One for sorrow, two for joy. A tale of the Magpies.

[STFCDP1990]

Friday 31st December 2010

So here we are on the eve of a new year. How did I finish 2010? Sat in my kitchen with Billy, the coaching team including Pete, the in-laws and a couple more friends. The house had split in two with the women in the living room, and for some reason the blokes were hanging out in the kitchen.

All of the in-laws and their friends were all Chorley fans, so the topic of conversation was stuck on football. Still it was better than being in the living room where the womenfolk, including Maureen (Though she was a good few years older than everyone else, it didn’t hold her back) were murdering some song on Singstar, or some karaoke type game. The only time anyone male headed out of the kitchen, was to either grab another crate of beer from under the stairs, or to head to the toilet.

Sat at the kitchen table, I found myself talking to the coaching team.

“Guys, we’re going to need you in the next couple of weeks, seeing as how you fit the positions that we are currently weak in.”

They nodded and continued to sip their beer.

“So Danny are you looking out for anyone else?” Ben asked.

“Yes, and no. I will only really need anyone else if we have more injuries. Currently I feel we are weak on the right wing.”

“Yeah. We’re pretty unlucky with injuries aren’t we?”

“You can say that again Ben.”

“Why didn’t you hear me the first time?” He asked with a smile.

My response was interrupted by a knock on the door, I was unsure whether Melanie would have heard it so I went to answer. But Melanie had heard it, and she was now letting a women in. A women I recognised. It was. It couldn’t have been. It was one of the women from that night at Wetherspoons, I think she had ended up going home with Nick. But they wouldn’t have ended up going out. Surely not.

But they had, and now stood in my front door was Nick Meace.

“Hey Boss! I didn’t realise this was your house.”

“Yeah, well I’ve got to say it’s a surprise to see you here.”

“Well Louise wanted to come along, and well you know, she gives me sex.”

“Way more than I needed to know, but come in to the kitchen.”

“Boss, if you think this is a surprise, then just wait.”

I showed Nick into the kitchen, wondering what he had meant.

As soon as the men in the kitchen saw Nick, they cheered, and someone handed him a beer.

“Hey boss, am I alright to drink this?”

“Yeah, just don’t have too many.”

He nodded, and joined some of the other men, who were holding a darts competition. I sat back down at the table.

Half an hour later there was another knock at the door.

“Hey boss, it might be the surprise I was talking about.” Nick shouted.

I opened the kitchen door and stood in amazement, as Raphael Sylvester, Louis Castles, Jack Dorney and Danny Edwards all walked through the front door, with their respective girlfriends.

“Boss!” They chorused.

“Lads, the beer is in the fridge, the men are in the kitchen holding a darts competition. Have a beer, but don’t drink too much! Oh, and there isn’t going to be any more of you turning up is there?”

“Nah boss, just us.” Raphael answered.

“Nice place boss, are these you’re playing shirts?” Louis asked.

“Thanks Louis and yes they are. Now as I was saying beer in the fridge.”

We headed into the kitchen, where there was once again, another loud cheer.

At 11:50pm we all headed into the living room, to wait for the countdown. The BBC were showing the images from around the world of other countries celebrating the New Year. At 1 minute to go, I found Melanie, and pulled her in for a hug.

“Well, there might be a roomful of people here, but I’m glad I get to see in the year with you.” I said.

“How much have you had to drink?” She asked.

“A bit.”

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1…. Happy New Year!” Chorused the living room.

The next few moments were filled with couples kissing, and any single people standing around awkwardly. Melanie’s little sister, Emma, was busy getting off with Danny Edwards, who happened to be the only single footballer at the party.

“Time to sing Auld Lang Syne.” Billy suggested.

“Alright.” I answered.

The living room linked arms, except for Danny and Emma who were still busy. During the last verse, I spotted Emma dragging Danny upstairs.

As we finished we heard the sounds of fireworks and decided to step outside. Billy came and stood by my shoulder.

“So any resolutions?” He asked.

“Promotion.”

“Yeah?”

“Simple as that really, how about you?”

“Same.”

“Glad we share the same ambitions.”

He laughed and moved off, and I found myself stood next to Melanie again.

“You do realise this is going to be a big year for us.” She said.

“Yeah.”

“Worried?”

“No, not at all.”

After the fireworks we all headed back inside, some of the younger people headed into town, and soon the numbers began to dwindle until it was just me and Melanie.

“Clean up in the morning?” She asked.

“Yeah.”

With that we headed up to bed, passing the spare room we heard some pretty suspect noises.

“Who’s that?” Melanie asked.

“It’s Emma and Danny Edwards.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, let’s just ignore them and go to bed.”

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 1st January 2011

As I sat on the sofa nursing the mother of all hangovers, I heard footsteps on the stairs. These were too heavy to be a woman’s and there weren’t enough of them to be Rowley. So they could only belong to one person.

“Morning Danny.” I called.

“Oh. Morning boss.”

Danny entered the living room, looking a right mess. He had bites all over his neck and hadn’t bothered to sort his hair out.

“Jesus, Danny, what did she do to you?”

“Is it bad?”

“It looks like you’ve been mauled by something.”

“S***.”

He stood next to a chair, and rubbed his hand through his hair.

“Take a seat Danny. Do you want a drink?”

“Tea, please.”

I got up and sorted a mug of tea out for him. Walking back into the living room I found him with his head in his hands. I passed him the mug of tea and sat back down on the sofa.

“Don’t worry about it Danny, we’ve all been there.”

“What?”

“The morning after.”

“Yeah, this isn’t the first time.”

“Well you should be used to it then.”

“But boss…”

“Please call me Danny.”

“Ok, but Danny, Emma is special. I mean real special.”

“Please tell me you aren’t going to ask her to go on a date with you.”

“I might, would that be ok?”

“Well yeah, I mean it has nothing to do with me. Just remember that Emma, whilst she can be a lovely girl, can also be hard work. Believe me I’m engaged to her sister.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

His words were followed by more footsteps on the stairs.

“OMG Melanie, he was amazing.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell it wasn’t like you were…”

They stopped talking as they entered the living room and found me and Danny talking.

“Oh hey Danny.” Emma said. “I thought you would have left by now.”

“I was just having a drink with Danny here.” He replied.

“First name basis between you two then?” Melanie joked. “Oh hey Danny, how’s your head?”

“Great.” We both answered.

“Sorry, Danny 2. I meant Danny 1. What do you want for breakfast number 1?”

“Something with bread. Are you two staying around?”

Danny E stood up, “I’ve got to get going, I’ll see you on Monday boss.”

“Right, see you then.”

“And I hope to see you again Emma. Bye Melanie.”

Emma smiled at Danny as he left. Once he had shut the door Emma walked into the living room.

“Oh guess what?”

“What?”

“You have my company all day! Melanie has invited me to stay for dinner. So we have plenty of time to talk about Danny!”

“Great!” I replied sarcastically.

[STFCDP1990]

Monday 3rd January 2011 – Ossett Albion

When Emma said she was going to talk about Danny E, she certainly meant it. Conversation rarely steered off of the topic, and when it did she managed to steer it back. I was glad when she left, but soon after she rang Melanie to tell her Danny had asked her out for dinner.

We had an early kick off today against Ossett Albion, at home luckily. Heading to the ground I wondered whether I would ever hear the end of Emma and Danny. But maybe some time at the football would give me a break. At that point my phone vibrated in my pocket, pulling it out of my pocket I found I had a text.

“Danny, me and Emma will be at the football today, Danny said he will take her out after the game. Maybe you could take me out somewhere.”

Melanie was being as subtle as a brick as usual. Plus now I wasn’t going to get a break from Emma today. I arrived into the changing room and sighed audibly.

“What’s wrong Danny?” Billy asked.

“Nothing, just women.”

“Has Melanie entered the crazy stage already?”

“No, it’s her sister.”

“Oh the one that was trying to eat Danny Edward’s face?”

“Yeah her.”

Before Billy could ask his next question we were interrupted by the players arriving. Once they had settled down I started to read the team sheet.

“Dave Watson

Kingsley Grandison

Nick Meace

Jack Pearson

Hassan Bacchus

George Bowyer

Danny Edwards.”

“He’s only in the team cos he’s with your girlfriend’s sister!” Shouted Nick.

“Nick, firstly she is my fiancée, and secondly there is no favouritism in the squad, he is in there because he is a damn-good player. Now shut up so I can read the rest.

Tom Moncur

Louis Castles

Luke Chapman

John Cunliffe ©

Lloyd Rigby, Michael Lawson, Jack Dorney, Raphael Sylvester, Kevin McGarry.”

With that I headed out of the changing room and walked to the side of the pitch. It was beginning to sleet, and it was cold out here. I stood one the touchline shivering for a bit, before I decided to have a walk around. Ged, Darren, Ben and the injured Matt were busy laying out the warm up equipment. The only piece of warm up equipment I wanted was a cup of tea. Looking around I tried to spot Melanie in the crowd, to see if I could get her to buy me a cup. I was unsuccessful in my search, and walked back to the touchline, as the players warmed up.

After half an hour, we headed back to the changing room, for the pre-match team talk.

“Just carry on from where you left of last year, and win this game. What else can I say but that it would be nice to start the new year with 3 points.”

John led the players out of the changing room, and I followed out after him. I took my position on the touchline and waited for Declan Ford to start the game.

During the first ten minutes, I kept hearing a strange noise, sort of a cheer, from behind me everytime Danny Edwards touched the ball, it didn’t take a mastermind to work out who it was.

“Emma, can you stop that you’re distracting him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why do you think he hasn’t scored yet?”

“Oh.”

She looked puzzled, and I turned away to watch the football.

In the 26th minute, George fired a through ball straight into the path of Louis, who chested the ball down and crossed the ball into the box, where it was met by the head of Luke. Luke’s header found it’s mark without fail.

In the 43rd minute, Louis put the ball into the box again, this time Luke’s header cannoned off of the bar and into the path of John, who fired a shot goal wards. His shot was tipped onto the crossbar by the keeper, the ball ricocheted out to the feet of Danny who fired over the bar.

That move summed up our half, we had plenty of opportunities but only one of them found the back of the net.

Half Time: Chorley 1 (Chapman 26) – 0 Ossett Albion

“I’m happy so far with the performance, we are unlucky not to be about 3 or 4 goals up by now. Just get back out there and keep doing what you are doing.”

John led the team back out onto the field, instead of walking straight out I walked to my office and made a mug of tea. Once I had made it, I headed out just in time to see Louis squeeze the ball home from a tight angle.

“Danny, you missed one of the best goals I think I’ll ever see.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

9 minutes later, in the 59th minute, Hassan picked up a yellow card, for repeatedly pulling the shirt of a Ossett attacker.

In the 65th minute I decided to bring Michael Lawson and Kevin McGarry on for Kingsley Grandison and Hassan Bacchus. This hadn’t been one of Kingsley’s best games, and frankly I couldn’t risk keeping Hassan on, seeing as how he was now on a yellow.

The rest of the half passed without incident, until the 90th minute when Luke pulled up partway through a sprint, but unlike the Matt Jansen injury, it was clear that Luke couldn’t carry on, he was stretchered off, and replaced by Jack Dorney.

“Danny, I’m taking him straight to hospital.” Pete told me.

“Alright.”

Jack only had enough time to touch the ball once before the final whistle was blown.

Final Score: Chorley 2 (Chapman 26, Castles 50) – 0 Ossett Albion

“Well done, I’m glad we were able to pick up the three points. We saw the game out nicely, and we did what we had to.”

With that I walked out of the changing room. Just as I left I felt my phone buzz.

“Danny we are in the social club. Danny said he will meet Emma in here.”

“Alright, I’ll be round in a second. Where is Danny taking Emma?”

“Why?”

“So we can avoid that place.”

“Don’t be mean.”

“I’m not.”

“Right, well I’ll see you in a minute.”

She put the phone down, and I walked round to the social club, when I arrived Melanie grabbed me and took me to one side.

“Danny I want to go to the same place as them to make sure he treats her right.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Fine, Danny mentioned something about Mamma’s Kitchen.”

“Great well we’ll go there then.”

Melanie let go and I was able to go to the bar and order a drink. Whilst I was at the bar I spotted Fred.

“Hey Fred.”

“Hey Danny, any time for an interview?”

“Sorry, I’ve got plans.”

“Ok.”

“Fred, what’s wrong with George?”

“He’s found out his girlfriend has been cheating on him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you should know his girlfriend.”

“Would I?”

“Yeah! Sarah who used to work at your school.”

“Oh.”

“Did she try it on with you as well?”

“Yeah, how about you?”

“Yep.”

I nodded and sipped my drink.

“Well I won’t keep you Danny.”

“See you later Fred.”

I walked away at this point, why had I never asked Sarah about her boyfriend? Was my main thought as I sat down.

“Danny where is he?” Asked Emma.

“Probably showering.”

“Oh ok. As long as he doesn’t stand me up.”

“Don’t worry he won’t.”

And there we sat until Danny turned up.

To be continued

[STFCDP1990]

Monday 3rd January 2011- The Date

“So we’re going to head off now.” Danny said.

Emma and Danny stood up and put their coats on, they had been practically inseparable since Danny had sat down.

“Where are you going?” Melanie asked.

“To Mamma’s Kitchen.” He replied.

“Oh what a coincidence we have a reservation there too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, isn’t that right Danny?” Melanie asked.

“Yeah we do.” I lied.

“Oh ok.” Danny E said.

Now it was Melanie and my turn to stand up and put our coats on, we walked out of the social club as a group.

“Suck up!” Nick shouted.

I looked round and spotted a group of Chorley players sat at a table near the door, now they were all winding Danny up. We continued to walk out, as they continued on their mission to wind Danny up.

As we walked onto Duke Street, a cab pulled up. Danny and Emma jumped into the cab, leaving Melanie and myself stood by the road.

“Danny we need to get their quick.” Melanie urged.

“Well let’s get walking then!”

We quickly walked across town to the restaurant, entering I walked up to the waiter on hosting duty.

“Hello, can we have a table for two?”

“Reservation only.”

I resisted the urge to ask him if he had a brother who worked in a jewellers in Manchester.

“Right the problem is we haven’t got a reservation.”

“So do you want to make one?”

“No, we need the table now.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“I’m sorry sir, but there is nothing I can do.”

“Are you sure? You seem like a good man.”

As I spoke I slid two £20 notes towards him.

“Alright there is one table available. This way please.”

He led us into the restaurant and past Danny and Emma. We were shown to a table near the kitchen, the waiter pulled Melanie’s chair out for her, whilst I sat down. Melanie had a look around to see if she could keep an eye on them. She found a position in which she could. I however tried to look as natural as possible. Until I spotted two familiar faces over Melanie’s shoulder. Trying to rescue their relationship on a table behind us was Sarah and George. My stomach knotted, and I slumped in my seat.

“Danny!” Melanie kicked me, “Look interested in me.”

I sat back up and leant across the table taking her hands in mine.

“How’s this?”

“Yeah, good. Does that look good to you?” She pointed in the direction of Emma, who had her head in her hands.

“Yeah, she’s laughing. Danny can be funny.”

“Oh right.”

The waiter approached us at this moment, to be honest we hadn’t looked at the menus.

“I’ll have a lager, whatever you have on tap that you recommend, and she will have a…”

“An orange juice please.”

The waiter walked off and I looked at the menu. The prices were astronomical and I took a sip of what I hoped was free water.

“And what can I get you to eat?” The waiter sneered.

“I’ll have the Minestra, and the Spaghetti Bolognese, please.” Answered Melanie.

“The Bolognese?”

“Yeah why?”

“No, no reason.” Answered the waiter.

“And I’ll have the Carpaccio, and the Lasagna, thanks.”

The waiter disappeared, and Melanie went back to spying on Emma. I however had my eyes on Sarah and George. It wasn’t looking good, as Sarah had just pushed George’s hands away. She was looking anywhere but at him, and then it happened, she saw me. She raised a hand in greeting, George looked in the direction that she was looking in, and saw me as well.

“Great.” I muttered.

“You think it’s going well as well?”

“Yeah, it looks like it’s going brilliantly.”

George had put his head down and was now looking into his food like it was going to give him the answer to all his problems. Sarah, was putting her coat on, and stood up. Instead of walking out she walked over to my table.

“Hey Danny, fancy seeing you here.”

“Hi Sarah, how are you?”

“As good as I can be expected to be. Congratulations Melanie, I’m happy for you, and is that a ring on your finger?”

“Yes, we got engaged on Christmas Day.” I replied.

“Oh wow, congratulations.”

“Thanks.” I replied awkwardly.

She walked away but as she neared the door she made the ‘call me’ sign.

Looking over at George, I felt sorry for the guy.

“Hey Melanie, I’m just going to the toilet.”

“Have fun.” She replied absently minded.

I walked over to George, and sat down in front of him.

“Oh hey Danny.”

“Hello George.”

“How could she do it to me Danny?”

“I’ve no idea mate, but if a girl is going to be like that, then she obviously isn’t worth your time.”

“Yeah… can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“Has she ever tried it on with you?”

“Do you want the truth?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m afraid so. Why do you think she lost her job?”

“She lost her job?”

“Yes.”

“Jesus, is there anything else she was hiding from me?”

“I’ve no idea, but George you can do better than her.”

“Can I?”

“Yes. Now go home or something, just get out of here.”

“I will.”

“And George remember there are plenty more fish in the sea.”

“Thanks Danny, look I’m sorry about being off with you the other day.”

“No worries.”

With that he stood up and left, I carried on to the toilet. Once I had finished I stood at the sink and washed my hands as the waiter walked in. I was stood by the hand-dryer, when he left, without washing his hands. Walking out of the toilet I stormed up to Melanie.

“We’re leaving.”

“Why?”

“The waiter didn’t wash his hands, and he went in the stall.”

“What?”

“The waiter used the toilet and didn’t wash his hands!”

Melanie turned green, and the waiter approached us.

“Keep away from me!” Melanie shouted.

Now everyone in the place was staring at us.

“What’s wrong?” The waiter asked.

“You didn’t wash your hands, when you used the toilet!” Melanie shouted.

Now the customers started to spit their food back out, everyone else in the restaurant walked out, and now it was just me and Melanie left with this waiter.

“What have you done?” He shouted at us.

“Hey, don’t blame us because you were never taught basic hygiene.”

With that we walked out. As we stepped out of the restaurant, Melanie pulled her phone out.

“Gone home with Danny, decided that we would be better off having some home cooking. Emma x.” She read aloud.

[STFCDP1990]

Friday 7th January 2011

We had started back at school yesterday, and the children in my new class had been surprised to find me stood in front of them. But the two days had gone well, despite the fact that I was now exhausted, physically and mentally. Packing my things away I headed to Victory Park to welcome a new signing to the team.

Luckily we had managed to get this player in on trial before the Salford game, which was good for us seeing as how were now short of quality on the left wing, with Luke Chapman out for 4 months with a torn hamstring.

Arriving at the ground I remembered that we would also be weak at right back for the next game, as Kingsley Grandison had come down with the flu and had been sent home just in case he infected anyone.

Walking around to my office I was surprised to see a figure on the pitch.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I shouted.

The figure stopped and looked in my direction, I walked round to the dugout and the figure approached me. As it neared I was finally able to make out the face of Aymen Tahar our new left winger, or hopefully he would be if his trial went well.

“Oh, it’s you. I thought you were some kid or someone.” I said.

“Sorry boss, I was waiting and I found a ball, and one thing led to another.”

I nodded, and gestured for him to follow me, we walked down to my office in silence. Opening the door I held it open for him.

“So your last club was Sheffield United, what have you been doing to keep fit?”

“Well I’ve been down to the gym a lot, and I have been playing for my mate’s Sunday league team.”

“So are you match fit?”

“Probably not, but I feel pretty good.”

“Well I like honesty. You will start tomorrow, so you will need to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Really? I get to start like that? All you know about me is that I’m a left winger!”

“Look, I’m desperate for a quality left winger to start against Salford. And I’ve been told you that you are the quality I am looking for.”

Aymen nodded.

“Well I hope you can be very successful in your time here. Now I’ll see you tomorrow at 12pm.”

Aymen stood up and left. I followed out after him and walked home. Melanie was at home, with Emma who seemed to be becoming a permanent fixture. Opening the front door, I heard them both in the living room gossiping about Emma’s date with Danny E.

“And then we got the whipped cream out and…”

“Hey Danny!” Melanie shouted.

“Oh hey Danny.” Emma said.

“Hello.” I said as I entered the room.

“Emma was just telling me about her night with Danny.”

“I heard the part about whipped cream, but please don’t tell me anymore, I have to look at this guy tomorrow, and I don’t want to think about some kind of kinky sex every time I do.”

“Now you say it, I did tie him up.”

“Emma, that will be enough thank you.”

“Boring.”

“Right, tell you what I’ll leave you two alone, if I can take the Xbox upstairs.”

“Yeah fine.” Melanie replied.

With that I grabbed the Xbox, and walked up the stairs as quickly as my legs would let me.

[STFCDP1990]

Last post for a week

Saturday 8th January 2011 – Salford City

It was yet another wet day, standing by the kitchen sink I watched as the rain bounced off of the patio outside. I sighed and turned back to the living room, where I took a seat on the couch and turned on Sky Sports News. The news was full of Premiership transfers, so and so was off to someplace for something ridiculous, it was getting repetitive and boring by the time Melanie came downstairs, and I turned the television onto some programme she enjoyed. Rowley came bounding into the room, and placed his head on my lap.

“What?”

He leant his head on one side.

“Breakfast?”

He barked.

“Come on then.”

I stood up and walked to the kitchen, opening a can of food, I forked the meat out into his bowl. Soon enough he was chasing his bowl around the floor. As for myself I made myself a bowl of cereal, and walked through to the living room. Sitting down I ate the cereal, and placed the bowl on the floor. Looking at the clock I noticed the time and got ready to leave.

Walking out of my front door, I knocked for Billy, and we walked to the ground together. The players were already there by the time we had arrived, and Aymen was fitting in well with the rest of the squad.

We boarded the coach quickly to get out of the rain.

After a half an hour journey we pulled up at Moor Lane, home of Salford City. Stepping off of the coach, it felt like the rain had followed us from Chorley, as it was still bouncing down, and the players raced for the changing room, as for myself I took my time, as a little bit of rain was better than getting involved in the crush that would now be happening in the changing room.

Once I walked into the changing rooms, the players were sat down. Pulling a sheet of paper out of my pocket I began to read the team out.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Tom Moncur

Hassan Bacchus

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

George Bowyer

Louis Castles

Aymen Tahar

John Cunliffe ©

Lloyd Rigby, Kevin McGarry, Jack Dorney, Raphael Sylvester, Jack Pearson.”

With that I stepped back outside, away from the chaos that now ensued within the changing room. Billy also escaped with the coaches, and we left the players to get on with it. Soon they emerged from the changing room, and set about warming up. I had a look around, although there isn’t much to look at in Moor Lane, no offence intended. The ground is

basic, with just a single stand. The rest of the ground is open standing, which was going to be deserted if the weather kept up.

We headed back to the changing rooms after half an hour.

“Go out there and win today. The three points are ours if we play to our best. This side is low on confidence and won’t pose a problem if we take our chances.”

John led the team out onto the pitch, and I walked out of the changing room after them. I sheltered under the dugout, and waited for Andrew Madley to start the game.

Andrew got off to a good start, as in the 11th minute he booked Robbie Blackwell for taking a dive despite the fact that the Salford player had stood up and told the ref that he had fouled Robbie.

In the 14th minute our luck went from bad to worse, as Oliver went over awkwardly on his right knee. Pete sprinted onto the pitch and shook his head. I sent Jack on and moved Tom Moncur up to central midfield. Oliver limped off slowly and slumped down into the dugout.

We managed to hang on, and even attack well. In the 35th minute our substitute Jack opened the scoring with a powerful header from a Louis corner.

“Hey Billy maybe Oliver’s injury has been a blessing in disguise.”

“Yeah, but he’s going to be out for a while, so yeah we have scored now but how many assists are we going to miss from Oliver.”

I nodded and turned back to the football.

Andrew signalled for two minutes extra time, and in the second minute of extra time we scored our second goal. As John picked the ball up about 25 yards out, he stopped the ball, and looked up, spotting the keeper off of his line, John fired a shot home.

“Holy s***.” I remarked.

“Yeah.”

“Remind me to give him whatever wage he wants.”

“Yeah.”

Andrew blew for half time before Salford even had time to kick off, still stunned Billy and myself walked to the changing rooms after the players.

Half Time: Salford 0-2 Chorley (Pearson 35, Cunliffe 47)

“Well we are firmly in control, and as long as we keep our wits about us, I think we can be pretty confident about the three points. But at the end of the day our goal difference could always do with improving, so get back out there and score as many goals as possible.”

John led the team back out for the second half, before I walked out I tried to get as warm as possible, and made a mental note to invest in some warmer clothing.

I walked out of the changing room, and joined Billy on the touchline. He was hopping from one foot to another attempting to get warm.

In the 63rd minute I decided to replace Hassan with Kevin. I felt sorry for Kevin seeing as how most of his game time came from the bench, but this is football, at least he was getting match time.

Just a minute later John doubled his goal tally for the game, as he skipped past the Salford defence as if they weren’t there and slipped the ball into the back of the net.

“How is he not playing in a higher league?” I asked.

“No idea, consistency I guess.”

“Well there loss is our gain.”

Billy nodded, and continued to hop from one foot to the other.

In the 83rd minute John Cunliffe picked up the ball by the corner flag, taking it round the first defender, he crossed the ball into the box where Aymen Tahar was on hand to header the ball home.

