Terk Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 “You’ve been busy, Stephen. And I’m Brahim tells me there could be another few cheques to sign soon.†“Only one more. If we’re lucky. Sébastien Escobar hasn’t impressed. We’ve made an offer to Pascal Bérenguer though.†“But the other two, Julien Harrouard and Fabrice Fiorèse, these are good names for us. I’m impressed with the squad you have now. Maybe we can do more than just escape relegation.†“I wouldn’t get carried away just yet, Jacques.†The chairman found it a bit more difficult to keep himself under control after we defeated Wasquehal at home just two days after our conversation. Harrouard started as the only fit right back at the club whilst Fiorèse had to make due with a place on the bench. For long periods of the game, it looked like we would have to make do with a draw, the visitor’s defensive line held strong. But with just eight minutes remaining, Faivre crossed for Cami to volley home and then in injury time, Fiorèse latched onto a long goal kick from Leglib and rounded Romain Salinin the Wasquehal goal before side-footing home. The win over Wasquehal had us second in the table – although we were level on points with both Sochaux and Valence who sat either side of us. We suffered a bit of bad news when midfielder Pascal Bérenguer turned down our three year offer to sign for Racing 92 instead, but I honestly couldn’t hold onto a bad thought about our start to the season. Lionel Bah returned to the starting line up for the trip to face 16th placed Lille-Rousse in Monticello whilst Mirza and Fiorèse made the line up for their first starts. We didn’t have to wait long for the opener this time, but the source was the same as it had been previously, Faivre crossing and Cami sliding the ball home. Faivre was the provider for our second before half time, again his ability to get to the byline and put the ball in the box proving vital, this time for Mirza to net his first goal for the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 12, 2007 Author Share Posted July 12, 2007 With N’Zif out for a month with a broken wrist, we took on Toulon at the Stade du Hameau for a Wednesday evening game. The visitors were the better side in the first half, Cédric Sebin giving them a lead just before the half hour. However, indiscipline came to our rescue as Benoît Leroy was sent off just before the hour, and though Sarr missed the resultant penalty, goals from Robail and Sartolou snatched us a win we barely deserved. Having overtaken Sochaux given their loss at Valance, we travelled to Montbéliard to face the favourites for the league title. What was a hard job became even more difficult after Fiorèse managed to collect two yellow cards in the first nine minutes, but it still took until the second half for the home side to run riot, goals from Alexandre Lecomte, Azar Karadas and Basile De Carvalho completing an easy victory. August ended with a home visit from Cherbourg in front of our poorest crowd of the season. We were obviously still suffering a hangover from the Sochaux performance, and Distel Zola took advantage to give Cherbourg the lead late in the first half. We should have equalised in the second half, twice Sébastien Pauvert was forced into good saves and Cami hit the bar in the eighty-ninth minute, but the eventual defeat slipped us down to third in the league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 12, 2007 Author Share Posted July 12, 2007 August 2008 Results (National unless otherwise stated) Angoulême 0 – 1 Pau (Robail 31â€) Pau 2 – 0 Sète (Faivre 13â€; Sartolou 78â€) Racing 92 2 – 2 Pau (Sidibé 2â€; Bindi 35â€; Cami 45+1â€; Ayeli 71â€) Pau 2 – 0 Wasquehal (Cami 82â€; Fiorèse 90+2â€) Lille-Rousse 0 – 2 Pau (Cami 6â€; Mirza 26â€) Pau 2 – 1 Toulon (Sabin 27â€; Leroy s/off 58â€; Sarr m/pen 59â€; Robail 65â€; Sartolou 90+2) Sochaux 3 – 0 Pau (Fiorèse s/off 9â€; Lecomte 51â€; Karadas 64â€; De Carvalho 68â€) Pau 0 – 1 Cherbourg (Zola 38â€) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
george94 Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 I just finished reading your first part to the story and was gutted when it finished. But then I found this story and it is every bit as good as the first. KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 15, 2007 Author Share Posted July 15, 2007 thanks for the kind words part one was easily my best story to date, so I'm trying to keep up the quality with part two ----------------------------------------------------------------- “You are a popular man, Stephen. Your time at Arsenal has not hurt your repuation.†“You’ve had another offer? I’m not interested.†“You don’t want to know who from?†“Who?†“Rennes.†I have to admit, it stopped me in my tracks. I had read of Laszlo Bölöni’s sacking just the previous day. With Rennes sitting bottom of Ligue 1 without a point from their first four games, the board had acted quickly to shake things up. It seemed they were acting just as quickly to put them right. Jacques picked up on my hesitation. “I’ll tell Emmanuel to phone you.†-- To be honest, I couldn’t take my mind off the prospect of the Rennes job. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was the perfect move. Though obviously the club had high expectations, I felt I was ready for the spotlight once more. Not even the prospect of facing Noisy-le-Sec could distract me. Brahim had to take charge for the week’s training and I barely remembered to pick a team, but somehow we bounced back from the Cherbourg defeat, goals in either half from Bindi and Faivre – both set up by Cami – kept us third in the race. -- Emmanuel Cueff was not the most impressive chairman I had ever met, his round spectacles and rapidly receding hairline giving him a somewhat shambolic look, but what he had to say certainly took my interest. He had flown down to meet me in Pau, and on a bright Thursday morning I sat with him in a local café. Being honest, I’d already made the decision. The meeting was merely to give him the chance to turn me off it. But with the team having taken their first point of the season just the previous evening against Strasbourg and the board expecting nothing more miraculous than a high mid-table finish, I signed up straigt away. It was hard to say goodbye to Pau, I had enjoyed my time in the town immensely, and it was even harder to say goodbye to a club that had taken me in and allowed me to restore some of my damaged reputation. But Jacques had always known I would move on, and now the time felt right to take on the big boys again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Terk: thanks for the kind words part one was easily my best story to date, so I'm trying to keep up the quality with part two Jacques picked up on my hesitation. “I’ll tell Emmanuel to phone you.†...... It was hard to say goodbye to Pau... ...but Jacques had always known I would move on, and now the time felt right to take on the big boys again. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes I'd lost track of things on here again, and just opened this up to see how things were going - what a great twist No fears on the quality front Terk, this is great sutff, I particulalry like your 'signature touch' - those little flashes of conversation at the start of so many updates As for Jacques, he's a top bloke isn't he? If only more FMSers knew how good a place Pau is to work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 cheers, flippers. nice to see you drop in. the conversation style just comes from the fact that i find it the easiest way to get into a situation. and jacques was a fantastic bloke, lovely to work with -------------------------------------------------------------------- Two strikers. That was all I had, two strikers. In the entire club. Naturally that meant we would field only one of them at a time in the staring XI, and some serious efforts would be made to bring in reinforcements during the next transfer window. It wasn’t only strikers that I was having a problem with though, as for my first game against Bordeaux, only thirteen members of the playing squad were actually fit. It left me little choice, but the guys did me proud. There were times throughout the match when we were hanging on, trying desperately just to secure the point we had, but goalkeeper Nicolas Puydebois was in heroic form, netting a man of the match award as he guided us to a goalless draw. Free transfers were, of course, allowed outside the transfer window, and my scouts had made me aware very quickly of Finnish midfielder Mika Väyrynen’s availability. The eighteen times capped twenty-six year old signed on a short term deal until the end of the season, but I was pleased just to get another face in. I felt we had a good chance of victory against eighteenth placed Amiens in my first away game since taking over, though the travelling fans didn’t seem as optimistic. The lads, however, seemed to have responded well to my appointment, and with Väyrynen starting, we had a little more attacking bite in midfield. It was Jesuli though who netted for us first, and when his effort was followed up by one from Jimmy Briand, we were cruising. Pablo Zabaleta pulled one back in first half injury time, but another Briand strike soon after the interval, Dani Carvalho setting him up, ensured that we jumped ahead of Amiens and got ourselves running in the right direction. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 27, 2007 Author Share Posted July 27, 2007 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Beckett Longs for England Return Daily Express A night on the town, an injudicious photo, a raised hand. Though these things were not the whole story of the fall from grace of England’s next great manager, they were certainly the acts that brought the situation to a head. Struggling under the pressure of expectation that came with a move to one of the ‘Big Four’, Beckett’s tendancy towards the bottle became too much and spilled over into the public spotlight. A ninety day spell in rehab followed, and Beckett fled to France, everyone expecting that he was gone from the game. However, a meeting with Pau chairman Jacques Le Coadou entinced him back into football far quicker that might have been prudent. It turned out well despite that, and Beckett proved his nous by guiding struggling Pau out of relegation trouble in France’s National division. The former darling of Nottingham Forest began rebuilding his small-town squad and launched an impressive start to the season, but the bright lights attracted him once more as he moved to the top echelons of French football with a move to Rennes. That was just two weeks ago. The French side have managed a win and a draw in the two games he has taken charge, and though his squad is small, it contains the sort of quality that could see them climb the league table by season’s end. However, it is not just glory across the Channel that Beckett seeks, he has a steely determination that he will one day return to light up the Premiership. “Whether or not people think that I have anything to prove to football fans in England, I know I have to myself.