Hello friends and welcome back to the final update of my first season in charge with Plymouth. Having brought a team whose morale was abysmal to promotion into League One could we go on and win the title?
April 2012
We kicked off our race to the title in what should have been an easy win at home to Accrington but we squandered a two goal lead allowing the visitors to snatch a point. Two days later and it was a disastrous outing at Hereford where we put in our worst performance of the year and were brutally beaten 3-1.
Those two results meant that Swindon had narrowed the gap between us to just one point with four games remaining.
1. Plymouth 96
2. Swindon 95
3. Shrewsbury 84
I was able to revert to my preferred line up away to Macclesfield which meant Asante had the ball in the net within two minutes. Twenty minutes later he rounded the Macclesfield keeper to add number two from an inch perfect pass by Walton. It was a Walton free kick that caused all kinds of trouble allowing Bhasera to force the ball home early in the second half. Defender Rui Marques was twice beaten for pace as the home side staged a comeback but Atkinson’s low drive into the net ensured the victory.
Swindon could only manage a draw at home to Bristol Rovers which meant we had a three point lead again.
We followed that result with a 3-1 win in our final home game of the season against Crawley which saw Asante give us the lead after just 19 seconds and Soukouna adding a second inside 5 minutes. Oyenuga added the third just before the hour mark and then we gifted Crawley a late consolation goal. Swindon drew again which meant we needed one more win to become champions!
With the title on the line we put in a horrible performance away to Oxford losing 2-0 as our nerves got the better of us.
Swindon didn’t perform any better and drew with Gillingham which meant we were League Two Champions!
The final game of the season was an emphatic victory in the “Devon Derby” at Torquay. It was a match we totally dominated from start to finish though we were handed a gift as Torquay were reduced to 10 men when their keeper was sent off.
Final Table: Top Ten
As League Two Champoins we collected a whopping £25,000 in prize money though I don’t think that will help our financial situation much.
Super Sevens:
Asante is of course top of this table and quite rightly so with a massive haul of 30 goals from 34 appearances. He has to be the best player I’ve ever signed in either in the old Championship or Football Manager. An incredible natural ability to poach goals at least at this level and I would highly recommend him. Walton played a fundumental role with 20 assists and seven goals
Once the celebrations are over there will be much work ahead in the off season as many contracts are about to expire so lot’s of negotions to look forward to. I’m hoping there wil be enough money around to re-sign a lot of these players as I’d like to keep the team together. I think Feeney and Larrieu will definitely go but I’m not yet sure about Fletcher?
Thanks for reading and following along this season and I look forward already to bringing you all the pre-season news from Home Park.
Laxeyman
14 ноября, 2011 at 20:06
Fantastic that you managed to wrap up the title Kevin, you got an amazing points total, so well done and congrats on a great season :) Looking forward to your pre season!
Kevin
14 ноября, 2011 at 21:12
Thanks Laxeyman
I thought we would blow it but Swindon did who could have snatched the title from us.
Darren Smith
14 ноября, 2011 at 21:42
Well done mate that was sensational and to win the league with such a huge points tally warranted more prize money than that. :) Well done mate I can’t wait to see what next season brings.
Kevin
15 ноября, 2011 at 00:21
Thanks Darren
I was a bit disappointed with the prize money to say the least but I’ll take all we can get!
Lye
15 ноября, 2011 at 01:02
Hi Kevin
Things did not start well but the wins against Macclesfield and Crawley put you in the drving seat again. Congratulations on the League 2 triumph. 105 points is a great tally and you have show you are the best in this level. There are work to do in pre-season and looking forward to it.
Kevin
15 ноября, 2011 at 12:43
Thanks Lye
A very nervous run in but we got there in the end. I’m delighted to break the 100 point mark.
