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Torino Update My last update at the end of February saw us rise up the table to 13th, but just 2 points clear of 19th placed Sampdoria. With only 3 competitive games in March, I decided to wait until the end of April to provide this update: We started March with a 1-0 defeat to table-toppers Milan. We held our own for over an hour, before Brahim Diaz struck the winning strike. We followed up the defeat with a very good win over 9th placed Bologna. Goals once again from Lukic and Vlasic giving us a vital 3 points. We rounded off March in the league with a point away to Verona, with Pellegri scoring for us. We headed in to April in good spirits and it showed with the absolute thumping of Sampdoria. Schuurs, Buongiorno and Vlasic gave us our most complete win of the season. We then followed it up with an extremely important away win against Salernitana. Linetty, Buongiorno and Miranchuk on the scoresheet this time. A spiritied 2-2 draw away to Udinese followed, with Pellegri bagging both goals to put us 2-0 up early on. Unfortunately, we just couldn't hold on, but I'd have taken a point if you'd offered me that before the game. I would have wanted more than 1 against Empoli, but I was happy to keep our unbeaten run going, especially with the next 2 fixtures in mind. And those 2 went as predicted. We held our own again for a long time against Lazio, but an 80th minute Zaccagni strike killed us off. That blow took the stuffing out of us right before the Turin derby and Juve's quality told, comfortably putting us to the sword. However, over the 2 months, we racked up 3 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses in 9 games, with the 3 defeats coming against those in the top 8. This has left the table looking like this: With 6 games to go and us sitting 9 points above and with 4 teams separating us from the relegation zone, I'd like to think we are pretty safe. We do have Napoli, Sassuolo and Atalanta still to play, but we also have Brianza, Spezia and Cremonese, so I'd like to think I'll be able to pick up the extra couple of points that should see us through. Buongiorno has definitely stepped up, with the left-footed CB earning himself a long-term contract. I can see the rest of the squad having quite the upheaval in the summer though, with Singo wanted by the likes of Dortmund, Rodriguez and Linetty wanting to explore their options when their contracts run out in 2024 (so do I cash in this summer?) and Miranchuk, Vlasic and Radonjic to return to their parent clubs.

Saving Torino So we moved in to January sitting just outside of the relegation zone on 15 points after 18 games. We didn't really make any moves in the window, with me already being well over in the wage budget and not having the depth in order to really lose anyone. We headed in to what looked to be a very tough month of fixtures, with Roma, Inter, Atalanta, Salento and Fiorentina standing in our way. Here's how we did: Where we were lucky is that 4 of the 5 games were at home and I knew we had to use that to our advantage. Miranchuk got us off to the perfect start against Roma, but an Abraham penalty meant we shared the spoils. Boyed by a good performance, we headed to the San Siro with a plan to get in and get out with a point. And if it wasn't for a lazy pass across his own box by Buongirono that went straight to Lukaku, we would have got away with it as we defended excellently. The real pain came when we lost at home to Atalanta. I was caught in two-minds as to whether to stick with my defensively-solid outlook, or take it to them as we were at home. The indecision cost me, with us rarely laying a glove on Atalanta, with them taking all 3 points home with them. That meant that once again, our final games of the month were must-wins. A visit from bottom-placed Salento seemed the perfect game, but when they took the lead early on, I feared the worst. Goals from Vlasic and Pellegri had us 2-1 up, but the away side scored on the hour mark to peg us back to 2-2. Thankfully, with just a few minutes left, Vlasic scored a crucial third to ensure we took all 3 points. The morale-boosting win give us a great bounce going in to Fiorentina at home where we were defensively excellent. We didn't offer too much going forward, but thankfully a silly foul by the away side was punished from 12 yards by Lukic. Those results meant the table looks like this going in to March: 7 points in February has shot us the table, but there's just 4 points separating 19th and 11th. We've done well and we look much better defensively, mainly down to now settling on a back 4 of Singo, Djidji, Buorngiorno and Rodriguez. Hopefully we can keep the defensive resolve up going in to March, with 3 of our 4 fixtures coming against sides sitting above us in the table.