†It’s also obvious that it was not only the way his time in England that leaves regret in Beckett’s mind. “Of course I regret leaving Forest. If I hadn’t, I’d probably still be there, and like as not still in the Premiership. If I had my time over then I’d stay at Forest, no question. But my head was turned by the big club, it works just the same with managers as with players.†The return for which he longs, however, is not likely to come any time soon. “It’s only been twelve months since I left Arsenal. I’m sure the memories are a bit too fresh in people’s minds for me to return yet. Plus, I’ve just started work here at Rennes. We’ve got a lot of potential in this squad and I’m determined to help the club realise it.†However long it may take for Beckett to find himself on English shores once more, there seems no doubt that he will one day manage in his homeland again. Whether he returns to success is a much bigger question, and one that only time can answer. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> -- I’d given the interview without really thinking, it was certainly true that I wanted a return to England. But one day. Not yet. I had a lot of work to do at Rennes yet. Belarussian striker Vyacheslav Hleb had joined on a two week trial, and though his average performance for the reserve side against Calais wouldn’t have tempted many managers, I decided to take a punt on him and offer the twenty-five year old a contract until the end of the season. Hleb hadn’t made up his mind before we faced top of the table Nantes at home. It proved that we didn’t need him, however, as from the off we were clearly the better side. It took us just less than quarter of an hour to break down Nantes’ defence, Dani Carvalho getting to the byline and cutting the ball back to the edge of the area for Jesuli to drive past Mickaël Landreau. By half time we had a second and the visitors had barely anything to show for their efforts. Jimmy Briand was another beneficiary of a Carvalho cross, heading home past the much vaunted Landreau. We perhaps should have forced home our superiority sooner, but it took until the final ten minutes when Nicolas Savinaud was shown a straight red card for bringing down Briand in the penalty area and Ciprian Marica netted from the spot to conclude the win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 27, 2007 Author Share Posted July 27, 2007 September 2008 (Ligue 1 unless otherwise stated) Noisy-le-Sec 0 – 2 Pau (National) (Bindi 2â€; Faivre 80â€) Rennes 0 – 0 Bordeaux Amiens 1 – 3 Rennes (Jesuli 29â€; Briand 38â€, 49â€; Zabaleta 45+2â€) Rennes 3 – 0 Nantes (Jesuli 14â€; Briand 33â€; Marica pen 85â€) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted July 27, 2007 Author Share Posted July 27, 2007 <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Lyon | | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 5 | +11 | 20 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Lille | | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 18 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Nantes | | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 17 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Marseille | | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 16 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | St. Etienne | | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 4 | +10 | 16 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Monaco | | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 16 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Paris | | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 11 | +4 | 13 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Auxerre | | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 12 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Bastia | | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 11 | -1 | 12 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Istres | | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 11 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Bordeaux | | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 10 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | RENNES | | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 8 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Nice | | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 8 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Strasbourg | | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 8 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Le Havre | | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 8 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Caen | | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 7 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Niort | | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 15 | -9 | 6 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Le Mans | | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 15 | -10 | 6 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Montpellier | | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 17 | -10 | 5 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Amiens | | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 16 | -12 | 4 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
george94 Posted July 28, 2007 Share Posted July 28, 2007 Great Story KUTGW Hope you do go back to England but not before you have brought glory to Rennes Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 1, 2007 Author Share Posted August 1, 2007 cheers, george there's no pans for stephen to leave rennes any time soon, now he's just got to make sure he's successful -------------------------------------------------------------------- With Hleb putting pen to paper on his deal, my next move was to tie up the transfer of former PSV forward, Sepp De Roover. The 22 year old had twelve caps for Belgium to his name already, but there had been little interest in his services since the Dutch side had released him in the summer. He gladly signed a two year deal, and we were looking well stacked with forward options at last. The trip to Monpellier saw us change to a 4-4-2 formation, though we were severly weakened down the left side as Carvalho was suspended due to his liking for yellow cards and Jesuli picked up a wrist injury in training which meant he stayed home in Rennes. The game itself gave me more to worry about than my two missing midfielders, however, as Monpellier, and in particular Yacine Abdessadki, tore into our defence from the outset. Indeed, it was only thanks to a string of what could only be described as world class saves from Nicolas Puydebois that we were able to steal all three points when, with our only shot on target in the entire match, Marica chipped Laurent Pionnier after Hleb had put him clear. -- “They want €4,000,000.†“Each?†“No, for the pair.†“They’re your purse strings, but I’d say it’s worth it. And I’d love to have the two of them on board.†I was eager that the chairman wrap up the double deal for Middlesbrough’s Mathieu Flamini and Kris Commons. The price seemed ridiculously cheap for two players I rated very highly, but given that neither was a regular in the team at the Riverside, it perhaps wasn’t quite so surprising. Both, however, I could see being first team stalwarts at Rennes. The two, of course, wouldn’t be able to complete their deals until the January transfer window came around, when I planned quite a bit of surgery for the squad, and until then we just had to grab as many points as we could. We made it four wins on the bounce by taking the three points against Istres. In front of our home crowd, Jesuli returned to the side to net a penalty and Marica continued his good form with a second half double which helped move us up to ninth in the table. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RossDee Posted August 1, 2007 Share Posted August 1, 2007 very good, keep it up, really enjoyable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 6, 2007 Author Share Posted August 6, 2007 cheers, Ross --------------------------------------------------- With only three days between the win over Istres and our trip to face Niort, the fitness of my small squad was starting to become an issue. With a limited ability to rotate, it seemed that the guys had not got themselves up to speed in pre-season and were already struggling to play two games in a week. That lethargy around the pitch was there for everyone to see at the Stade René Gaillard, and the home side punished us with an early goal through Grégory Leca. Further blows came our way in the second half as De Roover and Carvalho were forced off by injury, and so poorly had we performed that when Hleb met Jesuli’s cross in the 92nd minute and slid the ball into the net, there could be no argument whatsoever that it was a point we deserved. -- “Boss, I need to speak to you.†Mika Väyrynen had cornered me after training, and the hurt puppy look on his face told me not to expect good news. “I hate it here, boss. I don't like the town. My family’s back in Finland, I just can’t settle at all.†“You can’t walk out on me, Mika. You know how small the squad is. Just give me until the end of the season, then see how you feel. I need you to stay on board.†The Finn sulked off into the car park, it was evident that he was hoping for a release from his contract, but I simply couldn’t deal with losing anyone, let alone someone I’d just brought to the club. Väyrynen’s problems were shunted to the back of my mind, however, when I went to visit the club doctor. Dani Carvalho had spent the previous day in the hospital, and the results weren’t good. “It’s broken. No doubt.†“How long?†“Three weeks. Minimum.