Forza Napoli sempre! - Moving from France to Italy!

[Tempelman]

 

After my Pass The Save adventure with Ligue 2 club Valenciennes and winning a surprise promotion to Ligue 1, I decided to continue this save and see how things would go as I went along. Before the season started however, Vitesse (of all clubs loaded in the database, total coincedence and I laughed my ass off) approached me for a job interview since manager Thomas Letsch moved to Feyenoord. In the end I didn't get the job which went to Kevin Hofland.

On to the start of the season with penniless Valenciennes, with 5M in debt, and no money to spend, I needed to offload some players in order to try and get some loanees to the club. I could attract only three loan players (Giorgio Scalvinia, a defender from Atalanta, Kelvin Yeboah, a young striker from Genoa, and Theo Corbeanu, another defender/midfielder). Started the season fairly well with a win away against Lorient, a loss against Montpellier (Flattering loss), and three draws against Toulouse, St. Etienne and Nice. Most impressive of the results was an away win vs Marseille, in the first 20 minutes we blew them away and it should have been 0-3, after that they took over but missed every chance they got and fired their manager later on. I think we did a lot better than expected but often forgot to score, which was the case in Ligue 2 as well, but the results over there were in the end better than in Ligue 1 so far. We did not manage to win one home game, although we had some dominating games against Montpellier, Brest, Bordeaux and Nimes. I think we deserved more points actually...

 

Results (Until Monaco)

 

Meanwhile I was approached by several other French clubs including Rennes, Marseille, Bordeaux and Lille. Bordeaux was sitting in 20th place, the three other clubs mentioned were also underperforming. In the end Bordeaux offered me a contract which I accepted. I left Valenciennes sitting in 15th place at the time (Which considering the state the club was in, I think was pretty impressive), and brought their debt back from -5M to a little over -2M.

The selection of players of Bordeaux compared to Valenciennes is a lot better, but Bordeaux also has financial problems, which is obviously a challenge again. The goal for this season is to avoid relegation, hopefully get the finances back in the black, and we will see from there. I have already transfer listed some players I deem surplus to requirements. I also believe the players earn way too much compared to their ability.

 

Finances:

 

League Table:

 

Schedule:

 

Tactical:

 

Where I played on the counter a lot with Valenciennes, I have decided on a different approach with Bordeaux. It's more based on possession, and trying to control the game patiently. Morale is low so it is going to be difficult to motivate the players, though there is some decent quality. Their obvious key player is defender Anel Ahmedhodzic... The squad is a decent mix of experience and younger players, and I don't see any obvious real weaknesses in this squad.

 

Profile Anel Ahmedhodzic:

 

The first match (and first challenge) was against Lille. They have a stronger squad but are also struggling in the league, so this was a nice test. Lille dominated this match purely because the morale of the players is low, and they were passing the ball around really badly, lost possession way too much. The 1-1 was a pleasant surprise because it was the first chance we got, during the game I changed tactics to more attacking, tweaking the instructions a bit and we even had 2 great chances to steal the game.

Now the break of the World Cup is here, next league match is against Lorient at home. They are performing well above their expectations and sit in 8th place, so they recovered well when they lost against me when I was at Valenciennes.

[Derek]

You've created your own multiverse mate 

I'm very interested to see how you do and how the journey differs from our Pass The Save challenge. I'm also quite curious as to how John Maja performs as I always liked him when he was at Sunderland a while back.

[Tempelman]

Well, I have a new update! @Derek Josh Maja is doing pretty well, he was a squad player for the former manager, but for me he's in the first XI. 4 goals in 6 matches is fine by me. Ui-Jo was used as a striker before, I'm using this man as a right winger. Though Elis I also use on both positions if either is not match fit.

 

Josh Maja profile:

 

Tactical:

 

Morale is up, team cohesion and familiarity is getting better and better... Tactically I can't have any complaints, the players are playing better and better.

