Back to Africa - Les Astres FC

[ToMexico!!]

Stolen Staff - Feb 2033

Surprised at this one, Guerabis twice turned down French teams to stay in Cameroon but now takes the Union Douala job, maybe he wants to try and topple me. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by ToMexico!!

[ToMexico!!]

7 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

Finally caught up with everything. Congrats on the back to back ACL titles. 

I'm curious to see how far you can go.

We've come a long way but no way means we're finished yet despite the back to back ACL titles. 

We're 4th now in the African club rankings and the league is 7th in the rankings too so we have to hit top spot for both of those. 

Obviously we've started to sell our better players into Europe, especially with the likes of Bayern signing Moukam. I also noticed that it was the GOAT Cristiano Ronaldo that signed Bagnack from me as he is the manager of St Etienne. He has Sergio Ramos as his Assistant Manager too, heavenly. 

I want to be churning out player after player from my youth team and building the national side into the best in Africa then why not the world 

[ToMexico!!]

Milestone - March 2033

[ToMexico!!]

2032/33 Season Review

After back to back trebles could we make it a third? In a short answer, No 

We walked the league as usual scoring 165 goals and conceding 26. We had won 32 straight league games until we faced Coton Sport and APEJES who were 2nd and 3rd and lost both, much to my annoyance. 

In the cup we used the "pick youth players" option throughout the tournament and still came away with the title and we beat our record of most goals in the competition by scoring 33 (2 more than our previous record)

We bowed out of the ACL at the semi final stage, whilst not hugely disappointing after back to back titles, I was quite disappointed. We suffered four defeats in the tournament this year which was too many. One was to Raja Casablanca our old foes probably getting their own back after we smashed 8 past them in the opening group stage game. Their city rivals Wydad Casablanca got the better of us in the first leg beating us 4-0. We tried our best in the 2nd leg and whilst we won 3-0 we fell just short despite all the huff and puff. 

We did win the African Super Cup for the first time, beating Union Douala who must have won the Confederation Cup. 

League | Cameroon Cup | Champions League | Super Cup

We lost some big players in the winter window but the squad managed to cope and to come close to winning what would be our first quadruple was a great season. Moukam's goals were missed but like I said his sale to Bayern Munich couldn't have been turned down. We did manage to keep hold of Prosper Bowke-Fodjo after Lorient bd up to £6.25 plus clauses for him and then subsequently sign him to a new contract. 

Squad

Behind the scenes the training facility upgrade was completed and another upgrade to the youth facilities was earmarked as we made plenty of money through players sales. Finances are pretty good at the minute but will dip when the facilities are signed off to be built. I still have no option to make improvements to the youth recruitment or the junior coaching, I don't think they're capped out just yet. 

Finances

Season Summary

[ToMexico!!]

Youth Intake - May 2033

This is a much better intake, top 3 players have 1.5* CA and some good potential. There is also a much wider selection of birth cities, so we're starting to bring in players from further afield more regularly. Personalities are much better this season too, with two what I would call negative but a fair few balanced for the poorer players. 

Junior Abagana (YP33a) | Joel Kom (YP33b) | Mike Dongmo (YP33c)

Abagana will need to improve physically quite a bit but will undoubtedly feature in the first team in the future. Kom is a tall CB with good physicals already except strength, 15 for tackling is solid already. Dongmo is quite average but will improve well with his decent determination. Ndongo (RB) could turn out well and at least be a good back up for RWB.

[ToMexico!!]

Clauses Sold - May 2033

[ToMexico!!]

Competition Rankings - May 2033

Finally above the South African 2nd tier. I feel we have some way to go before we break into the top 5 and mix in with the North African leagues. 

[ToMexico!!]

Early Summer Sales - July 2033

Two experiences players that have fallen down the pecking order.

We've spent the money that has come in for them on upgrades to the facilities. 

[ToMexico!!]

Facility Upgraded - Nov 2033

[ToMexico!!]

Awards - Dec 2033

Young midfielder Onana and Bowke-Fodjo comes 1st and 2nd for midfielders whilst Kenmogne and Manga are 2nd and 3rd for strikers. 

[ToMexico!!]

Facilities Upgraded - Jan 2034

[ToMexico!!]

International Call Ups - Jan 2033

Bloody CHAN tournament. Thats first, 2nd and 3rd choice GK gone. Both wing backs, first choice AMR and 2nd choice ST to name the best players. 

[ToMexico!!]

Winter Window Woes - Jan 2034

This is the story of the window, I rejected every bid for my players.

