PGC: Tour de France for FM16

[AndyFal36]

Media Predictions (Season 4)

Ligue 2

[AndyFal36]

Media Predictions (Season 4)

National

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 4)

Ligue 1

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 4)

Ligue 2

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 4)

National

[AndyFal36]

AndyF - BEB Peronnas

First objective of the new season has been achieved, as you would have read in a previous post our tycoon chairman gave an ultimatum at the end of last seasons disappointing campaign of picking up 8pts in our first 5 games. We comfortably hit our given target with some impressive performances and an unbeaten run amassing a total of 11 points.

This lead to the club opening talks about renegotiating my current deal after lengthy talks immediately after the game versus Calais but these have subsequently collapsed due to my own personal greed.

Things are going pretty well at the moment suffering only 1 defeat in the 11 league games played so far but that could all change as I know to well.

Until Next Time....

[Kaboooom]

[Alan Parrot]

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 4)

Ligue 1

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 4)

Ligue 2

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 4)

National

[Kirderf]

Seems like a fun little clan game you got running here.

[Alan Parrot]

Some of the new players at Niort this season

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 4)

Ligue 1

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 4)

Ligue 2

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 4)

National

[AndyFal36]

AndyF – Bourg-En-Bresse 01

Expectations

So with a rich owner and money in the bank comes big pressure, thou the boards expectation of a top half finish eases that pressure somewhat, as all eyes from outside Bourg are on the small club to have a much improved season than last. The squad entered preseason with new vigour and belief with them all immensely looking forward to the upcoming campaign. The owner flew the squad out to his primary choice of residency in the Rhone-Alps from his vast portfolio of bricks and mortar when he’s over from Malaysia, to allow the players 2 weeks of full on relaxation and to participate in a few closed door 7 a-side matches before the hard work began in June.

Back on home soil, all the players reported back to training on time and had to endure some tough sessions with our new coaches putting them through their paces. After talks with the backroom staff we decided to continue with my usual formation of 4-2-3-1 but over hauled player roles and player instructions for our preseason friendlies. The results looked pretty promising albeit against weaker opposition, suffering 1 defeat against Barcelona B so we all agreed to keep faith for the leagues opening few games and review it again then.

Season Overview

In the league it was a nerve wracking finish but eventually we gained promotion on the last day of the season. After a great start only losing twice in our first 18 games put us at the top of the pile with a record of W11-D5-L2, with us scoring 3 goals or more on 8 occasions I was looking for us to push on and put the pressure on our rivals by extending our lead at the top but then out of the blue our form decided to take a disastrous turn for the worse.

A 2-1 home defeat at the hands of FC Tours started a poor run with us only picking up 7pts in the following 9 games seeing us slip down to 6^th place and watch our title winning ambitions fade away. With 7 games left promotion was still achievable with a top 3 finish but we needed to pick up our game drastically. We kicked off this final run of games with a draw against Auxerre after a superb penalty save by Jean Butez in added on time kept the score 0-0.

After wins against Colmar, GF38, Moulins and VHF we were in the top 3 with 2 games left, up next was a trip to 2^nd place FC Martiques in one sided game in the home teams favor we narrowly lost 2-1 so it was all to play for in the last game of the season. A home tie against Dunkerque ensued and I'm not gonna lie I was bricking it but my nerves were put at ease after five minutes as we found ourselves 2-0 to the good and another just before half time knocked the stuffing out of the visitors and we went on to ease to victory 4-1.

On to the cups and we didn’t fair that well going out to Ligue 2 opposition in both competitions, firstly getting trounced by Seans US Orleans in the Coupe de Ligue and then suffering defeat at the hands of Strasbourg in the 8^th Round of the French Cup.

Transfers

Even with a massive budget it was impossible to spend big money on transfer fees as the clubs rep isn’t good enough to attract the better players. I did manage to spend just under a million pounds in the summer transfer window with £525,000 splashed on 20 year old hot prospect Oliver Boscagli from Nice. A further £300k was spent on Austrian U21 international Phillip Lienhart, the 22 times capped player arriving from the Real Madrid B team. 3 other players joined who commanded a fee and the rest either on loan or as a free agent.

Summer Window

Winter Window

Only one addition in the winter window as Ferland Mendy arrived from Lens for £325,000 taking our total transfer spending to £1.21M.

