El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!

[Greasy Chip Butty]

You're joking. The first time I haven't seen the update and I end up in the vote and outed?!!!

[canvey!!]

C'est la vie!

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
Task 10

Vicente del Bosque has called the candidates to his mansion on the outskirts of Madrid.

Vicente del Bosque:Good morning candidates. Welcome to my humble abode.

Vicente del Bosque: I’ve brought you here today because this sort of place may well be the object of your intentions in this task. Today, you’re going to be selling houses for a well-known estate agent. This is a difficult task because it is something that people take a lot of time to think over. But no one said that this competition was going to be easy. To help you get the sale, you’re going to need to make an immaculate impression. The first impression is key, so you need to work your magic before they have stopped paying that much attention. The team that sells the most houses wins, and from the losing team, one of you will get fired.

Vicente del Bosque: Takeshi Morishima and Ken Co, can you please swap teams? Whoopy Dee’e, you haven’t been project manager yet, so I’d like you to lead Armada Amarilla (Racing). Jonathon Robertson, can you lead Los Toros Rojos again (Betis)? Pepe will follow Armada Amarilla and Juan Román will follow Los Toros Rojos.

~

The Task: Score the most first-half goals
The Duration: Three league games
Notes: Magnus Vestergaard has been sacked and will not score for this task. He will also automatically be taken into the boardroom (although will not automatically be fired).

The Teams

  Armada Amarilla                 Los Toros Rojos
  Magnus Vestergaard F Deportivo  Jonathon Robertson PM Betis    
  Super Lampard        Getafe     Andy Bewick           Barcelona
  Whoopy Dee’e      PM Racing     Tom Hamilton          Recreativo
  Joe Tompkins         Almería    Ken Co                Málaga   
  Takeshi Morishima    Valladolid

[hamilton162]

Sounds good 'Mon Los Toros Rojos

[Kenco]

Finally leave the Armada after being an original member. Sob.

[~Ian~]

Making my big return to the Armada Amarilla.

[magvest]

Fired?!?! That's not good...

[joetheref]

Unlucky Magvest, the Armada will still win

[Whoopy D]

Finally my chance to shine as PM, or fail spectacularly. I know which I'm hoping for

[Kenco]

Finally my chance to shine as PM, or fail spectacularly. I know which I'm hoping for

Your first time as PM? I've done it twice already. One win, one loss.

[canvey!!]

If you're interested in Project Manager statistics: Ken Co and Jonathon Robertson have done it twice and all others have done it once.

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
Task 10

The candidates were off to work after a quick induction period, and they were each, or in pairs, given a house, flat or other dwelling to sell. As you might expect from trainees on the first day of the job, they did not perform well. True to the words of Vicente del Bosque, the task was difficult. Andy Bewick was first, and he was thrown into the deep end with a match against third-placed Sevilla. He was all on his own in selling the house, a two-bedroom terrace, to an artist and her boyfriend, a mechanic. She was expecting and when she said how tired she way, Bewick took the opportunity to ease her pain by offering to help them sort out their housing woes there and then. The couple promised to consider it, and sure enough, later in the day the estate agency received a phone call with an offer. Bewick’s Barcelona team lost 1-3, but their goal was scored in the first half and that was all that mattered.

The Armada Amarilla pairing Joe Tompkins and Takeshi Morishima were showing a woman around a detached house in the suburbs. The woman didn’t seem too impressed, but she didn’t seem to show any emotion either way, and no progress was made, evidenced by a 1-1 and 0-0 draw respectively for the two yellows. Their teammate Super Lampard also had no luck despite a 3-1 win and failed to sell, as did Los Toros Rojos’ Tom Hamilton, whose Recreativo side lost 0-2 to Real Madrid.

The remaining team members also did no better. For Los Toros Rojos, Ken Co’s Málaga scored no first half goals in a 1-1 draw and Jonathon Robertson failed to score any goals at all as his Betis team lost 0-2 to Atlético Madrid. Finally, Magnus Vestergaard accompanied his Armada Amarilla Project Manager Whoopy Dee’e in attempting to sell a flat, but they were unsuccessful, leaving Los Toros Rojos leading by just the one sale.

Joe Tompkins: I tell you what. Let’s make it interesting.
Whoopy Dee’e: What do you mean?
Joe Tompkins: Why don’t we bet on who will sell a house first?
Whoopy Dee’e: Well I will, there’s no point betting.
Joe Tompkins: I’m confident that I could sell a house before you.
Whoopy Dee’e: Let’s go for it - €100,00.
Joe Tompkins: Deal.

Both went off their separate ways to sell the properties. The second lot of viewings were more successful than the first, although we’ll start with the tales of the unsuccessful, with two of the Armada Amarilla members.

Takeshi Morishima and Super Lampard were showing a family around a townhouse. It boasted four bedrooms, a nice long garden with a swimming pool, and an illustrious price tag. The family seemed quite impressed with it, but not for the value that it commanded, and so the Valladolid and Getafe managers failed to secure any first-half goals. Their Los Toros Rojos enemies Jonathon Robertson and Tom Hamilton also had no such luck and failed to make a sale.

But there was some success in the Los Toros Rojos camp. Andy Bewick had already made a sale a bit earlier in the day, but now he made another, of a luxurious mansion no less. The Russian oil tycoon was suitably impressed, even though the price quoted was without concubines, and made Bewick an offer on the spot. Maybe it’s luck, maybe it’s skill, maybe it’s Maybelline, but one thing’s for sure; Bewick had made two sales and it was time for everyone else to catch up. He scored three first-half goals in a 3-0 routing of Sporting.

Catch up was what Ken Co intended to do when he showed a student a studio apartment. The location was prime but the price was low due to the high traffic. The student assured the Málaga boss that he would spend very little time sleeping and most of his time partying, and made the small but important offer for the apartment later in the day, after Co’s one first half goal contributed to his 2-0 win over Athletic.

And now onto the details of that little bet. Whoopy Dee’e, the Armada Amarilla Project Manager, was showing an elderly couple around a mountainside house, and Joe Tompkins was displaying a large flat to a group of Moroccans. Maybe there was a communication problem, but Tompkins failed to sell the flat. Dee’e, on the other hand, found and showed his charm when selling the hillside property, and his Racing team routed Tompkins’s Almería 3-0, of which two goals scored for the task. Magnus Vestergaard scored two first-half goals in a 3-0 win over Atlético Madrid, but unfortunately for him, his scores don’t count.

The last round of viewings began, and it was no surprise that Andy Bewick was in action again. He sold a bungalow (yeah all right, a lot of houses in Spain are bungalows) on some farmland to a man with a love of motorbikes. Bewick’s Barcelona team won 3-1 with two goals in the first half. Their opponents for that match, Super Lampard’s Getafe, got their goal in the 80th minute so Lampard ended the task without any first half goals, or any sales.

Valladolid boss Takeshi Morishima got a sale to his name when showing a single mother around an apartment in central Madrid. It was in the middle of some parkland but had a relatively low price tag as it was on the ground floor, and the woman seemed reluctant to make the deal. However, Morishima’s “charisma” closed the deal as he got a first half goal through a penalty in a 1-2 defeat to Valencia. Joe Tompkins was unable to make a sale, as was Tom Hamilton, as both Almería and Recreativo lost 0-1.

After having made a sale earlier in the day, Ken Co was on a bit of a roll, a roll that took his Málaga team out of the bottom three. A 3-2 victory over Atlético Madrid saw only one first half goal from the 49-year-old’s team, but one was enough for him to close the deal and give Los Toros Rojos a good lead as afternoon turned to evening. What remained was the battle of the Project Managers, and if Jonathon Robertson could make a sale, then Los Toros Rojos would win. He didn’t, but Armada Amarilla Project Manager Whoopy Dee’e continued his fine form, taking two first half goals in a 3-2 win over Espanyol, selling a town house to a middle-aged couple with two daughters.

The teams went back to the boardroom with the final values a mystery to them.

~

María: You may enter the boardroom now.

Vicente del Bosque:Good evening, candidates. It’s been a long day! Whoopy Dee’e, tell me how your day went.
Whoopy Dee’e: I had a very good day and made two sales. The rest of the team had a good day too.
Vicente del Bosque:Armada Amarilla, did you think that Whoopy was a good leader?
Takeshi Morishima: He was an excellent team leader.
Super Lampard: He was very good.
Vicente del Bosque:Excellent! It’s not often that you get a unanimous positive vote. Los Toros Rojos, how was Jonathon Robertson as a Project Manager.

There is mumbling and shaking of heads. Andy Bewick speaks his mind.

Andy Bewick: Jonathon was a poor Project Manager. I felt like I carried the team at times.
Ken Co: I still think we did quite well though.
Vicente del Bosque:Well, I can tell you if you did. Pepe, how were Armada Amarilla?
Pepe Grande: Armada Amarilla sold three properties; a mountainside house, a central apartment and a town house. These came to a total of €900.000.
Vicente del Bosque:And Juan Román, Los Toros Rojos?
Juan Román López Caro: Los Toros Rojos sold five properties; a terraced house, a mansion, a small apartment, a bungalow and a small shed. These came to a total of €899.995.
Vicente del Bosque:I am staggered that both of you managed to sell that much. I was expecting figures in the twenty thousands. Well done to both teams, but Los Toros Rojos, you lost. Armada Amarilla, you can go and play polo, but Jonathon, you’re going to have to bring your team back here where one of you will get fired.