†Dani had been clearly the best player in my time at Rennes, and the news that he had broken his shoulder hit like a sledgehammer. There was some solice in the fact that it hadn’t been a dislocation, which would have ruled him out for even longer, but still I knew we would miss him. Just how much we would miss him would depend on Olivier Monterrubio. Released from his bench warming duties, the Frenchman would take up Dani’s place on the wing for the midweek visit of Nice. Things didn’t seem to be going much better than they had against Niort when Christophe Meslin gave the visitors a second minute lead, but good work by Monterrubio down the left saw him play Marica in for the equaliser. We spent the second half simply hanging on, but at least we did manage to, at the same time holding onto ninth in the table. The final game of October saw us on the road again, this time facing Le Havre at the Stade Jules Deschaseaux. Sitting down in 16th place, Le Havre shouldn’t have been the sort of side that caused us problems, but for the third game running we fell behind, this time when Arnaud Lacam rose highest at a corner and headed past Puydebois. Mika Väyrynen was still needed in the starting line-up despite his unhappiness, and his presence proved vital in the game. Ten minutes before the break he flighted a free kick into the top corner of Nicolas Bonis’ goal to bring us level, and he repeated the dose twenty minutes into the second half, bagging himself the man of the match award and us three vitally important points. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 6, 2007 Author Share Posted August 6, 2007 October 2008 Results (Ligue 1 unless otherwise stated) Monpellier 0 – 1 Rennes (Marica 90â€) Rennes 3 – 1 Istres (Jesuli pen 37â€; Marica 59â€, 63â€; Gallon 82â€) Niort 1 – 1 Rennes (Leca 11â€; Hleb 90+2â€) Rennes 1 – 1 Nice (Meslin 2â€; Marica 36â€) Le Havre 1 – 2 Rennes (Lacam 8â€; Väyrynen 35â€, 65â€) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 8, 2007 Author Share Posted August 8, 2007 “We’ve been working hard, Stephen. We have two goalkeepers from your list we can do deals for. Nantes are willing to sell Mikaël Landreau for €10M, and Liverpool will let us have Scott Carson for €2.2M.†“I’d prefer Carson. He’s more likely to accept that he won’t go straight into the team. Nicolas’ still my top man, we just need some quality cover for him. Definitely Carson.†-- My intention was to have the vast majority of my January deals completed as soon as the transfer window opened. The lack of a decent back-up to Nicolas Puydebois had been worrying me, and it did so even more after our visit to Niort in the first round of the League Cup. Having struggled to a draw against them in the league just over two weeks previously, I wasn’t at my most confident going into the game, and after we were reduced to ten men following Mvuemba’s red card, I was even less so. To be honest, Niort should have punished us. To be honest, they would have if not for N’Sia’s goalline intervention. On two occasions the right back had to hack the ball away after Puydebois made true howlers. However, our clean sheet was kept in tact, and in the final five minutes we made it count, Marica twice reacting to loose balls in the penalty area and slamming his shot past Sébastien Hamel in the Niort goal. Before we returned to league action, Mika Väyrynen’s agent informed me of the players decision that he would not consider a new contract at the club, instead he was determined to leave on a free transfer. I couldn’t say I was surprised, but it did mean I would have to fill a central midfield hole, and moved quickly to once more sign Lassana Diarra, who seemed to be unloved once I’d left Arsenal, and the London club were only too happy to ship him on for three and a half million pounds. Joining Lassana when he joined the club in January would be West Ham and Wales defender, James Collins. Struggling to get himself a game at Upton Park, the 25 times capped centre back jumped at our offer, and though he would cost £2M, I felt would be a quality addition. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 20, 2007 Author Share Posted August 20, 2007 It was something I’d given much deliberation to, my scouts had reported that we’d need to do something a bit different if we were to beat St. Etienne, and the 3-4-2-1 formation we adopted was certainly that. The experiment badly backfired though, we were three behind before half-time. Lamine Sakho had given the home side the lead and a Pascal Feindouno double either side of the half hour mark sent us well on the way to defeat. We managed to pull one back through Väyrynen’s penalty, but the outcome had already been decided. -- “You are not happy with the squad?†“We’ve some quality, Emmanuel, but we need more. If we have injuries, we will struggle.†I had just asked the chairman to sign off on a £6,000,000 deal to bring Scottish international striker David Clarkson to the club from Plymouth. The amount due to be paid out on the first of January was mounting all the time, and it was only natural for him to feel nervous. The rumours in the press of Clarkson’s imminent arrival did us good as well. Facing Marseille on our own patch, and playing a standard 4-4-2 again, Vyacheslav Hleb and Ciprian Marica seemed determined to prove to me that no new faces were needed. Marica got us off to the perfect start with a rifled shot from Rochat’s cross and Hleb proved he could be a lethal finisher, netting four times – twice either side of half-time – before Väyrynen rounded out a perfect day with a wonderful free kick in the seventy-first minute. The games were coming thick and fast now, I barely had time to prepare the players for their next outing, let alone tend to anything I might have called a personal life. Next was a home game against a Monaco side who were still in the fight for the title. Their hopes, however, were dealt quite a hammer blow by a performance from Dani Carvalho which rated as amongst the best I have seen. The Brazilian was all touch and grace in his first game back after his shoulder injury, and he simply destroyed the visiting defence with his range of passing, which twice laid on chances for Marica that he simply couldn’t miss. The only down side of the Monaco game was the yellow card shown to Arnold Mvuemba. It was the third of the season for the defensive midfielder and meant that he would have to sit out our trip to Caen’s Stade Michael d’Ornano. Perhaps it was a bit of overconfidence given the comfort in which we’d won our two previous games – both against sides gunning for the title – but whatever it was that caused us to loose the game, it was unacceptable. There seemed no urgency to our play, a belief that a goal would come even if we didn’t put the work in to get it. The greatest culprit of that was Spanish winger Jesuli. He ambled around the pitch for the fifty-three minutes he was on it before being hauled off and told in no uncertain terms what I thought of him. By that time we had already fallen behind, English midfielder Michael Brown scoring a scuffed effort in the first half, and we never looked like fashioning an equaliser. It was a horrible way to end the month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 20, 2007 Author Share Posted August 20, 2007 November 2008 Results (Ligue 1 unless otherwise stated) Niort 0 – 2 Rennes (League Cup 1st Round) (Mvuemba s/off 21â€; Marica 85â€, 90â€) St. Etienne 3 – 1 Rennes (Sakho 9â€; Feindouno 28â€, 36â€; Väyrynen pen 73â€) Rennes 6 – 0 Marseille (Marica 3â€; Hleb 8â€, 23â€, 47â€, 56â€: Väyrynen 71â€) Rennes 2 – 0 Monaco (Marica 40â€, 70â€) Caen 1 – 0 Rennes (Brown 12â€) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 20, 2007 Author Share Posted August 20, 2007 <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Lyon | | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 35 | 9 | +26 | 40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Lille | | 17 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 36 | 11 | +25 | 36 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Marseille | | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 30 | 15 | +15 | 33 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Nantes | | 17 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 21 | 13 | +8 | 32 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | St. Etienne | | 17 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 26 | 13 | +13 | 31 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Paris | | 17 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 36 | 24 | +12 | 31 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Monaco | | 17 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 23 | 21 | +2 | 30 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Rennes | | 17 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 27 | 17 | +10 | 25 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Auxerre | | 17 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 28 | 19 | +9 | 25 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Bordeaux | | 17 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 23 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Bastia | | 17 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 21 | -6 | 23 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Istres | | 17 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 27 | -7 | 23 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Strasbourg | | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 18 | 21 | -3 | 21 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Nice | | 17 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 22 | -8 | 17 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Amiens | | 17 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 25 | -13 | 16 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Caen | | 17 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 18 | -7 | 15 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Le Mans | | 16 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 16 | 29 | -13 | 13 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Le Havre | | 16 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 27 | -15 | 13 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Montpellier | | 17 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 13 | 36 | -23 | 11 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Niort | | 17 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 33 | -25 | 8 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 20, 2007 Author Share Posted August 20, 2007 “It’s nice to see you back here, Stephen.†I smiled and shook the hand Nigel offered. He had invited me to watch a mid-week Nottingham Forest game, and with a week between Rennes fixtures, I left training in the hands of my assistant and took up the offer. “I’d hoped we’d have seen you here sooner.†“I couldn’t take up the offer, you know that. The media would eat me alive if I returned to England at the moment.