Reviving sleeping giants: AS Saint-Étienne

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August 2023: can we win every title possible?!

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Yes! A fantastic start to the season, especially beating PSG and also having Auba score on his return to the club! It was a perfect game that went according to plan as we get the club's second ever Trophée des Champions after winning it in my second season at the club. Bembo-Leta was the best player for the trophy and it looks like he'll have to keep performing now with Salazar out for the next 5 to 7 weeks!

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For the first time since I took over, we've won both the Super Cup and the Trophée des Champions! Malcom was outstanding in this game and this is a great sign for the season to come as I've decided to switch to a 4-4-2 to allow Auba and Combe to play together up front! I can't wait for the next few league games and the Champions League group stage draw now!

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As you can see, we had a really decent month to start off with and Aubameyang is looking like the perfect fit for the team! In fact, he's the second top goalscorer in the league with 4 goals, just one behind Mbappé. Combe hasn't really gotten into it yet but when he does, he's going to be incredible I just know it.

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Our second Champions League title defence in a row will start off with games against Barcelona, Shakhtar and APOEL. Fair to say I'm only really worried about the Barcelona games, and the rest should be pretty easy overall! I'm excited to be back in the Champions League as I love this competition so much and I hope we can get good results against Barcelona!

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Jordan didn't last at the club very long in the end, but with our backup right-back Cristiano most likely to get games since he performed a lot better when he played, we sold Lotomba off to Roma. He wanted to go to Monaco, but no way was I going to strengthen a rival's squad. We got a nice fee for him which is some money back for the money we spent as well so that's great!

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Much like last season, Monaco and PSG are off to a flying start in the league but we're following closely and the game against PSG in mid-September should be a great way to affirm ourselves as the favourites for the title once again. We also have a Rhône derby against Lyon which should be pretty exciting and our first Champions League game of the season at home against Barcelona in our recently-expanded Geoffroy-Guichard stadium which should be amazing! Next update, the France September matches!
 
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September 2023: strolling through the qualifiers

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A strong squad called up for our 2 games this month, despite Maia being dropped from the team this time. He's not been great for us at Saint-Étienne and will need to do better in the next few games to get called up in October.

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Switching to a 4-4-2 for Saint-Étienne and now France seems to be working wonders as we get a great 5-0 win to continue our easy stroll through the qualifiers. Our next game is against the toughest team in the group in Sweden, which could be an interesting game but again I believe in the team and the fact that we can get a good result.

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A good way to end our September games with a win against Sweden, putting us top of the group with a game in hand. We also have one of the best attacks in the qualifying campaign which is great to see, and I can't wait for October now and our next few games to see the likes of Martial, Combe, Mbappé and Dembélé perform so well.
 
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September 2023: a great attacking partnership

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With Salazar still out from his injury in early August, we now have to play without Romagnoli, who's been a key player since his arrival of January of this year and will be hugely missed. He's looking like he'll get back to the team pretty quickly though which is great news.

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I'll take a 1-1 draw, even at home, against Barcelona. We should get relatively easy wins against Shakhtar and APOEL so it'll be between us and Barcelona for the 1st place in the group and a draw means it's still a very open game. A win would've been ideal, but there's not much we can do about it now. Our next game in the Champions League is against APOEL which should be a nice break from an intense run of games.

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It's fair to say we've been having quite a lot of fun in the last few games in the league and got some huge wins against PSG and Lyon which definitely put us in pole position for yet another league title. Aubameyang is fitting in VERY well in the team and is actually our top goalscorer right now with 15 goals in 11 appearances in all competitions so far, outscoring club legend Combe who hasn't scored much yet but really woke up in our 9-0 dismantling of Lille.

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Our goal difference is amazing, we've won every single league game so far and are already 5 points clear at the top of the table, fair to say we've started the season off well! We have 2 CL games next month which is great for us and also have some interesting games in Ligue 1, with the toughest one of which most likely being the Bordeaux game.

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It's a Saint-Étienne trio on the podium for player of the month yet again as Ypenburg wins it ahead of Aubameyang, who scored 9 goals in 5 games and Combe, who scored 7 goals in 5 games. Our striker partnership of Auba and Combe currently have a combined 22 goals in 11 games (15 for Auba, 7 for Combe) as well as 13 assists combined (7 for Combe, 6 for Auba) so let's just say things are going well!
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October 2023: an unbeaten season?

