BethFM

December 2022: December saw us continue to play friendlies to maintain our match fitness before our Ligue two fixtures resumed with a trip to FC Annecy, a game which saw Bobir Andiholiqov thrive in the number 10 role as we continued to use the 4-2-3-1 formation that served us well for a couple of games prior to the winter break. Up next was a visit from top of the table Caen, overall it was a pretty even game which saw us squander some good chances, Charles Abi had a rare bad day at the office and miss some pretty easy opportunities, his hidden attributes suggest he doesn't enjoy 'big games' so perhaps the magnitude of the game got the better of him. Mathieu Cafaro calmly slotted away an 89th minute penalty to ensure we took all three points which is vital to our promotion campaign. To end the month we received our Youth Intake preview - hopefully we will get some quality youngsters coming through the academy pathway. Player Focus: Charles Abi One of the biggest reasons for our current and continued good form is thanks to the goals from Charles Abi. A product of the ASSE academy the young forward is enduring a controversial time in his career in the real world as the club recently suspended him for drink driving, however in the virtual world he is absolutely flying in this save. Abi has bagged 16 goals in 20 appearances so far this season which has been integral to our promotion charge, these goals also mean that he is leading the Ligue 2 scoring charts. Looking at his stats and data we can see he is doing well in the Advanced Forward role, Abi does most of his work in and around the box but he does work the channel as expected for the role. As we can also see, he does not have a high physical output, this could be due to the fact that we are a high pressing team, meaning we inevitably turn the ball over higher up the pitch so he requires less effort to get into a goalscoring position. Another factor could be that most of our build up play is via the flanks so Abi is best placed in the penalty area to try and get on the end of any incoming crosses. He is pretty reliable in possession and most of his passes find a teammate however we don't necessarily get a creative output from him in terms of progressive passes or assists as he registers a significantly lower number than the league average. An area of concern for me is the lack of other contributors to the goal tally, should our star man become injured or suspended we don't have anyone who is even half capable of stepping into his shoes at the minute.

Thank you! Going well so far and the scouts are reporting back with some great prospects. Yesss, it's brilliant to be able so sign so many talented African youngsters. Hopefully we can develop them and sell them on for profits. Thank you!

Scouting Africa is certainly throwing up some potential gems! We currently sit in third, I'm pretty confident we can get promoted - we seem to have hit some good form and are in a decent flow. I don't plan on making too many signings in January so not to upset the team cohesion.

November 2022: The opening game of the month of November was a big one, we were up against fellow relegated side Metz who have one of the most exciting squads in French football, full of young talented players who will undoubtedly go on to become household names. Reading the scout and analyst reports on our upcoming opposition, I found that they consistently line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with two Defensive Midfielders, I was also informed that they struggle the most when facing this same formation. Armed with this information I decided to match them formation wise. We lined up in this 4-2-3-1 formation for the game. We played exceptionally well and managed to walk away with a victory. This propelled us up to third in the Ligue 2 table. Alexis Beka Beka was the standout player as he has been all season, however shortly after this game he suffered a lower back stress fracture which sees him having to sit on the sidelines for approximately 9 weeks. We couldn't follow up our hard fought victory against Metz with a victory as we only managed a goalless draw against Rodez, we did proceed onto the next round of the Coupe de France after a 2-1 victory against UF Macon. That completed our competitive fixtures for the month as we reached the mid season break for the world cup, I have arranged some friendlies to keep us match fit and in the flow of playing regular football, the first of these was against league leaders Caen where we eased to a 3-0 victory, hopefully a result we can replicate in the league. Off The Pitch: Transfer Deal: Reading some of the latest scout reports, my attention was caught by Meleye Diagne of Diambars FC in Senegal. He is clearly incredibly talented and there were no red flags in his hidden attributes. At 19 years old he fits into the recruitment model as he is in the Potential Phase which means we have the ability to develop him and sell him on for a big profit. Diambars were willing to accept a deal for €60k which is a great deal for us in terms of outlay. I took the decision to act swiftly and get the deal done as Porto were interesting in him and if we entered a bidding war or the player was forced to choose between us and them, I would guess he would have opted for Porto so I decided to swoop in. There were some other changes off the pitch, our good form meant that when I requested a few improvements, the board were willing to accept them. Transfer Budget Wage Budget Youth Recruitment

