keeper#1

2030-31 Midseason Update Olivier did not get offered the Manchester United job. It went to the Juventus manager, Sergio Conceicao who is coming off the Serie A title. League Table xG Table Champions League Table Ligue 1 Fixtures Champions League Fixtures Finances Individual Stats Defender of the First Half CB/DM Jose Domingo Linares Midfielder of the First AM Dijon Kameri Forward of the First Half CF Reto Braun The Story It was a very disjointed first half for Olivier and his Lens squad. The offense has really fired on all cylinders this season. When the offense has clicked, the defense proved to be just leaky enough to turn a win into a draw or a draw into a loss. He tried some unique thinking about squad rotation that only caused more disjointed play. Once he went back to what worked last season; playing players who need to get a game to stay fresh and resting players who have had a heavy match load; the team started to click again and win again. All that said, the club is about in the same place that it was last season. Sitting in third place in the domestic league and on the edge of advancing to the Knockout Phase of the Champions League. The club has two huge Champions League matches against Read Sociedad and Fenerbahce. Four points from those matches should ensure qualification into the Knockout Phase. Winning the league will be a tall ask since the club sits eight points behind PSG but another second place finish is a possibility as the club sits five points behind Marseille. In terms of the next club, nothing is available or any managers on the hot seat at a club where Olivier would be willing to go. The job search will probably have to wait until the summer.

I'm only going to leave for the perfect situation. I'm not going to leave for a rebuilding project even if it's at a big club.

How Olivier Spent His Summer Vacation Olivier entered the summer as a manager in demand. Big clubs were coming in for his services not his players. Olivier spent the summer on job interviews: His first interview was at his dream club, Arsenal, he could take over the club that was once managed by his idol. Arsene Wenger. He really wanted this job. Unfortunately, his dream was not to be. Next, the Milan came calling. First, AC Milan offered an interview. They really wanted him and the media were touting him as the favorite to take over the job. Inter was also looking for a manager and did not want to see one of the hottest managers on the market go to their rivals. Milan came in with a job offer but Olivier was unimpressed with the finances at the club. An aging roster and a negative transfer budget is not a situation that I wanted to get himself involved with so he turned them down. Inter came in with a job offer of their own. Their finances weren't much better so Olivier declined them as well. The England Premier League came calling again when Manchester United rang Olivier's phone. As of August 15, Olivier is still waiting to hear back from club. However, as a diehard Wenger and Arsenal supporter, he is unsure that he could take over United. But we shall see what happens.

Paid to play footy. Sounds like my job as an at-home travel agent. When I'm on hold with travel suppliers for clients, I fire up FM and play.

I faced a similar issue in my save about staying or going while playing last night. But chose to stay at the "smaller" club because I would have had to set everything up again at club with many financial cracks starting to form. I did not want to set everything back up while watching everything slow fall apart because of finances. I'm in a good place with Lens and job offers will come at clubs with better finances. But your situation was clearly moving to a bigger club in a better situation and I would have made the same move as you.

Actually, thinking back to the start of this save, Arsenal would be a great place for Stage 4 of this career. Arsenal in Stage 5 would be perfect because it cause the original storyline to come full circle but Stage 4 is almost as good.

London Calling? Let's see where this leads....if anywhere.

There's four big club open right now. Napoli - in debt Liverpool - personal support prevents me from taking over Arsenal - very interesting Bayer Leverkusen - interesting But not actively seeking a new job. Will only talk if they contact first.

2029-30 End of Season Report League Table Champions League Knockout Phase Tree January-May League and French Cup Matches Champions League Knockout Phase Matches Individual Statistics Defender of the Year GK Michele DiGregorio Midfielder of the Year AM Dijon Kameri Forward of the Year CF Reto Braun Breakthrough Player of the Year CF/LF Mathys Labarthe Finances The Story The 2029-30 season has to go down as the greatest season in the history of RC Lens: 3rd place finish in Ligue 1, Winners of the Coupe de France, and Semifinalists of the Champions League. Olivier couldn't be happier with how this season went. Yes, people will say that Lens got a lucky draw in the quarterfinals of the Champions League but they still had to beat Inter and Dortmund, who beat Lens soundly 4-1 in the League Phase, to reach the quarterfinals and get that fortunate draw. Sometimes you create your own luck. The Coupe de France saw Lens win two of the matches on penalties and won 1-0 in the quarterfinals against last place Metz. This season could have easily gone a completely different direction if the club had lost early in the Champions League or in the Coupe de France. Maybe a loss in one of those events would have allowed the club to make a bigger push for the league title. As you can see in the individual stats, it was a total team effort. Reto Braun led the team with just 13 goals and numerous players chipped in with key goals. Some of those players were regulars to the starting lineup, some were reserves who happened to find the net when provided the chance, and some were younger players who made the most of their playing time early in the season and became trusted bench options as the season wore on. A total team effort. Looking forward to next season: Olivier doesn't have any pressing needs in the transfer market. Some players have reached the end of their useful life at the club due to age and there are options coming through the academy ready to replace. He envisions a four-member Class of 2031 joining the senior team next season. The only place he may go searching in the transfer market is at left back as there isn't a natural replacement for Antonee Robinson. Olivier continues to build the Lens Academy. Still a couple of holes to fill in the academy but once those get filled, the pipeline of talent will be complete. The Builder Objectives Win the League and the Cup in different seasons: League (TBA) Cup (2030) Sell a Player for, at least, 1,000,000 Euros: Numerous Players Have Five Academy Players play 2,000 minutes in the same season: One Player this season Wilfried Pettijean (2,011) Have an Academy Player make a Senior Team Appearance: Bob Joachim (Luxembourg) Obtain UEFA A and UEFA Pro Licenses: Done Reach Europa League or Europa Conference League Phase: Europa Conference League Phase (2029) Olivier has achieved 4.5 of the 6 objectives for Stage 3. Big clubs are starting stiff around for his services. The media has asked about his interest in Napoli (none - club in financial trouble) and Liverpool (interesting except I'm a Liverpool supporter and would have a hard time taking them over as a fan - I will want to win every match). It will be interesting to see which clubs, if any, ask to interview Olivier either during the 2030 World Cup or after the World Cup when more of the bigger club jobs become available as managers move from club manager to national team manager.

