[FM19] French Lingerie - Acre State, Brazil

[Jimbokav1971]

Stadium discussion continued. May 2037.

A £30M loan sounds fine for a 22,000 seater stadium, (I think), but what doesn't sound ok is the repayments of £275,000 per month with immediate effect. 

More bad news is that while the £15M being generated via stadium sponsorship seems great, it's not so great when it covers a 10 year period. 

More bad news is that we are obviously not moving into the new stadium immediately. (It has to be built first and it's going to take 2 years to build). 

2 years is 24 months and we have to repay £275,000 per month so basically I've got to repay £6,600,000 before we even set foot in the stadium. 

Our old capacity was 3,500 but that's not even going to be available because the old stadium is gone.

It appears we will be ground-sharing with Bordeaux for at least 1 season. 

I'm just not sure how the finances are going to work. Obviously we will have to pay them a rental fee, but will we even get to keep the gate receipts? This is all a bit new to me so I don't know. 

There could be some tough times ahead. 

Oh, actually I had a couple of messages that I hadn't read. 

So the old stadium wasn't owned by us anyway if we were renting it. If we were renting it, how did we get given £350,000 for the sale? 

I suppose Bordeaux isn't a million miles away, but wouldn't it have been really cool to have relocated to share the Real Sociedad stadium in San Sebastian, Spain? I know it's another Country but MUCH nearer.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

21 minutes ago, scousevasey said:

Either that or in 2037, football clubs have started to expect that the cost will spiral and there will be delays, meaning something positive has come out of the Tottenham stadium saga this season

I think we are going to be in trouble as it is even without the costs spiralling thanks very much. 

[Jimbokav1971]

I can't tell you how gutted I am that the stadium is not going to be named after me. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Splash the cash? Jun 2037.

So despite only having a bank balance of £527,140 the board have given me a Transfer Budget of £8,174,200.

I'm toying with the idea of splashing the cash, (think of it more as a case of speculating to accumulate actually), and trying to get hold of some decent potential Spanish/Basque youngsters. 

Let's reduce the max asking price to £100,000 and see what's left. 

Now let's look at unattached players and get them in on trial. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Well that escalated quickly. Jun 2037.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Board requests. Jun 2037.

Training Facilities. 

Youth Facilities. 

Affiliate Club. 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Great staying up Jimbo and excellent a new stadium is coming.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Great staying up Jimbo and excellent a new stadium is coming.

Cheers Nobby. It's been a hard slog getting here but hoping to push on now. The new stadium should make a difference in terms of finances once it's up and running. 

We've just played our 1st "home" game in Bordeaux and the attendance was 22,355. 

The capacity of the new stadium is 22,265 so we are going to fill it out immediately. 

We received £250,427 in gate receipts this month, (this was the only home game played), and in the whole of last season we received only £440,877 in gate receipts. That would suggest that 1 sell-out per month at home is enough to pay off the loan and still leave us with a healthy profit on what we were receiving last year. 

The only real down-side is that we have out-grown the stadium even before we have moved in. 

[Jimbokav1971]

A little short up front. Aug 2037. 

Pre-season went as pre-season goes, with the notable exception of us being a little goal-shy. We only scored 3 goals and 1 of them was a pen from goal-scoring GK #2 (23e) Bouchez (F.Det) *. It was pre-season though so I really didn't pay much/any attention.

I had changed to a 442 this season, (mainly in an attempt to get get 2 strikers on the pitch at the same time to blood either of our 2 high prospect youngsters), and while we have done ok, (you have to remember that we are rubbish and playing in Ligue 1), we are certainly lacking a bit of something up front and our game management has been appalling. 

We've twice conceded injury time goals this month, (costing us 2 points). 

Nantes was a bit of a strange game in that while we created by far the better chances, (both clear cut and half), they actually bossed the middle of the pitch. We scored 2 goals and they only found the score-sheet in the 93rd minute. 

The Lyon game I don't really have too many complaints about. We were decent and might have drawn or even sneaked it, but they scored and we didn't. 

We certainly had the better of it against Dijon. 

We absolutely battered Metz, (who ended up playing with 10 men), How we didn't get something out of this game I have no idea. 

A goal in the 92nd minute cost us 2 points against Reims. 

At this stage I'm still using the IR button, (but have gone back and watched comp highlights). I think that the tactic is doing what I want it to do but we are just lacking the quality up front to take our chances so we are not really getting what we deserve. The reason you are getting a more in-depth breakdown of each game is because I'm looking at things in more detail while I work on the tactic, When I just start playing normally again, the monthly reports will revert to what they have been for most of the save. 