  Armada Amarilla                    Los Toros Rojos
  Manager              Club       G  Manager               Club       G
  Magnus Vestergaard F Deportivo  -  Jonathon Robertson PM Betis      0
  Super Lampard        Getafe     0  Andy Bewick           Barcelona  6
  Whoopy Dee’e      PM Racing     4  Tom Hamilton          Recreativo 0
  Joe Tompkins         Almería    0  Ken Co                Málaga     2
  Takeshi Morishima    Valladolid 1                                   .
                   BONUS (Racing) 4                     BONUS (Betis) 0
                                  9                                   8

~

At the café.

Tom Hamilton: I’m sorry, Jonathon, but I think the key here is the Project Manager. Whoopy said he sold really well and that obviously motivated the rest of his team.
Jonathon Robertson: Yeah but we only lost out by five euros, we can’t have done that badly.
Tom Hamilton: Take a look at yourself. We were only close because of Andy. You didn’t make any sales, and you’re supposed to be the Project Manager.
Jonathon Robertson: Take a look at yourself. You were rubbish today, you were rubbish on the last task and you were rubbish on the task before that. Each time you’ve said you were having a bad day or didn’t do your best. When the hell are you going to start doing your best because it’s getting pretty late!
Tom Hamilton: You were the Project Manager for this task and you messed up. You had chances to sell and you didn’t take them because you’re a terrible businessman.

…

~

María: Vicente del Bosque will see you now.

The candidates enter the boardroom.

Vicente del Bosque:Look guys, it’s obvious that not too much went wrong on this task. But still, you claim to be businesspeople and to lose this task is to not make the sales. I’m looking towards my set-up at the moment and to not perform in this task would mean that you are unlikely to perform in my set-up.

Vicente del Bosque: Jonathon, as the Project Manager in this task, can you tell me how your day unfolded?
Jonathon Robertson: I started off showing some people around a bungalow, then Tom and I showed some others round a terraced house, and finally I showed a couple around a top-floor apartment.
Vicente del Bosque: Why didn’t you sell these?
Jonathon Robertson: All of the people said that they weren’t interested in deciding there and then. I almost got some positive words on the terraced house, but I think Tom tried to close the deal for himself and they shyed out.
Tom Hamilton: That isn’t true! Mr del Bosque, Jonathon has a vendetta against me because he sees me as an easy target.

Vicente del Bosque:Other than the terraced house, what were you doing today, Tom?
Tom Hamilton: I showed a young couple around a luxury townhouse and I showed somebody around a semi-detached.
Vicente del Bosque: Why didn’t they make an offer?
Tom Hamilton: The young couple weren’t in a sound financial situation and the other person said he wanted to talk to his wife before making a decision.

Vicente del Bosque:The only reason you came close was the performance of Andy.
Andy Bewick: Thank you, sir.
Vicente del Bosque:I have pretty much defined your boardroom trio, Jonathon, and I don’t see any reason for Andy to come back here. Jonathon, Tom, Ken, I want you all back here when I call for you ready to argue why you shouldn’t be fired.

(killerlink, hamilton162 and Kenco all need to PM their defence speeches and taxi interviews. Standard deadlines apply: 48 hours then 24 hours)

[joetheref]

Another win for the Armada

[super_lampard]

We won lucky for me as I think i might have been fired had we lost

[Kenco]

Speeches sent!

[hamilton162]

Damn it, another boardroom Bye bye me I think

[magvest]

Great win. Lucky for me since i'm fired anyway..

[hamilton162]

Defence Speech and Taxi Interview sent

[Whoopy D]

Well if that isn't an inspiring performance from a PM then I don't know what is, a hugely important win for us.

Just a shame, but no surprise, that Barcelona did so well. Now would've been a good time to get rid of them, I think.

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
The Boardroom

The three Los Toros Rojos managers enter the boardroom. Aside from Andy Bewick, who Vicente del Bosque let free, and who now has to mope around the house on his own, the Los Toros Rojos team performance was uninspiring, and they: Project Manager Jonathon Robertson with Betis, Tom Hamilton with Recreativo and Ken Co with Málaga, know this. Vicente del Bosque sits them down.

  Username    Manager            Club     1HG
  killerlink  Jonathon Robertson Betis      0
  hamilton162 Tom Hamilton       Recreativo 0
  Kenco       Ken Co             Málaga     2

Vicente del Bosque:You were dreadful, let’s be honest. You were so dreadful it’s a disgrace to Andy to be on the same team as you.
Ken Co: If I can interject…
Vicente del Bosque:Okay, you made a couple of sales, well done. But all three of you are here for a reason, be it or be it not making up the numbers. Tom, you’ve made a number of mistakes over the past few weeks. Why should you not be the one fired?
hamilton162: I should not be the one fired as i feel that Jonathon Robertson did not do his job properly. If he had motivated the team properly, then perhaps we would have won.
Vicente del Bosque:You complain about this issue of motivating the team, but you’re part of the team and you could have motivated yourself. You didn’t do anything!
hamilton162: Yes, i scored 0, the same amount of points as him, but compare the quality of his properties that he was given to sell to mine and you'll see that he should be doing a better job than me.

He also tried to rush things during the task and try to sell things, when it would have been better to have been a little more patient. I only intervened with his pathetic attempt to sell to try and salvage something out of the oppertunity that had been wasted by himself.

I also have more potential than him and thus i should not be fired.

Vicente del Bosque: Jonathon, what can you say in your defence?
killerlink: I don't think i have done that badly through the weeks i also have a team for us to do well with andy bewick got the most in our team because he has the best team i have a good team and feel i will be second highest at the end of the time so should be valuable to the team
Vicente del Bosque: Ken, you look sullen. You do realise why you are here?
Kenco: I can understand why I'm here, as Andy Bewick had a blinder this week, well done to him. But after Andy, I was the only member of the team to do anything this week, once again bringing all my experience to the table and overperforming against "supposedly" better opposition. Because of this, I would be absolutely shocked to be fired this week.
Vicente del Bosque:Who should be fired?
Kenco: As to who should go, I can't really call it between Jonathon and Tom, they were both as shockingly bad as each other, perhaps they should both be fired?
Vicente del Bosque:I don’t know what this whole sitting on the fence thing is. Have the balls to choose one of your teammates, man!
Ken Co: …

Vicente del Bosque:It’s a good job it’s not your decision or either no one or everyone will be fired. It’s my decision…

The tension builds…

(What Vicente del Bosque doesn’t know is that it’s actually your decision! killerlink, hamilton162 and Kenco each need to vote for the one of those three they want fired. I would like Bishydoodah, who should be back from holiday today, to give a first and second choice – the second choice will be used if there is a tie. The deadline is midnight on Sunday. Votes by PM)

[canvey!!]

I'll bring the deadline back a day so I can complete the update on a free day. The deadline for Bishydoodah's potentially deciding vote is Saturday (tomorrow) at midnight. For the record, Bishydoodah has not voted in any of the three times required of him.

[canvey!!]

Bishydoodah’s vote has been received.

Vicente del Bosque:It’s a good job it’s not your decision or either no one or everyone will be fired. It’s my decision…

The tension builds…

Vicente del Bosque: Jonathon Robertson, you’re fired.

  Armada Amarilla                 Los Toros Rojos
  Magnus Vestergaard F Deportivo  Andy Bewick           Barcelona
  Super Lampard        Getafe     Tom Hamilton          Recreativo
  Whoopy Dee’e         Racing     Ken Co                Málaga    
  Joe Tompkins         Almería
  Takeshi Morishima    Valladolid

-

  
   9. Jonathon Robertson       (          Betis)
  10. Andy McMorton            (        Osasuna)
  11. Desmond Tiny             (        Sevilla)
  12. Jeremy English           (       Numancia)
  13. Harry Barker             (Atlético Madrid)
  14. William Hall             (     Villarreal)
  15. Tomaldinho               (       Athletic)
  16. Robert Boyle             (       Espanyol)
  17. Stewart Robertson        (       Valencia)
  18. Carlos Ferrari           (       Sporting)
  19. Pompey13                 (       Mallorca)
  20. Maz Jiminez Fernandez II (    Real Madrid)

~

killerlink: I still don't think that i was the worse over the time and yet still got fired not happy with decision but will have to be taken YOU WILL NOT HEAR THE LAST OF ME

20 candidates, now eight remain. Vicente del Bosque’s search for his apprentice continues…

[hamilton162]

Phew, survived That was close, i really need to step up my game from now on! KUTGW

[joetheref]

Last 8, think anyone can win it from here, even me

[magvest]

Well i won't win unless i get a new job..

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well i won't win unless i get a new job..

Unless your combined team keeps winning Oh but even then you will lose in the final, damn you are screwed

[canvey!!]

I'm reaching the end of my busy period now so should be able to get us back to the schedule. I'll probably write and post the next task sometime before Sunday and get someone fired in order to get Task 12 onto the schedule on Tuesday 20th.

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
Task 11

Vicente del Bosque has called the candidate to Plaza de Cibeles.

Vicente del Bosque:Good morning candidates, you look groggy.

Vicente del Bosque:I’m sorry for waking you up so early, but I wanted to meet you hear before the traffic would drown out my voice. You are the final eight, and the task is about to get tougher. I won’t be accepting any mistakes from any of you. The twelve that have gone are amateurs, and I could tolerate mistakes. But now, your potential job is on the line.

