Ipswich Town - Mick Out!

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It's fair to say that one the past 20 years Ipswich Town has produced some top class youngsters from their youth academy. From the picture above you can see three players that came from the Ipswich Town ranks. Kieron Dyer, born and bred Ipswich boy, came through the academy to play for us and then moved on to the likes of Newcastle and West Ham. Richard Wright, another born and bred Ipswich boy, was our first choice keeper for 3-4 years until he secured a move to Arsenal. He has also won England caps in his playing days. And of course, who could forget Darren Bent. My favourite ever Ipswich Town player. Born in London, he came to our academy at the age of 14. 122 appearances later, he was a beloved personal at the club. Securing big money moves to Charlton and Tottenham, who broke their transfer record to acquire him.

More recently we've seen Mick McCarthy imbed more youth products into the first team, with players like Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam beginning to get a taste of first team football. Right now our best prospects, Andre Dozzell and Teddy Bishop, are sat in the physio room, but when they are fit, we have some good players on our hands. You just have to look at our U23's games to see how well our young players are performing. Conor McKendry has been a tricky winger in all of the games they have played, getting assists all throughout the season. Ben Morris and Ben Folami have been banging in the goals for them as well, could see them feature near the end of the season.

But enough about the players of the past, and the players of our real-life future. Let's talk about the players of my future. We got our youth intake in, and oh my was it unexpected. I know we have a quality youth academy developing gems in real life, but nothing like this. You get the usual message in about the youth intake, and how a certain player is the best of a average bunch, or someone to keep an eye on. But this was the message I got...

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Do you see it yet? I'll give you a closer look....

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'A so called golden generation' - Uh I'm sorry what is that? A new golden generation. It's fair to say we have had a few mini 'generations' come through at the same time. Richard Wright, Richard Naylor and Kieran Dyer? Darren Bent, Darren Ambrose and Dean Bowditch? Flynn Downes, Tristian Nydam and Andre Dozzell? But this set of players, I think it trumps them all...

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As you can see, a couple of possible 5 star potential players, few 4 1/2 potential as well. But that is not what I'm looking up. I am looking straight at those first 2 who have a 2 star CURRENT ability already. I mean, thats better than Jonathan Douglas was for us. Thats insane. Lets meet the players...

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First up is right winger, Jake Rodber. He has 1 1/2 star current ability, and a 4 1/2 star potential. At the young age of 16, he already has a bit of pace at 12, and has 12 technique as well. He looks like a tricky little winger.

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Next up is striker John English. He has a 2 star current ability, and a possible 5 star potential. Absolutely mental. As you can see from his stats, he looks great already. 14 finishing. 14 composure. 14 first touch. Brilliant looking player.

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Dennis Mead was said to be the best of the golden generation, and he looks class already. Centre half. 2 star current ability. Possible 5 star potential ability. 16 determination. 16 tacking. 14 marking. Incredible. And he can play DM and CM.​
 
3rd March 2018

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Bialkowski, Williams, Webster, Smith, Connolly, Knudsen, Ward, Huws, Crawford 2, Mousset, Nagode 1

I feared the worst when Hull scored early on. They were the first team to beat us this season in early November, so I was instantly expecting a repeat performance. But we pulled through, with 2 goals from Ali Crawford and 1 from Nagode giving us a good 3-1 victory.

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6th March 2018

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Bialkowski, Williams, Chambers, Webster, Connolly, Knudsen 1, Merkel, Huws, Celina, Nagode, Waghorn 1

Another brilliant win for the boys away at Sheffield Wednesday. Waghorn missed an early penalty but dispatched his next chance to make it 1-0. Hooper equalised late on but Knudsen popped up late in the game to nod home for a 2-1 win.

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10th March 2018

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Bialkowski, Williams, Webster, Smith, Spence, Kenlock, Ward, Skuse 1, Crawford, Mousset 1, Garner 1

Two Sheffield teams in a row, both beaten by the boys. Changed the team around slightly after our win at Hillsborough. Good to see Skusey get in on the goal action as well as Mousset and Garner. Still 2 points behind Wolves though, but a long way ahead of 3rd place. Promotion incoming?
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17th March 2018

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Bialkowski, Williams, Webster, Smith, Connolly, Knudsen, Ward, Huws, Crawford, Nagode 1, Mousset 3

Oh I wish we could have Mousset forever. Brilliant hat-trick vs 20th placed Bristol City pushes us up into 1st place. Bristol made it hard for us, both we came through in the end. I wonder if Bournemouth will sell him in the summer, probably not now seeing how well he has done here. And with that win......

