Chapter 18: Adding The Finishing Touches For A Promotion Season
My Assistant Manager decided to hang up his boots and needed replacing over the Summer, so welcome my new right hand man, Herve Lybohy.
First bit of transfer action this Summer was the reluctant sale of Jake Forster-Caskey. I didn't want to lose the central midfielder, but after Middlesbrough came in for him with a bid of £500k which I rejected, he copped the ump and demanded a move back to England. I managed to sneak that fee up to £750k + £175k in add ons, which isn't too sad considering he joined for free last year.
Another player I didn't want to lose is Roderick Miranda, but he couldn't agree on a new deal and left the club for Farense on a free transfer. It's a shame but he is replaceable.
Other players that left the club this Summer after their contracts expired included Anthony Maisonnial (GK, 31 apps), Jason Kikonda (CM, 32 apps), Ousmane Kante (CB, 95 apps) and Julien Lopez (AML/R, 129 apps).
Now for the incoming players. First up is pacey centre back Dynel Simeu who joins the club on loan for the season from Fulham. He's still learning his trade at 20 years old and I'm hoping he can impress whilst with us this year.
I wanted an agrressive ball winner for the centre of the park and Klaus Gjasula fits the bill perfectly, so I brought him in on a free from Hamburg. He should add a little bit of spice in midfield.
This next one is a bit of a strange one as I have no idea how he'll do in France, but Jack Marriott joins us on a free from Derby. His attributes are decent and on paper, he should score goals.
I needed to bolster my options in attack, specifically in the wide positions. With a lack of serious talent available for a permanent transfer, I opted to bring in 21 year old Lucas Da Cunha from OGC Nice and he looks like a very tasty addition to the squad.
It really surprises me that the board aren't expecting us to do better than top half, after we finished in the playoffs for the past 2 years. Still, I suppose it keeps the pressure off.
The bookies also don't fancy us for the top 5, although the don't see us being too far behind the top teams in the division.
Our strongest pre season campaign since I've been here will hopefully set us up for a good start to the competitive season.
Chapter 19: A Much Better Start Than Last Year
A perfect start to the season as we thrash US Orleans and in all fairness, we could have easily had 7 or 8 here, but 4 will do.
How we didn't follow that up with another win against Troyes I don't know. We hit the woodwork 3 times in this game and were totally dominant, so it's disappointing to settle for a single point.
The scoreline suggests this game was close, but we had over 20 shots at their goal in this one and the win was a lot more comfortable than it initially looks.
A solid performance again as we dominate the wide areas of the field throughout, with both our wide men scoring the goals that led us to another 3 points!
Both the goalkeepers starred here as we played out a 0-0 draw with Chateauroux.
Well, our first 5 games of this season have been in stark contract to last year. We lost 4 of our opening 5 last season, but this year we are unbeaten in our first 5 as we sit pretty in the top 3 at these early stages.
Early signs are showing I'll have a decent centre back partnership between Bamba and Simeu. Through the opening five games of the season, they both sit in the top 4 for possessions won in the league, winning the ball back nearly 120 times between them already!
There's no doubt that Axel Bamba has been a very important part of my team since I arrived, and his stats would suggest that he is simply getting better each season.
Chapter 20: Could This Be Our Year?
Transfer deadline day saw a new arrival come into the club. Baba Fernandes was available on a free transfer and gives me some extra cover at centre back which was much needed. He looks good enough to push the first choice pairing for a starting spot too and can only improve with him being only 22 years old.
F***inghell, PSG's spend is just beyond ridiculous! The brought in Erling Haaland during the Summer and they now have a strike force that consists of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland!!
They can't even fit them all in the team properly, so Harry Kane is playing as a central midfielder!!
We continued our unbeaten start to the season with a good all round performance against Guingamp. A Marvin Gakpa double secured us the points.
Gakpa is another player who has been an important member of my squad throughout my time here. He has 66 appearances under me, with 21 goals and 11 assists.
