retired_puly1364

Didn't know I've got such high figures reading my story. But I'm worried about the interest at the moment. I've got nothing to talk about in the gamedays. (Though, I'm pleased with the off-pitch parts I add sometimes - aka Cork watch, interviews) I will try to think about it.

retired_puly1364

31st of October 2008

Sedan was the next on line. They were decent team this season, but nothing special. I was surely hoping for a win in packed up Stade Nungesser. Around 11 000 people came to watch our squad. The attedance has rised notably when comparing to the first few games. We now have around 2x more people watching.

French Second League, Week 13
Valenciennes 1:0 Sedan (85. Ronaldo Griboine)

Our emergency substitue gave us a late winner in a match we totally dominated. I was afraid of drawing or losing it as Yannick Fischer got an red card few minutes before the goal, but that didn't happen. We're still enjoying our 5 point lead in the league.

3rd of November 2008

Despite being sent off againist Sedan, Yannick Fischer got into Team Of The Week (ToW, starting from now) for his game againist Boulogne-sur-Mer.

4th of November 2008

We had second home game in a row and again we had an packed up stadium. This time the opponent was Grenoble, who has some decent attacking players and also is high in the table and is fighting for promotion places. Though, we were without several players like Deruda and Fischer. Also some others.

French Second League, Week 14
Valenciennes 1:0 Grenoble (60. Sebastien Heitzmann)

Despite winning. I'm getting a bit worried with the team. They seem to create a lot of chances, but barely score. And over some periods, midfield shuts themselves out and defence has to be on their toes to save us.

7th of November 2008

We're having another long break thanks to the WC qualification matches, but other teams were playing because they don't know what word "international" means. In one of those games, I got favourable result as Laval got an draw with Grenoble away. Though, the gap between me and 2nd placed team did not change as Lille has the same amount of points as Laval.

8th of November 2008

Erik Lund played another match for Sweden and did good again.

10th of November 2008

Raio Piiroja got selected for the ToW. He's been one of our most brilliant jewels this season and despite some of the fans doubting in him, he has been the leader of our defence, making top class performances week in, week out.

12th of November 2008

I had Estonians on international actions. Raio Piiroja and Vladimir Voskoboinikov made decent performances, but the highlight was Ragnar Klavan finally being re-called to the team. Young full-back started the game and did well for the 45 minutes I asked to play him.

13th of November 2008

I met an old friend. Danny Murphy who was frozen out of the Cork squad. He was brillian under me and I wanted him back in the days to play with me in Cherbourg, but he rejected. He will not come to Valenciennes either, but he told me about the situation in Cork. This is getting really bad there, since fans are not behind the Danish manager, who can't compete with Shelbourne despite splashing loads of money on foreign players on transfer market. It is depressing situation and I would like to return there one day, but that is the question in future. We had some drinks at local bark, I showed him a bit of the landscape and best places around Valenciennes, later we sat in our house, watching some international football on tape and grabbing a beer. He returns to Cork after our French Cup game with La Roche-sur-Mer.

15th of November 2008

I rotated my squad againist La Roche-sur-Mer in French Cup game. I gave an first day off to my GK Denis Petric, also to striker Sebastien Heitzmann and some defenders and wingers like Gafour.

French Cup, Round 7
La Roche-sur-Mer 0:4 Valenciennes (12. Jiang Sheng, 32., 36. Haykel Gmamdia, 63. pen. Erik Lund)

Nice win for sure. Jiang Sheng scored his first goal for us. As some people may wonder, who he didn't get the first team place, the story is that: He was meant to be an first teamer, but due to him being away in Olympic Games, I had to start Vladimir Voskoboinikov, who immediatly suprised me with his nice performances and skill to score goals. Now Jiang Sheng sats on the bench and subs Heitzmann, Gmamdia or Voskoboinikov during the games.

16th of November 2008

Our next round opponent in French Cup is Le Havre (Second League) away.

19th of November 2008

We had an away trip to decent Reims. Without Haykel Gmamdia I was worried about our defensive strenghts and we also didn't have no Voskoboinikov and Jiang Sheng, so attack was basically ripped to pieces. But good thing was that Thomas Deruda finally returned to starting line up!