Vicente del Bosque:This is the Plaza de Cibeles, and I’ve brought you here today as it is one of the most photographed places in Madrid. Photography is the theme of this week’s task, and it will be your job to sell photos to the general public. But not just any photos; these will be photos of themselves. You will both be set up in a Madrid shopping centre and will use whatever tactics you can to get the punters in. Get their photograph taken, get it printed off and make money. Obviously, the key to selling these is increasing the influx of people in and out of your stall. Get the service shown, even if they don’t buy a photo! The team that comes here with the least amount of money loses, and from that team, one of you will be fired.

Vicente del Bosque: Takeshi Morishima, I want you to move back to Los Toros Rojos. I want Tom Hamilton to captain Los Toros Rojos (Recreativo), and Super Lampard to lead Armada Amarilla again (Getafe). Pepe will follow Los Toros Rojos and Juan Román will follow Armada Amarilla.

~

The Objective: Have the Highest Attendance
The Duration: Four league games
Notes: This will not be based on a club’s stadium capacity, so could be a bummer for the lower clubs! However, take into account the capacities (which I will give you) when you vote and bring people back. No teams actually play two home games (other than Deportivo who won’t be scoring), but the number of home games actually played is balanced between teams.

The Teams

  Armada Amarilla                 Los Toros Rojos
  Magnus Vestergaard F Deportivo  Andy Bewick       Barcelona
  Super Lampard     PM Getafe     Tom Hamilton   PM Recreativo
  Whoopy Dee’e         Racing     Ken Co            Málaga    
  Joe Tompkins         Almería    Takeshi Morishima Valladolid

[hamilton162]

A decent task for us i reckon, Barca should help to keep our total attendance high

[canvey!!]

This task isn't average attendance - it is total attendance, which is why the number of home games played is important. Some teams play one, some three.

[Whoopy D]

Well I can't imagine Racing have a stadium that seats much more than 20k but I might be wrong.

[joetheref]

Almeria are screwed

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
Task 11

Tom Hamilton was in action straight away as Los Toros Rojos sought to establish the preliminary work. The early morning would focus on setting up shop: including a trip to a prop shop and a visit to a lookalike agency if the teams desired. Hamilton was paying a trip to the lookalike agency and hit the jackpot with a Fernando Torres lookalike. There was a considerable price, but Hamilton esteemed that it would add considerable sales to their final total. For his good work and eagle eye, Hamilton drew a 19.821 strong crowd for his match against Sevilla, which he lost 0-2.

That was the major extent of the Los Toros Rojos action early in the morning, with the rest of the team visiting a prop shop and picking out some football backboards and footballs and a net on Hamilton’s instructions. They then set up their printing suite and stand in the shopping centre. Meanwhile, Armada Amarilla leader Super Lampard was busy at the prop shop. He was looking to avoid the football theme and instead opted for a Paris theme. He got some backboards of the Eiffel tower, some garlic, onions and wine with glasses. A decent theme all in all, drawing in a crowd of 16.138 for his game against Valladolid, which Getafe won 2-1. Meanwhile, his teammate Joe Tompkins was at the lookalike agency but opted against hiring a potentially expensive lookalike and decided himself to dress up as a Frenchman. A nice money-saving move, but whether it would be very enticing to customers was another matter; Paris is the city of love and you don’t want some strange Almería boss butting in on your romantic photograph. The Englishman drew a gate of 14.981 for his home game.

The shopping centre doors opened and the crowds flowed in. Naturally, the two Project Managers were busy people, hawking and trying to get people to buy photographs. Super Lampard saw a bumper crowd for his match against Real Madrid, although his club’s size and stadium capacity limited the crowd to about 17.000: he drew 16.979. This was a decent return for his efforts and his Parisian street scene saw a number of couples, and a group of young female Maghrebains on a day out, giving a nice sum of money. However, his teammate Joe Tompkins was having difficulties in the printing room, finding that there weren’t enough paper photo frames to fit each photo. He got on the phone to his Project Manager who was at the stand, but Lampard insisted there would be enough. Tompkins eventually gave up searching and had to send the photos out without frames, dropping the price by a couple of euros, representative of Almería’s small 14.664 attendance. Magnus Vestergaard was bringing in the punters with his attendance of 24.429 but his scores do not count.

Los Toros Rojos weren’t as busy and Tom Hamilton was a bit overworked due to the focus of his teammates elsewhere: they had delayed setting up the stall and were struggling to get things together. The Recreativo boss was attempting to bring in the customers, but was doing a poor job of it despite their Fernando Torres lookalike. Less iconic in Spain than he perhaps might be in England, Hamilton may have been safer in opting for a tried and tested Real Madrid star. Nevertheless, he got some sales due to the 17.534 people attending his home game against Sporting, which Recreativo lost 1-2.

But the Los Toros Rojos team that weren’t busy would soon be left behind as the lunchtime rush hit the shopping centre. Queues amassed at both stalls and the candidates had their work cut out taking and printing photos. It didn’t help that Andy Bewick was just so good at drawing in the crowd for the Los Toros Rojos Fernando Torres photoshoot. His 5-0 win over Almería saw 79.883 people turn up as shoppers and lunchers flocked the Los Toros Rojos stall. There was admirable work from both Ken Co and Takeshi Morishima, with Ken Co taking the photographs and Valladolid acting as a runner. Co’s Málaga drew a great crowd of 22.260 while Morishima only just outdid him as his Valladolid team beat Athletic 4-1 in front of 22.861 fans.

Armada Amarilla were also swamped, but Whoopy Dee’e did not mind that. His sales technique was bringing plenty of people in to their stall to get their photo taken in front of the Eiffel tower. It was a backdrop that was really alluring to people and Dee’e’s Racing’s 22.110 attendance brought in the customers.

The rush subsided and, at the Armada Amarilla stall at least, sales were much slower. Joe Tompkins tried his best to bring in the customers but didn’t exactly have a marvellous effect on passers-by. His small stadium limited the attendance he could draw for his 2-2 draw with Real Madrid, and he only brought in 14.969. His Project Manager Super Lampard did no better, attracting 14.452 fans for Getafe’s game against Sporting which they won 2-0. Magnus Vestergaard was performing admirably but his score of 31.423 is superfluous due to him having been sacked by his club.

Los Toros Rojos were also experience a relative slump, so Tom Hamilton was left on his own to handle the stall for a while. He brought in a good number of people to get their photographs taken with a Torres lookalike, due to his attendance of 17.860 who came to see the 0-1 Recreativo loss to Villarreal. Whether it would be enough to win them the task was not known, but the shopping mall began to empty as closing time approached and the teams headed back to the boardroom.

~

María: You may enter the boardroom now.

The candidates follow María’s instruction.

Vicente del Bosque:Good evening candidates. Busy day, eh?

Vicente del Bosque: We’ll start with Armada Amarilla, shall we? How was Super Lampard as a team leader?
Whoopy Dee’e: Super was a decent team leader.
Joe Tompkins: He put in a lot of work.
Vicente del Bosque: Very good. And Los Toros Rojos, how was Tom?
Andy Bewick: Tom did a very good job.
Ken Co: Yes, I think he motivated us all to perform above a level that we might have otherwise.
Vicente del Bosque:Both teams are happy, then. I guess there’s little left to do but to read out the results. Juan Román, if you’d like to tell me how Armada Amarilla did?
Juan Román López Caro: Armada Amarilla made a profit of €1.618,82.
Vicente del Bosque: And Pepe, Los Toros Rojos? How did they do?
Pepe Grande: Los Toros Rojos made a profit of €2.354,34.
Vicente del Bosque: You both made good profits. However, Armada Amarilla, you lost the task. Los Toros Rojos, you get to enjoy a trip to an aquarium. Armada, go away and reflect, and when you get back here, one of you will get fired.

  Armada Amarilla                        Los Toros Rojos
  Manager              Club   Attendance Manager           Club    Attendance
  Magnus Vestergaard F Deportivo     –   Andy Bewick       Barcelona  79.883†
  Super Lampard     PM Getafe    47.569* Tom Hamilton   PM Recreativo 55.215*
  Whoopy Dee’e         Racing    22.110† Ken Co            Málaga     22.260†
  Joe Tompkins         Almería   44.614* Takeshi Morishima Valladolid 22.861†
                  BONUS (Getafe) 47.569            BONUS (Recreativo) 55.215
                                161.862                              235.434

* - Team played three home games so scored three times for this task.
† - Team played one home game so scored once for this task.

~

At the café.

Super Lampard: I think we all know who the dead weight is on this team.
Whoopy Dee’e: To be honest guys, I don’t think we should go casting around accusations. We didn’t do badly at all.
Joe Tompkins: You did the worst!
Whoopy Dee’e: I was in that print room all day, working like a mule, so you cannot say that! You were out front and had the opportunity to make the sales. I didn’t get that much of a chance.
Super Lampard: Yeah, Joe, lay off him.
Joe Tompkins: I’m sorry.
Magnus Vestergaard: I think what we all need is a group hug…

~

María: Vicente del Bosque will see you now.

