FM08 : Olympique Lyon : Les Gones

[Agent Tiro]

aye purefun, since you mentioned it many pages back i've not offered signing on fees. Easy way to save millions!

But even still £4m is a stupid amount for a signing on fee, never knee banega was so money driven!

My season has dipped. Lost 3-1 to newcastle in champions league group stage, then 1-0 to auxere in league.

Had to turn off as i was getting annoyed. Doesn't help that Ben Arfa is only just coming back from injury now.

[king_johnny]

Why do I never get an easier draw in Champions League. I was in the pot of first seeds and still ended up drawing Real Madrid Dynamo Kiev & Sampdoria

[theincrediblehulk]

After nearly 2 days on not being able to play because of bloody work, I finally got the chance to play a little today. Atleast I was able to get to the end of the 2nd season transfer window! Fgs, dont people realise that I need some time to play FM??! Damn boss!

Anyway, my final transfers (atleast till Jan anyway):

Transfers In

- Samir Nasri (20.5M + 10% sell on)

- Raul Albiol (14.5M)

- Federico Balzaretti (5M + 7M over 12 months)

- Taye Taiwo (9.5M)

- Yoann Gourcuff (8M)

- Jeremy Menez (5M)

- Henri Saivet (2.5M)

- Havard Nordveit (2.5M)

- Benoit Costil (1.8M)

- Luis Jimenez (1.7M)

- Rafael Forster (425K)

- Lukman Haruna (300K)

- Benjamin Grondin (130K) - REGEN

- Toni Kroos (Player Exchange)

Transfers Out

- Kim Kallstrom (26M - Aston Villa)

- Kader Keita (22M - Porto)

- Ederson (15M - Fiorentina)

- Jeremy Mathieu (10M - Newcastle)

- Anthony Reveillere (9M - Sunderland)

- Lubos Kalouda (7.5M + 30% sell-on + Toni Kroos - Bayern)

- Milan Baros (7M - Leverkusen)

- Fabio Gross (6.25M - Blackburn)

- Cris (2.7M - Sevilla)

- Gregory Coupet (2.5M - Leverkusen)

- Jean Alain Boumsong (0 - Cagliari) [Deal of the season!]

Frederic Roux, Johan Hartock, Matias Chiacchio, Jeremy Aymes, Alexandre Bouchard, Aurelien Badin, Brice Ducarre, Maxime Gonalons, Pierrick Valdivia, Quentin Barlet, Thomas Fontaine all released or sold for nothing.

Frederic Duplus, Mamadou Sakho, Abdou Razack Traore, Toni Kroos, Havard Nordtveit, Habib Bellaid have all been loaned out. Might send guys like Aquino, Le Tallec etc out to affiliates as well. But I have a lot of friendlies arranged with good teams whose leagues I havent loaded. Fenerbahce, Besiktas, Olympiakos etc are ones that come to mind straight up. So wont do any harm if did keep them as they'll get plenty of games I reckon.

Traore and Bellaid could have stayed and gotten a few games I reckon with me. But they were both attracting a LOT of interest and bids from clubs so I thought might as well send them on loan quickly before they get unhappy at me rejecting offers left, right and centre for them. Worked a charm!

Some of my signings were purely impulse and greed as well!! For eg, I was happy with Balzaretti and Mathieu at LB. But then I saw that Taiwo had a couple of bids for 6M odd from teams and I did a scout report. It said I could get him for under 10M and I just couldnt resist. I wanted him before I went for Balzaretti anyway but they wanted 30M odd at that time. So thought I'll get him and sell Mathieu who's weak in defence and is slow as well. Nasri was about the same. I had just signed Jimenez but then Fiorentina had a 19M bid accepted by Marseille for Nasri. I bid the same and the came with negotiation and I got him for the price above in the end. Couldnt resist that because its a great price for the kid. I have no idea whats going on with them tbh. They are on self-destruct mode I think. True, they only avoided relegation last season by a few points but to sell quality players so cheap is silly. I can even get Matias Fernandez (who they got last season) for around 15-16M fgs! Only, I wont as I've had him plenty and am bored with him!! Lol.

