Le Havre Athletic Club (or Le Havre for short) are a French Association football club, currently residing in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. They are based in Le Havre, Normandy, and play their home games at the 25,278 capacity stadium, Stade Oceane, which it has to be said looks stunning at night (see below)!
Le Havre are a club with very little in the way of trophies throughout their history and their biggest claim to fame was probably a third placed finish in Ligue 1 all the way back in 1951 and a single Coupe de France win back in 1959. Back in 2008, they did win the Ligue 2 title which saw them promoted to the top tier, only for them to finish dead last the following season and immediately get relegated again. Since then, they have remained a Ligue 2 side for the past 12 seasons and always seem to be in and around that top half finish of 4th-9th most seasons...they just can't seem to get over the line to reach the heights of Ligue 1 again. Enter Chris Ball....who is hopefully going to change all that.
The short term aims for this save is obviously to get Le Havre back into the top tier. From there, I'll be looking to build a squad to compete with France's elite clubs with the eventual aim of toppling the dominant PSG! It's going to be a tough ask, but hopefully it will be a challenge that will carry me right through to the release of FM23 later this year. In the first instance though, it was worth taking a look at the expectations of my new bosses for the immediate future. A top half finish would be sufficient for my first season, whilst the 5 year plan is to build towards promotion to Ligue 1...my aim is to get there in 2-3 seasons ahead of schedule. I'll have to be cautious with the club's finances and stay within my budgets as they look to become self sustainable over the coming years too. As far as budgets for this season go, I'll have just over a million quid to spend and improve my team.
Talking of the team, here's the current squad. It doesn't look too shabby to be honest and the current crop should certainly be good enough to challenge in the top half at least, so no worries about the expectations upon me.
The best player in the side and one I will look to build everything around is Algerian international (1 cap), Victor Lekhal. I'll be looking to utilize a DM to link the defence and midfield in this team and he'll play that role perfectly for me!
The main man sitting behind him in the centre of defence will be Congolese international, Fernand Mayembo. He looks quality for Ligue 2 and if I can keep hold of him, he'll be key to any success we are likely to have!
None of our players are deemed good enough to make the media dream 11 for the upcoming season though, and despite being tipped for an 8th placed finish, at odds of 15/1 we clearly aren't seen to be too far behind the top teams in the division.
Our pre season was short and sweet, and relatively successful. The win over PSG looks great on paper but they played a load of kids and second string players so we won't read too much into it. The win over Las Palmas to cap things off was impressive though.
The is the tactic I have been using during pre season and intend to kick to Ligue 2 campaign off with. We have two strong strikers for this level (both rated 3.5 stars by my assistant) and I was keen to utilize both of them and this seemed like the most logical formation for the squad at my disposal. When we are playing stronger sides, I'll probably make one of the central playmakers more of a ball winner, but this will definitely be the core to start things off.
There was only one new signing I brought in to the club before the competitive stuff kicked off and that was Brazilian centre back, Breno. He was released by Vasco at the end of last season, so I managed to pinch him on a free and he immediately makes my back line stronger and adds some valuable experience to the side. A great addition!
Amiens away was our first game of the season and all eyes were on me to see how I fared in my first game in charge...
Fair to say my team and I made a statement! Season openers don't get much better than that! Amiens are predicted to finish about us this season, but we absolutely batter them on the opening day at their own gaff as well! We were absolutely immense from start to finish!
Guingamp had won their first game 3-0 as well, so came into the 2nd game of the season against us on a high...
But neither side was able to take maximum points although we really should have done better after dominating for large periods of the game. Our strikers didn't have the best day in front of goal and it ultimately cost us 2 points.
Valenciennes were up next...
And it was another 3 points on the board for us early doors. Another clean sheet away from home too!
Our game against Quevilly-Rouen would be the first against a side predicted to finish in the bottom half this season, so a win was definitely expected after our decent start...
So of course we lost for the first time this season! And we didn't deserve anything from the game with an abysmal performance too...we must do better!
Rodez had drawn 1 and lost 3 of their opening 4 games, so should have been the perfect opponents for us to bounce back from defeat against...
And we did exactly that! The result suggests this game was a lot closer than it actually was...we should have had 4 or 5 at least!
So 5 games into the season and it's been a solid enough start for us and we're up there mixing it with the leaders!
Our next league game would see us take on Ajaccio, a side that are closely rated on ability to us. This was expected to be a pretty tight and even game...
