[FM15] The Hart Chronicles - Volume I: Paul Hart's Alphabet Career

[PaulHartman71]

January

A nice 3-1 away win against Plymouth was secured thanks to a brace from Carlos Robles. We also beat Bradford without any real difficulty away from home. We've got Aston Villa or Reading in the next round depending on their replay - I'd rather Reading as Villa are a mid-table Prem side.

A bit of a ropey month in the league. We got two 1-0 victories against Middlesbrough and Fleetwood but we were poor in Brighton and deserved to lose 2-0. The most disappointing loss was by far the home loss to Peterborough where we'd been 2-0 up - an absolute disgrace to throw away 3 points against a side we should definitely be beating at home, that result could cost us considerably in our bid for automatic promotion.

We're down to 4th and Reading behind us still have games in hand on us. It's very very tight though with no clear favorite apart from Reading for the other automatic spot.

Oh yeah - Berahino refused to renew his loan deal so we've lost him

[PaulHartman71]

February

We got Villa away in the 5th round of the FA Cup. They're solid mid-table Prem side so it was always going to be a hard game. Went 2-0 down and I was over the moon that we managed to claw it back to 2-2 - we weren't too far away from a replay at our place, but a last minute goal on the counter finished us off. A great effort though.

Not the easiest of months in the league. 2 wins against Leyton Orient and Cardiff but we lost away to Brentford and drew 3 other games this month. They were away games but we should really have won 1 or 2 of them if we're gonna get automatic promotion - it's looking less likely by the day.

We're 2nd but Reading have 4 games in hand - for anyone interested (deltablue ) they just lost the first leg of their 1st knockout round match away to Zenit. Our next match is Leicester at home which is an absolute must win if we have any chance of going up automatically.

[PaulHartman71]

March

A fantastic month apart from an away loss to promotion rivals Wolves. We beat Leicester in our must win game that gave us a big boost - although obviously following this we lost away to Wolves which threatened to render that victory worthless. Luckily since then we've won 4 in a row and are right back up there.

A big 6 games coming up. We have Reading at home and QPR away but apart from that we have no games with any of the top 8. We lost to Reading away but I reckon at home we could at least draw. Leicester and Reading still have to play each other at Leicester, with Leicester also having Sunderland away and Middlesbrough at home. Reading also have Wolves at home. I'd say we have the easier run in out of Leicester and Reading so we could well snatch an automatic promotion place!

[PaulHartman71]

April

An excellent month with only one slip-up away to Rotherham. We were fantastic against QPR to beat them 3-0 at their place - we were quite lucky to win 1-0 at Burnley too. Exeter at home was frustrating too as Zach Clough actually had a hat-trick of goals all ruled out for offside before he finally scored two goals that were allowed. He'd also had a 90th minute equaliser at Rotherham ruled out for offside.

Thanks to other teams slipping up we've done it. We've got promoted. I'm pleased but I want to win the trophy itself. It's quite simple. If we beat Reading we're champions - anything less and it's theirs.

[DavidBeckham]

Congrats on the promotion mate! Really looking forward to the final day!

[deltablue]

You had me worried for a while.

[PaulHartman71]

May

Reading have been excellent all season so they would've been very disappointed to blow winning the league on the last day of the season. We opened the scoring just after the half hour mark thanks to one of the funniest own goals I've ever seen - a Reading defender smashed the ball away from a corner straight into his own team-mate, Aissa Mandi, and the ball subsequently cannoned in to give us the lead. Things went from bad to worse for Mandi as just 5 minutes later he picked up a second bookable offence and was sent off. We were quite comfortable once we had the 1 man advantage and Zach Clough doubled our lead soon after half-time. Reading did get a goal back though and I was very worried in the latter stages of the match that we might blow it - but Clough confirmed our victory and the Championship in injury time when he scored to make it 3-1.

[deltablue]

Heck yeah!

[PaulHartman71]

Season 10 - (I)pswich

Promotion was always the goal the season and with the finances and the squad available it would have been a failure to not do so. But there have been a lot of strong sides in the Championship this sides - Reading, Sunderland, Leicester and Wolves were all no mugs so we have still done very well to win the league especially as we didn't look like winning it for much of the middle to end of the season.

Squad pt 1, Squad pt 2

Neither Zach Clough or Stevie May managed to stay fit all season - but it was their goals that took us up. Steve Lester on the right wing provided a number of goals and assists which also helped - whilst Jack Baldwin and Shane Duffy at CB, Nathan Ake at DM and Alex McCarthy in goal formed a solid defensive core which served us well in most games.

GK - Alex McCarthy was a great signing for what we paid and was very solid - he made a lot of fantastic saves throughout the season.

DR - Chris Solly was a very capable first choice RB who did well

DL - Horour Magnusson was probably the weak leak in our defence if there was one - but he was still good enough for Championship level. Kieran Gibbs was a decent enough back-up.

DC - Jack Baldwin and Shane Duffy formed a great partnership at CB - Baldwin was also useful and filled in at DM from time to time.

DM - Nathan Ake was great at DM and fantastic for this level - could definitely do a job in the Prem and will find his way into my Dutch squad for the Euros

MC - Archie Buck was a very capable CM when fit. He missed a fair chunk of games but Ruben Loftus Cheek filled in well for him.

AMR - Chris Lester was a good first choice. Dieter Kind was pretty poor in all honesty and not the best signing.

