The January transfer window has opened and I've bolstered our attacking options with the addition of Anthony Elanga. The 21 year old winger comes in on loan from Manchester United for the remainder of the season!
Then three of our youngsters that were signed in the Summer have now joined the club. One striker and two centre backs who all look to have bundles of potential and could all feature in the first team in the coming years!
I then added a new central midfielder to the club as I picked up an absolute bargain! Ibou Sissoko comes in to be our new ball winning midfielder and I signed him for just £950,000, which has already proven to be a steal as he is worth double that as soon as he joins. He has been performing well for Reims in Ligue 2 this season, with an average rating of 7.19 from 21 games, and I feel he'll cope with the step up to the top tier just fine.
I think everyone expected us to get a few thrashings this year and against Rennais we suffered our first one! We were just awful!
Two more defeats followed, although this recent run of bad form can be forgiven considering the opposition we've played.
And we got right back on track against weaker opposition.
And over the next 3 games, we were unbeaten in some games that offered up plenty of entertainment for the fans with no less than 17 goals featuring across the 3 matches!
Before an underwhelming draw with Lens who are bottom of the division! We really should have won this one!
We're still massively punching above our weight, despite dropping down to 7th in the league. PSG are absolutely running away with it, winning 18 of their 20 games so far! As we pass the halfway stage, I wonder if it's too early to start dreaming of a top 6 finish and maybe qualifying for one of the European competitions! That would be an incredible achievement!
All that investment in the youth recruitment might just pay off, as there is a promise of a potential golden generation coming through.
And the board have agreed to pump more money into the Junior Coaching side of the club.
Meanwhile, in the Coupe de France, we comfortably got through our first game of the season.
Chapter 30: A Golden Generation
Klaus Gjasula was a big part of our title winning campaign last season that secured promotion. However, he's struggled in Ligue 1 this season, not really shining in any of his 9 appearances. Maybe age is catching up with him, but he was on some big wages and I needed to get him off the bill, so I allowed him to return to Germany on a free where he will play in the 3rd tier with Sandhausen.
A really disappointing result for us as we crash out of the Coupe de France to Strasbourg. We were poor and didn't deserve anything from the game!
I demanded a reaction from the lads in our next game and boy did I get it, as we hammered Lorient on their own turf!
That result put us on a 6 game unbeaten run in the league, but we took on the mighty PSG in our next game and despite a real good effort from my team, we were just undone by our rivals.
That sparked a run of 6 games with some mixed results - 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats in fact!
The top 5 have clear daylight between them and the rest now, whilst PSG has pretty much sewn up the title already! With 10 games to go, we sit in 6th as the current best of the rest though and we have a real shot at securing a European qualifying place in our first season in the top tier. I won't be too gutted if we don't get it this season, but what a massive bonus it would be if we can!
It was time for the best time of the year....the youth intake! And this year it really was the best time as we inherit what could be a potential golden generation with no less than 5 players who look like they could be future stars!
First up is Ismael Mbayo, an aggressive striker with a decent work rate and a tidy finish. Plenty of potential to become a top front man!
As I don't play with a DM, Thierry Cabrol will likely be retrained as a central midfielder. If he can improve his work rate then he could become a key figure in the centre of the park for us.
But the player with the most promise has to be centre back Samir Souiri, who genuinely looks like he might be a first team regular by the time he is 17/18 years old! He already looks pretty awesome and with a determination attribute of 18, there's no reason why he shouldn't go all the way! The only slight negative for him as a CB is his height, but I may just look to retrain him as a ball winning midfielder as he ticks a lot of boxes for that role too.
Chapter 31: Some Tough Games, Some Great Results!
Disaster strikes as we lose our number 1 keeper for nearly 2 months!
Which opens the door for 21 year old, Obed Nkambadio, to get a run in the side. He's made 5 appearances for us this season already and held his own, so hopefully he can step up to the plate.
And he immediately makes an impact as he turns in a man of the match performance against Lyon as we record one of our results of the season!
Two more wins against Amiens and Stade Rennais followed and we were stringing together some big wins at just the right time of the campaign.