Vicente del Bosque: So what went wrong, then guys?
Super Lampard: I don’t think very much went wrong, we just had a tougher time of it than the others.
Vicente del Bosque: So if you were given the chance again, you wouldn’t change anything?
Super Lampard: Well, no, but…
Vicente del Bosque: Well what went wrong?
Joe Tompkins: I think we suffered from a poor theme.
Super Lampard: Oh, that’s funny. You lauded my theme throughout, and now you change your mind?
Vicente del Bosque: What was the theme?
Joe Tompkins: It was a Parisian view of the Eiffel tower.
Vicente del Bosque: I don’t think that was a particularly bad theme.
Super Lampard: That’s what I am saying, and Joe, you agreed with me throughout. You actually said ‘Los Toros Rojos will never beat our photoshoot backdrop’.
Vicente del Bosque: Did you hire a lookalike?
Joe Tompkins: No, I decided not to, and I was offering to be in the photo if people wished.
Vicente del Bosque: Maybe that’s where it went wrong?

Vicente del Bosque: Whoopy, what did you do in this task?
Whoopy Dee’e: I spent a lot of time behind the scences making sure the logistics ran smoothly.
Vicente del Bosque: We’re down to the final eight now, don’t you think you could have shown off your sales technique instead?
Whoopy Dee’e: I did do some selling, and I did very well, but at the end of the day, things like the printing needed to get done and I got them done.
Vicente del Bosque: Would you agree that he did very well, Super?
Super Lampard: Yeah, he did well.
Vicente del Bosque: Who was your worst performer?
Super Lampard: Magnus Vestergaard.
Vicente del Bosque: So you are taking him back into the boardroom?
Super Lampard: Well, no, erm…
Vicente del Bosque: Well if he is your worst performer surely you’d want to take him back into the boardroom.
Super Lampard: Yes, yes, I’m taking Magnus back.
Vicente del Bosque:And which of these two will be joining you as well?

(Name either Joe Tompkins or Whoopy Dee’e in the thread please, super_lampard. This will be the one that joins you and Magnus in the boardroom).

Footnote (G= Games Scored for Task):

  Username      Manager            Club      G Attend Capacity
  magvest       Magnus Vestergaard Deportivo 0    –     34.611
  super_lampard Super Lampard      Getafe    3 47.569   17.000
  Whoopy D      Whoopy Dee’e       Racing    1 22.110   22.124
  joetheref     Joe Tompkins       Almería   3 44.614   15.000

[hamilton162]

A great performance from me at last \o/

[super_lampard]

I shall be taking Whoopy Dee'e into the boardroom

[canvey!!]

(Okay, super_lampard, Whoopy D and magvest need to PM me their defence speeches. Same deadline rules as usual)

[joetheref]

tough decision that Super Lampard, wouldn't of been surprised if you picked me and I guess that was a task we were always going to struggle in

[Whoopy D]

Not bad from me considering I only had the one game, speech is sent.

[canvey!!]

And taxi journey interviews as well please, I keep forgetting those.

[Whoopy D]

Sent that as well now

[super_lampard]

It was a really tough decision, when i saw the task i pretty much already knew we would lose as they had the Nou Camp on their side and we only really had three managers, the decision of who to take into the boardroom was pretty random between the two of you

Speech sent

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
The Boardroom

The Armada Amarilla managers enter the boardroom. The Project Manager, Super Lampard, of Getafe, is joined by Racing’s Whoopy Dee’e and Magnus Vestergaard, formerly of Deportivo. The candidates sit in front of Vicente del Bosque’s withering stare.

  Username      Manager            Club      G Attend Capacity
  magvest       Magnus Vestergaard Deportivo 0    –     34.611
  super_lampard Super Lampard      Getafe    3 47.569   17.000
  Whoopy D      Whoopy Dee’e       Racing    1 22.110   22.124

Vicente del Bosque:Well, Armada Amarilla, you lost. Super, as Project Manager, don’t you think your management style was to blame?
super_lampard: Today I felt i did manage this team well as the three of us with clubs all achieved respectable attendances, and I think the main reason we lost was down to the other team's good performance rather than our wrong-doing.
Vicente del Bosque:You said the three of us with clubs…
super_lampard: Had Magnus still been manager of his club we might have done better in this task and that is why he should be fired.
Vicente del Bosque: Whoopy, would you agree that Magnus Vestergaard should be the one fired?
Whoopy Dee’e: Yes.
Whoopy D: I realise I haven't performed particularly well in this task but there was at least one person who did worse and it should be him who is fired, especially as it doesn't look like he'll be much help in any of the future tasks.

Vicente del Bosque: Magnus, do you have anything to say in your defence?
Magnus Vestergaard: No.
Vicente del Bosque: Super, you’ve rallied against Magnus, but why shouldn’t I fire you?
super_lampard: Having performed consistently well throughout the whole process I think it would be wrong if I went home today. This is backed up by the fact that this is only my second visit to the boardroom.
Vicente del Bosque:And you, Whoopy? Why shouldn’t you be fired?
Whoopy D: The reason I shouldn't be fired in this task is pretty clear, I was given just the one chance to bring people in and on that single occasion I brought in as many people as I possibly could. The place could hardly hold any more people than those I had in there. If Magnus had managed to bring anyone in we might've won but as it turns out he didn't do anything at all.

Vicente del Bosque:Okay, I’ve heard enough. It’s obvious neither of you like Magnus. Whether that means he should be fired is debatable…

The tension builds…

(Decide who shall go! Can magvest, Whoopy D and super_lampard send me their choice for who should get fired. Can joetheref send me a first and second choice? Votes by PM, the deadline is 5:00pm BST on Sunday)

[Whoopy D]

Vote is sent.

And I'd like to go on record saying I have nothing against Magnus, I'm sure he's lovely Unfortunately he's not much use to the team without a club.

[joetheref]

Vote sent, what Whoopy said

[super_lampard]

Voted and I also agree with Whoopy

[magvest]

No hard feeling guys, i expect to lose this vote...

[canvey!!]

Vicente del Bosque:Okay, I’ve heard enough. It’s obvious neither of you like Magnus. Whether that means he should be fired is debatable…

The tension builds…

Vicente del Bosque: Magnus Vestergaard, with regret, you’re fired.

  Armada Amarilla                 Los Toros Rojos
  Super Lampard        Getafe     Andy Bewick       Barcelona
  Whoopy Dee’e         Racing     Tom Hamilton      Recreativo
  Joe Tompkins         Almería    Ken Co            Málaga    
                                  Takeshi Morishima Valladolid

   8. Magnus Vestergaard       (      Deportivo)
   9. Jonathon Robertson       (          Betis)
  10. Andy McMorton            (        Osasuna)
  11. Desmond Tiny             (        Sevilla)
  12. Jeremy English           (       Numancia)
  13. Harry Barker             (Atlético Madrid)
  14. William Hall             (     Villarreal)
  15. Tomaldinho               (       Athletic)
  16. Robert Boyle             (       Espanyol)
  17. Stewart Robertson        (       Valencia)
  18. Carlos Ferrari           (       Sporting)
  19. Pompey13                 (       Mallorca)
  20. Maz Jiminez Fernandez II (    Real Madrid)

~

20 candidates, now seven remain. Vicente del Bosque’s search for his apprentice continues…

[hamilton162]

Down to the final 7 now, who will win?

[Whoopy D]

If we could get rid of Barcelona in the next task the final 6 would be quite even

[canvey!!]

Can I ask ~Ian~ and Bishydoodah to post if they're reading - just to see if they're still around.

[~Ian~]

Still reading with interest, didn't realise it had been a few weeks since I last posted to be honest.

It's easy to look at Barca as being the favourites at this stage in the competition, especially with all the other teams involved all roughly the same standard. Will be interesting to see the challenges and whether they're any the smaller clubs can try and take advantage of.

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
Task 12

Vicente del Bosque has called the candidates to a mobile phone mast just outside of Madrid.

Vicente del Bosque:Good morning candidates. My, my, do you have ringing in your ears too?

Vicente del Bosque:I’ve brought you here today because mobile phones make up a huge part of our modern lives. In just a few years the industry will be worth almost €150 billion. Your aim in this task is to capture just a slice of that market with an inventive and, most importantly, effective, advertising campaign for a mobile phone. The emphasis with the advert should be on the mobile phone’s organiser functions, perfect for businesspeople and the like. You are the final seven, you are obviously very talented, and therefore you are capable of creating three mediums of advertisement: a poster, an email campaign and a television advert. I’ll take a look at your advertisements along with two of the industry’s experts and I’ll judge one of them to be the winner. From the losing team, one of you will be fired.

Vicente del Bosque: Let’s shuffle the teams around a bit. Tom Hamilton and Takeshi Morishima will join Armada Amarilla, and Joe Tompkins will join Los Toros Rojos and be their Project Manager (Almería). I want Whoopy Dee’e to be the Armada Amarilla Project Manager again (Racing). Pepe will follow Los Toros Rojos and Juan Román will follow Armada Amarilla.

~

The Task: Score the most goals
The Duration: Three league games
Notes: Three teams play only two games.

The Teams

  Armada Amarilla              Los Toros Rojos
  Super Lampard     Getafe     Andy Bewick     Barcelona
  Whoopy Dee’e   PM Racing     Ken Co          Málaga    
  Tom Hamilton      Recreativo Joe Tompkins PM Almería   
  Takeshi Morishima Valladolid

[hamilton162]

Moved back to where i belong

[joetheref]

Almeria's strikeforce isn't the best and I'm the project manager. Good thing Los Toros have Barcelona

[Whoopy D]

PM

Think I did quite well when we had to score first half goals so hopefully I can do even better when it's just goals

[Bishydoodah]

Yes.. I'm still reading. I don't get on as often as I'd like to lately due to late/long shifts at work recently!!