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A good win away from home in Nicosia which puts us in a good place after 2 games in the CL this season. Ypenburg's sending off was disappointing but we managed without him and I'm hoping we don't have to deal with so many red cards like we did a couple seasons ago with Maia who kept getting sent off constantly!

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Atsou, who we signed last season from Auxerre, wasn't eligible to play before since he was under 16 years old but having turned 16 over the summer, he can now play for us and that's what he did against Montpellier and scored a goal to become the club and league's youngest ever goalscorer! A promising future ahead of him as he breaks a 40 or so year old record!

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Another decent away win as we sit tight in 2nd halfway through the group stages, level with Barcelona but in 2nd because of our goal difference. 2 of our next 3 games are at home which should allow us to score some goals and I'm hoping we can get a result at the Camp Nou against Barcelona to finish 1st in our group, it would be ideal.

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Combe is having a bit of an odd season to be honest, he hasn't scored much since Aubameyang's arrival but has still been performing really well, scoring every now and then and assisting a lot as well. We're doing very well in the league and I'm hoping that form can continue so we can finally break the record of the fewest defeats in a season in Ligue 1.

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Our stroll at the top of the league continues with 11 wins from 11 games, the best attack in the league by far and the best defence as well. This might just be the year where we really fully dominate the league. We'll see if that's the case during the game against Monaco to start off November after which we'll have a CL game which will definitely seal our qualification to the next round, before a game against Barcelona to seal 1st place or 2nd place. The other Ligue 1 games we have next month should be easy enough.
 
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November 2023: the Kings of France (if that wasn't the case already...)

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There we go! I said a good result against Shakhtar would be enough to put us through and it has. A fantastic 4-0 win in front of our home fans to put us in a fantastic position when we play Barcelona for our next CL game. I wouldn't mind finishing 2nd in the group to be honest, as it doesn't seem to make much of a difference for us really.

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So then, our head to head record with Barcelona will be 2 draws! More than good enough for me, they have the better goal difference so most likely will finish 1st in the group but we'll see, we have APOEL last so we might be able to pull off a great result against them and finish top!

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Some great results in the league, with actually the Monaco game excluded from the screenshot for some reason (my bad!) but we won 4-1 with goals from Combe, Salazar and a brace from Pierce. A great month overall with Combe getting back into scoring form and Aubameyang continuing his ridiculous run of form.

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Everything is going well basically everywhere at this point, with a perfect run in the league with 14 wins from 14 (48 goals scored, 5 conceded as well!) and a great CL campaign so far, we're looking good! The only tough game we'll have in the league this month will come against Marseille, although they're not doing too well so it could be a very easy game as well. The FIFA Club World Cup is coming up as well, and we could be the 3rd team since Real Madrid in 2016 and 2017 and Manchester United in 2019 and 2020 to win back to back FIFA Club World Cups! That'd be amazing.
 
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December 2023: bad news for the start of 2024

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There's the bad news... After a couple of expensive transfers over the years, the club's financial situation isn't great even with our multiple Champions League and Ligue 1 wins. Our transfer and wage budget have been decreased massively as a result, putting us in a pretty terrible position if we want to sign anyone on a pre-contract maybe for next season?

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I'm not sure I understand why all our key players are coming to me wanting silverware now, it's not like we've already won 2 trophies and won back-to-back Champions Leagues! Really confusing but it's not like I can't meet their demands by the end of the season...

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A perfect end to our Champions League campaign with a 7-0 win against APOEL which leaves us in 2nd in the group, despite a better goal difference than Barcelona. The draw for the 1st Knockout Round will reveal our opponent soon and I'm hoping we don't get any major European teams to make sure we finish further than PSG this season in Europe to complete the series!

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A very successful second FIFA Club World Cup for us as we win our second title in a row! Aubameyang breaks the goalscoring record in a single game and finishes as best player in the whole tournament as well, which is incredible. Despite fielding weaker teams in the semi-final and final, we got some great results and can add yet another trophy to our cabinet! We now have 38 trophies (Saint-Étienne that is), so just one away from PSG to become the most successful club in the history of French football! How fitting would it be if we completed the last challenge and got some last few trophies to make us the most successful club in French football history?! The big blow however from this tournament is that Combe is out injured for the next 3/4 months. He's been incredible this season despite not scoring as much and we're definitely going to miss him a lot and I hope he actually comes back quicker than expected.

