Cause Tramps Like Us, Baby, We Were Born To Rennes

[danmcconnell1]

Stade Rennais FC, otherwise known as Rennes for short, are a French club formed back in 1901 in the city that bears its name set within Brittany, northwest France.

The club have never won the French title, so I have a very simple, yet difficult to achieve aim, to win a maiden league title for Rennes.

The club play their home matches at Raozhan Park which stands to the west of the city centre and has a capacity of 29,778. The club have played on the site where the stadium currently stands since 1912. 

Rennes have a very good academy that has produced some wonderful footballers down the years with the likes of Yoann Gourcuff, Eduardo Camavinga, currently of Real Madrid, PSG's Ousmane Dembele and former Chelsea man Tiemoue Bakayoko coming through the ranks.

I took over the club in April 2024 and they were struggling to stave off relegation to Ligue 2 at the time, however did have a Coupe de France final to look forward to against Le Havre at the Stade de France once the Ligue 1 season had ended.

My first 2 matches in charge both ended in draws, firstly away at Toulouse then at home to Nantes, young striker Bertug Yildirim with both goals. We got our first win of my tenure against Brest at home with Amine Gouiri opening the scoring, then Yildirim bagging another brace to give us a comfortable 3-0 victory. The final three Ligue 1 matches began away at Metz with a solitary goal to nil win, Martin Terrier scoring that one. Then came arguably our toughest test yet, RC Lens at home but we did well to beat them 2-1, Benjamin Bourigeaud and Amine Gouiri turned it around for us after we fell behind in the 1st half to give us another 2 points. We did lose our final league match of the season, however were safe by that point and this was somewhat of a dead rubber with both sides comfortably in mid-table. They beat us 4-2, Gouiri and Salah with our goals.

Then came the Coupe de France final against Le Havre AC which we won in what was a brilliant cup final. Both sides are not used to big events like this, so it was a cagey start until striker Yildirim gave us the lead in the 10th minute. Terrier then doubled our lead just 8 minutes later to put us into a commanding position. However, 8 minutes before the break, Ndiaye scored for Le Havre to half the deficit, then just 4 minutes later, defender Warmed Omari fouled Ayew in the box who then stepped up to take the penalty himself and dispatch it to restore parity before the break. 

The 2nd half was again a tight affair until Yildirim, with just 6 minutes left, poked home a Terrier cross to score what turned out to be the winner and give Rennes their first trophy since 2019 when they last won the Coupe de France.

The summer was a busy one, as it always is, with incomings and outgoings on the playing staff.

We made almost £30m in sales over the summer with the vast majority of that seeing CB Arthur Theate move to Dortmund in a deal which could reach up to £38m. He asked to leave at the end of the season to play in the Champions League, something which is beyond us next season as the Coupe de France win guaranteed Europa League football. We agreed that if a £34m offer came in we would accept, then Dortmund eclipsed that by offering up to £38m, so we were happy to let him move on. Gabriel Tutu, Leo Rouille and Paolo Limon were the others to leave the club on permanent deals, Lorenz Assignon joined Brest in a loan deal worth £350k and Jeremy Jacquet joined Sochaux. I'll get onto Junior Kroupi momentarily.

The Theate deal meant we have approximately £35m to spend this season.

The first player in was Pepe. The veteran CB is a European champion both at club and international level with Real Madrid and Portugal respectively, so to have a player of his calibre, despite his already advanced years, will really help us this season. It's well known he has a temper, however that has definitely softened the older he has got, he's a solid addition to the squad and very good short term option to have in place of the departed Theate.

As you can see from the outgoings, Junior Kroupi is on loan at Lorient. He's a very promising young player who's joined us for an initial £7m, rising to £8m. He'll spend this season loan at his boyhood club, but look at that value, it's jumped to a maximum of £54m already, so it's clear he's one to watch in the coming years.

Caleb Okoli is a player I really like. Another CB, he's the longer term replacement for Theate. I was keen to boost numbers in the squad this season with European football to contend with too, so Okoli is a good option to have. He joins for £5.5m from Italian side Atalanta.

Next in was Yuto Iwasaki from from J1 League side Tosu. He's a winger who plays predominantly from the left and has decent pace too. We need to work on his delivery but he's got plenty to offer and will provide decent backup to the first team.

Dodi Lukebakio is a player I'm excited to work with. He's come in from Sevilla for £6.25m and can play either side out wide and upfront too. He's not really found a home in his career yet, I'm hoping it can be with us and he can kick on and become a regular not only for us, but for the Belgian national side too for whom he has 8 caps.

Welsh CB Joe Rodon knows Rennes well after a short loan spell here a few years ago from Spurs. He treads the same path again on a season long loan this time due to an injury picked up towards the end of pre-season for Caleb Okoli which may keep him out for a few months, so we needed extra cover. Rodon is an experienced player at international level with Wales, albeit not too many appearances for Spurs, but I'm hoping he can do well for us. He has very good physical attributes.

 The final man in was Lucas Canizares, a young keeper who'll be backup to number 1 and veteran keeper Steve Mandanda. Canizares was signed outside of the transfer window after injuries to both other keepers in the squad at the time, the league made an allowance for us to sign another keeper. Plenty of potential here and a great mentor in Mandanda to show in the ropes for a year or 2.

[danmcconnell1]

The traditional curtain raiser in France sees the Ligue 1 winners take on the Coupe de France champions, so we were facing the juggernaut that is PSG.

Despite playing really well and missing a hatful of chances, we couldn't find the back of the net and the match was goalless after 90 minutes, so we contested a penalty shoot out. PSG won it by 4 penalties to 3, lifting the trophy for the 3rd time in a row. They've now won the trophy in 11 of the last 12 seasons in France, only Lille have got their hands on it in that time.

Moving onto the beginning of the new league season, August saw us play 4 matches to get us off and running.

It was an impressive start with 10 points from a possible 12. We began with a win on the road at Nantes thanks to a Zeze OG and debutant Yuto Iwasaki winner with just over a quarter of an hour to play. That was followed by a relatively routine 2-1 win over Angers in our first home match, Yildirim continuing where he left off last season with another goal early on while Martin Terrier gave us some real control. Angers did score a consolation late on but they were always kept at arm's length. The only time we dropped points this month was away at Auxerre as we drew 2-2. Ludovic Blas and Terrier were our goal scorers there as we continued our unbeaten start. The final match of the month was back at home against RC Lens who we beat with ease, Arnaud Kalimuendo with a brace either side of a Fabian Rieder goal.

September began in a similar vain with a brilliant 2-0 win away in Marseille thanks to goals from Terrier and Rieder again, both of those have begun the season brilliantly. We then welcomed Ludogorets in our first match of the Europa League as the new format comes into play this year. We won our opener in the League Phase 3-2 thanks to goals from Benjamin Bourigeaud who scored an outstanding free kick, veteran CB Pepe with his first goal for the club which broke a multitude of records both for Rennes and the Europa League, then Terrier continued his good form with what turned out to be the winning goal. Another home match followed closely on against Lyon who again, we beat, this time 2-1 thanks to 2 Amine Gouiri goals, his first of the campaign. Next up was a trip to Brest who were in the Europa Conference League this season after an impressive showing last time out. We beat them 3-1 though with Gouiri scoring again, Enzo Le Fee with his 1st of the season and Yildirim continuing his decent start to the campaign too. The month ended with the most impressive result though as we thrashed Lille at Raozhan Park 6-3. Ludovis Blas and Yildirim both bagged a brace while Gouiri and Rieder both also scored again to give us the perfect end to what was a perfect month results wise.

October saw us play another 5 matches across 2 competitions, however the form we're in is breeding confidence throughout the squad, media and fans that something special could be on the cards this season for Rennes. We were back in Europa League action as we travelled to the Italian capital of Rome to take on Lazio at the Olimpico. We beat them comfortably 3-1 thanks to another brace from Blas and Iwasaki scoring his 2nd of the season to make sure of the points. Ligue 1 action returned just 3 days later and we were on the road again, this time away at Montpellier. Another comfortable victory came with a Blas penalty this time, making it 5 goals in 3 for him, then Gouiri and Rieder both scored within 5 minutes of the restart to assert our authority over the home side. The international break followed which gave us a chance to recharge before the visit of Strasbourg. We had been struggling to keep clean sheets despite our brilliant form with only 2 kept so far, so it was pleasing to beat the side from Alsace 3-0. Lukebakio scored his 1st goal for the club to open the scoring befor Rieder and Bourigeaud from the spot made sure of the points again. Back to Europa League action as we welcomed Young Boys from Switzerland and we kept our second clean sheet in 5 days with a 4-0 win over the Swiss side. Lukebakio again got things going with Terrier, Yildirim and Rieder all on the score sheet again. The month ended with what was 1st against 2nd at the time as we welcomed OGC Nice to Raozhan Park. It was a resounding victory which sent a definitive message to the rest of the league, that Rennes were not here to mess around this season. To beat them 7-2 was beyond my wildest dreams though. Lukebakio continued his good form in front of goal scoring a hat-rick, that's 5 in 3 for him now while Alidu Seidu, Rieder, Yilridirm and Gouiri all scored, putting Nice to the sword to end what was another fantastic month.

November saw us lose for the first time in the league this season, in fact our results in Ligue 1 all but fell off a cliff this month. Our winning streak came to an end with a goalless draw away in Toulouse. The visit of Trabzonspor brought about more goal though as we beat them with ease 4-1 at home, Gouiri with a brace, Terrier and Yildirim the other goal scorers. Another draw came in the league at home to Monaco, Bourigeaud scored our goal from the spot as it finished 1-1. We then lost for the first time this season barring the Trophee des Champions away to Metz in what was a poor performance. It's difficult to be too angry at the players though after the effort they've put in since the league season got underway, they've been outstanding so far and I was never naive enough to think the good run of form was going to last forever. That defeat gave us the opportunity to respond in a positive fashion and that's exactly what we did, winning a thriller in Florence against Fiorentina in the Europa League 4-3. A Terrier brace equalised twice for us after we fell behind each time, then Yildirim gave us the lead with 20 minutes left for the first time in the match. Lukebakio scored off the bench to make it 4-2 and despite Sottil scoring his 2nd late on, we held on for a brilliant win.