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Both us and Wolves have secured a play off position. IN MID MARCH! That is incredible. It's very good when one team is this far ahead of the pack, but when two teams are storming the league. It leads to a nail biting finish.
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31st March 2018


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Bialkowski, Williams, Webster, Smith, Iorfa, Knudsen, Ward, Huws, Crawford, Garner 1, Mousset 1

Last game of March pits us away at Birmingham, the team we started this wonderful season against with a 5-2 win. W followed on from our good recent form to win 2-0 with goals from Garner and Mousset. All these wins does have its negatives however, with certain players playing a lot more over squad rotation. I've already had Mauro, Skuse, Spence, Gerken, Hyam and Garner come to me over playing time, so it looks like a squad clear out is needed in the summer if we win promotion.

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Perfect month. 5 straight wins. Couldn't ask for anything more from the boys. Pushing for that automatic promotion, maybe even the title....

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Top of the Table! We overtake Wolves as they slipped up big time this month, winning only 2 of their 5 matches. We sit two points clear of second, but a massive 12 points ahead of 3rd place QPR. They themselves have been smashing it recently, with 8 straight wins putting them 9 points clear of 4th and 5th placed Norwich and Derby. Preston round off the top 6. At the other end of the table, Burton and Bolton still occupy the bottom 2 spots. In fairness to Burton, they have closed the gap to Bolton, having lost only 2 of their last 7 games. Aston Villa have dropped back into the drop zone, just below Nottingham Forest.

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Player of the Month wise, there was one real standout. Mousset has been exceptional this season, especially this month as he picked up 5 goals from the five games. Knudsen got his first goal for the club in the away game at Sheffield Wed, and has been a constant performer all season​
 
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Get the open top bus ready for the promotion party! Also who is the manager of Villa? Mike Bassett?
 
Hampus Silverholt said:
Get the open top bus ready for the promotion party! Also who is the manager of Villa? Mike Bassett?
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The town of Ipswich won't know whats hit them. HaaHaa you'd think that yeah. Steve Bruce is, unsurprisingly, not in charge anymore. He got sacked after 12 games. Who took over, only Ryan ****** Giggs! Bet he's glad he's gone into management now
 

2nd April 2018


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Bialkowski, Spence, Chambers, Webster, Connolly, Kenlock, Adeyemi, Skuse, Celina, Nagode, Waghorn


Not good enough today I'm afraid, these are the sorts of games we need to be winning if we want to take the title. But, promotion is very close so minor slip ups are not too disastrous right now.

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7th April 2018


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Bialkowski, Williams, Webster, Smith, Iorfa, Knudsen, Ward, Huws, Crawford 1, Mousset 1, Garner

Very good win away at Brentford to keep us on track for automatic promotion. Wolves also won away at Cardiff to keep them on 91 points along with us.

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10th April 2018

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Bialkowski, Williams, Spence, Chambers, Iorfa, Knudsen, Merkel, Huws, Celina 1, Garner, Waghorn

Another good win from the boys puts us only 1 win away from promotion. Wolves also dropped points at home to Derby, putting us two points clear of them. 1 more win, into the promise land.
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14th April 2018
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Bialkowski, Williams, Webster, Smith, Iorfa, Knudsen, Ward, Huws 1, Crawford, Mousset 1, Garner 1

WE DID IT! Promotion is ours. Us and Wolves both won meaning we are the two teams automatically promoted from the Championship with three games to spare. Absolutely incredible season from the boys, hopefully we can end it off with a league title​
 
Going really strong loved the youth intake post, is John English one of the workers for the game as i have a decent regen with that same name and so does someone else i know when this has happened before its FM workers who put themselves in the youth intakes KIU
 
coolmcool said:
Going really strong loved the youth intake post, is John English one of the workers for the game as i have a decent regen with that same name and so does someone else i know when this has happened before its FM workers who put themselves in the youth intakes KIU
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Thanks for following man. I like doing those slightly longer, more in depth posts like the one about Ipswich's academy, guess it just mixes it up a little bit. I know what you mean about John English, I had him come through on my Huddersfield save as well. Guess he comes out every year, must be someone who works at the company.
 