French Second League, Week 15
Reims 2:0 Valenciennes

The injuries paid their price. I had an first half which could compete with Lyon in the Ligue 1, but Sebastien Heitzmann was awful and not to talk about other strikers, who were just not good enough. We missed loads of chances and then lost our game in second half.

But there was an result that got a lot of notice in football world. In Champions League group-stage - Arsenal fans could bounce up and down as they won amazingly, 10-1 againist Partizan away! 4 goals from Thierry Henry and Jermaine Defoe!

League Table (after 15 games):

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Lille | | 16 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 29 | 13 | +16 | 36 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Valenciennes | | 15 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 34 | 16 | +18 | 35 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Laval | | 16 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 35 | 18 | +17 | 34 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Nice | | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 34 | 20 | +14 | 32 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Toulouse | | 15 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 12 | +11 | 30 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Reims | | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 26 | 16 | +10 | 27 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Nancy | | 16 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 23 | 20 | +3 | 26 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Le Havre | | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 30 | 24 | +6 | 25 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Grenoble | | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 26 | 20 | +6 | 25 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Le Mans | | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 28 | 23 | +5 | 23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Istres | | 16 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 22 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Ajaccio | | 15 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 19 | +4 | 20 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Amiens | | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 25 | -3 | 20 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Sedan | | 16 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 15 | -2 | 19 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Sète | | 16 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 28 | -1 | 16 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Créteil | | 16 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 17 | 26 | -9 | 16 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Toulon | | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 19 | 32 | -13 | 14 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Libourne St-Seurin | | 16 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 18 | 39 | -21 | 12 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Boulogne-sur-Mer | | 16 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 40 | -30 | 6 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Romorantin | | 16 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 11 | 42 | -31 | 2 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_puly1364

24th of November 2008

Raio Piiroja had another week in ToW as we prepared to face Lille. Our biggest rivals at the moment. They were top of the table with 1 point, but we had one less game, though it could have been all turned upside down with this game. I couldn't play Hayker Gmamdia who was injuried.

French Second League, Week 16
Valenciennes 4:0 Lille (11., 74. Sebastien Heitzmann, 87. Jonathan Perot, 90. pen. Erik Lund)

Record attedance came to the Stade Nungesser as they saw how Lille got teached how to play kick-ass football. Superb quality, superb finishing, superb result! After the game, I got an short talk with an reporter from Paris who was here to see the game.

Amazing result tonight. What you're gonna do after?

I don't know. I will probably sit down in home and watch that match all over again for 2 times. To find any mistakes we made!

Is there a player who would you want to mark out tonight?

No, I don't need to single out anybody. Though Heitzmann's two goals got that game to us.

You're off to a brilliant start. Can you be 100% delighted with the start?

I can't be 100% delighted. I can never be. We're having some tactical issues actually and I feel that in some places, team leaves big holes and finishing seems to become an problem quite often. But I've got my team waiting. I think they've already opened a champagne bottle!

28th of November 2008

But that wasn't no party yet. If we manged to come out of with a win from a match againist Laval also, then it would have been absolutely brilliant week! I finally could say that I've got an full squad at my disposal as we met the new 2nd placed team away.

French Second League, Week 17
Laval 1:2 Valenciennes (20. Sebastien Heitzmann, 61. Vladimir Voskoboinikov)

Do you mind being in ecstacy over the week? It was absolutely make it or break it week and we chose the first one. Heitzmann proved that I've been wrong not trusting him as much as I did John O'Flynn back in Cork days. He scored 3 goals againist 2nd and 3rd team in 2 games, in 1 week.

At the same time, Lille had another set-back. They draw with Reims.

1st of December 2008

Benoit Cheyrou, Sebastien Heitzmann & Thomas Dossevi were selected to the ToW. The last one showed good display in training and since he had an great match againist Lille, I chosed him for Laval match too, where he did just as good.

2th of December 2008

I had an easy home-game with Corsica's 2nd best team (behind Bastia) - Ajaccio, who were just 14th in the table. I was hoping for a win, but could not count on Lorenzo Davids who was out on cards.