And it was exactly that. We may have just about edged the stats, but it was our opponents who knicked the result!
Transfer deadline day arrived and I wanted to get a little bit of business done. My first signing is one I am very excited about as 23 year old central midfielder, Dzenus Burnic, joins the club from German side, Heidenheim, for a fee of £400,000.
Then there was the arrival of Danilo Pereira on loan for the season. He comes in from Ajax and could bag a whole host of goals for us this season after scoring 17 in the Eredivisie for FC Twente on loan last year...He's definitely somewhat of a coup for us and could prove to be a huge signing!
Our next league opponents would be Nimes...one of the best sides in the division and were predicted to finish in the top 2 this year...
And we really should have beaten them. 59% possession and 13 shots to their 3, but our strikers poor finishing really cost us and we have to settle for a point.
New signing Danilo Pereira wasn't able to play against Nimes as he was injured, but everyone was hoping to see him in action for the first time against Paris FC...
He did make an appearance during the second half but didn't have the greatest of debuts. It's another draw as we concede late and we really need to be trying to turn these draws into wins.
Auxerre were another club expected to be right up there at the end of the season and were our next opponents...
It was a game that ended in yet another draw, but I won't complain about this one. We were staring defeat in the face with only minutes to go and two late goals ensured we snatched a point from the game.
I needed to do something about these draws, so a change in tactic was in order for the game against Dunkerque.
And it worked a treat as we record a 2-1 victory over the side that was 2nd when we kicked off. We were solid as well, creating 22 chances to their 6 and dominating the possession with 61%.
Nancy had made a pretty average start to their campaign as they came into our game with a record of 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats so far. It was a game I'd expect us to win...
And we did win with relative ease. Turns out Nancy are a pretty average side!
Sochaux signed a certain Emanual Adebayor in the Summer window, but he hadn't had the impact they might have expected, only scoring once in his first 5 games. We'd still be well aware of the threat though and aim to keep him quiet as their main threat...
Job done as we kept things tight at the back and a well deserved clean sheet. A single goal from Quentin Cornette was enough to seal all 3 points!
So 12 games into the campaign and to say the league is tight would be an understatement. Guingamp have opened up a small gap at the top, but there is then only 6 points seperating 2nd and 12th! Plenty to play for, for a lot of clubs!
Possibly our biggest game of the season in the eyes of the fans is the Normand Derby against Caen...
Bragging rights are all ours! A great performance from my lads!
Toulouse were the pre season favourites to win Ligue 2 this season, but winning only 6 of their opening 13 games wasn't the start their fans anticipated...
But they still managed to get a draw against us. We'll take it though...away from home it has to be seen as a decent result.
Bastia are struggling and kicked off against us down in 17th place. On paper, it's an easy win for us...
And in reality it was an easy win too. Nabil Alioui ran riot from the left wing and bagged himself a hat trick!
Dijon came into our next league game with only one win from their last five games, so momentum was definitely on our side...
But we could only manage a draw at their place. Maybe the overhwelming smell of mustard put the players off.
It did, however, extend our unbeaten run to 10 games!
Only 2 days after the Dijon league game, came our first Coupe de France game of the season as we took on Sedan from the division below...
A heavily rotated squad got the job done...just about! Although a 1-0 scoreline doesn't tell the whole story here as we had 23 shots at their goal, whilst they only created a single chance in the whole game.
That immediately led us to the very next round of the cup and we'd drawn Quevilly-Rouen, who had already beaten us 3-1 in the league this season...
And they're proving to be a bit of a nemesis for us as they've now knocked us out of the cup as well!
Back in the league, an excellent defensive display against Niort and a late goal from Pereira ensured we bounced back from the cup defeat immediately.
Grenoble have been performing above all expectations so far this season and came into our game 5th in the table and only 6 points behind us...
And that gap is now 9 points after a solid performance from my lads saw us bag a 2-0 win. Defensively, we look really good at the moment and other teams are really struggling to break us down and create chances.
It's been noticed that Nabil Alioui is the player flourishing most under my management! He is having an excellent season so far, with 7 goals and 3 assists in 11 league appearances!
There's no doubt Alioui would fancy his chances of adding to that goals tally in our next game against 15th placed Pau...
And he did exactly that with a brace in an emphatic victory! We simply ran riot here!