 

League Standings:

 

Schedule and results:

 

Starting the competition again we narrowly beat Lorient, it was quite an even game but we took the points with us. Toulouse we dominated the game and quite easily won this as well. Against Nice we were not at our best and were overrun, but at half time we were 2-0 in front somehow and managed to withstand the storm in the second half, winning the game with a good dose of luck. The game against Strasbourg was again a dominating performance and the tension was not needed, we deserved this win. Montpellier then... Two red cards in the second half killed this match, before this we were 1-0 behind, but were equal, crashed down to a 4-0 loss, and out of the Coupe the France, unfortunately. The board is not happy because the expectation was quarter final. Against Nimes we were behind the entire game, but in the last 10 minutes we turned the game upside down to snatch a deserving win, we were better the entire game, but missed a lot of chances earlier. Against Nantes we played an equal game, but Nantes missed their chances and we scored in the last minute to get the win.

So, we have turned the Ligue 1 upside down. Seven (!) wins in a row in the league, going up from 20th, to 7th place! I'm proud of the boys, and the way they're playing, it has been nothing short of amazing, and a great comeback in such a short period of time!

Meanwhile, former club Valenciennes won 5 games in a row (Including cup wins) and are in an impressive 13th position! They fought bravely away against Paris SG, cheekily scoring the first goal, but ultimately lost 5-2. 

And Vitesse fired Hofland midseason (I am obviously keeping a keen eye on them as well)... They're struggling and are in 11th position in the league. Good for them, they should have chosen me.

 

Finances:

 

Well, we are still very much in debt, but I did manage to significantly lower the wage bill. I have been offloading some players who were merely squad players with high wages. I also attracted two new players since the DC and DL positions weren't covered very well, besides that, Radu and Marcelo are old and the latter is retiring. Davide Bettella is a familiar face for me and fairly cheap (2,5M in total with installments), and can still grow, and should provide decent backup in this position. The DL position will be covered in the summer (Although I hope there will be no injuries in the meantime, Perraud is the only decent DL in the squad), and that will be Alex Centelles from Alcoyano.

[Derek]

WOW!!!  I honestly couldn't see you in the top half with that squad mate but your flying with those 7 wins on the spin.

I always thought Maja could do well in Ligue 1 as he was quite good in the EPL and as you said 4 in 6 is quite good. I'm eager to see how you do against Paris if you can keep that run going until then.

[Tempelman]

I hoped we would just do well and get out of the relegation zone, scraping some points along the way. I did not ever expect we would do so well, playing so dominantly and win seven games in a row, that was a surprise for me as well! Although I have to say that with the exception of Nice, the opponents we faced were fairly equal or slightly worse than us. Paris SG will be a good test, I certainly hope we can snatch a draw there...

[Tempelman]

Short update here. The finances are getting out of control quite a bit so I have been taken some action to replace players with high wages for similar players with lower wages, for the following players:

- Joshua Guilavogui (40K (!!) p/w, 2,5M fee) for Tehobo Mokoena (13,75K p/w, 725K fee)
- Marcelo (31K p/w, retiring end of season) for Victor Chust (10K p/w, free transfer)
- Benoit Costil (30K p/w, 850K fee) for Dani Martin (10K p/w, 800K plus future fees)
- Fransergio (25K p/w, 2,2M fee) for nobody as of yet
- Hwang Ui-Jo (30K p/w, 2,5M fee) for Phakmani Mahlambi (10K p/w, 375K fee)

Also looking to sell Remi Oudin since he earns 25K per week and sitting on the bench.

Costil, Fransergio and Ui-Jo are getting old anyway, so better replace them sooner than later. All players that will be brought in will surely be sold with profit. I have also made some cuts in the staff department. Obviously I could sell Ahmedhodzic, but he is a key player for the team, and sure, he is on a 25K p/w contract and valued very high, but I think there will be interest in him in the summer, if not, he will defenitely stay and hopefully go even further up in value.

[Derek]

Some good moves mate in terms of balancing the books. Can't believe Guilavogui was on €40k!

It sounds like you might need to consider Ahmedhodzic if a decent offer comes in.

[Tempelman]

Yes, probably, but I hope there will be no interest, although I'm 95% sure there will be.

The wage bill for next season will be around 450K p/w, which is 200K lower than when I took over. Maybe I will take over Ander Guevara (who is on loan), he will cost me only 500K in fees (in 3 games I will have to anyway), but I have no idea what his wage demands are going to be. I take anything below 20K p/w at the moment. He should be a decent replacement for Fransergio.