I looked at getting a lot more youngsters in at the later part of the season looking to find a gem for the 1^st team squad in 2 or 3 years time for low transfer fees or signing players out of contract by firstly offering 4 week trials to 30+ players but unfortunately not too many were up to the standard needed.

I have taken a punt on a youngster from Uruguay I couldn’t scout him but as 3 of the top teams in Uruguay wanted him (Nacional, Penarol and Danubio) and for a deal totalling only £100K it was so cheap that if he isn’t that good it doesn’t matter financially. Downside of the deal is that he wont join up with the club until Jan 2020.

Finances

With bucket loads of cash the club was catapulted up the list in the terms of club value and financial status. Season tickets and Match day prices were frozen, a promise kept by the owner after the takeover to try and bring more fans in.

The first training facility upgrade was completed in quick fashion back in June after a £725K refurb with new gym, sauna, hot tubs, weights room and swimming pool amongst the utilities being improved. The board didn’t stop there with the spending with a new stadium in the making and improved youth facilities also in the pipeline but neither of these are to be completed until October, with the new stadium pencilled in to open in April 2021.

A second round of training facility upgrades are due to commence at the end of the season after further investment once again underlining the owners’ ambition.

We made a loss of £13M this year after starting with £30M in the bank so I’m hoping the filthy rich chairman digs deep and pumps a load of cash in to the club to put us back on a solid footing.

My Goal of the Season

https://gyazo.com/1af30aec67b1065ea761b59ab339ed6e

On a personal note I was delighted to receive the Nationals Manager Of The Year award an honour I share with everyone at the club for all their hard work and effort.

I also gained my Continental C Licence just before Christmas and I will now spend the next few months finishing the course and attempting to gain my Continental B badge. In December I signed a 12 month extension to my current deal which now expires next June.

Until Next Time......

[Jonas Christensen]

Reserved for HOF

[Alan Parrot]

[SeanBhoy88]

Someone put that Parrot back in his cage lol

In all serious well done mate and well done to Stu and Fallo who also won promotion!

post to come when iv gathered some screenies tonight.

[Jonas Christensen]

So... Yeah... What can I say? One season at GF was all I had... We started the season in great form, but I knew that the team lacked depth, and I had to play too many youths, but I still had hopes of getting midtable...

As you can see, we had a horrible end to the season, winning only 1 games out of the last 14 games...

Well... With my time at GF over, I've now turned my sights on Nimes Olympique...

The club isn't anything spectacular....

But compared to what I had available at GF, this club has so much more potential this season... And my first step was to get Monaco as a parent club! And with Monaco in the bag, I managed to sign this lad on loan:

[Tiki Tak'n Turner]

DAZZER TURNER:

SEASON: 2018/19

CLUB: AS Nancy Lorraine

LEAGUE: French Ligue 2

Media Prediction 14th:

Season expectations:

After barely clinching promotion to ligue 2 by finishing 3rd on the final day of last season, it would suggest that currently our squad lacked both the strength and ability required to successfully make the leap from National to once again become an established member of Ligue 2, I was anticipating a busy pre-season ahead with numerous players coming and going as we looked to bring in higher quality players in key positions while releasing some of last seasons fringe players who would be out of their depth in Ligue 2, All we were waiting on was the boards announcment of the seasons transfer and wage budgets.

When that announcment finally arrived it was not the news we had either expected or hoped for, clearly, spending the past few seasons playing in National had effectively crippled the club financially, our transfer budget was just 21k, and our wage budget was 48k p/w, THAT WAS 9k p/w LESS THAN WE WERE CURRENTLY SPENDING!! so, not only would there be no funds available to strengthen the squad, we now faced the prospect of having to weaken it by selling or releasing some of our existing players in order to reduce the wage bill, That wasn't all, a number of players in the squad that had been key to the club securing promotion last season were now entering the last year of their contracts but with the club unable to match their higher Ligue 2 wage demands.

Selling them while they were still under contract wasn't even a viable option, as their value was relatively low and since i'd only retain 10% of any transfer revenue recieved we wouldn't even be able to sign a LOWER QUALITY replacement. There was only 1 method of adding players available to us, we would have to search through clubs reserve and youth teams to try and find players of sufficient ability that were not just available for loan, but that were available for BOTH a £0 monthly fee and with a 0% wage contribution.

needless to say the amount of players matching those stipulations was depressingly low, so to try and improve our chances i asked the board to find a senior affiliate club, i couldn't help but laugh at their initial response, "we don't think the club should be reliant on loan players." thankfully, when i said how important i considered this to be they reconsidered and agreed to search for a club to become affiliated with just in time to prevent my laptop crashing through my window.

