The Man Who Conquered Football With A Cigar In His Mouth

Prologue
Ever since I was a kid and watched Juventus win the European Champions Cup in 1996, I had always looked up to Marcello Lippi as a legendary manager. Since starting my careers over time in FM, he has always been the role model to follow and strive towards (for others, they have Fergie or Mourinho). Remembering Lippi commanding the side lines and delegating to the likes of Gianluca Vialli, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero, Angelo Peruzzi, Angelo Di Livio, Moreno Torricelli, Didier Deschamps, Paulo Sousa, Antonio Conte, Ciro Ferrara, Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids, Filippo Inzaghi, Mark Luliano, Paolo Montero and many more.

https://images.app.goo.gl/2cW18NNhAv5bTYXZ7

This story will follow my career starting in my home town of Melbourne, Australia, with my home team of Melbourne City FC. Following the demise of former Manchester United Reserves Manager and former Wigan Athletic Manager, Warren Joyce, I will be taking the helm of the under performing club that has failed to bring success home despite promises from the [Manchester] City Football Group PTY LTD.
From the beginning I will have to look to win the fans over and repair the bridges that had been burnt by Joyce after his departure from the club. Melbourne City great & golden boot winner, Bruno Fornaroli, is due to depart the club at the end of the 18/19 following a public bust up with Joyce, which saw many fans siding with 'El Tuna'.
Replacement signings will not be easy to come by with restrictions of the Hyundai A-League. From the outset, I will have my eye set on signing a City Football group favourite, Yaya Toure, who's ageing abilities aren't out of touch with the A-League.

Follow me as I lay the foundations for my managerial career and begin my journey towards the road to Europe.

cant wait for this story to continue
just make sure that u also have a cloud save as many ppl seem to lose their fm careers n lots of them r rly exciting ones like this

Hey Looch,
Will do mate, first A-League save and thought why not start out with my home country (tell you what, the league restrictions are bloody hard!)

First Day On The Job

Wearing my best suit, I leave home and jump into my car to begin driving towards the City Football Academy Melbourne situated in Bundoora (Northern Suburbs of Melbourne).
My mind has already been put at ease with a phone call the previous night from former assistant manager Patrick Kisnorbo.
Having chatted for some time, I came to the realisation that our paths had crossed many years earlier in Amateur Football. In particular 1996, when I was playing juniors at Essendon Brunswick Royals, Patty was a young player at in the Seniors beginning his career prior to moving to South Melbourne.
As all staff are when a new manager takes the reins, Patty was concerned about keeping his job. For me, however, he couldn't be my Assistant, that job was already reserved for someone else. Patty had already agreed to taking a coaching role and continuing his time at the club.

Heading into the training Academy at 2 Crissane Rd, I immediately realised the resources that had been invested by the City Football Group. The facilities were an old school that had been converted over into a new state of the art football institution, comprising of Synthetic training fields and indoor training fields.
https://youtu.be/QPMiTdBAQ-E
I walked into the front reception area where I was greeted by Brian Marwood, the Chairman. Mr Marwood showed me to my office where we had the 'Welcoming' meeting that is customary for all new Managers. The message was clear....Wins & Trophies. I was advised that the board had been raising considerable concerns over a lack of performances and success since the take over of the City Group, and time was running out with the fans.

My first bit of business was to organise my Assistant. For me, there was only one man that I could trust with the position, that motivated me to submit my resume (and had always been my Assistant in previous FM).
I picked up the phone and called Reconquista (Argentina). A man answered in Spanish and I immediately start talking in Italian.
it was the one and only Gabriel 'BATIGOL' Batistuta.
https://images.app.goo.gl/sKfEuyCmcy48gvG49

Batistuta had been a regular to Australia since the years that he had retired from football, having travelled to perth many times and taking an interest in A-League outfit Perth Glory. However for me, there was no chance that he was winding up at Perth Glory, and despite having no credentials at all, it would be pure motivation to have him!

The next issue to address was Bruno 'El Tuna' Fornaroli. Agreeing to depart the club at the end of the season, there was nothing I could do to change his mind...contracts had been agreed upon and signed.
The only thing I could do was distract the fans with someone bigger, better and GREATER than El Tuna.....a marque player of some sorts.
The search comes back with many options interested in Joining Melbourne City as a Designated Player, however as expected many are approaching the 'best before' date.
Many names catch my eye, as well as their age ranging between 33-37 years old. I can't treat the A-League as the Premier League though, skill levels are much lower and if i find a seasoned player that still has many of his core attributes, he would have enough skills to run rings around the teams in the A-League.
First name of the list, ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC. I send a bid in and it gets delayed to be considered. 37 years old and his scoring attributes are still great for A-League standard.
Next on the list is Arjen Robin, currently transfer listed for £7 million by Bayern. I don't have anywhere near that amount of money for a transfer budget, but lets see just how interested he is to be a 'DP' for Melbourne City.
Bid sent off to Bayern for £7million (which we don't have) and of course it is approved. Robin returns and asks for wages of £120k. With no chance of clearing the funds with the board, I walk away from negotiations...however there must still be a way. I save Robin's agent's contact details in the emails.
Next player, Yaya Toure. Starting the season out as a free transfer, having just been released by Olympiakos (without making a debut).

I immediately contact Toure and offer a contract before any other club makes a move. The previous year, Melbourne Victory were in the process of wanting to sign Samuel Eto'o, however got knocked out of contention by Konyaspor (Turkey). Immediately i offer a contract to Toure and he replies back with wage adjustments and signs.

Some relief.....

I start gearing up for the long road ahead of me, it is only June and the league doesn't start until 20th October. Friendlies and FFA Cup to prepare for, further updates to come.

Is it that easy to sign marque player of that calibre in Australia?

In relation to Toure or Zlatan?
Toure agreed and signed pretty easy, Ibrahimovic is taking some time and may have a few issues with trying to get funds.
I actually put a bid in for Hulk, who appeared 'interested' in DP (didn't have the budget but wanted to see if hey would suggest a contract), and unfortunately was stopped straight away with his agent saying 'I don't believe you have the financial strength to match a wage offer'.
I think now with both Toure and Zlatan it's a different story that he is 37 years old and approaching last or second last season.

Interesting. I've never done A-League, but always found it impossible to sign star players in MLS.

I found the same thing in FM17 or FM18, when i tried to do an A-League save (lost interest soon after).
However, I've just recently noticed the 'DP' box (which i haven't seen before) when searching for players which I guess indicates to them that you're looking at them as Marquee status.
As soon as i ticked that box, the bigger names popped up and some were willing to listen, others still wanted outrageous wages

using imgur for just the images is much better imo although embedly seems like a good choice for vids but imgur u can take screenshots n upload it privately on there n post it like i do n everything is saved on imgur so u dont have to keep the stuff in the screenshots file