Knight - Win, Lose or Die

[viperk1]

Friday 21st July 2006: Fratton Park (Managers Office), Portsmouth

“So you’re sure that is all of them, huh? Thanks for that information, Jamie,” Daniel muttered apathetically into the phone, slamming his head down upon his desk that was covered in sheets of paper as he ended the phone call – which had been from his head scout, Jamie Routledge. Despite the fact that Routledge Scouting Corporation had been searching the globe for German left-backs for a week, they had managed to find only three suitable candidates. “What the hell do I pay them for...?” the Portsmouth manager wondered to himself, seemingly forgetting the very specific constraints that he set out for them.

It was clear that Daniel was in one of the crappiest moods ever – and was seemingly far too out of it to notice his secretary place a cup of coffee on his desk. “Danny, I’ve made a coffee for you,” Adelaide stated, tapping her boss lightly upon the head in an attempt to bring Daniel out of his stupor – naturally, that failed. “Are you alright?” she asked worriedly, kneeling by the side of Daniel’s chair as she tried to see whether he had fallen asleep – before prodding him upon the cheek upon the realisation that he wasn’t.

“In all honesty Adelaide, no,” Daniel groggily responded as he lifted his head – before taking a rejuvenating sip of caffeine-filled drink on his desk. “Paul Spooner was falsely arrested yesterday for a rape crime he didn’t commit and Jamie’s lads have come back with only three scout reports!” the Portsmouth manager muttered, pointing to the highest pieces of paper that were upon his desk – the fact that, according to Jamie, there were over one hundred scouts in that company, made the matter worse.

“If Paul has been falsely arrested, he’ll be back in time for the Chesterfield friendly, won’t he?” Adelaide questioned, seemingly under the impression that there was a time limit as to how long a suspect could be detained without charge – she wasn’t wrong either. “Anyway, at least you’ve got some scout reports – they could’ve come up with nothing, right?” the secretary continued, pointing out that Daniel had a few tangible leads to follow - after all, some clubs didn’t have the finances to chase suitable transfer targets.

“I’m somewhat doubtful about Paul being available – I wouldn’t put it past one of the officers to start making stuff up to get Paul on the defendant’s chair,” Daniel responded, reminding himself of PC Mitchell’s stance on footballers in general – which was unsavoury at best. “Though I guess you’re right about having leads – the financial lads are already making bids for two of them,” he admitted, remembering that there wasn’t much point of trying to bid for Bielefeld‘s Torsten Meier – since there was more chance of hell freezing over than him joining Portsmouth. He wasn’t a patch on Paul Spooner anyway.

On the other hand, it was clear that both Dortmund’s Giuseppe Meinhardt and Shakhtar Donetsk’s Helmut Bauer were both truly capable of ousting the arrested England international – the only question was price. Meinhardt was certainly the cheaper of the two, according to the scouts – but Bauer was by far the better player. As the Portsmouth manager deliberated over which player he was more likely to send a contract to, the mobile phone upon his desk began to vibrate. “Hello?” Daniel asked, wondering whether it was Jamie Routledge coming back with more leads.

Sadly, he was mistaken. The call was, in fact, coming from the Portsmouth FC financial department – Andrew Mason to be precise. “Good afternoon, Daniel – I hope you’re feeling well?” the negotiator queried, prompting an inaudible snort from Daniel – given the day that he had yesterday, feeling ‘well’ was the last thing on the Portsmouth manager’s mind. “Anyway, I have news about the two left-backs we made bids for this morning,” Andrew admitted, seemingly surprising Daniel – he hadn’t expected such quick responses from Dortmund and Shakhtar.

“Well, Shakhtar have told us to **** off – or at least, that’s what their translator told me,” Andrew apologetically muttered – despite not being a football aficionado, the negotiator knew that Helmut Bauer was, according to the scout reports, the best player that was available. However, it seemed that £8M over 2 years and £100k per league appearance for Bauer’s first twenty Portsmouth games wasn’t good enough for the Ukrainian Premier League team. “I think the financial boys didn’t want to pay any more than that – they’re worried about our dwindling bank balance as it is,” he added, noting that only £9.89M was left in the transfer budget for the season.

“That’s hardly much of a problem, Andy – if our league fortunes are improved because of these new players, surely we’ll make back all the money we’ve spent?” Daniel responded, remembering that clubs generally received prize money for their league position – such was the reputation of the Premiership. “Besides, it’s up to them to make sure that the club doesn’t go under – not me. So what about Dortmund?” the Portsmouth manager questioned, seemingly reminding himself that the purpose of this conversation was not to berate the financial department for moaning too much.

Thankfully, it was clear that Andrew shared the same opinion. “I didn’t get a response from Dortmund per se – I received a call from Meinhardt’s agent instead. It seems Dortmund liked the three million pound bid we sent them,” the negotiator happily responded, seemingly thankful that someone had accepted their transfer offer – mostly because he didn’t want to hear the response from Daniel if the offers had all failed. “So if we’re lucky, Giuseppe should be a Portsmouth player before you head up north to Derbyshire,” Andrew added, reminding Daniel of Portsmouth’s away match against Chesterfield.

“That’s great to hear – thanks very much Andrew,” Daniel admitted as he ended the phone call, secretly hoping that his negotiator’s claim would turn out to be true – after all, with Paul Spooner in a police cell, only Moussa Bayiha and Karl Lowe were available to play at left-back. The Portsmouth manager had no intention of playing his skipper there – since his talents were of better use at centre-back. “I guess that’s one less thing to think about now,” he muttered quietly, trying to ignore the fact that the club’s heart and soul was rotting away in jail – Paul had that effect on the dressing room.

“Danny, don’t worry about Paul,” Adelaide stated, noticing her boss’s dejected expression – and given the situation, it wasn’t hard to figure out what the problem was. “I’m certain that he’ll be out of that police cell in no time – you said yourself that he was arrested upon a false accusation. If they have no evidence, they can’t hold him, right?” she added, trying to improve Daniel’s mood – after all, she didn’t want to be working under a person who allowed every bad thing to put him in a less than happy mood.

“You’re right – as always,” Daniel responded, giving a weak smile to his secretary – before staring nervously out of the window.

‘There’s no way that he can be charged...can there?’

[viperk1]

Saturday 22nd July 2006: Portsmouth Combined Court, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth

“Mr. Paul Spooner. You are charged with sexual assault of the third degree – how do you plead?”

“Not guilty, My Lord,” Paul responded, glancing around the court house – just how had he ended up here? The England left-back knew that he was totally innocent of the crimes that he was in the dock for – but somehow, the police had apparently found evidence to the contrary. As he stared around the court house, his eyes fell upon the cause of his suffering – the ‘victim’, Jennifer Lennie, who was seemingly crying crocodile tears. ‘Why the hell is she crying?’ the Exonian thought to himself, trying desperately not to have an angry expression on his face.

However, Paul’s attention was drawn back towards the proceedings taking place below – as his defence barrister, appointed by the crown prosecution service, attempted to convince the judge to grant bail to the England left-back. “Bail is not granted. This case will be heard at 14.30 on Monday – next case,” the judge muttered, banging his gavel upon the desk – until proceedings resumed, Paul was to remain in a police cell – which admittedly, was next door to the court.

‘I’m in the crap with this old fart...’ Paul thought to himself, bemoaning the decision as he made his way out of the court room – even though he knew he was innocent, it was clear that the barrister helping him prove that innocence was doing a p*** poor job at it. “I’m innocent, Max – I’ve told you that time and time again,” he stated to his barrister, Maxwell Jenkins, as he stepped out into the lobby – clearly he was still irritated by the fact that he would be consigned to a police cell for another day.

“And I believe you – I’ve told you that,” Maxwell responded, removing the wig that he had been wearing in the courtroom as he took a seat within the lobby – despite only spending a matter of minutes under the gaze of the judge, the barrister seemed to be tired already. Given that he turned seventy in two days time, that wasn’t much of a surprise. “Can I help you, Graham?” the barrister mumbled jadedly to the far younger man, who was now towering above him – with a decidedly wicked grin upon his face.

“I’d like to speak with your client – since it is clear to me that you will need about an hour before you can stand again,” the man responded, removing his own judicial wig as he spoke – it was clear that this man was the state-appointed prosecutor, Graham Saunders. “On behalf of the victim, I am willing to make a plea bargain with you, Mr. Spooner – though it is best if we have this discussion in a quieter place, don’t you think?” Graham admitted, beckoning the defendant to follow him – after all, an argument in the lobby of a court house was not a good idea.

Paul was keen to hear what the prosecutor had to say in regards to this ‘plea bargain’. However, it was clear that his barrister didn’t share the same view – given the anxious glance that Maxwell had delivered to him as he motioned to follow Graham. “I’ll listen to what you have to say, Graham – don’t worry about me, Max,” Paul muttered, giving a small wink towards the barrister as he made his way towards ‘the quieter place’ that the prosecutor had mentioned moments earlier.

