Hello Friends,
As mentioned in the previous post I’m on vacation this week and with the temperatures dropping to -6C there’s been plenty of indoor time to wrap up the season so here it is.
Season Finale
We started April off with an uneventful 1-0 win over Ipswich at Portman Road with Geynrikh getting the only goal of the game with a typical powerful finish that fully stretched the back of the net.
The following game was at home to Millwall and we got off to a flying start as ML Pelosi drilled a cross into the six yard box which rebounded off the Millwall keeper into the path of Rodriguez to smash home after 4 minutes. We then failed to capitalize on that great start and it wasn’t until the second period that Zeytulaev’s cross ball from the right found the head of Pelosi who glanced it into the net. Geynrikh of course had to get in on the action and added our third in the 67th minute with a close range shot from inside the 6 yard box with Zeytulaev once more the supplier. Number four came from a set piece and was headed in by Rodriguez after which Millwall managed a consolation goal but by then they were fully defeated.
We had closed gap on West Ham once more and only needed one more win to assure promotion to the Premier League. With all teams now having played 42 games the situation was this.
1. West Ham 85
2. Plymouth 84
3. Derby 73
Next up was a difficult away game to Huddersfield. We started brilliantly as Conor Coady’s free kick from inside the centre circle was met by the head of Rodriguez and the ball looped over the Huddersfield keeper an into the net to make it 1-0 after 8 minutes. From there the drama was in terms of injuries as I was forced to take off LB Bhasera and in the second half GK McCarey. Worse was to come as Boateng was sent off in the 71st minute leaving our slender league in jeopardy. William Ekong was stunning at the back thwarting everything the home side could throw at us and Rodirguez held up the ball magnificently to waste time and run out the clock as we took all three points away from The Galpharm Stadium.
Back in the dressing room the news came through that West Ham had lost at home to Cardiff so we were top of the table and two points clear!
More importantly though we had won promotion to the Premier League which was remarkable as we had gone from a side with the worst finances and morale in League 2 to the top flight of English football in consecutive seasons.
Our celebrations were short lived as there was still work to be done with three more games to play and now we had a chance at winning the title….
That chance immediately slipped away from us as we lost our next game at home to Peterborough 2-1 who were also chasing a play-off spot. Geynrikh scored our only goal in a game that had limited scoring opportunities in which Peterborough only had two themselves and scored on both occasions.
West Ham crushed Barnsley at home so were league leaders once more.
It was back to Yorkshire for our penultimate game of the season as we took on Leeds United. Zeytulaev’s fine run and cross from the right flank found his Uzbek compatriot Geynrikh and the ball was in the net in less than a minute. Leeds though tightened things up and forced the action down at our end of the field for most of the first half. Some encouraging words in the dressing room paid dividends as Geynrikh muscled his way through the Leeds defence to make it 2-0 soon after the break. Leeds were now on the back foot and 20 minutes later Pelosi’s cross from the left found Zeytulaev unmarked for an easy tap into the net. We weren’t quite finished as substitute Gameiro added number four in injury time.
Despite a fabulous away win West Ham clung on to top spot with little prospect of overtaking them again as we were both at home for our last game of the season against teams with nothing to play for.
A capacity crowd was on hand as we played our final game of the season at home to Portsmouth. It turned out to be a frustrating afternoon as the visitors assembled an impenetrable blue wall across their six yard box and displayed no intentions of attacking our goal. It wasn’t until the final few minutes of the game that substitute winger Javi Lopez produced two intricate passes that were both struck first time by Geynrikh to secure a deserved victory and give our fans something to cheer about.
In London West Ham had beaten Millwall 2-1 and thus won The Championship title. That home loss to Peterborough had been the difference between us finishing as champions and second place.
Final Table:
Results Summary:
Super Sevens:
With twenty- four goals in thirty-five games Geynrikh was undoubtedly the player of the season for Plymouth and Rodrigues turned out to be an excellent loan signing from Bologna. At just 17 years of age Arsenal’s left back Bougonou contributed with 5 solid performances and I’ll be keeping tabs on him.
In the Premier League Liverpool became champions whilst at the other end Wigan, Watford and Blackpool were all relegated. Southampton won the play –off final beating Derby by a single goal and will join ourselves and West Ham in the Premier League next season.
With the celebrations over a job offer came from Dundee United which I rejected and also I was linked with the vacancy at Villa Park. Aside from promotion there was one more reason to celebrate as I toppled ‘Big Sam” again this time for the Manager of the Year award.
As May drew to a close and a couple of weeks vacation on the horizon there was time for one more job offer…
That concludes Season 3 so thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to your comments. As I think I’ve gone over the top with updates this week, I’ll step back for a few days before I turn Johnny’s site into a Plymouth blog!
I’ll take this opportunity though to wish you all a Happy New Year and may 2012 bring you peace, joy and great success in whatever you do.
— Kevin
Martin Pickard
29 декабря, 2011 at 11:24
Fantastic update Kevin and congrats on getting Plymouth into the ‘BIG TIME’ in the end it didn’t matter how you did it…champions or not your there! Woop Woop! I’m really looking forward to seeing you pre-season signing and also how much cash the board give you. Again congrats and HAPPY NEW YEAR FELLA :)
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 11:46
Hi Martin
Thanks a lot mate and I’m delighted you enjoyed the update. You are right of course, as long as we made it to the EPL it didn’t really matter how.
George Dobson
29 декабря, 2011 at 11:46
Well done Kevin brilliant promotion also you got linked with some big jobs so congrats ,good luck in the prem !!!!!
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 12:13
Thanks George. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me and some decisions to make too!
