PGC: Tour de France for FM16

[Advantageous]

Alessandro Jacobo - AS Nancy Lorraine

The second season in L1 proved to be a stable one and short of anything spectacular. We finished 5th, miles off 4th place, and never looked likely of challenging for the Champions League places. Arguably this is progress, having finished 6th in the previous season with less points, but I expected further developments if I'm being honest. My gut feeling is that my favoured formation, a 5212 isn't quite doing the job now that expectations have risen, especially with 10 draws at home. A system that utilises 4 at the back and explores the width of the pitch with wide attacking players may be what is needed against those stubborn sides who like to sit back and soak up pressure.

It was looking like we'd have to settle for 7th or 8th position after 30 games or so, as our performances had started to dip slightly and the very few goals we were scoring were beginning to dry up. I had a little tinker with my player roles and tailored my team instructions to really exploit the strengths that we have at the club - a very high work rate across the squad, along with great passing and decision making. I increased our tempo slightly and played much wider in our home games, which enabled us to really push for that 5th position - by really giving my midfield players more of a chance to unpick those stubborn defences. This resulted in an upward surge in our performances and results that, as you can see above, allowed us to go on a mini run of wins with just 7 points dropped from a possible 30.

Financially speaking, we are running a relatively self sufficient shop. I've certainly spent my fair share of cash on transfers during my time here so far, but I've also made sure that we have enough revenue coming in that we never dip into the red come the beginning of the season. Not an easy thing to do in France, where even the big clubs have to sell to buy. This is an area however, that I feel needs much more work. I've identified several things that I will need to implement if I want this club challenging in the next few seasons. My scouting knowledge needs to be improved in areas of Europa such as Scandinavia, or Eastern Europe where good young players are available for cheap prices. This in turn, will allow me to have 'assets' playing first team football that could potentially bring about profit if sold. I need to continue developing my youth academy, bringing through young players (bought from other clubs or otherwise), loaning them out for good monthly fee's and eventually selling them on if I deem them inadequate for my first team. As much as I dislike the sound of my previous sentence, needs must in this league as any financial misstep could see the club falling into hard times. Additionally, it should be mentioned that I have been lucky enough to have my self a tycoon owner over the last couple of seasons, funding my rise to the Europa League from Ligue 2. In the summer, a quick consortium takeover took that benefit away from me, so a focus on financial management for the next few seasons is paramount to our success and subsequent survival.

A quick word on the other lads.

Sean: Dominated in recent seasons with his US Orleans side. Proven to be a very good manager, especially in the transfer market, and a successful connoisseur of the 4231. He might be a bit disappointed with his return in the Champions League with just the one title, but after winning everything going, Sean has taken on a new challenge in returning OM to their former glory.

AndyF: Benefitted from having a rich owner who pumps money into the club, Andy has taken a step up from previous FM's and sees his side consistently challenging for the title. Take nothing away from a superb previous season however, which saw him claim the Champions League crown. Just the Ligue 1 title left of major honours and has a very good chance this time around.

Stu: Won his first League title since FM13 with Lyon and has been doing a good job so far. Happy with top 4 recently - that could all change with Sean leaving US Orleans coinciding with an injection of cash and an increased transfer budget. Now Stu, like AndyF, doesn't need to sell to buy. Expect these two lads to be battling it out for the title in the coming seasons.

Pedro: An excellent first season in Ligue 1 for Pedro as his promoted side comfortably finished in the Champions League places, challenging Stu's Lyon for 3rd throughout the campaign. His second season will be an interesting one as we wait to see if his side can repeat the same feat again. His work in the transfer market has been very good, buying good young talent with re-sale value. I predict at least a top 6 finish - most probably 4th - behind the three powerhouses. 

Jonas: Unlucky season for Jonas as the first half put him in a safe mid-table position, but could only watch on as his side's form dipped dramatically during the second half and ended up in the relegation places. Will need to hit the ground running as his board have issued an ultimatum and stated their intent on a return to the top league sharpish.

 

[Athrill]

[Athrill]

 

 

[AndyFal36]

AndyF - Bourg-en-Bresse

"Die Meister, Die Besten, Les grandes équipes, The Champions"

 

The biggest club trophy of all is now on display at the Saipan Stadium after a fantastic Champions League campaign ending on winning note in Berlin with a brace from Curbelo the competitions top goal scorer and a Mercuri half volley securing an historic 3-0 win. It was 10 unbeaten after beating Bayern at the QF stage then came our only slip up in the 1st leg of the Semi Final where we fell to a 2-1 defeat against Stu's Lyon but with an away goal in the bag and a home tie next time round I was more hopeful than confident in us  progressing thru to final. I needn't have worried as Lyon didn't play anywhere near to their capability as we comfortably eased thru 6-2 on aggregate to set up the clash with Schalke.

That victory secured a cup double and it was third time lucky as we gained revenge on Seans Orleans side for the cup final defeat 2 seasons ago as we lifted the League Cup for the first time winning some what fortuitously 3-1 after being second best for much of the game.

