MUC72 - Le Mans FC - It's Not All About The Motorsport

[FM_TNSSO]

MUC72 - Le Mans FC - It's Not All About The Motorsport

Thanks to everyone who voted on my recent poll in order to choose who I went with for this new save/story on FM19. I had a recently started another game with Cagliari in the Italian Serie A, but it didn't quite go to plan with me getting sacked after just 17 games and 2 wins in charge....so let's hope this one goes a little better as I'm really hoping for something long term here!

As per the poll that was taken, the team I will be taking over in this save is French National side, Le Mans FC. I'm actually quite glad they won the poll for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I can only ever recall managing in France once before on all episodes of FM, so it's something new for me. Second, I don't recall seeing any other stories in the last 2-3 years at least where somebody has started this far down in French football, so hopefully it's something completely new for you to all follow as well.

Le Mans FC...believe it or not, they are based in the French city of Le Mans, which is slightly more famous for it's motorsport than it's football. Something I am going to try to change. Le Mans FC are a relatively young football club, having been founded in 1985 as a result of a merger under the name Le Mans Union Club 72...in 2010, the club changed it's name to Le Mans FC to coincide with the remodelling of the club! However, this is why the club still carries the nickname MUC72!

So what's the aim here...well obviously to topple the mighty PSG (at some point) and become the biggest club in French football. However, that is one **** of a way off at the moment as we start in the 3rd tier of French football and have two divisions to conquer before we even get a chance to play the European giants! I'm not going to set any season by season targets as that seemed to totally jinx me in my Cagliari save, so we'll just play, enjoy and hopefully do a little bit better this time around.

I mentioned above that the club changed its name officially to Le Mans FC as part of a remodelling in 2010. What this also included was a move into a new stadium, the MMArena...a ground that is pretty **** impressive for this low level of football! It's current capacity stands at 25,064, although we do have to pay 15% of our gate receipts as rent as it is privately owned...not by us!

Now Le Mans are on a bit of a rebuilding job. Just 8 seasons ago, they were playing in Ligue 1, mixing it with the best! However, in a matter of 5 seasons they'd not just slid down the ladder, but pretty much fallen off it altogether! Now back in the 3rd tier again, it's up to me to continue the revival and get us back where we belong! The fun starts here!

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And this is me....Chris Ball, a 32 year old English bloke with a Continental B License and previous playing experience as a regional professional footballer!

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[WeArePalace]

Will follow this closely - looking forward to seeing how you do! Good luck mate.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Squad Overview, Tactics and Budgets

Squad Overview

My first thoughts when I looked at my first team squad was that it is small and I would definitely need to add some players before the competitive season kicks off! I am very short on central midfield players and only have two out and out strikers - which is a problem as I will be looking to play with 2 strikers in this save, with it being at a lower level.

On the plus side, I have a good base of French players and most of them are in their prime years with the oldest player being Stephen Vincent at 31! The other good thing is that my assistant manager definitely rates some of these players with a few 3.5/4 star abaility ratings.

Finally, there is a good mix of squad statuses with first team/rotation and backups so it shouldn't be too hard to keep all these players happy without a ridiculous amount of rotation game by game!

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The Best Three

Alois Confais; I might be short on central midfielders, but Confais is one of the best in the league and even makes the media dream 11. He is a solid player for this level and my only worry would be keeping hold of him for as long as possible. At 21, he still has plenty of improvement in him and if any of the bigger clubs spot that potential, they may come calling!

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Thibault Vialla; A 22 year old French winger with good work rate, teamwork, concentration and composure on the ball! He can dribble and has the technique to whip in a decent cross too. He could be key and might just top the assists chart for us this season with his ability!

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Pierre Lemonnier; He'll be my main man at the back and looks like a decent centre half at this level too! With decent leadership and teamwork stats, there's a good chance the 24 year old could get the captain's armband from me too!