Wins that were helping us tighten our grip on a top 6 finish! We've now opened up a 7 point gap back to 7th as well as close in on the top 5 sides that looked well out of our reach only a few games ago.
2nd placed Marseille proved too strong for us, but we quickly put that defeat behind us with a solid 1-0 victory over 4th placed Lille.
So with just 5 games remaining, we look almost nailed on for a top 6 finish, barring a complete meltdown in our final few matches. And with victories over Lyon and Lille in our last few games, we've even closed the gap on them and could even push for a 4th or 5th placed finish. PSG have been confirmed as champions for the 7th consecutive season.
And if we could edge into one of those two positions, we'd qualify for the group stages of the Europa League....although I wouldn't complain with 6th and Europa Conference football next season either!
Titouan Thomas has really stepped up his game through the second half of the season and the loanee from Lyon seems to have settled at the club now and we are finally seeing some good form. He has an average rating of 7.34, 2 goals and 4 assists from his last 5 games. I'd love to make him a permanent member of my squad this Summer, but I don't know if the budgets will be big enough for me to be able to afford him.
Really enjoying reading mate, be very important to keep hold of the core of that squad next season as i would imagine you'll have bids from bigger clubs in the summer!
Really enjoying reading mate, be very important to keep hold of the core of that squad next season as i would imagine you'll have bids from bigger clubs in the summer!
It will be an interesting Summer, but yea I agree that I need to keep some of these loanees here for at least another season I reckon! Thanks for reading mate!
Chapter 32: The Final Five As We Bid For A Top Six
Bordeaux lift this year's Coupe de France after beating Stade Rennais in the final. The domestic double continues to elude PSG over the past 4 seasons since I've been in charge at Paris FC.
After our excellent season this year, the board have sorted a new contract for me. It's a 4 year deal with a pay rise of more than £3k per week.
The first of our final five games should have been an opportunity for an easy win as we took on bottom side, Angers SCO. However, we found ourselves 3-1 down only 6 minutes into the second half and had to fight hard just to get a point.
However, we got back on track against a struggling Montpellier side.
We were unlucky not to take anything from the Nantes game.
But the defeat wasn't the worst thing about that match. This was! Yes we've lost one of my best players over the last 4 years for the next 7-8 months!
Marvin Gakpa has been instrumental in all the success I've had at the club so far. He has been our main attacking threat with goals and assists year on year and has managed the step up to Ligue 1 brilliantly this year. He'll be missed!!
We immediately see the effect of Gakpa's absence in front of goal as we created 27 chances against St Etienne but failed to find the back of the net!
And we finished the campaign with a tidy little 1-0 win over Strasbourg.
Chapter 33: End of Season Review 2023/24
So we finish 6th...an incredible achievement! However, the reality sinks in that I don't think we have qualified for Europe because Bordeaux won the cup and finished outside the top 6! I'm not entirely sure if this is the case, but it will be really harsh on us if it is!
Our performance in the cup left a lot to be desired though.
Our first season in the top tier saw us bring in a significantly more amount of money into the club!
And the board have given me a nice budget of £10 million to spend along with an extra £100k in the wage pot as well!
With the extra money that has come into the club, I've managed to persuade the board to invest in the youth facilities as well.
The best eleven was made up of a lot of the new boys who joined us last Summer as most of them proved to be a success.
With the squad sorted by appearances here, I think it's clear to see that I rotated my team more than any other season so far. Only 4 players made it to over 30 appearances this season and everyone had some part to play in our success. The on loan Camara had a fantastic season, netting 22 goals and we'll miss him next season if we can't manage to keep him here.
Fan's Player of the Season = Abdoul Karim Camara
Young Player of the Season = Abdoul Karim Camara
Signing of the Season = Ibou Sissoko
My Player of the Season = Abdoul Karim Camara
My Young Player of the Season (U23) = Jaouen Hadjam
Most Disappointing = Gaeten Laura
Top Goalscorer = Abdoul Karim Camara (22 in all comps)
Most Assists = Titouan Thomas (13 in all comps)
Camara was actually voted as the Ligue 1 best rookie as well!