“He’s been spectacular today.” Billy commented.

“I know, maybe we should give him a contract.”

“Well let’s just wait. See how he does in the next couple of games.”

“Yeah, fine.”

As the game ended, the rain stopped. We headed back to the changing room, and the 57 people in the ground headed home.

Final Score: Salford 0-4 Chorley (Pearson 35, Cunliffe 47, 64, Tahar 83)

“Well that’s done the goal difference a world of good. Nothing else to say, except for well done, but then that makes me sound as if I am congratulating a child on completing their work. But anyway lads great result.”

With that I turned on my heel and walked out of the changing room, as I did I noticed that Pete had disappeared.

“Billy, where is Pete?”

“Hospital with Oliver.”

“Right.”

I carried on out of the changing room and walked straight into George.

“Sorry George, how are you?”

“Yeah I’m alright, just trying to get back to normal.”

“Well as long as you are alright. I assume you have some questions.”

“You know me too well. Do you think it will be possible for you to keep the current form going?”

“Yes I see no reason why this form should end.”

“But surely over-confidence could creep in?”

“As I have said in the past, how can you be over-confident? You can be confident or afraid. The best teams pick confident and the losers pick afraid.”

“You do realise that today’s victory leaves you top of the league, and now teams will be gunning for you. Are you going to be able to hold onto top spot?”

“Yes.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Really, I need a bit more to go on.”

“Yes we will.”

“Moving on, is there any substance to the rumour that John Cunliffe might leave?”

“The only substance there is the cocaine that whoever thought of the rumour must have been snorting. John is a magpie, he will be a magpie for a very long time.”

“I’ll end the interview there before you start accusing more people of substance abuse.”

“Please tell me that it wasn’t you who came up with the rumour.”

“No it wasn’t me, but do you remember the beer guzzlers quote.”

“Of course I do.”

“Well that’s what I am trying to avoid.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

With that George walked away, and I carried on to the coach, sitting down at the front I pulled out a book from my bag and started to read it.

[STFCDP1990]

Sorry about the absence! Enjoy!

Monday 10th January 2011

Whilst I was typing away at my computer in my office, at school, my phone rang. Picking it up I answered.

“Hello?”

“Afternoon Danny, it’s Billy.”

“How can I help Billy?”

“I’ve decided to come out of retirement, we need another player in the reserves and I have decided to put my boots back on.”

“Alright.”

“I might be 41 but I can still do a job, and who knows, you might need me for the first team.”

“Well get the paperwork sent off.”

“Shall do.”

“Was there anything else?”

“No, I just wanted to let you know of my decision.”

“Great, well welcome aboard.”

“Thanks, anyway I’ll see you later, are you coming to the game?”

“Yeah, Nantwich isn’t it? It’ll be a laugh to see you play.”

“Thanks. See you later.”

“Yeah see you later.”

I put the phone down and carried on with my typing, leaning back I sighed, this was probably the most boring Monday I had ever encountered. Part of me wished I was in class but Ms French was in there to give me time to complete any paperwork that I had, the only problem being I had completed everything and it was only 1:30pm, meaning that there was another hour and 45 minutes until the children went home.

I spent the rest of the afternoon milling around the school looking for stuff to do, but in the end I spent the majority of it talking to the office staff. At about 4:30pm I grabbed my coat and made a bee-line for the door, now it was time to become Danny Preston Football Manager.

Heading to the ground, I braced myself against the rain that was falling, the reserves were going to have fun in this weather, and I was glad once I reached the social club, heading inside I wiped the rain off of my face, and spotted Fred. I walked over and sat down in front of him.

“Lovely weather.” I remarked.

“For ducks.” He replied.

I nodded and smiled.

“Anyway Danny, do you think the team will be able to continue this run of form?”

“Yes, I do. We’ve got the drive and determination to carry it on, but it is just down to the players on the pitch.”

“So will the Garforth game be an easy one?”

“No, no game in this league is easy. We have a good chance against Garforth and I know that the players will not treat this game as a walk in the park.”

“How will the three day gap affect the team?”

“It will give us some momentum and we will look to hit the ground running.”

“Finally, Billy Dodds has registered as a player, is this a sign that the team is running short of players?”

“No. Billy has signed so that he can play for the reserves and provide an extra body.”

“Is there a chance of him playing for the first team?”

“He has as good a chance as any of the other players. If I feel he could do a job then I will play him.”

“Could we see a Preston/Dodds front line?”

“Maybe. To be honest we could have all of the coaching staff featuring in a game.”

“Well that would be a treat.”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks Danny.”

With that he stood up and left. There was still another couple of hours until the reserve game, pulling my phone out of my pocket I called Melanie and asked her to come down to the social club.

After a couple of drinks, beer for me, coke for Melanie. We headed round to the main stand and took a seat behind the home dugout. We sat down just as the teams emerged, and at the back of the Chorley team was Billy.

As soon as the game kicked off I followed Billy around the pitch, watching his every movement I was desperate to see if he still had what it takes. I was distracted in the 8th minute as Nantwich netted a goal through Rodney Jack, I didn’t see the build-up but the finish was well taken.

Whilst Billy didn’t have the legs to cover the entirety of the pitch, he had the positional play to get into the right place at the right time. It was from Billy’s shot that we equalised, as his shot was deflected into the net by Dave Tickle in the 21st minute.

Nantwich were back in front only two minutes later as Omar Mahmood smacked a beautiful effort into the top left hand corner.

Dale Whitham was the man to equalise for us in the 39th minute, Billy found himself with the ball on the halfway line, but he couldn’t find it in himself to go on a run, so instead he knocked the ball forward for Dale to latch onto. Dale controlled the ball and slid it between the legs of the on-rushing keeper.

We went into the break equal, and as Billy walked down the tunnel I gave him a wave. I sat back in my seat waiting for the next 15 minutes to pass, looking at Melanie, I noticed she had her eyes closed and was snoring.

Half time went quickly, and Melanie stayed asleep, during the break I had counted that including myself and Melanie that there were 11 people in the ground. It was still raining and the temperature was continuing to drop.

In the 57th minute Billy replaced himself, with a player from the youth team. Billy had played well, and I felt he could possibly have a role in the first team, if only as a sub.

Ten minutes later and another member of the coaching staff was leaving the pitch, unfortunately he wasn’t being subbed, as Darren Caskey showed everyone in the ground how not to tackle, as he was red-carded for a wild lunge. He avoided my eye contact as he walked off of the pitch.

The rest of the game fizzled out and we left 10 minutes before the end, passing the dugout I leant over and shouted to Billy.

“You could star for the first team after that performance!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, we could need you.”

“Great, cool thanks!”

“Well see you tomorrow Billy.”

“I’ll bring my boots.”

I laughed as I walked away, Melanie clung sleepily to my arm.

[STFCDP1990]

Tuesday 11th January 2011 - Garforth

After yet another day in my office, I walked round to Victory Park, to prepare for tonight’s match against Garforth. The rain was heavier than yesterday, and I had borrowed an umbrella from one of the male members of staff. I sheltered under it as I walked round to the ground.

Arriving at the ground I walked straight to my office. Sitting down at my desk I noticed a note from Ken.

“Danny, Eastwood have made an approach for John Cunliffe. Seeing as how he is out of contract in the summer, they have been allowed to offer him a contract.”

I screwed the note up and threw it at the bin. So our top scorer looked like he was about to jump ship and join a team in a higher league.

Stepping out of my office, I bumped straight into John.

“Sorry boss.”

“It’s alright.”

“Ummm boss, has Ken told you?”

“Yes he has, is there any way we could offer you a new contract to keep you here?”

“Well you’ve made it clear in the past that you won’t raise my pay, and Eastwood have offered to double it.”

“I guess there is nothing I can say to convince you otherwise?”

“Unless you offer me double.”

“As a club we aren’t going to be held to ransom.”

“Fine.”

He opened the door to the changing room and sat down with the rest of the players, before I entered I scribbled on the team sheet.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Jack Pearson

Nick Meace

Michael Lawson

Tom Moncur

Nathan Fairhurst

Danny Edwards

Louis Castles

Jack Dorney

Raphael Sylvester

Lloyd Rigby, Kevin McGarry, Dale Whitham, Danny Murphy, Billy Dodds.”

The team looked at me with raised eyebrows, including Billy.

“That is the teamsheet, yes Billy is on the bench.”

“Really?” John asked.

“Yes.”

I walked out of the changing room, and headed to the side of the pitch. The rain was still lashing down, and the pitch looked like it was going to be fun tonight. I could see Darren Caskey walking over to the match secretary to give him the updated teamsheet. The players emerged from the tunnel to warm up, and I watched John Cunliffe walk to the social club, with the other players who hadn’t been selected.

“Danny, I though John was starting.” Billy said.

“I changed my mind.”

“Why?”

“Because he has no loyalty. Eastwood have offered more money to him, and he is refusing to talk to us about a new contract.”

“Oh.”

“I know I’m being harsh, but if he has no loyalty to us then why should I play him? He might even join the under 18s for the rest of the season.”

“Jesus Danny.”

“Tough.” I shrugged.

“Oi Billy! Get over here.” Ged Kielty shouted.

Billy sprinted off and left me with my thoughts. Whilst I knew that John could still do a job for us, I also knew that he was only using us a stepping stone. After half an hour, the players headed back down to the changing rooms, and I followed after them making sure I was careful not to slip.

“We can win this tonight lads, let’s take those three points, and keep the top of the league to ourselves.”

Raphael stood up, as vice-captain it was up to him to lead the team out. I followed out afterwards, and as we emerged onto the pitch I heard the announcer.

“Danny Murphy…. Well I thought it was strange when I read out Danny Preston’s name earlier in the season, but now welcome Billy Dodds, the assistant manager. Yes that’s right Billy Dodds is the final sub.”

“Do you think he meant that in a good way or bad way?” Billy asked.

“I have no idea.”

We stood by the side of the pitch as the rain poured down, and Declan Ford blew his whistle to start the match.

We started brightly, as Garforth went onto the back foot almost immediately, from the beginning they seemed to be tired, and I finally realised how lucky I was to have such a deep squad.

In the 9th minute Robbie Blackwell played the ball back to Dave Watson, a personally pet peeve of mine.

“Oi Robbie, we are shooting that way!” I pointed as I shouted.

Dave controlled the ball and passed it across to Michael, Michael in turn knocked I across to Nick, who passed it across to Jack. Jack launched the ball forward into the path of Jack Dorney, who controlled the ball with his thigh and knocked the ball across to Danny Edwards. Danny took a couple of steps forward before teeing up Raphael. Raphael hammered the ball home, sending a curling shot past the outstretched fingers of the Garforth keeper.

“Wow.” Billy gasped.

I stood by the side of the pitch mouth open, before it dawned on me that I should celebrate. Throwing my arms in the air I cheered and clapped, as Raphael went through a complex celebration with Louis Castles.

The rest of the half carried on in the same fashion, with Dave remaining untested. He occasionally touched the ball as the defence passed back to him to keep him awake. We managed to carve out a number of attacks, including one in the 31st minute in which every single player on the team touched the ball. Unfortunately the Garforth keeper kept us out.

Half Time: Chorley 1 (Sylvester 9) – 0 Garforth

“Great, just great. Just keep it going, and I want to see as many attacks as possible.”

The players sat back and took on fluids. I sat down and wondered what the Garforth manager would be saying to his players right now. After 15 minutes Declan Ford knocked on the door.

“Right lads let’s go.”

Raphael stood up and the players walked out of the changing room. I walked out after them, and just as I left the changing room I picked up my umbrella.

The game restarted where it had left off, with us on the attack. In the 62nd minute I decided to bring Kevin McGarry on for Robbie. Robbie had been looking tired, and I felt he would be better rested as we were going to need him in the next couple of games.

“This isn’t for passing the ball back is it?” He asked as he walked past me.

“No, but for god sake stop doing that!”

“Ha, but we needed to make sure Dave was awake.”

I laughed and turned back to the football.

In the 65th minute Jack Pearson picked up a yellow card for unfairly jumping with a Garforth player, apparently Jack had fouled this player whilst they competed for the ball.

In the 75th minute I decided to make another strategic replacement by switching Danny Edwards with Dale Whitham.

The game was heading towards an easy victory for us, so I feeling comfortable I decided to give Billy his first start for the first team.

“Billy get ready you’re going on.”

“What?”

“Get ready to go on.”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

After a couple of minutes Billy was ready and in the 85th minute the announcer announced his substitution over the tannoy.

“And replacing Raphael Sylvester, is the assistant manager Billy Dodds, give him a warm Chorley welcome as he makes his Chorley first team debut.”

The 175 people in the stadium applauded politely as Billy jogged onto the pitch.

Billy had a good impact on the game as he set up a couple of good chances for the team.

In the 93rd minute Garforth went on their first attack of the game, they broke down the right hand side, the ball was crossed into the box, Nick Meace jumped for the ball, and as the ball dropped it struck him on the arm. As I had taught the team they played to the whistle and the ball was cleared for a throw in. Declan Ford waved the Garforth players away, and I turned to my right.

“That was a lucky escape…”

I suddenly realised I was speaking to myself as Billy who was usually next to me was on the pitch.

As soon as the throw in was taken Declan Ford brought the game to an end.

Final score: Chorley 1 (Sylvester 9) – 0 Garforth

“Well done, we’ve kept the top spot with another great win.”

That was all I could think to say, anymore would have spoilt it. Grabbing a towel I dried my hair as best I could and left the changing room. Stepping out of the changing room I came face to face with George.

“Danny.”

“Hey George.”

“I won’t keep you for long. Raphael’s early goal must have been a great moment for you, how do you feel it affected the game?”

“Well obviously it was the winning goal, so it had a giant effect on the game.”

“It’s been 318 minutes since Dave Watson conceded a goal, how does that affect him?”

“Obviously it gives him a lot of confidence, but it also helps the rest of the team, as they know that they can be sure that they have a great keeper behind them.”

“Finally Billy made his Chorley debut today, will we see more of him?”

“Yes, he will feature in more upcoming matches, as the squad will need rotating as we come to the end of the season.”

“Thanks Danny, I’ll leave you alone now.”

“Cheers George have a good night.”

With that I walked out of the ground and into the rain.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 15th January 2011-Cammell Laird

It was official, John Cunliffe was leaving us to join Eastwood, he had told the media that it was because he was looking forward to play for a well-supported team. The truth I felt was that he was looking forward to picking up a big pay check every week. He was leaving for Eastwood in July and so until them he wasn’t going to get a game for us.

But in life there is no point dwelling on what you cannot change, and so instead I was looking forward to today’s match against Cammell Laird. We were travelling to the Kirklands Stadium and according to Google it was going to take us an hour to get there. I made sure I was at the ground at 11.30am, I boarded the coach and waited for the rest of the players to arrive.

As I sat there I waited for Raphael Sylvester to board.

“Raphael, a quick word please?”

“Yeah boss.”

“John Cunliffe is leaving us, and I want you to take over as captain.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I feel you are ready, and you have led the team already.”

“Ok. Who’s going to be vice?”

“Tom Moncur.”

“I heard my name?” Tom said.

“Tom, I making you vice-captain.”

“Alright.”

With that Tom and Raphael walked to a table seat and sat down. Happy that I had made the right choice I started to read.

Arriving in Birkenhead we stepped off of the coach, we headed straight for the changing rooms, and the players stared at me.

“Lloyd Rigby

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Jack Pearson

Hassan Bacchus

Tom Moncur

Danny Edwards

Tom McMahon

Louis Castles

Aymen Tahar

Raphael Sylvester

Dave Watson, Michael Lawson, Jason St Juste, Billy Dodds, Kevin McGarry.”

As always I left the changing room and headed outside, there was sleet falling outside and the temperature was around 3 degrees. I took a walk around the perimeter of the pitch, taking in my surroundings, the ground was open to the elements, with a clear view towards a church behind one of the goals. The players came out to warm-up as I completed my circuit. Billy looked to be in good shape, and I was hoping to bring him on later as an impact sub.

After half an hour we walked back to the changing rooms.

“We can win this! And we will win it in style! Now get out there and show the fans, players and directors of Cammell Laird what the winners of the league look like!”

Raphael stood up and led the team out, I stepped out after them. Walking down the tunnel I recognised the back of the head of Declan Ford, maybe he officiated too many of our games, seeing as how I was now recognising the back of his head.

We kicked off into the sleet, and from the beginning looked to keep the ball, we were passing it around sensibly using as much of the pitch as possible.

In the 8th minute Aymen sprinted up the left wing, and placed a low cross into the box, the ball managed to squirm through the hands of the Cammell Laird keeper, Raphael was on hand to pick up on the loose ball and he tapped the ball into the open goal.

We carried on attacking, but most of our crosses and shots looked more likely to hit the church then they did the back of the net.

In the 30th minute Danny Edwards lifted a through ball into the path of Raphael who controlled the ball and slid the ball underneath the body of the onrushing Cammell Laird keeper.

Two minutes later Cammell Laird pulled a goal back through Tom McGill, who hammered the ball home from outside of the box.

For the remaining minutes of the match Cammell Laird kept us pegged back in our own half, and we were lucky to go into the break still a goal to the good.

Half Time: Cammell Laird 1 (McGill 32) – Chorley 2 (Sylvester 8, 30)

“For the first half an hour we were brilliant, but then we let them score! We need to get back out there and win this game! We can do this!”

The players took on fluids, and tried to recover ready for the second half. We left the changing rooms before Declan Ford had to knock for us, and the second half began.

In the 58th minute I decided to bring Kevin McGarry and Jason St Juste on for Danny Edwards and Louis Castles. Jack Pearson moved up into central midfield and Aymen moved over to the right wing.

3 minutes later Tom McGill doubled his tally for the game and brought Cammell Laird level. During the building play it looked as if he had used his arm to control the ball, and my thoughts were confirmed when Nick Meace chased the ref remonstrating with him.

In the 74th minute I decided to try Billy up front to see if he could unlock the Cammell Laird back four. Raphael handed the captains armband to Tom Moncur and jogged off of the pitch.

In the 87th minute it became clear that Declan Ford did actually understand the handball rule. Unfortunately for us he gave a foul against us as Kevin McGarry was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box. Pete Ferris stepped up to convert the cross, and he smashed the ball into the right hand bottom corner.

The last goal knocked the wind out of us completely and we didn’t look as if we were likely to get back into the game.

Final Score: Cammell Laird 3 (McGill 32, 61, Ferris 87)-2 Chorley (Sylvester 8,30)

“S***. We threw those points away needlessly. I’ve got to say I’m disappointed by the performance.”

I walked out of the changing room completely and utterly dumbstruck by the fact that we had thrown away a 2 goal lead. I didn’t even notice George walking towards me.

“Danny.”

“Huh? Oh hey George.”

“Can I ask you a couple of questions?”

“Go ahead.”

“How disappointed are you by the fact that you threw away a 2 goal lead?”

“Well we’re going to try and take the positives from the game and learn from our mistakes.”

“Some people are suggesting that Tom McGill handled the ball for the second Cammell Laird goal, Nick Meace certainly looked upset by it. What is your view?”

“The ref was wrong, simple as.”

“Do you think the officials had a big effect on the game?”

“Of course they did.”

“Kevin McGarry made a mistake at the end, by giving away a penalty. How will that affect him?”

“He’s distraught at the moment, but he will bounce back and will come back stronger as a result.”

“Great, well that’ll be all.”

I nodded and walked to the coach. All I wanted to do was get the coach journey over with and head to the pub for a couple of pints.

[STFCDP1990]

Monday 17th January 2011

With John Cunliffe leaving, I admit I was panicking about the striker situation at the club. Sure I still had John but I didn’t feel right playing him as part of his mind was always going to be on his new club.

After leaving school for the evening I headed down to the ground, as the reserves were due to play Halifax reserves in a friendly tonight, and I wanted to have a word with Billy about a new striker before the game.

I found Billy busy laying out the kit for the match.

“Evening Billy.”

“Alright Danny.”

“Look Billy, I need your suggestions about a new striker.”

“Already way ahead of you.”

He handed me a note at this point, there were a couple of names on there.

“But the top two are the ones you want to go for. I’ve put Kingsley’s number next to his name.” He continued.

“Thanks Billy.”

“No problem, it’s why I’m your assistant.”

“Well I’m going to go and contact some of these people.”

Billy nodded, and I walked to my office, turning the computer on I waited for it to load. Whilst I waited I made myself a cup of tea using the kettle I kept in my office. Reaching under my desk I pulled the milk out of the mini fridge that I had placed under my desk. Finally the computer was ready and I fired up Firefox.

Typing the first name into Google I waited for the responses to come back. Finally it loaded Anthony Malbon was the man I had searched, he was currently playing for Leek, and had scored 11 goals in 19 games. Finding the number for the Leek manager, I dialled it in on the phone.

“Hello?”

“Good evening, this is Danny Preston of Chorley FC.”

“How can I help you?”

“I’m wondering how much you would want for Anthony Malbon?”

“He’s not for sale!”

“At any price?”

“He’s not for sale.”

“Alright, just wanted to check.”

With that I put the phone down. I typed in the next name into Google, Kingsley Wetherald was a 19 year old striker whose last club was York. I dialled his number, and waited for him to pick up.

“Hello, this is Kingsley speaking, how can I help?”

“Good evening, Kingsley. This is Danny Preston of Chorley FC.”

“Oh.”

“I’m interested in signing you.”

“Well you should know that Woking have expressed interest as well.”

“So stiff competition then?”

“They haven’t offered a contract yet so you might be lucky.”

“How much do you want?”

“Well according to Google you are doing well in your league. So shall we say a youth contract?”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, whenever you are free come up to Chorley and we will sort the deal out.”

“Great!”

With that he put the phone down, and I leant back in my chair feeling pretty content. I decided to leave for home at this point. I passed most of the team as they walked in for the reserve match.

“Not staying boss?” I was asked by Dale Whitham.

“Not tonight. I need a rest.” I replied.

I walked home. Melanie had promised to cook and I was looking forward to getting to spend some time with her. Emma had been coming around less frequently recently, and I hoped that everything was going well with Danny.

[STFCDP1990]

Tuesday 18th January 2011

I had arrived home yesterday, to a burnt dinner from Melanie, she had apparently fallen asleep and forgotten about the food. Rowley had been pretty interested in the food, but to be honest I had no idea what it was and it ended up in the bin.

I had also had a text from Billy at 10pm to tell me that we had lost one-nil to Halifax reserves, according to the text we had played well and had been unlucky to lose, by the odd goal. To be honest I didn’t care about the result, these games were just to keep the fringe players fit.

Tonight I was looking forward to a quiet night in, seeing as how I had a headache from school. Something had made the children mental today, and I had ended up with about 10 of them outside my office, in the end children were being made to sit in the library.

Opening the front door I was greeted by shouting.

“How could he do it?”

I stepped quietly into the hallway, and placed my bag on the floor.

“I mean what has she got that I haven’t?”

The voice was familiar, and it sounded a bit too much like Melanie for my comfort. But why was I worrying? I hadn’t done anything. I stepped into the living room and found the source of the shouting. It was Emma.

“Hello.” I said.

“Hello Danny.” Melanie replied, Emma grunted in my direction.

“What’s all the shouting about?”

“Danny has cheated on Emma.” Melanie replied.

“Oh.”

“Is that all you can say? Oh? One of your players cheats on your fiancée’s sister and you can only say oh!” Emma exclaimed.

“What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to sack him!”

“Why?”

“Because he has cheated on me! Did I not make that clear?”

I looked at Melanie for help. She gave me the look of don’t ask me.

“You made that very clear, I think Billy knows as well.”

If looks could kill, I’d be 6 feet under.

“Look Emma, I’m disgusted by Danny’s behaviour, but what he does outside of the club is no matter of mine. Unless it is something truly serious.”

“What do you count as serious?” Emma asked, looking more and more annoyed.

“Anything which would cause him to get arrested.”

“Well just tell him to stay away from me!”

“I will.”

Emma stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her. Meanwhile I clutched my head, my headache had just gotten worse.

“She came round for a rant, but I think you made it worse.”

“Really? I hadn’t guessed Melanie!”

“No need to be sarcastic.”

“Your sister has just had a go at me, in my own house and you don’t expect me to be annoyed. What was she expecting me to do? Sack him then and there?”

“I don’t know.”

“It isn’t my fault she decided to sleep with him!”

“I know, sorry.”

“No worries, now what am I cooking?”

Our conversation turned to what we would have for dinner, in the end we settled for pizza.

[STFCDP1990]

Friday 21st January 2011

School was finished for another week and now it was time for my mind to focus solely on my one true love, football. Earlier Ken had phoned me to ask me to go and talk to him after my meeting with either Fred or George. Obviously he wasn’t sacking me or he would have told me to go there straight away.

Walking to the ground my mind was on what Ken wanted, was he going to tell me that a millionaire had died and donated all his money to Chorley, or was he going to tell me that he had an approach from a Premier League team for my services? Nah he knew I wouldn’t take another job.

I arrived at the social club to find George sat at one of the tables. I sat down in front of him.

“Evening Danny.”

“Evening George.”

“How will the players react to the Cammell Laird result?”

“They will look to bounce back, and hopefully pick up the three points against Prescot.”

“Will we see the return of Matt Jansen, he must be fully healed by now. Is he likely to feature?”

“Matt is now training with the squad again, and he is in contention for a place in tomorrow’s squad. But he faces stiff competition.”

“So yes or no?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Ok. Last time you played Prescot you suffered defeat, are you looking for revenge?”

“Of course we are. We didn’t deserve to lose last time, and so we are looking to seek our revenge.”

