After my divergence last blog out, lets get back to the meat of the season and recap what could be a wonderful season in FC Jerusalem history.
We left it having qualified for the group stages of the Europa Conference League. our first foray into continental football. We had a reasonably tough group pitting us up against Sevilla; perennial European competition winners, Sampdoria; Serie A regulars, and “minnows” Shamrock Rovers. Looking at the fixtures I believed our fortune would come down to our battles with Sampdoria. I expected us to lose twice to Sevilla, and hoped we would be too strong for the Irish outfit. This is how it played out against these two sides. But how would we cope with the Genoese side. We earned a creditably draw in our home game, and a draw between Sampdoria and Shamrock Rovers in the penultimate game day meant we only needed a draw in the final game to seal our spot in second place and register a spot in the knockout. We came away from the Luigi Ferraris with a 1-1 draw to book our place in the First Knockout Round and a tie against Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb.
A victory in the first leg away from home set up a tense retun leg, where we managed a reargaurd masterclass and kept the game scoreless. Setting up a Second Knockout Round encounter with the second Scottish team of the campaign. This time against Old Firm giants Rangers. With the first leg at home we salvaged a draw with a late equaliser. We went down 1-0 at Ibrox to end our journey in the Europa Conference League. We had come up against some tough opposition in the competition, and performed commendably well at times. Losing to Sevilla was no embarrasment, and Rangers went on to lift the trophy. Exposure on the European scene had no doubt increased out reputation and stature in the game, and the finances it brought will allow us to continue to strengthen the side in our quest for the Israeli Premier League title and onto Champions League glory.
Our labours in European competition in the early part of the season cost us in the early rounds of the Gvia HaMedina. We fielded a weakened side in these competition to keep the starting 11 fresh for ECL. The board expected us to do better, but I’m sure they would be happy to sacrifice a domestic cup run for the successes we were to bring on the European stage. We did manage to claim the Toto Cup and the Aluf HaAlufim (the Israeli equivalent of the Charity Shield), these came early enough in the season to use in lieu of the friendlies we missed due to ECL qualification.
Before we get onto the business of the league campaign, our yearly dissapointing Youth Intake came through. We managed to scrape a 2.5 star player in this time. Continually pressing the board to improve the Youth Recruitment and Junior Facilities, but they believe our set up is suitable for a team in our position. After watching a YouTube video the other day about Golden Generations I am looking to change tack and try and appoint a Model Proffesional as ouur HoYD to see if this can increase the chances of a solid yputh prospect. I continue to try and scoop up the hottest young Israeli talent to bolster our chances of getting a gem in the future.
Our European endeavours didn’t seem to be having a detrimental effect on our league form. We resumed with the results from the previous season managing a 13-game unbeaten league run from April to November spread over the two seasons. Even as we played well and achieved a good set of results, we were matched by Maccabi Netanya, who remained hot on our tails, only a point and a goal behind us prior to Championship Group stage.
We stepped it up in the playoff phase, our ousting from Europe allowing us to concentrate on the run-in. With 4 games left we were 6points clear, we had Netanya to play so it was in our hands. Delivering results in the playoff it really crucial, a loss in any game allows another of you rivals the opportunity to make ground on you. There are no easy games left, all the matches are against the top six side in the land. Everyone has something to play for. Nothing has been decided at this stage. The title is still up for grabs, as are places in the ECL. Depending on the cup winners, four out of the six teams will qualify for European competition and there is a realistic chance of a least three teams challenging for the title. We need to continue with our good form. There had been some rotation earlier in the season, especially around our ECL exploits, but now we need all our marquee players to continue to step up to the plate.
What occurred next was a bit of a surprise. We had a game later in the weekend and viewing the results I noticed Netanya had drawn or lost. Thinking that was going to be good for our season the inbox was flooded with messages and congratulations on our Title victory. We had won the league, (a la Leicester City in 2016, but since I hadn’t realised it was this close, we were not celebrating with a Jamie Vardy style party). It was all a bit of an anti-climax. I has over the moon to have won the league, but I think it feels a bit hollow when it isn’t the result of us winning on the pitch. No doubt we celebrated hard once the realisation kicked in. We had claimed to title Ran Ezra had longed for 10 years ago when he met Rio Santos in that bar in Dubai and persuaded him to join the challenge.