Nimes were up next for us in an early season top of the table clash.
And we managed to chalk up a massive win, although we did ride our luck at times with Nimes having a goal disallowed for a very narrow offside and missed a penalty.
Our keeper, Stefano Gori, earned himself a man of the match for making 8 saves in the game!
Four more games extended our unbeaten run to 11 in the league and moved us to the top of the table!
Which sets us up nicely for our next game and another 1st vs 2nd clash. Metz are also unbeaten this season and it remains to be seen which of us would manage to keep hold of that record. Would it be our passing game or their route one style that would prevail?
The answer was ours as a Jack Marriott double secures the points!
And that means after twelve games, we top the division with a 5 point lead already! Could this be our year?
Fair to say Baba Fernandes has been a pretty awesome addition to the squad. Just look at those match ratings!
Chapter 21: League Form Takes A Dip
Our next game against AS Nancy would be my 100th in charge. Question was if my team could mark it with victory?
Of course we did! Right now, we look absolutely unstoppable!
We did suffer our first big injury of the season though, as we lose our first choice right back for a few weeks!
Did I say we looked unstoppable?? Pretty sure I jinxed us there as we then go through the whole of November, picking up only a single point!
Time for a team meeting to lift everyone's spirits! Let's hope it brings about a better performance in our next game!
It seemed to do the trick as we give a solid performance and record a 1-0 win against Clermont.
A new signing and this should improve our profile in China (assuming he becomes as good as I think he will). I forked out £325k to bring 17 year old Chinese winger, Guo Yuze, to the club from Grenoble Foot.
First up in the Coupe de France this year was US Orleans, although they didn't provide much of a challenge and we're comfortably through to the next round.
And the 9th round draw provides a tie that will see us take on the country's giants for the first time in a competitive game under my management.
Back in the league, we could only manage a bore draw away at Chamois
Which leaves us 3rd in the league at the half way stage. It looks, at the moment, like the title will be contested between the current top 4 as we've pulled away from the rest of the teams.
Chapter 22: Consecutive League Wins Record Takes Us Back To The Top
A big win over Troyes in the league was the perfect way to warm up for our massive cup tie against PSG!
Now let's just have a little look at these lineups for our big cup game shall we?
Now there lowest valued player is goalkeeper, Thomas Strakosha, at £29 million! Against our highest valued player, Stefano Gori, at just £2.5 million!!
Despite the gulf in class, we can be proud of the performance we gave and held our own for large periods of the game.
We quickly put the cup defeat behind us, getting straight back to winning ways in the league.
Although we did lose our captain for a few weeks, which might hurt us! I have to admit, it had me a little worried.
But it turns out I had no reason to be, as we strung together another 5 wins on the bounce!
And those 6 games in a row we've now won in the league is a new team record.
A record that has taken us back to the top of the division with 12 games to go!
We've scored more goals than anyone in the league this season and it's fair to say that Jack Marriott has been a great addition to the front line as he has 16 in 25 appearances so far this year.
Chapter 23: Putting Ourselves In Pole Position
A wonderful first half performance against Auxerre, see's us extend our winning run, with Jack Marriott bagging another brace!
But our winning run then came to an end as a late, late goal consigned us to defeat away at Rodez.
Four points from our next two games, including a massive win over 3rd placed Metz, coming from behind to ****** 3 valuable points!
And then the worst possible news! Jack Marriott won't score more than 21 goals this season, as he won't play again this season!! Absolutely gutting and this could hugely damaging to our title challenge!
Just as he took his first Player of the Month award as well!
The man we turn to up front is Gaeten Laura, who only has 1 league goal this season!
Fair to say he stepped up!!
And we continued to score plenty of goals as we racked up another wins!
With just 5 games remaining, we lead the way by 4 points! Even more importantly, we are 8 points clear of 3rd...surely automatic promotion is all but guaranteed right?