AML - Gaudalupe, my protege from Getafe, did well when he was fit but unfortunately he struggled with injuries and only started 20 odd games. Di Maria filled in for him and was okay - but not overly impressive.

CAM - Edu Borrell did well when fit but he wasn't fit that often. Johannes Wurtz wasn't a great back-up and Berahino featured at CAM quite frequently during his 3 month loan spell at the club.

ST - Stevie May and Zach Clough provided the goals between them - Clough's the better player and will be good enough for the Prem next season. Stevie a capable back-up. Carlos Robles, my other Getafe protege, struggled to adapt to the English game as well as injuries - he did manage 5 in 14 starts though and is showing signs of improvement.

History

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season     Club                Division          Position      Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15    Arsenal             Premier League    2nd           League Cup winners 
2015/16    Arsenal             Premier League    1st           Champions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        3rd           German Cup & Europa League winners
2017/18    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        2nd           Euro Super Cup & German Super Cup winners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           Confederations Cup runners up 
2018       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           N/A
2019       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           African Cup of Nations winners 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    Dinamo Moscow       Russian PL        2nd           Russian Cup winners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20    Everton             Premier League    2nd           N/A
2020/21    Everton             Premier League    7th           League Cup winners. Champions League runners up
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020       France              N/A               N/A           N/A
2021       France              N/A               N/A           European Nations League winner
2022       France              N/A               N/A           World Cup winner
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    Getafe              La Liga           5th           N/A
2022/23    Getafe              La Liga           9th           Europa League semi finalists 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2023       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Ipswich Town        Championship      1st           Promoted as Champions  

Trophy Cabinet

[u][b]International
[/b][/u]
African Cup of Nations  x1 - 2019 (Cameroon)

European Nations League x1 - 2021 (France)

World Cup               x1 - 2022 (France)


[u][b]Continental[/b][/u] 

Europa League       x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund) 
European Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

[u][b]England[/b][/u]

Premier League x1 - 2015/16 (Arsenal)
League Cup     x2 - 2014/15 (Arsenal), 2020/21 (Everton)
Championship   x1 - 2023/24 (Ipswich) 

[b][u]Germany[/u]
[/b]
German Cup        x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund)
German Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

[u][b]Russia[/b][/u]

Russian Cup x1 - 2018/19 (Dinamo Moscow)

[PaulHartman71]

Euros Preview

One issue that Jasper Cillessen misses out through injury which means Mickey van der Hart who isn't thaaaat great will have to start.

Ultimately - if Depay turns up we can do well. Zivkovic will also be important. Mulder is a fantastic CB too.

We should be getting through the group without too much trouble but I'm not confident we can beat Spain and top the group.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Well done Paul. Good luck in the Euros.

[PaulHartman71]

And to think they were considering sacking me for coming 9th and getting a Europa League Semi :D

[PaulHartman71]

Euros

A poor yet somewhat predictable start to our campaign as we lost 2-0 to a very strong Spain side. We bounced back against Austria to win 4-1 and get back some of our confidence. Then came Slovenia. My word! A combination of Slovenia being utterly turd and us actually turning up and playing with confidence lead to us absolutely embarrassing Slovenia and beating them 7-0.

We've got England in the Second Round which is not the best of draws as they're a quality side in the game. I did beat England with France at the last World Cup but that was with a France side with a lot more quality than my Dutch side. However following the Austria and Slovenia game we are on somewhat of a roll so perhaps we can hold England to penalties and then knock them out.

[PaulHartman71]

Euros

A huge performance against England saw us put 3 past them with no reply. Tonny Trinidade had a fantastic game to get the opening goal and two assists for Depay - unfortunately for us Tonny was injured late in the game which put him out for the rest of the tournament.

Croatia were a tough side but I would be lying if I said I wasn't glad to have drawn them considering the likes of Spain, Italy and Germany were all potential opponents. We went 1-0 down early on in the first half and we looked really poor - I was expecting us to go out when Depay popped up to get an assist and then a 59th minute winner to put us into the Semi Final.

I was pretty surprised to see Denmark in the Semi Final but they did knock out Italy to get this far so they were clearly no mugs. Jean-Paul Boetius scored early in the first half and despite some half-decent Denmark chances we held on until the 82nd minute when Depay doubled our lead to give us a surprise place in the final.

We were quite lucky to have got to the final as a result of a very fortunate set of draws - in a sense our luck run out as we were given Portugal in the final, a tough team but they're not Spain, Germany or Italy - though I noticed that Portugal had knocked out Spain so they were clearly a half decent team. Our players were knackered going into this game - Depay started it with 80 percent fitness but he's so important he had to play. We went 1-0 down early on in the first half but we had a lot of chances and I thought we could well get back in the game. Cristiano Ronaldo had other ideas though as the 39 year old put 2 past us in quick succession after half-time to make it 3-0.

3-0 is a pretty bad score-line but it's not totally embarrassing. Soon after Ronaldo's 3rd we had Thom Haye sent off which put us down to 10 men to make things even worse. It got to about the 65 minute and I just thought - I'm not planning on staying as Holland manager after this game, so **** it, let's just go all guns blazing and overload it. I was a bit worried to do this as Portugal could easily have countered us to death and put 6 or 7 past us and made it an absolute embarrassment - but we got this far to the final, we might as well try. We got a fluky corner on the 78th minute and low and behold - Milan Alkemade popped up to score. What followed this was absolute madness. Alkemade dispossessed Ronaldo from kick-off, tried to pass it into the box from the right flank but a Portuguese defender half-heartedly knocked it out for a corner, however Alkemade somehow chased it down and put in a cross from literally on the line into the box to a completely un-marked Depay who smashed home our 2nd in a minute.