Anyway, won the Champions Trophy against Toulouse 3-0. And the league has started with us in great form. 7 wins out of 7. Scored 23 and conceded 2 only so far.

Its still early days but with Albiol, Balzaretti/Taiwo in my defence, its already looking a lot stronger than last season.

I think the AI knows that I want to win the CL desperately this season. I'm not kidding. I'm telling you it knows. How else do you explain my group:

Inter

Sporting CP

Lazio

Anybody cribbing about getting tough group stages should stop now! BAH! They must be kidding me handing me that group ffs! Last season was pretty hard but this is just plain silly!

The league is probably a foregone conclusion already as I cant see anybody challenging me tbh. But hope for a surprise as I like a good challenge.

Anyway, there have been some weird transfers in the game this season. Especially in terms of money spent. A few examples:

Jon Obi Mikel - Inter - 38

Klaas-Jan Hunetlaar - Lazio - 30.5M

Michael Johnson - Milan - 30M

Gareth Barry - Lazio - 19M

and one that puzzled me the most:

Giampaolo Pazzini - Roma - 13.25M

Now that doesnt seem strange I know. But considering that he was transfer listed for 13M and Roma then bid 8M for a 50% share in him and then exactly 4 days later, paid another 13.25M to gain the other 50% is what baffles me! They ended up paying 21.25M for a player who was listed at 13M! Strange.

Anyway, rant over for now. Any comments and suggestions, as usual, are more than welcome!

[Purefun]

King Johnny

Tough draw mate.

Hulk

Nice update.

Lots of transfers and tbh all great dealings.

An even tougher group mate.

Some overpriced transfers there. I'm guessing Lazio had a good year in Serie A.

[theincrediblehulk]

purefun

Yep, Lazio did fairly well. Came fourth last season and got into the CL (as I realised when they were the 4th team in my group! ). But most of their money came from the sale of Goran Pandev to Chelsea. And since it was Chelsea, you can bet they paid over-the-odds. 39.5M!! Fgs! They're bloody mad! But anyway, just notiched that besides Barry and Huntelaar, they've bought:

Sinama-Pongolle (6.75M)

Belluschi (8.25M)

Mario Santana (13.5M)

Alexis (15.75M)

Now, they spent a total of just over 100M and only recived about 45M from sales. Where in Gods name did they get a transfer budget of 55M from anyway???? Strange! The game is very strange!

[Purefun]

Hulk

Pandev : 39.5 mil

Tv-revenue : i believe the first in league gets about 55 mil so number four around 30 maybe

Own transferbudget : the rest.

As you say mad money.

But than again i got this season (7) 78 mil euro + 100% from sales.

[Purefun]

Okay guys i made a decision regarding my GK's and Kameni will be sold and Curci is his replacement.

Costil stays and Lloris i won't buy (just yet).

[Lisandro Lopez]

Stop posting on weekends guys! I can't keep up

[Agent Tiro]

All you need to know is I finally got past the 1st knockout round of the champions league, then went on to beat Real, Chelsea and Arsenal to win the competition.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Originally posted by Agent Tiro:

All you need to know is I finally got past the 1st knockout round of the champions league, then went on to beat Real, Chelsea and Arsenal to win the competition.

Lol, congrats about time eh? ^_^

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Ah purefun just read your tip on no signing on fees. That might explain the reason why even though i win cl, league and cup my team always end up in debt mid way through the season and i only get 18 mill to spend in the last 2 seasons.

Does anybody know why this is and how i can improve it, thanks, Jimbob.

[Scott08]

Originally posted by Jimbob_BCFC:

Ah purefun just read your tip on no signing on fees. That might explain the reason why even though i win cl, league and cup my team always end up in debt mid way through the season and i only get 18 mill to spend in the last 2 seasons.

Does anybody know why this is and how i can improve it, thanks, Jimbob.

Try not using all of your transfer budget unless you really need too and also look for some financial benefit feeder clubs.

Then the main income i had was selling players. You can make huge profits on some players. For example, i signed Flamini on a free end of first season.. then the start of the third season Real paid me 18.75m for him. This helps

[krislewis8]

guys how much can lloris be signed for? ive bid up to £10 million for him and still no joy.The transfer windows gone now but i think im gonna need a new keeper in the next window,any ideas?

