FM08 : Olympique Lyon : Les Gones

[Purefun]

Thx Tucker. And your Portugal team is a killer imho.

Liam glad to have helped mate.

[theincrediblehulk]

Hello again. On account of sickness and hence getting some time off work, I've finally been able to finish my second season!! Its been bloody long but I've finally got there. Anyway, before I get on to the season summary, I should say that I am now going to put my Lyon game on hold for a while. I tend to get bored of playing the same game very quickly so I've decided that I'll alternate between my Lyon save and Arsenal save. I'll probably play 1 season with Arsenal now and then come back to play 1 season with Lyon and hopefully it'll keep me going longer. I DO fully intend to come back to the Lyon save as I've not yet won the CL with them which I fully intend to do.

Anyway, details:

Ligue 1 Orange

Very comfortable yet again. Broke the 100 barrier in points and goals.

P:38, W: 34, D:4, L:0, For:106, Ag:12, Pts:106

The next best was Marseille at 79 points. As you can see, it was a very easy ride to the title.

- Yoann Gourcuff won Players Most Promising Player Award. His stats- P:28, G:4, A:7, AR:7.57

- Fred won Star of the Season Award. His stats- P:25, G:19, A:2, AR:7.68

- Jimenez won Most Assists Award. His stats- P:18(2), G:7, A:17, AR:7.55. Toulalan came second. Stats- P:23, G:6, A:15, AR:7.52

- Neuer won Star Goalkeeper Award. His stats- P:25, Conc:8, Cln Sht:17, AR:7.24

- 9 players in the Stars Team of the Season: Neuer, Clerc, Albiol, Gourcuff, Ben Arfa, Toulalan, Jimenez, Fred, Benzema.

Those stats were all in the league only btw.

Champions League

- Got a stupid group of Inter, Sporting CP and Lazio. But won the group winning 4 games and drawing 2. Both the draws were against Inter. We finished level on points but I had a better goal difference (only by 1)!

- That goal difference was crucial because it meant that I faced Celtic in the next round. Had I finished behind Inter, I would have had to play Chelsea (who Inter beat actually). Anyway, beat Celtic resoundingly with a 12-3 aggregate win.

- Next up was Porto in the Quarter Finals. Beat them 3-1 both home and away to win 6-2 on aggregate.

- Next up was the Semis. Arsenal, Man Utd and R. Madrid made it through to these stages with me. Last season I lost to Man Utd on goal difference. And this season, since I support Arsenal and since I had to play them in the group stages last season, obviously I was going to land up agains them! And that is what happened. BAH! Anyway, I lost to them 1-0 at Emirates. Was beating them 2-0 at home till the 82nd minute and then my favourite player (Van Persie) comes up with a 30yard screamer (free-kick) to screw me over. It was my own fault because I dominated the match but failed to get the 3rd goal which would have made the tie safe for me.

- Arsenal went on to beat R.Madrid 1-0 in the finals and retain the title!!

- I have to be honest here. In the SF's against Arsenal, I actually played the game 3 times at the Emirates. The first time, I was playing them and they were give me a 4-0 thrashing and we were into the last 5 mins IIRC. But my comp screwed up and restarted on its own. So I played the game again and this time I was one doing the thumping. Had them beat 4-0 as well (Toulalan got a hat-trick!). The match ended and I could have saved. But I thought that'd be too unfair seeing as I was losing by the same figure. So I decided that I'll play them again and take whatever result came. The beat me 1-0. Sorry for the details but thought I was bloody happy with the 4-0 victory over them even if I didnt go through with it!

- Benzema came 3rd in Champions League Best Player Award.

- Benzema came 2nd in Champions League Golden Boot Award[/b]. His stats - P:11, G:10, A:2, AT:7.73.

- Jimenez won the Champions League Best Goal Award.

- Samba, Toulalan and Benzema were selected in the Champions League Dream Team.

Won the French Cup against FC Lorient, won the Coupe de la Ligue against PSG and won the Champions Trophy against Toulouse.

So although it was a good season, the Champions League trophy still eludes me.