“Great. Well that’s all I need, I’ll see you later.”

With that he stood up and walked out of the social club. Now it was time for me to find out what Ken needed to talk to me about, I walked round to his office and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

I opened the door and stepped inside.

“Take a seat Danny.”

I sat down in the only chair available in the office.

“Danny I’ll cut straight down to business. We are in debt, and we need to save money somehow.”

“Right.”

“I’ve been looking at the wage bill, and can’t help but think that we could save some money.”

“Who have you got in mind?”

“Well there are a couple of players on high wages, such as Nathan Fairhurst.”

“How much is Nathan on?”

“£150 per week.”

“Jeez. Yeah I think we might need to cancel that contract.”

Ken nodded.

“Who else is there Ken?”

“Well Nathan will cost money, but Dale Whitham and Lloyd Rigby are on non-contract terms and therefore can be released for nothing.”

I nodded.

“Well if it’s for the best, then I suppose we have to.”

Ken nodded, and began to dial Nathan’s number. After a couple of rings he answered.

“Hello?”

“Nathan? It’s Ken and Danny.” Ken said.

“Oh.”

“Look Nathan I’ll be honest, the club is in a lot of trouble financially and we need to save money.” I said.

“Danny, you’ve been a great boss, and if it’ll help the club I’ll cancel my contract. But I want £2,500.”

I looked at Ken and he nodded.

“Yeah that’s fine according to Ken. Thanks Nathan, good luck for the future.”

“Same to you.”

With that he hung up.

We then rang Lloyd and Dale to deliver the news to them, both of them were surprised, but they knew the risks of signing non-contract terms. By cutting the contracts of Lloyd and Dale we had saved ourselves £150 per week.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 22nd January 2011- Prescot Cables

Following yesterday’s cost cutting measures, my mood wasn’t the best, we had just lost one of our most flexible players in Dale, a great presence in the changing rooms in Nathan, and a fantastic keeper in Lloyd. But that is the life of a football manager, and we have to look to the future of the club.

My mood was brightened by the arrival of Kingsley Wetherald. Kingsley had agreed to join us on a youth contract, with us paying him the massive sum of £5 per week. He was going to strengthened our attack and to be quite honest I was glad he had agreed such a small wage. Billy had already described him as the future of our attack, and I hoped he was going to be right.

I gave Kingsley the guided tour of the ground, and we entered the changing rooms just as the other players arrived. I stood Kingsley at the front and waited for the rest of them to sit down.

“Right lads this is Kingsley Wetherald this lad is going to join our attack, and provide competition for the rest of you strikers, including Billy and myself. Now down to business.

Dave Watson

Kingsley Grandison

Jack Pearson

Nick Meace

Hassan Bacchus

George Bowyer

Danny Edwards

Tom Moncur

Louis Castles

Jason St Juste

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Michael Lawson, Aymen Tahar, Billy Dodds, Kevin McGarry.”

I left the changing room, followed by the players that hadn’t been picked. Kingsley W was among their ranks, and they walked round to the social club. I however stood on the touchline, it was raining in Chorley once again, and the pitch was looking worse for wear. I knew after Friday though that there would be no money whatsoever to relay the pitch in the near future, and we just had to hope for the weather to improve. Or for a millionaire to express interest in the club, like that would ever happen. The players ran out onto the pitch to warm up, there weren’t many fans in the ground just yet, and I wondered if there ever would be. My mood was getting more and more bleak considering the cut-backs, the players that had already left weren’t going to be the last.

After half an hour warming up, we headed back to the changing rooms.

“We deserve revenge! We deserve the three points for this game, and we will win them. Now get out there and win every battle across the pitch, every cross, every header, every pass, every tackle needs to be won by us today. Now go and win them!”

Raphael led the team out, and I walked out afterwards hoping that we would get a win to brighten my mood. The rain was still pouring as we stepped out, the teams lined up and we waited for Andrew Madley to blow his whistle to start the match.

We dominated the first twenty minutes, as we did against Cammell Laird, but this time there was to be no goal within the first ten minutes. But credit where credit is due we kept attacking and did not relent.

Our effort paid off as in the 20th minute Raphael Sylvester brought an end to a fantastic attacking move with a shot that looped over the keeper’s head and into the back of the net.

After the goal we did not sit back and we carried on attacking and pouring forward. In an instance my worries about the team were forgotten and I sat down to enjoy the passing football that was on display.

In the 38th minute Jason sprinted down the left wing with the ball at his feet, he tore the defence apart like a poor man’s Ryan Giggs and knocked a cross into the box. As if by magic Raphael appeared in plenty of space, and chested the ball down before unleashing an unstoppable volley past the keeper.

The second goal knocked all of the wind out of the Prescot sails and it was only due to our misfortune that they did not go into the break 3 or 4 goals down.

Half Time: Chorley 2 (Sylvester 20, 38) – 0 Prescot Cables

“Well we’re showing why we deserve to be top of the league and I’ve got to say I’m pretty damn happy right now. Just get back out there and carry on.”

I sat down in the changing room, my mood had gone from bad to good and now I felt pretty content. The rest of the changing room must have also felt pretty relaxed as the players sat back and waited for the second half. Soon enough Andrew Madley disturbed the calm and we headed back out to the pitch.

It didn’t take us long to start scoring again as in the 51st minute, Jason delivered another cross for Raphael to smash home. In fact it was as if someone had taken the second goal and replayed it.

In the 57th minute I was forced to take our best creative player off and replace him with Aymen Tahar, as Jason showed signs of an injury.

The substitution did not mean the end of the goals, as Raphael turned from scorer to provider, setting up Louis for his first goal of the game. Raphael had found himself in space on the edge of the area but instead of shooting he passed the ball across for Louis to fire into the top left hand corner, in the 59th minute.

In the 72nd minute I decided to replace Tom Moncur with Kevin McGarry.

“Kevin tell Nick to move forward into central midfield.” I told Kevin.

He nodded and ran onto the pitch, shouting for Nick to move forward.

The rest of the half progressed in pretty much the same way, as we created plenty of chances but were unable to take them, but it didn’t matter in the end as we were 4 goals up against a team that had barely entered our half during the game. Looking towards our goal Dave cut a pretty lonely figure in the rain.

As the final whistle blew, Raphael chased the ball down and picked it up cradling it as if it were some kind of trophy.

Final Score: Chorley 4 (Sylvester 20, 38, 51, Castles 59) – 0 Prescot Cables

“Wow! I think that has got to be our performance of the season, if we can carry on like that I will be very, very happy. Well done lads. Danny can I have a quick word?”

“Yeah boss.”

He stood up and walked over to me, I walked out of the changing room and we stood in the corridor.

“Look Danny, it’s probably none of my business, but what’s happened between you and Emma?”

“It was a misunderstanding! I haven’t done anything!”

“Danny, don’t panic. I’m not annoyed, I just need to make sure that this isn’t going to affect you on the pitch. To be honest as long as you don’t get arrested I couldn’t care what you do outside of the club.”

“Oh.”

“So what happened?”

“Well I went to a party and an ex of mine was there, she was always a bit crazy. Somehow she managed to get my phone and she found texts from Emma, and she decided to stitch me up by texting Emma and saying that we had had sex.”

I nodded.

“Do you think Emma will forgive me?”

“Well Danny you can try, but she was pretty angry.” I replied.

“Oh right, I understand.”

“Well if it helps, I believe you.”

“Thanks boss.”

“Look Danny have a couple of beers tonight with the lads, and just see what happens between you and Emma.”

“I will.”

With that I signalled for him to go back into the changing rooms as Fred approached.

“Anything wrong Danny?” Fred asked.

“No, nothing. How can I help?”

“Just a quick couple of questions. How happy are you about Raphael’s hat-trick today?”

“I’m very happy with his contribution today, but the rest of the players also had a hand in setting him up for his hat-trick.”

“Well we at the Chorley Guardian have awarded Raphael the man of the match award. How do you feel he performed today?”

“He was solid, he led by example and showed all of the qualities of a captain that you would want.”

“Great, great thanks.”

“Is that it?”

“Yep.”

At that point I shook Fred’s hand and walked out of the building and headed home to tell Melanie Danny’s side of the story.

[mark wilson27]

Really enjoying the story mate

[STFCDP1990]

Thanks!

Wednesday 26th January 2011

The clubs financial problems were still getting to me and my mind had been on little else than the fact that the club was flat out of money, and Ken still wasn’t telling me how bad it actually was. He kept saying that it was “sustainable” and that as soon as we were promoted that the money troubles would melt away.

I was now spending most of my time outside of school down at the club, either sat in my office or in the social club hoping for Ken to talk to me about the club. However no matter how long I sat there he never appeared, or if he did he quickly changed the conversation to another topic.

Tonight I decided to sit in the social club, I had text Melanie and Billy to ask them to join me but neither could as they were busy. Melanie was busy with planning the wedding, she had set aside a day each week to plan a separate part of the wedding, and Billy was having a night in with Maureen.

Just as I was about to give up and go home, the man I wanted to talk to walked in. He spotted me and made a beeline straight for the bar as if to try and avoid me. I stayed where I was and waited for him to turn away from the bar. He turned his head to check whether I was still there, and as I caught his eye I waved. Finally he gave up and approached my table.

“Evening Danny.”

“Alright Ken?”

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while.”

“About?”

“The club.”

“What about it?”

He sighed and sat down at the table, he looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“Danny, I’m not going to be here for long.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’ve been talking to a new investor.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, an American based millionaire.”

“Are you pulling my leg? What would an American based millionaire want with a club in Chorley?”

“He grew up in Chorley apparently. His family emigrated when he was 12, and now after making his fortune in America he wants to return to the town of his youth. He also wants to own the club he loved as a child.”

“What did he make his money in?”

“A chain of British-themed pubs.”

“Would I have heard of him?”

“His name is James Murphy, his company is called MBP, Murphy’s British Pubs. He’s looking to open an American diner chain in Britain. His flagship store is going to be in Chorley town centre apparently.”

“So what does that mean for the club in the mean time?”

“Well we have to work under the assumption that this deal isn’t going to go through, and we need to keep looking at ways to cut costs.”

“Are you ever going to tell me the extent of our problems.”

He shook his head and stared into his pint.

“Just answer me this, is the club going to go under if this James bloke doesn’t take over?”

“No, we’ll make it somehow but money will be tight.”

Now it was my turn to nod.

“Look Ken, whatever happens I want you to be involved with the club. If you go I’ll go.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to stay around if a crazy American rolls up, I didn’t see it first hand at Chester, but everyone saw what that idiot did to the club, he took it to its knees, and then gave it to the scum that killed it.”

Whilst I hate Chester, I hate people who ruin football clubs more, watching Chester die had been hard as a former player.

“I’d never let that happen, this guy seems pretty legit, I mean he refers to the game as football, not soccer. He even corrected me when I said soccer.”

“Just remember that I feel you should stay on board.”

With that I finished my pint. I stood up to leave.

“But until that happens Ken, we need to look at ways of cutting costs.”

“Well give it a week, and see what happens.”

I nodded and walked out of the social club, I needed to see what Melanie had planned, as last time she had tried to plan my suit. Only I can plan my suit.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 29th January 2011- AFC Flyde

Ken had been keeping me up to date with any news from the takeover talks. Ken had told James that he wanted to stay involved and James had agreed which was brilliant news, as it more than confirmed my safety. The only problem was they couldn’t agree on a price. I could understand both sides of the argument as Ken wanted what he felt he deserved and James being the shrewd businessman wanted to pick the club up on the cheap. But that was all out of my hands, what was in my hands was the fixture against AFC Flyde.

AFC Flyde play at Kellamargh Park, which is a short drive away according to Google, it was going to take us 30 minutes to get there, which meant we were able to give the players a bit of a lie in as we wouldn’t need to be at the ground as early today.

At about 1pm the players arrived at the ground, and we boarded the coach to take us to Kellamargh Park. I was hoping for the players to capitalise on a great performance in the last game, but recently our form had been a bit erratic.

Arriving at Kellamargh Park we made our way to the changing rooms, where the players all stared at me waiting for me to read the teamsheet.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Jack Pearson

Nick Meace

Hassan Bacchus

George Bowyer

Danny Edwards

Tom Moncur

Louis Castles

Jason St Juste

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Kevin McGarry, Aymen Tahar, Billy Dodds, Ashley Hodgkinson.”

I left the changing room, I emerged from behind the goal and stepped onto the pitch, a couple of Chorley fans were sampling the beer in the social club to my left, and they gave me a cheer. I waved back and carried on walking. The dugouts are situated opposite the main stand, and behind both goals it is open standing. The pitch looked like it was in good condition despite the heavy rain.

The players emerged from the changing rooms, and were greeted by another cheer from the travelling fans. The coaches put them through their paces in the warm up, and every one of them looked focused except for Danny Edwards, who looked like his mind was somewhere else.

Heading back to the changing room I pulled Danny Edwards to one side as we walked.

“Danny, you have to put your personal life to one side. I know it’s hard but seriously you need to focus on today.”

“I know boss, but it’s hard.”

“Are you ready to play, or do you want me to replace you?”

“No boss, I’m set for today.”

“Alright.”

We pushed the door open to the changing room and stepped inside, Danny took a seat on a bench and I stood in front of the players.

“We can win this, as long as we carry on how we left off. Just get out there and show the same attacking football.”

Raphael led the team out into the rain which had just started to pour. As I walked out I noticed Ken with a man in a suit, who I could only guess was James.

Andrew Madley was refereeing our match today and he blew his whistle to start the match. AFC Flyde kicked off, and started to pass the ball around.

Both sides were getting on the ball, and looked comfortable to play a passing game, however it was Flyde who started brightest and they carved out a number of chances in the first ten minutes.

In the 15th minute Flyde managed to convert one of their chances as Kevin Townson headed home from a cross.

We carried on battling for the ball, and we looked likely to get level in the game, as we came close on a number of occasions, but our strikers were unable to keep the ball down.

Our momentum was halted in the 25th minute as Danny Edwards proved that he shouldn’t have started as he flew in studs raised on a Flyde player. His foul took place right in front of the dugouts, and there was a brief scuffle as players from both sides ran in to get involved.

“What the hell was your player thinking?” Screamed the AFC Flyde boss in my direction.

“I have no idea.” I muttered.

Sure enough Andrew Madley produced the red card. Danny trudged off of the pitch. We kept our formation, and ended playing a midfielder short.

Luckily Flyde were either unable to extend their lead, or happy to sit back on it. Whatever the reason we still went into the break a goal and a man down.

Half Time: AFC Flyde 1 (Townson 15) – 0 Chorley

“You’re going to need to work harder, and you’ll need to take every chance that comes your way. We can still win this, but you need to show spirit, determination and fight!”

Danny had his head in his hands, and I didn’t need to say anything to let him know how he had let the whole side down. The rest of the players were sat in the changing room taking on fluids, and making sure they had enough energy for the second half. Pete was busy making sure that none of the players were carrying injuries. Soon enough Andrew knocked on the door and we headed out to the pitch.

The rain had started to ease off and the 143 people in the crowd started to emerge from the cover that they had taken. The Chorley fans were attempting to gee the players up. We kicked off and went straight onto the attack, although it was becoming clear that the one man disadvantage was having an effect on us.

I could clearly see Ken and James sat in the main stand, there had been a couple of fans who had spoken to the two men, and this was only going to stir up rumours.

In the 55th minute I decided that we needed experience up front, and I sent Billy on to replace Raphael, who had been struggling to contend with the Flyde defence.

Billy made a difference from his introduction, as he managed to find a way through the Flyde defence, the only problem being that neither he or the rest of the team could find a way past the keeper, who has playing out of his skin.

In the 68th minute I decided to swap Robbie Blackwell with Kevin McGarry, Kevin deserved the game time, and I hoped his youthful energy would add to attacks on the right wing.

In the 90th minute Billy found himself in acres of space, with only the keeper to beat. I was already out of my seat ready to celebrate the goal which I was sure was going to be scored. Billy took the ball around the keeper and slammed the ball goalwards. I could see the Flyde defender sprinting back and prayed that the ball would hit the net. The defender threw himself into a slide, and managed to steer the ball around the post.

From the resulting corner Flyde managed to clear the ball and Andrew brought the game to an end.

Final Score: AFC Flyde 1 (Townson 15) – 0 Chorley

I sighed, there was nothing I could think of to say. Looking around the changing room I could see that the players were down, and there was no point in me saying anything. They knew they had not played to their best.

“Let’s focus on the next game now.”

The players looked up and nodded.

“Danny can I have a word please?”

He stood up and followed me.

“That red card has cost you two week’s wages. What was going through your head?”

“I don’t know boss.”

“Well take the inevitable suspension to get your head sorted.”

He nodded.

I walked away at this point and headed to the coach. I wanted to get home and forget all about this day.

[STFCDP1990]

Monday 31st January 2011

I found myself once again in the social club, only this time I had company. It was a shame however that it was company in the form of Fred and that he was interviewing me about the Wakefield match.

“Wakefield have picked up a bit of momentum at the moment, but they are still in the bottom half of the league surely your Chorley squad will be able to overcome them?”

“Well yes if you look at in terms of the league table then it should be an easy game, but this is football and nothing in football is easy. Wakefield have the same chance as us, it’s just down to who takes their chances on the night.”

“So what kind of tactics will we see you deploy? Will you go straight out onto the attack or will you be cautious and hold back, just in case?”

“We’ll go out there and play the same way we do every game, I see no reason to change our tactics as they have placed us in the position that we are in in the league.”

“How will the gap of only three days between the last game and tomorrow’s match affect the team?”

“It will hopefully build some momentum into us, and we will get out there and carry on from where we left off.”

“Is there any truth to the rumours that Chorley is soon to be taken over?”

“I’ve no idea, look that is the business side of the club. I just take care of the footballing side.”

Fred nodded.

“Well Danny I think that will be enough for now. Thanks.”

He stood up and left the table, and I found myself once again alone in the social club. Standing up I decided to head round to my office to see if there was anything I could do there.

Approaching my office I heard raised voices coming from Ken’s office, the voice was American with a twang of Chorley in there, and it didn’t sound happy. I ducked into my office quickly but stayed by the door to hear more.

“Look you need to think carefully about your valuation of the club.” That must have been James.

I could hear a mumble but I could hear no clear words.

“Until you become realistic then consider our deal dead in the water.”

There was more mumbling.

“I will pay on more than what I have offered, now I’m leaving.”

The door opened and slammed. There were footsteps in the hall and I waited until I was sure that they had left. I opened my office door, and knocked on Ken’s door.

“Back so soon?”

I opened the door and Ken looked shocked to see me stood there.

“Evening Ken.”

“How much did you hear Danny?”

“I heard the end of the conversation.”

“Well then you know.”

“Aye, unfortunately.”

“Well after tomorrow’s match I’ll show you the accounts.”

I nodded.

“But until then, I’m going home. I’ve had enough.”

He stood up and walked past me, leaving me stood in the doorway to his office. I decided to leave at this point and headed home.

[STFCDP1990]

Tuesday 1st February 2012- Wakefield

I’m honest my mind was solely on the fact that Ken was going to show me the accounts for the football club. Maybe he was hoping I would turn around and buy the club. Maybe if I won the EuroMillions I would.

I’d gotten through school, and now just had to get through tonight’s match and then all would be revealed.

But as I have said there is still the matter of the Wakefield match. I arrived at the ground as early as possible once I had finished school, to find Billy already laying the kit out. We chatted about football in general as we laid the kit out, but despite his many hints I didn’t mention the takeover. I felt bad for keeping him in the shade, but I didn’t need him to worry. At least one of us needed to be focussed on tonight.

The players arrived, and as they walked in I tried to forget the fact that for some of them this could be their last match for the club.

“Dave Watson

Kingsley Grandison

Jack Pearson

Ashley Hodgkinson

Michael Lawson

George Bowyer

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Tom McMahon

Aymen Tahar

Jason St Juste

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Kevin McGarry, Jack Dorney, Billy Dodds, Nick Meace.”

Aymen was playing his last game for the club tonight, I would have loved to have signed him to a contract but there is no money in the club to allow me to. I had however notified a couple of managers to the fact that he would be available, and hoped that Aymen would play his heart out for a deal at another club.

I walked out of the changing room, and headed out to the pitch. Earlier in the season I had had no worries about this place apart from how the football team were faring on the pitch. Now my mind was taken up with how the team were faring off of the pitch and it annoyed me more than anything that I wasn’t able to focus solely on the football.

My thoughts were interrupted by the players jogging past me to warm up. It felt strange knowing that soon I would be back on the pitch with them, adding more depth to the squad. It felt even stranger knowing that I could, in theory, link up with Billy at the front, and could even be joined by the rest of the coaching staff.

After half an hour the players jogged back to the changing room ready for the game to begin.

“We can win this, all we need to do is believe in our ability. Get out there and pick up the three points!”

We were led out of the changing rooms by Raphael and once again it was Andrew Madley at the head of the line. At least tonight it was dry, as we walked out onto the pitch.

The game started with us taking the kick off, and attack towards the Piling Road End. Wakefield looked like they had learnt from the early encounter in the league, and they sat back happy to let us attack. They launched frequent counter-attacks, but as soon as they lost the ball they would fall back and defend in numbers.

In the 20th minute Oliver went down injured in the box, there had been no Wakefield player near him and it looked as if he had merely twisted awkwardly. He was able to walk off of the pitch but I felt it would be necessary to replace him with Jack Dorney.

On a number of occasions Wakefield came close to scoring from their counter attacks. Luckily Dave was on hand to stop any shots.

Our attack was being thwarted at every turn by the Wakefield defence, and it was clear that they were becoming frustrated with the lack of space that they were afforded.

Half Time: Chorley 0-0 Wakefield

“Come on! We can still win this! Sure their defence has been tight, but they are bound to slip up, and when they do we need to capitalise on their mistake. It only takes one goal to win a game.”

Raphael led the team back out when Andrew Madley knocked, and I walked out after them.

This time Wakefield kicked off, and from the restart the played the ball back to a defender who hoofed the ball forward. A couple of the 175 people in the ground made donkey noises.

Wakefield carried on with their counter attack plan, and I found myself telling my players to sit back and play the ball around. Sooner or later, I believed, their defence would collapse and we would be free to score.

In the 65th minute, Aymen went on a run down the right wing, cutting inside he launched a cross into the box, which was caught by the Wakefield keeper. The keeper launched the ball up front into the path of Steven Ravenscroft, the ball bounced over Jack’s head and Steven was able to control the ball and steer it past Dave.

I followed this goal by replacing Aymen with Kevin, I moved Jack into central midfield and Jack Dorney went onto the right wing.

We were thwarted by the fact that the Wakefield defence were all too happy to sit back on their one goal advantage. Their defence would simply not buckle.

“Hey sell me your defence will you?” I called across to the Wakefield manager.

“Not for all the tea in China mate.” Came the answer.

I smiled and looked back at the pitch. After 3 minutes of extra time, Andrew brought the game to an end and we trudged down the tunnel.

Final Score: Chorley 0-1 Wakefield (Ravenscroft 65)

“We will face harder defences than that if we are promoted! We need to play like champions if we are going to be the champions!”

I walked out of the changing room, I was annoyed and I had a feeling my mood was going to get a hell of a lot worse. I knocked on Ken’s door and received no answer. So for a couple of minutes I stood in the corridor, until I spotted Ken walking towards me.

“I was hoping you’d forget.”

“I wouldn’t forget something this important.”

He opened the door to his office and I walked in after him, I took a seat and waited for him to start.

“The club is currently around £92,000 in debt.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“We are spending £1,480 a week on wages, which outweighs anything we bring in through the gates.”

It was impossible for my eyebrows to get any higher up.

“Last month we brought in £7,970. We spent £22,980.”

I sighed and placed my head in my hands.

“We need a miracle here Danny.”

I grunted, I couldn’t find any words.

“Have you thought of any players we could cancel the contracts of?”

“We could cut the youth team if we are desperate.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. But if we do we’ll have to pay compensation.”

“Well if it’ll help the club in the long run.”

“Right give me a minute.”

Ken sat with pencil and paper furiously working out how much it would cost.

“We could also cut the contracts of Jack Dorney and Tom McMahon. Neither has impressed on a consistant basis.” I said.

“Call them in.”

I stood up and walked to the door where I found Jack walking past.

“Jack, has Tom McMahon left yet?”

“No.”

“Can you get him please?”

“Sure.”

He disappeared for a second and came back with Tom.

“Can both of you come in please?”

They followed me in and Ken began to talk.

“Lads, the club is in severe financial difficulties, any talk of a takeover has gone out of the window.”

“And you want us to cancel our contracts.” Tom said.

“Yes.”

“I’ll do it as long as you pay me £1,000.” Tom said.

“Same.” Jack said.

“Agreed, here’s a cheque each.”

“Are you sure these won’t bounce?” Tom asked.

“Very.”

They turned and left, leaving myself and Ken sat in his office.

“Is there anyone else?” I asked.

“Well It says here that Matt’s contract is going to expire soon.”

“No! I want Matt around. Maybe we could get him to agree to a wage cut.”

“Sure.”

I stood up and opened the door, I found Billy stood outside.

“Is Matt around?”

“He’s just left.”

“Can you get him please?”

Billy jogged off and soon reappeared with Matt.

“Matt could you come in please?”

Matt nodded and entered. He sat down in the chair I had been using.

“Matt, as you know the club is in severe financial problems.” I said.

“I’ll go if you want.”

“No, I was going to ask if you would take a pay cut, and sign a contract until 2012.”

“I’ll take £80 a week, if you give me a signing fee of £1,000.”

