[FM23] - French football thread

[BadAss88]

I'm very much in doubt as to where to start my Glory Hunter-save.. 

Lens, Lyon, Marseille, Monaco, Nantes, Nice, Rennes, Reims or Toulouse..

[DaveMUFC]

7 hours ago, BadAss88 said:

I'm very much in doubt as to where to start my Glory Hunter-save.. 

Lens, Lyon, Marseille, Monaco, Nantes, Nice, Rennes, Reims or Toulouse..

I think Lyon are the most interesting. 

No European competition first season, a loaded bank balance, re-signing of former stars Lacazette and Tolisso, and desperately need a return back to the top...

Edited March 21, 2023 by DaveMUFC

[Mackem742]

Not much happening in the English football league thread so Im looking for a French save where I can post my progress. Im not looking for a top team but one with a smaller stadium with the potential of qualifying for European competition, my first thoughts were Nantes or Lens but Im open to suggestions

[The Flying Scotsman]

2 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Not much happening in the English football league thread so Im looking for a French save where I can post my progress. Im not looking for a top team but one with a smaller stadium with the potential of qualifying for European competition, my first thoughts were Nantes or Lens but Im open to suggestions

Depends on what fits your criteria of a smaller stadium.

Monaco is one of the smallest in the league. 

[wpmk]

Has anybody signed or used Anthony Rouault for Toulouse? He’s scored highly on the role ranking for a left sided ball playing defender on my Fiorentina save and wanted to see if anyone had any insights before I commit some of the budget towards him. He’s on the pricier side but need a long term option in case I’m forced to sell Igor.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

If anyone wants a cheap but good striker for French teams then look at bringing in Deogracias Bassinga who is a Congo striker from Congo team Diables Noirs.

Benfica signed him on my journeyman save for £145k. He has been really good for me when I just took over the Congo national team.

[Mackem742]

So Ive made my decision and went for Lens. My choice came down to them or Nantes but Nantes are in the Europa League and I wanted a team with no European competition in season 1 so here goes.....

RC Lens start of season 1

 

 

Oh and this is a nice news item. Im not expecting it to go through but any extra cash will be welcome!

 

 

 

[CaptCanuck]

On 21/03/2023 at 11:52, Mackem742 said:

So Ive made my decision and went for Lens. My choice came down to them or Nantes but Nantes are in the Europa League and I wanted a team with no European competition in season 1 so here goes.....

RC Lens start of season 1

 

 

Oh and this is a nice news item. Im not expecting it to go through but any extra cash will be welcome!

 

 

 

Lens have a lot of potential: good luck! They actually got relegated in my Season 1, but made 53M in sales from the Winter '23/Summer '23 windows, showing the actually quality there.

Bright kit helps too... breaks up the sameness of seeing white, blue, or red all the time :-)

[CaptCanuck]

On 21/03/2023 at 08:23, wpmk said:

Has anybody signed or used Anthony Rouault for Toulouse? He’s scored highly on the role ranking for a left sided ball playing defender on my Fiorentina save and wanted to see if anyone had any insights before I commit some of the budget towards him. He’s on the pricier side but need a long term option in case I’m forced to sell Igor.

He looks really solid IMHO, especially at 22yrs old, based on the partially uncovered attributes I see being in Ligue 1. Way out of my price range (6.4M-8.6M valuation on 10.75k/pw) but certainly looks like a 5yrs and sell him on for a lot or keep for a decade type of player.

[CaptCanuck]

NIORT: Season 2 Start (Summer Transfer Window & Opening Matches)

Back from my IRL road trip and power outage from the bomb cyclone over, time to get going on Niort's second season: the far too early promotion to Ligue 1 campaign.