[Scott08]

Usually about 13m i think. Sometimes a little more. He's the best option in my opinion.

However, some other to look at if you dont want to spend that much - B.Costil, R.Riou, M.Neuer or O.Ustari.

[Purefun]

Originally posted by krislewis8:

guys how much can lloris be signed for? ive bid up to £10 million for him and still no joy.The transfer windows gone now but i think im gonna need a new keeper in the next window,any ideas?

Around 13 mil pounds or about 17-18 mil euro is correct.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Costil! 400k he cost me and he is better than Lloris on my game

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Thanks Scott08, i will keep an eye out for any freebies and get on to the feeder club, i completely forgot about those, cheers m8.

[Purefun]

Guys need some important advice so please have a look and give me your thoughts. Thx.

Jeremy Thomas A regen of my own youthacadamy. Looks really great, needs some more pace but i'm confident it will come. The question : Is he ready to be in my first team (as a sub), he will get constant action for about 20-30 minutes every other game and sometimes he will start. He already has been loaned out to Anderlecht and Lens where he even played 13 games in Europe and did great tbh. So if you say yes he can cut it i will sell Aissaiti (sp).

Samir Keita A regen from Socheaux got him a season or two ago. Looks very promising. Has a lot of speed which comes in handy in my tactic offcourse. Its the same question as above, he also has been loaned out and did good there. If you people say yes he can cut it than i will sell Torje.

Would like comments thank you.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Originally posted by purefun:

Guys need some important advice so please have a look and give me your thoughts. Thx.

Jeremy Thomas A regen of my own youthacadamy. Looks really great, needs some more pace but i'm confident it will come. The question : Is he ready to be in my first team (as a sub), he will get constant action for about 20-30 minutes every other game and sometimes he will start. He already has been loaned out to Anderlecht and Lens where he even played 13 games in Europe and did great tbh. So if you say yes he can cut it i will sell Aissaiti (sp).

Samir Keita A regen from Socheaux got him a season or two ago. Looks very promising. Has a lot of speed which comes in handy in my tactic offcourse. Its the same question as above, he also has been loaned out and did good there. If you people say yes he can cut it than i will sell Torje.

Would like comments thank you.

Both of those regens I think you should start to play in games, giving them "sub" time. First ones pace worries me tho, 6 for pace and he is 20 now I doubt that will improve by much. Second one looks alright much better physical stats, but not so good technique. Im post this really quick so I'm keeping it short but I think you should consider giving them some good sub time. Altho I dont think you should sell the two you mentioned just yet, see how these regens fair first over the first few months of them getting sub times. Then make a decision to sell the RL players

[Purefun]

Thx Hopey.

Another important thing i forgot to mention is that Torje and Aissaiti are also only subs. Just to make it easier.

[Scott08]

They both look promising.. how does your coaches rate them?

Id definatly be tempted to sell Aissati and Torje to include the pair in your first team squad.

[Scott08]

By the way.. as you can see im still following the thread.

Im giving my Lyon game a little rest - finding it hard to get into it at the moment, i regret not loading all the leagues to have my reserves included. I'll be back playing soon though im sure

[Agent Tiro]

Pure i'd probably send them out on loan where they'll get much more play time. Guarenteed first team. Then next season they should be ready to be back up for you.

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Purefun start them in the early stages of all your cup competitions asweel except cl of course

[tomtuck01]

Great weekend, hammering Aston Villa 4-0! Despite me getting absolutely soaked, was still a great day!! And then Sunday was a bit of a drinking session with my brother..............enough said!! Tonight though I have finally finished my 5th season in charge of Les Gones!

Note the time of the post, (3.16am), no work (again) on Tuesday! I can't decide whether all this time off is good or bad!!

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

As stated in previous posts, we won the Champions Trophy at the start of the season and followed it up by winning the World club championships midseason. I also signed a new 2 year contract to keep me at OL Land until 2014.

