly to free up the wage bill a bit more. In came a solid backup centre half Clint Hill from Stoke for £95k. I decided that another area for improvement was right back so in came David McNamee from Livingston for £210k. Michael Falkenmayer and Stephen Kelly on free transfers would provide plenty of competent cover. I was pleased to bring in a quality goalkeeper in the form of Graham Stack as I doubt that Boaz Myhill is up to the challenge, although he will be on the bench this year. Kenny Lunt was brought in for free to provide more attacking options in midfield and Colin Healy on another free transfer and Alexis Nicolas on a season long loan would fight with Craig Pead (Brought in after a very successful loan spell last year)for the two central defensive midfield places. Joseph Desire Job and Hugo Viana were loaned in too to add to the forward/attacking midfield as quality there was a little thin. With the signings complete and the stadium capacity increased to a whopping 36,000, it was time to get on with the two money raising friendlies. Dean Windass looked to have won the game against Newcastle but Nicky Butt popped up in injury time to equalise. The following week Everton were comfortable 2-0 winners but again the main objective was achieved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 17, 2005 Author Share Posted February 17, 2005 August 2005 The season got off to a mixed start in August. We lost all 4 away games (2-1, 3-1 and 2-1 again to Wigan, Derby and Coventry) but won 2 and drew 1 at home against Cardiff 4-1, Plymouth 2-0 and 2-2 against West Brom. It was a busy month and the players were tired when the first round of the league cup rolled around. I rested some of the more exhausted players but still thought I had enough talent out there to beat Cheltenham away. Unfortunately I was wrong and we went down 2-1. I was a little dissapointed as I was looking forward to a decent cup run but not too much as I can now concentrate on the league until the FA Cup 3rd round comes. September 2005 After the hectic first month it was something of a relief that there were only 4 games in September. It gave the players time to recover from the previous game and gave them longer for injuries to heal. A 1-1 draw against Stoke kept us unbeaten at home but the poor away form continued at the Priestfield stadium Gillingham as we went down 2-1. Nicky Barmby scored at Watford to end our winless away start to the season and that lifted the team for a home tie against Sheffield Wednesday. Trevor Benjamin scored twice in a 2-1 win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 17, 2005 Author Share Posted February 17, 2005 October 2005 Again I was thankful that there were only four games this month as they were all tricky games against Promotion chasing sides and I would need my squad at full strength. Unfortunatley even a full strength team couldnt stop me losing 3-2 to Norwich at Carrow Road and then Blackburn inflicted our first home defeat of the season. We managed to recover and an excellent 2-1 win in Sunderland was followed by a satisfactory 2-2 draw at home to Bristol City. November 2005 We were having no problems scoring a few goals this year but it has been the leaky defence that has let us down. I decide on a change of tactics. Gone is the 4-4-2 formation and in comes a more different 3-2-2-1-2 with 3 centre backs, 2 central defensive midfielders, 2 normal wingers and one attacking midfielder just behind the front two. The idea being that the cenral defenders are protected from being passed through by the defensive midfielders and there is an extra midfielder to help with the counter attack. Whether this works or not remains to be seen! The new tactic will be tried out on the road first of all. Unfortunately it doesnt happen straight away and we lose 2-1 but I want to give a try so I will carry on. Thankfully the team get used to the system and stop leaking so many goals, this means that we are now starting to win more as the goals are still coming. 4 straight wins round off a pretty good month for us. Viana and Benjamin (2) score to see off Preston 3-1. 32,000 people show up to watch us defeat West Ham 2-1 and then our biggest win so far as we defeat Leeds at Elland Road. The month is rounded of in style with a 2-1 victory over QPR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam00000000000001 Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 Good luck mate. Where are you in the league at the moment Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 17, 2005 Author Share Posted February 17, 2005 Cant remember. Currently just started season 06/07, wont spoil it by telling you what league I am in though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 22, 2005 Author Share Posted February 22, 2005 December 2005 The good run continues into December and a Windass hattrick gives us a 3-2 win at Rotherham. Then a