Deej - St Johnstone Manager

[deej]

Absolutely raging, at home to Dundee and they go down to ten men after 17 minutes. My players then fail to do anything at all about it, and I lose 1-0. Raging. Even worse, the result sees me down to 4th with Dundee up to 2nd. 

Followed up with a 3-1 defeat at Tynecastle, where I was never in the game at all to be honest. 

Just as everyone is recovered from injuries and I'm looking like having a full squad to choose from, Shaughnessy gets a hernia. Fucking stupid game.

Comfortable 3-1 win at home to bottom of the league Ross County before a trip to Celtic Park.

2-1 defeat, with Scott Brown sent off with half an hour to go. I equalised in 81 minutes, before Kolo fucking Toure stuck one in from 30 yards. Fuck off.

 

I make that one point from four games where my opponents have been down to ten men. What am I doing wrong??

[deej]

 

Table going into December

[deej]

 

Mixed month yet again, 2 wins and 4 defeats, including a 3-0 pumping at home to Rangers. Lost 1-0 away to Dundee on hogmanay. Beat Killie in a classic meh derby, 1-0 with my goal coming from a Swanson penalty

[deej]

Beat Morton 3-2 in the cup, and Hamilton 3-1 in the league, both at home in January. No signings, just like in real life.

February was very strange. Obligatory 3-0 pumping off Celtic, followed by a trip to Firhill. I never do well at Partick for some reason, and the same was true for this fixture. 2-5 loss, Doolan hattrick. Then beat East Fife 3-0 comfortably to make it into the Scottish cup QF, before a 5-1 hounding at County. 

 

Fed up conceding I went super defensive and held Kilmarnock to a 0-0 in Perth before coming from behind to win 2-1 at Ibrox with a Danny Wilson own goal sealing it in the 90th minute. 

 

 

 

 

Top six is the aim, but surprisingly after absolute pumpings from thistle and county, still only 5 points off the European places. 

 

Dundee United up next in the cup. 

[deej]

Danny Swanson opened the scoring after 50 seconds, but wasn't enough as I go out 3-2 to Utd, quite annoyed as the cup seemed winnable. 

The away end at McDiarmid will be needing a good clean as the other half of Dundee come to visit a week later. 2 late goals from Chris Kane see a 2-1 win.

The board agree to fund coaching courses for Scottish Cup final goalscorers, Anderson and Maclean. I don't see them playing a huge part in the first team for much longer, but also don't want them to leave the club. Chris Millar is funding his own course.

My only other game in March was a 2-0 loss at Fir Park. 

Linked with Bury and Scunthorpe jobs, not entertaining the thought of moving to that level just yet. 

 

Still sitting in 8th but a couple of results could change that massively. 

[deej]

Up to 7th with another comeback victory, 2-1 away to Hamilton. In 4 of my last 5 games, whoever has scored first, has lost. 

Dundee threw away a 2-0 lead at home to Aberdeen to lose 3-2 so I'm rightfully back above them.

Getting close to the split, and I lose 2-0 to Hearts, a close rival for 6th. ICT away in the next game is massive as I'm 2 points behind them with 2 games to the split.

2-1 win against ICT means the top six race goes to the 33rd game. Celtic have won the league with 6 games to spare. 

 

I've got Aberdeen at home and ICT go to Motherwell. Partick are away to Rangers.

[deej]

Well, thanks to Motherwell I am in the top six - a 2-1 defeat to Aberdeen coupled with Inverness losing 3-1 sees me stay 6th by a point. Fixtures from here are Celtic (A), Hearts (A), Thistle (H) Dons (H) then Rangers (H).

Sold Keith Watson to County for £80k as he wasn't playing. 

Top six meets the boards aim of mid-table, so I've been given a new 2 year contract.

Managed to hold Celtic at 0-0 for 70 minutes, then naturally they got a penalty. With nothing to lose from there I opened up in an attempt to take something from the game - lost 4-0. Now 7 points behind Partick, so giving the higher potential youngsters a go in the first team with a view to them being important next season.