Ligue 1

We of course took the league title again, finishing we our highest points total in my 5 seasons in charge, and amassing a huge 12 points more than last season. The grand total was 106, finishing up 17 points ahead of 2nd place Marseille, and 25 points ahead of 3rd placed PSG! We also conceded 5 goals fewer than last season, although also scored 5 less. We again remained unbeaten throughout the league season, and are now a massive 78 games unbeaten in the league!

Final League Table

Just the one individual player award for this season to go with my usual Manager of the Season Award. But that was most likely to do with the amount of rotation I used during throughout the season.

French Ligue 1 Star of the Season; - Fred

And an even bigger mark as to the amount of rotation I used this season was that we only had 2 players in the French Ligue 1 Team of the season. Those were Christopher Samba and of course, Fred.

Ligue 1 Team of the Season.

Coupe de France

After winning this three seasons running I kind of expect better than the performances we turned out this season. I those was really at fault for our exit away to Marseille. Just 3 days after the 11th Round match we would again face Marseille away from home, this time in the league. In the cup game I rested many players and we lost 1-0. For the league game I made 9 changes to the starting team and we won 1-0. I guess I got it right in that respect, but going out in the 11th round was disappointing.

9th Round - FC Mantois 78 (A) 5-0

10th Round - Toulouse (A) 4-1

11th Round - Marseille (A) 0-1

Coupe de la Ligue

For the third season in a row we have won the Coupe de la Ligue!! Of course it is not the most important of competitions, but any trophy is something to enjoy. Especially when all 3 of our games leading up to the final were away from home.

4th Round - Sochaux (A) 3-1

Qtr Final - Nancy (A) 2-1

Semi Final - PSG (A) 3-1

In the final we faced lowly Monaco. Despite fielding my strongest starting XI, (well in my opinion), we struggled massively. We took the lead in the 16th minute through Fred, but Monaco dominated play and just into the second half they equalised through Serge Gakpe. Again Monaco continued to boss the game, but in the 86th minute we won a penalty. Fred's penalty was saved but thankfully he tapped in the rebound to give us a thoroughly undeserved 2-1 victory.

Coupe de la Ligue Final

Champions League

We made slightly hard work of getting through the group stage, as we actually failed to win 2 of our games!! We still managed to bang in 15 goals in just the six games, and we did top the group.

We got what I thought would be a very tough draw in the 1st knockout round as we faced Valencia. and the away leg was very tough, we were 2-0 down after just 9 minutes, but fortunately managed to keep at 2-0 until the 80th minute when Fred pulled a goal back. It finished 2-1 and gave us a good chance in the home leg.

The second leg was much easier. Knowing we need to score I went with a diamond system, and this payed off massively as we cruised to a 3-0 win thanks to a Fred double and Hatem Ben Arfa late on, and took the tie 4-2 on aggregate.

In the Quarter Final we faced Arsenal, again with the 1st leg away from home. We drew 1-1 after sub Jimmy Briand equalised Eduardo da Silva's earlier strike in the 89th minute. In the second leg I went with this weird looking system. The untried system worked as we won 2-1, bossing possession, scoring through Christopher Samba and Karim Benzema, and only conceding in the 89th minute. On to the semi's we went to face Liverpool!

Im getting sick of playing English teams in this! Atleast for a change, (though not a good one), the 1st leg was at home. We struggled to a 1-1 draw, despite taking the lead after just 5 minutes through Benzema, but in the second half Fernando Torres got Liverpool's equaliser. In the 2nd leg we couldn't have had a poorer start as Martin Skrtel headed Liverpool infront in the 8th minute. Thankfully Fred equalised soon after, but Liverpool continued to dominate, and in the 56th minute Fernando Torres scored the decisive goal to make it 3-2 on aggregate.

And on another poor note, Liverpool went on to get stuffed 4-2 in the final by Internazionale!

We did though manage 2 players in the Champions League Dream Team, in the shape of Francois Clerc and Fred, who was also the second top goal scorer in the competition with 9 goals.

Top Scorers

Fred again was the clubs top scorer, getting a total of 37 goals, beating the previous record of 28 goals. All 4 of my front line strikers got double figures too, even Karim Benzema despite him missing almost half the season. Hatem Ben Arfa had a much more disappointing season though, injured so much that he only made 20 appearances.

