The St. Gallen Save: Blood On The Grass

In football, you'll often hear the term "second season syndrome". This is a phrase typically applied to a promoted side that, upon arriving in the top flight does very well but struggles to replicate this form the season after. The reasons can come from a variety of factors. The teams manager and/or players can be lured away by bigger clubs, or they could lose the element of surprise.

This is something I was seeking to avoid in my second season at St. Gallen. In my first season, we capitalised on the chaotic fixture scheduling and stole a march on the likes of Basel and Young Boys to capture our first League title in 23 years. But could we repeat the feat?

Transfer Business

A couple of fringe players were moved on for nominal fees to free up some cash to bring in new blood. Christian Witzig, Yanik Weidermann, Noha Ndombasi & Stefano Guidotti all left for around a combined €125k.

More notable departutes included Ghana No. 1 Lawrence Zigi, who joined VfB Stuttgart for €7.5m and central defender Leonidas Stergiou who joined 1. FC Koln for €8m. Defensive midfielder Basil Stillhart joined Troyes for €2m and Elie Youan, who just returned from a loan spell with Hibs, signed for French side Montpellier in a €1m deal.

And here's what we did with the cash:

• Slovakian midfielder Christian Herc joined on a free transfer from Grasshopper Zurich. He's a player with good physicality and technical ability and will add quality to our midfield.

• Swiss forward Boris Babic was signed for €140,000 from Lugano. He came through our academy so I was keen to re-sign him for registration purposes, plus he'll make a decent squad player at low cost.

• Justin Hammel was signed for €1m from Grasshopper Zurich as a replacement for Zigi. He has good attributes for the sweeper keeper role, and is young enough to continue to improve.

• Brazilian left-back Vanderlan was signed on loan from Palmeiras, with an option to make the deal permanent for €1.7m.

• The powerful Mirlind Kryeziu was signed for €67,000 from FC Zurich as back-up for Matej Maglica.

• Yerson Mosquera was signed on loan from Wolves as extra cover at centre-back.

• Dutch midfielder Branco van den Boomen was signed on a free from Toulouse. He is by far our highest earner, but adds real quality to the side and his set piece delivery will add to our dead ball threat.

• Finally, pacey winger Emmanuel Latte Lath returns from Atalanta after his loan spell last season, costing us €450,000.

Only 3 of the eight player signed are Swiss (or partially Swiss), so this is a bit of a departure from what I outlined at the beginning of the save but, well, needs must. We didn't have a big budget and these players were relatively cheap.

Champions League

After winning the League, we had the opportunity to qualify for Champions League football with a Play-Off tie vs Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb. After going 1-0 down early in the first leg, we roared back to win 5-1 and all but seal our place in the Group Stages. In a frantic second leg, we drew 3-3 to book our ticket to the Champions League for the first time in the clubs history.

Our reward was to be paired with Real Madrid, Inter Milan & Shakhtar Donetsk. As you can see from the results, we didn't fare too well. Aside from the 5-0 drubbing at the Bernabeu - which was genuinely hard to watch, by the way - we actually competed reasonably well.

I never really expected to get out of the group, but the TV/prize money will be a big help in ensuring we have the opportunity to come back and have another go next year. In fact, as soon as the TV money rolled in it was spend on upgrading the Training & Youth facilities. I want to develop my own talent where possible, so having the best possible facilities is a must.

Stopping the Juggernaut

Young Boys enjoyed a ridiculous start to the season and, by the time the League split they had established a pretty firm lead in the title race. We opened with a 0-0 draw with Servette and were playing catch-up from there, while Young Boys just kept on winning.

In our first meeting of the season, we were battered 5-1 away from home by Young Boys. It was 0-0 at half-time, but we were already down to ten men before we just totally collapsed after the break. That put a serious dent in our title ambitions, which was harmed further by damaging defeats away to FC Zurich (1-0) and FC Basel (2-1).

It was only on the final fixture of the initial League phase that we were able to momentarily halt the progress of the Boys from Bern. With them leading the League by 9 points, they arrived at Kybunpark in confident mood, but there was a very different feeling at full-time...

We exacted revenge for our earlier defeat, and narrowed the gap to 6 points, giving us half a chance going into the Championship Group.

January Business

When January arrived, I reluctantly sold some players not realising I was making a key error in not understanding the registration rules in Switzerland. When you register a player for your League campaign, if they make even one solitary appearance, you are then unable to replace that player in the squad - even if they leave the club during the season. With only 25 slots, you have to be careful.