That result carries us to the half way stage of the season and we sit 2nd in the table and have closed the gap on Guingamp to just 2 points. Us two have now pulled away a little from the rest and we have a nice buffer back to 6th as well.
Our performance so far this season has been well above expectation and we are flying. It's fair to say I'm getting the best out of the squad available to me with 6 of my players rated as the best performers in the entire division.
35 year old Alexandre Bonnet has been so good this year, he has actually won the Ligue 2 Player of the Year!
And it's not just my players that are getting the plaudits as there is some recognition for yours truly too. Ligue 2 Manager of the Year after only 6 months in charge!
Then there was some dreadful news and a massive blow for us as we lose Nabil Alioui for probably the rest of the season after he picked up an achilles injury in training!
The Winter break had been and gone and our first game of 2022 would be a huge top of the table clash between 1st and 2nd...
And we leapfrog Guingamp to top the league for the first time this season! A professional job, well done!
After the injury to Alioui, I felt it was important to dip into the transfer market and bring in a replacement for him. In an ideal world, I wanted someone who could play down the left and the right, so Leonardo fit the bill perfectly! I picked him up on a free transfer and have handed him a 6 month contract to the end of the season...he looks like a pretty awesome addition to the squad in all fairness!
With the elation of a new signing, comes the disappointment of another injury though. Breno has been a revelation for us at the back since signing in the Summer, but will now miss the next 6-7 weeks! That's two important first team starters that have fallen to long term injury in the last week!
Our first home game of 2022 would be at home to 17th placed Valenciennes...
And it was a joyous occasion for the fans as we record a big win!
Next up was our bogey team! Quevilly-Rouen have beaten us in the league and knocked us out the cup already this season and now they would be looking to bring our 15 game unbeaten league run to an end as well...
But we weren't going to let them have that as well! We finally get one over on them, despite not being at our absolute best. We didn't create anywhere near as much as we normally do, but we were clinical with the chances we did have and that made the difference on the day.
18 year old Abdoullah Ba was being touted by a number of clubs across Europe and it was obvious I was going to struggle to keep hold of him. He was worth less than £100k playing for us, so I needed to just maximise on cashing in as much as I could for him. Crystal Palace were prepared to fork out £850k up front with another £600k in add ons (plus a 40% of future profit clause), so I took it! The youngster moves to England and it handed me £800k to spend this window to improve the squad.
In addition to Ba leaving the club, I'd also allowed a couple of our youngsters who weren't getting much football to go out on loan. However, this left numbers a bit thin on the ground, so I turned to Antwerp's Dinis Almeida who joins us on loan for the rest of the season to provide essential cover at centre back.
And on transfer deadline day, I managed to pull off a great signing for us. For just £100k, I snapped up central midfielder, Pape Cheikh Diop, from Lyon! He becomes the highest paid player at the club on £10.5k per week, but should prove well worth it!
Both Almeida and Diop would start on the bench against Rodez...
And they both came off the bench on the hour mark to help us to another win. Diop bagging himself a debut assist for Leonardo's goal!
Our next match against Ajaccio was to be a big one. They had beaten us earlier in the season already and were in the chasing pack sitting 4th at kick off. A win would be massive for us...
But a draw will do!
There's 14 games of the season remaining and we have a healthy 5 point lead at the top of the league now! More importantly, there is a 14 point gap back to Auxerre in 6th, meaning we have to be favourites to at least nail a playoff spot this season!
Centre backs are not in abundance at the club, so to lose both Almeida and Gibaud to injury in a matter of a couple of days doesn't bode well!
Nimes were pre season favourites for automatic promotion, but haven't lived up to that billing so far, as they sit 8th in the league and well off the pace...
And we out a further dent in their aspirations here. I was impressed that my makeshift defence was able to keep a clean sheet to ensure victory!
That defence would be relied upon to get the job done again against Paris FC in our next game...
And they did!
It was a win that extended our unbeaten run in the league to 20 games!
Auxerre definitely had the ability and the potential to end that run though...
They didn't, although they did manage to hold us to a draw. Not the worst result for us away from home though, especially as we had to come from behind for the point.
The draw against Dunkerque wasn't as good a result though. We really should have won this one after dominating for most of it!
Nancy were up next and we had to fancy ourselves after smashing 5 past them earlier in the season...
It wasn't quite as emphatic this time, but we still got the job done pretty comfortably.