As we approach the midway point of the season, we are certainly in with a chance of at the very least loosening PSG's grip on the title. The Parisians have played a game more as their match this week was played on Saturday 30th November while we play the next day, so I'm updating before we play. Interestingly, PSG lost their most recent league match against Montpellier away from home, so we have the chance to bridge the gap to just 3 points. We're yet to face PSG in the league too, the meeting is in a week's time, we face Reims and Le Havre before then though. If we can get back to winning ways in the league before Christmas, we never know, we could be ahead of the mighty PSG.

We are flying in the Europa League winning all 5 of our matches so far and are one of just 2 teams with a 100% record in the League Phase alongside Chelsea. After getting ourselves into this position I'm expecting a top 8 finish which would guarantee a last 16 place and bypass the playoff round, something I'm definitely looking to achieve.

Here's how the players have performed so far this season individually. Steve Mandanda's been brilliant in goal keeping 6 clean sheets so far and only conceding 22 goals in 20 appearances so far. Special mention to Pepe too who's game time has been managed so far, however he certainly hasn't looked his age and has more than held his own at the back for us. Caleb Okoli is still playing his way back to full fitness after only returning last month so he's got work to do while Joe Rodon has been a capable deputy in defence alongside Pepe or Omari. Seidu has played his way into the side recently at RB while Adrien Truffert, a French international now, has been a mainstay at LB.

Plenty of goals have come from our midfield and wide players so far this season with only Baptiste Santamaria failing to score of the regular starters. Le Fee has 1, Iwasaki 2, Bourigeaud has 3, Blas and Lukebakio 6 each, 7 for Rieder and 8 each for Terrier and Gouiri. I like that the goals are being shared around the team and that we're not solely reliant on one goal scorer. 

Kalimuendo has struggled in front of goal so far with just 2 goals from 14, 13 of those have been starts. Yildirim on the other hand has been brilliant, scoring 8 goals and registering 4 assists from 15 appearances, only 7 of those have been starts.

We're lining up with a pretty standard 4-2-3-1 formation, but it's really suiting the players at the minute so we're not going to change much.

December is going to be a tough month, however we have home advantage in 4 of the 5 matches. Reims are next up as we try to go within 3 points of leaders PSG, then a trip to Le Havre in midweek before the big one at home to PSG. We then welcome Braga in our final League Phase match of the calendar year in the Europa League before the visit of Nantes to end 2024 ahead of the winter break. 

[Carambau]

Great start into the season! Keep it up  

[danmcconnell1]

1 hour ago, Carambau said:

Great start into the season! Keep it up  

Cheers man, found it difficult (boring) with Chelsea so decided to go with a club not quite so well known and try to challenge the elite in France and beyond.

Edited September 25 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

          

December 2024

The festive month is upon us in France and it's a busy one with 5 matches in the space of 15 days. We began with the visit of Reims to Raozhan Park and we got back to winning ways domestically with a 5-1 win against the side managed by Englishman Will Still. Dodi Lukebakio scored 2 while Rieder, Santamaria and Kalimuendo all scored to give us a resounding win. Next up was the only away match of the month against Le Havre and definitely the most frustrating of my tenure so far. We took the lead through Terrier then went 2-1 down before the break. Goals from Kalimuendo and Gouiri turned it around and we led with less than a quarter of an hour remaining, however more late drama was to come as the home side scored twice late on to steal the 3 points from us. Really frustrating as a win against Le Havre would have seen us go into the top of the table clash next against PSG just 3 points behind, however we went into it with a 6 point gap. That quickly became a 9 point deficit as PSG swept us aside with ease as we rolled over and lost 4-0. We did get back to winning ways soon after with a solitary goal to nil win over Braga in the Europa League thanks to Benjamin Bourigeaud's strike from outside the area. The month ended with the Breton derby against a Nantes side who did brilliantly last season finishing 4th, however are having a shocker this time around and are bottom of the table at the midway point of the season. We thrashed them at home 4-0 with goals coming from Blas against his former club, Yildirim, Pepe and Lukebakio from the spot. That win did our goal difference a huge favour and cancelled out the 4 we conceded against PSG earlier in the month.

We remain 2nd in the table but the gap to PSG has widened significantly this month to 9 points. A win against Le Havre would have seen it drop to 6 and give us confidence going into that clash with the champions however, the defeat away from home really dented our chances heading into that match and so it proved to be our undoing. We've recovered well though and can realistically hope to challenge PSG this year as they haven't been perfect themselves either. I'm sure they'll drop more points as the season continues, it's up to us to try and make up those points with plenty of wins ourselves.

We remain in 2nd in the Europa League League Phase also this time behind Chelsea. We've won all of our matches so far as have the Blues, we're the only 2 sides with 100% records in the competition. The League Phase concludes next month.

The Coupe de France sees the bigger sides enter in the 9th round at the beginning of January and we've not got a kind draw. We welcome PSG again to Raozhan Park on the 5th in our first match after the Christmas/winter break. We have 2 long distance trips in the Europa League too as the League Phase comes to a close, we travel to Bulgaria to take on CSKA Sofia then Cyprus to take on APOEL. Sandwiched in between those matches is our only Ligue 1 fixture of the month at home to Auxerre, as side we will want to beat this time after only drawing against them away from home earlier in the season.

 

Edited September 25 by danmcconnell1

[Hootieleece]

Always have a soft spot for a French save.

[danmcconnell1]

8 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Always have a soft spot for a French save.

Noticed they'd never won a French title so that's the aim!

[danmcconnell1]

       

January 2025

With the start of a new year comes new opportunities and challenges. We come back from the winter break refreshed ready to play in 3 different competitions with plenty of optimism after what's been a brilliant first half of the season. 

Things didn't get off to the best of starts though as our defence of the Coupe de France saw us knocked out by PSG with a whimper in the 9th round, losing 3-1 at home. Bertug Yildirim did score for us but it was only a late consolation. We had another 2 and a half week break before the trip to Bulgaria to take on CSKA Sofia where we won 3-1, Terrir, Bourigeaud and Iwasaki with our goals on the road. Next up was the visit of Auxerre in our only Ligue 1 fixtures of the month, we beat them 2-0 thanks to a Dodi Lukebakio brace. The final match of the month was also the final match of the Europa League League Phase which saw us travel to the Cypriot city of Nicosia to take on APOEL. We won a tight match 1-0, Iwasaki with the only goal.

We did what we could this month in the league by winning our only match against Auxerre, however we are now 12 points behind leaders PSG. We do however have a game in hand though, so that lead could be cut to 9 if we can win it.

Our League Phase in this year's Europa League couldn't have gone any better. We finished 2nd overall, only on goal difference to Chelsea as both of us won all 8 matches we played, guaranteeing a top 8 finish which means progression straight into the last 16, bypassing the playoffs in February which is great news for our calendar.

January is always a hive of activity as the transfer window is of course open. We did a fair bit of business too, let's look at who left the club this month first.

We've had some very important players leave us this month, but have generated a wealth of funds in order to replace them either this window, or in the summer. First out of the door was 3rd choice keeper Gautier Gallon who joined Braga for £1.2m. The first big name out of the door was Amine Gouiri who's joined Spurs in a deal which could reach £64m, with £49.5m of that upfront. Once he'd caught wind of Spurs' interest he told me he wanted the move, so it made sense to get as much as we could for Amine. I wish him the very best of luck as he's been great since I arrived. Joel-Emmanuel Coulibaly joined Paris FC on loan, Mathis Lambourde went to Padova while Mervin Gbeme and Steeve Mvodo Mvodo both joined AC Ajaccio, all of those are straight loan deals. The next big name to leave trod the same path as Gouiri to Spurs in a big deal. Fabian Rieder was another one who, once he'd heard that Spurs were interested, wanted the move, so again we negotiated a great deal for the club which could see us get up to £69m, with £53m of that upfront. Rieder is another who was a brilliant player for me, however we just can't compete with Spurs on a financial footing at the minute so were powerless. I wish him the best of luck too. Guela Doue joins Juve Stabia in Italy on loan until the end of the season while another goalkeeper way down the pecking order left the day before deadline day in Alfred Gomis. The club invested heavily into Gomis back in 2020, spending £14.25m on him from Dijon, however he's left after a few loan spells away for just £1.5m to Almeria in Spain. Flavien Soumenat joins EA Guingamp on loan while another of the regular starters, Martin Terrier joins Aston Villa on loan. Initially it's a £400k loan deal, however there is a clause in that deal which could see Terrier sign for up to £38.5m. He came to me and told me he would not be considering a new contract with Rennes as it expires in the summer of 2026, so we explored the possibility of him leaving in this window, with the hope of actually selling him in the summer. However, with big figures being banded around in this window, it made sense to take this potential deal now in the hope Villa activate it in the summer, than potentially lose him for less at that time in another deal. He's been another brilliant player for me though and I wish him the best in the Premier League. Kelian Baruti Liamba has joined Dunkerque in a deal worth up to £60k while Alan Do Marcolino was the final man out in January, he joins Nimes for a maximum of £110k.

After the departures of Gouiri, Rieder and Terrier in this window, we needed to replace not only their positions but also their goals in the team. 

The least Spurs could do was loan us a player to replace one of the 2 they spent so heavily on and that's exactly what they did. Manor Solomon joins us until the end of the season with a view to buy for £5.75m at the end of the loan deal. He's a winger who predominantly plays from the left but can play centrally or on the other side too, he's a decent player who showed glimpses of what he can do at Fulham a few years ago but hasn't really been given much of a chance at Spurs so far. Hopefully some first team minutes will help get his career back on track.

Again, Villa took Terrier off our hands, so we've taken Coutinho off theirs. Another loan deal until the end of the season sees us have the opportunity to sign him at any point during the loan for £6m. I feel it's unlikely that we'll be keeping Coutinho though, his wages are high and he's 32 now with not a great injury record, he's here as a short term solution unless he pulls up lots of trees between now and the end of the season. Still a very talented player with a lot to offer, but I currently don't see Phillipe staying beyond the summer.

Jonathan David is a player I'd been trying to sign since he entered the last 6 months of his contract with Lille at the end of December. He was hellbent on waiting until the summer before deciding on his future, however once we agreed to speak to Lille regarding a transfer in this window, he was open to talking to us about a move now. We got him for a cut price £10m on deadline day which I still believe is a fair price albeit slightly on the high side considering he's out of contract this summer. He can play anywhere across the front though so will be a great option to have considering we've lost a lot of goals in the team in this window. He has 4 goals in 15 for Lille so far this season.