minor blip as a 1 all draw at home to Sheffield United and then a 2-1 defeat in Ipswich look to have ruined the festive period for us. But we bounce back with two good home wins either side of the Christmas defeating Burnley 4-2 and Wigan 2-1. The long trip to Plymouth takes its toll though as we go down 1-0 to end the year on a slightly low note. January 2006 Defeat in the last game of 2005 is quickly forgotten as another long trip sees us win 4-2 at Ninnian Park, Cardiff. The FA Cup begins for us in the 3rd round this time and it gets off to a great start, with a 2-0 win over West Ham. Derby manage to snatch a point from us in our next home league game before Norwich are dumped out of the cup in the 4th round 2-1. Our 4th home game in a row ends in a 2-0 win over Coventry, but we end a pretty successful month with a 3-1 defeat on the road at high flying West Brom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 22, 2005 Author Share Posted February 22, 2005 February 2006 February was one of those annoying months where home form and away form were completely different. Two home games against Watford and Gillingham were won comfortably 3-1 and 4-0 respectively. This was counteracted by three away defeats at Stoke 2-1, Promotion chasing Blackburn 2-0 and Sheffield Wednesday 2-1. March 2006 March began with a 5th round FA Cup tie at Anfield. We fought hard but in the end their superior skills won the day 1-0. We returned to the league with a hard fought point against Norwich and a good narrow 1-0 win over Sunderland. Our poor away form continued in Bristol going down 2-1 to City. A 2-0 win over Reading at home followed but then a hammering at Preston seriously dented our confidence. I was more than a little annoyed when we went 2-0 down in the first half but a spirited comeback at the start of the second seemed to have rescued us but we then proceded to throw all our hard work away, conceded three goals in the last 10 minutes to lose 5-2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 22, 2005 Author Share Posted February 22, 2005 April/May 2006 The performance against Preston took a while to get out of the system, we struggled to get a point at home to Leeds and we slumped to a three nil defeat at QPR. We managed to scrape another point at Upton Park before we just managed to beat Rotherham one nil at home. Our penultimate away game of the season saw more of the same, 2-1 to Sheffield United. For the final two games of the season we played like a completely different team. Our final home game of the campaign was against Ipswich and we treated the fans to a fine 5-0 rout. The final day of the season, and more of the same, this time a 4-0 win at Burnley and an excellent way to finish the season. Rather surprisngly we had been in with a chance of a playoff place at a few stages in the season, but our away form ruined those chances. Our final placing of 8th was an excellent position for our first season in the Championship if rather surprising given our recent run of results. Our record was played 46, won 21, drawn 8, lost 17, goals for 81, goals against 65, a goal diff of +15 and achieving an 71 points. Blackburn were the champions, QPR followed them up in second and Sunderland won the playoffs (even though we beat them home and away and they finished 6th in the league, but hey, thats football!). Plymouth, Cardiff and Derby were relegated, and will be replaced by Torquay, Millwall and Oldham. Chelsea sacked Jose Mourinho after they finished 5th in the Premiership and appointed Kevin Keegan as manager. Manchester City then promptly replaced Keegan with Mourinho! Stuart Elliott was named in the Championship team of the year after having the highest rating in the league; 7.57. He was also named Hull fans player of the year. Dean Windass was unlucky, coming 2nd in the goal of the season with a superb swerving 30 yard volley. Scoring goals had not been a problem this season, 81 was the second most by any team in the league. It was the leaky defense that was costing us, 65 was poor for a team in our position, 18 other clubs in the league including one of the relegated sides had conceded fewer. This was obviously an area for improvement over the summer. Having not spent this years transfer budget I should be allowed to spend in the summer as we had been filling the stadium regularly throughout the season. An average of 29,980, was second only to West Ham, and hopefully with better players next year and better results that would continue to grow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nick1972 Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 Interesting way of writing, its quite nice to see a season encapsulated in a few posts. Are you going to bring it up to date and then post in the normal manner? i.e. game by game? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted February 24, 2005 Author Share Posted February 24, 2005 Probably not game by game but may add a little more detail as I will be able to remember more stuff that happens! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted March 3, 2005 Author Share Posted March 3, 2005 Preseason 2006/2007 Having avoided relegation with ease in our first season in the Championship, the board expected more and asked me to achieve a respectable position this year. But having finished 8th and after scoring so many goals, I felt that a playoff spot was not impossible. Maybe even automatic promotion if we got a bit of luck and strung a good run together. To achieve this I would need to bring in more quality, especially at the back where we were pretty poor last season. The board kindly gave me £3.3m to spend but the only transfer fee I would pay was for a player that I had had my eye on for some time but up until now I was unable to afford. Freddy Guarin, an excellent Colombian defensive midfielder arrived for £1.3m to play just in front of the back three. He would be joined in centre midfield by Carlos Martins who signed after being released by Sporting Lisbon. To tighten up the defence I went for experience and brought in out of favour Aston Villa defender Mark Delaney. Having won many international caps for Wales and played in the Premier League for a long time, he has plenty of experience. On their way out of the club were old hands Nicky Barmby and Dean Windass, they had decided that they were no longer good enough for this level and left after their contracts expired. Also to leave were Ben Burgess, Delroy Facey, Stuart Green, Junior Lewis and Dean Holden. They were all deemed not good enough and were all allowed to leave and persue their careers elsewhere, most likely at a lower level. This also had the benefit of freeing up the wage bill and it was freed up even more by the departure of 3 full backs who had lost their places due to the change in tactics. All went to fellow Championship sides, David McNamee went to Preston for £75k, Stephen Kelly to Wigan for £50k and Michael Falkenmayer was also sold for £50k this time to Reading. These departures left a few holes in the squad and I needed to bring in some quality too. Freddy Adu would certainly add some quality and would find himself playing most of the season behind the front two. Last season's top scorer in the league, Robbie Blake joined on a free transfer and would fill in for Adu when he was away on internationals and injured. Depth was added up front in the shape of Andy Gray and Darren Huckerby. They would provide competition for places nad compensate for the loss od Windass. The late departure of Barmby meant that a quick fix would be required and a quick scout around found former Southampton winger Fabrice Fernandes had been released and was promptly snapped up to play on the right (even though he is left footed). During the summer was the 2006 World Cup in Germany and England did very well reaching the final where they met Brazil. It was 0-0 after extra time and in true english style lost on penalties. Two more players would join us in the new year when their contracts at Scandinavian clubs had finished. Ragnvald Soma would bring yet more quality to the defense and Sweden international Cristoffer Andersson looked a good prospect for the right wing position. Until then I would have to make do without them. Only two friendlies this season, an excellent two all draw against Chelski in front of 30k and a poor 1-0 defeat against Plymouth. Left me with mixed feelings about the season ahead... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted March 3, 2005 Author Share Posted March 3, 2005 August 2006 The season doesnt get off to the best of starts, going down 3-1 at Preston with only a coonsolation strike from Trevor Benjamin. This is soon forgotten however as Delaney, Adu and Huckerby all score on their home debuts in a 3-0 victory over Coventry. Adu and Huckerby find the net again in the next match against Stoke at the Brittania stadium and Andy Gray nets his first for the club in another 3-0 win. Crystal Palace are beaten 1-0 at the KC after Benjamin dives and cons the referee into giving a penalty in the last minute! Another first goal for hi new club, this time from Robbie Blake earns a one all draw at Gillingham. We have to come from behind to beat Rushden in the league cup 2-1 and another excellent win at home against West Ham 2-0. A suprise 1-0 defeat at relegation favourites Torquay finishes off a busy month and it has been pretty successful. September 2006 A disappointing one all draw at home to Burnley is soon forgotten after a good win over table topping Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 and an even better 3-1 win over Everton in the cup. Guarin and young spanish prospect Lopez both get off the mark for the season and Huckerby completes the scoring. Freddy Adu keeps up his good start to the season with