The one thing I have realised from last season is that Edison Cavani is now my best striker. He's more consistent than both Fred and Benzema. I've been playing them as my 2 first choice forwards. But next season it will be Cavani and Benzema I reckon. I will probably be selling Fred as he's attracting a lot of interest. Tevez is still available on a free and has fallen out with the Man Utd manager. And there's no interest in him so far. So might be getting him instead.

I will definitely be looking to sell Squillaci off now. Bellaid has been on loan and has developed well. He'll come into the team. Might sell Samba too although he has been very good. But that depends on who is available for me to draft into the first team. Vidal is available for 10M odd and is already looking VERY good. Might be an option.

Might even sell Zapater as he too is attracting a lot of interest and also, he's not done all that great for me. NEVER gets less than 7 in all fairness so that means he never has a bad game as such. But he hardly ever gets 8's either. I'll look to get a DM who can shoot the ball well to provide me with something on the offensive end.

The low point of the season for me was Samir Nasri breaking his leg and going out for 6 months or so. That ended his season very early.

Anyway, thats about it for now. Like said, I'll continue my game after I've finished another season with Arsenal. I'm not stopping the Lyon game atleast until I get them the Champions League medal!

[theincrediblehulk]

Wow!! Really messed up the post there with my italics!! Sorry about that!

[Purefun]

Hulk

Great league win. Good individual awards.

Winning all the cups.

CL : losing against your Arsenal. And i knew you were going back to them, you were more on there thread than on here ffs.

Your gonna get a busy off-season.

Good luck with your Arsenal save (not).

[theincrediblehulk]

purefun

Lol. Cheers mate. I cant leave my beloved Arsenal. I mess them too much!!

Yeah, I'm more on there but thats because I'd like to think I know how to play all the Arsenal players inside out by now and can advise people on them easily. Still early days with Lyon and thats why I didnt want to give other people too much advise since I dont know the players as well. But I'll be around here for sure now. And I'll definitely be getting back to the save as soon as I've done a season with Arsenal. I'm not leaving Lyon until they see Champions League glory!

As for my off-season, yeah I know its gonna be bloody busy. EVERY SINGLE one of my players in wanted by some big team or the other. The only exceptions are Costil (who's not that great yet anyway), Menez and Nasri (because he's still out injured for another 2-3 months!). Even the youngsters out on loan are wanted!! BAH!

And can you blame me for going back to Arsenal? Look what my players did in my first game back:

Community Shield

[Sir frosinone]

What tactic do you use hulk

[theincrediblehulk]

What tactic do you use hulk

Its my own tactic mate. A 4-4-2:

Tactic

Ofcourse, the players are different:

GK: Neuer

LB: Balzaretti

RB: Clerc

CB: Albiol

CB: Squillaci

LM: Ben Arfa

RM: Gourcuff

CM: Toulalan (forward arrow)

CM: Bodmer (back arrow)

ST: Fred (right)

ST: Benzema (left)

I find that just those two little arrows from the wide positions give me much more possession than otherwise.

If you want, I can give you the player instructions.

[Purefun]

Hulk

How much did you have to pay for Ramos and Santos? Great result though.

And Toulalon with a farrow. Interesting.

[theincrediblehulk]

purefun

I bought out Ramos's release clause of 32M. And Dos Santos came at the start of season 2 in a straight swap for Steven Defour!

[Purefun]

Originally posted by theincrediblehulk:

purefun

I bought out Ramos's release clause of 32M. And Dos Santos came at the start of season 2 in a straight swap for Steven Defour!

Fgs Defour for Santos. Great business mate.

[theincrediblehulk]

Tell me about it! They made an enquiry and I thought I might as well respond else h might get unhappy. So I put in a fee of 0 and asked for Dos Santos fulling expecting them to tell me to shove it! But the idiots actually agreed!!

[Purefun]

Originally posted by theincrediblehulk:

Tell me about it! They made an enquiry and I thought I might as well respond else h might get unhappy. So I put in a fee of 0 and asked for Dos Santos fulling expecting them to tell me to shove it! But the idiots actually agreed!!

They do make some mistakes but never with me though.

[Celtic 08]

Considering starting a lyon game are they a good team to be

[theincrediblehulk]

Considering starting a lyon game are they a good team to be

Yes, they are.