As Martin Terrier left very late in the day on deadline day, we needed a replacement and quickly. Ernest Nuamah is a player I'd been tracking for a while, then when I saw he was interested in the move, decided to pounce. He joins from RWD Molenbeek in Belgium for an initial £18.5m which could rise to £24m for the Ghanian international. Again, another wide man who can play upfront if required, he's a player I'm really excited to work with.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis isn't on the list above as he's still currently at Manchester City, however he will be joining us upon the expiration of his contract in the summer. He's a player I know well and will absolutely bolster our ranks at CB from next season. I'm very excited about Taylor joining.

Another deal we confirmed for next summer is for Mason Greenwood from Manchester United. I've mentioned this on another thread, I like to keep FM as an escape from reality, so any prejudice against him is put aside when on FM, as I believe it should be. For what it's worth, in real life, I wouldn't touch the guy with a barge pole. In FM however, he's still an exciting player and one I'm very happy has agreed to join us. 

4 league matches are ahead of us in February, I'm not 100% sure when the Europa League last 16 begins, however the playoffs will take place this month, so we may begin the last 16 towards the end of February, or at the very least know our opponents by the end of the month.

[danmcconnell1]

February 2025

After the raft of transfers towards the end of the transfer window, our first match was a trip to Lens where we were battered 3-0. I gave 4 debuts to Coutinho, Solomon, David and Nuamah and it was perhaps too many in one go as we looked disjointed up top and without an out and out striker as both Yildirim and Kalimuendo are both out injured. We responded well the following week though as we completed a double over Marseille, this time at home winning 2-0. Ludovic Blas opened the scoring then Coutinho scored his 1st goal for the club just 3 minutes later. Then came the most frustrating match by far of my tenure, a 3-3 draw with Lyon. We were 3-0 up thanks to goals from Coutinho again, Nuamah's 1st for the club against the side he spent last season on loan at, then Lukebakio rounded off the scoring with 17 minutes left as we were seemingly strolling to another 3 points. Lyon equalised a couple of minutes later but didn't look too much of a threat until they were awarded a penalty in the 92nd minute, dispatched by Lacazette. Romero then went on a mazy run and poked it past Mandanda just 2 minutes later to equalise for the home side and we were forced to share the spoils. I really wasn't happy with our defending late on in this one. We did respond well again to this disappointment with a 3-1 home win against Brest back at Raozhan Park. Solomom scored his first 2 goals for the club, whilst Caleb Okoli, a summer signing, also opened his account for us.

2nd place seems to be all that's left to play for realistically this season with PSG steamrollering opponents at will since the new year. We're 14 points behind them and 2 clear of OGC Nice with 11 games remaining.

We begin March with 2 away trips, first to Lille then a trip to Utrecht who are our opponents in the last 16 of the Europa League. We're then back at home against Montpellier in between the 1st and 2nd legs against Utrecht before we end the month with another 2 away trips either side of the international break against Strasbourg, then a big match in the race for 2nd as we look to complete a double over our closest rivals OGC Nice.

[danmcconnell1]

       

March 2025

As the green shoots of Spring are upon us, we approach the business end of the season. We began with a 2-2 draw away at Lille, Okoli making it 2 in 2 for him, then David scoring in the 95h minute on his return to the Stade Pierre Mauroy to steal a point for us. Another 2-2 draw came 4 days later in the Europa League Round of 16 1st leg away at Utrecht. Coutinho and David again with our goals in the Netherlands. Just a 3 day break this time as we welcomed Montpellier to Raozhan Park but we fell to a 2-1 defeat making the beginning of March a struggle so far. Coutinho gave us the lead in that one but the visitors struck twice later on to turn it around. Then came the visit of Utrecht in the 2nd leg and we beat the convincingly 3-1. Santamaria scored early which really settled the nerves before Yildirim and Iwasaki, both off the bench, scored late on to ensure our progression into the quarter finals. The biggest shock in this round though came up in Glasgow as Celtic knocked out Chelsea. Their 2nd leg finished 2-2 on the night, 3-3 on aggregate and it went to a mammoth penalty shoot out which Celtic ended up winning 14-13 to knock the Blues out. They were arguably the favourites for the competition so to see them go out was great news for all of those that remain in it. We then travelled to the Alsace to take on Strasbourg in our penultimate match of the month and again, won well there as it finished 4-1 to us. Solomon, Nuamah, Seidu and Kalimuendo with our goals on the road. Once the international break had come and gone, we travelled to the Riviera to take on OGC Nice in what was dubbed a battle for 2nd place. We were comfortable against Nice again though beating them 2-0 with goals from Nuamah and Blas meaning we'd recorded a league double over arguably our closest rivals in terms of league position this season.

The poor start to the month did see us drop to 3rd for a while, however the win against OGC Nice has seen us move back into 2nd, albeit level on points with them. Our goal difference is significantly better than theirs too. We're still 13 points behind leaders PSG though, so it looks like they'll be lifting the title again with relative ease.

We've been drawn away to Fiorentina in the Europa League Quarter Finals for the 1st leg, meaning the 2nd will be back at our place, something I always like, having home advantage in the 2nd leg. We know all about the side from Florence having already taken them on this season in the League Phase in what was a thrilling match at the Artemio Franchi as we won 4-3 back in November, so we know what they can do. 

This is how April looks. We take on Toulouse at home to begin the month before our 2nd trip to Florence this season to take on Fiorentina in the Europa League Quarter Final 1st leg. Then comes a trip to the principality to take on Monaco before we welcome Fiorentina 4 days later for the 2nd leg. We then welcome Metz in a rearranged game on the following Monday night back in Ligue 1 before a trip to Reims to end the month.

[danmcconnell1]

       

April 2025

April didn't quite go to plan unfortunately. We began brilliantly with a 5-2 win against Toulouse at home, Nuamah, Coutinho, Bourigeaud from the spot then again 4 minutes later, then Matusiwa rounded off the scoring. We travelled to Florence to take on Fiorentina and were rolled over, losing 3-0 giving us a huge mountain to climb in the return leg a week later. We then also lost away at Monaco 2-1, David scored to give us the lead but Les Monegasque turned it around to claim all 3 points. We almost did climb the proverbial mountain, beating Fiorentina 5-3 back at Raozhan Park, however a late penalty for Fiorentina was all the difference as goals from Santamaria, Nuamah, David, Coutinho and Iwasaki got us level at 5-5 before Omari conceded a penalty in stoppage time which Fiorentina scored to progress to the semi finals and curtail our European adventure for another year. We responded well against Metz though, winning 3-1 which was pleasing considering they beat us earlier in the season. David and Nuamah both continued their good goal scoring form whilst Lukebakio scored just before the break to make it 2. We lost our final match of the month as we travelled to Stade de Reims, losing 2-0 there.

PSG have confirmed another league title with our poor form this month. We do remain 2nd however, level on points with OGC Nice with a significantly better goal difference. We have also confirmed at least Europa Conference League football next season, however I'm hoping to finish 2nd as we have just 3 games remaining.

They're against Le Havre in our final home match of the season next, then trips to PSG and Angers SCO to end the campaign. I'm aiming for at least 6 points from these remaining fixtures. PSG are on the brink of a Champions League final beating Spurs 1-0 in the 1st leg, we play them immediately after the 2nd leg, so if they have made the final, hopefully they'll start to rest some players as they have some fixture congestion towards in this final month with 4 games left to play, plus the 2nd leg against Spurs and potentially a Champions League final too. They will also take on OGC Nice in the Coupe de France final once Ligue 1 concludes, so I'm sure their squad will be in need of some rotation during these final league matches which mean nothing to them now.

[danmcconnell1]

May 2025

We ended the campaign with the 6 points I was targeting. We narrowly beat Le Havre to begin May winning 2-1 in our final home match of the season, Nuamah and David both on the score sheet again continuing their good form. Lukebakio scored what turned out to be a consolation in a 5-1 drubbing at PSG, we have a lot of work to do if we're going to get anywhere near them again next season. Despite a promising 1st half of the season, results since the turn of the year haven't been as consistent, whereas theirs were, so they pulled away. We ended the season brilliantly away at already relegated Angers SCO though, winning 4-1 with another goal each for Nuamah and David, Solomon scored on what will probably be his final appearance for the club on loan from Spurs before Kalimuendo scored our final goal of the season.

We did confirm 2nd place in the league with the final day win over Angers. PSG won the league title by a 23 point margin. Nice finished 3rd while Monaco were in 4th claiming the Champions League spots. Lens and Toulouse qualify for the Europa League next season while Marseille have to settle for Europa Conference League football. Le Havre were unlucky not to make Europe after a late season fightback from Marseille confirmed their European place. Lille will contest the relegation play off against the Ligue 2 play off contenders, they currently consist of EA Guingamp, Lorient or Saint-Etienne. Angers SCO and rather surprisingly FC Nantes are relegated. Nantes, our Breton derby rivals, finished 4th last season and played in Champions League qualifiers in August but only made the Europa League League Phase. It's been a poor season for them and they'll now prepare for Ligue 2 football next season.

[danmcconnell1]

A little bit of personal news...

I was fortunate enough to have been named the Manager of the Season in Ligue 1. A really nice honour to have been named the winner in a league with some truly great managers, although none of what we've achieved could have been done without the players and their efforts, so I dedicate it to them.

Our victors Fiorentina lifted the Europa League with a 3-1 win over Manchester United in the final. Nico Gonzalez scored a dazzling hat-rick in the final at San Mames in Bilbao. Martinez did get one back for United despite Shaw being sent off but it was La Viola's night and they lift the Europa League for the first time. Their European record has been brilliant in the last 3 years, reaching the 2023 Europa Conference League final but losing to West Ham, they then reached the final of that competition again last season and beat SC Freiburg in Athens, now they've gone on to win the Europa League too, a truly great effort from Vincenzo Italiano and his team, they'll be playing Champions League football next season despite only finishing 6th in Serie A.

PSG also lifted the Coupe de France title, beating OGC Nice in the final. Kylian Mbappe scored a brace before a Nice OG sealed the victory for Le PSG. This is the first time since 2021 that PSG have lifted the trophy so they'll be pleased to have brought it back to the Parc des Princes.