a goal in each of the next to games, a 1-1 draw at Wigan and a resounding 5-0 thumping of Norwich sees us climb as high as second place and battling for the lead with Sheffield Wednesday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted March 3, 2005 Author Share Posted March 3, 2005 October 2006 The goals dried up big time this month. Only 3 in 5 matches. A 1-1 draw at home to West Brom and a 3-1 reverse at the hands of Nottingham Forest were followed by us tumbling out of the league cup game at the hands of Charlton 3-1 at The Valley. Two home games followed and we failed to score in either of them. we manged to hold Reading to 0-0 but slipped up 1-0 against Sheffield United. The month went from bad to worse when Trevor Benjamin handed in a transfer request. He felt that he had achieved all that he could at the club and decided he wanted to play for a biger club. The request was reluctantly granted but he would continue to play on as he was our best striker and to keep him in the shop window. November 2006 We found our scoring boots again although we were still vulnerable at the back as we kicked off the month with a trip to The New Den to face Millwall. We were soon 1-0 down but showed great fighting spirit to come back and go nto a 3-1 lead by half time. We were shocking in the second half and they scored three times to make it 4-3. But up stepped young Freddy Adu to make it 4-4 deep into injury time! Freddy followed up his heroics against Watford in the next game, scoring to salvage a 1-1 draw. Trevor Benjamin finally made his move this week after finally agreeing terms with West Brom he moved for £2.7m which I felt was a good return for a £95k investment! I was a little disappointed that he moved to another Championship side though as I thought he was good enough for the Premier League. I moved quickly to replace him and looked at the out of favour players in the Premiership hoping for a bargain. I found who I was lookin for in the Southampton reserves having been displaced by a couple of recent additions, I signed Peter Crouch for a cut price £650k. After signing he spoke of his 'Days of hell at Southampton' being over and hoping to get his career back on track at his new club. He went straight into the starting lineup against relegation fodder Oldham and popped up with the winner late on to make it 3-2. Leeds were the next visitors and a full house saw us keep a rare clean sheet as we won 2-0. Hopefully these back to back wins were just what we needed to get our season back on track. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 December 2006 Indeed they were as we went unbeaten through December. A 1-1 draw in Bristol was followed by an Adu hattrick in a 5-1 mauling of Ipswich. A 2-2 draw against Rotherham was followed by four clean sheets. Peter Crouch found his scoring boots as he scored both goals against Preston, and once against Coventry and Stoke with a nil nil against Wolves in between. January 2007 Into the new year and first up were Crystal Palace. We earned a 1-1 draw but it seems that Iain Dowie must have left early because after the game he told the waiting press how the confidence in his team was sky high after his side's recent victory over mine! The third round of the FA Cup came around again and we were paired against promotion favourites Sheffield Wednesday. A brace from Andy Gray and one from Darren Huckerby saw us through 3-2.Gillingham were eased aside 2-0 before a 4th round clash away at Wigan. Two tight games followed before the replay, it finished 1-1 at Upton Park and only 1-0 at home to whipping boys Torquay. The replay against Wigan proved to completely different to the tight affair 10 days before. Goals from Andersson, Lunt 2, Crouch and Gray 2 saw us record our biggest win of the season 6-0! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 February 2007 Not the best of months for us, only one win in six after three draws. The first two draws came on the road at Burnley 2-2 and Norwich 1-1. The next match saw Wigan return to town but anyone expecting another drubbing would leave disappointed by the 2-2 scoreline. Next up was the FA Cup again and this time we face Premiership opposition in the form of Birmingham. Birmingham scored first and it all looked bleak for us but a Gray penalty pulled us level and then he put us into the lead before half time. Birmingham showed their quality though and brought it back to 2-2 and most people thought that we would crumble after that, but Gray completed his hattrick and Andersson scored on the break to win it 4-2. This excellent win seemed to distract our players though as we lost 1-0 at home to Sheffield Wednesday and 3-1 against West Brom. March 2007 Our poor form continued into March as we went down at home again to a promotion chasing team, this time to Nottingham Forest 2-1. Wingers Elliott and Andersson kept us in the game at Reading, an