Maybe i've painted an unfairly negative picture of the situation up to now, although everything i've said is completely accurate, our existing squad did possess quality and high potential players, it certainly provided us with an extremely solid base upon which we could build, Ligue 2 rules say a club is allowed to loan a maximum of 5 players in a season, if we did manage to bring in players on loan that would improve on last seasons squad, perhaps we could go on to have a decent season and maybe even meet the boards expectations of avoiding relegation.

When the 1st game of the season finally arrived we had indeed managed to find players to bring in on loan, 2 AMC's also joined on free transfers, deals we'd already agreed towards the end of last season.

Here's is a complete list of all our transfer activity as the season got underway:

TRANSFER PAGE:

A.Vincent AMC free

M. Neijari AMC free

M. Witterveen MC loan

G. Agdaijan MC loan

C. Keita DC free (random DOF signing)

M. Maouche MC free

G. Scamacca ST loan

G. Tavares RB loan

I. Seck CDM free

SEASON PROGRESSION:

Our season began with a tough trip to GFC Ajaccio, i'd decided to use a team set up with 3 CM's, low tempo and simple passing, the aim being to outnumber the opposition and therefore always have a man available to pass to in midfield, allowing us to keep posession easier, it appeared to be working and enabled us to come away with a well earned, if not entertaining 0-0 draw.

Next up was Alans promotion contenders Chamois Niorfais, I didn't fancy our chances of causing an upset in this 1 prior to kick off, just a faint hope that with this being the first Ligue 2 game infront of a home crowd since getting promoted, the players might rise to the occasion and atleast put up a good fight....

Put up a fight they did, 4-2 down in the 70th minute, the game was all but lost, i switched to a more attacking formation, more as a last throw of the dice in desperation than expectation, but it apperared lady luck is a AS Nancy supporter and 2 late goals against the run of play meant the game finished 4-4.

We continued to grind out positive results, making up for our opponents superior quality by displaying higher workrate and determination, fair to say our early season results exceeded my expectations.

Results up to 27th August:

That allowed us to grow in confidence and belief as the season progressed, by Dec 15th we'd lost just 5 out of 17 games played, winning 7.

Dec 15th results page:

Which saw us occupy 8th position in Ligue 2

Dec 15th league standings:

Following our good start to the season, the club had seen a increase in attendances, which subsequently meant the club was in a more healthy financial position, to the point of the board accepting my request to increase the clubs wage budget, I was now in a position of being able to renew the contracts we couldn't afford during pre-season which came as a huge relief. And not a moment too soon with the transfer window just over 2 weeks away there's no doubt we'd have lost a number of players on free transfers to other clubs.

As it was the january window was fairly uneventful for us, i'd renewed the contracts of all the players i wanted to keep, and following our impressive first half of the season, i was happy with my current squad and saw no point in spending any money bringing in any new faces, we did however, agree terms with a high quality LB that would see him joining us on a free at the end of his existing contract.

Back to events on the field, we began the new year with 3 wins in our first 4 games, but then, unfortunately, we suffered a loss of form that almost every team endures at some point in a season, we went on a 6 game winless streak, a run that saw our charachter put to ultimate test.

Thankfully, we passed the test and that would prove to be the last game we'd lose this season, we emerged from that streak to go on and win 5 of the next 6, claiming some big scalps in the process, including an away win at FC Metz and a home win against 5th placed US Creteil.

We were now 31 games into the season and in 7th position, not satisfied with that, we won 4 and drew 3 of our 7 remaining games which lifted us to 5th in the final league standings, looking back on our situation during pre-season and how we expected the season to develop, I thought our Media Prediction of 14th was going to be out of our reach, to have finished 5th is a remarkable achievement, lets hope next seasons brings us similar success.

