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[FM17]Basquet Case...


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3 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

I like the idea of feeding Anglet some seed money, especially if you can get them on as an affiliate with a first option.

There's a pair of problems, though ideally, that's exactly what I'd want. Sociedad already have a first option with them(and also the one where sometimes French kids will come through there), and they're rivals.

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Well, we're into January, and at the halfway point....

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I was expecting to avoid relegation, and hoping for lower mid table, I didn't expect to be this close to the bigger sides at all. Chumped in the league cup at first shout, and sadly is was my starting 11 this time....

I do feel in some games we could have done a lot better, but some of these guys are from the 5th and 4th division, so I guess I can only ask so much of them. On the other side, a year or two of consolidation and foundation building might actually suit well enough, especially as once we do reach League 1, I would love for the squad to be purely Basque. We're already fairly close to that.

We should stay comfortable this season, and maybe strengthen next.

Then this happened.

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Board were accepting crap bids, so I chucked him on the list for daft money to see if I got any bites, thankfully I did. To be honest, had they not accepted it, I would have anyway, well, I would have worked a slightly better deal with clauses and junk, but whatever.

It does hurt my plans to try and keep the squad French by some amount, but the money may help the academy(wish they'd let me pump some in Youth Recruitment....)

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Finances were close to the red again, so the transfer has fixed that up nicely!

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Youth Intake Day!

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I'm not going to keep the most of them this time, mostly because we just have too many players and most of them look average even for us.

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Passing is dire, as is Off The Ball, but he looks to have a bit of class about him, and I love that he can play across the AM slots.

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The HOYD announced this lad as his pick. Could be good, either footed an all, needs work though!

 

In other news, I ditched the 4-4-2 I was using, turns out that perhaps playing a high tempo, direct passing game isn't going to work too well when you're the slowest team in the league, with the worst passing.  So I switched to an old system from some other saves that is all about movement, as we have the best Off The Ball in the league.

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I'm a freaking idiot, yes. Worst of all, it's been loaded and had the players trained in it since season one, I could have been playing it all season. Well, maybe this is just a purple patch yet.

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13 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

wow, you can actually make it to ligue 1. This is like the Bournemouth/Southampton promotion runs, probably even more impressive

We're close! Even closer now, we won a six-pointer against Tours in third. One game a week, no cups, we can play our best eleven every game, was all perfect until the left back picked up a groin strain.

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Season Review!

Ligue 1, here we come! It took until the final day to seal the title, and we done it with style, a home 4-1 dismantling of Ajaccio. Finances are the best they've been, I have no idea how we're going to strengthen, nothing jumps out at me in the scouting lists, well, one bloke but he'd clear most of my budgets.

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Schedule 1 - Schedule 2

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So, I'm after screwing up massively!

I decided to release all the junk and the 3 remaining non-Basque players in the squad, so here's the squad on July 1, 2020.

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This actually isn't the entire squad, but that's because three of them are reserves.....

The French levels in the squad are going to be disappointing for a few seasons, he'll we're going to struggle to get decent Spaniards.

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Mini Update.

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:eek: I couldn't believe it! Played a surprisingly great passing game, scored a lovely free kick, but I thought we'd just woken them up when they instantly replied. They couldn't break us down again, and when it looked like were were getting one point, a 16 year old I paid a kings ransom for(relatively) fires in a lucky winner on his debut!

 

 

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Absolutely massive window by our standards, but I'm delighted with how it's turned out. I did quite badly need at least one more winger, and bid for one on deadline day, but his agent came at me saying we were his preferred option, but expected clauses, and once we hit negotiations, said he'd wait for our first offer, and expected a large fee for his services. I walked away pretty quickly, enjoy Ligue 2 lad.

I'll run through the big deals.

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The first, an absolute steal at 400k as he was unhappy at Almeria. Best player at the club, and room to grow, I hope he stays with us for the long haul.

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The lad from last season I had the mandatory option on, and I'm still very happy, coming along very nicely.

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A loan with a 1.3m option on it. Wish his determination was higher, but other than that, quite well rounded for a ball winner, or general DM.

