The French Giants will Rule again!!! - FMFormation.net - Football Manager

Seth7724 · 18-02-08, 05:30 PM

Once upon a time, when Liverpool ruled England and Europe, there were some roaming beasts called St.Ettiene, here is some history...

* Ligue 1:
o Winners (10): 1957, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981

* French Cup:
o Winners (6): 1962, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1977

As you may see above, they won 4 championship's in a row!

They also reached a European Cup Final and lost vs Bayern Munich, and lost in a semi final to Liverpool.

In 1982, a financial scandal lead to the decline in the club's performance. The president, Roger Rocher, was forced to leave the club , and spent several months in jail. Since then, the club has spent much of its time in the bottom half of the First Division and the Second Division

A sad state of affairs at a club that was once so big.

What you must do is take this average team, and make them great again.

You have no time limit!

**scholesy18** · 18-02-08, 06:00 PM

Gonna start this myself now seth great challenge mate =D

auldashy17 · 18-02-08, 06:01 PM

i'm going to start this, but i'm going to havge 2 saves running simultaniously, so i may be a little slower than everyone else.

I shall start later on when i get back from the range :)

BradHally · 18-02-08, 06:29 PM

Gonna start on this after I have made a couple of userbars in a few minutes.
Will keep u posted

**John10** · 18-02-08, 10:58 PM

nice challenge seth, gonna try this if i fail at my current one :P

auldashy17 · 18-02-08, 11:02 PM

Ok, just completed my pre-season, players trained well, havent made any signings yet as i'm still getting to know my current squad of players and noticing they're strengths and weaknesses.

Anyway, this is just a quick update of my story so far.

Pre-Season friendly results

KV Kortrijk 2 - 0 AS Saint Etienne
Macva 2 - 2 AS Saint Etienne
Jagodina 0 - 1 AS Saint Etienne
Cukaricki 1 - 2 AS Saint Etienne
Zemun 0 - 1 AS Saint Etienne
Helmond 2 - 2 AS Saint Etienne

So a mixed bag of results there, some good, some terrible. But i have a decent looking squad and a good tactic in progress, so heres hoping I can improve on some of these results in the league. My first leage game is in 6 days (game time) time. so i will train my players hard for another couple of days, then let them rest before the game.

I will post my updates here monthly and wish me luck for my season ahead.

spitye3 · 18-02-08, 11:10 PM

i might try it ill let you no

apthered · 18-02-08, 11:40 PM

hmm
accrington, derby, forest or this?
i have no idea

auldashy17 · 19-02-08, 12:28 AM

so here goes with my first monthly update.

AS Saint Etienne 4 - 2 OGC Nice
Ilan(17, 26) Pascal Feindouno(pen 32, pen 45

before the game, the fans were questioning my ability as manager of their team, and so i was desperate to prove them wrong.

With some small tactical changes and a couple of changes in the starting line up, i found myself 3 - 0 up inside 32 minutes and I was pleased with the start.

Nice came back into it before half time, and scored 2 goals in a minute, but a penalty with the last kick of the firt half meant i went in with a two goal cusion. And thats how it stayed.

I was pleased with the start, and heres hoping i can keep up the winning ways with a visit to RC Lens.

RC Lens 2 - 1 AS Saint Etienne
Loic Perrin(26)

I went down to 10 men inside the first 13 minutes, a cynical challenge from my centre half saw him go for a very early bath. Despite this, i managed to take the lead through a very well worked goal, and held this lead into the break.

After an encouraging team talk, i eventually watched my team concede 2 goals and there was nothing they could really do about it as the extra man really began to show.

I'm not particularly bothered by the result as i did play the game with 10 men, however, we will have to pick ourselves up quickly for the visit of AS Nancy-Lorraine.

AS Saint Etienne 0 - 1 AS Nancy-Lorraine

A very even first half saw us walk into the dressing room at half time with the score reading 0 - 0.

a deserved goal for nancy in the 77th minute resigned me to defeat, and my good start to the season is quickly fizzling away to nothing, which wont be good for team morale.

Next up, a visit to Le Mans 72 UC

Le Mans 72 UC 1 - 0 AS Saint Etienne

a visit to the current table toppers proved difficult for my team. We lost a quick goal in the 14th minute, and tried to keep it tight for the remainder of the first half, and succeeding.

I got my players into the dressing room at half time and encouraged them to go out and take the game to the opposition.

The score remained the same throughout the second half, however my team did play better.

3 defeats in a row now, and i'm starting to feel that my lack of previous experience is affecting the way my players respect me, and ultimately, the way they perform on the park.

Stade Rennais FC 3 - 2 AS Saint Etienne
Ilan(22, 84)

After being on top for much of the first half, 2 goals in the last 5 minutes of the half for Rennais saw me walk into the dressing room 2 - 1 behind.

A more even second half saw Rennais go 3 - 1 up, before i pegged them back with only 6 minutes to go, only to have a goal wrongly disallowed for offside in the 94th minute.

so yet another defeat, 4th in a row, saw me slip into the relegation places, with a home game against FC Sochaux.

The Coupe de la Ligue 3rd round draw handed me an away tie against Ligue 2 side FC Libourne Saint-Seurin.

AS Saint Etienne 3 - 3 FC Socheux
Loic Perrin(39), Ilan(65, 73)

went 2 - 0 down early doors in this game and i thought this was going to be another disaster game. However my team pulled 1 back before half time and we went in 2 - 1 down.

Back out after the break and i went 3 - 1 down, and at that point i resigned my fate to another defeat, however, good character showed and we pulled it back to 3 - 3. and that is how the game finished.

So at the end of the month i'm sitting just outside the relegation places in 17th place with 4 points from a possible 18.

I hope that next month can provide better results and i can start to cllmb the league rather quickly.

**scholesy18** · 19-02-08, 12:50 AM

Unlucky run of results there auldashy =( hope u can turn things round soon mate.

Seth7724 · 19-02-08, 01:06 PM

Here is my go

As you can see, i went unbeaten and conceded 0 until recently!!!

auldashy17 · 19-02-08, 09:36 PM

i give up, sorry seth!

Seth7724 · 20-02-08, 08:40 AM

Haha auldashy, I did too. Lyon beat me 7-0, and some of my players got 8 ratings

**Bozza** · 20-02-08, 11:58 AM

It's still looks like a fun challenge to do. No pressure because St. Etienne doesn't have the best quality players in this competition.

leachy-boi91 · 20-02-08, 12:08 PM

looks hard mate ..
hope ha get better :P
goodluckk

walkinshaw · 20-02-08, 01:50 PM

I'll give it a go tomoz, i enjoy the french league ever since my Stade Rennes game in FM06, they were awesome on 06 b4 they sodl there entire stars pretty much lol.

walkinshaw · 21-02-08, 11:28 AM

Well here is my game so far, ill make it a separate thread later.

tfers

Fixtures

Table

Squad

So far so good, only good teams i've really faced though are psg, lille and toulouse so it wont last for long lol.

RaulHH · 21-02-08, 12:59 PM

looks like a good challenge I'm gonna give it a go

**scholesy18** · 21-02-08, 01:35 PM

Cracking start walkinshaw lets hope ur side can keep it up, i've not got far on this myself just a few pre-season games but seein u did this well after both auldashy and seth ave struggled has given me hope mate =P GL with the rest of the season.

walkinshaw · 21-02-08, 01:46 PM

cheers Lee, still got the big boys left though lol, Lyon, Lens, Monaco, Bordeaux, Marseille and Rennes so aiming for a tough european spot which is prob unlikely so a high mid table posi be fine