Acceptance speech at the ready, it’s awards season.
With the red carpet being rolled out for the Oscars this weekend, Hollywood’s finest will be suited and booted in preparation for the biggest and most glorified event in film.
But forget about those stupid, little gold men, there’s only one accolade worth winning.
Football Manager‘s Manager of the Month.
And yes, yours truly has finally bagged the gong all the stars want. Eddie Redmayne may have delivered an incredible performance as Stephen Hawking in the Theory of Everything, but word is he can’t even qualify for the Champions League with Chelsea. As for Benedict Cumberbatch, do the words, ‘relegation’ and ‘Liverpool’ ring any bells?
But while Benny and Eddie are ruing their computer game failures by wallowing in their multimillion pound mansions, I’ve got a diary to write.
And to get to the point where I’m posing on the imaginary training ground, smile across my face and trophy in hand, I have to pick up from where we left off.
Fourth in the Championship, the league was put to one side for arguably our biggest game of the season to date, an FA Cup quarter-final away to Sunderland.
Trailing 1-0, a trip to Wembley now seemed no more than a pipe dream. Hold the front page though, this magical cup journey isn’t over yet. A wonderfully crafted move ended in Jack Grealish stroking home to level the tie. And with minutes to spare, guess who, Deadly Dave McGoldrick bagged his 30th of the season to clinch a 2-1 success and send us into the semis.
Drawn against Watford, we could genuinely get to the final. Still, let’s deal with the push for promotion first.
Exhausted after their cup exploits, I chose to rest a large amount of the squad for the visit of Brentford. No need to worry though, wonderkid Teddy Bishop bagged his first in a blue shirt before Atdhe Nuhiu scored a second after seeing a goalkeeper’s clearance smack him clean in the face and loop in. Beautiful. Daryl Murphy added another in a comfortable 3-0 victory.
All good things come to an end though, and second-placed Middlesbrough finally put a stop to our unbeaten run. Tokelo Rantie’s free-kick had given us a 1-0 lead, but with three goals in the last 25 minutes, Boro ran out 3-1 winners.
It was important we bounced back at home to Bolton, but injuries weren’t helping. Key men McGoldrick and Grealish were ruled out beforehand, before Rantie and Ryan Mason limped off during the match. But have no fear, Conor Sammon is here and FMD‘s hairless cult-hero popped up with a last-gasp winner to seal a 1-0 triumph.
In Dave’s absence, Murphy was being tasked with leading the line. And boy did he lead it, scoring all four against future Wembley opponents Watford in an emphatic 4-0 victory.
It was then I was crowned Manager of the Month. It was emotional to say the least. Given that we’re third in the league and now only two points off second, the success of this game is proving that the breakdown of my social life has definitely been worth it.
Yet I was wary of the MOTM curse that often brings a rewarded gaffer back to earth with a bang. And old habits die hard it seems, as our penchant for letting leads slip reared its ugly head once again when Bournemouth came to town.
2-0 ahead thanks to an own goal and Grealish, the Cherries pulled one back through Callum Wilson. Fearing the worst, I was relieved to see the little, 3D ref point to the spot with 20 minutes to go. But Murphy, on for McGoldrick, failed to add a fifth goal in two games as he saw his penalty easily saved. To make matters worse, Wilson went up the other end within 30 seconds to equalise. Darn you Manager of the Month!
Hold up for a second, what’s Murphy doing! Out of nowhere the front-man cracks in a blinder to make it 3-2. Penalty miss, what penalty miss?
But will someone just kick Callum Wilson for crying out loud. With three minutes left he wrapped up his hat-trick to steal a point.
That’s what I would have said. If Murphy hadn’t had me jumping around the front-room in jubilation with a 94th minute winner to seal a 4-3 win.
This assault on the top two is really happening. Manager of the Month? More like Manager of the Season.
Deal with it, Redmayne.
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