“Sure, done, great!” I said.

“I’ll get the paperwork to you lad.” Ken said.

Matt shook my hand, and Ken’s. He then left the office.

“Well Danny we have cut the wage bill to £1,220.”

“What about our bank balance?”

“About £100,800 for the worse.”

“S***.”

“Go home Danny, get some rest.”

I nodded and left, unsure of how I would be able to sleep.

[STFCDP1990]

Wednesday 2nd February 2011

I didn’t sleep a wink last night, and as such I phoned in ill today. Which gave me the day off, to try and sort my head out. As I sat on my sofa I heard the letterbox rattle, through it had been pushed a leaflet advertising the new “Murphy’s Burger Bar.” It was due to open today on the site of the old McDonalds restaurant. I threw the leaflet away and went back to watching the tv, until my brain suddenly clicked. I leapt up and grabbed the leaflet. “Murphy’s Burger Bar.” “Murphy’s” Could this be James Murphy? Reading the leaflet carefully there in a small typeface at the bottom was a brief paragraph about the new restaurant and its owner.

I quickly dressed and walked out of the front door, if Ken couldn’t sell the club, I was going to. I received a few suspicious glances from parents of children at my school, but I had already planned the excuse that I had a doctor’s appointment.

Outside of the newly refurbished restaurant there was a queue of people waiting to get in, I stood in the queue and glanced through one of the windows. Inside was a proper American diner, not one of these fake ones where they have put up a couple of posters, but an actual American diner. When I finally got to the front door I was greeted by a friendly looking bloke in a suit.

“Welcome to Murphy’s! I’m James Murphy, and I hope you have a great time here!”

“Wait sorry, you’re James Murphy?”

“Yeah, and how can I help?”

“I’m Danny Preston…”

“Danny Preston! Wow! Sure I know who you are!”

“Really?”

“Yeah your manager of Chorley, man I love that club. I tried to buy it, you know?”

“Yeah, that’s what I came to talk to you about.”

“Come, come in. I’ll get us a table, do you want anything to eat?”

“Whatever you recommend as long as it doesn’t have egg on it. Or mayo.”

He guided to a table, and then wandered off leaving me to take in the surroundings, there was 50’s music player from a jukebox, the waitresses and waiters were dressed in period costumes, and on the walls there were advertisements for films and products that would have been new at the time. In all it was an impressive establishment.

James came back carrying two pints of beer, and set one of them down in front of me.

“So what do you want to talk about?”

“James, look the club is in a lot of trouble. I mean it’s in danger of not being able to make it through the next season. We need a miracle.”

“And you think that miracle is me?”

“Yes.”

“Danny, I love the club, I remember standing on the terraces as a 10 year old before my parents uprooted me and moved me to America, I lost touch with the club, except for when we made trips back to the area. As time went on I thought I would never hear about my beloved club until the internet came along. I made a business out there. Now I’m here to make a business. I would love to buy the club, but Ken is asking for too much.”

Our food arrived at this point, James had ordered two burgers, they both were mountainous with cheese, bacon, steak and hash browns piled on top of a quarter pounder burger sandwiched between two buns.

“Can I ask how much he wants?”

“He wants £250,000. But the club is £100,000 in debt. Also my lawyers have valued the club at about £190,000.”

“I know about the debts, but have your lawyers told you about my vision for the club?”

“No.”

“I want this club to be a football league club in 6 years. I want to be a Premier League club, I want Chorley FC to be a team that is spoken about in the same breath as Manchester

United. If you look at it like that then £250,000 is nothing.”

“You make a good point Danny, but what if you fail?”

“I won’t. You claim to love the club, and I believe that you do. Do me one favour come to the game on Saturday, stand on that same terrace, sing the songs, join in the banter, and then come back to me and tell me that you won’t pay £250,000 for the club.”

James looked at me, he chewed quickly and swallowed part of his burger.

“Man. You make a good case. I’ll come on Saturday, we have Leigh right?”

“Yeah. 3pm kick off. I’ll give you a wave.”

He laughed and went back to eating his burger.

[Canaries Fan]

I love reading this, it's one of my favorite on the forums! Keep up the great writing and best of luck against Leigh.

[STFCDP1990]

Thanks! I hope you enjoy this installment

Saturday 5th February 2011- Leigh Genesis

I was feeling nervous today, James was going to be attending the match, and I was hoping for a good result so that he would invest some of his hard earned cash into our club. He had expressed a love for the club and I hoped that the players on the pitch could remind him of why he loved the club.

It was a beautiful day for a February, Sky News had said that it was going to be about 14 degrees outside and that the weather was going to stay dry and bright.

I walked down to the ground with Billy and we entered the changing rooms, I had told him about James coming to watch.

“So we could get a kitman?”

“Yeah, could do.” I replied.

“That would be brilliant.”

It was strange that the number one thing Billy wanted was a kitman, I had set my sights on a youth academy to help bring through the next generation, seeing as how we had gotten rid of the last lot in a cost cutting measure.

The players arrived as we finished, and I turned to them to read the team out.

“Dave Watson

Kingsley Grandison

Nick Meace

Kevin McGarry

Hassan Bacchus

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Tom Moncur

Louis Castles

Jason St Juste

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Robbie Blackwell, Matt Jansen, Billy Dodds, Ashley Hodgkinson.”

I walked out after reading the team sheet out, and headed pitch side, searching the crowd for James. Walking across the pitch I spotted him outside the social club, talking to Melanie’s step-father Martin. It was clear that Martin was telling James all about the wonders of Chorley FC.

I left Martin to it, and turned back to watch the players emerge from the tunnel and begin their warm-up. It wouldn’t be long until I joined them on the pitch, my groin had healed and Pete was telling me that I could start against Chester if I wanted to.

“Hey Danny!”

I turned round and found James approaching me.

“Alright James?”

“Yeah, that man, Martin, was telling me all the great games we have played under you this season. And he tells me that you still play.”

“That would be my fiancée’s step father, but yeah I still play, and we have played some pretty good games this season.”

“Oh so does he know who I am?”

“Probably not. That’s just Martin for you.”

“So what’s the score going to be?”

“No idea, I’m confident of a win.”

“Good. Well Martin promised to buy me a beer, I’ll see you later.”

James walked into the social club, and I turned back to the players, who were now taking shots at the goal. Most of them were ending up in the stand, and there were some children who were having a competition to see who could kick the most balls back.

After half an hour, we headed back to the changing room, where the players sat waiting for me to conduct my pre-match talk.

“I’m confident you can win this. I just need you to be confident too. I’ve heard that the weather is going to stay nice for the weekend. Now we should have training tomorrow but if you win tonight, I’ll give you the day off.”

Raphael stood up and turned to the players.

“I don’t know about you. But I want that day off, now let’s get out there and win it. What happens if we lose boss?”

“Double training.”

The players walked out after Raphael, and I stood next to Billy.

“Plus if we win we could bag a new owner for the club.” I whispered.

We walked out to the pitch, and to my surprise it was going to be Andrew Madley who officiated our match. I am getting sick of seeing this man now, and hope that the FA appoint some new refs. He kicked off bang on 3pm, and we set off playing a passing game.

Looking around the ground I spotted James stood with Martin, Melanie and the rest, at the end that we were attacking. James was getting involved with the banter and chants, and most importantly it looked like he had a smile on his face.

I stood on the edge of the technical area, enjoying the sunshine, and occasionally shouting at the players to remind them of my promise.

They responded well by passing the ball around nicely, and using every inch of the pitch. The only problem being that the bitch was terrible and the ball bobbled around on the surface.

In the 31st minute I bent down to tie my shoelace, as I was busy staring at my shoe, the majority of the people in the crowd roared, I looked up and saw Raphael wheeling away, the ball nestled in the back of the net. I stood up quickly and turned to Billy.

“What happened?”

“We scored just as you started to tie your laces. Raphael got the goal, well worked into the box by Jason.”

I nodded.

6 minutes later, Jason sprinted down the wing once again, and he put the ball into the box, where Raphael placed enough pressure on Mark Cartwright to cause him to header the ball into his own goal.

Looking down towards James, I waved. I had told him I would.

The rest of the half passed without incident and we headed into the break two goals up.

Half Time: Chorley 2 (Sylvester 31, Cartwright (OG) 37) – 0 Leigh Genesis

“Let’s see how many goals we can get in the next half. As long as we stay tight at the back we’ll be fine.”

After 10 minutes Raphael led the players out onto the pitch. I emerged after them into the sunshine. I looked over to where James had been stood, seeing he wasn’t there, I looked up to the Piling Road End, where I spotted him stood with Martin etc.

We started by attacking, and the players were knocking the ball around nicely. In the first ten minutes, I think a Leigh player only touched the ball maybe once or twice.

In the 54th minute I was forced to replace Kevin, as he went down injured following a collision with a Leigh attacker. I sent Ashley on to replace him.

The game carried on with us attacking, and every time a Chorley player touched the ball they were greeted by a cheer from the Chorley fans. There were 189 fans in the ground today and the majority of them were enjoying the game. There were a small pocket of Leigh fans, but they had stopped making any noise and seemed to be wishing for the game to end.

In the 74th minute I decided that it was time to make another substitution and I replaced Jason with Matt. Jason had played brilliantly but if we were going to score any more we needed a fresh face on the wing.

Ten minutes later I decided to send Billy on for Raphael, Billy had been doing my head in for the last couple of minutes, as he bounced around beside me, dropping hints that he should be on the pitch.

Billy managed to get a Leigh player sent off two minutes after coming on. Billy had been on a run deep into the Leigh half, as Keiran Molyneux flew in on him studs raised. Now I knew how the AFC Flyde manger had felt.

We were unable to take advantage of the one-man difference, but we still finished the game 2 goals up.

Final Score: Chorley 2 (Sylvester 31, Cartwright (OG) 37) – 0 Leigh Genesis

“Well enjoy your day off tomorrow. But whatever you do, stay safe and don’t get too drunk. Remember we have a game on Wednesday.”

The players cheered, and I left the changing room, before I was able to close the door, Pete ran over to me.

“Danny, Kevin’s bruised his rib, and will be out for about 12 days.”

“Which rib is it?”

He looked at me blankly and I turned away and walked down towards the pitch. As I stepped onto the pitch I heard a voice behind me.

“Danny!”

I turned round and found myself face to face with James Murphy.

“Hey James. Enjoy the game?”

“Yeah. I’m going to do it! I’m going to buy the club.”

“Great!”

“Yeah, where can I find Ken?”

“Try the social club. I’m heading there now.”

We walked round the pitch and entered the social club. Ken was behind the bar, and James approached him. The two men walked away and I found Martin, Melanie and the others and joined them at their table.

[STFCDP1990]

Wednesday 9th February-Chester FC

The deal between Ken and James was going nicely, and I had been told that it was just a matter of legality and soon James would be the owner. To be honest I was already planning what to spend any prospective money on, and risking falling foul of the saying “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” But top of my list nevertheless was a new training ground, and youth facilities.

But back to the football side of things. Today we were due to play one of our games in hand and I was going to tread on familiar turf once again, despite the fact that I had played for the previous incarnation of the club, I was still looking forward to going back.

The journey was going to take us an 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to the Deva Stadium, or as it is known to its sponsors the Arriva Stadium. The ground is said to resemble a lego kit, a concrete shoebox on the outskirts of the city, but the Chester fans called it home, and this season they had flocked down to the Deva in their thousands. I could tell that the players were looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd, and we certainly were playing out part as two coaches full of fans followed us down the motorway.

We arrived at 6pm, and headed straight for the changing rooms. I must admit that it felt good to be back in Chester. Walking into the changing room the players sat down, before I could read the team sheet, Jack asked a question.

“Boss, do I need my passport?”

“What? Why?”

“Well some of the others told me that I’d need my passport as the pitch is in Wales.”

I rubbed my face with my hand.

“No Jack, you won’t need your passport.”

“Oh, that’s alright I didn’t bring it.”

“Right, lads please don’t play tricks on each other, or if you do, don’t involve me.

Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Jack Pearson

Nick Meace

Hassan Bacchus

George Bowyer

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Danny Murphy

Ben Thornley

Jason St Juste

Matt Jansen

Tom Cox, Michael Lawson, Ged Kielty, Kingsley Wetherald, Ashley Hodgkinson.”

I headed out of the changing room and walked down the familiar tunnel, it hadn’t changed much except maybe for a lick of paint. I emerged at the other end onto the pitch, and looked around at my surroundings, there wasn’t a lot to describe as it is just a generic stadium. The players soon emerged from the tunnel and began to warm up, I was glad to have Billy by my side for the warm up.

By the end of the warm up, there were a number of fans in the ground, and we headed back to the changing rooms.

“Well this will be the real test of the season lads, and we need to ace it. Just get out there and play your normal game, ignore the crowd and get on with it. We need to take the three points back to Chorley.”

Matt was captain for tonight’s match and he led us out onto the pitch, again it was a dry day, and the temperature was 12 degrees. I took my seat in the dugout and watched as the game began.

In the 10th minute I left my seat to shout some instructions, but as I did I heard a voice I hadn’t heard in a while.

“Oi Preston! You p****!”

I turned round and noticed Paul sat behind the dugout. I sighed and turned back to the football.

“Oi w*****! I’m talking to you!”

“Do you know him Danny?” Billy asked.

“Yeah unfortunately, he’s my ex-wife’s son.”

Billy nodded. At that point a bottle flew past our heads. It was clear where it had come from. I turned to the nearest steward.

“Are you going to do anything mate?” I asked.

He looked at me blankly and walked into the stand, he had a word with Paul, and returned after a couple of minutes.

“Running to the stewards are we? You t***.”

He clearly hadn’t said much to Paul.

I sat back down in the dugout, as the abuse continued, this time a woman’s voice joined in, it didn’t take a genius to work out that it belonged to Jane.

In the 16th minute we took the lead, as Ben worked well to get a corner. He delivered the ball into the box, where Matt Jansen nodded it home. I leapt out of my seat and celebrated on the touchline.

As I celebrated another object whistled past my ear, bending down to pick it up, I noticed it was a lighter. I handed it to the steward, and turned away.

In the 27th minute we doubled our lead, in almost an exact carbon copy of the first goal, except for this time the scorer was Jack Pearson. I celebrated again, and listened as the Chorley fans taunted the home supporters. Turning round to the main stand I smiled. This time the object thrown found its mark and smashed into my forehead, this time it was a coin. Blood trickled out of a cut in my forehead. Turning round to the steward, I lost my temper.

“Are you going to do anything?” I demanded.

He stared at me, the blood running down my face must have been a sight.

“I said are you going to do anything?”

Andrew Madley jogged over at this point.

“What’s the matter Danny?” He asked.

“Take a look. I’ve been hit in the head by a coin! And this idiot isn’t doing anything.”

Andrew nodded, and walked over to the fourth official, after a brief conversation, the fourth official walked off.

“I’ve sent him to find the chief steward.”

I nodded. Pete had approached at this point and patched me up, the blood had gotten onto my shirt.

In the 36th minute Jason went down after twisting awkwardly, whilst trying to catch up with the ball. It didn’t look good, and he was stretchered off. In his place I sent Ged Kielty, and told him to take up the role on the right wing, and I shouted at Ben to move over to the left wing.

The fourth official returned, and as I watched the match I could hear an argument in stand.

“Why are you kicking him out?” Jane’s voice demanded.

I didn’t hear the response.

“What because that f***wit got injured? How can you blame my son? He did nothing!”

“We have clear CCTV footage of the incident.”

“Like f*** you do.”

“Please stop the language, the rest of the fans are trying to enjoy the match.”

“Oh f*** the match, come on Paul we’re leaving.”

“Not together I’m afraid.”

“What?”

“Your son is being arrested for assault.”

I turned round just in time to see Paul being led out in handcuffs, and Jane storming after them. I resisted the urge to wave.

“Sorry, Mr Preston?” It was the chief steward.

“Yes?”

“I’m very sorry about the incident that has taken place.”

“It’s not your fault.”

He nodded and walked away.

Soon enough Andrew blew the half time whistle, and we walked down the tunnel.

Half Time: Chester 0 – 2 Chorley (Jansen 16, Pearson 27)

“Well done, we’ve dealt well with the crowd, and have taken our chances.”

“What happened to you boss?” Nick asked.

“Nothing, just a bit of crowd trouble. But just remember not to sit back, we need to keep attacking.”

The players nodded. After the break Matt led us out onto the pitch, I took my seat in the dugout, just as the announcer read out the attendance, there were 1,912 people in the crowd today, but the ones making the noise were the Chorley fans.

In the 60th minute Chester pulled a goal back through Robbie Booth. Robbie found himself with plenty of space outside the box, pulling his leg back he fired the ball past Dave’s fingers and into the top right hand corner. The Chester fans roared, and were greeted by a sarcastic chant from the Chorley fans.

“We’d forgot that you were here, We’d forgot that you were here!”

I followed this goal by sending Michael Lawson on for Hassan. The substitution had already been planned, but it was needed seeing as how it had been Hassan that had let Robbie Booth slip away.

In the 73rd minute I made our last substitution of the game, by sending Ashley Hodgkinson on for Robbie Blackwell, George Bowyer went back to right back, and Oliver Hewitt Fisher moved back to defensive midfield.

The Chester fans were getting louder and louder, roaring their team onto find an equaliser, and I must admit that I was beginning to feel nervous.

In the 87th minute there was another goal, but it was the black and white stripes of Chorley celebrating. As Danny Murphy headed home a Ben Thornley corner. Our attacking threat from corners had been obvious today, and we had scored all of our goals from corners. As soon as the ball hit the back of the net, I was out of my seat and celebrating wildly on the touchline. Danny sprinted over and we celebrated as a team.

Andrew Madley brought the match to an end, and I applauded all four sides of the ground as I walked back down the tunnel.

Final Score: Chester 1 (Booth 60) – 3 Chorley (Jansen 16, Pearson 27, Murphy 87)

“Excellent! Well done guys! That was brilliant and puts us top of the league!”

I high fived every player as I walked out of the changing room. As I exited the changing room I bumped straight into George.

“Danny, can I have a quick word?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you worried at 2-1?”

“No, I had full confidence in the team. It was just a matter of time until we scored the third goal.”

“Matt ended his goal drought, how will that affect him?”

“It will be great for him, and he will go from strength to strength.”

“Ben Thornley has been given the man of the match award, how do you think he played?”

“He was fantastic and fully deserves the award.”

“This win puts you top of the league, are you going to be able to keep that position?”

“Yes we are.”

“Is that it?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, well I think that’ll be all.”

He walked away, and I headed out to the coach.

[STFCDP1990]

Friday 11th February 2011

The takeover had been completed, James Murphy was now the owner and chairman of Chorley FC, Ken was still on the board, but it was very much James’ club now, he had taken over Ken’s office, and now I found myself sat in a chair facing James.

“So Danny, what’s the aim for the club?”

“Promotion.”

“Alright. What do you need to achieve that?”

“Well we’ve got the squad we need, but maybe we could do with a new training ground.”

James made a note.

“Anything else?”

“Well we could do with a new youth facility, to prepare the future of the club.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I suppose the stadium could do with a lick of paint. Maybe we should ask the fans.”

“That’s a great idea Danny! We could hold a fans forum!”

I nodded.

“Well what I’ve thought of Danny is that we could cut ticket prices, to try and attract new fans. Also for Wednesday we are going to cut ticket prices in half for the game.”

“Isn’t that a bit too short notice?”

“No, I’ve already got the posters up around town, and leaflets are being distributed around town as we speak.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah that’s how I do business. Also we are going to have some more entertainment, I’m thinking a half time cross bar challenge. Where fans can buy a raffle ticket for a £1, and if their number is drawn out then they come onto the pitch and try and hit the cross bar from the halfway line, if they manage it they will win half of the money raised, the other half goes into the club. If they fail then half is rolled over to the next week.”

I nodded.

“Also we are going to have cheerleaders before the start of the game, proper cheerleaders.”

“What do you mean by proper?”

“Well attractive women.”

“Okay.”

“Also I’m going to use the restaurant to pull in more people.”

“How?”

“Well if people can bring me 5 Chorley tickets from any game in the season, then they will receive 25% off of their bill.”

“But what happens if people bring the same tickets over and over?”

“The tickets will have to be surrendered, and then they will be disposed of.”

I nodded, this was all sounding brilliant.

“Plus, I’m going to advertise the club in the restaurant. I just need to get some 50’s style posters made.”

“Wow, you certainly have it all sorted.”

“But you haven’t heard the best part. I’m going to introduce the club to the Americans. All of my pubs in America are currently undergoing a refurbishment, and when they re-open they will be full of Chorley memorabilia. I’m going to show Chorley matches live in the pubs, and shirts and merchandise will be available to buy.”

“Holy s***.”

“But I think we’ll need to do a tour of the USA.”

“I’m up for that.”

“Well let’s hope the ticket offer attracts the fans. It would be nice to see the place full.”

“Can I just ask one more question?”

“Yeah shoot.”

“Well the advertising boards around the ground are looking shabby.”

“Already ahead of you, if we walk outside we’ll see that they are being replaced, the entire perimeter wall is being painted, and new adverts are going up.”

“How much has this cost?”

“In the long run, not a lot. I’ve also cleared the club’s debts and put a nice sum in the bank.”

I stood up with James and we walked outside to the pitch, it was true the perimeter wall was being painted and there was general maintenance going on all around the ground. I left the ground feeling overjoyed that the club was now moving forward on and off the pitch.

[tenthreeleader]

Marketing is everything. You're doing very well with this.

[STFCDP1990]

Chorley FC the next big thing in America! Thanks!

Saturday 12th February 2011- Woodley Sports

Love was in the air as Valentine’s day soon approached, I myself was glad as I was on a half term holiday, meaning that I had the week to rest. Before my rest could begin we had the matter of Woodley Sports away at Woodley Sports. It was going to take us 45 minutes to get there, so I had instructed the players and staff to arrive at 12pm, so that we would have plenty of time.

I arrived myself at the ground 15 minutes early, the painting had been finished, and the ground now looked smart, there were new advertisements running around the ground. As I walked out of the tunnel my eye was caught by the huge advertisement for Murphy’s Burger Bar, I guess with James owning the club he had the right.

Checking my watch I noticed that it was 12pm, so I headed back down to the coach, and boarded with the rest of the players. James had hired a fancy coach, and the players stood staring at it open-mouthed before they stepped on.

“Danny.” James said. “This is ours.”

“What?”

“Yeah I bought it.”

“Just the coach?”

“No the company, but this coach is ours exclusively.”

Now I stood open mouthed. Stepping onto the coach I was shocked by the sight that greeted me, there were plush leather seats, and a DVD player with flat screen at the front. Sitting in one of the seats, I was amazed to find that it was heated.

After 45 minutes of comfort we arrived at Lambeth Grove, Woodley Sports’ ground, stepping off of the coach we headed to the changing rooms. As we stepped into the changing room I spotted a notice on the door.

“3G pitch, no metal studs, no smoking…” It read.

I turned around to the players.

“Has anyone here got metal studs on their boots?”

All of them raised their boots at me to show me that they did.

“Has anyone got any AstroTurf suitable boots?”

They all shook their heads. I looked towards Billy and beckoned him over.

“We’re playing on AstroTurf and none of them have got correct footwear.”

“Oh Jesus.” Was his response.

“Wait here.”

I left the changing rooms, and found James, I took him to one side and explained the problem.

“Go to the nearest sports shop, and buy them new boots. Whatever you pay I’ll refund.”

I nodded and ran back to the changing rooms.

“Right I need everybody’s boot size.”

“Why boss?” Nick asked.

“Because we’re playing on AstroTurf, and you can’t wear metal studs.”

“But what if we aren’t playing?” Nick replied.

“Right I need the boot sizes of everybody on this list:

Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Hassan Bacchus

Michael Lawson

Tom Moncur

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

George Bowyer

Louis Castles

Matt Jansen

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Jack Pearson, Ben Thornley, Billy Dodds, Ashley Hodgkinson.”

The players queued up and told me their boot sizes. Once I had them I sprinted out of the changing room, and back to the coach, where I found the coach driver asleep.

“Hey buddy wake up. I need you to take me to a sports shop.”

He switched the engine on, and pulled out of the car-park.

“Head to Stockport, they must have a Sport’s Direct or something there.”

The coach driver put his foot down and headed to Stockport. As we drove down the M60 I spotted a Sport’s Direct.

“Over there!” I shouted.

The coach driver pulled into the retail park, after leaving the M60. As soon as he parked I jumped off of the coach and ran into the shop. I ran up to the nearest assistant.

“Right I need boots for an AstroTurf pitch, I need them in these sizes.”

I read off the list of sizes as the assistant stared at me.

“Any make?”

“Adidas, Nike. Whatever, just don’t break the bank.”

He walked off into the stockroom and I stood there tapping my foot, I resisted the urge to check the time. After what felt like an eternity he returned.

“We have all of the sizes you need in Adidas Mundial Team Astro Turf Trainers. They are £56.99 each.”

“Alright I’ll take them.”

He led me over to the check out, and called for assistance to get the boots.

“That’ll be £911.84 please.”

I pushed my card into the card reader. I typed in my pin, and waited.

“Take your card. Do you need any help with the boots?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, there’s a coach outside just put them on that.”

He nodded, and grabbed a couple of pairs, I grabbed some and another assistant grabbed the rest. Once all of the boots were on the coach I text Billy to tell him to get the players outside to get their new boots. The time on my phone read 1.45pm and I began to sweat.

Pulling into the car-park I was greeted by the players, I handed the boots out, and the players put them on then and there.

“But boss these are all the same.” Complained George.