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The Tactics

With this being a lower level, I want to keep things relatively simple, so my main tactic will be a flat attacking 4-4-2. When playing tougher opponents (and maybe some away games), I might drop one of the CMs into a DM role too and change the mentality from attacking to positive or even cautious depending on opponent, although there will not be major fundamental changes to the tactic overall as not to disrupt the team's style too much - it will just provide a bit of extra cover for the defence and can be used to nullify an opponent's threat if they have a good AMC.

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Finances

The bank balance looks healthy enough with nearly £650k in the pot. I also have £65k made available to improve my squad, although having never managed this far down in France I don't know what that gets you at this level!

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Pre Season

We have 6 friendlies to try out my new tactics and get the squad familiar with my style.

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[FM_TNSSO]

Le Mans OGC Nice Partnership

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Le Mans FC And OGC Nice Announce Partnership

Both Le Mans FC and OGC Nice released statements today announcing their new club affiliation partnership, that is likely to be mutually beneficial for both parties.

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The partnership will mean that Le Mans will have access to a crop of youngsters that they can take on loan and with OGC Nice having some excellent youth facilities, there could be some young gems that will be available to them over the next couple of seasons. There is also the financial benefit for Le Mans as Nice will pay the smaller club £42k per year for the affiliation.

OGC Nice also have the benefit that they can use the National league club to bring on and develop some of their younger talent before they reach a mature enough age and level to play in the top tier of French football.

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[FM_TNSSO]

New Signing

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Le Mans FC Take Immediate Advantage of Nice Link

As soon as the affiliation with OGC Nice was announced, Le Mans boss Chris Ball got to work sending his scouts to have a look at their reserve and U19 squads to see if there were any players available for his own squad.

Within only days, Ball has already added 19 year old left winger, Hicham Mahou, to his team on a season long loan deal. Ball commented "we have plenty of players at the club who can play down the right flank, but left sided players are few and far between, so Hicham is a welcome addition to the team. We will continue to use the Nice link to our advantage and have 1 or 2 other targets in mind but we might not be able to get them in during this transfer window."

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[FM_TNSSO]

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Ball Bolsters Squad With New Faces During Encouraging Pre Season


Guillaume Loriot was the first new player to arrive at the club, joining on a free transfer after being released by FC Chambly-Oise. He returns to the club for a 2nd spell after playing more than 60 games in the top two tiers for Le Mans between 2002 and 2011. At 32 years old, he becomes the oldest player in the team as Ball looks to add some experience to his side. Ball said "Guillaume is a great all round player who will add some much needed cover for us in the centre of midfield. He can help guide some of our younger players in training, whilst acting as a natural leader out on match days as well. He knows the club well and I think he's a great addition for us." Loriot has signed a 1 year contract with the club on £800 per week.

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Another player that was released by FC Chambly-Oise and was available on a free, was French striker Samir Benmeziane. He is a much needed boost to the squad's attacking options and although his stats don't stand out, he has a decent goalscoring record down in the lower leagues scoring 79 goals in 195 appearances and Ball will be hoping he can bag a few for Le Mans this season!

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Both players featured during the club's pre season campaign that saw them play a total of 6 friendlies, where they managed to record impressive wins over both Oostende and SK Rapid Vienna who both play their football in the top tiers of Belgium and Austria.

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[FM_TNSSO]

Update

Update - Thursday 20th September 2018

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The bookies odds are out and we're predicted to be up there challenging this season at 5-1 odds to win the title! That means they rate 4 teams better than us in the division at this stage, with Stade Lavallois Mayenne FC the hot favourites to secure top spot!


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Pierre Lemonnier gets the captain's armband for the upcoming season, with striker Vincent Crehin as his number 2!


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Just before the competitive stuff got underway, the board reminded me of their expectations. Glad to see they are taking it pretty easy on me, expecting only a top half finish despite us being amongst the favourites for the title.