As far as PSG goes, they may have won the league again, but they continue to struggle in Europe and again only make the quarter finals of the Champions League.
Chapter 34: The Summer Of 2024
Turn's out we smashed the club's record average attendance last season, with it being a sell out for every home game!
Onto the transfers and first thing's first...I needed to tie up some extensions to loan deals and I'm pleased to announce that Abdoul Karim Camara, Sinaly Diomande, Anthony Elanga and Titouan Thomas will be staying here for another season.
Then it was time to splash the cash and break the club's record transfer. I forked out £3.4 million to bring winger/inside forward Nils Mortimer to the club from Barcelona, where he has made well over 100 appearances for their B team. With add ons the total fee could become £5 million. The 23 year old Spaniard also becomes my highest paid player on £18k p/w....let's hope he can repay the faith.
19 year old striker, Henk de Ron, was poached from Ajax on a free and he could potentially develop into a decent player. It's likely he won't be a world beater, but definitely someone we could cash in on in a couple of seasons.
Next, I forked out £1.2 million to bring in centre back, Jean-Kevin Duverne, from Leganes. They bought him for over £4 million just 2 seasons ago, so our cut price is a bit of a steal on the face of it!
First departure of the Summer, Tuncer Biricik joined St Etienne for a fee of £1.5 million. He wasn't progressing as fast as I'd have liked and we make good profit on him after bagging him on a free.
Jack Marriott and Cyril Mandouki both left as their contracts expired too.
Mandouki deserves a mention after 7 years at the club. However, Ligue 1 is a step too far for him and above his level.
After 3 seasons with us, Andres Solano, has also left the club to join Oostende on a free transfer. His contract came to an end and I had him on a rolling contract as we couldn't agree terms, before the Belgian side came in for him.
He needed to be replaced so I've brought in Jonny on loan from Wolves. He's costing us a fortune in wages at £30k per week, but he immediately becomes one of the strongest players we have on paper so will hopefully prove to be worth it!
Ousmane Camara came through our youth system and has made 52 appearances under me on his way to turning 21. However, he struggled in Ligue 1 last year and I've sent him out on loan to Hannover for this season to gain some extra experience and hopefully improve.
Another product of our youth system is Jaouen Hadjam and he had become my first choice left back at the club too. He's been solid there as well and I really didn't want to lose him. However, with a few clubs sniffing around and bids of around the £1 million mark rejected, he quickly got unsettled and became h3ll bent on leaving, so I had no choice but to allow him to go. Sorry to see him leave though!
Hadjam needed replacing and the man I've brought in to fill his boots is 27 year old Max Lowe from Nottingham Forest. He ticks the boxes for what I'm looking for and I'm hoping he can perform as well as Hadjam did for us. I paid £1.7 million to get him through the door.
Another Englishman joins the club! I was short on attacking options, so looked to the loan market again and managed to snap up Joe Gelhardt from Leeds for the upcoming season. He's perfect for us as he can play up top and any of the attacking midfield roles behind the striker too. Joe has spent the last 2 years on loan at Stoke where he has scored 33 goals in the English Championship.
Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel resigned from his role as PSG manager, to take over the German national side.
And none other than 'yours truly' was linked with the job. I quickly distanced myself from the speculation as I confirm my commitment to Paris FC.
Chapter 35: A Solid Enough Start
The board took some persuading, but they eventually agreed to invest in upgrades to the club's training facilities. If we are going to attract better talent to the club over the next couple of seasons, then we need to have better facilities to show off.
Always on the lookout for youngsters at a decent price, I add another here. I signed 16 year old Peter Pirker from Red Ball Salzburg for £275k...a small investment that could pay off if he fulfills his potential.
The season ahead looks promising based on our unbeaten friendly campaign which was rounded off nicely with a very good win over Sevilla!
I have taken a bit of a risk by making my captain and vice captain players that are only here on loan. I'm struggling for leadership amongst our own players and there is no denying Jonny is one of the most experienced and best players in the squad.
