Moncho's Euro Trip!

[swallow1050]

Great work in Sweden! A little surprised you didn't look to defend your title, but suppose you had spent enough time there and now you're in the big time I'm sure it won't be long before the bigger clubs take notice if you can make some noise in Sociedad, the next John Toshack!

Good luck in Spain.

Thanks! Yeah after 5 years in Sweden I wanted a change, I had won everything there was to win in Sweden really. Hopefully I can make a challenge for the title with Sociedad, I'm not sure I really want to manage one of the bigger Spanish clubs, but we'll see!

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – February 2027 Update

Liga BBVA

Not a brilliant month points wise but we did some how beat Real Madrid!! the game against Barca was an incredible game too; they had 42 shots but only two clear cut chances. I was very disappointed by the Sporting result as we were the better side but stupid mistakes cost us the game.

My thoughts:

I was pretty glad to just get this month out the way but there were some positives to take from it a great win over Madrid and we almost managed a draw against Barca.

Next time:

Just 3 league games this month against Deportivo, Real Betis and Valencia; i believe these are all winnable games

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – March 2027 Update

Liga BBVA

Forgot to take a screenshot of the table, we finished in 13th at the end of March.

My thoughts:

Very solid month with the highlight the thrashing of Real Betis and Sergio Garagarza stepping up after asking for some game time.

Next time:

5 Games next month with the highlight being a difficult game away to Athletic. The other fixtures are ones we should have a good chance of winning, with most of the teams in bottom half of the table.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – April 2027 Update

Liga BBVA

Unai Moreno

My thoughts:

Great results this month as we were unbeaten and the draws came against the top teams, I was especially pleased with our game against Athletic. Ander had a great month scoring three and Julio managed some crucial goals.

Next time:

Season ends in May with 4 games against Rayo, Espanyol, Malaga and Sevilla, all but Espanyol are below us in the table so I'm hoping for at least 3 wins out of 4.

[SRL88]

Sitting nicely in mid-table. Hopefully you will end the season there.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – May 2027 Update

Liga BBVA

My thoughts:

Mixed feelings about this month, 3 wins out 4 which is what I was looking for; However we were getting used winning and the loss to Sevilla came as abit of surprise, and had we won that game we would of finished 7th.

Next time:

Season review of a very solid start to my Real Sociedad career.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – Season Review 2026/27

Finances

Average Attendance: 29579

Turnover: £59,094,387

Expenditure: £61,347,048

Profit/Loss: £3,514,283

Balance: £278,684

Transfers

Current Wage: £750k p/w

Wage Budget: £945k p/w

Transfer Budget: £1.05M

Budget Remaining: £0

Liga BBVA

Board Expectation: Mid Table

My Expectation: Same as above

Media Prediction: 11th

Final Position: 9th

Results

Table

Copa Del Rey:

Board Expectation: Quarter Final

My Expectation: Not interested

Actual: 4th Round

Squad and player awards:

Player stats

Most Assists: 9 Cristian Montano

Top Scorer: 9 Ander

Team of the year:

Player Watch:

Best Players:

1st: Montano - Had a great debut season for us, only playing 20 games but most assists and equal second top scorer with 8 goals.

2nd: Federico Lopez - Pretty average at the back, inconsistent but shows the season we had that he had one of the best ratings.

3rd: Ander - Only played 17 games due to injury but finished the season very strongly top scoring

My thoughts:

Pretty pleased with the end of the season really with our league results: P21 W11 D4 L6 after I took over and before we finished with the loss to Sevilla we had an unbeaten run of 11 games. We also beat the league winner's Real Madrid, lost only 2-1 to Barcalona, drew with Athletic and beat Atletico. So overall very positive for next season.

The main area I aim to improve is our defence; both the main central defenders were inconsistent and pretty average, we also don't have much cover in the left back position with Alberto retiring. The only other position that needs players bought in is the Defensive Midfield position with Orlando Orozco leading on a free transfer we only have one established first teamer in Santisteban. We have a very strong youth squad in this team with players in the U19s and B side with high potential so I will be looking at bringing some of those players in the main fold.

Financially the club isn't brilliant, three sponsorship deals were renewed with quite a bit lower income than previous which is never a good sign. Also the wage budget is over the top for the current squad so I won't be buying too many players while I improve the club's financial standing. Hopefully by utilising the youth players and getting rid of the high wage players we can make a profit next year without compromising our on field performance.

