FM12: FC Girondins de Bordeaux- Les Marine et Blanc (Finding the next Zidane)

[Punjaboom]

Lasogga has been decent, hasn't played a lot yet as Destro has been great. Lasogga has had trouble settling in France and I've given him a leave of absence, he'll be back in a month and probably be alright.

I've made a joker signing, Kembo-Ekoko to give competition for Alex Teixeira. He was unhappy at Rennes and I wanted more homegrown players so I brought him in for £7.5m. I'll be looking to move on Cuenca and make a nice profit of him, he's never going to challenge for a first team spot.

Yet again I make a terrible start to the season but quickly I've come back to 3rd with 19 points after 11 matches. Marseille are too good and have 29 points in 1st, are they this good in your game? Realistically, if I want to win the league I have to beat Marseille both times.

Wow, can't wait for the income from the new stadium. Should really help Bordeaux become a 'big' club.

I was drawn with Man City, Koln and Metalist in the Champions League group stage.

[Gene]

Lasogga has been decent, hasn't played a lot yet as Destro has been great. Lasogga has had trouble settling in France and I've given him a leave of absence, he'll be back in a month and probably be alright.

I've made a joker signing, Kembo-Ekoko to give competition for Alex Teixeira. He was unhappy at Rennes and I wanted more homegrown players so I brought him in for £7.5m. I'll be looking to move on Cuenca and make a nice profit of him, he's never going to challenge for a first team spot.

Yet again I make a terrible start to the season but quickly I've come back to 3rd with 19 points after 11 matches. Marseille are too good and have 29 points in 1st, are they this good in your game? Realistically, if I want to win the league I have to beat Marseille both times.

Wow, can't wait for the income from the new stadium. Should really help Bordeaux become a 'big' club.

I was drawn with Man City, Koln and Metalist in the Champions League group stage.

That's a very workable group there.

I'm Feb of 2015 and advanced from a group of United, Shaktar, and Sparta Prague. Next up, Benefica. I feel like I get United every year, must be something to do with being a Liverpool supporter.

I'm drawing way too many matches this season and as I result I'm sitting 4th in the league, although I'm only 6 points out of 1st. I've really noticed how competitive Ligue 1 is. As soon as I get through my youth pull I'll do a youth academy update.

[Gene]

Girondins de Bordeaux Youth Academy Update

Here are some of the younger players training with the youth academy, (* denotes they came through our academy). Big things are expected of Leino, Peeters, Gerard, L'Ami, Nicolier, Morgan, and Lescano. They're all in and around the first team, with L'Ami holding down the starting role on the right wing and Gerard starting in the midfield. Dylan Aguerre is the first academy product to get a significant run in the first time due to a long term injury to Krychowiak.

Paul Sartolou*

Loic Robert*

Kevin Hassan*

Francois Cazenave*

Leen Heerkens

Aleksandr Cesnauskis

Francis Chaput

Tayeb Amiri*

Matt Morgan

Dylan Aguerre*

Anders Bresemann

Jerome Guilbaud*

Herman Wennberg

Sebastian Lescano

Domien Peeters

Roland Gerard

Jeffery L'Ami

Jere Leino

Fabian Nicolier

[Punjaboom]

Some great prospects you got there Gene, I think next year is when I'll start giving games to the youngsters in the first team.

L'Ami looks particularly impressive, I'm such the amount of game time he gets is a massive contributor to how well his development is going.

[Punjaboom]

End of January 2014 Update

Transfers: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013520444/2112C778BC09B326EE0BFD44DC237B8F43685849/

League Table: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013460292/0DCA566FC0D2514CA9426976153C1B7B478D9788/

Results & Fixtures: http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013461677/DC6C5223BAE9AE2B5ABDBCC3FD2134EA59E51688/

Squad: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013458754/B14473FE10B456525933A6CAAA17BDB36CD7CFD3/

Champions League group: http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013598073/FB079D4ACB6627FC895703E5B7470C8A4D4B5FBE/

Just like every other season I've had a mixed time in the league. I started off slow then worked my way up to 2nd/3rd. As you can see in the table, Marseille are just unstoppable and the battle for 2nd is predominantly between me and Lyon. Positives have been that Alex Teixeira and Isco have been immense, my side can't seem seem to win without them in the team. Destro got off to a good start but has been on around a 500 minute goal drought, he just scored against Bastia in the final game of January so he should be alright again. Lasogga has come back fine from his leave of absence; he's quite a good backup to Destro.