Fred - 41 starts 4 sub apps - 37 goals

Jimmy Briand - 21 starts 7 sub apps - 18 goals

Mario Balotelli - 16 starts 3 sub apps - 14 goals

Karim Benzema - 32 starts 2 sub apps - 13 goals

Young winger Nicklas Barkroth also chipped in with 6 goals this season.

What Next

Left Back Eltinho will finally leave, but only on a bosman...............bloody moaning Brazilian!

Looking at other departures, Im not sure yet. Kim Kallstrom is fancying a new challenge; "may want a new challenge in the future", and Chelsea are again stalking Fred, Karim Benzema, and Hatem Ben Arfa.

As for incoming players, so far there is just Rafael Forster, and Im not sure I need to strengthen really, unless some depart of course!

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

Sorry for giving you such a long read yet again!

[Purefun]

Thx guys i'll send them out on loan. And i'll have a look in January if they progressed if so i'll recall them and sell the others.

------

Tomtuck

Mate drinking that much. Not so good for a sportsman.

Impressive league. You beat me fgs with that 78 games. (mine was 77 on this version). And tbh Marseille and PSG have had a good run too i see that would be good enough to win the league irl.

Regarding that team of the season : I would like a s.s. of Choco () , Bocaly and Sankhare if possible! Further Nasri as a DM thats new. How much did Marseille pay for Arouca? Thx.

Strange that Le Mans are doing so bad in your game. Just an observation.

Losing against Marseille in the 11th round. What were you thinking mate!! But yes the league is more important i guess.

Yes those English teams, its not different on my game though.

You'll win the CL next year mate.

Also want to know what Inter paid for Menez and Barca paid for Taiwo. Thx again.

Forster looks okay although he need to pîck up some more speed.

Again a nice read and sorry for all of my questions mate.

[Sir frosinone]

quote:

Falcao.

How good is he in 08 was just thinking of him on the 07 game last night and was wondering if he was worth a shot at Frosinone. Purefun if you could mayb post a screenie of him and how much he would cost i would be really gratefull mate.

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Sir frosinone:

quote:

Falcao.

How good is he in 08 was just thinking of him on the 07 game last night and was wondering if he was worth a shot at Frosinone. Purefun if you could mayb post a screenie of him and how much he would cost i would be really gratefull mate.

You mean Falcao mate. If so post this in the Frosi thread i'll answer you in there mate. And i'll do a screenie this afternoon.

[Sir frosinone]

Thank you Emperor of Lyon.

[tomtuck01]

Well lets be fair purefun, I dont play much sport because of my knee, I just teach it................maybe drinking should be brought into my coaching sessions!!

Here you go purefun, the screenies you wanted;

Choco

Younousse Sankhare

Garry Bocaly

As for your other questions;

Taye Taiwo moved to Barcelona for £11million in 2011

Arouca moved to Marseille for £12million in 2009

And I sold Jeremy Menez to Inter for a total of £20million (£10m upfront, £10m after 1 internartional app) in 2010

[Purefun]

Thx Tomtuck for the screens and answers.

[Purefun]

Torje AMR maybe a sub?

Samir Keita A regen.

Gourcuff My new almost for free signing. Giving him a starting role in my CL-team.

Gouffran Has been starting for three seasons now and did great but comparing him with Torje and my regen well i don't know what to do.

So my question is who has got to go? Mind you i have two teams so two starters and one sub.

Gourcuff is out of the question imo but i'm still open for suggestions though.

Do you think i should sell Torje or Gouffran and should my regen be my regular sub or do i start him?

[Lisandro Lopez]

Sell Gouffran, give your regen some sub time. And maybe whole games in some cup games. Keep torje but if a good offer comes in sell, unless your regen performs poorly.

[Purefun]

Originally posted by HoPeY:

Sell Gouffran, give your regen some sub time. And maybe whole games in some cup games. Keep torje but if a good offer comes in sell, unless your regen performs poorly.

