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Hi LLaMas of the board! As an introduction I must say that even though I'm always playing with LLMs, I wasn't aware of the fact that I'm a LLaMa until Frank came and enlightened me...so as I found the 'faith', I'll start with my Southern French experience.
I started out with Toulon, in the French National.
2006-07
Fans and board would be pleased to see mid-table obscurity. Bookies think my team is as grey as our goalkeeper kit, so 60-1 to promote. Good news: squad is not absolutely rubbish. Bad news: it's still hard to find decent players. Getting a partnership deal with Bordeaux is resulting in some cash and players.
Astonishingly we're off to a flyer with 6 straight wins, and my Ivorian striker running amok amongst the helpless defenders. Though we slow down a bit, Christmas break comes with us being third. Spring is really exciting, with us, Vannes and Nimes battling out for two promotion spots behind runaway leaders Clermont. We remain unbeaten in the last 13 games (though we draw 8 of these matches), and thanks to Nimes and Vannes both stumbling in the last round, we're promoted, winning the silver.
Top goalscorer: Ivorian striker
Fans' player of the year: Ivorian striker
French First League champions: Lyon
Our best match: 5-0 away vs Louhans-C.
2007-08
Having promoted, we turn full-time, though lack of funds limit player purchase. I spend all the money on a St. Étienne midfielder, and get some freebies, saying quantity is a quality in itself. Well, kind of... Friendlies go well, including 2-0 against Roda.
At home we're able to spoil everyone's game (we're 15 games unbeaten at home), away we're punchbags (no wins in the league). Whole team lacks consistency.
With a very lucky draw we manage to reach the quarter-finals of the French Cup, killing some minnows, and two second league sides in the process. Terminal stop comes as St. Étienne eliminates us in Marseille (maybe our home ground was not good enough for the match?). I'm 2-0 up after 13 minutes, but they equalise and punish us on penalties.
Meanwhile we get into a downwards spiral in the league, and after not delivering a single win in our last 10 matches we only escape relegation with sheer luck. Grenoble is only drawing in the last round, while a win could've kept them up. With luck on our side, we finish 17th.
Top Goalscorer: another Ivorian striker
Fans' Player Of The Year: French Rambo-like defensive midfielder
French First League winners: Lyon
Our best game: 2-2 cup QF vs St. Étienne
2008-09
I think I did some quality signings, however the bookies would bet their lives on my relegation. In the prediction I'm 20th, well I can't do any worse than the prediction, can I?
My newly-signed Portuguese playmaker gives us the long-range firepower and creativity we've always lacked, and another newbie from Monaco proves to be a great striker. Good start, including some surprise wins, but the ex-Monaco guy gets butchered in a match (out 3-5 months ).
All my other strikers must've read the "Thou shalt not score" commandment. The 6 useless guys net a combined 2 goals in the autumn, but thank God they find their scoring skills in the Cup. I only go 2 rounds this time, before losing at home to Amiens, who are really a pain in the arse. They always beat me with ease.
Second half of the year is a bit of a roller-coaster, I'm unable to go on a winning streak more than 2 games throughout the year. Injury crisis hits us at the very end, but by then we are sitting comfortably around 10th place, finishing finally 12th. We close the season with a win over Reims, which prevents them from promotion We're awarded overachievers of the year. Finances are OK, though we still have to rely mostly on free signings.
Pos: 12nd P: 38 W:13 D:12 L:13 43-43, 51 pts
Cup: 9th round (Amiens 0-1)
League Cup: 1st round
Best goalscorer: Portuguese playmaker
Fans' player of the year: Rambo-like defensive midfielder. Gets into the league's best XI with my rightback from Cameroon
Our best game: 2-1 vs Istres, a great comeback after not doing anything for 60 minutes.
Prior to the season I manage to get my first star-like signing with an underachieving Brazilian winger from Porto. I spend some money on two young talents and a Korean CB, who later proves to be rock solid. Money is in the green (I managed to sell a guy for the first time in this save... ). Morale is high. Even the bookies think that I can avoid relegation (prediction is 17th).
'You're doomed' says a little voice in my head.
We start the year with quite spectacular football, ex-Monaco striker goes on a scoring frenzy, and the whole team does brilliantly. After 10 matches I'm sitting in the 2nd position, that's when the egos kick in.
'Doomed'
Ex-Monaco striker, Portuguese playmaker and rock-solid Cameroonian right-back all start b*tching about the team being too small. The striker falls in depression and goes on a goalless streak (or strike?) for two months.