My target once again is nothing more than avoid relegation. I don't care about anything else at all. 

Despite our lack of form/luck/whatever, we are still outside the relegation zone, (by 3 positions but just 1 point). 

Red Star, Angers and Caen are the 3 newly promoted teams

Edited March 22, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Leading the line. Sep 2037.

Just so you can appreciate quite how our attacking options are limited, I am going to show you the 4 players we have in contention through the middle up front. 

Reta (ESP) (BAS) (F.Det) is the best, (by CA stars), and the Basque-Spaniard was here on loan last season before I nabbed him on a free at the end of his contract. When I initially signed him on loan I was just desperate for anyone to come and help up front and was delighted when he agreed. He looks pretty good if I'm honest, but not really for a first-choice player at this level. The other thing that I didn't notice until now was his PPM's. Don't get me wrong, I had taken notice of the Runs with ball down right, knocks ball bast opponent and cuts inside PPM's, (and I don't have an issue with them), but what I don't remember ever seeing was the "comes deep to get ball" PPM. That's not ideal at all and I want him to stop doing that immediately. 

It would seem that my attacking coach has other ideas though. He is right, but the thing is I want to play a slightly deeper forward on the left hand side and someone who really stretches them the other way on the right hand side. I want this bloke to play on the right and stretch them back towards their own goal so I don't care what the coach says. 

(29d) Tristan Albert (Unamb) * was the only proper striker we had at the start of last season, (hence my decision to look to get someone in on loan). He was a better than decent performer in Ligue 2, (with 18, 14 & 17 goals in consecutive seasons for us), but he really struggled last season and only managed 5 goals, (although he lost a hat-trick in the Cup with a crash). part of the reason for his lack of success is that I was playing a lone P(a) last season, (because it was what we most needed), but the reality is that he isn't suited to it at all and that led to me thinking that as I had 2 decent youngsters coming through, I could try and see what I could get out of 2 up front. This guy would play as the left-sided ST, (so far it's been a PF(s) but I'm willing to experiment with the left-sided role and may even revert to his preferred TM role.  

(36a) Dulce (F.Amb) (2036) * has morphed into (36a) Dulce (Bal) (2036) * is the better of the 2 youngsters and it's obvious quite how raw he is and why he might be struggling to convert chances. The way I see it though, if I can avoid relegation this season while playing him, then every minute he spends on the pitch will be money in the bank. Of course it helped that he scored the winner on the opening day of the season, but I really like the look of him and all the staff think that he's going to be significantly better than our more established pairing. He's 16 for God's sake and I'm playing him up front in Ligue 1 in a team who really shouldn't be here at all. 

(34d) Joseba Mayo (Unamb) * has morphed into (34d) Joseba Mayo (Bal) * and although he is 2 years older, is actually behind (36a) Dulce (Bal) (2036) * in the pecking order. A slow starter, he wasn't initially a 5.0 PA player when he came through the Academy, but even though the top end player level player here has improved since his arrival, his potential has has increased even past that. He's already scored in Ligue 1, (from 2(1) appearances last season), but the plan for him this season is to start most games in National 2-B and only being him into the Senior squad when 1 of the 3 above is unavailable, and even then just from the bench. Again, he is deemed to have significantly better potential than our 2 starting strikers, so a season hopefully smashing goals in for the Reserves, and with a few Ligue 1 appearances thrown in is just what is needed to accelerate his development. 

When we are failing to convert chances with guys, I have to keep the faith and remember that their playing time is an investment in their and our future. 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Saintmat]

15 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I can't tell you how gutted I am that the stadium is not going to be named after me. 

Oh well, you'll just have to manage the club for another 20 years!

[Jimbokav1971]

20 minutes ago, Saintmat said:

Oh well, you'll just have to manage the club for another 20 years!

Knowing my luck, I will still be here and someone else will get it. 

[Bobsled]

Making a lot of progress lately!

[Jimbokav1971]

Cheating? Sep 2037. 

As I was writing the "Leading the Line" post, I was typing all these positive words, but what I was thinking was "how the hell have these 2 kids scored in Ligue 1"? I knew they weren't good enough and if I want this 2 up top to work then I need to go and get some better players in. If not starting strikers, then at least strikers who were better than my teenagers.

The other thing that I realised was that while I had 1 player sort of suitable to play the left hand more withdrawn of the 2 striking roles, I didn't have a back-up because the other 3 were all more suited to going in behind rather than coming short and linking play, (or more specifically working their arses off trying to force a mistake). So what I needed was 2 strikers ready to play right now and ideally both suited to playing in the more withdrawn left hand role. 

