After a lot of waiting, we have finally returned from our diaspora to Kingston upon Thames. Although we didn’t generate a lot of fans until we had climbed into the upper reaches of the Football League, I’d like to think that our club president, part of the fan consortium that bought the club a few years ago, was the one fan that followed us all the way from tier 6 to the top. The president is the first to welcome us to our new home, Kingstonian Stadium.
The new field smell is wonderful but I’m not satisfied. Still smarting from the Europa League loss with Manchester City, I am hungry to claim a trophy this season. We need a big-time transfer.
Son Sang-Hyub from South Korea is the best left-footed central defender at his age, and is probably better than all the central defenders 2-3 years older than him. This pickup for $63 million is a big buy but a massive addition that will change my defense for a long time.
Speaking of big changes, my attack has to be reworked. Marcial Zaragoza, the European Golden Boy from two seasons ago, is out. His injury problems last year as well as his ineffectiveness (6.82 rating, 2 goals in 16 league games) make me think he is expendable. Well, okay, I was willing to work with him but Napoli met his release clause so it was out of my hands anyways. I am down to just Savas Ozdogan. This leads me to the second big pickup – a left winger to spell the inconsistent Ryan Reynders and also be a striker with Ozdogan:
Sunday Umar, a Spaniard, is the man set to replace our previous Spaniard. I am excited for the country of Spain’s chances internationally with Umar and Zaragoza playing together but I hope I have the better end of this “trade.” At least I have the more versatile player.
I also purchase another Belgian player, this time – Eric Aubry, who has the chance to develop into a decent backup.
With Maverick re-signed on the right wing for several more years, I feel set in our attacking unit.
With Son in the central defense next to Vitor Silva and Nicolas Casier as the right fullback, I think we are a revamped midfield and a great left wingback away from a Champions League-worthy lineup. Speaking of the midfield, I have these two guys coming in January:
Igor Onyschenko, the Ukrainian stud, and Diego, from Brazil and the best young defensive midfielder in the game, will transform my midfield when they arrive mid-season after they turn 18 years old. Until then, some patience and praying for good health in the midfield is required.
The optimism I feel from these additions is reflected in our new status as a top 7 team in English football.
It is hard to think of ourselves as a favorite. And yet, that is exactly what we are.
Season Results
We christened our new home stadium in style, defeating cross-town rivals, Arsenal 2-0 with both goals by Ozdogan. We continued the good home form by drawing against Liverpool, defeating the Danny Johnson-less Fulham (more on that later), and a Europa league victory against Valencia.
We almost kept the home record going against Manchester United until we were unjustly scored upon in the 94th minute. Angry about the first home loss, we smashed Leicester 7-0, which included braces from Alessandro Marotta and Ozdogan, and three other goals from midfielder Radim Ditmar, Reynders, and Umar.
But as good as our form had been, it was nothing compared to Manchester City, which had bought Danny Johnson over the summer. Here’s the table by early December.
I did try to buy Johnson again this summer but he said no. You may recall Johnson’s dream was to play for Man City many years ago when he was with us in the Championship. So kudos to the guy for working hard to making sure it would happen.
Speaking of working hard, my club full of internationals has led to two recent awards:
Now I just need an African and South American superstar. It seems like Diego might step into that role for us as his stats look excellent and his form has been great. Other than Liverpool’s Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah, though, Africa hasn’t quite seen a bona fide superstar in nearly a decade and a half.
The winter months were extremely busy but thankfully we would find some reprieve because we cruised through our Europa League group, finishing first with five wins and the last match a draw due to playing primarily youth prospects. This meant no European matches in February and with our FA Cup Fourth Round win over Ipswich Town, no cup games until the end of March.
While we struggled against Liverpool and several big London teams, we also had some hiccups along the way against mid-level sides. We also received the worst winter transfer news I could have possibly received after beating Manchester City and giving them their first defeat: Ozdogan’s release clause had been activated and he was off for just north of $100 million to Bayern Munich. Auf wiedersehen!
Still, Ozdogan’s departure is an untimely and horrible blow to our plans to reach a Champions League spot. I thought we had a really good shot now that Diego and Onyschenko had arrived. I tried to focus on finding a replacement striker but my efforts were unsuccessful. The options were limited at the price point I wanted to pay and the best in the game would command a transfer of over $100 million.
But the lesson I learned was to renegotiate these contracts to get rid of these release clauses. Although our players’ agents had refused to exclude them when we were just entering and establishing our foothold in the Premier League, they only this season willing to play for us without treating us like a stepping stone.
The end of January saw Maverick and Manuel Acosta injured. Despite this, we played extremely well in February. Umar scored in all four matches and carried us through this month. The last game against Brighton finally saw the first team healthy and in action together; a complete effort was given. Reynders, Maverick, Diego, Umar, and Acosta all got on the score sheet in the first half and we coasted to a 5-1 win. What a response from the boys.
Well, after playing a good first game together, there were some growing pains that followed. Luckily, we had a really easy draw in Sparta Praha in the Europa League, which helped us ignore some disappointments drawing against Brentford and West Ham while failing to play up to the big boys of Manchester City and Tottenham.
April was more of the same with a disappointing draw against mid-table Crystal Palace, losses to big clubs Chelsea and Liverpool, and a favorable match-up against Stuttgart. However, we nearly threw that away too. Thankfully, we held on. Our next opponent? Of course, like last year, it was a Champions League knockout worthy club – this time, PSG.
We did not do well in Paris. While we pushed forward and went very attacking at home, our Ukrainian youngster, Igor, was sent off in the 57th minute while we were up 1-0 and daring to come back. We kept the pressure on but just could not compete a man down. A disappointing finish yet again in Europe.
That said, we did have a nice end to our league games, with wins over Fulham, Everton, and Southampton. These games were actually quite stressful because Manchester United and Liverpool, who had struggled more than usual this year, had faltered right at the finish line to hold onto Champions League spots. This was a huge result for us and the league as a whole because for the first time in 15 years, one of Manchester City, Manchester United, and Liverpool did not make the top 4. And this year, it happened to two of them!
You may recall Manchester United had an undefeated season in 2030-2031, with 102 points. They scored 88 goals that season, with 19 conceded. Manchester City arguably had a more dominant season. Only giving up 11 goals in 38 matches is insane. They also went undefeated in the Champions league, giving up only 5 goals the entire competition, and undefeated in the FA Cup, giving up only 1 goal (!) during their cup conquest. Jakub Fucik, a Czech like Kingstonian’s Jiri Baranek, is City’s keeper and had 39 shutouts this year. Remarkable.
Meanwhile, Kingstonian barely snuck into Champions League football. You can see that if Manchester City falters next year, it is going to be a wild race for first.
Best XI
An impressive showing from the team except from José Antonio, whose contract demands were too exorbitant to re-sign and grew frustrated during the second half of the season that a new contract was not given. I am also frustrated at losing Ozdogan because he played really well for us. But, while his efforts in total look excellent, he was also very inconsistent. You either got 2-3 goals from him in a match or an awful 6.3-type performance the next. Without a reliable backup like Zaragoza, living with Ozdogan became frustrating. I’m going to need to find a striker that is reliably healthy, consistent, and excellent – I only got 2 of 3 from each of Zaragoza and Ozdogan.
I’m excited for Champions League football next season but also concerned. I’m not sure we are fully ready yet. But that’s what the summer is for – time to go transfer hunting!
The Kings of London 