2015 The Unemployed Challenge

[MerlionMaple96]

Woohoo! Barnet have made it. Super tight in the play-offs but you made it. GL in the PL next season

[liam1872]

Woohoo! Barnet have made it. Super tight in the play-offs but you made it. GL in the PL next season

Thanks MM! It's a good one don't miss it!

[liam1872]

liam1872's Unemployed Challenge

FMH2015

Update #7 + #8

DOUBLE UPDATE

Yes! It's time for a double update, numbers 7 and 8 of my Unemployed Challenge on FMH15! And they're both good uns so grab a drink and get ready!!

UPDATE #7

Update 6 saw us retain our place in the Premier League comfortably as we strolled to a 9th placed finish in our debut season. Could we build on that? Or become the mid table dwellers the Premier League has become so used to seeing?

End of Season Review

Transfers

TRANSFERS OUT

First off, you're probably wondering about that top transfer (if you've looked at the spoiler yet that is) and thinking, it's not long since he was signed. And you would be right, but believe it or not he wanted to leave already, so I let him leave. In return for this we managed to get a big fee of £4.5M meaning we would have more money to get players in as well as getting rid of an unhappy player. Luke Gambin also left the club for a fee of £400,000 to join Stevenage as I felt he wasn't really good enough to be playing every week in the Premier League. Bondz N'Gala left on a free transfer after his contact expired, his destination being Luton Town. There were quite a few loan deals completed in terms of players leaving the club to get experience. 6 players in total were sent out on loan to pick up the experience needed to break into the first team at Barnet.

TRANSFERS IN

As you'll see at the top of the incomings list, we brought in Clemens Huth who if you remember we previously brought in on loan from Frankfurt a couple seasons back. We paid £4.5M for him, which seems a lot but you'll see why I did so when you see his stats. Liam Harkins joined the club for £1.1M and Connor Smith joined from Man Utd for £725,000 before being sent straight out on loan. Jake Cooper, Roberto Rodriguez and Tyler Blackett were all signed on free transfers, which is good business if you ask me!!

NEW SIGNINGS STATS

Competitions

Capital One Cup

A very poor result in the 3rd round of the Capital One Cup saw us exit at the hands of Bristol City after a 2-1 defeat.

FA Cup

A very late goal from Jese levelled up the game for Newcastle before they went on to secure what turned out to be a comfortable win. So we were out of the FA Cup in the 3rd round also, we've not been having much luck in the cup.

Barclays Premier League

An advantage to going out of the two cup competitions early on is that we have the opportunity to put all of our focus into the league. It has worked for us in previous seasons and this season was certainly no exception as a final day win at home to Liverpool saw us scrape into the top 4!!!! Barnet in Europe! I can't believe it!!

Trophy Cabinet

Nothing much has has been happening in recent seasons in terms of the trophy cabinet although this season I did manage to pick up another manager award to add to the tally!

Next Season

Due to our performance this season the board have given us the expectation of European Qualification!!! It's a big task but if we can emulate this season success then it is a possibility. Can we do it?

 

UPDATE #8

Are you ready for part 2 of this double update? Re-fill your drink and prepare yourself for Barnet's 3rd season in the Premier League, and 1st season in Europe.

End of Season Review

Transfers

TRANSFERS OUT

For the 2021-2022 season there were a fair few players leaving on loan deals, buy a fair few I mean 9. However, I'll start with the sale of David Stephens to Millwall for £500,000. After the arrival of Tyler Blackett last season he found himself getting less and less game time, and so I decided to cash in on him before his value plummeted too far. Stuart McAllister, Kevin Collins, Mike Stephens, Scott Potts,  Emmanuel Walker and Liam Benson all went out on loan after being promoted by the board on different occasions. Jimmy Ellis and Connor Smith also headed out on loan spells. Felipe Pena de Oliveira, who was signed this season, spent the first half of the season on loan at CRB before heading back to Santos for the second half.