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Quick France update (I just realised I forgot about the last 2 months for France updates!) but we not only have qualified for the EUROs earlier in November but also have our group for the World Cup qualification in 2025. A weak-looking group to be honest and one that we should smash through easily!

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Well, well, well! The leaders in Ligue 1 against the leaders in the Premier League! Of course, by the time we play this tie, it might not be the case anymore but an interesting draw. I wasn't expecting Chelsea to be honest and since they finished top of their group, they look like they're on form in the Champions League so we'll need to work hard in the coming months to get a result against them and hopefully move on to the next round!

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A very, very decent month for us throughout December as we get 4 wins from 4 in the league and concede just the one goal against Dijon, with some great wins in the CL, Club World Cup and Coupe de la Ligue!

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Let's just say we've had a decent start to the league season! After 18 games, we've got 18 wins, 63 goals scored and just 6 conceded. I don't think there's ever been a better start to a season in the history of Ligue 1, maybe even Europe! With some cup games in January to start us off in 2024, it should be a nice way to ease into the league once again, where we'll face PSG in late January. The PSG and Monaco games are the only ones where we can potentially lose points and I don't want to do that! It'd be amazing to finish the season unbeaten but imagine finishing it with 38 wins! To finish this update off, just feast your eyes on all the awards we won once again! Incredible stuff from us.

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January 2024: an uneventful month

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Apologies for the lack of updates recently, been caught up in a lot of work recently! I'm back now though and will try to post more often. Hopefully people are still following XD

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As the title says, the first little newsworthy update I could think of was us breaking the Ligue 1 record, our own record as well I believe, of most wins in a row. We really have been on an incredible run and with the game after this record was broken coming against PSG, it would be huge to keep that run going against our biggest rival.

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Combe is out for another month at least, and now there's Auba getting injured for a month as well! Our two best players this season are both out for a month which is a huge disappointment, especially with big games against PSG, Monaco and Chelsea in the CL to come. I really hope our youngster Atsou can come up clutch and secure us a couple of wins on his own before they both come back!

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Another big blow was Gayà, our back-up left back, leaving the club for Monaco. We got a nice little €50 million fee for him, which should be more than enough to get a good replacement in, but it's a big blow because we now have a day to find out who that is and also because he's left to one of our league rivals.

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Well, let's just say we didn't waste any time trying to find a new left-back! Andrew Robertson was playing for Inter for the last 2 years after 2 and a half seasons at Marseille, so it was a no-brainer for me. He'll get the French nationality after another couple years of playing for the club and is also happy with a rotation status at the club as well, so he'll be great to have in the team.

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We've done really well in Auba and Combe's absences, as we grab 3 clean sheets in the league and win all of our cup games, one of them against Monaco to put us in the Coupe de la Ligue final! PSG were eliminated in the other semi-final by Lyon on penalties, which means if we do a repeat of the final from 2 years ago when we smashed Lyon, we'll be level with PSG as the most successful club in French football history!

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With each season at this club, we seem to be getting better and better and this year is no different. We're on for one of the best seasons ever in French football history with 20 wins and just one draw from 21 games, and could win every single trophy we're playing in if we now manage to win the Coupe de la Ligue, Coupe de France, Ligue 1 and Champions League. What a year that would be! As usual, our league games for next month are all relatively easy and the big one is definitely the one against Lyon, but the big game overall for the whole month is our home 1st leg against Chelsea. We need a good result against them and playing without Combe and Aubameyang might make it very hard so I hope we'll be up for the challenge.
 
Going amazingly well still, just picked up a 33 year old Jose Gaya on a free transfer for Truro but only as a backup option, lol
 
coolmcool said:
Going amazingly well still, just picked up a 33 year old Jose Gaya on a free transfer for Truro but only as a backup option, lol
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Hahaha hey, you never know! Auba is 34 but somehow the top scorer for the club this season with 36 goals and we just started February!
 
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February 2024: heartbreak

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This isn't the heartbreak I'm talking about in the title of course, as we grab a 1-0 win at home to go to Stamford Bridge with a goal advantage. It's not much, especially against such a good team, but Hooftman getting sent off for Chelsea is huge for us. I'm confident we'll go on and win in London now and go through to the next round. Our only French rivals in the CL this season are PSG, and they drew 2-2 away from home against Stuttgart in their first leg, so will most likely go through to the quarter-finals. We'll need to work hard to get a result and make it to the next round to complete the story!