With promotion secured, our eyes were set on taking the league title. If we win our final 4 games, we win the league. But just imagine this scenario for a second. I few win our three games, and Wolves win their 3 games, then we would go up as champions, but Wolves would finish in second place on 104 points. That's obscene. That's unheard of before. Imagine finishing the season on 104 points, and not winning the league.

Since Division 2 changed its name to the EFL Championship, the highest points in a season has gone to Reading. They won the league in May of 2006 with a ridiculous 106 points. If we win our final 3 games, we finish on 106 points. Absolute madness that we could equal the record points in one season. Even worse for Wolves if they were to finish on 104 points. Any other season, they would have won the league except for in 05/06. The highest points tally for a second place side is 93, by Burnley in 13/14, and Brighton in 16/17.

With the news of promotion flooding throughout the town of Ipswich, my mind was half focused on the league title, and half on next season already. I was just thinking to myself, we have Marcus Evans as our chairman. How stingy is he gonna be next season. We've seen how he has doesn't throw money into a club, so god help us for next season when we go up. But then I got this email.....

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Um, Marcus? Is he still our chairman? Does he know what he has done? Nearly £33million to spend next season. Incredible. Imagine if this was real life, and we had £33 million to spend. Oooh we could get like 100 Cole Skuse's. Anyway, off track. I can't wait for the new season to arrive with that much money in our pocket. It seems the new influx of money has gotten through to the players, as I've already had 4 people come to me asking for new deals...

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In all honesty, it's four players I was willing to give pay rise to. They will probably all play a part next season in the Premier League surrounded by better players. But first, we focus on our final 3 games. We have Aston Villa ( H ), Reading ( A ) and Middlesbrough ( H ). Wolves on the other hand have Bolton ( A ), Sheffield Wed ( H ) and Sunderland ( A )
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21st April 2018

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Bialkowski, Williams, Webster, Smith, Iorfa, Connolly, Ward, Huws, Crawford, Mousset 1, Garner 2

We're getting closer boys. Very good 3-0 win keeps us up the top of the table, but only by 2 as Wolves won their game away at Bolton. Guess we move onto the next one. We are away at Reading, whilst Wolves are at home to Sheffield Wednesday
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28th April 2018

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They slipped up! Wolves slipped up at home to Sheffield Wednesday. This means that if we win this game away at Reading, we are the league champions! Come on boys, we can do it!
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29th April 2018​

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Bialkowski, Williams, Webster, Smith, Iorfa, Connolly, Ward 1, Huws, Crawford, Garner 2, Mousset 1

Get the champagne ready lads, we're having a party!!!! WE DID IT! We won the league. Wolves' slip up last night helped us massively, but we put Reading to the sword with this victory. Going 3-0 up, I thought this would be plain sailing, but they got it back to 3-2 to make it nervous for us. Up steps Joey Garner to fire us to victory. Yes boys!!!!

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We finish the season with a home game against Middlesbrough. Lets hope for a strong victory so that the boys can have the best lap of honour they would have had in years, and the Ipswich fan can watch the boys bask in glory for the first time since the 1999/00 season.
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5th May 2018

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Bialkowski, Williams, Webster, Smith, Iorfa, Connolly, Ward, Huws 1, Crawford, Mousset, Nagode 1

We end the season on a high. They took us all the way, but we finally got that second goal through Nagode. What a signing he was in January. The boys get their lap of honour. There was 30,304 fans in the stadium for this game (our capacity is 30,311. Where was those 7 people huh? We just won the league?) , with 1,508 travelling fans, all the way from the north easy, and I can honestly say there was at least 30,400 people in that stadium after the game. Every fan stayed after the whistle, even the Middlesbrough supporters. All here to clap the boys after the game. All the staff came out, even Marcus came out for a bit. Skusey led them all out, I think he knows this might be his last season with us. A bunch of there players had their kids with them, their wives. I kept myself at the back of the pack, didn't want to draw any attention away from the team. They played brilliantly this season. I couldn't ask for anything more. I tried to keep the attention of me, but Chambo was never gonna let that happen. He ran over to me, pulled me towards the North Stand, chucked me into the middle of the group. Suddenly they're throwing me up in the air like a pancake. I have loved every single second of this season. The 16 match unbeaten run at the start of the season. Finishing the season with 11 wins from our 12 games.