• Rejected up to £7.5m for Prosper Bowke-Fodjo from Monaco, Dortmund, Strasbourg, Saint-Etienne and Hertha Berlin
• Rejected up to £4.4m for Jean Chedjou from Montpellier
• Rejected £2m from Al-Ittihad for Franck Ako
• Rejected up to £14.5m from Henan for Mfombam Nsaa
• Rejected offers up to £6.5m for Marc Onana from a host of MLS & Chinese clubs

Whilst I know this isn't realistic for an African club to rejected all these bids, I lost two of my best players last season without replacing them really. I will happily sell one or two players per season as long as we have replacements coming through the system. 

[ToMexico!!]

Significant Sale - Feb 2034

After saying all of the above I accepted a bid from Henan for Mfombam Nsaa and he accepted their contract offer. This was after I accepted a similar bid from another Chinese club and he rejected it. 

We double our bank balance in the process of the sale going through and have a couple of good additional fee's in there plus that 30% profit which could be worth a few million. 

Whilst he's a good player for us, especially physically, I don't get why all those Chinese clubs were interested. 

 

[rodesire]

that's a megasale given those attributes, I reckon you fleeced them hard.

[ToMexico!!]

On 12/05/2020 at 09:27, ToMexico!! said:

Youth Player Poached - June 2031

Steve Eto'o is yet to come through the youth intake at Dortmund. Hopefully next season. 

Not as good a prospect as Eto'o but what a personality, coupled with his determination he could turn out a very good player. 

[ToMexico!!]

20 minutes ago, rodesire said:

that's a megasale given those attributes, I reckon you fleeced them hard.

truly was, to be honest I could have eeked a bit more out of them but the offer I accepted was their own offer, not negotiated. 

At least that gives me some spending money for another few upgrades to the facilities. 

[ToMexico!!]

Facility Upgrade - Mar 2034

[ToMexico!!]

Youth Intake - May 2034

Labelled as a 'golden generation' 

First look this is a pretty poor intake (as all golden generations tend to be, for me anyway). We do however get our first Perfectionist personality in the shape of Francois Andoulo who doesn't look as bad as his stars suggest. The highest rated player is Didier Bitang, who is an AML but that personality and low attribute for determination puts me off him being a top talent for me. 

[ToMexico!!]

2033/34 Season Review

This was quite a poor league season by our standards, we struggled in patches which culminated in 5 losses this term. We won the league by just 6 points our narrowest margin since 2021/22 season where we also won by 6 points. We still scored plenty of goals, 167 this season, two more than last season. 

We won the Cameroonian Cup again, largely playing the younger/rotation players. We beat Coton Sport albeit on penalties after a 2-2 draw. 

We won the ACL for a fourth time too this season making it our third treble of this career. We eased into the group stages by beating Sao Tome & Principe side Ke Morabeza and then the Nigerians Enugu Rangers. We were drawn with all the Al's; Al-Hilal, Al-Merreikh and Al-Ittahad. 4-1-1 record, job done. We faced Angolan opposition in the quarters and comfortably won 5-1 on aggregate and then beat Cape Town City 6-3 on aggregate in the semis, the first leg being a 3-3 draw. In the final we faced those pesky Moroccans Raja Casablanca again and I was fully expecting to be beat after we had beaten them so many times prior. Marc Manga stepped up and smashed in a hatty in a 4-0 demolition. 

League Table | Cameroonian Cup | Champions League

Rostand Kenmogne was back to his best blasting in 54 goals in 40(7) games. The academy products Haman and Manga both scored 31 goals apiece whilst rotating into the front two. Bowke-Fodjo scored 20 and made 13 assists in his 29 games but it was Marc Onana who really stood out for me with his 18 goals and 26 assists in 38 games from DM. 

Its going to be another summer of big clubs bidding every day to take my stars away. I don't need the money but I need to think about the next player who I can allow to leave as long as I have a replacement ready to put into their position. 

Squad

Both the training and youth facilities were upgraded this season and we are currently in the planning stage of another youth upgrade. Finances are very healthy after the sale of Mfombam Nsaa to Chinese club Henan. 

Finances

[ToMexico!!]

World Cup Call Ups - May 2034

[ToMexico!!]

Stolen Staff - June 2034

Fokobo used to be a player of ours back in 2022-2024 before retiring. 