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Our first game of the season was at home against the league's title favourites and would hopefully give a good indication as to what we might expect from the season ahead. However, the fact that they went down to 10 men inside 60 seconds meant that we couldn't necessarily judge it fairly anyway...although we did go on to absolutely batter them after that for the remaining 89 minutes and smashed 4 goals past them in the process!

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I can't help but feel we were robbed a little here as not only was the penalty for their first goal a very soft one to give in my opinion, but the ref went one better and gave Alois Confais a straight red card too! Despite that, my boys did show great character and never gave up, earning ourselves a point with an injury time equalizer!

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Despite my appeal against Alois Confais's red card, the FA decided to uphold the 1 match ban!

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Straight back to winning ways again at home to Bourg en B. We were always in control of this one and the whole team played well as a unit with the flat 4-4-2 formation.

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Just as it looked like we'd salvaged a draw with an injury time equalizer, Alexandre Cuvillier scored an absolute beauty of a free kick to give them the win with the last kick of the game! Our first defeat of the season!

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It looked like it wasn't going to be our day as we went into the break at 0-0, after missing a penalty and hitting the woodwork 3 times in the first half! However, we swapped our boots to our shooting ones at half time and managed to bag a second half brace to win the game. Vincent Crehin redeemed himself for the penalty miss with our 2nd!

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Going 2-1 down in the 81st minute, it seemed the best we might hope for was to salvage a draw. However, my players had other ideas and a late rally saw us score 3 to win by a much wider scoreline than the closeness of the game suggested!

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It's been a good start to the campaign with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat in our opening 6 games. At home we have a perfect record, whilst our away form will need a little bit of work. We've scored plenty of goals and kept a couple of clean sheets as well. Not much to complain about at this early stage.

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We sit top of the table after the opening 6 games and whilst it's still early days, we've outlined our intentions to the rest of the teams in the division! Following their opening day defeat to us, league favourites Stade Lavallois sit on joint points with us at the top!




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[FM_TNSSO]

Update

Monday 15th October 2018

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A very close game with both teams having a **** load of chances, but it was us who tucked 2 away to nick the win! Mamadou Soro scored the first on his return to the starting lineup!

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This couldn't really have been any more comfortable. We had more than 30 shots at goal, converting 4 of them into goals, whilst our opponents looked lost for ideas for most of the game. I can safely say, they are the worst side we've played so far this season. Vincent Crehin continued his excellent start to the season with a couple more goals!

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Did I say the last team we played were the worst so far this season...well scrap that because this lot were absolutely ******* terrible! A massive win for us and the on loan Hicham Mahou literally filled his boots with 5 goals!

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A great second half fight back keeps our winning streak going! We weren't really at the races in the first half, but the second 45 minutes was a different story with us gradually taking over the game! Vincent Crehin is looking like a real player at this level as he bags another 2 goals!

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Four more wins increses our winning run to 6 games now and although we concede the odd goal in nearly every game, it seems nobody can cope with our scoring power at the moment!

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After another 4 wins were chalked up, we obviously remain top of the table, but now we have a 4 point lead to protect! At home, we have been immense, scoring 19 goals in just 5 games and conceeding just 3 on our way to maintaining a 100% record at the MMArena.

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It will be an all Le Mans affair in the 5th round of the French Cup as we are drawn against local rivals AS Le Mans Villaret!

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[FM_TNSSO]

Le Mans Win In Cup

Le Mans FC Coast Past Local Rivals In French Cup

It was just another day at the office for Le Mans FC as they thrashed local rivals, AS Le Mans Villaret, 7-1 in the 5th round of the French Cup.

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Le Mans FC boss, Chris Ball, made a number of changes to his starting lineup as they took on their lower league opponents, but it made no difference to the fluidity of the football they had to offer. They started brightly and within the first 10 minutes, had already mustered by a number of decent chances as it looked like only a matter of time before they'd score.

Then in a frantic 18 minutes from the 23rd, they smashed home 4 goals to put themselves well in command going into the half time break.