†“You were flavour of the month and you’ve been forgotten now. There’d be a few stories in the first days, but as soon as the results began to come in, they’d soon forget about it.†He may have been right, indeed he probably was, but there was nothing that could drag me back to English football. Really, the only reason I had accepted Nigel’s offer to watch the match was the chance to see Hannah. Unfortunately things were still going well with her significant other, though she continued to rebuff his marriage advances. That at least gave hope to my misguided affections. -- Back in France - to be honest I was a little sad to return - I had to get ready for a home game against Auxerre. Dani Carvalho had been prancing around the training ground, despite playing only a game and a half in November he had been named player of the month and was eager to let anyone within earshot know. He was brought back down to earth after half an hour of the match though, a groin strain accounting for him for the next two weeks. We had already gone in front, Jesuli had played Marica in behind the defence and the Romanian clipped his shot beyond Fabien Cool, but we were struggling to keep hold of that lead. Nicolas Puydebois was working magic between our sticks, and really the three points were down to him, though Hleb’s second half effort took some of the pressure off the ‘keeper. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 22, 2007 Author Share Posted August 22, 2007 “You’re sure?†“Absolutely. I had a drink with him after the match.†“And he was asking after Ciprian?†“They’re very interested.†“****†Liverpool’s interest in Ciprian Marica shouldn’t have surprised me too much, the Romanian had been in stunning form of late. However, the fact that their French scout, Laurent Viaud, had been in attendance at the Stade Louis Fonteneau as we took on Nantes in the League Cup just brought home how difficult it was going to be to hold onto the striker. Jérémy Toulalan had put the home side in front just one hundred and eighty seconds after the first whistle, but Marica was in no mood to exit the tournament. It was his pass that put Jesuli clear to equalise, and before the half-time interval our front man had hit two goals of his own. A hat-trick was completed just after the break, and with only eighteen minutes of the match remaining, his knock down saw Jimmy Briand nudge home the side’s fifth. -- “Beckett has proven he is a very good coach, he is doing well with Rennes. Like us they try to play good football and I think it will be an entertaining game. I hope the best team wins.†Reading Bastia manager Paul Le Guen’s interview in the morning paper was, I have to admit, a little bit of an ego boost. Le Guen’s side sat four points and four places behind us in the league and were exactly the sort of team we needed to beat. We looked good for the points after Marica and Hleb gave us an early lead, and even better when Sébastien Piocelle was sent off before half time. François Clerc got one back for Le Guen, but we looked more likely to get a third than they did an equaliser. The year ended with the annual awards dinner. It was the sort of formal event that I wasn’t particularly fond of, and drinking water all evening made it even more unbearable. The chairman had been adamant that the club were represented, however, and I was glad I went when I was named third in the race for Manager of the Year. The real success for the club though was Jimmy Briand winning the Revelation of the Year award. His performance had been getting better all the time and he was fully deserving of the title. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 22, 2007 Author Share Posted August 22, 2007 December 2008 Results (Ligue 1 unless otherwise stated) Rennes 2 – 0 Auxerre (Marica 13â€; Hleb 71â€) Nantes 1 – 5 Rennes (League Cup 2nd Round) (Toulalan 3â€; Jesuli 27â€; Marica 31â€, 43â€, 46â€; Briand 72â€) Bastia 1 – 2 Rennes (Marica 1â€; Hleb 22â€; Piocelle s/off 43â€; Clerc 74â€) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted August 29, 2007 Author Share Posted August 29, 2007 “We just can’t be one hundred percent certain that he’ll come back from it. It’s too big a risk, we can’t complete the deal.†I knew what the club doctor was telling me was right, the double fracture Kris Commons had suffered in his last game for Middlesbrough ruined his chances of making the move to Rennes. A quick conversation with the powers that be at the Riverside Stadium, however, had eased my left sided troubles. It hadn’t made it into the French newspapers, but Stewart Downing had had a pretty fierce difference of opinion with ‘Boro boss Dave Jones, and the England international found himself on the transfer list as a cut-price bargin. A deal was quickly hammered out with both player and club and the £2,800,000 transfer went through before our first game of the New Year. -- <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">‘I’m Being Forced Out’ Hleb unhappy at Clarkson Arrival Rennes striker Vyacheslav Hleb has hit out at manager Stephen Beckett after the Scot signed David Clarkson from English side Plymouth. Hleb has been in good form since he joined Rennes in October, scoring seven goals and forming a lethal partnership with Ciprian Marica. It is their partnership which has been largely responsible for the good form which has seen Rennes move up the table since Beckett moved from National side Pau. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I couldn’t be bothered reading the rest of the article, Vyacheslav was being a moody git and he was kind of right, anyway. With the way Ciprian had been performing, the promise Jimmy Brian was showing and the signing of Clarkson, the Belarusian would be a good way down the pecking order. Hleb had the chance to prove to me that he deserved his place when he started alongside Clarkson, and four other of our January signings, in the cup game against Grenoble. And he put in the kind of performance he needed to, scoring from Jesuli’s cross on the half hour. Jesuli himself scored later on, and a late effort from Carvalho put us into the tenth round. After the game, Hleb told me he had decided to leave the club when his contract ran out in the summer. I had been going back and forth over whether to offer him an extended deal, so atleast I was spared actually having to make a decision. Another player on his way out was AdaÃlton. A £1,800,000 bid from Le Mans matched the release clause in his contract, and though we offered him a deal to stay at the club, he quickly said his goodbyes and headed for his new club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverand&Makers Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Been eagerly awaiting this next update . An avid reader, keep up the great writing . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 3, 2007 Author Share Posted September 3, 2007 cheers, Reverand&Makers. Hope you keep enjoying --------------------------------------------------- Something had wrenched me from my sleep, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what it was. I looked at my alarm clock, it was only eleven at night, so it definitely hadn’t been chiding me to rise. My mobile phone glowed from the chair by the window where I’d dumped it before settling early to bed. I stumbled my way across the room and saw I had two missed calls and a voice message. “Stephen, it’s Hannah. I’m not sure why I’m calling really, I’m not sure I should tell you but I need to tell someone. I broke up with Andy at New Year. I need to get away for a few days, I can’t face telling Dad yet. Give me a call when you get this.†I thought about phoning her there and then but that might have seemed desperate and pathetic, like I had nothing better to do. Even as I decided not to call until the morning though, my finger was holding down the speed dial button; she was a friend in trouble, I had to help her. -- “He gave me an ultimatum, marry him or dump him. He said he was sick of being ****ed about.†Hannah had flown out the following morning, and as we sat in a quiet café, she let all her emotion flow. “Do you know what I thought about when he said that? I thought about you. I couldn’t help thinking that I was betraying you.†So this was schadenfreude. I’m sure somewhere across the sea Andy was suffering badly, but I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Then she said six words which warmed my soul. “I want to be with you.†-- There was only one hitch. She didn’t want to move to France. She said she enjoyed it for a holiday, but had no intention of living amongst the French permanently, and if I felt the same way about her, I’d have to return to England. Of course, with a life in football things aren’t that simple. I had a contract with Rennes and the chairman was no Jacques Le Coadou. I found it hard to concentrate on the preparations for our trip to Le Mans, and it showed in the game as we looked disorganised throughout and struggled to a one-all draw. That hangover lasted through our home game against PSG as well, and though the Parisians won by only one goal, Bartholomew Ogbeche netting in the thirteenth minute, they could have easily had six or seven had it not been for Scott Carson. I couldn’t take my mind off Hannah, off England. It could only be a matter of time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverand&Makers Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Decisions, decisions...... Which is more important to him, love or football? Id have to say love. So England here he goes? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 We'll have to wait and see, Rev. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I took a few days off following the defeat to PSG, the chairman was understanding, and given that our mid-week game was against second division Cannes in the League Cup, we were both confident that my assistant, Joaquim Rolâo Preto would be able to guide the side through. I was laying on the sofa at home, listening to the radio as we triumphed over Cannes, thanks to second half goals from Hleb and Briand, but my mind, I have to admit, was elsewhere. Back at work on Wednesday, I was greeted by the news that Jesuli had signed a pre-contractual agreement to join Sporting Gijón in the summer. I guess had I been determined to keep the 30 year old Spaniard, I could have been quicker off the mark, but I still felt a disappointment that he would not be with us next season. And that was the thing, I was thinking about next season, about still being here. I knew what that would mean personally, but I simply couldn’t face a return to English football. It may sound childish, but I was quite content to hide away in France. The stuttering league form continued against fourth-placed Lille on their own patch, the Stade Grimonprez-Jooris. Jean Il Makoun, a Cameroonian international midfielder, gave the home side the lead early on, and though we equalised before half time, Marica running onto Jesuli’s through ball and placing his shot beyond Tony Sylva, neither side looked like netting a winner after the break. My relationship with Vyacheslav Hleb took another turn for the worse when Polish frontman Grzegorz Rasiak was brought in on a free transfer. The 28 times capped international signed a two year deal and, more out of spite than anything else, I informed Hleb he should **** off and train with the reserves. Rasiak was on the bench for the visit of Strasbourg, a game which could truly have bored anyone to tears. There were only four chances in the entire match, three of which fell to the visiting side, one of which they took, Eric Mouloungui chipping Carson from ten yards just a minute before the break. The one chance we did manage to fashion in the game ended, thankfully, in an equaliser, Downing crossing for Jesuli to volley home, but for the fourth straight league game we failed to win, and the knives in the local press began their sharpening process. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wegason Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Great story. Go for love! Then again, she should be willing to move to France for Stephen. I'm enjoying this tale! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 Cheers, Wegason. Sorry about the delay between posts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deadline day was fast approaching. In their obvious wisdom, the association had scheduled a round of matches to be played on the final day of the transfer widow. Granted, it was a Saturday, but I was certain that no one would have minded if the games had been played on the Sunday, allowing managers to give their full attention to their final day purchases. In my case, it was to be a busy day. On the Thursday before, Wayne Routledge had joined on loan for the rest of the season from Arsenal. The twenty-four year old winger had found games hard to come by at the Emirates, and he jumped at the chance to be more involved in a first team. The same day had seen Lyon try to come between me and my Romanian striker, Ciprian Marica The bid from l’OL totalled £11,900,000 plus Uruguayan midfielder MartÃn Ligüera. My problem with the deal was that they wanted to spread the payments over two years with nothing up front. We answered that if they were to offer £6,000,000 up front with a further £5,000,000 over twelve months, and, of course, throw Ligüera into the deal, we’d be more than interested. Whilst we waited for Lyon’s answer, Joel RodrÃguez joined from Real Madrid for the vast sum of £500,000. The Panamanian centre back came with an ego that could barely fit in the room, and promptly announced to the waiting media that he expected me to build the side around him. That, I thought, might be a problem as I’d brought him in purely as cover for the defenders already at the club. -- “I’m not happy, boss. I don’t want to move, but you obviously don’t want me. I thought I was doing well.†“I was doing what I thought was best for the club, Ciprian. They’re offering a lot of money, the sort we can’t afford to turn down. It’s got nothing to do with your performances.†The truth was; however, that I’d burnt my bridges with Marica. Lyon had returned with an offering meeting our demands, but it turned out that Ligüera was less interested in a move than Ciprian. A straight cash deal was hammered out at nine in the morning on deadline day, the Romanian joining Lyon for an all-up-front, £12,000,000 deal. This left me with a problem. At five-fifteen we were due to play in Bordeaux; the team had travelled the previous evening with my assistant, Joaquim Preto in charge. Now, as we needed to bring in another striker, I couldn’t make the anticipated journey to join them and Joaquim would have to handle the match himself. My eyes moved immediately to two players, Arouna Koné of Extremadura and Dmitry Sychev of Lokomotiv Moscow. Koné was my first choice, but bids were tabled with both clubs – we could always pull out later. By two-thirty we had spoken on the phone with Koné and his agent and met their contractual demands. The Ivorian said he needed time to think it over. Things weren’t going so well with our Russian friend. Lokomotiv had fallen over themselves to accept our £5,000,000 bid, but Dmitry’s anticipated wages were well above what we were willing to pay. At three o’clock we pulled out of negotiations with Sychev and put all our eggs in Koné’s basket. I was anxious for the deal to be done in time for me to watch our match on T.V., and fifteen minutes before kick-off, allthe relevant faxes and signatures were collected, and Koné began packing his bags for the next flight to France. -- “You were unlucky, Joaquim. Their second goal was well offisde, you could see on the T.V.†“…†“No, not at all. I’ll see you back at the club on Monday.†And I was being truthful, the team hadn’t played badly at all, Bordeaux had merely been lucky with a decision late on that robbed us of a more than deserved point. Rasiak had given us a lead early in the second half, heading home from Briand’s cross, but the hosts soon equalised through Demba Touré. The offending moment came six minutes from time, Touré standing clearly a yard offisde as Okan played a cross into the box, and ‘man of the match’ Touré headed past Carson. It was a horrible way to lose a game, but our lack of luck seemed not to register with the press, and once again I was on the receiving end of some brutal criticism. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 January 2009 Results (Ligue 1 unless otherwise stated) Grenoble 0 – 3 Rennes (French Cup 9th Round) (Hleb 30â€; Jesuli 62â€; Carvalho 81â€) Le Mans 1 – 1 Rennes (Marica 16â€; Romaric 50â€) Rennes 0 – 1 PSG (Ogbeche 13â€) Rennes 2 – 0 Cannes (League Cup Quarter Final) (Hleb 61â€; Downing s/off 85â€; Briand 89â€) Lille 1 – 1 Rennes (Makoun 10â€; Marica 41â€) Rennes 1 – 1 Strasbourg (Mouloungui 44â€; Jesuli 51â€) Bordeaux 2 – 1 Rennes (Rasiak 50â€; Touré 54â€, 84â€) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Lyon | | 24 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 52 | 17 | +35 | 59 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Marseille | | 24 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 46 | 20 | +26 | 48 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Nantes | | 24 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 25 | +10 | 43 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | St. Etienne | | 24 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 32 | 16 | +16 | 42 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Monaco | | 24 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 32 | 28 | +4 | 41 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Bordeaux | | 24 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Lille | | 24 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 41 | 21 | +20 | 39 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Strasbourg | | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 32 | 24 | +8 | 38 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Paris | | 24 | 11 | 4 | 9 | 42 | 33 | +9 | 37 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Auxerre | | 24 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 34 | 27 | +7 | 35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Rennes | | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 35 | 24 | +11 | 34 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Bastia | | 24 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 21 | 29 | -8 | 31 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Nice | | 24 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 23 | 28 | -5 | 27 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Le Mans | | 24 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 24 | 34 | -10 | 26 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Istres | | 24 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 23 | 41 | -18 | 26 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Caen | | 24 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 26 | -11 | 23 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Amiens | | 24 | 6 | 5 | 13 | 19 | 35 | -16 | 23 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Le Havre | | 24 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 40 | -22 | 19 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Montpellier | | 24 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 18 | 45 | -27 | 18 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Niort | | 24 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 12 | 47 | -35 | 10 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 24, 2007 Author Share Posted September 24, 2007 The press had us as clear favourites for our league cup semi final encounter with Lens. But there were few who didn’t mention that, given our current form which had seen us win just one of our last six games, there was plenty of chance of an upset. I can’t say I disagreed with them, especially with two debutants in our side, but a late flourish diminished my worries and saw us into the final. Koné had given us the lead eleven minutes into his debut, but the visitors led at the break thanks to efforts from Daniel Cousin and Seydou Keita. I could feel the delight of the jounalists in the press box, and with ten minutes left we were still behind. Luckily there was one last effort left, and goals from Stewart Downing and Jimmy Briand, sandwiching an own goal from Nicolas Gillet saw us uncomfortably home. Lille had come through their semi final after a penalty shoot-out at Sochaux, and would meet us in the final. However, we had more cup duty before then, Louhans-Cuiseaux visiting us in the tenth round of the French Cup. This was an altogether more comfortable affair, though goalless at half time, Dani Carvalho struck twice and Downing once, putting us into an eleventh round tie with Valence. -- “What’s wrong, Stephen?†Evidently Joaquim had been trying to engage me in conversation for the previous five minutes. “You’ve not been the same since you took the time off.†“Just got things on my mind.†“Get it sorted, it’s affecting the lads.