LB Châteauroux - Allez Les Bleus

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It got worse before it got better

An early exit from the Coupe De La Ligue was then followed by three more defeats. Our record showed 9 defeats in 13 games and only two wins recorded. The way we were shipping goals something had to be done so we had spent the last few weeks training hard on a new formation, it was a variation of 3-5-1-1 and I hoped it would give the players more cover in the defensive positions.

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I didn't just want to change the formation so I moved players into positions they weren't natural at. We had a centre midfielder at wing-back, a midfielder at centre half and a winger in the middle of midfield. None of this was done without judging each payers attributes and putting faith in them that they could do what was asked of them.

Our next game was away to Lille, a side not yet firing but all the same it would be a huge task to come away with anything. We would blood the new tactic for the first time.

The game started like the previous games and we went 1-0 down early to a Joel Campbell goal but within minutes Enzo Zidane had levelled with his first goal for the club. We grew into the game, restricted the hosts from creating chances and somehow scored twice more before the break through Diomande and Soumauro. We looked like a solid unit but one with a great threat going forward. Diomande was a physical presence up top and Zidane was unlocking doors for Yeboah to bomb into from his deeper central role. The game ended 4-2 and although this was just one game it was a step in the right direction.

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We went on to win 3 of the next 5 games, it should have been 4 from 5 but our finishing in Nice was way below par. The new formation had brought us a change in fortune and hopefully we could start to creep away from the relegation zone and to safety.

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On a side note this past 6 months had seen Swansea, Lille, Montpellier and Aston Villa (again) come knocking for my services. Only the Lille job had really sparked an interest in me but not a great enough one that i would be leaving Le Berrichone.

 

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Fighting for every point

It is a lot tougher than I ever imagined it would be, Being punished for the slightest mistake then not capitalising on the ones our opponents make. We have been fighting week in week out for every single point and although our results weren't the best we were slowly battling our way to survival.

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The change in formation had initially worked but as our results show it didn't take long for new weaknesses to be found. We played some excellent football at times and some awful football at others but on the whole I was very proud of the lads, we needed one last big push over the last 7 games of the season.

One result we had achieved was to beat reigning champions PSG, the french giants had not lost a single game all season when they arrived in the south of France, A rare Baba Traore goal had secured us a memorable 1-0 victory.

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The squad has come together now, it feels like they have been together longer than the 6 months they have. If we were successful in staying up then maybe 3/4 new faces and we could push on into mid table next year.

Having said that safety is still a long way away......

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A Close Call....

Staying up was always the target this season, I thought it might be a step too far but the boys had worked very hard and delivered my instructions to a tee, even when they were the wrong instructions.
With one game to go we needed to better Montpellier or FC Angers result to assure our safety. We faced Marseille at home and controlled the game from the first whistle. The 90 minutes told the story of our entire campaign, we looked good going forward but time after time we spurned glorious gilt edge chances and in the end suffered to a 83rd minute penalty and lost the game 1-0.

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We waited for news from Montpellier as Angers had won their game 2-1, for 2 minutes we stood on the pitch in a huddle and waited. I feared the worst but spent the whole 2 minutes praising the boys and the season they had delivered. For a club this small to go from the National league to Ligue 1 football in such a short time was an incredible achievement and even though a lot of the faces had changed everyone knew where this club had come from.

It started in a small area behind the goal but soon spread around the ground. The cheering and singing meant Montpellier had failed to beat Nancy and before I could say well done the players were running round and celebrating with the supporters. We would be a Ligue 1 side again next year and that was all that mattered.

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The squad was lacking depth especially up front where Diomande for all his hard work had probably cost us 15 points with the chances he had missed. I wanted to keep him but only as a option to help out from the bench. A striker would be key and support for the wingers but we had three months to deal with that problem, tonight was for celebrating!

 

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Summers go so fast

Three weeks and a holiday in Southern Italy later I was back at my desk. Recruitment was our biggest tool and our only way of improving from the season just gone. The previous summer had seen 18 players brought to the club permanently or on loan and 21 players leave for pastures new. This wasn't a sustainable model and maybe the reason for our erratic and indifferent form.

So this summer I started out with the plan to tweak the squad not completely rebuild it. 7 players were shown the door for a total of £700K, a modest figure but with the new stand under construction any money I could bring in was a bonus.