Everyone's favourite time of year is youth intake and this year's is decent enough for us with a few players that could progress into talents in the future.
Billal Laurent looks like he has the potential to become a decent winger in the future.
Our next league game would see us take on a Sochaux side that we beat 1-0 earlier in the season...
This time, the result was reversed and we lose for the first time in 23 matches!
There would be no bigger game for us to bounce back in, than the Normand Derby against Caen...
And bounce back we did! Took an hour for us to gain control in this match, but when we did, there was no looking back!
That leaves us with just 7 games of the season remaining and it's a three horse race to become champions of Ligue 2! Only Guingamp and Toulouse can realistically catch us at the top...it's going to be a nerve wracking finish right down to the wire!
Massive, massive game as we played hosts to 3rd place side, Toulouse! A defeat bring them right on our tails, where as a win would put some breathing space between us and them...
As it stood, neither team won as we played out a tight and nervy 1-1 draw.
It does mean that the advantage stays with us, especially as Guingamp weren't able to capitalise as they dropped points against Pau.
17th placed Bastia would present us with significantly easier opposition...
And we made light work of them as expected. That books our place in the playoffs at least this year!
Toulouse won, whilst Guingamp drew again, which means we have a 5 point lead with 5 games remaining!
We dropped point against Dijon before a comfortable win over Niort!
So with three games to go, it's now a two horse race for the title and automatic promotion is all but guaranteed for us! With a superior goal difference over Toulouse, we can afford to lose a game as well, so we're in the driving seat to finish champions.
Grenoble sat 6th and were pushing hard for a playoff spot, so they definitely posed a threat to our title challenge...
And put a spanner in the works they may just have! We were cruising to victory with 11 minutes remaining and then enter Hatem Ben Arfa to spoil the party! Still work to do!
Although it may have delayed us winning the Ligue 2 title, it did at least secure promotion and we will be a Ligue 1 side next year!
Our penultimate game would be against 11th placed Pau...
And despite riding our luck at times, we just about managed to pull off the narrowest of victories!
So our final game of the season would see 1st take on 20th and surely we'd finish with a win...
Never doubted my lads for a second!
A league title win in my first season in charge is more than I could ever have wished for...playoffs was the targeted but we absolutely smashed it! Only 3 games lost in the league all season and clear winners by a 3 point margin over Toulouse who will join us in Ligue 1 next year!
Ligue 2 = Champions (promoted to Ligue 1)
Coupe de France = 8th Round (knocked out by Quevilly-Rouen)
The squad stats for the season show that majority of our players performed to a very good level with plenty of the team recording average ratings above 7.0 across the course of the campaign. In central midfield, Alexandre Bonnet was an absolute machine at the grand age of 35, scoring 17 times and bagging 7 assists. He finished as top scorer, with my highest striker being Jamal Thiare with 14 goals. Quentin Cornette finished top of the assist charts with 10 from the right wing. Overall though, it was good to see goals and assists coming from all over the pitch and being spread across the side.
Best 11...
We easily had the best defence throughout the season. We were tough to break down as a team in general!
In attack, we were full of flair dribbling more and drawing more fouls than any other side in the league.
The Awards...
A few of our players cleaned up on the Ligue 2 awards as well...
Whilst there was also another award for me
The Commercials...
Things will be tight over the Summer transfer window as I only have £2 million to build a squad that can compete in Ligue 1!
Undoubtedly, our best player last season was 35 year old Alexandre Bonnet, so I was devestated this Summer when he decided to retire from playing. I tried to convince him to stay on for another season, but he wasn't having it. A true Le Havre legend!
There were a few departures to follow, with the most significant being our keeper leaving for Angers. This is a deal I never wanted to happen, but it was already in place before I even arrived at the club!
My first Summer signing for the club as I start to build a squad that can hopefully keep us in Ligue 1, is the season long loan of Neco Williams from Liverpool. He is a significant upgrade on that position from last season!
My first permanent signing was the free transfer of Dutch centre back, Joost Van Aken, who comes in from Heerenveen. He had a good season for them in the Eredivisie last year playing 22 games with an average rating of 7.18.
The first fee I forked out for anyone was £1.2 million to bring in attacking midfielder, Kelechi Nwakali, from Torino. He struggled to break into their first team in Serie A last season, but could play a major role for us and will be the main replacement for the retired Bonnet.
