FM_TNSSO
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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!
Paris FC - Coming Out From PSG's Shadow
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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!
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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!!
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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!!
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!!
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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.
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.
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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!
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!
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Thanks mate, appreciate that! The skin is the Priisek Dark 21 skin mate
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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.
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!
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Chapter 39: Worst Youth Intake Ever!
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.
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.
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Really enjoying the story mate, keep it up!
Cheers mate, appreciate that!
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Chapter 40: European Football Here We Come!
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!
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!
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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.
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.
FM_TNSSO
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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.
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).
FM_TNSSO
Member
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- 2,947
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- 3,884
- Points
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FM_TNSSO
Member
- Joined
- May 10, 2018
- Messages
- 2,947
- Reaction score
- 3,884
- Points
- 113
Chapter 43: Giving Ourselves A Shot At Champions League Qualification
With Jonny's loan spell coming to an end and him returning to Wolves (I didn't think he did enough for us last season to justify keeping him here on a £30k p/w wage), I needed extra cover at right back. Omar Elabdellaoui is coming to the end of his career but he can do a job for us for a season and he was cheap...well actually he was free!
We were handed a really tough draw in our qualifier for the Champions League!
But we would go into it with the best possible preparation after an unbeaten pre season, which was capped off with a very impressive result against Atletico Madrid.
Another youngster joins the club as I fork out £54k to bring 17 year old Richard Kratky in from Sparta Prague.
The first leg against Benfica ended with a very decent draw out in Portugal. The stats might even suggest that we'll be favourites to win at home and go through!
In between the two games, we were also due to kick off our Ligue 1 campaign with a tough first game against Marseille. The bookies are gaining more respect for us now though and we are predicted an 8th placed finish. Wonderkid, Dragoslav Cupac also made the media dream eleven this season - the first of my players to ever do so.
Plenty of VAR controversy on the opening day as we play out a 1-1 draw with Marseille, with 4 goals disallowed for offside between the two sides. A decent result for us though considering they put 6 past us last time we met!
And that led us back to Champions League qualification and we produced a brilliant performance against Benfica to see us through to the final qualifying phase for the group stage!
It's fair to say that Benfica are a much better side than Club Brugge, so we've got to fancy our chances of going through.
Before that though, we had an away day with St Etienne in the league to attend to. A convincing performance as we chalked up our first league win of the season.
I wasn't going to post the league table after just 2 games, but I thought it was worth noting that this might be one of the only updates I've ever done when PSG don't top the division.
With Jonny's loan spell coming to an end and him returning to Wolves (I didn't think he did enough for us last season to justify keeping him here on a £30k p/w wage), I needed extra cover at right back. Omar Elabdellaoui is coming to the end of his career but he can do a job for us for a season and he was cheap...well actually he was free!
We were handed a really tough draw in our qualifier for the Champions League!
But we would go into it with the best possible preparation after an unbeaten pre season, which was capped off with a very impressive result against Atletico Madrid.
Another youngster joins the club as I fork out £54k to bring 17 year old Richard Kratky in from Sparta Prague.
The first leg against Benfica ended with a very decent draw out in Portugal. The stats might even suggest that we'll be favourites to win at home and go through!
In between the two games, we were also due to kick off our Ligue 1 campaign with a tough first game against Marseille. The bookies are gaining more respect for us now though and we are predicted an 8th placed finish. Wonderkid, Dragoslav Cupac also made the media dream eleven this season - the first of my players to ever do so.
Plenty of VAR controversy on the opening day as we play out a 1-1 draw with Marseille, with 4 goals disallowed for offside between the two sides. A decent result for us though considering they put 6 past us last time we met!
And that led us back to Champions League qualification and we produced a brilliant performance against Benfica to see us through to the final qualifying phase for the group stage!
It's fair to say that Benfica are a much better side than Club Brugge, so we've got to fancy our chances of going through.
Before that though, we had an away day with St Etienne in the league to attend to. A convincing performance as we chalked up our first league win of the season.
I wasn't going to post the league table after just 2 games, but I thought it was worth noting that this might be one of the only updates I've ever done when PSG don't top the division.