Ligue 2 Final League Standings:

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Bastia

A great season ended with us going up in 2nd place, with the lead we had half way into the season you would of thought i would of won the league but the jan window was a nightmare and i was unable to add to my side that was short of numbers for most of the season, this was to hurt me in the 2nd half of the season and we limped over the line. I am still really pleased to have got this small club into the top league in France. I have to tip my hat to alan as his side went on the mother of all runs 2nd half of the season and think he won the last 10 games of the season and with that took the league so well done to you.

Below is my seasons results

SUMMER WINDOW

So far i have done really well in the window, Again there is no money to spend and a wage bill of 120k is not the best to work with, but being a old hand at the game i have pulled out some great signings no more so than Andy Carroll who i got on a free after he left west ham.

List of buys so far.

Season ahead

Its going to be hard to stay up with Sean alan and mike all going down in there first season in the top flight. I am the smallest club in the league and it will make things even harder for me but all i can do is my best and see where the chips lay at the end of the season.

One thing this side has is bottle and we go all the way to the end, we never give up and we will need that mindset and more if we are going to have any chance of staying up.

Till next time

[SeanBhoy88]

Season did not go as i planned infact it went far from it in fairness, we started so poorly and we never recovered really we spent alot of the time winning one and losing one

but most importantly drawig 15 games, The draws was something bizarre we actually had 9 draws in a row something i have never seen before on this game no matter how much

i battered teams i could not win if i was winning i was conceding everytime instantly after, however after a short break we managed to claw back the gap winning 8 games in a row

and wound up losing out on promotion in the final day of the season after 8 wins in a row all i had to do was win and i bloody lost FM at its best.

As for the cups well what can i say considering we are in Ligue 2 i think my 2 cup quarter finals were awsome and probably kept me in a job this season one of the cups we went out in the

most cruel fashion 16-2 shotts and 60+% possesion but again thats FM.

This is my big signing this window, to be fair im really suprised i got him because he rejected me when the window opened i thought id chance it again and hey ho he came hehe, shoould rip league 2 a new one! hopefully.

Here is my tough predictions for this year ill be honest im a little worried but only naturally as anything short this season and im gone from the club iv worked hard at, the wages habe been halfed and iv sold 9m worth so its not exactly gonna be a walk in the park.

Window : As said above wages got cut in half started 112k over wages and sold 9 million worth to try and stabilize clubs financies, all iv added is loan deals with no wages or fee but most of my loans are good loans so im happy enough.

Expectation : has to be winning the league anything less and my job is gone but another cup run wouldnt hurt

Grats again to the promotees! Alan,Stu,AndyF

[Kaboooom]

CLERMONT FOOT

Season to be forgotten as soon as possible, started good for the first 4 games, but after that it was only going downhill to Ligue 2.

Players weren't focus to avoid relegation.

At the end of the season when evererything was over we started winning games, but quit to late.

Summary of the season:

We did some nice young transfers but, it was impossible to be straight starters in ligue one, i had to buy more experience players and

and that was our downfall.

With our topscorer only scoring 5 goals in the entier season, for sure it wouldnt help us to avoid relegation.

I was thinkin leaving Clermont behind for another club, but i signed a new deal for 2 year and hope i will get clermont back up as soon as possible.

Best Transfer Of The Season:

For the following season we need to get our heads together again and kick back up.

[Alan Parrot]

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 5)

Ligue 1

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 5)

Ligue 2

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 5)

National

[AndyFal36]

AndyF – Bourg-En-Bresse 01

A nightmare finish to a very good week. After gaining promotion and having a good start to the new season in Ligue 2 I had been looking forward to Wednesdays session all day but come 11:30pm and the finish to the weeks games I wish I hadn't bothered turning the laptop on.

Injuries to key players, thrown in with suspensions and players on International duty meant at times nearly all of my first team starters were missing from games. As a result we have suffered terribly and not done ourselves justice in the past 2 months, that'll be the reason I'll be submitting in my defence if I get summoned to the board for a meeting to review my position as manager if our poor performances continue.

Injuries

Allan Saint-Maximin (September) - Scored 2 goals and also suffered a broken ankle inside 23 minutes of his debut. Sidelined for 5 months.

Souleyman Bamba (September) - No.1 GK injured his shoulder in training out 5 weeks, also has just broken into Ivory Coast senior squad.

Mamadou Cisse (August) - Out for 4/5 weeks with a twisted ankle, another Ivory Coast international

Steven De Veiga (September) - Injured in training out 4-6 weeks.