First of all I signed Iker Moreno (BAS) (Bal) on a free and while he isn't great, he's an improvement on the 2 teenagers and more importantly he is particularly suited to the PF(s) role. He has also been pretty prolific for his previous club Alaves, (or at leasgt Alaves B), where he scored 28, 32, 21 & 31 goals. I know we are playing at a significantly higher level than Alaves B, but 112 goals in 152 games over 4 consecutive seasons is pretty damn impressive in my book. So he joined on a free and didn't want much of a wage either so it's risk-free. 

Then I followed that up with the signing of 25 year old. Miguel González (BAS) (Bal). He's never been exactly prolific, but despite that he has still managed to notch 39 goals in 102 appearances, Unlike Iker Moreno (BAS) (Bal) he has played at a decent level, (scoring in la Liga for lowly Eibar), and when I saw that he was going to be available for less than £0.5M I just jumped straight in for him. Even another £0.5M on top as a signing on fee couldn't put me off. I had to have him and was delighted when he signed despite the extravagant outlay for a club of our stature. It initially looks like being a good piece of business as he is immediately worth £1.7M and I have secured him on a 4 year deal. (I try to not put +year options in the contract for players produced elsewhere because I want to focus on our own talent in the long-term. The fact that he has performed well in another Country, (he scored 10 goals in 18 appearances for Osijek in Croatia), suggests that he is adaptable enough to move from Spain to France. I don't plan on him playing wide, but he can in a pinch and his PPM's suit that. I want to see him through the middle though and to that end I have him learning a new PPM. Forget going round the keeper, all the cool kids lob the GK when one-on-one. 

That's sort of where the cheating problem starts. You see I have given my DoF free reign to find new players, (young and old), and the idea is that he finds them, I look at them to see if they are Basque and when they aren't, (they never are), I press cancel on the deal and tell him to go and find me another. Well I was so excited by the 2 signings above, (I sneaked them through just before deadline day), and I was also busy getting about 12 players in on trial that I wanted to have a closer look at, that I got a little click happy, and somehow I found myself staring at a blue player who had somehow arrived at the club on loan on transfer deadline day. 

He's a striker, and he looks like a French striker with a name like Pierre Bouyer, which I will now rename to Pierre Bouyer (FRA) (Bal), and what;s more he looks good according to his stars. he looks REALLY good.  

But I didn't sign him. Where did he come from? Have we got a parent club? No. Did my DoF find him? He must have. But I must have accepted the deal.......

Please be Basque, please be Basque, please be Basque, please be Basque. 

He's French, but he's not Basque/French. 

Ooh. He's even played for France U19's. Exactly how good is he? 

Yeah. For our level he's pretty damn good. He would certainly make our starting XI. He's not Basque though and it's a rule I'm not going to break. I will just send him back to his club. Where is he from? Oh Bordeaux, (who we are ground-sharing with). At least he won't have far to go. Thanks for coming Pierrie but au revoir and all that young man.....

errrr....... what do you mean we can't send him back. Of course we can send him back. He's nor Basque for God's sake now tell him........

 

We really can't send him back. I mean we REALLY can't send him back, and he's not Basque so we can't play him either. 

Oh well, it will be fine. We will just leave him languishing in the Reserves and with any luck we won't be paying him any wages so it's really not a disaster. I just won;t play him and no harm, no foul..... 

What the hell! 

We are paying him £6,000 per week! and we can't play him. Which blinking eegit arranged this deal? It's a ridiculous deal. Get me that bloomin DoF in here now!

Actually boss, it's a pretty good deal because he's worth £1.2M and the DoF has stuck a clause in there to allow us to buy him for $583,000 during the term of the loan. That's a great deal actually boss. It's just a shame that he's not Basque! 

Now I don't care how good he is or how much we are paying him, but he is never going to play for the Senior team. What I am going to do though is play him in the Reserves. If that goes well and he keeps his value, then what I might do is sign him for the £583,000 later in the season, (but still not play him), keep him banging in goals in the Reserves, and then loan him out next season with a view to selling him for a profit the following season. As far as my rules go, as long as he doesn't play a competitive game for the senior squad then that should be fine. #

That being said, £6,000 over 52 weeks is £312,000. That puts a hell of a dent in any profit. What an idiot!  