†As far as I was concerned, the ‘lads’ could grow up. My personal life was none of their business, and they should be concentrating on putting in the performances that might actually see us win a league game. They had the chance to do that against Amiens on our own turf, but in front of a desperately poor crowd, they put in a desperately poor performance. Few of them looked interested, and not even the ceaseless energy that Koné provided up front could lift them. Somehow, still, we stole a win, more due to Amiens’ inability to make any inroads into our defence, the game was still tied going into the final ten minutes, so when Carvalho converted Bill Tchato’s cross, it meant three points on the board. I just wished I felt happy about it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 “We’ll have to put Mathieu straight in then. Alou’s been playing well.†Alou Diarra had been playing well since his move to the club, so his groin strain was a bit of a blow. Mathieu Flamini was just back in full training after injury, but he was drafted straight back into the starting line-up for our visit to Nantes. I sat in the dugout for a long time after the game. Trying to figure out why we had lost. For much of the game we had been the better side, we had even taken the lead inside ten minutes through Koné. Yet we had contrived to to concede two goals, one either side of half time. Mamadou Bagayoko and Boubacar Baldé grabbed the goals for the home side, but I simply couldn’t understand how we hadn’t scored more. -- “It’s good to hear your voice.†Hannah’s call was a more than welcome distraction from life at Rennes. Stewart Downing and Scott Carson had come to tell me that they hadn’t been able to settle in the area and might be looking to leave come the summer. On top of our inconsistent league form, it was a headache I couldn’t be bothered with. The chairman was beginning to avoid eye contact with me at the ground, it seemed that perhaps I wouldn’t be given the choice of whether I got to stay at the club. That motivated me for some reason to try and get a decent result against Montpellier, if I ended up leaving I wanted it to be on my terms. The lads reacted to the Nantes defeat in the best possible way, and the visitors were simply blown away, defeated clearly by half time. Jimmy Briand had netted twice with Downing and Carvalho adding to our tally. Briand completed his hat-trick after the break and suddenly everything seemed a bit brighter around the club. Everyone seemed happier in training, Stewart and Scotty had put their personal problems to one side and were happy to continue in the side. Scott picked up a finger injury; however, which kept him out of the trip to face Istres. His replacement, Nicolas Puydebois, could almost have laid down and had a nap in the first half given how little he was needed. We, on the other hand, seemed to have won back our scoring touch, and Carvalho had the ball in the net inside sixty seconds. Koné followed that up with his third goal for the club, and when Jesuli netted on the half hour, the game was won. Jimmy Smith pulled one back for Istres in the second half, but six points from six was a nice way to end the month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 February 2009 Results (Ligue 1 unless otherwise stated) Rennes 4 – 2 Lens (League Cup Semi Final) (Koné 11â€; Cousin 16â€; Keita 27â€; Downing 80â€; Gillet (OG) 83â€; Briand 90+2â€) Rennes 3 – 0 Louhans-Cuiseaux (French Cup 10th Round) (Carvalho 48â€, 90+1â€; Downing 62â€) Rennes 1 – 0 Amiens (Carvalho 84â€) Nantes 2 – 1 Rennes (Koné 9â€; Bagayoko 32â€; Baldé 57â€) Rennes 5 – 0 Montpellier (Briand 11â€, 27â€, 79â€; Downing 31â€; Carvalho 38â€) Istres 1 – 3 Rennes (Carvalho 1â€; Koné 5â€; Jesuli 31â€; Smith 76â€) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 3, 2007 Author Share Posted October 3, 2007 “**** this, I can barely keep awake.†I hadn’t been doing anything particularly interesting the night before our French Cup tie with Valence, I had merely stayed up and watched some old movies, but the nigh on terminally boring nature of the match was helping me stave off sleep. We had lost Stewart Downing early on to injury, but it wasn’t until after the hour that the game came alive when Valence’s Jonathan Assous was sent off for a stunning uppercut on Wayne Routledge. We still struggled to kill them off, but eventually we did, Jesuli scoring twice in the final ten minutes and putting us into a quarter final tie against Toulouse. I stumbled back towards my office, planning a little nap at my desk before I caught up on some paperwork and headed home for the evening, but I was collared in the hallway by my chairman, Emmanuel Cueff, who thrust a newspaper into my hands. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Beckett Eyes Newcastle Job by Iain Couper Former Nottingham Forest and Arsenal manager, Stephen Beckett, currently plying his trade with Rennes in the French Ligue 1, has declared an interest in taking over at Newcastle should beleaguered manager Berti Vogts be sacked. Sitting tenth in the league may be the sort of thing Newcastle fans are used to, but chairman Freddie Shephard is growing impatient at the lack of success Vogts has achieved whilst spending millions on new players. Speaking in France after his side hammered Montpellier 5-0 in a recent league game, Beckett expressed a desire to return to England for personal reasons and that he would jump at the chance of the Newcastle job should it become available. Beckett has been absent from the English game since his disastrous spell at Arsenal, but has been rebuilding the reputation he established with Nottingham Forest, first saving minnows Pau from relegation and now masterminding a charge up the league for underachievers Rennes. Newcastle chairman Shephard yesterday insisted that no decision had been taken on the future of Vogts and that no manager had been approached as a potential replacement. He did; however, concede that were the job to open up, the club would be foolish not to consider an application from a manager of Beckett’s calibre. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> “The little ****er!†I had indeed talked to Iain after the Montpellier match. We’d built up something of a friendship during my time at Nottingham Forest by my joking, “I’d take the Newcastle job in a ****ing second, I hate this **** hole.†had been strictly off the record. I’d told him it was strictly off the record. Never did I expect it to turn up in the British press just a few days later. “Stephen, I hope you will reconsider. We want you to stay here.†It was the first indication the chairman had given me that my job wasn’t under threat at Rennes. “But if you want to leave, we will not stand in your way. We do not want an unhappy manager.†I thanked him and headed to my office, I think he’d been expecting my reassurance that I was staying put, but I just couldn’t help thinking that I would love the Newcastle job. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 5, 2007 Author Share Posted October 5, 2007 To be honest, my life in Rennes no longer contained much outside of football. It was part a deliberate effort on my part to keep myself away from my more headline-worthy habits, and part, I’m sure, an sub-conscious need to stay busy and not have time to let the mind wander to other places. To other people. I had a copy of The Times on my desk, a few days old, in which Freddie Shepherd had given an interview, once again stressing that, whilst no decision had been taken on Berti’s future, my name would be near the top of any shortlist should the position become available. I tried to keep my thoughts on the game against Niort. Having beaten them by two in the league cup back in November was of little importance in the psychological build-up, they had been the moral victors that day, as they had when they held us to a draw in the league just weeks previously. The start was important, too often we were lethargic out of the blocks, so seeing Downing convert a penalty with barely five minutes on the clock calmed my nerves. It also seemed to calm the players, unfortunately to the point of near standstill. Lazily passing the ball around as if the game were won, I wasn’t surprised when Niort sprang an equaliser through Henry Antchouet on twenty-seven minutes. Both Joaquim and myself fumed from the touchline, bellowing orders at whichever player was nearest to us, furiously chewing more gum than even Sir Alex Ferguson. Much to my surprise it worked, as Koné – who until that point had hardly moved an inch in the match – fizzed into life with a five minute hat-trick, started in the luckiest fashion when Niort goalkeeper Sébastien Hamel smashed a clearance into his back and could only then watch as it looped into the net. We were along the south coast to the very east of the country, nearing the Italian border to place Nice, a week after our victory over Niort. Bill Tchato was missing after a training ground collision saw him slip a disc in his back – an injury that would keep him out for two months – whilst Koné was dropped after failing to properly explain his absence from Thursday’s training session. Grzegorz Rasiak took the Ivorian’s place in the side, but the disruptions to the team were evident, and Nice were unlucky to be leading by only Daniel Pereira’s goal at half-time. Stern words were used during the break, none of the coaching staff had the patience to pander to the egos of a bunch of underperforming stars, and eventually they came out of their shell, threatening Damien Grégorini’s goal on more than one occasion in the final half hour. Luckily, Grégorini wasn’t entirely up to the task, and we managed to sneak a point when Rasiak was first to Downing’s cross at the near post and his header flicked into the back of the net off the inside of the post. The visit of Le Havre, four days later, was marred by a truly horrific injury to Jonathan Jager. In just the twelfth minute of the match, Jager slid in for a perfectly fair challenge with Mathieu Flamini, but the crack of his shinbone snapping was audible throughout the stadium. Flamini was clearly distressed in the changing room at half-time, few of either side really looked to have the heart to muster anything from the match, and the eventual goalless draw wasn’t particularly a surprise to anybody. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 5, 2007 Author Share Posted October 5, 2007 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Vogts Sacked bbc.co.uk/sport Newcastle have confirmed what has seemed inevitable over the past few weeks, that the club have parted company with manager Berti Vogts. With only two wins from their last ten games, Newcastle are failing to live up to pre-season expectations and former Scotland boss Vogts has paid the price. More to follow… </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Most men claim their heart skips a beat when they meet a girl they instantly fall in love with, or when they hold their new-born child for the very first time. I am far from ashamed to say that mine skipped, even broke into a dance, when I read of Vogts’ departure from St. James’ Park. I had always made sure of keeping my C.V. up-to-date, and within an hour of reading about the German’s demise, I had a copy in the post with a covering letter winging its way to Newcastle. If I’m being honest, I was getting way ahead of myself by the time we faced Marseille at the Stade Vélodrome, seventy-two hours after Freddie had wielded his axe. I had been a frequent visitor to the club’s website, eyeing up the talent in their squad, voraciously reading match reports to try and identify a common link in what had been going wrong. I was well and truly carried away with the chairman’s previous comments that I would be on his mind if this situation arose, and quite frankly I’d already given myself the job. I sat back in my seat in the Vélodrome dugout and let Joaquim take charge of things. My mind was wandering everywhere, and I barely took in the frantic first fifteen minutes which saw three goals fly in. Rasiak, playing alongside the unrepentent Koné, pounced on a rebound to strike first, though Moumouni Dagano equalised within six minutes. Now sporting a record of unbeaten in six though, the team were loathe to let their lead slip and soon had it back when Koné raced onto N’Guéma’s through ball and clipped a delicate chip over the ‘keeper. The second half produced little of note, Dani Carvalho’s eighty-fourth minute injury the only thing worth mentioning as three points lifted us up to seventh in the table. It was; however, to be my last games in charge at Rennes. Forty-eight hours later I handed in my letter of resignation to the chairman; unable to concentrate on the Rennes job anymore, I put my eggs in Newcastle’s basket and prayed they would come through for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panpardus Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Great read Terk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacemaker7 Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> there's no pans for stephen to leave rennes any time soon </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Didn't realise you needed pans to leave anyway. Still, Simon you must be the most frustrating writer on these forums now that displaced and gino no longer write. You clearly have the talent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverand&Makers Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 Great to see this one back. Been a great read so far. Hoping for more of the same in the future. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 6, 2007 Author Share Posted October 6, 2007 Cheers, guys The support is appreciated. Stu, I know I must frustrate at times, I frustrate myself at times because I don't write as well on FMS as I do in the fiction I write elsewhere, but all I can say is I'm determined to shake my (fully deserved) reputation as a quitter. When finally I leave this place, that is not how I'm going to be thought of. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “City? I’d never really considered them.†“Well, they’ve just sacked Steve Bruce. You might want to think about it in case Newcastle don’t come through. There’s rumours about David Moyes going there.†My friends back in England were far more concerned about the Newcastle situation than I was, a tabloid article speculating about Moyes’ imminent appointment had, for some reason, failed to worry me. But, twenty-four hours after I had quit my post at Rennes, and after I had watched from the stands as they destroyed St. Etienne by six goals, it started to sound like a much better idea to hedge my bets. Hannah had been the first to call. I had expected nothing but happiness in her voice, I wanted her to be thrilled at the idea that I was coming home, but her practicalities were winning the day, and she was worried that I had quit before having anything else concrete to fall back on. I woke on Sunday to a refreshed mind, but with little idea what to do. Though I had mentally already moved back to my native land, I was hesitant still to take the final step of beginning to pack things up, so the house stayed as it was until I had something signed and sealed. By Monday I was growing concern. Eight days had passed since Vogts had been booted from St. James’ Park, and with each new day came a new name linked to the vacant hotseat. I seemed to have been moved to the fringes, no longer apparantly the favourite, mentioned at the end of articles, ‘also linked’. It was this that gave me pause on Tuesday morning when I received a phone call from Rennes. John Wardle, the Manchester City chairman, had flown over and wanted to meet me face to face. -- We picked a quiet café in the centre of town for our meeting later that afternoon. Only a few locals, entirely uninterested in the business of a couple of Englishmen, were there when I arrived. The warm sun a final reminder of what I would leave behind when, as seemed likely, I eventually made the move back home. “There’s no point beating around the bush, Stephen. You’re on our shortlist. You’re at the top of it. We’re seventh in the league but we want to be higher. Everyone remembers what you did with Forest.†“So you don’t have any problems with my past?†“Of course there are problems with your past, but as long as your future isn’t the same, the problems aren’t mine to deal with.†“What’re your expectations?†“Pretty simple. We want, need if I’m honest, regular European football. We haven’t come close recently. Steve did a decent job, but we need someone who can take us further.†He was making all the right noises. A club with ambition and a budget to match, and sitting seventh in the league at the start of April was hardly a bad point to begin from, but it just didn’t sit right with me. I didn’t want Manchester. “It’s been good meeting you, John. I just don’t think it’s right for me at the moment.†“I’m disappointed. The offer stands for forty-eight hours. Phone me if you change your mind.†Well that was stupid. At least I had some time in case Newcastle tried their hand elsewhere. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 6, 2007 Author Share Posted October 6, 2007 “Mr Shepherd will see you now.†I was ushered into the chairman’s office at St. James’ Park, nervous beyond belief, and mainly at the thought of just what I could screw up. . . . “There’s no way around it, Stephen, we’re in haemorrhaging money. I mean, we’re still in good with the bank, we can offer you something in the way of transfer funds, but the wage bill needs drastically reduced. We’re near three-hundred grand over budget.†Stunned silence really is awkward. “To be honest, it was part of the reason Berti was let go. He wasn’t taking any care over the club’s finances. We’re reasonable about the sort of league finishes you’ll be able to achieve over the next few years as well. Financial security comes first.†The Man City job was better than this in so many ways. A solvent club, a decent budget, ambitions of going forward. Fast. This lot had losses of over fifteen million in the current season alone, and only four of that could be explained away as net transfer spending. “I’m sorry it took us so long to get you over here. You know what the media up here’s like, wouldn’t give me a moment’s peace to arrange anything. We want you though. If you want it, the job’s yours.†I wanted it. Badly. “Where do I sign?†-- After an awkward phone call to John Wardle, telling him I’d accepted an offer from Newcastle, I signed a three year contract with only one release clause. The squad, I was informed, was full of divisions. Barely any two of them liked each other enough to hold a civil conversation, but I was assured it was purely down to natural splintering that comes with such poor performances on the field. My only move in the back-room was to bring Joaquim Preto in from Rennes as my assistant. I had built up a good working relationship with the Portuguese during my time at the Ligue 1 side and felt I needed someone alongside me whom I could trust from day one. I had only been in the job forty-eight hours when we welcomed Charlton to St. James’ Park. I had barely had enough time to familiarise myself with the specific qualities of the squad, and I decided, at least to keep myself comfortable – to employ the basic 3-5-2 we had used with varying success in France. The fans gave me a warm welcome when I was presented to them on the pitch before kick-off, and the players did similarly after the whistle had sounded. We had only five games left in the season, and many had been informed they were playing for their futures. It was exactly the sort of reaction you want as a manager, a clean sheet added to the pleasure taken from victory. Jermaine Jenas had given us the lead with a well-placed free kick and Angelos Charisteas had sealed the win in the second half when he was first to the rebound after Shola Ameobi’s shot was parried by Peter Enckelman. It had been a hectic week, flying back and forth between France and the north of England, now there was just one final piece of the puzzle to try and fit into place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 12, 2007 Author Share Posted October 12, 2007 Hannah had agreed to come up to Newcastle with me rather more quickly than I had imagined she would. Living out of a suitcase, in admittedly quite a nice hotel in the centre of the city, wasn’t ideal, but whilst I was hard at work trying to mould the underachieving Magpies into a proper football team, she was equally tasked with finding a decent home to buy. The league position that we found ourselves in – seventh before the Charlton game – was as horrendous as it might have been, but that fact that Berti had quite clearly lost the confidence of the squad coupled with the mis-management of the club’s finances were why I had been brought in. I made five changes to the starting line-up when we faced Derby at Pride Park, but we still seemed fresh, Milner playing Ameobi in for the striker to open the scoring on fifteen minutes. The players’ confidence was still obviously fragile, and it showed as they clung desperately to their