October 2022: The first game in October saw us pick up a 3-0 victory against third placed Grenoble, high flying Charles Abi continued his good form, he is currently leading the Ligue 2 scoring charts with thirteen goals. I have offered him a new contract to deter any interest from bigger clubs. Whilst I have no doubt that we will have to part ways with him at some point, I would like to continue developing him and eventually sell him in the 'Peak Phase' for a high amount. We then secured a victory against Souchaux, once again thanks to Charles Abi. Another victory followed against Paris FC, Abi on the scoresheet again, this time joined by Mathieu Cafaro who I have changed to play as an Advanced Playmaker on the left wing as I want to see him drift in to the number 10 role as often as possible. What followed was a disappointing performance and defeat to Amiens, whilst I am unhappy with the performance I don't feel the need to panic and make any kneejerk reactionary changes to the tactic or personnel. The final game of the month saw us grab a victory in the Coup de France against Genets Anglet, Bobir Abdiholiqov made his first start in this game and bagged himself a hattrick. On to the next.

I'll make sure to pop up in the comments then! Database - Playable leagues I have: France Ligue 1, 2 and Championnat National. The remaining T5 leagues and their second tiers. Then I have the players from every team in every top tier league worldwide, so that gives me about 112,000 players and means that those teams will continue to generate players so we should get the opportunity to scout some talented youngsters. I would like to focus on players based in Africa as in France the majority don't require a work permit and are not classed as foreign players. I think I will only sign players from the top 5 leagues if it was the right deal for the club. I plan on managing the finances really tightly in this save (will write in more detail about this at a later date). I want to create a clear wage structure throughout the club. Currently Charles Abi is firing on all cylinders, whilst I plan on offering him a new contract, I know the big clubs will come calling and I would certainly be willing to sell him for the right price. Yvann Macon is a player that had interest from Premier League clubs when I took charge at St Etienne, whether they will renew their interest in January remains to be seen. There are a couple of highly rated youngsters that I plan on clearing a pathway for, Saidou Sow is a player that I think could be a key player for us for years to come and if he gets regular first team football I think he could either sell for a high profit or be our one club man, much like Loic Perrin. I plan on writing about the development of some of the prospects in ASSE-2 and the Under 19s over the coming weeks. Speaking of Mbappe, we have agreed a deal to sign Diagne from Diambars in Senegal, our wingers are somewhat lacking and this guy was highly recommended by the scouts, after further scouting a deal was agreed for €60k. I think he actually could resemble Mbappe in his style of play. At 19 he is in the 'Potential Phase' and Porto were already interested in him so I decided to swoop in there.