 

TRANSFERS IN

There were only 2 players arriving at the club this season as, after changing to a new tactic, I felt as if we had a strong enough squad to meet the expectation set by the board! The first arrival as previously mentioned was Felipe Pena de Oliveira from Santos for £4M. Looking back now I feel as if I overpaid a little bit but that's fine. He went straight back out on loan given his young age to hopefully develop a bit more before returning next season! Our 2nd and final signing was Joshua Onomah for just £250,000 and I felt this was a low fee for a good quality player. However, he picked up an injury and started to suffer some stat decreases.

 

NEW SIGNINGS STATS

Competitions

Capital One Cup

We exit the Capital One Cup in the 4th round after an Andre Schurrle double gave Sunderland a 2-0 win.

FA Cup

We leave the FA Cup in the same round as we were knocked out of the Capital One Cup, this time to stronger opposition in Man City so there aren't really any complaints. 

Champions League

PLAY-OFF 1ST LEG

After being drawn against Valencia for the Play-Off I thought that was the Champions League dream over before it even got started. However, a remarkable 4-1 win at home set gave us an extremely good chance of progressing into the group stage if we held out nerve!

PLAY-OFF 2ND LEG

All we had to do was hold out nerve and despite an early goal from Alcacer, we managed to battle on and grind out a 2-1 win in the second leg away from home and claim a 6-2 aggregate win!! We were going to the group stage!!

GROUP STAGE

The Champions League group stage draw saw us dumped in a group alongside Spanish Giants Barcelona as well as Inter Milan and Sparta Prague.

After looking at the draw I felt it would be very very difficult for us to qualify and thought we may be able to scrape our way into the Europa League through finishing 3rd in the group. However 2 wins over Sparta Prague and a draw against Barcelona saw us finish 2nd and progress to the knockout phase!! Lucky for me Barcelona decided to have a sketchy campaign and struggled to turn draws into wins.

1ST KNOCKOUT ROUND 1ST LEG

Drawn against Juventus, the Italian Giants would be very thought opposition. A 2-2 draw at home wasn't the best of results given the away goals rule, and a red card to academy graduate centre back Gavin Clarke left us in a sticky situation going into the 2nd leg.

1ST KNOCKOUT ROUND 2ND LEG

We needed our big players to perform and Carles Gil did just that, grabbing a 68th minute goal which would prove to be enough to see us through to the Quarter Final despite an enslaught from Juventus!!!

QUARTER FINAL 1ST LEG

We again met an Italian team, and again we met Inter Milan. In the group stage either team won 1 game against the other so I knew it wouldn't be an impossible task to advance. A 2-1 win over a weakened Inter team due to in game injuries would hopefully set us up nicely to advance. Could we hang on?

QUARTER FINAL 2ND LEG

YES! A 1-1 draw would be enough to take us through to the Semi Finals of the Champions League and after equalising 2 minutes after Zaza put Inter in front, we were on our way to the semi's!!

SEMI FINAL 1ST LEG

English opposition this time in Manchester City who had already knocked us out of the FA Cup this season. Hopefully we could get our own back! A 1-1 draw at home wasn't the best result as they managed to get an away goal, but hopefully we could still pull it off in the 2nd leg.

SEMI FINAL 2ND LEG

We had rode our luck at times so far and we ran out of luck in this second leg. Going 1-0 up gave us the belief to think it could be, but after a quick fire double courtesy of Mauro Icardi it would be Manchester City who would go to the Champions League Final. 

To soften the blow for us at Barnet, Manchester City went on to win the Champions League!

Barclays Premier League

Early cup disappointment and Semi Final heartache in the Champions League left only the league as the last piece of silverware available to us. Winning the league title would've been out of reach due to Chelsea's superiority over the rest of the league over the past couple of seasons however we achieved the boards expectations of qualifying for European Football by gaining out second successive 4th placed finish in the Premier League. A little less tight this time but a win against Manchester City in the run in gave us the advantage!! 

Another incredible season at Barnet, another 4th placed finish and a Champions League Semi Final, not bad huh?

Trophy Cabinet

Everyone likes to pick up manager awards throughout the season and I managed to get another Manager of The Month award this season. No cup or league wins to add to the trophy cabinet as our search for silverware goes on!

Next Season

We have been tasked with the challenge of qualifying for Europe for yet another season as the board expect European qualification. Can we do it? Next update soon so make sure not to miss it! Thanks for reading this double update and I'll see you all soon!