Does anyone have any thoughts on my stupidity/cheating? 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[zlatanera]

You can send him back! Your screenshot shows the recall clause! You just can’t terminate the loan within the 1st month. I found this out when I loaned out a guy who then broke his leg a day later - had to let him have a month with the other clubs quacks before we could get him back to safety

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

You can send him back! Your screenshot shows the recall clause! You just can’t terminate the loan within the 1st month. I found this out when I loaned out a guy who then broke his leg a day later - had to let him have a month with the other clubs quacks before we could get him back to safety

Ok brill. I will keep and eye on it and send him back asap then. 

[Thebaker]

If you don't play him at all, he or the manager at the other club might want to go back, that happens all the time i found.

Great work on staying up

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, zlatanera said:

You can send him back! Your screenshot shows the recall clause! You just can’t terminate the loan within the 1st month. I found this out when I loaned out a guy who then broke his leg a day later - had to let him have a month with the other clubs quacks before we could get him back to safety

 

2 hours ago, Thebaker said:

If you don't play him at all, he or the manager at the other club might want to go back, that happens all the time i found.

Great work on staying up

He's gone! Oct 2037. 

He made 3(1) appearances for the Reserves, (scoring 1 goal), and made no appearances at all for the Senior side so while the was a little blip in the save, we are completely back on track and no rules have been broken. 

Thanks to @zlatanerafor the info. I'm not use to loaning players in. 

[Jimbokav1971]

442 is a hard sell. Sep 2037. 

I'm persisting with 442 and slowly tweaking things as we go. Miguel González (BAS) (Bal) has been out with a double hernia since shortly after signing and is yet to make his debut for us, which hasn't helped), but I think there are signs of progress. 

We were poor against Angers and deserved to lose, but 3-0 was a bit harsh on the lads. 

Against Rennes we had more of the ball but they had the best chances and ran out deserved winners in the end even if the result was in the balance all the way through. 

Nice was a tight affair, (that they won), but there wasn't a lot in it. A lot of the opposition chances are being coughed up by our own mistakes in not being able to deal with simple balls over the top. I know that the answer to this is inverted wingbacks, (at least I think that's the answer), but I don't really want ti play with inverted anything and am still looking for an alternative solution. Having a goal-shy attack and a leaky defence is a dangerous mix. 

[Jimbokav1971]

One more month. Oct 2037. 

We've had a rubbish start to life playing 442 but 5 of the 6 games we lost were lost by a single goal, and we already know about our weaknesses up front. If we can start scoring 1 goal per game then we should start picking up points and if we start scoring 2 goals per game then I think we will start getting wins. We are not being carved open at all and for the most part, the goals we are conceding our down to individual error, often late in games. I don't want to go down the IWB route, but this would solidify us centrally and is obviously on my mind for me to mention it again. 

Miguel González (BAS) (Bal) should be back for the Bordeaux game, (if nor the Lens game), and I'm hoping that might help things a little too. I think I am going to give 442 until the end of October and then look at it then to see if we are going to persist or revert to what we had before. The more I think about it, with the paucity of strikers and a number of decent midfielders, I think the squad is crying out to play 3 in the middle and 1 up top, but I don't like failing so am still keen to stick with 442 for the time-being. 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Bedese]

Just caught up on this! Superb work as always, Jimbo  

 

 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Bedese

[Jimbokav1971]

15 minutes ago, Bedese said:

Just caught up on this! Superb work as always, Jimbo  

Thanks, but it doesn't feel very superb at the moment. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Enough is enough. Oct 2037. 

It just wasn't working for us so 2 games into October I have decided to bin-off 442 until another time, (and there will be another time), and revert to the 3 in the DM line that worked so well for us in recent years. 

Monaco are really good at the moment and have already bought in players to the tune of £126M this season. They are just going to be too strong for us no matter what tactic we play. 

They absolutely battered us. They scored from direct free-kicks, indirect free-kicks, corners, headers, volleys etc etc. The goal seemed like it was under constant bombardment. 

Lens are no Monaco, but they were still far too good for us. It wasn't a 4-1 game but our confidence is shot and we are just not really at it at the moment. 

The problem I've got now is that morale is at absolute rock-bottom and no sooner do I get Miguel González (BAS) (Bal) onto the pitch for the 1st time, (he got the assist against Lens on his debut), than Reta (ESP) (BAS) (F.Det) has torn his hamstring and will be out for 2-3 months. 

Next up are our local(ish) rivals Bordeaux. I don't know if we are home or away but as we are ground-sharing I'm not sure it makes much difference. 

New tactic, (well, return to an old tactic), but the same result as our landlords Bordeaux sneak past us 1-0.  We had 3 ccc's to their 0,  but they come away with the 3 points. 