In the French Cup we got as far as the semi final stage narrowly losing 1-0 to Stu's Lyon.



On to the league and as much as we tried we just couldn't keep up with Sean Orleans side, even thou we managed to stay unbeaten at home in the league this year it was the 5 defeats away from home that was our downfall in winning the title. If we could of won any 3 of the 5 games we lost we would be talking a treble but we didn't so I'm looking for another big push in the upcoming season to get that top spot.

After our spending spree 2 seasons ago I decided i'd keep a lid on things this year and spent just short of £30M bringing in 4 players with Lee Gibbons moving on, who after not getting that many chances in the 1st team was transfer listed and picked up by Stoke for £8.5M. Two of these players (Budde & Matko) will now spend the upcoming season at Ligue 2 side Olympique Marseille under the guidance of their new manager Sean who resigned from top side Orleans to take up a new challenge.



So on to the new season and my aim has to to be to try and emulate Steve in FM11 to win all of the 7 competitions we will be entered in at some point ( L1, CL, FC, LC, ESC, WCC & FCT) I know its gonna be tough and i'll give it my best shot but the dream could be over before its even started as in 3 days time  we face all Orleans in the French Champions Trophy.

Until Next time.......
 

[Jonas Christensen]

FC Nantes

So in this season, we were one of the newcomes in Ligue 1, having been promoted in 3rd the season before... I had only been at the club for about 6 months after taking over them with the job pretty much done, but I knew that Ligue 1 was going to be a major challenge, as the overall quality wasn't great. I had a fairly decent midfield and two decent strikers, who were a bit too similar though, so I had a lot of work to do in the transfer window, especially as we didn't have any keeper good enough to play first team...

The board knew we were a small fish in a big pond, and they didn't have any ambitions really for us to do well...

As you can see, the hope was to simply avoid relegation and not much higher than that... The media had us touted as the clear 20th, so we were in for a challenge.

I had about 3 million for transfers, and I had to spend them wisely with the priority being a new starting GK, a new starting DC, an AMR and a striker...

As is fairly evident, if you take a look at the above, is that we had to make a lot of change... A LOT... When we went up... With me splashing most of the cash on a new, young goalkeeper...

For the first half of the season, we were doing surprisingly okay... We were actually playing really well against the teams in the lower half, but getting smashed to bits and pieces by the top teams...

Okay, 5 wins in the first half isn't some huge achievement, but it was enough to secure us in the middle of the table for a long time, and I actually felt pretty good about the season...

But as you can see, come second half of the season, my team always hits that awful, awful form... To be honest, this has been the biggest problem for me in FM16... In 8 out of 10 seasons, I hit an awful form in the second half of the season...

So, the awful second half of the season saw us plummet to the bottom of the table towards the end...

So how did it go this badly? Well, several factors come to mind, but the biggest reason was simply that we didn't have the quality or killer instinct... In most games we went behind early on and were forced to attack... Which unfortunately most of the time meant more goals...

Another big difference between the first half of the season and the second was that I was missing some key creative players...

http://image.prntscr.com/image/4f2b5494850642cc9388048b12392077.png

Jovanovic, my AML, who was without a doubt one of my best performing players got injured for 9 months or so, while my AMR Szabo got injured for a few months and one of my best MC's went on internationals for just over a month...

Funnily enough, Jovanovic wound up as the fans' player of the season... While my two strikers up front proved to be one of the only areas, where we were actually decent...

So with us being relegated, the board was of course not happy, and to my big surprise, they didn't fire me, but gave me a last chance...

In the new season, in L2, I now have to get 8 points in 5 games to get a new contract and prolong my stay...

[SeanBhoy88]

Us Orleans

_______________

 

Well this season was eventful, everything went as smooth as a baby's bottom until February I was unbeaten in cup league and champions league and then low and behold my bad patch kicked in, I went sailing out of the cup and lose in the league, we managed to rally tho and fight hard to hold onto our precious title! making the Orleans name carve a big dent in  French history.  Our Champions league campaign was yet again a baffling one we sailed through the group stages making it look very easy only to wind up going out in the quarters having the same problem as we always have ( tons of chances with none taken ).  The season for me was special I went out with a treble and resigned from my job something that I had said I thought about doing for several seasons, but this season finally was the one that I choose to do it.

below is a little of our season at Orleans as u can see my ins are less than our outs as it always has been, and our points tally wasn't the dazzling 102 it was last year but a win none the less, and my player of the season the ever so talented Greek god Benchivitis.

 

NEXT STOP FOR SEAN BLACK - MARSEILLE - STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES.

 

[Tiki Tak'n Turner]

DAMUS REPEATUS MAXIMUS 

Managers Profile: 

Season:  2032/33

Club: Le Mans

League: French National

Media Prediction (4th) :

Season budgets:

After seeing out the remainder of last season, It was time to start thinking about making improvements to the squad, i'd chosen Le Mans as they were among the clubs with a higher rep, decent financial status and average facilities.