 

[HarryB571]

Harkins looks a beast. But he is nothing comnpared to Barnet in the Champions League SEMI FINAL! Leaves me speechless to be honest.

On a side note: Could Barnet be the next Arsenal? They're from North London, they've come fourth for the past two seasons, soon you'll have the Barnet invincibles - heard it here first. 

[liam1872]

Harkins looks a beast. But he is nothing comnpared to Barnet in the Champions League SEMI FINAL! Leaves me speechless to be honest.

On a side note: Could Barnet be the next Arsenal? They're from North London, they've come fourth for the past two seasons, soon you'll have the Barnet invincibles - heard it here first. 

Yeah he does I'm surprised they only wanted £1.1M for him! I honestly couldn't comprehend what was going on, wasn't expecting to get anywhere near that far!

If they make 4th place their own, then it could be a new Arsenal. Although an invincibles season will be difficult to replicate haha!

[liam1872]

liam1872's Unemployed Challenge

FMH2015

Update #9

Hello again and welcome to update number 9 of my Unemployed Challenge. In the last update we managed to secure our 2nd consecutive 4th place finish as well as reaching the semi-final of the Champions League!!! Can make it 3 years in a row in the top 4? Or will we start to drop into the Europa League places, or even further?

End of Season Review

Transfers

TRANSFERS OUT

There were a few departures at the club this season, both on permanent and loan deals. The biggest of these was the sale of Carles Gil to Deportivo for £3.2M. After picking up injuries he had suffered severe decreases in stats and saw himself lose his place in the team, so I decided to let him go after he became frustrated with his lack of game time. Ben Purrington left for Sheffield Wednesday for £2M, Harry Pell joined Bury for £240,000 and Dan Twardzik was on his way to Dagenham & Redbridge for a fee of £150,000. Kevin Collins and George Sykes both left the club on free transfers and 6 players were sent out on loan.

TRANSFERS IN

4 new players arrived at the club this season, the most notable being the signing of Toni Kroos on a free transfer. Yes thats Toni Kroos the World Cup winning former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich star! Tyrone Mings arrived from Ipswich for £900,000, Carlos Mendoza signed from Libertad for £3.5M and Bilal Basacikoglu arrived for £4.1M from Marseille.

NEW SIGNINGS STATS

Competitions

Capital One Cup

We were knocked out of the Capital One Cup at the hands of Chelsea in what was a routine victory for the reigning Premier League champions. A disappointing performance but at least we reached the Quarter Final this season rather than the poor rounds of late.

FA Cup

Another Quarter Final and another defeat. This time we fell to a late defeat to West Ham after Clemens Huth put us 1-0 up just after a half time. 2 late goals from West Ham saw us exit the FA Cup at the Quarter Final stage.

Champions League

PLAY-OFF 1ST + 2ND LEG

Unfortunately I actually forgot to screenshot the 2 play-off games. Must have been over excited from winning the league. Anyway, we managed to come through the play-ff virtually unscathed after coming up against much easier opposition than Valencia like last season!

GROUP STAGE

Last season we were drawn in the same group as Spanish giants Barcelona and this season we got their El Clasico rivals, Real Madrid, as well as Gelsenkirchen (Schalke 04) and Porto. So it would be another tough route to get out of the group stage but if we could do it last season, surely we could do it again?

And that we did, managing a 2nd placed finish in the group after a win against Real Madrid in the opening game!! 2 solid wins over Porto helped us on our way to the knockout stage...

1ST KNOCKOUT ROUND 1ST LEG

AGAIN we were drawn against Juventus, meeting them in the exact same round as last season. This tean a 3-3 home draw set us up for a tricky away leg in Turin..

1ST KNOCKOUT ROUND 2ND LEG

Just like last season we picked up another 1-0 win away to Juventus which was enough to secure a 4-3 aggregate win and a place in the Quarter Finals..

QUARTER FINAL 1ST LEG

AGAIN we were drawn against Manchester City, this time a round earlier than last season. They knocked us out of the competition last season and they were well on their way to doing so again after securing a 2-1 win to take back to the Etihad with them..