By Christmas I'm out of all the cups, and I suffer three defeats in a row from relegation candidates. I make a good deal for my right back (he goes to the first league at the end of the season) for almost 1M, and the ex-Monaco striker goes to my parent club, Bordeaux in exchange for a really gifted loanee Mali international striker.
Though problems are seem to be solved, after some roller-coasting we hit a slump. And injury crisis combined with the Cup of African Nations also arrives, leaving me with most of my starting eleven out. Five straight defeats, including two humiliating ones see us drop 7 points from the promotion places but only 8 points from the relegation zone!
'Did I tell you that you are doomed?'
Luckily team gets going, and we finish season in style, winning three in a row. And only three points from a promotion spot. If it was not for my poor record against relegation candidates... *sigh*
I'm offered a new contract with 1,5M transfer money and a wage budget increased by 20%. Next year it's either a promotion rush or a major downhill I think.
Pos: 7th P:38 W:17 D:6 L:15 48-43, 57 pts
Cup: only 8th round (Valenciennes 1-2. Blatant referee cheating.)
League Cup: surprisingly good, 3rd round. Exit against Marseille (2-4)
Best goalscorer: Brazilian winger
Fans' player: Rambo-like defensive midfielder. Wins player of the year award too with 7,51.
I must say this guy is my biggest FM-favorites ever. He was transfer-listed at the start, and I only kept him because of his brutal physical attributes and huge size. It proved to be my best decision I think.
And my ass.man thinks I shouldn't renew his contract. He can kiss my...well, that. Idiot. Maybe he's missing the fact that this guy is the driving force behind the team?
My best match: Laval 4-2. In the first half I thought Lyon was swapped for my team in secret.
On a side note: I managed to get the worst signing award :cool: , with a 18-year-old Belgian right winger, who sat out half of the season with injuries.
Well, I paid 300K for him, and my chairman passed him on to Lokeren for 1,5M. Financially not a bad signing at all :thup:
Originally posted by emgergo:
On a side note: I managed to get the worst signing award :cool: , with a 18-year-old Belgian right winger, who sat out half of the season with injuries.
Well, I paid 300K for him, and my chairman passed him on to Lokeren for 1,5M. Financially not a bad signing at all :thup:
Last time I wrote it's either a promotion race or a downfall. It was a promotion race. With promotion
Though it didn't start that way. The board decided to throw 1,5M transfer funds at me, and I spent that on a sweeper, a defensive midfielder and a young striker. A solid-looking goalkeeper came for free.
After 3 matches I realised that the solid-looking goalkeeper is solid in one thing: letting in stupid goals. And if he's a leader, we should not follow him... So I sent out my scouts in a panic, and one of them found a Belgian talent. His value was 22K, I paid 700K for him, but it was worth. That was when my season turned around. We started a 10-game unbeaten streak, and somehow got through the Christmas period, when the Belgian was out injured for a month.
This injury caused us a setback, falling from 2nd to 7th, but the leading pack was really together. The return of the goalkeeper re-vitalised a squad, resulting in an another unbeaten run. With five games to go we were 4 points ahead of the 4th placed team.
Guess what came? Of course. A loss (0-1), a draw at home against the 18th (0-0, shots: 6(1)/2(0)), another draw against the rock bottom team (0-0, we wasted about 6 chances in the last 10 mins), and yet another draw against promotion rivals Reims (0-0 and I was lucky).
Standings before last round:
1. Le Mans 71 (promoted)
2. Caen 65
3. Toulon 63
4. Reims 62
5. Le Havre 61
Looked tough. We were away at Strasbourg, and either my chairman paid the ref, or I had the luckiest day of my FM carreer ever: while I had no penalties in favor of me throughout the season, this time I was awarded three, Portuguese playmaker netting them all. A fine goal from my Romanian striker made it 4-0, and we were promoted in style. :thup:
Just as season finished, I had an offer from Standard Liége. Too good to be refused. And a challenge too, they just kept their place in the Belgian first league last year; and I'm assigned the task of rebuilding the team. So I'm off to Belgium, where things went crazy: Westerlo are the champions, second was Kortrijk. WTF??? :eek:
Pos: 3rd P: 38 W:18 D:12 L:8 48-29, 66 pts - promoted
Cup: 9th round (Amiens 1-1, 1-4 pens)
League Cup: 1st round (Gueugnon 2-3)
Best goalscorer: Portuguese playmaker
Fans' player of the year: Belgian goalkeeper
Our best game: the last against Strasbourg was nice
Blue and (fake) gold - Toulon campaign 
).
We're awarded overachievers of the year. Finances are OK, though we still have to rely mostly on free signings.
). Morale is high. Even the bookies think that I can avoid relegation (prediction is 17th).
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