But before i got the chance, the board threw a whopping great spanner in the works, after failing to return to Ligue 2 in the 1st season, they were downgrading the club to semi professional status, suddenly all thoughts of building a strong side evaporated.

PLAN B.
Instead, i had to use a formation that best suited the players i had, i was unable to make ANY signings, free transfers were out of reach as our wage budget was already well into the red, even renewing contracts of existing players wasn't possible

All i could do was watch as 4 or 5 senior squad members left onj free transfers, i had no other option than to promote youth players to replace them.
Even so, we flew out the blocks at the start of the campaign and by mid september we had a 2 point lead at the top 

25th sept league (1st) :

25th sept form:

We maintained that advantage until the end of january.

29th jan league (1st):

29th jan form: 

Eventually though, the lack of squad depth became a telling factor, injuries to key positions meant having to use youth players and our form nosedived,

2nd apr form:

by the start of april we were barely clinging to 2nd, missing out on promotion was becoming a ever more likely prospect.

2nd apr league (2nd):

That fate was confirmed on the final day of the season when we lost 2-1 to US Saint-Malo, who then overtook us to claim the last promotion place.

END OF SEASON FORM:

END OF SEASON National League Standings (4th) :

REVIEW:

 

[AndyFal36]

Media Predictions Season 19

Ligue 1 

[AndyFal36]

Media Predictions Season 19

Ligue 2

[AndyFal36]

Media Predictions Season 19

National

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 19)

Ligue 1

 

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 19)

Ligue 2

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 19)

National

[Athrill]

 

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 19)

Ligue 1

 

 

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 19)

Ligue 2

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 19)

National

 

[Athrill]

[Athrill]

 

[Advantageous]

Alessandro Jacobo - AS Nancy Lorraine

Third season in the top flight sees us qualify for the Europa League for a third successive season. We have clearly found our level in this division and consistently reaching the mid-60's points wise. After 6th and then 5th positions in the last two campaigns, we find ourself sitting in 7th position at the season's close. I had hoped to be knocking on the door of Champions League at this point, but we are 10 or so points short of this. The 442 is developing well, and I'm hoping to see an improvement in performances with the purchase of two wide players who, on the surface, look like the types of players I need to play the style of football I want.

Our biggest success last season was perhaps our extended run in the Europa League. Luck was against me during our 4-0 drubbing by Shalke, as my assistant manager had to take charge. I think it's safe to say I won't be leaving him in charge very often if I can help it. Aside from that, the result against Wolfsburg was a particular highlight as they are rated as one of the top 5 clubs in the world at this time (2034). To reach the Champions League, winning the Europa League is perhaps the most realistic way of achieving this goal. Whilst we are consistent in the league, we aren't punching above our weight and challenging the big boys as often as I'd like. We are probably similar to the real life Everton under Moyes a few seasons back - where a top 8 place was almost guaranteed, with the odd dalliance with top four reckoning.

Transfer wise, I offered contracts to several players who had less than 6 months left on theirs, and managed to secure 3 players. The best of which (below) now has a valuation of £18m, is young and is a natural in 4 positions. His attributes aren't too bad either. My philosophy of signing players cheap and selling on for profit is one that is developing nicely and keeping the balance sheets healthy. The signing of players during last season has meant that my transfer activity for this coming season has been limited. 4 loans have arrived, 3 of which will play every game when possible and several youth products have been promoted after impressing in the smattering of games they played in lesser fixtures.

 

[AndyFal36]

AndyF - Bourg en Bresse



Finally after many seasons of play since FM11 I have managed to clinch the top league title for the first time in clan after going close previously on a few occasions. Things were made that little bit easier this season with Sean leaving Orleans who had won 6 out of the last 8 campaigns, too take the helm at Marseille. I still needed to be at the top of my game as any prolonged run of winless games would of enabled Stus Lyon to pounce and snatch the title away but too many draws for Lyon was there downfall as we took the title by 7pts.

We had the chance this season to go for the 'Magnificent 7' as you may already have read but we fell at the first hurdle as we were convincingly beaten buy Orleans 4-0 in the French Champions Trophy in our season opener.

Euro Super Cup

We did manage to pick up a 2nd piece of silverware this year as we lifted the European Super Cup for the second time in 3 seasons as we beat Real Madrid 3-0 to take our trophy count at Bourg to 7 but I was still disappointed that we couldn't mange to pick up 1 or 2 more.


 

Domestic Cups

In the French & League Cups we got as far as the Semi-Final stages in both competitions we lost both ties by a single goal margin.

Club World Championship

After winning last years Champions League as you'd already know this automatically entered us in the Club World Championships which was held in India this year and after a hard fought SF win on penalties a
gainst Mexican side Laguna Santos we narrowly lost out in ET of the final defeated 2-1 by River Plate.