Transfers

When you're promoted well ahead of schedule, the roster is going to turn over and so it did, with 14 players in and 11 out. Fortunately we recouped a few million to keep our net spend around 3m and the wages still low:

PSG obviously are waaaaaaay out in front on 322M and we bring up the rear, waaaaay behind on 5.18M - Wages:

Spoiler

TBF we signed 5 guys that I reckon could still be major contributors to the side in 2 or 3 season's time, while many of the rest were the best we could do based on our budget and lack of club esteem

Diakite, Ndiaye, Pembele and 'evergreen' at 25 Cutrone provide the youthful energy and all-rounder ability required of a promoted side, while free transfer Sergio Gil (last of Calahorra in Spanish Fed 1B) hast to provide the class and technical ability that is hard to come by for a lowly ranked club like Niort.

One of the funny things from turning over a team so quickly, is your club hierarchy ends up being less of a pyramid and more of a plinth:

Initial Results

Expectations are to make the playoff spot, so 16 of 18. We'd take 15th right now for sure and will need one of those 4-2-0, 5-2-0 runs to collect half our points fast and hopefully scrap for the rest throughout what could be a slog of a season.

4 matches in and we're a respectable 7th, with an easy opening run and only 2 goals scored and 1 against. PSG are DESTROYING teams so far, winning 5-0 3 times and 7-0 once, eesh:

When you add some many new players, eventually the supporters got tired of clapping for 10 (ten!) debutantes:

Edited March 23, 2023 by CaptCanuck

[Ronaldo Beckham]

After an uneventful journeyman save I have quit that save and I am going back to manage in my favourite nation of France.

Which team have I picked you ask ?

RC Lens is a club I have always wanted to manage due to their beautiful club colours to start off with.

They have produced some good players over the years like Serge Aurier, Raphael Varane, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Anthony Knockaert, Adel Taarabt, Thorgan Hazard etc.

Here is a photo of the team RC Lens could of had if they hadn't of sold their players.

 

I am going to manage RC Lens as former player and manager Eric Sikora. Sikora has the most appearances for RC Lens with 497 appearances. He was a one club man.

Our media prediction is 9th which is quite fair to be honest. 

I will pushing to get a bit higher then that but 9th is the minimum we should be aiming for.

As always with most French teams we have State Of The Art Training and Superb Youth Facilities. The Youth Recruitment is Above Average. I want to improve that and the Junior Coaching asap.

I also want to beat our rivals Lille.

Our best 11 plays in the same shape I use for my tactic I use so that is good.

I am also excited to be managing Lois Openda who in real life is having a great season.

I will keep you posted as I go along.

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

First Signings With Lens

A hidden gem I came across in my recent Journeyman save. Bassinga turns into one hell of a player. I look forward to seeing how he does for me. I signed him from Congo side Diables Noirs for £220k.

Ngom is a no brainer as he always developed well for me and only costs £88k.

 

[Mackem742]

On 23/03/2023 at 15:08, CaptCanuck said:

Lens have a lot of potential: good luck! They actually got relegated in my Season 1, but made 53M in sales from the Winter '23/Summer '23 windows, showing the actually quality there.

Bright kit helps too... breaks up the sameness of seeing white, blue, or red all the time :-)

Cheers! Its actually going better than expected. Im just heading into the January transfer window and currently sat 5th.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 hour ago, Mackem742 said:

Cheers! Its actually going better than expected. Im just heading into the January transfer window and currently sat 5th.

Openda is smashing it for me at RC Lens with 18 goals in 11 league games so far. 

[CaptCanuck]

5 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Cheers! Its actually going better than expected. Im just heading into the January transfer window and currently sat 5th.

Good stuff! And ya looking at their manager history, both their managers in their relegation (22/23) season got the sack and are still unemployed, so I think that says something

[CaptCanuck]

NIORT: Season 2 Midway Point

Not at the same clip as in Ligue 2 obviously, but Les Chamois's modest success continues, with a decidedly midtable 1st half of the season. Wins and losses are almost always better than draws, so so far so good. Reckon 12 pts from 51 is more than enough to see us through.

A word about PSG though, I've never been in a league with an AI team dominating so completely. Mbappe has 27 goals in 17 matches, they have a single draw and otherwise as you can see from the goal difference, are thumping teams left and right, with 60GF and 4GA. Definitely keeps our longer terms expectations in check.

