Spanky's 13 long termer....

Very difficult to win this game especially away from home. PSG actually won the league with this win also. No chance of champions league now and with Evian winning their game I might not even finish 5th-6th.



Excellent finish to the season at home. We beat 4 of the top 5 teams in the run home basically but it wasn't enough.
We still finished 7th.

Missed out on Europe, poor cup form and losing too many games to teams well below us.

Hopefully I get another season I can turn this one into a positive.



Happy for the lad he really is something special. Not sure how to translate that award but based on the ages of the winners I'm guessing player of the year?? He also made team of the year.

Chelsea showed interest in me after finishing 5th and sacking the manager. I denied interest straight away. I'm planning on building an empire here.

I am a little worried. After denying interest, then being offered the Chelsea job and rejecting it, not one word from my board or the fans about being happy I'm staying. I fear I may get the sack for missing out on Europe.

May just accept and run it as a side game. Wouldn't mind going in and destroying Liverpool for not giving me a chance to build a dynasty with my young team lol.

Funny thing is Liverpool haven't finished higher then 7th since they sacked me.

Anyways back to the main game.



Some relief there as I thought I'd get the sack for missing Europe.

I've done a bit of cleansing in the squad and have about £23m to play with. However there are quite a few youngsters I feel are ready to step up so I may just need a left back and a striker.

Good that you stayed in Montpellier, it's an interesting team to build from, as they usually get quite good youngsters (in my games anyway). Good luck!

And by the way, Etoile d'Or means Golden Star (or Star of Gold if you wish).

Cheers mate. Yeah I really wanted to build a dynasty with youngsters in my second stint at Liverpool which sadly failed. At least I will have more time here to do what I want.


Kids ready to step up and play a part now.


Will get some games off the bench. I'm still hoping to bring Paco back.


Another one from the youth academy, will add depth to the defence.


One position I need to strengthen with the retirement of my backup left back. Will probably be 3rd choice as I'll look to bring in a new first choice player.

Got this bloke on a free. Will most probably be first choice. Looking at a youngster for third choice as I don't really have anything in my youth teams.



Another freebie. Just adds some depth to that DM spot especially with my other too being so young.



Really only got him in for emergencies.



Could very well steal starting spot from Lorber.



Missed out on Paco, Barca want him in first team now. This bloke joins in January as my new poacher. Have my eye on another striker right now but looking like costing me about £11m.


Very pleased with this signing. They originally wanted £18m so to knock it down to £11m was great. Also broke the transfer record with this purchase.


£21.5m out, £16m in. Still in the black. With over 300k left for wages. Missed out on my left back cause Reading want £18m for him so I might just use Alberto there.

Lol.

Think they have seen what I've done so far and want me back. 24 games in I am 4th which is just about where I was aiming for this season. I've got a very young squad exactly what I had at Liverpool. I am currently 8 games unbeaten. Montpellier stuck with me after struggle first season and now look what's happened.

Oh and that left back I missed out on because Reading wanted £18m I have no got coming on a free at the end of the season

Not interested in going anywhere just yet.

Said I'd get Europe at the start of the season but to finish 3rd with so many youngsters is amazing. Just hope it doesn't send an unrealistic expectation of me next season.


Just to give you an idea we are mid table in nearly everything. Our midfield and attack via comparison are about 6th on average but my defence and goalkeeping are pretty bad overall. That should improve with the new left back from Reading.

We made the semi final of the Coupe de France before going out 2-1 away to Evian. Just FYI I fielded a second string team for every game but were very lucky with the draw facing some league 2 sides on the way.

We got smashed in the Coupe de la Ligue 3rd round by Arles 4-1 in extra time. It was on the back of a 4 game win streak but my squad was clearly too tired with the mix of fixtures, at one point I had played 4 games more then the other league teams. Hence my decision to use a complete 2nd string side for the other cup.


At the start of the season Rafik had the number one spot but a drop in form coupled with 3 draws on the bounce in games we should have won easy made me give Gil back his spot. He didn't fail and played the remainder of the season minus the cup games.

Alberto isn't the fullback I thought he would be, will be moving him to center back next season and giving Ramdani a start.

Diallo and Sissoko were just awesome once again. Going to be very hard for Alberto to userp one of them.