We ended the season 11 points clear of Netanya. Claiming 7 victories and three losses in the final 10 games. Netanya had ran us close, but our stronger side had prevailed and ultimately we proved to be the better side and took the title.
24 players saw game time in the league. Nobody appeared in all the games as I gave a few of the fringe players a run out in the final matches once we had secured our league victory.
What did surprise me this season was our average attendance was lower than last season. Maybe those long treks to Ireland, Scotland and Spain reduced the willingness of our supporters to make the journey to see us at home. What I actually suspect happened was that we didn’t face Beitar Jerusalem in the playoffs. We tend to get a full house against our bitter city rivals. Having the extra game against these would most likely have lifted our average above what it was last season. They are still not classed as a rival in game yet. But that is something I am nonetheless working on. Not sure what it takes, or how long but if we continue to outperform them it can’t but help.
Our reputation increased over the season, and our revenue streams improved. The broadcast revenue dropped, which was a surprise considering we were in European competition. Hopefully with the Champions League to look forward to next year these numbers increase again. If we can get into the group stages, this will definitely be a vast increase in our finances.
As much as we rotated the squad throughout the season, our team of the year played the vast majority of the games available. Whether this was down to a lack of suitable reserves or luck in not getting injuries is up for debate. We continued to play with a straight 442 formation. Only 3 loan players out of the 7 we had made it into the team. Three of the other did make significant contributions though. 4 out of the 6 foreign registered players made the team. Loanee right back Obrovic actually made more league appearances than Ben-David. The last foreigner, centre back Peter Hunter, failed to live up to expectations. I will be looking to let him run down his contract. He might turn out to be a star in the future, but as mentioned in the previous post I am looking for the foreign players to be mainstays of the team, now.
A look at the seasons awards sees them spread throughout the team. Sebag (record signing) and Murtezic (star striker and top goal scorer) taking the majority of the accolades. Both are our players so we can look forward to their performances next season as well. Baruchian and Flavio Henrique will remain on loan next season too so it looks like we can keep the majority of our squad together.
Murtezic just missed out on the Leagues Top Goalscorer
And Sebag finished third in the Player of the Year.
I, on the other hand managed to retain the Israeli Premier League Manager of the Year. One closer to the Steam achievement of five. As a collective team, we managed to get 3 players in the leagues Team of the Year, with a further 2 earning spots on the bench. I would have thought we should have had a few more in the squad considering the successful season we had. I’m sure Flavio Henrique did enough to merit a place in the team.
Talking of the best teams, our updated best ever FC Jerusalem side contains 6 of the current squad. Or Ben-David has become the sides appearance record holder. Somebody needs to go some to overtake Barazani as leading goal scorer. But since we are now an established Premier League side, I hope we can get someone who can stay at the club long enough to manage to get the games to get the goals. Murtezic is looking the most likely candidate at present. He would need another 6 seasons probably to get close. Although hopefully be then we will be able to attract better players than him. Barazani remains the only player on our Legends list. Rio Santos is the other Legend at the club. Frij is classed as an Icon.
What a way to crown my 10th anniversary season in charge. Ten seasons complete and I have taken a lowly amateur side to the zenith of Israeli football. Four promotions to the Premier League and now to top it all FC Jerusalem are 2029/30 Ligat Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Champions.
With a Champions League campaign ahead of us we will need to make some solid recruitment both in terms of starting line-up and squad depth. If we can get to the group stages it will bring us a wealth of recourses which will in turn allow us to improve. It will be interesting to see how we fare. A favourable qualifying draw might give us a better opportunity to get into the group stages.
It will be an exciting season next year, hopefully we can retain our title, and the other trophies won this year. Although with increased games we might need to rotate and possibly sacrifice one or another of the domestic trophies. Champions League group stage qualification is our main aim next year. However, we need to win the league again to continue to make the CL. Continue to hoover up some of the better Israeli talent on offer and supplement this with the best foreign stars we can afford.
Tune in next time to find out how it goes.
FM RioSantos 