retired_steffani

lol ah the legend of the supergoalie god how i really hate it when you play one. Congrats on the Nations Cup Win, how much further do you think you can take the Super Eagles tho?

retired_blondielovespink

Not much. But I don't want to get out of International management now that I'm in. I'd like to get a spot with a Euro club. But I applied at 3 who failed to qualify for the European Championships (the Czechs, Belgium and Portugal) and they all turned me down. Admittedly, that was before the 2nd African Nation's win, but there's no international vacancies now. I'll have to wait until after Euro 2008, I'm sure they'll be a few victims then.

In any case, I can guide Nigeria through a qualification run for the World Cup, I haven't done that yet. So I do have 1 more challenge with them. Plus I think with a good draw I could do better than the quarterfinals, who knows? If an opportunity in Europe comes, I'll take it. If not, I'll stay.

retired_blondielovespink

Queue up the Queen...specifically WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

Auxerre 2007-2008 Final Update

League Cup Champions 2-0 Final over Lyon.
French First Division Champions with 84 points, 6 clear of Lyon.

Lyon also lost out in the French Cup Semis, which means their E100mil+ lineup netted them absolutely zilch nada in the silverware.

If you would've told me on March 8th we had a prayer of winning the title, I'd have laughed. We lost that day in a humiliating 1-3 debacle to Sochaux, quite possibly the worst performance our side has made under me as manager. But, Lyon also lost that day, so we were still even on points. That was the last match we lost all season. 12 straight in all competitions without a defeat.

On March 10th we trotted out for the back-end of an infamous Friday/Sunday weekend, and we pummeled Rennes 4-0. The rout was spurred by the return to the 1st team from injury of an AMC I acquired from Nantes. We scored 2 goals, and every match he played from then on he ran straight at opposing defenders. That opened up space for our strike force to work, and they did.

Over those 12 matches, including a 0-0 finale against Ajaccio where I played much of my bench to reward them for their service, we scored 25 goals, while conceding merely 3 on our end.

The League Cup final against Lyon was a classic. We gave up an early goal, but for once the refs didn't let the red and white Lyon uniforms blind them and called the offside. The rest of the half was a trading of chances, most of the better from Lyon, but neither side could punch through. In the 2nd half I brought on the Little Italian to complete the Italian trio, as I was starting the Italian strike pairing as well. He instantly began to torment Lyon's midfield and we quickly established dominance. A goal from the captain flying off the right wing put us up 1-0, and then the Little Italian set up the 2nd with a delicate chip to his big Italian compatriot, who headed it home superbly to send Auxerre's fans into song and Lyon into dejection.

With the monkey off our back, there was no doubt of supremacy from there on out. Not even a Wednesday-Friday-Sunday scheduling of 3 of our final 4 matches could stop us. Lyon was 1 point up, but we had 2 matches in hand. By the time that stretch had ended, with a combined 10-1 dominance, including a 4-0 shellacking of Marseilles, we had clinched the division by 5 points.

I broke down and allowed a couple 30k a week+ signings after our League Cup triumph. I resigned Super Dane, who told the media of his love for the club and admiration for me as manager. I also got rid of our Nigerian midfielder's Minimum Release Fee, and I resigned the Little Italian as well, though his contract is only 16.5k a week now. We also brought in a quality left winger from Hamburger SV. So our side ought to be even stronger.

So the job hunting will definitly begin now that I've dumped Lyon. Hopefully I'll have a good enough reputation now to overcome the English language bug. I'm #1 in France (world class) and #19 in the world (superb).

retired_blondielovespink

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ********************************************** French First Division - Saturday 17th May 2008********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2007/8 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Auxerre 38 13 4 2 34 10 13 2 4 33 19 84 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Lyon 38 14 4 1 39 17 9 5 5 33 24 78 3rd Paris-SG 38 12 4 3 38 15 9 5 5 31 26 72 4th Rennes 38 11 7 1 30 17 9 5 5 30 26 72 5th Châteauroux 38 11 4 4 27 18 8 5 6 29 26 66 6th Toulouse 38 11 5 3 39 20 4 6 9 23 32 56 7th Marseille 38 8 7 4 30 18 7 4 8 16 23 56 8th Bastia 38 9 4 6 28 24 6 4 9 20 26 53 9th Guingamp 38 9 5 5 36 24 5 4 10 21 28 51 10th Le Mans 38 8 7 4 26 18 4 6 9 19 25 49 11th St-Etienne 38 10 4 5 29 16 3 6 10 17 31 49 12th Sochaux 38 10 3 6 28 28 4 2 13 13 34 47 13th Ajaccio AC 38 7 7 5 23 19 4 6 9 16 23 46 14th Nantes 38 8 2 9 28 27 5 4 10 25 34 45 15th Bordeaux 38 10 4 5 24 18 1 8 10 16 32 45 16th Caen 38 9 5 5 33 26 3 3 13 10 28 44 17th Lens 38 8 3 8 22 21 2 3 14 14 36 36 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th R Nancy 38 9 3 7 27 24 1 3 15 11 37 36 19th R Monaco 38 8 2 9 22 21 2 3 14 15 37 35 20th R Angers 38 8 2 9 25 28 2 2 15 17 41 34 </pre>

retired_holden

WAHGERTY!11

retired_amberger

Just caught up with the whole thread, and it's a cracker.