“I am grateful that you’re willing to listen to what I have to say,” the prosecutor stated, offering a seat to Paul as he spoke – which the England left-back gratefully accepted in response. “However, I am surprised that you’ve decided to leave that old crone back in the lobby – please explain that to me, if you would,” Graham added, reminding himself that most people would never speak to prosecutors or investigators without the aid of a defence barrister.

“Because quite frankly, I know I’m innocent – I could defend myself in court and still be let out,” Paul brashly responded, watching as Graham Saunders seated himself in the chair opposite his own. The Portsmouth left-back was well aware that his statement was a little too bold, even for him – but it was clear that even he’d do a better job than the old guy who was fanning himself off in the lobby. “Now, you said something about a plea bargain – so let’s hear it,” he added, making himself comfortable in the chair as he waited for a response.

“Aren’t you a bold one...” the prosecutor quietly muttered, believing that the defendant was rather foolish to make such a brash statement – however, Graham was also aware that his opposite number, Maxwell Jenkins, was a few sandwiches short of a picnic. “As it stands, you’re charged with third degree sexual assault – a crime that could see you in a jail cell for ten years or more,” Graham admitted, watching as Paul’s eyes widened in shock – ten years was certainly a long time to spend behind bars.

“However, as your victim is a kind and gentle soul...” he continued, prompting an audible snort from Paul – given what she was putting him through, kind and gentle were two terms that the Portsmouth left-back would attribute to Jennifer. “...she is willing to drop that charge – so long as you accept the lesser charge of fourth degree sexual assault,” Graham stated, ignoring the rude gesture from the defendant – after all, it would only make his case against him all the more stronger if the plea bargain failed.

“Keep talking, mister – I know damn well that there’s more to this,” Paul stated, watching as the prosecutor stopped talking to draw breath – since Jennifer wanted money from him in the first place, Paul knew that she would take very little pleasure from seeing him go down for however long. ‘I’m gonna get myself into a lot of trouble if I keep going,’ he thought to himself, realising that he was starting to fly off the handle just a little bit – Paul was seemingly forgetting that he was a mere defendant in this case.

“Yes – there is. Whilst the charge of sexual assault of the fourth degree would see you behind bars for only nine months, the victim would like monetary compensation in addition to that sentence,” the prosecutor added, seemingly trying to maintain his professional demeanour – which was proving difficult, given the smartass comments from the accused party. “She believes that £350,000 would be sufficient,” Graham admitted, watching as Paul’s eyes widened once again – that was certainly a lot of money to give away.

In truth, there was only one response for Paul to give. “I’ll go through the courts if you don’t mind – there’s no point in me accepting guilt for something that I haven’t done,” he stated, knowing full well that he was innocent – and besides, he’d never pay that kind of money to such a money-grabbing whore like Jennifer. “There is no way that I would accept such an offer,” Paul stated, unhurriedly standing up to leave. After all, it wasn’t as if he had anywhere else to go to – apart from a jail cell.

Almost unsurprisingly, Maxwell Jenkins was still seated as Paul made his way back into the lobby – and he seemed just as tired as he had been before the Portsmouth left-back had left. “Good to see you again, Grah-Paul,” Max admitted, correcting himself as he lazily spoke – age certainly was catching up with this barrister far too quickly. “Please tell me you accepted whatever he had to offer,” he nervously stated, seemingly hoping that he wouldn’t have to go through several hours of court proceedings in such a stuffy room.

“Never,” Paul unashamedly responded, reminding himself that he had done nothing wrong. However, he also remembered that it was his career on the line – had he accepted the plea bargain, he would no longer be a football player at Portsmouth FC. “You’re not in a fit state to defend my case, are you?” the Exonian questioned, realising that Graham was right about one thing – it seemed as if Maxwell would need about an hour to be in a fit state to stand up, let alone defend somebody in court.

Maxwell pointed his finger at Paul in accusation, trying to stand up to prove that he could defend the Portsmouth left-back – only to find that he was unable to stand. “Be here on Monday – if you can stand the pressure, that is,” Paul muttered, before striding towards the two waiting police officers – who were ready to take him to his cell.

‘If the truth comes out in this trial, I won’t be in a cell one for very much longer.’

[minisav]

Great stuff as always. Hope Paul is fine. I think he should get a better lawyer tbh.

[viperk1]

mini - thanks! Though what would be the point of Paul getting a better lawyer?

Sunday 23rd July 2006: Wellington Sports Ground, Eastleigh

“Can you let me through please?” Daniel yelled, desperately trying to clamber his way through the media scrum that had decided to rear its ugly head at the front gate of the training facilities. “Look, I know about as much as you all do – and in case you’ve forgotten, I have a football club to manage,” Daniel stated, in an attempt to shake off the journalists as quickly as he could – after all, he had a training session to oversee.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Paul Spooner’s court case was one story that would hang over the club until the jurors passed down their verdict. “Can we not do something about the amount of media at the door? They’ll be harassing everyone that comes through the gates!” he muttered to his assistant, pointing back towards the media hounds that remained by the gates – it seemed as if every major newspaper (and the Portsmouth Today, of course) was represented within the scrum of journalists and photographers.

“Every corner of the media loves a scandal, Danny – Paul Spooner’s case is one such scandal,” Aaron responded, turning his back to the journalists. Given his problems with drink and drugs (and subsequent imprisonment) during his own playing career, the assistant manager was all too used to seeing the hounds baying for blood – usually his. “Just ignore them, Danny – so how come you’re so late?” he questioned, smirking as he followed his boss towards the training pitches – it was unusual for the manager to be late to a training session, to say the least.

“Adelaide rang me this morning – and told me that there was a hell of a lot of paper to pick up from the fax machine,” Daniel responded, pulling out several faxes from his coat pocket – there were at least nine faxes there, if not more. “Had you not phoned me about the media at the gates, I would already know what these were about – so feel free to take training whilst I read them,” he added, directing his assistant towards the training pitches – whilst he made himself comfortable on the sidelines.

The first fax was, surprisingly, from his chairman – Kirill Kozlov. Thankfully, the subject matter had nothing to do with Paul Spooner’s upcoming court case tomorrow. Instead, it was to inform him that the German left-back, Giuseppe Meinhardt, was now officially a Portsmouth player – which, given the current lack of Spooner at left-back, was only a good thing. ‘That must be him training now – it’s kinda hard to miss him with that hairstyle,’ he thought, spotting the newest face in the first team squad – the young man donning a blonde faux hawk hairstyle.

‘Kirill doesn’t exactly need to send me these messages – I can see when a new player is here,’ Daniel thought, smirking as he placed the first fax back into his pocket – in his opinion, it felt as if it was a waste of paper. “Now let’s see what the rest are about...” the fledgling manager quietly muttered to himself, returning his attention to the eight other pieces of paper that were staring at him from his own lap – after all, they weren’t going to read themselves!

As Daniel read a few more of the faxes, it dawned on him that Kevin Farrell was attracting far more interest from other clubs – which the Portsmouth manager hadn’t quite expected. Five clubs wanted the Irish teenager on loan – Leeds United, Ipswich Town, Reading, Charlton Athletic and Hearts of Midlothian. ‘That’ll be acceptances to Leeds and Ipswich then,’ Daniel thought, as he noticed that only the Championship clubs wanted the youngster to be a part of their first choice eleven – though he also didn’t want to send one of his players on loan to a Premiership rival.

That certainly didn’t apply to the teams interested in taking Nigerian striker Emmanuel on loan – since they were by far some of the most reputable sides in their respective countries. PSV Eindhoven, Olympique de Marseille and Lille OSC were all keen on having the African youngster on loan – but only to improve their strength in depth. ‘They’re not offering first team football for him – so that’s a no,’ Daniel thought, secretly hoping that somebody would offer first team football to the flamboyant youngster – since it was unlikely that he would oust Champion, Barbu and Hughes just yet.

‘Good to see nothing about Spooner – I only want news when the trial is over,’ Daniel thought, breathing a sigh of relief as he placed all of the pieces of paper back into his pocket – he had been expecting faxes from every single newspaper asking for a word about Paul Spooner. ‘Though I guess they decided to come straight to the source,’ he manager admitted to himself, giving a slight glance back towards the journalists waiting by the training ground gates.

Spotting the glance, the hounds of the media tried in vain to get themselves a story worth printing in the latest sport pages. “Mr. Knight! Is there any news from court about Paul Spooner’s case?” one journalist questioned, before knocking his hand against the gates – even though he knew that he was unlikely to get an answer. It was clear that Aaron was absolutely right – the media almost seemed to have an orgasm whenever a scandal appeared within the world of football.

Quite frankly, Daniel was getting rather hacked off at the amount of unwanted press attention that the club was receiving because of the arrest of one of the first team squad. ‘The sooner Paul is acquitted, the better,’ he thought to himself, picking his thin frame up from the edge of the training pitch. In Daniel’s opinion, it was as uncomfortable as sticking a pinecone in between his buttocks – followed by sitting on a vibrating waterbed. “We really need new facilities...” he groaned quietly, making his way over towards his assistant – who had just ended training for the day.