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You can see the heartbreaking result right there at the top. A 1-0 defeat to Lyon away from home means we won't finish Ligue 1 unbeaten and that is just disappointing. We have the Coupe de la Ligue final to get our revenge against them and Auba and Combe will be back in the team for that, but it's just disappointing. Other than that, the rest of the month went perfectly well, as expected, as we're on course for a 5th consecutive Ligue 1 title.

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That one defeat really does make our record look a lot worse now, but oh well. No point dwelling over it! Next month is looking good for us in the league as we face some pretty small teams other than Monaco and have our second leg of the Champions League 1st Knockout Round as well. We also have a Coupe de France game against a very small French team, which should be fun for us (since we'll probably be scoring 5 or more goals to be honest...).

 
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March 2024: almost the end

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Thank God Aubameyang and Combe are coming back from their injuries, because there goes our backup striker...

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We continue our ridiculous season in Ligue 1 by qualifying for the Champions League with over 10 games to go! It was expected obviously but is still always nice to get the confirmation, especially in the middle of all this Champions League stress! Our second leg against Chelsea is coming up and we can't afford to get a bad result...

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A fantastic result against Chelsea away from home sees us through to the next round! What a great way to go through to the quarter-finals where we'll face Valencia, the current La Liga champions! Yes, you've heard that right, the Spanish champions. They won the league last year after some final mactchday drama which saw them win their game by 2 goals and Barcelona lose theirs by 2 goals, which meant Valencia overtook them and finished 1st. Imagine if the league was that tight in France!

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Malcom gets the player of the month for March after a ridiculous month for the club as a whole. We scored a total of 23 goals in 5 games, an average of almost 5 goals a game! We conceded a few which was a shame, but our defensive record is still more than good enough for us to break our own record of the least amount of goals conceded in a season!

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It's all looking great in the league as we sit 9 points clear of PSG with 6 games to go and we could be crowned champions by the end of next month. We have our revenge to get against Lyon in the Coupe de la Ligue final which is the first thing we'll be doing in April, before facing Valencia away from home in Europe. As you know, every time we started a tie away from home, we did well so let's hope the same happens then! PSG are playing Atletico in their quarter-final and the latter have become one of the best teams in Europe so it'll be very tough for PSG to get through. Hopefully they don't and we can finally assert ourselves as the absolute French kings!
 
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April 2024: the magic of European football is back!

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Four Coupe de la Ligue wins in a row! And a quadruple to go with it as well! What a great night and what a great win! Malcom was outstanding and Aubameyang, as a 34-year old, continues his ridiculous form with the club. At this rate, he'll easily break Combe's record of most goals in a season for the club! Lyon beat us 1-0 at their own stadium in the league, we'll go and beat them 1-0 now ourselves! The next game now is against Valencia, and I'm hoping the celebrations won't get in the way of a good result against the Spanish side in Valencia.

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A horrible, horrible result for the club. We dominated the game but couldn't take our chances and here we are now, 2-0 dow with the game at home to go and having to play without Achraf. It'll take a miracle to see us through to the next round and just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, PSG have won 4-0 against Atletico away from home, basically putting them through to the semi-finals! Is the story going to have to keep going for another 3 years?!

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In quick France news, we had a friendly against Wales earlier this year and managed to win 3-1 which was nice and have 2 friendlies scheduled before the EUROs this summer against England and Denmark. Our group for the EUROs is looking decent, with Belgium being by far the best side we'll face in there. It'll also be a great test for us if we are to go on and win the whole thing. We've gotten to the last 2 EUROs finals and lost, both times, to Portugal. This can't happen again.

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We've just gone and done it!!! The magic of European football is back!!! I thought we couldn't do it, and we had to wait until the 81st minute to actually take the lead thanks to Saint-Étienne and France legend Henri Combe! Atsou also scored the goal to really seal it in the 88th minute to become the youngest ever goalscorer in the Champions League, breaking Combe's record! Is he on the same path as the French legend? Incredible stuff. Our semi-final will see us play against Manchester City, whilst PSG will play against Manchester United. The two Manchester clubs against the two best French clubs. What a tie this is going to be.

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Well I was not expecting that!!! I mean what the **** is going on!!! A 5-1 win at home gives us an incredible 4 goal advantage going to the Etihad and despite letting in an away goal, that 4-goal lead should really be more than enough to see us through to our 3rd Champions League final in a row. Combe and Aubameyang continue their amazing form for the club as we just smash Manchester City and hope to see a good result for Manchester United against PSG in the other semi-final in a couple of days.