But nothing. And I mean nothing beats the moment the full time whistle went at Carrow Road, and I looked at the scoreboard and saw: Norwich 1-3 Ipswich. It was like a dream. I had taken the boys to that dump and we had deservedly got all 3 points. That is a memory I will never forget. But it is all about the new season, seeing if we can stay up in the Premier League. Before we get there however, I think we need an end of season round up.

Stay tuned...​
 
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End of Season Update

Fair warning. This is going to be long. Strap yourself in, grab a coffee, let's look back on an incredible first season.



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As you may have seen from the first 3 pages of this story, I occasionally include longer posts and paragraphs for some of my updates, such as the Ipswich Academy Update. Some of you may not like it, some of you may want more it, who knows. All I know is that I like to write: reports, stories, assignments, anything really. Most of the time I introduce longer updates because it creates more a story telling aspect to the save, rather than just straight solo updates. This end of season update is going to be fairly long because I want it to feel like you guys are involved in the story. Being able to tell you about the team and the players develops a more interactive aspect to the save. But enough about my preferences, lets talk about the end of the season.

Season Fixtures

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Results wise, I'm still speechless at some of the runs we went on. First off, going 16 games unbeaten in the league at the start of the season was incredible. The unbeatable dream was there till November when we were struck down by a very good Hull side. I could tell we were gonna lose our unbeaten streak sooner or later, as we had won only 1 of the previous 4 games before Hull, so it was inevitable in the end. In the second screenshot, you can see three loses in the league, but surrounded by so many wins that the loses were just small blips on the radar. Screenshot 3 is the same as Screenshot 2 but with the 4 final games at the bottom. That picture shows our incredible end of season form, even better than our early season form, as we finished the season with only 4 losses to our name.

League Table

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We finish the season on an outstanding 106 points, equally Reading's record for points in a single season. 32 wins from 46 games, I could only dream of that in real life. The best thing for me however about this season, is not the 106 points, but is in fact the amount of goals we were able to score. 107 goals in a single season. We had some prolific players in the squad, and you'll see later on how good each player was this season. Wolves join us in the top 2 on 99 points. 1 point from the magical triple digits. They dipped in form at the end of the season, guess the nerves got to them. What's even better about us going up into the Prem, is that we are also being joined by relegation-tipped Preston. They did incredible this season as well to just secure a play off place. They confidently got past Derby in the semi-finals, and got themselves to Wembley. Their opponents? Norwich. I went to this game, bought myself a ticket. Purchased a Preston scarf before the game, was never gonna support Norwich. A Daniel Johnson penalty secured Preston the victory, and a place in the Premier League. Surrounded by die-hard Preston fans, it was nice to see Norwich falter at the final hurdle. At the other end of the table, their was one shock, but fair to say two inevitable departures. Bolton and Burton were never on par with the other Championship sides, but the other relegation slot is more surprising. Predicted to finish 17th at the start of the season, Nottingham Forest severely underperformed this season, with Sheffield Utd, Aston Villa and Bristol City only just avoiding the drop.

Other Leagues

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I thought I'd check around the other leagues in England to see how everyone else has faired this season, and it also gives you the viewers the opportunity to see how your team did this year, and I can give you an overview of their season if you would like. I'm going to be 100% honest with you here. I hadn't looked at any other league this whole season. In fact, as of writing this, I have only got the BPL screenshot loaded up on this post, and haven't even checked League 1 and 2, so it will be a surprise for me. Premier League wise, Man Utd romped the league in the end. Finishing the season on 90 points, they only lost 4 games all season. The battle for second was very close, with my second team Arsenal just able to finish above Chelsea on 84 points compared to their 83. The battle for fourth looks an exciting one, all the way to the last day. The gap between 3rd and 4th was 15 points, but the gap between 4th and 6th was just one. Man City eventually beat out Tottenham and then Liverpool for the final Champions League spot. At the other end of the table, its heartbreak for my University side Huddersfield, Watford and Leicester. A very exciting end to the season meant there was only 1 point between 20th and 17th, with Brighton just holding on. As you can see near the bottom, Brighton qualified for European Football next season, as they were able to win the Carabao Cup. Most interesting part of this competition though was the semi stage, which consisted of 16th Burnley, 17th Brighton, 18th Leicester and 20th Huddersfield. Incredible.