The way France has season and year awards means we got 2 end of year awards for manager and player of the year in Ligue 2, along with 1 award for most promising player.

Ligue 2 MOTY (with wrongly tallied stats)

Spoiler

Ligue 2 POTY (with close to correct stats)

Spoiler

'Revelation' award (with wrongly tallied stats)

Spoiler

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by CaptCanuck

[nico_france]

Currently managing Paris Atletico 13

Kind of tough challenge 

You start in French national, may be the lowest facilities available, and a 2000 seats brand new stadium so I think it's gonna be hard to move elsewhere

The squad is so-so, you can barely attract any players, and as a result you'll have to be really patient on the transfer market, but this club has no history at all, so it could be challenging to try to be a dominant force in France

Already 3 seasons in, 2 back to back promotions playing a 4-4-2 flat formation, mostly relying on freebies 

Obviously now struggling in Ligue 1, but I should be able to stay up, despite an horrendous run in December and January (not a single win)

If you want something different this year, this club could be the right one in France

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

RC Lens Season 1 Review

Competitions

A very impressive 2nd position for the season and only 5 points behind PSG.

I think we can close that gap a bit next season.

We got to the Semi Finals of the Coupe de France with us losing to PSG 3-1 in the Semis.

Best Players

Lois Openda

Openda was an absolute goal machine this season with 42 goals from 35 games.

He really was amazing all season.

Brice Samba

20 Clean Sheets and only conceding 31 goals all season. He was a key part in our success.

Angelo Fulgini

The only player better then Fulgini was Openda. Fulgini was awesome. 16 goals and 13 assits. He also had an average rating of 7.46 as well. 

Fulgini is signing for us for £6.5m which was already agreed when I started my save with RC Lens.

Bargain price for a player of this high quality.

Signings Of The Season

Leonardo Lelo - £2.1m from Casa Pia

A great signing my DOF made for us at only £2.1m he has become one of the best Left Backs in Ligue 1 with 5 goals and 10 assists. A very attacking player with plenty of room to improve.

Junior Adamu - £5m from Red Bull Salzburg

We signed highly touted Junior Adamu for a lovely price of £5m and even though his game time was limited he performed very well with 6 goals for the season. If I ever sell Openda I got a ready made replacement in Adamu.

RC Lens Best 11

Player Awards

My aim for next season is to try win the title or at least get 2nd place again. Get through the group stages of the Champions League if possible and the most realistic one is to win the Coupe de France.

 

[Mackem742]

On 26/03/2023 at 00:02, Ronaldo Beckham said:

RC Lens Season 1 Review

Competitions

A very impressive 2nd position for the season and only 5 points behind PSG.

I think we can close that gap a bit next season.

We got to the Semi Finals of the Coupe de France with us losing to PSG 3-1 in the Semis.

Best Players

Lois Openda

Openda was an absolute goal machine this season with 42 goals from 35 games.

He really was amazing all season.

Brice Samba

20 Clean Sheets and only conceding 31 goals all season. He was a key part in our success.

Angelo Fulgini

The only player better then Fulgini was Openda. Fulgini was awesome. 16 goals and 13 assits. He also had an average rating of 7.46 as well. 

Fulgini is signing for us for £6.5m which was already agreed when I started my save with RC Lens.

Bargain price for a player of this high quality.

Signings Of The Season

Leonardo Lelo - £2.1m from Casa Pia

A great signing my DOF made for us at only £2.1m he has become one of the best Left Backs in Ligue 1 with 5 goals and 10 assists. A very attacking player with plenty of room to improve.

Junior Adamu - £5m from Red Bull Salzburg

We signed highly touted Junior Adamu for a lovely price of £5m and even though his game time was limited he performed very well with 6 goals for the season. If I ever sell Openda I got a ready made replacement in Adamu.