The debt is around 13M, this number should be significantly lower when the new season starts.

And, the vision of the club is to stay in the Ligue 1, for the next couple of years, not much of a vision...

[Tempelman]

Okay, I am so happy at the moment that I want to write another update...

 

League table:

 

Schedule and results:

 

After the last update we were in a pretty bad run of form, with a surprising home loss against Reims and a not so surprising loss against Paris SG, we were totally overrun here and although we opened the score, ultimately lost. After narrowly beating Rennes we had a bad run of 5 games without a win, though we were most of the time the better team (Also against Lyon). Against former team Valenciennes we finally got the win again (Although narrowly), and against Monaco we played a great game and won 3-2, and deservedly so, the score should have been higher.

We have already exceeded expectations by avoiding relegation, although in theory that could still happen. 9th in the league, who knows, maybe we can rise even further up the table...

Oh, two more players are going to join us next season, Ander Guevara for 500K, and a 14,5K salary, and Arthur Gomes, for the same fee, and a 12,5K salary.

[Derek]

You're doing great to be still in the top half mate with only defeat to Troyes since the PSG game.

Looks like you have a few tough games coming up.

[Tempelman]

At the moment of writing I am in the last game of the season, and we are currently in 7th place, 3 points behind Lyon. The chance of getting European football is possible, but we have to beat Marseille away, and Lyon has to lose...

 

Schedule and results:

 

League table:

 

... Which unfortunately did not happen, Lyon lost their game, and so did we. We had an awesome final run though! Including a memorable win against Lille. On to the next season!

[Derek]

Still a great season mate well done!! To finish 7th with a team that could have gone down is a brilliant result

[Tempelman]

And, to top it off, at the moment we are 4M in the black!

Both Perraud and Dilrosun asked me for a new contract, which I am currently unwilling to give given the financial situation, I mean, I want to stay in the black. Perraud backed down, and accepted it, but Dilrosun said "there must be something you can do!". He is on a 23K p/w contract, but also important, so okay, let's see what you want. I immediately walked away when he wanted 59K p/w..  Obviously unhappy now.

[Tempelman]

And continueing in the new season, unfortunately I have some bad news here, and you can probably guess it.

 

Transfers:

 

That is right, and this was to expect, Barcelona came in for Ahmedhodzic and I was relatively powerless in keeping him in. Somehow his value was cut in half since the last season and he is now only worth 13M to 15M. They first made an offer of 12M, which I obviously rejected, a laughable offer. Then Ahmedhodzic became unhappy, and wanted to force a move. The entire squad was happy with my treatment because they also didn't want to lose him, off course. I eventually ended up getting 25M in total for him, which is (I think) a steal considering he has a pretty high potential. After he was sold the whole squad became unhappy and the dressing room atmosphere dropped to abysmal. Promising I would immediately bring in a new face worked and that new face is a familiar player for me, I brought in Valentin Antov as his replacement, with a much lower salary. Though not as good as Ahmedhodzic, he will grow into a strong defender, more than good enough for this level. The club atmosphere luckily went back to normal after this, else I definitely would have lost the confidence of the entire squad.

There were also two offers on two of my talents, Sekou Mara (21) had an offer of 12,75M from Southampton, and Crystal Palace made the same offer for Dilane Bakwa (also 21). I accepted both of these offers because they were just really good offers, considering their current abilities. Both transfers failed on work permits, and they are now on loan to gain more experience.

Dilrosun is also no longer unhappy with his contract situation and dropped the issue a week later.

Of the contracts expiring next year there are only two. Stefan Radu and Pejino. Of Radu I'm sure he will not get a new contract because of his age, Pejino I'm not sure about as he is a good and useful player in multiple positions.

 

Current XI:

 

I am happy with the squad as it is. All good players for this level, and there is some decent talent in it. Stefan Radu is still at the club and at age 36 very experienced, the rest of the squad is quite young. I am worried about the form of Arthur Gomes, he will probably be dropped in favour of Dilrosun, though the two players are both equally good. The other new signings are playing quite well, and getting used to the tactical approach I am taking.