Have to say I'm impressed with your work with Nigeria, usually it seems you don't get much to work with when you manage internationally, but that hasn't affected you here.

I'd say it's only a matter of time before you get a job in England (if that's where you want), although sounds like you might need to drop down a league or two...

retired_blondielovespink

Preseason

Well, the bad news. After running my unbeaten streak with Nigeria to an even 20 games, including wins in my first 2 World Cup Qualifiers, it came to an end.

The good news- because I am now the manager of FRANCE! They sacked their manager after he lost in the Quarterfinals of the European Championships, and they offered me the position. Sweden 2008 wasn't a good homecoming for the England manager either. He finished dead last in his group, losing even to Ireland, and got the sack as well. Italy, (shock) also sacked their manager. Holland won 2-1 over Germany.

So, my International ambitions are (hopefully) about to be fulfilled. Managing one's homeland, what more can one desire? But the club situation was less gratifying. Applications at Southhampton, Rangers, Udinese, and PSV all were turned down. In only one of those instances (Southhampton) could I understand why I didn't get the job. PSV took a guy who never won anything over me. Rangers took a 1st Division English manager. And to top it off, I got the infamous memo from the board that they are "unimpressed" by reports that I am interested in leaving Auxerre. So now relations with my board will be poorer too. Oh well, this is the 5th year, so unless someone can give me some foot powder for the itch, I'll leave even if it means resignation at the end of the season.

I picked up last year's Dutch Young Player of the Year on a Bosman from Fortuna. A terror in the dribble, lethal on set pieces, he'll get a good bit of time in the heart of midfield. I also completed the signing of HSV's left wing on a Bosman, and I signed a right back from St Johnstone fo 775k to provide cover and youth at that position. I also made 2 staff changes, letting go 1 player/coach and another full-time coach for quality replacements. So the staff finally looks like it merits being called Auxerre's coaching staff.

We won 4 preseason matches, including a 3-0 win over Genoa, and drew 0-0 to Brondby. We then played Marseille in the Champion's Cup, and after a listless 1st half, I brought in the Little Italian at left wing. He scored inside of 5 minutes, and then Samurai scored a few minutes later to complete our Domestic Silverware collection, as we now have the French Cup from the season before last, and last season's League/League Cup double, the Champion's Cup was the only piece we lacked.

So all in all, an eventful and profitable preseason. But I'm sure the Cup win will do little to mollify my irate board.

Robbo- Thanks. England would be nice, but I'm just looking for a move abroad really. But I think no matter what, it's going to mean dropping a league.

retired_blondielovespink

OH, I should have added, I thought shutting Lyon out of the Silverware and prize money last season would've slowed their purchasing rate. Nah, they made a E16.75mil transfer for another star midfielder in the summer. How much money does Lyon have? Well, Man Utd try to poach their DMC, and he flatly refused the move because they wouldn't match the money he was already getting.

And Lyon's DMC is ENGLISH!

[This message was edited by shawng1 on 14 January 2003 at 20:39.]

retired_blondielovespink

Nah, Auxerre's actually pretty forgiving about this sorta thing. I'll lie low for a month or two, and they'll be back to "delighted." They caught on to me once before, didn't send the memo, but I did drop to pleased, a month later, all was well.

As for Lyon, well, when you've made the Champion's League 7 years in a row (this will be 8), you have a little cash stored up. Our account is actually pretty healthy right now too (36mil overall, 30 for transfers). But what's the use signing a 20mil transfer when the board caps wages at 34.5k? And to be fair to them, what choice do they have? We're Auxerre, we draw 14,000 most days, 20,000 if one of our rivals comes to town. We aren't a big city, so there's really no way we're going to even fill our 23,000 seat stadium anytime soon, except for the occasional rivalry match. We leak 500k a month in wages during the season. That's the bottom line. I like it though, it means I live and die on my scouting and player development. So far, I can't complain.

retired_holden

KUTGW Shawn

France will be a nice challenge I daresay they will expect semi-finals or finals at the major tournaments?