RC Lens Best 11

Player Awards

My aim for next season is to try win the title or at least get 2nd place again. Get through the group stages of the Champions League if possible and the most realistic one is to win the Coupe de France.

 

Openda is a fantastic player. He had about 20 goals in the league for me at the end of February but he got injured and is out for 7 to 8 weeks and likely the rest of the season now. Im hoping I can still cling on to my 3rd place as the team doesnt score that many goals. Ive had so many 1-0 wins. I also agree on Samba and Fulgini, both great players. Samba is on the verge of a clean sheet record for me.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Openda is a fantastic player. He had about 20 goals in the league for me at the end of February but he got injured and is out for 7 to 8 weeks and likely the rest of the season now. Im hoping I can still cling on to my 3rd place as the team doesnt score that many goals. Ive had so many 1-0 wins. I also agree on Samba and Fulgini, both great players. Samba is on the verge of a clean sheet record for me.

Yeah all 3 players done well for me in the 2nd season with RC Lens as well.

I will post a season review later. 

I am glad they are doing well for you as well.

 

[Mackem742]

32 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah all 3 players done well for me in the 2nd season with RC Lens as well.

I will post a season review later. 

I am glad they are doing well for you as well.

 

If you dont mind me asking what budget did you get given in season 2 after finishing 2nd?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

4 minutes ago, Mackem742 said:

If you dont mind me asking what budget did you get given in season 2 after finishing 2nd?

Oh god I can't remember now. Nothing amazing though. Maybe £10m or less.

I just got my budget for 3rd season and I only got £4m despite having £30m in the bank but it is because the projected losses are £25m each season so I am projected to be -£75m in the bank in the 3 years time but if I keep getting Champions League football and sell a few players for profit then I should be ok.

 

[Mackem742]

4 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Oh god I can't remember now. Nothing amazing though. Maybe £10m or less.

I just got my budget for 3rd season and I only got £4m despite having £30m in the bank but it is because the projected losses are £25m each season so I am projected to be -£75m in the bank in the 3 years time but if I keep getting Champions League football and sell a few players for profit then I should be ok.

 

Ah okay, thanks for that. I always knew the French league wasnt great when it came to transfer budgets, unless you are PSG. Best I can do is continue to qualify for the Champions League and mould some youngsters into sellable assets. 

I have just had a 5 star intake come through in the youth intake too with a couple of 5 star potential players so Ill see what I can do with them.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Mackem742

[Ronaldo Beckham]

6 minutes ago, Mackem742 said:

Ah okay, thanks for that. I always knew the French league wasnt great when it came to transfer budgets, unless you are PSG. Best I can do is continue to qualify for the Champions League and mould some youngsters into sellable assets. 

I have just had a 5 star intake come through in the youth intake too with a couple of 5 star potential players so Ill see what I can do with them.

I got 4-5 players rated at £50m plus but you never get offers anywhere near that. 

Usually 20% of their value.

It is a dealbreaker for me wanting to keep playing the game.

I enjoy buying young players and selling them on for profit.

FM23 doesn't seem to let you do that much compared to other FM's.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I forgot I deleted my RC Lens save as I didn't have any intention of continueing with the save due to me getting bored of doing any FM save lately. .

I think Openda got 30 plus goals in 2nd season for me.

Junior Adamu is definitely a player worth signing. He was really good for me in the 2nd season.

 

[Mackem742]

I ended up finishing 4th in my 1st season. I only needed a point on the final day to finish ahead of Monaco but they battered Toulouse while I lost away to Auxerre who avoided relegation with that result. A bit disappointed but happy to finish 4th in my 1st season. Already planning for next season and been given just over £10 million.

Arsenal came in with a £12 million bid for central defender Danso which I rejected, he kicked up a fuss and was furious so when they came in again with a £15 million bid I asked for £30 million which they accepted, wish Id asked for more now so Ive got a bit of a transfer kitty to improve the side.