Champions League

In the Champions League we were on for back to back titles as we progressed to the final were we would come up against Stu's Lyon and what turned out to be a crazy finish. After Sunday George and Rodrigo Curbelo managed to bag themselves a brace each after 120mins of play we headed into penalties. With a total of 7 penalties missed it was Stu who came out on top with Ballon d'Or winner Nio Herrijgers missing the decisive penalty with Lyon winning the shoot-out 3-2.



Transfers



Awards

After a fantastic season it was great to see a couple of the players receiving some personal recognition and picking up some big awards, the biggest of these no doubt was Nio Herrijgers who picked up the Ballon d'Or award and World Golden Ball award after a fantastic year. The £5m buy has been a fantastic servant after his move from Lierse back in August 2023 and he should look forward to a lucrative testimonial next summer after over 10 years at the club.

Curbelo picked up 2 awards after another superb season and I hope his performances continue as he'll be my No.1 striker for the rest of FM16 and he goes on to break the clubs top goal scoring record .





Bernardo Carboni came back from the World Cup with Argentina clutching the Lev Yashin award for best goalkeeper and now I've got to decide between him and our record signing to be our No.1 for the season ahead. 



After Seans move to Marseilles I am now the longest serving manager in France spending just 5 days short of 17 years whilst writing this and in August I hit the 800 game mark in management (now on 847) and we mad it even more special by beating Benfica in the CL Group Stages.

Personal



Until Next Time.....

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart -lyon  

CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE!

After years of heart break storys in the champions league we finally broke the Lyon curse in Europe. 5 Semi final losses left a nasty tast in the mouth trying to swap things about bringing in new players, i tried everything but in the end it came down to abit of luck. 

For the first time this game i was able to have a summer where i was able to buy what i wanted without having to sell and this set me nicely. i thought i would win the league with the side i have but stupid draws in a key part of the season saw me lose ground on andy that i was unable to claw back. We lost the league by 7 points and only lost 2 games all season but it was the 9 draws is what hurt me in the end and the league was won by andy at a canter and left me thinking what might of been once again 

As for the cups i made my mind up early on that i was not going to play my full sides. After winning the French cup and league cup enough times i thought it time to rest key players and give my youth and back up players a run out. I didn't last long in the cups but i was not worried as i was looking at the bigger picture. Its all about the league and champions league from now on. 

After being knocked out of both cups i was only playing midweek games every other week, and this for me is why i went on the run i did. After drawing so many games in the middle part of the season my side went on a run that was long in the making. Fresh at the weekends lyon went on a charge and our form in the league and champions league was outstanding. In the last 4 of the champions league me and andy missed each other in the draw with me getting Chelsea, a side had knocked me out of a semi final once before, with my side in top form and me being away i went into the game on a high. It was a hard game chelsea were pushing us back and we was a little luck not to go in 2 down at half time. 2nd half was a bore no highlights what so ever untill the 90th a free kick on the left hand side of the chelsea area was drilled into the box and George was on the end of it to send me and the traveling lyon fans crazy. As chelsea kicked off the ref blew for full time. Was this our time. 

The Return leg couldn't have started any worse as in the first couple of minutes of the game chelsea scored and i got that sinking feeling all over again, The lyon curse was back and we were getting ripped apart. Then after half hour the whole game changed, a shocking tackel by a chelsea player saw him get a straight red card, this was the luck we needed to get back into the game. I swap my formation and went 2 up top and we scored moments later, that lad George again. I kept pushing for the 2nd not wanting to sit back and give chelsea any chance at all but it wasn't till the 88th minute when got our 2nd goal and broke the curse of the Semi final heart breaks. Andy had also won his game so a all french final would take place at Old traford. 

From that momment on i rested all my 1st team, a whole 2 weeks they got off, this never hurt my league form as i won the rest of my games in the run up to the final. And so the final  and what a game it was, all the talk was about andys Striker Curbelo who had been a beast all season long. But i had my lad george and didnt worry about the hype of this young up and coming star. The game started slow but then Curbelo went though one on one with my keeper and hit his shot wide!! all the hype and talk might of been getting to him, The George showed him how it was done tucking away a corner in style. 1-0 Ht. Then Curbelo showed why there is so much talk about him bu scoring a great goal early in the 2nd half, his pace is deadly and for the 2nd time he got round the back of my center halfs and this time he didnt miss. 1-1. George then showed why for me he is the best striker in the world, he made the 80m summer signing keeper Andy had signed pull out 2 outstanding saves but then george made sure the keeper was not getting close to his next chance and rifled the ball in the back of the net 2-1. Back came andy by now he was throwing everything he had at me and Curbelo Struck again 2-2 and FT. Extra time was a bore by now both sides didn't want to lose and my side was getting tired. I had a sub late on throwing another striker on just for the shoot out ahead. 2-2AET. And so the shoot out in what must be the most dramatic shoot out in champions league History. We went first MISSED! Then Andy MISSED then I MISSED then andy MISSED Then i MISSED 3 in a row before andy sides put one away, then I scored the next 2 but Andys side had the 5th pen to win, i watched and hoped my keeper could do something special SAVE!!!! SAVE!!! Down to his left WERE BACK IN IT, GOAL!!!! WERE 3-2 UP SAVE!!!!!! SAVEEE!!! SAVE!!!! WE DONE IT!!! CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE AT LONG LAST LYON ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE ONCE AGAIN!!. 