[super_lampard]

Could be close, we have more managers, but they have Barca

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos
Task 12

The teams spent their morning planning. The theme was already set out for them: emphasise the product’s modernity and its planning and organising functions. The target audience would be a businessperson or other busy people. The focus would be on the colour schemes and such, and the Armada Amarilla team, lead by Whoopy Dee’e, were working on the production of their poster at the printer’s.

Tom Hamilton: Do you seriously want blue? Blue is such a bright colour, it will blind people.
Super Lampard: It won’t blind people! It’s bright but it has a serene and calming effect. It reminds me of the ocean.
Tom Hamilton: Grey is serene and calming. And it’s also cool, you know, all metallica like and stuff.
Super Lampard: You’re rambling like an inane fool!
Whoopy Dee’e: Guys, guys! It’s okay, I like both of your ideas, let’s use both blue and grey on the poster.

As the two drew level, both Tom Hamilton’s Recreativo and Super Lampard’s Getafe got one goal in the match between the two at Nuevo Colombino. However, Whoopy Dee’e, for his poor management style and inability to make decisions, and as a result of combining a bright blue with a stoney grey on the poster, did not score a single goal as his Racing team lost 0-2. The fourth Armada Amarilla team member, Takeshi Morishima, also failed to score as Valladolid lost 0-2 to Betis.

Los Toros Rojos were having more luck in their design of an email advertisement. Project Manager Joe Tompkins was a powerhouse, working at the computer, including all the information in an easily-readable style. His work alone notched up eight goals for his team as Almería beat Sporting 4-1. His teammates Ken Co and Andy Bewick pitched in with ideas, Ken Co suggested the complementary colour scheme and Bewick chose the font. Both trivial tasks, you might think, but were fundamental in making the email advertisement look attractive. Both Co and Bewick got two goals as Málaga and Barcelona both won 2-0.

Andy Bewick: I think it’s important to get the television advert to as good a standard as possible.
Joe Tompkins: I’d agree with that. Ken, if you make your way over to the printer’s, you can work through the poster. If there are any problems, just give us a bell.
Ken Co: You’re leaving me to do the poster on my own?
Joe Tompkins: Yeah, that’s right.
Andy Bewick: You’re a big lad, Ken, you can do it!
Ken Co: Thanks for the patronising.

And so Andy Bewick and Joe Tompkins went on to prepare for the television advert, leaving the wily old Málaga boss to deal with the poster. With so much to do, he found it difficult to keep things together and the poster ended up looking like a poster that The Rafalution might make. As such, Co failed to score any goals for his team in a 0-0 draw.

Armada Amarilla had moved on to the email advertisement, with Project Manager Whoopy Dee’e the pioneering mind in the process. His Racing team beat Numanica 2-1 to secure four goals for the Yellows, while Takeshi Morishima also had an input, scoring one goal in a win over Atlético Madrid. Tom Hamilton’s only idea, to have the email cite a competition where someone could win the phone, was swatted away as his Recreativo team failed to score. Super Lampard did not play.

And finally, the television advert time came around. The teams spent the evening planning and would film the next day. The extra work that Andy Bewick and Joe Tompkins had done for Los Toros Rojos helped them bring their standard up to fight against their one-man disadvantage. In particular, Bewick excelled in his role as director, and he stormed to a 3-0 victory over Betis to tally up three goals for his team. The Los Toros Rojos advert focussed on young people using the phone to arrange meeting times, and then setting the times up in their organisers.

Armada Amarilla tried a different tact, and followed Vicente del Bosque’s words more thoroughly. They focussed on the business uses of the phone, but produced a below-par advert. However, it could be deemed just passable, with plenty of work from Super Lampard and Tom Hamilton, co-directors, who both got two goals in 2-1 wins.

The Los Toros Rojos advert, to be honest, was laughable, but the key bits were in there: product placement and audience targeting. Whether the audience targeting was a good choice of market is up to del Bosque to decide, and the Reds can thank Joe Tompkins with his input in regards to that. He scored one goal, as did the third wheel in the Los Toros Rojos team, Ken Co, whose Málaga sealed a 1-0 away win over Osasuna.

Whoopy Dee’e was not happy. He had wanted to direct the Armada Amarilla television advert alongside Super Lampard. However, he met his match in Tom Hamilton, who beat Racing despite Dee’e having the advantage of being the Project Manager. Out of the encounter, Dee’e only managed the one goal, so two goals get added to the Armada Amarilla coffers. Finally, Takeshi Morishima kept the whole thing running smoothly, -ish, with some sort of rubbishy script he might have picked up from a rubbish bin. He got one goal.

The teams finished filming and editing their television adverts, and when both returned to Vicente del Bosque the next day, they knew they had done a poor job.

~

María: Vicente del Bosque will see you now.

Vicente del Bosque:Good evening candidates. I have taken the time to look over your advertisements.

Vicente del Bosque:And they were awful! Honestly, a child could have done better. In fact, I got my grandson to knock something up, and he did do better!

Vicente del Bosque:Armada Amarilla, let’s start with you. The colours on your poster clash and make it really difficult to read. Yeah, it grabs your attention all right, but it might as well be a streaker. There’s no information to be got off here. Your e-mail is half decent, no, a quarter decent, but it isn’t exactly inspiring, is it?
Tom Hamilton: I wanted to put in a competition there…
Vicente del Bosque:I’m speaking! Your advert was farcical. “Oh no, I cannot cope with all this stuff. I need some way to organise it” was my favourite line. It’s an absolute joke. It’s as if you weren’t trying, and you thought you’d just act half-heartedly.

Vicente del Bosque:Los Toros Rojos, your poster, what was that? Absolute tripe!
Ken Co: I was left to work on the poster by myself.
Vicente del Bosque:Thanks for owning up to that mess. And your advert, it was also a joke. I wasn’t too pleased with your target audience either. Did I, did I not make it clear that you’s were supposed to be focussing on the businessperson? I’m fairly sure I did. But…it was passable. And your email advertisement was pretty much what I was looking for. Well done, Los Toros Rojos, you’ve won.

Vicente del Bosque:Enjoy your acting workshop, you’ll be taught about stage combat and the likes. Armada Amarilla, you’re going to get back here and one of you’s gonna get fired.

  Armada Amarilla                 Los Toros Rojos
  Manager           Team       G  Manager         Team      G
  Super Lampard     Getafe     3* Andy Bewick     Barcelona 5*
  Whoopy Dee’e   PM Racing     3  Ken Co          Málaga    3
  Tom Hamilton      Recreativo 3  Joe Tompkins PM Almería   5*
  Takeshi Morishima Valladolid 2                            .
                BONUS (Racing) 3            BONUS (Almería) 5
                              14                           18

* - Super Lampard, Andy Bewick and Joe Tompkins played two games and only scored twice for this task.

~

At the café.

Whoopy Dee’e: I told you guys I should have directed the television advert.
Super Lampard: To be honest, Whoopy, I don’t think it was the director that was the problem.
Tom Hamilton: Thanks, Super. It’s good to be saved from the ravings of a madman.
Super Lampard: No, what I mean is that Takeshi caused the problems with his pitiable script.
Takeshi Morishima: You all approved the script, you were all happy with it! And plus, the TV advert made up just a third of the work. You can’t blame me for the rest.
Whoopy Dee’e: You didn’t actually do anything when we were making the poster, did you?
Takeshi Morishima: I came up with the images ideas!
Whoopy Dee’e: No, that was for the email.
Tom Hamilton: Ah yes, you did a little bit on the email.
Takeshi Morishima: This isn’t fair! You can’t just take the first opportunity to gang up on me!

~

María: You may see Vicente del Bosque now.

The candidates enter the boardroom

Vicente del Bosque:As you can tell, I’m not very happy with you. I was expecting so much more. Tell me, the poster, what happened there?
Whoopy Dee’e: Tom and Super were arguing about whether the colour scheme should be blue or whether it should be grey. I sorted it out democratically by mixing the colours.
Vicente del Bosque:Democratically? You think you’re all high and mighty and fair? Fair doesn’t get business done. If you got two people arguing about whether you should throw all your money down a drain or whether you should jump of a cliff, would you do both? Mixing the two colours doesn’t make you a good leader, it makes you a spineless one!
Whoopy Dee’e: I don’t agree with that, Mr del Bosque.
Vicente del Bosque:Well, good! I don’t expect you to agree with it.
Whoopy Dee’e: I’m not spineless, I’ve shown throughout this process that I’ve been able to get stuck into tasks. In all honesty, there are people on this team who just sit in the background because they’re worried about getting things wrong.
Super Lampard: I’d agree with that.
Takeshi Morishima: That is an absolute lie, Mr del Bosque, and you know it is. If you thought that I was in the background then you would have fired me back when I was Project Manager.

