Bonjour, and happy new year! Bienvenue to season four, our third in Ligue 1. If you’ve forgotten where we left off before Christmas, we finished eighth, which sadly wasn’t enough for European football, but we do seem to be heading in the right direction. Let us resume…
Manolo hangs up his boots. I had high hopes for him, but he was plagued by injuries…
Bonjour! We’re halfway through our second season as a Ligue 1 side, brushing shoulders with the likes of Monaco, PSG, and Bordeaux, but sadly not competing with them (yet). We’re not badly-placed for European qualification at the minute though, so let’s see how it pans out.
Bonjour! I guess if you’ve come back again then you must be enjoying this series slightly, so I thank you. Anyway, having achieved the first season objective of staying in Ligue 1, let’s see what we can do with the squad over the summer…
I finally make a sale, as my one of my backup keepers generates £180k for the coffers…
But despite that sale, we still have no money to spend, so in come four free regens, starting with Juan Manuel Fuentes…
Lorenzo Juarros Loren…
Alberto Albistegui…
And future Man City Director of Football, Txiki Beguiristain…
A second sale sees Jandro join Osasuna for a quarter of a million. I never did call his name..
Valladolid then come knocking for Bakero as their new player-manager, and because he has the management job release clause in his contract, I’m powerless to stop him leaving…
We draw PSG in the first round of the league cup. Yay…
With money tight, I decide to arrange four home friendlies against Basque non-league clubs, which raise £80k for the bank balance and gives me a chance to blood some of the newbie youngsters. I won’t bore you with screenshots, but we obviously won them all.
Less than a month after being named PFA Player of the year, my keeper decides that we’re no longer a big enough club for him…
I’d like to make him stay and sit on the bench for that, but unfortunately I’m not in a position to turn down £1.3m…
After all those shenanigans, this is how we line up for our opening game at home to Bordeaux. Leighton is now number one, and I give Pascual a go in central defence beside Txutxi in an otherwise unchanged side. Let’s go…
We start this season how we ended last, with a hammering as Leighton has a day to forget, conceding five and scoring an own goal…
Moving swiftly on, Aurelio joins the little green bin men (remember them?!) on loan…
I release Ribera and Axier to try and trim the wage bill a bit. They both served me well.
We concede five again at PSG, and have to play the last six minutes with ten men having already made 3 subs when ACG gets injured…
Another regen heads out on loan, as Sotero joins Portuguese outfit, Alcanenense…
And then I finally make a signing to get excited about. Kaiku may not have been good enough for Dave’s Sporting Eeyore, but I’ll take him every day of the week for £500k…
Dani is old, and Karmona is sh*t, so we’re in dire need of a left back. Step forward, Jon Ander Lambea from Almeria for £375k. He can’t tackle for toffees, but at least he’s quick…
Bye bye, Dani Boy…
Both new boys start against Toulouse, and Kaiku assists one of our three goals. Calle is man of the match, but a special mention goes to Pascual, who scored one and assisted one…
Some things you just know are going to happen on this game, like Monaco getting a corner right when they need it in the last minute and of course denying us a good win…
It’s a game of two halves against Marseille, as we start really well, but then capitulate after an hour…
Nando is the latest loanee, temporarily heading to his homeland…
After an eventful first minute against Nancy, Revilla holds his nerve from the spot to give us the lead, and we hold onto it for the duration…
We have a right good go at PSG in the cup, but it’s another game where the result doesn’t reflect our performance, and we’re out…
We are however rewarded for our efforts against Lille, with new boy Kaiku scoring one goal and assisting the other two…
To be honest, this isn’t really bad news…
Kaiku continues his fine form with four goals away at rock bottom Rennes. He’s proving to be half a million well-spent already…
Bakayoko is surprisingly still at Montpellier, who are fairing slightly better this season, and we keep them a place below us with a draw…
Second-placed Strasbourg are too good for us, though, and we lose Leighton for a week…
Without the injured Leighton and Txutxi, it’s looking like another loss at Nantes until they gift us an own goal in the last minute…
Auxerre need no help scoring against us, but Pascual decides to lend a hand anyway, and then Diomede haunts us again after Kaiku started his own brief mini revival…
Well, this is a first…
We earn a hard-fought point away at Lyon, who are struggling just as much as we are…
But that point comes at a cost…
Kaiku is becoming the king of assists, and he adds another one to his tally as an Arregui brace earns us our first win in six games as we give sixth-placed Metz the judders…
Leighton looks to have thrown a point away at Lens when he gives away a penalty with 15 minutes to go, but thankfully he atones and saves it, and we stay above them in the table…
Fontan has made no secret of wanting to leave, so I bring in some free backup over the winter break to hopefully get Francko his move…
It’ll be Niort in the Coupe de France, so we might make it past the first round for once…
We destroy Guingamp in what’s probably our best performance of the season so far in front of a record attendance, which sees only 10 empty seats in the stadium…
And we finish this week’s action by making it back-to-back wins against Nimes, as Marx proves to not be too much of a hazard…
After a couple of early hammerings, we seem to have got our act together a bit, and find ourselves seventh at halfway. The goals conceded column is as much of a problem as ever, but we’re five places better off than we were at this point last season…
Join me again next week as we begin our cup campaign against Niort, while trying to sustain this thing resembling form that we’re currently experiencing. Do we dare to challenge those European spots? (probably not, but you never know). Au Revoir!
Bonjour! We’ve reached the halfway point of our first season in the top flight. It’s been a mixed bag so far, with some good results, and some terrible, but we’re three points above the relegation zone, and if we’re still there at the end of the season, I’ll be happy. Let’s go…
Bonjour! and welcome back to Bayonne. Last week we won promotion at the first attempt, but can we strengthen the squad over the summer to make it capable of surviving first season relegation from Ligue 1?
First business is cup draws, and it’s non-league Gueugnon in the Coupe de France…
And because we’re now a top flight team, we can play in the League Cup…
Good moaning! and welcome back to Bayonne, where our Basque bunch have been holding their own in the French second division for the first half of the season. Can they keep the momentum going after such a good start?
Bonjour and happy Vendredi! Welcome back to Bayonne, where I’ve managed to assemble a squad of 17 players in time for the start of the Ligue 2 season, which isn’t bad considering the limited pool of players I have to sign from. Wish us luck, I think we’re going to need it…
Hello! or perhaps that should be Bonjour. I hope you enjoyed the Portuguese adventure with Wolves, but I’m back for a new challenge now. Where am I heading? Well, this is a twist on an old favourite, which you don’t want to miss, or you might find PC Danny Butterman coming up to you and saying…
Bom Dia! and welcome to the final episode with Nick and his Portuguese Wolves, who are struggling in the league, but can still win the League Cup and Champions League for a second time. Will they end this story in style? For the last time, here’s Nick…
You wouldn’t believe we started the season brilliantly and were 2nd after 12 games, but things have gone horribly wrong since. Let’s see if we can finish in a respectable position…
Bom Dia! and welcome to the penultimate episode with Nick and his Portuguese Wolves, who are doing well in pretty much every competition apart from the league. They’ve already secured the World Club Cup, but can they now add the European Super Cup to the cabinet? Here’s Nick…
This is how the table is looking. We were 2nd not so long ago, but after just two wins from our last eight games, we’ve slid all the way down to 7th. The optimist in me says that it’s only the halfway point, so let’s hope better things lie ahead for us this week. Let’s go…