 

SUMMER WINDOW. 

After spending so much last window we was on course to fail the FFP, this didnt worry me to much as i was selling some of by top earners as they wanted to move on after they had won all they could with lyon Fair enough i said, i found a young striker i wanted so some of the funds would go towards balancing the FFP leaving enough to sign my striker. Below is my summer business. 

 

Season ahead 

Again its all about the league and champions league for me. World club cup is nice to be apart of and ill be going all out for that. We welcome back Sean to the league after he go OM up the first time of asking. Pedro and ali will be looking to grab a champions league spot this season so look out for them. My main danger again is Andy his side is very strong and with me now looking to rebuild one last time before the Game comes to a end it will be hard to stop him from winning the league again. 

Well thats you upto date on a great season or me and my lyon side

Till next time

[Jonas Christensen]

 

So my first full season back after my short break from the clan, saw me get relegated as newly promoted to L1, and we went back to L2... By some miracle, the board decided to give me a chance in L2, despite me not having any kind of rep at all... But this also meant, that I went into the season with my back against the wall and the ultimatum of having to get 8 points in the first 5 games... So I was under pressure to perform instantly...

Besides the points target, I had to reach, the board was also expecting us to get promoted again...

Luckily for me, despite being relegated, the team wasn't revolting... My "stars" weren't asking to move to bigger clubs. So I could keep the core of team and focus on strenghtening the areas that were weak the season in L1...

My primary focus was on getting a new DL and a new DR, since these had been our worst positions for two seasons going... Then I wanted to get an AMC in to let me switch between more between formations...

Mehic came in for the DL and while I did sign a DR, the revelation came from within the team, where my player Moreno stepped up after being a fringe player in L1... At AMC I found Mansaly as a free, who I knew from when I had him on loan as a youngster from Arsenal... While his stats aren't overwhelming, he does a good job for me...

So I had my team in order... I was feeling confident that we could pull the 8 points off, but the first test before that was a preliminary cup game against Sean's new side, OM, who had gotten relegated along with me from L1... I knew it was gonna be a challenge, as I always struggle against Sean's tactics, and it didn't help, that we wound up with several players out just ahead of the game...

So the season began, and as I had feared, Sean's OM outplayed us in most aspects of the game... This had me fearing a bit for the first part of the season, as morale wasn't superb going into the first league games... But 4 games into the season, we had 7 points, so we were 1 point short of the points target before I had to play my old club Sedan Ardennes, who we, thank God!, smashed to pieces, and the points target was reached...

When the season came to an end, however, we were a dissapointing 10 points away from promotion, lying in 8th place, and the board wasn't that pleased...

[SeanBhoy88]

MARSEILLE   - _- !!

 

This season was a tough one for me, having taken over a relegated side there was a lot of depressed players and a lot kicking and clawing and causing drama to get out of the club, so my first task was to come in and obliterate the squad all high earning toss pots got sold, most dingbats with nothing positive to say also gone, the side got tipped upside down and we took the weekly wages from 800k p/w down to 300k P/w

I relied heavily on my comrades with loans and the free agent market, I found a few bargains one being Deloose who is a gem and a half, but make no mistake about it this club was as good as in ruins when I took over, scouting knowledge 4% facilities downgraded playing squad old overpaid and depressed, this was no easy task but we did however manager to pull off promotion... ( JUST), after starting the season like a good en and bounding 9 points clear we started to wobble and then the injuries came... my star player a loan from the mighty Bourg en bresse got injured for 6 months and then my star amc immediately picks up a 7 week injury and oh it did not stop there, we had about 9 out at one point and players playing all over the bloody place it was crazy! I slipped down to 5th at one point and was starting to doubt if we would ever come out of this horrible spell.

second half of the season I fully intended to add 1 or 2 free's but what happened was astonishing my board cut my wages from 300k to 200k and litteraly gave nothing they also began to complain continuously about wages being ' OVER ' which they caused FYI

so I sold and loaned and cut down the squad, we managed to pull together a run good enough to see us clinch second but my oh my this was an eventful season.

 

 

As you can see in my screenshots, the bad form we had almost cost me my job never mind promotion but we dug very deep and kicked on late on, and I snapped a picture of Budde who got cut down in his prime with a broken leg!

 

This job was taken as a project for me, I feel I achieved everything I wanted at my previous job and I was being lazy at times due to boredom this job has given me a great challenge and in Ligue 1 with a minuscule budget or 0 money and 200k wages I'm finding it insanely hard but at the same times relishing the challenge of it, my boards expectations are extremely pressuring and considering my squads pretty poop at the moment and iv had not one single bit of backing its very daunting #PrayForMarseille

 

Well done to Fallo on his title win! first of many no doubt!!  and also WD to everyone else on a great season, Stu on winning himself a champions league !! onto the final few seasons we go.