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Celtic 08:

Considering starting a lyon game are they a good team to be

They are a great team mate.

If you want to start a game pleas let us know what patch you are using and if you use pounds or euros? (the last one is better)

Anyway welcome and good luck mate.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Pounds > Euro purefun

[Celtic 08]

Just started a new game as Lyon patch 8.0.2 Pounds who do i need its just the normal squad i have

[theincrediblehulk]

Celtic 08

How much money do you have? You get about 9M at the start but can get more if you request the board. Will depend on how you set up your profile as to how much you'll get.

- Offer Govou a new contract without the release clause and then sell him off. He takes up too many wages and isnt that good.

- You'll need a GK to start with as Coupet is out injured for a long time. I went for Neuer as he only costs 6M as opposed to Lloris who'll cost you 11-12M.

- You'll need a CB. Squillaci is very good, Bodmer can play here and is as good as Squillaci. Cris and Anderson are out for a long time and you dont have anybody else. Get Samba for 1M odd. He's very good as you know and you wont find the same quality for that price. I also bought Habib Bellaid. Hes young and is decent at the start but he develops into a quality player is a couple years. Well worth it. You'll have Cris back by Jan or so I think. He's an excellent CB even if he is ageing.

- You're fine on RB. Clerc is excellent and Reveillere is good backup.

- Grosso is a good LB. But you dont have anybody for backup. Get Jeremy Mathieu for about 3M. Or you can get Gonzalo Pineda for 2M odd but he'll take up a non-EU spot.

- Your midfield is the best area in the team imo. Bodmer, Toulalan, Juninho, Ben Arfa, Keita, Kallstrom are all brilliant. Delgado can play on the wings too if you need. Thats why I suggest getting rid of Govou.

- Benzema and Fred are brilliant as you would know. Delgado is decent backup too I reckon. Plus, Ben Arfa can play here and does a job. You could get an extra ST in if you want. If you a cheapish one, get Sebastien Grax or Robert (Monterrey). Both will cost about 1-2M. If you want a quality player, Cavani is great for about 9M.

I think that should sort you out. Go for the usual youngsters for the future as well.

[Celtic 08]

What website do i need to post screenshots ?

[Celtic 08]

Heres my squad where doo i need improvements:

[Celtic 08]

Does that work?

[Celtic 08]

http://img604.imageshack.us/content.php?page=blogpost&files=img187/9997/olympiquelyonnaisolympidv5.png" title="QuickPost"><img src="http://imageshack.us/img/butansn.png" alt="QuickPost" border="0"></a> Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!' alt='a> Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!'>

[Purefun]

Celtic

I totally agree with Hulk on the players suggested.

Maybe add Costil, Bailly (GK)

For dc : Mensah from Rennes

Midfield nobody.

Strikers : Well Fred isn't good on 8.02 so you maybe want to replace him if you want offcourse in that case Gignac, Briand, Cavani ... are options.

Try to sell Roux, Govou ...

Do not sell Abenzoar sheer quality in future.

How to Post a Screen shot

1. While in FM, press the 'Prt Sc' button (usually next to F12 on your keyboard).

2. Open an image editing program such as Paint and paste the image

3. Save the file as a JPEG

4. Upload the image to an image hosting website such as Photobucket or Imageshack

5. Post the direct Url to the image here.

[kyle_11]

Is there a rule about having players that are not french or something like that

[Celtic 08]

4 non-eu players

[Purefun]

Originally posted by kyle_11:

Is there a rule about having players that are not french or something like that

Well you can only have 4 non-eu players in your squad. So that means that 4 players can have a "shirt" number.

So you could actually buy more non-eu players but you can not play them. I did this in first season and had 6 non-eu players. I loaned two of them out to spanish and belgian feeders. Problem solved.

Africans do NOT count as non-eu players. This is a big plus imo. Makoun, Obi Mikel, Kameni, Keita (obviously Lyon) ... are just a few examples of great african players.

Hope this helps mate.

[Celtic 08]

Just on the Champions cup :

]Cup[/url]

[DaREdEViL-]

Playing on 8.0.1.