I drew Lyon in both the Coupe de France 9th round and Coupe de la Ligue quarter final, losing the Coupe de France match in extra time at home and the Coupe de la Ligue match 2-1 away.

In the Champions League I had a very unusual time:

v Koln away lost 1-2

v Metalist home drew 1-1

v Man City away lost 3-0

v Man City home won 4-0

v Koln home won 4-0

v Metalist away lost 1-0

The group went to the last match with Man City already qualified in 1st leaving the rest of us scrambling for 2nd. I came 4th. Had I not conceded that one goal against Metalist I would have drawn and finished 2nd, such a shame. I was genuinely amazed when I beat Man City 4-0, then we did it again against Koln and I got hope that we would qualify, that soon went away when the ref blew the final whistle against Metalist.

It's quite demoralising looking at the rest of the fixtures and seeing just league matches, although it will allow me to really focus on trying to stop Marseille. When I finish this update I'll be playing Lyon at home which is just such a massive match as I want revenge for them knocking us out of the cups and for the race in the league.

[Gene]

Some great prospects you got there Gene, I think next year is when I'll start giving games to the youngsters in the first team.

L'Ami looks particularly impressive, I'm such the amount of game time he gets is a massive contributor to how well his development is going.

L'Ami has developed quite a bit thanks to his playing time. I had him tutored by Aissati as well which helped his mentals. He kind of wore down as the season went on but I hope with my latest signing I can help keep him fresh.

End of January 2014 Update

Transfers: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013520444/2112C778BC09B326EE0BFD44DC237B8F43685849/

League Table: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013460292/0DCA566FC0D2514CA9426976153C1B7B478D9788/

Results & Fixtures: http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013461677/DC6C5223BAE9AE2B5ABDBCC3FD2134EA59E51688/

Squad: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013458754/B14473FE10B456525933A6CAAA17BDB36CD7CFD3/

Champions League group: http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/577838209013598073/FB079D4ACB6627FC895703E5B7470C8A4D4B5FBE/

Just like every other season I've had a mixed time in the league. I started off slow then worked my way up to 2nd/3rd. As you can see in the table, Marseille are just unstoppable and the battle for 2nd is predominantly between me and Lyon. Positives have been that Alex Teixeira and Isco have been immense, my side can't seem seem to win without them in the team. Destro got off to a good start but has been on around a 500 minute goal drought, he just scored against Bastia in the final game of January so he should be alright again. Lasogga has come back fine from his leave of absence; he's quite a good backup to Destro.

I drew Lyon in both the Coupe de France 9th round and Coupe de la Ligue quarter final, losing the Coupe de France match in extra time at home and the Coupe de la Ligue match 2-1 away.

In the Champions League I had a very unusual time:

v Koln away lost 1-2

v Metalist home drew 1-1

v Man City away lost 3-0

v Man City home won 4-0

v Koln home won 4-0

v Metalist away lost 1-0

The group went to the last match with Man City already qualified in 1st leaving the rest of us scrambling for 2nd. I came 4th. Had I not conceded that one goal against Metalist I would have drawn and finished 2nd, such a shame. I was genuinely amazed when I beat Man City 4-0, then we did it again against Koln and I got hope that we would qualify, that soon went away when the ref blew the final whistle against Metalist.

It's quite demoralising looking at the rest of the fixtures and seeing just league matches, although it will allow me to really focus on trying to stop Marseille. When I finish this update I'll be playing Lyon at home which is just such a massive match as I want revenge for them knocking us out of the cups and for the race in the league.

Those are some odd results in your Champions League Group. If you told me you won 4-0 against City, I would've guessed that you moved on. All that's left, is as you say, to focus on the league and bring a league title to Bordeaux.

I'll be posting my end of season update soon.

[Punjaboom]

Looking forward to your update Gene.

To be fair, I've been really unlucky with defensive injuries. I've had to go into matches without a recognised DC, for example, I went into a few matches with my DMs playing DR and my DR playing DC. Defense was not solid. Luckily, with my clean stretch of just league matches I've got no injuries at all apart from my main striker Destro just picking one up now putting him out for 2 months. I find it ironic how I said 'luckily' at the beginning of my last sentence since both my star strikers have picked up big injuries at crucial parts of the season (Vossen 4 months and now Destro).

Also, forgot to include in my January update that I signed quite a few youngters and I also picked up Fabio Borini on a free who will join at the end of the season and become my third striker behind Lasogga. I also got some decent French DL as cover/competition for Koppers; he will join at the end of the season on a free.

[Gene]

Looking forward to your update Gene.