“Alright lads, that was a really good session. Do yourselves a favour and say nothing to those planks over there when you leave,” Aaron admitted to the squad, as he pointed over towards the journalists waiting at the gates. He knew that a player saying something out of turn to the press was the last thing his boss wanted. “Giuseppe, hergekommen bitte,” he added, beckoning the club’s new signing towards him. In truth, it was the only phrase that he had learned from his former Arsenal team-mate and ex-German international goalkeeper Markus Keller.

Which made Aaron all the more glad about Giuseppe bringing a translator with him. “Please turn around, Giuseppe – for I would like you to meet your new boss,” he requested, pointing towards Daniel – who had just arrived from the sidelines of the training pitches.

“Mr. Meinhardt – meet Daniel Knight.”

[SCIAG]

viperk, I've held off commenting for a while. You have done brilliantly with this work. You have a wide range of vocabulary, your writing flows fantastically, and you continue to churn out fantastic updates consistently. Truth be told, you are developing into a writer as good as any on here. You are a credit to Planet Earth. I cannot find words to describe the perfection of your brilliance.

Amelia Foster tickled me but the multi-layered plot lines are top notch.

[tenthreeleader]

Nicely done, young man. Turning up the heat now. This remains a pleasure to read.

[viperk1]

SCIAG - Thank you for such high praise - though I don't feel that I deserve it (not least until I finish this story, anyway ). And regarding Amelia Foster? I know what you're talking about

10-3 - Thank you

Monday 24th July 2006: Portsmouth Combined Court, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth

“The prosecution would like to call the victim, Jennifer Lennie, to the stand.”

‘This is going to be a pack of lies, I know it,’ Paul thought from the dock, as he watched his ex-girlfriend step towards the witness stand. An outsider would’ve thought that Jennifer was traumatised by the experience – though Paul knew that she was crying crocodile tears in an attempt to earn sympathy from everyone in the public gallery. ‘May as well just listen to what she says – no point in getting into any trouble,’ he thought, turning his eyes away from his ex as she gave him a fleeting glance.

The Exonian merely rested his weary head down upon his hands as he listened to the ‘victim’ swear to tell the truth upon the bible – and resisted the temptation to let out a snort, given his opinion on what Jennifer was about to say. “Ms. Lennie, could you please now tell the court what happened on the night of July the 11th?” the prosecutor, Graham Saunders, requested – after all, that was the point of this court case.

“I shall...” Jennifer nervously muttered, lowering her head slightly as she spoke – it almost seemed as if she was getting the facts of her story in order. “These are the events that transpired on that day,” she continued, raising her head back up so that she could make eye contact with every member of the jury – Jennifer clearly felt that the jury were more likely to believe her story if she did so.

“On that night, I was spending time with the defendant – as we were going out at that point. We were talking about the trip he’d be making with his football club – and the fact that I’d recently lost my job,” Jennifer stated, surprising Paul in the defendants booth – that was exactly what had happened that night. “He took it that the only reason that I was going out with him was because I wanted money out of him – and threw me out of the house,” she continued, ignoring the surprised glances that her ex was shooting her.

“Later that night, I was back at home – and I got a knock on the door. Opening it, I saw Paul – who shoved me back inside, slamming the door shut,” she continued, giving an upset glance towards her ex – who responded with a quizzical stare. “The defendant told me that if I was a money grabbing whore, he’d treat me like one. He slammed me to the floor, stripped me and....and....” Jennifer cried, placing her head in her hands as she seemingly lost control of her emotions.

Paul couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the acting performance that he felt his ex was delivering to the courtroom – but the audible gasps from around the courtroom indicated that everyone else believed it. “I know this is a hard time for you, Ms. Lennie,” Graham stated in an attempt to console the victim – before turning his attention back towards the man keeping order in the court. “I have no further questions, My Lord,” he admitted, seating himself back down as he spoke.

“Very well, Mr. Saunders,” the judge responded, knowing that there wasn’t much else to ask given the victim’s succinct account of what happened that night. “Would the defence like to cross examine the witness?” he queried, glancing towards the place where Maxwell Jenkins was – or at least, where he should’ve been. “Defendant – where is your barrister?” the judge questioned, slamming his gavel down in anger and disbelief – surely Jenkins knew that the trial had already started?

‘Looks like he couldn’t stand the pressure after all...old fart,’ Paul thought, glancing down towards where his barrister should’ve been sitting – he couldn’t but feel that Max shouldn’t have even been called upon to be his barrister, given his age and mental state. “I wish I knew, My Lord,” Paul muttered in response to the judge’s question – there wasn’t much more that he could say. Though surely the judge should’ve checked that the prosecution and the defence were ready before starting the trial?

“There is not a lot I can do now that the trial has started – you will have to defend yourself, I guess...” the judge admitted, shaking his head – he had expected far much more from one of the most experienced defence barrister in the country. “Anyway, you said that you had some evidence to show the court, Mr. Saunders?” he questioned, deciding that having the defendant cross-examine the victim would only cause more stress for Jennifer – and as such, the young lady was excused from the stand.

“I do indeed, My Lord,” Graham responded, pointing towards a small lidded container that was being passed around the jury as he spoke. “Inside that container is the bodily fluid that was extracted from the victim’s genitalia on the night of the assault,” he continued, knowing that this was the evidence that would see him win this case without any further delay. “I have been reliably informed from PC James Mitchell that the DNA contained within that bodily fluid belongs to the defendant,” he added, seating himself back down upon his seat – his job was done here.

Or so he thought.

“Objection!!” Paul yelled from the dock – he knew damn well that PC Mitchell’s judgement was not to be trusted, given his opinion on footballers in general. However, he daren’t say such a thing within the courtroom. So instead, he decided to ask quite possibly the most important question of the trial – even if he didn’t know it himself. “Mr. Saunders. Do you know whether that fluid has been tested for DNA?” the Exonian questioned, hoping that what he said made sense – because quite frankly, he had no idea what he just said.

“Uh...” Graham uttered, nervously wondering what his response should be. The prosecutor knew that if he gave a certain response – and the court found out that he was lying – he could be prosecuted himself. “Whilst I am willing to believe PC Mitchell’s word...not that I am aware of,” he admitted, bowing his head in disgust – quite frankly, he was surprised that the judge hadn’t overruled the objection in the first place. However, Graham was even more irritated about being outdone by the defendant – after all, Paul Spooner was no barrister.

“An interesting find, defendant,” the judge muttered, realising that it was possible that the fluid extracted from the victim’s body could’ve been from a different man – and not the defendant. Of course, it wasn’t for him to judge that point – not now, at least. “I guess there is not much point in continuing this trial until DNA tests are done on that sample,” he admitted, slamming his gavel down upon the table.

“Court dismissed.”

[viperk1]

Monday 24th July 2006: Portsmouth Coach (Portsmouth to Chesterfield)

Note: (Spoken in English – Spoken in Italian– Spoken in German)

“Keep going you lot – and you’ll wake up the whole of Coventry!” Iain Knight yelled from the front of the coach to his son’s players – since the entire squad seemed keen to make as much noise as humanly possible. “And for a moment, I thought I might enjoy this trip,” he groaned to himself, shrugging his shoulders as he sat back down next to Daniel – though quite frankly, he should’ve known better. After all, coach journeys had changed quite a bit since he last was on one – thirty one years ago.

“You think they’re bad? Try dealing with the media,” Daniel muttered in response, reminding himself of the scrum he had to face yesterday because of Paul Spooner’s court case – before staring out of the coach window once again. There wasn’t a lot for him to see besides street lamps glowing orange and the shadows of grassy plains and houses of the West Midlands – though that wasn’t too surprising since it was roughly ten o’clock at night. “The squad can’t be any worse than that lot,” he absent-mindedly admitted, settling himself down in his seat as he spoke.

“I guess not,” Iain responded, knowing that he had not put up with the media in any shape or form at all. “I think we should catch some z’s, son – it is getting late and you don’t want to be falling asleep on the touchline,” he smirked, resting his own head against the comfortable seats of the coach – even though he knew that the noise coming from the players behind him was going to make going to sleep difficult. ‘I wonder what they’re saying...’ Iain thought, realising that he couldn’t make out any of the words that some of Daniel’s players were saying – maybe it was in a different language?

Like it mattered to him – he was going to sleep now.

“Andrea – what are you doing? Surely you should be getting some sleep right now?” Andrea D’Ambrosio questioned his compatriot, raising his arms into air as he yawned – the Italian winger didn’t see much point in staying awake if all he could see in the windows was his own reflection. As he turned to face his namesake, Andrea finally realised just what the young centre-back was doing. “You cannot be serious – Pokémon?!?!” the Italian yelled, staring at his compatriot as if he had three heads.