[danmcconnell1]

This invitation was declined. I'll only be leaving Rennes if I'm sacked, then we'll have to rename the thread!

[danmcconnell1]

An interview offer from overseas this time and with Roma, declined again.

[danmcconnell1]

We have a new owner who's tasked with clearing the miscellaneous debt owed by the club which currently stands at £78m.

The club is generally in a healthy position though with a balance currently sitting at approximately £85.5m Income and expenditure is always large at this time of years with transfers taking place so it's wise not to read too much into those figures at the moment, from September-December and February-June show much more accurate figures.

[Hootieleece]

Basically, as long as the bank balance is positive July 1rst. You're doing alright. Sometimes it means you need a good season on the pitch or sell a few players to balance the books.

[danmcconnell1]

13 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Basically, as long as the bank balance is positive July 1rst. You're doing alright. Sometimes it means you need a good season on the pitch or sell a few players to balance the books.

Absolutely, seem to be a pretty well run club. Plenty of transfer business done with the view of making big profits in the future which I'll get onto in a pre season review shortly.

[danmcconnell1]

Pre Season 2025

The summer is always a busy time, however it's been a particularly busy one here at Rennes. Lots of incomings and outgoings in playing personnel but also at ownership level, let's see who's come in and firstly, left the club.

We did some outgoing business before the season officially ended in France which saw Christopher Wooh join recently relegated side Angers SCO in Ligue 2. He never really made too much of an impression and asked to leave, so it made sense to let him move on. We will receive a total of £3m for him. Ibrahim Salah spent last season with the Rennes 2 side and didn't really do very well, so we cashed in on him with a year left on his deal too. He joins Amiens SC for £675k. Adriano Oyegbule is a new signing who I'll get onto shortly, he'll be staying with the club we've signed him from in Basel for a year as part of the transfer deal.

Once the new season threshold had been met is where the majority of outgoing business was done. Youngster Flavien Soumenat joined EA Guingamp for £21.5k while Noah Le Bret-Maboulou joined them on a free. Guela Doue returned from his loan on the 30/6/24 but had agreed to join AC Ajaccio following the expiration of his contract the next day. Melvin Jambry also left on a free to join Gernoble. Bertug Yildirim was next to leave, he joins Osasuna in a deal worth up to £5.5m. I really liked Yildirim however he wasn't getting too much game time due to the form of David, Nuamah and Lukebakio and asked to leave the club. He did really well for me in my time here with limited game time, he made 66 appearances, 48 of those off the bench, scoring 21 goals across 2 seasons. Next out of the door was Yuto Iwasaki who moves back to his homeland of Japan to join Kashima Antlers in a deal worth up to £2.4m. We only signed him for £1.3m so that's a nice little profit for a player who didn't really stake a claim for a starting berth with us and with the arrivals this summer, wasn't going to get much of a look in, but we wish him the best going forward. Azor Matusiwa was the starting RB last season however his form tailed off pretty quickly, he did become a useful option off the bench though as he is a versatile player who can play at RB and in midfield. He's joined Brighton on loan for a £950k fee, however the Seagulls can make it a permanent deal at any point which would be worth £9m. Ismael Gharbi is another player who's joined us and left immediately out on loan, he's joined Cordoba in Spain in a loan deal worth £69k, we'll get onto him in the incomings round up. Martin Terrier's loan deal with Aston Villa came to an end and he re-joined the first team squad, however I was keen for him to look for another club with just a year left on his deal and no intention of signing a new one. There was a lot of interest in Martin, however the fee we could command was now significantly less than the one agreed in the loan deal with Villa back in January, and they knew it. The best we could get was £15.5m which a raft of clubs offered us, however he agreed to go back to Villa and the Premier League. Lucas Canizares leaves to join Casa Pia on loan which sees us get a £1m fee, then the final man out of the door so far is another of the summer arrivals going out on loan in Yannick Eduardo joining Turkish side Kasimpasa in a deal worth £675k.

We agreed 4 deals before the end of the season, the first of which was mentioned at the end of the outgoings round up. 

Yannick Eduardo joins us from RB Leipzig in Germany for £2.3m. The Czech international already has 3 caps for them and is an exciting talent, let's see how he gets on in Turkey this season.

Sverre Halseth Nypan is probably the player I'm most excited about signing this summer. The young Norwegian has the world at his feet and bringing him in from Rosenborg for just £2.6m could be the steal of the century. He'll be getting plenty of game time and just look at that value already, a maximum of £106m. He's certainly one we'll have to manage to ensure he fulfils his potential, but what a talent.

Adriano Oyegbule is another player mentioned above, he's joined from Basel for £7.25m but will remain with the Swiss side for another year on loan. The young German has youth caps so clearly has pedigree and staying on loan at a club he knows well will hopefully see him flourish this season.

Gabriel Misehouy is a player I tried to sign last summer when his contract with Ajax came to an end, however he decided to join Turkish side Goztepe. We later found out that there was a very low release clause in that contract of just £5.5m which we activated pretty much as soon as it came to light. He's another young player I'm really excited to work with.

We've already discussed the arrivals of Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Mason Greenwood earlier in the thread so I won't bring those up again.

As mentioned previouslyl, Ismael Gharbi has joined us on a free from PSG. The young Spaniard came through the ranks at the Parc des Princes however only made 9 appearances for them, he's still an exciting talent and aged just 21 there's plenty of time left for him to fulfil his potential. He's joined Cordoba on loan in the Spanish Segunda.

Tommy Doyle is another player who's joined on a free from Manchester City. Tommy looks like a cracking talent in midfield and I'm buzzing to have him with us, however we are pretty stacked in CM at the moment, so he's been allowed to leave on loan this season. There are identical offers on the table from Stuttgart, Getafe, Braga and Valencia, so we'll see where he ends up and how he does this season soon.

Guillaume Restes is a young keeper from Toulouse who's joined us for a fee worth an initial £30m which could rise to £40m. The 20 year old has all the makings of the future French number 1 and already has 18 caps for the Under 21's. Toulouse drove a hard bargain considering they're also in Europe this season so didn't have to sell, however we forked out enough money to get him and I am delighted.

Our new number 2 keeper is Alban Lafont from recently relegated Breton derby rivals FC Nantes. Alban is still young himself for a keeper at just 26, we got him for a cut price £6.25m. Steve Mandanda suffered an injury towards the end of last season which has really affected him and with Canizares not quite seemingly ready to challenge for the number 1 shirt, I felt it better for him to go out on loan. Restes is the number 1, Lafont number 2 and Mandanda 3rd choice.

Sergino Dest was released by Barcelona at the end of last season and failed to pick up a new club due to an injury he picked up towards the end of the season. This also meant his wage demands significantly reduced throughout the summer, one of the main reasons I've took a punt on him. He is injury prone, however if we can keep him fit, he could be a real asset.

The final man in so far this summer is Bafode Diakite from Lille. Les Dogues really struggled last season and only stayed in Ligue 1 by winning the relegation play off, so it wasn't a huge surprise when we learnt he was looking elsewhere. We agreed a deal worth up to £20m for him and am very happy to add further quality to our CB ranks.

[danmcconnell1]

Trophee des Champions

In a repeat of last season's meeting in the traditional curtain raiser in France, we travel to the Douera Sportpark Stadium in Alger, Algeria.

It was probably the craziest match we've had since I took over at Rennes. We ended up losing the match 6-4 but what a match it was, especially for the neutral. PSG were 2-0 up within 3 minutes as we were shocking at the start of the match, but Lukebakio got one back before Mbappe made it 3-1 after just 24 minutes. Kalimuendo then made it 3-2 against his former club before Lukebakio got his 2nd on the stroke of half time. Ludovic Blas gave us the lead 9 minutes into the 2nd half but goals from Mbappe, Zaire-Emery and a Kolo Muani penalty saw PSG flex their muscles to lift the trophy again. 

I'm not too worried despite PSG putting 6 past us, if we play like that this season then we will win a lot more matches than we did last time around and really put pressure on PSG at the top. 

[danmcconnell1]

On the eve of the new season, let's take a look at our opponents in the opening month of August.

We have a pretty tough start in terms of opponents. We travel to Lille on the opening day before our first home match of the season against Marseille. We travel to Monaco before Lyon at home to end August.

[Hootieleece]

2 minutes ago, danmcconnell1 said:

On the eve of the new season, let's take a look at our opponents in the opening month of August.

We have a pretty tough start in terms of opponents. We travel to Lille on the opening day before our first home match of the season against Marseille. We travel to Monaco before Lyon at home to end August.

I think I would be happy with 5 points from that start with a team still looking for all its new signings to gel. Even if you are the reigning runner's up of Ligue 1.

[danmcconnell1]

1 hour ago, Hootieleece said:

I think I would be happy with 5 points from that start with a team still looking for all its new signings to gel. Even if you are the reigning runner's up of Ligue 1.

Absolutely agree, lots of new players to bring into the side so 5 points would be a decent start against many of the bigger teams in the league.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2025

It was mentioned above that 5 points from the opening 12 would be a decent start considering our opponents, well we managed 8. A brilliant opening day win against Lille with goals coming from Lukebakio, David against his former club and Kalimuendo all within the opening half an hour. We drew our first home match at home against Marseille too, drawing 1-1 with Lukebakio scoring our equaliser in the 2nd half. We draw again in a brilliant match away at Monaco, it finished 3-3 there with our goals coming from Bourigeaud, Diakite with his first for the club then a last gasp equaliser from Kalimuendo again. Our final match of the month at home to Lyon saw us win 3-1. We fell behind early however Mason Greenwood scored a brace to turn the score line around before the break, then Blas scored late on to seal the 3 points and give us a decent start to the new season.

We sit in 4th after our first 4 matches. Still very early days, however both PSG and OGC Nice have 100% records, so I see them as our closest rivals again this season at the moment.

League Phase Draw

If I'm honest, I've seen easier League Phase draws, however we will absolutely relish the chance to play in the Champions League. We take on 4 Italian sides in AC Milan, Fiorentina, Internazionale and Napoli, 3 German sides in RB Leipzig, Borussia Monchengladbach and Stuttgart as well as English side Aston Villa in our 8 matches, the fixture computer certainly hasn't been kind to us.

