danmcconnell1

January 2027 All in all, it's been a disappointing start to the new year. We faced 5 away matches in a row to begin the new year, beginning in the Coupe de France away to US Lusitanos Saint-Maur as we thrashed them, as expected, 6-0 with goals coming from Doyle, Harwood-Bellis with a brace, Greenwood, Bourigeaud and Yamal which set up a 10th round tie away at Monaco. Unfortunately we couldn't progress there and lost 3-1, Belocian scoring our only goal. We then went on to lose away at Spurs in the Champions League 1-0 before losing again, 4-0 this time away at PSG at the Parc des Princes. It's looking likely they're going to walk to the league title again now. Another disappointing result followed with a goalless draw in Denmark against Brondby IF, however it was enough to secure a play off spot. We got back to winning ways at the end of the month against struggling Troyes, Braunoder and Bourigeaud with the 2nd half goals. Despite the disappointing month, we did pick up 3 points from just 6 available, so remain in 4th with 14 matches to play. We're now 19 points behind PSG though. We scraped through by the skin of our teeth the play off round, finishing 23rd in the League Phase. A huge surprise was that PSG finished outside of the play off places so will play no further part in Europe's elite competition this season, a real blow to the French coefficient this year. The draw for the play off round is certainly not as kind as it could have been as we take on Arsenal next month with the 1st leg at home, the 2nd leg at The Emirates. There was outgoing business done this month with Caleb Okoli joining Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia for £12m. He'd grown frustrated with his first team football, or lack of it, so we felt it best to move him on. Jenslor Kiese joined Lorient for £150k while Matusiwa left for VTSC in Portugal in a loan deal worth £205k, it could be made permanent for £3m. Yoan Akwa joined Montpellier for £275k while youngster Axel Kei said he wanted to leave the club, he joined Reims for £190k. The final departure saw Renan Lodi join PSV in a deal eventually worth £12.25m After struggling for cover in CM this season, we felt the need to bring in extra reinforcements. Enter Ryan Gravenberch, our new £20m signing from Liverpool. The Dutchman's career hasn't really took off as many thought it would following moves from Ajax to Bayern and then Liverpool, I hope he can find a home in Rennes and become an important player for us. February is a busy month starting with a trip to Le Havre before we take on Arsenal in the Champions League Play Off 1st leg at Roazhan Park. We welcome Metz back in Ligue 1 next before travelling to London for the 2nd leg of the Play Off. Then comes a trip to Reims before we end the month with the Breton derby at home to Nantes.

Yep, we had the next round, so no need for a friendly

December 2026 A highly frustrating month domestically saw us draw all 3 Ligue 1 matches, beginning with a 1-1 draw away at Marseille, which wasn't a bad result in all honesty. Renan Lodi scored late to earn a point. We then recorded a huge win over Liverpool in the Champions League back at Roazhan Park. Alexis Mac Allister scored a 1st half hat-rick for the Reds as they went in at half time 3-2 up, Nuamah and Kroupi with our 1st half goals. Arnaud Kalimuendo scored a 2nd half brace to win the game for us though in what was a huge result in our fight to reach the knockout stages. Next up was Strasbourg at home in another disappointing result. Arnaud Kalimuendo equalised for us midway through the 1st half but neither side could find the decisive breakthrough. The month and year ended with another 1-1 draw on the road against a fellow European qualification rival in OGC Nice, Bourigeaud scoring yet another equaliser for us as we recorded a third 1-1 draw in a row. We remain in 4th half way through the Ligue 1 season, however we're already a huge 18 points behind champions PSG, I don't foresee a title challenge coming this year. That important win over Liverpool sees us in with a great chance of making the knockout play off round in February. We sit in 19th on 9 points with 2 games left, one of which is against Brondby which I expect to win, so even if we lose to Spurs, 12 points 'should' be enough to see us qualify. Youngster Lamine Yamal has won the prestigious Golden Boy award after 9 goals and 16 assists in 29 league appearances for us in the last year. He's been very good for us and settled into the team really well since joining from Barcelona last January. Another coveted award was won by Junior Kroupi as he win's Ligue 1's Revelation of the Year award after 7 goals in 28 appearances for both us and Reims in the last year. Another richly deserved award for Junior who's going from strength to strength with us this season. We return from the winter break with a trip to US Lusitanos Saint-Maur in the 9th round of the Coupe de France before the trip to Spurs in the Champions League a couple of weeks later. Then it's PSG away in Ligue 1, always a tough one before another away trip in the Champions League, this time to Denmark to take on Brondby in our final League Phase match. I'm banking on us winning there to all but secure a playoff spot. Our only home match of the month is against struggling Troyes at the end of January.

