Darren — Ultimate European Challenge: Bordeaux, the beginning of the end 2020

Hey guys and welcome back to an overdue update from my UEC save. Sorry for taking an age, but researching/writing parts one and two of my financial guide meant no time to actually play FM. :( Now that little task is complete, we can continue with my journey across Europe. During the last update, I won the treble with Chelsea and then resigned for pastures green. After just five months on the dole, Bordeaux offered me the vacant managers position. I decided to stop holding out on Lyon and Marseille, so accepted the next best thing.

After taking the reigns of what I thought would be a great club, optimism was high. Then I dug a little deeper, Bordeaux have a lot of debt, the squads average age is dead and my only positive is croissants for breakfast. Honestly I could see myself offloading every single squad member within the next few seasons. January saw no transfer action at all, the clubs owner was as tight as a ducks arse. Anyway enough moaning, I can sort the squad during summer and this is meant to be the easiest league I’ve managed in. Today’s post will reveal my first half season in charge and then take a look at my pre-season transfers. Before I reveal all the goings on during my first half season in charge, lets recap my UEC career to date.

UEC career

2011-2012: Hamburg SV (Germany)

2012-2014: AC Milan (Italy)

2014-2016: At. Madrid (Spain)

2017-2019: Chelsea (England)

2014-2018: Argentina (International)

2020-present: Bordeaux (France)

UEC honours

Bundesliga title — 2012

German Cup — 2012

Serie A title — 2013 & 2014

Italian Cup — 2013 & 2014

La Liga title — 2015 & 2016

Spanish Cup — 2015 & 2016

English Premier League title — 2019

English FA Cup — 2018 & 2019

European Champions League — 2014, 2016 & 2019

Copa America — 2015

Confederations Cup — 2017

World Cup — 2018

After all that I am down to just one last country and two trophies. When the French title and French domestic cup have been secured my Ultimate European Challenge will be over. A wild ride, but there are still a few more bumps in the road I’m sure.

What I’m up against with Bordeaux

Before I reveal my first games in charge, I’d like to offer you a feel of the task in hand. Bordeaux’s previous manager had only managed some disjointed form that led to 11th position within the league. He also watched on as this once great club went crashing out of all cup competitions.

I have never seen such an old squad. Most matches I could struggle to field anyone under the age of 28. Most of you know my 4-5-1 formation requires pace on the wings and upfront. Well Bordeaux have a stock of zimmer frames to help their over 30’s make it time for lunch. As you can probably tell, my start was seriously hindered. Lets move onto the results after my appointment and see if I managed an improvement from my predecessor.

January to end of season — results and table

I wasn’t expecting miracles during season number 1, but a little effort would have been nice. I guess I’ve only myself to blame, after noticing the current squad were not suited to my tactics, I should have changed. But as always I got stubborn and convinced myself they just needed time to settle. WRONG!! :( A glance down these results makes for some horrible form.

A poor start to life in France saw me achieve just two places higher than the last manager. Bordeaux finished season 2019/20 in 9th position. No Europe and definitely no extra cash flow. Lyon and Marseille are the real show boaters of French football. With such talented players, both clubs could challenge in Europe every season.

The squad that made it so difficult

After such a disappointing and worrying start, I was left to evaluate my squad. All the players boxed in red are too old and don’t deserve to wear the shirt. Obviously I want rid ASAP, but the transfer budget could depict how many oldies are offloaded. One thing that must change is the squads general pace, this needs sorting first off.

Pre-season expectations and signings 2020/21

I was pleasantly surprised when the board offered £17.25m for transfers. European qualification is my minimum target, but after seeing my transfers, I’m sure you’ll agree the title isn’t unrealistic. I decided to stretch my budget to the limit and take advantage of additional clauses like payments after X amount of games etc. I know this is bad after just talking about finances, but Bordeaux have a terrible squad and won’t reach Europe unless I strengthen heavily.

An outside chance for the title seems about right really, the bookies were spot on there. We only raised £4.5 million from players leaving, but offloaded some dead weight and freed up loads from the wage bill. Most of this was transferred back into my transfer budget of course. :)

OK, its time to see who I bought to hurdle Bordeaux up the table. 8 new faces for a total of £33.5 million, around £10 million of that is in add on clauses. In a minute we’ll examine my best signings, but here’s the run down of my other transfers. Sampaio was brought to cover in goal, we paid nothing so I was happy with his arrival. Saivet will be known to many, he’s now 29 but still quite good and should provide cover on both wings. San Roman is 25 years old and the best left winger I could find at a reasonable price. The Argentine isn’t amazing but should do well in France. The last of my fringe transfers was Le Gac, brought in from Ajax for £1 million. Extremely well priced and the midfielder will do well under my CM supporting role. OK, now we move onto the real stars. :)

German Vidal (striker) — £10 million from Twente

Getting old by my standards, but the 27 year old is perfect for my poacher role. Excellent physical attributes mean a lot and his dribbling along with finishing made me sign the Argentine.

Simone Testa (central midfield) — £2.7 million from Man City

My new midfield maestro was a real bargain. The Italian is highly rated and worth well more than money bags City had demanded. While the Italian isn’t outstanding in any area, he’s very good across the board. I like this in midfielders and have a good feeling about the 22 year old.

John Bergkamp (right winger) — £9 million from Heerenveen

It’s confession time, my eye was drawn to the name Bergkamp, that is why I originally viewed his attributes. :) But this 24 year old has real class. Another all rounder and his good pace, dribbling and agility count big with me. Again, I have a good feeling and think Bergkamp could take to France like a storm.

Riccardo Usia (DC/CM) — £2.6 million from Spurs

Another bargain from the transfer list. Its weird how I took one look at Usia’s attributes and thought naaah I’m not impressed. Then I took a second look one week later and loved him. This 23 year old can play centre back or central midfield, so I’ll try both and see where Usia plays best.

There they are then, the new Bordeaux and quite a good bunch of lads too. My first test of 2020 comes against Stade Malherbe Caen where I want to start our winning ways. The title will be decided on who maintains form this year, so I want to start strong.

Well that is it for today’s post. Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll be back for the results up until December. Hopefully you don’t mind me skimming over the back end of last season. I’d rather forget it and didn’t want to bore you too much with analysis. Please feel free to ask any questions below and I look forward to your comments as always. :)