[Athrill]

 

[AndyFal36]

Summary - End Of Season 19

[Athrill]

[Athrill]

[AndyFal36]

Media Predictions (Season 20)

Ligue 1


 

[AndyFal36]

Media Predictions (Season 20)

Ligue 2




 

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 20)

Ligue 1

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 20)

Ligue 2



Unfortunately Damo (Strasbourg) has had to take a break from FM due to work commitments.

[thuthao92]

We have been anticipated for a long time. Also have been looking for such a final position is quite accurate. In fact, it takes a long time for us to be able to win the tournament.

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings (Season 20)

Ligue 1

[Advantageous]

Alessandro Jacobo - AS Nancy Lorraine

After a disappointing third season in Ligue 1, I decided it was time to sell some of the clubs biggest assets. Out went our most valuable player, Gerard Marchal, whose performances had been good, but not spectacular. Combined with good offers for Gert-Jan Brouwer and Rui Almeida, we had built ourselves a war chest of £73m. My board being what they are however, that meant we had about £15m to re-invest into the side. In came David Huack and Momar Seck. Two wingers who would prove to be fantastic players during their first season at the club, playing on the flanks. In the January window, a £7.5m steal for lJui, now the best player at my club, bolstered our squad even further. That final transfer of the 2034/35 season took our total spending to just over £13m.

 

It was a season to remember for AS Nancy. The media had predicted us to be there or there abouts for Europa League qualification, with half a chance of nicking a top 4 place. As it was, we ended up finishing in a comfortable in 3rd place, after the challenges from US Orleans and PSG fell away towards the season's close. The highlights of the season no doubt include the 1-0 victory over AndyF's Bourg-en-Bresse side against the run of play and the 6-0 drubbing of Sean's OM side. Lowlight will have to be the Coupe de France final defeat against Bourg-en-Bresse, who made up for the earlier defeat and punished us by not giving us a sniff at goal.

On a side note, the board have decided to build a new stadium, as we are now nearly filling ours on a consistent basis. As the game will end in a couple of seasons, I will not see the benefits of this, but it does show that the club is moving in the right direction.

[Athrill]

[Jonas Christensen]

[AndyFal36]

Summary - End Of Season 20



 

[AndyFal36]

AndyF - Bourg

Two new additions to the cabinet this year as we ended a fantastic season with a quadruple of cup titles as we went on to pick up the French Champions Trophy, French Cup, Coupe de la Ligue and the Champions League trophies. It was almost a 'Famous 5' as we lost out on the league title by a point on the very last day of the season to Stus Lyon side who we faced in our final game were only a win would suffice.

I'll start off with the Champion Trophy as we faced faced Pedros' Nice side as we looked to get revenge for the 2 defeats at the end of the previous season and it was all over just after 30 minutes as Rodrigo Curbelo kicked off his great season with a 20min hat-trick taking us to HT 4-0 up. A double from Antonio in the 2nd half as we took our foot off the gas wasn't enough for Nice and we eased to a victory 4-2.


 

League Cup

The second trophy of the quartet to take its place was the Coupe de la Ligue after winning all 4 games with 17 goals scored and just 3 conceded, Kalinichenko stepped up to lift the trophy after  an OG, a fluke and a penalty was enough to beat rivals Lyon 3-0.

French Cup

The French Cup ensured at least the treble was achieved beating Orleans and Nice en-route to the final where we would face Ali and his high flying  AS Nancy side. Nancy and Ali had a miserable time of it as we finally won the Cup at the 3rd time of asking cruising to a 4-0 win.

 

 

Champions League

The final piece of the 4 was won after a 3-1 victory against Orleans at Benficas' Estadio da Luz for our 2nd Champions League title in 3 years. We had to dig deep in the last 4 games of the competition to regain the title from the grasp of Stu, last years final was a QF fixture this season and after a comfortable 3-0 win in the home leg we just about held on in the 2nd leg to lose the game 2-0 was a relief in the end with Stu throwing everything at us to take a 3-2 aggregate win.
In the Semi Final goals from Huguet and Mercuri in the 2nd leg at the Camp Nou was enough to secure a place in the final on away goals. Old rivals awaited in the shape of Orleans but a brace from our world class striker Curbelo and an injury time goal from Cameron Casey was enough to bring the trophy back home.




 

On to the league and I said earlier in my post it was almost a quintuple of trophies this year as we narrowly lost our league crown to Stu and Lyon.

It all came down to the final game of the season as after 37 games there was 1pt in it with Stu sitting top with 90pts so nothing but a win would do for us. With 15 minutes left we found ourselves 3-1 down and title slipping away, I had no choice but to go all out attack and changed to a 3-0-5-2 formation and we grabbed 2 goals back as we piled on the pressure to draw level at 3-3 but time was against us as we bombed forward and the ref soon blew his whistle bringing the game to an end at 3-3.
 