Mamadou Soro had returned to the starting lineup for the game and had 2 first half goals to his name, the second being a wonderful curling effort from 20 yards out. As Le Mans FC continued their relentless attack on their hapless opponent's goal, Soro completed his hat trick on 73 minutes with a powerful effort. The match ball was almost certainly his at that point, until winger Hicham Mahou, on loan from OGC Nice, scored a last minute goal to complete his own hat trick and steal the man of the match award from his teammate.

After the game, Chris Ball commented "It's always great to progress in the cup competitions, but to do it in such emphatic style over your local rivals is all the better! We know there are some massive clubs coming into this competition further down the line and we'd love to make it that far to test ourselves against one of the big boys".

For now, Ball will have to settle for lower league opposition again though as his side have been drawn against Les Voltigeurs de Chateaubriant in the next round.

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[FM_TNSSO]

Friday 16th November 2018

Friday 16th November 2018

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Pau gave us a good game here, but in the end we had too much for them, even with having to play with 10 men for the last half an hour or so!

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What a game for the fans!! Slightly ****** that we were 4-1 up at one point and only ended up winning by a single goal, but it's another win on the board and that's all that matters at the end of the day! Another three goals for top scorer, Vincent Crehin as well!

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A routine home win and it was never really in doubt. A mixed day for Hicham Mahou who scored our first but later got sent off!

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Despite having to play three quarters of the game with 10 men after Lemonnier got himself sent off for an awful challenge, we continued to dominate the game and restricted our opponents to only 1 shot all game! However, we weren't able to find the back of the net ourselves and had to settle for a point!

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League form has been pretty awesome and it has seen us open up a 7 point gap at the top of the table!

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Another easy win against lower league opposition in the cup, although we made it a little bit more tense than it needed to be as it took us all the way up to the final 10 minutes to get the winning goals that see us through to the next round!

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We are officially on a 10 match unbeaten run in all competitions, winning 9 of those games!
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[FM_TNSSO]

Thursday 29th December 2018

Thursday 20th December 2018

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Another big win in the cup as we absolutely smash lower league side, AFC Sainte Tulle! They didn't have a single shot in the entire game, whilst we managed to create more than 40 chances on their goal! Good to see 6 different players getting on the scoresheet, with everyone on the side putting in a great shift!

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Which saw us draw a National league side in the 8th round, in the form of Union Sportive Avranches Mont-Saint-Michel. Their struggling in the bottom half of our division and we were tipped as heavy favourites to win!

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And win we did! We certainly didn't dominate as much as we have some of our games recently, but we were still comfortably the better side and good value for the result! Vincent Crehin's goal was a beauty....first time left footed effort from outside the box after a superb pass from Mamadou Soro on the right wing!

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So we reached the board's target of the 9th round, which is where all the top teams enter the competition. And we've drawn Ligue 1 opposition in Bordeaux at home!

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Our finishing let us down here, as we failed to score despite having 22 shots at goal! On the plus side, they didn't score either and we take a point from the game!

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Vincent Crehin's 16th goal of the season was enough for us to get a win over US Avranches! It was a beautiful strike from just inside the box into the bottom corner.

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That game against US Avranches saw us record our 6th straight clean sheet and set a new club record!

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Mamadou Soro has to have scored one of the world's fastest hat tricks here inside just 10 minutes! It set us up for a really big win, but in fact we only added 1 more goal to the tally, through top scorer, Vincent Crehin, in the 2nd half!

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We've extended our lead at the top by another point to 8 now and look good at the half way stage, winning 13 of our 17 league games this season and losing only once so far!


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[Linecoigne1998]

Great start mate, will definitely be in Ligue 2 this season and in Ligue 1 in no time I'm sure!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Great start mate, will definitely be in Ligue 2 this season and in Ligue 1 in no time I'm sure!