I then moved to sign a new first team goalkeeper and the man I've opted for is 24 year old Juan Soriano, who joins us from Tenerife for a fee of £400k. He is a former Spanish U21 international and definitely has the stats to establish himself as our number 1 for the next couple of seasons at least.
Next up was a new striker. This was a department I felt we needed a serious upgrade in for the new season and the main man will likely be Rodrigo Muniz who joins on loan for the season from Fulham. I'm hoping the Brazilian can bag the goals to keep us in the top tier and if he has a great season, I have the option to buy for just under £9 million.
With the arrival of one striker, sees the departure of another. Jamal Thiare struggled to score goals last season in Ligue 2, so I didn't have faith he could do it regularly at the higher level. I therefore put him up for transfer and he moves to Leganes for £1.8 million.
I had no established left back at the club at this point and needed to address that pretty sharpish! Dimitar Velkovski was available on a free transfer after being released by Amiens and although he isn't the most amazing player, he does offer a lot of versatility and can play several roles so will make a great squad player.
And Velkovski would need competition for that position, so I also spent another £575k to bring in Italian Nicola Murru from Hellas Verona. He'll probably come in as the preferred start in the left back role, but it's definitely up for grabs between these two!
Pre season seemed to go to plan with the new players all gelling together pretty well.
With the season about to kick off, it's no surprise that the bookies fancy us and Toulouse to finish in the bottom 2 and go straight back down again. It's also no surprise to see that PSG are red hot favourites to win Ligue 1 again, considering every single position in the media dream 11 is taken by a PSG player!
And our first game of the season would in fact be against our relegation rivals...
It was the worst possible start for us! A poor second half performance cost us and we kick things off with a defeat against supposedly the worst team in the league.
I still needed to add at least 1 or 2 more players to my squad, but had no budget left to do so. Matheo Bodmer has been attracting interest from other French sides all Summer and although I wasn't keen to sell the promising 18 year old, I felt backed into a corner as I desperately needed the money to improve the first team squad. He moves to Rennes for £1 million and I did at least get a 30% of future profit in the deal in case he gets a bigger money move in the future.
The first player through the door with this money, was experienced striker, Guido Burgstaller, who signs from St Pauli for £475,000. He scored 16 times in 32 games for St Pauli in the Bundesliga.2 last season and already has 2 in 2 this year too. I'm hoping he will integrate into the squad quickly and bring some much needed firepower up front.
He had an immediate impact off the bench as he grabbed the assist for our second goal as we record our first win of the season over Troyes.
Our first encounter with one of the 'big boys' of French football would be against Lille...
And we held our own to earn a big point!
Next came the big one...for the first time in my career I will take on PSG in a competitive game...
And I can be so incredibly proud of the effort from my lads! We were within a couple of minutes of holding on to a draw at their ground. Such an amazing effort!
Transfer deadline day arrived and I wasn't expecting to do anymore business. However, Norwich came in and made a £500k offer for 20 year old midfielder, Amir Richardson. I rejected it and the player wasn't happy in the slightest! Norwich came back in again and I managed to bump them up to £1.2 million + adds ons which could take the deal to £1.5 million.
It did give me some funds to play with though, although we were £12k per week over our wage budget, so I needed to balance the budgets first of all. Then I turned to the market to see who I could bring in to strengthen us and Emanuel Vignato has now joined us on a season long loan from Bologna. He'll bolster the attacking options in the squad.
After games against Lille and PSG, we had the International break to prepare for what was (on paper) an easier game against Lorient...
And we took advantage by taking all three points, with our best performance of the season so far.
Five games into the Ligue 1 season and I've definitely seen enough to convince me that we're good enough to stay up this year. A couple of wins and solid performances against arguably the two best sides in the league as well. A good start!
Metz had only won 1 of their opening 5 games, so we had every reason to think we could go to their place and get a result...
We got a result, but not the win. Single points away from home in our first season back in Ligue 1 have to be seen as a decent result though.
Next up, we'll take on the most successful Ligue 1 side ever. Yes, Saint Etienne have won the top tier 10 times...
But we made light work of them here as it's fair to say they are no longer the team of old.
So we'd go to Nantes in confident mood...
And our confidence was not misplaced as we absolutely battered them on their own turf! A really, really good win!
I never thought we'd be stringing together 5 game unbeaten runs in this division, but if we could get a result against Strasbourg, that's exactly what we will have achieved at this early stage of the campaign...