QUARTER FINAL 2ND LEG

Another 2-1 defeat to City meant it would be them who progressed to the Semi Finals and it would be them who knocked us out of the Champions League for the 2nd time in 2 seasons after it finished 4-2 to City on aggregate.

Barclays Premier League

UNBELIEVABLE!! We won the Barclays Premier League after an incredible campaign as holders Chelsea fell all the way to 4th. The board wanted European Qualification and we more than achieved their target. I couldn't believe it. Clemens Huth was a key player this season as the German managed 67 goals in 55 games despite spending a brief spell on the sidelines due to an injury, an incredible record. Brazilian attacking midfielder Jose Paulo Rodrigues Moura da Silva was also a key figure picking up 35 assists in 60 games as well as 3 goals.

WE WON THE LEAGUE!!!

Trophy Cabinet

As well as winning the league, I managed to get myself a Manager of The Month award as well as the Manager of The Year award for the Premier League. So finally another league win to add to the tally as we head into next season full of confidence!

Next Season

We go into the 2023-2024 season as reigning champions and have again been given the target of European Qualification by the board. We've also been given a HUGE and I mean HUGE budget to bring in players for the upcoming season, so who knows what could happen? Thanks for reading and following the career, I'll see you all soon for the next update.

 

[Brenty92]

So far so good mate really enjoying this career :)

[liam1872]

liam1872's Unemployed Challenge

FMH2015

Update #9.5

THE SQUAD THAT DID IT

GOALKEEPERS

FILIPE ABREU

SAM COWLER

JIMMY ELLIS

DEFENDERS

SCOTT POTTS

PAUL DALY

STUART MCALLISTER

TYRONE MINGS

CHRISTIAN HILL

MIKE STEPHENS

TYLER BLACKETT

GAVIN CLARKE

JAKE COOPER

CONNOR GOLDSON

MIDFIELDERS

CARLOS MENDOZA

TOMMY LEWINGTON

LIAM BENSON

CONNOR SMITH

LIAM HARKINS

BILAL BASACIKOGLU

EMMANUEL WALKER

FELIPE PENA DE OLIVEIRA

ROBERTO RODRIGUES

KEVIN DORAN

AINSLEY MAITLAND-NILES

JOSE PAULO RODRIGUES MOURA DA SILVA

JOSHUA ONOMAH

TONI KROOS

STRIKERS

KARL HUMPHREYS

CLEMENS HUTH

CHRIS ROBSON

[liam1872]

So far so good mate really enjoying this career :)

Thanks mate, appreciate it

[liam1872]

 

 

Hey guys! This is just a short message to ask what you guys think I should do next..

 

Should I resign as manager of Barnet to pursue a job at a higher reputation club?

Should I stay at Barnet and keep progressing until offered another job elsewhere?

 

I haven't been offered any jobs in the entire career so far, and I'm unsure why this is to be honest. However, I do not want to give up on the challenge because, well because that's the sort of person I am. 

I'm really not sure why I haven't been getting any job offers considering how well we have been doing. If you guys could let me know what you think that would be great! See you all soon.

 

 

 

 

[Brenty92]

If you want to do the challenge you've gotta start applying soon surely, otherwise if you leave it too late it won't be possible, shame cause I'm enjoying you at Barnet lol

[liam1872]

If you want to do the challenge you've gotta start applying soon surely, otherwise if you leave it too late it won't be possible, shame cause I'm enjoying you at Barnet lol

Yeah I've been applying for jobs over the seasons but never getting offered them. Maybe being to ambitious with the teams I am applying for! 

I'm enjoying it at Barnet too so what I might do is a spin-off where I carry on the Barnet save and keep this challenge going, what do you think?

 

[Brenty92]

Yeah I've been applying for jobs over the seasons but never getting offered them. Maybe being to ambitious with the teams I am applying for! 

I'm enjoying it at Barnet too so what I might do is a spin-off where I carry on the Barnet save and keep this challenge going, what do you think?

 

yeah that's probably what I'd do too, done this with so many saves out of enjoyment lol

[MerlionMaple96]

Honestly, I've been really enjoying the journey of Barnet, so if you don't want to go elsewhere and continue the challenge, I certainly wouldn't mind

Great achievement winning the league btw.