Our 3 ccc's were not as central as I would like, but the bottom one, (21) was was saved and palmed onto the post and then cleared so we were especially unlucky. The other 2 ccc's (80) and (8) were actually created by our left back driving infield for some reason. (Not sure what is happening there but will have to keep an eye on that). 

Here are all the shots in the match. (We are on the left). I think I prefer our chances to theirs, with the exception of 2 good headed opportunities just outside the 6-yard box. I would say this is a step in the right direction despite another loss. 

We need a result now and the next game is a League Cup game. 

Unfortunately, even when we don't lose we lose. 

In my defence I did rotate the whole squad for this game to try and ensure we were fresh for the next league game against Auxerre, 

The last game of the month was against Auxerre who were struggling themselves. The media gave us absolutely no chance but I was quietly confident after resting everyone during the week in the Cup. Unfortunately the media was right and I was wrong. 

October has been an awful month. 

But the whole season has been pretty awful.

We just can't score. 

We've lost 7 games bu a single goal now and lost another on penalties. 

We are deep in trouble. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Setting records. Nov 2037. 

[Jimbokav1971]

International call-ups. Nov 2037. 

Finally some good news. 

We have some new players getting their 1st International call-ups. 

17 year old GK (36c) Schmidt (F.Loyal) * has been called up to the (FRA) U19's squad. 
16 year old DL (36e) Koldo (Det) * has been called up to the (FRA) U19's squad. 

17 year old MC (35a) Iker (Bal) (2035) * has already been called up to both the (FRA) U19's and U20's squads and is again in the U19's squad. He has made 8 appearances for (FRA) U19's, (creating 2 assists and scoring 2 goals), and 3 appearances for (FRA) U20's.

19 year old MC (34b) Mikel Ochoa (Bal) * had previously been called up for International duty and has made 2 appearances for (FRA) U20's but he has missed out on this occasion.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Acceptance. Nov 2037. 

We've just lost, (obviously 1-0 again), to the bottom team in the league, (Red Star), and the result means that we rather than they are now bottom. I have now accepted that relegation is inevitable and will just be posting normal monthly updates now. If we can't beat them we won't beat anyone. Not only did we have a goal ruled out for off-side, but we also somehow also scored their goal for them. 

Look, I know we weren't good, but we were better than them. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Let's get this over with. Nov 2039. 

Miguel González (BAS) (Bal) earned us a point against Guingamp and then should have earned us all 3 points against Montpellier, but we conceded in the 88th and 93rd minutes to somehow come away with nothing. 

We lost by a single goal, (again), to both Caen and Red Star to rub salt in the wound. Caen deserved to win but we were the better team against Red Star and had to score their goal for them ourselves. 

We are now rock bottom of the table and have not won since the opening day of the season, losing by a single goal on no less than 11 occasions, drawing 2 more games and then losing a 3rd drawn game on penalties. 

[optimusprimal82]

Ugh, dark times indeed - really tough when you're facing results like that every week!

Over half the season still to go, do you still think it's terminal? Obviously it's looking pretty bleak right now but - romantic & stupidly optimistic hat firmly in place - looking at the match stats, you're in the reckoning in a lot of the games so maybe not a lost cause and all it needs is a 'bottom induced deflection one win could make the difference?

Yes, I really would make a poor motivational speaker!  

 

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Ugh, dark times indeed - really tough when you're facing results like that every week!

Over half the season still to go, do you still think it's terminal? Obviously it's looking pretty bleak right now but - romantic & stupidly optimistic hat firmly in place - looking at the match stats, you're in the reckoning in a lot of the games so maybe not a lost cause and all it needs is a 'bottom induced deflection one win could make the difference?

Yes, I really would make a poor motivational speaker!  

 

Of course there is still a chance. 

What I should have done yesterday is stop playing at the end of October in the hope that the non-existent "luck-modifier" would reset itself this morning and that I would start winning again and all would be well with the FM World. (Yes, I am joking). 

But yes, there is a chance, and you know what, it probably doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things so if we have to take a step back to take a great leap forward then so be it. I would hope that my legend status should stop me from getting sacked after 1 relegation, (especially with the "battle bravely" target I was set), but you never know. If I do go down I will be very nervous right up until the time where I start playing the following season. Then the pressure will really be on because I'm sure they will demand an instant return and with only 1 auto-promotion spot that's FAR from guaranteed. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Decisions decisions decisions. Dec 2037.

I had decided last night that I was giving up on 442 and going back to my old tried and trusted tactic, but when I cranked up the game this morning I realised that our next opponent was none other than PSG.