 

Club vision:

 

The vision of the club has reverted to what it should be, finishing in the top half is reasonable. I had also been asked to repair the club's financial mess in two years, and before I sold Ahmedhodzic that goal was already achieved.

 

Finances:

 

Off course we are back in the black now, I managed to cut the wages from around 650K p/w to 420K p/w in around 8 months, without losing much quality in the first team. Actually, the team as a whole is (I think) improved! Essentially this means I am saving the club 1M p/m. The highest earner earned 40,5K p/w (Guilavogui), the highest earner now earns 23K p/w (Dilrosun). Plus the players brought in should definitely bring up more than they were bought for. 

 

Schedule and results:

 

League table:

 

We started the new season with a difficult game against Monaco. Despite controlling the game and trailing 1-0 behind it took a penalty to level the game, a game which should have been won. The home game against Lorient was a frustrating one as we played a very bad game and were lucky to get a draw out of it. Against Toulouse the machine finally started and we were quickly in front, they got a red card and the subsequent penalty was missed, but rivals Toulouse crashed and burned after that red card and we ran out easy 4-0 winners. It was time for revenge against Troyes, and despite the scoreline, we were totally in control the entire game.

A very good start of the season sees us at 3rd place.

[Derek]

Great update mate and an impressive start to the season I must say. It's hard to keep players of that quality when your not at a huge club but at least you've been able to invest and the club is financially stable now.

Great result away at Monaco in the opening game too. 

[Tempelman]

Oh! I forgot to mention a future transfer! I had made an offer for a Colombian winger newgen who seems to be extremely promising, he will cost the club 1,8M. At 17 years old, he should be able to slot into the first team.

 

Edit: Valenciennes managed to sign Kelvin Yeboah (The striker I loaned from Genoa) for 7,25M. Where the hell did they get 7M from? Looking at their transfers they didn't have any major transfers out. Definitely a major coup!

[Derek]

 €7.25? Where did they get that kind of cash from?

They must have sold a couple of players. Look forward to see how the Colombian winger develops.

"The next Luis Diaz"

[Tempelman]

Schedule and results:

 

League standings:

 

15 games unbeaten... Until we lost against newly prmoted Clermont Foot, who destroyed us, we did not have any say in this match whatsoever and the scoreline should have been a lot higher. Against OM (who were league leaders at the time), we had the better of the match but forgot to win, same counts for the next match against Nantes, who scored in the dying seconds of the match. Against Valenciennes we took revenge for these missed oppertunities and my poor former club lost 5-0 at home against us. We always have difficult games against Montpellier, and this is the first time we won, at least since the game started. Away against Rennes we again gave the game away whilst being the better team, giving away a simple 2-0 lead. Lyon and Lens were also frustrating games where we struggled to find our former form. Against Etienne we won, but do not ask me how.. Away to Lille we decimated them completely, and the scoreline should have been higher. Lille is somehow in 18th position, which is weird, considering the quality of players they have. We had no problem with Nice after that as well, before the aformentioned Clermont Foot finally beat us.

Oh, I only just noticed the league has been brought back from 20 clubs, to 18 clubs. 

It was then the game of the season, Paris SG, who are also struggling in the league, having lost 4 games already. At that point I thought we had a chance to maybe win or get a draw out of this game. Paris dominated the first 25 minutes of the game and deservedly scored out of corner, Kimpembe scored with a nice header. After that the game went back and forth with us getting two chances to equalize, before Mahlambi scored with an amazing dropkick, after a beautiful assist of Perraud. In the second half we went on the hunt for another goal and Maja found the net with a great cannonball of a header, with the assist coming from Mahlambi. The game went back to Paris who were desperate to score, but we had our fair chances too. Our defence seemed to be already dreaming of victory, because they let Neymar score an easy goal in the 82nd minute, although I suspected this to be offside. Again I thought we were giving a win away, but Juanpi thought differently, with a scorcher from distance just outside of the penalty area he scored a minute later. The match was over after this. Ecstatic! In all honesty the game could have gone either way.

