Sporting Toulon Var - a shit club in the Cote d'Azur [FM14]

Local businessman isn't ideal, hopefully he has some cash.

Bang on where the board wants us to be. I envisage the team dropping slightly but I'm not worried about relegation. Assad has been a dream, getting 13 goals so far in the league. I've got a bit of cash to spend so I'm going to look for a good defender. In the mean time I bought this:



A little Christmas present for me, He cost €300k because of a tribunal, but I think he could prove to be a good partner for Assad.

Good news, I don't like that cunt's name.

Wague looks brilliant. How are you finding all those gems?

Scouting mainly. Occasionally I'll flip open the player search and filter by age, in France the players come in at 14/15 and can be signed for €0, which is what I did with Tall and Baron. Some, like Wague, have to be paid for because they were based in Africa. A good example is this guy:





I can't afford to scout him, but he appears on my player list. Now I think he looks good, but I can't really tell so I'm having to take a risk. I know I can buy him via tribunal for €576,000 but I've made an offer of €175,000. I'm prepared to go to the maximum but it makes sense to feel it out first. There are so many talented players cropping up all the time, well within reason. I mean these guys aren't going to win me any major trophies, but there's plenty of talent to get me to the few steps below.

He looks quite good, but his high aggression is a worry.

Look at that determination though. That 19 means with the right amount of first team action and training he could have a 17 in heading and an 18 in tackling. That guy could be a first team regular up to a league title run, potentially.

Great story so far dude. Really enjoying reading it.

Good to see a little show on how your finding the players, looks like your getting some gems in

A run of four wins in our last four games saw us return to 10th after hanging around 15th for a while. It was a very interesting season. The most fascinating aspect is just how fucking good we are at scoring goals. We scored more than anyone else in the leagues. Hakin Assad lead the league in scoring with 28 goals and it seems as though his partnership with Wague will prove to be very fruitful. I just locked them both down to contracts leading into 2021, I stupidly only gave them deals until 2019 but at least this way if any predators come running around I can keep them at arm's length.

The bad is how many goals we conceded; three away from being the worst. But you simply can't have the best attack in the league and the shittest defence, all you're going to do is row around in circles. I do think Yilmaz's addition halfway through the season had an effect.

Next season I think we should try and get into the top six or seven. That attack is just too potent to waste with a softly approach, I'll need to bring in some cover in defence and a new central midfielder, but I think there's room for us to get there.



In other news a takeover went through. Nothing changed except the club has a new €700,000 loan to repay, instead of the old €1.4m one. So that is good news, I guess.

Aggression isn't a bad attribute.

That seems like a lot of money for a player who more than likely will never play regularly for this club... I don't know, when someone just swoops in like that it suddenly makes me very possessive. I really want to keep him now... I think I'll negotiate.

I think €3.5m + 25% of any future sale is a good deal for us. The money is just going to service our running costs, but it's still good to not have to worry about cash. I don't imagine I'll see any of the future fee, players tend to end up leaving on frees when they hit 21-22 but just in case that would be a nice kicker if he ends up becoming really good.

2018/19









After all my big talk about building it might seem a little strange to only have two major signings and one loan signing. However this transfer window was deceptively good for us. I stripped away about €14,000pw from the wage bill (which was then consumed a bit by new signings and contract renewals), took on board a bountiful lump of cash, and I brought in two key players permanently.

Nef is the real coup here. Portuguese clubs have a very strange problem where they seem to let good players rot in their reserves, have their values driven down to nothing and then allow me to sign them. This is the third player I have signed from Porto's B side and I don't care, they were all dirt cheap and they're all excellent.

As I said at the end of last season I think we can get sixth or seventh and if we did I'd be delighted. I told the board I could do mid-table and even if it was just that I'd be satisfied. I've built up enough a buffer cash wise that if the right player comes into my sights I can pull the trigger and potentially move us up a level. What we have now doesn't feel like enough, my problem is that I just can't put my finger on exactly where the team isn't good enough. They pass the eye test, but it just doesn't seem all there. This is a good low pressure season to figure out how I can put the pieces together and then we can move up a gear.

That is of course unless we do really shit and get relegated. I wonder how long my 'untouchable' status would last.

Do you think you could have kept Arcelin?

Not bad to get decent money for them

I probably could have but he wouldn't have really played until he was older and by that time I doubt I would have received the same money for him.

That would probably good idea to cash in now than later.

Halfway stage of the season and we're exactly where I thought we'd be. It's tight with room to slip up or down, but it's good to see we're better. A positive goal difference is always a good sign and Assad is second in the goalscoring table with 15 goals in 20 matches.



I also received news of this award, which makes no sense. Over the last year we've been the 9th best team in the league, but if people want to chuck stupid awards at me then I won't say no. Pity there's no cash prize.

I haven't won a game in two months. African Cup of Nations buttfucked me. I would really like to remember what it feels like to win a game of football.

How many players do you have missing due to African Cup of Nations?

Wow thats hard luck!

A similar season to the last. We were pretty poor towards the end and dropped from 8th to 11th, but I'm not disappointed. I think our attacking options, our midfield, are secure. I just feel like we still need more beef in defence. I've already made approaches for central defenders and a new goalkeeper and I want to see an improvement in the next season. I've got some money to spend, but it's only going to go on someone who's worth it, I think we can fill our ranks with Ligue 1 drop outs, but they're asking for €5-7kpw, which is a lot of money, so I need to be careful that I don't overspend on mediocre talent.

Can't be arsed to do an update, I loaned in some players, signed some players. We've played 20 games and we're 9th in the league. Now fuck off.

Right, it's not a god forsaken hour now. We're in the mix for the upper part of the league and that's great news. Defence is marginally better, Assad is firing on all cylinders, and our new loan signings are pretty good. I'll show some players I signed now:















I wasn't finding the right amount of quality out there so I thought I'd play the loan market. It's working, to some effect, and I think we can keep moving forward. It does mean that win or lose, next season we're going to need working over once again, but I suppose it does give me a decent amount of flexibility to make changes.

De Boel and Egbert look very good!

I did it. Sporting Toulon Var are now a Ligue 1 side. It took some smooth worth bringing in quality from other clubs on loan, as well as another incredible season from Assad who was top goalscorer with 29 goals, Revelation of the Season, Goal of the Season, Team of the season etc. Now is where the fun begins. We have to slowly accrue cash, bring in better players, try to survive and keep that war of attrition going. It's a long way away, but the gates of hell are guarded by two of the richest football clubs in the world: PSG and Monaco. We won't be talking to them for quite some time, but that has to be in our heads when we look at our long term goal of being the baddest motherfuckers on the planet.



My plan now is to make sure we don't go straight back down. This club is already in a precarious financial position again, all the promotion bonuses are not going to help either. It's going to be an interesting, and very difficult, season.

Fantastic work here Fantastic! such a good journey!

Great read Fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing how you do in Ligue 1.

Read through all this; class work, sure there's plenty more of success to come. Are PSG and Monaco a fair margin ahead of the rest in France by now?

Congrats on your promotion to Ligue 1