A taste for the full season recap coming later today.

This part of the fanbase is happy with a ten point February

Yeah, we got the best quarterfinal draw possible. The draw set up two spicy derbies: Barca-Real and City-Untied. Actually, that half of the draw is brutal since they have to play each other in the semis. Whereas we get Ajax or Bayern.

Champions League Quarterfinal and Semifinal Draws

2030 Youth Intake Average DNA: 114.4 (20 players in the intake) CB Harry Puel 30A (DNA Score: 109) CB Slavojub Spasojevic 30B (DNA Score: 111) CM Bernard Mallet 30C (DNA Score: 124) AM Ibrahim Ligof 30D (DNA Score: 126) DM Sonny Picabea 30E (DNA Score: 118)

Quick March 2030 Since we are fighting on three fronts, I'm giving a quick update on March 1, 2030. Sitting in 3rd place in the league but a very distant ten points behind PSG with Nice between us and PSG. We are through to the semis of the Coupe de France. The semifinal matchups Lens (L1) at Troyes (L2) Sochaux (L2) at Lyon (L1) We also found a way to beat Inter in the Opening Knockout Round of the Champions League.....our reward Dortmund who pounded us 4-1 in the League Phase.

Could be a 12 point February if it wasn't for the injuries

I softened it to winning the league and the cup but in different seasons.

European Survival The kids did their best in a losing effort against Manchester United but held firm against Barcelona to earn a point that allowed us to squeak into 24th place and earn a spot in the Knockout Phase of the Champions League

TBF, anywhere I go, at this point, I'm battling a big club for the title.

2029-30 Midseason Update League Table xG Table July-September 2029 Fixtures October-December 2029 Fixtures UEFA Champions League Table General Performance Analytics Youth Intake Preview Individual Stats Finances Defender of the First Half LB Antonee Robinson - Robinson has run the left flank in the matches he has played this season. Robinson has featured in a rotation with Christopher Walker Deemin. The rest has done Robinson good. He has been in top form in the matches he has played and has added three assists in addition to his defensive duties. Midfielder of the First Half AM Dijon Kameri - Kameri sits just behind the main striker and acts as a second scoring option in the box for us. Kameri has been in lethal goalscoring form in the first half with eight goals, second on the team, and only one assist. He's done what has been asked of him this season and Olivier couldn't be happier. Forward of the First Half CF Reto Braun - Braun is our leading goalscorer with nine goals in all competitions. He could have more goals but I've used the Champions League, this season, as a chance to rest some of the first team players including Braun. Olivier wants to keep them fresh for the more important league matches. Olivier wants to make sure that the club in back in the Champions League next season and that can't be done without a little load management within the squad. Breakthrough Player of the First Half CF Wilfried Pettijean - Olivier has been able to rest Braun because Pettijean has made a big leap this season scoring five goals in the first half of the season compared to just three goals all of last season. The Story It's been a long and successful first half of the season for Lens. Lens, briefly, spent time at the top of the Ligue 1 table before slipping to 3rd place has the club heads into the Christmas break. The Champions League has been a successful campaign for the club. The club sits in 24th place which would be good enough to reach the knockout stage of the competition and it has been done with mainly rotated players into the lineup. It's been a great launching pad for some of our young talents at the club. As confidence builds in these young players, they will get more meaningful playing time in Ligue 1 matches which will help turn the roster over, make us a younger team and, hopefully, into a talent factory. It's not an overnight process. The club has even more young talents in the reserve and U18 teams which will come up the ranks in the next couple of seasons. This is why Olivier stayed at Lens instead of jumping to Lazio. He wants to see this process through and knows that it will take time. But in the short team, 3rd place in the league, competitive in the Championship and a chance to make a deep Coupe de France run in the cards for Lens this season.

Those finances....oof!

@MattyLewis11 Where do we put the links to the two positions that you attached?

Summer 2029 Musings and Transfer Notes The Lens summer was an interesting one with the aforementioned approach by Lazio and Olivier turning down the offer even at the hit it took to his personality. The 2028-29 Ligue 1 Manager of the Year wanted to stay at Lens and see the project through. Ligue 1 had grown in both stature, as the league saw a 1% bump in TV revenue, and European standing when it came to Champions League places. Olivier was able to able to keep top goalscorer Reto Braun at the club for another season. The media expect to see a lot from the 19-year old this season putting in with the likes of Mbappe and Balogun. On the whole, the media expect Lens to be in the mix for the European places but do not expect them to duplicate last season's runner-up finish. The opinion in the media is reflected by the lack of splashes that Lens made in the transfer market. The club only made two permanent transfers and one of those was activating the optional fee clause in loanee Mika Faye's loan deal. The other deal saw a bit of playmaking ability added to the defensive midfield as Spainard Jose Domingo Linares (DNA Score: 182) was brought in from Real Madrid's reserve team on a free. A steal for the club. The rest of the transfer window saw Lens looking around at a lot of players but not finding the right deal for them. The Lens Academy continues to build with some players from the reserve team out on loan to get some first-team experience before, hopefully, joining the senior team next season.

In Rensie's skin, it's by the manager name