In League One, Blackburn secured promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking, but only just won the league by 1 point ahead of Oxford and MK Dons. Oxford make their way back into the Championship since their relegation in 1999. Scunthorpe came through in the play offs after a 6 year absence from the Championship. At the other end, it was Wimbledon, Gillingham, Plymouth and Bristol Rovers who got relegated down into League 2. Replacing those 4 teams in League 1 next season will be League 2 winners Luton, who stomped the rest of the pack, just like real life. In 2nd was Lincoln City, so back to back promotions for them. In 3rd was Coventry, making a swift return to League One. Play off wise it was Yeovil who secured the win for promotion. At the other end of the table, Crawley and Morecambe lost there place in the football league, replaced by Macclesfield and Wrexham

Cup Competitions

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Cup wise, it's fair to say that England took bragging rights this season. That's obvious for the first two, as it was Chelsea who picked up the FA Cup this year after beating Newcastle 2-0. As we saw before, Brighton beat Leicester in the Carabao Cup final 3-2 to secure Europe next season. But the biggest surprises are the European Competition. In the Champions League, Chelsea got a 2-1 win over Bayern Munich, who absolutely decimated the rest of the German teams in the Bundesliga this season. In the Europa League, it was Arsenal who won the trophy after beating Napoli 3-1, a sign of things to come maybe this season??

Awards

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I think the words I'm looking for here are 'cleaned house.' We won multiple awards at the end of the season, but in particular it was Lys Mousset who as the outstanding performer. He picked up Player of the Year, and Top Goalscorer with 34 goals. I myself got the Manager of the Year award ahead of Wolves' Nuno Espirito Santo. And we also took over half of the team of the season with 6 players being selected - Bialkowski, Iorfa, Williams, Knudsen, Ward and Mousset - but the only issue is that three of those are loan players.

Team Overview

Now we get to the point of the update where I look at my team and how well they performed this year, but instead of doing this individually, I'll do it in positions.

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I think it's fair to say I'm not like Jurgen Klopp, as I seem to know who my first choice keeper is. Bart has been excellent all season, missing only 2 games, the first two League Cup games. He kept 19 clean sheets in 46 league games this season. Gerken will probably be let go in the summer, as I feel I need a better backup to Bialkowski.

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Squad rotation was vital this season, with how many Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday games there are. Consistency wise, Dom Iorfa was brilliant at RWB this season. Shame he's going back to Wolves, I know they'll want to give him first team football. Losing him, Williams and Connolly for the new season is gonna be huge, and will leave us with only 6 defenders, and I don't think Kenlock is quite ready for Premier League football yet, so that is one area I need to strengthen, rather than sell.

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Midfield wise, we had a lot of injuries at the start of the season, with Huws, Adeyemi, Hyam all injured when I arrived, so it left us with just Ward and Skuse for the start of the season. Merkel came in and did well when called upon, couple of really good goals this year. Eventually Ward and Huws were able to settle in that midfield position, with Ward in particular being very impressive with 11 assists. Ahead of them, it was a toss up between Crawford and Celina, 2 more loanees. Eventually Crawford started to nail down a place, and took his chance with 13 goals this season. Midfield is in need of upgrades, with Crawford and Celina leaving, and Hyam, Skuse, Mauro and Adeyemi all wanting first team football elsewhere, we may be left with only 3 midfield players

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I have no words. I don't think I've played, in the first season of a save, with this many consistent performers. All 4 strikers hit over 10 goals this year. Waggy was great as a super sub, with 10 goals from 34 games. Could have had a lot more had he put some pens away. Nagode was a godsend in January. Signed for only 375k, he is now worth £5Million. 11 goals in 14 games, what else can I say. The surprise of the save for me was Joey Garner. I brought in Mousset to take over from Garner because I didn't think Joey was going to be good enough for me, but boy was I wrong. 22 goals in 31 games, outstanding. Him and Mousset formed a formidable partnership at the end of the season. But the star man himself, Lys Mousset was the hero of the save. 36 goals in 45 games, alongside 20 assists. It's like FIFA stats with him. The only problem, is that he came here worth £2million, on the fringes of Bournemouth's first team, and 36 goals later, he is now worth £14Million, so we have no chance of buying him next season, which is a real shame.

