Bonjour! Here we go again for the final stint of a Mulhouse season. We arrive full of hope. The month is March, we’re top of the table, we’re in all the cups, this could be our time. No really, it could! I’ve also got the 2004 European Championships with England to look forward to. But first, let’s see how many of the four we can win with Mulhouse.

Monaco in the French cup is no picnic. They’re average these days but we’ve got the Champions League in two days so it’s a squad management game. Larry Leroy scores twice to keep the quadruple dream alive.

Larry saw off Auxerre in their own back garden and it’s another tense affair at the Stadium of Illness. The same man gets the vital contribution and we’re into the last four.

There’s no “good” draw at this stage but Inter tore us apart just last season so avoiding them is probably a good thing.

Back to the league and we make light work of Red Castle.

Tveiten really gets on my tits, he’s a walking disaster. His red card puts us in trouble but Larry carries us to three points. I think I love him.

The trip to Amsterdam is as messy as you might expect. We hang tough though and Del equalises on the night before Ajax step it up again and we will have to overturn a 3-1 loss to get through. That won’t be easy.

All these cups, it gets confusing. The League Cup sees Javari (Barcelona youth) force penalties and despite Rai opening up with a miss, Barthez saves two of their’s and the dream remains alive.

There’s never a good time to face Strasbourg but it’s one big game after another right now. They’re our closest challengers and a 0-0 draw definitely favours us.

Two days later and it’s the French Cup semis against PSG. We’re on our knees by the end but Trezeguet’s early free kick sees us through. Phew.

TWO DAYS LATER ffs and it’s that Ajax rematch. The lads are at it from the first whistle and the deficit is wiped out before the clock has even struck 10 minutes. Del adds some breathing space and we’re in the ruddy final!

We’ll play Inter, with a certain Ronaldo in decent form.

Back to trying to get the league won and a win at Metz will certainly help, though the injury to Larry is a big shame.

An efficient performance sees off Lorient with Natigol remembering where the goal is. We’re edging closer!

First though it’s a Monday cup final against Strasbourg. I’d love to beat our biggest rivals in a cup final. A typically tight affair is settled when Billy Mac bundles in from a corner. Yes!!

That’s one of four in the bag. This draw at Auxerre gives us one less obstacle between us and the title.

It’s going so well against Lens but it nearly becomes a very nasty last 6 minutes but thankfully they run out of time. I think it’s tiredness.

Nimes are next up and with the Champions League final just a few days away, it’s time to rotate the whole squad. Thankfully the second string just about have enough although they need help from Dolly mixtures and Del off the bench.

Big news – Ronaldo is out injured for Inter. It’s still a strong team but give me facing Rommedahl over Ronaldo any day.

The boy Nevland puts Inter in the lead but Larry, probably the best £2m ever spent, equalises on the stroke of half time. It’s a tense second half with neither team prepared to take a risk and the game heads for penalties. Barthez is like a man possessed. He can’t stop Nevland but he can stop everybody else and all we have to do is score three penalties and that’s it. European Champions!

What does Del think of this ground breaking win?

You don’t get any bigger than the European Champions you tool.

An easy win at Lyon secures the Ligue 1 title. That’s three in the bag.

Our goals scored column is the difference really.

A win over Martigues is just for fun.

As is this final day win over Monaco.

PSG down in 7th is quite extraordinary. Strasbourg will play in the Champions League with us.

Barcelona want my right back. It represents our enormous climb up the rankings, something we should be very proud of. I refuse anyway.

One more cup to play for and it’s against Nantes, which is a bit of a result considering who it might have been. That deadly front two get the job done and gives us the clean sweep.

I think it’s fair to say we’ve cracked France. Here are the goal scorers.

Del really has been a wonderful spend of £160k. All those goals and only 13 man of the matches!

Long term though it’s hard to overlook Natipong. He took us to another level in Ligue 2, eventually seeing us to promotion and has continued to hit high numbers even in Ligue 1. As he got older he moved into an attacking midfield position and his assists sky rocketed. Mr Mulhouse.

With all that in the bank, it’s time for Euro 2004.

2004 European Championships – Italy

I’ve done basically no preparation for this. England really aren’t very good, there’s not that many high valued players and some known stars are ageing a little. I do however have a massive squad to pick from as the deadline fell on a day Mulhouse had a game and it seems to have forgotten to validate the size of my squad. Ha. Naturally, Pennyfather is there.

Our group is rough. Belgium, France and hosts Italy. France beat Italy 3-0 in the first match which I’m not overly sure helps us. Belgium have Strasbourg’s annoying goalkeeper Delwarte in goal and he saves everything, even though we have 10 men. Thankfully Dr Jones, Man Utd’s star man, scores the winner.

Playing against France is a home from home for me…even if it is in Italy. Barthez, Maraval and Thuram all lineup against me but Maraval leaves on a stretcher and we blow a two goal lead. We’ll need a point against Italy.

Robbie Fowler drags us through. He’s a stallion of a man.

Belgium thrash France to knock them out. An interesting development.

It’s Norway in the last 8. The Scandinavian countries are like Brazil and Argentina by this point in a save.

We’re about to be knocked out by Erik Nevland, which I can accept. However, Paul Scholes forces extra time and then Fowler capitalises on a Henning Berg error to win the game. The show goes on.

It’s Denmark next, another over developed nation who churn out wonderkid after wonderkid.

Sadly Denmark prove to be a game too far. Sausage Roll scores the winner as England bow out at the semi final stage. Heroes in the eyes of many, my only failure of the season.

For those wondering, Sweden faced the Danes in the final and won thanks to Jesper Blomqvist. Dear Lord.

As ever, we’ll finish with the awards. Del picks up the writers’ player of the year whilst few would argue with Erik Nevland being voted European footballer of the year.

Pennyfather, now with England caps, carries on. Zitelli calls it a day, which is what I will do. There is no more to achieve here, thank you Mulhouse, you’ve been a brilliant audience.