Pablo Gonzalez (October) - Reports in the media suggest Gonzalez suffered his back injury whilst banging the wife of a fellow countryman. Out for 7 weeks.

Mees Hoedemakers (October) - A hamstring injury put him on the sidelines for about 5 weeks.

Thomas Lemar (October) - 4 weeks out with a strained stomach muscle.

Teddy Lia Okou (September) - Missed 3 weeks of action after injuring his shoulder.

Phillip Lienhart (September) - Out for 6 weeks with strained knee ligaments.

Adilson Mendes (October) - Also out with strained stomach muscles for 4/5 weeks.

Ferland Mendy - (September) - 3 weeks out with Achilles Tendinitis.

Ulrich Nnomo (October) - Out for 4 weeks.

Benjamin Pavard (September) - 5 weeks out with ankle trouble.

Mickaël Alphonse (October) - Out for 2/3 weeks with ******* cramp. (Wrist Injury)

Alamou Diara (October) - Rib Injury.

So once all my best players are back fully fit and stay that way I'm hoping we get back to winning ways and start moving up the league table.

Until Next Time......

[Alan Parrot]

[Kaboooom]

[Alan Parrot]

[Alan Parrot]

[Alan Parrot]

[Alan Parrot]

[Alan Parrot]

Sean Black wins his second Ligue 2 title, congrats!

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 5)

Ligue 1

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 5)

Ligue 2

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 5)

National

[Kaboooom]

[Kaboooom]

[AndyFal36]

Summary - End Of Season 4

Better late than never.

[AndyFal36]

Summary - End Of Season 5

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Bastia

The Bastia army keeps marching on and boy did we send shock waves though the league. At the start of the season all i was looking to do was to stay in the league, By December i was chasing a top 4 finish. Its been a wonderful season and i have loved every moment of it, Yes we fell away a little at the end but a 6th place finish in our first season in the top league is more than i could of asked for. We fought hard in every game, sometimes a little to hard as we had 4 players sent off in our first 5 games and got the tag of the Wimbledon of the late 80's and maybe the media was right, who would want to play this small club that is as crazy as there manager whos side is on your face from start to finish, With Big Andy Carroll up front holding the ball up an bringing my wingers and Center mids into play we were a force. Jamie Thomas also helped out when carroll needed a rest, In fact every player that was called on to do there job stepped up and made themselves counted.

I couldn't be prouder of this club and i hope to stay forever.

Below is how my season went.

SUMMER WINDOW

Its not going to be easy for me this window as the players i have already have shown they can handle the league. What i do need tho is players who can do something special, I have my hard nuts and bully boys but now i need a touch of class. This is my business so far.

SEASON AHEAD

How can i top the season i just had, Maybe by getting into The champions league lol, But really a Europa league spot would be great, The board just want to stay up and the media have me down as a one season wonder and think 15th is where we will Finish, If we finish 15th then ill still be happy, I am enjoying the roller coaster ride at Bastia and i never wanna get off it.

BOARD BACKING

For the last 2 years i have asked my board over and over again to improve the club, be it youth development or training ground, This summer the board came though for me and i have them both on the way. To top off my season the board had one more Gift for me, A NEW GROUND, i will move into it in 2022 , it will only old 13,500 but it will be our own ground and we wont have to share with the other lot in Bastia.

Well thats you upto date on a season me and the fans wont forget in a hurry,

Till next time

[Tiki Tak'n Turner]

DAZZER TURNER

Managers Profile:

Season: 2018/19

Club: AS Nancy Lorraine

League: French Ligue 2

Media Prediction 8th:Season expectations:

Season budgets:

Another pre-season gets underway and, once again the budgets were limited, although i was much more relaxed with the situation given the season we'd just had.

My priority was to try and renew last seasons loan agreements for the players who'd managed to impress. We did already have a high quality LB joining on a free after agreeing terms last season.

I also intended to make more from our affiliate relationship with ligue 1's OM this season.

A full list of our transfer activities during summer window.