[elbilly]

That's an impressive start you've made. Hope you can hold on to your best players and have a crack at finishing in Euro places next season!

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – Preseason 2027

Boards Expectations

Media Prediction: 11th

League: Top Half Finish

Cup: Quarter Final

My Expectations

League: 6th (Europa Spot)

Cup: Not interested

Finances

Season Tickets: 25,895

Transfer Budget: £7.23M

Transfer Budget Remaining: £5.49M

Wage Budget: £730k p/w

Current Wage: £564k p/w

Balance: £2,046,850

Transfers

Iker Ventura 2.5M - Strong athletic defender coming into his prime; Should be the future of the club at the back.

Stan Toussaint 130k - Tall defender to provide cover and competition and at only 130k a bargain.

Meyker Vabre 700k - Some experience and creativity in the DM strata, will provide short term support for Santisteban while the youth players come through and while we wait for Peruibe to arrive from Brazil in Jan

Peruibe 700k - Arriving on the 4th Jan after he turns 18, should be the long term partner for Santisteban, already has decent stats and is only 17.

Player Watch:

Key Players:

Jon Williams - The main creative force of the team looking for Jon to create the majority of the goals.

Sergio Garagarza - Lightening quick forward that should develop into our first choice striker this season, needs to improve passing and technique however.

Cristian Montano - Had a great impact last season and will expect the same this season.

Mariano Santisteban - Looking for Mariano to take control of the midfield

Young Players:

Xabi - Will be the first choice goalkeeper this year and hopefully he continues his consistency from last season.

Victor Herrera - Has good technical stats but needs to improve on the mental side, will be William's understudy this year so will need to take all his chances.

Rafael Lezama - Promising full back, struggled last season when he played but the formation should suit him better this season with full backs given a full back role rather than wing back. A rotation option for Adrian

Jose Javier Egea - Very talented striker who I want to provide competition but wants to go on loan. I didn't have an option to tell him that I wanted to play him in the first team, so he is currently unhappy with me.

David Arrondo - Another attacking midfielder with a great future however is unlikely to feature much this season but will provide cover.

My thoughts:

Quiet pre season really but managed to get our wage bill down which allowed my transfer budget to be increased to usable amount, started off at 100k now over 7m with plenty of wage budget left too. Although I wasn't really looking to spend a huge amount as I wanted to give our promising youth a chance of games. I have improved the key areas I identified, with the exception of a left back which should be resolved very soon, so that's pleasing.

The board want a top half finish and the media still only rate us as 11th but I feel like based on last season's form we could do better than that and fight for Europa League spots. The squad hasn't lost any quality and although I haven't particularly improved it much, the youth players will only improve and looking at previous years we need around 62+ points to make 6th which I feel is doable.

[swallow1050]

Sitting nicely in mid-table. Hopefully you will end the season there.

That's an impressive start you've made. Hope you can hold on to your best players and have a crack at finishing in Euro places next season!

Thanks guys! Very pleased with the end of the season, had a bit of a worry for the first couple months.

[deltablue]

Excellent unbeaten run you had.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – August 2027 Update

Liga BBVA

Transfers:

Moussa Camara 1.9m - The promised left back, should be a good first team player with room to improve and become a great player.

My thoughts:

Not a great start to the season, our defending hasn't been up to scratch; two of Granada's goals came from mistakes. Also Jon Williams is out for 5 months with a broken foot, this is quite a blow but a chance for Herrera to shine.

Next time:

Not the easiest of months coming up with Real Madrid and Athletic to play. I'd be pleased with two wins.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – September 2027 Update

Liga BBVA

My thoughts:

Managed the two wins but it should of been 3 really. Dominated by Real Madrid but Herrara scored a spectacular lob from 25 metres. The game against Villarreal showed up our defensive issues again as we conceded poor goals but we had a great game against Athletic with Egea scoring a brace that really should of been a Hattrick.

Next time:

Busy month with 5 games, the international break squeezes most of the fixtures to the end of the month meaning we play 3 games within a week. Would hope to be in with a shout of winning 4 of 5. The Atletico game the hardest of the bunch.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – October 2027 Update

Liga BBVA

My thoughts:

An okay month, both draws were very frustrating against Espanyol we scored early but Adrian got himself sent off for a last man tackle and against Gimnastic our central defence had a bad game with Ventura scoring an own goal and Lopez had a particularly bad game missing two crucial headers, one resulting in the other goal. Against Athletic we were very lucky to score and were played off the park. A decent win against Valencia and Santisteban inspired a win against Racing.