French Second League, Week 18
Valenciennes 4:2 Ajaccio (33. Vladimir Voskoboinikov, 45. Thomas Deruda, 45. Sebastien Heitzmann, 58. pen. Erik Lund)

Another win. Though, it is kind a hard to get an bigger gap since there are like 4-5 teams behind me on 1-3 points difference between them. Erik Lund's penalty kicks are like an clock-work. Unsaveable. 4 goals from the spot. Heitzmann is behind some Le Havre striker in the goalscoring charts, who has 17 goals. Sebastien has 16.

retired_puly1364

5th of December 2008

Before the game, I organized teams thing a bit. I sent all the guys who can't play or don't even get on bench to the reserves. There I will arrange friendly games until the end of the season, so they would be ready once called up. I will be following them to see is there any shining stars there.

About the game - we met an middle of the table Creteil at home. I certainly wanted to win this game and be the pace setter in the league.

French Second League, Week 19
Valenciennes 1:0 Creteil (61. Jonathan Perot)

Despite my first reaction over his buy was dissappointment as he played really medicore, but now Jonathan is going to become an valuable substitute for us and has scored many brilliant and important goals. He unluckily got injuried during the second half though. Now he's out for 2 weeks, but that doesen't really matter since we've got only 2 games before the christmas break.

11th of December 2008

13th of November 2008

So we had an French Cup 8th round game. Despite having an really hard opponent, I decided to give some players an deserved rest and bringed in some subs.

French Cup, 8th Round
Le Havre 3:1 Valenciennes (67. pen. Sebastien Heitzmann)

Really awful performance. The first half was the worst I had seen from us, but only the subs gave us some more life after the break. But that was not enough. Anyway, it is only league now for us which actually is good.

17th of November 2008

On 17th, day after my 32nd birthday, players should give me a perfect birthday present by beating Istres away and go to the break with nice winning run behind us. I had all my best players to choose from, except Perot as mentioned before.

French Second League, Week 20
Istres 1:1 Valenciennes (64. Vladimir Voskoboinikov)

For christ's sake! We gave it away on 89th minute. Atleast we didn't lose, but still I was damn angry and were even more angry once we hit the bar minutes later! Not the best of the presents. Now we're off to an lenghty break and will be back on 12th of January if I'm not mistaken.

Now about the first half of the season. We did absolutely awesome ofcourse, as the table says. The players all were up to my expectations or even more. Heitzmann scoring loads of goals and also 9 from Gmadia. A guy who most impressed me was though Vladimir Voskoboinikov, I did not except him to score that "much" goals for us. He's been absolutely great. The midfield has also been wonderful, though I'm very probably going to lose Benoit Cheyrou in winter for 1,2 millions as the negotiations with Grenoble are on the way. The defence and the GK have been the most strong part this season. Petric has been like a rock between the posts, defensive partnership of Yannick Fischer and Raio Piiroja (best player in French Second Division according to the average rating) have been awesome, the full-backs Erik Lund and Lorenzo Davids are doing brilliantly in both ways (attacking and defending). All together, we have 12 points seperating us from the 4th place, which would be the first team out of the play-offs. It is all great and I'm sure of our position in Top 3.

League Table (after 20 games):

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Valenciennes | | 20 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 46 | 20 | +26 | 48 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Toulouse | | 20 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 37 | 14 | +23 | 45 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Lille | | 20 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 34 | 21 | +13 | 41 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Nice | | 20 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 41 | 26 | +15 | 36 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Laval | | 20 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 38 | 24 | +14 | 36 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Grenoble | | 20 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 34 | 24 | +10 | 35 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Reims | | 20 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 32 | 20 | +12 | 33 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Le Mans | | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 36 | 28 | +8 | 32 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Nancy | | 20 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 30 | 26 | +4 | 32 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Le Havre | | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 37 | 28 | +9 | 29 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Istres | | 20 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 27 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Amiens | | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 30 | 34 | -4 | 24 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Ajaccio | | 20 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 27 | 30 | -3 | 23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Créteil | | 20 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 25 | 32 | -7 | 22 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Sedan | | 20 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 26 | -8 | 21 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Toulon | | 20 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 22 | 35 | -13 | 20 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Libourne St-Seurin | | 20 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 21 | 45 | -24 | 18 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Sète | | 20 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 31 | 37 | -6 | 16 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Boulogne-sur-Mer | | 20 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 14 | 48 | -34 | 12 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Romorantin | | 20 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 16 | 51 | -35 | 6 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

22nd of December 2008

Raio Piiroja was again selected to the ToW, with the company of defensive midfielder Bruno Cheyrou, who probably played his last match againist Istres.