 

Looking back apart from the 2 heavy defeats to Orleans out of a total of 4 that we lost in the league, the other 2 were games that we fully deserved to take all 3pts in which we took nothing after being the far superior side in both games against Nancy and Monaco but the FM gods were against us on both occasions this time.

 

Transfers

So once again we have the chance to go for the Magnificent 7 but it could all go wrong in the 1st leg again as we face Lyon in the Champion Trophy. 
Its going to be hard to mirror this seasons achievements but we'll give it our best shot to keep us right up there among Europes elite clubs.

Until Next Time......

 

 

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart  - Lyon 

Another great season for me and my lyon side mind you it started off with a 5-0 loss to andy that nobody saw coming but that was the only down point on what was a great season Winning the Super cup World Club cup and then the league on the last day of the season against my main rival andy was good pay back on the beating we got off him. 

My side this season played some wonderful stuff at times and i couldnt of asked much more tho being knocked out of the champions league stage in the Q'Final by andy left me unahppy, Again i fell apart at his place this time by losing 3-0, i almost pulled off the comeback with a 2-0 win and i maybe should of won it but yet again his keeper proved why he is maybe the best on the game with some wonderful stops. Andy went onto win the champions league so i can take comfort in the fact i was beaten by the winners. 

The league cup and French cup saw me put my kids out again and i was knocked out in round 9 of the french cup. I did make the final of the league cup where yet again i lost to any 3-0. The cups are no big deal for me anymore but when make a final you wanna win it. 

       

 

SUMMER WINDOW 

Still in the middle of rebuilding my side as i have sold some of my older players and have brought in some young stars. Full pictures to follow when window is over. 

 

SEASON AHEAD 

Again its all about the champions league and league for me. Its getting harder and harder now as ali and perdo are almost there when it comes to being able to challange me and andy, and then there is sean. After a great first season with OM he will be looking to spoil the show.  Jonas also finds himself at Monaco so who knows what he can do with a club of that size. 

Well thats you upto date on a great season for me. 

till next time 

[AndyFal36]

 

AndyF - Bourg (Part 2)

Awards

For the 2nd season running Nio Herrijgers picked up the FIFA Ballon d'Or award beating off the competition from Lyons Marcos Rodriguez and Man Citys Yuta Suda this time round and also retained the World Golden Ball award.

 

 

 

[SeanBhoy88]

Marseille -

 

This season can only be described as a success to finish 6th place with our budget and playing staff was a huge achievement for us in our maiden season in the top flight, I left Orleans in pursuit of a challenge and boy oh boy have I found that challenge at OM.

Having been promoted I expected to receive some decent funds considering we had turned over some profits the season before but it wasn't to be in fact we got 0 money with 0 wages and were forced to hunt high and low for loans and freebies, with the old Orleans strategy in full effect buy young/cheap sell high, this however proved to be a surprising season as this young inexperienced side filled with loans n cheap young players managed to finish on a hefty 66 points or so, the one negative for us was as much as I could tweak kick claw and scratch around the AI when we came up against quality in the form of a human side we crumbled, in actual fact any time we played a quality side we completely got decimated.

my season was one that went from panicking and worried about heavy expectations to sheer joy, alltho I got hammered a few times I know in hindsight this team is a mile off my competitors so I cannot complain 6th place is magical and now OM go on an adventure in the Europa!!

 

Cups -  I went out one cup fairly early drawing one of the big guns so I cant complain there but I did happen to reach a semi final were I lost to Ali, at the time I was fighting for a European place and was faced with a dilemma, go all out for the cup which I had next to no chance of winning with Bourg and Lyon still in it, or rest my squad and focus on getting the European slot, so I made 9 changes and wound up losing the tie.

 

Onto the new season we have made a ton of changes, do I think we have strengthened? hmm time will tell losing 2 quality loans in Budde and Matko stung a bit to say the least and also our loanee from Athletic club is also gone he was 5 star for me last season, what we have done is bought a load of young players in the hope that in the next few seasons we can progress slowly and bond a young team together, the hammer blow for me was being dealt a shocking hand with Andy Stu PSG and Orleans my first four games, iv somehow beat Stu 5-2 but been pummeled in the other 2 fixtures, morale has took a hit and time will tell if OM can recover, I'm not expecting 6th again but its imperative that I keep my job and enjoy our European adventure and build again next year, I have a 3 year plan here and that's to be in the top 4 four and have a trophy under my belt within 3 seasons, then my time on this file will have been complete !!! All goals achieved.

 

 

 

[Athrill]

[Jonas Christensen]

AS Monaco (Formerly FC Nantes)

I went into my second season back in Ligue 2 with FC Nantes full of hope after what can only be described as a very mediocre and lackluster first season down from Ligue 1.