September 2022: Deadline Day Signing: Bobir Abdiholiqov €26k from BGU Minsk Bobir's signing was not exactly planned, Jean-Philippe Krasso (who has been less that impressive when called upon) stated that he was going to 'explore his options' when his contract expired at the end of the season, Edmilson Correia did the same, though I doubt he would ever become more than a backup option. My scouts were already looking for strikers as Abi is the only one who is impressing and I already had reservations about the abilities of the other two before they stated their intentions to explore their options. I was in the market for a replacement and Abdiholiqov peaked my interest, his contract at Minsk was expiring therefore he was available at a knockdown price, his wages are also half of Krasso's, with Abi pretty much locked in as our starting striker, Bobir looks to be a fine understudy and more than capable of leading the line when needed plus there is also the opportunity to retrain him. How does Abdiholiqov fit with the Luis Campos recruitment policy: - 25 Years Old - Peak Phase. - Bought for 26k with potential for a high resale value. - Low wages. - Significantly improves the squad. It's difficult to tell whether September was good or bad in terms of the results, on the one had we remained unbeaten, on the other had we had failed to win in five matches now. The game against Pau was largely disappointing as we dominated and really should have found the back of the next more than once. We were hit on the counter in the 87th minute which resulted in us conceding the equaliser. The game against Bordeaux saw us take an early lead through a Mathieu Cafaro penalty, what ensued afterwards can only be described as them absolutely peppering us with shots, thankfully goalkeeper Etienne Green had the game of his life and limited them to one goal. A rather drab 0-0 draw with Guingamp closed out the month. Looking at the data hub, I found that we were underperforming defensively and I think using a CM on attack and a Mezzala with the Half Back meant that our midfield was generally getting bypassed as they were all inclined to leave the space open for opponents to launch a counter attack. Based on this I opted to change the Mezzala to a Ball Winning Midfielder on Support duty. In other news, experienced Left Back Gabriel Silva who is our highest earner on a whopping €20k per week agreed a deal to return home to Brazil by signing with Vasco da Gama, a transfer that will go through in January. We received a fee of €180k for him, a good deal for us as he is a backup option and his contract was expiring at the end of the season so it made sense to get some money for him and get those dreadful wages off the books.

July and August 2022 Pre season went as well as I could hope for, especially after a disappointing first outing against Ligue 1 side Nice. I used these games to develop a tactic that would suit the players I have inherited. The board and fans both require us to be immediately promoted back to the topflight which I do feel is a tough ask considering the quality of some the teams in this league such as Bordeaux, Metz, Le Havre and Sochaux and taking into account there is only two promotion spots available. The victory against Hungarian champions Ferencvaros was pleasing as I didn't expect us to walk away with a win from this game. However a negative that came from our preseason was that three players who would be in the starting eleven picked up injuries that meant they would be unavailable for the first few weeks of the season. Our first game of the season rolled around rather quickly, we were away to Dijon who have plenty of Ligue 1 experience and would certainly be no pushovers. We also began the season with a three point deduction due to the crowd behaviour that was very well documented as ASSE were relegated last season. Based on the players at the club I have opted for a 4-3-3 formation with the intention firstly to keep possession. Jose Mourinho famously believes that maintaining possession is not necessary as the team with the ball is more likely to make a mistake, my thinking is the opposite of this, I believe that if we have control of the ball then with our passing abilities we will be able to carve an opening for our attackers. I also would like us to press high up the pitch and force our opponents into turning over possession, the main thought behind this is that as per the squad analysis above, we possess a high amount of pace within the attacking element of the team so our ability to attack with a certain amount of speed should be utilised. The Wing Back and Full Back have licence to get forward and cross more often which is why I have opted for a Half Back who will drop back and form a defensive back three which should enable us to be able to contain the opposition counterattacks. The opening game saw us pick up a win away at Dijon, we kept possession very well and limited them to only five shots throughout the game. Charles Abi opened his account for the season with a simple tap in after a lovely cross from the right wing from Ibrahima Wadji. The Advanced Forward role suits both Abi and Krasso well as they both have the pace to cause a constant problem for opposition defenders by running in behind their defensive line. Our second goal was more luck than anything else as Moueffek had a shot from the edge of the area and the Dijon keeper seemed to palm it into his own net, no complaints from us though. Nice to start the season with a victory and make up the -3 point deduction right away. I felt that to fully get the best out of the Half Back we would need to recruit a better player than Mouton, his lack of determination and bravery was concerning to me and his lack of technical ability also worried me with our desire to maintain possession. We had just over €8k available in wage budget and zero transfer budget, having looked at the free agent market myself and not finding a suitable player, I set up two priority recruitment focuses, one for transfers as we could adjust the budgets to give us approximately €200k in transfer budget and another to see if there were any opportunities to loan a talented young player to fill the gap. The latter recruitment focus drew my attention to Alexis Beka Beka who is a young player at Nice. On the whole he possesses excellent attributes to play as a Half Back, his high level of determination though is what drew me to making an offer for a season long loan. After agreeing to pay 60% of his wages, the player signed on the dotted line and went straight into the line up for our upcoming game against Nimes. What a game it was! A wonderful 4-1 victory was secured via four goals from Charles Abi including a first half hattrick. As you can see from our attacking positioning the Central Midfielder on Attack gets so high up the pitch that he is often acting as another striker which helps to create space for the Mezzala to exploit. All four of our goals were virtually identical as they stemmed from a ball over the top which enabled Abi to latch onto it and place the ball past the keeper. Abi bagged the four goals while two assists were claimed by Ibrahima Wadji who on the support duty dropped back into the defensive third to receive the ball and swiftly played in Abi who made excellent runs throughout the game. Debutant Alexis Beka Beka had a brilliant game, he was key to us not only maintain possession but using it in a positive fashion as he completed over 100 passes which propelled our attack forward down the flanks. He also capped of a great performance with an assist. Our good form continued throughout the month of August, Abi continued his good form by scoring both goals in a victory away to Quevilly-Rouen. A 1-0 victory at home to league favourites Le Havre followed, Yvann Macon was incredibly influential throughout this game, not only did he get an assist after Lenny Pintor ran in from the left wing to tap in a teasing cross played across the Le Havre penalty area after a swift counter attack, Macon was a menace all game down our right had side and on another day it could have been two or three. Ibrahima Wadji rescued a late draw against Valenciennes whilst Charles Abi was back amongst the goals in the 1-1 draw with Bastia. Whilst I am still learning about the team, we are defensively quite compact though I would like to see a few more clean sheets on the horizon. There may be some tactical tweaks in the near future but on the whole I am happy with the shape and the attacking output, it's been a good start to our season, hopefully it will continue.

