Kick off time, my blood pressure was rising… The game was pretty quiet though, a pointless and sterile battle in midfield.
23rd minute — Ashley Young picked up the ball and made a blitz run down the left flank, got into the box and fired it with his right foot… It went past the keeper but just over the crossbar!
24th minute — Carlos Vela unmarked in our penalty area, took the shot but it went straight into Akinfeev‘s arms.
33rd minute — Andrea Romano had a good opportunity, a free kick from the edge of the area. He scored a few of those this season but this time it went just a few inches wide of the post!
36th minute — another great run from Carlos Vela, passed it to Jo inside the box but striker’s shot was quite poor, a few yards wide.
41st minute — defensive midfielder Mbia held back Bonetti and got booked.
That was the first half, nothing too spectacular. Both teams were afraid of losing the game so they were pretty cautious. My blood pressure was still up…
51st minute — Giorgio Chiellini headed a free kick towards our goal, Akinfeev jumped and tipped it over. Chiellini headed the following corner kick but this time it went over the bar.
57th minute — Diego came of the bench to replace Ederson, now I had more reasons to worry…
64th minute — I made two substitutions. I took off Stefan van Dijk and sent in Gergely Varga, van Dijk was booked and I didn’t want to take any chances. I also took out right winger Bonetti, he didn’t play too well, and sent in Steven Defour. Defour took Delph‘s place in the middle of the pitch while Delph was moved on the right wing.
78th minute — Mbia tripped Rafael Sobis, that had to be a second yellow! And it was, Mbia was sent off!
82nd minute — Fabian Delph was tripped just outside the box on the right flank. Romano took the free kick, it was deflected off the wall and bounced straight to Steven Defour outside the area. He cushioned the ball and fired it… Get in! Get in! Get in!
And guess what, that was his first goal of the season! I switched the strategy to counter just to be safe but Juventus were unable to cause any problems, the trophy was ours! It wasn’t a spectacular game, it was pretty tense but that doesn’t really matter, we’ll produce a show next year! We won with only one shot on target, it was a hard fought game, Italian style.
Ashley Young was the man of the match, his runs were absolutely essential for the team.
So there you go, a quadruple!
Here are this season’s player stats, sorted by average rating. The two new signings, Zapata and Romano, were essential for our progress, they added quality to the team. I’m too happy and tired now to point out the players that will have to leave the club at the end of the season, I’m grateful to all of them for this fantastic year.
My idea right now is to strengthen the team for the next season with a really big name signing if I’ll have enough funds. My first choice would be Lionel Messi, second choice would be Cesc Fabregas. What do you think about this possibility? Anyway, next season will be my last at the helm of The Magpies, I’ll see it through hoping to win the FIFA Club World Cup, the only trophy that we didn’t win so far.
I’m happy that I managed to end this season and write this post because I will be leaving on yet another field trip tomorrow morning. It will be a rather long one, between two and three weeks. I will surely miss all of you, I might not be able to reply to your comments and emails in a timely manner. I will try to stay in touch and read your stories but I can’t promise anything because I will be quite busy working all day long.
Thanks for reading and for your support, see you next season!
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ravenie
6 апреля, 2010 at 22:52
Another breathtaking end to a fabulous season I wish I could do as well as you. I am intrigued about it being your last season with notts/
Joseph
6 апреля, 2010 at 22:53
Nooooooo, Johnny, don’t go. I’m really looking forward to the prospect of Messi and Cesc, they would be awesome. Anyway, amazing month and especially against Juventus. Well done
Majk
6 апреля, 2010 at 23:25
Qadruple.. simply amazing!
Johnny Karp
7 апреля, 2010 at 00:03
Thanks for the kind words folks.
@Ravenie
Right now I think I’ll do just one more season with Notts Co and then start another career. But we’ll see about that.
@Joseph
I have to go, otherwise I’ll lose my job and I can’t afford that. But don’t worry, I’ll be back in three weeks, maybe a bit earlier if things go well enough.
Lye
7 апреля, 2010 at 01:20
Fantastic end to the season with Defour scoring his most important goal for the club. Awesome stuff mate, i hope you will get Messi, though he is older now in your game. He singled handy demolished Arsenal(the club that i like) yesterday.
Have a nice trip and hope you have good news for us regarding your summer activities when you are back.
Sears
7 апреля, 2010 at 03:11
Johnny,I’ve missed rather a large amount of posts again.My internet has been down for the past few days.I’m catching up now though!The weather has been terrible here in Ireland.Fabulous season,you deserved it.Have fun on your field trip,I wish you well.
Sears
7 апреля, 2010 at 03:49
Oh and,what was the thing you told me before to download to take the picture’s and print them on to the blog?
Johnny Karp
7 апреля, 2010 at 08:17
@Lye
Thanks mate. Messi is not that old in my game, he’s 28! Can you imagine all the things that he can achieve in real life football until 2016? I watched him last night and although it was painful to see Arsenal demolished like that I had to admire his skills, he is unbelievable.