Cheers mate....have to admit I'll be disappointed to throw away promotion from here! Although anything is possible with me....they don't call me TheNotSoSpecialOne for nothing lol

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Le Mans FC Head Into Winter Break With 11 Point Lead

Le Mans FC finished off 2018 with a hard fought 1-0 win at home to 10th placed US Concarneau! It wasn't the usual dominating performance from the home side that we have become accustomed to seeing this season, but they got the job done nonetheless!

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It was in the 71st minute that the moment of magic that secured the 3 points came, as young loanee Hicham Mahou cut in from the left wing and hit a beautiful curling effort into the top far corner of the net leaving the Concarneau keeper absolutely no chance!

Late on, centre back Pierre Lemonnier was handed his second red card of the season, for a late challenge on Valentin Lavigne. However, there were only seconds remaining at that point and Le Mans held on for another 3 points!

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One of the driving forces behind Le Mans FC success so far this season has been the goalscoring form of striker, Vincent Crehin, who now has 17 goals in 18 league games, making him one of Europe's most prolific strikers, although he can't be classed in the same vein as the likes of Kylian Mbappe just yet!

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When asked about Crehin's form, Le Mans manager Chris Ball said "I'm delighted that we are getting the best out of Vincent and it's good to see that stuff we've been working on with him in training is paying off out there in the games! I believe he's one of the best strikers in this league and there's no reason why he can't continue this form into the 2nd half of the season and win himself the National golden boot".

Le Mans won't play another league game now until the 18th January, as the Winter break kicks in. However, they do have an exciting cup tie against Bordeaux to play in the meantime!

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[FM_TNSSO]

Great Effort From Le Mans In French Cup Defeat

Le Mans FC turned in a fantastic performance at home to Ligue 1 side Bordeaux in the 9th round of the French Cup, and were unlucky to come away as the losing side!

Throughout the first half, Le Mans were dominant and created a number of chances, missing some good opportunities to get their heads in front! They went into the break at 0-0 and very much in this game!

Then, on 56 minutes, Le Mans had their lead through Alois Confais! Vincent Crehin picked up the ball on the left side of the 18 yard box and played a pass to the feet of Confais who was waiting at the edge of the box. He took one touch to control and then fired a low powerful effort into the back of the net to make it 1-0!

Alois Confais celebrates his goal against Bordeaux

However, the goal seemed to suddenly spark the Ligue 1 side into life and within 15 minutes, the game had been turned on its head with 2 goals from Bordeaux putting them in front. The second was a penalty, a soft one in the view of the home side as the referee gave the spot kick for what looked like a minor push in the back from Le Mans centre back, Raphael Calvet, as a corner was floated in!

The lead only lasted 4 minutes though as Le Mans hit back immediately through a Mamadou Soro header! The home side weren't going down without a fight, but in what was becoming an enthralling second half, Bordeaux were back in front again only 3 minutes after Soro's equalizer as Alex Mula bagged his 2nd goal of the game!

Still Le Mans refused to lay down and on 87 minutes, they were level again!! Mamadou Soro again coming up with the goods to draw the home side level!!

With it looking like Le Mans had earned themselves an amazing and well earned draw, their hearts were broken as Bordeaux secured a late, late winner deep into injury time with one of the last kicks of the game!

After the game, Le Mans manager Chris Ball said "I'm so proud of the team today. Nobody gave us a chance and not only did we match them in every area and do ourselves justice, I actually think we were the better side and deserved to win the game! I really didn't expect to be standing here at full time after playing a Ligue 1 side and feel gutted that we lost".

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[FM_TNSSO]

Friday 1st March 2019

Friday 1st March 2019

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We kick off this update with some bad news and I'm absolutely gutted...top goalscorer, Vincent Crehin, will be leaving the club on a free transfer at the end of the season to join Ligue 2 side, Clermont! I've been trying to get him tied down to a new contract all season, but his wage demands couldn't be matched by the club! Let's hope he can at least continue to bang in the goals for us during the 2nd half of the campaign and ensure that we too will be playing Ligue 2 football next year with him!