Thank you Ben, have to say I love following your save - little shy to post in the thread but the detail you go into is just wonderful. Appreciate you taking the time to read mine.

Thank you 😊 How have you been getting on? The squad looks pretty decent but I feel like promotion has to be achieved in the first season or most will want to leave.

St. Etienne 2022/23 Squad: Goalkeepers: Etienne Green (22) Matthieu Dreyer (33) Defenders: Mickael Nade (23) Saidou Sow (20) Leo Petrot (25) Anthony Briancon (27) Jimmy Giraudon (30) Gabriel Silva (31) Yvann Macon (23) Sergi Palencia (26) Midfielders: Thomas Monconduit (31) Aimen Moueffek (21) Louis Mouton (20) Koimizo Maiga (21) Victor Lobry (27) Benjamin Bouchouari (20) Mathieu Cafaro (25) Dylan Chambost (24) Forwards: Ibrahima Wadji (27) Lenny Pintor (21) Jean-Philippe Krasso (25) Charles Abi (22) Edmilson Correia (22) Overall squad analysis: The Luis Campos Squad Analysis: Players in the Potential Phase: Aged 17- 20 Saidou Sow, Louis Mouton, Benjamin Bouchouari. Players in the Pre Peak Phase: Aged 21-23 Etienne Green, Mickael Nade, Yvann Macon, Aimen Moueffek, Koimizo Maiga, Lenny Pintor, Charles Abi, Edmilson Correia. Players in the Peak Phase: Aged 24-28 Leo Petrot, Anthony Briancon, Sergi Palencia, Victor Lobry, Mathieu Cafaro, Dylan Chambost, Ibrahima Wadji, Jean-Philippe Krasso. Experienced Players: 29+ Matthieu Dreyer, Jimmy Giraudon, Gabriel Silva, Thomas Monconduit.

Thank you, yes I think St. Etienne is a great club to implement Campos' recruitment methodology since they are renowned for developing players like Saliba and Fofana who were sold for €25 million and €35 million. Managing the finances will be a key aspect of this save, especially if we want to get promoted and stay there.