My trouble has always been my inability to say no to a new player. In theory I wanted 3 players but somehow ended up with 9. Two new strikers were bought, Peter Harm 21 year old Dane from FC Kobenhavn and the one I was really looking forward to working with Nikos Vergos. The Greek centre forward had joined on a free but his wages had smashed our wage cap and the £15k a week striker would need to it the ground running.

They weren't smash and grab signings, I had scouted them both thoroughly. I had wanted someone with similar attributes to Diomande but with added ability in finishing. Vergos fitted the bill and after a lot of negotiating he agreed to join for half of what he originally asked for.

Other players to join included the permanent signing of Enzo Zidane from Real Madrid, he had been a fan favourite whilst on loan the year before and he jumped at the chance to mover permanently. We spent £2 million pounds on the new recruits and I hoped that we would be stronger for it.

Preseason went well with 4 wins from 7 games and I believed that we could maybe step up another gear once we got the season underway.

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Our first game of the season would see Champions league side Monaco come to town, a thrilling 2-2 draw was the outcome where twice we equalised and showed some real fight.

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We followed that up with a 2-1 win away at AS Nancy again showing some real fight to come from behind. I couldn't have been happier after those two games, the only low point was the performances of Vergos who hadn't opened his account for the season just yet.

De Ja Vue! We failed to win any of the next 6 games, we didn't play poorly apart from one game in Lyon but just like the season before we were extremely inconsistent. The one shining light was Peter Harm, who after missing the opening games through injury had taken Vergos's place in the side and scored 3 goals in his first 3 games.

Nikos, my star signing had suffered an injury that would see him out until at the earliest mid November. It all ready feels like its going to be a long hard season battling relegation once again.

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Same sh*t different day!

Inconsistent - a word I have heard or read over and over again for the past 4 months. The fans still didn't grumble as they knew what we had achieved to even be in this league but the press every now and again smelt blood. They were always too quick to put us down or comment on match tactics and pick at our failures. We are a tiny club with a small budget trying to operate in a league where the clubs don't think twice about spending tens of millions on a single player.

It is now the beginning of March and since the last update back in September we have only won 6 games. We have played extremely well in lots of matches but not got the desired result, Adding them up now I count over 20 points we have lost to goals in the last ten minutes of games.

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We are still fighting for safety and have a decent chance of staying up if we can arrest our current slump and break the 8 games without a win run.

The January transfer window saw one of our more influential players leave as Sulley KaiKai returned to London and QPR for £1.5 million pounds. He would be a big loss, I have signed a couple of players on loan to try to fill that gap and Julien Ngoy from Stoke City for £750k.

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Nikos Vergos who was my big hope for the season has done OK, 4 goals in 16 games isn't the best record but he definitely has potential, Unfortunately for us that potential will be utilised by another club. When we signed Nikos we made him the clubs highest ever earner on £15k a week, what i didn't notice was a clause in his contract stating when he played 20 games his wage would double! After his 19th appearance the board told me that due to our league position he wouldn't be allowed to play until safety was assured. They and I couldn't put a player on £30k a week in Ligue 2 should the worst happen and we go down.

Nikos was a free transfer but currently valued at £5 million pounds, I worked quickly and found an interested party in RC Lens. They were currently chasing promotion to Ligue 1 but had the cash to spend and promptly offered me the asking price. This alone showed what we were up against when teams from lower divisions could spend this kind of money. Nikos agreed to move and after i explained to the fans our predicament it was all signed and sealed. He would have to spend the remainder of the season in the reserves before joining his new side.

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Back to the league, we currently sit 17th with 9 games to go. We would need a change of fortune if we were to stay up, our run in was tough, 4 of the top 6 were still to play us and in our current form we wouldn't fair well against them.

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LB Chateureuax will play 4-4 F**king 2! (Mike Bassett 2003)

8 games without a win, various formations and players used so what do we do to turn this around?

Back to basics, 2 up top, 2 sitting midfielders with the whole team told to get it wide fast then get it in the mixer. It wasn't a formation we had really used in the past but i hoped the simplicity of it might just work.

We played FC Lorient at home and went 2-0 up within 15 minutes, Happy days I thought..... but then it started again, the inconsistency found a way to come through and by the 50th minute it was 2-2 and Lorient had a penalty. The formation hadn't really worked, we weren't creating enough chances and Lorient were attacking with ease.