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We were pretty short at CB, and this guy was the best available, ideally I'd like better for a top league, but he's fairly quick for a CB and has been playing well. Excellent deal too.

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We'd lost most of our mids, so quality and depth was needed. Capilla adds a touch of class, and can also play a key role at AMC the odd time I switch to strikerless.

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Guess who's back, back again.... Six months later and Nantes take a loss on him. Delighted to have back a player I really do rate(though for now he has to play wing #desperate). Not much French-Basque quality around yet, so bringing back one of the few that slipped through my fingers that I do believe can become a Ligue 1 player is important.

FWIW, the only truly class French Basque players are Griezmann, Laporte(ex-Bayonne), and keeper Stephane Ruffier(Athletic FM players will know him well), who also began his career at Bayonne, but FM doesn't account for it as he moved from their academy to Monaco.

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He'll mostly play at left back for now, but his ability across the defence is useful despite his size. 68k is a mad deal!

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Salinas adds a bit more attacking sharpness to midfield, and is another that is useful for strikerless.

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Quick, creative, can get stuck in, versatile. This is the lad I said that would "clear out my budgets", but I spent all window playing the Top Target game, and made him interested enough that a reasonable deal was reachable by deadline day.

Next up are a pair of youth that recently popped up on the Spanish intakes, and I paid a lot of money for. It's a bit of an educated guess that they'll both become top, top players, though! When they were generated. I checked their contracts, and both had generated with 40m+ release clauses, a good sign they're special. I have no idea how they were interested in joining Bayonne, or how their clubs let them go.

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Look at him! He's already on the way to becoming a monster. Dribbling sucks, but we can get over that!

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In a few years, he'll run our midfield! Already made a massive impact on his debut against Monaco. Played on the wing that day, but his future is pulling the strings in the centre.

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Nothing but Basque(t).

 

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12 minutes ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

3.5M :eek:

I actually really wanted to keep him, he was turning into a handy winger, and we're so short of French quality, but Middlesbrough bid 500k for him, and when I rejected him, he lost his head and put in a transfer request. For 3.5m, I'd have drove him from Bayonne to Middlesbrough myself.

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Just starting November, and just been advised that there would be an offer for the club from an investor in a few weeks. Concerning timing, as it could run an embargo into January, and we still desperately need wing depth(ignoring the need for quality improvements in most areas). Still, we're doing marvellously well in the league, sitting in 5th after 13 games.

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Half Time Show!

Sadly no Lady Gaga concerts to entertain you, just a snip of the competitions and some random blather about what's up in the world of Bayonne, and there's quite a lot happening!

It's currently the 16th of Dec, and the last game of the year has been played, a 0-1 home loss to a managerless Monaco.

We have been amazing in the league overall though, we usually win the possession battle, it's a sight to behold seeing this ragtag bunch of Basque castoffs who apparently aren't fit for Ligue 1 pull up 60% or more of the ball away from home against quality sides.  It's weird though, I don't even have shorter passing set.

Also, on the day it was announced that there was a transfer embargo, as a consortium are in negotiations to buy the club, which we certainly hope won't be a bad romance..... :ackter:

Bad timing though as it could run into January, hoping it gets dealt with quickly, as I do desperately need reinforcements. Any week with more than one game is a nightmare as we have pretty much only one proper wide player and anyone outside the starting eleven is basically 3rd-4th division level.

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That all said though, we are pretty much killing it in the league. Mourinho's PSG are taking it at a canter, but we're massively overachieving, and if we can keep it up may land in one of the European slots. Thing is, I think we could have done better. At least three of them draws should have been wins, especially one where we played with a man advantage for 70 minutes and couldn't break down Lens, at home.....

Of course, the starters didn't get a whiff of the League Cup, this isn't the season to worry about cups....

In other news, Junior Coaching has reached exceptional, and Youth Recruitment is Average, so the academy is coming along nicely, and the finances are nice enough that I shouldn't have to worry too much even if the consortium fails, with 13m in the bank, and 9m spends available.