We also had an big Christmas party at the chairmans house. It costed around 50k pounds for the chairman. Brilliant gifts for everyone. I personaly got an Rolex! It was also great just relaxingly talk with the players about the world, not football. After that we went seperate ways, promising to be back at 4th of January. I am going to USA, where we celebrate Christmas Day with Maria's parents. Though, it is not christmas kind of a weather there.

retired_jgirl87

This is a very enjoyable trip that your are taking us on, Tanel. Glad to see you're doing well in France. KUTGW :thup:

retired_puly1364

Thanks Spav.

I'm continuing later. I had busy weekend and on Monday I had to wrote a lot of news for an Estonian soccersite.

I have bringed back some old friends in the next update.

retired_puly1364

3rd of January 2009

A new year, a new month. I was presented with suprising Ligue 2 Manager of The Year 2008 title! It took me by a suprise and I will certainly put this into good use. It will be collecting dust with praises from Cork time!

I spent my winter break in USA. We mostly were at the private villa with Maria's parents, since it is hard to just go out for her. Though, very few people knew he was in USA. But you never know those paparazzo's or whatever they are called! We were sitting outside, tanning, talking, celebrating christmas. I could meet her parents and they're not different from her much and they shared our view on things do. I wanted to go back to France in 28th, but since I managed to forgot my passport to her parents house, I got home in 30th, but it was nice 1 free day there!

6th of January 2009

Mr. Borloo called me in the evening that the deal of Benoit Cheyrou going to Grenoble is done and he's giving me 1 million to find a new replacement for him. It was sad situation since I really wanted him to continue here as hes performances were great!

7th of January 2009

I was very busy that day with transfer market. During the morning, I spent a lot of my time looking at possible replacements for Benoit. One of the players who came to my mind was ex-Cork midfielder - Thomas Morgan. He was great back in the days in that great squad of ours. I was took by a suprise with he telling that he has quit football after failing to find a new contract. I didn't believe it. He was so good then! But I've got an yes for Danny Murray and Joe Gamble to join us. They're not gonna play in first team probably, I just put them into my reserves schedual (which consists of friendlies week-in week-out) and help them gain some form since they're not playing lately. But in positive Cork watch thing I could tell you some great news. In winter break - a player who I once bought to Cork, Gary Curran, got an deal with English Premier League club Cardiff! One player also to succed from Cork is Paddy O'Donnell, who though didn't play under me, since he was only 16 back then. Now he's 18, worth 2,3 pounds, has 4 caps with U21 and plays regulary for EPL side Bolton!

9th of January 2009

I got some positive news has Lille failed to win they're first game of the year as they lost to 4th placed Nice at home.

12th of January 2009

Another busy day. I had 3 players sining and also a game. Two of those were my Cork pals - 26-year olds, Joe Gamble (DM) and Daniel Murray (D C, my former captain). Murray game from English side Wrexham for 8k and Gamble for free. They will take part of my reserves project as mentioned before. I doubt they will play, but they get regular games so I hope once someone gets injuried, I've got in-form back-ups to take from reserves.

But I got my defensive midfielder in the morning. It was experienced 33-year old Spanish midfielder Ito from Espanyol. He has a lot of experience and is a good player. It costed me 475 000 pounds, but promotion is worth much more.

About game! A guy who has been on the squad-list for ages, has finally returned from Brazil. Foward Ederson returned from long loan to Fluminense and is set to take part of our campaign pretty often. He had nice time in Brazil, scoring 9 goals in 18 apperances. We played at home againist Le Havre, who previously kicked us out of the French Cup.

French Second League, Week 21
Valenciennes 1:0 Le Havre (25. Thomas Deruda)

We played well through-out the match and deserved out victory. Deruda's goal was nice and we're still 3 points clear at the top. But sadly, this game will probably be the last one to one of our stars - Haykel Gmamdia, who is set to sign for Ligue 1 outfit Lens.

retired_puly1364

16th of January 2009

The deal of Haykel Gmamdia got finished and I had alreayd been searching for replacements. Attacking midfielder, who scored 9 goals for us in all competitions, signed with Lens (Ligue 1) for spicey 1,5 millions!