[oze07]

im thinking of doing a rennes save. Bit out of my comfort zone, so just wondered if anyone could give a bit of advice for managing them please? formation, style of play etc? 

[jckstevens]

17 hours ago, oze07 said:

im thinking of doing a rennes save. Bit out of my comfort zone, so just wondered if anyone could give a bit of advice for managing them please? formation, style of play etc? 

Rennes have a very well rounded squad to begin with so its a nice start. Its so well rounded you can play any way, however they play a 442 in real life, a 2 striker formation allows you to get Terrier and Gouiri on together which is great. If there was an area they are weak in its CB, however if you are willing to give some young players chances then they have the likes of Omari and Wooh who can be developed and sold for a big profit. They have never won the league so its a great challenge. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I think because the finances are bad at 90% of the French League teams I think realistically the only way to be self sustained is to basically do it as a Youth only save with you just using your youth academy and selling players for profit when you can.

I am going to do a youth only save with Rennes at some point as I think they will be the best team to do it with.

 

[brod_104]

I went on holiday to Florida recently, so used the flight to start dabbling with starting a save with St Etienne on FM Touch. Had a mixed start to the season, with a poor home record while home fans were banned, but away results gradually pulled us up the table until we could start getting crowds in again, at which point we started picking up wins at home as well. Got me intrigued enough to give it a go on the "full-fat" FM once I've done a season or two more on my main Liverpool save.

Edit: So I've made a start on my St Etienne save today, using the original 23.0 database so that the AroundTheGlobe files I've got downloaded still all work. As normal for me, Summer 2022 transfer window is disabled. After three pre-season games (1-0 and 3-0 away wins against Beauvais Oise and AS Yzeure, followed by 3-0 at home to Heerenveen), this is likely my first-choice XI. Gabriel Silva is a more natural fit at left-back than Maçon, but at 31 and with wages of £17,750 per week on a contract until 2023 (making him my highest paid player), I'll probably try and move Silva on in January. Maçon is also more highly rated at LB than Silva. Palencia at right-back is also taking up a chunk of the wage budget at £15k p/w, so he might also be a contender for raising funds in January, despite being one of the best players in the squad.

Edited April 3, 2023 by brod_104
Started the save, edited to avoid double-post

[brod_104]

OK, I realise this does result in a double-post, which I wanted to avoid with editing my last post, but I figured an end-of-season update on my St-Etienne side warranted a separate entry.

In the league, it was a really close race for the Ligue 2 title throughout the season between us, Metz and Dijon, but in the end we came out on top, winning the league by 8 points. The key game ended up being a 2-1 win against Metz at the end of April, which put us a point ahead of them. After that, we won 5 of our last 6 games, whereas Metz only won 3 of their last 6.

The cup run didn't last all that long - we won 3-0 and 1-0 against lower league Frontignan and Yzeure respectively, but went out 4-1 away to Marseille in the 9th round. We actually did really well for the first hour or so against Marseille, but ended up going out after Luis Suarez (of Colombia, not the ex-Liverpool forward!) bagged a 20 minute hat-trick.

In terms of transfers, there wasn't too much to report, due to a lack of funds - I reallocated most of my starting £400k transfer budget to my wage budget, to try and secure some of my better players and improve the backroom staff. Brazilian left-back Gabriel Silva and Guinea-Bissau striker Edmilson Correia were both sold to domestic rivals for £100k each in October. We were struggling a little for goals in the first half of the season, partly through injuries, so I brought in a player I'd seen recommended on another thread, 25-year-old Uzbek striker Bobir Abdholiqov on a free transfer on 1 January from Energetik-BGU in Belarus. He turned out to be a great signing, and ended up my top scorer with 14 goals in 20 league appearances. I left responsibility for transfer incomings to my DoF in January, and he ended up setting up loan deals for two wingers: Farid El Melali from Angers and, more excitingly, Alejandro Garnacho from Man Utd! El Malali wasn't great, but Garnacho bagged 4 goals and 3 assists in 17 appearances. The DoF also tried to sign Zaire-Emery on loan from PSG, but that fell through because PSG had too many players already out on loan in France.