Rousseau playing in the unfamiliar left midfield role was awesome. He finished with 14 assists in the league. There was a point when in January Aka had joined us and I was starting him there but soon realized I needed Rou back and we played as a much better team for it.

Reyes was the other who joined in January on a free, a goal every 2 games and 5 assists. He will be huge for us next season.

And finally Igor 22 from 39, was only through Marseille having two players score more then him that he didn't feature in the golden boot. Marseille are a freak team though and you can see that in the league table.

The reserves were very good when called upon and minus the lack of a left back and a proper right back I'm very happy with my depth.

I'm currently leaking about £1.2m a month. Not good enough. I am well under wage budget, £209k at the moment. That will go to about £250k once the contracts expire and some players leave. I've also made the habbit of when signing players who are replacement players, trying to get them for less then the outgoing player. It has worked well so far considering when I joined we were spending over 800k on wages that is now 688k.

The problem is our match day income is pretty much nullified by the loans. Much needed income from the champions league and once again reducing the wage budget should hopefully see us turn a profit some months.

Dunno what this bloke has to do to get a France call up, he has been one of my best since I started here.


Knew this would happen. Money is starting to get tight but the wages are going down again come July 1 and I shouldn't need to purchase anyone really.

Not ready to go back to them yet.

So nowwwww they want me back aye. Wonder if they would let me do what I'm doing here at Montpellier.

REJECT.

Another 2 years

Fucking hell.

So fired this game back up and my injury concerns aren't getting any better. Still playing with a bare squad of about 22.



I think this is the first time I can ever recall going through a group with only 9 points. Luckily Porto thrashed Man City 3-0 in the last game to ensure I stayed in 2nd place.



Sevilla the only side I failed to pick up any points from. The games against Porto were absolute thrillers and beating Man City 2-0 was just amazing.

In other news I've got the wage bill down to 600k and we are starting to turn a profit every other month, depending on tv money. The further we progress in the Champions league the better.

As for the league, it's been a mixed bag so far as usual in my time here. After 16 games we sit 5th, 8 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses. PSG and Marseille proving far to strong for everybody else at the top of the table.

Disappointed he only wanted a year extension but with teams like Tottenham and Dortmund sniffing around at least I can hang onto him that bit longer. Hopefully we make a decent impact in Europe and he decides to stay till his retirement.

The first leg was huge, 4-1 up before two late goals left me veryyyy nervey. Fortunately we held out in the second leg despite having 2 players suspended and still many more injured.

Best draw I could have hoped for, though if I make it through the worst draw I could have asked for awaits in the semis. Either Real Madrid or Man Utd. Looks like semi final is the best I can hope for.

Dominated the first leg and they had only the one shot in the second with which they scored. Much easier draw then I had anticipated but incredibly happy to have made it this far.

I'll be meeting Real Madrid in the semis, they went through on away goals after 4-4 aggregate with Man U.

Just to give you an idea how tough this will be, Man U are the current holders of the Champs league and won the premier league two seasons ago. Real Madrid won the La Liga three seasons ago and finished runners up and third the last two seasons.

Always gonna be hard, but proud to have made it as far as we have. Went up early in the first leg but Madrid just showed how good they really are.

Second leg they showed again how clinical they can be, having 3 shots on goal and scoring all 3. We put up a fight but are no where near the class of Madrid.

2 points separate me from Paris but also 2 points from Caen. However my tough run is over, having played Paris, Marseille and Lyon in the last 5 games I have Nancy, an all important game against Caen that could very well decide who finishes above whom and Lorient and Sochaux to round it out.

Fingers crossed we don't get complacent.

Fucking hell, hit me on a counter in one of those games where absolutely nothing happens apart from the goal. I'm 2 points ahead but they have a game in hand. Paris are now 5 points clear in 2nd so it's either 3rd or 4th for me. Either way we have Champions league again.

Once again a slow start, just can't seem to get this team going from the beginning. Sohaux managed to do the double over us with the same scoreline both times despite them finishing 17th.
Some high scoring games in the middle of a small run against Bordeaux and Arles (who seem to be a bogey team of mine this save) had me fearing for my job yet again before picking up two huge wins against heavyweights Marseille and Lyon, although the latter have struggled to break top 4 recently.

A huge run began after a narrow loss to PSG, 15 games unbeaten, 12 wins in a row, 13 in total in the run saw us climb from 5th-8th to 3rd and fast closing on PSG. At one point them only being ahead on goal difference.