In other news, Alberth Elis asked for a new contract. He still has a contract for three years so at first I rejected it. He hasn't been playing much either so there was no reason for me to offer a contract anyway, but to avoid him being uphappy I gave in and offered a new contract. Before the negotiations started he wanted a big pay rise (Currently 13K p/w), and asked for 47K p/w. No way in hell mate. Bye. I broke negotiations off, and as a result he wanted to leave. Sure thing, goodbye. Worth 9M and I don't expect much less, with the finances being secure now. 5,75M was the highest offer I got, I rejected it. Hoping to get a better offer when the transfer window starts.

It doesn't matter much to me anyway, because this new Colombian gem can easily replace him...

 

Profile David Rojas Cifuentes:

 

With us playing so well of late, obviously interest in the players grows. A lot. I am hoping for Yan Couto of Man City to replace Kwateng, should he leave, and Florian Lejeune as a replacement for Radu, when his contract expires. Both contracts of these two are expiring so I am hoping to attract them both on a free.

[Tempelman]

Schedule and results:

 

League standings:

 

We have had a good spell of results, no real problems, and currently lie in second place with only (perhaps surprisingly) RC Lens above us. In the Coupe de France we beat Angers and current league leaders RC Lens, both games were not much of a problem, although we defended bad against Lens (We were 3-0 up in 18 minutes). With the winter transfer window coming, and we suddenly challenging for the title, I decided to look around for players that are -23, cheap and to sell with profit, and better than the players we already have. There was sufficient interest in some of my players, and I wanted to move these on if the price was going to be right.

 

Transfers:

 

We had Alberth Elis (AMR/L ST) leave for 7M, I hoped to get more for him, but 7M is okay by me. I had already signed his replacement (Cifuentes) anyway. The second player to leave was rightback Enock Kwateng 10,5M for Leeds, his replacement is Gabriele Zappa for a mere 475K. Stefan Radu had signed a pre-contract with CSKA Moscow, and I had an eye on Lejeune as his replacement, but the deal did not go through, so instead I focused on Matija Nastasic of Fiorentina. His salary at Fiorentina was 50K p/w and I did not think he would sign for us, he however agreed to a much lower deal at 18,5K p/w. Since we now had many defenders in the central position, I decided to loan out Bettella, but CSKA agreed to a 100K fee for Radu, so he was recalled without playing a single game for Gijon. Great signing, and a leader for years to come! Facundo Farias has been my biggest signing so far, and he will be a replacement for Juanpi in the AMC position. I wanted to sell Ryan Thomas since he is now surplus to requirements, received a bid of 3,8M for him, but the deal collapsed and subsequently I only got two 950K bids for him, which is way too low. Ivan Jaime was brought in for the central midfield as backup.

Fairly happy with the transfer period, although I also think I might have overspent a little. Plus, Maja is the only decent striker in the squad now, I should have looked for a replacement or backup for him. But I extremely happy with the transfer of Guevara in the beginning of the season, he is now worth 18M! Mahlambi is around the same value. Both should bring in some cash if there is interest...

Onto the next games and see how the rest of the season unfolds.

[Derek]

Mate when I saw you second with none of the big teams in the top two I thought I missed a season and you were top of Ligue 2 

Wow! You're doing amazing so far and some really great signings!

[Tempelman]

I was also chasing Fausto Vera, but he demanded too much wage (over 70K p/w), so that was unfortunately a no for me. He would be really cheap at around 4M...

[Tempelman]

Schedule and results:

 

League standings:

 

The league is going down to a wire! We are still doing very well in the title challenge, with just a very frustrating draw against Nantes. We easily beat the rest of our opponents, though we have some trouble scoring lately, missing a good chunk of decent chances. Lens are still keeping up with us, or are we keeping up with them? I don't know, it is a surprising league table nonetheless... I think Pochettino is only still manager of PSG because they do well in the Champions League..

And we are in the final of the Coupe de France, we were just lucky with the draws as we consistently drew easy opponents. Only Reims provided some opposition and we beat them narrowly on penalties. Against Toulouse we had an easy match, they were nowhere to be seen, until they scored the equalizer out of nowhere in the 85th minute. Sigh, is it going to be a game like this again? In the 93rd minute we set the record straight and scored the winner. The final will be against OM, against them we had two good games so we should be able to win. PSG were eliminated surprisingly in the quarter finals.