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Back to league action with a draw away at 5th placed Bourg and it's not a bad result! We definitely concede more goals without Pierre Lemonnier in the team at centre back and I'll be glad when he's back from suspension.

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JA Drancy are the only team to beat us in the league this season and they completed the double over us here, despite us being the much better side on the day!

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That defeat to JA Drancy brings our 15 league game unbeaten run to an end!

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Back to winning ways but not in the most convincing style against 14th placed Rodez! We managed a slim 1-0 victory with substitute, Hamza Hafidi coming off the bench to get the winner!

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Another defeat as we seem to be suffering a dip in form! Gutting to lose the game with one of the last kicks of the game.

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Remy Boissier's red card against USBCO was our 7th of the season, meaning we have the worst disciplinary record in the league! With the highest amount of yellows as well (56), this is something I might need to address!

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A change in strikers seems to have done the trick here, with Benmeziane and Montiel coming in for Crehin and Soro. Both of them got on the scoresheet and played really well here, which will give me something to think about moving forward!

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Romain Montiel made it 4 goals in 2 games as he guided us to back to back wins for the first time in a couple of months!

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Despite a bit of a dip in our league form, we have still managed to extend our lead at the top to 13 points, as the other teams around the top 3 or 4 also had dips and bad runs. With 10 game remaining, it's safe to say that the title is ours to lose from here!

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[FM_TNSSO]

Thursday 28th March 2019

Thursday 28th March 2019

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I have to kick off this update with bad news again as I'll be losing another player at the end of the season that I wanted to keep, as Hamza Hafidi has agreed a deal to join MA Tetouan back in his native Morocco. I tried to keep him here but he wasn't willing to enter contract talks as he said we wouldn't be able to meet his demands. Hafidi has featured in 20 league games for us this season, scoring 5 goals from central midfield.

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The annual youth intake looks to be a good one in my first year in charge, with them tipped as a 'golden generation'.

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There's a handful of players here who look like they could be future stars of the first team.

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Kevin Petit is a 14 year old French striker with 15 rated ability for finishing already...we'll be keeping a close eye on him for sure!

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Moussa Diouf is another 14 year old who is already very versatile and able to play in 3 positions. Again, he has some standout stats for such a young player and we'll look to nurture his talent over the coming years to reach his full potential.

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A massive away win against one of the mid table sides and always good to see 5 different goalscorers on the scoresheet! Romain Montiel is definitely asking the question of "why haven't you played me all season boss?" as he scored his 5th goal in the last 3 games!

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Vincent Crehin was back to scoring ways and guided us to another home win here as we start to close in on the league title! We were always in control of this one and it just looked like a matter of how many we'd score to be honest!

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I had my doubts coming into this game as 3 of my back 4 were out suspended, and Pau had given us a good game at our place earlier in the season too! And I was right not to feel confident as we were beaten and Pau were good value for the win as well.

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Another sending off as Confais sees red for the 2nd time this season! It left us short handed for most of the 2nd half and we were under the kosh for most of it. Things were looking nervey at 2-1 going into the final 20 minutes, but Vincent Crehin stepped up to hammer home a fantastic free kick in the dying minutes to seal the win!

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With only 6 games remaining, we have an 18 point lead at the top, meaning that just a single point from any of our last few games will secure the title for us! With our next game being against bottom side, SO Cholet, we should be looking to wrap up the league sooner rather than later!

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[FM_TNSSO]

9 Men Le Mans FC Secure Title With Easy Win

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Le Mans FC were today crowned champions of the French National Division after recording a comfortable 6-1 win over bottom side, SO Cholet!

Le Mans centre back, Raphael Calvet immediately made things more difficult for his teammates to win the title today after receiving a red card as early as the 2nd minute after a robust challenge that the referee decided he really didn't like the look of!

Despite having 1 less player on the pitch, the away side edged the first half on possession and chances created and managed to put two in the back of the net before half time, through Hicham Mahou and Guillarme Loriot!