PRE- SEASON TRANSFER PAGE:

1. A. Turan LB free

2. T. Peyre DRC 225k

3. R. Rodelin AMR/ST free

4. D. Jovelijic ST loan

5. B. Boutobba AMR/L loan

6. M. Giandonato DM/MC loan

7. Roger LB 275k

8. G. Amiot DC free

9. Jaime AMR/L free

LOANS RENEWED:

1. Y. Aouladzian MC

2. G. Scamacca ST

PLAYERS SOLD:

1. A. Busin 450k

2. A. Maouassa 650k

SEASON PROGRESSION:

We started the season reasonably well, 3 wins and 2 draws in our opening 5 league games, although the Coupe de la ligue 1st round game against Mikes Clermont was a somewhat unusual affair, we dominated the entire 1st half and had built up a commanding 2-0 lead, the odds were stacked even more in our favour when Clermont were reduced to 10 men early in the 2nd half, BUT THEN.........

a 10 minute period that defies explanation saw Clermont score 3 to lead 3-2, though shellshocked, we continued to press for an equaliser and were awarded a penalty, which also saw Clermont get a second red card, now down to 9 men. ofcourse we don't like to do things the easy way and managed to miss the penalty, we left it until the last minute of injury time to finally conjure an equaliser, Clermont played extra time with everyman (all 9) behind the ball and held on to take the tie to penalties, which they won 5-3.

Back in the league, we perhaps allowed ourselves to become slightly over ambitious, in both games we'd drawn, we could, and perhaps should have won, that prompted me to use a less cautious tactic in our away games, IT BACKFIRED!!!

We lost 4 of our next 5 games before our form showed some improvement for a brief 3 game period.

Unfortunately, we were unable to sustain it and began ANOTHER dismal run of 6 games without a win. Finally ended that streak with an overdue 2-0 home win against Red Star FC.

Again, we couldn't build on it and our miserable form continued.

The situation was now becoming extremely concerning, our league position had plummited to 12th , and was still falling, our confidence had also hit rock bottom.

The situation was starting to feel all too familiar, i knew from past FM experiences that if you find yourself in such poor form for an extended period of time, all traces of confidence and morale evaporate and you can get trapped in a rut from which there is often no escape.

And with every game we played that possibility was looking more and more like a probability, by the the time we played Dijon FCO on 21st March it had been 8 games since our last win and we'd slipped into the relegation zone for the first time with 7 games of season remaining.

Just when we were thinking things couldn't get any worse, we faced the prospect of travelling to the lair of Seans US Orleans who have been unstoppable this season, Their promotion as Ligue 2 champions being just a matter of time.

As feared, the match barely qualified as a contest, the scoreboard read 5-1 when the ref finally blew for FT. immediately following the final whistle i was summoned to an emergency meeting by the board to explain the reasons for the clubs meteoric collapse, as i had absolutely no idea what those reasons might be, it wouldn't be as easy as it sounds.

The meeting concluded with all parties in agreement that although we had suffered a humiliating loss, the quality of opposition we faced should be taken into consideration and a win in our next match would make up for it.

Our opponents were Paris FC who currently sat in mid table, but our record against them was good and so, i went into the game feeling quietly confident about our chances.

We got off to a dream start, taking an early 6th min lead which visibly calmed the nerves, we were playing well, creating chances and in total control, even when we conceded an equaliser against the run of play we didn't allow our heads to drop and we retook the lead just before HT, the second half followed pretty much the same pattern as the 1st , but with no change in the scoreline, so, we get to the final minute of injury time of a game we'd dominated and whose result would decide my future as AS Nancy manager.

With that in mind, what happened next was almost inevitable, a Paris FC player just takes a wild swing at the ball and..................

GOAL!!!

AS Nancy Lorraine 2 - 2 Paris FC ft

Immediately after the game, the Nancy board called a press conference in which they announced my dismissal. this is how the table looked at the time: French Ligue 2 standings (25th April)

So Nancy now had the 3 remaining games of the season to try and save themselves from relegation.

As for me, I was content to sign on the dole for now and watch what football remained of the season from the comfort of my living room.

When i think back, I have to admit, I'm suprised at how this season had turned out, during pre-season I was feeling reasonably confident we could achieve a similar position to that of last season, we had a strong squad that had just had a great season to finish 5th. I had no reason to suspect this season would be any different.

I had to find an explanation for where it had all gone so badly wrong, after a thorough review of all the seasons events and fixtures, another look at any changes we'd made and the effect they'd had.

It led me to come to the following conclusion:

THE NANCY BOARD HAD CLEARLY OFFENDED THE FM GODS IN SOME WAY AND WERE BEING PUNISHED!!