“Tough, you get what you get.”

He smiled, and jogged off. The rest of the players ran back into the changing rooms, once they had gotten their boots on. I thanked the driver and walked down to the pitch. The players went through a quick warm-up. It looked like a couple of them were having trouble either with their new boots, or the pitch. After they warmed up, we headed to the changing rooms.

“So today hasn’t gone well so far. But we have to change that ourselves and win this game, go out there and win the three points!”

Raphael led us out of the changing rooms, and they walked past me, with their shoes matching, this was the way football should be. All of the players in black boots, none of this fancy stuff. I walked out of the changing rooms, and walked out onto the pitch into the rain.

Declan Ford blew his whistle to start the match and we kicked off. We struggled to keep the ball, as Woodley showed that they were most comfortable on the AstroTurf, whereas we found it difficult to adjust to the pitch, I doubt the new boots were helping.

In the 14th minute, Woodley broke down the right wing, we attempted to challenge but the winger skipped over the tackles as if they weren’t there. Nearing the goal, the winger took a shot and if it hadn’t have been for Dave’s outstretched hand we would have been a goal down.

Despite the fact that we were struggling to adjust to the pitch, we managed to keep Woodley at bay, and we managed to carve out one or two attacks of our own.

Our game was interrupted in the 37th minute, as Raphael decided that he had had enough of the rain and wanted an early bath. After being tackled he squared up to his tackler, and made enough contact for the referee to send him off for violent conduct.

“Matt, get up front, we’ll play without a left winger. Michael you’re going to have to attack and defend.”

I didn’t say anything to Raphael as he walked past, but I did feel like asking him for the boots back.

We were fortunate to make it to the break without conceding.

Half Time: Woodley Sports 0-0 Chorley

“We can still win this, just take your time and chances. Ben you’re going on for Oliver, we’ll play with one central midfielder and the defensive midfielder. Ben, Louis get forward as much as possible, but remember to defend.”

Matt led the players out, and I walked out after them. The Woodley players were still in their changing room, and for a couple of minutes, we were the only team out, ready to start.

The Woodley manager had obviously put a rocket up his player’s backsides, as they came out and went straight onto the attack, during the first half they had been wasteful with possession and chances but now they were posing more and more of an attacking threat.

In the 50th minute they scored the first goal of the game. As Anthony Lennon scored an audacious lob over Dave. Nick Meace had passed back to Dave, and Dave’s clearance hadn’t been good enough, it had reached Anthony Lennon, and he had lobbed the ball home.

In the 54th minute, I decided to send Billy on for Louis. Louis had spent most of the game on his backside, as he found it difficult to maintain his balance on the surface. Ben Thornley moved over to the right wing, and Matt dropped back to the left wing.

In the 63rd minute, Woodley doubled their lead through Donald Barker, who headed home from a corner, as he found himself unmarked.

We attempted to get forward, but we were being over-cautious of the fact that we were a man down, and although the ideas were there, the man constantly wasn’t and any defence splitting passes, either ended up at the feet of a defender or out for a throw or goal kick.

The game ended with Woodley passing the ball about between themselves, as we attempted to get back into the game.

Final Score: Woodley Sports 2 (Lennon 50, Barker 63) – 0 Chorley

“Well I’ll let you keep the boots, just in case we have to play on a surface like that again. Don’t be too upset, this was always going to be a difficult game, especially seeing as it was on a surface that we aren’t used to and in boots that you received only a few minutes before the game.”

I looked at Raphael, I didn’t need to say anything.

“2 weeks wages boss?” He said.

“Yep. Plus you’re going to have to work pretty damn hard to get your position back in the team.”

He nodded, and I walked out of the changing room. I just had Valentine’s Day left to contend with before I could start to relax.

[STFCDP1990]

Monday 14th February 2011

Ever since I was a spotty teenager, I have hated Valentine’s Day. All it does is depress the single and force the one’s in relationships to buy expensive presents, to stop themselves from becoming single. Or that is how it feels to me anyway. Before we had broken up for half term I had conducted an assembly where I told the children about the true meaning of Valentine’s Day, but that meaning seems to be forgotten now. My personal hunch is that the chocolate manufacturers love Valentine’s Day because the single become depressed and eat tons of chocolate. Plus couples tend to buy each other chocolate, so Cadbury’s must have been rubbing their hands in glee.

But Melanie is quite the polar opposite of me when it comes to Valentine’s Day, and I was awoken by her bringing me breakfast in bed. It was a full english breakfast, but everything was heart-shaped. The toast had been cut, the sausages, beans and bacon were arranged, and somehow she had cooked the egg into a heart.

On the tray there was a card.

“Oh.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’ve just remembered I need to go to the chemists, to pick up a prescription.”

“It can wait can’t it?”

“No, as it’s my insulin.”

“Well you best go and get it.”

I quickly jumped out of bed and dressed myself I ran down the stairs and ran out of the front door. I didn’t need insulin, I had plenty indoors. I had forgotten to buy a card. Glancing at my watch I noticed it was 8am, and the only places that would be open were the garages, and the Co-Op. It was a choice between a rock and a hard-place. I made up my mind and ran to the Co-Op. Picking up the first card I found, I gave it a quick look over to make sure it was appropriate. Spotting nothing wrong with it, I paid for it, whilst receiving knowing looks from the cashier, who co-incidentally must have been single, as there was an open bar of Cadbury’s chocolate by her. I wrote a message in the card at the lottery stand and ran home.

“The chemist wasn’t open.” I shouted up the stairs.

I received no response, and walked up stairs. Melanie was in bed eating my breakfast my card was on my pillow. I bent down to untie my shoe laces and took the card out of coat pocket, and dropped it on the floor. I took my coat of and lay on the bed, I picked Melanie’s card up and handed it to her. We opened our cards together, and for a moment I thought I had gotten away with the perfect crime.

“Lucky the Co-Op was open isn’t it?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“You brought this card from the Co-Op.”

“No I never.”

“You left the price on the back.”

“Oh.”

“Plus I have just received a couple of texts from friends that have seen you running into the co-op.”

“Oh.”

“Plus you were served by Danielle.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You better make it up to me.”

I nodded, this was not only going to hurt me, it was going to hurt my wallet as well.

“We’re going to Horwich Parkway later.” Melanie said, after some minutes of silence.

“Ok.”

“And we’re going to do whatever I want.”

“Yep.”

“And you’re going to pay for it.”

“Yep.”

So after a morning of the silent treatment, we headed off to Horwich Parkway, Melanie was still giving me the silent treatment as we arrived, but by the looks of the couples on the train I wasn’t the only one in trouble.

“You thought I wanted a gym membership?” I overheard one woman saying to her boyfriend.

“But you always say how you want to lose weight.” He pleaded.

“Are you saying I’m fat?” She responded.

I could see him sinking deeper and deeper into his seat. His eyes met mine, but there was nothing I could do to save him from his girlfriend. As we left the train at Horwich Parkway, she was still shouting at him.

“I suppose you could be worse.” Melanie said.

I nodded.

The place was crowded with couples holding hands, and looking at each other lovingly, and Melanie and myself stood out like a couple of sore thumbs. Touching her hand I held it, and we joined the rest of the crowd.

First we entered Next, where Melanie brought some clothes, that she was going to outgrow in the next couple of months, after spending a good couple of hours in there (or so it felt), we headed into every shop, spending copious amounts of money. Well every shop except for Game. Spotting First Choice, Melanie decided it was time to book our Honeymoon. Entering the store we were greeted by a cheery looking woman.

“Hi, how can I help today?”

“Hello, we’re here to book our honeymoon.” Melanie replied.

“Oh how exciting!”

She guided us over to a desk and we sat down, she by her computer, and once again to my surprise I spotted an unwrapped bar of chocolate.

“So where would you like to go?”

“Somewhere hot.” Melanie replied.

“Well, how about Spain?”

“Yeah great.”

I sat back in my chair trying to look interested.

“So whereabouts in Spain would you like to go?”

“Well my fiancé here likes the Costa Del Sol.”

I had never told Melanie that I liked the Costa Del Sol, I had told her that I had been there, but I had never expressed an opinion.

“Oh great, well how about Benalmadena?”

“As long as it’s near the beach I don’t mind.”

“Ok, so self catering, half board or all inclusive?”

“What do you think Danny?”

“Well half board means that we never need worry about breakfast but it also gives us the freedom to explore at night.”

The woman behind the desk nodded.

“Well for half board we have a couple of rooms at the Hotel Palmasol. Oh I forgot to ask, when do you want to go?”

“Well the end of July, as I’ll be on school holiday at that point, and you’ll have had the baby.” I said.

“Ok, will you be taking the baby with you?”

“No he’ll be making a trip to his grandparents.”

“So just the two of you?”

“Yep.”

“So for the end of July for a week, half board at the Hotel Palmasol it will cost you £564 per person, so £1128 altogether.”

“Do we need to pay that all now?”

“No just a £100 deposit now.”

“Alright.”

“Do you want to hear more about the hotel?”

“As long as it has internet access, clean rooms, a bar, a swimming pool, and is near to the beach I don’t mind.” I replied.

Melanie nodded.

“Well it has all of those things and more.”

“Great.”

I took my wallet out.

“We’ll need some personal details.”

After running through the routine questions, I put my card in the chip and pin reader and typed my pin in.

“Well that’s all done, have a great day.”

We stood up and left, and walked out of the shop. Melanie was now smiling at me, and I think I was forgiven. We headed to Nandos for food, and the went off to the cinema to watch Gnomeo and Juliet (Melanie’s choice).

[STFCDP1990]

Tuesday 15th February 2011

Nandos had been a bad choice of food last night. Don’t get me wrong I love Nandos, but I’m too brave when it comes to choosing the heat of the chicken, last night I went for hot, and I paid for it this morning.

Once I was finally able to start my day, I realised that I had nothing to do until tonight, when I was due at the social club, to hold a fan’s meeting with James. I had asked Billy to come along as well.

After a day full of doing nothing I headed to the social club, picking Billy up on the way. We walked down and I wondered how many fans there would be.

“I doubt we’ll get more than 20.”

“We’ll be lucky to get 20.” Billy replied.

Walking into the social club, we spotted a poster advertising the fans meeting, the words sold out had been written over the top.

“Sold out?” I asked.

“Wow, but the club holds how many people?”

“A couple of hundred.”

We walked into the club, and approached the table at the front where James was sat.

“Evening.” He greeted us.

“Hi James, how many people are going to be here tonight?” I asked.

“200.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Did we charge?”

“£2 per ticket.”

“Alright.”

“Danny, that man over there, Fred I think he called himself, wants to speak to you. Do you know him?”

“Yeah he’s from the local newspaper.”

“Oh.”

I wandered over to Fred and sat down in front of him.

“Hey Fred, are you staying for the meeting?”

“Yeah, but I want to get my questions in first.”

“Alright.”

“You have a game in hand over the leaders, will that help you?”

“Only if we take full advantage of it, and win the three points.”

“Last game you didn’t play so well, this could be down to a number of reasons, but how will the players react?”

“Well I hope a return to real grass will work wonders.”

“What about tactics?”

“Attack.”

We were interrupted by James.

“Danny you’ll need to come and join us at the front, people are starting to arrive.”

“Ok.” I said, “Sorry Fred.”

“No problem.”

I stood up and walked to the table at the front, there were three glasses of water on it, and a pitcher full of water.

“You’ll sit here.” James instructed.

He had pointed to the seat in the middle, front and centre for everyone to see. I sat down and watched as more and more people poured in through the doors. I recognised a couple of them, and felt relieved when Martin walked in with his sons. The bar was crowded for about ten minutes and then people started to sit down.

“James, how are we going to hear the questions?”

“I’ve thought of that Danny.”

He pointed too two women who were stood at the side of the stage with a microphone each. I nodded.

When everyone had taken a seat, James started to speak, the club fell into an audible silence.

“Welcome, to the first of many Chorley FC fan meetings, we welcome your questions, if you have one to ask please raise your hand.”

A couple of hands went up, and James pointed to one of them.

“Right this question is for Danny. How are we going to protect the future of the club, if you let all of the youth players go?”

“Well, to be honest we did that out of desperation, at the time we did that we didn’t realise James was going to takeover. We were looking to protect the short term future of the club. We are now looking to rebuild the youth team.”

“Plus can I add, that we are soon going to be unveiling plans for a new youth training facility. But we need to find some available land, so if anyone has a couple of acres they could sell us.” James added.

He then pointed to another person, this time it was a question for James, and his intentions for the club. The next couple of questions were directed towards James, and I must admit I felt bored.

“This question is for Danny, what are your aims for the club?”

“Well I feel James has detailed that pretty well. But I would like to see us in the league. I mean if Accrington can do it.”

The room laughed, and I took a sip of water.

“How are we going to progress, if you pick yourself and Billy as players, no offence, but surely we need to bring in younger players?”

“Well yeah I agree, Billy and myself are “past it” but we can still produce good displays, and if we are needed we will play. Nothing beats experience.”

“Right we want to stop you there, we want to ask you the questions now.” James said. “As Chorley fans, what do you want?”

The crowd looked confused.

“Do you want cheaper tickets? Cheaper food and drink? A wider selection of merchandise?”

He pointed to a raised hand.

“A better selection of pre-match entertainment.”

“We’re working on that, at the next home game we should have cheerleaders. Plus half time competitions.”

He pointed to another hand.

“Whilst new fans are brilliant, we season ticket holders deserve a reward for our dedication.”

“We have the names of every season ticket holder, and if they renew their season ticket, they will receive money off, and a new Chorley shirt.”

“What about new season ticket holders?”

“A new Chorley shirt.”

“So basically if you buy a season ticket, you will receive a new shirt?”

“Yes.”

That seemed to excite some of the people in the audience.

“Are there no more questions?” James asked.

No one raised their hand.

“Right we have two more things. We have already announced new youth training facilities, but we will also be building new training facilities for the first team. We are also looking for a new scout, so if anybody has any previous experience let us know. Well thank you for coming tonight, we’ll see you next time.”

James stood up and Billy and myself followed suit. We walked out of the club together.

“Well that went well.” James said enthusiastically.

“Yeah, very positive.” I replied.

“Well you two best get home, you have a match tomorrow.”

Feeling like two children who had just been told to go to bed, we walked home.

[ScottleeSV]

I buy cheapo cards for my wife. She does likewise for me. Neither of us sees the value in paying a fortune for two sides of cardboard.

[STFCDP1990]

I didn't actually buy my girlfriend a card this year, I claim I forgot! I did however treat her to meal.

Wednesday 16th February 2011- Mossley

I had spent the day irritating the life out of Melanie, I was constantly pacing the floor, muttering to myself. I always did whenever I felt nervous, but this wasn’t just nerves this was nerves mixed with excitement. The nerves came from the fact that we could be playing in front of a bumper crowd, and the excitement came from the fact that I could be playing in front of a bumper crowd.

I left at 6pm to walk down to the ground, it was breezy outside but it wasn’t raining which was nice. We still haven’t employed a kit manager and I found Billy busy laying out the kits. I joined him and helped him to finish off laying them out just as the players arrived. Once they had all settled down I read the teamsheet out.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Jack Pearson

Hassan Bacchus

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

George Bowyer

Kingsley Wetherald

Matt Jansen

Billy Dodds

Tom Cox, Kevin McGarry, Danny Murphy, Danny Preston, Ashley Hodgkinson.”

I began to get changed into the number 16 shirt, and felt a buzz of excitement run through me. I was looking forward to the match, and couldn’t wait to get back onto the pitch. Once I had changed I jogged out and was joined by the rest of the squad. Looking around the ground it was clear that James’ ideas had beared fruit, as the ground was filling up quickly.

Following the warm up we walked back towards the tunnel, just as the cheerleaders came out to entertain the crowd.

“Wow. Where on earth did James find girls that attractive?” Billy asked.

“I have no idea, but how are we going to keep the lads’ minds on the match?”

Billy didn’t answer and almost walked into the side of the dugout. Entering the changing rooms, I stood in front of the players.

“We can win this, we can go top if we do. This game will be tricky but if we take our chances then we should have no problem.”

Billy had been handed the captain’s armband for tonight’s match and he led the players out into the tunnel. Stepping out of the tunnel we were greeted by the cheerleaders forming a guard of honour, the number of home fans had increased and we were greeted by a roar from them.

Declan Ford was officiating tonight’s match and he blew his whistle to get the match underway.

The Mossley players obviously understood the significance of the match, and set their stall out to defend.

In the 13th minute Kingsley sprinted down the right wing with the ball at his feet, beating the left back, he controlled the ball before delivering a cross into the box, Billy met the cross with a powerful volley which the keeper half cleared, the ball fell into the path of Daniel Pollitt who tried to clear the ball but could only slice it into his own net. The crowd erupted and “Chelsea Dagger” by the Fratellis erupted from the tannoy.

We spent the rest of the half, trying to find a way through the Mossley defence in order to double our lead. We had a number of chances but in the 32nd minute Billy had the best chance of the half. Matt Jansen had won the ball deep into our own half, and had brought it forward to the halfway line, where he passed the ball across to Oliver. Oliver took a few steps forward and hammered the ball into the path of Kingsley Wetherald, who turned and placed a cross into the box, where Billy controlled the ball and fired a shot goalwards. His shot beat the keeper but it also travelled an inch wide of the post and slammed into an advert for Domino’s Pizza.

In the 45th minute, we worked hard to win a corner, Matt stepped up to take it and he whipped the ball into the box, where his cross was met by the head of Jack Pearson, Jack’s header found the cross bar, and sparked a melee in the box as players from both sides attempted to get the ball, the melee was stopped by Declan Ford’s whistle as he decided he had seen a foul.

Half Time: Chorley 1 (Pollitt 13 og) – 0 Mossley

“Well we’re dominating we just need to turn that into goals, goals win games and we need another couple to make sure we take the three points.”

The players nodded, and spent the rest of the break, attempting to get their energy back. I turned to Ged, Darren and Ben.

“Look lads I’m probably going to end up playing tonight, if I do it is up to you three to make the decisions.”

They nodded. I decided to leave the changing room to go and warm-up with the rest of the substitutes. Walking out of the tunnel I noticed Martin in the centre of the pitch about to take the cross bar challenge. James was stood by the side of the pitch.

“How much is the prize?” I whispered.

“£547.”

I watched as Martin struck the ball, he didn’t strike it cleanly but he put enough power into it to make the ball fly towards goal. The ball looked like it was going to go over, but at the last second it dropped and hit the crossbar with a thud. Everyone in the ground applauded Martin as he walked off of the pitch.

“Well done. Drinks on you tonight then?” I said as he walked past.

He laughed and carried on walking, James was obviously taking him to sort the money out. I trotted across to the subs and started to pass the ball around with them.

In the 53rd minute Billy scored his first of the game. Matt Jansen did the hard work in making the opportunity and delivering the cross into the box for Billy to slot home from 6 yards.

In the 60th minute, I stood on the touchline ready to go on, I was joined by Danny Murphy, and we replaced Kingsley Wetherald and Danny Edwards. Jogging onto the pitch I took up my position on the right wing.

I regretted bringing myself on in the 68th minute, as through my misplaced pass, Luke Abraham netted the ball. I had meant to pass the ball across to George Bowyer but I had misjudged the pass, and sent the ball straight into Luke Abraham’s path, Luke sprinted forward with the ball and placed it past Dave.

I made up for my mistake two minutes later, as it was from my cross that Billy nodded in his second of the game. I had found myself in acres of space with the ball on the right wing, I charged towards the corner flag and whipped the ball into the path of Billy who nodded the ball past the keeper.

In the 74th minute the three coaches made the last substitution of the game, bringing Kevin McGarry on for Robbie Blackwell.

The rest of the game fizzled out, and we ended up playing keep ball, with every touch cheered by the crowd. After Declan Ford blew his whistle I made sure that every player applauded the fans. As we applauded, the tannoy announced how many people were in the ground.

“And we at Chorley FC would like to thank the 3,128 people that have turned up tonight. Wow. 3,128. We hope to see you next time.”

Final Score: Chorley 3 (Pollitt 13 og, Dodds 53, 70) – 1 Mossley (Abraham 68)

“Wow. That was brilliant, and in front of so many people. We are now top of the league and we need to keep that position.”

I stopped talking and got changed. I had an important day tomorrow with Melanie, it was time for our 16 week scan, we had actually past the 16 week mark, but the hospital had had trouble fitting us in.

Walking out of the changing room, once I had changed, I walked out of the building and headed home. My mind was still repeating the number 3,128. I couldn’t believe the amount of support and just hoped it would continue.

[STFCDP1990]

Thursday 17th February 2011

Walking into the hospital I felt a mixture of nerves and excitement, it was time for Melanie’s first scan on our child. I’d been up since 6am unable to sleep, even though the appointment wasn’t until 1pm. I’d spent most the morning restless and unable to settle down. Melanie was in an equally excitable mood, and sitting in the waiting room was proving difficult.

“Danny, time isn’t going to go any quicker just because you are pacing around.”

“It helps!”

“You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet.”

I sat down and picked up one of the magazines in the waiting room, the only choice was between a load of women’s magazines and I ended up with a Heat from two years ago. There was the usual rubbish about what fad-diet some no name celebrity was on, and I found myself bored after the first couple of pages.

Soon enough a nurse came out of one of the rooms and shouted our name.

“Preston?”

I raised my hand.

“This way please.”

She walked back into the room and Melanie and myself followed her. The room was bright and airy, and Melanie lay on the bed provided, as for myself I stood and chewed on a piece of loose skin on my finger.

The nurse was making small talk with Melanie as she rubbed some weird gel over Melanie’s stomach. It was almost as if I had turned invisible.

“So have you thought of any names?” The nurse asked.

“Well I want Michael for a boy and Jodie for a girl. But Danny wants Sam for a boy, and Lucy for a girl.”

“Well they’re very nice names, you’ll have to reach some mutual ground.”

The nurse pulled out some scanner, which looked like something you would use in a supermarket. The screen in the corner started to display a blob.

“Just let me have a look around.” The nurse moved the scanner around.

“Oh. There. There!” I shouted and pointed.

Clear as day the baby had shown up, and for a minute I stood there dumbstruck, my mouth was open and I couldn’t find the words.

“Would you like to know the sex?”

I looked at Melanie and she nodded, there were tears rolling down her cheeks, and soon there were down mine.

“Yes please.” I managed to force the words out.

“Ok.”

After a couple more minutes the nurse stopped.

“It’s a boy, you’re expecting a boy.”

“A boy! A boy!” I cheered, it was like celebrating a last minute winner.

The tears really did begin to pour down my cheeks now, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

“I’ll just print a picture of the scan for you.”

I stepped over to Melanie, and held one of her hands.

“Thank you.” I whispered.

She smiled.

The nurse came back and handed me a picture of the scan, I stared at it as the nurse helped Melanie to clear the gel off. Once she was clean, we left the room, and once outside we flagged down a taxi, and drove back to town. From town we walked home.

Passing the ground, we bumped into James.

“Hey Danny, and Melanie. How are you?”

“Great thanks. Just been for a scan on the baby.” I responded.

“Wow, is everything alright?”

“Yep, he’s perfectly healthy.”

“He? A future star for Chorley?”

“I hope.”

“Man, that’s brilliant.”

“It sure is.”

“Plus I think I’ve found a site for the new training and youth facilities.”

“Where?”

“Just outside Chorley. It’s a couple of acres, just hoping the owner will sell up.”

“Well fingers crossed.”

“Yeah, I best get back to trying to buy it.”

I nodded, and James left. Melanie and I carried on walking home, and soon we were back in the comfort of our living room.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 19th February 2011- Skelmersdale

I was still over the moon that I was going to have a boy, and I definitely had a spring in my step as I walked round to the ground. We were due to play Skelmersdale away and I had told the players to arrive in plenty of time, I arrived at the ground at noon. On arriving I found James stood with someone, James beckoned me over.

“Danny, this is Harry. Harry is going to be the kit manager.”

“Nice to meet you Harry.”

We shook hands.

“Harry has experience at a number of clubs, and it’ll give you and Ken more time before the games to prepare.”

“Great. Well is the kit ready then?”

“Yep, it’s already on the coach.”

“Excellent.”

I boarded the coach and took a seat at the front, most of the players were already on board and we just had to wait for a couple of stragglers including Billy before we could set off. Billy was the last person to arrive and he looked flustered.

“You alright Billy?”

“Yeah, I woke up late, the alarm didn’t go off.”

I laughed, and we set off for Skelmersdale. Melanie had recently brought me a kindle and I read a book on it, on the way to Skelmersdale. I couldn’t get used to the thing, and by the time we reached Skelmersdale I wished that I had brought a proper book with me. Stepping off the coach we headed straight to the changing rooms, where Harry began to lay the kit out, as I read the team out.

“Dave Watson

Kingsley Grandison

Jack Pearson

Ashley Hodgkinson

Michael Lawson

Tom Moncur

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Danny Edwards

Louis Castles

Ben Thornley

Kingsley Wetherald

Tom Cox, Kevin McGarry, Matt Jansen, Billy Dodds, Nick Meace.”

I left the changing room, leaving Harry to deal with the rest of the kit. The coaches were already out on the pitch setting out the equipment needed for the warm up. This wasn’t our first trip to White Moss Park, we’d been here earlier in the season for some pointless cup competition. Standing by the side of the pitch, my mind wandered to the future, and I thought of the possible day when my son would take to the pitch for us.

The players came out of the tunnel to warm up, there was a small band of travelling supporters congregated behind one of the goals and they cheered as the players came out. The players looked to be in pretty good shape during the warm-up, during shooting practise every single player scored, and there was a look of determination on their faces.