Vicente del Bosque:Look, I don’t care about any of this. Who was responsible for the abomination that was the email?
Super Lampard: Whoopy went insane on that one and wouldn’t let anyone but him have a say. I didn’t get a say, and I know Tom’s perfectly good idea was rejected without consideration.
Vicente del Bosque:What about Takeshi, did he hang back?
Takeshi Morishima: No, I had an idea put into the email. I worked all of the images into the email.
Super Lampard: That is true.
Whoopy Dee’e: I didn’t go insane! But this is just proof that I’m not spineless. I was the Project Manager and I knew what would work best in the email and I made sure it got in there.
Vicente del Bosque:But it didn’t work best! That’s the point.
Whoopy Dee’e: It was one hell of a lot better than it would have been otherwise.
Tom Hamilton: I think my idea would have improved it.
Vicente del Bosque:Will you stop banging on about your bloody idea! I got it the first time.

A hush falls over the room. Vicente del Bosque takes a breath and steadies himself against the table.

Vicente del Bosque:And the television advert, what happened there?
Whoopy Dee’e: Takeshi wrote the script.
Takeshi Morishima: You are the Project Manager and unless you are spineless you would have changed the script there and then. You’re incompetent. You are no good as a Project Manager and you’d be no good as an apprentice.

Vicente del Bosque:I’ve heard enough. Whoopy, tell me which of your teammates will not be joining you in the boardroom?

(Name either hamilton162, super_lampard or ~Ian~ in the thread, please, Whoopy D. This will be the person who will not be up for firing in this task)

[Whoopy D]

Well considering we sucked in that task we still didn't lose by that many. super_lampard will be the person not coming back to the boardroom.

[canvey!!]

Good choice. Can Whoopy D, hamilton162 and ~Ian~ please PM me defence speeches and taxi interviews. Standard deadline rules apply.

[hamilton162]

Hmm, i might be going this time I might not have time to do a speech/taxi interview as i'm going to France on Friday morning and will be busy all tomorrow evening!

Hopefully i'm still in when i get back

PS. Can i PM you my vote now instead of later as i will be away?

[Whoopy D]

Speech/Interview sent

[joetheref]

Great victory for Los Toros

[super_lampard]

Unlucky to lose i think, although im obviously glad I wasn't back into the boardroom

[canvey!!]

PS. Can i PM you my vote now instead of later as i will be away?

Looks like this might be irrelevant as you've logged off now, but I'm going to say no here. I'd like people to read the arguments before they vote, or at least pretend they've given people a chance to argue their case.

You'll probably find yourself on here tomorrow evening anyway .

[~Ian~]

Sent off my speech and interview. Think this one will be a close week in voting with how similar each team did for the Amarilla Armada this time.

[canvey!!]

Writer’s Notes: Bear in mind that hamilton162 was not able to submit an argument as he is away.

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
The Boardroom

Vicente del Bosque calls the Armada Amarilla candidates into the boardroom. Project Manager Whoopy Dee’e, of Racing, is joined by Valladolid’s Takeshi Morishima and Recreativo’s Tom Hamilton

  Username      Manager           Club   Goals
  Whoopy D      Whoopy Dee’e      Racing     3
  hamilton162   Tom Hamilton      Recreativo 3
  ~Ian~         Takeshi Morishima Valladolid 2

Vicente del Bosque:As you know, you gave a very uninspiring performance in this task. Whoopy, as the Project Manager, what do you think went wrong?
Whoopy D: I think it's fair to say we all had a pretty poor time of it in this task and despite having more people we were always up against it with Barcelona on the other team and the objective being to score goals.
Vicente del Bosque:And Tom, what do you think was the problem for Armada Amarilla in this task?
Tom Hamilton: I’m sorry, Mr del Bosque, I cannot come to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the beep.
Vicente del Bosque:What?
Tom Hamilton: beep
Vicente del Bosque:Okay…From your point of view, Takeshi Morishima, what went wrong?
~Ian~: This wasn't a great week for Armada Amarilla, losing was a big blow and it was a situation we should probably have done better in. But I don't think that can be pinned down to any one person, we all underperformed and our showings were pretty much equal - noone stood out and noone showed themselves up either.

Vicente del Bosque:But I’m going to have to fire somebody. Who, in your opinion, should go?
~Ian~: Whoever goes this week will be disappointed, getting so close to the prize but having it snatched away from them at such a late stage. But those who'll be left will deserve to stay and keep fighting for the chance to win.
Vicente del Bosque:What a load of sentimental old tripe! Whoopy, give me a straight answer; who should I fire?
Whoopy D: In the past I've made excuses for myself but for this task I have none and I only hope you fire the worst performer, which wasn't me. Takeshi was clearly the weak link in this team and I think it's him that should go.
Vicente del Bosque:And Tom, who is the worst performer from your point of view; who should go?
Tom Hamilton: I’m sorry, Mr del Bosque, I cannot come to the ph-

Vicente del Bosque:Okay, I’ve heard enough. Takeshi, you were obviously behind your teammates in this task, Whoopy, you were the Project Manager and made some poor decisions, and Tom, you think it is cool to act like a robot in the boardroom…

The tension builds…

Tom Hamilton: beep

(But who gets fired? Any of these three managers could, and I’d like hamilton162, Whoopy D and ~Ian~ to PM me their vote as for which one it should be. I’d like super_lampard to PM me a first and second choice. The deadline is Monday at 12:00pm).

[Whoopy D]

Hmm decisions, decisions. Oh and remember who kept you out of the boardroom super_lampard

[super_lampard]

Hmm decisions, decisions. Oh and remember who kept you out of the boardroom super_lampard

I do remember, however it has not influenced my vote, but thanks anyway

[canvey!!]

Vicente del Bosque:Okay, I’ve heard enough. Takeshi, you were obviously behind your teammates in this task, Whoopy, you were the Project Manager and made some poor decisions, and Tom, you think it is cool to act like a robot in the boardroom…

The tension builds…

Vicente del Bosque:Look, Takeshi Morishima, I’ve had enough of you. You’ve been underperforming for a long time. You’re fired.

  Armada Amarilla              Los Toros Rojos
  Super Lampard     Getafe     Andy Bewick     Barcelona
  Whoopy Dee’e      Racing     Ken Co          Málaga    
  Tom Hamilton      Recreativo Joe Tompkins    Almería 

   7. Takeshi Morishima        (     Valladolid)
   8. Magnus Vestergaard       (      Deportivo)
   9. Jonathon Robertson       (          Betis)
  10. Andy McMorton            (        Osasuna)
  11. Desmond Tiny             (        Sevilla)
  12. Jeremy English           (       Numancia)
  13. Harry Barker             (Atlético Madrid)
  14. William Hall             (     Villarreal)
  15. Tomaldinho               (       Athletic)
  16. Robert Boyle             (       Espanyol)
  17. Stewart Robertson        (       Valencia)
  18. Carlos Ferrari           (       Sporting)
  19. Pompey13                 (       Mallorca)
  20. Maz Jiminez Fernandez II (    Real Madrid)

~

~Ian~: This just wasn't my week. Although none of the Armada Amarilla had a good week, mine was perhaps the worst and it was my time to leave the show. Best of luck to everyone remaining.

20 managers, now just six remain. Vicente del Bosque’s search for his apprentice continues…

Writer’s Notes: ~Ian~ voted for super_lampard so I penalised him by not getting him to vote for an eligible teammate. Statistically that saw him fired.

[Whoopy D]

Think I've been pretty lucky not to have been voted off in the last couple tasks, thankfully I'm into the final 6 and in with a chance of winning. Really looking forward to the last few tasks.

[hamilton162]

I'm back and glad that i survived Love the stuff about me not answering the phone

[~Ian~]

Writer’s Notes: ~Ian~ voted for super_lampard so I penalised him by not getting him to vote for an eligible teammate. Statistically that saw him fired.

:facepalm:

Yeah, I feel pretty stupid now. Always read things properly.

[super_lampard]

I'm a little worried i might be next to go seeing as I managed to get a vote despite not even being up for firing

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
Task 13

Vicente del Bosque has called the candidates to Restaurante Zalacaín.

Vicente del Bosque:This is the most famous restaurant in Madrid.

Vicente del Bosque:Your job is to manage it. No longer will you be managing a project, but you’ll be managing a restaurant. Fortunately for you, the infrastructure is all established. Bookings are made weeks in advance. However, you will lose half of your waiting staff, to be replaced by your teammates. Your takings will be added up and compared against last year’s for the same day. And you will be competing against each other. Over the next six days, each one of you will manage the restaurant for a day and will serve as a waiter for the other five days. It will be the most difficult week of your life, and if you mess it up, you will be one of the two going home after this task.

Vicente del Bosque:I’ve left details of the order of management with Pepe and Juan Román. I will be visiting the restaurant twice in the week, and I’ll be watching all of you, whether you are managing or not.

The Order of Restaurant Management

  # Manager       Club
  1 Andy Bewick   Barcelona
  2 Ken Co        Málaga
  3 Whoopy Dee’e  Racing
  4 Joe Tompkins  Almería
  5 Tom Hamilton  Recreativo
  6 Super Lampard Getafe

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
Task 13

Barcelona boss Andy Bewick was plunged in right at the deep end as he was the first one to manage the restaurant. The team would face Deportivo away to try and run the restaurant successfully.