Our comeback was short lived as we got absolutely done on the counter in the 87th minute where Ronaldo completed his hat-trick to make it 4-2 - but for 10 minutes we certainly made a game of it!

[PaulHartman71]

Season 10 - (H)olland

It was disappointing to lose in the final of the Euros but I'm still pleased that we actually managed to get there in the first place - I spent a lot of my time as Holland boss resigned to mediocrity as the side really wasn't all that special apart from a few players - namely Depay. They did me proud to reach the final of the Euros but I'm also quite pleased to now hand in my resignation as managing them felt like a chore a lot of the time.

History

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season     Club                Division          Position      Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15    Arsenal             Premier League    2nd           League Cup winners 
2015/16    Arsenal             Premier League    1st           Champions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        3rd           German Cup & Europa League winners
2017/18    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        2nd           Euro Super Cup & German Super Cup winners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           Confederations Cup runners up 
2018       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           N/A
2019       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           African Cup of Nations winners 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    Dinamo Moscow       Russian PL        2nd           Russian Cup winners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20    Everton             Premier League    2nd           N/A
2020/21    Everton             Premier League    7th           League Cup winners. Champions League runners up
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020       France              N/A               N/A           N/A
2021       France              N/A               N/A           European Nations League winner
2022       France              N/A               N/A           World Cup winner
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    Getafe              La Liga           5th           N/A
2022/23    Getafe              La Liga           9th           Europa League semi finalists 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2023       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2024       Holland             N/A               N/A           European Championship runners up
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Ipswich Town        Championship      1st           Promoted as Champions  

Trophy Cabinet

[u][b]International
[/b][/u]
African Cup of Nations  x1 - 2019 (Cameroon)

European Nations League x1 - 2021 (France)

World Cup               x1 - 2022 (France)


[u][b]Continental[/b][/u] 

Europa League       x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund) 
European Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

[u][b]England[/b][/u]

Premier League x1 - 2015/16 (Arsenal)
League Cup     x2 - 2014/15 (Arsenal), 2020/21 (Everton)
Championship   x1 - 2023/24 (Ipswich) 

[b][u]Germany[/u]
[/b]
German Cup        x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund)
German Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

[u][b]Russia[/b][/u]

Russian Cup x1 - 2018/19 (Dinamo Moscow)

[PaulHartman71]

J-Watch

Juventus were runners-up in Serie A last season - they also went out in the quarter final in the Champions League and lost in the final of the Italian Cup. I was hoping this would be considered enough of a failure to sack Unai Emery - but he didn't even reach insecure. Elsewhere - Juve Stabia actually managed to finish 4th in Serie B - which appears to be their highest finish ever which has now made their manager very secure

There was some progress though as Jaen have been promoted to the LIGA adelante meaning they are a new option - their manager is "very secure" but perhaps if they look close to relegation he might get the sack at some point this season. Jamaica have now also popped up as manageable for me - unfortunately they're currently top of their World Cup qualifying group and look dead set to qualify, with their manager also "very secure". There is a Gold Cup scheduled for the end of next season though - so hopefully with any luck they have an absolute stinker and sack their manager.

Otherwise - I'm now gearing up for pre-season and the transfer window ahead of my first season in the Premier League with Ipswich

Oh I forgot to add that following a poor Euros for England - Roberto Martinez was sacked. I was offered the job which was nice but unfortunately I had to turn it down. It should be nice to have a break from international management for a while though.

[PaulHartman71]

July/August

It's been an interesting summer at Ipswich. The most notable departure of course being star striker Zach Clough leaving for £20M - I didn't intend to sell him but he had a lot of interest in him and he was desperate to leave for a bigger club, who was I to stop him? I wanted £20M for him and my old club coughed up the cash for Clough. He should score them a lot of goals this season. Edu Borrell also left - he was alright last season and I didn't particularly intend to get rid of him, but I was a bit skeptical about how good he would be in the Prem, so to get £11M for him which is about £9M profit from what I paid last season for him was good enough for me to sell. I didn't rate Dieter Kind at all last season so when West Ham offered me £500K more than I paid for him I took it. Stevie May also left - I didn't intend to sell him either but he was desperate to join Celtic so I let him. Johannes Wurtz was the only other notable departure - I let him go for nothing to get him off the wage budget - he joined Sunderland.

I didn't spend a massive amount this summer but I did get in a fair few players. Virgillio Benitez joins from Stuttgart to be our new first choice striker - he looks good but is untested in the Premier League so it is a risk. Mauro Mallorca joins to be our new first choice CAM and looks a bargain for £5M. Taulant Dervishi joins to be our new first choice left back - the versatile Albanian should be a fine signing. Allan Petit joins from Bordeaux to give competition for Guadaloupe on the left wing - he looks a good player. Luca Palmieri joins to be new first choice RB and looks a solid signing for £2.7M. Saido Berahino rejoins us now we're in the PL - I'm hoping he can recapture some of the form he had for me at Everton. Jasper Cillessen did well for me at Holland despite missing the Euros through injury - he will challenge Alex McCarthy for first choice Goalkeeper this season.