[liam1872]

 

Honestly, I've been really enjoying the journey of Barnet, so if you don't want to go elsewhere and continue the challenge, I certainly wouldn't mind

Great achievement winning the league btw.

Yeah, what I'm going to do is carry on the challenge but I will continue the Barnet career also, just in seperate threads! There will be an update out literally within the next few minutes showing what is happening!

Thanks mate, I couldn't believe it! Unbelievable season.

 

[liam1872]

liam1872's Unemployed Challenge

FMH2015

Update #10

After last seasons title winning season in the Premier League, I felt it was time to try and get some of the challenge done, which is the whole point of this career. Especially with time running out in terms of the amount of seasons left I felt I had to move on with the challenge.

Unfortunately this would be leaving Barnet. Which after so many successful seasons in charge, will be a hard thing to do. I've become somewhat attached to them now due to the time spent there but its time to move on..

Appropriate time for some sad music?

Anyway, my resignation at Barnet meant I was on the lookout for any appropriate jobs at any of the clubs I need to manage in order to complete the challenge or a club that would help me to get there! So the search began and in January, literally the 1st of January 2024, an interesting job offer came in from a certain French club. No it's probably not the one you are thinking about, but a big club nonetheless and I accepted this job offer...

IS THE SUSPENSE TOO MUCH??

I have been appointed the new manager of Lyon! I believe this to be a club that could help me get to the teams I need to be at in order to complete this challenge. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments please

HOW ARE THEY DOING?

COMPETITIONS

Domestic Cups

When I took over at Lyon they were doing really well. They had already been knocked out of the Coupe de la Ligue by Lille after extra time in the Quarter Final. They were still in the French Cup where they would be taking on USBCO in the 9th round in my second game in charge.

Europa League

In terms of European football they have progressed from the group stage after comfortably winning their group..

and have been drawn to play Turkish side Fenerbahce in the 1st knockout round in February.

Ligue 1

In the league they have had a solid start and sit 4th in the table, with a game in hand on the team above so there is an opportunity to finish even higher than that if possible!

FINANCES

When I arrived at the club they gave me the target of European Qualification, which I think is achievable, as well as a transfer budget of £14M. However the club were quite a bit over their wage bill...

After adjusting the budget allocation so that the club were no longer over their wage bill, the budgets look like this...

Once I get into the transfer market I may be able to create some more funds for us to spend through selling some dead-weight and maybe a big sale to strengthen the entire squad, but we'll have to see.

THE CAREER

Update #11 will contain the second portion of this season, my first season at Lyon, including any transfers as well as our progress in the remaining cups and of course the league. This update should be out tomorrow!

In terms of the previous Barnet part of the career, I have not deleted the save game and have saved this part, the Lyon part, into a different save game slot. This means that I can continue the Barnet career whenever I want to. What I will be doing is continuing the Barnet career, but in a different thread which I shall create whenever the next update is ready so make sure to keep an eye out for it. I will also be carrying on the Unemployed Challenge right here so don't go anywhere and make sure you don't miss it!!

 

THANKS FOR READING AND I'LL SEE YOU ALL SOON

[Brenty92]

Good move that is mate! Always like Lyon I have

[liam1872]

Good move that is mate! Always like Lyon I have

Cheers mate! And yeah me too to be honest, just something about them you can't dislike!

[liam1872]

 

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THE NEXT UPDATE WILL BE DELAYED A BIT AS IT IS NOT LETTING ME ADD ANY IMAGES TO THE POST

SHOULD STILL BE OUT SOON!

[liam1872]

liam1872's Unemployed Challenge

FMH2015

Update #11

Welcome to update 11 of my Unemployed Challenge! In this update we have the second half of the 2023-2024 season in which we will be in charge of French side Lyon. Having already been knocked out of the Coupe de la Ligue we wouldn't have to worry about that competition. However, they were still in the French Cup and the Europa League, and of course the Domestic League. So plenty to get through so lets get started...

End of Season Review

Transfers

I decided against bringing in any players/letting any players leave so that I could build up a more thorough opinion on each player and the squad as a whole. So every player had a chance to prove themselves over the remainder of the season..