After half an hour we headed back to the changing room.

“Right we have ten games left till the end of the season, that is 30 points we could pick up. We need as many of those points as possible if we are going to be crowned champions, and I assume that is what you want?”

“Yes boss.” The players responded.

“Now get out there and win the three points!”

Ben Thornley led the team out, and I followed out after them. It had just started to rain, and I sheltered in the dugout as Andrew Madley blew his whistle to start the game. We kicked off and the ball went straight to one of the Skelmersdale midfielders.

In the 16th minute Ben stormed up the left wing with the ball at his feet, spotting the run of Louis he whipped the ball into the box, the ball flew straight to Louis who smashed a header home.

We continued to attack for the rest of the half time and time again our final ball let us down, as it was either hit straight at the keeper, or out of play.

In the 42nd minute we had our last chance of the half, as Louis passed the ball across the six yard box, but Kingsley was unable to convert the chance, as he couldn’t make a connection with the ball.

Half Time: Skelmersdale 0-1 Chorley (Castles 16)

“Keep it going, we’re attacking brilliantly and if we keep it up then we will get the three points, keep focused and keep going!”

After the break, Ben led the team back out. I walked out after them, the rain had stopped and the sun looked like it was about to break through the clouds.

In the 51st minute I decided to replace Oliver with Nick, Oliver looked exhausted and I felt he would find the rest useful.

The Skelmersdale manager had obviously had a go at his players, as they dominated the play for the start of the second half. Our defence was looking shaky and they weren’t helped by the fact that the midfield was looking tired.

In the 63rd minute I decided to replace Danny Edwards with Kevin, I sent Jack up to the central midfield position, and Kevin took over in central defence.

A minute later, and Skelmersdale receive the goal that they deserved, as the substitution disrupted our defence and that was all it took for Shaun Tuck to slot home. There was a defensive mix-up between Ashley and Kevin, as both went for the same ball. The ball slipped through the pair of them and into the path of Shaun who slotted the ball past Dave.

Both sides went for it for the last 25 minutes, as they both smelled blood, the ball was a blur as it went from half to half with both sides attacking, and neither putting much emphasis on defence.

In the 82nd minute I decided to bring Billy on for Kingsley W hoping that Billy’s experience would help find a winner.

Billy had a chance in the 86th minute, but he slammed his shot past the keeper but over the bar, he put his head in his hands realising that he had possibly squandered the best chance of the match.

Final Score: Skelmersdale 1 (Tuck 64) – 1 Chorley (Castles 16)

“That was unlucky, but at the end of the day a point is still a point, we are second in the league, but we are in touching distance of the leaders. We just need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and just carry on.”

I walked out of the changing room, and headed out to the coach, there was no sign of Fred or George today, and to be honest I was glad to be alone with my thoughts. After this game there were only 9 games left and the pressure was building on us. I didn’t want to go through the play-offs as they would just bring extra games, and stretch our squad further.

Boarding the coach I sat down, I thought about reading on my kindle, but decided against it, as I didn’t want to get annoyed at it. Instead I sat back in my seat pulled my iPod out and listened to the Foo Fighters.

[STFCDP1990]

Wednesday 23rd February 2011

Whilst checking my email at school, I came across the usual “I need a club, I’m an amazing striker who could easily score a billion goals or something” emails. But one caught my eye, I had a good feeling about this one as I did when I read the Patrick Reiβ email.

Opening it I read through it as this player laid out his footballing career, his preferred positions and why he felt he would suit our team. It actually seemed as if he had done his research on Chorley, and he made mention of our promotion charge.

Opening Google, I typed in the name Emexca Orwubiko. There wasn’t a lot online about him, just some results from a game called “Football Manager” where people had brought him and raved about how good he was.

Returning back to the email I typed out a reply.

“Good Afternoon Emexca,

This is Danny Preston of Chorley. Have you any videos of yourself in action for West Brom? Please let me know, as I cannot find anything online about you, only some brief history of

your playing career.

Thanks

Danny”

I hit send, and went back to my paperwork. After a while I looked back at my inbox and found a reply from Emexca, he had uploaded some video of him playing. For the next 15 minutes I was amazed by the quality of his play.

I picked my phone up and dialled the number Emexca had provided.

“Hello?”

“Hello Emexca, this is Danny Preston. How much would it cost to get you to come and play for Chorley?”

“I suppose £200 per week until June 2012.”

“Right, I’ll phone the chairman, and he’ll sort the contract out with you. I think you’ll be an amazing addition to the squad.”

“Wow thanks.”

“No problem. See you later.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

I ended the call, and then dialled James’ number.

“Hello, this is James Murphy.”

“James, it’s Danny.”

“Afternoon Danny, how can I help?”

“I want to sign a player.”

“Alright. How much?”

“£200 per week until June 2012, there are some bonuses as well, but he’ll go through them with you.”

“Name?”

“Emexca Orwubiko.”

“Alright, give me his number, and I’ll sort everything out with him.”

I read Emexca’s number out, and James made a note of it.

“Excellent thanks James.”

“See you later Danny.”

I ended the call and went back to my paperwork once again.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 26th February 2011- Lancaster City

Having a kitman meant that I didn’t need to arrive at the ground as early as I used to, so I headed down at about 1pm, the players were already in the changing room when I walked in. Emexca had joined the club and had joined us for Thursday’s training session. He had already started to fit in with the rest of the players.

I stood in front of the team and read the team sheet out to the team.

“Dave Watson

George Bowyer

Ashley Hodgkinson

Hassan Bacchus

Robbie Blackwell

Emexca Orwubiko

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Danny Preston

Matt Jansen

Kingsley Wetherald

Tom Cox, Tom Moncur, Ben Thornley, Billy Dodds, Nick Meace.”

I started to get changed, it felt good to be in the starting eleven for the match.

“You still play boss?” Emexca asked.

“Yep, and Billy the assistant does as well.”

“Wow, and at your age!”

“Sorry?”

“Well playing into your 40s is a remarkable feat.”

“I’m 38. Billy is the one in his 40s.”

“Oh.” Emexca looked shocked, and embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Seriously don’t worry, just play well on the pitch.”

“I will.”

Once I’d change I walked out of the tunnel and onto the pitch. Was I too old to be playing for the first team, and if I was, was Billy too old? I soon came to the conclusion that I wasn’t too old and neither was Billy, I mean Stanley Matthews had played into his 50s.

We went through the warm up, and once again the ground was teeming with people, there were less than last time, but I would have guessed that there were about 600 people in the ground, and there must have been a 100 or so in the social club, and it was only 2:30pm. Jogging back to the changing rooms at 2:45pm there were still people pouring through the turnstiles.

“Right we can win this one today, it’s a local derby and the fans will want a victory to celebrate. Billy is in charge. Is there anything you want to add?”

“Just win today.”

“Short and simple, just like you Billy.” I joked.

I led the players out of the changing room before Billy had time to make comeback. It was raining once again. Declan Ford blew his whistle to start the match, and Lancaster kicked off.

In the 3rd minute we opened the scoring as Danny Edwards smashed home a beautiful shot from 20 yards out. The ball seemed to move around in the air before it hit the back of the net.

I spent most of the half running up and down the right wing, the ball for some reason was spending the majority of the time on the left wing, and I was getting bored of just chasing shadows. I think the Lancaster left back was getting bored as well.

I finally saw the ball in the 20th minute, I dispossessed the Lancaster left winger, and set off down the wing, I nutmegged the left back and carried on to the edge of the box. Nearing the goal I dragged the ball past the centre back, and took a shot, the ball thundered past the keeper and smashed against the bar.

There was a large crowd today, and I almost had chance to count everyone during the first half, seeing as how my opportunities on the ball were limited to rare touches. Billy was busy on the touchline shouting instructions.

In the 43rd minute I received the ball again, as Emexca passed the ball across to me, starting off on a run, I went to go past the left back, who tackled me, during the tackle he stood on my foot and put his full weight down. I went down clutching my foot, and Pete was beckoned on by the ref, I managed to pull myself off the pitch, and Pete took my boot

off.

“Nothing’s broken, but I think it is bruised. You might not want to carry on.”

“Alright, I’ll take your word.”

Pete waved across at the bench for a sub, and when the ball next went out, Ben came on to replace me. I stood up and hobbled around the edge of the pitch with Pete.

By the time I reached the dugout, the whistle was blown for half time.

Half Time: Chorley 1 (Edwards 3) – 0 Lancaster City

“Well done lads, we’ve taken the lead, and we’ve been playing well. Keep it up!” Billy said.

I sat on one of the benches and inspected my foot, I could still see the stud marks. Pete came across and gave me some ice to put on it.

“Holy hell! That’s cold!”

“Well it wouldn’t be ice if it was hot.” Pete replied.

“Thanks Pete.”

He smiled and turned to check the other players.

Declan Ford banged on the door, and Ben led the players out, he had taken over as captain from me. I hobbled out with Billy, and we emerged just in time to hear the announcer.

“Well, the crossbar challenge prize will rollover to next week. All of us at Chorley would like to thank the 1,212 people who have attended today.”

I looked at Billy, and raised my eyebrows in surprise.

“Another 1000+ crowd, wow.” I said.

Billy nodded, and we took up our positions in the technical area.

In the 53rd minute I decided to replace Oliver with Tom M. Oliver once again looked tired, and it didn’t seem like he could make the entire 90 minutes.

In the 57th minute George went down injured following a strong tackle. I decided to replace him with Nick Meace, I told Robbie to move over to right back, Hassan to move to left back, and Nick to move into the centre back position.

In the 72nd minute Ben found himself on the halfway line with the ball, he had been suffering the same as I had in the first half, with the ball staying on the opposite wing. Sprinting down the wing, he beat his defender and whipped in a cross for Kingsley to header home.

In the 88th minute Lancaster pulled one back through Gavin Knight’s solo goal. Gavin had picked up on a poor pass from Nick, and went through the defence like a knife through butter. He placed the ball into the top right corner, leaving Dave well and truly beaten.

Luckily before they could stage a comeback, Declan blew his whistle for full time.

Final Score: Chorley 2 (Edwards 3, Wetherald 72) – 1 Lancaster City (Knight 88)

“Well we got the three points, I’m disappointed we couldn’t keep a clean sheet, but we won the three points and that is all that matters.”

I began to get changed, and the players followed suit. Once I had changed I turned back to the players.

“Right I’m going to have a word with James, about getting some club tracksuits for you to wear for home and away games. In fact I think you should come to home games in suits, to show that this is a club with professional ambitions.”

“Would we have to pay for the suits?” Nick asked.

“No, if the club wants you to wear suits then the club should pay for them. I’m going to talk to James about this.”

The players nodded.

I walked out of the changing room, and looked around for James. I couldn’t find him, but I did find George.

“Afternoon Danny. Can I ask some questions?”

“Yeah, go for it.”

“Were you worried when Lancaster scored to make it 2-1?”

“No I had complete faith in the lads, to secure the win.”

“Did you feel it would be your day when Danny Edwards scored?”

“Yes, to score so early is always a boost.”

“Kingsley Wetherald scored today, which is his first ever Chorley goal, what effect will that have on him?”

“It’ll boost his confidence, and hopefully we’ll see more in the future.”

“Great, thanks Danny.”

George walked off, and I walked round to the social club, to continue my search for James. I found him talking to some fans.

“Sorry James can I have a word please?”

“Yeah, sorry guys.” James apologised to the fans. We walked over to a table and sat down.

“Is there any room in the budget for the players to each have a club tracksuit for away games, and a suit for home games?”

“Yeah, if you think it would build team morale.”

“Well it would make them appear more like a team.”

“Ok then, we’ll get them fitted for suits, say on Wednesday?”

“Sure.”

“And I’ll order the tracksuits.”

“Great thanks James.”

I stood up and left the social club, I sent a group text to the players telling them to be at the ground on Wednesday at 4pm.

[STFCDP1990]

Wednesday 2nd March 2011

“Right lads, sit down and shut up!” I shouted.

The players finished their conversations and looked at me.

“Well done for shutting up, but now you need to sit down.”

They did as I said, and it felt like I was back in front of my class, except my class were better behaved.

“Now these nice people from Burtons in town have come here to fit you for suits. Now we’re going to have to be measured to make sure that we get the correct sizes. So one by one you’re going to come up here and be measured. Any volunteers?”

I was greeted by silence.

“Billy?”

He shook his head.

“Raphael? As captain shouldn’t you be first?”

He shook his head as well.

“Oh for goodness sake, I’ll go first then.”

I stepped up to the man with the measuring tape, and stood there as he took my measurements. I could see why the players had been relucatant as this wasn’t the most comfortable of experiences.

“Ok, so in a trouser you need a 34inch waist and a 31inch leg. For a shirt you need a 17 ½ inch collar, and for the jacket you will need a 42 inch chest. Do you need shoes as well?” The measurement man said.

“Yeah, give them all a new pair of shoes.” James said.

“Right for shoes you need a size 10.”

“Thank you. See guys, it wasn’t that hard was it?”

I was led through to the away changing room by an attractive woman, who picked out a suit for me. James and I had said that all of the suits were going to be black, the shirts were going to be white and the ties would be black and white striped. All of them were going to be embroidered with the Chorley badge. I put the new suit on, and by the time I was finished there were a couple of players trying on their suits. I had also chosen shoes, and felt very smart. It was horrible having to hand the suit back.

I had asked the lads to gather back in the home changing room when they had finished, and once every one was there I spoke to them.

“Right the suits are going to be sent off to be embroidered, and will be ready for the next home game, which is the Chester match. Every player will be expected to wear their suit and there will be a fine for those that forget. We are a team, we play, win and celebrate as a team. Oh and on Friday, the tracksuits will be here, so please pop down on Friday to pick yours up. These will be worn for away games. Thanks guys for taking the time to come down here today. Have a nice evening. Remember to say thanks to the staff from Burtons.”

Looking around the changing room I realised that someone was missing.

“Wait guys. Where is Kingsley?”

“I’m here boss.” Kingsley Wetherald replied.

“No, Grandison, where is he?”

No one had any idea, and I stepped out into the corridor. I was greeted by some very suspicious noises coming from the away dressing room.

“Ok, mystery solved, no one go into the away dressing room.” I said.

“He’s getting lucky?” Jack Pearson asked.

“By the sounds of it. We’ll just leave him to it.”

With that the players packed up and left, some banged on the away dressing room door, and shouted encouragement, but they all left pretty quickly.

[STFCDP1990]

Friday 4th March 2011

After school I walked down to the ground, the tracksuits had arrived and the players were collecting theirs from the changing room. I had picked mine up and I was impressed by the quality, they were made by Umbro. They are black, with the club logo embroidered onto the left breast. The trousers also had the logo embroidered on, and I felt pretty smart walking to the social club in it.

Entering the social club I found George and sat down in front of him.

“Evening George.”

“Alright Danny, looking smart.”

“Thanks.”

“So following the Lancaster match are you looking to build up a run of form?”

“Of course. We have a great chance of it, and I hope the players take the opportunity.”

“Many players have expressed their happiness at Chorley, and how there is a positive atmosphere in the dressing room, how does this affect the football?”

“Well the players are obviously enjoying their football, and if they are happy then they are going to want to play. We try to stay as relaxed as possible as we don’t want to do a Newcastle and lose our nerve.”

“So might a defeat hurt the team?”

“Well of course. Any defeat hurts a team, but with our positive look on football we would look to take the positives and carry on.”

“Finally Neil Young at Chester, is under a lot of pressure, with many suggesting that he will soon be sacked, would you be interested in the job?”

“No. No offence to anyone at Chester, but why would I leave Chorley?”

“Well Chester do have a large fanbase, a stadium which is up to league standard, and their budget is larger than many teams in the Blue Square North.”

“We’ve got a large fanbase, we also have a chairman who loves the club and is willing to put money in. Our stadium is amazing, it’s full of character. Plus the budget doesn’t affect football as much as people think. Sure a large budget allows for a large squad, but a large squad makes it harder to raise morale, as you have to care for the ones left out of the squad. So, my answer would be no.”

“Well many thought that as a former player…”

“Let me stop you there, just because I played for Chester does not mean I want to go back there and manage them. What are people expecting Chester to interview every single former player?”

“That would be absurd.”

“Yes it would. Well thank you George, I’ll see you later.”

“Thanks Danny.”

I stood up and left the table. I headed home where I knew I would find Melanie sat with a book of baby names, a colour chart and a couple of catalogues, looking at the baby stuff.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 5th March 2011- Mossley

The players had gathered at the ground at about 1pm, they were all dressed in the tracksuits that they had picked up yesterday. To be honest we actually looked like a team, and I hoped that we would begin to win as a team. We boarded the coach and set off on the 50 minute journey to Mossley’s Seel Park. It was a warm 12 degrees Celsius, but it was also raining which was a shame, as otherwise it would have been a lovely day.

I had left the kindle at home and was relying solely on my iPod to keep my entertained. Today’s band of choice was the Killers. I’d repeated Mr Brightside a couple of times before we got to Mossley. Getting off of the coach we headed straight to the dressing room. The players sat down and I read the team sheet out.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Ashley Hodgkinson

Nick Meace

Hassan Bacchus

Emexca Orwubiko

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Louis Castles

Matt Jansen

Kingsley Wetherald

Tom Cox, Jack Pearson, Danny Preston, Billy Dodds, Tom Moncur.”

I changed quickly, and headed out of the changing room with the rest of the players, the rain was still pouring down. Seel Park is a ground with a lot of character, I’ve got to say after a couple of minutes on the pitch it had become one of my favourite grounds, second only to Victory Park. The main stand is set between two banks of terracing, the dugouts are situated just in front of this stand, behind one goal there is covered terrace, whereas behind the other there is nothing. Opposite the main stand there is a small covered terrace, where it looked like some Chorley fans were gathering.

After half an hour we headed back to the changing room, where I stood in front of the players.

“We can win this one guys. Take your chances and win.”

Matt led the players out of the changing room and onto the pitch. Billy and myself walked out of the changing room after the players, and took our place in the dugout. Andrew Madley was the referee for the game and he blew his whistle to start the match.

We kicked off, and the ball headed straight to Louis on the right wing, Louis controlled it and carried on running, he whipped a cross into the box but it fell straight to the keeper, who cleared it up field.

The ball was spending most of its time in the air, with it travelling between the keepers. One would boot it forward and the other would catch it, and then boot it forward. It was becoming a vicious circle, and I was getting bored.

When the ball did hit the ground it was swarmed upon like vultures on roadkill. It was like watching a class of Year 1 children attempt to play football. If I had paid to watch this then I would be asking for my money back.

In fact I was pretty tempted to ask for my money back anyway, surely someone would give me something for complaining. Looking across at Billy I noticed he was yawning. During Billy’s yawn, Dave hoofed the ball forward however he sliced his clearance and it smacked Billy straight in the head.

Billy was still complaining about his head when Andrew Madley blew his whistle for half time.

Half Time: Mossley 0-0 Chorley

“Right, we need to keep the ball down, and pass it around. Mossley seem worried when we play it on the deck. We can win this!”

Billy was holding an ice pack to his head, and moaning to anyone that could hear him about his head. Most of the players had laughed at him, myself included, and high fived Dave.

Andrew Madley knocked on the door to signal that he was ready to start the second half. Matt led the players back out.

The second half kicked off with us trying to keep the ball down and pass it around. Mossley were making it hard to play this way though, as every time they received the ball they hoofed it forward and the ball stayed in the air until a Chorley player could bring it down.

In the 57th minute Louis whipped a cross into the box, the ball was punched clear by the keeper, but it fell to the feet of Kingsley, who passed the ball across to Matt who hammered the ball past the keeper and into the back of the net.

In the 59th minute I decided to replace Louis with myself. He hadn’t played badly I just felt that we could do with some fresh blood on the pitch.

In the 64th minute Matt turned from scorer to provider, as from his cross I powered a header home, from the moment the ball left my head I knew it was destined to hit the back of the net.

I was joined on the pitch by Billy in the 79th minute as he replaced Kingsley upfront, the game was over, so Billy’s inclusion wasn’t going to have much of an influence on the game.

In the 82nd minute the coaches decided to replace Oliver with Tom. Oliver had managed to play past the 60th minute mark, which was a surprise for him. With 8 minutes to go I think Tom was just glad to get on the pitch. The rain had eased off, and we were passing the ball around.

Final Score: Mossley 0-2 Chorley (Jansen 57, Preston 64)

“Brilliant lads! Well done out there, we played so much better in the second half, and I must say it’s all thanks to me.” I smiled.

The players looked at me with an expression of you keep believing that.

“Anyway, well done today. We’re second in the league still, but we are keeping up.”

I changed and left the changing room, walking to the coach. On my way I was stopped by James who was on the phone.

“Oh hold on, here he is. I’ll let you talk to him, alright.”

He handed the phone over to me.

“Hello?” I said.

“Danny, this is Chris Pilsbury from Chester FC.”

“How can I help?”

“We’ve just sacked Neil Young…”

“No, I’m not interested. Thank you for your interest.”

I passed the phone back to James, and walked away.

“Well you heard him, I told you he would say no. Have a nice day.” I heard James say.

I boarded the coach and sat down. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and half expected it to be someone from Chester. Looking at the screen I saw it was a text from Lionel.

“Alex Harper of Wakefield. Future star, central defender. I think you should buy him. In fact I promise you he will be a great signing.”

I trust Lionel, and found the number of the Wakefield manager.

“Hello?”

“Hello this is Danny Preston from Chorley.”

“How can I help you?”

“I’m interested in signing Alex Harper. I’ll offer £5k for him.”

“No way! It’s more like £33k for him.”

“No deal, thanks.”

I hung the phone up and turned my iPod on.

[STFCDP1990]

Friday 11th March 2011

The week had passed quickly. It had been a very busy week for Melanie and myself, we had finally set a date for the wedding, and had booked Haigh Hall We had decided on Friday 22nd of July. Melanie would have had the baby by then, I would have had time to oversee a couple of friendlies, and sorted out some new players. Plus we would be going on our honeymoon the day after. The reception was also going to take place at Haigh Hall. It had cost an arm and a leg, but Melanie was happy, plus now she had a wedding planner.

Melanie was meeting with her wedding planner tonight, and I was meeting Fred at the social club to discuss tomorrow’s match against Trafford. I found Fred in one of the corners of the social club, I sat down at his table.

“Evening Danny.”

“Evening Fred.”

“Right let’s get down to business. How do you view your chances against Trafford?”

“Well it’s not going to be an easy game, no game in the league is easy. But we do have a good chance against Trafford and it is just down to the lads to take that chance and make sure we secure the win.”

“So what tactics will you deploy against Trafford?”

“The same ones we deployed against Mossley, except I hope that Trafford will also want to play football.”

“The Chester job is available. They are a big club, are you tempted as a former player?”

“No, and I have told the Chester chairman this. I can’t see myself ever leaving Chorley unless I am removed from my position by the chairman.”

“Right, ok. I think that’ll be all for now. Thanks Danny.”

“Thanks Fred.”

Fred stood up and left, and I stayed behind to finish the pint I had brought. I knew what awaited me when I arrived home and quite frankly I wasn’t looking forward to it.

Arriving home I stepped through the door.

“Hello?” I called.

There was no response, the only sound in the house was the sound of Rowley gently snoring in his bed.

“Hello?” I called again.

I walked into the living room and found a note from Melanie that read,

“Just popped round to my mum’s. Be back soon.”

I screwed the note up and threw it in the bin, I sat on the couch and switched the television and the Xbox on. Leaning back I began to play Fifa 11. I didn’t do too well online, and soon got frustrated with the terrible players on my team, and turned the console off.

[JoeLatics]

How rude of me, I haven't commented in ages!

One of the 2 stories I check every day when I turn on my laptop, KUTGW mate!

[STFCDP1990]

No worries as long as you are enjoying the story!

Saturday 12th March 2011 -Trafford

Today was the second away match in a row for us, and today’s match took us to Shawe View home of Trafford. It was going to take us 35 minutes to get there, and I had told the players to be at Victory Park at 1.20pm.

The coach ride was no doubt going to be boring and I had decided on Oasis as the band of the day, I had found my usual spot at the front of the coach, and I watched the scenery whizz past the window as we drove along. Unfortunately it was raining again, and the scenery mostly consisted of rain drops hitting the window.

Arriving at Shawe View we got off the coach and headed to the changing rooms, Harry busied himself with laying the kit out, and I read the team sheet out to the team.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Ashley Hodgkinson

Hassan Bacchus

Emexca Orwubiko

Danny Edwards

George Bowyer

Danny Preston

Matt Jansen

Kingsley Wetherald

Tom Cox, Jack Pearson, Ben Thornley, Billy Dodds, Tom Moncur.”

By the time I had finished reading the team sheet out, Harry had finished laying the kit out, and we set out to destroy his hardwork by changing. Once we were all changed we walked out into the rain, and began our warm-up. The pitch was showing its use, as it looked terrible, I mean no offence to the groundsman but I doubt there was anything he could do about it. I mean I looked for the entire time of the warm-up for some grass but I could see none.

The rest of the ground was nice though, with terracing around 3 sides, and small stand running along the touchline. There was some cover, and the majority of the people in the ground were huddled underneath trying to keep out of the rain.

The rain had started to ease up, but it was still going to be a difficult game. After half an hour we jogged back to the changing room.

“This game is ours for the taking. As long as we win we will go top, and that is what we want. So get out there and get the three points.”

It was up to me to lead the players out, and as I stood in the tunnel, I noticed that the ref for today’s match was going to be Declan Ford.