Another old friend joins us in 35 year old Mesut Ozil - he's spent two years at Celtic and been retrained as a right winger, he joins us to give back-up at RW as well as give us a lot of experience and versatility in multiple positions. Oriol Rosell joins from my old side Getafe, he's a decent DM/MC and will be a good option for us there. Jack Wilshere was my final signing and he joins me from my old side Arsenal - Jack should be challenging for a place in the starting 11 as he is still talented despite being unwanted by Arsenal.

That's what our first choice 11 at any given time should look like. It should be enough to keep us up.

To give some perspective that is how the Premier League finished last season

[PaulHartman71]

August

I put out the second string to take on Bristol City at home and we won pretty comfortably in the end. Horour Magnusson scored a thunderous free-kick to put us ahead on the hour mark. 17 year old Tom Hartley came off the bench to make his debut for Ipswich and what a debut it was! The young striker scored a brace in the last 10 minutes. I shall be keeping an eye on him!

We've not started too badly in the Premier League - we drew 0-0 away to Derby which was a decent point as they should be a relegation rival so losing that would've been a big blow. We did lose at home to Man United but they're a strong side that finished 3rd last season. I was delighted to beat Fulham 2-0 at home as they came 4th last season so they're in theory a good side. I'm not sure where we're at just yet - a bit worrying that Virgilio Benitez hasn't scored his first goal for the club yet but i'll give it a few games to see how we go.

[PaulHartman71]

September

I put out the second string again as we played Cardiff at home in 3rd round of the League Cup. It was the substitute, 17 year old Tom Hartley who popped up yet again to score his 3rd goal for the club in 2 substitute appearances to put us through.

A strange month. We avoided defeat against the champions away from home which is a massive result especially considering we were 2-0 down within 9 minutes. Robles late goal gave us a massive point. We then drew at home to my old side Everton which was another decent point - we played quite well against a lot of my old team, we just lacked a goal. We lost 3-1 away to West Brom which was disappointing, especially to let in 3.

I am getting a bit worried that neither Benitez or Berahino are scoring when I play them up-front in the league. I may resort to giving Robles a shot or maybe even 17 year old Tom Hartley as he has scored a few for us in the League Cup albeit against inferior opposition.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Not time to panic just yet.

[PaulHartman71]

October

A damning score-line in my return to my old club in the League Cup. We were 2-0 down at half-time and looked very unimpressive - I made a few changes including bringing on League Cup sensation Tom Hartley, who in the 69th minute managed to score yet again to bring it back to 2-1. We went for it at this point and it back-fired massively. Everton scored from a superb goal direct from a free-kick to make it 3-1. Not long after that - Nathan Ake picked up a second yellow and was sent off. We then got done twice on the counter in the last ten minutes to give us a quite embarrassing 5-1 loss.

In the league we picked up another win as we beat Newcastle at home - the two wingers getting the goals. We then lost away to Chelsea - they're a decent size and it's not an easy place to go so it wasn't the worst result in the world. We then lost 2-1 to Aston Villa which was gutting as we really should have got a point out of this game as we had plenty of chances to do so. Our defence isn't actually all that bad - if we had a striker who could regularly bang in goals then we'd be somewhat of a force to be reckoned with. Letting Clough go is looking like a really bad decision at the moment - I think I will actually hand a start to 17 year old Tom Hartley as he seems to be the only one regularly scoring even if it is only in League Cup sub appearances.

[PaulHartman71]

November

Not the best month by anyone's standards. We managed a 1-1 away draw to fellow promoted side Reading - Tom Hartley came off the bench to grab a crucial equaliser. We then lost 3-1 to City at home. We followed this up with a 3-1 loss to Norwich away from home which was pretty gutting - it was a very close match and at 2-1 we were very much in the game and almost levelled several times - but Norwich scored a late goal on the counter to put us down. Our home game against my old side Arsenal started fantastically - we were 2-0 up within 16 minutes with Virgilio Benitez having scored his first ever goal for the club - everything was looking great, but Arsenal had other ideas. 3 of their goals were absolute screamers from 30/35 yards and there other one came directly from a free-kick. It was an awful end to a match that started so promising - despite scoring early on, Virgilio Benitez had a very poor match.

It's not looking all that good at the moment especially if Derby win their game in hand on us.

[PaulHartman71]

December

A big month but one we did well in. We lost 3-1 at Anfield which was disappointing but we bounced back from that defeat to narrowly beat Wolves at home thanks to a last gasp penalty winner from Berahino. We then went to West Ham and went 1-0 up early - in the end it was disappointing not to hang on for all 3 points as West Ham equalised late in the second half. I didn't know what to think when we went 3-0 down at home to Southampton, we were awful - but then Tom Hartley kick started the come-back of all come-backs as Guadulupe made it 3-2 minutes later and then Jack Baldwin popped up to head home a 91st minute equaliser.

The momentum from getting that game back to 3-3 was taken into our next two matches as we won 2-0 away at Watford and then 1-0 at Stoke thanks to a last minute winner from Chris Lester.

A good run has lead to us being 7 points clear of the drop zone for now which gives some room to breathe for a while.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Damn you beat Stoke.

