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Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh?
When you’ve just been appointed as a manager of a football club for the very first time in your life, what do you do? I’m sitting here, right now, wondering just that.
Well, there a number of tasks that you have to do. You don’t get a choice in the matter in some instances. For example, today I’ve already met the board of directors, the press, the coaching staff, the playing staff, the scouts, the physios and numerous other people employed by the club. I’ve been on a tour of the stadium, a tour of the training facilities, even a tour of the city and through all of this I’ve been dragged like a rag doll from one place to another, from person to person and, despite making an almost superhuman effort to remember things; it’s all happened so quickly that I can hardly even remember my own name now. So what chance do I have of trying to figure out what to do next?
To be honest, I’m still a little perplexed as to how I ended up here. Obviously, I know that I opened the door, walked into the room and sat down, but what I really mean is; how did I – yes me, Euan Greenoak the crap ex-footballer and bone idle incompetent – become the new manager of Olympique de Marseille?
The truth is it’s a very long story and I don’t really want to bore you with it. I know, I know, you think it probably involved murder or fraud or bribery or adultery, or even all of the above, but it didn’t I’m afraid. I applied, had an interview and then accepted the offer when it came. Now that’s a bit of a simplification of the events, but do you think I have time to go into more detail? No, I don’t, OK! I’m a football manager and we’re busy creatures, don’t you know?!? Well, I would be busy if I could just figure out what the hell I should be doing….
07-30-2004, 02:00 AM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #2
Let’s get down to business. I’ve just spent the last couple of hours looking around my office and, nice though it is, I think it’s time I did some work. First of all let me tell you the current state of affairs at the club.
Now I’m guessing here, but I imagine that you know that Marseille is in France. If you do know that, great! If you don’t, let me just say that I’m surprised that you’re actually capable of reading and, congratulations, you’ve learnt something today! OK, hold on; let’s not get off on the wrong foot here. Sorry if I sound a little patronizing, but that’s the way I am. Let’s start again shall we.
Olympique de Marseille is a huge club with a great, but slightly shady history. They - or I can say we now – have won the French First League eight times in our history, including four times in succession from 1989 to the most recent triumph in 1992. However as you may well know, that period in the club’s history is also its most controversial. The famous match fixing allegations surrounding the club at that time caused huge uproar and the 1993 Champions League success was embroiled in deep dispute. As far as I’m concerned, all of that is in the past and we need to look to the future.
The current chairman of the club, Monsieur Bouchet, is an ambitious man. He was deeply dissatisfied with last season’s third place finish and he felt that the time was right for a new coach. That’s where I come in. Why he chose me above everyone else I don’t know. I have no experience as a manager or even as a coach. I don’t even have any previous links with the club. The closest thing you’ll get to a connection is the fact that I’m French, but then so are about 50 million other people. I guess the chairman and I clicked in the interview and we both see the club going in the same direction.
We have the infrastructure in place here to mount a serious challenge on the Champions League within the next five years. The 60,000 capacity Stade Velodrome is one of the finest in Europe and our youth academy produces some of the most talented players in the game. Add this to the extensive worldwide scouting network we have and you can see that this ambition is more than just a pipe dream. Having said that, it’s still a long way off.
I’ve been out of the game for a while and I haven’t had a proper chance to analyse the squad we have here, but Bouchet expects us to win the league this year and I’m inclined to believe that that is more than possible. I just hope I’m right; otherwise my stay in Marseille may be shorter than I’d hope.
07-30-2004, 11:14 PM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #5
This is CM03/04. Running top leagues in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Serbia & Montenegro, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. Medium database.
And I'll take this chance to apologise in advance for the omission of accents etc. in people's names, I'm too lazy for that
Anyway, enjoy the story.
07-31-2004, 08:46 PM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #10
I’ve managed to have a look at the squad of players we have and it is big. There are 68 players on the books at present, which is far too many in my opinion. Thankfully, 27 of them are still eligible to play for our under 18 team, but that still leaves 41 players aged 19 or over. Of these, four are on season long loans to other clubs and two are on loan here from other teams. Ideally I’d like to almost half the number of players at the club; I certainly don’t want more than 25 in the first team squad, so that means I’ll need to sell about 15 players; possibly even more if I’m going to bring in new signings.