Before the penalty was struck we reverted back to 4-1-2-2-1 and told the boys to attack thinking we would need to get an equaliser, I was wrong AGAIN, Gomis saved the penalty and it gave the boys a real lift. We won 4-2 and the bad run was finally broken.

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Our next two games brought 2 more victories and for the first time in 2 seasons we won 3 Ligue 1 games on the spin. Safety wasn't assured but one more win would do exactly that. It didn't come until the penultimate game against Stade De Reims but in the end we didn't need it. The lads had stayed up and achieved a 15th placed finish.

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In the end we had finished higher than the year before which is all i could ask for. Looking at the league table I know we could have comfortably finished higher, we gave away so many points late in games and that had to change.

Financially we had just gone into the red but the new sponsorship and TV money would correct that. Vergos would soon be leaving to newly promoted RC Lens and im already expecting that move to come back to haunt us.

On the transfer front I was adamant that I wouldn't bring in more than 4 players, lets see how that goes........

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The best laid plans...

I was entering the final year of my contract at LB Chateauroux and my fifth year in total a the football club. The board were keen to tie me down to a new deal but after 2 years battling relegation I was considering a new challenge. It had been 3 years since our Europa League adventure and that was something i really wanted to experience again. There had been many offers over the past 24 months and as long as this year didn't end in disaster I felt confident there would be plenty of suitors next summer.

It had been an incredible summer, I landed my targets early and with the 5 new faces that would be joining when the window reopened would give us probably our strongest ever squad.
That was until Rapid Vienna came knocking for Enzo Zidane, they tabled a huge cash bid of £4.3 million and the board decided that it was too good to turn down. We lost Enzo which left a huge gap in the side but I now had a transfer kitty close to £10 million.

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Money burns a whole in my pocket so Ludovic Soulard was signed from Sochaux for a whopping £4.6 million pounds, the 19 year old had bags of potential and I knew he would be some player in the years to follow.
More players left over the next few weeks and our squad which had looked so strong only a fortnight ago was now lacking depth and a bit of experience. Carlos De Pena and Mark Noble were both the wrong side of 30 and both looking for a club, they fitted the bill and after a lot of negotiating they joined on 12 month deals.

Once again I was happy with a settled squad and then once again the board through everything up in the air when they accepted a bid of £10.75 million for Yaw Yeboah. The right winger was one of the cornerstones of my starting 11, since joining in 2018 he had been nearly ever present but a bid of that size for a player who joined for just £800k was too good for the club to turn down. Yeboah left and i went back to the drawing board.

I had money to spend but couldn't find the right player to bring in. The scouts brought player after player to me and the DOF football did his best but nothing really took my fancy. I didn't want to waste this money as the majority of it I wanted to be earmarked for securing the clubs long term future, i wanted to leave the club with a huge cash balance and a Ligue 1 squad to be proud of.

Kevin Mirallas, the Belgian winger had been released from his contract at Everton after suffering from injuries over the last 2 years. He had played in the french top flight before and at 32 years old he was by no means past it. Mirallas would be a huge coup for this club, a real name in European football and after negotiating a 12 month contract he joined in time for preseason training.

Other key signings made were of a Portuguese duo Lino Luis and Oscar Fransico. The strikers were both 19 and both highly rated. Luis would stay in Portugal as part of his deal for this season but Fransico joined immediately. These were both huge financial deals for the club but like Soulard earlier in the month these boys had all the potential in the world and i was positive for their future at Chateauroux.

By the end of the transfer window we had spent 14 million pounds, 14 million pounds - WOW! We made £18.5 million in sales of players and received another £12 in sponsorship so financially the club was in a very comfortable position.

Preseason training was a joy, we travelled Europe playing sides from 4 different countries and the time on the road really bonded the lads. We were unbeaten throughout this time and played some big sides.

When the season got underway I was confident that this side was better than what we had wheeled out before. The opener against Monaco was a real thriller which ended 2-2 with 2 goals from Michael Cain, we created plenty of chances and played some real attractive football. Our next game saw us travel to Toulouse, last years surprise Ligue 1 runners up were a tough opponent but again the boys applied themselves fantastically well and a Kevin Mirallas goal secured us the 3 points. FC Lorient were dispatched next 2-0 and the lads were flying. Mirallas was a joy to watch on the right wing and our possession statistics were out of this world. A cruel defeat in Nice followed and i wondered how hard the boys would take it but when Marseille came to town the following weekend the boys dispatched them with a comfortable 1-0 win and a 3rd goal for the Belgian, Mirallas.

