kroblues FC United Championship 2016/17
I felt we didn’t really need much more strengthening this window, except where players had been let go. Ishmael Miller arrived for £200k from West Brom to replace Mosalman who left in the other direction for £550k. Numerous youngsters were bought in, most notably Andras Horvath, who formed the second half of my Hungarian CB partnership along with Kovacs. Raul, Mucha and Martinez were the new full backs, while the first choice full backs were Kerrea Gilbert on a free to replace Morris, who joined Dundee Utd for £325k, and Liam Russell, who returned for another loan spell, and in fact became the highest appearance maker, despite playing entirely on loan for us. He will be joining us next season however. Vlastimil Vlacek became another in a long line of keepers who have and will challenge Amos for the #1 shirt. Two other loans were Chris Horne, who has agreed to join on a free next year, a MC from Newcastle, and Paul Griffiths, who returns for another spell.
In the cups, we didn’t perform spectacularly. Walsall were dispatched by the reserves in the Carling Cup 1st round 2-0, but we were dumped out by Premier League Sheffield Wednesday 1-0. In the FA Cup we were beaten 4-2 by Wigan, a certain Danny Wellbeck, making his debut after a £6M move from Chelsea scored all 4.
We lost 3 of the first 5 league games, but won the other 2 and we were above a point a game, which was my target. Coming up to half way, both Miller and Hunter were proving to be a good partnership, Miller netting 19 times and Hunter scoring 9 as we finished the first half of the season in 10th, well above where I was expecting to be, but I wasn’t going to complain about a mid-table finish. Lee Peters joined from Man City for £500k in January, and his pace down the flank really helped as he set up 8 goals and helped with our charge up the table as we were beaten only once from January to March, and this put us in a playoff position, but automatic promotion was never going to happen. Only 2 more defeats followed in the remaining games, as we secured a very unexpected playoff position, and with my record I was feeling very confident, especially with the form of Miller and Hunter. Miller had managed to break King’s goalscoring season records and finished with 37 in the regular season, with a good chance of breaking 40 goals. Hunter finished with 26 goals, and has the record of 57 league goals in only 69 appearances.
Onto the playoffs, and we would play Ipswich in the semi-final, and we have never beaten them. The first game finished 1-1, as Hunter’s goal was cancelled out by league top scorer Danny Richardson, who scored 43 in the league. In the second leg we would likely have to beat Ipswich for the first time, and forgotten man Dave Cotterill came in from the cold to score two, while Miller added his 38th of the season to give us a 3-0 win and put us into the final for a place in the Premiership.
It didn’t start well. QPR’s top scorer put them in to an early lead which we struggled to equalise. Equalise we did, however, as Miller powered home his 39th of the season. His 40th came soon after with a perfect lob to end QPR’s hopes and give us a 2-1 win to put us into the Premiership!
Final Position: 4rd (Playoffs)
Top Scorer: Ishmael Miller- 40
Most Assists: Ishmael Miller- 15
Highest Rating: Ishmael Miller- 7.32
One to Watch: Scott Whelan- 19 y/o who already has over 50 appearances
Code:
Season League Position Points GD Notes
09/10 BSN 1st 84 +40 Promoted as Champions
10/11 BSP 6th 72 +19 –
11/12 BSP 3rd 88 +32 Promoted through Playoffs
12/13 CCL2 6th 81 +29 Promoted through Playoffs
13/14 CCL1 3rd 87 +41 Promoted through Playoffs
14/15 CCC 22nd 43 -18 Relegated
15/16 CCL1 3rd 87 +32 Promoted through playoffs
16/17 CCC 4th 85 +34 Promoted through playoffs
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