“Yes, Pokémon – Emerald to be exact,” Andrea Baggio responded, not giving his team-mate a single look as he continued to play on the Game Boy Advance. The centre-back was somewhat aware that the Pokémon franchise generally targeted the really young children, but it wasn’t unheard of for an older person to play the games. “Figured I’d finish off the Champion before I went to sleep,” he added, seemingly glad that none of his team-mates (not including his compatriot) could understand Italian – otherwise they’d all think he was crazy.

“Bloody hell, you must be bored,” D’Ambrosio groaned, shaking his head in disbelief. He had never understood why people all across the world were so fascinated in the little (or in some cases, not so little) creatures known as Pokémon. “You’ve sunk to a new low, kid - you may as well hang a sign around your neck that reads 'I've tried to form friendships amongst my own species - and I've failed. Because of this, I play Pokémon' and show it to the bloody world,” the Italian smirked – only to find that his compatriot was now shooting metaphorical daggers into his eyes. Realising his mistake, he then asked, “How long have you been playing them then?”

“A few years now – you have got no idea how much time you have when you’re on a seven hour coach trip to Pescara,” the centre-back replied, reminding himself of the time when he went on loan from Juventus to the then Serie C1 side Crotone in 2002. Given that the city of Crotone was about two hours from every other club in the league, the coach trips certainly dragged on. “Being on loan at Crotone was hardly fun that season...” he muttered, shaking his head as he continued playing the game on his GBA.

“I know what you mean – though I wouldn’t resort to such means to deal with the long coach trips,” D’Ambrosio admitted, remembering that he had put up with the ridiculously long coach trips along the Italian coast-lines whilst he played for Crotone – before Juventus picked him up, of course. “Anyway, what do you think is going on with Paul? Things sure as hell are more boring when he’s not around,” he questioned, clearly keen to change the subject as quickly as possible – Pokémon was the last thing he wanted to be talking about.

“They are – I mean, I’m sure I’ve not heard a peep out of our English colleagues for about ten minutes now,” Baggio responded, taking a brief moment to glance away from his GBA to spot that the English contingent of the Portsmouth squad were all fast asleep. “The more annoying thing is that Paul is probably the best left-back we have,” he added, realising just how crazy that sounded – an Englishman that seemed to have more interest in cheating at poker than playing football was the best left-back available to Daniel Knight.

“Hearing nothing from the English lot is a blessing, Baggi – you didn’t see them arguing when the gaffer agreed to give Paul Spooner the skipper’s armband for a half,” D’Ambrosio admitted, remembering back to the start of the month when Portsmouth played Basel – there was a hell of a lot of shouting aimed at the Exonian back then. “Besides, I’m sure that the new guy will step into Spooner’s shoes easy,” the Italian winger added, pointing towards the £3M signing from Borussia Dortmund.

“You’re crazy, D’Ammy,” Baggio responded, shaking his head. “English players are always better than Germans.”

Now he was really glad that no-one could understand Italian.

Especially the club’s new signing, Giuseppe Meinhardt – who found himself seated next to the only other German-speaking player in the squad, Markus Keim. “So Giuseppe – what do you think of England so far?” the Portsmouth vice-captain questioned, hoping that his compatriot was as glad as he had been when he first joined the club from Werder Bremen. “It’s a lovely place, isn’t it?” the midfielder added, staring out of the window as he spoke – not that he could see much, now that the coach had moved onto the M1.

“Stop talking as if you give a **** about this country and its people,” Giuseppe scathingly responded, giving his compatriot a cold stare – it was clear that he was uninterested in getting to know the facts about England. It seemed as if Markus’s views were totally alien to the new signing. “Footballers are mercenaries, Keim – learning the ‘traditions’ of a club is ********. People like us only ply our trade in this game for the club that puts in the highest bid,” he continued, turning his head away from Markus as he spoke – it seemed as if the conversation was over before it began.

“That attitude sure as hell needs to change if you want to make it at this club, Meinhardt,” Markus muttered under his breath, realising that there was little point in trying to change his compatriot’s beliefs – not now, anyway. Quite frankly, he was surprised that Giuseppe would put a stopper on the conversation so quickly after it had began. Hoping that his compatriot hadn’t heard his little outburst, the midfielder merely turned his own head away from Giuseppe – before muttering two words to his compatriot:

“Good night.”

[viperk1]

Tuesday 25th July 2006: Saltergate, Chesterfield

‘The only thing I could wish upon Chesterfield Football Club is for their stadium’s official name to be a damn site more original...’ Daniel thought to himself as he watched his players warm up for their final friendly match of the pre-season – after all, the official name of Chesterfield’s Saltergate stadium was ‘The Recreation Ground’. “It’s a nice stadium they have here,” he muttered, glancing around the Derbyshire stadium. In truth, it was nowhere near as good as Fratton Park – but it was a very good place for a League One side to play in.

“Nice to know you think that,” a voice muttered from behind the Portsmouth manager. As Daniel turned around, he noticed a kindly old gentleman who appeared to be twenty years his senior – if not more. “You must be Daniel Knight, I assume? I am Neil Thomas – Chesterfield manager. I do hope you had a fun trip from down south?” the gentleman questioned, offering a handshake to the young manager in front of him – it certainly was interesting for the Liverpool-born veteran to see such a young man taking charge of a Premiership side.

“It certainly was a fun trip, ” Daniel responded, accepting the proffered handshake – before taking a quick scornful glance towards his players, who decided that it would be fun to wake him and his father up at six o’clock in the morning with a startlingly bad rendition of ‘Paint it Black’. “If you call fun sleeping on a coach for seven hours, then putting up with my players singing random songs for another three,” he added, shaking his head as he spoke. Daniel had been in one hell of a foul mood earlier that day – and it was something that he didn’t want to be reminded of.

“By the sounds of that, you’ve been on that coach all day,” Neil grimaced, pointing in the general direction of the car pack – where the away side’s coach had been parked since one o’clock in the morning. Though of course, the Chesterfield manager knew nothing about that. “Why didn’t you book a hotel, Mr. Knight? I’m sure it would’ve been much comfier than being stuck in a grotty old coach seat for ten hours?” he questioned, smirking slightly as he queried his opposite number’s curious choice of hospitality.

“I resent that statement, bud – that coach is certainly comfortable, despite what you say about it,” Daniel replied, knowing that the only reason that he was uncomfortable in that coach was due to the players and not the seating. Though in truth, he had no idea what state the coach would be in when they returned to Portsmouth in it. “Besides, my plan was to come here, hammer your arse and go home again,” he chuckled, knowing that his side certainly had the quality to beat Chesterfield by at least three goals – if not more.

“You’re certainly a confident young man,” Neil admitted, nodding his head in agreement – after all, unless something horrendously strange happened, there was no way that his Chesterfield side would be sending Portsmouth back to Fratton Park with their tails between their legs. “Hang on...we are talking about football, right?” the Chesterfield manager questioned, smirking as he reminded himself exactly what his opposite number had just said to him.

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Daniel smirked in response, realising just what the wily old manager was referring to – though admittedly, it was easy to see why someone would make that misconception. ‘Note to self: Think before speaking,’ the Portsmouth manager thought to himself, grinning slightly as he found the funny side of what he had just said – before providing a serious expression towards his players, who had just finished warming up. “In the dressing room, lads!” he yelled out onto the pitch, watching as his own players made their way down the tunnel – before following suit himself.

“Now, I’ve heard everything from what happened over in the Czech Republic – and I was bloody impressed with the results you brought home,” Daniel joyfully admitted, knowing that any manager with two brain cells to rub together would be over the moon with four clean sheets and twenty two goals scored. “Given that we’re facing a side that is two leagues below us in the table, a win is mandatory– though I want you to all relax and enjoy this match,” he continued, writing down the starting eleven as he spoke – before posting it up on the wall.

Starting Line-Up

GK: Bryn Wright

DR: Angel Mirchev

DL: Giuseppe Meinhardt

DC: Pete Primus

DC: © Karl Lowe

DM: Jermaine Ndou

MC: Patrick Dupuis

MC: Markus Keim

AMR: Irving Jensen

AML: Andrea D’Ambrosio

ST: Jason Hughes

It certainly seemed strange to Daniel to be posting such a vastly different team-sheet to the one that he posted up for the team to face Basel – no less than five of the club’s summer signings were in the first XI, with a further two that would come on at half time. Admittedly, he would’ve rather have played Paul Spooner at left-back, given Meinhardt’s lack of match fitness – though that was a frustrating impossibility right now.

“Jason, I’m starting you purely because of the massive goal tally you racked up abroad,” Daniel admitted to the Canadian veteran – who must’ve been doing something right to score six goals in four games. “Zlatan – I wouldn’t worry about being on the bench. You’ve played ninety minutes in every single friendly match that the club has played, and I don’t want you to be worn out,” he added, spotting a less than cheery look upon the Croatian’s face – it was clear that Zlatan wanted to be out on the pitch and not stuck watching from the sidelines.