Next time:

Only 3 games this month and we should win them all.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – November 2027 Update

Liga BBVA

My thoughts:

Mixed feelings about this month, two great wins with clean sheets which is the only third clean sheet of the season but we just didn't turn up for the game against San Fernando and the goal at the end was too little too late.

In other news Halmstad retained the Allsvenskan and made the Europa League group stages using most of the squad I left which makes me proud, shows I left the club is a good position.

Next time:

Next month we enter the Copa Del Rey against Real Union who are 1st in the Liga Adelante so we will need to be wary but it will be a chance for some of the fringe players to get a game. In the league we should have a chance in all the matches this month and it would be good to get a win over Sevilla as they are in the same battle as us.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – December 2027 Update

Liga BBVA

Copa Del Rey:

My thoughts:

Good month as we were unbeaten for this first time this season, through to the 5th round of the cup after an easy tie against Real Union. In 6th for first time also so on the up!

Next time:

Very busy Jan period with 7 games in total, first up is a very tricky game against Barcelona and quite a few games against my positional rivals; could be a very important month to really push our way into the Europe spots.

[swallow1050]

What do people think? Currently 10th in the Serie A, board wants continental football.

[elbilly]

That's a cracking wage budget. I'd take it. It will be very hard to crack that Barca/Madrid dominance in Spanish football, got a good chance at league and European honours with Inter though.

[swallow1050]

That's a cracking wage budget. I'd take it. It will be very hard to crack that Barca/Madrid dominance in Spanish football, got a good chance at league and European honours with Inter though.

I didn't take the job, although it was a 2m wage budget most of that had been taken up already and I wanted to spend more time at Sociedad before moving on.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – January 2028 Update

Liga BBVA

Copa Del Rey:

Transfers:

Sasha Bentohami - 2.2m - The team needed a right winger and Bentohami should be the future in that position.

Peruibe - 700k - Long awaited arrival for this player, should be a star of the future.

My thoughts:

Wheels well and truly fell off the wagon this month with 5 defeats and only 1 win out of 7. Lots of mistakes from the goalkeeper and the defence with poor pass backs and clearances. Nothing positive to say about this month at all other than I'm glad its over and we are only 4 points from the target 6th.

Next time:

A difficult month to follow on from this nightmare month, can only really hope for 2 wins next month.

[swallow1050]

It was very tempting but I think I would of got bored in Greece as Olympiacos have won the league for the last 8 years and were top currently. Interestingly Gennaro Gattuso left the hot seat to take the Inter job I turned down.

[forameuss]

OOft, that was quite an offer from Greece. I would have taken it personally, but then I'm like a magpie when it comes to big shiny things (ie money).

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – February 2028 Update

Liga BBVA

My thoughts:

All I could of hoped for this month with two wins. Great start to his Sociedad career for Bentohami scoring twice this month.

Next time:

Should be an easier month in March but based on our current form I wouldn't be so sure.

[swallow1050]

OOft, that was quite an offer from Greece. I would have taken it personally, but then I'm like a magpie when it comes to big shiny things (ie money).

It was a great offer! And with the results I was having at Sociedad it was very tempting to have the easy life. But I couldn't see myself staying there very long so I decided against it.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – March 2028 Update

Liga BBVA

Youth Intake 2028

Gaizka Iriondo

Inigo Gamboa

Xavier Zabala

My thoughts:

Much better month except for the last game against Gimnastic who seems to be abit of bogey team for me (lost two and drawn one). Fairly decent intake also, all the players will need alot of work however.

Next time:

I'm hoping we have turned a corner and this next month should help as all the teams are below us in the table, looking for at least 3 wins out of 5.

[kris0710]

It's taken me 117 posts to spot the surname. Are you the father of the talented regen John Dafydd on my Cambridge. If so, I owe you many drinks!