Right, that’s the basic statistics of our squad, so here’s a rundown of who is in the first team squad. My basic philosophy will be to allow anyone 18 or under to develop in the under 18 squad. When they turn 19 they will be promoted to the first team squad if they’re good enough, or sold or released if they’re not.
Goalkeepers
The undoubted number one at the club is 27 year old Vedran Runje. The Croat was signed two years ago from Belgian club Standard Liege and has been the man between the sticks ever since. From what I’ve seen of him so far in training, he looks like a very able goalkeeper. I am, however, a little disappointed with the standard of the other goalkeepers at the club. Perhaps I’m being harsh on them because they are still youngsters, but I don’t feel particularly confident about what would happen if Runje were to get injured. The best of the bunch is probably 21 year old Cedric Carasso, but I think I’ll be looking to bring in a more experienced backup goalkeeper and I’ll probably look to sell Carasso or our other keeper, 19 year old Jeremy Gavanon.
Defenders
Right Backs
I’m planning on playing a solid 4-4-2 system, so it’s important that we have good fullbacks in the squad. We have a few decent options on the right side of defence, the best of which looks to be Senegalese flying machine Habib Beye. The 25 year old is a recent signing from Strasbourg and can also play as a centre half or in midfield. The fact that he is a lifelong supporter of our rivals PSG won’t help him much, but I think he’ll be a big success here, on the field at least.
The main backup for Beye will be Sebastian Perez. The 29 year old, who has had spells in England and Turkey (with Blackburn and Galatasaray respectively), is a good all-round player and should provide decent support for Beye. He too can push forward into midfield if necessary.
We have a number of other players who are capable of filling in at right back, but the only other player we have in the first team squad who is a fullback by trade is 19 year old Guinean Aboulaye Soumah. He’s a tall, rangy character, who has a great cross on him, but he lacks that vital yard of pace you need to make it at the top level. If we receive a decent offer for him I’ll probably let him go.
Left Backs
One of my main priorities in the transfer market will be to find a new left back. In Manuel Dos Santos we have a very talented, quick and attacking fullback, but unfortunately he is four months away from recovering from a broken leg. That means that 19 year old Alain Cantareil is our only natural left back and if you’ve ever seen him play you’ll know why I’ll be looking to buy a new left back.
The only other option that we have in the squad at present is 30 year old Jonny Ecker, but he is really more of a centre back, and he seems to lack any sort of pace whatsoever.
The final alternative, and the one that I’d most prefer, is to recall Cameroonian Olembe from his loan at Leeds. However, Leeds have undoubtedly paid us a fee for his services this season so that one may be a non-starter – I’ll try my best to get him back though.
Centre Backs
I feel that we lack a bit of pace in the centre of defence, which means that we’re either going to have to defend pretty deep this season, or we’re going to have to buy someone quick, and quick! Ideally I’d prefer the latter because I want to take the game to the opposition and if we’re going to do that then we can hardly defend deep. However, I won’t be bringing anyone in unless I can sell first; we have too many centre backs as it is.
Right now I’m struggling to tell you which one of our stoppers is the best. My predecessor obviously felt that Jonny Ecker, because his wages are virtually double that of the others. Belgian Daniel Van Buyten is a man mountain who reads the game well, but his lack of pace worries me slightly. Don’t get me wrong; he’s not slow per se, but I think he could get caught out by a really quick attacker.
Ex-Barcelona player Phillippe Christanval is a similar player to Van Buyten. I think that I could safely sell one of the two to finance a deal for a player with a bit more pace. However, I may have to wait a while until Christanval returns from a foot injury (which will see him out of action for the next three months) before I do that.
One defender that does have pace is 20 year old Fabien Laurenti. He looks like a very promising talent, but he isn’t the best in the air. It’s a shame that most of our defenders are either tall and slow, or small and fast. In an ideal world I’d like them to have both ability on the deck and in the air.
Abdoulaye Meite is one player that is fairly quick and tall, but he has some real rough edges and, at 22, he’s running out of time to smooth them out. Our defence is completed by 21 year old Bruno Corvasce and 27 year old Thierry Rodriguez, neither of whom I expect to play much, if at all, so I’ll be looking to sell them.
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? 
Good to see you back in the fold again Euan.
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