Transfer and Recruitment Policy: The Luis Campos Way When talking about modern French football, it is unavoidable to mention Luis Campos, he is the man responsible for some of the biggest and shrewdest transfers in football today. Currently, the Portuguese native is Sporting Director at PSG, the Qatari backed club have assigned him the responsibility of assembling a team that can challenge for the elusive Champions League trophy that they so desperately desire. Campos recruitment policy is admired for his intelligent approach to transfers, and most notably the substantial profits made on player sales. Let's take a look at the career of Luis Campos... After a decade long manager career in his native Portugal, in 2012 Campos became a scout at Real Madrid under the management of Jose Mourinho, where he also worked alongside the likes of Aitor Karanka. Campos utilises technology better than most, he even created tactical software for clubs including the Mourinho Tactical Board, specifically designed for the man himself. Whilst working at Real Madrid, he continued to develop scouting software which many clubs use today. One of his early recommendations to the Spanish giants was to sign the Brazilian Fabinho, whilst the player would only make a single appearance for Los Blancos, he would be reunited with Campos at Monaco where he would develop into a player that could be sold for €50 million. 2013 saw Luis Campos join Monaco initially in an advisory capacity, a year later after the clubs unsustainable spending spree was forced to a halt, his position was upgraded to Technical Director, great show of faith in his methods. Campos assembled a squad of promising youngsters who had the potential to be sold on for significant profits. Bernardo Silva came in from Benfica for €15.75 million, Tiemoue Bakayoko from Rennes for €8 million, Fabinho from Rio Ave for €6 million, Thomas Lemar from Caen for €4 million. All would later be sold for vastly higher fees. Campos also recognised the huge potential in the then young starlet Kylian Mbappe, he ensured there was a clear pathway to the first team for the youngster to develop. Campos' signings not only helped Monaco romp to the title, they also generated close to €1 billion for the Stade Louis II club. In 2017 Campos made his way north to Lille, during his tenure at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy he spent at total of €225 million and recouped €354 million, meaning he generated a profit of €129 million for the club. Other players that Campos signed such as Ikone, Maignan and Soumare were also sold for significant profits after his departure. Campos honed his recruitment policy at Lille, placing great emphasis on signing players aged 17-20 - The Potential Phase. There were also a number of signings aged 21-23 - The Pre Peak Phase. Recruiting in The Potential Phase: During his time at Lille, Luis Campos brought in sixteen players who fit The Potential Phase criteria, the majority of which were signed from club academies in Europe. Rafael Leao who is now considered to be one of the leading strikers in Europe is a prime example of the Campos methodology, he was signed on a free from Sporting and sold to A.C. Milan for a fee of €29.5 million. Premier League side Newcastle United paid €37 million to acquire the services of centre back Sven Botman whilst Jonathan Ikone was sold for €17 million and Soumare brought in €20 million. Victor Osimhen was sold to Napoli for a club record fee of €70 million that could potentially rise to €80 million. As the above graphic demonstrates, Lille did pay a decent fee to bring the Nigerian to the club, however Campos held the belief that this would be more than doubled when the player was eventually sold on, he was of course proven right. Buying and Selling in The Pre Peak Phase: Players Out: The graphic above demonstrates the outgoings at Lille who were in the Pre Peak Phase. As you can see, Campos is more than happy to move players on during this phase, for the right price of course. This also demonstrates his ability to replace players as Canadian Jonathan David was signed as a replacement for Osimhen while Sven Botman was brought to Lille as a replacement for Gabriel. Yves Bissouma's departure was also covered as Soumare was still at the club and able to step into the vacant role in central midfield. Players In: Above are the players signed by Campos who were in the Pre Peak Phase (21-23). This consists of players who would go on to become integral to Lille's success, as you can see, heh as a tendency to look beyond the 'big five' leagues for quality players, the majority of whom he will have followed for a number of years. Once again, it is worth noting that these players would go on to bring in huge profits for the French team, Nicolas Pepe's performances for Lille convinced Arsenal to shell out €80 million for him, a €62 million profit. The biggest outlay of course was to sign Renato Sanches who at the time had struggled at Bayern and endured an ill fated loan spell at Swansea, Campos though trusted his own judgement and believed the player would thrive in the right environment. Buying and Selling Peak Players: 24-28 Years Old Campos refused to break the bank to sign players in their peak, he would only sanction he signings he considered to be necessary to the squad and would not spend a significant amount on these players. In other words, peak players could be signed but only at the right price and where possible he wold still look to turn a profit on these players. Incoming Peak Players: Outgoing Peak Players: The €156.9 million generated by peak player sales accounts for 44.34% of the fees received. Of course, that is mostly accounted for by the fee for Pepe, but there were some other decent examples of profit being made. Campos was not afraid to sell first-team players such as Thiago Mendes or Ibrahim Amadou and replace them with young players coming through, as he did with the pre-peak players earlier. The final piece of the puzzle... Experience: Despite the success Campos had signing young players, there were some very important players brought who were classed as being in the decline of their careers. With a high proportion of the squad being young players and with many of those players being sold before hitting their peaks, a little bit of experience needed to be brought in to give the squad a better balance. In the list of the more experienced signings made by Campos, there are two signings that were particularly important. They were both over the age of 34-years-old and picked up for free. Those signings were Burak Yilmaz and Jose Fonte, who were both vital in Lille winning the league in 20/21. Fonte, the former Southampton centre back, proved to be the perfect partner for the far less experienced Botman, with the Portuguese man starting every game of the season, bar the two he was suspended for. That partnership was the bedrock of Lille’s exceptional defensive record, which saw them concede the lowest total in the league of just 23 goals. Meanwhile, Yilmaz provided the goals at the other end of the field. The Turk scored 16 goals and assisted five on the way to the title, with his lethal finishing making the difference for his side on several occasions. It is this transfer policy I will be adopting for my Football Manager save with St. Etienne, we will mostly look to sign players in the Potential Phase with the idea to develop them and sell them on for profits. There will also be signings in the Pre Peak Phase, is is these two phases where we will spend money, any Peak or Experienced signings will have to be well considered and at the right price. Of course as Campos' has demonstrated, if the right offer comes in then it will be accepted, even if they are a first team player, it is always important to remember that through detailed scouting a replacement can be found.