At the same time, I was preparing for a hard game againist though Le Mans. They've got some great players in the squad and may be fighting for promotion at the end of the season. I had all my players avaible, just like usual.

French Second League, Week 22
Le Mans 3:4 Valenciennes (19. pen. Erik Lund, 42. Vladimir Voskoboinikov, 73. Jiang Sheng, 76. Thomas Deruda)

Great win, very interesting match. Jiang Sheng scored his first league goal for us. Edson also made his debut by coming on for around 20 minutes! As Toulouse won too. The gap between two first club remains at 3 points.

17th of January 2009

"Hi, man!"
- "Did you bring them?"
"Yeah, I did. They're in the car? Do you need them now?"
- "Yes, I've got a training starting in hour. Please, could you bring them here."
"Sure, Tanel. I'll be back soon."

There I was, planning revolutionising our back-room staff. I was worried by the fact that 4 coaches can't do the whole job with 50 people to help.

"I'm back. All of them. Feel free to read them!"
- "Thank you, Eric!"
"My pleasure! Now, do you mind me, I'm off to business conference."
"Goodbye, Eric!"

So I was reading those applications I got all over the Europe. From Italy, Holland, even Sweden & Lithuania! There we're a lot of unfamiliar names for me, but I did know couple of them since back in the days, they were pretty known players. I was planning for around 7-8 new coaches to the club. Reserving around 100k pounds for coaches wages in January transfer window sales.

The list itself looked like that:

Tomasz Waldoch
Aurelius Skarbalius
Zdravko Zdravkov
Kevin Pressman
Kevin Hales
Richard Goulooze
Theo Jacobs
Jörg Stiel
Patrice Beaumelle
Carmine Sala
Maarted de Jong
Bruno Bellucci
Maik Taylor
Alessandro Marini
Roberto Bisconti
Marco Coppola

By the end of the day, I had decided to give phone-calls to those guys: Zdravko Zdravkov, Carmine Sala, Maarten de Jong, Theo Jacobs, Bruno Bellucci, Maik Taylor, Alessandro Marini, Roberto Bisconti & Marco Coppola. They all had different good skills so it came handy to make our training more affective and have more specialists.

19th of January 2009

With all coaches giving me a 'yes', I had to move on to another subject. A transfer deal with Lyon about gaining the services of the central midfielder Gregory Bettiol was discussed during the last days. By the end of the night, we had reached an agreement with the leading Ligue 1 side and had got Bettiol's signature for 1,3 million pounds. 22-years old midfielder will be replacement of Gmamdia.

23rd of January 2009

Another player came from Lyon - it was a right-back Michael Charvet. I signed him due to a reason we had no good back-up for Swedish sensation Erik Lund. This deal for the 20-year old costed us 230 000 pounds.

We also had another league game ahead of us. This time it was relegation struggeler - Sete, who despite having a great start to the season, is now sitting in the "red" zone.

French Second League, Week 23
Valenciennes 3:1 Sete (25., 45. Sebastien Heitzmann, 75. Edson)

As I said, Edson will be playing an important part of our after winterbreak period and now he proved why, by scoring his first ever Valenciennes goal. He started the game. Heitzmann was also top-notch and got back his top goalscorer crown! Sete's goal was hillarious mistake by Petric, who lost the ball by trying to dribble bast Sete's striker.

25th of January 2009

Our January signing, defensive midfielder Ito, continiued the legacy of Benoit Cheyrou by being in the Team Of The Week, which has become a tradition for our DM's. Also in there was left-back Lorenzo Davids.

30th of January 2008

Our transfer campaign had finally calmed down and all the new coaches were there to prepare for the "walk in the park" match againist Romorantin, who have one foot in relegating already as they've only collected 6 points with 23 games!

French Second League, Week 24
Romorantin 1:5 Valenciennes (4. Michel Gafour, 9. Edson, 21. Gregory Bettiol, 71. Vladimir Voskoboinikov, 78. Sebastien Heitzmann)

Great win! Just like said before - "Walk In The Park"! Edson scored another one, Voskoboinikiv put in his 10th league goal of the season, Heitzmann scored his 20th & Bettiol scored his first even Valenciennes goal. Morale-boosting win, though we've been very good after the break. With 14 games to go, I'm pretty sure of the place in first 3. Though, play-off is another issue.