Next Season?

In all honesty, I don't know what to expect next season. I think the first aim is to deepen the squad depth and the side, and try and get rid of some of the dead wood in the reserves and first team who just won't cut it in the Premier League. Right now, I have a good backbone of a Prem side, with Bialkowski, Webster, Ward, Huws and Nagode all premiership quality according to my assistant. Lets try and work with them this year. Club wise, we are going through a progression stage at the moment. Marcus has already put plans down for under-soil heating in the stadium, so he's having a great time in the boardroom. With nearly £33Million to spend, hopefully we can piece together a competitive side to fight relegation next season.

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Congrats on the title and still a little in shock at the £33m you've got to spend!
 
neavie pops23 said:
Congrats on the title and still a little in shock at the £33m you've got to spend!
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Thanks man. Yeah I know, I was just as shocked as you are. Even more so when I saw that we are £500,000 in the red for the balance. Marcus has gone crazy
 
Start of 2018/19 Season

9th June 2018

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Ipswich bring in two

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Ipswich Town have announced the pre-contract deals for two Scottish Premiership players, Ali Crawford and Jamie Walker. Crawford comes in from Hamilton after a very successful loan spell at the Tractor Boys last season, collecting 11 goals for the season. He joins on a free transfer on a 3-year deal. The second pre-contract confirmed by Ipswich is Hearts Attacking Midfielder Jamie Walker. Town were reportedly looking to strengthen there midfield for there upcoming Premiership season, and the additions of Crawford and Walker should do that. Walker joins on a 2-year deal.

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With Crawford and Celina leaving to go back to there parent clubs, I knew I needed some very good Attacking Midfielders for this upcoming season. Luckily Crawford ran down his deal at Hamilton so we snapped him up on a pre-contract. Walker had been scouted since January, but he only agreed to talk to me in March. But, two very good attacking players for the new season
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21st June 2018

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Ipswich bring in two more

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​Ipswich Town are strengthening their side as they begin their assault on the Premier League. The first new signing is Man Utd's Cameron Borthwick-Jackson. The young defender spent last season on loan at Leeds in the championship, and has been brought in as backup to Webster and Smith. He joins immediately. The next signing is Levante's Javi Espinosa. The Barcelona graduate spent last season on loan at Granada, and will slot straight into the first team with him, Huws and Ward fighting for a starting spot. He will join in July.

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Two new signings for us for next season. Borthwick Jackson is good for the future, and is decent right now, will probably be behind Webster and Smith, but ahead of Chambers. Borthwick Jackson arrives for £1.3Million, on a 3-year deal. Espinosa looks like a great signing, highly recommended from my chief scout. Looks like a starter for us. He comes in for £1.3Million, on a 4-year deal.

In other news, we are trying to get rid of some of the championship/league one quality players this window. Having offered about 9 players out, we have so far had two offers for first team players. Dean Gerken looks set to go to Hull for 425k, and Tom Adeyemi is likely to be moving on to New Yok City for £1Million.​
 
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July

The new season has come around quickly, and training has been in full swing. We've made some new signings, and let a few cult heroes leave us this month. So, without further ado, lets get onto the transfers for the new season.

New Signings

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On the outs, we needed to get rid of some of the players who for me were not playing much at Championship Level, so I didn't expect them to make the jump up to Prem Level any time soon. A bunch of loan deals for some of the youngster, as well as Gerken and Hyam leaving for a Million combined. There was only really 2 big money moves away from the club.

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Freddie Sears was a surprise sale this season. Not because I didnt expect him to leave, but the fact that I haven't played him since I became manager. I sent him out to Portsmouth on loan last year, but I'm shocked that we got £2.5Million for him to be honest, but good luck to him at Barnsley.

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I was sad to see Skusey leave. He has been a loyal servant at the club for a long time now. The only issue, is that he wanted first team football. That was something I couldn't offer him in the Premier League. On the other hand, I will take £5Million for him. Hope he does great for Hull this season.

Thats all the transfers so out of the club so far in July, so lets move onto the ins.

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You've heard about Crawford, Walker, Borthwick-Jackson, Seidel and Espinosa already, so I won't go over those again. But, lets discuss the recent transfers.