Best of luck with the rest of the season.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – April 2028 Update

Liga BBVA

My thoughts:

Oh dear...What was I saying? 4 points from 15. I'm not sure how we managed to lose against Mallorca and against San Fernando we spurned multiple chances. We haven't been good a finishing chances and we can't defend either. We've turn a corner into a dead end and I'm somewhat lost right now. I've started tinkering with the tactics and its not working so I think its back to our original tactics for the last month.

Next time:

Not an easy finish to the season either, I'm writing off our chances against Barcelona but if we have any chance of 6th we must beat Deportivo and Sporting and hope other results go in our favour. However we could end up outside the top 10 if we don't manage to win any games its that tight.

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – May 2028 Update

Liga BBVA

My thoughts:

We played well against Barcelona although never looked like winning, had a great game against Deportivo but couldn't produce when it mattered to beat Sporting. In the end our league position was justified as we couldn't beat the teams above us and the second half of the season was terrible.

Next time:

End of season review and lots of job offers

[swallow1050]

Real Sociedad – Season Review 2027/28

Finances

Average Attendance: 28319

Turnover: £55,455,853

Expenditure: £46,903,193

Profit/Loss: £1,099,912

Balance: £7,128,951

Transfers

Current Wage: £560k p/w

Wage Budget: £730k p/w

Transfer Budget: £7.23M

Budget Remaining: £34.2k

Liga BBVA

Board Expectation: Respectable

My Expectation: Top 6

Media Prediction: 11th

Final Position: 10th

First Half Results

Second Half Results

Table

Copa Del Rey:

Board Expectation: Quarter Final

My Expectation: Not interested

Actual: 4th Round

Squad and player awards:

Player stats

Most Assists: 14 Cristian Montano

Top Scorer: 12 Sergio Garagarza

Player Watch:

Best Players:

1st: Cristian Montano - Best player for the second season in a row, topped the assist charts and weighed in with 6 goals

2nd: Iker Ventura - Pretty average at the back, inconsistent but shows the season we had that he had one of the best ratings.

3rd: Leonardo Amado - Played in most games and finished with 9 assists and 9 goals, one of the most consistent players of the season.

Young Players:

Xabi - Played in every league match this season and although he had some great games he also made quite a few costly mistakes but at only 19 some inconsistency is expected.

Victor Herrera - Injury curtailed his season, started really well after Jon Williams broke his foot but then tore his hamstring and never managed to get fully fit again after more niggling injuries.

Rafael Lezama - Took over from Adrian in the latter part of the season after asking for some games and but didn't perform particularly well.

Jose Javier Egea - Scored 7 goals from 20 appearances but was very hot and cold before getting injured and then struggled to stay fit.

David Arrondo - Didn't play many games but didn't really perform, mainly coming on as a sub however.

My thoughts:

This season was some what of a disappointment; although we only finished 3 points off 6th we still finished two places lower than the year before in 10th. It was a season full of inconsistency and mistakes, another year we would of finished much lower and further off the pace.

Mistakes aside I think my tactics aren't suited to the Spanish style of football, many teams press hard and having two deep defensive midfielders meant if they got pressed off the ball the opposing team were straight onto our defence. Another big issue was goalkeeper distribution; our defence was getting pressed and the goalkeeper didn't have an easy out ball leading to poor passes and the first touch of our defenders being really tested.

Transfer wise, it hasn't really been a success, only Iker Ventura had a good season I was particularly disappointed by Camara, he was very poor at left back but then all my full backs had a poor season and I'm really not sure why, obviously they made quite a few crucial mistakes but it wasn't every game.

Financially the club is looking better, I managed to lower the wage bill considerably and although I invested alot of that money into transfer we still made a profit. With Jon Williams and Ivan retiring this year also that will be another 90k off the wage bill so as long as spending is sensible the club should start to make money.

This leads me onto my future, over the end of the season I've had more than 4 offers of interviews including: Sporting CP, Cagliari, Valenciennes, Sevilla and finally Marseille. Before the Marseille offer I was considering the Sporting job as I wanted another crack at Portugal after my short stay in Loures however when Marseille came for me I couldn't turn them down and you'll see why.

[SRL88]

Any idea what you are going to do yet?

[elbilly]

Always nice to see a CB chipping in with a good few goals. So where next or staying put?

[swallow1050]

I took the Marseille job, with a 58M balance, no loans and they just won the Europa League it was some what of a no brainer! They also finished 4th in Ligue 1 meaning I will have a proper chance of making it into the group stages of the Champion's League for the first time.