First season won domesic treble and got to the quarter final of the Champions League where I lost to Inter.

Lyon Team

I want general advice on where to improve my team. I only really want French players. The borard just sold Keita for £20M so I have a transfer budget of £40M.

Players you can't see:

Loic Abenzoar - Albacete (loan)

Benoit Costil - P. Ferreira (loan)

Distel Zola - Rostock (loan)

Martin Malaury - Reserves

Mickael de Freitas - Reserves

Vincent Acapandie - Reserves

Any youth players I have to snap up?

[Purefun]

Daredevil

Welcome mate and a great first season.

Great team very french i like it a lot.

Costil should be ready for first team action in second season so sell Coupet.

Abenzoar i would loan out for one more season and than ease him in.

Zola is a good back-up player.

Acapandie i sold before ever using him but he did great out on loan winning french player of the year.

Youth : Saunier, Bocaly, Nasri, Faty, El Mourabet ... have a look at them.

Is it your intention to keep using Briand at amr or not? If not you could have a look at Ribery offcourse.

Also i seem to be missing Ben Arfa!!

Could you post a s.s. of your transfers in first season and maybe of your second if possible? Thx.

[Purefun]

Sorry just saw Ben Arfa. My bad.

[Scott08]

I'd buy a new CB to replace Anderson. Someone like H.Bellaid if your looking for French players. D.Dervite is a good youngster here if your looking to the future, became a first team regular and french team regular on my save.

Only other position is to strengthen your AMR position. Y.Gourcuff is an option. Otherwise G.Obertan or S.Gakpe are good prospects.

Youth.. have a look at D.Le Tallec, Y.Sankhare, O.Benzerga, M.Saunier and A.Taabart.

[DaREdEViL-]

Season 1 Transfers

Season 2 Transfers

I looked at H.Bellaid yet my scouts said I should avoid signing him.

Im going to look into signing Obertan

[Purefun]

Thats right you should sell Anderson.

Mensah isn't french but africans count as french players so why not go for him. Also Armand from PSG is a great player but not a youngsters though.

Obertan would be a good option but on my game he hasn't developed as well as on last years game.

Thx for the screenies. You did some great business in your sellings imo.

[tomtuck01]

Awful, awful, weekend for me, and that was before United drew with Middlesbrough!! Enough about that though, time for another Lyonnais post!!!

------------------------------------------------

Summer transfer window complete, and the 7th season is under way. This transfer window has been much busier than recent windows for us, and we have bought in a few players, mostly youngsters, and sold a couple aswell.

Players Out;

Neymar - £20million - Valencia

Mathieu Bodmer - £7million - Atletico Madrid

Jon Jonsson - £3.9million - Tottenham

Medhi Abeid - £1million - Clermont Foot

Mathieu Gorgelin - £1.3million - Le Harve

Kevin Bru - Loan (Future Fee of £4.5million) - Toulouse

Sidney Govou - Released

Anthony Reviellere - Released

I only sold Neymar because my bloody board accepted the offer. Valued at £4.6million, I negotiated to £20m thinking it would ward them off. But my sodding chairman accepted when they came back with the bid!! And his stats had gone up massively recently. To say Im disappointed is an understatement!!

Mathieu Bodmer and Jon Jonsson were both 30 and it was time for them to move on., younger blood was needed.

Medhi Abeid never developed as Id hoped after I bought him as a 16 year old.

Kevin Bru was unhappy about the lack of first team football he was playing and wanted to leave. I would hope that Toulouse would make that bid for him at the end of the season.

Mathieu Gorgelin also wanted first team football and the fee for him was decent.

Govou and Reviellere had both been great servants, but were now getting too old for my side. Farewell to them.

Players In;

Thiago Heleno - £6million - Besiktas

Vincent Briant - £1.8million - Nantes

Souleymane Toure - £1.7million - Le Mans

Marko Jezdimirovic - £1million - Vojvodina

Fabien Pons - £300k - St.Etienne

Josetxo Cia - £275k - Athletic Bilbao

Santiago Arroyo - Free

Thiago Heleno is the man to take the place of Jon Jonsson in the team. At old 24 his has a long time left in his career and looks very good. Now all he has to do is get in the team after Obama's great start to the season.

