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Clairefontaine Graduates
Having heard all about the failings of England over the past God knows how many years it is now, all the ITV and BBC pundits have been going on about is the French academy system, and in particular Clairefontaine. Whilst Clairefontaine are already on the game as an under 16 only academy, I created a new club in Ligue 1 with past graduates from the world famous academy. As you can see from looking at the squad shown below, there is a plethora of attacking talent but there's quite a limited amount of defensive cover. The stand out players are obviously Henry, Anelka, Ben Arfa and Gallas, whilst there are also the likes of Bassong and Diaby who are top Premier League players in their own right. A number of the better players are now in their early 30s (Anelka, Saha, Gallas, Henry and Rothen) so there's quite a big task in nurturing the likes of Ben Arfa, Obertan, Bassong etc into world class internationals like the aforementioned group. Given there's very little cover in the defence, and the only goalkeeper to graduate from Clairefontaine with any pedigree whatsoever is also pretty awful, I have given the Academy a budget of around £20m. The board are quite realistic with a top half finish being their minimum aim (with a budget of £20m) but will back you will a war chest of up to around £35m if you were to take on the ultimate challenge and attempt to win the League. The decent reputation will allow you to attract players such as Akinfeev, Krasic, Srna, Gago and Paloschi to the club. Or, if you were to continue the French core to the club, Moussa Sissoko, Mamadou Sakho and Loic Remy.
The club play their home games at the home of French football - the Stade de France. It has an 82000 capacity although the average attendance is around 60000 to compete with the likes of Lyon and Marseille. The manager? Who else could it be but Gerard Houlier. For those of you who like by the word of the Sky Sports panel of experts, you may be surprised to find out that Houllier is not actually a total failure but is actually a very good manager.
He's the general manager at Clairefontaine Academy in real life and has been hailed in France for the brilliant work he's done regarding the young players. I've made a staff team that consists of a mix of good French coaches and former legends such as Zidane, Desailly and Thuram.
The Squad:
Team Divisional Changes:
Clairefontaine Graduates, Caen and Brest promoted to Ligue 1
Le Mans, Boulogne and Grenoble relegated to Ligue 2
Evian and Reims promoted to Ligue 2
Guingamp, Strasbourg and Bastia relegated to Championnat National
US Luzenac removed from Championnat National
Player Alterations:
Habib Bellaid - loan to Boulogne cancelled
Gabriel Obertan - injury removed (damaged spine for 3/4 months)
Jimmy Briand - injury removed (cruciate ligaments for 6/7 months)
Staff Additions:
Gerard Houllier [assistant manager]
Patrick Cordoba [coach]
Pascal Zaremba [coach]
Luc Rabat [coach]
Guy Ferrier [coach]
Pierre Mankowski [coach]
Erick Mombaertes [coach]
Franck Leboeuf [coach]
Emmanuel Petit [coach]
Lilian Thuram [coach]
Fabian Barthez [gk coach]
Bixente Lizarazu [scout]
Marcel Desailly [scout]
Zinedine Zidane [scout]
Christophe Dugarry [scout]
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