Niko Kovac has been handed the reigns at PSG.
With the season about to kick off, the bookies clearly don't fancy us to replicate a top 6 finish again, but at least they don't tip us for relegation. Personally, I feel our squad is stronger than last year, so we have to be looking to finish top 6 again as a minimum and hopefully not getting screwed by the cup winners and actually getting European football next year.
The board only expect us to avoid relegation again so there is very little pressure.
Our 1st league game of the season...massive statement made!
Laurent Nicolas is a product of our youth academy and scored on his debut! He looks to have an incredibly bright future!
Which is probably why the likes of Lille and Lyon are sniffing around him! I may have a fight on my hands to keep the youngster at the club!
A poor first half an hour against Nantes saw us 2-0 down, but we rallied well and fought back to earn a credible draw away from home.
A solid win against Lens was then followed up with a p1ss poor performance against Stade Rennais where we could have lost by 5 or 6 we were that bad!
Which leaves us 4th after the opening 4 games. A solid enough start.
No surprise to see PSG leading the way with a 100% record, especially after they spent another £166 million during the Summer!!
Chapter 36: Talk About A Tough Run Of Games
PSG proved too strong for us yet again, although we held our own on the match stats and had our chances on the day...they just have that extra quality in front of goal that makes all the difference!
We did bounce back with a massive 3 points against Lille, although it's fair to say they gave us a helping hand with the 2nd minute sending off of Yacine Adli.
For a 0-0, the game in Nice was an entertaining one and both sides could easily have had a couple of goals on another day. A good point away from home.
We only had a couple of days between the Lille and Nice games, so squad rotation was essential with plenty of tired legs in the squad. Samir Souiri came in at central midfield and became the club's youngest ever player.
The tough games kept coming with a visit from Marseille and we managed to pick up a huge 3 points and were good value for the win as well! A really impressive performance from my lads!
Unfortunately, we weren't able to get anything away at Lyon though. It was a tight game though and we certainly didn't disgrace ourselves.
Nine games into the season now and we sit 7th, with some mixed form. On the face of it, you might just about say we are doing OK.
However, when you consider who our opening 9 games have been against, we're actually doing bl00dy brilliant in my opinion. We've already got PSG, Lyon, Monaco, Marseille, Lille, Stade Rennais and Nice out of the way! Hopefully, over the next 10 games as we play sides from the bottom half of the table, we can string together a run of results and move into top 5 contention.
Chapter 37: Loads And Loads Of Goals
A string of 4 straight wins was exactly what was needed and we are scoring for fun at the moment with 12 goals in these 4 matches!
That included back to back hat tricks for Joe Gelhardt who is absolutely tearing it up in France, with 13 goals in 14 league games for us this season!
Which is enough for him to lead the way for the golden boot! What is surprising is that PSG only have one player in the top 10, despite having around £500-600 million worth of strikers in their squad!
Our winning streak did then come to an end, but a draw with AS Monaco is another good result!
Another draw followed, this time a disappointing one. Especially considering we had 18 shots at the Le Havre goal without managing to find the back of the net!
And we lose our promising young midfielder for a couple of months.
Nicolas has made 8 starts in Ligue 1 this year despite his young age of only 19 and continues to improve at a pretty rapid pace.
After the two draws, it was important that we got back to winning ways...and boy did we do that! Four straight wins with another 14 goals netted and we're flying right now!
Which means we go into the Winter break at the half way point of the season in 3rd place. PSG and Lyon are pulling away at the top and we'll struggle to keep up with them, but looking below us, it's very encouraging to see that we've grown a gap of 10 points down to 7th!
When we return from the Winter break though, we will do so without the league's top goalscorer. Joe Gelhardt will miss 1-2 months of action...the only saving grace being that 2 weeks of that will be eaten up by the Winter break anyway.
On a more positive note, the future continues to look bright for the club as the youth recruitment is moved up to an 'exceptional' level. Hopefully the next few youth intakes should be pretty good!