Our next two games are absolutely huge as we play the sides currently sitting 3rd and 2nd!
The annual youth intake was a really disappointing one and there isn't a single player who excites me!
Gaeten Laura has come in and done a fine job in the absence of Jack Marriott, backed up by the fact he won the Ligue 2 Player of the Month for March.
With our next two games being against the sides in 3rd and 2nd, and challenging us for the league title, I had the mentality that we must not lose and draws would do just fine!
However, we went better than that and took a maximum 6 points from the two games!
And that secures promotion to the top tier!! BOOM!!!
With promotion in the bag, the board go ahead and announce that I'll have just under £4 million to spend this Summer and have boosted the wage budget by about £50k per week.
We had three games remaining to seal the title!
We only needed one!
The last two games were simply a formality, but it was nice to finish with a couple of clean sheets.
Chapter 25: A Title Winning Season
The final league table confirms our status as champions, winning by a clear margin in the end! Won more than anyone, lost less than anyone, scored more than everyone!
Nothing to shout about in the cup this year, but we can be forgiven for going out to one of the biggest teams in the world.
The income grew in most areas again this season, although we'll expect to see a big difference in this area next year after a season in Ligue 1.
The best eleven shows that everyone put in a shift this year and it was an all round great effort!
17 year old Steeven Ongenda made the team at right back after making 19 appearances for the club this season, despite his young age! This lad could have a bright future.
The squad stats sorted by appearances. Marvin Gakpa had a stormer of a season scoring 17 and bagging 10 assists. Jack Marriott did become that 20 goal a striker season I desperately needed, and without that injury, he may just have got a few more!
Fan's Player of the Season = Baba Fernandes
Young Player of the Season = Baba Fernandes
Signing of the Season = Baba Fernandes
My Player of the Season = Marvin Gakpa
My Young Player of the Season (U23) = Axel Bamba
Most Disappointing = Lucas Da Cunha
Top Goalscorer = Jack Marriott (21 in all comps)
Most Assists = Marvin Gakpa & Mauro Marconato (10 in all comps)
As far as the Ligue 2 awards go, we were well involved this year season!
Six players made the Stars Team of the Competition, whilst three of them also made the Ligue 2 best eleven.
We filled both the top 2 players in the most assists award.
I'm convinced Jack Marriott would have finished as the top goalscorer if he hadn't have got that injury!
And with a 71% win ratio this campaign, I take the Ligue 2 Manager of the Year award to round off a perfect season!
Before we sign off our season review, we'll have a look at PSG's season as per usual. They reached over 100 points to win their 6th straight Ligue 1 title.
But again they failed to get past Monaco in the Coupe de France!
They're getting closer to winning the Champions League though, this year reaching the Semi Final where Man City dumped them out of the competition.
Chapter 26: The Summer Ins And Outs
Promising signs for the future as the board have agreed to invest some money in our youth recruitment and junior coaching.
A few players left the club this Summer as their contracts came to an end, but we didn't lose anyone that I wasn't prepared to let go.
Florent Hanin is worth a mention though as he joined Boavista on a free. He played 90 times for us and had a good record under me.
However, he is 33 years old and winding down his career now and it's time for 20 year old Jaouen Hadjam to take over as the number 1 left back. He came through our youth system a few years back and impressed in his 23 appearances last season.
Now for the incoming. My first signing of the Summer as we prepare to build a side capable of surviving in Ligue 1. Julien Masson is a 24 year old French midfielder who hasn't been getting much football at Lyon and I was happy to fork out just over £1 million (£850k up front) to bring him to Paris. His work rate and determination in the centre of the park will be crucial for us and it's always nice to add French players to the team as well.
Next up is a 19 year old striker from Hoffenheim, who joins us on loan for the year. Abdoul Camara looks a very tasty prospect and has joined to give Jack Marriott some decent competition up front, and may just prove to be our number 1 striker this season (if he is ready).
