It’s a new year in Paris, and Red Star are on the march. Promotion is looking more certain by the day, the Coupe de France has yielded an unlikely cup run, and players are beginning to sign for next season. Parisian players, of course. Martin Vert obviously doesn’t understand that compelling stories need tension, not just success…

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It’s a brand new year, and we are exceeding my wildest expectations. One defeat in our first fifteen games, two higher division sides dispatched in the Coupe de France, and an excellent crop of youngsters apparently on their way. I’m in high spirits as I sit in my little office among the rubble of the east terrace. I give hearty hellos to Patrice and David, and the squad and staff. I even refrain from giving Steve the middle finger. At least, I wait until his back his turned. Maybe I’m going soft.

I do decide to have another go at finding a senior affiliate. Patrice is very happy with the idea again, so I guess it depends if Steve wants to bother. Again. The good news is that we have secured the signature of Eden Massouema for next season. He is better than any of our current midfielders, and is a solid all-rounder, regardless of what division we will be in.

It was a good Christmas break, which gave us some time to work through the minor fitness issues in the squad, but January throws us straight back into the action. Orleans, the disappointing answer to the question “what is the reward for reaching the tenth round of the Coupe de France?” await. We beat them just before Christmas, but they are a decent side, and a good run in the second half of the season could see them troubling the promotion places. There’s no reason for me to rest anyone at this stage, so it’ll be the strongest side, and there are no excuses.

It’s another tight game that we dominate. Orleans’ defensive shape keeps is at bay for almost an hour, but there are chances and it’s disappointing that we haven’t taken the lead. On 57 minutes a lovely passing move scythes open the Orleans defence, only for Ba to see his shot tipped around the post. On 58, though, we score from the resulting corner. Cadiou moves it on to Cheikh Ndoye, and he curls nonchalantly into the bottom corner from 30 yards. Orleans try to attack us for the final half hour, but the best they can muster is a corner headed over the bar.

We are drawn at home again, which in some ways is helpful; our crowd can be intimidating, and we know how to deal with the weird missing stand. But it doesn’t help us in terms of big gate receipts. Although, really, I’m not sure what kind of crowd we could have expected from Troyes anyway, who we have been drawn against. They are a Ligue 1 side, but have struggled and are in the relegation playoff place. We’ll welcome them to the Stade Bauer at the end of the month. But it’s back to the bread and butter for now.

Alvyn Le Corre comes in. He’s got some stats in the right places, others he needs to work on, but he’s young and hungry and should develop. More importantly, he’s not disastrously worse that Michael Nilor but will cost us only 18% of his wages, so I feel comfortable allowing him to leave. We also secure the signing of Yahia Fofana for next season, a promising young goalkeeper from Le Havre. Ludovic Butelle has been magnificent, but his contract is up in the summer and he wasn’t born in Paris. Fofana should be able to come straight into the first team and, at 21, improve with us.

US Avranches are a decent side, sitting in the group of teams just below the playoff spot. They score pretty freely, and are fairly solid at the back, so they’ll test us all over the park. Chatearoux keep winning, so there’s no room for slip ups. We’ll go strong again, and hope our winning steak continues.

It’s yet another game that we dominate without taking our chances. We win a penalty early on that Jason Tre puts away calmly, and then set about peppering the Avranches goal with shots. Nothing sticks, but we keep them penned into their own half. I bring on some fresh legs but it feels risky to chase the second goal too hard, and then with about their only attack of the game, deep into stoppage time, Avranches win a corner. It’s whipped in to the near post, and that’s the equaliser. There’s barely enough time for us to kick off again, let alone find another goal. It’s dropped points, and that doesn’t feel good.

Next up, quickly in midweek, is our rearranged fixture with Chambly. Nothing much has changed since December – they are in the relegation zone, and they struggle to score goals. Well, one thing has changed; we need a little confidence boost after the disappointing draw against Avranches. Gomis replaces Sparagna, who has got a little knock, and El Hriti has picked up a suspension so Ghabaoui makes an appearance.. Hacene Benali could do with a rest, so Guel comes in for him. Get the right result here and we can go back to the top of the table. I like it there. It’s my happy place. The lads are raring to get back on track.

We are magnificent. It shouldn’t be a surprise against opposition fighting relegation, but to be as clinical as we are is very pleasing after the last couple of games. Cheikh Ndoye thumps home a near post header from a corner after a quarter of an hour, and Tre converts a penalty on 34 minutes. Chambly halve the deficit to keep us on our toes before half time, but in the second half we turn the screw. First Guel turns home form close range, and then Meissa Ba finds Cadiou’s head from the right, and Cadiou powers home for a fourth. Ba gets in on the act in stoppage time, racing onto a Daillet through ball and slotting into the bottom corner. Chambly’s goal is another we’ve conceded from a near post corner, and I’ll have to work on that, but I’m being picky.