Absolutely, could do with him in the sticks for his former club Nice too which I've just played...

Again, more media hyperbole. I didn't rule myself out, however this is exaggerated.

The media have completely misinterpreted my comments here. Now, I did say to them I was open to discussions with Spurs, I feel that it would be a move I would relish, despite the good work I've done here with Rennes. However I definitely didn't say Spurs are a 'fantastic side' or that 'I could do a very good job' there. I'm open to moving on from Rennes and feel like Spurs would be a step up, but I'm not desperate as this media post suggests.

November 2026 November began with a convincing and comfortable 2-0 win away at Lille with Braunoder scoring his 1st goal for the club late on, then Kroupi made sure of the points. We then took on Antwerp and taught them a lesson in the Champions League winning 6-0 at home, Nuamah, Kroupi again, Kalimuendo, Savio with a brace and Bourigeaud rounding off a thumping win. Then came the first of three consecutive defeats though, starting with the 2-1 home defeat to Lorient, a really disappointing result. Greenwood equalised for us early in the 2nd half however we barely lay a glove on them after that and ended up conceding midway through the 2nd half which was enough for the visitors to take all 3 points home with them. Another defeat came on the road next away at RC Lens, losing 2-0 there. Then came another really disappointing result, losing 3-0 away at Celtic in the Champions League. We were really poor in Glasgow. However, despite those disappointing results, we responded brilliantly against 2nd place at the time Monaco at home, beating them 3-1. We fell behind early but Greenwood equalised before the half hour mark, then Yamal gave us the lead just 5 minutes later. Renan Lodi scored his 1st goal for the club too to ensure the 3 points midway through the 2nd half. Despite only taking 6 points from a possible 12 this month, we have moved up into 4th. PSG are on a mission again though and are already 12 points clear of us, 9 clear of 2nd place Monaco too. There's still a long way to go though. It was a month of contrasts in the Champions League after the huge win over Antwerp then undoing all of that good work by losing at Celtic. We do remain in top 24 though, currently placed 21st, which would be good enough for a play off spot in the new year. We take on Liverpool at home next before trips to Spurs and Brondby in the new year, so we still have a lot of work to do against difficult English opposition in particular before we confirm a top 24 spot. Just the 4 matches before the winter break in December. We begin with a trip to Marseille before the visit of Liverpool in the Champions League. We then welcome Strasbourg a few days later before travelling south again to Nice in our final match before Christmas.

October 2026 A very good month in the league began with a thrilling 4-3 win at home to Lyon. Savio gave us an early lead, however the visitors roared back and found themselves 3-1 up at the break. A crazy 6 minute spell between minute 59 and 65 saw us score 3 goals, Omari with a header from a corner before Ernest Nuamah scored a couple of screamers with each foot to give us the lead in a pulsating few minutes. We held on for what was a really important win not only in terms of the result but for morale again. Also, since signing Ernest Nuamah back in January 2025, he's appeared against his former club Lyon 5 times and scored 4 goals, he loves playing against his former club. Another win soon followed, this time on the road at struggling Montpellier. We beat them 4-2 thanks to goals from Savio and Nuamah again before Greenwood and Yamal both scored late off the bench. Our struggles in the Champions League continued however with a 3-2 defeat at home to Leverkusen. Omari with another goal got us level at 1-1 but the visitors took control and went 3-1 up before a Kalimuendo goal made for an interesting final period, we couldn't find an equaliser though. We ended the month well again in Ligue 1 though, winning 4-0 in the Breton derby against neighbours Brest. Kalimuendo with a brace, Savio and Yamal again with the goals there. We remain in 5th despite a good month, the defeats earlier in the season are really starting to show now though, however a win in our next game on the 1st November against Lille could see us move up to as far as 2nd if other results go our way. We're clinging onto a play off spot in the Champions League after 3 matches played with just 3 points, we sit in 23rd at the moment. While Ramos won Ligue 1 Player of the Month with a brilliant 7 goals in 4 matches, Savio finished 2nd for the award with 3 goals and 4 assists while Nuamah took 3rd spot with 3 goals and assists. 6 matches await us in November in both Ligue 1 and the Champions League as we begin with a trip to Lille before the visit of Antwerp in the Champions League. Then comes newly promoted Lorient at home before a trip to RC Lens. We then travel to Glasgow to take on Celtic in the Champions League before welcoming Monaco to Roazhan Park at the end of the month.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.