So, 10 points from 5 games. What a start. I'm just waiting for the inevitable slump in form which will surely be just around the corner.


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It's Always Sunny in Chateauroux

It had been a few years since our form had looked this solid, I had forgotten what the impact on the team was like when a few wins were strung together. Our home game against Marseille had made it 3 wins in our opening 5 matches and travelling to Stade De Reims the following week we had a real chance of finishing the month in the top 2.

It was a very close game where both team created chances in abundance but due to either poor finishing or excellent goalkeeping it would be just the one goal that was scored on the night. Peter Harm, the Danish striker who had joined the previous season had shown real signs of improvement this year, it was his beautiful header that landed us the win and another 3 points.

The final game in August would see surprise league leaders Saint Etienne come to town, the game was selected for Live TV coverage and moved to a 8pm KO time. Who ever won the game would be top of Ligue 1, a feat that LB Chateauroux had never achieved before.
It was a terrible game, we never looked like posing a threat and for the first time in 5 years of my management we failed to place a shot on target in the whole game. Saint Etienne were a good solid outfitted with electric pace up front and it was that pace that won them the game 1-0 when a ball over the top caught us out late in the 2nd half. Kevin Mirallas who had so far been excellent was carried from the field and would miss the next 4-5 weeks with a calf injury.

We had one more game before the international break, a tricky trip to Le Harvre which i was keen to bounce back in. We changed a few faces and tweeked the system, it was a disaster and although we created a few chances fully deserved to be on the end of a 2-0 defeat.

The 2 defeats at the end of the month were a little disheartening but we had to look at our earlier form and with 2 weeks to work on a few new set pieces I felt confident we could pick up and kick on.

After the break we grouped together and went back to the original attacking formation that we started the campaign with. Bordeaux were the visitors to the Stade Gaston Petit and thanks a Ludovic Soulard penalty were dispatched 1-0. The following week saw the same scoreline as we travelled to Caen and this time a Popoola thunderbolt landed the 3 points in our lap.
5 of our 6 wins had come from 1-0 victories, I was so pleased for the lads at the back who had endured a lot of bad press over the last 2 seasons. We finally looked like a solid Ligue 1 side and with a bit of momentum who knows what the season ahead could hold.

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On a side note Marseille were now on manager 7 in 5 years and found themselves rock bottom of the league losing all 10 of their opening games.

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1-0 to the Chateauroux!

What a 3 months it has been!

Since my last update we have had a decent cup run and recorded our longest ever run of consecutive victories (7).

November wasn't the greatest month, we competed in games but concede sloppy goals at key times. Lille, Nancy and Montpellier all recorded victories against us but we did progress in the Coupe de la Ligue.

After working hard on fitness and pressing techniques along with our defensive duties we saw a drastic improvement on the pitch. It started with a 0-0 game against Nancy in the cup, a game which we won on penalties. After that we put together 8 straight wins in the league and cup respectively. That on it's own is remarkable but the boys only conceded 1 goal throughout all that time.

Special mentions go out to Ludovic Soulard, many wondered if it was mad to spend £4 million pounds on an 18 year old but he was looking a real steal at that price. One other player to make drastic improvements was Brazilian right winger Valteci Angelo. Since joining 3 years ago he had spent the majority of time out on loan but now he had ousted Kevin Mirallas and made the number 7 shirt his own.

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We were now proudly sat in 4th position, clear and safe of relegation looking forward to what we could achieve. That started with a Coupe de la Ligue semi final away to big spending PSG. The French giants were really Europe's version of the Harlem Globetrotters. They had spent up to £200 million every single year and this year was no different, Lacezette was the latest big name to join the champions elect.

Hours before kick off Angelo had twisted his ankle meaning he would miss a few weeks, it was a huge loss as we used his pace as a weapon when playing away from home. We still set up the same as always and with our defensive line playing so well I hoped we could keep it tight. Antoine Griezmann however had different ideas about how this game would go and after 27 minutes he wrapped up his hat-trick. We battled hard and pulled one back but we were outclassed and the game ended 3-1. PSG are a real mega power with De Bruyne, Hazard, Costa, Griezmann, Kane and Lacazette all at their beck and call nobody would be topling them anytime soon.

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