We kicked off, and the ball found its way to the Trafford keeper, the ball was skidding off of the surface and it was hard to get a foot on it. Luckily Declan was being very lenient, as there were a number of mistimed tackles, which weren’t helped by the wet ground.

In the 14th minute, Matt found himself with the ball, he sprinted forward and delivered a cross into the box for Kingsley. The ball bounced off of a Trafford defender and into my path, where I unleashed a shot. The ball beat the keeper but it also beat the crossbar, and disappeared out of the ground.

We carried on with our positive play, creating many chances, and the Trafford defence was bailed out by their keeper on many occasions.

In the 30th minute, I launched a long pass, into the path of Danny Edwards, who had embarked on a foray into the Trafford box, he brought the ball down, and played it across to Kingsley who fired his shot straight at the keeper.

In the 44th minute, I delivered a corner into the box, where Nick Meace smashed his header over the bar.

Half Time: Trafford 0-0 Chorley

“Right I’m just going to echo Danny’s words, we can win this lads! Keep going forward and keep shooting.” Billy urged.

“Billy’s right, we just need to keep going, sooner or later this keeper is going to make a mistake and then we just need to capitalise on that!” I said.

I led the team back out after the break, and I was pleased to find that the rain had completely stopped and now the sun was peeking through the clouds.

Kingsley was having a terrible time in front of goal, his build up play was fantastic, but he just couldn’t take the chances that presented themselves to him, and I was beginning to wish that Billy would make a change.

In the 54th minute I picked up a yellow card, for arguing with the referee. I had been adjudged to have jumped unfairly whilst competing for a high ball. I however thought that I had been completely and utterly fair in my competition for the ball and told Declan Ford so.

In the 56th minute Billy made the switch I had hoped he would make and brought himself on in place of Kingsley.

Twenty minutes later, Tom Moncur replaced Emexca, Emexca had been playing well but he was looking tired, and I’m sure that is why he was replaced.

The game itself was running into a dead end as both sides looked for a winning goal at the end of the game. I found myself camped in the Trafford half, waiting for the ball to come my way.

In the 90th minute it did, and I set off down the wing, nearing the byline I realised it would be foolish to cross the ball into the box, as there was no way I would hit the head of Billy plus I had a defender bearing down on me. Instead I passed the ball across to Tom who hammered the ball into the box, Billy got his head behind it, but the ball hit the crossbar and rebounded, the Trafford keeper had already dived and was stranded as Billy hammered the rebound home. There was a crazed celebration as every single Chorley shirt raised over to Billy. That was it we had won the three points late in the game.

There was still the 4 minutes of injury time to get through however, in the 92nd minute it what must have been their first attack of the game, one of the Trafford wingers stormed into our box, where he was hacked down by Robbie Blackwell. There was no hesitation from Declan and he pointed to the spot.

Now it was up to Dave. He faced the oddly named Melford Knight. Melford took his run up and smashed the ball down the right hand side. Dave guessed right but the ball had enough power to make it past his outstretched fingers.

As soon as we kicked off Declan brought the game to an end, and we trudged off the pitch.

Final Score: Trafford 1 (Knight 93) – 1 Chorley (Dodds 90)

“Jesus, that was unlucky. Lads life is like that at times, we just have to pick ourselves up and ready ourselves for the Chester match.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket, opening the text I turned back to the team.

“Oh well never mind, we’re top of the league!”

“What?” Billy asked.

“Melanie just text, we’re top of the league!”

The lads cheered, and that certainly improved the mood in the changing room.

Once I was changed I headed straight out to the coach, I took my seat, and carried on listening to Oasis.

[STFCDP1990]

Monday 14th March 2011

After finishing school, I headed to the newsagents, the Non-League Paper had come out yesterday, and I needed to pick my copy up. Finding it in the newsagents I spotted some news which was relevant to us.

“Jones the man for Chester.” Screamed the headline.

I walked over to the counter and paid for it, the man behind the counter exchanged the normal chit-chat with me, and then I carried on with my day. My mind was playing over the headline on the way home, and I was desperate to read the article. Opening the front door I threw my keys in the direction of the table by the door, and dropped my stuff on the floor. Walking into the living room I sat on the sofa and opened the newspaper.

“Gary Jones, the former assistant to recently departed manager Neil Young, has taken the Chester FC hotseat. This comes as welcome news for fans of Chester before their clash with Chorley, whose manager Danny Preston frequently dismissed any notion of him joining Chester. Now Preston must be worrying about the possible new manager effect that Jones will have on his squad.”

There was more in the article but I couldn’t be bothered to read it. They were right though, I was now worried about the effect that the new manager would have on the Chester players, as surely they would all be desperate to impress him. Therefore they would raise their game, and we would have to deal with this.

I could hear voices in the kitchen, and I sat there wondering if I should go and investigate the source of these voices. Finally I decided to get up and investigate. Walking into the kitchen I wondered if I should grab a weapon in case it was a burglar, but then surely they would have tried something when they heard me come in.

Pushing the door open to the kitchen, I revealed something much worse than a burglar. As there at my kitchen table sat Melanie, Emma, Melanie’s mum Nelly and Gavin the wedding planner. All three were looking at some kind of map.

“Hey.” I said.

All four looked up at me. Emma and Gavin made a dive to cover the map up, and Melanie stood up to shoo me out of the kitchen.

“Danny you’ll have to leave for a bit.” She commanded.

“Why? This is my house.”

“Yes, but you almost saw my wedding dress. Or what I want it to look like anyway.”

“Oh. So what was with the map?”

“That was just a plan that Gavin has come up with, so we can see the whole picture. Isn’t he fabulous?”

I had no idea how to reply. My mind had begun to wander when Melanie had said plan, it had settled on monkeys.

“Umm, yeah he is.”

“Ok, well you’ll have to leave.” She was ushering me towards the door now.

“But…”

“No buts, just go. Do as I say for once.”

“I do as you say plenty!”

“Why don’t you take Rowley out?”

“Fine. How long do you want me gone for?”

“About 2 hours.”

“What? I can’t walk Rowley for that long.”

“Well I’ll let you bring him back and then you can go to the pub, but you can’t come in the kitchen.”

“Fine.”

I clipped Rowley onto his lead and left the house with my tail between my legs.

[STFCDP1990]

Friday 18th March 2011

I’d been banned from the kitchen for near on the whole week, whilst this meant I didn’t need to wash up or cook, it also meant that I had to ask for a drink when I wanted one. School had been interesting with plenty going on, the children in my class had been learning about the Tudors and we were due to go on a field trip soon.

I found myself in the social club after school, there was a lot of talk about the upcoming Chester match, but then again there had been a lot of talk about every Chester match this season, seeing as how people saw them as “giants” of the league. They had been underperforming considering that everyone expected them to run away with the league, and they found themselves outside of the play off zone.

I was in the social club for two reasons, 1. It meant I was away from all of the wedding preparations, and 2. I was meeting with Fred.

I found Fred stood by the bar, walking over I shook his hand and ordered myself a drink. He pointed to a table and we went and sat down.

“Right then Danny, this is an important game isn’t it?”

“Well yeah, but that’s mainly due to the fact that we need the three points.”

“Ok, so the late equaliser for Trafford was a bit of a kick in the teeth, seeing as how you had been dominating the match, how will this affect the players?”

“Well I’m looking for them to bounce back, and react positively.”

“Can you see Chester deploying any tactical surprises? I mean they have a new manager now and he might have changed things around.”

“That’s always a possibility, but we need to focus on our game, and deal with their threats when they appear.”

“So what tactics will you deploy? Will you go out on the attack, or will you play defensively?”

“We’ll play the same way we have played week in week out for near on the entirety of the season.”

Fred nodded, at that time the Nokia tune started to play.

“Oh I best get that.”

Fred stood up and answered the phone, he walked away, leaving me to drink my beer. After a short conversation he returned.

“Well I’ve got to go. Thanks Danny, good luck tomorrow.”

“Thanks Fred.”

He walked away and I finished my pint. I now faced a difficult choice, should I show my face at home, or buy another pint. I settled in the end for heading home, as having two pints the night before a game wasn’t a great idea.

Arriving home, I found the kitchen door open, there were no voices, and I walked into the kitchen, the map had gone. I was free to stand in my own kitchen. There was a note on the kitchen table.

“Gone round to my mum’s. Taken the plan with me. Enjoy the kitchen.”

Now I had the kitchen I didn’t want it, and walked back to the living room, turned on the television and watched some mindless drivel that was supposed to be an entertaining show.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 19th March 2011-Chester

I woke up and headed downstairs to have some breakfast. Sky Sports news was giving all the build-up to today’s Premier League matches. I have to admit I sat there and dreamt of the day that Chorley were spoken about in the same breath as Manchester United or Arsenal.

Following breakfast I showered and dressed in my new club suit. They had arrived on Thursday, and they looked amazing. I hoped that the players would remember to come dressed in their suits, or they would face the fine of £20, which would be collected and used on any club nights out.

I walked down to the ground at about 1.30pm, I had met Billy on the way. Entering the changing room I was glad to see that the kit had been laid out already, I sat down and waited for the players to arrive. By 1.45pm they were all in the changing room every single one in their new suit. I stood up and read the team sheet to them.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Jack Pearson

Hassan Bacchus

Emexca Orwubiko

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Louis Castles

Matt Jansen

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Ashley Hodgkinson, Danny Preston, Kingsley Wetherald, Tom Moncur.”

I began to get changed and carefully hung my suit up on my peg. The rest of the players weren’t as careful with their suits and most of the suits ended up in a pile. Looking around I sighed, we could make them look smart but we couldn’t make them act smart. I walked out of the changing room to begin the warm-up. There was a mixture of Chorley and Chester shirts in the ground, and they seemed to be generally getting along.

I received a couple of shouts from Chester fans, but most were in good humour, and I carried on with my warm-up. There was a large group of Chorley fans stood on the terrace nearest the social club, and they were busy hanging flags, and warming up their voices. The Chester fans had begun to decorate the Piling Road End, with flags, and It looked like it would be a great game.

After half an hour we jogged back to the changing rooms.

“We can win this! This is a game we should win, and we will win. Chester are low on confidence, they have lost their manager and are under-performing. They think that just because they have a new manager that their season will suddenly come back to life. But we need to prove them wrong.”

Raphael led the team out, and I followed out after them. Andrew Madley was in charge for today’s match, and he led us out onto the pitch. It was a windy day, but it was still a warm 10 degrees.

The wind was affecting the quality of the play, as the wind affected any long ball, taking it off course. As such the players were attempting to play it around on the floor, with many passes being intercepted.

Both sets of fans were in fine voice, and they were both attempting to rally their team, spurring them on to a victory.

In the 21st minute we scored, the wind had died down for a minute, and as such Matt was able to deliver a perfect cross into the box for Louis to volley home.

We doubled our lead only 6 minutes later. As Raphael picked up the ball near to the halfway line and set off towards the Chester goal, he beat the defence and the Chester keeper raced off his line, Raphael waited and then lobbed the ball over the keeper’s head. The ball nestled nicely in the back of the net.

Chester pulled one back on the 30th minute as Michael Wilde scored his 100th career goal, from a fine long-range shot. Wilde had found himself in plenty of space, and hammered the ball past Dave.

This was shaping up to be a brilliant game, and Chester poured forward looking for an equaliser. We however looked to exploit the gaps in their defence, and came close on a number of occasions.

Before either side could score another, Andrew brought the half to an end, and we headed back to the changing room a goal up.

Half Time: Chorley 2 (Castles 21, Sylvester 27) – 1 Chester (Wilde 30)

“Well done, we’ve gotten two good goals, and now we are in command. Just keep going and keep attacking.”

Looking around the changing room I noticed that all of the suits had been picked up, Harry must have been at work, it certainly made the dressing room look neater.

After the break Raphael led the team back out, during the break the fans had switched ends, and we found ourselves attacking towards our fans again. Only this time we were shooting towards the Piling Road End.

We started off by pinning Chester back in their own half, and they weren’t given any time on the ball.

In the 54th minute, we managed to add a third goal. Matt had broken down the left hand side, and whipped a cross into a crowded box. The ball fell to the head of Danny Edwards, but his shot was saved, however the ball fell between two Chester players and in their desperation to clear the ball, the one Chester player hit the ball off of the other Chester player and the ball ended up in the back of the net.

“And with Chorley’s third goal it is Liam Smith!” The announcer shouted.

I followed this goal, by sending myself and Kingsley on for Louis and Raphael. We needed to keep our best players fit for the run in, and I felt we had the game in the bag.

We carried on by keeping Chester pegged back in their own half, and I spent most of my time sprinting up and down the right wing.

In the 74th minute, I had the ball at my feet and cut in towards the box, pulling my foot back I unleashed a shot, the ball cannoned off of Lewis Proudfoot’s leg, and looped over the head of the Chester keeper. I sprinted towards the home fans and celebrated wildly with them.

Jogging back to the centre circle I spotted that some of the Chester fans had already started to leave, and the flags were disappearing.

For the last 16 minutes, we passed the ball around between us, receiving an “ole” from the fans every time a Chorley shirt touched the ball.

Final Score: Chorley 4 (Castles 21, Sylvester 27, Smith 54 (og), Proudfoot 74 (og)) – 1 Chester (Wilde 30)

“Well done lads, that was brilliant! By my calculations we are still top of the league. Have a good night lads. Well done, once again.”

I showered, and dressed. As soon as I was done I left the changing room, to head home. Stepping outside the changing room I found myself face to face with George.

“Congratulations Danny, that was brilliant!”

“Thanks George.”

“Can I ask you some questions?”

“Sure.”

“Were you worried when they pulled it back to 2-1?”

“No, there were no worries. I was sure we would play well and take the three points.”

“Raphael Sylvester has been picked as man of the match, how do you think he played today?”

“He was fantastic, it was a shame I had to replace him as he had played brilliantly. But we need him to continue to play brilliantly in the upcoming matches.”

“So that win leaves you top of the league, I have asked this before, but will you keep that position?”

“Yes, we will do our best to hold onto that position.”

“Finally, there were 2,156 people in the ground tonight, with the majority being Chorley fans, how does that level of support help the team?”

“Well it helps in a financial sense, as the gate receipts have improved. It also means that there is a more vocal element to the support, which really drives the players on. I’d like to thank everyone for coming out to support us, and I hope to see them next week. Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah go for it.”

“Did anyone win the crossbar challenge?”

“Yeah a Chester fan.”

“Well it’s great they brought a ticket.”

George nodded.

“Thanks Danny, that’ll be all.”

I shook his hand, and walked past him, and headed home. As I was walking Billy ran up to me.

“Plough?” He suggested.

“Sure.”

We walked to the Plough, and celebrated our victory.

[STFCDP1990]

Wednesday 24th March 2011

My leg was still hurting me today, I’d suffered a dead leg in a training match yesterday following a heavy challenge from Hassan. Pete had told me that I would be out for 6 days, which meant I was ruled out of the Harrogate game.

I’d spent most of my day limping around school, with children asking me what had happened. One year 1 had come to the conclusion I was a robot and I needed to put oil on my knee.

Whilst sat in my office, my phone rang, and I answered it.

“Hello Danny, its James.”

“Afternoon James, how can I help?”

“Are you busy at about 4pm today?”

“No not by the looks of things.”

“Great I’ll pick you up at 4pm.”

“Alright.”

He put the phone down at this point, and I sat there wondering about why he was going to pick me up, I’d been through this situation before where the chairman had phoned me, and hadn’t told me why they wanted to see me.

At 4pm I left the school and walked outside, I spotted James’ shiny Mercedes as soon as I stepped onto the street. I walked round to the passenger door, and opened it. I sat in the seat, and buckled my seat belt.

“Hello Danny, good day?”

“Yes thanks James, you?”

“Yeah I have some exciting news, but it is a surprise.”

I nodded, and we spent the rest of the journey in silence. James drove us out of Chorley and parked by a field, there was already a car parked there and I wondered if this was the end.

James stepped out of the car and I followed. He walked round to the boot and pulled out a spade. My heart was pounding at this point. From the car in front Fred and George stepped out.

“Afternoon guys.” James greeted them.

“Afternoon.” They responded.

“Now you are probably wondering why I have brought you here. I would like to unveil the new Chorley FC first and youth team training facilities. It may be a field now, but in a couple of months it will be a brilliant training facility. Here I have a spade for Danny to break the turf, and to commence the building.”

Fred pulled out a camera, and James handed me the spade. I felt a fool as I dug the spade into the turf, and Fred snapped away happily. James joined me in a few photos.

“Well these will look great on the website and in the paper.” Fred told us.

Both myself and James nodded. Fred and George got back into their car and drove away.

“Can you see it?” James asked.

“See what?”

“The future. The first and youth teams training side by side.”

I pictured it, and to be honest the future looked great.

“There is plenty of room for expansion as well.” James said enthusiastically.

He pointed to a field behind us.

“I own that one as well, and in the future, that is where our new ground will go.”

I nodded. James walked back to his car, and I followed. He drove me home and I spent the entire journey in silence, mainly due to shock.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 26th March 2011-Harrogate Railway

My leg still ached from Tuesday, and I was disappointed to be missing the game today. But it was up to the rest of the players to get the result that we needed to keep AFC Fylde at bay. Once I was ready I walked round to the ground. It was a beautiful day, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature had settled at a nice 12 degrees. I arrived at the ground with Billy at about 1.30pm, entering the changing room, we sat down and waited for the players. By about 1.45pm they had all turned up, and I stood up to read the team sheet.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Jack Pearson

Hassan Bacchus

Emexca Orwubiko

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Louis Castles

Matt Jansen

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Ashley Hodgkinson, Ben Thornley, Kingsley Wetherald, Tom Moncur.”

Once I had read the team sheet out, I walked out of the changing room and headed towards the pitch. The ground was filling up slowly, and the social club looked busy. The flags were still decorating the ground, and there were a large number all around. Most were flags that James had brought, but there were many supporter owned flags dotted around the ground.

The players emerged from the changing rooms to warm up. I stood and watched as they went through the warm-up with the coaching staff. The person in charge of the music seemed to be going through an 80s phase. As we headed back to the changing rooms “Ace of Spades” had just started to play.

“We can win this one, just remember to take your chances, and stay tight at the back.”

The players walked out after Raphael, we walked out to “Hungry like the wolf”, which was a strange choice seeing as how we had gone from Motorhead to Duran Duran. The cheerleaders were warming the crowd up, which had grown during the time we had been in the changing room.

Andrew Madley blew his whistle to start the game, and I’ve said it before but I’ll be glad when we get some new referees. We kicked off towards our fans who were stood on the terrace near to the social club.

From the kick off we gave the ball away, and Harrogate attempted to launch an attack which broke down as soon as they entered our half. The game carried on like this for the first twenty minutes with the ball passing harmlessly between the two sides, with the keepers looking more and more bored.

Finally in the 26th minute, something interesting happened. Matt received the ball and instead of giving it away immediately, he sprinted forward, and entered the box, he passed the ball across to Raphael but Raphael could only shoot pathetically and the ball ended up with the keeper.

The two teams then went back to giving the ball away aimlessly, and I stood on the touchline hands in pockets, bored out of my mind. Billy joined me, and we stood there.

“If we win this Danny I’ll buy every drink tonight.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re on.”

With a fresh incentive I started shouting instructions to the players. Starting with the most obvious.

“For god sake keep the ball! We are playing in black and white stripes! Not red!”

The players must have heard me, as for the last ten minutes we kept the ball well, but we just couldn’t shoot on target.

Half Time: Chorley 0-0 Harrogate Railway

“We need to win this one, Billy has said that if we do he will buy me a drink tonight. He currently thinks that his money is safe, but you need to prove him wrong and make him open his wallet!”

The players looked at me and smiled.

“Look guys if you are having trouble working out what you are supposed to do, I’ll tell you now. You need to get the ball between the posts. But not the posts with Dave stood in

them.”

There was some laughter in the changing room.

“You think it’s funny? My god I saw the opposition keeper, sitting on the floor at one point. Dave was having a conversation with someone in the crowd for god sake!”

I turned to the whiteboard that we have in the changing room, and drew a simple diagram and labelled it “You, ball, opposition keeper, goal, celebration.”

“Get the picture now?”

The players nodded, and Raphael led the team back out onto the pitch, I seriously hoped they had.

“Well done to the winner of today’s crossbar challenge who goes home with £367. Today’s attendance is 872.” The announcer informed the crowd.

I took up my position in the technical area, and watched as Harrogate kicked off, their manager had obviously had a word with them, as they tried to keep the ball, but after a couple of passes the ball found its way to a black and white shirt.

In the 55th minute, Louis received the ball on the halfway line, and dribbled the ball down the wing, he beat two defenders and whipped a cross into the box, where Raphael flicked the ball on for Matt Jansen to volley home.

“Get in there!” I shouted.

Harrogate Railway kicked off, but the wind had been knocked out of their sails. We ended up with the ball and attempted to carve another chance, which ended with Louis shooting high and wide.

In the 71st minute I decided to send Ben Thornley and Kingsley Wetherald on for Matt and Raphael. I was hoping that fresh legs at this point would allow us to double our lead.

We came close in the 86th minute as the two substitutes combined well to create an attacking chance. It started with Kingsley laying the ball off for Ben, who sprinted up the wing, nearing the byline he whipped the ball into the box for Kingsley who smashed his shot against the post, and out for a goal kick.

That was to be the last chance of the game, and we headed back to the changing rooms narrow winners.

Final Score: Chorley 1 (Jansen 55) – 0 Harrogate Railway

“Well a win is a win, even if it isn’t our best performance of the season. Go home guys and get some rest. Well done today.”

I walked over to Billy, and smiled.

“Fine, a deal is a deal.” He said.

We walked out of the changing rooms, and headed to the Plough to celebrate our victory. I let Billy buy the first couple but after that we split the rounds. It’s fair to say we drank a lot.

[STFCDP1990]

Tuesday 29th March 2011

I found myself at the ground at 5pm, training wasn’t due to start until 6pm but James wanted me there early. Apparently he had something to show me. I found him waiting outside his office, and he led me out to the pitch.

“Look.” He pointed in the direction of the dugout.

I looked, it just seemed to be the normal dugout, until I noticed that the seats had been replaced with the fancy “airline” style seats, that are common in the Premier League.

“How much did that cost James?”

“A little, but it all came out of my money.”

“Why?”

“Well I heard these seats are better for the players, as they are softer, and can be heated if you want.”

“Wow.”

“I didn’t replace the away dugout though.”

I nodded.

“But that’s not all Danny.”

He pointed to the stand behind us, inside there were some workmen. James led me up into the stand. As soon as I entered the stand I noticed that every seat had been ripped out.

“Where are the seats?”

“Well we’re going to clean up the stand, and then replace the seats with newer, better ones.”

“Great.”

I looked out from the stand, and could see workmen all over, sprucing the place up, some were giving the terraces a lick of paint, there were some mowing the grass, and I could see some working on the snack bars.

“What’s happening over there?” I pointed in the direction of the snack bar in the corner.

“Well, we’re going to turn it into a Murphy’s Burger Bar outlet.”

“So what’ll happen to the staff?”

“They’ll be re-employed by us, given new uniforms, and will carry on working there.”

“Excellent.”

“By the next home game with Durham, this place will be completely transformed, and we’ll attract new fans hopefully, and reward the old fans with better facilities.”

“Great. Anything else you want to tell me?”

“I’ll show you the last thing. Don’t worry we’ll be back in time for training.”

James led me out of the ground and to his car, we got in and he drove us to the town centre. We parked in the St Mary’s Church car park, and walked to Chapel Street, as we neared the end of the road, he stopped me and pointed to a vacant lot next to Outdoor World.

“What am I supposed to be looking at?” I asked.

“This is where the new Chorley FC shop is going to go. It will sell merchandise and tickets.”

“When will it open?”

“Next Wednesday, I want you to open the shop.”

“Ok.”

“Nothing too major, just cut the ribbon and make a speech.”

“I think I can do that.”

“Great, oh and all of my pubs in America have re-opened following their refurbishment.”

“Excellent.”

We walked back to the car, and drove back to the ground where the players were waiting for me to turn up. I stepped out of the car, and began the training session with my mind filled with thoughts of the future.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 2nd April 2011- Witton

I was hoping for a reaction from the players following the Harrogate Railway game, sure we had won but the game had been one of the most boring I had ever watched. We were due to travel to Northwich, to play Witton. I had checked out the ground on google maps and was surprised to see that it was so close to the Northwich Victoria ground.

It was going to take us an hour to travel to Wincham Park, according to Google, and I had told the players to be at the ground for 12.30pm. Mathematically today we could secure a play-off place as long as we beat Witton, this was either going to inspire us or put pressure on us, and I hoped that the players would take the play off place as a goal.

I walked down to the ground with Billy, and by the time we arrived the players had gathered and we boarded the coach.

“Right for your viewing pleasure, I have the highlights of the Harrogate Railway match.” I announced.

There was an audible groan.

“Sorry, you don’t want to watch these?”

“No!” The players chorused.

“Well why shouldn’t I put them on?”

“Cos we’ll play better today!”

“Fine then.”

I sat down in my seat, some of the players at the back of the coach were having a poker tournament, as they did before most games. To be honest these coach journeys remind me of a school trip, except the kids are normally better behaved.

By the time we reached Witton, I had developed a headache, as the players had argued and bickered the whole way. Maybe I was going to have to ban poker, but then it would just lead to another obsession, which would then be banned and the cycle would continue.

Stepping off of the coach I massaged my temples, and walked to the changing room, or so I thought. Walking over to the doors I found they were locked. Taking a couple of steps back, I looked around. Looking up I spotted something.