Chapter 38: We're Rubbish In The Cup
As we reached the end of the 2024 calendar year, two of our players picked up awards. Guo Yuze had a blinder of a season on loan with US Orleans last year and that was enough to win him the Asian Young Footballer of the Year.
Meanwhile, on loan Titouan Thomas, has picked up the Ligue 1 Revelation of the Year award. It's just a shame he officially belongs to Lyon!
Our first game back after the Winter break was in the cup and we cruised past our lower league opposition.
Following that up with a convincing win against Nantes in the league! We were looking awesome and fresh after a couple of weeks off.
So it was a shock when we crashed out of the cup on penalties to SM Caen from Ligue 2! Poor performance all round and terrible in the shootout!
We quickly bounce back though with back to back 2-0 wins in the league!
Transfer deadline came and with very little money to spend, all I did was add a youngster to the U19 squad. 16 year old CB, Jan Franke, joins from RB Leipzig for a fee of £375k. His mental attributes are impressive so if he can improve the technical aspect of his game, he could become a decent little player. There were a couple of other deals for youth players but they won't join until July so I'll talk about them then.
There's no denying that we've given a fantastic effort so far this season in Ligue 1 this season so far. However, our world came crashing down with a defeat to our biggest rivals that was nothing short of embarassing! The gulf in class between us and PSG is still massive!
We followed that up with another unconvincing performance against Lille and suffer back to back defeats for the first time in 5 months!
The last two matches have seen us completely lose touch ith the front two, but I am taking a small amount of satisfaction that at least one other side is pushing PSG all the way this year. From our perspective, we are still very much in the hunt for those European places and have a 12 point buffer back to Strasbourg in 7th!
After a couple of defeats, we desperately needed to get back to winning ways and we managed it with a good win against Nice.
Although our celebrations were short lived as Marseille put us right back in our place, smashing 6 goals past us!
And Lyon gave us an hiding right after as well! Our defence is looking really suspect lately, having conceded 6 goals to PSG and Marseille and now 4 to Lyon all within a few weeks!
Nimes are struggling this season and sit 2nd from bottom in the division, so they presented us with the perfect opportunity to get back on track.
Two more wins against bottom half opposition followed, including the game against Brestois which saw both Guo Yuze and Steeven Ongenda score their first senior goals for the club.
A great 2nd half fightback saw us earn a point against Lorient, although I'd have been disappointing to take nothing from the game considering our dominance throughout!
Our next game was against Monaco and it saw a battle between 3rd and 4th as we both battle it out for a top 3 finish and qualification for the Champions League.
And it was us that came out on top in a very tight game to gain the upper hand.
So we sit 3rd in the league with just 6 games remaining and have a nice 4 point cushion down to Monaco. A top 6 finish is pretty much guaranteed and we'll most certainly be playing European football next season, it just remains to be seen in which competition.
Despite considerable investment in the youth recruitment over the past few years, here's the proof it doesn't guarantee you a good youth intake. This year's one is bitterly disappointing!
In other news, another 'bigger' club came sniffing around for my services, but I quickly reject the approach from Lille.
Just six games of the season left and where we finish will determine whether we go into the qualifying rounds of the Champions League or the group stage of the Europa.
And a win over Le Havre guarantees us a place in European competition next season!
PSG lift the Coupe de France for the first time since I took over as Paris FC manager. We were noted for the most memorable game, but for the wrong reasons from our perspective. This is a competition we must do better in next year!
Back to league action and Montpellier put a dent in our hopes to secure a top 3 place. They were the better side, so we can't have too many complaints.
I demanded better performances and the lads duly delivered against both Strasbourg and Bordeaux.
Nils Mortimer, the club's record signing, had been in sensational form lately and he continued that by bagging a brace in a win over St Etienne.
A result that secured our position in the qualification rounds for next year's Champions League!!
And we celebrated by winning our final game of the season as well!
Chapter 41: End of Season 2024/25 Review
Reaching 80 points in only our 2nd season in Ligue 1 is an amazing achievement and it was enough for us to easily secure 3rd place. We are still some way off PSG, but progress is being made year on year and European football will bring more money and stature to the club next year!