Towards the middle of April, there started to be rumours of a takeover. This dragged on through May, to the point where the existing chairman threatened to pull the plug if it wasn't resolved. In the end though, he decided he was going to retire at the end of the season, and the takeover did end up going through, and we now have a Bulgarian owner who has listed the club on the stock exchange. The summer transfer budget had already been set at around £16m, and didn't really change with the takeover.

Looking at the squad going into Ligue 1, there are some holes that I want to plug. Firstly, I'm trying to make Mathieu Cafaro's loan deal permanent - he faded a bit in the second half of the season, but at £400k, he's still a bit of a bargain. Most urgent is probably a new left-back. I'd been alternating between Macon, Palencia and Petrot (who scored a couple of screamers from left-back by the way). Trying to use the free transfer market, I've made an offer for 27-year-old Daley Sinkgraven from Bayer Leverkusen. I'm also looking at a Ukrainian teenager, Andrii Buleza from Shakhtar, who would potentially cost around £5m, which I'm trying to do in instalments. Other free transfers I'm trying to sign include Chiedozie Ogbene from Rotherham, who can play anywhere on the right-hand side, and Riqui Puig who is unattached. I'm also looking at another striker in the form of Preslav Borukov from Lokomotiv Plovdiv for around £2m.

I want to look at a new goalkeeper as well - Etienne Green is very good, but does make the occasional error. However, there was a spell towards the end of the season when he missed a few games through injury, but backup keepers Matthieu Dreyer and Boubacar Fall both made a couple of absolute howlers. I did get a very promising keeper in my youth intake, but I want someone a bit more experienced to challenge Green.

In terms of outgoings, I'll probably look to move on the two backup keepers, along with the likes of Chamost, Lobry, maybe Krasso and Abi. There are a couple of players who have indicated they may not want to renew their contracts, such as Nadé, so I may try and cash in on some of them too, which might result in additional incomings. Wadji has already been sold to Neftci Baku.

[brod_104]

The Summer 2023 transfer window has closed, and there has been a significant amount of transfer business, some planned, some less so.

Incomings

In addition to the signings of Cafaro, Sinkgraven, Buleza, Borkuov, Puig and Ogbene, I also signed two goalkeepers, a German goalkeeper by the name of Lino from Antwerp who will be my first backup, and a Senegalese teenager, Langing Badji, from AS Pikine in his native country. I also picked up another free transfer for central midfield in the form of the brilliantly-named Branco van den Boomen of Toulouse, who looks to be a bit of a set-piece specialist. I also ended up in need of a new centre-back, both Nadé and Sow decided they wanted to leave, so I've picked up Billy Koumetio, initially on loan from Liverpool, but with a mandatory future fee. The big name signing for the summer though was Dion Beljo from Osijek, for a fee rising to £7.75m

Outgoings

I managed to move on most of the players who have been deemed surplus to requirements. Victor Lobry joined Bordeaux for £1.3m, reserve player Marie-Gael Mukanya joined Nîmes for £325k, and Matthieu Dreyer joined Sporting Gijón for £300k. As mentioned, both Nadé and Sow wanted to leave - Nadé ended up joining Dijon for £600k, and Sow went to Gent for £1.8m. The likes of Abi, Bouchouari, Chambost and Maïga all left on loan, bringing in some additional loan fees. I was, however, left a little surprised on deadline day when Lenny Pintor handed in a transfer request following interest from Augsburg, eventually joining them for £1m.

In amongst all these movements, the first four games of the season have taken place. We narrowly lost 1-0 at home to Monaco and away to Toulouse in our opening two games, before getting off the mark with a 4-0 home win over Amiens. We followed this up with a fairly creditable 2-2 draw away at Rennes before the international break. In the season preview, we're predicted to finish just above the relegation play-off spots, but with squad I'm hoping to be a bit more comfortable in mid-table, and personally I'd love to get a Europa Conference League spot.