[elbilly]

good decision allez!

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille

Squad

General

Facilities

Finances

Star Players:

Diano

Alfonso Caballero

Tommy Storno

As you can see from the finances, the club has no debts and a very healthy bank balance; although 22M is coming out due to dividends and we have another 22M out in tax, sponsorship is due in very soon. The club also has great facilities and a great looking 67k stadium so we should see plenty of gate receipts especially if we make it into the Champion's League.

Squad wise there isn't any area that particularly needs improving, and we are particularly well stocked in the defensive department. Some positions don't have the same depth in quality particularly on the flanks but I also have to remember that I can only have 4 Non EU players in the squad. We currently have 5 in the squad that I would like to use so one will need to go. I won't be going mad in the transfer window just one or two players to improve the squad if they are available. Its going to be a pleasure to use players like Diano, Storno and Caballero, its a long way from West End!

Last season Marseille finished 4th in Ligue 1 and won the Europa League; so I'm going to need to start strongly as this is no mid table team like Real Sociedad but even with players like Diano etc this is a big step up in quality and it will be a challenge to overturn PSG, Monaco and Montpellier as well as fighting Europe's best in the Champion's League but it's one I will relish.

[deltablue]

Top club.

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – Preseason 2028

Boards Expectations

Media Prediction: 4th

League: Champion's League Qualification

Champion's League: First Knockout Round

Super Cup: Competitive

Coupe de France: Semi Final

Coupe de Ligue: Semi Final

My Expectations

League: 3rd

Champion's League: First Knockout Round seems fair

Super Cup: We'll give Bayern a run for their money!

Coupe de France: Be nice to win but not overally fussed

Coupe de Ligue: Same as above

Finances

Club Value: 286M

Season Tickets: 37,401

Transfer Budget: £15.87M

Transfer Budget Remaining: £3.81M

Transfer revenue available: 100%

Wage Budget: £1.65M p/w

Current Wage: £1.52M p/w

Balance: £27,972,588

Transfers

Ion Molina 3.2M - Model Professional and a decent player for the future came from my old club Real Sociedad

Milcho Radev 18.25M - Quality playmaker and only 21 so plenty more to come from this player.

Alejandro Tucci 16.25M - Bought from Manchester United also 21, can play on the left also and with our strikers other than Giaretta around 30, one for the future.

Adrian Carrizo 7.75M - Very promising left back who is just turning 22 from Barcelona B.

Player Watch:

Key Players:

Diano - Brazilian international right winger that has his best years ahead of him and is already a star player.

Tommy Storno - Quality Italian attacking playmaker.

Christian Kitoko - Great Dutch midfielder moving into his prime.

Alfonso Caballero - World class striker who will be looking to be top scorer this year.

Young Players:

Roger Reynaud - 2nd choice goalkeeper with plenty of potential

Gian Paolo Giaretta - Big future for this player but isn't guaranteed a starting spot with Caballero the number one.

Imaran Ouchrif - Can play on both sides of the pitch this very quick winger should have a great future.

Yvan Chabrier - One of many quality young central defenders at the club.

My thoughts:

This will be the busiest season for me in my career with the club expected to complete on many different fronts. The club isn't in a slump and brought me in to bring it around, their manager did a good job and was poached by another team so I'll be under pressure to get results and against top teams.

The transfers were about bringing in quality young players to improve depth and to look towards the future. Over half of the transfer costs were covered by sales so financially we didn't take too big a hit.

Our finances are in great shape with no debt and a very healthy balance with a run in the Champion's league to come also that looks set to stay this way.

Results wise, I'm looking to aim for the automatic qualification to the Champion's League, I'm not 100% sure of the quality of the French league so it remains to be seen how easy that will be. We should make into the group stages of the Champion's League but we have to get past the Best Placed Round of qualifying first, if we can do that I would hope that we could have a decent run into the latter stages of Europe.

All in all I'm excited to be finally in the big time with a real chance of top honours.

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – August 2028 Update

Ligue 1

Champions League Best Placed Playoff:

Super Cup:

Cafe's happiness...slightly hypocritical one might say?