Been a fair bit of change since the last posting of this table, two for staff members retired, I had tried to get Gondje to come back but "we didn't have a job suitable for him". Daikhate makes a step up to a bigger Cameroonian side whilst Obele replaces him leaving New Star. Fokobo replaces Ntep who left his role at APEJES. 

[ToMexico!!]

Youth Production Line - June 2034

Below is an updated list of players that have made a contribution to the first team, these players have either come through the youth intakes or in most cases signed before they turn 20. 

I totted up earlier that we have sold seven players for a combined £7,675,000 from the above list who we have purchased from other clubs but sold £23,155,000 worth of our own youth players. (these figures do not include all players we have sold nor does it include any clauses sold or gained over the course of the save). 

Basically with my investment into the facilities and the coaching/recruitment we are producing plenty of saleable assets to ensure the club can continue to develop players and compete at our current level. 

The Current

These four guys are the current first team players that I want to continue to build my team around. My current first choice GK, Nelson Esua (YP21a) wants a new challenge so I will look to move him on this summer which will allow Mbock (YP30b) to takeover as number 1. He will get a new contract shortly. 

I've already rejected a number of bids since the end of the season for Onana and Bowke-Fodjo but they seem happy enough to stay at the minute. 

The Promotee's

Just two players have the necessary ability to make the step up from U19's and into the first team for next season. Emmanuel Atangana has kind of flown under the radar but has developed well over the course of this season, his passing is the next attribute to try and develop after a season on extra shooting duties. The other player is Jacques Nlend, I remember when he came through, that it was recommended he retrains as a CB, he's done that but rarely played there in the U19s. He's developed well too and I would happily slot him in at CB or DM, the only problem he has is the personality. Some mentoring could help with that. 

The Future

1. Junior Abagana (YP33a) - 2033's top talent has begun to develop nicely, at 16 still he has plenty of time. Currently on VOL(a) training along with Quickness
2. Joel Kom (YP33b) - a future first team centre back here. Developed the physical attributes this past season, now to hopefully improve his aerial prowess
3. Mike Dongmo (YP33c) - the third and last 2033 tagged player, been on strength training but his aerial reach has jumped up 4 attribute points. Will work on his Quickness this season

With Nlend and Atangana being promoted this season I could look to move on Ibrahim Dipita (YP27b) who has hit a wall in his development (could be that he is now 23 and not a first team regular) and maybe allow Michel Haman to move on as he is more suited to AMC rather than ST despite all his goals last season. 

Looking further forward Jules Andem is the next player I will look to replace, his CA/PA is now 2.5* for each. He is wanted by a Middle Eastern club so I could sell now and promote Abagana (YP33a) even though he is 16. 

 

It would be interesting, if I had the time, to go back and add up all the investments in the facilities and make a rough guestimate on how much on average a month we spend on our youth setup to work out a rolling total and then put it against how much money we make from selling our youth products. We currently spend £275k per month on "youth setup" so over the course of a year we're spending £3,300,000 on running costs/coaching/recruitment. Ideally we need to sell 1 youth player per season for anywhere between £3m and £4m on average. Our last youth facility upgrade cost £2.4m, I think there's one more after that, that will probably double in cost again. 

[ToMexico!!]

World Cup - Summer 2034

 

[ToMexico!!]

Christian Bissene - Aug 2034

I forgot to mention I did my usual thing of searching through the incoming players of every clubs youth intake and scouting the better looking ones. I've stolen another gem just like I did with Marc Onana from APEJES but this time the player Christian Bissene joins from Union Douala. 

He cost me £525k straight up, no clauses, no future percentages. A quality player, plenty of good technical attributes and some good mentals in determination, off the ball and work rate whilst his physicals are damn good for a 16 year old except strength but we're working on that already. A season in the U19s to develop further then he'll probably be thrust into the first team. 

[ToMexico!!]

Reputation - Aug 2034

We hit top spot as the most reputable club in Africa!

[Sheriff7]

8 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

World Cup - Summer 2034

 

And before them Paraguay?

[ToMexico!!]

9 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

And before them Paraguay?

Aye, been a bit of a weird one. Poland won the Euro's in 2028 also. 

[ToMexico!!]

Facilities Upgraded - Sept 2034

[ToMexico!!]

International Call-Up - Nov 2034

I believe Richard Mbock becomes the first player to be called up for another nation. 

He's now first choice GK as I sold Nelson Esua in the summer window. 

[ToMexico!!]

Leading Producers - Dec 2034

[ToMexico!!]

Humiliation - Dec 2034

Lets just say that Francois Obele didn't have the happiest of returns to Astres today...