Saving Torino So as stated above, I took the reigns at Torino with the club sitting in 19th place having just picked up 2 wins in 13 games. I came in to the club during the world cup break and I used the pre-arranged friendlies to try and figure out tactics and best 11's: The aim moving forward is to try and make us solid at the back and with confidence and morale within the group almost rock bottom, I knew it was going to be a tough task. We took the lead against Piacenza, but our weak bench options cost us. We just couldn't compete with West Ham, whilst away at Angers we blew another lead. We absolutely battered Hannover with our returning World Cup players, but couldn't get the goal and once again, couldn't keep the clean sheet. It didn't bode well for the upcoming league games, so I tweaked the formation slightly, alternating between a 4-1-4-1 and a 4-3-3 (DM Wide). I made the tactical switch of moving Schuurs in to a CDM role, to try and give us some protection in front of the back 4. Here's how January went: Brianza were a team flirting around the bottom 3 with us and when we took an early lead through Vlasic, I was hoping for the perfect start. However, as per the friendlies, we surrendered the lead, but all in all, not the worst point. Especially as we followed that point up with 3 at home to Cremonese. Buongiorno, Linetty and Karamoh found the back of the net and quite frankly, I knew it was a must-win with the run of fixtures we had coming up. And that worry became true. We held our own against Inter going in to half time, with us being just 2-1 down. Unfortunately, our lack of quality in depth meant that as we made changes, they steamed ahead to take a 4-1 win. Then, disaster hit. With 4 games in 10 days, my regular core were tired and the fringe players, well they did nothing to enhance their chances of breaking in to the first team. The 6-1 defeat was embarrassing and made what already seemed an impossible task in the next game away to Napoli even harder with morale so low. I almost just wanted the Napoli game to be over before it started. I knew that the most important game of the month was the final one, at home to fellow relegation candidates Spezia. A Lukic pen and a Rodriguez free kick was enough to secure a massive 3 points and leaves the table looking like this after my first month in charge: Well we are out of the relegation zone for now! Empoli do have 2 games in hand, but we've managed to double our wins this season and have now also got 2 very tough away games out of the way. We do have a very tough looking February coming up, with games against Roma, Atalanta, Inter and Fiorentina to navigate. / As for the squad, about 9 of the 11 are now nailed on. I sent Lazaro back to Inter to cut down on or wage bill and released 22 year old French Midfielder Michel Adopo, but we are still operating at £45k over the wage budget. We've made a decent start, but need to keep chipping away to ensure we survive and then look to rebuild in the summer of 2023.

Hey Guys, After simulating as unemployed through to the break for the World Cup, I trawled through the managerial vacancies and decided the team I wanted to save from their dreadful start was Torino. Here's how the table looks at the point of my takeover: As you can see, the club find themselves in the relegation zone after a very poor start. Furthermore, the wage budget is £82k in the minus, meaning there will need to be some outgoings before any new signings in the upcoming January window. My aim is to make us tight at the back, hard to beat and then slowly work our way back up the table.

World Cup 2022 Break - Season Update For those of you that understand the reference, if my current season was to be summed up by a song, it would be The Middle by Jimmy Eat World! Played 15. Won 5. Drawn 5. Lost 5. Position - 10th. I mean come on! I couldn't do that again if i had tried! Even our goals for and against are only 1 off each other! This is how we got there. A very difficult looking start to the season saw us face Montpellier, Strasbourg and Lyon away from home in the opening month, yet we came away 8 points from the opening 5 fixtures, with the only defeat a 3-0 humbling by PSG. We were straight back on track in September with a win over Metz and a solid draw against OM, but again we finished the month being humbled by a superior team. That result unfortunatley hit us a bit harder, sending us on 3 game losing streak. We arrested the slide by beating Brest at home and should have won away to Angers, but I'll never be disappointed with a point on the road. A good 2-2 battle against Nice filled me with confidence going on the road to Lille, but unfortunately our attack was blunted and for 85 minutes the same happened at home to Dijon as it looked for all the world like we were going to end the first part of the season with a poor result. Thankfully, Guilavogui and Ui-jo provided a quickfire double to ensure we took the 3 points. As you can see, we really are just a mid-table team in every sense of the word. We could do with scoring more, but also conceding less (as per pretty much every team in football)! But when you consider that this summer was mainly converting last season's loans in to permanent transfers, we didn't really get chance to add quality on top of what was already here last summer. With that in mind, I just have to check myself now and then and remember that this is a slow building process. The aim this season is for mid-table security with anything higher being a bonus. Hopefully I can start to look to add some additional quality in Jan or next summer which will then in turn hopefully take us to the fringe of European Qualification. Stand out performers so far this season have been Ahmedhodzic, Nkounkou, Adli, Ellis and Onana, who all currently sit on an average rating of above 7. The World Cup break will be used to eye up some potential additions as well as looking to shift on those who are now no more than just bit-part squad players.