Vincent Briant was bought from Nantes as a back-up GK.

All the other signings apart of Marko Jezdimirovic are for the future, maybe getting a run out in the Coupe de la Ligue.

Players who have moved up to my 1st team squad are;

Seydou Koffi - Has developed so much better, (and quicker), than I had expected. Looks awesome already!

Philippe Fernandes - Another who has developed really well after a spell out on loan in the second half of last season.

Alexandre Le Rouzic - Has good defensive stats, and will only get better.

First Team Squad

Goalkeepers;

1.Remy Riou

30.Remy Vercourte

33.Vincent Briant

Defenders;

2.Francois Clerc

3.Bruno Lopes

4.Christopher Samba

5.Thiago Heleno

12.Amaral

13.Rafael Forster

29.Obama

31.Alexandre Le Rouzic

Midfielders;

6.Kim Kallstrom

19.Philippe Fernandes

20.Loic Damour

21.Ederson

22.Adrien

24.Drissa Diakite

26.Marko Jezdimirovic

28.Seydou Koffi

Attacking Midfielders/Forwards;

10.Karim Benzema

15.Nicklas Barkroth

18.Hatem Ben Arfa

Strikers;

7.Jimmy Briand

9.Fred

11.Mario Balotelli

The Season So Far

Finally we met someone different in the Champions Trophy apart from PSG!! This year is Marseille in the season curtain raiser, and we started, as is tradition, with a win! In the first half of the game my side we useless whilst playing the $-1-2-2-1 system. At half time I made a triple substitution and went to the diamond formation. One of the subs, Jimmy Briand, had an inpact as he scored our second goal after Fred had put us one up in the 46th minute. But another sub, the now departed Neymar, had a bigger impact as he assisted both of the goals. In fact in just 3 appearances this season he set up 3 goals for the team. I feel he could be a big loss to my team.

Champions Trophy Final

In this seasons European Super Cup we met Roma. For a change I read my scout report about the team we were playing and I was advised that Roma play a system similar to ours, so I decided to match up Roma and go with the 4-1-2-2-1 formation. Unlike in the Champions Trophy, the system worked a treat this time. We cruised to a 3-0 win, managing 19 shots at goal, and Hatem Ben Arfa staring, as I collected my 26th trophy incharge of Les Gones in just over 6 years!

European Super Cup

In the league we have had our best start during my time with the club. After 7 games, we have won 7 out of 7, scored 17 goals, and are yet to concede. In actual fact, we are yet to concede in any of our 9 games so far this season!! Fred has been in sensational form, scoring 9 league goals in 7 games, while Hatem Ben Arfa has 4 assists in 4 games! Our away form has been most impressive having won four out of four on the road, banging in 11 goals along the way!

League Table So Far

In the Champions League we have been handed a relatively easy group, for a change!!

Lyon

Werder Bremen

Tottenham

Spartak Moscow

With nothing too tricky there, I expect to us to win our group quite comfortably.

Portugal

Just the 2 games to update you with since my last post, both of which were World Cup Qualifiers;

Azerbaijan (H) 2-0

Austria (A) 2-1

Not two of the most convincing of results, but atleast we won the games and are now just in need of one point from 2 games to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

------------------------------------------------

Any comments or suggestions are as always welcome, and I'll be happy to upload any screenshots you want.

[Purefun]

Tomtuck

First things first you are in front of me with Lyon. So needless to say i need to play some more.

That Pons Fabien looks really good and i mean really. Jezdimirov is a little bit slow mate.

Promoted players : Koffi looks good but the other two i have my doubts. But i'm sure your gonna proof me wrong.

Congrats on your two trophies so far.

Easy group mate. Should be a walk in the park.

Portugal go go go.

[Purefun]

Tomtuck

Mate could you give me a s.s. of Bodmer!! Seeing we are in the same season and i decided to keep him i was curious at how he looks in your game. In my game he is still worth 15.75 mil euro. Thx.

[liam_everton89]

Hi guy's I said I'd be back at Lyon and now I am!

After 6 long glorious years at Everton and then a year on holiday the Lyon boss wasn't given a new contract so I stepped in.