@Sears
Thanks buddy. That program is called PicPick.
Joseph
7 апреля, 2010 at 08:55
I was just joking but anyway good luck!! Fantastic season, you should be proud!
Johnny Karp
7 апреля, 2010 at 08:57
@Joseph
Thanks mate. The bags are packed, I’ll be leaving in an hour or so…
Kevin Mayo
7 апреля, 2010 at 11:25
Hi Johnny
A magnificent achievement, congratulations on winning it all!
Laxeyman
7 апреля, 2010 at 12:54
Hi Johnny, well done on a fantastic quadruple! Your Notts Co must be the best team in the world, with someone like Messi I can only imagine how good you’ll be. Have a good trip.
sam warren
7 апреля, 2010 at 13:28
A simply brilliant season, well done of winning everything. I think you should go for Messi as he is just a fantastic player. Hope you have a good field trip.
Johnny Karp
7 апреля, 2010 at 20:46
@Kevin, Laxeyman and Sam Warren
Thanks a lot my friends, your support surely helped me during the Notts County career. About the field trip, I arrived safely to the destination now there’s a lot of work to do starting tomorrow.
eddie eddie
8 апреля, 2010 at 19:07
Hey johnny great month there well done and for all the other months which I did not comment on :).
Micheal
11 апреля, 2010 at 10:36
Well done on winning the quadruple. Does that mean that your not doing any more storys this year? Enjoy your trip.
Johnny Karp
13 апреля, 2010 at 14:01
@Eddie
Thanks mate, good to see you back!
@Micheal
Thanks. I will probably do at least another story this year, I won’t stop! :)
Andries
14 апреля, 2010 at 16:24
Johnny,
Good luck with that last season, it better be a succesfull one ;)
What will be your next adventure? Could i suggest a dutch team maybe? My favorite PSV Eindhoven for example? Do you have any ideas??
Once more, Good Luck!
Johnny Karp
14 апреля, 2010 at 16:44
@Andries
Thanks for the suggestion mate. I’ll think about to do next after wrapping up the Notts County story, so we’ll talk more about that at the right moment. I’ll probably make a poll or something like that, we’ll see.
Andries
14 апреля, 2010 at 19:45
@Johnny
I guess you’re right, there is an entire seaseon between now and that decision. I do have 1 question though. In a previous post you mentioned that your complete squad was wanted by many clubs. You received a lot of bids and if i’m correct, not one of your players did leave your club. How did you accomplished this result? Maybe this is not the right place to discuss this issue but this problem hangs as a cloud over my team, they all get a lot of praises en they all are flattered and want to leave.. Any tips?
Johnny Karp
16 апреля, 2010 at 13:54
@Andries
A few of my players wanted to leave too but I didn’t allow that. Most of them have been previously offered long term contracts (four or five years) and I generally let them go when I want to, not when they want to. However, if I see that a player is doing badly because of being upset about the transfer I do let him go if the money is good. I guess that you have to find the right balance between all those factors.
callum
19 апреля, 2010 at 00:03
OMG! i went notts county and im in the 6t season i think and i just got in to the premier league and you won it that pretty special man!
my team:
GK kasper schmical(or however you spell it lol)
DEF ramage, knight, roger(regen), ribiero
MID plessis, lansbury, josh walker, wilshire
ST berretta, anichebe :D
Johnny Karp
19 апреля, 2010 at 08:30
@Callum
Thanks for the kind words but your achievement is not bad mate. Now you’ll have to bring in a few quality players and surprise all those big teams :)
callum
19 апреля, 2010 at 18:58
i doubt i will do that well but i will try lol
any recommendations for a centre back?
cory berman
20 апреля, 2010 at 13:12
you got to make that huge signing this transfer window i.e fabregas or messi even aguero, but you want to finish ur career on a high note so bring that world class man in!!
Johnny Karp
20 апреля, 2010 at 14:14
@Callum
I’d suggest Kjaer or Otamendi for the centre back role but I don’t know how much transfer money you have.
@Cory
Indeed, I am keen on making a big name transfer. Messi seems to be out of the question though, he doesn’t want to leave Barcelona.
callum
20 апреля, 2010 at 20:21
ok i’ll try them a think i have 15-20 million so hopefully that will be enough
good luck on that big singing!
Ana Garcia
20 апреля, 2010 at 21:15
Messi or Fabregas at Notts County! Thats why I love this game!
Shame that Messi may stay but he is at the best club in the world! ;)
Anyways best of luck with your big name signing and with the new season.
Johnny Karp
21 апреля, 2010 at 12:10
Thanks for the comment and for the good wishes Ana. I understand why Messi wouldn’t want to leave Barca, I’m a Barcelona fan too :)
hils
21 августа, 2010 at 09:48
messi or fabregas at notts county!!!!!!!!Thats almost as bad as football director DS which had Fernando torres join WEST HAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
21 августа, 2010 at 09:56
lol Hils, I was just hoping and trying :)