So, when we sold first-team regulars Jordi Quintilla (Nottingham Forest, €7.5m) and Albert Valici (Levante, €5.5m) I did not know that those player registration slots would be, essentially, lost.

But we were still able to add some quality ahead of the second half of the season:

• Anto Grgic arrived for €1.2m from Sion. He really lacks speed, but should be a decent squad option in that defensive midfield role.

• Dion Kacuri joined for a fee of €350k from Grasshoppers. He has decent all-round attributes and at just 20 years old has plenty of time to grow into the defensive midfield role in the long-term.

• A shorter-term signing was the experienced Gokhan Inler. A great playing career and good mental attributes to pass onto some of the younger players. He arrived as a bit of a squad player, but an important one.

• The final arrival was Becir Omeragic. We had to pay his €7.2m release clause to get him from FC Zurich, but he is a strong defender with good technical ability and is an age where he has plenty of time to develop.

Despite some confusion over the registration rules, I'm pretty satisfied that we've managed to strengthen the squad and make a small profit in the January window, so I'd deem that a success, but the tricky regulations are something I'll need to be more aware of going forward.

The Run-in

In one of the early fixtures in the Championship Group, we suffered another damaging defeat away from home at the hands of Young Boys. We were playing them in between their Europa Conference Last 16 tie with Besiktas, so I was hoping we could capitilise on any fatigue or complacency...but they won 1-0 with us again going down to 10 men again. This put them 7 points clear.

With the fixtures coming thick and fast, we were quickly able to turn the tide in our favour once again. Goals from Julian von Moos & Randy Schneider gave us a 2-0 win over YBB, and from there we grew stronger and stronger. Young Boys, on the other hand, collapsed entirely. In their last 3 games they lost 5-0 to FC Basel, lost 1-0 at home to Lausanne and drew 1-1 to Servette on the final day as we took top spot.

But the title race wasn't over...

With the new Swiss League rules, we would now effectively enter a best of 3 scenario with Young Boys, with our Champions advantage granting us two home fixtures.

It feels like a controversial way to settle a League season. On the one hand, it is a dramatic way to crown a champion but, on the other hand, a team could theoretically go an entire season unbeaten, finish top by a number of points and lose the title based on this play-off situation.

After a brutal season in which we'd clawed back a 9 point deficit to lead the League table, we kicked off the title deciding fixtures at home to Young Boys...and lost 1-0 thanks to a goal from Christian Fassnacht. At this point my bottle absolutely crashed. The next 3 matches would define our season. We had a Cup final against Servette, before the final two matches against Young Boys.

Cup Final

We'd come through the early rounds pretty comfortably to set-up a final against Servette, a decent side who would eventually finish the season in 4th place.

The match itself was a breeze. Matej Maglica gave us an early lead, before an own goal put us in full control. Acadamy graduate Alessio Besio put us 3-0 up before half-time, before adding a 4th just after the break. Servette got a consolation in stoppage time, but the Cup was already ours.

This was the clubs first Swiss Cup since 1969.

After the home defeat to Young Boys this is exactly what we needed.

The Decider

We went to the Wankdorf (stop it) knowing a defeat would put the League title beyond our reach. Besio gave us the lead with a gorgeous curling effort and we were looking strong early on. We continued to create chances until we were hit by another body blow, when Meschack Elia levelled the score shortly after the hour mark.

From there it was a pretty even game, with both teams having chances to win, until Ulises Garcia was sent off for the home side on 83 minutes. 3 minutes later, Isaac Schmidt ran clear of the Young Boys defence and slotted the ball home to give us a hard-fought lead. Honestly, there are some real life goals I haven't celebrated like that one.

Having taken two real sore defeats away to Young Boys earlier in the season, and losing the first game in this little play-off series, we stepped up when it mattered most to take it to the final day...

One final match against Young Boys, this time back at Kybunpark and we started like a freight train. With 12 minutes on the clock, Brazilian left-back Vanderlan steamed past the defence and smacked us into an early lead. Just before the half our mark, Mirlind Kryeziu nodded in a corner and we were in dreamland.

Niasse pulled one back for the visitors from the penalty spot before half-time, but we upped the tempo again and Christian Herc killed the game on 65 minutes. 3-1 winners and in a season of comebacks, we'd retained the League title.

Next season, we qualify straight for the Champions League so we'll have a little more money in the bank. We'll need to work hard in the Summer to add more strength in depth to the squad. Retaining the title is the first priority, but I really want to make a better go of it in Europe next season.

Thanks for reading!