They have only lost 1 league game all season, (have only drawn 3 others), and are basically on another footballing planet to us. That being said, we beat them last season, (don't ask me how). In any case, what I thought was, "what is the point in changing the tactic for this game when we are going to get battered anyway?" "I might as well stick with it for another game. It's a freebee anyway so just go for it and see what happens"

Well I didn't just "go for it", (because I deleted thetemplate last night in disgust), but I did briefly create a new one and this time I added IWB's to it. I then pressed the IR button and this is what I got. 

We may have got battered despite drawing, but that was never really in question was it? We scored 2 goals. 2 really nice goals I might add, and they scored from a corner and an indirect free-kick.

Now I'm torn. Have we done well because this is a tactic and I just needed a little luck, or have we done well because PSG under-estimated us ridiculously? 

You know, I don't think it matters. The fact is that we scored 2 goals for only the 2nd time this season and we played some beautiful football. I have to give it another go don't I?

I should add that it's very hard to win a game of football when you win only 46% of your own attempted headers. 

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm a flippin Magician, (soon to become escapologist!) Dec 2037.

It's the "luck-modifier" I tell you.  (It's not. I'm joking).

So we drew away with the French magnificence that is PSG, but I hadn't really thought it through because just 3 days later we were playing away against Toulouse, (To lose or not to lose. That is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind......... sorry, where was I). 

Basically we were still knackered after the PSG game and now we had another away game to play. What I would usually do is rotate the squad for the PSG game and go eyeballs out for the Toulouse game,  but it's too late for that so I opted to just let the Ass Man pick the squad, (I often do that and then make some changes afterwards, but on this occasion I made no changes), and then pressed the IR button.

Now before I get carried away and everyone thinks that I've nailed it with this tactic, I should point out that they had 3 ccc's and we had 0, but to be honest who even knows what the SI definition of a ccc is anyway. All that I really care about is the fact that we scored 2 goals (AGAIN!) and we also hit the post too. I mentioned yesterday that I didn't think a lot needed to change, (because we kept losing by a single goal margin), but in having to start from scratch again, (and this time adding in IWB's), maybe that's all that was needed. 

I honestly don't think so though because we are playing some fabulous football that we weren't playing yesterday, (although that could be the IWB influence too), but either way I'm walking around with a spring in my step this morning.

The escape is on! 

Edited March 23, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Sum the club up in 1 game. Dec 2037.

Dijon took a goal-kick after 01:03.

GK (23e) Bouchez (F.Det) * dragged us back into it with a peach of a direct free-kick after 17 minutes. 

GK (23e) Bouchez (F.Det) * knows that a draw isn't good enough if we are going to avoid relegation so he converts a 2nd direct free-kick on 21 mins. 

We finally win 3-2 away to Dijon in a mustard performance, despite seeing record signing Miguel González (BAS) (Bal) sent off for a 2nd yellow on the hour mark. 

We are still in the relegation zone and there is still work to be done. 

Edited March 23, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Progress. Dec 2037. 

We could have beaten PSG, (despite being battered), as they only scored set-pieces against us. 

We were good against Toulouse. 

We were ahead against Marseille with 15 mins left and should have won. 

Lyon gave us the type of dicking where you just have to accept it and be glad you don't have to play them every week. (They were REALLY good).

We smashed Dijon and scored 3 goals for the 1st time this season. (Yes I know our GK had to score 2 of them but don't worry about that). 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2038.

I picked a completely rotated team in the Cup and it almost backfired, but we came through it in the end. 

I don't care about friendlies. 

We were bang on the money against Metz. 

We were the better team against Reims, but we didn't score the goals we needed to take the points. 

I went into the Angers game thinking we might just turn then over but we need to keep all 11 players on the pitch to be competitive and didn't. 

Despite an appalling first half of the season, we are still in touching distance of safety being only 3 points behind Auxerre who are out of the relegation zone in safety.

Edited March 23, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake Day. Feb 2038.

"Has the potential to be one of the most gifted" is not what I hoped to see, but let's be honest, who knows how reliable the star ratings are here.  

What do I say? Any intake with 1x 5.0 PA player is a good intake? I must admit it's getting a bit old now. 

(38a) Teo Guerin (Bal) (2038)*.

Goalkeepers at the club. 

We didn't really want a GK to come through the intake top of the rankings as we have a few options here already. 

(23e) Bouchez (F.Det) * is the long-term 1st choice keeper who has been with us for 15 years, making 405 appearances and scoring 44 goals in the process. 

(36c) Schmidt (F.Loyal) * is the heir apparent who has already started to compete for selection. At the very latest he will be 1st choice by the start of next season, (when he will still be only 17). He's got very low injury susceptibility and I expect him to become our record appearance holder.