To be fair, I've been really unlucky with defensive injuries. I've had to go into matches without a recognised DC, for example, I went into a few matches with my DMs playing DR and my DR playing DC. Defense was not solid. Luckily, with my clean stretch of just league matches I've got no injuries at all apart from my main striker Destro just picking one up now putting him out for 2 months. I find it ironic how I said 'luckily' at the beginning of my last sentence since both my star strikers have picked up big injuries at crucial parts of the season (Vossen 4 months and now Destro).

Also, forgot to include in my January update that I signed quite a few youngters and I also picked up Fabio Borini on a free who will join at the end of the season and become my third striker behind Lasogga. I also got some decent French DL as cover/competition for Koppers; he will join at the end of the season on a free.

I've been in that situation, missing a recognised player at a position. I've learned that I have to register every player at the club. You can register 99 players and even if they're registered for the first team, that doesn't prevent them from playing for the reserve or youth teams.

Borini! Nice! As a Liverpool supporter, that's the kind of signing I can certainly get behind.

[Gene]

2014/15 End of Season Review & 2015/16 preview

The 2014/2015 season wasn't quite as successful as the previous season, but trophies were won anyway. Ligue 1 was probably the most competitive it's been since I took over at Bordeaux. The top 5 teams were only separated by 3 points. We won the title (3rd in a row), on the last day after winning our final match. Lille were tied on points with us, but only managed a draw on the final day. The fact that everyone kept beating each other was the only reason I managed to win the league this season. We were so poor from the start of the season. By midseason we were nothing more than a mid table club. Rufai, Niang, and Giroud just couldn't manage to find the net. Giroud went on a drought of over 600 minutes without a goal and his attributes deteriorated throughout the season. Thankfully Rufai started complaining about his contract to which I replied "Prove to me you deserve a new deal on the pitch." Prove he did. He went on to finish second in scoring (18 goals), one behind Luuk de Jong at OM. A new contract was offered. (He scored 5 goals against Botswana in his first Nigerian cap)

Final 2014-2015 table-http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at125354PM.png

We lost in the 4th round of the Coupe de la Ligue (which we've won the previous 2 season), we did manage to defend our Coupe de France title against OL. Making it 2 in a row.

In the Champions League group stages, we finished atop a group that consisted of United, Shaktar, and Sparta Prague (we finished 5-1-0). We drew Benefica in the first knockout round and dispatched of them 4-3, before being bounced by Liverpool in the second round.

This year we've once again drawn United in the group stages. (United, Sporting, and Maribor) I'm really getting tired of playing United every year, this makes 3 of the past 4 years that we've drawn United in the group stages.

2014-2015 Champions League-http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at14638PM.png

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2015-2016 Transfers -http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at15018PM.png

I was given 41 million to spend, but as usual, I've not even considered spending it. My policy of buying youngsters cheaply, then developing them to fit my style has really started to pay off as players are making their way to the senior team from the youth side. The youth players that I develop and don't like I simply sell for a profit to fund my purchases which essentially ensures I have a net transfer loss of zero.

A couple of big comings and goings this season. Aissati was sold for the simple fact that I refused to pay him what he thought he was worth. His contract was running out and was asking for over 50k a week when he was already making just over 40k a week. He wasn't considered a starter at this point since Kakuta has taken over so I wasn't willing to pay him what he was asking. Put him on the market and Lille came in with a decent offer.

As for Olivier Giroud... Valencia came in with an offer and after considering his age (28, yes I fully believe in the Arsenal model), and his drop in attributes, I bit their hand off. Sad to see him go, but it makes my strike force less complicated.

I moved Marco Verratti simply for the fact that I managed to sign one of my favorite players, Belhanda. This past season I asked a bit more of my deep lying playmaker position, and Verratti didn't deliver. As such, Verratti is considered surplus and was moved on to Dortmund who have an option to buy him for 5 million.

Finances after all transfers (current) -http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20121PM.png

My current squad

GK: Carasso http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20154PM.png

DR: Koffi http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20237PM.png

DC: Kara http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20223PM.png

DC: Sane http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20208PM.png

DL: Digne http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20250PM.png

MC: Fontaine http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20344PM.png

MC: Gerard http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20300PM.png

AMR: Rojas http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20331PM.png

AML: Rodriguez http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20315PM.png

AMC: Kakuta http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20400PM.png

ST: Niang http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20443PM.png

ST: Rufai http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20455PM.png

Super Sub: Lescano http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/heelswxman/Screenshot2012-08-11at20430PM.png

Bordeaux is now the third richest club in France (23rd in the world), and we have the second highest rep of any club in France, just behind OL (just behind Spurs in Europe, 27th in the world)

[Gene]

Also, it looks like my youth squad has finally supplanted OL as the French representative in the NextGen series!