A Couple of Facts About St. Etienne You Might Not Know: In 1958 club legend and second all time leading scorer Rachid Mekhloufi made the decision to sacrifice his playing career to go and join the fight for Algeria in their battle for independence from French rule. Mekhloufi and ten other players based in France made the choice to play football for the FLN Football Team (The National Liberation Front was leading the fight against French forces). At 21 years old the young St Etienne player used his footballing skills to bring awareness to the ongoing battle between Algeria and its coloniser. This was incredibly brave as they were essentially playing for a country that did not fully exist yet (when France colonised Algeria it became classed as part of the nation of France meaning in the eyes of the French the nation of Algeria ceased to exist). The FLN team won 65 matches in four years which meant that the Algerian cause could not be ignored as many fans who supported the players also made their voices heard in their wishes to see an independent Algeria. The war raged on and the players including Mekhloufi lost family members and friends to the intensely bloody battle. However Mekhloufi himself stated that the experience of wearing the colours of Algeria and signing what would become the national anthem 'couldn't be bought with all the gold in the world'. Mekhloufi and his compatriots were celebrated as heroes as they continued to pay for the FLN until 1962 when Algeria achieved independence. Some people may criticise the politicisation of football but no one can deny that Mekhloufi's decision to use his talent to protest French rule was incredibly brave and no doubt instilled an even higher sense of national pride in Algeria. Striker Dominique Rocheteau was known as L'Ange Vert - The Green Angel. He was given this nickname as he was famously never booked throughout his career. Rocheteau was part of the team that lost in the 1976 European Cup final. Upon their return to France, Robert Herbin's men were welcomed as heroes. French fans frequently comment that had the goalposts been round instead of square, they would have won as Jacques Santini and Dominique Bathenay both hit the frame of the goal.