Competitions

French Cup

My second game in charge was the 9th round of the French Cup against USBCO which we won quite comfortably as you would expect. We then went on, progressing through the rounds and managed to avoid PSG and book a place in the final against Marseille. Having previously beaten them in the league I was confident we could get a result and that we did as we won the French Cup with a 1-0 over Marseille in the final.

Europa League

1ST ROUND

After dominating the 1st leg but failing to tuck away any more than 2 of our chances, we faced a tricky trip to Turkey for the 2nd leg. A 1-0 defeat on the night saw us through to the next round winning 2-1 on aggregate..

2ND ROUND

To get to the Quarter-Final we would have to see off yet another Turkish side, this time Besiktas and a 2-2 draw in the 1st leg gave them the advantage due to them having 2 away goals. We scraped a 1-0 win with an early goal which gave us a 3-2 aggregate win, and sent us to the Quarter-Final where we would face Borussia Dortmund..

QUARTER FINAL

A good result in the first leg at home was vital given how hard it is to go to Germany and win. We did just that managing a 4-2 victory, which could be a dodgy result due to yet again them having 2 away goals. A 2-1 home win for Dortmund in the 2nd leg proved I was right about having to get a good result in the home leg. We went through to the Semi-Final 5-4 on aggregate and would face another German Giant..

SEMI FINAL

No game in Europe is easy, especially when you're playing against Bayern Munich. A 1-0 home defeat in the 1st leg left us with it all to do going to Germany, and as I mentioned before its not an easy place to go and win. Again I was proven right as we draw 1-1 in Germany which isn't enough to get us a place in the final. After a 2-1 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich, we are out of the Europa League at the Semi-Final stage.

Ligue 1

Taking over at the club while they were 4th in the table gave me a lot live up to, and with the board expecting European Qualification I had to get the tactic right straight away. I managed to do just that and after a bad run of results for Marseille they fell behind as we managed a 2nd placed finish behind PSG in first.

A very good effort in my opinion given the strength of PSG's squad and finances and the number of good teams in the league itself. Maybe we can build on it next season? We'll see.

Trophy Cabinet

So we finally had a cup win to add to the trophy cabinet, the French Cup. (The other cup win was the Community Shield win over Man Utd with Barnet just before I resigned.). Hopefully building on this cup win for next season can attract the attention of the clubs we need to get to!

Next Season

Next season we have been given the expectation of European football again and have also been given a very nice looking transfer budget to bring in any players we may need to bring in. I can now really start shaping the squad and getting rid of any dead-weight as I know who we need and don't need!

Update #12 will be up soon so make sure not to miss it.

 

THANKS FOR READING AND I'LL SEE YOU ALL SOON

[liam1872]

HEY, JUST A QUICK QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS!

IS THERE STILL AN INTEREST IN THIS CAREER?

BECAUSE IF THERE ISN'T THEN I'M KIND OF WASTING MY TIME MAKING UPDATES ETC WHEN I COULD BE DOING A DIFFERENT CAREER. LET ME KNOW. THANKS

[S4NCH0]

Wow mate incredible doing in this career. My favourite challenge around the site. And yes I am very interested in this career continuing and hope others are too. I'm loving it and great going, good luck!

[HarryB571]

I'm interested!

Edit: Just caught up to date with this. Surprised Sam Cowler was in the BPL winning side (apparently he's woeful). But for Barnet to win the Premier League is a huge achievement. Good luck with Lyon!

Edited July 25, 2015 by HarryB571

[Morriss09]

So sad that you decide to leave Barnet. Good luck in France!

[liam1872]

Wow mate incredible doing in this career. My favourite challenge around the site. And yes I am very interested in this career continuing and hope others are too. I'm loving it and great going, good luck!

Thanks mate, really appreciate that! And yeah its going well so far! Thanks again

I'm interested!

Edit: Just caught up to date with this. Surprised Sam Cowler was in the BPL winning side (apparently he's woeful). But for Barnet to win the Premier League is a huge achievement. Good luck with Lyon!

Cheers Harry! Yeah I was surprised I still had him to be honest cause he was quite bad (stats wise) when I started, but then his stats ended up looking alright so I just kept him as back up! Thanks again Harry I appreciate it

So sad that you decide to leave Barnet. Good luck in France!

