Olympique Lyonnais - Ashes to Ashes / Dust to Dust

Great story. keep it up mate

Loving the detail in your updates mate .

Kippax Thanks alot bro, loving your inter story aswell

C94z Thanks, will do!

the champi0n fm Could be doing better tbf haha

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We start the debut euro qualifying match off to a flier, with two early goals in the 3" min by Pezzella on a set piece and by academy product captain Yassine Benzia. A first impression would be that the technical levels are completely different and we should do well to qualify early in the first leg against such a humble opponent, as on the 32" min we score the definitive winner with Benzia again.

Once the second half picks up again we maintain the control of the match, by scoring three more goals, one at the 70" with Rodrigo, and then two back to back like in the start, Sanjin Prcic on the 74" min and Kerim Koyunlu on the 83" which ends the scoring sheet.

I was with with my teams performance, and I let them know that passionately - they had impressed me and done exactly what I asked of them, work together. Now the second leg should only be a formality, but I only told them not to get complacent as we wouldn't want to give our fans an early disappointment before the start of the league.

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The second leg proved to be exactly what I had feared, a slight loss of concentration. Although Fekir netted in the first goal on the 6" min, Linfields Williamson equalized on the 11th. Only seconds later would we gain the lead again thanks to Espericueta, but the match wasn't exactly going like the first leg. Benzia in the 34" to make it 3-1, but sooner or later they would reply with Williamson again in the 43" and at the half time I definetly had to prove my worth as a manager in the locker room, otherwise it would be an early titanic moment for us.

The boys started the second half a bit more concentrated and managed to hopefully net the winner with Fekir again on the 65", although they managed to get one back to complete Williamsons hat trick on the 69", minutes after. At which point I had enough and parked the bus, going completely defensive for the last 20 minutes of the game. With an aggregate score of 3-10 our side would obviously come on top and move onto the last Qualifying game which would be played against Elfsborg in late August, so we had time to get a bit of form in the first couple of Ligue 1 games.

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I'd have to say that I was overall pleased with my debut, as were the fans who looked optimistic of the season ahead, the boys themselves found great chemistry early on - as I thought they would, given their young ages they managed to mix in well with each other, and I was proud of those that came from the academy as they proved to be the most mature of the group - hence those that I knew I could rely on.

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Previous Update:The Draperies Fall
Next Updated: OL Season Preview

lucky second leg win against Linfield, but at least you've made the Europa League proper

A superb victory in the first leg, although the second leg wasn't as great, you still managed to score four goals and win! Not bad for a completely new squad only just coming together. The team has got great potential to succeed, I think.

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Last Season: 5th
Predicted: 8th
Title Odds: 10000/1

Pundits did not go easy on Olympique Lyonnais chances of challenging the title; practically inexistant - which was to be expected from a team that was rebuilding from the rubbles. OL in the last decade was a top flight french club that was used to competing for important things, always coming in first, second or third (at worse fourth) and advancing quite often through Champions League Qualifying matches and such, so the prestigious name would probably be a heavy burden for the new players arrived, which most people think more than half will flop at the club (the other half being the french homegrown players).

Zinedine himself spoke about taking the criticism and turning it into positive energy, to strive to succeed and prove people wrong, but without giving the fans any false hopes. Because the fans knew it would be a tough season from the start, they're practically expecting the youngsters to misplace a few passes here and there - but they're ok with that (or at least the more mature fans are) as long as they give their all, heart & soul for the memory of the deceased players that used to honour this strip, this religiously supported kit in Lyon; so here is to what will hopefully be a succesfull first season to build upon!

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Previous Update:Europa Here We Come
Next Updated: The Call.

I love this story <3

The Motivated One: It's not over yet we've got to play one more qualifying match.
Pompeyblue: Ye, second match was a bit shakey but overall was satsfied from the first impression.
Irishnuke: And it loves you back!!

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It was the day before the debut in the league, roughly 8:45am and driving through the florescent hills of Lyon, when suddenly my phone rang. The number was unknown, therefore I stuttered before picking it up...

Hello? Who is this? I asked firmly after answering the call.

...Monsieur Zidane, what a pleasure... Said a raspy voice, with a thick french accent.

...I've called to do business with you, I believe both parts would benefit - are you interested in hearing my proposition? he asked me, but I knew something was off.

I don't know what kind of business it is you have with me, but look - I'm not interested now please - I tried explaining this to them, but he cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

We're offering you £50,000,000 to throw the game tommorow... And the chance to become a "business" partner of ours in the future for more likely "transactions", monsieur Zidane.

As he said this I had to pull over, what I had heard was shocking. How could there be such disgusting people that tried to take over the situation of a club that had recently lost everything imaginable? The fans didn't deserve this; and I had to say something.

You people disgust me, it's people like YOU that ruin this beautiful sport. And how dare you try to bribe me? My integrity is not for sale, and neither is the club; We'll play tommorow and we'll win with our own strenghts, not so that fat pigs like you can fill your wallets. You better hope this number is untraceable because I will be reporting this to the authorities.

I exclamated loudly as I ended the call. But would I really allert the authorities? What if I would be accused of match fixing? This would be a terrible stain in my early career, maybe it was best to rationalize and think it through some more... But I had a feeling that today was going to be a long day.

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Previous Update:OL Season Preview
Next Updated: Chapter 5: We debut as One

I thought match fixing only took place in Italy

Ooohhhh interesting

Quality story so far

Lippo: It's a plague affected in every league that can't financially support their own weight (especially lower league out of the UK)

Motivated One Wait till you see what's next

MrSaltyLavander Thank you very much sir, and welcome to FMScout!

You are such a great writer haha! Keep up the work because I'm really enjoying it