kccircle Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire commonly known as AS Saint-Étienne, ASSE, or simply Saint-Étienne is a French association football club based in Saint-Étienne. The club was founded in 1919 and currently play in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. Saint-Étienne plays its home matches at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard located within the city. The team is managed by Christophe Galtiercaptained by Loïc Perrin, who started his career at the club in 1996. and Saint-Étienne is, arguably, the most successful club in French football history having won ten Ligue 1 titles, six Coupe de France titles, and five Trophée des champions. The club's ten league titles is the most professional league titles won by a French club, while the six cup victories places the club third among most Coupe de France titles. Saint-Étienne has also won the second division on three occasions. The club achieved most of its honours in the 1960s and 70s when the club was led by managers Jean Snella, Albert Batteux, and Robert Herbin. Saint-Étienne's primary rivals are Olympique Lyonnais, who are based in nearby Lyon. The two teams annually contest the Derby du Rhône. In 2009, the club added a female section to the football club. Saint-Étienne have produced several notable players, mostly during its dynastic run in the 1960s and 70s, who have gone on to have coaching careers domestically and internationally. The club unearthed players and managers such as Aimé Jacquet, Jacques Santini, Laurent Blanc, and Michel Platini. Each player went on to have a managerial stint with the France national team. Jacquet coached the team to victory at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, while Santini won the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. Blanc is the current manager of the national team. (Thank you to Wikipedia for the above) Top Players (apologies, but these screenshots are from the second season) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Goalkeepers Jeremie is a decent keeper and certainly good enough for the first season as there are other areas of the team that need improving primarily. Defenders Loic is a right back but is quite a high earner. He is good enough for the first season but if you can offload for a decent fee you will be able to pick up an equally as good replacement for a lot lower wage Guirane is a great centre back. If only he was a little quicker though. Again, good enough to keep but also a high wage earner so the decision is whether to replace for a cheaper option or not Carlos is a left back who has previously played in the Premier League with Fulham. He does enough to hold down a first team slot but is getting on a bit and is not a long term option Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Midfielders Blaise is a no-nonsense DMC and should be one of the first names on your team sheet. He can tackle but his greatest strength is his reading of the game and being in the right place at the right time Joshua is a younger version of Blaise. He will probably be used more ofter from the bench in the first season but chips in with a valuable goal or two when given the chance. Wingers Dimitri is a quality winger. Arguably the best winger at the club, although Bakary Sako is just as good (if not better) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Strikers Boubacar is a decent striker. He is also on a huge wage and can be replaced by a cheaper option quite easily Gonzalo is the best striker in the club. He is good for 20 goals a season and a certain starter for the first season Other Information The first season expectations are for the team to finish in 15th position The board don't give you and transfer funds to start with and your wage budget is maxed out too. Challenge The challenge would be to restore Saint-Etienne to their former glories of the 1970's Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Saint-Etienne Season 2010/2011 Board Expectations: 15th Transfer Funds: Nil (but 80% of what I can recoup in sales) Wage Allowance: £250k I've never played in France before. I chose Saint Etienne for a couple of reasons. The first being that they were once the best in France and thus my thoughts towards the team were "You're In A Bad Way" and also when my agent said of Bernard Caiazzo (Chairman) contacting me about the position stating "He's on the Phone" my mind was made up. I felt at home from day 1 of the season and thought "Nothing Can Stop Us" and "Only Love Can Tear Us Apart" The second reason being the band! Upon accepting the role I quickly noted the struggle. Despite £10m being in the bank my finances were limited to £0 transfer funds and my wage budget was also maxed out at £250k. I accepted the initial target of achieving a 15th placed position in the league. In hindsite I might have been granted a bigger budget should I have challenged the board for extra cash or set my targets higher with a better placed finish I like playing with wingers and was extremely pleased to have two excellent wingers in the club already. Dimitri Payet has been in the transfer gossip pages recently with a possible move to Liverpool in the Premier League and Bakary Sako looked an exciting prospect from his base stats. I set about playing a formation based on wingers supplying a lone front man and a degree of solidity at the back with a flat back four and a defensive midfielder. In the initial transfer window I looked to offload a couple of high wage earners to allow me to pick up a couple of free transfers or loanees Quickly I managed to offload a player for £1m and replaced him with Dedryck Boyata on loan from Manchester City. He formed the bedrock of my defence that enabled me to finish in a very credible 6th place at the end of the season. I managed to add Ritchie De Laet on loan from Manchester United and picked up Guy Assulin on a free too. Antonio Barragan was also a January window purchase and I also splashed out £6m on a couple of midfielders once I realised I needed some one with more creative in the middle of the park. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 My best players during season 1 were as follows Bakary Sako Dimitri Payet Dedryck Boyata Ritchie De Laet Gonzalo Bergessio One thing I noticed about playing in France is the need for a bigger squad. It seems every week there is a player injured or suspended (3 yellows for a 1 game ban from memory) so my aim for Season 2 is to improve the depth of the squad and replace the two great loanees I had in Season 1. I believe I over-achieved in Season 1 so have set myself a top 10 finish as I consolidate my squad in readiness for a European push in Season 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisandro Lopez Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Being AS Saint-Étienne should be 'bannable' imo. Good luck with your save none the less. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Saint-Etienne Season 2011/12 As already stated I thought another top 10 place would be a great finish as I'm still trying to build a bigger squad and losing some of the bigger earners I had what i thought was a great first transfer window though and might now look to push on for a top 6 slot. As you can see from the screenie I have offloaded way in excess of £100k per week in wages and recouped £7m in the process. I had a budget to purchase players this season and have spent £15m. My main purchase was a decent GK. I've never even heard of him before but at £6m he had better be good. Season has started quite well. It's approaching the end of October now and I am sat in 2nd. Sounds good, but in reality I am only 3 points above 8th place so it could all change in a single week. My best result so far has been a 5-1 thumping of Lyon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purefun Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 Nice thread. I bet your board was overexited about that Lyon win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 They were, until the annual early cup defeat! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Saint-Etienne: Season 2011/2012 A season of what might have been. After the first few games I wondered how I'd managed to finish 6th in the previous season. I had improved my squad with a number of players but I guess they were just taking a little more time to gel. From match 10 to match 30 the team were simply awesome moving from 10th place to the top spot. However, the last 8 games saw the team move into freefall and even though we still could have won the league with 4 games to go we ended up hanging on to a UEFA Cup slot. Last season 6th, this season 4th - a big improvement. The squad has kept a lot of the initial players from the first season. However, I've added a fair few as the transfer history screenie shows The key incomings were Lital Kitembala, Ritchie De Laet (on loan again), Marc Muneisa (who Man U have tried to purchase countless times), Sandro and in the January window Gylfi Sigursson. Overall, I spent £25m and recouped £15m in player sales. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Of the team who secured a UEFA Cup slot with a 4th place position the following over performed. GOALKEEPER I spent too much on him in the later stages of the Summer break. He has done well though and good for a few seasons yet DEFENDERS Once again I signed Richie DeLaet on loan from Man Utd - unfortunately he missed half of the season with an injury. I will try again to get him for next season. The opposite full back is Again, he has had a good season. He missed a few games with small knocks and injuries though I also signed Muniesa from Barcelona. Man U have been sniffing already I will finish the rest of this update tomorrow inclouding my £9.5m star signing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Schoolboy error - forgot to save last night and machine has rebooted (update I guess) Season has set itself back to 4 games to go - gutted really Not sure what to do. I guess I should continue to give myself that 4th place back by whatever means? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Right, got 4th place back now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 From my midfield the strong performers included Sandro - on loan from Spurs. He has played well overall but i probably wont look to sign him again as he seems to suffer longer than most with morale issues. When the whole team was on superb he was on poor despite a 20 game unbeaten run and averaging over 7. Not really sure why as he received praise as much as the next man. I also signed Thorgen Hazard at the very end of my 1st season. I never even twigged he was the brother of Eden Hazard (who has moved to Man United). Thorgen is clearly one for the future and my scouts have him as 4.5* potential. The bulk of my transfer funds were spend on Sigurosson. £9.5m to be precise following the acceptance of a £7m bid from Man United on a previous purchase I made. I wanted someone to score from centre midfield and he certainly does that. A good signing I believe and probably someone who I can even make a profit on if he performs well over the next two seasons Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 However, the reason for my 4th place finish is primarily down to the form of my front three. Kitembala scored the goals for me and proved a great purchase. However, he was assisted by who blows hot and cold. I initially played him wide right but moved him to the left around Xmas time. This co-incided in his poor run of form but at the same time stepped up and almost made my team become a one man team. I have fended off bids for Sako in the previous window and unless someone comes up with £15m then he is simply not for sale. Money remains tight for me though as despite winning £8m for my 4th place finish I am only £2m in credit. I don't think you get much from playing in the Europa league so I might need to wheel and deal over the summer. My aims are to bring in a man mountain centre back and either re-sign De Laet for another season or purchase a replacement left back. Additionally I will need to replace Sandro and anyone else who I sell. Once again I struggled with squad numbers over the season due to the French suspension rules. Adding in the Europa league means I need an additional 2 players to fill the bench. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kccircle Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Season 3 2012/2013 After finishing 4th last season the board gave me the lowest option of finishing in European Qualification for this time around. I received a decent budget of c£12m which I added to with a couple of squad player sales. I have scored enought goals in the past and have only filled the spots I really needed to. In comes Ritchie De Laet, but this time on a permanant deal having been on loan for 2 seasons. I also brought back Dedryck Boyata having seen how good he is in this division during the first season. In addition to these two I brought in a young DL and a DM too. Pre-season has been awful with my Asst Man managing to lose most games. The season proper starts next week and I need to finish 4th or my evil chairman will fire me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinu Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 Finished my first season which was a lot of up and downs on 13th place. Team: Mark Vidal (Janot) Corchia - Rafael Toloi - Werley - Bocanegra (Ebondo - Marchal - Danny DaCosta - Digne) Matuidi (Mendy) Batiles (Landrin) Payet --------------Jelle Vossen------------- Sako (Alonso ----------Thomas Buffel-------- Newgen) Rivierre (Kadlec) Highlight of the season was to win the Coupe de la Ligue against OM in overtime. Europe here we come. Rewarded myself by hiring Moussa Sissoko for the new season. Other players coming in in summer 2011 are: -Zacharie Boucher(GK) -Stefan Bell, Darnel Situ (CBs) -Aron Gunnarsson(CM) -Juan Roman Riquelme (AMC) Plus a few newgens to fill my youth squad. The squad should be good enough to challenge for one of the european spots, all I might need is one good and experienced CB and a experienced striker to be used as a mentor/backup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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