Hello friends, welcome back to the Dorchester Town story. I decided to post one last update for the fourth season because I felt very confident that we would win the League One title after holding a good 10 point lead at the end of January. You know that usually I tend to be more cautious rather than confident but this time things were different for some reason that I can’t really point out.
Anyway, let’s fast forward the next three league games. First we were produced below par performances and were held to home draws by Notts County and Plymouth. Then Peterborough brought our second league defeat of the season but we had an excuse since several important players were injured.
We had to pull ourselves together and play better in the next game, the second leg Johnstone’s Trophy South final against Plymouth. We had a slight advantage after getting a 1-1 away draw in the first leg but I was hoping to win the game without too many headaches. We had a decent first half but our attacks were not nearly incisive enough, we were unable to find killer passes and flowing moves in the last third. Our unconvincing attacking display continued after the beak and Plymouth nearly took the lead with a shot from distance but fortunately the ball hit the crossbar. We started to show more of our skills during the last half hour and we finally broke the deadlock on 71 minutes when Omar Koroma smashed home a penalty kick. Plymouth were unable to react so we were going to Wembley! The final was going to see us playing against League Two side Oldham Athletic!
We gained some momentum after that cup win and brought some of that enthusiasm into the following league games, we won the next couple of games against promotion contenders Swindon and Millwall.
With those two victories our lead was up to 11 points on Coventry and 18 on Millwall, things looked as good as over although there were 12 more games to play. I was quite sure that we were not going to miss out on promotion though mainly because our opponents were good but not good enough to produce tremendous runs and win 12 games in a row.
We also had a great chance of settling the dispute with second placed Coventry right away as we were going to travel to the Ricoh Arena for the next league game. My goal was to get a draw and preserve that 11 point cushion but the team started the game with great determination and wasted a couple of chances early on. We finally took the lead four minutes before half time when Omar Koroma fired it in from just inside the area. We failed to hang on to that lead though, Coventry scored a special goal with a free kick shot from 30 yards out and things were all square at the break. We had our own special goal after the interval, right winger Tiberiu Paduraru made a surprise move and dribbled straight through the middle of Coventry‘s defense, he was clean through after some great footwork and powered it past the keeper. Five minutes later a splendid team move brought the ball into the six yard box and Peter Singh just had to push it into the back of the net. We appeared to be in control but a poor pass in our defense was intercepted and Coventry were back into the game with 19 minutes left to play. We found ourselves under a bit of pressure until the final whistle but my lads stood firm and claimed a well deserved victory that extended our lead to 14 points. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
mark
27 августа, 2010 at 23:59
seriously, what can i say, amazing.amazing…..AMAZING!!!! you did it again.
about your signings, quality signing but i think you should need more as cola-cola championship is tough.
again, amazing
and yes, the first comment on this page!!!!!
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 07:57
Thanks for the praise Mark. We’ll surely need more quality players, that’s a fact.
Sears
28 августа, 2010 at 00:13
Hi Johnny,
what a fantastic end to the season. It’s a huge achievment to complete the double, with any team. I guess your going to go one better than my achievement at Chelmsford City :-)
You’ve already signed some quality players before you begin your journey in the Coca Cola League Championship. I think you get 1.1 million euro in TV revenue, so that should boast your finances. Packie Doolin seems to be an exciting prospect, I’m glad your signings players from my home country. eventhough your stealing the best talent from my fav club :-D I can’t wait to see your pre season report, I wish you look, and remember, the quality in the Championship is far bigger than that in Legaue 1. Goodluck mate.
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 07:58
Thanks Sears. Well, I’m not stealing them from the Shamrock Rovers, they are letting them go for some reason :) I know that the Championship is a lot tougher but thanks for reminding me :)
Lye
28 августа, 2010 at 04:41
Hi mate, not surprising that you arerolling the game fast but that was expected with you leading the packs for large periods :) Fantastic achievement.I hope your board can expand the stadium as that is the foundation for an improve finances. The signings look good and seems like hot prospect in future. Hope you can sign some quality players when the transfer window open. Good luck.
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 08:00
Thanks Lye, I guess you can call this «a double» :)
hils
28 августа, 2010 at 07:59
JOHNNY KARP,your just to good for football manager!!!!!!!!! In my game,a have started a new one with Kettering,a spanish team in liga bbva and sestao.
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 08:01
Thanks Hils, you’re just too kind ;) You’re managing all those teams in your game?
hils
28 августа, 2010 at 08:43
Yes johnny. i am managing all those teams!!!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 08:47
I have never tried something like that but I think it can be a lot of fun.