[Punjaboom]

Very young squad there Gene, will be interesting to see how they do this time round. Hopefully you can go further in the Champions League, it would be nice to see you get Bordeaux to the semis/final. Although I've been doing well and reaching the semis/finals of the domestic cups, I can't seem to win them. I always lose to either Marseille or Lyon.

Belhanda, very nice signing. I could have bought him for 6.25m as well but I decided against it, you'll find out why in my season review which I'm going to start typing up write now.

[Gene]

Very young squad there Gene, will be interesting to see how they do this time round. Hopefully you can go further in the Champions League, it would be nice to see you get Bordeaux to the semis/final. Although I've been doing well and reaching the semis/finals of the domestic cups, I can't seem to win them. I always lose to either Marseille or Lyon.

Belhanda, very nice signing. I could have bought him for 6.25m as well but I decided against it, you'll find out why in my season review which I'm going to start typing up write now.

Yeah I'd really love to do better in the Champions League, but we keep coming up against sides that are better than we are. I think talent wise, we're now on par with a lot of the clubs (barring Madrid and Barcelona) in the Champions League.

I'm being linked with jobs in Germany and Spain now as well, two of my favorite leagues. I'd like to win the Champions League with Bordeaux, but if the right job came available...

[Punjaboom]

2013/14 End of Season Review

Competition Performances

Ligue 1: As I said in my January update, I was 2nd/3rd the entire season battling with Lyon. Marseille were top of the league from day 1, at no point during the season did they even drop to second. This might give you a hint that I didn't win the league, again. Having said this, it was a really exciting end to the season. Just like last season, I picked up the form right around the 27 or 28th round of matches while simultaneously Marseille begun their run of bad form. It resulted in a very exciting end of season with me finishing 4 points behind them just like last season (to see Marseille's run of bad form look at the screenshot linked below).

End of season table: http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p550/Punjaboom/2012-08-11_00002.jpg

Season results page 1: http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p550/Punjaboom/2012-08-11_00003.jpg

Season results page 2: http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p550/Punjaboom/2012-08-11_00004.jpg

Marseille results: http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p550/Punjaboom/2012-08-11_00005.jpg

Champions League: Already mentioned I did not qualify out of group stages. Barcelona won this competition.

Coupe de France: Already mentioned I went out to Lyon. Evian won(!).

Coupe de la Ligue: Already mentioned I went out to Lyon. Sochaux won the competition.

Squad Review

I was very happy with my squad, especially since for about half the season all I had was Saturday matches so I played my best 11 every match with the occasional rotation. Yet again though, I was not happy with my strikers, simply not consistent enough.

My Starting XI Review

GK: Carrasso, this guy is a God. Conceded only 24 in 37 appearances while having 21 clean sheets. He beat Lloris and Mandanda to keeper of the year, I'm not surprised.

DR: Mario Fernandes, very solid right back. Can defend and support attacking moves, my ideal full back.

DC: Yanga Mbiwa, most played outfield player. Very good player and probably first choice DC although Abdennour is a good shout to.

DC: Abdennour, The Tunisian Tank. I had doubts whether the supporters would like him since he joined from fierce rivals Toulouse. They loved him, he got voted supporters player of the season, I'm delighted with that.

DL: Koppers, this guy has developed magnificently and in my eyes could be the best left back in my FM world. He's earned his first cap to The Netherlands.

DMC: Ndinga, doesn't get the best ratings but gets the job done. Absolute rock in front of my defence, knows how to make a good tackle as well.

MCR: Bacinovic, becoming one of my favourite player on FM due to his ability to play a variety of midfield roles. He's my own Gerrard.

MCL: Isco, young technically gifted playmaker. Very good player, should play even better next season in my slightly new system.

AMR: Alex Teixeira, unstoppable. Seriously good.

AML: Rodriguez, such a good player. Assisted loads and scored some crucial goals. The Alex Teixeira to my left wing.

ST: Destro, exact sort of striker I like to have in my system: tall, can pass, creative, can finish while having good off the ball. Basically a complete forward. Except, he just wasn't consistent enough.

Ok, thats that. I've ran into some problems and still have transfers to make, I'll write up my preview at the end of the transfer window.

[Gene]

Through the first 7 games this season we're 7-0-0. 14 goals for, 2 against. Looks like it'll be 4 straight league titles if we keep this up.