lead against a side rock bottom of the table. There were plenty of shaky moments, plenty of chances that a better side may have taken, but with the game deep in injury time we were still up, and as Derby poured forward, including goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, Michael Chopra took the chance to launch a sixty yard effort towards goal and watched with satifastion as it bounced into the back of the net. I couldn’t make it out to France for the league cup final, but I watched on Eurosport, urging my former club onto success. It didn’t work, few of them gave performances worthy of the occasion and Lille strolled to victory thanks to a first half double from Freddy Adu and an Olivier Kapo screamer from twenty-five yards which was the icing on the cake. My second home game at Newcastle saw a visit from the masters of the ‘kick and chase’ game, Bolton. Notoriously difficult to beat, they lived up to their billing during our encounter with them, and despite Mark Kerr’s second half red card for a late tackle which picked him up a yellow card too many, they easily held out for a point and sent our fans home frustrated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 12, 2007 Author Share Posted October 12, 2007 April 2009 Results (Premiership unless otherwise stated) Marseille 1 – 2 Rennes (Ligue 1) (Rasiak 7â€; Dagano 13â€; Koné 15â€) Newcastle 2 – 0 Charlton (Jenas 24â€; Charisteas 76â€) Derby 0 – 2 Newcastle (Ameobi 15â€; Chopra 90+4â€) Newcastle 0 – 0 Bolton Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 16, 2007 Author Share Posted October 16, 2007 “To be honest, Richard, we just want to get this season over with, refocus over the summer and come out fighting in August.†Talking to Sky Sports’ hairiest presenter, I was truly being honest. There was a desperate feeling at the club that belied its sixth place in the league table. I wanted the summer to come, to overhaul the squad, make it my own and launch an attack on next season. Of course, there were fans – passionate and proud as they are in Newcastle – who weren’t going to be best pleased that I remained in the job after losing to Middlesbrough. And, most importantly, in the manner that we did. With the Sky Sports cameras at the Monday night match, we had played some wonderful football, taking a three goal lead by half time. Ameobi got us underway with Milner and Jenas putting us in what seemed an unassailable lead. I should have known better, so should the players. When confidence is so fragile, thinking ‘job done’ is just asking for trouble, and that’s exactly what we got. Arturo Lupoli struck twice by the fiftieth minute to put real doubt in our minds, and though we managed to hold steady for twenty minutes, Yakubu rifled in his own quick-fire double, forcing us to defeat. On the back of losing to ‘Boro, who were relegation candidates in seventeenth place before they beat us, I began to think I might be the only one willing to turn up and face Portsmouth on the last day of the season. Certainly there was no enthusiasm from the players, Milner and Ameobi cried off with the slightest of injuries, but we did manage to muster a squad. The game saw the return of Titus ‘Tits-up’ Bramble to St. James’ Park, and he fully lived up to his reputation, gifting us the lead when the ball bobbled into the net off him after Charisteas’ shot had hit the bar. Portsmouth seemed even less interested in the game than us, and second half goals from Jenas and Shaun Wright-Phillips ensured that we finished high enough to join Blackburn as the English representatives in the Inter-Toto Cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 16, 2007 Author Share Posted October 16, 2007 May 2009 (Premiership unless otherwise stated) Middlesbrough 4 – 3 Newcastle (Ameobi 27â€; Milner 39â€; Jenas 44â€; Lupoli 47â€, 50â€; Yakubu 71â€, 79â€) Newcastle 3 – 0 Portsmouth (Bramble (OG) 40â€; Jenas 63â€; Wright-Phillips 90+1â€) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 16, 2007 Author Share Posted October 16, 2007 <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Man Utd | | 38 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 75 | 33 | +42 | 84 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Chelsea | | 38 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 62 | 35 | +27 | 79 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Liverpool | | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 73 | 36 | +37 | 77 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Arsenal | | 38 | 23 | 5 | 10 | 65 | 44 | +21 | 74 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Tottenham | | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 52 | 46 | +6 | 61 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Newcastle | | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 46 | 38 | +8 | 58 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Man City | | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 53 | 48 | +5 | 56 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Blackburn | | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 51 | 46 | +5 | 56 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Portsmouth | | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 51 | 51 | 0 | 54 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Aston Villa | | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 46 | 48 | -2 | 52 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Everton | | 38 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 47 | 44 | +3 | 51 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Bolton | | 38 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 39 | 47 | -8 | 49 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Sunderland | | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 53 | 53 | 0 | 46 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Southampton | | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 45 | 57 | -12 | 45 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Charlton | | 38 | 11 | 7 | 20 | 44 | 67 | -23 | 40 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Middlesbrough | | 38 | 7 | 17 | 14 | 39 | 55 | -16 | 38 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | West Ham | | 38 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 39 | 60 | -21 | 38 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Birmingham | | 38 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 43 | 61 | -18 | 33 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Sheff Utd | | 38 | 7 | 7 | 24 | 37 | 58 | -21 | 28 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Derby | | 38 | 6 | 8 | 24 | 33 | 66 | -33 | 26 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amaroq Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Excellent!! Just dropped in to say congrats on the multiple nominations.. and I find a great set of updates, back with Hannah and managing Newcastle!! Brilliant! I can't wait for more!! Best of luck for the summer window and all.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terk Posted October 18, 2007 Author Share Posted October 18, 2007 Cheers, Roqy You never know, Stephen might actually stay a decent length of time with this club --------------------------------------------------------------- “Shaun, James, Jermaine, Jean, all of them can go. They’re good players, but I think they need new surroundings. They’re too bothered by the problems that came up under Berti.†“It’s a big clearout. Are you sure?†“As long as I get some of the money to spend.†“Twelve million plus ninety-five percent of what is brought in through sales.†That was what I wanted to hear. The initial budget may not have been huge, but with plenty to be made from sales, I’d have more than enough to reshape my squad. Norwegian international Magne Hoseth had already signed on a free transfer. The international midfielder had been let go by Vålerenga after he badly broke his leg, but such were his talents before the injury that I was perfectly willing to give him a year to prove himself at a high level once more. “I think we’ll need midfielders, maybe four or five. Probably a striker,a top, top quality one, maybe a squad one as well if we sell Angelos and a couple of defenders. We’ll have plenty cash but it’ll have to go a long way if I’m to reshape the squad as much as I want.†“Any main targets?†“Samuel Eto’o.†“Any realistic targets?†“Jesús Navas. He’s on a free from Sevilla if we move quick. He’d be a great replacement for Wright-Phillips on the right flank.†“We’ll look into it.†-- “It’s nice.†“I really like it.†“What’s the damage.†“Within our budget.†“Which means every penny.†Hannah had found a lovely house on the outskirts of the city, I’d managed to set aside three hundred grand from the plentiful salary I’d had at Rennes, but that didn’t stretch as far as I’d imagined it would. It was one worry off my shoulders though, and allowed me to plough through the reams of scouting reports that the club had built up through previous regimes. -- “We’ve agreed a deal with Chelsea for Jermaine and Marseille for Jean.†“How much?†“Nineteen million between the two.†Music to my ears. I wasn’t hugely happy that the deal for Jermaine Jenas was with Chelsea; I’d have preferred for him to be snet abroad, but evidently his desire to remain in the Premiership was strong, and the fee we received made up for any fear at facing him in the future. Boumsong was at least heading out of the country, back to France with Marseille, and given his sometimes calamatous defending, I was delighted to get him off the books. The deal for Navas had been wrapped up quickly, Liverpool and Barcelona had come in at the last minute but he kept his word and signed a deal to join us when his contract ran out at the end of July. Jenas’ move to Chelsea had done one thing in our favour – apart from the eleven million pounds they had wired to our account – and that was their decision not to renew the contract of Croatian midfielder Niko Kranjcar. He had won forty-two caps during his career, and the chance to pick him up for absolutely nothing was too good to miss. With the squad beginning to come together and Freddie Shepherd in possession of a long list naming my potential transfer targets, a house under offer and my life apparantly all falling into place, it was time for a long holiday in the sun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom =) Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 my story is due to be un-locked today. just reminding u good story btw Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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