So after saving Bordeaux from following their real-life counterparts in to Ligue 2, the plan was to begin the rebuild. Having taken over in the relegation zone, the majority of the squad showed they were easily good enough for the mid-table finish that I would be aiming for this season, which led me to pursuing turning the majority of last season's loan deals in to permanent ones. Alberth Ellis and Joshua Guilavogui had pre-agreed deals in their loan contracts that meant we bought them upon avoiding relegation. At first I was annoyed with the Ellis deal, but he proved to be my main ST in the run in and I'm hoping he'll continue in that fashion this season. Of those who didn't have pre-agreed deals, I decided to make Ihnatenko and Ahmedodzic FGDB players on a permanent basis, with the pair costing under £2.5m between them. Pembele, Adli, Mensah and Mangas were all left to return to their parent clubs. This left me needing to fill some gaps. I needed 2 left backs, a centre back, a central playmaker and a left winger. Here's who we brought in: The youngster joins on loan from Everton and with just 1 year left on his contract, I'm hoping to form a good relationship and hopefully look to bring him in on a free next season. The Left Back market wasn't the best and with my potential long term option in Nkounkou sealed for this season at least, I decided to just go for a free option as a back up. With no European competition, I doubt Silva will get much more than the odd cup appearance. Will do for cover. With left back sorted for a total transfer outlay of £0, we turned our attention to CB cover. Again, as it would be only a cover option with Guilavogui and Ahmedhodzic forming a strong partnership, I went down the free transfer route: The big Croat joins us on a free having failed to agree a new contract with his old club Salernitana. Again probably won't get much game time, but should provide adequate enough cover for now. This left me needing a central playmaker and a left winger. This is where I decided to place a lot of my focus and scouted for hours to try and find some good French youngsters within my budget. At left wing, I decided to go for someone who's very much in the window in real life: Young Hugo Ekitike is someone I managed on my previous save with Swansea and at £1.4m, it's definitely a steal. With Ui-Jo ahead of him in the current pecking order, Ekitike will have the luxury of not having all the pressure put straight on him to step up and be our main man and I believe this could prove to be an astute piece of business. And finally, a central playmaker. Having benefitted from Yacine Adli's loan last season, I wanted to make sure we found someone of similar quality. What I didn't plan on doing was finding someone with the same surname, but I managed to make the deal: Our most expensive signing of the summer, Amine Adli joined us from Bayern Leverkusen for £3.8m, which could rise to £4.6m. Meeting the board's request to sign players under 23, Adli like Ekitike looks like he could potentially be a shrewd piece of business. As for outogings, we were able to make these signings due to freeing up wages by releasing Marcelo and Briand, whilst Mbaye Niang, Stiane Gregerson and Edson Mexer were all sold for a combined total of £4.6m. Overall: Would I say i've improved the squad? Yes probably, but the main target was to retain the services of the loan players that did so well for us last season. We proved we could comfortably battle for a mid-table spot with last season's squad, now having added the likes of Nkounkou, Ekitike and Adli, I think we may even be able to fight for a spot inside that top 10.

So having taken over the club sitting in the relegation zone after 13 games, the aim was secure the club's safety for this season in order to form a base in which I could take the club forward. Before I could do a full review of my short time in charge, we needed to finish the season with the final 4 games. Here's how we got on: Having looked like we had already took our places on the beach, I was pleasantly surprised that we put on such a good performance against 4th placed OGC Nice. Alberth Ellis notched his 8th of the season, all of which have come since my arrival. That result confirmed our safety and due to clauses in their respective contracts, Alberth Ellis and Joshua Guilavgoui's loans were made permanent, for a combined total of £7.7m. Whilst I'm not sure where this money will come from, I'm happy to have them both signed on for next season. We were awful away at Angers SCO and very nearly even worse at home to FC Lorient where we went 3-1 down with 8 minutes to go, but goals from Ihnatenko and Ellis in the 92nd and 94th minute respectively earned us a point. The game against Brest was pretty much a null and void. I gave game-time to those who hadn't had much of a look in and it showed, with a toothless display to finish the season. Here's how the final table looks: 14th place and 43 points, I couldn't have asked for much more than that. Especially when it took me a good month to come to terms with the squad. The squad is still very bloated, with plenty of loan players to leave and return. The club isn't in the best place financially, so rebuilding the squad might be fairly difficult, but it's a challenge I'm relishing.