I'm nicknaming these two the 'Lyon Loanees' as Titouan Thomas and Sinaly Diomande sign for the season on temporary deals to bolster both the central defence and midfield areas. Both are capable of challenging for a place in my first eleven and improve us significantly!
My next signing was one for the future as 17 year old Lukas Vecera joins the club. We snapped him up from Slavia Prague where he has already made 50 senior appearances despite his young age. He only cost us £53k in compensation and could go on to be worth a h3ll of a lot more than that!
He quickly went out on loan for the season to get some first team football under his belt in Germany.
Another loanee comes into the club, this time it's Miguel Reisinho from Watford. He bolster my central midfield options and could well become an important player for us....if he does, we have a clause in the loan deal where we can buy him for £2.5 million. He spent last season on loan in Portugal's top tier with Portimonense where he made 10 appearances with an average rating of 7.17.
Finally, I did reject a hefty bid (by our standards) for Axel Bamba!
Chapter 27: A Decent Enough Start
A decent enough pre season with plenty of goals scored.
As expected, the board are looking for us to fight bravely against relegation this year.
I don't think I've ever seen 3 players from the same club fill all top 3 spots with the bookies for top scorer in the division. It shows just how potent that PSG attack really is!
With the season about to start, we're widely expected to go straight back down this year.
But we immediately showed the bookies what we're made of, as we kick off the season in the most perfect way!
And we followed that up with another 4 points and we're unbeaten in 3 Ligue 1 games!
But that was potentially about to change...
Sure enough, we did suffer our first defeat of the season at the hands of our rivals, but we didn't go down without a fight and many would argue we deserved something from this game!
And we followed that up with another defeat as we crumble in the last 10 mins against Brestois!
However, 7 points from our opening 5 games is respectable and has to be seen as a decent enough start to our first ever season in the top tier.
On transfer deadline day, we lost Jessy Benet on a free transfer to Preston. He's been decent for me over the last couple of seasons and was a big part of our promotion season last year. However, we couldn't agree a new contract with him so he leaves the club.
I have also forked out a fair few quid on 15-16 year olds for the future, who are all set to join the club over the coming months. As they do, I'll introduce you to them individually then.
Meanwhile, PSG were once again splashing the cash. As if they don't have enough attacking talent in their squad already, they've now added Mason Greenwood for over £100 million!
Chapter 28: We Continue To Impress In The Top Tier
Our first youngster from the Summer signings has now joined the club. I managed to nick Tuncer Biricik on a free transfer from Istanbul Basaksehir and the 18 year old looks like he could develop into a fine player. He's got a great work rate and determination about him, so if he can improve those technical attributes he'll be an interesting prospect.
If we're going to stay up this year, it's really important that we win the games against the other sides that are expected to struggle.....like this
We followed that up with an expected defeat at home to Monaco, before finding our form again to string together another 3 game unbeaten run.
Up next was a really tough game against Lyon, who had a certain Todd Cantwell in their starting lineup!
A solid first half performance from my lads put them to the sword and we record our most impressive result under my management so far!
And we followed that up with a solid home win against Amiens, although it did take us until the 89th minute to score!
So incredibly, we sit 3rd in the league after 12 games, having amassed 23 points already! Our aim was to avoid relegation and over the past 3 seasons, the clubs that have gone down have done so with around 28-31 points, so we're almost safe already!!
One of the players that has been hugely responsible for our success so far this season is Mauro Marconato who has already racked up 5 goals and 7 assists! A player I bought for just £140k and is now worth over £4 million!
More investment in the youth recruitment can only be a good thing! Especially as we have PSG to compete with in attracting young talent to Paris!
It's definitely promising, but that gap to PSG is so huge! And every year, they keep improving the squad by about £200 million!! It's going to be a really tough ask to overhaul them, but then that's why I took on the challenge as I knew it would keep me occupied for some time.
