Itchygon

16 games in two months! (You only see 15 here, because the Super Cup was mentioned in the February report.

After some big games, we had somewhat of a hang over in the opening of the league losing 1-0 to Sharks. But after that we only lose points against Heartland. Or that point we actually won, scoring the 2-2 goal in the 94:th minute, although only 2 minutes was added on by the ref.

In the Champions League we knocked out Coton Sport from Cameroon with a 4-2 on aggregate. And have played the first leg against Kabuscorp from Angola. We had a really lucky draw there, we could have gotten Orlando Pirates (RSA), ES Sétif (ALG), Ismaily (EGY) or one of the Casablanca teams (MAR). Hopefully we can get a win at home to secure a place in the group stage.

As you can see our new striker pair (Iheanacho and Opaka) are really finding eachother. Iheanacho has 12 goals and 8 assists in 16 games, and Opara has 14 goals and 6 assist in 16. Amazing!

Flying, Opara has kept himself busy there! Keep it up

Cheers! He's been absolutely brilliant.

No rest here! A lot of games, and unfortunately a lot of draws. Opara just keps on scoring, now about 20 in some 30 matches! And Kelechi Iheanacho is having a good season as well, just been handed a full international cap for Nigeria, he didn't make the 2016 Olympic team though. But this year's high light is ofcours the Champions League. We beat Kabuscorp to enter the group stage, and once there we started off by smashing Egyptian champions Ismaily 4-2. Then we faced Ashanti Gold from Ghana, and we recorded another win. Delighted with that.

So, I ran through the games in the league, and we did quite ok. Problem was both Heartland and Enyimba were far better. The fact that both out starting goalkeeper and Opara was out injured for about six weeks didn't help either. Good thing I have Terry Envoh to fill in for my strikers. I'll show more stats in a review post later.
In the Cup we played Heartland in the semi final, and we equalized in stoppade time only to see them score in the 120:th minute...





We're in the final. I'm shocked. I thought this would be a learning year for us and that we would get absolutely demolished by the teams from Egypt, Algeria and South Africa. But no. We bossed our group, secured the first place with two games in hand. Then we rather easily went passed AS V.Club from the DR Congo in the semi final. So now we will face Orlando Pirates again, a team we beat at home 2-0, and lost 3-1 away in the group stages.

On to the final!

Leg 1



Tony Alegbe. A straight red card in the 6:th minute. Smart. But we have the Top scorer in this tournament: Kelechi Iheanacho has so far scored 19 goals in the Champions League. But we couldn't hold them off the entire game, they scored a lucky goal in the 93:ed minute to make the next leg really interesting. Can't complain, I would have taken that result any day of the week. And with a man short - I'm delighted.

In between the two final matches Kelechi was involved in a Cup of Nations qualifier against Mauritania:



Four goals from the Bayelsa Bomber!

Leg 2



Well, that was easy. With Kelechi away with the Nigeria squad, it was time for Terry Envoh to step up yet again. Left winger Ovoke scored two in the first half and then it was just for me to sit back and enjoy the show.
And some nice money to come with it.

Season Review

I will start by some Bayelsa statistics.

Top scorers


Top assists


Average rating


The top guys
I have been rambling on about these three strikers, but just look at them!







I don't really know what to do now. Should I stay, and try to win the league? Or should I head out in the world, trying my hands on another team and continent?
I have four massive transfers already arranged. Three top players from Heartland joining on a free, and the league's top passer from Kano Pillars.

It's a bit sh*t that you lost your best striker for a Champions League final, poor scheduling if I ever saw it! Good work though fantastic win, you going to stick around?

Quit, find your new club, then sign Iheanacho - you know that's what you need to do.

Yeah I should probably leave, there are not that many interesting jobs out at the moment though. I think I will play the Club World Cup first.

Imagine the European CL-final including, say Bayern at the same date as Germany plays a Qualifying match...

I would definitely go and see what other clubs are without managers

Best bet is to wait for a club you want to mange and then go for it. Worst thing is you leave and you have to wait months before getting a new job.

The aim for this career has to be "Get Iheanacho to follow me another club" (as Eric P stated above). However I don't have that many leagues loaded as would be a suitable step. I guesss he won't be interested to move anywhere but to Europe and the only European leagues I have loaded are Sweden and The Netherlands. Holland seems to be the only choice here. I have added Russia, Greece and France and they will be playable June 2017 (half a year from now).

So I will stay at Bayelsa until something interesting pops up. The Groningen job is insecure...

FIFA Club World Cup

After 17 minutes Pohang had shot four shots. All of them in goal.


5-2 was the result of this cup for us. I think this meant we finished 5:th in the Club World Cup.


Hello Mr. Top Scorer!

The job hunt hasn't proved to be easy...





I think I will wait till the summer to see if there are any jobs available in the new leaugues I've added. Until then...



Let's see what the top Nigerian team can do in the league.

Unlucky with the jobs itchycoo

Luck's gonna change...

After another couple of months in Nigeria, leading Bayelsa to a top spot in the league table and guding them to the group stage of the Champions League I saw an opening:



Holland bound!



YES



AND YES

BUT

YAS \o/ Good luck in Holland

Gutted Iheanacho won't be following you to NAC Breda

Oh dammit

Thaks Johno and Eric, I was ofcourse devestated that Iheanacho decided to turn down our (much higher) conctract offer. But I will not give up, I will keep close tabs on him and one day...

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The club isn't in great shape. Not financially and not playerwise. We do have great facilities so I hope for som good talents to come. Here are three of my more important transfers during the summer:



Instead of Iheanacho this French striker joined for free from a relegated Socheaux, where he had spent his entire career.



Bought in from Groningen who was relegated from the Eredivisie for a small fee, about 2.7 M if I recall correctly. A great passer who I really believe can do a lot now and in the future.



A Man City product who was released without making a single apperance for them. Hopefully he can develop into a leading center back for us. 9 caps for Wales.

I also brought in two ex Bayelsa players. Striker Tony Evoh will be a handy back up, and I have loaned in Olajide Izuchukwu who I sold to Toulouse a couple of years ago.

On to the fixtures.



Nothing to brag about. Struggling to find the the right formation and playing style. Now I have settelde for a 5-3-2 counter attack version which seems to work quite well. And a bit of bad luck as well, losing a lot of games by one goal. We're doing fine in the cup, though.



I hope we can grabb a bit of form and maybe finish around 12:th place. That would do.

Envoh looks like he could be out of his depth at the Eredivisie, IMO.

And how has Izuchcukwu developed?

Yea, Envoh isn't a starter, that's for sure. He is a good goal getter, though: 3 starts and 6 sub apperances and scored 4 goals. And he didn't cost us much. I'm pretty pleased with the deal.

Here's Izu:

Are we just not going to mention that you've signed Robbie Williams? Must be good for shirt sales?

Maybe we can fool someone. I might also mention that his agent is called Tom Jones!

Good result against Ajax

Thank Johno, it was a good cup run.

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A pretty good second half of the season, including an eight matches unbeaten run in the league.



Ajax walked the league, and we finished as expected in an uninteresting 13:th place.

One thing we're good at is scoring goals (unfortunately we leak in defence just as much):



I'm most pleased with Ritzmaier, the Austrian wing back was sitting, transfer listed, not needed, when I got the club. Now he's the fans' player of the year.

Here's the best picks from the youth intake. Pretty pleased tht one of them's Swedish!

Good results against PSV away Holmberg looks pretty good