In terms of further outgoings this summer, Jeaniel Belocian has joined German side Heidenheim on loan in a deal worth £1.9m. The LB is a great talent and I'm hoping will be able to show how good he is in a side who've surprised many in Germany over the last few years. New signing Tommy Doyle has joined Stuttgart, one of our Champions League opponents on loan in a deal worth £2.6m. As I mentioned earlier, we're very well stocked in central midfield, so Doyle will get his chance elsewhere this season. Junior Kroupi was named in the NxGen Top 50 back in March, however he's joined Reims on loan in a £1.1m deal for the season. I hope he can show how good he is in a top European league and come back to us with something to prove next season. Jibril El Baraka left for AC Ajaccio, the 3rd player to leave for Corsica in a £61k deal. Junior Ake joins SM Caen for £58k and Jeremy Jacquet has joined Sochaux on loan. The final man out was Lorenz Assignon who's joined Cadiz on loan, there's an option within that deal for Cadiz to sign Lorenz for £5.5m. That final deal saw us bring Azor Matusiwa back to Raozhan Park by recalling him from Brighton to ensure enough cover at RB.

I felt we needed some more fire power at the very top of the pitch so decided to bring in Hugo Ekitike on loan from PSG. We have an option to make the deal a permanent one next summer for just £2.2m so if he can score a few goals this season, it may well be a deal worth doing for such a small fee.

After bringing in Ekitike, I thought our business was done for the summer. However, seeing Olivier Giroud available for just £1.9m, despite his advancing years, I couldn't resist bringing him in. Still the record goal scorer for Les Bleus, Giroud has been chronically underrated throughout his career. He rose to prominence as Montpellier's star striker in their fairy tale title winning season back in the 11/12 season which earned him a move to Arsenal that summer. He was a regular goal scorer as well as scorer of extraordinary goals in North London before he joined rivals Chelsea back in 2018. As a Chelsea player he became a world champion with France winning the 2018 World Cup as well as Champions League winner in 2021 ahead of a move to Milan where he had 3 successful years, winning 2 Serie A titles and the Coppa Italia. I have no doubt Olivier will be a big part of our season and hopefully can knock in a few goals along the way too.

We begin next month against Giroud's former club in Montpellier away from home before a trip to the club he's just left, Milan at San Siro. Then come newly promoted Paris FC to Raozhan Park before we travel to take on the other Parisian side PSG at Parc des Princes. We end the month at home to RC Lens.

Edited September 26 by danmcconnell1

[Carambau]

Very strange draw... against FOUR italian and THREE german teams? I wonder if thats a bug maybe...

Apart from that - great progress there! Nice transfers and an unbeaten start into the league  

[danmcconnell1]

55 minutes ago, Carambau said:

Very strange draw... against FOUR italian and THREE german teams? I wonder if thats a bug maybe...

Apart from that - great progress there! Nice transfers and an unbeaten start into the league  

Yeah I thought the same, but not too fussed, I'm sure any bugs like that have been ironed out at this late stage of the FM24 life cycle. Should be a fun League Phase.

Thanks! Looking forward to seeing how they gel and hopefully a better season domestically this time around.

[danmcconnell1]

       

September 2025

After a promising start, we've got to keep up this momentum and try to give PSG more of a sustained challenge this year.

We began the month with a trip to Montpellier but could only manage a goalless draw there. We then travelled to San Siro to take on Milan in our first Champions League match of the season but were humbled 2-0, however didn't disgrace ourselves. 2 late goals from Leao and Okafor won it for the Rossonneri. We responded very well with a big 6-1 win over the lesser side from Paris at Raozhan Park, David with a brace, Giroud scoring his 1st goal for the club with Lukebakio, Blas and Ekitike off the bench to score his 1st goal too giving us a big 6-1 win. We then travelled to the Parc des Princes to take on PSG, however lost by a 1 goal margin thanks to an Angel Di Maria strike. It was a tight affair and we were unlucky to not come away with a point after restricting PSG to mainly efforts from outside of the box. We did manage to get another win before the month was out at home to RC Lens, Giroud with the only goal after just 2 minutes.

We remain in 4th after 8 league matches so far on 15 points, our only defeat coming away to PSG so far. 

We sit 29th in the League Phase of the Champions League, however play on the 1st October away to Fiorentina so have the chance to move up the table imminently. Still very early days in this competition as well.

We sold young GK Dogan Alemdar to Antalyaspor for a fee worth £325k. He wasn't good enough for us so it made sense to cash in and allow him to progress, we wish him the best.

As mentioned above, October begins with a trip to Fiorentina in the Champions League. They were of course our topplers in last season's Europa League quarter final, however we did beat them in last season's League Phase in that competition, so we know we can beat them, it's whether we turn up on the night. Then it's Metz away before the international break. We return with 3 home matches to end the month against Strasbourg in Ligue 1, then Inter in the Champions League before welcoming Le Havre at the end of the month.

[Hootieleece]

Your goal for the season is to acquire 68 points like last season. 2 points/match will generally get you Champions League Football. That money will help you create a team that is capable of toppling PSG.

[danmcconnell1]

2 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Your goal for the season is to acquire 68 points like last season. 2 points/match will generally get you Champions League Football. That money will help you create a team that is capable of toppling PSG.

I believe we have the foundations in goal, midfield and up top to create a side that can challenge them within a couple of years. The extra revenue generated with Champions League football will mean there's more to spend on the defence going forward as I believe that's where we're weakest currently and it's hurting us. My aim is to better last season's tally, then keep doing that year on year.

[danmcconnell1]

       

October 2025

October began with the trip to Florence to take on Fiorentina in the Champions League, however we fell to a Biraghi penalty, losing 1-0. We won by the same score line though in our 1st league match of the month away at Metz, Bafode Diakite scoring his 2nd for the club since joining from Lille in the 88th minute in a tight match. After the international break, we faced Strasbourg in the first of 3 matches at home in a row. We beat them comfortably 4-1 in the end, Halseth Nypan scoring his 1st for the club on the stroke of half time, then Le Fee scored his 1st of the season as did Seidu then Misehouy completed the rout with his 1st Rennes goal too. Next up came Inter in the Champions League, however we lost by the same score line that we won by at the weekend, Giroud scoring his 1st European goal for us since joining. Giroud then scored the only goal in the league win over Le Havre, scoring just before the break in another cagey affair.

Domestically, it's been a perfect month, 9 points from 9 which sees us move up a place into 3rd on 24 points after 11 matches. PSG have already opened up an 11 point gap over Nice in 2nd though, 12 clear of us too.

A special mention for Mbappe too, he's scored 17 league goals already in just 12 league appearances, add to that 10 assists in the league already too. That's 29 goal involvements in just 12 matches, he could be in for an outstanding season after failing to hit the heights last time around.

Speaking of failing to hit the heights of last season, we're struggling in Europe. We of course expected a step up in terms of quality and have had a difficult opening 3 matches on paper all against Italian opposition, including both Milan clubs, however we rolled over against Inter and didn't really threaten Fiorentina in Florence either, despite the score line looking tight. 

We face Brest in the other Breton derby at the beginning of November who've just appointed a new manager in Jon Dahl Tommason who'll be looking for a perfect start against us so we need to be wary of the new manager bounce at Stade Francis-Le Ble. Then it's another difficult looking away trip in the Champions League as we take on RB Leipzig. After that we take on OGC Nice in Ligue 1, that's a game we could really do with continuing our decent league form before the international break. Then once we return it's a trip to newly promoted Troyes before welcoming Napoli in the Champions League, the forth and final Italian opponents in our opening 5 matches in the League Phase for us. The month ends at home to Toulouse in the league.

[danmcconnell1]

Another interview declined, this time from Sevilla.

[danmcconnell1]

       

November 2025

Some personal news to begin November's update.

I've signed a new 5 year contract with Rennes, keeping me at the club until 2030. Delighted to have signed and hope to continue what's been a great adventure so far with Rennes.

Another big piece of news is that we've agreed a deal to bring the very exciting talent Yamine Lamal to Rennes from Barcelona in a deal worth up to £25m which in my eyes is an absolute steal. Yamal is widely regarded as one of, if not the, biggest young talent in world football at the moment and he was growing frustrated at Barcelona with his game time being limited which was affecting his international aspirations, I'm more than happy to bring him in and give him the game time he wants. We may well need to allow 1 or 2 to leave in January, not for financial reasons though, we're pretty stacked at the top of the pitch so in order to keep everybody happy, something will have to give.

Domestically, we've been outstanding again. We beat Brest 4-3 away from home with Giroud scoring a brace, David and Bourigeaud with the others in a tight 4-3 win against the league's bottom club. It's in Europe where things just aren't happening for us. A 5-1 drubbing in Germany against RB Leipzig despite Lukebakio opening the scoring. We responded brilliantly to that disappointment though with a 6-3 thrashing of OGC Nice with Nuamah, Giroud, Halseth Nypan, Blas, Misehouy and Kalimuendo all on the score sheet to give us a vital 3 points in the title race. Then came a routine win at Troyes after the international break, Halseth Nypan and Nuamah again scoring with Le Fee adding another late on. Another defeat came soon after though in the Champions League at home to Napoli as we lost 2-0 against the side who are League Phase leaders at the moment. Again though, we responded well to European disappointment with a 4-1 thrashing of Toulouse at home, Bourigeaud, Blas and a Nuamah double giving us 12 points from 12 in the league this month.

We move up another place in Ligue 1 to 2nd, however are still 9 points away from leaders PSG.

We're really struggling in the Champions League, no points from 5 matches, we're one of 6 clubs yet to pick up a point. Tough times so far but we have 3 games to save our skin and try to qualify for the play off round.

4 matches in a busy first half of December before the winter break, we travel to Reims to kick things off before welcoming Auxerre. Then it's a trip to Villa Park in the Champions League to take on Aston Villa, it'll be good to see Martin Terrier again there. Then the final match before the winter break sees us welcome Lille.

[danmcconnell1]

       

December 2025

We travelled to Reims for the first match of the festive month of December and took a very early lead through Halseth Nypan again but the home side equalised in the 2nd half to take a share of the spoils. We were brilliant against Auxerre though 3 days later, winning 4-1 back at home thanks to goals from Okoli, Greenwood, Halseth Nypan again continuing his brilliant form then Giroud scored the 4th. We lost again in the Champions League away at Aston Villa by a solitary goal to nil, we've been really disappointing in Europe this season and the best we can hope for now is a miracle to finish in the top 24. However, we did win our final match before the winter break, beating Lille 4-1 back at home again, this time goals coming from Giroud, a David brace then Nuamah rounded off the scoring to seal a comfortable win.