“I’m sure you’re all aware of the tactics I want us to use – so let’s go!” Daniel stated, pointing for Karl Lowe to lead the players out of the tunnel for their final friendly match of the pre-season.

“If nothing else, this’ll give them all match practice,” Aaron admitted, watching as the two captains, Lowe and Chesterfield’s Scottish midfielder John Shand, made their way towards each other to complete the coin toss. Like everyone else in the stadium, the former Wycombe manager knew that a Portsmouth victory was a given – if anything, the only reason why Saltergate appeared to be totally full was so that the fans of the Derbyshire club could see the stars of the Premiership in action.

“Looks like we’ve won the toss here – again,” he added, pointing towards the middle of the Fratton Park pitch – the players of both sides had taken their places on the field of play with Jason Hughes and Markus Keim inside the centre circle, raring to get the game underway. In truth, the Chesterfield players all seemed to be awestruck by the fact that they were playing against such well recognised players in world football. As the referee for this evening, Jordan Simpson, blew his whistle to start the match, there was only one question imprinted on Daniel Knight’s mind:

How many goals would his team score?

[gavrenwick]

Hammer their arses and go home again viper.... and I AM talking about the football

[SCIAG]

This is so good, I think you should be...

Knighted.

I'll get my coat.

[viperk1]

gavrenwick - no problem.

SCIAG - you'll need more than your coat. Thanks for the compliments though

Tuesday 25th July 2006: Saltergate, Chesterfield

Friendly Match - Chesterfield v. Portsmouth

First Half

It was clear to see that the whistle had changed the mindset of the Chesterfield players – rather than the awestruck side that had walked out through the tunnel, the Spireites appeared to be keen to upstage their Premiership rivals and throw any kind of form book into the calm winds of Derbyshire. “At least it looks like it won’t seem like a training exercise,” Daniel muttered as he watched his team take the initiative and attempt to score first – but Chesterfield were resiliently repelling their attacks.

In truth, Portsmouth were certainly trying hard to break the deadlock – despite the statistics showing a lack of efforts on goal from the away side. Merely four minutes into the half, Patrick Dupuis managed to send Andrea D’Ambrosio on his way following a lovely pass that was sprayed wide by the gentlemanly French midfielder. The Chesterfield right-back, teenager Luke Johnson, was too far infield to deal with the Italian winger – so D’Ambrosio sprinted away from the youngster, before rushing to the left byline.

D’Ambrosio drilled in a cross towards the near post, where veteran Jason Hughes was dashing towards. However, the ball instead ricocheted off the head of Richard Mitchell – which prevented the former Canadian international from getting to the ball. The ball fell to Gary Acton, who inadvertently knocked the ball towards Portsmouth’s Zimbabwean winger, Irving Jensen, inside the penalty area. Jensen attempted to cross the ball in, but it was cleared away from the Chesterfield area by their veteran Dutch left winger, Youssef Schreurs. The League One side fully expected their Premiership opponents to go on the attack again.

However, they didn’t expect the pressure to be back upon them merely seconds later. Markus Keim, surprisingly, was the first man to reach the loose ball on the half way line – having run from the edge of the Chesterfield penalty area. As the German midfielder waited for support, he soon felt the presence of Acton behind him – and resultantly laid the ball back into his own half and into the possession of Pete Primus. The Zimbabwean centre-back spotted both Angel Mirchev and Jensen out wide on the right – and lumped the ball up the field in the hope that either player would be able to launch a quick attack.

Akin to D’Ambrosio’s situation on the opposite flank, the Chesterfield left-back, Irish teenager Bernard Browne, was too far infield to deal with Jensen as he picked up the ball. With nobody challenging him, Jensen calmly ran into the penalty area – before crossing the ball in towards Hughes. The ball fell at the Canadian striker’s feet, only for it to be put out of play by centre-back Joseph Beckett – who delivered a perfect last-ditch tackle to deny Hughes an opportunity to score.

“They’re certainly tough to break down – we’ve not tested their keeper yet,” Daniel muttered to himself, standing at the edge of his technical area as the Chesterfield players cleared the ball away from the penalty area once again – a third of the match had gone already, and his players had failed to test the Spireites keeper, Martyn Challinor, once. “Come on lads! You’ve got to get ahead of your markers!” the Portsmouth manager screamed from the touchline, knowing that only last-ditch tackles and blocked crosses had prevented the Blues from shooting from close range.

Only a minute later, Portsmouth were on the attack. Schreurs was caught in possession by Hughes, who had come deep to try and take the ball. The Canadian stole the ball from the Dutchman’s feet – before spraying it wide towards Jensen. Midway into the Chesterfield half, the Zimbabwean tried to cross the ball from deep – only for Schreurs to deflect the cross. Daniel grimaced slightly as the Chesterfield captain, John Shand, got his head to the ball ahead of Dupuis – but his mood changed for the better as he saw who picked up the loose ball on the edge of the box.

Jason Hughes was perfectly positioned to pick it up, take one touch to settle the ball, before laying it off to Andrea D’Ambrosio inside the penalty area – and it was obvious that the Italian was onside. In a moment of madness, the goalkeeper had come out of his area to try and intercept the initial loose ball – only to find that D’Ambrosio was level with him roughly ten yards out. The Italian winger guided the ball into what he thought was an empty net – only to find that Challinor had, somehow, gotten back to parry the ball into the path of Michael Bravo.

It certainly was a lucky escape of the Spireites – and the pressure was seemingly off for a moment or two.

However, Daniel was certainly a happier man now that his side had managed to put a shot on target – albeit a tame one. “Hit it a bit harder next time, Andrea!” he yelled towards his four million pound signing, giving a thumb up in appreciation of the effort shown. ‘We’re not under any massive pressure really – so I don’t think I’m going to be too worried by our profligacy today,’ Daniel thought as he watched the match unfurl before his eyes – profligacy wasn’t a problem against Chesterfield, but he knew that it sure as hell would be when they faced Chelsea next month.

The resilience of the home side began to show up once again, as both Browne and Beckett made last-ditch tackles to deny Hughes and Keim from shooting opportunities just before the half-way mark in the first half – before Mirchev delivered a dangerous shot from outside the area towards the Chesterfield goal in the twenty-sixth minute. However, the ball continued to rise – and it narrowly flew over the crossbar, much to the relief of Challinor. That ball had certainly stayed hit.

However, the Spireites continued to defend valiantly to try and hold on to the goalless draw – and subsequently, just after the half hour mark, Browne deflected a Jensen cross out for a corner. The Zimbabwean took the corner, and managed to deliver a pin-point pass towards Patrick Dupuis. The home side were statuesque as they merely watched the Frenchman powerfully head the ball into the top corner of the net. Or at least, he would’ve – had Challinor not parried the header away. The Chesterfield goal was a living a charmed life, in truth. ‘We surely can’t go into the break at nil-nil, can we?’ Daniel thought, shaking his head as the latest attack petered out to nothing – at least it was only a friendly.

On the other hand, conceding a goal was the last thing he wanted his side to do – so there were easily nerves in the away camp when Steven Nolan received the ball on the edge of the area thanks to a Schreurs cross. Thankfully, the pressure from Primus and Lowe took its toll on the striker – and the ball ended up somewhere in Row G of the Kop end of Saltergate. The Chesterfield fans were cheerful that their side had registered a shot on goal – though they felt that the hope they had wouldn’t last, and their Premiership opponents would score before half time.

They didn’t have too long to wait.

Following a foul by Irving Jensen, Bernard Browne attempted to deliver a free kick into the box that would find his team-mates in the blue jerseys – but instead, only managed to find a player in Portsmouth’s white away kit. Karl Lowe picked up the ball at the edge of the penalty area – before leathering it over the top to find Andrea D’Ambrosio. Once again, Luke Johnson hadn’t pre-empted the Italian’s movement – and D’Ambrosio was making another charge towards the home goal.

Akin to the move at the start of the match, the Italian winger took the ball to the left byline, before crossing it in. This time, however, Jason Hughes was able to get ahead of his centre-back, Mitchell – before sticking out his right boot to deflect the low drilled cross into Challinor’s goal! The away side had finally taken the lead! “About bleeding time!” Daniel yelled to his players, pointing at the watch upon his left arm – it had taken his Portsmouth side thirty-nine minutes to break down the durable Chesterfield defence.

The goal appeared to knock the stuffing out of the home fans – and Saltergate went quiet for the remaining minutes of the half. However, it was clear that Neil Thomas didn’t want to concede any more goals in the half – with Daniel noticing the Spireites being far more defensive in an attempt to keep the score line respectable.

“Decent half, don’t you think?” Aaron Caruso questioned as the referee finally brought an end to the half – Portsmouth had asserted their authority throughout the entire forty-five minutes.

“Maybe so – but we need to be breaking down sides like these much quicker in future,” Daniel responded, pointing to his watch again – he was certainly disappointed that his side hadn’t scored far earlier in the match.