(37b) Jon Jiménez (F.Det) * has come out of nowhere really. I didn't pay too much attention to him last year when he came through the intake, (because I didn't need him), but he's come on leaps and bounds

[zlatanera]

@Jimbokav1971 I'm doing my own Basque-only save. I've copied your list of clubs that produce Basque newgens, I have to ask: do Burgos CF produce any? I've noticed Athletic are affiliated with them and have a first option, which suggests that they'd happily purchase a player from them and claim them as Basque.

[Jimbokav1971]

9 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

@Jimbokav1971 I'm doing my own Basque-only save. I've copied your list of clubs that produce Basque newgens, I have to ask: do Burgos CF produce any? I've noticed Athletic are affiliated with them and have a first option, which suggests that they'd happily purchase a player from them and claim them as Basque.

Burgos CF are non-playable in my my game but all the grey players they have are Spanish only rather than Spanish/Basque. 

[zlatanera]

3 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Burgos CF are non-playable in my my game but all the grey players they have are Spanish only rather than Spanish/Basque. 

Ah right, they must have been relegated in 2017/18 - I'm playing on FM18 as I want to have Inigo Martinez and Alvaro Odriozola, and they're in Segunda B. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2038.

The points against Rennes and Nice were great, but we really needed to follow that up with a 3-pointer somewhere.

Even another single point in the Bordeaux game would have been ok and we were level until the 95th minute. We just keep conceding late goals. We were ahead against Rennes and 2-0 up against Nice and we couldn't hold out in either. 

The reason that the attendance was so high in this game is because effectively both teams were at home. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2038.

The only game won this month is a Cup game and I have just about resigned myself to relegation now. 

I was aiming to finish in 17th, but even 18th and the relegation Playoff seems out of reach now. 

On the plus side, we are still somehow in the Cup.

Edited March 23, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2038.

You can tell that I have finally dispensed with the 442 tactic. To be honest I had given up on avoiding relegation and all I was trying to do was get to the Cup Final so we would have European football next season even if we got relegated. Unfortunately it worked a little too well in that we somehow won 3 league games on the bounce, only to come unstuck in spectacular fashion in the Semi against Rennes when I was desperate to win. It wasn't even close though. They absolutely demolished us. 

PSG though, they are our biatches! 

Despite our April heroics though, we are still in the relegation zone 1 point behind Metz in the Playoff zone. I was hoping that we would play eachother and it would be a sort of winner takes all finale, but unfortunately we have already played them twice this season, (winning 3-2 at home and losing 1-0 away), so if it comes down to a head to head record come the end of the season, I think they beat us on away goals. 

That seems to suggest that we lose if we end up on the same points as Metz. We basically need to collect 2 more points over the next 3 games than they collect over their next 3 games. If if they don't get any more points, I'm not sure we can collect 2. 

Toulouse are 9th. 
Marseille are..... OMG Marseille are 2nd now. We have no chance.
Nantes are 12th. 

Metz have the following fixtures.....

Monaco are 3rd, and are VERY good going forward. 
Guingamp are in 16th.
Toulouse are in 9th and hopefully will be in poor morale after we beat them, (in my dreams). 

I suppose we have a chance against Toulouse and Nantes.

I just need Metz to absolute implode and get nothing.

[Jimbokav1971]

Le Crunch 1. May 2038. 

We got off to a great start by dispatching Toulouse by a single goal. They may have had a player sent off, but we had already scored by then so as far as I'm concerned it had no impact whatsoever. 

Now I just need Monaco to absolutely stuff Metz. 

[Edit]

Monaco beat Metz 2-0 so as it stands we are out of the relegation zone and into the Playoff zone. 

You know I hadn't looked until now, but it's possible that it's Reims who will finish 2nd bottom and not either ourselves or Metz. 

oh my God this is nerve-wracking. 

Edited March 23, 2019 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Le Crunch 2. May 2038.

We were level away to Marseille with 20 mins remaining, but they rallied and scored two more to take the points. 

At the same time, 10 man Metz were easing past Guingamp. 

I forgot to look at the Reims result, but they lost 3-1 at home to Lyon. 

Although we are back in the relegation zone, the difference is now a matter of goals rather than points with 1 game remaining. This is doable. 

Damn. We drew 1-1 with Reims at home and lost 2-1 away, so we have a poorer head to head record. We need another point against Nantes and hope that Reims get nothing against Lens, (who are in 4th by the way). 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Le Crunch 3. May 2038.

Come on! We can do this! 

No. No we couldn't do it. 