FM_TNSSO
Member
- Joined
- May 10, 2018
- Messages
- 2,947
- Reaction score
- 3,884
- Points
- 113
Chapter 44: Champions League Group Stage Here We Come!
A dominant display in the first leg of our Champions League qualifier against Club Brugge sees us take a 2 goal advantage back to Belgium. If we can nab an early away goal out there, we'll be very much in the driving seat!
I decided to rest some players for the Strasbourg game and we definitely weren't at our best, but still managed to bag another win in the league.
Mission accomplished! A 0-0 draw in Belgium ensures we will be playing in the group stages of this year's Champions League!!
The finances that will bring into the club could be a game changer for us! And it begins with a £14 million cash injection just for qualifying!
So it made sense to immediately ask the board for upgrades to the youth facilities.
As 4th seeds for the group stage draw, it was always going to put us up against it. We'll take on Manchester United, RB Leipzig and Feyenoord and it could turn out to be the toughest group to call with no clear and outright favourites for me.
A hammer blow for the club as I'm backed into a corner to sell Ibou Sissoko. The man I bought from Reims for less than a million quid has been excellent for us over the last 2 seasons at the heart of the midfield, but he became unhappy over the Summer after I rejected a transfer bid of £3 million for him. He has caused nothing but unrest since and it quickly became clear I'd have to cash in as much as I could for him before the transfer window closed. He joins Genoa for a fee of £6.75 million up front, which may rise to £8 million with add ons. A good return on him, but still gutted to lose him!
A dominant display in the first leg of our Champions League qualifier against Club Brugge sees us take a 2 goal advantage back to Belgium. If we can nab an early away goal out there, we'll be very much in the driving seat!
I decided to rest some players for the Strasbourg game and we definitely weren't at our best, but still managed to bag another win in the league.
Mission accomplished! A 0-0 draw in Belgium ensures we will be playing in the group stages of this year's Champions League!!
The finances that will bring into the club could be a game changer for us! And it begins with a £14 million cash injection just for qualifying!
So it made sense to immediately ask the board for upgrades to the youth facilities.
As 4th seeds for the group stage draw, it was always going to put us up against it. We'll take on Manchester United, RB Leipzig and Feyenoord and it could turn out to be the toughest group to call with no clear and outright favourites for me.
A hammer blow for the club as I'm backed into a corner to sell Ibou Sissoko. The man I bought from Reims for less than a million quid has been excellent for us over the last 2 seasons at the heart of the midfield, but he became unhappy over the Summer after I rejected a transfer bid of £3 million for him. He has caused nothing but unrest since and it quickly became clear I'd have to cash in as much as I could for him before the transfer window closed. He joins Genoa for a fee of £6.75 million up front, which may rise to £8 million with add ons. A good return on him, but still gutted to lose him!
I replaced Sissoko with Marcel Mehlem. I needed a central midfielder who was aggressive and a solid tackler of the ball...that was the role that Sissoko played for us. With limited funds available, I wasn't exactly spoiled for choice, but Mehlem has a decent track record, recording decent average ratings in Belgium over the last few seasons and should prove worth the £4 million investment.
We were really unlucky not to beat Lille. We went 2-0 up and then I made all my subs, before we suffered two injuries and I ended up with 9 men. At that point, Lille over ran us and pulled the two goals back to earn a draw!
The transfer window has closed and it was a very interesting one for our main rivals. They sold both Mbappe and Haaland to Real Madrid, whilst Rodrygo came back the other way. Real Madrid to win this year's Champions League anyone??
FC Lorient were no match for us as we dominated them throughout in our next league game.
We then kicked off our Champions League Group and we start with a fantastic result, grabbing all 3 points at home to RB Leipzig. If we are going to stand any chance of qualifying, then our home games will be essential.
Two good wins followed in the league, before a shock defeat to Amiens. Five games in two weeks proved to be a little much for the team and their tired legs showed against Amiens....the ability to manage a much busier schedule will be our biggest adjustment to make this year as we adapt to Champions League football.
Despite that defeat, we still sit 2nd in the table and are the closest challengers to the mighty PSG, who do already have a 4 points buffer at the top though!