[Mackem742]

Is there some sort of bug in the French league with the cup competition? 3 seasons in with Lens and for the 3rd time in a row Ive been drawn away at PSG in round 9. Hardly seems fair

[brod_104]

3 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Is there some sort of bug in the French league with the cup competition? 3 seasons in with Lens and for the 3rd time in a row Ive been drawn away at PSG in round 9. Hardly seems fair

Not quite as regular yet, but after getting dumped out by Marseille away in round 10 (my third game) in my first season at St Etienne, my third cup game in season two will be... away to Marseille. Ah well, at least we beat them at home in the league...

[Mackem742]

13 hours ago, brod_104 said:

Not quite as regular yet, but after getting dumped out by Marseille away in round 10 (my third game) in my first season at St Etienne, my third cup game in season two will be... away to Marseille. Ah well, at least we beat them at home in the league...

Its having an impact on the club vision as the board expects me to get passed the 1st cup game I play! Quite hard when Ive been drawn away at the top team 3 seasons in a row!

Ive got a bit of hope this season as Im going toe to toe with them in the league and currently sit top by 2 points after 17 games.

[lugui]

I am in my 2nd season with Guingamp - I plan to update some things here soon, I usually lurk and enjoy this thread, as a fan of the french leagues myself! -  and both I got PSG away as well, 9th and 10th round. All of this with dozens of non-league and island clubs remaining. Of course I got trashed. 

"Good thing" to see that it wasn't one of those things only in my head.

Edited April 13, 2023 by lugui

[brod_104]

The latest developments at St-Étienne, as of last night, are at board level! As I mentioned in a previous post, we had a takeover in May 2023, just as we confirmed our status as Ligue 2 champions. This was in part helped by the fact the original chairman decided to retire at the end of the season. Our new owner was a Bulgarian tycoon who immediately listed the club on the stock market.

Fast forward to January 2024, and there are rumours of another takeover. That's all it is at the moment, rumours, and the sole news article that's come up seems less optimistic about this one going through, but I was very surprised to see another takeover even suggested.

We're currently 5th (or maybe 6th) in Ligue 1, comfortably in the hunt for European football, maybe even the Champions League, so surely our Bulgarian owner isn't disappointed with on-field performance. I think the club is still quite healthy off the pitch too, with £25m balance, and plenty of transfer/wage budget left over from what I had to work with.

[oze07]

Im about to embark on a save with, Toulouse. Totally out of my comfort zone, but feel i need a svae where i cant but the same players all the time and a club i can build. Any help,tips would be gratefully accepted.

Edited April 19, 2023 by oze07

[john1]

On 19/04/2023 at 20:21, oze07 said:

Im about to embark on a save with, Toulouse. Totally out of my comfort zone, but feel i need a svae where i cant but the same players all the time and a club i can build. Any help,tips would be gratefully accepted.

Just focus on youth with Toulouse, they do have good facilities especially youth.

[john1]

Still playing my Lens save and just hit Feb 2026, won the league last 2 seasons, this season tough one so far, especially with PSG, still buying stupid players they keep overfilling the team

 

Good to see we top of list for average possession

Openda, still on fire for me with 28 goals in 28 games in all competitions

[warlock]

11 hours ago, john1 said:

Still playing my Lens save and just hit Feb 2026, won the league last 2 seasons

Some pretty good management there! Tight at the top but keep up the good work 

[john1]

On 21/04/2023 at 22:59, warlock said:

Some pretty good management there! Tight at the top but keep up the good work 

Thanks! PSG even finished 3rd last season!

Here is their squad

[JoOSTAR]

On 21/04/2023 at 12:08, john1 said:

Still playing my Lens save and just hit Feb 2026, won the league last 2 seasons, this season tough one so far, especially with PSG, still buying stupid players they keep overfilling the team

 

Good to see we top of list for average possession

Openda, still on fire for me with 28 goals in 28 games in all competitions

Looks like a great save!

What tactic are you playing?

