Sysiphus Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 Zion Goodman and Leonida Damone were born in Congo and Sicily, respectively. Both were born to extreme poverty and their biological parents were forced to give them up for abortion. They ended up at the same family in Bordeaux, France, where they were taken good care of by a lovely couple. Goodman and Damone shared a passion for football throughout their childhood and both got their chance at professionalism, but more on that later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sysiphus Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 Meet Zion Goodman! Zion started, like his brother, his youth career in Bordeaux's academy. At 17 he was deemed not good enough for that level, and moved to the Belgian side Lokeren. Zion, who was a defensive midfielder, played his first senior game just a few months later and then it was no turning back for him. He had won his place on the team and took big steps of progression as he swept up every loose ball in the midfield week in and week out. Club Brugge took a chance on him the next summer, and boy did he succeed there. Zion was named player of the year in the Pro League at only 18 years of age and made yet another move in the summer - back to Bordeaux. By now Zion was 19 and representing France at the u21 level. He got some chances in Ligue 1 but he had a major setback when he damaged his cruciate ligaments mid way through the season. The next season was good for Zion, who was named young player of the year in France, and big clubs such as Marseille and AC Milan sent scouts to see him play. In the summer he was called up for the France national team to represent them at the World Cup. His hopes of making his mark on the international stage were cut short by injury. Again he damaged his cruciate ligaments, now in training for France, and was out until Christmas that year. 21 years old Zion made his comeback game against St. Etienne in January. He was turning with the ball in midfield when his studs got stuck in the grass, and at that moment, Zion knew what had just happened. For the third time he suffered from the same injury, and was consulted by a physiotherapist to not play football again at such a competitive level. Zion had no intention to play amateur football, but because of his burning desire he decided to educate himself on football management. In two years time he had received a few degrees and Bordeaux hired him as a youth coach. He did good at youth level and Bordeaux produced many great prospects these years. He climbed up the employment ladder at Bordeaux; he managed the u19s team, the u21s team and at last he was named assistant manager at 34 years of age. He spent a few years there and was really hoping to get the head coach position when it was open, but was gutted when the club appointed Gustavo Poyet in his place. He didn't have to spend much time in depression though, because the day after his phone rang, and he was offered the job as manager of RSC Anderlecht, the biggest club in Belgium. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sysiphus Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 You might think this is a story and in the wrong forum, but it will only be a career update once I've introduced the brothers and you know their back story! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sysiphus Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 Meet Leonida Damone! Leonida was always considered the better footballer of the brothers. He had technique, flair and the softest touch. He glided by defenders and released the ball at the right time. When his brother was released from the academy at 16 years old, Leonida was half a year older and had started training with the senior squad. Fast forward a few years down the line, and the brothers are playing together in midfield for the u19s France team. Zion broke the play up and released the ball short to Leonida who made things happen. The brothers were the perfect mix in the midfield. They continued to play together in the u21s team and were both called up to the senior squad for the World Cup. By that time Leonida had played senior football for Bordeaux in Ligue 1 for two seasons, making 48 first team appearances, scoring 12 goals and assisting 18. He was widely regarded as one of the biggest talents in Europe, which made AS Roma pull the trigger and sign him at 22 years old. Leonida didn't play in the World Cup but had shown his skill in European games for Bordeaux. Two years older than Leonida, playing in the same position for Roma, was Francesco Totti. The chemistry between them was great in trainings, but they almost never played together as the manager deemed them to be too similar players. Roma made a run for the Serie A the three years Leonida stayed there but never won the title. Roma were forced to sell either one of Leonida or Totti because of cash shortage, and Totti was favoured to stay. It is a credibility to Leonida's talent though that he was picked up by AC Milan, the current champions in Italy. Leonida led Milan to win three more Scudettos in his five year tenure in the fashion capital of the world. By the time Leonida was 30 years old his career was on the decline and he found himself on the bench at Milan, with the manager favouring a midfield of Ricardo Kaká, Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo. Leonida moved back to Bordeaux and played there for three trophyless years. He hung up his boots by the age of 33 and started to educate himself in Italy right away to become a manager. He had never managed a club when Palermo reached out to him. It didn't take him long to say yes to the job. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borussia Teeth Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 Interesting... let’s go! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sysiphus Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 July 1st, 2017Team overview and ambitions - Anderlecht Anderlecht is the biggest club in Belgian football and has produced many great players over the years, most recently Manchester United’s ace Romelu Lukaku. Anderlecht has rich history, collecting multiple trophies in recent decades. Their facilities, both training and youth, are amazing. Zion Goodman is expected to guide the team to a division title, final in the cup and group stage of the Champions League. To do that he has been given 4.5M transfer budget. And now, for the twist Zion didn’t see coming. The chairman is funding a secret project, and needs some real money. Zion has been instructed to maintain Anderlechts flow of titles domestically and their respectable Europe record, while building up the club’s balance to a whopping 200M! The balance currently stands at 25M. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sysiphus Posted March 1, 2018 Author Share Posted March 1, 2018 July 1st, 2017Team overview and ambitions - Palermo Palermo is a famous club in Italian football. They are from Siciley, Italy’s biggest island. Leonida Damone is expected to finish top of the league this season and bounce back to the Serie A. Although Palermo is a famous club, history isn’t on their side. Their trophy cabinet is empty and pretty dusty, but Leonida has been brought in to change that. He is expected to bring Palermo to new heights by finding amazing talents like they have been doing (Pastore and Dybala for example), but not squander the profit of their sales like has been done, but rather to turn it into other good players that strengthen their team. There isn’t much in the bank as some of the transfer budget will have to be allocated to the wage budget if no sales are made. The squad is good though so there isn’t much of a need for strengthening. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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