Another football cliché.....But to be fair, having completed the turn around and pretty much confirmed our safety, some of our squad certainly deserved a trip to the beach. We headed in to April on the back of a home win against Montpellier, knowing that just a couple more wins would be enough to guarantee our safety. Here's how the month went: An absolutely terrific win to kick the month off. We caught European-spot chasers Lille off-guard, with Ihnatenko yet again finding the net. The Ukrainian really finding his feet in the role of a CM(A). We followed that performance up with a good win against FC Metz, with Adli and Ellis all-but killing the game off by the 33rd minute. We took the lead away in Lyon through Fransergio, but unfortunately we couldn't hold on, with @MattyLewis11's side scoring 2 second half goals after they had levelled right on half time. At this point, I felt we were safe and decided to start playing the youngsters that I feel have potential to be part of the squad next season. What's also tricky about next season's line up is that my current strongest 11 contains no fewer than 7 loanee players, not all of which will be coming back next season, so the time to start giving contracted fringe players more game time is also now. We finished the month with a point at home to St Etienne and defeat away to 8th placed Nantes. This means the table looks like this with 4 games to go: So again, unless there is a minor miracle in FC Lorient's favour in the last 4 games, I'm safe. That means I can now start properly planning for next season. I'll look to formulate a plan moving forward to highlight the areas we need to bring in some fresh faces for next season.

The key word! Since we managed to pick up in form, we really have made our mark on the table. Having a settled first 11 and a settled tactic has certainly helped as we took our form from February in to March, as shown below: A massive game against relegation-zone Troyes couldn't have come at a more perfect time, with us absolutely full of confidence. Goals from Ellis and Ihnatenko put us 2-0 up, but they did peg us back a little with a goal just after the 50th minute. Thankfully we managed to keep control of the game and seal the 3 points. I mean 3-0 is probably the best I could have asked for away to PSG. We kept it tight for nearly an hour being just 1-0 down, however 2 quick Mbappe strikes killed us off and the main thing was to make sure it wasn't a 6/7-0 that would destroy our confidence. We hit back with a huge win over 7th placed Montpellier. Ui-Jo and Ellis put us 2-0 up, before a later Savernier consolation for the visitors. Those results have left the table looking like this, with the next league game now being in April: Having taken over with the club sitting on 1 league win, to see us sitting on 13th with 8 wins is a sign that we're definitely moving in the right direction. We do have a tricky month of April, with games against top-half teams Lille, Lyon and Nantes, but I'm hopeful our new found confidence should enable us to pick up enough points to ensure we're well clear of the relegation zone come the final few games of the season.

That's exactly what I have to keep telling myself, the players, the board, the media and the fans. At the end of the day, the club was heading in the same direction as their real-life counterparts when I took over and that was the direction of Ligue 2. Whilst I've hardly set the world alight in the first 2 months, I've massively trimmed the squad, picked up a few wins and have got closer to nailing down a playing philosophy that we can all get on board with until at least the end of this season. However, as stated in my previous post, all the talk would count for nothing if we didn't make the most of 3 of our 4 games in February being against opposition in the bottom half. Here's how it played out: Reims 1 - 1 Bordeaux - After failing to win any of our league games in January, I again feared the worst when Gravillon put Reims ahead. But in truth, we dominated the game and got the all important equaliser in the 2nd half thanks to on loan striker Ellis. RC Lens 1 - 2 Bordeaux - With our confidence having jumped up a little, we headed to Lens and absolutely battered them. Our early dominance paid off, with Ellis again notching in the 6th minute. We continued to dominate and thankfully shortly after the hour mark, another loanee Dilrosun got that all important 2nd goal. Lens pulled one back late on, but we managed to hold on for a vital 3 points. Bordeaux 2 - 1 Monaco - Wow. I know our confidence has been boosted, but i'll be totally honest in that I hadn't really considered getting anything from 2nd place Monaco and was focussing more on the crunch game at the end of the month against bottom side Clermont. Another loanee (there's so many in this squad!) Ihnatenko put us 1-0 up within 10 minutes and it stayed that way until Ben Yedder equalised on the hour mark. I was praying that I could hold on to the point, when Ellis popped up with the winner 17 minutes from the end. A massive result. Clermont 1 - 4 Bordeaux - As you can see, that Monaco result absolutely released us. We raced to a 4-0 lead against bottom side Clermont, with Fransergio, Ellis, Ihnatenko and Ui-Jo all finding the net. Clermont pulled one back late on, but at this point I'd taken off those who are now becoming the important players and gave some minutes to the younger lads. All this meant that we end the month with the table looking like this: For the first time since week 6 and the first time since I arrived at the club, we are out of the relegation zone. Our rise in form mirrored with Lorient's poor run has meant we've even now managed to build a 4 point gap. The aim now is to keep it going for as long as possible to ensure we don't get sucked back down in to there; let's face it, it'll only take a couple of bad results and the swing could go back the other way. Tactically, against all my usual inclinations to play a CDM, we're actually settled on a 4-4-1-1. We're creating plenty of chances and as you can see the results have improved no end, but the thought of me having no CDM is a hard one for me to digest. I'll probably look to switch back in the summer to my preferred way, but for now, i'd be foolish to change a winning set up.