Credit to Chesterfield where it was due, though – they hadn’t made things easy for Pompey.

[viperk1]

Tuesday 25th July 2006: Saltergate, Chesterfield

Friendly Match - Chesterfield v. Portsmouth

Second Half

“Decent stuff lads – though don’t let it get to your head. This may only be a friendly, but I want to see us prove that we can finish off a game,” Daniel admitted as he settled everyone down in the away dressing room – the fact of the matter was that, in his head, it was important to put in the effort for the full ninety minutes. After all, switching off would allow their opposition, whoever they were at the time, back into the match – and that was something that the Portsmouth manager wanted to avoid.

“Now, as usual, there will be wholesale changes – for one, you look absolutely out of it Giuseppe,” he continued, glancing towards the club’s new signing – whose faux hawk hair style had decided to wilt from the ridiculous amounts of sweat emanating from the German. “I want all of you to keep up the performance that was displayed in the first half – that includes all of you substitutes,” Daniel stated, writing down the team-sheet for the second half – there were far too many changes to warrant telling them to the squad:

Line-Up

GK: Michael Gibbons

DR: Samir Deghiche

DL: Moussa Bayiha

DC: Ariel Rizzi

DC: Andrea Baggio

MC: Russell Hindmarch

MC: Camille Rubach

AMR: © Zlatan

AML: Andrea D’Ambrosio

SC: Ovidiu Barbu

SC: Roy Champion

In truth, Daniel knew that was a massive risk to give the captaincy to Zlatan – though he had the faith that he would be able to lead from the front. Of course, it was only a friendly – but given that his normal captain, Karl Lowe, was starting to enter the final stages of his career, it wasn’t such a bad idea to use the final friendly to test out the waters. “Alright lads – out we go!” Daniel yelled, prompting a cheer from the entire squad – it seemed as if they were keen to get back out on the Saltergate pitch.

Daniel wasn’t entirely sure who would have the upper hand at the start of the second half, given the wholesale changes made to his side – though admittedly, the Spireites weren’t without their own changes. Neil Thomas had taken off Johnson, Bravo, Acton and Nolan – with Andrew Leach, Liam Quinn, Jamie Borg and James McManus coming on in their place.

If the dominance of his side in the first half hadn’t told Daniel that Chesterfield were nowhere near as good as the teams that Portsmouth would play in the league week-in, week-out, the ease in which Moussa Bayiha managed to dispossess Chesterfield forward Ben Sullivan certainly did. The Cameroonian managed to force the young striker off the ball easily – before delivering an inch perfect pass to Roy Champion. The Geordie striker allowed the ball to go between his legs before taking possession of the ball – by which time, he had already scythed past Mitchell like a hot knife through butter.

With Ovidiu Barbu in front of him, it would’ve been much simpler for Champion to prod the ball forward to the Romanian – but instead, the striker decided to fire a shot from over thirty yards away from Challinor’s goal. Surprisingly, the shot was struck with true pace and power – and was merely inches above the Chesterfield goal. “Damn!” he muttered, shaking his head – whilst the odds of him actually scoring were minimal, Champion was still disappointed at not testing the keeper.

However, it wasn’t far too long before Pompey got yet another chance to finish off their League One opponents. A long pass from Schreurs attempted to find Borg on the right wing – only for it to be intercepted by, once again, by Moussa Bayiha. Again, the Cameroonian lumped the ball up the field – and found Ovidiu Barbu free of the defensive line. Schreurs was screaming at the linesman that the Romanian was offside – but it was clear that the Dutchman had been keeping the striker onside.

Challinor, now that he was one-on-one with Barbu, rushed out in an attempt to reduce the angle. However, the Romanian merely skipped past the goalkeeper – before slotting into an empty net for Portsmouth’s second of the night! “Excellent!” Daniel yelled from the touchline, thoroughly pleased that his side had scored once again – despite the general fear regarding a two-nil score line, it was blatantly clear that the momentum of the match was with the away side.

In truth, it had been that way since the start of the match.

Having conceded another goal, Chesterfield made a few more changes – the less than impressive duo of Browne and Sullivan were replaced by Ryan Dolby and Nathan Reed. Naturally, it wasn’t going to make too much of a difference to proceedings – otherwise both players would’ve started the match. ‘There’s at least another goal in this match – we’re far too dominant to settle for two goals,’ Daniel thought to himself, watching as Barbu and Champion momentarily congratulated each other – before heading back to their positions.

The pressure continued to be applied upon the Chesterfield goal for the next ten minutes –and it was clear that despite their valiant efforts to hold onto the two goal deficit, one of the Spireites would soon make a mistake. In the sixty-fifth minute, Dolby put the ball out for a Portsmouth throw-in in line with the penalty spot on the left. Bayiha attempted to launch one into the box towards the Portsmouth captain, Zlatan, only for it to be cleared out of the box by the Spireites captain, Shand. Camille Rubach was the first one to take possession of the loose ball – and attempted to deliver a through ball toward Barbu.

Instead, the ball deflected off Beckett and into the path of Bayiha once again – who subsequently passed the ball back to the Congolese midfielder. Unperturbed by his initial attempt, Rubach struck a perfect through ball towards his Romanian team-mate, who was free of both centre-backs. Barbu took an extra touch to try and settle the ball down – which gave Richard Mitchell the chance to slide in an attempt to put the ball out of play. However, much to the chagrin of the Chesterfield manager, the sliding tackle was from a poor angle – and as such, the ball slid straight past Challinor, struck the post, and rolled into the back of the net for an own goal!

“Well, I was right,” Daniel smirked, watching Chesterfield’s young keeper pick the ball out of the back of the net for the third time tonight – admittedly, it was rather harsh for both Mitchell and Challinor to be put to the sword so harshly by his players. ‘I’m sure Neil expected this when he offered out this friendly,’ he thought, glancing over towards his opposite number – who unusually, didn’t seem to be entirely troubled by the three goal lead Portsmouth held over his side. Once again, he brought on yet another substitute following the goal – with Beckett coming off for Keith Bradbury.

Admittedly, that wasn’t entirely the case with Daniel – he was slightly miffed by Champion ballooning the ball over the bar ten yards from goal with his right foot merely four minutes later. “It was much easier to score that one...” Daniel muttered to himself on the touchline, knowing that he had scored a similar goal in his own career. “Keep going lads! I want a fourth!” he yelled to his players, pointing towards his right – in the general direction of the Chesterfield goal.

However, it was clear that his own players had decided to settle for the respectable score line that was showing up on the board – not that they hadn’t given up shooting on goal whenever they felt like. “Come on Roy! That’s the third time you’ve done that this half!” Daniel yelled to the English striker, after he had once again fired a shot over the Chesterfield bar. Challinor was visibly relieved in the Spireites goal – at least he wasn’t being tested quite so much anymore.

In truth, Portsmouth didn’t have it entirely their own way – with Chesterfield applying a light bit of pressure upon the away goal with a multitude of corner kicks that were deflected behind by the first man. “Get us a goal!” Neil yelled, pointing at his watch – after all, there were only three minutes left in the match. However, Baggio merely headed the ball away from the Portsmouth goal – it all seemed far too easy to the Italian defender.

Much to the irritation of Neil Thomas, the match petered out to a standstill – but he still congratulated Daniel on a job well done as the full time whistle went off. “Good match, young lad – I hope you stuff Chelsea in your first match,” he admitted, reminding the Portsmouth manager of the baptism of fire that he was going to encounter at Fratton Park in the middle of August.

“Good luck to you too,” Daniel responded, giving the older manager a thorough handshake as they both made their way towards the dressing rooms. It had been a brilliant pre-season for Portsmouth, in truth – no goals conceded and twenty seven goals scored.

‘Bring on Chelsea.’

Final Score

Chesterfield 0 – 3 Portsmouth

- ; Hughes (39), Barbu (55), Mitchell own goal (65)

A: 8925 - Saltergate, Chesterfield

MoM: Andrea D’Ambrosio (Portsmouth)

[viperk1]

Apologies for the long delay.

Tuesday 25th July 2006: Police Station, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth

“Come on! How hard is it for you to get off your backside and get me some food?” Paul yelled from his cell, striking his hand against the door in anger – the officers had neglected to feed him since the courts had neglected to grant him bail. The Exonian couldn’t help but feel that PC James Mitchell was keen to see him suffer purely because of his choice to be a footballer. “Look! It’s not hard to feed a guy, is it?” he yelled, clutching his stomach as it rumbled uncontrollably – as it normally would given the lack of food within it.

“Relax, already!” a voice yelled from outside of the cell, prompting a surprised glare from Paul – after all, he had expected someone to yell at him to shut up. Shaking his head in disbelief, he decided to return to his seat in the police cell – there wasn’t much else for him to do, in truth. “I’ve brought some food for you,” the voice muttered as the cell door creaked open – to reveal PC Max Johnson, who had a McDonalds bag in his right hand.