Founded in 1919 (now known as Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire), the club based in the Rhone-Alps region is actually the joint record holders of the number of Ligue 1 titles. Les Verts have won ten titles, a number which Qatari backed PSG equalled with their title victory last season. The club was founded by employees of a grocery store chain called Groupe Casino, the choice of their famous green kits was due to it being the primary colour of the aforementioned grocery store. Upon football becoming professional, in 1933 the club changed its name to AS St Etienne and was inserted into the second tier of French football. The club gained promotion to the first division during the 1938-39 season under the stewardship of Englishman Teddy Duckworth. Moving forward in the timeline, between the years 1956 - 1981 Les Verts secured their place in the history of French football by winning ten league titles, a record that has only just been equalled by PSG. The first of these came in the 1956-57 season where St. Etienne won the title by finishing four points ahead of Lens. The next title was secured in the 1963-64 campaign, then a period of domestic dominance ensued as the club won the Ligue 1 title on four consecutive occasions from 1966-67 to 1969-70. After a three year drought, the club had another burst of success as another three consecutive titles were won from 1973-1976. In 1976 Les Stephanois also reached the final of the European Cup where they faced Bayern Munich, who were chasing their third European Cup win, at Hampden Park. The French Champions were narrowly defeated 1-0. The game began with Gerd Muller going on an incredible solo run after winning the ball back in his own half and finding the back of the net, the goal however was ruled out for offside. Les Verts could breathe easy for a while, they actually had plenty of chances to score but ultimately failed to do so after hitting the woodwork on multiple occasions. In the 57th minute Bayern broke the deadlock as captain Franz Beckenbauer played a short free kick to Franz 'Bulle' Roth who found the back of the net. In 1981 the club won its final league title to date as captain Michel Platini lifted the Ligue 1 trophy. What immediately followed can only be described as a downward trajectory of epic proportions. The year after their final league title win saw long time president Roger Rocher jailed for his role in a financial scandal. Unsurprisingly the club suffered relegation to Ligue 2 in 1984. The club once again returned to the top flight in 1986, they would retain their status for a decade despite the ongoing financial insecurities, in '96 the club was relegated back to the second tier and bounced back to Ligue 1 in 1999. The following year there was yet another scandal as two players were found to be using fake passports - after an investigation which showed some staff members were involved in the acquisition of the forged documents, the club was docked seven points and relegated. After another three seasons in Ligue 2, St Etienne returned to the top flight for the 2004/05 campaign. They arrived back in the top division with a new philosophy to which the clubs investment in youth was central. The 04/05 squad consisted of a core group of players who had either emerged through the academy (Bafetimbi Gomis and Loic Perrin) or were shrewd investments in quality young French players (Blaise Matuidi and Dimitri Payet). Perrin, who I will write about in more detail at a later date, stayed with his boyhood club throughout his entire career and is considered to be one of the best players to wear the green of St. Etienne in recent years. After maintaining its position in Ligue 1, the year 2013 saw Les Verts secure their first domestic trophy for over thirty years as they won the Coup de la Ligue. The following year saw the team secure a home victory agains fierce rivals Olympique Lyonnais for the first time in twenty years. Moving forward a few years, the club secured a fourth place finish in 2019, however troubled times returned as the club was put up for sale the year after and the team battled relegation one again. After going on a ten game winning streak St. Etienne secured survival for another year, sadly the following year saw the inevitable happen. Les Verts struggled throughout the 2021/22 season, spending the majority of the campaign in the relegation zone, they were eventually sent back down to Ligue 2 after losing the relegation play off to Auxerre... and that is where we are at the start of this Football Manager save.