We rejoin the journey in France at the start of the 3rd season. Our second season in charge was a huge improvement on the 1st as we secured Champions League football by finishing 4th in the league.
To catch up on the last episode you can do so here.
Lets dive into Season 3 and see what we have been up to in preparation for that difficult third season.
Expectations & Budgets
After a successful season I was primed for some extra funds to made available as we look to take the next step in the adventure. I was wrong.
Its a tiny budget for a team in our position and a real worry. Trying to build and improve the squad with these numbers at my disposal will not be easy, unless we look to sell.
Transfer Activity
We start with two players I had secured deals for during the back end of last season. These came out of last seasons budget, which now looks like a masterstroke considering.
Lets look at the first two recruits in more detail.
Assan Ouedraogo joins from Schalke for £13 million. An attacking minded midfielder who has really burst onto the scene over the last season and a half in Germany. Really exciting signing.
Alexander Edlund joins us from Malmo FF for £1.5 million. LOTS of potential here and that is represented by the teams we beat to his signature, including the likes of Man United, Arsenal and Barcelona.
He will hopefully go on loan to gain some first team experience.
Now for the departures.
Most are bit part players at most and the players going out on loan all have something to prove to for when they return.
Getting £15 million for Gouiri and £5 million for Abline feels like great business and will help us with much needed funds.
Who did we use these extra funds on?
We have been very reserved and picked players for positions we need depth in.
Petar Ratkov joins for £18.75 million from Inter Milan.
We needed strength in depth up top and Ratkov fits that bill. He didn't have the greatest time at Inter and will be keen to prove some people wrong, especially in the Champions League.
Gabriel Moscardo Joins us from Corinthians for £9 million.
A young defensive minded midfielder will offer a slightly different option to Martel when needed. Bags of potential and for the price looks like a bargain.
The Champions League.
Being a tad naïve, I had assumed we had secured ourselves Champions League football, we hadn't.
There was the small matter of the Champions League "League Path" and we would be entering at the Third Round Qualifying Stage. Meaning we would need to beat two teams over two legs to make it to the Champions League proper.
The draw for the Third Round Qualifying stage was made very early before the season was anywhere near starting.
I honestly thought we would be playing some eastern European farmers but here we are drawn against one of Turkeys biggest teams! A tough ask to get to the playoff stages!!
August 2025
The start of the season rolled around very quickly. Tough couple of games sandwiched between some very winnable ones. Lets get off to a cracker.
We got off to the best possible start. A 7-0 opening day victory really is the perfect start to a season.
To then follow it up with 2 wins and a draw really shoes some intent. A great start to the season.
Champions League League Path.
During August we started our quest for qualification to the Champions League proper. Our first hurdle, Fenerbahce.
It was as tough as expected. A Draw at home made it nervy away trip and an unlikely hero in Meriano, who grabbed a second half double to seal a 4-3 victory on aggregate.
The final hurdle was the Playoff draw, and who would we be facing?
Another tough draw, this time with a trip to Holland to face Feyenoord.
In an exact mirror image of the previous round, a 1-1 draw followed by a 3-2 win away from home seals us passage to the League phase of the Champions League!
September 2025
We start September with the draw for the League Phase of the Champions League.
Some big teams in that list! Its going to be a real challenge to progress.
Back to the league and with all the excitement surrounding the Champions League it had gone slightly unnoticed that we had started so well. Lets keep that rolling.
Its not a bad month. Losing to two teams we will be fighting all season for the top spots is frustrating. Can not afford to give these teams a head start.
Now for the Champions League.
Its a rude awakening to start as we are wholly outplayed in Portugal. We do get ourselves off the mark with a routine win against Genk.
October 2025
We move into October with improvements needed domestically and in Europe.
Just the four points during October as we fall to defeat to Lens at home and PSG away. We are still so far off of PSG and they deserved their emphatic win.
Just the one game in the Champions League. Away to Slavia Prague.
Wow, that's a really poor result and one that may determine our CL fate as it was a game we really needed 3 points from.
November 2025
The season starts to slow down slightly during November and December in France as we approach the festive period. Just the three games in November in Ligue 1. All very winnable.
Much better and a welcome return to form for Kalimuendo. He had only found the back of the net once in the league before November, in these three games he grabbed himself Seven in Three .
We return to the Champions League needing results to stand a chance of not bowing out the League Phase. Unfortunately one of those games was the Visit of Liverpool.
We gave Liverpool a good run for their money but we left ourselves with too much to do after being 2-0 at half time.
A decent win against Crvena Zvezda keeps our hope alive but at what cost?
Bourigeaud has been one of the staples of the staring line up since we joined Rennes and has been an almost ever present. This is quite a blow to our season objectives.
December 2025
Four games left in Ligue 1 this year, a chance to really close the gap on the top teams.
The month started with out second 7 goal game this season as we tear Toulouse apart.
The rest of the month is poor as we draw three straight games, two of them being drab 0-0's.
One game left of the year and its an away trip to Celta Vigo in the Champions League.
Last minute heartbreak as we concede in the 90th minute to lose 2-1. That might be the nail in the coffin of our year in the Champions League.
Half Way Tables
We are right up in the chase for the top 4 again this season and are opening up a gap on 7th place also. A good run of form over the first few months on 2026 should see us right where we need to be.
As we can se , we find ourselves in a bit of danger in the Champions League. We need to win our last 2 games to stand a chance of getting into the top 24. Those two games are Home to Dortmund and Away to Inter Milan.
Those two games will be covered next episode.
As always thank you so much for reading.
Cheers
Panda