Unfortunately the loss to Marseille at a crucial time saw us slip to third and failure to beat Rennes ensured a nervy finish for 3rd position. The ever present Caen who somehow manage to defy the odds every season my competition. They also unfortunately picked up a huge win against us but still having to play PSG and Lyon losing both games ensured us a 3rd place finish and automatic qualification for the champions league.


Marseille once again proving much too strong, gonna take a while before anyone knocks them off their perch I think.


Unfortunate that I had to meet Marseille, it also happened that I had them twice in 3 matches. Lost the cup fixture but won the league fixture.
I haven't really given to much to the cups with Montpellier, I'm eager to bring some silverware home so next season will take them a bit more seriously and not play so much youth.


My point proven about not taking the cups seriously, play far too many youth players and bow out so early.


Just so you can see my run again. Very very very pleased with making the semis, I just hope that expectations aren't too high next season because it was a pretty flukey run apart from the Dortmund games.


My top squad, I promised the board I would try to bring youth through and it's exactly what I have done. I also have my eye on a couple players to come up next season also.

Pretty much everyone with a rating over 7 was a starter with quite a bit of rotating happening during my huge injury crisis. Rafik isn't happy and wants to leave but he just had no hope of displacing Gil. I may look to sell for a profit and bring in a backup goalie who won't whinge.

Bowyer was the big signing from Reading, I had hoped to get him the previous season but they wanted 18m so waited till this season and got him on a free. Didn't disappoint but has a habit of making one too many fouls.

Sissoko and Diallo were once again just animals, I still cannot believe neither has been called up to France. Makiadi looks like he could be better then both of them however I just can't bring myself to drop either of them plus Mak has youth on his side being only 19 years old.

Lorber my captain, 10 goals, 14 assists, really didn't come out of his shell till the back half of the season and even then picked up his numbers despite missing some weeks our injured.

N'Diaye missed about 8 weeks with injury towards the back end of the season and up until that point was being touted as a player of the year winner. He struggled big after his injury return and looks like won't be winning that award.

Boyer is the creative force that keeps this side ticking, he also has pace to burn, the amount of times I see him hold up the ball before 2 or 3 players to then turn on the afterburners and head into the box before burying the ball in the net was just amazing. So glad to have him for at least another season with teams like Dortmund and Tottenham sniffing.

Igor struggled a little bit early on but his goals don't reflect his full job, he plays the deep lying forward role perfectly and holds up the ball enough for players like Aka and Lorber to get into the box.

A few players will be leaving this season, Dridi I am letting his contract run out, Lombard is a player who the previous manager picked up on a free but is on 62k per week. That is wayyy to much for a guy who doesn't play, I've also since changed to a one striker formation so he will be leaving as will Reyes. He is just about as good as Marty who also happens to be younger and Chevalier has more potential then all the strikers in my squad.

Exactly why Gil has the starting spot of Rafik.

Better be ready to pay about 30m for him.

Another new contract, they only want to give me 2 year contracts though



Has now won it two years in a row, league team of the season 3 years in a row and still can't get a French call up. No idea what he has to do.



Could make things interesting if it happens, they have struggled of late but with some money they could challenge Marseille.



Victim of my own success, that is now the minimum the board wants.



Dridi was 32 years old and only ever played the odd cup game for me, 26k per week off the budget. For some strange reason the fans are upset he is gone though.
Reyes barely played and was taking upa foreign spot, got his 50k per week off the budget and hopefully Celta buy him at the end of the season.
Lombard was the signing from the previous manager, 62k per week was ludicrous, he was a goal scoring machine early on but he's too old now and happy to have got rid of him although would have liked more than a million. His wage demands through a lot of teams off.



This guy played and dominated in the world cup despite not having a team. Brilliant sub for either wing and will replace the aging Roussea.



Just some more cover for the wing spots.

That's about it for my transfers, I was trying to offload Hugo Marcos and Florian Kneuer, both DM's and pick up a youngster from Palermo or another guy from the relegated Auxerre. Auxerre wanted 24m for him and he eventually went to Man City as I was never paying that much for him. Palermo wanted 6m for their man but I was hesitant about paying that without offloading the other two first and when I couldn't do that I ceased interest and he went to Reading.