It's France, not Mars! - An OM Story

Former Arsenal player Robert Pires stepped out of his taxi with a couple of bags and set them down as he stared at what was in front of him. The taxi driver though, was not a patient man, and honked at him in hope of getting his fare as soon as possible.

Pires took out 50 euros from his pocket and the taxi driver grabbed at it.

"Keep the change.", said Pires, trying to act cool.
"What change? The tariff is exactly 50 euros."

Pires turned his attention back to what he was looking at, as the taxi soon disappeared into the distance, leaving behind a trail of black smoke.

He was looking at Stade Velodrome, the home of French football club Olympique Marseille.

Pires had recently retired from football, and had agreed over phone to take over as manager after the club sacked their previous gaffer after their disappointment of not reaching the Champions League the previous season.

There was just a contract left to sign, and a new adventure for the Frenchmen began.

Marseille have a Continental reputation, and also play in a league of a decent standard where I can attract good players. They currently also play in the Europa League.

What really made me want to manage them however, were two things.
1> They have a Secure financial status, and no debts, which will enable me to build them up quicker.
2> They have a small squad of 15 players, which appeals to me because I can sell who I don't want(not many players were brought in in the last 2 seasons) and I can build them to the formation I like. They also have some good players like André Ayew, Steve Mandanda and Loic Remy.

Can't wait for this. Interesting how you chose Robert Pires to be the main character

Will be following!

Robert quickly got to work with his current staff, identifying transfer targets and getting them to call up the clubs and put in offers.

Everyone was working like it was the last minutes of the transfer deadline day, because Robert wanted to get all his transfers in as quicky as possible so his squad could have more time to gel.

In the midst of all the chaos, his assistant manager came up to him.

"Boss, we've had an offer for Andre Ayew accepted."

"What?!",questioned Pires, "I didn't receive any information about this, its my decision to make!"

"Sir, he has a release clause of 11,250,000. Arsenal have bid 14,250,000."

"Why wasn't I notified about the release clause?"

"You never asked sir",replied the assistant manager.

Pires sighed, and signalled for the assistant manager to go away.

Three other club players had already been earmarked for transfers, and this became another position that needed filling.

Marseille have a lot of potential, as you mentioned in the post above, and I'm glad you took over them. It'll be fun to see if you can make them European Champions before the release of FM13. (Is it just me or does every commenter on the site mention 'FM13' somewhere?)

I have tried as much as possible to avoid common signings, which is why you see players like Timothy Chandler and Henrique, but for some positions, I have not been able to find a suitable player in my price range, which is why I went for Vrsaljko, Sanogo, etc.


Hope you understand.

Will be following this story. Are you using the LFCMarshall update?

I always play with wingers, and looking at the wingers that were there at the start, Ayew and Valbeuna lacked the ability to finish, I decided not to play advanced attacking midfielder left/right roles like in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, and instead decided to go for a flat 4-4-2.









I also have another 4-2-4 formation, which is the same except the wingers are advanced. This is in-case I find that the wingers are too deep to make an impact.(like in big games when we are defending a lot)

2012-10-13 14:06#67399 manchesterblue97 : Will be following this story. Are you using the LFCMarshall update?

Yes, I will be using the LFCMarshall update released after the end of the summer transfer window of the 2012-13 season.

Secret agent Barton, secret agent Barton, nananana, nananana