Sete are up next, but not before we’ve bid farewell to Jovany Ikanga. He’s only made two appearances for us this season, both in the early rounds of the cup, and he doesn’t look like he’s going to make the grade. It leaves us a little light on numbers, but I’m hoping to have youth team soon who can fill in if we have an emergency.

We have an 800km trip to the south coast next, to take on Sete 34. They were knackered from their travels when they came up to us, and still gave us a game. And they’ve been good; they lead the chasing pack. They’re in the playoff spot and they’ve opened up a little gap on fourth. They play a narrow 41212 which is solid at the back and gets goals going forward, so we’ll need to be at our best. Come on boys!

It’s a really tight game, and Sete are probably the better. They attack us like no other team in the division, not even Chateauroux, and pin us back in our half, forcing Butelle into save after save. At half time, we are lucky to get in level. I switch things up to try and give us the momentum, but injuries have cost us and we end up with defenders plugging gaps in midfield and Noah Cadiou shifted out to the right wing. We have a ten minute spell in the middle of the second half, and at the end of that a Kevin Gomis through ball finds Tokpa, who scores, and we undeservingly take the lead. Cadiou has one chalked off toward the end, but it’s a smash and grab.

Hacene Benali’s injury will keep him out for a couple of days, but Owen Maes will miss the next three months. He’s not one of our regular starting XI, but he’s a valuable option and he’ll be missed. Our old friends Orleans do us a favour and take a point off of Chateauroux, allowing us to open up a three-point gap. Which is nice.

SO Cholet visit that Bauer next, and its an opportunity to get our shooting boots on before the visit of top-flight Troyes. We beat them 5-0 at their place at the start of the season, and since then they’ve been pretty average, sitting mid-table and already needing an incredible run of form to either make the playoff or get relegated. I’ll take any kind of win, but a big confidence boost going into the cup game would be good. We return to our strongest line up, except for Stephane Sparagna who has a minor calf strain. Kevin Gomis takes his place.

It’s very nearly Damien Durand Day. He is magnificent, and opens the scoring with a curling strike from the edge of the area that finds the top corner. On the half hour, he does the same again, and then swings in a perfect corner onto Josue Homawoo’s head. In the second half he tears down the left wing and fires across for Benali to turn home from close range. And then we get a penalty. He wants his hat trick, so he takes the ball off of Jason Tre, runs up and… hits the post. So nearly a perfect afternoon for him. Ryad Hachem scores a late wondergoal to give Cholet a consolation, but it’s the confidence boost I wanted.

The draw for the Coupe de France Quarter-Final – yes, we are that close to the Quarter Finals – takes place before our tie with Troyes, and we finally draw a big name. Get past Troyes, and we’ll have the opportunity to travel to nouveau riche Nice. Not as nouveau riche as PSG, but still billionaire owned. PSG, for the record, lost to Nice in the last round, so they won’t be defending the trophy they have won six of the last seven years. And we are the last Parisian club standing. Which feels good.

Troyes, as you might expect, are not about to roll over and let us travel to Nice. They have quality all over the park – and I mean real quality, not the kind that Sete have – which isn’t surprising for a top-flight side. Even one in a relegation scrap. I’m informed that Boli, the pacey, powerful forward is the danger man. Eden Massouema is on the bench, so maybe he’ll come on and score an own goal, in the hope we might reach European football next season. At this stage, we can dream, right?

Ludovic Butelle turns and roars to the crowd. He’s just saved Troyes’ tenth penalty of the shootout – the first miss out of all 19 attempts. The crowd can feel it. The team can feel it. I can feel it. Our miraculous cup run is about to take another step. Hacene Benali steps up, steadies himself, and powers it toward the top corner. Jessy Moulin, Troyes’ experienced goalkeeper, stretches, reaches, and just manages to tip it onto the bar. It bounces out. It sucks the atmosphere from the home supporters, and the tension is unbearable. The goalkeepers will take penalties. Moulin drills his home, and then Butelle, who thought he was the hero, who has always been the hero, has to take his. His strike is good. Low, on target, powerful. But Moulin is better, palming it away. The dream is over. Heartbreaking.

The lads are devastated, but this is where a manager earns his money. We have a lot of positives to take from that game. We went toe-to-toe with a top flight side, and not only coped, we were better. The numbers all show that. The players know it, even if the defeat hurts. Troyes know it, and Sabri Lamouche admits as much, the Troyes manager just pleased to escape the Bauer with a win. But for a 94^th minute equaliser, we would have finished it in normal time. It’s tough to take, but we can take that performance forward into the rest of the season. And next season. We are Red Star, and we are fucking brilliant.

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