 

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4 hours ago, smp20 said:

Fantastic progress here and that squad is really coming along nicely. 3rd in Ligue 1 already? :eek:

Cheers, we're about at the absolute limit of what these guys can do, I think. If we can finish the season in this spot though, we'll be doing really well, and should be able to strengthen a few key spots.

4 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

My God, you are really moving at a fast pace :)) 3rd in Ligue 1 already? :O 

Lot of free time, I'll be slowing down next week.

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Well, January was a right 'ol mixed bag.

Consortium came in mid window, popped 5m in the bank, set up some upgrades and let me at it. They were also instantly open to another Youth Recruitment upgrade at my request, so now we're up to above average.

We managed to reinforce with a needed left wingback, and a more skilled box to box mid, but the most important hole, our lack of wingers(well, Inside Forwards) remains so as I couldn't find any of an acceptable quality to move to us. Our rep is probably fairly crap for the level we're actually at.

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Our last fella was a right footed, so kept moving in, rather than pushing into open space. Iriondo should do more of what we want.

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We've been using the BTB role, without a player really suitable to it, despite his age, Eraso should do us nicely short term.

 

On to the youth intake....

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Youth Intake Day!

Time to see what our much improved recruitment system hauls in for us.

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Well, appears to be quite worse than the last few intakes, but of course our standards have accelerated no end. Not a great batch of personalities, though. Only keeping the top four, and to be honest, only gonna offer two of them full contracts, the other pair we'll wait and see.

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HOYD picked out this lad, for obvious reasons. He does look the business, but his personality needs a bit of work. In a few years he could be a key cog in the machine.

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This guy is probably rubbish, but look at most of his green attributes. Crossing, Dribbling, Technique, Acceleration, Pace. Basically everything you need to get by as a winger. Hoping he's one of those players that you sometimes find that play way beyond their CA because they have just the right attributes to pull off their role.

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10 minutes ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

Ambitious isn't the worst personality to work with. He's a cracking player however!

His report lists a yellow warning for professionalism, it's no major issue, easy to tutor when it's close to good enough.

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7 hours ago, kidthekid said:

I honestly can't believe what you are doing in the ligue 1. I mean you guys are not even good. If I was in charge of Lyon or Monaco, I would fire everyone

Aye, we're not terrible though, there are some players I like, and a fair few with potential, but we should be nowhere near the CL spots.

5 hours ago, Keano16 said:

We all knew that Ligue 1 would be a walk in the park.....didn't we? *looks around nervously at everyone*

*adjusts collar*

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Season Review!

That early win against Monaco was a sign of things to come as we played absolute wonderfully all season. In the run in we managed to take the biggest scalp and beat Mourinho's PSG, but I don't count it as big a deal as the Monaco game as it was basically a friendly for them despite me winding up Mourhino. The reserves and backups played all cup games, of course, and done surpisingly well in the French Cup, even picking up a win against Angers who are a good side now.

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Schedule 1 - Schedule 2

Now we have European football to prepare for, needing upgrades in quality and depth....

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Currently stuck on making a risky decision.

I have most of my transfer business done, picked up strength where I needed it in most places. I could do with another CB, and maybe some mids, then I get Juventus loan list a player I've been keeping tabs on, and a scout report says he'd join permanently too.

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The loan wages are fine, 29k a week after he signs, are saucy for us, but wouldn't break us.

The 18m wouldn't kill us either, but it'd be a massive lump out of next season's budget, if not completely wipe it out. It's well over double our current record buy.

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Finances are pretty fine too, with 40m coming in the season from the leagues TV deal, and whatever prize money I earn(last season it was 20m for 2nd in the league). The board did mention that there are plans for a new stadium coming down the pipeline.

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He'd absolutely walk into our team, I reckon he'd run the show from midfield, has a great personality, plenty of untapped potential and is very versatile.....

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21 hours ago, kidthekid said:

I honestly can't believe what you are doing in the ligue 1. I mean you guys are not even good. If I was in charge of Lyon or Monaco, I would fire everyone

Tell me about it. @BoxToBox is making me look bad...need to get some playing in tonight.

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