[PaulHartman71]

January

I got offered £5M for Benitez which was £2M short of what I paid for him - he was utterly useless up-front so I was delighted to even get that for him. Alvarez and Di Maria left on free transfers - didn't pay much for either and was glad to get them off the wage budget.

I made two transfers in January. Jordan Rhodes joins as a cheap and cheerful striker that should at least guarantee some goals. Victor Manuel Romero joins as a CB to challenge and rotate Duffy and Baldwin.

In a cruel twist of fate for QPR - their ex-player and our new signing Jordan Rhodes scored the opener against them in the FA Cup within 30 seconds of his debut. Robles scored later to guarantee our passage to the next round. What followed in the 4th round was mind-boggling. We put 7 - yes SEVEN - past a pretty awful Rotherham side in a game where Tom Hartley scored an unprecedented 4 goals for us. Cult hero Horour Magnusson was also on the score-sheet - he scored a trademark free-kick from 30 years which was Roberto Carlos-esque and then he smashed in another on the hour mark. Baldwin also grabbed a goal in a game where we could easily have got 10.

It's been another promising month in the Premier League. We beat Derby 3-1 at home with new boy Jordan Rhodes grabbing a brace, he equalled the amount of PL goals that Benitez scored in his entire season in his debut against Derby. We then won 3-2 away at Fulham with Carlos Robles grabbing an 82nd minute winner after we'd initially squandered a 2-0 lead. We lost away to United but we put in a decent performance considering they're top of the league. We followed that up with a 1-1 draw with champions Tottenham in a game we could well have won with a bit more luck - we've avoided defeat twice against Spurs which is nice.

[PaulHartman71]

February

We're out of the FA Cup. We played well but just didn't have enough for United.

An okay month in the league. We beat West Brom 2-1 thanks to another last gasp goal from Chris Lester. We drew away to Newcastle 1-1, it's not the best result but it was important not to lose there. We lost to Everton and Chelsea but those weren't games I was expecting too much from.

We're not 6 points off the drop. I'm hoping we can stay up - West Ham seem very good at accumulating draws though which all add up.

[PaulHartman71]

March

A decent month with 4 points from 9. A high scoring draw away to Villa thanks to a goal from Rhodes and a brace from Chris Lester. We followed that up with nice home win against fellow promoted side Reading. We got hammered away to City which was disappointing but I wasn't expecting much from it anyway.

9 points clear with 8 games left - it would take a big disaster to go down now.

[PaulHartman71]

April

A great month which saw us win twice, draw once and lose to Arsenal. A brace from Guadalupe helped us to beat Norwich at home. On my return to the Emirates Stadium we went 3-0 down within half an hour - the boys fought back to get it back to 3-3 which was amazing but they didn't have enough as Arsenal countered and got two more goals late on - decent game though! Mallorca scored the only goal in an away win against fellow relegation-battling Wolves and he also got our equaliser in a good home draw with Liverpool.

We're pretty much confirmed as staying at up at this point - especially as we have Watford at home left to play and they have amassed just 2 wins all season.

[PaulHartman71]

May

A nice undefeated streak to end the season. The highlight was Tom Hartley coming off the bench to grab a winner in our 1-0 win over Watford. Mauro Mallorca scored an absolutely outrageous goal away to Stoke to grab a point too.

11 points off of the relegation zone marks a good success for us this season - although I can't help but feel jealous of fellow promoted side Reading who managed to finish 5th!!

[PaulHartman71]

Season 11 - (I)pswich

Staying up was the target I was given for this season so I'm happy enough to have achieved that. There were times when it looked like we might go down which was worrying as I think the squad we had was definitely better than that - our only real issue was struggling to get a striker to regularly score. Jordan Rhodes came in and got some as a stop-gap signing - I'm hoping I can buy someone else in the summer who is top quality.

Squad pt 1, Squad pt 2

Nathan Ake was the rock of the team at DM. Mauro Mallorca had a good season at CAM especially in the later stages of the season when he started scoring a lot - he did have a few injury worries throughout the season though. Chris Lester was a great hard worker at RW - he popped up with lots of vital goals late on.

GK - Cillessen was a good first choice with McCarthy a fine back-up on the occasions he was required.

DR - Luca Palmieri was a decent signing - not amazing but okay at this level.

DL - Taulant Dervishi was similar - nothing special but great value for what we paid and capable at this level.

DC - Jack Baldwin and Shane Duffy were good enough at CB with Victor Manuel Romero coming in and doing a decent job as stop-gap back-up. Henrik Nillsson and Horour Magnusson were also decent versatile defensive options.

DM - Nathan Ake was great again at DM. Oriol Rosell wasn't great as back-up and I'll be looking to get someone else in next season.

MC - Wilshere was poor and it was clear to see why Arsenal released him. Ben Gould, an Ipswich academy graduate who was on loan at Sheffield last season, burst onto the scene and put in great performance after great performance to cement his place in the team. Archie Buck also played a bit and was a good squad player.

AMR - Chris Lester isn't particularly great at this level stat wise, but the guy puts a hell of a shift in and racked up 8 goals and 12 assists proving he's a worthy winger for a Prem side. Ozil was past it and barely featured once I worked out he weren't anywhere near the same level he once was for me. Carlos Robles featured as a squad player on the right wing as and he managed to rack up a few goals.