So what you are saying is that i sell Gouffran, give Torje a starting place in my league team, Gourcuff in CL-team and that the regen is the sub yes.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Originally posted by purefun:

So what you are saying is that i sell Gouffran, give Torje a starting place in my league team, Gourcuff in CL-team and that the regen is the sub yes.

Yep, effectivly. Then again what do I know eh?

[Purefun]

Originally posted by HoPeY:

Yep, effectivly. Then again what do I know eh?

Well mate you gave me some good advice in the past esp. on the tactic part so why not now. I'm gonna follow it thx.

[Jimbob_BCFC]

won every competition going this season, but was only given 12.5 mill to spend on players , and een when i try to get feeder clubs for financial benefit they dont offer me any , i guess ill never have a big budget like my first season .

[Purefun]

Originally posted by Jimbob_BCFC:

won every competition going this season, but was only given 12.5 mill to spend on players , and een when i try to get feeder clubs for financial benefit they dont offer me any , i guess ill never have a big budget like my first season .

Keep asking for feeders and keep accepting the ones that you get you'll normally get two feeders mate. Have patience. But its not like on last years game where the money started jumping in.

[C(r)ouch]

Started my Lyon game. Won the Super Cup, 1st in the league after losing the first game, but won the next 5

8.0.2

Signed - Sakho, Poulsen, Anichebe (loan), Barzagli, Pander

Poulsen has been poor, never got more then a 6 (3 games iirc), Barzagli and Boumsong are my best scorers after Benzema (2 and 3 goals respectively). Benzema has been superb, scoring 8 in 7 games.

Playing a 4-3-3 but it's not working well, Benzema's great form is the only reason why we're winning, the defense after selling Squillaci is poor, injuries occur often and we score a lot of corners. Next game up is Nice away and I fear the worst, Nice are in form (but we beat PSG in the last game 4-1, Benzema's SUPERB hattrick)

[Purefun]

Crouch

Welcome mate and good luck.

Good signings.

Could you post us a s.s. from your transfers?

Also a s.s. off the tactic you are using? thx

One thing is for sure you shouldn't have sold Squillaci you should have sold Boumsong.

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Ok purefun will do m8.

Ok need advice, coming to last days of transfer window, barcelona hve bidded 23 million for Bojan, the question is do i sell him?

Now hes played well in the opening 4 games scoring 6 out of 4 games.

However i rekon i could go on and buy aguero for roughly 23 mill myself.

My only feeling in my mind is the fact that Bojan is 21, and Aguero is 25, so please guys i need your advice asap plz.

Thankyou very much in advance!

[Purefun]

Ask 28 mil for Bojan + 35 % + 15 mil after 1 int.app. + 3.6 mil after 10 league games and when they accept you can buy Aguero.

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Cheers purefun, by the way i negotiated there first bid of 17 mil to 23mil, do you rekon they will still go higher if i negotiate again, sorry, its just im never that good at getting lots of money for my players m8.

Cheers bud.

Jimbob.

[tomtuck01]

Great win for Manchester United this evening, passage into the semi finals all but secure. Can't wait for the second leg next week. Then bring on the semi's!!

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I have just completed the summer transfer window and Im now into my 6th season with Lyon. There has been very little transfer activity, with no major departures, and just the one new signing brought into the squad.

Players Out;

Levan Kenia - £5million - Rennes

Loic Remy - £1.5million - Nancy

Loic Nestor - £1million - Nancy

Eltinho - Free

Levan Kenia just never quite developed as well as I had hoped, but £5million was a good to get for him.

Loic Remy rejected the 33million move to Le Mans after the end of his loan spell, so I ended up getting this tiny fee for him. A bit sad really, because despite his poor stats he always performed well for me.

Loic Nestor requested a transfer as he wasn't playing much. again it was a pity because whenever he played he usually performed.

As for Eltinho - Good F-ing Riddance!!

I also sold 5 players from my youth team raising 34million in the process.

Players In;

Rafael Forster - £8million(£2.5million upfront with £5.5million over 18months) - Internacional

He will certainly add good competition for places at both CB and LB.