My thoughts:

Hectic first month for us and it was pretty solid in the league bar the thrashing at the hands of PSG. We then had a very poor game at home against Pescara but somehow managed to get our head straight for the away game and played the best football I've seen at this club so far. The game against Bayern was a very frustrating game, we managed to be 2 up at half time and it looked like we would be bringing back the super cup to France but then two mistakes within two minutes of each other pushed the game into extra time but we couldn't recover and ended up conceding.

Next time:

Another busy month with 7 games with two in the Champion's league including a trip to the San Siro which will be the hardest game of the group. Monaco will be a tough test that we will hope to win along with a big game against Lyon to finish the month.

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – September 2028 Update

Ligue 1

Champions League Group D:

Forgot to take a screenie of the table but Milian have 6 points, Marseille on 3 ahead of Leverkusen on goal difference with Sogndal on 0 points.

My thoughts:

Perfect month in the league including a close win over Monaco leaving us only a win from PSG with a game in hand! They have a superior goal difference so we won't be going top but its looking good! Great win over Leverkusen but we were dominated by a Milian side that have won the Serie A for the last 13 seasons! There was a clear difference in class so I'm not looking forward to the return fixture.

Next time:

Should be a straight forward month with every game winable with all the league games against teams in the bottom 5 and Norwegian Sogndal shouldn't cause too many issues.

[shnen]

brilliant move, good luck!

[elbilly]

Fine start to the campaign, good luck overcoming PSG and Monaco

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – October 2028 Update

Ligue 1

Champions League Group D:

My thoughts:

Unbeaten this month although I was disappointed by our performance against Sogndal at home we were some what lucky to draw although we improved in Norway to beat them convincingly. In league I was also unhappy with our draw but we are still keeping pace with the top 2 so that's all that matters.

Next time:

This month will decided whether we make it through to the knock out stages of the Champion's League and we have a good chance, I will be looking to be positive against Leverkusen and grabbing the win to confirm second place. Will be a quiet month in the league as the Metz game will be postponed due to 11 of our players on international duty.

[swallow1050]

brilliant move, good luck!

Fine start to the campaign, good luck overcoming PSG and Monaco

Thanks guys! Its going well so far!

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – November 2028 Update

Ligue 1

Champions League Group D:

My thoughts:

Disappointing performance against Leverkusen couldn't get on top and our shooting was very poor wasting multiple chances. They went ahead with a goal mouth scramble after a corner before scoring on the break as we pushed. That result left us with the task of matching Leverkusen's result against Sogndal to go through to the Knock out stages. A great start against Milan ensured that we managed that. We left it late against Lille; Milcho Radev got his first goals for the club with a brace and we beat Rennes with a straight forward victory.

Next time:

With the Champion's League finished for a couple months, the domestic fixtures take over with a busy December including 5 league games and two cup games. I don't expect many problems with these fixtures but sometimes teams are hard to break down.

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – December 2028 Update

Ligue 1

Coupe de la Ligue:

My thoughts:

Decent results in the league but just can't seem to break down teams and score alot of goals, struggling to get any of the strikers firing (2 goals came from strikers out of 14 scored this month) but we are getting the results which is what matters! Funnily enough we did manage to score 6 against Toulouse but 3 goals came from a centreback. We have drawn against Barcelona in the Champion's League which will be a big test! The first game is at home also which isn't ideal but hopefully we can stop them from scoring to give ourselves a chance in the Nou Camp.

Next time:

The cup schedule continues and 4 league games with two of them crucial to this year's title, if we can get positive results against PSG and Montpellier it will make a big difference at the end of the season.

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – January 2029 Update

Ligue 1

Coupe de la Ligue:

Coupe De France:

My thoughts:

Mixed month in the league with a good win over PSG but I was very disappointed with the Montpellier result; Dubois gave away a penalty and was to blame for the other goal after we dominated the first half and were ahead by a penalty of our own, we had other chances too but as usual failed to put them away. Narrow wins in the cup games continued our participation in all competitions with us booking a Coupe de la Ligue final against PSG in April.

Next time:

Eight games in total in February with it being Champion's League time again with two huge games against Barcelona as well as a big game against Monaco.

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – February 2029 Update

Ligue 1

Poor showing against Nancy but we played really well in the next two league games leading upto the game against Monaco with a striker finally getting in on the goals with Giaretta scoring 3. But we then got dominated by Monaco with their players running rings around our defence. We were lucky to win against Bordeaux after starting well.