AML - Gaudalupe and new signing Allan Petit battled it out for first choice - the former was injured for the first half of the season, Petit wasn't hugely impressive and Gaudalupe was when he came back so got the nod during the latter parts of the season.

CAM - Mauro Mallorca was a solid first choice when he was injury free. Archie Buck filled in well enough when he wasn't. Berahino was pretty awful.

ST - Our new signing Benitez was garbage really and was duly sold in Janury. Jordan Rhodes came in as a stop gap signing and scored 8 goals in 19 league games - not an amazing record but it was enough to help keep us up. Tom Hartley was the revelation of the season - he went into the season a 17 year old youth academy player who only had 3 senior appearances at League 1 level to his name. He ended it an 18 year old back-up striker with 11 senior goals to his name - admittedly 8 of those came in the cup games but he still had a remarkable season.

History

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season     Club                Division          Position      Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15    Arsenal             Premier League    2nd           League Cup winners 
2015/16    Arsenal             Premier League    1st           Champions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        3rd           German Cup & Europa League winners
2017/18    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        2nd           Euro Super Cup & German Super Cup winners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           Confederations Cup runners up 
2018       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           N/A
2019       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           African Cup of Nations winners 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    Dinamo Moscow       Russian PL        2nd           Russian Cup winners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20    Everton             Premier League    2nd           N/A
2020/21    Everton             Premier League    7th           League Cup winners. Champions League runners up
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020       France              N/A               N/A           N/A
2021       France              N/A               N/A           European Nations League winner
2022       France              N/A               N/A           World Cup winner
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    Getafe              La Liga           5th           N/A
2022/23    Getafe              La Liga           9th           Europa League semi finalists 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2023       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2024       Holland             N/A               N/A           European Championship runners up
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Ipswich Town        Championship      1st           Promoted as Champions  
2024/25    Ipswich Town        Premier League    13rd          N/A

Trophy Cabinet

[u][b]International
[/b][/u]
African Cup of Nations  x1 - 2019 (Cameroon)

European Nations League x1 - 2021 (France)

World Cup               x1 - 2022 (France)


[u][b]Continental[/b][/u] 

Europa League       x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund) 
European Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

[u][b]England[/b][/u]

Premier League x1 - 2015/16 (Arsenal)
League Cup     x2 - 2014/15 (Arsenal), 2020/21 (Everton)
Championship   x1 - 2023/24 (Ipswich) 

[b][u]Germany[/u]
[/b]
German Cup        x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund)
German Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

[u][b]Russia[/b][/u]

Russian Cup x1 - 2018/19 (Dinamo Moscow)

[deltablue]

And you finished above Norwich.

[PaulHartman71]

J-Watch

Juventus finished 2nd this season again - they were knocked of the Champions League at the Group Stage finishing bottom of their group. This was not enough to take Unai Emery any lower than "secure". Juve Stabia slumped to 12th in the Serie B but this wasn't enough to take their manager any lower than secure. The Jaen job is available - but only because they finished 19th and have been relegated from LIGA adelante, thus making them unmanageable in my save. Jamaica no longer come up as an option to manage. Looks like I'll be at Ipswich for another year

[Nobby_McDonald]

You might be stuck at Ipswich for a while. Good first season in the Premier.

[PaulHartman71]

July/August

Nobody of that much note left the club. I let Ruben Loftus Cheek leave for Sheffield for free, whilst Alex McCarthy went to my old side Everton for £250K. Mesut Ozil and Kieran Gibbs hung up their boots. I let Saido Berahino join West Brom for free to get him off the wage bill. Chris Solly also left for nothing to join old side Charlton.

Omer Mertens joined for £7.75M from Levante. He was originally signed to replace Nathan Ake when Arsenal expressed interest and he wanted to leave - they refused to match my asking price of £12M for the 30 year old so they didn't get him. Mertens will be fantastic rotation for Ake. Ivan De Meyer, another Belgian, joins from Feyenoord for £7.5M. He's our new first choice striker and the 21 year old is an exciting prospect. David Deronjic joins from Newcastle for £11M - the 27 year old Croatian international is a class CB and will be first choice next season - he will improve our defence a lot. My final signing was 20 year old MC/CAM rotation/back-up Dale Hanford from Southampton - a bit pricey for a rotation/back-up player but he's young and English with potential - so he's always gonna cost a bit.

Our first choice team looks like this - with Gaudaulupe giving Petit strong competition on the left.

I put out the young prospects and back-up players in our 2nd round cup tie away to Luton - we didn't win massively but Carlos Robles' goal did give us the victory. We face Championship side Wolves at their place in the next round.

We started the season away to Chelsea - not an easy place to go but what a game it was. We were 3-1 down within half an hour. Early goals in the second half actually saw us incredibly come back and go 4-3 up! It almost seemed like we scored too early and pissed them off as they came right back at us and made it 5-4 late on - a gutting result and a terrible defensive display, but an exciting way to start the season. Our new striker Ivan De Meyer grabbing his 2nd goal in 2 games to give us a 1-0 win against Sheffield United at home in our next match. Since then we've also drawn away to Fulham - a decent point and two clean sheets from our last two games is an encouraging sign after letting in 5 at Chelsea.

[PaulHartman71]

September

We went to Wolves and won 2-0 thanks to goals from Tom Hartley and young CB prospect Luke Sparkes. We have fellow PL side Hull in the next round.