Regretted it almost immediately, 3-0 down after 20 minutes at tynecastle. Actually got back to 3-3 with 3 goals in the first 11 minutes of the second half, before another mini collapse - lost 5-3.

Murray Davidson won goal of the month.  

[deej]

3-2 up at home to Thistle, looking like any faint hopes of 5th may stay alive for another week, when they equalise in the 95th minute. Made more annoying by the fact there were only 2 minutes added on.

As it is now, 7 points behind with 2 games left. On the plus side, most of my potentially good youngsters have signed new contracts, and McLaren, Gordon, Gilchrist and Jardine have all put in relatively good performances. Liam Gordon has played 42 games for the first team this season, with the others featuring semi-regularly after coming back from loans.

[deej]

No surprises, 2-1 loss to Aberdeen and a 4-2 last day loss to Rangers (curiously, a match with 3 own goals).

 

Finished 6th, with less points than 7th, 8th and 9th. County relegated and Killie to play Dundee Utd in the playoff - Hibs won the Championship by 3 points.

Hearts will also be in Europe as it's Celtic v Aberdeen in the SC Final. 

[deej]

Top Scorer - Chris Kane (11), Danny Swanson (10), Liam Craig (9)

Player of the Year - Liam Craig

Young Player of the Year - Chris Kane

Goal of the Season - Murray Davidson

Competitions

Premiership - 6th

Media predicted 5th, in the end sneaking into the top six and then folding post split meant 6th was all I achieved. Extremely inconsistent, some great wins (Rangers away) could come within weeks of some shockers (1-5 away at Ross County - who only won 5 games all season). Losing twice to Dundee was frustrating, but still beat them into the top half.

Scottish Cup - Quarter Final

Nothing special to be honest, beat Morton and East Fife before losing to Dundee United

League Cup - Semi Final

A good start beating Dundee United, winning the group and beating Falkirk before edging past Hamilton into the semis, where I lost on penalties to Partick.

 

Next seasons aim is top six again, with a higher emphasis on youth. Liam Gordon played 44 games this season, Conor McLaren played well after his loan, George Hunter has potential to kick on as well. There's also a very highly rated 16 y/o regen, Andy Quinn, who played the last 5 games at left back as Easton was injured and Scobbie is on his way out.

[deej]

Alastair Stevenson wanted to work with better players so fucked off after the season, and Callum Davidson took the Ross County job. I've replaced Stevenson with Brentfords ex Head of Youth Development, Ose Aibangee, and Brede Hangelaand is my new Assistant.

 

Eoghan McCawl has gone on loan to Clyde until January, and Jason Kerr to Dumbarton for the same time. 

 

Drawn against East Fife, QotS, Stirling Albion and East Stirlingshire in the Betfred Cup.

[deej]

Into the cup group, Rangers have come in with shite bids for Davidson and Shaughnessy, meaning Davidson is expecting we qualify for Europe this season or he's off. They also bid for Clark just after he was offered a new contract - I ignored the bid and he signed a lovely 3 year extension. 

Alex Schalk wants to leave Ross County, unsure if he'd be worth the £210k he'd cost when i'm trying to bring youths through.

 

Won 3-0 at home to Stirling, and 2-0 away to East Fife with Liam Craig scoring a screamer in each. 1-0 win at home to QotS means I've won the group with a game to spare.

 

Hunter and Easton out for 4-5 weeks, and I've opted against Schalk. 

[deej]

Held Celtic 1-1 at home on the opening day, Liam Craig penalty (his 50th league goal), before going to East Stirlingshire for the last group game. Just as well I'd already won the group as I got caught on the break with 15 minutes left and lost 1-0. 

On a side note, Motherwell had also won their group when they hosted League 2 Stranraer - and promptly got scudded 5-0 

Steven Anderson wants a new challenge, so now I've to accept any bids over £60k (valued at £45k). If he does go I'll need to bring a replacement in as the defensive cover is looking a bit thin. Almost immediately Dundee United come in and match that bid, however he wanted to leave to win the title - I'm not sure if the Championship title is what he's after. Accepted anyway. 