With a lead to protect and a title win on the line, nobody would have blamed Le Mans for sitting back and looking to defend their lead in the 2nd period, but instead they continued on the attack and it only took 4 minutes to add a third goal. This time, it was centre back Pierre Lemonnier with a headed effort from a corner!

With the title looking like a sure thing, Remy Boissier was also sent off after receiving a 2nd yellow card on 77 minutes and Le Mans were down to 9 men! At that point, nobody could have predicted the frantic final 13 minutes that would follow...

No less than another four goals were scored, unbelievably three of them coming for Le Mans despite their numerical disadvantage!! Loriot added another two to his tally to complete his hat trick and take the match ball after a wonderful performance from the centre of midfield!

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The result means that Le Mans FC have won the league title with 5 games still remaining. A fantastic achievement from Chris Ball's side and a wonderful start to the new manager's career!

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[FM_TNSSO]

Saturday 25th May 2019

Saturday 25th May 2019

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After securing the league title, the board immediately announced the decision for the club to turn professional in preparation for next season in Ligue 2.

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They also announced next season's budgets. There will be virtually no transfer funds available, but they have handed me a £15k boost to the wage budget, so I may be able to play around with things to get some players in.

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I was also rewarded with a new 1 year contract with a £2,600 per week pay rise!

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With the title won, I decided to bring a couple of players in from the reserves for an appearance. Victor Simon up front has scored 19 goals in the reserves league this year, so I thought he deserved a shot, but he was pretty poor in all honesty! However, central midfielder Paul-Loup Brosseau came off the bench to score 2 crackers and got us over the line in the final 10 minutes for another win!

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Another good win on the board as we continue to chalk up the victories even though the title is won! Paul-Loop Brosseau got himself on the scoresheet again here!

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A routine home win and this is the third time we've beaten Avranches this season after knocking them out of the cup as well! Vincent Crehin certainly enjoys playing against them as he has scored 4 goals in the 3 games!

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We're simply enjoying ourselves out there now and it shows. Our free scoring, attacking play has been a joy to watch all season and the lads haven't slowed up since getting the title won 5 games ago!

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Our final game of the season proved just how dominant we have been in this league this season! We absolutely battered pre season title favourites, Stade Lavallois, and thrashed them 6-0 to end the season on the ultimate high! It was also fitting that top goalscorer, Vincent Crehin, finished his season with a hat trick before he leaves the club in the Summer.

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After winning all 5 of our last games of the season, we end up stretching our lead at the top of the division to 26 points! It has been a truly amazing season for us and I'm so proud of the team for our complete dominance of this division all year! That final day thrashing also cost Stade Lavallois their place in the top 3!

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[FM_TNSSO]

End of Season 2018/19

End of Season 2018/19

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A wonderful season it has been! The media praise us for our overachievement and I'm sure even those pundits that would have tipped us for the title definitely wouldn't have done by such a wide margin!

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We picked up just over half a million in prize money for our National league win!

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I'm actually a little surprised to see that Thibault Vialla took the fans award. Maybe they turned their back on Vincent Crehin a little after he agreed a deal to leave on a free in the Summer? Vialla also takes the young player award, whilst Loriot bags the best new signing!

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Looking over the first team squad's stats, the first thing to notice is the high average rating achieved by the whole team this year! Everyone has pulled their weight and turned in a good shift on our way to the title this season! Four players reached double figures on the goals front this year, with Vincent Crehin coming out on top with 31! Crehin was clearly one of the players of the season as he won 10 man of the match awards and bagged 16 assists as well! As predicted at the start of the season though, it was right winger Thibault Vialla who topped the assists chart with 24!!

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It's no surprise that I have a pretty good dressing room atmosphere and plenty of support from my players after such a good season!

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The board are firmly behind me as well...although I'd be disappointed with anything less at this stage!

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When it came to the division awards, we cleaned up across the board! Including a Manager of the Year award for me!

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And no less than 6 of my players made the team of the year!
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