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The first newish signing is Dutch Goalkeeper Benjamin van Leer. The 26-year-old was signed from Ajax for 875k, and will act as strong competition for Bart. A much better backup than Gerken, someone who I feel confident with if Bart misses games.

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Next up is Iranian full back Ehsan Hajsafi. The 28-year-old was signed from Panionios for 975k, and will challenge Knudsen for a starting spot a wing back. With Connolly, Iorfa and Williams all going back to their clubs, we needed a new right back, centre back and left back. Left back - check.

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Another new signing here, which is right wing-back Anthony Ralston. The 19-year-old was signed from Celtic for £2Million, and will be our starting right back this season. Spence is the second in command to Ralston, but not as good yet. Right back - check.

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Next up is Welsh central midfielder Andy King. The 29-year-old was signed from Leicester for £3.8Million, and will be rotated in Centre Midfield with Ward, Huws and Espinosa. If I get promoted from a second or third tier, I like to look at the teams who got relegated the same season I got promoted. As we know, Leicester got relegated from the Prem last year, so I wanted to see who I could get on the cheap. Of course, Mahrez wasn't interested, but luckily King was. Great signing for us.

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The final signing of July is Argentinian Centre Half Juan Foyth. The 20-year-old was loaned in from Tottenham for the rest of the season. Foyth is 7th choice at Spurs, so I'm glad to have him here for the rest of the season. Could form a formidable partnership with Webster and Smith. Centre Half - check.

Plans for August

With the new season coming up, we have Bournemouth Away as our first game of the season. Looking towards that, I think a new striker is needed before the season kicks off. We've still got £12Million in the bank, so signings are a possibility​
 
August

​We move into our first month of the Premier League season, with a trip to Bournemouth to look forward to first. We have also completed all our friendlies, with resounding results in every game. We have made three transfers for the first team, whilst sending about 10 youth players out on loan.

View attachment 68982

Perfect set of friendlies to start the season. 4 relatively easy games and 1 fairly tough match against Anderlecht. 5 games, 5 wins, 28 goals, 0 conceded. Gives us confidence for the first game.

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View attachment 68981

The first notable signing in August is Danish Central Midfielder Lasse Vigen Christensen. The 23-year-old was signed from Brondby for £1.2Million, and will challenge for the central midfield spot. Other transfers in the month are young players going out on loan, such as Flynn Downes and Teddy Bishop. In terms of players coming in and out before the window shuts, I'm still trying to sell Mauro, Danny Rowe and loan out Tristan Nydam.

View attachment 68975

The second signing of the summer transfer window is Bosnian Striker Kenan Kodro. The 24-year-old was signed from Mainz for £4.3Million, and will challenge Garner and Nagode for a first team spot.

View attachment 68970

The third and final signing of the window is English Centre Half Jamaal Lascelles. The 24-year-old was loaned in from Newcastle until the end of the season. Lascelles was in the Newcastle U23's, so I snapped him up. That is all the players that I think I need for the start of the season. I'll look for End of Contract players in December, maybe loan players in the first half of the season.

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Carabao Cup Second Round Draw

Ipswich Town vs Gillingham

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Tactics

View attachment 68966

For this season, I am going to stick by my 3-5-2 tactic in the hopes that it fits well for the Premier League. This is probably my best XI for this season, with very good back ups on the bench to come on and make an impact. This is the team to start the first game of the season as well.

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​
19th August 2018
​
Bournemouth 0-3 Ipswich​
View attachment 68962


Bialkowski, Lascelles, Webster 1, Smith 1, Ralston, Hajsafi, King, Huws, Crawford, Garner, Nagode 1​

​
​Incredible. Absolutely incredible. 3-0 win away at Bournemouth. What is going on with this side. 3 first half goals as well, 2 by defenders. It looks like this could be a free scoring season. But with a good result, comes bad news.......

