Blyth Spartans 2015 — The Grand Finale

Are you ready for the grand finale? Well, ready or not, here we go… My Blyth Spartans had a great chance of winning the Premier League title, we were two points ahead of Arsenal and 4 points ahead Manchester United and Manchester City but with two games in hand!

The first game of May was a crucial one, away at Manchester United. We had a thrilling game with them at Croft Park back in December, it ended 3-3! I would have settles for less goals now, definitely. The first half was even but my centre back, Tiberiu Radulescu, made the difference with a powerful header from a corner kick. Manchester United got back on level terms right after the break with a controversial goal, one of my defenders was lying on the ground injured but they didn’t kick the ball out, they continued and scored! They created a lot of pressure on our defense after that but Silviu Lung was in great shape, he pulled off some awesome saves to give us the good result.

Arsenal also drew, 0-0 at West Ham, while Manchester City got an 1-1 draw at Sunderland. With those results the table was unchanged at the top with two more games to be played for them and four games for us! We were getting closer to the title!

But until then we had Europe on our minds, the second leg of the semi final against HSV. We did well in the first leg, we got an 1-1 away draw, that gave us a good chance to win the qualification at Croft Park. We started the game with great determination and we deservedly were 2-0 up after 20 minutes! HSV clawed one back with a fortuitous goal but Nicao took care of things immediately, we were 3-1 up at the break! I expected HSV to crumble but those Germans never give up, do they? They played very well in the second half and created a lot of pressure but my players kept cool and scored another goal on a counter attack! We were through to the final and we were going to meet Valencia, they knocked out Shakhtar Donetsk easily. Nicao got a minor injury, just a bruise, but that was going to keep him out of our next league game…

And our next league game was at home with 15th placed Fulham. Along with Nicao I had another 5 unavailable players, they were all away with their national under 19 teams! I had limited choices to make regarding the first eleven but fortunately I had a great Roman Pavlyuchenko to rely on. It was an even first half but our veteran striker made the difference with one goal and a perfect assist! Fulham went all out attack after the break but my lads were getting used to that kind of pressure. Pavlyuchenko scored again to make sure of the win, the fans love him!

I checked the other results immediately after the game but there were not surprises, Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City won their games, so the table was unchanged! We just needed to get a win out of the three remaining games!

But the bad news struck… Two of the league games got re-arranged again due to all those under 19 international call ups and our calendar was unbelievable! We had a league game one day before the Europa League final and another game two days after that! That was a mess…

We had to win the Bolton game, we absolutely had to…

So much for the re-arranging, my five under 19 internationals were not available for the Bolton game, they were traveling back at the time of the match :( Anyway, we had to win it, with or without them! Nicao was determined to show his skills and he did just that in the 11th minute, he scored with a perfectly placed shot! Nine minutes later Tomas Necid headed home a cross, we were 2-0 up! Tiberiu Radulescu showed his aerial skills again after the break, a powerful header from a corner kick and we were in control! Seven minutes later right back Damien Grange whistled in a powerful cross from the right wing, the keeper caught it but went straight into the back of the net with the ball in his hands! Bolton tried very hard to get a consolation goal in the second half an they finally got it, but it was too late for them… We won the Premier League title, we won it! The Blyth Spartans, yes, the mighty Blyth Spartans!

We were the youngest team in the league with an average age of only 22! We also were the poorest team in the league, we had the lowest average wages… But we did it! :)

I was relieved, I could send in the reserves for the Everton game. Everton had to win it, they were in 7th place with a chance to get an Europa League spot, so they could were lucky… An interesting thing happened in the 18th minute, centre back Gabor Baranyai got sent off for catching an opponent with his elbow. I wanted to use him as a reserve for the Europa League final but under the circumstances I had to send in Cristian Suarez in the Everton game and that led to an unlikely situation: Baranyai will be well rested for the final while Suarez will be a bit tired… I don’t know if that was Baranyai‘s intention but it worked, he was going to play in the Europa League final :) Oh, we lost the game 3-0, it didn’t matter anymore.

Finally, the final! It was going to be played at Delle Alpi in Torino, Juventus‘ stadium. Valencia had a great team, with a fantastic duo upfront: David Villa and David Silva. I wanted my team to be aggressive right from the start, to get the ball and play it quickly on the wings. I didn’t expect that to happen right in the first minute though, but it did! We won the ball back in midfield, Nicao took it on the left wing, crossed it in perfectly and Necid scored! Valencia looked a bit shocked and we took advantage of that. Twentieth minute, approximately the same drill, Nicao on the left, the ball went back to Mickey Wordsworth at the edge of the area and he fired it right in! I couldn’t believe it, we were 2-0 up! Unfortunately my lads lost a bit of concentration and Valencia clawed one back right away. They continued to push forward until half time but we managed to survive, we were 2-0 up at the break.

I had to do something though, with that amount of pressure on our defense we would have been sitting targets in the second half. Valencia‘s three central midfielders were the cause of the problem, they created a lot and we had to stop them. I instructed my players to take care of them, to make the second half a living hell for those three. «They shouldn’t have any breathing space, hang on to them, tackle them, make them scream and ask for their mommies!», that’s what I said at half time… And it worked! My goalkeeper had almost nothing to do in the second half, we were breaking Valencia‘s attacks before they reached our penalty area. I expected us to create chances on counter attacks but my players lacked the energy to do that, we had to fight… We picked up a lot of yellow cards, I don’t remember how many, but it was one of Valencia‘s players that got sent off, Raul Albiol got his second yellow card eight minutes before the final whistle. At that point I  instructed my players to waste time until it ends, keep the ball, stall, dive, lye on the ground and ask for the physio, kick it into the stands, whatever it takes. And we won, it wasn’t pretty by any means but we were going home with the trophy! Get in!

The last game of the season was totally unimportant for us but it was crucial for Wolves, they had to get a win to survive in the Premier League! And they got it, my players were high on champagne :)

Real Madrid won the Champions League, they beat Bayern Munich 1-0 to lift the trophy. We’re going to play against them in the UEFA SuperCup, that’s going to be pretty! The domestic cups were won by Newcastle (Carling Cup) and Tottenham (FA Cup). A look at the table again, I’ve been looking at it for hours :)

Vagner Love was the best player in the Premier League again and also the top goalscorer. My players dominated the tackles department though :)

Here are the team stats, including the wonderful youngsters and reserved that gave their best when we needed them. My strikers were great this season, Nicao and Necid bagged 25 goals each! Centre back Tiberiu Radulescu also shone, he scored 13 times, not bad at all!

Undoubtedly our best player was right back Damien Grange, he scored 14 goals and made 15 assists, we would never have had these results without him! If I could get a left back as good as he is we would win absolutely everything!

I reserved a special tribute to our veteran, Roman Pavlyuchenko. He didn’t play a lot this season but he was always ready to give his best when I needed him, he scored 8 important goals. His contract is expiring now and I don’t know what to do, I would give him another year just to thank him for the two wonderful seasons that he spent with us but on the other hand I’m sure that he won’t be getting too many chances to play in the first team, he’ll be 34 years old soon… I guess I shouldn’t be too sentimental and let him go, maybe sign him as a coach later on…

The club is in a good financial position now, 45 million euro in the bank, I hope to have a good transfer budget :)

Until then the board decided to install some seats in the stadium, not too many though…

Do you remember how it all started back in 2008? I took charge of the Blyth Spartans in Blue Square North, released 24 players on free transfers and signed 12 players for free… The good old days…

What’s next then? Nothing much, I’ll just strengthen the squad and go for the Champions League!