“Is that seriously for me?” Paul asked, staring at the bag from the fast food outlet in an enamoured fashion – it was almost as if he had never seen food before. Admittedly, he hadn’t – but that wasn’t the point. As PC Johnson nodded, the Exonian rushed towards him, grasping the bag in between his hands – before turning back to feast upon the first meal he had been given for almost a week. “Thank you so much,” he muttered, nodding his head in approval towards the officer.

“Hardly a problem to me, Mr. Spooner – though had my colleague had his way, you’d have been starving for at least another week,” PC Johnson admitted, taking a quick glance outside of Paul’s cell – he didn’t want PC Mitchell to hear what he was saying to the suspect. “Keep in mind that PC Mitchell has nothing against you, Mr. Spooner,” he continued, slamming the cell door shut – somehow the police officer felt that the Exonian footballer was of no danger to him.

“You must be kidding me, right? You heard what he said to me a few days ago,” Paul responded nonchalantly, continuing to feed upon the meal that the police officer had delivered to him moments ago – it was a meal that he would savour. After all, PC Mitchell would probably not let him have another one like it. “That man would take great pleasure in seeing me behind bars – you know that,” he added, pretending to slam shut an imaginary cell door in an attempt to clarify his point – just in case PC Johnson didn’t understand him.

“Not for the reasons that you’re thinking,” PC Johnson admitted, picking up the rubbish that Paul had decided to leave upon the cell room floor – Max knew that there would only be trouble from his colleague if he found remnants of food in the vicinity of the suspect. “Contrary to what you may believe, Ben Mitchell is a football fan,” he stated, prompting Paul to accidently drop the burger that he had been feeding upon in surprise – before hurriedly picking it up again.

“Are you high on something, bud? That ungracious son of a b**** could never possibly be a football fan,” Paul responded, drinking a large amount of the Diet Coke that came with the meal. His mouth had gone horribly dry with the thought of PC Mitchell being a football fan – or it was because there was far too much dust on the prison cell floor. “Either that, or he supports Southampton,” he added, reminding himself of the rivalry between Portsmouth and Southampton – though that rivalry hadn’t been tested for quite some time, given the difference in divisions between the two sides.

“Not quite – he was a youth team striker at your club about fifteen or sixteen years back,” Max replied, watching as Paul’s expression changed from cynicism to bewilderment. A few inches wider, and the Exonian’s mouth would’ve been wide enough for a bus to go through – followed by a heavy goods lorry. Naturally, it made the officer chuckle for a moment – before remembering just why he had gone down this train of thought. “In about 1992, the manager at the time placed him and another youth striker up front in the FA Cup – and whoever performed the best throughout the competition would be brought up into the first team,” he admitted, pausing momentarily to draw breath – it was a relatively long story and staying alive was more important than finishing the explanation in five seconds flat.

“The other player was deemed not to be good enough for first team football – and had his contract terminated by the club,” PC Johnson continued, wondering whether Paul would be able to figure out just why his colleague was treating the Exonian like dog faeces. “It just so happened that the other striker was the now-Pompey legend Daniel Knight, your boss,” the officer stated, reminding himself of what he saw the then Portsmouth youngster do whilst watching his home-town club at Anfield and Ayresome Park that season – they truly were stunning performances.

“Of course, that meant that Ben was kicked out of the club,” he admitted, shaking his head in disgust – Max had thought that his colleague would’ve made it big at Portsmouth had he been given a better opportunity. “PC Mitchell told me all this when he joined the force – and promised that he’d gain vengeance on the club that spurned his talents,” PC Johnson admitted, taking away the McDonalds bag away from Paul – it was clear that the Exonian was finished with his meal.

“Which makes me think that your mate has made up evidence, bud – since I know damn well that I was nowhere near Jenny’s house that night,” Paul admitted in response, reminding himself of the ‘evidence’ that the prosecution had unveiled during the first part of the trial yesterday. “Tell me – is this some kind of show trial just to give Mitchell some kind of kick?” the left-back questioned, realising that the vengeance that PC Mitchell was seeking could’ve easily been the cause of the trial that he was having go through.

“I am not at liberty to answer that question, Mr. Spooner – we will find out the truth once the DNA tests are completed,” PC Johnson replied, opening the cell door as he spoke – now that the suspect was fed properly, there wasn’t much point in sticking around to chat. “Good day to you,” he finished, as he locked the cell door – before briskly walking away from the cell.

“Good day to you too,” a disgruntled Paul responded, lying down upon the cell floor – there wasn’t much point in sitting down on the seat anymore. It would only make him even more uncomfortable.

“The truth will come out...I know of that.”

End Chapter 7

[minisav]

Cracking end to the chapter

[viperk1]

Entombed - Welcome on board! I hope you didn't read it all at once (that would kill even me )

minisav - good to know you like it.

Chapter 8

Theories and Truths

Wednesday 26th July 2006: Fratton Park (Financial Department), Portsmouth

“Mr. Hall, you must explain to me why neither of your clients are willing to discuss new contracts with the club,” Andrew requested, knowing full well that both players concerned were going to be key to the plans of his boss in the near future – he didn’t want to have to tell Daniel that he was going to be losing two of his best players at the end of the season. “Their contracts run out at the end of the season, Mr. Hall,” he added, reminding him that both players would end up leaving the club in July 2007 if a contract extension was not negotiated.

“Mason – do you honestly think I’m some kind of kid who can be bullied into giving you answers?” Wilson Hall muttered, tapping his fingers down upon the table in boredom. It was blatantly obvious that he didn’t want to be here – a nice cup of ice tea and a plate of ham sandwiches were the things that the Irish agent craved right about now. “We are at cross purposes, you and I, Mason – what you want for this club and what I want for my clients are two very different things,” he stated, giving off a slight yawn afterwards.

“That may be so – but you are their agent, and I must come to you as the first port of call in regards to contract matters,” Andrew responded angrily, realising that these matters were only going to travel in circles so long as Wilson refused to deliver him the information that he required. “If you’re that way inclined, call your players here – and I will get what I seek from the horse’s mouth, so to speak,” the negotiator ordered, slamming his hand down upon the negotiation table – he wanted the information and he wanted it yesterday.

“If you insist, Mason,” Wilson admitted, shooting the negotiator a resentful glance as he plucked his mobile phone from his shirt pocket – he certainly didn’t appreciate being ordered around. “I have made the calls – I hope you are happy now, Mason. I know your Knight will not appreciate this – and he will leave the Round Table to voice his displeasure,” the agent muttered, placing the phone back into his pocket as he spoke – before returning his fingers to the table they once rested upon, tapping them again in irritation.

“My Knight? Round Table? Look, get out of the twelfth century and stop speaking in riddles before you drive me insane,” Andrew stated, ignoring the glares of the agent at the opposite side of the table. There wasn’t much point trying to reason with Wilson any more – it was clear that he would have to wait for the two players to inform him why they didn’t want to remain at Portsmouth beyond June 2007. However, he wasn’t going to let him leave – despite his intentions to get up off his seat and walk out of the door. “No. You’re going to stay right here,” the negotiator order, pointing his finger back towards the seat Wilson had just departed. He didn’t want to take the flak for this predicament.

In truth, it maybe wasn’t one of Andrew’s better ideas – as he had somewhat forgotten about what Wilson Hall had been doing whilst speaking to him. ‘Come on you two – there is only so much tapping of the fingers that I can take!’ the negotiator thought to himself, staring at the door as he tried to drown out the frequent noises that emanated from the agent’s fingertips. “How long has it been since you made that call?” Andrew asked, glancing back towards Wilson – if he had to be alone in this room with this agent for any longer, he’d be arrested for murder.

“Long enough – they should be here within a matter of moments,” Wilson responded, noticeably continuing to tap his fingers upon the table – at least it appeared to be some kind of action he always did when bored, rather than a effort to psyche out the negotiator. Just as the agent decided to finally stop the inane tapping, the door opened to reveal Daniel Knight – who didn’t seem impressed. “I knew it, Mason! The Knight leaves the Round Table to join us peasants in the muck!” the agent smirked, watching as his clients followed the Portsmouth manager through the door – Michael Gibbons and, most importantly, Karl Lowe.

“If you’re trying to insult me, you’re doing a very bad job,” Daniel muttered in response, glaring at the agent with contempt – it was clear to him that the reason behind Gibbons and Lowe being here, and not at a training session, was staring him in the face. “Can anyone here tell me what is going on? Because none of you are leaving until I find out,” he stated, noticing that the agent was starting to edge towards the door. Naturally, Daniel did the only plausible action – he shut the door.

It seemed that Wilson was very keen to leave – and it was less likely for him to give Daniel the information he wanted as it was for Barry Chuckle to be knighted in the next three years. Since the two players in the room seemed rather disinterested, Andrew decided to provide his boss with the answers he sought after. “Both Karl and Michael have one year left on their contracts – and their agent here, Wilson Hall, says that neither of them will sign new deals,” the negotiator admitted, watching as both England veterans dropped their heads slightly in dismay.