Job done! And another brilliant performance too! My lads are doing me proud at the moment!
We were very quickly brought back down to earth by Bordeaux though as they absolutely batter us! Reality check!
Montpellier would be looking to capitalise on that thrashing we got from Bordeaux, and they've made a good start to their campaign, sitting 2nd at kick off...
And they were a lot better than us! We looked devoid of confidence and were soundly beaten!
I needed to see a reaction from my team against Nice. Even if we couldn't win the game, I at least needed a better performance...
And the lads duly delivered and it's a much needed win and morale booster. Kelechi Nwakali has missed the last two games with injury and with him back in the squad, we looked like a different team...maybe he is the key this season!
And we followed that up with possibly our best result of the season so far, scoring 4 goals at Lyon on our way to another victory! It was Emanuel Vignato that shone here with 2 goals and an assist.
Lens, like us, are massively overachieving so far this season, sitting just behind us in 6th after being predicted to finish 15th...
And they leapfrog us in the league after managing to beat us here, despite us dominating for large periods of the game.
Still, 6th place after 14 games is incredible and more than I could ever imagine we would have achieved at this stage! 40 points was the target for safety this season and we are well on our way to that!
Rennes are a stable mid table side in Ligue 1, having finished 8th and 6th the last two seasons and sitting 9th at this stage this season too, so it would be good to see how we did against them...
Well we matched them in every department as we played out a 1-1 draw. Decent enough!
We then had a 2 month break for the World Cup, which was won by France!
Didier Deschamps left his role as France manager after the feat and to my surprise, they French FA came knocking at my door to replace him! International management is something I've never taken on in FM, so I thought why not give it a go. Yep I'm now the manager of Le Havre and France!
The French FA set out their expectations which at this stage is to qualify from our European Championship qualifying group. Taking a look at that group, we shouldn't be struggling at all!
I won't manage the French team for nearly 3 months, so back to Le Havre and we played a couple of friendlies either side of Christmas to get some match sharpness back.
After leading Le Havre to the Ligue 2 title earlier this calendar year, I am again voted the Ligue 2 Manager of the Year.
It wasn't just me taking awards at the end of the year though. 19 year old centre back Isaak Toure has emered into my first team this year and after 18 appearances, he has been voted as the Ligue 1 Revelation of the Year. He's in good company with this award, as it has been previously won by Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele.
Back to the action now and our first competitive league game of 2023 would see us take on 17th placed Brest...
And we kicked off the New Year in perfect style!
Three days later, we took on a Monaco side that sit 2nd in the league, and we knew they would present us with a much tougher game...
They proved too strong for us. We weren't terrible here and held our own at times, but they have a lot more class in their squad than we do and it ultimately showed on the day.
Next up was our first venture into the Coupe de France and we'd been handed a much more difficult tie than we could have been. Fellow Ligue 1 side, Rennes, would stand between us and the next round...
Just as it did in the league game, it finished 1-1! Unfortunately, we were on the wrong end of the lottery that is a penalty shootout to settle the tie! No cup run this year!
As we attempted to bounced back from the disappointment of going out in the cup, we could have done with easier opponents than Marseille back in the league...
And as expected, they took the 3 points from the game, although only just! We were so close to snatching a point from the game, before their injury time winner left us deflated with nothing!
We picked ourselves up from that injury time defeat to Marseille though and went again at Reims! Confidence was restored with a much needed victory!
So at the half way stage of the campaign, we incredibly sit just outside the European qualification places! With 40 points being the target at the start of the season, I never expected us to have 30 at half way! 4 more wins would pretty much guarantee safety and it may seem mad that I am still thinking about that considering our position, but we won't get ahead of ourselves just yet!
Bad news as the Revelation of the Year winner, Isaak Toure agrees to join Burnley at the end of the season when his contract expires. I've been trying to get him to sign a new deal with us for the past month, but he just wasn't having any of it! The thing I find most annoying about this is the kid was asking for £32k+ per week from us and the max I could afford was £22k, but he has agreed to play for Burnley on £16.5k per week....and he probably won't even be a first team starter for them!
I said I felt we needed 4 more wins to all but guarantee safety this season and our next game would offer a big chance to record one of them, as we played 16th placed Troyes...
And we beat them without much issue! 3 more wins required ;-)
With the January transfer window being open, I didn't have much money to spend....virtually nothing in fact. So the only arrival of the window will be 16 year old Nathanael Tacita who I paid £100k for from Brest. He could develop into a decent player in years to come.
