Inter the Game – Loading…. Football Manager 20.
Inter the Game is a brand new Football Manager 20 save and a new story from FM Brooklyn. This new FM20 story will see my alter ego Gianni Rosabosa take charge of Italian Serie A side Inter Milan.
The Football Manager is revealed
We join Gianni in his opening press conference.
**Click click, click click** Camera shutters are making a the clicking noise. Gianni Rosabosa is sat in the middle chair behind the conference table at the Suning Training Centre, Milan.
Vice president Javier Zanetti, who is sitting next to Gianni, calls for hush amongst the attending journalists. This causes the conference room to fall to silence.
The journalists are surprised to see the relatively unknown Gianni Rosabosa. As they were expecting the club to announce Antonio Conte as Head Coach.
Javier addresses the journalists first.
“I would like you to welcome Gianni to Inter? Gianni comes with a wealth of experience from around the world. He has been very successful in Japan, Australia, and the US. It is because of his successes that we have invited him to be the head coach to take our beloved club.”
The club find themselves without silverware in the last nine years. The last time they won Serie A was when Jose Mourinho won the Treble back in 2009/2010. The toppling of Juventus’ dominance over the last ten years will therefore pose the obvious challenge.
Javier Zanetti continues. “Gianni has been at the forefront of our minds due to the work he has done a federation level. At helping the likes of Australia and Japan develop pathways for young players to develop into full international players. Because of this we see Gianni, who is Italian at heart, as the perfect man to help us get back to the levels where we belong.”
Real life meets Football Manager 20 story
The club are looking at rebranding and want to bring the fight of Serie A to Juventus. Juventus have eight of the last nine Serie A titles. Inter are wanting to get themselves back into fighting contention for titles. However, they also want to be leaders in developing home-grown talent. Rosabosa has been given the task of blending the two philosophies together.
Back to the story
A Journalist stands and shouts out a question directed to Gianni. “GIANNI, are you aware of why you are here? And the money that has been used to bring you to Inter?
Zanetti snaps back “GET THAT man OUUUTTT of this conference! GET HIM OOOOOOUUUUTTT! How dare you insult this club with your statement. This club has been through the mill! (in the last ten years) It has been very transparent with how it now operates. Your questioning is not appropriate!”
Gianni maintains his smile and looks at the frustrated Zanetti. Giving him a comforting wink.
Gianni then leans towards the microphones. “I’d like to say a thank you to Javier and everybody at Inter for making me feel welcome. I have always felt at home at Milan and to be at the club I have supported since I was a young boy. My family and I feel honoured to have been given the opportunity to be Head Coach. Of course I am ready for this step up in responsibility. And know that I will give my all to the club. I have been around the club for a short while and in that time I have already got to know the staff and players who I will be working with. Javier is aware of how I like to see my teams play football which is probably why he saw me as the ideal candidate. I look forward to working hard with everybody in order to meet our targets.”
The press conference draws to a close and the photographers are beckoned to take more snaps of Zanetti and Rosabosa before they leave the room.
Who is Gianni Rosabosa?
Gianni is a fictitious character, a 43-year-old who was born in New York, (US) and has a strong Milanese heritage.
The grandfather of Gianni, Beppe, was a tailor and travelled to New York in the first half of the 20th century in search of a better life. Here, Beppe Rosabosa, found work, by setting up his own tailor shop and building a life in the US. Beppe also loved to play football and was an amateur footballer in Milan before his move. He found love and had a family.
His first and eldest son Gianni (Snr) was born in New York and Gianni (snr) would grow to become a tailor. Gianni (Snr) would also love to read and hear about football from his father’s country because he adopted Internationale as his club due to loving the colour blue.
Gianni (Snr) went on to be a successful tailor, he would push the family business into a much more reputable firm, supplying suits to the rich and famous.
Rosabosa was the youngest of four children, he took the famous people who visited his father’s shop in his stride and showed little interest in making suits. Gianni (Jnr) longed to emulate his heroes in Italian football, and specifically Inter Milan, of course. He had grown up admiring Walter Zenga, Giuseppe Baresi and Giuseppe Bergomi. Dreaming he could be the next solid defender for the Azzuri.
Gianni and his Football Career.
Gianni went on to play for The MetroStars and represent the US on two occasions before being involved in a car crash outside of Turin, whilst on a family vacation. The car crash would see Gianni suffer two broken legs and some cracked ribs. It is because of the crash that would end Gianni’s playing career, as he could never quite get to the level of physical and mental fitness he was before the incident. Gianni would stay in the sport and study to coach.
Gianni Rosabosa’s coaching journey would see him go from academy and college teams in the US and Australia to then go and work with the youth teams of Kashima Antlers and the Yokohama F. Marinos. His talent at being able to nurture the youth talent at these two clubs was enough for the Japanese FA to appoint him as their first technical advisor. He would then take a similar role up with Football Federation Australia. To then have successes in club management with Red Bull Salzburg’s junior team FC Liefering. Here he won the Austrian Third division before winning the second division. He then left for New York Red Bull (aka Metrostars). Back where it all began, he helped steer them to the US Open Cup in 2017 before moving to Atalanta where he had been assistant manager to Gian Piero Gasperini for the last two years. This interesting journey has helped him develop into a hands-on coach who has time for helping the clubs’ youngsters.
Why Inter Milan?
Outside of the fictitious life of Gianni Rosabosa, I have always cast an eye on the Inter Milan teams over the last 25 to 30 years. My first non-English football shirt was the 1996/97 Inter shirt with Sforza 21 on the back. Ciriaco Sforza was a Swiss International. Roy Hodgson was manager of Inter at the time. (you know old Wroy) He brought Sforza in as a playmaker, in the hope he would inject some creativity to the midfield. *Note Hodgson had previously been manager of Switzerland. Sforza was recognised as one of the best midfielders in Germany during his spell at Kaiserslautern and then Bayern before his move to Inter. Despite scoring on his debut Sforza struggled to find consistency and found himself moving back to Kaiserslautern after just the one season with Inter.
As I recall back, I think I had asked for Djorkaeff 6 on the back of the shirt. I’m guessing my parents thought Sforza 21 was a suitable substitute. (They must have known that his form would have been inconsistent).
Another tenuous link is that I come from Burton on Trent where Pirelli used to have a factory. Burton Albion’s Pirelli Stadium now stands in those grounds along with some retail outlets. Pirelli and Inter??? The kit sponsor since 1995.
Let’s Step back In(ter) the game.
The Inter side I have at my disposal in Football Manager 20 has Premier League favourites, Christian Eriksen from Tottenham, Ashley Young from Man Utd and Victor Moses on loan from Chelsea. Along with the host of players who joined the club (permanently or on loan) back in the summer of 2019. The likes of Romelu Lukaku, Nico Barella, Stefano Sensi and of course Diego Godin.
One thing that springs out as something to notice is the difference in philosophies of the club between real life and the game. Some of the players mentioned are over the age of 30. This has been highlighted as a major no-no within the club’s vision in FM20. Yet the club in game desire the signing of players under the age of 23.
Club vision aside the squad is a strong one. One that can be enhanced with more youthful signings as we progress through the save, as I know full well one of my tasks will be to bring down the average age of the squad without damaging the clubs chances of challenging for the Serie A title on a regular basis.
Aside of challenging for the Serie A title I also hope to develop a club identity through a tactic. This will be the subject of my next post of Inter the Game.
Thank you for reading and Ciao for now. If you enjoyed my article why not check out other content from Dictate the Game.
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