Yes morale is definitely a problem! Add that to my tactical naivety in a a set up that isn't either high pressing or possession based, we've found it tough. But honestly, whilst it all reads well, I genuinely am enjoying this more than any save i've had so far this game.

January was upon us fairly quickly, but I had no intentions of adding to the squad. It was already proving difficult to find my best 11 with such a bloated group, so the plan for this window was more about offloading than making any additions. In fact, surprisingly, I didn't even make an offer for anyone. I did manage to offload quite a few on loan to ease the burden on the wage budget and get us back in the + margin. Here's who left us: Of the 7 players loaned out in the window, only Bakwa hadn't made an appearance. I've tried to give the whole squad a chance to prove their worth since taking over, but with such a big squad, not forming partnerships in positions on the field has hurt us, so it was time to trim down. 3 CB's in Gregersen, Mexer and Medioub departed, whilst ball-winning midfielder Onana needed the game time. Youngsters Traore, Bakwa and Mara will all hopefully get plenty of starts which will aid their development. The results in January didn't go our way: We started with a routine cup win, but that was the only positive from the month. A narrow defeat to top 4 hopefuls OM was followed up by a 2-0 pounding from Rennes. When Adjorque put Strasbourg up after 11 minutes in the following game, I started to fear the worst. Thankfully, a spirited comeback with goals from Ihnatenko and Adli meant we salvaged a point. The reserves/fringe players were sent out to face the firing squad away to Rennes in the cup, with my priorities clearly lying elsewhere, but they actually did a better job than those in the league game just 10 days earlier, falling to a narrow 1-0 defeat. Next up we have a huge month. Excuse the football cliche, but it really could make or break our season. Of our 4 league games in February, 3 of our opponents are in the bottom half. If ever there was a time to make a move up the table, now would be it.

To be honest I didn't expect to get anything from you lot, so I can't really complain! Yes I'd appreciate that thanks mate. There are few decent looking youngsters here, so it would be good to see how they're getting on in your game.

It's been a tough start. The morale was already at a low point after 1 win in 13 games when I took charge, add to that my semi-pro background and a few key players missing through injury and suspension, there was no honeymoon period. I'm not just saying it to cover the cracks. I've loved it! I've loved not just walking in to this save, setting up my default 4-3-3, winning loads of games and reviving the club instantly. I want the tactical test, I want it to be a struggle and my gosh are we having that right now. Here's how the first 7 games have gone in all competitions: We started my campaign off with a trip to fellow-strugglers FC Metz. My aim was not to lose. When Amadou was dismissed for the home side after the hour mark, I couldn't resist pushing for what would have been a perfect start by grabbing all 3 points, but my tactical changes failed to deliver and in the 88th minute, Niane snuck in behind and we were defeated by the 10 men. A shift in approach from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 (DM's) saw us control the game against Brest, but it looked like I was going to have to settle for a point. Then, in the 90th minute, Dilrosun burst in to the box from the right hand side and slotted the ball home, earning us a much needed 3 points. With that momentum, I felt we may have got something away at Strasbourg. Unfortunately the experienced Gameiro put the sword to that thought, with a goal either side of half time. We followed that up with a battling performance against @MattyLewis11's Lyon, but their quality told in the end with a 78th minute Dembele strike. Then it was fellow relegation-zone occupiers Troyes away. 1 win in 4 meant this was a must not lose. But lose we did, in our worst performance of my short reign, with me now starting to panic a little. I couldn't complain, they battered us and were worthy winners. I knew that even after just 5 games, I was starting to slip towards panic stations. I decided to nail down a tactic. A modified version of the 4-2-3-1 (DM's)., with the CAM dropping back in to a CM (a). Thankfully, we were given a favourable draw in the Cup, allowing me to give some game time to those who hadn't been afforded much and help ease the return of CB Ahmedhodzic. We ran out 2-0 winners with goals from Oudin and Adli. That win gave us a boost and we used it, with my new tactical shape, to our advantage with a great performance at home to Lille. A 28th minute Ui-Jo strike secured us the 3 points before a 10 day break until January. This means the table looks like this: Yes we're not out of trouble, but we've at least managed to move up 1 spot and improved from 1 win to 3. I still think if we can get some momentum going, we can steer clear of a dogfight, with 2 of our next 3 home games being at home (although to OM and Strasbourg). We are £1k over the wage budget, with no transfer funds to spend. This really is proving to be a test, but I'm loving absolutely every second of it.