Another good month for us domestically, however we haven't been able to make up any more points on leaders PSG who remain 9 points clear.

Our dismal European form means we are now one of just 5 sides to have lost all 6 League Phase matches so far. It's highly unlikely we're going to be in the Champions League knockout stages now.

We begin the new year with the Coupe de France 9th round tie against Solidarite Scolaire, a team based in Guadeloupe which means we have a long trip to the Caribbean. Below shows the kind of distance we'll be travelling for this match up. It's actually worked out pretty well for us, we have over 3 weeks to prepare for the fixture, then more than 2 weeks until our next match against Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League, so we have plenty of time to recover from the long trip. We then take on Monaco back in Ligue 1 before welcoming another German side in Stuttgart in our final League Phase match in the Champions League. We end the month with a trip to Lyon.

[danmcconnell1]

       

January 2026

So after a nice break and lots of R & R over the Christmas period, we travelled to the Caribbean to take on Guadeloupean side Solidarite Scolaire in the 9th round of the Coupe de France. We were comfortable after scoring all 3 of our goals inside the opening 10 minutes, Omari, Doue and Misehouy on the score sheet. The home side did score a consolation late on, however we progressed to round 10 where we were drawn away again, this time however against Thonon Evian Grand Geneve. We faced them 2 weeks on and thrashed them 6-1. Lamine Yamal scored his 1st goal for the club within the opening minute of the match before Kalimuendo doubled our lead. Lukebakio scored from the spot before Blas, Misehouy again then the veteran CB Pepe, still going strong aged 42, rounding off the scoring to send us to round 11. Then came our penultimate League Phase match in the Champions League at home to Borussia Monchengladbach. It was unfortunate for us that the action the evening before meant we were out of Europe before kick off, so the shackles were off somewhat and it showed. We thrashed the German side 5-2, Lukebakio, Le Fee, Misehouy with his 3rd in as many matches this month, Greenwood then a late Giroud goal rounded off the win. Then came our first of just 2 Ligue 1 matches this month at home to Monaco who were surprisingly poor as we beat them 3-0 at Raozhan Park. Greenwood scored early for us, then very late Misehouy and Bourigeaud goals, the former of those 2 players making it 4 goals in 4 this month across 3 different competitions. Stuttgart were our final League Phase opponents and we made it consecutive wins in our final 2 matches in the League Phase, Dodi Lukebakio scoring a hat-rick in a 3-2 win, at least giving us some respectability in the final League Phase standings. We ended the month away to Lyon in Ligue 1 and managed a 2-2 draw there. Both of our goals were equalisers scored by Blas and Nuamah, the latter was an absolute screamer.

The points we dropped against Lyon in the final match of the month means that PSG have now moved 11 points clear, just emphasising how difficult it will be to topple the juggernaut that is PSG. They take advantage of any error at the right time and exert their superiority whenever they need to. We remain in 2nd place sitting 4 points clear of OGC Nice.

We ended up with 6 points from our 8 League Phase matches, finishing 30th in the 36 team table. The biggest surprise was seeing Atletico Madrid knocked out.

I mentioned Nuamah scored a screamer against Lyon and so it was recognised as goal of the month. 

We remain in Lyon for the 11th round Coupe de France tie before welcoming Montpellier in Ligue 1. We then take on both sides from the capital, Paris FC in the city of love before we welcome PSG the following Friday night in what will be the parameter as to whether or not we can realistically catch them this season. Win and they're vulnerable, lose and it's theirs.

[danmcconnell1]

Transfer Window - January 2026

There was only one arrival this January which we've already updated on in the exciting Lamine Yamal joining the club. In terms of outgoings, Yoan Akwa, Gaspard Gros, Mathis Lambourde and Anthony Petitjean all went out on loan for the remainder of the season to US Orleans, Saint-Etienne, Clermont Foot and Concarneau respectively. Desire Doue was the man who was told he could leave the club on loan for more game time between now and the end of the season and he's joined Augsburg in the Bundesliga for a loan fee worth £1.3m. The only permanent departure this month saw Djibril Diallo leave for Sochaux on deadline day in a deal worth up to £105k.

[danmcconnell1]

       

February 2025

It's been the perfect month for us, beginning with the 11th round Coupe de France tie away at Lyon. Just 3 days on from the 2-2 draw in Ligue 1 at Groupama Stadium, we managed a 2-1 win this time thanks to goals from Greenwood and a winner from Lukebakio with 12 minutes to go. That 11th round win set up a quarter final against Monaco at the end of the month at Raozhan Park. We continued the good feeling with a brilliant 5-1 win at home to Montpellier, although we were 1-0 down at the break. Misehouy continued his brilliant form with a brace to turn the score line around in our favour before late goals from subs Lukebakio and Greenwood, Dodi scoring a 2 as well, gave us a resounding 2nd half come back and another 3 points. We then travelled to the capital to take on bottom club Paris FC and recorded a routine 2-0 win, Santamaria and Greenwood with the goals there. We then welcomed the champions to Raozhan Park 5 days later and arguably recorded the biggest result since I arrived at the club, especially in Ligue 1. We absolutely dominated PSG as we demolished them 4-0. Misehouy opened the scoring with yet another goal, he's had a brilliant start to 2026 before a Marquinhos OG gave us a 2-0 lead before the half hour mark. In truth, PSG barely laid a glove on us and we put some extra gloss on the score line with 2 late Mason Greenwood goals completing the rout and giving us an enormous result. Another 4 days passed before we took on Monaco in the Coupe de France quarter final and again, we beat them 2-1 with goals from Seidu and Halseth Nypan to ensure we had a perfect month and progress to the semi finals where we'll take on Marseille.

 

Despite thrashing PSG, it's still a very tough ask to catch them this season. They have already played on the weekend which coincides with the end of February, therefore we currently have a game in hand. If we win our next match, we'll move 8 points behind PSG with 10 games remaining. Not an insurmountable gap, but certainly a very difficult one to overcome, especially against a side out to ensure that, despite beating them, they're still the biggest fish in the pond.

As mentioned above, we will take on Marseille at Roazhan Park in the Coupe de France semi final. That match takes place on the 2nd April, so we have league matters to take care of throughout March.

After 4 goals in 3 appearances this month, including a brace against PSG, Mason Greenwood was named the Ligue 1 Player of the Month. Dodi Lukebakio's efforts were not unnoticed either as he finished runner up for the award with his 2 goals and 2 assists this month too.

We have four league matches before the first international break of the calendar year with just 1 of those at home. We begin with a trip to RC Lens before that home match against Metz. Then come 2 more away trips, first to Strasbourg, then Le Havre. We are in outstanding form having gone 17 league matches unbeaten now, that's a whole round of fixtures in this league without losing and we've lost just once so far this season in our first league meeting with PSG. We did of course get revenge this month, however the 5 draws we've recorded up to now are what's hurting our title challenge. 

[danmcconnell1]

March 2026

The 16 match unbeaten run came to an end against RC Lens which was really disappointing, losing 1-0 on the road. We responded with an outstanding 7-1 win over Metz the following weekend though, falling behind very early but for a Metz OG from Jerome Roussillon in just the 4th minute to bring us level. Dest scored his first goal for the club before Greenwood got another. Bourigeaud then Greenwood again got another 2 before the break to send us in at half time 5-1 up. Lamine Yamal made it 6 before Greenwood completed his first hat-rick for the club and rounded off the huge win. It was another disappointing result the following weekend though as we dropped more points away to Strasbourg, Giroud scoring an equaliser for us in the 72nd minute. We did respond with another win though to end the month away at Le Havre, Bourigeaud, Yamal and Giroud with our goal on the road there. 

PSG's lead is back up to double figures at the top of the table as they sit 10 points clear of us in 2nd. We should now better last season's points tally of 68 though which was a club record.

In some exciting news, Junior Kroupi was named the NXGN 2026 winner. Currently on loan at Reims, Junior has 9 Ligue 1 goals in 22 appearances this season, really showing why we invested in him and that talent has shone through as he wins the prestigious award. We have 4 players named in the top 14 of 50 players nominated for the award with Junior winning it, Lamine Yamal named 8th, Adriano Oyegbule who's on loan at the club we signed him from in Basel named 12th and Sverre Halseth Nypan named in 14th. It shows the wealth of young talent we have here in Rennes and I'm really excited to see these young players develop and hopefully become a force in French football.

Once we return from the international break, April begins with a huge Coupe de France semi final at home against Marseille. We have a decent record against L'OM since I took over so I'm really hoping we can continue that record and reach a 2nd final under my tenure. Just 3 days later we take on relegation candidates Brest in the Breton Derby. Then it's a trip to another side we've enjoyed playing against since I took over in OGC Nice. Troyes are our next opponents back at home before we end April with a trip to Toulouse.

[danmcconnell1]

       

April 2025

April has been full of goals both in our opposition's net but also in ours too. We've taken part in 5 brilliant games for the neutrals, but we definitely need to sure up the defence. We began with a disappointing defeat to Marseille in the Coupe de France semi final. We were 3-1 up after 54 minutes thanks to 1st half goals from Diakite and Giroud before Misehouy scored our 3rd, however a Marseille comeback sees them progress to the final where they'll take on PSG. In the league though, we have been brilliant this month, beginning with a 3-2 win in the Breton Derby against Brest at home. Bourigeaud with a double saw us go 2-0 up but for a Brest comeback to get it back to 2-2. Ernest Nuamah won the game for us late on though as we quickly got over the disappointment of losing the semi final just 3 days earlier. Next up was 3rd placed OGC Nice who we beat in a crazy game at the Allianz Riviera. Lamine Yamal, Lukebakio, Seidu and an Ernest Nuamah very late brace ended up winning the game for us by 5 goals to 4. We banged in another 5 against Troyes in our next match back at home thanks to an opening minute Lukebakio strike, Bourigeaud again, a Greenwood brace and an OG gave us a convincing 5-2 win. We ended the month away to Toulouse where again, we were clinical in front of goal with David opening the scoring before Toulouse went down to 10 men. Mason Greenwood then continued his good form in front of goal with a 2nd hat-rick of the season to give us a 4-1 win on the road.