[john1]

19 hours ago, JoOSTAR said:

Looks like a great save!

What tactic are you playing?

 4-2-3-1.

[Vakama2619]

On 24/04/2023 at 19:41, john1 said:

Thanks! PSG even finished 3rd last season!

Who got 2nd?

[john1]

3 hours ago, Vakama2619 said:

Who got 2nd?

Marseille

[Mackem742]

I havent done an update on my Lens save for a while but currently going into season 6 and its the furthest Ive got into a save without becoming bored 

Anyway my league positions so far have been 4th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd. PSG are just about impossible to overhaul on my save. The only trophy I have won is the Trophee De Champions in season 5 where I beat PSG 1-0, I thought that was going to be the season but unfortunately not. I have made it to the Champions League semi final in season 4 but got knocked out by Arsenal. Its frustrating getting 6 to 8 million transfer budget every season when Im trying to overtake the juggernaut that is PSG. Ive resisted moves away to Italy where I was offered interviews with Roma and Napoli and Ive started season 6 with 4 wins from 4 games. Ive had a big transfer window with some big signings arriving, including a couple of top class regens, 1 which has come in as a starting striker at just 20 years old.

Also just got the news that work has begun on a new 58,000 seater stadium which is due for completion in 2029. I have to stay until then and hopefully I can go into it as champions.

Edited May 3, 2023 by Mackem742

[KlaaZ]

What's up, my fellow French football lovers?

Will post here a little as well, currently almost halfway through my first season with Nancy in the National. 

[Mackem742]

Coming to the end of season 2028/29 with Lens and due to move into a new stadium before the start of next season. Id like to move into it as back to back champions. Currently 5 points clear of PSG with 4 games to go. I just thought Id share some of the youngsters that I currently have at the club. All of these have been brought into the club as I havent had a decent youth intake yet.

[GylfiAsCharged]

Not the most challenging team to start with but I had a really enjoyable year with Bordeaux winning Ligue 2, and breaking some records.

Can't remember the last time I had a team dominate a Team of the Season like this. All but one were club originals, with Poussin and Mwanga growing really nicely. Fabrice Olinga came in on a free as versatile depth up front and on the wings, but caused a stink wanting a contract he didn't warrant so was sold for £850k to Portimonense before the next preseason. A criminal omission from this team was 38-year-old Mbark Boussoufa who joined on a free as a player/u19 coach on a surprisingly low wage, playing almost every game scoring 11 goals and assisting a further 12, with an average rating of 7.40. 

A little surprise at the beginning of preseason, duly rejected:

We've started the season well with 17 points from our first 9 games, good enough for 5th in the league but with a big gap opening up behind Marseille, Lyon and PSG as the top 3. Our board are only expecting us to finish in mid-table so I'm not too concerned about this. We haven't faced PSG yet and have only been beaten by Marseille and Nice, both away from home, I've not yet figured out how I want to set our team up as underdogs. PSG winning the Champions League granted the league an additional qualification spot, so it's good to see progress there that could hopefully benefit us at some stage.

My transfer window saw quite a few young talents come into the club, including a player I've signed several times in recent years, Álex Collado from Barcelona B for £900k. I returned to Catalonia to loan in versatile attacker Estanis Pedrola for the season.

My pursuit of PSG's unwanted young right back Timothée Pembélé was an unusual one, having agreed a season's loan with obligation to buy for £2.5m with PSG, they instead got impatient and sold him immediately to Monaco for £725k. Despite just buying him they didn't seem keen on him either, allowing me to agree a loan-to-buy deal but with an optional £3.5m price tag instead - he's started really brightly and I think he will be worth paying up for given his significant potential, assuming he stays fit. 

Collado aside, our most significant acquisition was probably central midfielder Branco van den Boomen from rivals Toulouse on a free transfer, a deal agreed earlier in the year which worked out nicely for him as Toulouse finished in 19th and were relegated.

Edited May 21, 2023 by GylfiAsCharged