Football Dynasty

After the intense showdown against Liverpool, Manchester City's next challenge would come in the Second Round of the League Cup, where they were set to face lower-league side Lincoln City. Following that, they would return to Premier League action with their fifth fixture—an away match against Nottingham Forest.

This year's League Cup format remains largely the same as the previous season, with only one key difference: the number of teams in the First Round has increased—from 56 to 66—adding 10 more clubs to the initial stage of the competition.

66 clubs from the First, Second, and Third Divisions participated. These teams were split into seeded and unseeded pots based on their final standings from the 1995–96 campaign. This structure aimed to balance competition and reward higher-ranked teams with slightly more favorable matchups.

Once the First Round concluded, the 33 winning teams advanced to the Second Round. They were joined by 15 Premier League clubs not participating in European competitions, along with three non-promoted play-off contenders from the First Division, and the three relegated sides from last season's Premier League campaign.

Manchester City—entered at this stage and were drawn to face Lincoln City in the Second Round, a fixture set to take place shortly after their league encounter with Forest.

Originally, Richard had planned to attend the match against Lincoln.

It was supposed to be a more relaxed outing—a chance to enjoy a midweek cup tie at Sincil Bank Stadium, to soak in the atmosphere without the pressure that came with league competition.

But just days before kickoff, unexpected news arrived—urgent and serious enough to pull Richard away from Manchester.

Everyone knew the mid-1990s marked a pivotal period in the rise of tech startups—especially with the early momentum of the dot-com boom.

As the Internet became mainstream and the World Wide Web grew increasingly accessible, online usage exploded across the United States and Europe. In the UK alone, over 4% of the population—around 2.5 million people—already had internet access by 1996, a number expected to climb steadily by the end of the year.

Richard had sensed this wave early. He had invested in a promising young startup called WebGenesis, acquiring a 20% stake. The concept, he believed, had the potential to explode.

The company had humble beginnings. Founded by two undergraduates at Cornell—Stephan Paternot and Todd Krizelman—WebGenesis was born out of a college chatroom. After discovering a primitive online social space on the university's network, they were instantly hooked. Seeing the business opportunity, they raised $15,000 during Christmas break in 1994 and bought an Apple Internet server.

And just like that, WebGenesis was up and running.

At first, Richard had no desire to interfere in the company's internal affairs. He was a backer, not a micromanager. But all that changed today—after a single email hit his screen, leaving him seething in anger.

"You've got to be kidding me?!" he growled. "They changed the name without informing me—their third-largest shareholder?!"

Unbeknownst to Richard, WebGenesis had already rebranded and launched publicly as theGlobe.com—and had gone live on April 1. It had been six months since the launch, and he had been left completely in the dark.

"Do you want to take legal action over this?" asked Adam Lewis, standing in Richard's office at Maine Road, summoned urgently for this very reason.

Plans to take the company public had forced theGlobe.com to begin notifying major shareholders. Only now did Stephan Paternot and Todd Krizelman reach out to Richard—offering a hollow excuse: that the decision had been made too quickly and, due to their internal scheduling and rollout strategy, they had simply overlooked informing him.

They apologized for the blatant oversight on their part.

"What a pair of amateurs," Richard muttered under his breath. At just 23 years old, the founders were clearly drunk on their early success—boasting about 44,000 visits a day on their site and already acting like they ruled the internet.

He shook his head in disappointment.

Turning to Adam Lewis, he ordered, "Stay put." Then he picked up the phone and called the Maddox Capital office.

"I want a full report. Background, projections, liabilities—everything you can dig up on theGlobe.com," he instructed his internal analyst.

"For now," he told Lewis, "we'll hold our next move. Let's wait and watch."

With the situation around the investment temporarily on pause, Richard turned his attention to something even more pressing. He made his way toward the physio room at the training facility, where he was handed a medical report that gave him an instant headache.

Larsson had suffered a sprained ankle—estimated recovery time: six to eight weeks.

With Javier Zanetti, Jay-Jay Okocha, Thierry Henry, and David Trezeguet already off representing their countries at the Olympics, Larsson's unexpected injury couldn't have come at a worse time.

Now, Manchester City had no choice but to adapt—and fast.

In just four days, they were set to face lower-division side Lincoln City in the Second Round of the League Cup.

"What are you going to do now?" Richard asked as he turned to Robertson and the rest of the coaching staff.

"For now, the best option is to revert to a 4-3-3 formation—with just one striker up top," Robertson replied.

"Who's leading the line?" Richard asked.

"We'll rotate between Shevchenko and Ronaldo, depending on the opponent's setup," Walford answered. "It won't be our strongest squad, but it's balanced enough to handle Lincoln. We just need to keep the tempo high and control possession."

Richard nodded slowly. "Make it work. Make sure we don't stumble just because we're missing a few names."

The coaching staff nodded. The plan was in motion. Now, it was all about execution.

For the next three days leading up to the League Cup match against Lincoln City, Richard personally invited Mylvaganam from Prozone to Manchester City's training ground. The reason was clear: to use Prozone not only to analyze Andrea Pirlo's performance in detail—but perhaps even more importantly, for Pirlo himself.

It was about helping Pirlo understand the subtleties of his own game—how he should move, when he needed to release the ball, how to shape the tempo, and where to position himself in relation to both teammates and opponents.

At Richard's request, Martin O'Neill also attended the session, having received full medical clearance. He was joined by John Robertson and Steve Walford. Richard made it clear that this wasn't just a training exercise—it was a blueprint for the future of City's midfield.

"This isn't just analysis," Richard told them. "This is a glimpse into a philosophy."

Though the three coaches weren't entirely sure what he had in mind, they went along with it anyway.

To them, it just seemed like another one of Richard's ideas—maybe a man who missed playing football, trying to stay involved through this. nd today, Pirlo was simply the player he'd chosen to fixate on.

If Richard had heard what they were thinking, he probably would've laughed.

Because if they only knew… One day, Andrea Pirlo would be called The Maestro all around the world—a title he earned not by luck, but through a vision that was beginning right here on this training ground. And without realizing it, they were about to help shape the story of a future football legend.

After the training session ended, the players didn't rush off as they usually did. Maybe it was because of Richard's presence—something about it made them linger a little longer before heading home.

Richard noticed this, but he had something else on his mind. He called Pirlo over and quietly asked,"How has training at the club been for you these past few months?"

Pirlo, slightly surprised to see Richard here in person, answered honestly, "It's been alright. I can keep up with the training."

He paused for a moment, then gathered the courage to speak more openly."But... Sir—no, I mean Boss—I still don't really understand my role in the game. You said my style is very different from how I played at Brescia, but I don't fully get what you mean yet."

Richard smiled at the honesty. He understood completely—but instead of diving straight into the answer, he took a different route.

"Andrea, are you familiar with rugby?"