PSG lost this month against Marseille in what was a dress rehearsal for the Coupe de France final which means as we were perfect results wise has bridged the gap to just 7 points, however we have just 3 matches remaining, therefore a PSG win against Monaco on the 1st of May will win the title for them again. I'm still happy with the season we've had though, we've absolutely become a force in this league and things can only improve again next season and hopefully, we can provide even more of a title challenge to PSG.

The Ligue 1 Player of the Month award was dominated by Rennes players with Greenwood winning the award after 5 goals and an assist this month in 4 matches. Bourigeaud also had a brilliant month scoring 3 and getting an assist while Lukebakio finished 3rd with 2 goals and an impressive 4 assists this month.

Whilst we still have an outside chance of winning the title we will of course do our best to go for it, however it's out of our hands. We end the season at home against Reims in our next match before trips to Auxerre and Marseille see out the campaign.

[danmcconnell1]

One more quick update, we made a couple of signings in April. 

Axel Kei joined us after being released by MLS club Real Salt Lake. The Ivorian Under 20 international certainly has raw talent, hopefully he can realise it. Aged just 18, there's plenty of time for him to do so.

We also brought in Renan Lodi following his release from Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. He'd been without a club since January and despite being on our radar for a while, his wage demands were way beyond what we were able to offer at the time of his release. It doesn't look like we were alone in that predicament though, so when we approached Renan again, his agent indicated he'd be willing to sign for a significantly lower weekly wage than he was originally looking for, so we offered him a deal which was agreed and he's now a Rennes player. We're not able to register him to play in the run in this season so he'll train with us and be around the squad for integration purposes before the summer break, then he'll be in and around the line ups next season.

[Hootieleece]

Is the Ivorian going to be loaned out or remain in the reserves for his development? It might be good to keep him in the Rennes 2 to create a possible HGC player for Champions League Registration.

Especially if he ends up good enough to make the fringe of the first team season after next.

[danmcconnell1]

8 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Is the Ivorian going to be loaned out or remain in the reserves for his development? It might be good to keep him in the Rennes 2 to create a possible HGC player for Champions League Registration.

Especially if he ends up good enough to make the fringe of the first team season after next.

Initially I was thinking about a loan and it's been promised as part of the sweetener for him to join, however, your point is a very good one in regards to HGC. Even when out on loan, does that not count toward a homegrown talent? 

Although, the talent we're harbouring already with the likes of Halseth Nypan, Kroupi and Lamine Yamal and with absolutely no plans to sell these, they'll be occupying those spots once they require registration I hope.

Still, very good idea in regards to Kei.

[danmcconnell1]

May 2026

Our season came to an end with 6 points from the final 9 available. We beat Reims convincingly in our final home match of the campaign 4-1, Lukebakio, Omari, Nuamah and Mason Greenwood with the goals as we recorded a pretty routine win. We lost away at Auxerre the following week though, only Lukebakio scoring from the spot before half time for us as we struggled there. We did respond brilliantly in our trip to the Orange Velodrome on the final day though, beating Marseille 3-1 thanks to 2nd half goals from Nuamah, Greenwood with his 20th goal of his debut season and Lukebakio making it 3 from 3 this month.

We finish the season in 2nd again, playing bridesmaids to the phenomenal PSG. We smashed our club record points tally set last season of 68, recording 81 this season which definitely shows progress was made this season in the league. I'm happy with the campaign as a whole domestically, we had a good league campaign and got to the semi finals of the Coupe de France which, in just my 2nd full season in charge, is a great achievement. We will always strive for more, of course, it has to be the ultimate aim, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and with the resources available to PSG both on the pitch and financially, we certainly pushed them this time around a lot harder than anyone has in recent years, despite the 10 point margin between us and them.

The Parisian side did exert their superiority once again domestically though, thrashing Marseille in the Coupe de France final at the Stade de France, winning it comfortably 4-0.

It's been a brilliant season for us and it shows in terms of stats too. Guillame Restes has cemented his place as number 1 in goal. He only kept 9 clean sheets all season though from 42 appearances, so we'll be looking to try and improve that number next year. Alban Lafont made 6 appearances in total as number 2 keeper, with veteran Steve Mandanda making 2 appearances in the earlier rounds of the Coupe de France.

In defence, Alidu Seidu has made the RB starting berth his own ahead of Sergino Dest, who's been a capable deputy in both full back positions throughout the campaign. Adrien Truffert is the starting LB however will have competiton next season with Renan Lodi being eligible and Joneil Donacien coming back to the club from his loan spell in Germany with Heidenheim. Bafode Diakite had a very good season, predominantly alongside Caleb Okoli in the first half of the season, but when he got injured Warmed Omari stepped in to claim the spot and was good for us. Seidu and Diakite scored 3 times, Omari twice, Pepe, Okoli and Dest all got 1 each. 

In midfield, we dominated the vast majority of matches this season. Benjamin Bourigeaud had a brilliant season for us scoring 9 goals and claiming 11 assists. Santamaria was his usual partner in the centre of the park, he managed 1 goal and 8 assists. Ludovic Blas scored 7 goals and got 13 assists while Enzo Le Fee scored 3 times. Sverre Halseth Nypan had a good breakthrough season too, scoring 6 goals and claiming the same number of assists too. In the wide positions, Greenwood started out there before moving centrally later in the campaign where he scored most of his goals, 20 in total as well as 10 assists in an outstanding debut season in France. Dodi Lukebakio had another great season, scoring 19 goals and claiming 20 assists. Gabriel Misehouy is another who enjoyed a brilliant breakthrough season, scoring 10 goals and assisting 4 in relatively limited opportunities, particularly from the start. Ernest Nuamah's 1st full season was good too, he scored 11 goals and claimed 8 assists in an injury hit campaign. Lamine Yamal only joined in January however made 15 appearances, scoring 4 goals and assisting 9 before his injury at the beginning of May. 

Up top, our main strikers were Jonathan David who scored 7 goals and claimed 5 assists. Arnaud Kalimuendo was another who had his injury woes, making just 22 appearances in total and only 10 starts, he only managed 5 goals. Finally, veteran striker Olivier Giroud certainly did well, scoring 13 goals and assisting 2 in 32 appearances, I'm really happy with his contribution this season, as is the French manager Rudi Garcia as he's called him up for the French World Cup squad in Canada, the USA and Mexico this summer. He will be 40 at the end of September and still has another year left on his deal.

Edited Monday at 21:09 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

Another job interview declined.

[danmcconnell1]

I publicly denied any interest in the Napoli job and told the press I was committed to Rennes, it didn't stop Napoli from approaching the club and agreeing a compensation package before offering me an interview though. For the purposes of this save I'm more than happy at Rennes, however I would love to get my hands on Kvicha Kvaratskhelia one day.

[danmcconnell1]

Pre Season 2026

On the eve of the Trophee des Champions against PSG, let's take a look at what's happened over the summer.

Firstly, we will have to deal with some retirements. Steve Mandanda (41), Pepe (43) and Olivier Giroud (39) all called time on their illustrious careers this summer. 

Mandanda was a brilliant keeper for me when I joined the club and held the number 1 spot until this time last year, winning the Coupe de France not long after I arrived, he's been a great servant to French football as a whole and retires having won a Ligue 1 title, 2 Trophee des Champions and 2 Coupe de la Ligue titles with Marseille, the Coupe de France with us and of course, the World Cup with France back in 2018.

Pepe was also outstanding for me, signing 2 years ago aged 41 on a free from Porto. He won a raft of trophies throughout his 25 year career, including 3 Champions League titles with Real Madrid and the European Championship with Portugal back in 2016. A true champion who was great for me making 57 appearances in his 2 seasons with us and scoring 3 goals.

Olivier Giroud retires still the top goal scorer in history for France, however Mbappe has matched his record and aged just 27 is going to beat it imminently. However, what a career for a player who bloomed later. He won the Ligue 1 title with unfancied Montpellier back in 2012 which earned him a move to Arsenal where he won numerous trophies before joining Chelsea. The trophy haul continued there as he won the Champions League and the World Cup with France in 2018 as a Chelsea player. A move to Milan brought more goals in Italy before a final soiree back in his homeland with us. His final season saw him make 32 appearances and score 13 goals. Another true champion and I was gutted he didn't reverse his decision to play on for one more year as he still has a lot to offer, but you can't be grudge a 39 year old hanging up his boots.

We've lost a lot of experience in those 3 men, so it'll be my job to replace them with players of the same ilk, however younger too.

We'll continue however with those that have left the club this summer. Jonathan David came to me asking for an entirely unrealistic new contract around the £150-£170k a week mark. We negotiated however were not able to meet his demands, so we explored the possibility of him leaving the club. Dortmund, Villa and Chelsea all offered the asking price of £41m and he decided to move to the Blues, making us a very tidy £31m profit after signing him just 18 months ago for £10m from Lille, I'm happy with the deal. Enzo Le Fee had fallen down the pecking order in midfield and was finding first team football difficult to come by, so we allowed him to move onto Lille for £11m, he's been a good servant to us however he deserves more game time. Rayan Bamba joined SO Armee on a free transfer. Alban Lafont had grown frustrated as number 2 behind Restes and asked for a loan deal, we were happy to oblige with Canizares coming back from his loan this summer, he's joined Arsenal with them picking up his very reasonable wage of £19k per week. 

Once the new season had officially begun, we allowed Diego Coutaduer to leave on a free to Angers SCO. Baptiste Santamaria had been brilliant for me since I arrived, however asked to move on for a new challenge, he's joined Real Sociedad in La Liga for £6.75m. Lorenz Assignon wasn't going to get near our first team hence the numerous loans he's been out on, we finally decided to cash in on him as he joins Bologna in a £3.3m deal. Young striker Yannick Eduardo has joined Dusseldorf on loan, returning to Germany where we signed him from RB Leipzig. He had a good campaign in Turkey last time out, let's see if he can continue his progression from a promising talent to first team player for us next season. We've agreed a £2.9m loan fee too, which is always nice. Desire Doue has also gone out on loan in a £1.3m loan fee to Sheffield United who're back in the Premier League this season, so it'll be a good test for him this year. Jonathan Do Marcolino has joined close rivals Nantes for £135k following their promotion back to Ligue 1, we have both Breton derbies to look forward to again this year as Brest stayed up after winning the relegation play off at the end of last season. Finally, so far, the last man out of the door was Sergino Dest. He's joined Wolfsburg for a fee worth up to £24.5m which, for a free signing last summer, is great business. He never really held down a starting berth and with the arrival of Renan Lodi and Donacian returning from his loan spell in Germany, we don't need the extra cover at LB either, so it made sense to let him move on and make a very decent profit in the process too. We've made around £90m from player sales so far this summer.