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In what could potentially be my final season at the club, we get ready to start off May with a fantastic month in April. Some big wins in the league put us just 3 points away from the league title now as we're also in the Coupe de France semi-final against Lyon after beating PSG 2-0 in the quarter-final. If everything goes well, we could seriously finish the season having won every single trophy possible, which would be absolutely insane.

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One good result against Nice away from home will win us our 5th consecutive league title, which will be our first worry in May! It's been a fantastic season and there are some records to be broken to be honest so let's hope we do that by the end of the season. With our 4 goal lead, we'll also have to travel to Manchester City for the Champions League semi-final second leg. Games against Reims and Toulouse should just be nice games to finish the season off on a good note in the league, as we hope to also get a win against Lyon in the Coupe de France and eventually have the final in that competition as well as the Champions League final to play later in May!
 
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May 2024: the perfect end to a perfect career

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Champions once again! We absolutely cruised the league this season and after a fantastic run of results, we win the league again, for the 5th time in a row. What a year it's been for us honestly, and with a couple of games to spare you can be sure that I'm going to let the reserves have a bit of fun now. What a season honestly, and a great way to secure the title not too far from home in Nice.

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What a win again!!! A 5-1 win at home was already incredible enough, but how about that for a win away from home! Absolutely incredible stuff from the lads who secure our place in our 3rd successive Champions League final! Now, you might be wondering if we've managed to finish further than any other French team in Europe, as PSG were in the semi-finals but no! They've somehow won their tie against Manchester United, which means the final showdown, the last game of this season, will be the one that decides whether or not we've managed to complete all the challenges for this story!

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So there we go then, the final league table for this season, maybe this story! We finish on a record 109 points with just 1 defeat and 1 draw all season, and break the record for the fewest amount of goals conceded in one season! What a great way to finish the Ligue 1 season! In other news, we smashed Lyon in the Coupe de France semi-final, which means we're now in the final and have the opportunity to literally win every trophy we've played in this season. Ajaccio will stand in our way, let's just say we could have had a harder job!

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And we've won this as well!!! If this turns out to be my final season at Saint-Étienne, I think I'll be allowed to say that no manager in the history of football has been able to retire with a season like this. Absolutely incredible stuff as Combe steps us in Aubameyang's absence, and the 2-time Ballon D'Or winner gives us yet another trophy! Surely we're the most successful club in France now?!

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In other news, Dupuis, the club's record signing, could get his first cap for France in the EUROs. Just before the Champions League final, the FA asked me to submit my squad list! They could've at least waited until I wasn't so stressed out anymore couldn't they?! Oh well, we have a very strong squad available to us and it should be a great tournament if we replicate the form we had in the European International League.

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Champions once again! We win the Champions League for the 3rd time in a row as we surely become one of the most successful ever now! What a season it's been and what a way to say goodbye to Saint-Étienne as we complete the final challenge and finish further than PSG in Europe. It's been one **** of a ride and it'll be hard to say goodbye for sure. Coming up are the Ligue 1 awards and then the EUROs of course.

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There's the season review. Need I say more? What a season it's been! The one defeat against Lyon was pretty tough to take to be honest, but other than that it's been an amazing season and I'm so proud of this team and couldn't be happier to resign as Saint-Étienne manager. Let's just say it's been an amazing time but it's also not much of a challenge anymore, running the league and now winning the Champions League 3 times in a row...

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So there it is then! Awards galore of course, as has become pretty usual in the last couple of seasons. What a year it was and it was so good to see Malcom get back on form again, he was left out of the squad pretty often last season but this season, he was absolutely the starting right-mid for the whole season. An incredible year to finish off an incredible career as I say my goodbyes to Saint-Étienne and go fulfil my France duties, before finally ending this story, or at least chapter 1 ;)
 
You dominated this challenge! Next one needs to be a smaller team, maybe one in a lower rep league?
 
As a Villa fan, and with the news today about us suspending our CEO and not paying our taxes on time (basically we're in meltdown) surely the signs are there to takeover Villa!
 
Hampus Silverholt said:
As a Villa fan, and with the news today about us suspending our CEO and not paying our taxes on time (basically we're in meltdown) surely the signs are there to takeover Villa!
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Well I can tell you that as of right now, both polls are at 50-50! The first one is a 50-50 between starting a new save and continuing this one but with a new sleeping giant and for the teams, each one has a single vote! Might be a close one hahaha
 
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