​
View attachment 68961

Bialkowski is out for 2 months now with a broken wrist. Thank god we signed that Ajax keeper, wouldn't have wanted Gerken in net in the Prem for the next few months, hopefully van Leer can step it up
​

​
25th August 2018

​
Ipswich 4-2 Everton
View attachment 68960


van Leer, Lascelles, Webster, Smith, Ralston, Hajsefi, Christensen 1, Huws, Crawford, Garner 1, Nagode 2

Ok seriously, what on earth is happening here. 4-2 win against Everton, unreal. It's not even like my squad is of premier league calibre. The only players in my starting XI to have played a Premier League match is Lascelles and Christensen, and have my squad is from the championship last year. Lets hope we can keep this form up

​
29th August 2018
​
Ipswich 4-1 Gillingham (CUP)
View attachment 68948

Van Leer, Foyth, Chambers, Borthwick-Jackson, Spence 1, Knudsen, Espinosa, Merkel 1, Walker, Kodro, Waghorn

Made 10 changes for the Carabao Cup tie against Gillingham, as I wanted to give some fringe players first team football, and they delivered. Both Spence and Merkel got on the scoresheet before substitute Ali Crawford stole the show with 2 goals of his own. Into the next round, which will be against Arsenal at home.

View attachment 68946

I think it's fair to say I am lost for words. A perfect start in the Premier League followed by a convincing win in the cup, I couldn't ask for much more from the boys. This means that we have played 8 games this season, and have won all 8. 5 friendlies, 2 league and 1 cup game, lets hope for more next season

View attachment 68945

WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE! SAY WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE! Okay too early to get excited, but still, that is a top 2 nobody would ever put a bet on, lets see how we and Swansea can hold out, and if Chelsea will stay near the drop

View attachment 68944

There is only one man who can take Player of the month for us in August. He had big shoes to fill when Mousset went back to Bournemouth, and boy has he stepped up. Bought in for a measly 375k in January, he has performed brilliantly this calendar year, with his league tally from January to now being 14 games, 14 goals, 5 assists. Brilliant player. Risen from 500k to £8.75Million.​
 
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September

The month of September has arrived, and the transfer window has just closed. Sitting pretty at the top of the table, lets see if we can carry on our good run in the Premier League

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​
1st September 2018

​
Burnley 3-3 Ipswich
View attachment 68874


van Leer, Lascelles, Webster, Smith, Ralston, Hajsafi 1, Christensen, Huws, Crawford, Garner 1, Nagode

Entertaining game to stuff September. 6 goal thriller at Turf Moor. 3 goals in the last 10 minutes led to a fun but nervous end to the game, but I'm glad we have kept our unbeaten run up

​
16th September 2018

​
Ipswich 1-1 West Ham
View attachment 68873

van Leer, Lascelles, Webster, Smith, Ralston, Hajsafi, Christensen, Huws, Crawford, Garner, Nagode

Good comeback by the lads against a strong West Ham side. Kodro picks up his first goal of the season to get us the point, and we are still unbeaten in the Premier League.

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23rd September 2018

​
Brighton 0-4 Ipswich
View attachment 68872

van Leer, Lascelles, Foyth, Smith 1, Ralston 1, Hajsafi, Christensen, Huws, Crawford, Garner, Nagode 2

Once again, wow. Incredible 4-0 win away at the Amex. Ralston picked up a goal and an assist in this game, he played brilliantly from RWB. Nagode picking up 2 as well was good to see.

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26th September 2018

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Ipswich 1-3 Arsenal (CUP)
View attachment 68852


van Leer, Lascelles, Foyth, Chambers, Spence, Knudsen, Christensen, Espinosa, Walker, Garner, Kodro

Shame to lose here against Arsenal in the cup, but it turns our attention back to the league. Changed our team around a lot, guess that was our downfall, but we focus on the league now.

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29th September 2018

​
Ipswich 1-0 Liverpool
View attachment 68847


van Leer, Webster, Foyth, Smith, Ralston, Hajsafi, Christensen, Huws, Crawford, Garner, Nagode

Absolute scenes here at Portman Road as we nick a 93rd minute goal against Liverpool. To be fair we deserved this win, we finished the game with 6 clear cut chance to their 0. Garner had 5 of those, took him of in last 10 for Kodro, and he delivered.

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View attachment 68846

2 wins, 2 draws and 1 lose this month, but i'll take the loss being in the Carabao Cup. Still unbeaten in the league. We have Man City first up in October, hopefully we can perform well against them.

View attachment 68845

Incredible. Sat in second place behind City and above United. I don't know how much longer we can keep this run going, I'm just as shocked as the players and probably you guys are.​
 
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