June 13th, 2026

On Saturday morning, while the children were still asleep, Julien joined a Teams meeting with his core staff. Assistant Manager Fritz Schmid, Director of Football Roger Stilz, Chief Scout Nnamdi Aghanya, Head of Youth Development Mario Gilli, and Loan Manager Renato Fusco all connected. The main objective of the meeting was to review the squad and decide whose contracts should be extended and whose should not. The discussion began with Stilz announcing that Amiens, who had finished 10th in Ligue 2, had submitted a £54,000 offer for Jésah Ayessa. The staff quickly agreed to accept the bid.

Stilz continued. He announced that Albert Vallci had accepted an offer from Anderlecht, adding £1.1 million to St. Gallen's transfer budget. Furthermore, offloading both Vallci and Ayessa had a positive impact on the payroll, instantly freeing up a combined £12,000 per week in the wage budget.

Right at that moment, Nnamdi Aghanya spoke up. He calmly reported on a phone call he had received the previous evening: AC Bellinzona, who had finished 6th in the Swiss Challenge League, had offered him their vacant manager position. Julien and Roger Stilz almost fell off their chairs. While they were aware of some interest, neither expected an approach this quickly. The news brought mixed emotions to the call. On one hand, everyone was thrilled for their colleague’s great career opportunity—Aghanya had been a loyal servant to St. Gallen since 2013. On the other hand, Julien knew they were losing an incredibly knowledgeable specialist, though the club would at least be due £130,000 in compensation. One by one, the screen filled with smiles as the entire staff congratulated Nnamdi on his well-deserved breakthrough into management.

The meeting continued with a review of the club's financial situation. While Vallci's sale left St. Gallen in a comfortable position, a quick calculation of incoming player salaries against the departures revealed they would be overspending by roughly £10,000 to £12,000 per week. To fix this, they decided to adjust the budgets by moving £2 million from the £4.02 million transfer budget to the wage budget to secure their long-term financial stability.

Next, the staff evaluated the players whose contracts would expire by the end of the 2026/27 season at the latest. It had already been decided that Probst and Höhener would leave the club this summer, while Becker has been put up for sale, and Efekele would be sent out on loan. Shqiprim Vladi's loan deal would not be extended, meaning he would return to Lugano. Meanwhile, Fehr, Ambrosius, Faber, Stanić, Fazliji, Witzig, Gaal, Watkowiak, and Boukhalfa would all be invited to contract renewal talks early next week. Aside from the five departures, the club aimed to extend contracts with everyone entering their final year.

Finally, they reviewed the players whose contracts ran until the end of the 2027/28 season. Ayessa was close to joining Amiens, and Simone Giordano was transfer listed earlier. Albian Ajeti had already signed his permanent contract, ensuring his future with St. Gallen, while Aliou Baldé would return to Nice. Renewing Chima Okoroji, Hugo Vandermersch, Behar Neziri, and Lukas Daschner was a priority, with talks scheduled for early next week, whereas Vinni Triboulet’s future would only be decided at the end of next season. On the recommendation of Loan Manager Renato Fusco, Julien agreed to give Kevin Csoboth a chance during pre-season following his return from loan, though the French manager remained unconvinced that the Hungarian winger had a future in his squad. The biggest question mark remained the club captain, Lukas Görtler. He would turn 32 on Monday and be 34 by the time his current deal expired. Despite his immense popularity among fans, players, and staff, extending his contract right now made no financial sense. Julien decided to speak with him face-to-face on Monday about his future.

"That concludes today's meeting," Julien announced, before asking Mario Gilli to stay on the call for a minute. "Wait, I have one last surprise for you," Aghanya interrupted. "I know how disappointed you all were when we missed out on Gbamin, so as a parting gift, I found you a new central defender." He presented a scouting report for 34-year-old Stefan de Vrij. "You're funny, Nnamdi," Julien smiled, looking at the Dutchman's £115,000-a-week wage demand, before wishing him the best of luck in his new managerial career.

Gilli stayed on the call. Outside of football, he owned a small pub in St. Gallen. Julien asked him if he could gather the staff there tomorrow evening for burgers and beers to give the chief scout a proper send-off. Mario was always happy to do so. Since Julien was also traveling to Switzerland on Sunday evening, he welcomed the plan; it meant he wouldn't have to spend his first night alone in that large, empty apartment.

Julien was sitting in the living room, when the front door opened. Laura had secretly organized an early birthday celebration for him, bringing together the family to give him a proper send-off. Walking through the door was Julien’s sister, Léa. The surprise deepened when Léa announced her plans: Laura asked her to travel with Julien to Switzerland the next day. Working in an art gallery, she volunteered to spend her week off helping to design and set up the new apartment in St. Gallen. The joyful atmosphere, however, took a turn when Laura’s brother, Paul, arrived. Paul immediately began pushing Julien to "strike while the iron is hot," urging him to leverage the recent Brack Super League championship title to secure a more lucrative contract at a bigger club. Julien refused to even consider the thought. Arguments flared up, voices were raised, and an uncomfortable disagreement temporarily ruined the afternoon mood before Paul finally backed down.

Fortunately, Laura saved the afternoon with his favorite dish Bouillabaisse, packed with fresh Mediterranean fish and a homemade birthday cake.

As the afternoon rolled on, the family gathered around the table for a long board game session. While the dice rolled, Julien looked across the table and noticed asome sadness in his children's eyes. Sunday's farewell was clearly weighing on them, turning their laughter into quiet smiles.