This month was nothing short of heroic. Looking at the fixture list I was expecting very little from these 3 games - so to come away unbeaten with 7 points from 9 is crazy. We came from 1-0 down at home to City to draw things level - it was an even game that could've gone either way but it was our captain Nathan Ake who smashed home a winner late on from a corner. We went 1-0 up at Spurs early on - they equalised quickly and I thought it would be like Chelsea where we scored too soon and then got smashed - we managed to hang on for an impressive point and could easily have nicked it too. Ivan De Meyer went off injured early on against Liverpool, we were already 1-0 down so I thought we were in trouble. Jordan Rhodes who has barely featured this season took his chance though and scored a massive brace to win us the game! De Meyer's wont miss any games with his minor injury but Rhodes has certainly given him reason to keep up his form if he wants to keep his place in the side.

[PaulHartman71]

October

A nice 3-1 victory away to Hull to secure our place in the next round - we've finally got a home game but it will be tough as it's Liverpool.

Another unbeaten month. We got a point against West Ham at home, a point at Villa away and then comfortably beat Reading 3-0 at home. Reading are rock bottom of the league at the moment - the Europa League games in midweek must be taking their toll.

[PaulHartman71]

November

7 points from a possible 12 this month which makes it a relatively good month. We were lucky to draw 1-1 at Derby as they were very good - we went 1-0 up early through De Meyer but they spent the rest of the game all over us. We battered Hull 4-1 with two of our goals coming from corners. We followed this up with a disappointing loss at Stoke where we struggled to score. But we bounced back to record a fantastic 2-0 home victory over top of the table Man United thanks to goals in the latter stages of the second half from Petit and Lester.

[deltablue]

Woo and indeed Hoo!

[deltablue]

You might be stuck at Ipswich for a while.

You make it sound like a bad thing

[PaulHartman71]

December

Well we're out of the League Cup. Liverpool had too much for us on the day - Tom Hartley did manage a late consolation goal though.

Despite a 3-1 loss to my old side Everton it was another strong month from us. We pulled off a cracking 3-1 win at my old stomping ground against Arsenal, which was the highlight of a buy December. We came from behind away at Norwich to get a point and we also came from behind at home to Southampton to get a point from that game too. Since then we've won 2-1 at QPR and just beat West Brom 3-1 at home.

We're at the half-way stage now and I have to say to be 3rd at Christmas is absolutely unreal. I'm not sure if we can continue this run/good form, but to qualify for the Europa League this season would be a great achievement if we can do it - if we could hold on for Champions League it would possibly be up there with anything I've done so far.

[Nobby_McDonald]

You make it sound like a bad thing

Depends if you like tractors.

[PaulHartman71]

January

We were held to a 1-1 draw at Zola Stadium. I'm hoping we can nick a win in the replay at our place!

The month started very well - we pulled off a big 2-1 victory at home to somewhat bogey side Chelsea. We then went to Sheffield and fought for a 1-0 win - we followed that up by coming from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at home with Dale Hanford smashing home a late penalty winner. Since then it's not been so great - we lost 3-0 at City without putting up much of a fight. We couldn't get anything against Spurs either - despite late efforts to grab an equaliser. We did manage to get a point at Anfield though - Ivan De Meyer scored his 2nd brace of the month to put us 2-0 up - shame we couldn't hang on for the 3 points really.

We're still in the top 4 - just! I can sense it starting to slip away now - but if we can still manage to finish 6th or 7th it would be a massive achievement for us.

[PaulHartman71]

February

We came from 2-0 down to level the game and take it to extra time. Unfortunately Robles and Rhodes went off injured in the extra 30 minutes leaving us with 9 men as we'd used all our substitutions. Chelsea took advantage and got a goal to take them through.

A good month in the league though as we won twice and drew twice. We put 5 past West Ham in possibly our best away display of the season - with De Meyer netting another brace. We couldn't hold on to our 1-0 lead against Villa so had to settle for a point. We did manage to go to Reading and win comfortably though - we were 4-0 up at one point! We played well at Derby but just couldn't get a goal.

4th place with 9 matches to go! It would be unreal if we could hang on - I'm not sure we can but we are looking good for 6th or 7th.

[PaulHartman71]

March

A mixed month - not a great one as we lost 2-1 at Hull and 4-1 at United. We did get a big win at home to Stoke though which keeps us in the top 4 for now. Ben Gould had a great month individually too.

With 6 games to go that's how the table is looking. It's gonna be close.

[PaulHartman71]

April

Another huge month saw us pull off a huge victory against my old side. Ivan De Meyer scored a fantastic hat-trick we won 4-1 against Arsenal. We lost away to my other old side Everton though - that one was truly gutting as were getting battered all game but looked like we were gonna hang on, then my old striker Zach Clough popped up with a late winner. We did however manage to get the fans back on side by smashing Norwich 4-0 with De Meyer getting a brace. We just beat West Brom 1-0 away from home as well - it was tight but we won thanks to substitute Andrew Quinn popping up from a corner to get us the goal. Andrew Quinn is a right winger who just came up from the Academy - his goal that won us the game cemented him as the Premier League's youngest ever goal scorer at 16 years and 70 days.

We're mathematically guaranteed at least 5th - a massive achievement. We're above Stoke on goal difference at the moment and have a game in hand on them - fingers crossed we can pull off a Champions League finish!

[deltablue]

Come on! Also good to see Rhodes back where he belongs.