action packed game finished 3-3. The FA Cup had reached the 6th round and rather surprisingly we were still there! Our reward for the magnificent win over Birmingham was a trip to the City of Manchester Stadium to play Manchester City. The sheer pace and skill of Nicolas Anelka was too much though and his hattrick knocked us out 3-0. It had been a good cup run, brought in plenty of revenue and showed that we could beat Premiership sides (if you forget about the 'magic of the cup' factor!). We put the disappointment of the cup exit behind us and began to play really well. Successive 3-0 home wins over Watford and Millwall and 3-1 win at Oldham saw us move back up the table and into the playoff places again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 April/May 2007 April didnt get off to the best of starts losing 2-0 to Sheffield United. But then followed a run of 4 wins. A topsy turvy match at Elland Road went our way 4-3. Bristol City and Rotherham were seen off 1-0 at home and in between Ipswich were hammered 4-0 away. We finished the regular season away at Wolves and with an outside chance of automatic promotion. Nottingham Forest were top, four points above us so the title was out of our reach but Sheffield Wednesday were only 2 points away. As it happened we could only draw 2-2 at Wolves so it would be the playoffs for us. It was academic really though as Forest somehow lost their match and Wednesday won theirs so they went up as champions! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 The Championship Playoffs 2007 For some reason there was a draw to decide who would play who in the playoffs. IRL the team finishing third plays the team finishing 6th and 3rd plays 4th but this didnt happen and we got paired with 4th place Preston. The first leg would be at home (IRL we would have been away first to 6th place Wolves). Playoff Leg 1: Hull City v Preston NE Att: 35,967 The first half was a cagey affair with neither side wanting to give too much away and make a mistake. Being the home side however we had to take the advantage and we pressed forward. It was ironic then, when we finally took the lead in the 74th minute following a swift counter attack, Peter Crouch was on hand to finish it off. The goal seemed to lift us and two quick fire late goals really swung the tie our way. First a great run from Peter Crouch left him one on one with the keeper but as it was a tight angle he squared the ball to Darren Huckerby who couldnt miss from 6 yards. The third was a spectacular volley from Carlos Martins after a corner was headed out to the edge of the box. Hull 3 (0 - 0) 0 Preston Stack; Soma, Delaney, Mullins; Martins, Guarin; Anderson, Adu, Elliott; Crouch, Gray. Subs: Myhill, Roberts, Healy, Fernandes, Huckerby. Playoff Leg 2: Preston NE v Hull City Att: 20,461 The three goal cushion meant that we were able to rest several big players as they were still recovering from the first game. Also a few were on their final yellow cards and would be suspended for the final had they picked up another. The game itself was a bit of a non event. Preston had to go for it and come at us and we were happy to let them do it and soak up the pressure. As long as we kept them at bay and didnt concede early then it could be all over at half time. And indeed it was because on 37 minutes we caught them on the break. Robbie Blake threading a beautiful through ball into the path of Andy Gray who kept his cool to slot the ball home. That goal really killed off the tie, we were 4-0 up and had an away goal, Preston would have to score five times in the second half to go through. They never even looked like they would get one goal back let alone five, and with 9 minutes to go another Blake through ball found Darren Huckerby clean through and he cheekily chipped the on coming keeper to round off an excellent evening. The Tigers will play Wolves at Wembley. Preston 0 (0 - 1) 2 Hull Stack; Roberts, Delaney, Mullins; Soma, Healy; Lopez, Blake, Fernandes; Huckerby, Gray. Subs: Myhill, Heikkinen, Andersson, Elliott, Crouch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted May 3, 2005 Author Share Posted May 3, 2005 Apologies to those following this story, what a time to get tired of this save and start another! Just got back into this game so I will continue where I left off! Playoff Final: Hull City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers Att:89,959 (at Wembley) With so much riding on this one game and almost 90,000 fans watching in the stands the early exchanges were understandably nervy. Neither side wanted to risk giving away an early goal but then disaster for Wolves, as a freekick was swung over Gray was pushed to the ground by Craddock, the incident was spotted and a penalty was awarded. Gray picked himself up and calmly slotted home the spot kick. Half of the stadium erupted and with only 14 minutes gone Hull were in the driving seat. The goal really settled the Tigers down and they started to pass the ball around with more confidence and it paid off in the 26th minute as a long throw from Freddy Guarin was met by an excellent header from Stuart Elliott. 