We haven't felt the need to reinvest all of that money, or at least not straight away.

Cathal Heffernan is a young Irish CB who's had spells with AC Milan and Newcastle, so I thought he must have something about him, despite being released by both now. He looks like he could turn into a decent option in the future, so to bring him in for nothing is a low risk move.

The first signing we made for a fee was to bring in Nordi Mukiele from PSG in a deal worth up to £12.5m He's a versatile defender who can play at RB and CB which is helpful following the departure of Dest, but also he can cover at CB too if required. He also cost less than half of what Dest has left for, so I'm really happy with the deal, plus he counts as homegrown, another bonus in Europe. 

Bringing in another GK wasn't top of my priority list this season, but when a keeper of Mamardashvili's quality is available for just £12m, it's a deal I couldn't resist. He comes from Valencia and is a brilliant keeper and will provide huge competition between the sticks this season to youngster Restes. I see no harm in healthy competition for the number 1 spot and hopefully both of them can push each other onto perform better this year. 

We've had a number of players return from loan deals this summer which is why the transfer business has slowed in this window. 

Canizares spent last season out in Portugal with Casa Pia, he'll be our number 3 keeper this year following the arrival of Mamardashvili.

Taylor spent the 2nd half of last season on loan at Montpellier and has come back a very much improved player for it. He'll be the Pepe replacement this year, something I'm really happy about having not had to spend any money this year on a replacement for the veteran, he'll get more chances this season for sure.

Jeanuel Belocian returns from Heidenheim after a good season with them and has also improved drastically. He'll be down the pecking order this year though with Truffert and Renan Lodi ahead of him at the moment, we may well see him depart on loan again this time around as I see him as a long term option for us for sure.

Tommy Doyle returns from a season with Stuttgart where he did well, he'll be the Santamaria replacement this year so will no doubt get game time. Again, really happy to have this kind of talent coming back to the club to replace older players who've departed.

Adriano Onyegbule did well following remaining with Basel after we signed him last summer and was named in the top 10 for the NXGN award. He'll be in and around the first team this year, however with a wealth of talent to choose from could find himself going out on loan again, we'll see.

The final returnee who'll be in the 1st team this season is the reigning NXGN winner Junior Kroupi. He spent last season on loan with Reims in Ligue 1 and did really well, scoring 9 times in 26 appearances for them. He's been handed the number 8 shirt following Santamaria's departure and will be another one who'll get his chance with us this year.

We have some other irons in the fire at the moment in terms of departures which if they happen I'll of course update on, however that's it for the business done so far this summer and we head into the Trophee des Champions to take on PSG for the 3rd season in a row, hopefully we can come out victorious this time.

Edited Tuesday at 12:06 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

Trophee des Champions - Stade de San Pedro, Ivory Coast

We've faced champions PSG in this match in the last 2 years and failed to win, hopefully this time we can put a marker down before the beginning of the new season to let PSG know we're going to challenge them this time around.

And we did exactly that. Despite falling 2-0 down before half time, we came out for the 2nd half like a team possessed. Nuamah and Greenwood got us back level before the hour mark, then Nuamah scored again with 22 minutes left to give us the lead which we held onto to win the club's first Trophee des Champions and really shock PSG who've had a strangehold on this trophy over the last decade and beyond. 

[danmcconnell1]

Some further updates on the eve of the new Ligue 1 season kicking off.

3 more players have left the club, the first of which was midfielder Ludovic Blas who's joined Saudi side in a deal worth up to £60m. He's been a very good player for me, however we can't turn down that kind of money for a 28 year old, so I'm more than happy to let him go. Youngster Ismael Gharbi has joined Pacos Ferreira in Portugal on loan for almost £50k. The most recent departure is that of Dodi Lukebakio. I was torn on letting him go as he's been such a brilliant servant to the club, however, West Ham offered a total of £64m guaranteed with £57m of that upfront, again, a club like ours can't be turning down that kind of money for an ageing player. Again, Dodi has been great for me, signing for just £6.25m from Sevilla two summers ago, 81 appearances, 33 goals and 33 assists later, he's made us an almost tenfold profit and got a chance to play in the Premier League too, best of luck to him, he's been great for us.

Following these deals I will be looking to dip our toe into the market again, but I won't be fooled into overspending on players just because we have the resources to do so. Any deal done will be done with the club's best interests at heart, however, to get upwards of £120m for 2 players, I'm buzzing.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2026

We of course had the brilliant win over PSG in the Trophee des Champions in the Ivory Coast and when PSG lost the league opener away at Marseille I felt we had another chance to really lay down a marker at the beginning of this new season, however we couldn't capitalise on the boost and lost ourselves at home to OGC Nice 2-0 in our first match. We responded well just 3 days later though with a 3-1 win in the first Breton derby of the season against newly promoted neighbours Nantes, Greenwood and Kalimeundo with our goals. We followed it up with another win on the road away at Toulouse, winning 4-1 there thanks to a Kalimuendo brace, Onyegbule and Doyle both scoring their first goals for the club too which was nice to see. However, PSG stole a march on us by beating us 3-0 back at Roazhan Park, meaning we've lost both home matches in the league so far, a brace from new signing Jamal Musiala and Mbappe rounded off the scoring. Another away trip brought another 3 points at the end of the month at Troyes though, Omari opened his account for the new season while Kalimuendo got another 2 to continue his impressive start to the new season after playing second fiddle to Giroud and Greenwood for the majority of last season. In fact, he managed 5 goals in all competitions last season, he's already matched that this time around in Ligue 1 alone.

After that relatively disappointing start, we find ourselves in 7th place after 5 matches. We're just 3 points behind PSG though having played the same amount of matches and 6 behind league leaders OGC Nice. We need to improve our home form and fast though.

 

Our League Phase fixtures were also revealed towards the end of this month and, whisper it quietly, I feel we've had a much kinder draw this time around. We take on Slavia Prague in our opener before another trip to the San Siro to take on Inter, just as we did at this stage last season. Then we welcome Bayer Leverkusen and Antwerp in consecutive home ties before a trip to Celtic. We take on Liverpool in our final home tie before the new year. The League Phase ends with trips to Spurs and Brondby in the new year. I'm by no means saying this will be an easy set of fixtures, far from it, but I feel as though we have a much better chance of picking up more points this year against the likes of Slavia Prague, Leverkusen, Antwerp, Celtic and Brondby. If we could possibly win those 5, that would be 15 points. In the two seasons where the League Phase has been introduced, as little as 9 points could be enough to see you into the play off round, so if we can be competitive in those matches I mentioned and remain unbeaten with at least 3 wins, I think we'll be in with a good chance of playing knockout Champions League football in the new year this season.

There has been further transfer business, however I will update on that in September following the closing of the transfer window.

[danmcconnell1]

Deadline Day Summer Window 2026

We did a little more business at the end of the summer transfer window.

Every other outgoing deal in the final month was a loan deal. Mathis Lambourde has joined Clermont Foot. Julien Boissier joined US Orleans in a £7k loan deal. Then Anthony Petitjean went to Dijon, Steeve Mvodo Mvodo to Niort, Joel-Emmanuel Coulibaly to VAFC, Cheikhou Tendeng to Clermont Foot also, then finally Gaspard Gros, a very promising youngster, has joined Bordeaux.

We brought in 2 more players this summer, the first of which is Matthias Braunoder in a £7.75m transfer from Austrian club FK Austria Vienna. He's a central midfielder which we needed following Blas' departure, I'm really happy with this deal. He's decent on the ball and has very good mentals, so I hope he can become an important player for us going forward.

The final man in saw us break the club's transfer record to sign Savio from Benfica. The young Brazilian joins for £58m which is huge, however he's a real talent and following the departure of Lukebakio, we felt like we needed one more option out wide and towards the top end of the pitch. He has electric pace and loves to take on his man out wide, I really think, even at the price, he could turn into a world beater.

[danmcconnell1]

       

September 2026

September got underway with a big 5-0 win over Le Havre thanks to a Kalimuendo brace, continuing his good start to the new season, Kroupi also scored a brace while Halseth Nypan scored as well. Another 5 goals at home came in our first League Phase match in the Champions League against Czech side Slavia Prague. Savio scored his first 2 goals for the club while Yamal, Kroupi and Diakite scored the others to give us a commanding start in this competition. We travelled to Metz next and were very disappointing as we fell behind 3-0 before half time. We battled in the 2nd half and scored two goals thanks to Kalimeundo and Savio however couldn't find an equaliser and fell to another defeat. Next up was another away trip, this time to the iconic San Siro to take on Inter in the Champions League. All 7 goals in this match were scored in the 1st half as we fell to a 4-3 defeat, giving the home side a really good game. Yamal with another got us level at 1-1 before Kroupi scored a brace to equalise twice too, however Inter ended up winning the game with a stoppage time goal in the 1st half. We responded to those 2 disappointing defeats well with a thorough going over of Reims to end the month though, beating them 4-0 with goals coming from Savio, Kroupi, Kalimuendo and Seidu.

We move up a couple of places to 5th despite losing one of the 3 league matches this month. We've lost 3 times already this season which is concerning, we need to start turning those into wins if we're going to challenge the leaders PSG again, they're already 6 points ahead.

Arnaud Kalimuendo has had a great start to the Ligue 1 season scoring 9 goals in our opening 8 matches.

We've started well in the Champions League too, currently sitting 13th in the 36 team League Phase with 6 matches remaining. We absolutely gave Inter a very good match and despite ending up on the losing side, I was happy with the performance at San Siro. Obviously the win over Slavia Prague was great for morale.

Kalimuendo has been named Ligue 1 Player of the Month with 4 goals in 3 matches while Kroupi was named 2nd best with his 3 goals and an assist.

4 matches in October, beginning with the visit of Lyon after the international break and then a trip to Montpellier, both in Ligue 1. The Champions League returns as we take on Bayer Leverkusen at home before the second Breton derby of the season already and the first for us at home against Brest.