4th placed Lille were up next. We'd managed to get a draw with them early in the season at home and they are currently 15th in the league's form table, so there was hope we could get something from this...
And we took advantage of their poor run of form and record possibly our result of the season so far! What a win!!
PSG have won 19 of their 21 games so far this season and still haven't lost! With confidence high off the Lille win, the question on everyone's lips was could we pull off another surprise result...
Although the task of overturning the runaway leaders just got that little bit harder with the £122 million signing of Erling Haaland!!
The weirder signing that they made was that of James Milner...and when he got sent off in the 27th minute, it gave us a golden opportunity to potentially take something from this game! With a few words of encouragement at half time, the lads came out for the 2nd half and were really up for it and we got a deserved equalizer on 55 minutes through Diop who had scored twice against PSG earlier in the season! We couldn't quite press home our one man advantage to get a winner, but a point will do!
The result did come at a cost though as we lost centre back, Joost Van Aken, for up to 7 weeks!
After beating Lille and drawing against PSG, surely we would go away to Lorient and beat them...
And we did! They gave us a game and made us work for it, but we just had a little bit more quality than them on the day.
We could only take a point from our next game against Metz though. Going down to 10 men proved to be our undoing in the end and we just couldn't hold on to our lead and shared the spoils.
St Etienne are struggling down in the relegation places at the moment and gave us the perfect opportunity to immediately get back to winning ways...
But we failed to take all 3 points. We were woeful in attack and the only positive I can take from this game is the clean sheet.
Our performance against Nantes was a lot better and we dominated the match from start to finish! We only managed the one goal but that was plenty when our opponents never looked like scoring!
That win moves us up into 4th position with 12 games remaining! This is turning out to be an incredible first season back in Ligue 1 for us and although I'm still convinced we'll have a bad run at some point and drop out of the European qualification spots (yes I'm a cynic), we can't deny that we are right in amongst it! PSG are obviously going to lift the title and we're still miles off getting anywhere near them, but our progress has been immense!
Strasbourg came into this game on a run of 4 straight wins and they were very good against us! However, we rode our luck and nicked a second half goal to steal all the points! We definitely got away with one here!
With my first games in charge of the French national side coming up, it was time for me to select my first 23 man squad. There are some of the obvious big names in here, but as I look to bring in some youthful players too for the future, there could be first caps for the likes of Crystal Palace's Michael Olise and Leeds Illan Meslier and AC Milan's Yacine Adli.
Back at Le Havre, it's time for the annual youth intake and it's a decent one this year, with the most promising player being defensive midfielder, Baptiste Lefebvre.
But with the excitement of the young players coming through, comes the disappointment of one of my key first team players picking up an injury that will keep him out for between 1 and 2 months!
Our next league game would see us take on a Bordeaux side that thrashed us 5-0 earlier in the season and we had a point to prove...
No such embarrassment this time though!
And that extends our unbeaten run to 10 games again!
Time for my first couple of games as France manager and with the success I've been having with my Le Havre tactic, I thought it was a good place to start. This will be how I'm setting up for France against Ireland. There are some minor changes to player roles with the better players that are at my disposal for the national team.
And it worked a treat as we kick off my International career with a win! Great to see Michael Olise scoring and getting man of the match on his debut!
Just a few days later I recorded my 2nd victory. My first meet up with the national side has been a productive and positive experience!
Back in domestic action, we had a slight dip in form as we only managed a point from our next two games. However, both of these sides are on the fringes of the European qualification spots, so there is no shame in either result.
Lyon are having a terrible season by their standards, sitting 11th and with European football looking out of reach this year. Could we get back to winning ways and pile even more pressure on them...
You're dammmm right we could! A great performance from my lads to get us back to winning ways! It certainly wasn't domination in what was a back and forth game, but we were clinical in front of goal and that proved to be the difference!
It means we are 4th in the league with 7 games to go and now, for the first time this season, I'm starting to really believe that we could pull off the unthinkable and qualify for Europe next year! We've opened up a 5 point gap back to Nice in 7th which means we could probably afford to lose 2 of our last 7 and still finish in the top 6 (if we won the other 5). Above us, only Monaco could catch PSG, but it's extremely unlikely, whilst down the bottom, Brest and Toulouse are all but relegated already.
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