Louis Laing in on a free, Paul Quinn from County for 40k, Cammy Smith on loan from Aberdeen. All as cover, and I feel the squad is looking pretty good. 

Anderson signed for United and is quickly replaced by Lubomir Satka, a 21 y/o centre back on loan from Newcastle.

Back to the matches - twice took the lead at Pittodrie before drawing 2-2, beat Falkirk at home in the cup, 2-1 aet with goals from former Bairns Craig and Alston. 

Cummins double beats ICT 2-1 in Perth for a respectable 5 points from 9 to start.

[deej]

Next game is the obligatory pumping at firhill - 2-0 with Doolan getting both. Tempted to spunk the whole budget on him tbh, just to stop him fucking scoring against me.

A week to the deadline and Hearts come in for Cummins for £190k, which was swiftly rejected. I assumed he would have a problem with that and want to leave but hasn't said anything, which was a pleasant surprise.

Clark is called into the Scotland squad before we draw 2-2 away to Motherwell, leaving the table like this - going into September. 

Deadline day signing of a young keeper on loan from Liverpool, as I only had Clark and Mannus. He's rated very similarly to Mannus, and isn't costing a penny. 

[deej]

Well September was shit - and October even worse. Started with 3 home games, 2-0 defeats to Hearts and Celtic (in the cup QF) either side of a 4-0 demolition of Dundee. Then lost 1-0 away to Accies, and 2-1 at Easter Road. 

Only 3 games in October, starting off with Kilmarnock at home - 3 goals in the last ten minutes meant they went away with a 4-1 win. Next 2 games were Rangers (H) and Celtic (A) - a credible 1-1 draw followed by a 4-0 shafting.

 

1 point from 5 league games. 

Annoying how far away I seem from teams like Hearts and Hibs, and how consistent Thistle are. 

[deej]

Decided to ditch any fancy shit, and play four four fucking two at home to Aberdeen, and it worked! Kane and Cummins on target for a 2-1 win. 

I then go to Inverness and get pumped 4-0, and lose again (1-0) to Partick, with one shot on goal - a missed penalty at 0-0.

A late goal, a 1-0 defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle is apparently the final straw for the board - even though I checked before the Partick game and they were content and my job was stable. 

 

To be honest I was getting a bit fed up, nothing I was doing seemed to work. Will hopefully have a bash at an English League 1 / Championship team.

 

[deej]

Within 2 weeks I had interviews at Bradford, Millwall and Kaiserslautern. I've moved to Germany.

17th out of 18 in the 2. Bundesliga, but a transfer budget of 5m and wage budget of £200k per week gives me plenty of room for transfers.

[The Minertaur]

On 2/15/2017 at 14:27, deej said:

Within 2 weeks I had interviews at Bradford, Millwall and Kaiserslautern. I've moved to Germany.

17th out of 18 in the 2. Bundesliga, but a transfer budget of 5m and wage budget of £200k per week gives me plenty of room for transfers.

How you getting on?  I had my greatest ever FM save with Kaiserslautern. Treat them well.

[deej]

How you getting on?  I had my greatest ever FM save with Kaiserslautern. Treat them well.

Actually haven't made any progress, been busy with uni then a weekend away so hoping to get back into it the next couple of days.

Targeting promotion in the next 2 seasons (excluding this one)

[deej]

Got to the end of the season in Germany now, a relatively poor start with 2 draws followed by 2 defeats, then a run of 22 points from the next ten saw me end up 11th. Would have been 9th with a point on the last day, but got pumped 4-0. 

Signed Peter Grant from Falkirk and loaned him back, Mackay-Steven for 160k and Emil Berggreen from Mainz for 1.4m. He scored about 10 goals in the second half of the season, and got Kaiserslauterns goal of the season.