[PaulHartman71]

Come on! Also good to see Rhodes back where he belongs.

The Premier League or the bench?

[PaulHartman71]

May

A pretty poor way to end the season - we barely got a point at home to bottom placed QPR and then lost 3-1 to Southampton in a must win game. But was it enough to get top 4?

Thankfully we managed to stay ahead of Stoke on goal difference - I have to thank my old signing Mario Gotze of my old club Arsenal for this - his 71st minute equaliser against Stoke prevented them from over taking us.

[PaulHartman71]

Season 12 - (I)pswich

An unreal season. After the relegation battle last season my main hope and goal was to avoid one - maybe push on for a mid-table spot. I did get a few players in but I didn't make drastic changes - so to finish 4th and qualify for next year's Champions League is brilliant - I never would have expected it even in January/February. I'd say it's up there with any trophy I've won so far in my career.

Squad pt 1, Squad pt 2

It was a great season for a lot of our attacking talent - new striker Ivan De Meyer was superb and scored 22 goals and got 7 assists in 39 starts. Our wingers - Chris Lester and Allan Petit both did a cracking job too. David Deronjic and Nathan Ake at CB and DM were stand-outs of our defensive unit. Ben Gould had another good season at CM.

GK - He's now 37 but Cillessen was reliable as ever in goal. He started getting homesick in January so I may look to let him leave for Holland in the summer - I've already signed a replacement who Cillessen himself actually recommended.

DR - Luca Palmieri had a solid season at RB - he generally avoids injury so we didn't really have a back-up, but Henrik Nilsson filled in very occasionally in cup games against lower league sides.

DL - Taulant Dervishi got injured early in the season - I gave a shot to Academy graduate Grant Mason who has spent the last two seasons on loan at League 1 clubs. Mason took his chance and outperformed Dervishi - the 19 year old kept his place even when Dervishi came back from injury.

DC - David Deronjic was a superb signing and the Croatian is the rock in our defence. Shane Duffy is a good addition and performed well again - I think if we are to progress though he will need to be replaced in the summer.

DM - Our club captain Nathan Ake had another big season at DM. Omer Mertens didn't feature all that much but he was a fine back-up for Ake.

MC - Ben Gould had another strong season as our CM - Archie Buck filled in for him occasionally but Gould was fit more often than not.

AMR - Chris Lester had another great season here - 9 goals and 14 assists for him all season to help us get to 4th. Carlos Robles was okay as a back-up but he's not hugely impressed.

AML - It's fair to say that Petit lost his place as first choice to Guadaloupe last season - the Frenchman went above and beyond to reclaim his place in the side this season. He ended it with 9 goals and 6 assists and for was far more impressive than his Spanish team-mate this year.

CAM - Dale Hanford and Mauro Mallorca battled it our for first choice this season - Hanford filled in for Mallorca originally and was far more impressive than Mallorca had been so he gained a spot in the first team. Hanford's form deteriorated though and Mallorca put in impressive performances from the bench which eventually regained Mallorca his slot in the first team.

ST - Ivan De Meyer was a revelation up-front. He ended the season with 22 goals in 37 appearances - not the best record ever but he was much more than just a striker. He was a great holder up of the ball, as well as also being adapt at coming out wide to help the team, as well as being able to take defenders on with pace. Sort of like Giroud if he was quick and could take people on. Jordan Rhodes was a fine back-up but barely featured due to De Meyer's strong form. Tom Hartley didn't get nearly as many opportunities in the first team this season - but he did add two cup goals to his name.

History

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season     Club                Division          Position      Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15    Arsenal             Premier League    2nd           League Cup winners 
2015/16    Arsenal             Premier League    1st           Champions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        3rd           German Cup & Europa League winners
2017/18    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        2nd           Euro Super Cup & German Super Cup winners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           Confederations Cup runners up 
2018       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           N/A
2019       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           African Cup of Nations winners 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    Dinamo Moscow       Russian PL        2nd           Russian Cup winners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20    Everton             Premier League    2nd           N/A
2020/21    Everton             Premier League    7th           League Cup winners. Champions League runners up
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020       France              N/A               N/A           N/A
2021       France              N/A               N/A           European Nations League winner
2022       France              N/A               N/A           World Cup winner
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    Getafe              La Liga           5th           N/A
2022/23    Getafe              La Liga           9th           Europa League semi finalists 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2023       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2024       Holland             N/A               N/A           European Championship runners up
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Ipswich Town        Championship      1st           Promoted as Champions  
2024/25    Ipswich Town        Premier League    13th          N/A
2025/26    Ipswich Town        Premier League    4th           N/A

Trophy Cabinet

[u][b]International
[/b][/u]
African Cup of Nations  x1 - 2019 (Cameroon)

European Nations League x1 - 2021 (France)

World Cup               x1 - 2022 (France)


[u][b]Continental[/b][/u] 

Europa League       x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund) 
European Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

[u][b]England[/b][/u]

Premier League x1 - 2015/16 (Arsenal)
League Cup     x2 - 2014/15 (Arsenal), 2020/21 (Everton)
Championship   x1 - 2023/24 (Ipswich) 

[b][u]Germany[/u]
[/b]
German Cup        x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund)
German Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

[u][b]Russia[/b][/u]

Russian Cup x1 - 2018/19 (Dinamo Moscow)

[PaulHartman71]