Thanks mate, will definitely give it a watch. I seem to have fallen for Bordeaux somewhat.

Reserved for tactical analysis

The Squad: I was pleasantly surprised to see some players within this squad and I'm not going to try and play this as a true underdog story in which surviving relegation would be a miracle, as I do think the squad definitely has enough about them to be comfortably in mid-table. Let's have a look in more detail: GK: Definitely a safe spot for now. The experienced Costil has notched up 150 games for the club and definitely still has the attributes to be the club's number 1. Poussin and Rouyard do have potential in their own ways, but i'll be sticking with Costil for the time being. The analysis does show though that it probably is an area i'm going to want to strengthen in the near future: Apart from agility, our GK's rank lower than average in every other area. Maybe an area to look at in the summer. Defence: A mixture here of experience and youth. We have four defenders 31 and over and four under 23, with a couple in between (Although Guilavogui is likely to be deployed as a CDM or CM). Part of how I like to play is with a higher-press and for my teams to be comfortable on the ball. However, it seems this defensive set up is geared more towards the "old school" type of defending, as shown below in the comparisons: From a defensive point of view, our strengths are in the defensive core principles with tackling, heading, jumping, marking and strength all being above the league average. However, my interest in playing a high line might be too risky when you look at the last 2 columns, paired with positioning also being below the average. Not only does the high-line seem the best option to start with, but playing out from the back may not be the right way to go about getting instant results either. Our passing, technique, first touch and dribbling are all well below the average and definitely an area I'm going to have to address in the long run. Midfield: The heartbeat of my squad, the midfield is, well, ok. It is a very young midfield, with only Fransergio being over 24 and with me being the opposite to the typical FM player in that I like to make older signings, this fits perfectly for me. I'll look to use the experienced Brazilian as the anchor in midfield along with Guilavogui for now. Lacoux, Onana, Ihnatenko and Sissokho are all very similar types of players, so I'll look to either mould one of them in to a different style of midfielder, or adopt my tactical approach to somehow incorporate them. Loanee Yacine Adli will hopefully add some attacking impetus from midfield, whilst Traore, Zerkane, Dilsrosun and Oudin will be utilised on the flanks. Again, my desire to play a style based around good possession was already looking unlikely with my defence, but with our midfield also being below average in passing, vision, technique and decision making, it all but confirms that i'm going to have to tailor my approach somewhat. Again coinciding with our defenders' strengths, our midfield does offer good stamina, teamwork and tackling. Attack: An interesting group this one. Youngster Sekou Mara will definitely be giving plenty of game time and is the early contender for my promise in giving youth plenty of game time. Niang and Ui-Jo definitely have the quality on paper to fire us up the table, whilst Briand's experience should come in handy too. The one annoyance is an already agreed fee for Elis of £6.5m if relegation is avoided If we can get the ball to them, our front line are above the average for finishing, long shots and heading. However, they probably don't suit my initial thought with my defence and midfield's strengths of sitting back and countering, with our attacking line struggling with their pace, acceleration and off the ball movement. Evaluation: Taking all of these in to account, I think the overall analysis is that there's definitely good enough players here to get us up the table, it's just about working out how to get the best out of this team. There's some good loanee players that on initial review, I'd like to make permanent in the future, with some good youngsters to promote alongside them and a couple of experienced players to help steer the ship. To play the way I want in the long run, there will definitely be some changes needed in terms of personnel and some astute coaching required to mould some of the youngsters in to playing my way. What I love about the squad though is that it's going to force me away from my 'go-to' tactics and make me think about how to get the best out of this lot.