Kevin Mayo
28 августа, 2010 at 10:00
Hi Johnny
As a late poster it looks like all the superlatives have been taken up so I’ll just say a simple congratulaitons on your league and cup double although Tchite looks brilliant for his age. Good luck with your off season plans.
Ana Garcia
28 августа, 2010 at 10:24
Congratulations hope you can make the next step up!
Nice to you sign a Spaniard and a fromer Barca player!
I will be cheering for both!! :)
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 14:45
Thanks for your support Kevin and Ana! :)
Laxeyman
28 августа, 2010 at 11:27
Well done Johnny, another brilliant season, Dorchester keep on marching up through the leagues! Well done in the JPT, a bit sad to see Oldham down in League 2 :( You’ve already made some good signings, hopefully you can make some more in the transfer window :)
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 14:47
Thanks Laxeyman. I’m currently «wheeling and dealing» as I started the pre-season campaign. Tough negotiations are underway, hopefully we’ll get some good signings in.
Darren Smith
28 августа, 2010 at 12:47
Wow another fantastic promotion, your only one league away from the promoised land, well done mate. You really have done wonders with limited resources. Especially looking at your av attendances. Good job and I look forward to seeing how you adjust to the Championship!
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 14:47
Thanks Darren, hopefully the club will be rich someday :)
Jean Paul Borg
28 августа, 2010 at 13:22
Can you name your starting eleven that you played to win the League One? I’m sure you’ll need improve on your team but you’re a great manager and I think you can finish in the play-offs next season. Good luck mate.
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 14:50
Thanks for the confidence Jean Paul. My best eleven would be something like this: Nicolau — White, Barbero, Carolan, Daprela — Paduraru, Labyad, Bangura, Rosalia — Carlisle, Koroma. As you can notice four of the eleven are loan players so the first thing I should do is find to replacements for them.
Jean Paul Borg
28 августа, 2010 at 17:58
You have already made signings that have a great career ahead of them. I believe you can sign good enough players. Check out Ciprian Daec, he’s a Romanian Winger.
Johnny Karp
28 августа, 2010 at 18:02
I know Deac, he just got bought by Schalke a couple of days ago for 3 million euro. I doubt that I can get him in the game though, maybe when we’ll be up in the Premier League.
Jean Paul Borg
29 августа, 2010 at 14:07
That is why I recommended him as I think he’ll add some good fire power up front although he’s a winger. How about attempting to get Joel Matip, he’s another player that plays for Schalke in real life. They’ve got a pretty decent youth setup, check them out.
Ryan Inskip
29 августа, 2010 at 10:34
Johnny, another top season by the sounds of things :)
looking forward to see how you cope in the Championship! I’m currently managing Chester in BSP, and after keeping them up last year (they start on -25) im struggling to take them to the next level (League 2 etc) Any tips, tactics you use thatn you could pass on to a fellow ‘football manager’ ;)
Johnny Karp
29 августа, 2010 at 10:51
Thanks Ryan, I’m quite curious to see how we’ll do in the Championship too :) You did well to keep Chester up with that huge point deficit. About the advice, you can check out our lower league management guide, I’m sure you’ll find some useful information in there: https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/2010/07/football-manager-lower-league-management-guide/
Ryan Inskip
29 августа, 2010 at 11:47
Cheers fella, awesome guide :)
all the best for the new season
ravenie
29 августа, 2010 at 10:56
Well I can’t say I’m surprised. You are already Dorchesters most successful manager, another brillliant promotion from you Mr Karp. On another note, Gergely Varga (you may remember him as a RB from your Notts County save) is a goalkeeper in my game in Hungary, only gets good for the championship though. I really shouldn’t keep on going but I won the Championship with Ipswich signed a few good players (De Camargo, Eddie Nolan, Naingollan) and I accidently promised top half finish.
Johnny Karp
29 августа, 2010 at 13:30
Thanks Ravenie. I remember Varga but he was a regen and I think so is that goalkeeper in your game. Anyway, well done on winning the Championship and good luck, a top half finish might not be unrealistic at all.
Andries
1 сентября, 2010 at 11:20
Hey Johnny,
Good luck in the Championship! I esspecially like to read details such as in the last in the paragraph, that makes your story special in my opinion. Nice job!!! Thanks for posting!
gr Andries
Johnny Karp
1 сентября, 2010 at 11:33
Thanks Andries, we’re going to need all the good luck we can have in the Championship :)
Cal
1 сентября, 2010 at 17:25
Congratulations on winning and getting promoted the championship is a huge step up i hope you can cope!
Johnny Karp
1 сентября, 2010 at 17:46
Thanks Cal, I hope so too :)