It's back to Ligue 2 we go. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2038.

We took it to the last day of the season, but ultimately it was the appalling start to the season that cost us. 

On the plus side, it looks as if the board have no intention of sacking me.

[zlatanera]

Yeah after what you've done for the club no sane board would countenance sacking you. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't even expect you to get into the promotion play-off next season.

Unlucky, but well-fought!

[Bedese]

Damn, unlucky Jimbo  Put up a good fight at the end of the season there!

[optimusprimal82]

Great write up of what was a sad end to the season, definitely feel your pain! Good luck next season with the bounce-back, as you say, a step back to (hopefully) take two forward!

[Mbasnett6]

And this is why I love this sir. Not just a catalogue of victories, but a real long-term struggle. Tried a new tactic, didn't work. Happens. You'll be back up soon enough. Good luck for the next season.

[Jimbokav1971]

7 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Yeah after what you've done for the club no sane board would countenance sacking you. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't even expect you to get into the promotion play-off next season.

Unlucky, but well-fought!

 

7 hours ago, Bedese said:

Damn, unlucky Jimbo  Put up a good fight at the end of the season there!

 

6 hours ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Great write up of what was a sad end to the season, definitely feel your pain! Good luck next season with the bounce-back, as you say, a step back to (hopefully) take two forward!

 

5 hours ago, Mbasnett6 said:

And this is why I love this sir. Not just a catalogue of victories, but a real long-term struggle. Tried a new tactic, didn't work. Happens. You'll be back up soon enough. Good luck for the next season.

Cheers lads. 

We almost pulled it off, but we just left ourselves with too much to do after an appalling start to the season.

I was looking last night at why we have struggled so badly and the thing is that our best team is VERY young now. Over the last 18 months or so, young players have come through and put themselves in contention for a starting place with far more experienced player. Because this is a long-term save I have to have an eye on the future and the development of players and as a result my match selection is probably skewed in favour of PA where there is a choice to be made. While I don't regret this decision, (even in relegation), it does at least partly explain the performances. What I should have done was tried to change the tactic with a more established and experienced group of players. 

If I look at the players who played that last game against Nantes, 4 of the starting line-up were teenagers, (2 of them just 17), another player was 20 and there were 3 more 17 year old's on the bench. That's just too many. 

The other area where I erred was that although I went out and signed 2 strikers, (the bloke I spent £0.5M on, Miguel González (BAS) (Bal). ended up scoring 11 goals in 21(7) appearances), the only centre-back I signed came in on loan and was arranged by the DoF. He identified where our weakness was where as I just ignored signings, (because of the nature of the save), until it was too late. By then I had already spent £0.5M on a striker, Miguel González (BAS) (Bal), (and given him a similar bonus), (and I have just remembered that he has a min fee release clause in the event of relegation of £700,000 when he is worth £1.5M). As his wages are £10,000 per week I think that might be decent business even at that price. Anyway, because I had already coughed up almost £1M on an attacker and still thought there was a good chance we would go down, I decided not to twist at Christmas and get some more players in. I just wasn't willing to risk the financial security of the club on a whim at a time where the finances were already going to be stretched by the cost of the new stadium.  

The loan repayments have actually been made relatively easily, with an average home attendance of about 11,000 so even assuming we don't come straight back up I'm hopeful that we will be ok financially. I still haven't had any real interest in any of the batch of players that came through since the last set of facilities were upgraded and I find that a little surprising but that can possibly be explained by us not doing very well in terms of winning games for the last 2 seasons in Ligue 1. Put these same players in Ligue 2, let them perform well for a while and I think the interest in them might rise significantly. 

Marseille and Auxerre are interested in (35a) Iker (Bal) (2035) * who is ranked as one of the best players at the club, (by CA), even though he is only 17. I'm not keen to sell why we are in decent shape financially, but he has a minimum fee release clause of only £1.7M. As we have never received more than £225,000 for a player though, I suppose I have to just accept it and keep going if someone comes in for him. I wouldn't normally have agreed to that sort of clause in a contract. It makes me wonder how many more I have missed like this. 

(29d) Tristan Albert (Unamb) * is my Target Man striker who is now 23 years old and values at £400,000. He has really struggled in both seasons in Ligue 1 and clearly just isn't good enough no matter how much I like him. He scored 18, 14 and 17 goals in Ligue 2 though so he's plenty good for that league. Nancy of Ligue 2 are trailing him and I must admit I would expect a reasonable offer for him if one comes in, (assuming Miguel González (BAS) (Bal) hasn't already gone). Ideally I only want to lose 1 of them this season.