The 2021/2022 Ligue 1 season has finished and FC Girondins de Bordeaux have finished bottom and subsequently, relegated to Ligue 2. After holidaying through to early November unemployed, I took a look to see what jobs were available. There were some major teams seeking new managers, Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Lyon to name a few, but it was the club sitting on the west coast of France that caught my eye. It didn't take me long after doing some research on the club to decide that this was the perfect challenge for me, so having sacked their manager for a poor start to the season, a new appointment was made: Eyebrows raised in deed. To ensure the club didn't follow suit of their real-life counterparts, Bordeaux made the change, but instead of going for a somewhat "typical" appointment, they turned to the highly-qualified, yet unexperienced Welshman. I've signed on a deal that will initially take me to the end of next season. Let's have a look at the situation we find ourselves in: One win in 13 games has seen the club sit in the relegation zone throughout the opening of the campaign. The 6 draws has thankfully meant that we aren't too far adrift, which has led the board to requiring a mid-table finish this season and that's exactly what I'm aiming for. The Aim: The aim here is to finally enjoy a long, well-thought out save. I want to add to the club's trophy wall and build the club up to be consistent challengers for the Champions League places within Ligue 1. I want to bring through youth as much as I can and build a solid, self-sustaining team and club. Inspired by @MattyLewis11's (yet again) excellent thread with Lyon, I'm looking to go in to more detail with my players and any potential signings.

We did it! I finally won something! The experienced signings and utilising our full wage and transfer budgets paid off! My contract is up and that's me 4 seasons in to the game. Whether I'll carry on is a question for tomorrow, I may just finish on this high.

So after considering my future on the back of 2 consecutive semi-final defeats in the play-offs, I decided to sign a 12 month extension at Swansea. I've approached this summer differently. The sales of Grims, Piroe, Ntcham etc. have cleared the debt at the club and reduced thee wage bill right down, allowing me to revamp my coaching staff and attack the window in a different way. In the backroom, I've brought in Graeme Jones as my assistant manager along with some highly rated coaches, such as ex Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna. As for the playing squad, there wasn't really much in terms of outgoings. Ben Hamer retired, Kouyate, Murru and Semenyo's loans came to an end and Liam Walsh was released on a free having decided to want 4x the wages he was on. I felt one of the reasons we maybe failed to put a fight in the play-offs and when it mattered most during the campaign was our lack of experience. Going in to the summer, Jeff Hendrick was our only player over the age of 30 and I felt that the squad could do with an influx of leadership and know-how. Let's see who I brought in: First through the door to address the lack of experience was Wataru Endo. With leadership, teamwork and work rate attributes all 15+, I felt the many-capped Japanese international was an absolute steal. I followed that up with the signings of experienced Javi Manquillo who joined from Watford, Marvin Plattenhardt from Braga and Christian Tello on loan from Rangers. I'm hoping this group of experienced players will help keep the squad on track. I added some youth and quality as well. Finn Dahmen replaces Ben Hamer as the back-up GK whilst Justin Janitzek will provide back-up for Matt Clarke. The main piece of business though came in the form of Amine Adli. The French youngster failed to make an impact at Bayer Leverkusen, but I have complete faith in his ability at this level and I think he'll link up excellently with his fellow countrymen in attack (Ekitike and Guebbels). I've use the transfer and wage budget to their fullest this summer and it may be a big throw of the dice, but i'm a lot more confident in this squad than the previous 2.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. A 2-0 away defeat in the first leg meant that we had to chase the 2nd leg somewhat and Bournemouth sat back, soaked up the pressure and then hit us on the break in the 83rd minute to kill the tie off completely and win the semi final 3-0 on aggregate. We overachieved in terms of the board's targets and if I'm being realistic, we didn't have a good enough squad to go up so I don't think I could have done any better than a play-off spot. It'll be an interesting summer now having been at the Swans for 2 and a half years. There's a few players out of contract and our good season mean there's some vultures circling around our good youngsters. Furthermore, I'm actually out of contract and up to now, have turned down the club's offers for a new contract whilst the season was ongoing. Let's see where this all takes us!

So for the second season in a row, we finish on 83 points and in the play-offs. After 41 games we were sitting in 2nd place, but we bottled it, ending the season with 3 defeats in our last 5 games. A final day win will hopefully revive some momentum, but I fear Bournemouth will be too much for us. Hopefully we can prove the doubters wrong!