Okay, they ended the game with 8 men as they tried to kick us off the park. Marc Onana has been in sublime form so far this season, in 10 league games so far this season he's scored 12 and made 10 assists. 

Oh Cosmos!

[ToMexico!!]

Marc Onana - Dec 2034

Back to back games of scoring four goals and providing two assists...

His form is so good he was wanted by 19 clubs until he signed a new deal to stay at the club for another four years + three year optional extension for us to use.

[ToMexico!!]

Awards - Dec 2034

OK, so Marc Onana is 3rd in the African player of the year (whole world), wins African player of the year but then not selected in either African Team of the Year nor the African based Team of the Year yet is announced as the African Midfielder of the Year. 

Anyway, Manga is involved in both Teams of the Year and is the African Striker of the Year with Kenmogne 2nd. 

[ToMexico!!]

Clause Sale - Jan 2035

His development has really stagnated since joins Monaco back in 2031. He's been loaned out to Lens, Caen and Auxerre without any real success. If he is to be sold it will be for similar to what Monaco paid for the player. 

[ToMexico!!]

Stolen Staff - Jan 2035

Former player Mark O'Ojong only joined last season as U19 AssMan. 

[ToMexico!!]

Significant Sale - Jan 2035

This is huge, he's been wanted all season long by the likes of Chelsea, Hertha and Dortmund. I began a bidding war by accepting a structured deal worth £20m from Beijing. That sparked Chelsea into offering the above and then Dortmund offering a deal structured deal worth up to £30m. I accepted both and he's gone to his preferred destination. 

I can't blame him and he's immediately worth £34.5m. That 50% of next sale clause could be worth £10m plus before a sale is even made. 

That's the remaining upgrades paid for anyway 

[ToMexico!!]

Working with Youngsters - Jan 2035

22 for Working with Youngsters. I've seen my discipline stat break the 20 mark on a few occasions on saves but never WwY. 

[ToMexico!!]

Significant Sale - Feb 2035

I don't get it. He's comfortably 3rd choice CB although is a Cameroon international. I had accepted bids around the same value from another couple of Chinese clubs too. 

 

[rodesire]

cursed sales, what is china on about, theyre average

[kidthekid]

Onana's stats as a DM are incredible. Your tactics are incredible. Long may it continue.

[ToMexico!!]

11 hours ago, rodesire said:

cursed sales, what is china on about, theyre average

Djomo is very average, I have a better player who I just promoted from the U19s to take his spot. He's just quick, that's all. 

10 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Onana's stats as a DM are incredible. Your tactics are incredible. Long may it continue.

They're suberb. He's just learnt the PPM Gets Forward Whenever Possible so that will help even more, his first game back after what was a poor AFCON tournament for Cameroon he scored 4 more. He's now on 24 goals and 16 assists in 19(2) games. 

I've been thinking about making a subtle change to that tactic by having out and out wingers and have wing backs make underlap runs instead of inside forwards and overlapping but I feel my wing backs aren't good enough finishing wise for that yet. 

We've just hit half way stage of the season for games (17) and scored 116 goals, we should be on for our highest scoring season if we can keep it up. 182 league goals in 34 games is the most we have so far but can we adjust to not having Bowke-Fodjo on the right wing. 

[ToMexico!!]

800 Games - Feb 2035

[ToMexico!!]

Facilities Improvement - Mar 2035

Best start spending some of that money from player sales...

[ToMexico!!]

20234/35 Season Review

Winning the league is a given nowadays, I want to begin winning it unbeaten on a regular basis but we always seem to fall short especially when fixture congestion plays its part. To be honest we weren't far off this season we lost one game and drew three more. But, we finished 20 points clear of second placed Coton Sport. Defensively I was very pleased as we only conceded 22 goals, our joint second lowest with the 2021/22 season. In that season though we only scored 101 league goals compared to 172 this season which means we achieved a +150 goal difference for the first time. 

In the cup I rotated the squad heavily for each game and played mostly youngster where I could. We reached the semi-finals before bowing out to Coton Sport 1-0. 

In the ACL we beat MangaSport and Horoya comfortably to reach the group stages. We had a pretty easy group in Vita Club, Kano Pillars and Saint George, we finished with 5-1-0 record. In the quarters we lost the opening leg to Ah-Ahly 1-0 before overturning the deficit with ease, winning 5-0. We also put five past TP Mazembe in the first leg of the semi finals before drawing 0-0 in the 2nd. We would play Sundowns in the final. In a cagey tight affair we came out on top 2-1 with a 90th minute goal from Kenmogne. 