It was quite a quiet evening: with the infrastructure in place, all that Bewick had to coordinate was that everything was actually happening, which it was, with skilled and dedicated kitchen staff and everyone happy with their food, in the first hour of service at least. There was a problem which did arise: one man felt that his veal escallop was oversauced, but Bewick dealt with it swifly and confidently, having the meal replaced. A second problem arose later on when a woman, having clumsily played footsie with her boyfriend, tipped her sorbet onto the floor, and demanded a replacement. Bewick was not having any of it, and made an admirable stand to the woman’s frustration. In the end, fearful that she might escalate into a very angry patron, Bewick showed her the door and she surprisingly obliged. Two situations handled well earned Bewick and Barcelona a 2-0 win, even if Tom Hamilton was absent for the end of the evening waiter service after having walked into the doors, giving himself a nosebleed.

In a contrast to the competition’s strongest manager taking control of the restaurant, it was now the turn of the weakest one. Ken Co and Málaga should, if their performances reflected their media predicted position, have left the sign-up ages ago. Yet he is still here, and still doing well, and in fact did as well as Andy Bewick had done the day before. His smooth management style, grown through years of experience, upped the performance of the entire waiting staff, which was good as Vicente del Bosque was in the audience.

Vicente del Bosque:We ought to watch Andy especially. He has done his turn and might be prone to slacking off.
Pepe Grande: I think we need to assess the other candidates moreso. They need to cope with nerves, and their all undoubtedly nervous about their own performances.
Vicente del Bosque:That might be a good call. After all, I’ll be back on Saturday watching then for complacency. Now might be a good time to check out those yet to perform. Ken is doing a good job I feel.
Juan Román López Caro: Mmm, yes! This eel is delicious!

In the end, Ken Co got a 2-0 win just like Bewick had, but without the embarrassment of certain Recreativo managers having to leave duty. With the competition already so high, Whoopy Dee’e would be very eager to make his performance known as he sought to manage the restaurant third.

In the end it was comfortable for the Racing boss. He didn’t excel but there weren’t any major problems either. One of the cellists got a stiletto through her crystal skirt and was in tears, but Whoopy Dee’e fixed the problem by lending her a dress from his own collection. She recollected herself and went on to play some wonderful ambient music over the evening.

At the end of his evening in charge, Joe Tompkins was in tears. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Well, except for a quick save on detecting some meat in a vegetarian salad, which got the Almería manager a goal. However, he had a major dispute with one of his waiters, Super Lampard, and ended up pushing Lampard over in fury. Three or four tables were left waiting for their meals as a result, tallying an extra goal against Tompkins. Finally, when it came for a piano number, two of the strings broke and Tompkins decided to remove all music than to bother to fix them, a decision which cost him as a number of patrons decided to skip dessert in exchange for a more ambient atmosphere.

It was Friday night, an unpredictable night for the restaurant trade. Some Fridays there are plenty of customers looking to unwind but others there aren’t any as everybody is out on the town. That isn’t a problem for Restaurante Zalacaín, however, as they are always fully booked. So Tom Hamilton didn’t have to worry about that. In fact, the biggest of his worries was whether he would get another nosebleed. Which he did. Twice. The first was as he went to the toilet half an hour into serving, so he avoided any catastrophe, but while working out a problem with a customer regarding her fish being undercooked, his nose went again and he was stared at derisively by many of the upmarket patrons. He got Andy Bewick to cover for him by resolving the fish situation, but it was too late, and a 0-1 loss to Valenciawas Hamilton’s, and Recreativo’s, reward for an unfortunate night.

All of the managers-cum-waiters had seen Vicente del Bosque’s visit on the Tuesday, and had not seen him since. So, unless their eyes were deceiving them, he would visit today, which was mixed news for Super Lampard. Last to perform, the Getafe boss could make a grand impression by managing the restaurant well, or could fail completely right in front of Vicente del Bosque’s unwavering eye. He didn’t want to do that, so worked extra hard to ensure that things went as smoothly as possible.

Vicente del Bosque:If you look, Joe Tompkins is really working hard. Yet Andy Bewick can’t seem to be bothered. He’s done his job as manager and it looks as if he is trying to undermine the others.
Juan Román López Caro: Is he looking down that woman’s dress?
Pepe Grande: Looks like Super Lampard’s caught him.

Super Lampard: Andy, can I talk to you in the kitchen a minute?
Andy Bewick: Yeah, sure, whatever.

Vicente del Bosque:That’s a good save. It’s good to see somebody looking alert. Not like Tom. I swear I saw him running towards the staff toilets holding his nose.

In the kitchen.

Super Lampard: What the hell are you doing?
Andy Bewick: What are you talking about?
Super Lampard: Are you trying to drive customers away? I saw you, looking down that woman’s dress.
Andy Bewick: Oh, well, hey man, I was just checking out the blancmanges.
Super Lampard: She was eating an entrée!
Andy Bewick: No, I mean checking out the blancmanges!
Super Lampard: You are sick! And you’re a backstabber too.
Joe Tompkins: Hey, calm down, Super. I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm.
Super Lampard: SHUT UP! Nobody asked you! I’ve got this under control.
Joe Tompkins: You clearly haven’t.
Super Lampard: You can feck off now, Joe, or I’ll get very angry with you.
Andy Bewick: But he’s right, I didn’t mean any harm.
Super Lampard: Well, you could have caused it. I’ll be watching you.

For his wonderful save, Lampard’s Getafe tallied up a goal, but for going crazy at Joe Tompkins, conceded one. Yet an excellent overall evening resulted in a 3-1 victory for Getafe overall, mired by encounters between Tompkins and Super Lampard in the nights that they both were managing.

With each manager having fulfilled his duty, they returned to the boardroom on Monday morning to see how well they had done.

~

María: Vicente del Bosque will see you now.

Vicente del Bosque:Welcome, candidates.

Vicente del Bosque:I visited the restaurant twice in the week. I have to say, I was very impressed. But the figures will do the talking, although I should expect that the two I observed will do well. I don’t want to discuss your individual performances until after you know how you’ve done, so without further ado, Pepe Grande, will you give me the results of the first three candidates to manage the restaurant.
Pepe Grande: Andy Bewick made a profit of €11.512. For the same day last year, the restaurant made €9.202, giving Andy a score of €2.310. Ken Co made a profit of €8.906. For the same day last year, the restaurant made €7.086, giving Ken a score of €1.820. Whoopy Dee’e made a profit of €9.485. For the same day last year, the restaurant made €8.279, giving Whoopy a score of €1.206.
Vicente del Bosque:Thank you, Pepe. Juan Román, can you tell me how the other three did?
Juan Román López Caro: Joe Tompkins made a profit of €5.617. For the same day last year, the restaurant made €8.102, giving Tompkins a negative score of €2.485. Tom Hamilton made a profit of €8.176, €1.304 less than the previous year’s profit of €9.480. Super Lampard made a profit of €10.519, whereas last year the restaurant made €8.041, giving Lampard a score of €2.478.
Vicente del Bosque:Okay. I know you got the second-best score, Andy, but I noticed that you were detrimental to the performances of the others. I’m going to keep you in the boardroom. Super Lampard will get to enjoy the reward of a fireworks show, and in your place will be Ken Co. Enjoy the fireworks, you two! The other four, get outside and think about your individual performances. Two of you are going to get fired.

  # Manager       Club      Score ?
  1 Super Lampard Getafe     3-1  A
  2 Ken Co        Málaga     2-0  H
  3 Andy Bewick   Barcelona  2-0  A *
  4 Whoopy Dee’e  Racing     1-0  H
  5 Tom Hamilton  Recreativo 0-1  H
  6 Joe Tompkins  Almería    1-3  H

Writer’s Notes: * =I know you said you were busy at work, Bishydoodah, but at the end of the day you have cast only one vote out of a possible three and demonstrated limited posting activity. While it might be unfair to drop you into the danger zone for not posting, it would be farcical if you went on to win having been such a tiny part of the sign-up. However, it will be up to you to save yourself – if you can demonstrate why you should stay in your argument, you may be saved by your teammates.

(Now, if you fall in the bottom four, i.e. if you are Bishydoodah, Whoopy D, hamilton162 or joetheref, you need to send me your defence speech, by PM please. Include a taxi interview as well.)

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Getting down to the end of the sign-up, and it has been a great effort by Canvey, I was disappointed to go when I went, but it has been a huge effort.

Loving how even the best teams can fail.

[super_lampard]

Best performer and with two being fired, im in the final four

Superb stuff again canvey

[hamilton162]

Damn, bottom 4 I'm not going to win this, it's just a question of when i go IMO...

[Whoopy D]

Another defence speech? Damn. Hopefully I can hold on and make the final 4.

Great work as always canvey!!

EDIT: Sent my speech and all that jazz.

[joetheref]

Sent my speech

[Whoopy D]

One of the cellists got a stiletto through her crystal skirt and was in tears, but Whoopy Dee’e fixed the problem by lending her a dress from his own collection. She recollected herself and went on to play some wonderful ambient music over the evening.

Forgot to say earlier, that was my favourite part of the post

[Kenco]

Great result from Malaga sends me into the final 4. I really expected to finish 20th.

[canvey!!]

Bishydoodah and hamilton162 have until 9:00am GMT on Sunday to send me their arguments/taxi interviews. Or sooner depending on when the next argument comes in to me.

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
The Boardroom

Vicente del Bosque calls the gloomy candidates back to the boardroom. With no team setup for this task, the candidates are in here on their own merit, or lack thereof. Andy Bewick of Barcelona, Whoopy Dee’e of Racing, Tom Hamilton of Recreativo and Almería’s Joe Tompkins all take their seats in front of Vicente del Bosque, who is one stern man looking for two people to fire.