JANUARY 2024 - TRANSFER WINDOW UPDATE With the winter window officially closed, let's have a look at what moves we made, starting with departures: Youngster Ryan and Lloyd had made the odd cup appearance, but their departures will not effect the first team squad. Ryan Manning was unhappy and with only 6 months left on his contract, £3m is a cracking deal. Seeing what was going to happen in Jan, I offered him out in December to ensure I received a fee for him. Robbie Deas' contract was also due up in 6 months, but thankfully he chose Stoke instead of some of the offers from abroad, meaning I pocketed another £925k. Michael Obafemi also departed for a nice fee despite being out of contract in 6 months. So all in all, I couldn't really complain with the outgoings. In terms of coming in to the squad, I found it really hard to decide what to do. With us in and amongst the play-offs, I didn't really want to buy players just in case we do get promoted and those available for transfer this month weren't really good enough for the level above. I decided to go for some loan deals instead, in the hope that the depth added to LB and LW would help ease the pressure on the squad, whilst an experienced CDM was brought in to help add some leadership to the young squad: Bristol failed to come straight back up from League 1 last season, so they were happy to strike a loan deal for Semenyo to help ease the financial strain. The youngster should provide decent back up across the front line. Nicola Murru has been brought in on a 6 month deal to replace Manning and Cheikhou Kouyate was brought in to try and help see us through any tricky patches. We're currently sitting 5th after 30 games, so hopefully we can secure a play-off spot for the second season running!

Great start to the season there for you @warlock I'm now up to January in my second full season in charge at the Liberty Stadium, so thought I'd post a little update as to how we're looking: With the board wanting a top half finish and me wanting to try and match our 6th placed finish from last season, we've made a good start. In fact, we had made the perfect start after 16 games, with us sitting top of the table. However, the inevitable slump crept up on us, with us just picking up 2 wins from the following 9 games. More worryingly, we started to concede goals for fun after being so tight early on, shipping 4 to the likes of Forest and 3 away to Preston. Thankfully we've arrested the slide in the form of a 2-0 home win over Preston (quick turnaround from the away fixture) and followed it up with a solid 0-0 draw against fellow promotion hopefuls Fulham. My young front 3 of Ekitike, Whittaker and Geubbels have ben excellent, wit them netting 23 league goals between them up to this point. Kraus has settled in to the CDM role and young midfielder Kacper Ubranski is starting to find his rhythm. Ryan Manning will be leaving us in January. The LB lost his place in the side to Harry Toffolo and with just 6 months left on his contract, I decided to cash in, with the Irishman joining Young Boys in a deal that could reach £3m. Robbie Deas has complained about his game time and will also likely leave in Jan. I'm not looking to make major moves coming in to the club unless we have a big departure. The only real signing will be a cheap deal or a loan to cover Manning's departure.

Swansea City - 2023 Summer Update After finishing last season with defeat in the playoffs semi-final, it was always going to be a tricky summer in terms of keeping our best players. Add that to us having nothing left in either budget and a few first teamers entering the last 12 months of their contracts, it proved to be a busy summer. I'm not normally a fan of making too many changes, but I felt the changes were necessary. Let's have a look at the transfers below: Struggling a little financially, I had to sell some big guns to give myself room to work. Club captain Matt Grimes departed for the recently relegated Brighton, bringing in a whopping £15m, all upfront. Joel Piroe managed to attract quite the attention and with him only having 12 months left on his contract, £8m was a solid deal. The same can be said for Ntcham. Quality on his day, but not particularly consistent and with his contract running down, I felt £6m was a good deal. A few other outgoings meant that we racked up over £30m in sales this summer. Replacing Piroe upfront is French youngster Willem Geubbels, who was surprisingly easy to grab on a free with his Monaco contract expiring. Toffolo was also picked up on a free to act as back up to Ryan Manning. Andy Lyons was signed to replace outgoing high-earner Kyle Nuaghton, who was released on a free. I knew I needed to freshen up the midfield, with Grimes and Ntcham leaving, I brought in Jeff Hendrick's experience to combat the inexperience of Will Smallbone and Kacper Urbanski, who will hopefully add some attacking flair. Tom Kraub was our biggest outlay of the summer. The holding midfielder was signed as the long term option for the CDM role, but can also cover CB and CM. In Whittaker, Geubbels, Obafemi, Patterson, Ekitike and Joseph, I have a core of attackers who I hope can all contribute instead of just relying on the one man as we did much of last season. As the transfer window is now closed, it means we've started the season, so let's have a look at how we're getting on: A perfect start so far, although I must admit the fixture list has been kind with us having played Stoke, Portsmouth and Luton in the league, whilst we've knocked out Sutton Utd and Millwall in the Carabao Cup. Nonetheless, I can't be displeased with the start, especially with so many changes to the squad. I'm happy that we still have 13 of the original squad from when I took over as I don't like to change too much, but the changes seemed to have worked so far this summer. Hopefully we'll continue to go from strength to strength when they all start to gel properly. Up the Swans!