I knew that I had a very good base going into the season, and I didn't need to strengthen many areas... My primary focus was on the defence. The season before I had brought in a new DL and a new DR... The DL (Mehic) had been outstanding and attracted a good bid from West Ham (5M)... This came late in the window and meant I had to make a panic replacement buy. I furthermore also found a new DR, as the previous one had been a reserve - standing in the shadow of Moreno, who had performed magnificently. In came a young Norwegian lad for 10.5K, who wound up setting the league on fire! He was excellent!

The first half of the season was fairly decent... The league was fairly close, but we still had good chances of a high finish...

The biggest plus of the first half season was that my 1st choice striker Fonseca had found excellent form, after the previous season being dissapointing - he led the league in goals with 18 when we went into the winter break.

Unfortunately, this meant that he attracted a lot of attention, and he still had an active release clause from when we went down from Ligue 1, and I couldn't afford to give him a new contract that removed it. To make matters worse, the club was in a poor financial state, so my board was accepting offers left and right for key players...

With Fonseca and a few others gone, we were in trouble. I had to rush out to find a new striker and two new DC's, and things were looking grim suddenly. As you can see from below, after losing Fonseca, Roma was the second-most scoring player, but he was out injured...

This meant that the second half of the season was pure **** from us...

We went on a horrific run, winning only 1 game in 10 games... And this meant I wound up getting the sack...

As you can see, Fonseca wound up as one of the best strikers in the league, despite leaving halfway in, so I can only dream about, what could have been, if he hadn't been sold...

But on to Monaco we go...

I decided to join "the big boys" in Ligue and took Monaco, who were having a horrible season in midtable... Normally I would be against going that easily to a big side, but I thought, what the hell, the game is almost over...

I thought Monaco would be a decent club to take - good facilities, decent players, good youths, but was surprised at the awful state the club was in...

As you can see, -86M in the balance, and this reached -100M before the season was over... I was well and truly ****ed. I couldn't afford to renew that many contracts, but luckily, a few of the high earners were on the way out... But in the current window, I've had to sell, sell, sell, to get to the below state...

...before I started getting new blood in to the team...

The board is expecting me to get EURO cup this season, so the pressure is on after having let half a team go... To be honest, if I simply survive this season - and with decent finances, I'll be pushing for EURO Cup next season...

[AndyFal36]

Media Predictions (Season 21)

Ligue 1

 

[AndyFal36]

End Of Week Standings (Season 21)

Ligue 1

[AndyFal36]

End Of season Standings (Season 21)

Ligue 1


 

[Jonas Christensen]

[Athrill]

[Jonas Christensen]

        AS Monaco

So.... This was exciting... My first full season in charge of the former giants, AS Monaco, was ready to begin...

The club was broke as ****, having around -100M+ on the balance, and the board had taken away the very small transfer budget, I had been given, even before the transfer window opened... The expectations from the board was that we should at least get EURO Qualifications, so that meant Top 7, depending on how the cup's went. With horrific finances, this meant a huge challenge for me, as I had to get rid of the old, experienced stars on high wages and bring in cheaper replacements, yet still get a better position than the season before... Oh boy...

As you can see, big changes were made over the summer, as the finances were dire, so I had to ship several off my stars...

So with several of my stars gone, I wasn't really certain about the state of the team... I felt I had found decent replacements, but the true test of the team wouldn't come until we got started... I still had my brilliant keeper Fox and my top scorer from last season Calderazzo, so things weren't all bad, but we still faced a huge challenge...

And wow! We started strong... We beat PSG in the first game and took 2 more wins in a row and went on a decent run in the beginning... So I was fairly optimistic, but with the concern that Calderazzo simply wasn't scoring this season, while luckily, the young future replacement, Hermans, was banging in goals... Around 12 league games in, we starting hitting some bad form, which came just before the awful run of Orleans, Bourg and Lyon...

The second half of the season was a bit on and off... Sometimes things were going really well, but whenever we met a human team of a team from the top half, we were looking like a little league team... In the cup, we lost on penalties to Orleans after having been up both 2-1 and 3-2, so I was gutted! But one big plus was the win over Lyon in the second-last game (Oh, and Ali, you still owe me a brown bag of money for that!), where a loss could have sent me packing, as the board was not happy... Instead I was let of with getting a points target once the season ended, and I now have to get 10 points in the first 5 league games...

The highlights in the team was without a doubt my DL, my DR, Dembelé (my set piece specialist) and Hermans, my young striker...

Hermans had a brilliant first season with 20 goals, way ahead of any of my other players... In fact, transfer-wise, none of my new signing did badly, and if I have a great window (really great!), I should be able to reach the points target and improve on last season...

Overall, personally I was not as such unhappy with the season... It was a huge task to restructure a team in such poor financial state and still compete for European spots... The downfall of our side was at times poor defending, especially on set pieces, and that we only had one really clinical striker... This needs to be improved for next season, but it will once again be a challenge, as I go into the season with a budget of 500K...