COMING UP SOMETIME: "We're in deep ****. The police has got a sniff in their nose. I lied to you before, this money is stolen! You're name is in there too!"

retired_puly1364

Anyway, guess what I meant with the last sentence.

retired_puly1364

1st of February 2009

Vladimir Voskoboinikov's goal againist Le Mans was selected as the 3rd best goal of the month.

2nd of February 2009

For the 2nd time this season. We made more than half of the ToW squad! This time, in the team there were: Erik Lund, Lorenzo Davids, Gregory Bettiol, Michel Gafour, Ito & Sebastien Heitzmann.

5th of February 2009

I got an suprise phone-call. It was a president of Brondby football club. He asked me to join the team who is having a suprisingly hard time in Danish league. Though, the offer was tempting, I decided to say no. Though, I would have had a 8 million transfer budget.

6th of February 2009

We had a game that pretty much would have secured us a place in promotion games. We met the 2nd placed Toulouse at home, in a tie that attracted tens of thousands of peoples to the TV and into the stadium. It was a big match of the league since others had fallen out of the race.

French Second League, Week 25
Valenciennes 3:1 Toulouse (20., 49., 51. Vladimir Voskoboinikov)

No need to mention who was the hero. Huh? What a great performance from my countryman! That win gave us a 6 point lead in the table! Also a enormous lead over 3rd place as Lille had a suprise home lose to Sete! We played an equal match to them, but thankfully we had better final touch in Voskoboinikov, for who it was his 13th league goal of the season. Great summer buy!

9th of February 2009

"Vosko" was not suprisingly in the ToW. And also the 25th Round was finished with a favourable result for me. Le Mans beating Laval 2:1. After that game, the league table looked like that:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Valenciennes | | 25 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 62 | 26 | +36 | 63 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Toulouse | | 25 | 18 | 3 | 4 | 47 | 17 | +30 | 57 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Laval | | 25 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 43 | 28 | +15 | 45 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Lille | | 25 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 38 | 25 | +13 | 45 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Grenoble | | 25 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 44 | 27 | +17 | 43 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Nice | | 25 | 13 | 3 | 9 | 46 | 31 | +15 | 42 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Le Mans | | 25 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 46 | 36 | +10 | 42 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Nancy | | 25 | 12 | 4 | 9 | 38 | 31 | +7 | 40 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Reims | | 25 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 42 | 26 | +16 | 39 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Istres | | 25 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 35 | 33 | +2 | 39 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Ajaccio | | 25 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 36 | 35 | +1 | 35 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Le Havre | | 25 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 40 | 36 | +4 | 32 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Amiens | | 25 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 38 | 42 | -4 | 28 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Sedan | | 25 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 26 | 31 | -5 | 28 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Créteil | | 25 | 9 | 1 | 15 | 31 | 40 | -9 | 28 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Toulon | | 25 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 28 | 40 | -12 | 26 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Sète | | 25 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 38 | 46 | -8 | 23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Libourne St-Seurin | | 25 | 6 | 2 | 17 | 24 | 59 | -35 | 20 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Boulogne-sur-Mer | | 25 | 4 | 4 | 17 | 19 | 59 | -40 | 16 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Romorantin | | 25 | 1 | 4 | 20 | 18 | 71 | -53 | 7 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

13th of February 2009

We had an really though away trip to 8th placed Nancy, who we previously had won 2:1 at home. After returing from the winter break, my men have been all fit and injuries weren't the issue again. Though, we were getting some virus.

French Second League, Week 26
Nancy 3:3 Valenciennes (18., 25. pen., 70. Sebastien Heitzmann)

Great performance by Heitzmann, but I was damn angry when Erik Lund missed a penalty in the 85th minute. A thing he had never done before. His nerves let him down I think. I didn't talk with him after the game, but no bias either ofcourse. It was equal match, sometimes we dominated, then other way around. I'm kind a happy with a result despite Toulouse won. We always seem to do bad after the big matches.