Yeah I know, but it had to be done to complete the challenge! And thanks for the good luck!!

[MerlionMaple96]

Really impressed considering you didn't make any transfers! Looking forward to next season

[liam1872]

Really impressed considering you didn't make any transfers! Looking forward to next season

Cheers MM, should be up tomorrow! Half way through playing now

[liam1872]

liam1872's Unemployed Challenge

FMH2015

Update #12

HEY! Okay, I was expecting to release this update tomorrow however something unforeseen has happened. But is it good or bad? Did my save file corrupt? Did I get sacked? Read on to find out...

End of

Mid-Season Review

Transfers

TRANSFERS OUT

I decided we needed a clear-out. There was a lot of dead-weight at the club that needed to be moved on and so I did just that. Racking up quite a decent sum of money in the process. We managed to get £11.5m for Milan Novotny, a mediocre winger amongst much stronger options at the club. Tolisso who was ageing and his stats were very average left for £4m, Jose Angel Martinez went to QPR for £3.9m, Angoula to Guingamp for £3m, Schopf left for Sochaux for £3m, N'Jie left for Cagliari for £2.2m, Darlow went back to England to join Ipswich for £475k and Lindsay Rose set his sat nav for Palermo who paid £400k for his services. Young goalkeeper Joris Michel was sent out on loan to get some game time.

TRANSFERS IN

I wanted to thin the squad down a bit as I felt there were far too many players in the squad which would lead to too many unhappy players for my liking and so there were only 2 incomings in the summer. Valentin Armand arrived from Toulouse for a hefty fee of £15m and Gregory Gourcuff arrived from Guingamp for just £2m. I may have slightly overpaid for Armand.

NEW SIGNINGS STATS

Competitions

Champions Trophy

After winning last seasons French Cup we found ourselves matched up with PSG in the Champions Trophy in what would be the first competitive game of the season. We were struggling up until Areola gave away a penalty and in turn received a red card before Perrin slotted it home to make it 1-1. Autret, a young striker at the club, made it 2-1 in the 64th minute and we managed to hold out to get the win. We won the Champions Trophy.

Coupe de la Ligue

Oh No, early disappointment as we are knocked out in the 4th round by the ten men of Evian.

Champions League

So far so good in the Champions League as we secured a place in the knockout rounds with a game to spare after 2 wins over Sporting.

Ligue 1

After 17 games in the league, we are sitting top of the table by quite a margin. Even though PSG have a game in hand we are still quite a bit away at the top and well on our way to maybe even a 1st place finish. However...

 

After seeing our success in the first part of the season you'll have noticed that there was surely no way I could have been sacked, and given I have all the images there's no way my game file had corrupted. So what is it?

 

...

 

We've received a job offer after having such a good start to the season with Lyon...

A job offer from Liverpool!! Liverpool is one of the teams we actually need to take charge of to complete this challenge and so the decision was really an easy one to make. Even though I was really enjoying Lyon, and we were doing really well at the start of this season, I HAD to take this job offer and hopefully get one of the teams ticked off the list.

So after barely even a seasons worth of football at Lyon, we would be packing our bags and heading back over to England where we would take over as the new manager of Liverpool.

When we arrive in Liverpool we have quite a job on our hands. The board want us to attain a respectable league position and we take over with the club sitting 15th in the table!! However we do have a budget of £68m if we should need urgent reinforcements in January.

Update 13 will show what I experience upon my arrival at Liverpool, and how we got on for the remainder of the season. Finally we have a team we have a chance of crossing off the list, and I can't wait to get started.

 

PS DOES ANYONE KNOW WHY IT IS NO LONGER LETTING ME ADD IMAGES FROM IMGUR INTO MY UPDATES? LET ME KNOW IF YOU DO PLEASE, CHEERS.

 

THANKS FOR READING AND I'LL SEE YOU ALL SOON

[S4NCH0]

Nice move mate! One team closer from finishing this challenge (I'm confident you will  ) about the images I don't really know why you can't post imgur but maybe @Putzy or @Dec could help you. KIU!

[BillyTheKid]

Nice one! I've got a long way to go to catch up! Although, I am currently challenging for promotion to the prem in only the 2nd season!