[Derek]

Only one defeat so far is brilliant mate. I don't know how your doing it with that squad but I'd imagine that your keepers clean sheet record has something to do with it for sure.

You seem to be miles ahead in terms of keeping out other teams from scoring. What's your strongest XI now?

[Tempelman]

I'd like to think there's a good first XI but a strong bench as well, though I'm not fond of Maja lately, in the beginning he scored quite a lot, he has trouble finding the net lately... Burnley is interested, hoping to move him on and buy a killing machine for a striker...

 

First XI:

 

It's either Bettella or Antov in the defence, both are similar players... Arthur Gomes and Mokoena are the only players not performing really well, hopefully that will change. I only bought Mokoena and Mahlambi because I know they're always good for profit. Dani Martin is killing it in the goal, he makes so many crucial saves it's insane 

 

Player values:

 

Player values have gone up, especially Guevara and Mahlambi values have skyrocketed up. Ignore the value of Cifuentes, I don't get why his is so insanely high compared to other new arrivals..

[Tempelman]

Time for another update... At this point in the game we were tied with RC Lens, away against Montpellier we deservedly took the points home, 3-0. RC Lens lost their game so we were 3 points ahead now! Easy wins against Rennes and OL followed before we faced off with RC Lens at home. We beat them 2-0 and now we were 6 points ahead, a very important win indeed in this title challenge. After this exciting game we had a frustrating draw against St. Etienne, but still 4 points ahead. Next we won 1-0 at home against Lille, before drawing again against Nice. PSG took over 2nd place from Lens (Yes, they're back, about time though). Next was Clermont Foot at home, and I wanted to exact revenge for our embarrasing (and only) loss earlier this season. We trashed them winning 6-1. At this point we have secured at least third place, and thus a Champions League spot!

Up next was the final against OM, in the league we did not have much problems with them, but let's just say we had an offday, players seemed nervous for the game, and although the game was pretty even, we unfortunately lost the final 2-0. It would mean my second prize after the Ligue 2 title, but unfortunately we were on the losing side. Still a great run and above expectations, we can and should be proud of this!

Next is the game of the season, away against second placed PSG, a draw would mean we would win the title...

We were totally outplayed. Everywhere, all over the pitch. 4-1. Moving on. Next is Monaco at home... A nerve wrecking game for me, but the players seemed really motivated to slot this one home as Mahlambi opened the score quickly and show Monaco who's the boss. Farias extended the lead further with a scorcher from distance. In the second half we extended the lead even further and Cifuentes made the third goal. We were totally outplaying the opposition, had a few more chances to score, and Monaco had their first actual chance in the 90th minute, and scored the 3-1.

And that's it! We won the title for the first time since 08/09! It has been a fantastic run and the title was in my opinion totally, utterly deserved!

 

Final results:

 

Final standings:

 

For the new season the expectations of the board are the same, finish in the top half, which should be easy with this squad. However, I told the players I want to finish at least top 5, which is a realistic target. I have been given a 8,5M transfer budget and 525K wage budget (Current bill is at 470K) for next season. I'll obviously be looking for reinforcements, but I do want to see what players are going to leave, I'm going to be patient with it. I am looking to move Maja, Pejino, Thomas, and maybe Juanpi and Arthur Gomes. Next year we also going to play CL but I hope we can finish in third place in whatever group we will end up with. Also, we currently have no team leader, but maybe that will change when I make (for example) Nastasic captain or something.

I have again forgotten a future transfer, it is another newgen, again a promising player who cost me 1,5M.

 

Brayan Londono profile:

 

What an awesome season with a title, it's a shame we lost the final of the Coupe de France, but the title was more important for me anyway, and we did just that. Let's see what next year will bring!

The GK of the year is obviously fixed, Dani Martin should have won this but Donnarumma won. Dani Martin had 17 clean sheets and a better average, and was in the team of the year. What the hell FM?

 

Edit: Pochettino has (quite obviously) been fired when losing out on the title and not winning any prize with PSG.