Laxeyman
29 декабря, 2011 at 12:19
Brilliant Kevin, amazing season! Congratulations on the promotion, shame you couldn’t win the league, but 2nd place is still fantastic :) Looking forward to seeing how you get on in the PL mate.
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 18:23
Thanks a lot. Once we went top I was sure we could hang on but it wasn’t to be. Very satsifed with 2nd though. I’m a bit scared of the EPL to be honest.
Lye
29 декабря, 2011 at 12:23
Hi Kevin,
You really pushed West Ham all the way. Great job to earn promotion and unlucky to miss out on the title. A perfect new year present. Looking forward to Plymouth playing in the Premiership and you have shown a lot of commitment in rejecting Liverpool.
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 18:24
Hello Lye
We pushed West Ham far more than I expected and I will have a lot of work ahead in preparing for the EPL
MVB
29 декабря, 2011 at 12:52
Well done on a truly historic rise! I hope you turn Liverpool down as I can’t wait to see how you fair with The Green Army in the premiership.
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 18:28
Hi MVB
Thanks for your comment mate and we did far better than I ever anticipated
TheZiggy
29 декабря, 2011 at 13:38
Congratulations on the 3rd successive promotion, and making to the EPL to play with the big boys. While it’s a shame not to win the Championship having got so close, you achieved the main objective to gain promotion.
Unsurprisingly, you’re in great demand from other teams. Good luck in building the team more for the next season.
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 18:31
Thanks Ziggy
It would have been nice to pip West Ham right at the end but nonetheless automatic promotion will do nicely particularly as I was expecting a mid-table finish at the start of the season. Building for the EPL is going to be tough I fear?
TheZiggy
31 декабря, 2011 at 14:30
I think rising up from League Two to the EPL brings added problems in building the team you really need. You probably have quite a few players not really of the right quality which you probably need to ship out either selling or on loans. It’s a problem I’m already seeing with Torquay having gained promotion to the Championship.
Johnny Karp
29 декабря, 2011 at 13:55
Congratulations Kevin, you nearly won the Championship too! You had a wonderful season and you deserve all the praise plus the exciting offer from the Reds.
P.S.: You can post as often as you like, I don’t have a problem with that at all ;)
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 18:34
Hi Johnny
So near and yet so far but to get promoted is as good as winning the title with the resources that were available. Very surprised to get an offer from Liverpool though!
I may just do another post then before I go back to work though as you know pre-season takes a lot more hours to get through.
vaibhavc
29 декабря, 2011 at 15:32
Wow, I never expected you to get so close to West Ham after their start but it was a great effort, it was only that Posh loss. I hope you didnt take the offer, but seeing from the other comments you haven’t. Great job getting that offer!
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 18:38
I didn’t expect to get that close to West Ham either and all of a sudden we were top. I was shaking in front of my PC! No, I didn’t go to Anfield though the prospect of Champions League was very tempting.
Bhargav
29 декабря, 2011 at 16:11
I knew you would get promotion! That’s crazy, though, how close the season came. Winning the league would have been such a great ending to a great season. Funny that West Ham’s last game came against Millwall (too bad Millwall couldn’t take anything from it, though). And I’m sure as a United fan, Liverpool aren’t exactly the team you’re thinking of switching to ;)
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 18:40
Thanks for your confidence in me. The end was crazy indeed and totally unexpected. You’ve guessed right about the Liverpool job!
Sears
29 декабря, 2011 at 17:47
Congrats on achieving promotion Kevin, that was superb. I hope you get a good transfer budget during pre season, it’ll be tough to stay in the PL. Best of luck mate and Happy New Year!!
Kevin
29 декабря, 2011 at 18:43
A good transfer budget will be critical but as always the difficult part will be temting players to come to Plymouth!
CsAtlantis
30 декабря, 2011 at 02:54
Oooooh normally I would be recommending that you stick with Plymouth but the Liverpool offer is very tempting………
Anyway Kevin congratulations on getting automatic promotion with Plymouth, with this the last of your loans will be repaid upon your promotion and you will be debt free I think? There is a lot of TV money in the Premier League so I am sure your board will provide you with the money, it will be up to you to find players who are willing to join!
Kevin
30 декабря, 2011 at 09:27
An offer from Liverpool is very tempting though I think I’ll stay with Plymouth to see how far we can get. You quite rightly make an excellent point about convincing players to come to Devon
Mitch
30 декабря, 2011 at 06:19
Don’t worry about not winning the title, just getting Plymouth 3 consecutive promotions is a fantastic achievement. I attempted it, won L2, won playoffs in L1, then got relegated form the Championship. I’m new to the game so I’m not nearly as good a manager as you but this site is helping me get better! Good luck actually convincing players to come to Home Park ;P
Kevin
30 декабря, 2011 at 09:31
Hi Mitch,
Greetings from Canada and thanks for your comment. I’m sorry to hear your attempt with Plymouth was not as successful but mine was due to sheer luck in finding Uzbek striker Geynrikh otherwise the season would have been a lot different I think. Good luck with your game and keep visiting the site!
qwerty
30 декабря, 2011 at 10:49
Wow well done kevin top work although I would definitly stick with Plymouth
Kevin
31 декабря, 2011 at 09:34
Thanks qwerty, and i am staying in Devon.
Ana Garcia
30 декабря, 2011 at 23:11
So close!!
I guess the main thing was getting a promotion and you succeeded so not winning the trophy wont matter in the long run.
I would stay as you have gone all this way it would be good to see how you do in the premier league.
So the best of luck and I hope you have a great new year!! :)
Kevin
31 декабря, 2011 at 09:39
Hi Ana
The league turned out a lot tighter than I imagined in the end but getting auo promotin was just great!
Happy New Year to you as well!