I was nothing more than an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

[Alan Parrot]

[AndyFal36]

AndyF - Bourg en Bresse 01 Peronnas

After an indifferent season we narrowly came up short of gaining promotion in our first season in Ligue 2. You would of read back in post #130 a list of injuries which resulted in a poor run of form with us only able to collect 3 wins in 14 games which was most definitely the main contribution in us not getting that promotion and even more worryingly pushed us into the relegation zone.

Fixtures during injury crisis.

With players returning to full fitness and with the majority of the my starting eleven available results improved to the relief of everyone involved with the club. It all started with my 3rd victory of the season against eventual league winners Sean's Orleans with Pablo Gonzalez hitting an 86th minute winner to claim a 2-1 victory. 10 wins 4 draws in the next 17 games just wasn't enough as we came agonizingly just 3pts short of 3rd place. The game that finally killed our hopes was the 2-0 home defeat against Mikes old side Clermont Foot who I had convincingly beat 5-0 whilst he was i charge but under new management were revitalised and Clermont went on to sneak promotion on the seasons last day.

Fixtures after run of injuries.

Transfers

I decided to splash the cash in both transfer windows with a total of £20M spent with Monaco getting over £13M of that with us bringing in Saint-Maximin, T.Lemar, Lopes and Thiam.

Whilst scouting I came across Belgian Bryan Heynen on a free and is now currently worth £13.75M and increasing with time.

Winter transfer window.

Facilities

The local planning department refused permission for a new ground to be built which i was kind of glad of due the poor 2,500 capacity it would of had.

The board once again agreed to upgrade training and youth facilities with millions being spent to enable us to have the best setup possible. As long as the chairman keeps splashing the cash and he will need to fork out a few more million, I will keep asking for these upgrades as soon as possible until he have some of the best in the world

Until Next Time.......

[AndyFal36]

Bourg en Bresse End Of Season Awards

The black tie event hosted by chairman Saipan was attended by every employee at the club and their partners bar homesick record signing Sergiy Gryn who has failed to settle in France and is back in Kiev,Ukraine negotiating the finer details of an offer to make a return back home happen.

It was a night to remember for Thomas Lemar with the player picking up 3 awards and all warranted after an impressive first season with Mamadou Cisse picking up the other.

Ulrich Nnomo also picked up his Ligue 2 Top Goalscorer award on the night after scoring 26 league goals last season, taking his Bourg scoring tally to 68 in 85 games in the last 3 seasons leaving him only 26 goals short of breaking the club record currently held by Boris Berraud (MC) with 93 in 306 games which is also a record for appearances for the club.

[SeanBhoy88]

Well that season cant go down as anything less than perfect my aim was to go up and not only did we go up we smashed it to be fair highest goal difference

by a landslide showing off at times, our team proved its strengh with some really nice victories - we actually started poorly and i was worried for my job

but when we finished the session for the week i went off and worked on 3 variations of roughly the same style of tactic with one being set up specificily to be

better against bigger sides and less fluid.

the cup was also kind to us well the french cup at least were we travelled far again the coup de la ligue Fallon's bourg-en-bresse payed off the officials and French fa which is shocking

but i cannot comment to much on that without running the risk of a fine .

I signed Juan the Man Quintero for free and he is an obvious stand out in my team so i think he deserves a special mention his vision and technique alone is enough to unlock defences and with Mahroos up top

waiting to get on the end of an exquisate pass.

My expectations are a bit rough we performed excellently last year but we are by no means a team ready to walk into the top 8 in Ligue 1 so againthere is pressure right off the bat im hoping

with a bit of luck and skill we can grind it out and i can be here to build again next season.

Window - well we started with a workable budget of 2.8 mill but then a bid from Arsenal came in for Lewis Cook in the region of 19m i asked them for 32.5 and to my suprise they said yes 7.5 of it was add ons but to be fair what a deal for my club, this goes to show that playing well for little old Orleans u do get noticed

we used to money well i feel but probably not as well as i could have ? i opted for young players as always buy cheap buy young either ill unearth a gem of a player or simply utalise them play them or mould them into someone with re-sale value that helps the club continue to grow.

Sold 38.5 Spent 11.75

Targets - Board want top half i wanted to stay up with a little cup run in amung it I would never ask for anything else after failing to maintain my status the first time around.