A sudden realization struck his mind as he went to sleep. Pre-season training was starting in less than 48 hours, yet the club had not scheduled a single friendly so far. He sent an SMS to Assistant Manager Fritz Schmid: "Fritz, sorry for the hour. We have zero friendlies locked in for the schedule. We absolutely must resolve this first thing tomorrow morning."

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June 14th, 2026

Laura pinned a note to the fridge for Camille and Louis before they left, she drove Julien and Léa to the Charles de Gaulle airport. They just had a short goodbye before Laura had to leave. Julien watched her car pull away turning toward the security gates with Léa.

They were both reading on the flight to Zürich, but Julien stopped for a moment. "Mario Gilli is hosting a farewell to a colleague tonight" Julien told his sister  "Just a few close staff at his pub in town. You should come." Léa looked up from her book. "I’d love to. It’s better than sitting in an empty flat."

They took the train from Zürich Airport to Gossau, caught a taxi, and arrived at the apartment around one o'clock. "Well, this is it," Julien said. "I have two beds ready, and we can eat at that table." He pointed to the garden table with four chairs sitting in the middle of the dining room. Their footsteps echoed through the flat. "Julien, this is beautiful," Léa said. "Don't worry about the furniture, that's why I'm here." They ordered pizza for lunch and ate it straight out of the cardboard boxes.

After lunch, Julien cleaned the cardboard boxes off the garden table and unlocked his phone. A few new scout reports filled his inbox, forwarded by the recruitment team. He skimmed through them quickly, dismissing most because of high transfer fees or wage demands that St. Gallen simply could not afford. However a notification from Elena Meçe, the club's press officer, made him stop. It was official. Bellinzona had just released the formal press announcement. Nnamdyi Aghanya was their new manager. Julien locked the screen and tossed the phone onto the plastic table. 

Before Julien could stand up, his phone buzzed on the table. The screen showed Fritz Schmid’s name.

Julien answered, putting the call on speaker. “Hey, about your message from yesterday. I've planned something” he started

"I was thinking we should book a match for the very first weekend, we need to make sure the boys don’t get bored with just fitness training. They need to play, and they need to play a lot."

 Julien leaned over the garden table. "Agreed, but I don’t want a meaningless kickabout. At the same time, let’s not pick an opponent that is too big a bite for the opening week." 

They debated names for a few minutes, filtering through regional options and Swiss lower-league sides. 

"Stade Lausanne-Ouchy," Julien said. "They just finished third in the Challenge League. It’s a proper test but manageable."

"At home?"  Schmid asked. 

"Yes. We start the preparation at home."

The conversation with Fritz Schmid lasted nearly forty-five minutes. They went back and forth over dates, travel logistics, and squad rotation before finalising the summer schedule. The plan was built to gradually increase the intensity:

• June 20: Stade Lausanne-Ouchy (Home) – A solid opening test against the side that finished third in the Challenge League.
• June 28: Stade Nyonnais (Away) – A short break from the training camp to build match fitness.
• July 4: Neuchâtel Xamax (Away) – A trip to face the newly promoted Super League side. Julien would already be away on his family holiday.
• July 8: Grasshoppers (Home) – A mid-week fixture at Kybunpark against a recently relegated giant looking to prove a point.
• July 11: Red Bull Salzburg (Home) – A test against European regulars.

Neither of them was entirely sure when their first Champions League qualifying round would take place. They decided to wait for the draw, to finalise their plans.

"We leave the rest open for now," Julien said. "Let's talk again once the draw is out."

“Tonight at Gilli's” Schmid asked.

“Yes, 6PM sharp”

They hung up, and Schmid started to organise the matches.

The phone rang again. It was Sebastian Rickenbacher from The Swiss Football Free Press.

"Nnamdyi spent thirteen years building the scouting foundations of this club. He earned this opportunity, and we respect his decision. We wish him nothing but the best in the Challenge League." Replied Julien, and he hoped that was it for today.

Fritz Schmid did not waste time. By late afternoon, he had already worked through the contacts and booked all the friendlies. Julien checked his phone one last time before leaving the flat. A series of short confirmation emails sat in his inbox. Every invited club had accepted the proposal for the friendly fixtures.

Julien grabbed his jacket and nodded to his sister. It was time.

On the train  from Gossau to St. Gallen, Julien checked the  World Cup news. Lawrence Ati-Zigi played in Ghana's opening group match against Qatar at the Estadio Monterrey.

Ghana secured a 3–1 victory, and Ati-Zigi delivered a solid performance.

By 6:00 PM, the usual staff had gathered at Gilli’s Pub & Bar.  The pub belonged to Mario Gilli, the club's head of youth development, whose family had run the place for generations.

The core of St. Gallen’s staff was there. Mario Gilli, Fritz Schmid, Elena Meçe, Pascal Zuberbühler, first-team coach Alain Meyer, loan manager Renato Fusco, and U18 manager Nicolas Lüchinger were already settled in. Léa sat next to Julien. Nnamdyi Aghanya sat at the head of the table, raising a glass as the Gauthiers walked in.

The evening ended in heavy drinking and lot of football talk. By midnight, the entire table was drunk. Julien called an Uber to take him and Léa back to Gossau.

Inside the quiet car, Léa leaned her head against the cool glass of the window, looking out at the passing streetlights. "Elena likes you," she said, her voice slightly slurred. "My brother has an admirer, that’s for sure." Julien didn't say a word.

When the Uber dropped them off in Gossau, they they went straight to sleep.

"My God, how am I going to get up tomorrow?"

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