The only other new players who are now knocking about my squad are 2 young players. Well when I say young, one of them is now infact 20, who I bought as a 17 year old and now seems good enough to be part of the squad, atleast in my opinion. And the other has just turned 17 and seems like he may benefit from being in the first team squad.

Loic Damour

Seydou Koffi

Brazilian forward Neymar is now back from his loan spell at Malaga last season and is now in the first team, but whether he'll play much is another story.

First Team Squad

Goalkeepers;

1.Remy Riou

28.Mathieu Gorgelin

30.Remy Vercourte

Defenders;

2.Francois Clerc

3.Bruno Lopes

4.Christopher Samba

5.Mathieu Bodmer

13.Rafael Forster

20.Anthony Reveillere

26.Jon Jonsson

27.Amaral

29.Obama

Midfielders;

6.Kim Kallstrom

14.Sidney Govou

21.Ederson

22.Adrien

23.Kevin Bru

24.Drissa Diakite

34.Seydou Koffi

35.Loic Damour

Attacking Midfielders/Forwards;

10.Karim Benzema

15.Nicklas Barkroth

18.Hatem Ben Arfa

Strikers;

7.Jimmy Briand

9.Fred

11.Mario Balotelli

25.Neymar

The Season So Far

Once again we faced PSG in the Champions Trophy final. We were absolutely terrible in this game, but thankfully came out 1-0 winners after a Hatem Ben Arfa goal in the 15th minute. PSG completely deserved to win after pressing us all the way in the 2nd half, but we managed to hold on to win the clubs 11th consecutive Champions Trophy, and the 21st trophy in my rein as Lyon manager.

Champions Trophy Final

Our start to the league campaign has been pretty good. We have won 5 out of 6 games and have scored 14 goals so far. The only blip came in our last game as we had to equalise away to Lorient in the 93rd minute to take a point. Against Marseille in our second game we also had a tough time, having to score twice in the last 3 minutes to win 3-2. We are currently in 2nd place in the table, but have a game on leaders Sochaux.

Lille (A) 3-0

Marseille (H) 3-2

Brodeaux (H) 1-0

Ajaccio (A) 3-0

Strasbourg (H) 3-0

Lorient (A) 1-1

League Table So Far

Again seeded first for the champions League, I would have expected a slightly easier group than what we have been dealt.

Lyon

Valencia

Celtic

Sampdoria

I must admit that this is probably the toughest champions league group I have had so far, but the board expect the semi finals so I guess we must qualify from this group!!

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

As usual, any comments you have are more than welcome. And I would be happy to upload any screenshots of players, etc. you might like to see!

Thanks for taking the time to read............again!

[Jimbob_BCFC]

tomtuck01, nice 1 m8, your team looking good and loadz of money too.

Could i have a look at Rafael Forster plz m8, as im at roughly the same stage as you on FM and amba is getting on now, thanks mann.

[tomtuck01]

Jimbob

Rafael Forster

This is from right at the end of last season just before he signed. No change so far so thought I upload this again.

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Ah cool, i might make a cheeky bid myself, future star in the making there

Cheers tomtuck01, gud luk wid ya season m8, ill try help u out if u get any problems this season, though i rekon you will be ok.

[Purefun]

Tomtuck

All quiet on the transferfront.

Would like to see a s.s. from your youth players you sold. 34 mil isn't to bad. Why did you sell them? They should be good enough otherwise they wouldn't have cost this much.

As for your regens Damour lacks pace and lots of it and Koffi is going to be a worldbeater mate.

Good season start and indeed a tough draw but i'm confident you'll win your group.

And yes i took time to read this ......... again.

[Sir frosinone]

25.Neymar

Tucker any chance of a screen shot of him and also is he a regan

[Jimbob_BCFC]

Purefun, i managed to gt 29mil for bojan straight cash no clauses.

Now my tranfer budget is something like 41mil, ive had a bid accepted for aguero outside summer transfer window, for 12.5 mil up front then 20mil over 12 months, my question is, do buy aguero for this money and risk going in the red, or do i wait till next season and potentially have a huge tranfer budget?

Cheers, would appreciate any advice from the Lyon team.

Jimbob.