“Jesus, this is Northwich Victoria!” I shouted to Billy.

He shook his head and boarded the coach again, when I got on the players were laughing and joking. The driver looked very sheepish, and he drove round to the correct ground.

This time when we got off the coach, we were at the right ground, and headed straight into the changing rooms, where Harry got down to work. I stood in front of the players and read the team sheet out.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Tom Moncur

Hassan Bacchus

Emexca Orwubiko

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Louis Castles

Jason St Juste

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Ashley Hodgkinson, Matt Jansen, Kingsley Wetherald, Jack Pearson.”

I walked out of the changing room after reading the team sheet, the players were badgering Harry for their kit, and I could feel my headache getting worse. Walking onto the pitch, I took in the sights. The ground is a nice one, which wouldn’t look out of place in the conference. Behind both goals there is covered terracing, opposite the main stand there is another piece of covered terrace and the main stand itself is a lovely stand, with the dugouts just in front.

The players sprinted past me, to start their warm up and I could still hear them bickering about the poker game. I have no idea why the players were so obsessed with poker, but then again during my time as a player I had kept my head down, and used to read on the way to away games, as I still do.

“Danny, could you ban poker?” Billy asked.

“Why?”

“They’ve given me a headache.”

“You to?”

“Yeah. Why have you got one?”

I nodded.

“So no more poker?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Alright.”

Billy jogged off to help with the warm-up, and I stood back to watch the warm up. By the time we headed back to the changing room, there were a couple of people on the ground sporting the black and white stripes of Chorley.

“We have 4 games left, and every point counts, we need the three points from this match to make sure we stay at the top. Also if we win today we guarantee ourselves a playoff place. Not that we will need it. Now get out there and win!”

The players lined up behind Raphael and walked out of the changing room. Andrew Madley was the man in charge today and he led the players out onto the pitch. It was a bright, dry day, and the sun was shining away.

I stood in the technical area and waited for Andrew to start the match. Witton kicked off and they set out to play a good passing game.

In the 9th minute we opened the scoring through Raphael Sylvester, who volleyed home a well delivered Louis Castles cross.

Witton came back at us straight away from the kick off, and they wasted a well worked chance in the 15th minute, which ended with the ball clearing the stand.

For most of the half it was all Witton, as they created chance after chance, and I was worried that the defence would not hold out for much longer.

In the 27th minute, we tested the Witton keeper only for the second time in the game, as Jason fed a through ball to Louis who smashed the ball goalwards, the ball was parried by the Witton keeper, and a defender cleared it up field.

I found myself pacing back and forth in the technical area, willing the players to get a hold on the game, and keep the ball. But it didn’t seem like we were able to. As Witton poured forward at every attempt.

In the 36th minute Witton scored, and we conceded what must have been our first own goal of the season, and the dubious honour belongs to Danny Edwards, who deflected a cross into his own goal.

We somehow regained the lead in the 43rd minute, I have no idea how it happened but we managed to put the ball in the back of the Witton net. Jason had broken down the left wing, and he delivered the ball into the box, for Raphael to hammer home. It came completely against the run of play and I felt that the Witton players would be very disappointed to have conceded the goal.

Half Time: Witton 1 (Edwards 36 (og))- 2 Chorley (Sylvester 9, 43)

“Keep going, the play off place is in our reach now, we just need to keep the ball, and make sure we stay firm at the back.”

I looked at Danny, but I had no idea how to handle a player who had conceded an own goal, as I’d been lucky enough to have never scored one. I decided against saying anything, as he seemed to have gotten over it.

Looking at my watch I noticed it was 4pm, and told the players to get back out onto the pitch, I walked out after them, and we were out for a couple of minutes before Witton and the officials.

After a couple of minutes I wished we had stayed in the changing rooms, as in the 47th minute, Hassan went down injured following a clash, unfortunately for us, Hassan had walked off of the pitch before making it known he need replacing, and Andrew waved play on, with us one man short at the back, Witton scored as Mark Lancaster bundled the ball home. I decided to replace Hassan with Jack, Robbie moved to left back, and Tom moved to right back.

Witton were also suffering injury problems, as two of their players went down in quick succession, they had already used two of their subs, and in the 61st minute they were reduced to ten men, as one of their midfielders went down injured after twisting his knee, whilst trying to compete for the ball.

Raphael made good use of the one man advantage, as he went on a solo run through the Witton defence, and hammered the ball home from the edge of the area, the ball looped past the fingertips of the Witton keeper and nestled in the back of the net, in the 64th minute.

Danny went close to repeating his early mistake, as he headed a Witton corner goalwards, luckily Dave was able to catch the ball and hammer it down field, the ball went straight through to the Witton keeper, who rolled the ball out to one of his defence.

We stepped off of the gas a little bit, and in the 82nd minute Witton were reduced to nine men, as another player went down injured, and had to be taken off.

We were unfortunate not to extend our lead further, but to be honest we seemed to be content to play the game out.

Final Score: Witton 2 (Edwards 36 (og), Lancaster 48) – 3 Chorley (Sylvester 9, 43, 64)

“Well done, we’ve secured a playoff place, but that doesn’t mean we can take our foot off of the gas, and we need to press on to win promotion.”

I turned to Pete who looked like he had something to say.

“It looks like Hassan has fractured some ribs.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, he’ll be out for at least 2 months if that is the case.”

I rubbed my face with my hand, whilst we had cover for Hassan, I had wanted my strongest players for the last couple of matches.

I walked out of the changing room, and headed out to the coach. I had a speech to write for Wednesday’s grand opening of the Chorley FC shop.

[STFCDP1990]

Monday 4th April 2011

I found myself in my office at the ground today, I don’t spend a lot of time in here, but I felt that it was the only way I was going to get any work done today. As outside my house there were road works apparently they needed to replace something or other, and I all knew was that they were making a hell of a racket.

I’d tried to sit at home and write my speech, but every time I got close to anything good, I was interrupted by a drilling noise, which cut through my train of thought.

The bin in my office was over-flowing with pieces of screwed up paper, as I rejected idea after idea, and got more and more frustrated.

“Ladies and Gentleman.” Too formal.

“Hey there.” Too informal.

“How you doin’?” Too Joey.

“Hello, I’m Danny Preston.” Too Cillit Bang.

This was harder than I thought it would be. I leant back in my chair, and rubbed my eyes. Picking the pen up I tapped it on the desk, slapping my free hand down and drumming for a bit. I sat straight up and put the pen to paper once again.

“It is my pleasure, to welcome you to the new Chorley FC shop.”

Maybe I was onto something here, I had the first line, now I just needed the rest. I was distracted by an email popping up in my inbox, I opened it and read it.

“Dear Manager,

It is that time of year again when the Evo Stick Division One North Player of the season, the choices are as follows:

Keil O’Brein Trafford Central Defender

Tomas Boyle Witton Central Defender

David Marshall Skelmersdale Central Defender

Robert Brosnan Durham Central Defender

Melford Knight Trafford Central Midfielder

Steven Beck Chester Central Midfielder

Daniel Broadbent Curzon Striker

Steve Thompson Durham Striker

David Dowson Durham Striker

Kevin Townson AFC Fylde Striker

Please make your choice and email us your winner.”

Well this was providing a welcome break from the speech writing, and I spent about an hour googling the people on the list, and trying to find a deserving winner. In the end I decided just to close my eyes and point at the screen, when I opened my eyes I found my finger on David Marshall’s name, and emailed the League back.

I had no idea who deserved to win and I was disappointed not to see any Chorley players on the list. Surely Raphael, or Louis etc, deserved to win.

After that distraction I decided to call it a night and head home, Melanie was going to be climbing the walls, seeing as how she would have been subjected to the drilling all day, and I felt it would be best to make an appearance.

[STFCDP1990]

Wednesday 6th April 2011

I found myself stood outside the new Chorley FC shop at around 9am, this morning. James was stood beside me holding a pair of scissors, to cut the ribbon that had been hung in front of the doors. The Mayor of Chorley was stood to the other side of me, and I was smiling awkwardly at the crowd that had gathered.

I say crowd but I mean a couple of uninterested passers-by who had stopped when they had seen the Mayor, a couple of Chorley fans who had turned up and Billy. Fred and George had also turned up, and were snapping pictures.

My main worry was the speech I was supposed to make, all three of us were going to make speeches, but James had placed a lot of importance on mine, seeing as how I was the manager. The Mayor was halfway through his speech, he was rambling on about watching Chorley as a kid, and make comparisons between the teams of his youth and the team now. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t seen a game this season, I’ve never seen him at the ground, and most of his information sounded like it had been copied from the team’s Wikipedia page.

Once the Mayor had finished, he passed the microphone to James, who launched into his speech with enthusiasm, talking about how every penny made in profit at the shop was going to go back into the team. He also mentioned how this shop was going to be another step on the road to putting Chorley on the map. Last time I checked Chorley was firmly on the map, put I suppose he was talking on the footballing map, seeing as how it was our vision to one day see Chorley playing regularly against Manchester United.

And now it was my turn, the microphone was passed my way, and I took a couple of breaths to compose myself. I’ve always hated making speeches, in front of people who are either the same age as me, or older. Making a speech in front of 300 children I can do, but in front of 30 adults? No way.

“Well, as both the Mayor and James, have said this store is going to be a very important feature in the future of Chorley. The more you spend in here, the more we have to spend on the pitch.”

I’d forgotten the whole of the speech I had prepared and now I was winging it.

“Now I can see some of you thinking that this is just another way of the club getting you to spend your hard earned money. But if this club is to make the Football League then we need the support of everyone in the town, be it through the gates, or through this shop here.”

I stopped and looked into the crowd, I could see a couple of shop owners, stood in their doorways watching me.

“I mean, if we get to the Football League, we will be able to attract higher reputation players, who will be encouraged to spend their money in your shops, stimulating the local economy. Anyway, I think I’ve bored you enough with my speech, please enjoy the new shop. Thanks for coming out today.”

I handed the microphone back to James, who thanked the crowd, and announced the opening of the new shop. There were some awkward photo opportunities as James, the Mayor and myself all held the scissors and cut the ribbon. Once every possible photo had been taken, we allowed people to go in and have a look around. I hadn’t actually seen the inside, and I was amazed to see the amount of merchandise inside, there were t-shirts, photos, mugs, scarves, footballs, shirts, everything you could ever want with the Chorley FC logo on.

“Well done on the speech Danny, you didn’t make too much of a mess.” Billy said.

“Thanks Billy.” I replied, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice.

“This place is amazing though isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is.”

Billy walked off to look around, the staff behind the tills were kept busy as fans brought as much merchandise as they could afford. For a non-league team we were ambitious and looking forward.

I would have stayed longer, but I was aware of the fact that I should have been at school, leaving the shop I walked down to school, and entered my office, glad to be back in the familiarity.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 9th April 2011- Durham

The ground was also experiencing a kind of reopening today, as we were going to have a chance to reveal the refurbishments that the ground had received to the fans today. The new snackbars had been put in, and when I arrived at the ground the staff were already stocking and preparing themselves for the match. The new seats were in the main stand, and it looked smart, the terraces were rust free, and shiny again. I’d arrived early to have a look around the ground, as I had been interested to see if all the work had been completed. The area outside of the social club, had also been re-tarmacked, and no longer posed a tripping hazard to anyone walking across it.

Walking into the changing rooms, I saw that Harry had been hard at work and the kit was hanging on the pegs. I stood in the changing room, looking around, when there was a knock at the door. James entered and stood next to me.

“I saw you arrive, and thought I’d see what you think.” He said.

“It looks amazing, I can’t think of anything else to say really.”

“Well the next aim is to redo the changing rooms.”

“Great.”

“I’ve heard about the incident with the burst pipe and would like to avoid any more incidents like that.”

I nodded.

“Well good luck for today.”

He left the changing room, just as the players started to arrive. They were all dressed in their suits, and they sat down waiting for me to read the team sheet.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Jack Pearson

Michael Lawson

Emexca Orwubiko

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Louis Castles

Jason St Juste

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Danny Preston, Matt Jansen, Billy Dodds, Tom Moncur.”

I’d gone with an attacking bench, just in case, as I was worried about the nerve of the starting eleven, it was coming close to the end of the season and the pressure was definitely building on us, seeing as how we had AFC Fylde breathing heavily down our necks. Whilst we changed there was the usual banter between the players, but it was as free flowing as usual, with most of it feeling forced.

We jogged out for the warm-up, and the coaching staff put us through our paces, taking great care to make sure that everyone was focused on the game ahead. During the warm up the ground filled steadily, and people seemed shocked at the transformation of the ground. There was a strong wind blowing today, and Dave’s practise kicks were affected heavily by the wind. After half an hour we jogged back to the dressing rooms.

“We can win this today, we don’t need to worry about other results, we just need to concentrate on our performance, just go out there and play the same way we have played every week. We can do this, come on Chorley!” I shouted.

The players leapt to their feet, and Raphael led them out of the changing room, the game was to be officiated by Andrew Madley and he led the teams out of the tunnel, and onto the pitch. Once the teams were ready he blew his whistle to start the match.

Durham flew out of the blocks and went onto the attack, keeping us pinned back in our own half. They were assisted by the fact that they were playing with the wind behind them. Their manager was prowling the technical area, barking orders, and his players responded well to them.

We managed to create a chance in the 15th minute, as Louis sprinted down the right wing, but his cross was tame and easily caught by the keeper, who launched the ball forward. Nick misjudged the ball and it bounced over his head, allowing Joshua Home Jackson to nip round him, and fire the ball past Dave. It was route one football, but it had worked in Durham’s favour.

The Durham manager wasn’t happy however, and he continued to bark orders at his players. Anyone that didn’t do as he said was treated to a tirade of expletives, including Andrew Madley, who was beginning to look more and more frustrated with him.

I carried on standing on the edge of my technical area, and was joined by Billy.

“He’s an idiot isn’t he?” Billy whispered gesturing in the direction of the Durham manager.

“Yeah.”

“I’d hate to be in their dressing room if they were losing.”

I nodded, I was too busy watching Louis give the ball away again, to comment. This wasn’t the first time Louis had passed straight to a Durham player, and he showed no desire to win the ball back. It wasn’t just Louis though it was the whole team, no one seemed bothered, it was as if they thought we had already got the league in the bag.

“Tell you what though Billy.”

“What?”

“I wouldn’t want to be in our dressing room if this keeps up.”

“Hairdryer treatment?”

“Maybe.”

It was confirmed in the 46th minute, as Andrew Stephenson was given enough time and space to dance through our defence and fire the ball home. The bottle I had in my hands was slammed against the floor, and I stood arms-folded on the touchline.

Half Time: Chorley 0-2 Durham (Jackson 16, Stephenson 46)

I waited until every player had left the pitch, before storming down the tunnel, I booted the door open with a bang, and walked in, the door stayed where it was, as it had fallen off its hinges.

“Everyone shut up!” I shouted, as the players bickered amongst themselves.

As they looked in my direction, I heard Jason tell Louis that it was his, Louis’, fault that Durham had scored. I stared in Jason’s direction.

“And you’ve done better have you Jason?”

He looked at me like a deer in the headlights.

“Don’t comment on other’s performances when yours has been less than acceptable. Where the hell is the passion? The pride? We haven’t won the league yet, and if we carry on like this we won’t! Now get the hell out there and warm up.”

The players left the changing room 5 minutes before the end of the break, and their emergence was greeted with silence from the crowd. The coaches went onto the pitch to make sure the players warmed up. I stood by the side of the pitch, and watched as a man tried to hit the crossbar, his shot missed and he walked off of the pitch looking annoyed at himself.

The officials and Durham team, walked onto the pitch, and our coaches left the pitch.

We kicked off, but the wind had died down, and we didn’t have the same advantage that Durham had had in the first half. I stood by the side of the pitch hoping that my rant had had a good effect on the players.

We did pick up our game, but now that Durham were two goals up they seemed happy to sit back on their lead, and repel our attacks.

In the 55th minute I decided to replace Robbie with Tom, just to see if Tom could lend some assistance to Louis on the right wing.

I was getting more and more frustrated on the touchline, and I sent Billy to warm up, just to see if it would spur Raphael on. Louis continued to frustrate me, and I joined Billy in warming up.

“Get yourself on lad!” Shouted an elderly fan, “Show ‘em how it’s done!”

I carried on warming up, but during the warm up, Billy and myself received many comments on how we should get ourselves on in place of those “wimps.”

In the 73rd minute, I did exactly what the elderly gentleman had wanted, and sent Billy and myself onto replace Raphael and Louis.

“Get the ball forward as much as possible!” I shouted as I ran on, “I want everyone forward, except for Dave and a defender, when we have the ball.”

For the next ten minutes we kept Durham pinned back in their half, as we kept the ball, and created chance after chance, and it was only down to our bad luck, and the Durham keeper stopping us from scoring.

In the 85th minute I found myself with the ball, I sprinted towards the box, and beat the last defender, it was just me and the keeper, pulling my foot back I hammered a shot goalwards. Somehow the keeper got his hand to the ball and tipped it onto the crossbar, the ball landed and a Durham defender cleared it up field. Falling to my knees, I punched the ground, letting the frustration out.

I leapt to my feet, and sprinted back in the aim of winning the ball. Nearing the player with the ball I launched into a tackle, sweeping the ball away, and taking the man down. Andrew waved play on, as I had won the ball but the Durham management wasn’t happy with my tackle. I ignored them and sprinted after the ball, the move ended with Billy hammering a shot over the bar.

Andrew Madley trotted past me to the Durham bench, where the Durham manager proceeded to berate him for not sending me off. I looked over just in time to see him tell the Durham manager to leave the touchline.

The last chance of the match fell to Jason but he could only hit a tame shot at the keeper.

Final Score: Chorley 0-2 Durham (Jackson 16, Stephenson 46)

“Guys that wasn’t good enough. We’re still first but barely holding on. We need to win our next match, or we might as well kiss goodbye to winning the league.”

I sighed, and changed. I felt disappointed for the 940 people who had turned up for the match, I was also disappointed at what seemed like a low attendance given the last couple.

I walked out of the changing room, once I had changed back into my suit. I didn’t have to open the door to walk out, as it was propped up against the wall. Looking around I found James in his office.

I knocked and entered.

“James, I’ve come to apologise about the door.”

“What do you mean?”

“I kind of knocked it off its hinges.”

“How did you manage that?”

“I kicked it rather hard, in frustration.”

“Fine, I’ll get a handyman in to repair the damage.”

I nodded, and left his office. I headed home, desperate to forget the whole day.

[STFCDP1990]

Saturday 16th April 2011- Radcliffe Boro

My mind had been unable to focus on anything but this game, the week had passed in a blur, of lessons, assemblies, and parties to celebrate the end of the term. We had broken up for the Easter Holidays yesterday, and I was glad of the break as it allowed me to focus solely on what was going to be the most important part of my management career.

The weather had also turned, and now we were looking at proper British weather. Which meant rain, rain and even more rain.

We were due to travel to Radcliffe for our last away game of the season. I was hoping that the players would actually turn up for this game, and that we could end our last away game with a win. Melanie kissed me goodbye at 12pm, I think she was glad to get rid of me as I had done nothing but annoy her for the last week, I’d interrupted all of her wedding planning meetings, to ask her about new tactics. I’d also spent many nights awake thinking about the Radcliffe game, and when I did sleep I was restless, and stole the duvet, waking her up.

I walked down to the ground, with Billy, arriving at the ground we found the players ready to go, we had decided to leave early to give the players plenty of time to relax before the game. It was going to take 30 minutes to travel to Stainton Park, home of Radcliffe.

“Right lads, before we go, I want you to use this coach journey to relax, I don’t want to hear any arguments, because of poker or whatever I just want you to chill out, and prepare for the game ahead.”

The players nodded and settled down for the journey. I sat at the front of the coach, listening to my iPod and trying to keep my mind off of the game ahead.

We arrived at Stainton Park, and walked to the dressing room, Harry handed out the kit, and I stood in front of the players.

“Dave Watson

Robbie Blackwell

Nick Meace

Jack Pearson

Michael Lawson

Emexca Orwubiko

Danny Edwards

Oliver Hewitt Fisher

Danny Preston

Jason St Juste

Raphael Sylvester

Tom Cox, Louis Castles, Matt Jansen, Billy Dodds, Tom Moncur.”

I changed into the kit, and laced up my boots, I sat still on the bench, looking at the floor for a couple of minutes, trying to get my thoughts in order. I finally looked up when Billy tapped me on the back and we walked out for the warm up. I walked out of the tunnel after the rest of the players. Stainton Park is a nice ground, with the only seats behind one of the goals, the rest of the ground is standing, with the dugouts dividing a piece of covered terracing.

Taking shots at goal at the end, every single one of my shots went in, now this was either a good sign for our attack or it was a bad sign for our keeper, although it wasn’t as if my shots had been soft tap ins. The away fans had begun to gather when we headed down to the changing room, and they obviously expected us to wrap up the title there and then.

“3 points, that’s what is at stake today. 3 points. Take nothing for granted, Radcliffe are a dangerous team, and we need to be on our guard. We can win this one lads. Let’s go.”

Raphael stood up, and I lined up behind him, I was stood behind Dave, and we walked out of the changing room and into the tunnel. Once again Andrew Madley was going to be in charge of our match. We walked out of the tunnel behind him and into the rain.

The game kicked off with us attacking the seats, we had the kick off, and as soon as the whistle blew I sprinted into the Radcliffe half, where the ball was hoofed into my path, I brought the ball down with my thigh, controlled it, and sprinted forward. We’d taken the Radcliffe defence by surprise, and my shot stung the fingertips of the keeper.

In the 10th minute, I found the ball at my feet again, instead of sprinting down the wing I played the ball to Raphael, who passed the ball to Jason. I ran into the box, where the ball found its way to my feet, and I hammered the shot home, the ball left my foot and flew over the bar.

In the 20th minute Radcliffe scored. The ball was cleared badly by Dave, and it found its way to Owen Roberts who lobbed Dave from the edge of the area. In the build-up to the goal Robbie felt he had been fouled and he let the ref know how annoyed he was. Andrew looked at him and flashed the yellow card at him.

Following the restart, we created a chance, which was wasted by Oliver. Jason had dribbled down the left wing, but his cross had been too hard, and I found myself with the ball near to the corner flag, I beat my defender and put a cross into the box, Raphael smashed a header against the bar and, somehow with the keeper stranded Oliver missed an open goal.

In the 36th minute, Raphael pulled up following a sprint, and waved at the bench to signal that he couldn’t carry on. Billy decided to replace him, and trotted onto the pitch.

I linked up well with Billy in the 44th minute, as I whipped a cross into the box which Billy headed goal wards, the Radcliffe keeper somehow tipped it away, and Jason shot wide.

Half Time: Radcliffe Boro 1 (Roberts 20) – 0 Chorley

“Matt, can you take the half time talk?” I asked.

“Yeah, guys I think we need to see more from you. You’ve made the chances, now you just need to take them.” He urged.

“You heard him, let’s do it!”

I turned to the coaches,

“You are in charge, make any necessary substitutions.”

They nodded, and I picked up a drink and sat on one of the benches. After the break I led the team out onto the pitch.

Radcliffe kicked off, and started by playing the ball around their backline inviting us to have a go, so that they could hit us on the counter, for the next couple of minutes I found myself chasing the ball across the back four, I finally got my foot on the ball and fired a shot goal wards, the ball hit the post and went out for a goal kick.

In the 72nd minute Danny Edwards was replaced by Tom Moncur, I trusted the coaches to make the right choice, Danny hadn't been playing well today, and Tom may have held the key to securing our midfield, we were currenlty lacking in a dominating figure in the centre of the park, and I hoped that Tom would provide that figure.

In the 74th minute Robbie hacked down Cillian O’Connor in the penalty area, normally Robbie would have escaped with a yellow card, except he already had one, and Andrew Madley also showed him the red.

“Michael! Go back to centre back, we’ll play three at the back.” I shouted.

Cillian had picked himself up, and prepared himself to take the penalty, I turned away and hoped that Dave would save the penalty. He didn’t and Cillian wheeled away in celebration.

In the 82nd minute Anthony Taylor increased the Radcliffe lead, as he bundled the ball home from a corner. I swore, we might have well of kissed goodbye to the title then and there.

In the 90th minute Jack Pearson handled in the box, luckily Andrew Madley took pity on us, and only awarded the penalty. This time I watched Cillian strike the ball, he picked the same spot as last time and Dave dived the correct way, parrying the ball away, the ball went out for a corner, which Dave caught and hoofed forward. The ball bounced in the

Radcliffe half, and it was a race between Oliver and the keeper to get to it first. Oliver arrived a fraction of a second early, and knocked the ball round the keeper, from about 40 yards out he shot, and the ball trickled over the line.

It was too little too late however, and Andrew Madley brought the game to an end.

Final Score: Radcliffe Boro 3 (Roberts 20, O’Connor 75, Taylor 82) – 1 Chorley (Fisher 90)

“Lads I’m giving you the week off, as results stand we are first but only just. If AFC Fylde win next week then we are screwed, but if they lose or draw then we have a chance. I’m disappointed with today, and I include myself in that as I didn’t play brilliantly. It’s out of our hands now.”

The mood was sombre as we showered and changed. AFC Fylde had the upper hand, as they had a game in hand over us. They were due to play Wakefield at home on Saturday, and a win would hand them the title. We’d thrown it away.

I left the changing room, after getting changed. Pinned to the door was a note from Fred, saying that he was going to have had an interview with me, but understood that we needed the time to ourselves.

I walked out to the coach and slumped in my seat, I felt ruined, only a miracle would save us.