I'm aiming to break Lyon's record of 7 straight league titles.

[Punjaboom]

Good luck Gene.

2014/15 Season Preview (sort of)

I'll start off by saying that my stadium move has been delayed until the 4th of November because the builders the French FA hired are lazy and fallen behind schedule. Secondly, Didier Deschamps decided to leave Marseille for France and has been replaced by Laurent Blanc. Maybe this will be my year?

From last years big spending and wholesale changes to this years ...no new signings (apart from the two frees and youngsters I had signed previously). I decided to promote from within and brought up:

Lucas Vera and Fleita - the two amazing Argentinian regen strikers

Joel Valencia - future AMC of my team to be third choice behind Ljajic and Isco

Podstawski - very bright future ahead for him, going to be second or third choice (depending on how Plasil does) behind Bacinovic

Thomas Ladwig - 6 foot 6 inch giant CB I signed for 6k who has potential of 4 stars, already 1.5 stars and 18 years old. Arsenal is already interested in him, he will be fifth choice DC, or possibly 4th instead of Planus.

Yago - future DM to be backup to Ndinga

Andy Murphy - American right back with 4 star potential to be backup to current right back Mario Fernandes

I did sell 25m worth of players, which include the following:

7.5m Kembo-Ekoko - we had a massive argument and he missed training and so I sold him for the 7.5m I paid for him

4.8m Lasogga - scored 5 goals in 27 appearances, simply not good enough. Shame, I liked him. (he's gone and scored 2 in his debut for Caen!)

5m Sertic - I really liked this guy, I wanted to keep him especially since he was club homegrown. He hasn't been able to come back since his 5 month injury and he's just not good enough anymore.

2m Cuenca - not good enough

In my last post I edited in that I've had problems, well basically 4 of the players (Lucas Vera, Fleita, Yago and Murphy) I promoted from the U19s are foreign and I have already used up my 4 spaces. None of the first team 4 are expendable so I've had to send back the 4 aforementioned players to the U19s. I've now had to go out and buy players as my squad is quite thin as a result. The season has started so the players I sign will have missed the pre season. In addition to the semi-panic buys I've had to make, I don't know what to do with the 4. It's going to take 5 years for them to gain French citizenship as I most likely won't be selling any of the first team 4. Just so you know, they are Mario Fernandes, Rodriguez, Ljajic and Alex Teixeira (all in my first 11).

Who I'm Looking to Buy

Luckily for me, Chamakh has just been transfer listed so I will buy him for 2.4m hopefully and that will give me 3 strikers as I've just loaned in Connor Wickham as third choice. I'm looking at possibly bringing in Toulalan for a 1 or 2 year contract for backup to Ndinga and tutor to the 2 amazing DMs who came through the academy last year.

I'll do another update at the end of the month outlining what I did. Please give me advice if you have some regarding what I should do with the 4 U19s who will take so long to get French citizenship. Also, sorry for this update/preview being all over the place, didn't really know how to structure it properly.

[Gene]

The foreigner rule is a major drag in France. It's kind of what I alluded to earlier when you first said you signed those youth players from South America.

You really have to plan it out when you sign foreigners. Either sign them at a really young age so that they spend most of their time gaining citizenship in the youth team, or have a plan in place.

All you can really do at this point is either send them to Angers so they continue to gain time in France and get to play, try for a feeder team in Belgium or some other nation that gives citizenship quickly, or just let them play in the youth and reserves.

[Punjaboom]

Great idea there, I'll probably loan them out to Belgium or Spain where they get citizenship quickly. To be honest, Yago isn't a big concern, I could sell him. Probably the same with the American right back, or I could just sell Mario Fernandes. Ah crap, I was just thinking that I could sell Rodriguez for big money as United and Liverpool are interested and then replace him with Griezmann, but I remembered that he's just been bought up by Marseille. I'll keep thinking about it and just outline what I end up doing in an end of month update.

[Punjaboom]

So I signed Chamakh for 2.4m and he will become either my main ST or my rotation with Destro. I also signed Toulalan for 2m who will be excellent cover for Ndinga and a great experienced tutor for my excellent young DM regens. I also signed Conor Wickham on loan as my third striker just to have some good cover in case of injuries or suspensions.

I beat Panathiakos (not sure on spelling but that Greek team with the green colours) 2-1 on agg in the playoff. In the group stages I got drawn in the easiest group (sarcasm) with just Barcelona, Chelsea and Standard Liege. I always love coming up against the big teams, should be very interesting.