(The team in question’s score is always put first in the table below)

  Username    Manager      Club      Score ?
  Bishydoodah Andy Bewick  Barcelona  2-0  A
  Whoopy D    Whoopy Dee’e Racing     1-0  H
  hamilton162 Tom Hamilton Recreativo 0-1  H
  joetheref   Joe Tompkins Almería    1-3  H

Vicente del Bosque: Whoopy, I’m not that dissatisfied with you after this task. But you know why you’re here, don’t you?
Whoopy D: I fully understand why I'm here this time, Super and Ken deserved the reward this time round and I was obviously in the bottom 4. However the key thing in my opinion is that I wasn't the worst or even the 2nd worst.
Vicente del Bosque:Go on…
Whoopy D: Both Joe and Tom were down on last years profits whereas I actually did better, even if it wasn't a very big improvement it was certainly more.
Vicente del Bosque: So you’re saying that those two should go?
Whoopy D: When you take that into account surely it has to be those two who are fired? The task was to make money and they failed to so do.

Vicente del Bosque: What do you say to that, Joe Tompkins? I’d agree that you had an abysmal task. To be honest, I don’t understand how you’ve got this far.
joetheref: I feel I have improved greatly over the last few tasks as I was facing elimination twice in the early stages, I remember Mr Del Bosque himself saying I had 'no potential'. Well I think that was one of the rare occasions where you were wrong and I believe I am yet to reach my potential.
Vicente del Bosque: I don’t think that’s much use to me.
joetheref: I have performed well in the last few tasks and I won both my tasks where I was project manager. Unfortunately I have made one mistake and I hope this isn't held against me.
Vicente del Bosque: You weren’t the only one that made a mistake this task…
Bishydoodah: I will pick myself up after this weeks blip, and will be back to being the best next week.
Vicente del Bosque: Yeah, but the problem for me is your arrogance, and your slyness, and the way you like to cheat. You attempted to undermine the efforts of the others this task. I’m struggling to think why I shouldn’t fire you.
Bishydoodah: This is the first time that my position is even at risk, my group didn't lose for the first 7 tasks, and I've only been on the losing side once before now, and it would be unfair to be sent home at this time unless you genuinely don't want the best candidate to be the winner!
Whoopy Dee’e: That’s not true – you’ve lost more than once.
Vicente del Bosque: He’s right. You were on the Armada Amarilla team when you lost the art gallery task, you lost in selling the objects I gave you, and then the next week in the property sales task.
Andy Bewick: I sold well clear of anybody else on that property sales task.
Bishydoodah: I have shown throughout the whole of this competition that I am the greatest candidate of all.
Vicente del Bosque: Hmm, I don’t know. You seem to have a lot of talk about you. But not much action.
Andy Bewick: That isn’t true. I’ve consistently been the top performer.
Vicente del Bosque: I don’t know. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh on you.

Vicente del Bosque: What about you, Tom? Do you need a cushion? If you carry on sitting on the fence like that you’ll get a sore arse.
Tom Hamilton: I’m sorry, Mr del Bosque, I cannot come to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the beep.
Vicente del Bosque: Oh don’t give me any more of that crap. I’m sick of it. Act normal! I’m sick of you, Tom Hamilton!

Vicente del Bosque: I’m sick of all of you! Two of you will go, and it’s good bloody riddance! I can’t stand looking at you any longer…

The tension builds…

(Which two managers will feel the wrath of Vicente del Bosque’s firing finger? I want every single one of you [hamilton162, super_lampard, joetheref, Whoopy D, Bishydoodah and Kenco] to send me your votes: give your primary vote and then a second-choice manager to get fired. The second choices will only be used if there is a tie with the first choices. Votes by PM, the deadline is Tuesday at 4:00pm GMT).

[hamilton162]

canvey, i'm sure that i PM'd you my speech!

[canvey!!]

I got nothing - if you'd claimed it in the thread we might have been able to work this out beforehand.

If you can re-PM it to me alongside a screenshot of your PM outbox showing it was sent within the deadline I'd be happy to post it.

[hamilton162]

I deleted it a couple of days after sending it as my outbox was full, so i don't have the screenshot and i didn't save the file

Oh well, i guess i'll have to do without it.

[canvey!!]

Just a note; if you just name two people in your PM, I'll assume that the first one you name is your primary choice. Your secondary choice will not be used unless it is needed in a tiebreaker scenario.

[Kenco]

Votes PM'd.

[hamilton162]

Votes sent

[joetheref]

Sent mine

[Whoopy D]

Votes sent.

[super_lampard]

Voted

[canvey!!]

Well, that was decided pretty quickly.

Vicente del Bosque: I’m sick of all of you! Two of you will go, and it’s good bloody riddance! I can’t stand looking at you any longer…

The tension builds…

Vicente del Bosque: Andy Bewick, you’re fired.

Andy Bewick: That’s a complete joke.

Andy Bewick leaves the boardroom fuming.

Vicente del Bosque: Tom, I don’t know whether I should fire you. You weren’t the worst performer in the task but you can be a little…stupid sometimes.

The tension builds…

Vicente del Bosque: Joe Tompkins, you’re fired.

Joe Tompkins thanks Mr del Bosque for the opportunity and leaves the boardroom.

Vicente del Bosque: You need to pick up your act, Tom. You’ve got interviews next with some of my fiercest colleagues so you’d better not be giving any of this ‘can’t take a message’ crap to them. You’re in the final four now and I want a performance and conversation that’s appropriate to that. Go on, both of you, back to the house.

  Super Lampard   Getafe
  Whoopy Dee’e    Racing
  Tom Hamilton    Recreativo
  Ken Co          Málaga

   5. Joe Tompkins             (        Almería)
   6. Andy Bewick              (      Barcelona)
   7. Takeshi Morishima        (     Valladolid)
   8. Magnus Vestergaard       (      Deportivo)
   9. Jonathon Robertson       (          Betis)
  10. Andy McMorton            (        Osasuna)
  11. Desmond Tiny             (        Sevilla)
  12. Jeremy English           (       Numancia)
  13. Harry Barker             (Atlético Madrid)
  14. William Hall             (     Villarreal)
  15. Tomaldinho               (       Athletic)
  16. Robert Boyle             (       Espanyol)
  17. Stewart Robertson        (       Valencia)
  18. Carlos Ferrari           (       Sporting)
  19. Pompey13                 (       Mallorca)
  20. Maz Jiminez Fernandez II (    Real Madrid)

~

Bishydoodah: Being kicked off this week is a farce, I'm the best that this show has had, and Vincent del Bosque has made the biggest mistake of his life!

joetheref: I am quite disappointed to go out as I don't think I reached my full potential, however I had one bad task and in the dog eat dog world of business that can be very costly.

20 candidates, now just four remain. Vicente del Bosque’s search for his apprentice continues…

[hamilton162]

Jesus christ, how did i survive!?!?!?!?!?

Speech won't get lost next week if needed, i guarantee

[Whoopy D]

Result, Barcelona gone and into the final 4. Pretty even between the 4 of us and it could be anybody who walks away with the win.

[joetheref]

Bit disappointed Ive gone out at this late stage but I think I had it coming, great sign up so far Canvey, looking forward to the finish

[canvey!!]

El Aprendiz: Tú eres Despedidos!
Task 14

Vicente del Bosque has called the candidates to an office building somewhere in Madrid.

Vicente del Bosque:Good morning candidates.

Vicente del Bosque:You are the final four candidates. You are the cream of the crop. From thousands of applicants, you have come through as the best. In this next task, you’re going to need to show that, especially because half of you will be leaving after this. You are going to face tough interviews with two of my greatest associates. They will feed back to me and with that information, and with my own judgements of you, two of you will get fired. They’ve seen your CVs and applications and intend to leave no stone unturned. Any blip in your interview will damage your chances, so stay awake!

Vicente del Bosque:The first person who will be interviewing you is Florentino Pérez. Currently worth €1,2billion, his background is in civil engineering but he was also the President of Real Madrid for much of my time there and is the current President too. Don’t be fooled by his smiling face; he will grill you left, right and upside-down. The other interviewer is someone a bit younger, a bit more like yourselves, but I’ve briefed him and he knows what he’s looking for in terms of tactical nous. He’s one of Real Madrid’s most loyal servants and has scored over 300 goals for them in over 700 appearances. He has scored more Champions League goals than anyone else in history and more goals for the Spanish national team than anyone else. Don’t expect Raúl to give you an easy time; you’ve got a lot to live up to.

~

The Objective: Have the best disciplinary record
The Duration: Two league games
Notes: There will be no voting, the lowest two scorers will be fired automatically. The teams will be sorted by the number of red cards earned, then the number of yellow cards, then the number of fouls, and then (if necessary), the fouls percentage as a part of total tackles made.

  Super Lampard   Getafe
  Whoopy Dee’e    Racing
  Tom Hamilton    Recreativo
  Ken Co          Málaga

[Whoopy D]

Bit of a "wild card" task this one, just hope Racing don't have to play any important derby matches or anything in their next 2 games.

[Kenco]

Surely my luck will run out this week...

[hamilton162]

A different task this time, i just hope i haven't got a team of hackers at Recreativo! I've no doubt that this will be close, and hopefully i can sneak into the Final!

KUTGW canvey!!, this has been brilliant