League Table | Cameroonian Cup | Champions League

Top scorer was Michel Haman which is surprising because he has a finishing stat of 6, however his 45 goals were overshadowed by those of Marc Onana from defensive midfield, he ended the season with 30 goals and 22 assists from 34(3) games. Rostand Kenmogne was a bit of a forgotten man, he suffered a major hip injury and struggled with his come back to only score 15 goals for the season but most importantly the ACL winner. 

Squad

We've got a heck of a lot of money at the minute due to the sales of Bowke-Fodjo to Chelsea and Djomo to Henan, I just sold the latter's sell on clause for another £4.25m. We're currently in the process of upgrading both the training and youth facilities again. 

Youth Intake

Initial impressions are this is a poor intake, second impressions this is a poor intake. Its almost like our HoYD who's contract was expiring at the end of last season pulled a good intake out of the bag to earn another contract then thought **** it I've got another two years before I have to pull a good intake out of the bag. I think its time to find a new HoYD. 

Season Summary

 

[ToMexico!!]

Club Stature - Aug 2035

Last seasons ACL title and this seasons Super Cup win has boosted out continental reputation so we now standalone above the chasing pack. 

[ToMexico!!]

First Team Evolving - Aug 2035

I want to take the time and show you what will be my first choice team for the next season. 

GK - Richard Mbock (YP30b) - he has really developed well since coming through the intake 5 years ago. Capped 5 times for Belgium U21's, been watched by Belgium boss Inzaghi numerous times.

CB - Thomas Djomo - an elder statesman of the squad but a solid option still, quite the goalscoring CB with 51 career goals to his name.

CB - Joel Kom (YP33b) - promoted to first choice along side Djomo after we sold the other Djomo to China. Has had an impressive start. 

RWB(a) - Yvon Embolo - my second most expensive signing to date at 575k, 42 assists since has made it good business.

VOL(a) - Marc Onana - signed at the age of 16 for £600k from APEJES, has been imperious. 52 league goals in 85 appearances speaks volumes. 

DLP(s) - Junior Abagana (YP33a) - promoted to the first team for the next season and jumps into a starting position. Will play as a deep lying playmaker initially

LWB(a) - Junior Onana - signed from Sable as a back up option, with sales he has made it first choice and done well. 

IF(a) - Jean Chedjou - moved to the right hand side when we sold Bowke-Fodjo and did well, has plenty of pace to hit teams on the counter

IF(a) - Stephane Agbo - spent a season on loan in France before coming back to take the left sided IF spot. 20 goals and 19 assists tells you all you need to know

PF(a) - Marc Manga - a work horse with a well rounded game, tried working on his finishing to no avail, still bagged 112 goals and 62 assists in 146 games.

P(a) - Emmanuel Atangana - a good debut season and even with Haman's 45 goals he will move ahead of him. Tried and failed to get rid of that Temperamental personality. 

The quality is down a bit on recent seasons as we've lost the likes of Nsaa, Bowke-Fodjo, Moukam and Bagnack to bigger clubs and we're struggling a little with the quality in the youth team at the minute, I need a couple of big intakes to breathe some new lift into the squad. 

[rodesire]

Quality may be down but it's still a ridiculously young squad, they definitely have time on their side

[ToMexico!!]

1 hour ago, rodesire said:

Quality may be down but it's still a ridiculously young squad, they definitely have time on their side

Oh definitely, we have just 4 players over the age of 25 and 16 players 21 or under. I tend to sell a player when they begin to show any signs of decline, except Kenmogne in this case, kept for sentimental reasons. 

[ToMexico!!]

On 13/05/2020 at 11:53, ToMexico!! said:

Steve Eto'o - Dortmund

He's a right footed, left winger that likes to cut in from the wing! He would be perfect for my inside forward role on the left wing. 

Steve Eto'o - Sept 2035

Its been 2 1/2 years since Steve came through the ranks at Dortmund, this is what he looks like now;

A pretty decent player who has had some first team action over the past season. Whilst he's clearly not a world beater, he can be a useful player off the bench for Dortmund. He would easily fit into my team as a first team player on the left hand side. 

We haven't had a player poached now since 2031 which seems quite a gap, although it obviously took so many seasons before a first player was poached. Maybe the clubs reputation has increased to a stature where players are no longer poached by clubs/ we clearly haven't had a player good enough to be poached by a top club for a few seasons.