CsAtlantis
15 ноября, 2011 at 01:15
Congratulations Kevin, breaking the 100 point barrier to win the league is always nice, Asante is definitely at a higher level than League 2 it seems, you were lucky to have him
How are the finances of Plymouth? I think they have a bank loan that needs to be paid
Good luck for next season
Kevin
15 ноября, 2011 at 12:45
Our finances are a complete mess with may loans to pay back on reaching a higher division but I don’t know whatis meant by that. The Premier League?
Asante was an absolute gift to have and really won us the title on his own.
Calin
15 ноября, 2011 at 06:50
Congrats on your achievement, getting over 100 points is an incredible feat!
Kevin
15 ноября, 2011 at 12:46
Thanks Calin…it was a nice feeling :)
Johnny Karp
15 ноября, 2011 at 06:59
Glory, glory Kevin Mayo! :) Excellent season Kevin, you should be proud! Of course now you will have to worry about new players, finances and all that but look at the table again, fantastic!
Kevin
15 ноября, 2011 at 12:48
The only glory comes from learning from the best over there in Eastern Europe :) I’m already into contract talks so there wasn’t much time to savor the success!
vaibhavc
15 ноября, 2011 at 12:27
Fantastic season Kevin, that was a great season for you. Asante was a great signing, will you be able to retain him? You have some real wage eaters for a League 2/1 team.
Kevin
15 ноября, 2011 at 12:50
Thanks Vaibhavc. Asante was simply brilliant and I will do everything to try and resign for next season ASAP!
You are right the wage earners- I’m working on that right now :)
Stromson
15 ноября, 2011 at 15:48
Phenomenal end to a phenomenal year, well done Kevin! Returning Plymouth to League One at the first asking is an impressive feat given their financial and club situation.
Kevin
16 ноября, 2011 at 00:16
Thanks Stromson
The whole thing went way better than expected considering the morale early on
Frank
15 ноября, 2011 at 17:05
Hi Kevin,
What a great season you had, to win the league when you started with players with abysmal morale, and to get over 100 points. Looking forward to your pre season :)
Kevin
16 ноября, 2011 at 00:18
Cheers Frank
I’m still surprised tha twe ever accomplished this though I already know the off season could throw me back to square one again.
TheZiggy
15 ноября, 2011 at 20:44
These last matches may have been a bit up and down, but you managed still managed to close things out and take the title. Well done. Now to the hard work of building for the next season. Sadly only the premiership has good prize money, and that £25k will vanish in heartbeat.
Will be interesting to see if I can match or even beat your 105 points in my Torquay game.
Kevin
16 ноября, 2011 at 00:20
Hi Ziggy
Well I hope you can beat the 105 points as that would be awesome!
Hard work ahead as you rightly pointed out that I’m not relishing to be honest.
Ana Garcia
15 ноября, 2011 at 23:58
Congratulations!!
Promotion was already secured from last time but its always nice to go up as champions!
£25K! I got £3k for promotion to the top flight in South Africa but then again I wasnt paying wages of up to £6,000.
You may need to restructure your squad and let a few bigger earners go in order to get some stability financially, but the best of luck. :)
Kevin
16 ноября, 2011 at 00:21
Gracias Ana
The key to the off season is unloading some players and maybe lowering some of these salaries. Hopefully I can accomplish both!
SammyBoy
16 ноября, 2011 at 18:30
Well done Kevin!
I also am Plymouth Argyle, in my first season I was crowned champions with 102 points s not far from you :)
I am now up to December in my 2nd season and am currently 8th in the league, so looking good so far.
I also good rid of Feeney and Larrieu as they were eating my wage budget. I found throughout the 1st season and now in my 2nd season that if you give regualr playing time to Jordan Copp, Matt Lecointe and Jared Sims that they certainly repay the faith. Their stats may not be very good but they certainly get better. Curtis Nelson is also a gem, keep hold of him :)
I hope this helps and look forward to hearing about the 2nd season
Martin - F.M.J.S
16 ноября, 2011 at 19:45
Hi Kevin
I have finally got the chance to catch up and I am so happy to see you have won. Congrats and Good Luck with Pre Season.