Frank is back with the 2nd part of his St Etienne story. His first task is to get them out of Ligue 2 and then build towards being a superpower, with a squad of all French players. So, can he do it? Part 1 is here
Welcome back to my French challenge with ASSE, with only signing French players.
Last time I left you, we were sitting pretty at the top of Ligue 2 heading into March. Well I can tell you, we ended up running away with the title, scoring over 100 league goals in the process.
Didier Thimotée carried on his great form finishing 1 goal of the top scorer, but as you can see from his stats, he wasn’t one for fair play, getting his 2nd red of the season on the final day, meaning that he will miss the 1st 3 games of Ligue 1…
Although Philippe Chirstanval was a coup for Ligue 2, the signing of the season has to be free transfer, Remi Luc (just a shame about his injury record)
We win Ligue 2 by 16 points, with a much higher goal difference, after an expected relegation battle and still don’t win the Ligue 2 Manager of the Year!
Now that we have made it to the promised land of Ligue 1, we need to sign some re-inforcements.
2 fantastic midfield signings means we have a strong chance of survival and maybe even a push for top half in our 1st season.
The fixture generator is kind to us as we start the season at home to fellow promoted side, Nancy. With Thimotée suspended for the 1st 3 games of the season, we look for another hero and the man is Christophe Lagrange, who’s dad just happened to be a huge ZZ Top fan…
Lagrange doesn’t dissapoint, bagging a brace in his Ligue 1 debut.
Match day 3 gives us our 1st big challenge as we travel to Marseille, Lagrange getting in on the action again…
Unfortunately, there is bad news for Philippe Christanval…
Lagrange start his Ligue 1 career well with 4 goals in 7 games, until…
Didier Thimotée comes back into the side full time and it takes him 7 games to bag his 1st goal of the season…
10 games into the season and we sit comfortably in mid table, 13 points off the top, but 9 points from the drop zone.
Join me next time to see if we can achieve our target of finishing in the top half of Ligue 1 in our 1st season.
You can follow Frank on Twitter @FrankHirst84