It'll be 2014/2015 season when I start and the squad looks a bit different.

I'll be playing with my 4-2-3-1 so I'll have to get players to fit into that.

This is the current squad -

Goalkeepers - Eros Corradini, Ochoa

Left Backs - Onyekachi Apam, Albert Junior

Centre Backs - Alex, Barzagli, Yannick Chauvin, Squillaci

Right Backs - Nelson, Romain Robin

Def Midfielders - Lassana Diarra,

Centre Mids - Faouzi Courtet, Toulalan, Emanuele Trotta

Att Mids - Neri Cardozo, Keita, Jeremy Menez,

Strikers - Benzema, Braulio, Fredm Romain Miguet

Right basically I'm not too sure which of these are regens as I've literally just took over but it looks as though they've kept hold of some key players,

Those of you that are this far in the game or perhaps further it'd be helpful if you could tell me If the players are good enough, and which ones maybe too old now,

I'm not sure of my transfer budget yet but the clubs finances are rich so I'm thinking it'll be high.

At the moment I'm thinking my team will look like this (before making signings)

GK - Corradini (25 YO)

DL - Apam (27 YO)

DC - Barzagli (33 YO)

DC - Alex (31 YO)

DR - Nelson (31 YO)

DM - Diarra (29 YO)

CM - Toulalan (30 YO)

AM - Menez (27 YO)

AM - Karadeniz Batuhan (Naturally a striker though)(23 YO)

AM - Neri Cardozo (27 YO)

ST - Benzema (26 YO)

Right to sum it up again, after listing that it's become more apparent to me lol,

I think I need 2 attacking midfielders, and possibly a RB.

Here is a SS of my squad with there ratings in stars.

Any help would be good thankyou!

EDIT While I'm waitin for SS to upload I've realised I've got £36m to spend atm, which will then get updated when I announce my season expectations in a few weeks.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Welcome back Liam, I can't really advice you as im not far in on 8.02, I was only miles in with 8.01 and its a lil different the too.

I agree however that you need to improve in the RB and AM area. And possibly the CM area but only in the shape of long term replacement for an ageing Toulalan.

Best of luck.

[Cleon]

Purefun, could you please mail me, with a correct email address for you please.(Its nothing bad )

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Originally posted by Cleon:

Purefun, could you please mail me, with a correct email address for you please.(Its nothing bad )

Purefun, what was the mail about, have you been nominated for 'Best Lyon FM Manager' award!

[Scott08]

'Vote Purefun for Moderator in GPTG'

[joeyt]

A mod or possibly a researcher is my best bet

[Lisandro Lopez]

Vote to ban Purefun!

Vote now guys, quick.

I joke, purefun should be a mod tbh.

<3

[Cleon]

Originally posted by joeyt:

A mod or possibly a researcher is my best bet

Wrong, I just wanna chat with him away from the boards

[Purefun]

Liam

Mate welcome back and i nobody is this far in the game (yet). Me and Tucker are just one season behind though.

Anyway can't comment on your team really because of plenty of regens and players that i don't know.

But you have enough funds to get some great player and try to offload some too.

Jim, Scott, Joeyt and Hopey

Thx for the support and def. you Hopey . But it goes without saying that i'm the best Lyon manager.

Cleon

I just mailed you everything.

[tomtuck01]

purefun

Here is the screenshot of Mathieu Bodmer you wanted to see. As you can see, he is still a very good player. But he will be 31 years old by the end of the current season, and I saw this as my last chance to get a decent bit of money for him. Plus he "wanted a new challenge," and who am I to stand in his way?!

Just a little update on another matter, and my long unbeaten run has come to an end after a 1-0 loss away at Marseille. Not to worry thoughas since then we have won 4 out of 4 league games and are now 8 points clear at the top of Ligue 1 after winnin 12 of our opening 13 games.

And with Portugal I have sucessfully qualified for the 2014 World Cup after finishing our qualifying campaign with 2 more victories. We ended up winning the group by 8 points, scoring 26 goals and conceding just the 3.