2-0 and the game was pretty much done. Dropping a little deeper in defence and making sure we kept the ball we kept Wolves at bay, only allowing them half chances and ambitious long shots. The final whistle blew and Hull City were in the Premiership! Hull 2 (2 - 0) 0 Wolves Stack; Soma, Delaney, Mullins; Martins, Guarin; Anderson, Adu, Elliott; Crouch, Gray. Subs: Myhill, Heikkinen, Healy, Fernandes, Huckerby. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted May 3, 2005 Author Share Posted May 3, 2005 Preseason 2007/2008 Having gained promotion through the playoffs were are obviously favourites to go straight back down. I am fairly confident however that we can avoid this. The board have given me £4.1m to dabble in the transfer market and have upped the wage budget by £90k to £240k. They have also announced that the stadium will be expanded again and will be just under 43,500. The works will cost £9.5m and will be complete in mid November. So into the transfer market we go and despite the wage budget being expanded a few unnecessary players are sold on or released. Markus Heikkinen has slipped down the pecking order and will be out of his depth in the Premiership, he is released and continues his career in his native Finland. Andy Dawson is also released to play at a lower level, he signs for Preston. John Hardiker, one of my first signings is now way out of his league and joins Leyton Orient. Fabrice Fernandes has not really broken into the team and after being offered around, he joins Spurs for £1.2m. Labinot Harbuzi had promised much when he arrived but hadnt shown any real signs of improvement and joined Chelsea in a deal worth £750k. The squad strengthening began with the free transfer of David Healy from Preston. A strong striker who will feature heavily in the clubs fight for survival. Two new goalkeepers were added to keep Graham Stack on his toes although he is likely to be on the bench this season. Michael Rensing is expected to be first choice between the sticks after a £1.4m move from Dortmund. Greg Etafia is a relatively unknown Nigerian picked up from Moroka Swallows in South Africa for £190k, he will compete for the bench with Stack. Strong centre bcak Robert Huth was brought in from Chelsea for £1.4m and I am really pleased to have him as I believe he could be in the side for many seasons to come. As we dont have a quality left back at the club Christoffer Andersson will be asked to play there for the time being. He has been playing on the right wing since arriving but can play on either side of midfield or defence. He is predominantly right footed but hopefully this shouldnt matter too much. We will need to bring in a replacedment for Anderssoon on the right hand side and available on a free is Jan Gunnar Solli another good young player who has already tasted european football. Those were the main signings, apart from that we made a real investment in the youth team, bringing in many promising talents from around the country. Te most promising of these is an attacking midfielder by the name of TJ McClory-Cuthbertson, a bit of a mouthful for any commentator! With all these comings and goings in the summer we only played on friendly. Solli (2), Martins and Huckerby scored as we saw off Lille 4-1. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Johnston Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Good luck in the Prem! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted May 4, 2005 Author Share Posted May 4, 2005 August 2007 The first month in the Premiership showed that we were going to struggle unless we learnt fast. It didnt help that our first game was against Liverpool at the New Anfield. We battled hard in the first half but in the second their class showed and we eventually lost 3-0. Our first home game gave us a glimmer of hope though as we defeated Aston Villa 2-1 with goals from Freddy Adu and David Healy. It seemed that we would struggle on the road as Newcastle were too good at St James' Park and we again went down 3-0. A home game against Charlton would be a good chance to get another win but when Freddy Adu was sent off we never looked like threatening them and might have been fortunate to draw 0-0. September 2007 Things start to pick up a bit in September. First up is a trip to Sheffield to face Wednesday in front of the live TV cameras. They went up ahead of us last season so would be one of the best chances of picking up away points, and we do. Freddy Guarin bags a brace in a 2-0 win. Next up is another 2-0 win at home to Leicester. Its the Healy show as the goals are scored by David and Colin. We squeeze through the second round of the League Cup against Portsmouth. I decided to field a lot of the promising youngsters and it was one of these, Danny Smith, that salvaged a 1-1 draw. We eventually went through 2-1 in a poor quality penalty shootout. David Healy rescued a point for us at Nottingham Forest and then we finished the month hosting moneybags Chelsea. We put up an excellent fight but its just not enough and we go down 2-1. Its been a pretty successful month, picking up 7 points and Stuart Elliott picks up the Player of the Month award. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted May 6, 2005 Author Share Posted May 6, 2005 October 2007 October started with two hard games in a row, Arsenal away and Man Utd at home. Somehow we managed to take 4 points from the two games! Freddy Adu and Peter Crouch got the goals in a fine 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium. Crouch was on target again in the match against Man Utd, David Healy netting the second equaliser for a 2-2 draw. Bolton were next in the 3rd round of the League Cup and it was another chance to rest some of the bigger names and give some of the young players a chance. Unfortunately the deadlock couldnt be broken and in another poor penalty shootout we lost 3-0. The hangover from the League Cup exit continued into the weekend as Everton strolled to a 2-0 win. November 2007 Only 3 games were played in November due to internationals but still began with renewed optimism as we convincingly rolled Birmingham over 3-0. Peter Crouch was to thank fro salvaging a 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough before we returned to the now expanded KC Stadium to play Blackburn. A new record crowd of 40,123 were present to see the team beat Blackburn thanks to a solitary Guarin strike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pints of Whisky Posted May 6, 2005 Author Share Posted May 6, 2005 December 2007 In contrast to November, there would be 7 matches in December thanks to the traditionally busy christmas period. I was glad for the international break as it meant that the squad had had plenty of rest. This didnt seem to have the desired effect though as the team struggled through the month picking up just a two points. back to back 1-0 defeats to Southampton at home and Bolton away were followed by a battling draw at home to Fulham. Tottenham were too good at White Hart Lane and ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. There would be little festive cheer as both David Healy and Peter Crouch were sent off in the first half against Manchester City at home. The 9 remaining men fought well but eventually went down 1-0. A hard fought 0-0 draw against Liverpool raised spirits on Boxing day but only a few days later a Stuart Elliott goal wasnt enough to take a point at Villa. Hopefully we would be able to turn things around in the new year and fortunes would change. January 2008 It didnt appear that fortunes would change as we started the new year with back to back 3-0 defeats. Firstly at home against Newcastle who seem to like playing against us. The second was a very disappointing result against Watford in the FA Cup. What made it even more disappointing was that it was a full strength team that lost. It was time to open the check book to try and solve our problems. The first to arrive was young frenchman Matthieu Flamini from Arsenal for £1.8m. Highly rated but not in the first team plans at Arsenal so he was pleased to get the opportunity of first team football. He made his debut in a 2-2 draw against Charlton at the Valley. The second signing would be relative unknown Lebohang Mokoena. A strong powerful forward, he would hopefully provide a big presence up front that we seem to have been lacking lately. Arriving from Orlando Pirates in South Africa for just £250k he went striaght into the starting line up for the game at home to Sheffield Wednesday. And what a debut he had! Scoring his first after just 2 minutes, and adding a second late on to secure a fantastic 3-2 win to break our run of 10 games without a win. Charlton must have been keeping tabs on our squad as they came in with a rather pleasantly surprising offer for Colin Healy. Healy has barely featured this season, only covering injuries and suspensions, and now with the arrival of Flamini is 4th choice for his position. £2.3m was too good an offer to refuse and off he went. The morale of the team seemed to lift almost overnight as the next game away at Leicester ended with a fantastic 4-1 win. Despite our poor start to the month Freddy Guarin had still managed to play well and was rewarded for his hard work with a young player of the month award. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 7, 2005 Share Posted May 7, 2005 Keep up the good work mate, looking forward to your next installment! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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