Champion's League 1st Knockout Round:

A decent performance at home but conceding 2 away goals made this tie very difficult to win, we tried to go after Barcelona but it wasn't on the cards especially after our run of results just before the second leg.

Coupe De France:

An utter collapse in the cup as we lost a 3-0 lead, defensively we lost all discipline conceding two poor goals before Carrizo got himself sent off for a vicious two footed tackle Valenciennes scored again to take it to extra time where we managed to concede two more.

Next time:

As we only have the Coupe de la Ligue left to play for in April its only League fixtures in March

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – March 2029 Update

Ligue 1

Frustrating month as we gave up a winning position against Lyon before 3 disappointing draws ending with a decent win over Lille. We have found it very difficult to break down sides and end up shooting from distance or straight at the goalkeeper. As a result we are now 9 points behind Monaco and only 1 point ahead of Monpellier with one less game to play.

Next time:

With our season slowly unravelling we still have one more competition to look forward to and its the Coupe de la Ligue final against PSG. Looking for good results in the league to maintain 3rd to at least not have to qualify for the Champions League Group stages.

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – April 2029 Update

Ligue 1

The draws continue as we lose ground to Montpellier and 3rd place. It looks like we won't be able to improve on this position and will have to qualify for the Champion's League again.

Coupe de la Ligue:

A good game amongst mediocrity when it counts with a great win over PSG to win the League Cup!

Next time:

With nothing to play for the rest of the season unless Montpellier slip up big time, I don't have much interest in these games.

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – May 2029 Update

Ligue 1

Decent results but ultimately, as Montpellier didn't slip up they didn't matter. Alejandro Tucci scored only his second goal for the club after a very poor season.

Next time:

Season review and preseason

[swallow1050]

Olympique de Marseille – Season Review 2028/29

Finances

Average Attendance: 55894

Turnover: £197,441,617

Expenditure: £182,839,074

Profit/Loss: £19,770,467

Balance: £8,496,322

Transfers

Current Wage: £1.45M p/w

Wage Budget: £1.65M p/w

Transfer Budget: £21.2M

Budget Remaining: £8.63M

Youth Intake:

Ozkan Demierbas

Agostino Cammarota

Ivano Racca

Gwendal Pouiliquen

Eric Wissam

Idrissa Coly

Ligue 1

Board Expectation: Qualify for the Champions League

My Expectation: 3rd

Media Prediction: 4th

Final Position: 4th

First Half Results

Second Half Results

Table

Champions League:

Board Expectation: First Knockout round

My Expectation: First Knockout round

Actual: First Knockout round

Coupe de la Ligue:

Board Expectation: Semi Final

My Expectation: Not interested

Actual: Winners

Coupe de France:

Board Expectation: Semi Final

My Expectation: Not fussed.

Actual: 11th Round

Squad and player awards:

Player stats

Most Assists: 13 Diano

Top Scorer: 17 Gian Paolo Giaretta

Player Watch:

Best Players:

1st: Santiago Regueiro - Big and strong defender that managed 7 goals and was solid all season

2nd: Siaka Compaore - Another consistent defender and especially on the big stage, the reason along with Regueiro why we had the best defence up until near to the end of the season.

3rd: Tommy Storno - Fairly consistent but expected abit more from him really.

Young Players:

Yvan Chabrier - Quite a few decent performances

Roger Reynaud - After Gharbi was injured with a slipped disc Reynaud deputised and played well.

Imran Ouchrif - Inconsistent performances from Ouchrif but he often came on as a sub.

Gian Paolo Giaretta - Top scorer and the only striker to have any sort of impact, if he can continue his form he will be our top striker next year.

My thoughts:

A decent start to my Marseille career I think, It could of been better but we managed what the board asked for and even managed some silverware! However I was frustrated with the end of the season, we lost almost all the crucial games and struggled to break down teams resulting in too many draws. Our strikers struggled as a result and it was a vicious circle as they lost confidence and missed more chances. The exception was Giaretta but unfortunately he didn't play as many games as I would of liked missing the first 3 months of the season with a torn hamstring.

I think that if we can keep up our consistency across the whole season we will have a good chance of competing for the title, but in Europe we are still a long way off. Financially the club is in a good position and the board should be able to give me a good transfer kitty to strengthen the squad. Combining that with the great youth intake that we got, the club is in a good position going forward! Bring on next season!