Moldova (A) 4-0

Belgium (H) 2-0

Final Qualifying Table

----------------------------------------------

I am likely to be posting a little less in the near future as Im going to begin a game with Sevilla. But I will still be going on my Lyon game, just not quite as much!!

[Purefun]

Tomtuck

Thx for the s.s. mate.

Losing against Marseille just like irl this weekend.

Why in hell do you win from Belgium mate do you have a problem?

See you on the Sevilla thread.

[tomtuck01]

Sorry purefun, I knew you wouldn't be happy about me beating them.

I crocked Steven Defour after 10 minutes just to make it a bit easier.

[Purefun]

Originally posted by tomtuck01:

Sorry purefun, I knew you wouldn't be happy about me beating them.

I crocked Steven Defour after 10 minutes just to make it a bit easier.

I don't mind, he is a decent guy but his managers are bad people.

I know because i went to dinner with him last week. He is a new client of my father in law.

[liam_everton89]

Riight then after hours of scouting, bidding, negotiating, re-negotiating etc etc, I've finally come to the end of my first transfer window and pretty much decided on my team for the season.

A massive overhaul at the club took place with all backroom staff that I had at Everton being given jobs and no more than 28 players being sold.

Most notably of these 28 were

Courtet $5m

Batahun (SP) $22.5m

Corradini $6m

Braulio $6m

Trotta (Fantastic Regen Bloody chairman accepted bid!!!) $31m

Fred $9m

Miguet $12m

Keita & Chauvin P/E

All the other were mainly smaller fees with clauses attatched, all transfers toatalled about $160m

I bought in 15 new players, most of whom had played for me at Everton so I knew they were great, others were from scouting around national teams and other leagues,

Ibrahim - Free (arranged before I took over) Sold on for a few million

Gatefin - Loan - Good youngster from the french U-21 side that I had at Everton.

Bisson - $72kk - Potential to be as good as Sakho

Duplus - $13m - Looks a great player, was transfer listed by request at Valencia

Emmanuel - $4.2m - Potential to be as good as Ochoa

Torje - $16m plus sell on clause - Knew all about him but wasnt until a scout mentioned him that I considered buying, scouts better than Menez.

Bastide - $11m plus clauses - Regen DM, not far from having potential to be better than Diarra

Saivet- $30.5m plus sell on fee, had him while at Everton then chairman sold him to Arsenal, was unhappy at not playing first team football, my most expensive signing but will be worth the money

Saracino - $24m - Regen GK from when I was at Everton, Same now as Ochoa, Potential to be better than Ochoa.

Conde - Free - Young Regen CB, had my eye on him before at Everton, wouldnt sign a new contract at Villareal - Not far from Sakho's Standard

Gurrutxaga - $19m plus sell on fee - Yet another player from my Everton days, once again fat boy Kenwright decided to sell him to Arsenal, will be a Brilliant RB, for now an amazing back up rotation player.

Wijnaldum - $27m - Knew all about this boy since signing him for free at Everton all those years ago, he had numerous loan spells under me but under Mourinho wasnt getting played, Scouts say will be better than Toulalan, I think he's brill though, first choice AM.

Sorin - $12m + clauses - LB Regen from LOSC, wanted a bigger challenge so I gave him one, scouts say not much difference betwwen him and Sakho in the LB area, in a few years I reckon he will be better.

Reginaldo - $3.7m - Regen LB/LM/AML - Only brought for cover down the left, scouts mentioned him from Brazilassignment, only young, don't think he'll become a world beater, but a good cover/squad player.

Sakho - $17m + clauses + 2 regens - Took me ages to buy this kid, Mourinho didnt want to sell him easily and I didnt want to give up the two Regens easily, will be my captain and first choice CB.

So with transfers out the way my targets for the season are to win Ligue 1, semi-final of the Champions League, Final of both domestic cups, ad to win the Champions trophy (Which I did already )

Starting XI

GK - Saracino

LB - Sorin

RB - Apam?/Gurrutxaga

CB - Sakho

CB - Conde

CM - Toulalan

CM/DM - Diarra

AM - Menez/Benzmea

AM - Wijnaldum

AM - Torje/Saivet

ST - Saivet/Benzema

Right the, time to knuckle down with some matches, I will update probably as I get past Xmas,