We got a nice chunk of money for our final position too.
Again our performance was rubbish in the Coupe de France though. We must do better!
Our finances coming into the club continue to improve year on year too! As Guo Yuze's stature in China continues to grow, his shirt sales outperformed everyone in the squad!
The budgets for next season are pretty disappointing. Considering we have secured European football (which could be Champions League), I'm gutted to get nearly half of what we got last year and only a £25k top up to the wage budget.
No complaints with the best eleven and I completely agree with everyone in there.
The squad is sorted by appearances here and it's a real positive to see so many players finishing the season with average ratings above 7.00! Again our loanees were key to our success this year and I worry that we might have more of a job on our hands this Summer to keep them all here again!
Fan's Player of the Season = Sinaly Diomande
Young Player of the Season = Sinaly Diomande
Signing of the Season = Jean-Kevin Duverne
My Player of the Season = Sinaly Diomande
My Young Player of the Season (U23) = Joe Gelhardt
Most Disappointing = Moustapha Name
Top Goalscorer = Joe Gelhardt (20 in all comps)
Most Assists = Titouan Thomas (14 in all comps)
One of our youngsters that has been out on loan all season is really making a name for himself. Sasa Basic has scored 19 goals in helping Sedan Ardennes to promotion from the French 3rd tier this season and that has earned him French National Player of the Season.
There was also an award for me as I picked up the Ligue 1 Manager of the Year for the first time!
Despite a domestic double, there's still no Champions League success for PSG, who actually had their worst performance since I've been in Paris.
Chapter 42: The Summer of 2025
Manchester United's Swedish winger, Anthony Elanga, will be staying with us on loan for a 3rd straight season.
As will Abdoul Karim Camara. Two important loan signings extended!
Then, I made one of our loan signings a permanent one. Sinaly Diomande was the rock at the heart of our defence last year and the best player in the squad! So to pay Lyon £5.75 million to make his loan deal a permanent one seemed like a steal.
Time for a couple of players to leave the club now. First, our former captain who led us to Ligue 2 title success, Moustapha Name. He's just not good enough for the level we are at now and moves on for £925k.
Next to go was centre back Baba Fernandes. He was the weakest of our four centre backs at the club and wasn't justifying his salary. He moves to Switzerland in a £1 million deal.
And he was quickly followed out the door by Mauro Marconato. He was a decent player for me making over 100 appearances, but is another who has found the step up to Ligue 1 a little beyond him. We managed to bag £750k for him which isn't too shabby after it cost us only £140k to bring him here 5 years ago.
Then it all went a bit mad as within a few days, no less than 5 new faces arrived at the club. We'll start with attacking midfielder, Roberto Lopez, who joins on a free transfer from Real Sociedad. It's a great bit of business as he immediately becomes our most valuable player at nearly £13 million!
Next in was a new centre back in the form of American, Chris Richards. The 25 year old will give me more options at the back following the departure of Baba Fernandes. He joins us on a free transfer from Bayern Munich after spending last season on loan with Seattle. Again, a nice piece of business as he is immediately our second most valuable player at £11 million.
Stevie McPake is a left sided winger/inside forward that I had my eye on last Summer. He 20 year old Scot has come through the youth at Hamilton and become one of their key players in the Scottish Premiership over the past couple of years, scoring 11 goals and bagging 18 assists in the last 3 seasons. He couldn't agree a new deal with them, so I snapped him up on a freebie.
Then onto my two young Serbians! Marko Milenkovic is someone I've been scouting for some time and I'm delighted to snap him up on a free transfer. He has some strong attributes and looks to have a bright future in the game and I look forward to nurturing his talent.
Now Milenkovic looks good, but wonderkid Dragoslav Cupac might just overshadow his compatriot. We forked out £2.5 million to bring him here from Partizan and he looks like he's a future star in the making!
Another important step in taking the club forward and competing at the elite level as I convince the board to invest more money into the training facilities at the club!
Exciting times ahead as there are early plans to build a new stadium with a potential capacity of around the 29,000 mark (over 10k more than our current home).
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