However, the older of the veterans decided to take up where Andrew had left off as the negotiator paused for breath. “My agent called me here to tell Mr. Mason why we are reluctant to sign new deals,” Michael Gibbons admitted, watching as Daniel turned his attention towards him – before the manager nodded his head in understanding. “I’m getting on a bit, Mr. Mason. I have nothing against the club, but I just want to know that the club is performing to my expectations before I discuss a new deal,” the veteran England international added, knowing that he wanted to prolong his top-flight career for as long as possible.

“I can understand where you’re coming from there, Michael – you can head back,” Daniel replied, remembering that, until the death of his sister, all he wanted to do was to have a long and successful career in the top two divisions of English football. “You,” he stated, staring at Wilson Hall with another disapproving look, “can clear off,” pointing at the door that the veteran goalkeeper had left ajar – before turning to face his club captain. “This is about what Ricky said to you at the party, isn’t it?” he questioned, offering Karl the spare seat that Wilson had vacated.

“It is,” Karl admitted, nodding his head sullenly as he spoke. “This club has treated me so well over the few years – I can’t argue with that,” the Portsmouth skipper stated, taking the proffered seat – before watching Daniel pull a third seat up to the table. “I just feel like I’ve been held back at Portsmouth since we got promoted – relegation battles weren’t exactly what I had in mind,” he dejectedly stated, knowing that most English internationals showed off their talents at the top clubs – and generally in European competitions.

“Surely the fact that you are facing teams like Manchester United and Newcastle United is good enough?” Daniel responded, shaking his head at how silly the words of his ex-team-mate sounded – as he already had a feeling that he knew why Karl wanted out. Despite his initial loyalty to Portsmouth, the club captain wanted more money. “Anyway, think about what you want from your football career – we’ll talk about this again at a later date, ok?” he stated, shaking the hand of his friend – before leading him out and back to the training pitches.

‘Paul Spooner had better get acquitted – or I’m going to be in a really ****** mood.’

[tenthreeleader]

Well done, Mr. Viper. Great to have you back posting Knight!

[viperk1]

tenthreeleader - good to be back

Thursday 27th July 2006: Fratton Park (Managers Office), Portsmouth

“Hey Danny – you might want to come look at this fax,” Adelaide bemusedly stated, glancing towards her boss as he came through the office door to start another day. ‘He looks out of it,’ she noted, watching as the young manager slumped down in his chair – completely ignoring her in the process. “Hey! Planet Earth to Daniel Knight – wake up!” the secretary yelled, flapping the sheets of paper into his face in an attempt to awaken her boss from his slumber.

“Hm?” Daniel mumbled, trying in vain to prop his eyes open with his fingers – before feeling the full force of the breeze created by the faxes Adelaide held within her hand. “Sorry, Adelaide – I spent all night listening to Paul Spooner tell me what happened in the trial,” he admitted, making a mental note to do things much earlier in the day in future – right now, he felt like death warmed up. “Now, what did you say?” the manager questioned – he hadn’t caught a word of what his secretary had said.

“Never mind what I said for a moment,” Adelaide responded, seating herself down upon the edge of the table that was nearest to Daniel – before placing the fax down as far away from her boss as possible. “I wasn’t able to get to the trial either. What happened?” the secretary questioned, flicking away the loose strands of long black hair that had blocked her vision – before gazing into her boss’s blue eyes. ‘He is pretty handsome – but he is my boss,’ she thought to herself, realising that the only plausible relationship between them would be of a professional nature.

Thankfully, Daniel was too weary to notice the look of admiration from his secretary – and merely answered the question that was asked. “Not too much – the only points of note were that, in Paul’s eyes, the victim lied pretty badly and the prosecution hadn’t done DNA testing on the ‘sample’,” he admitted, taking hold of the pieces of paper that Adelaide had placed upon the table – if only to use them as a makeshift fan. “They reckon that the tests will be done by the end of the month,” Daniel added, fanning himself with the sheets of paper in an attempt to cool himself down – it was a very warm summer’s day.

“I guess that means Paul will be back in time for the season opener?” Adelaide wondered, prompting a nod from her boss – it appeared as if the prosecution were either very stupid, hiding something, or both. “Anyway, you wouldn’t mind checking that fax, would you? There seems to be a mistake – surely contracts negotiations are intended to make players stay longer?” she questioned, staring bemusedly at the faxes – she had been the club’s secretary for three years, but there were still some things she didn’t understand.

“It depends on the player, really,” Daniel admitted, glancing down at the fax. The negotiators had managed to get three players to sign one year deals – all of which, surprisingly, resulted in them earning at least three thousand pounds less than before. Matt Dixon, Richard de Graaf and John Holmes were never going to make it into the first team whilst he was manager – so Daniel couldn’t help but feel that his negotiators had pulled a masterstroke. “At least they’re only getting reserve team football for a year,” he smirked, handing the fax back to his secretary.

“I guess it’s a good thing then?” Adelaide asked, glancing down at the fax on her lap – before watching as her boss gave a quick nod. Moments later, he was asleep on his desk – prompting a small chuckle from the secretary. “You’re dead off your feet, aren’t you?” she affectionately muttered, gently ruffling Daniel’s hair as he sat prone upon his chair – before chuckling once again. ‘I’ll let him sleep,’ the secretary thought, making her way back towards her reception area – only to hear the telephone upon Daniel’s desk ringing out.

“Typical...” grunted Daniel, bemoaning his poor luck as he dragged the receiver to his ear – all he wanted was some sleep! “Don’t worry, Adelaide – I’ll answer it,” he muttered, waiting for the footsteps to quieten in volume before he answered the phone – as for some reason, everything seemed to be slightly louder than it should be. Daniel could only blame it on his own fatigue. “Hello, Daniel Knight speaking,” he grunted into the receiver, attempting to actually speak to the person on the other line – despite his body being far more keen to find a piece of carpet to sleep on.

“It’s Andy, Danny...blimey, you sound rough,” the receiver stated, prompting Daniel to wonder just who ‘Andy’ was – before realising that the club’s chief negotiator, Andrew Mason, was the person calling. In truth, Andrew’s demeanour across the phone line was just as sullen as Daniel’s. “I’m passing on a message from the financial boys,” he admitted, “Boca Juniors have told us to get stuffed. They’re not happy with a bid of five million over two years.”

That certainly surprised the Portsmouth manager – after all, he had heard nothing from Boca since they stated that they were stalling on making a decision for a bid of £4.4M for the Argentine holding midfielder. Thankfully, Andrew decided to clarify matters for him. “The financial boys were getting ****ed off, to be honest – they’re unhappy that you’re asking them to buy players willy-nilly, without any thought to the transfer budget,” he admitted, taking on a more vengeful tone to his voice – the negotiator clearly wanted his boss to take this seriously.

“Contrary to what those hacks think, I have been looking at the transfer budget – and I was hoping to add to it by selling the no-hopers like Holmes to other clubs,” Daniel grunted in response, raising his head in an attempt to find the latest accounts in the open drawer – the one that the financial department sent him following Giuseppe Meinhardt’s arrival at the club. According to the accounts, the club’s balance was approximately £13.5M – with £6.9M left to spend on players. “Besides, all this expenditure will be worth it when it comes to on-pitch results,” he groggily added, placing the accounts back into the drawer – as his head drooped back down upon the table.

“You know as well as I do that they don’t care about on-pitch results – they want as much profit as possible as quickly as can be. You’re ruining that hope for them with your spending,” Andrew replied, noticeably with a sarcastic tone to his voice. To be honest, he couldn’t care less how much spending Daniel did for the club – just so long as the prize money at the end of the season covered the costs. “Put simply enough, I think they want you to find cheaper targets,” he admitted, before allowing Daniel to hear the dulcet tones that signalled that the negotiator had hung up.

“At least say goodbye then,” Daniel groaned, placing the telephone receiver back upon its holder – as much as he wanted to get back to sleep, there was far too much work for him to do. ‘Time to get those scouts to work – it’s what I pay them for, after all,’ he thought, flicking out his mobile to make calls to his scouts. Or at least, he would have, had Adelaide not plucked the electronic device out of his hands. “I need to make some more calls!” he groaned, trying desperate to take his mobile back from her.

However, the secretary persisted with keeping hold of it – by dropping it into an area that no man would ever dare venture into without explicit permission. “No dice, Danny – you’re far too tired to do anything, so I’m taking you home,” Adelaide stated, offering her hand to the weary manager – there was no way that she was going to let Daniel do anything for today. It almost seemed as if the Portsmouth manager was on the verge of struggling to stand! “You can tell me what you need doing on the way to your car,” she added, opening up her free hand – she clearly wanted the keys.

In truth, Daniel wasn’t going to argue with such a stubborn lady. “Here,” he tiredly muttered, handing over the keys – there was no way that he was going to drive in his state. “I need the scouts to find me a new holding midfielder and a left-back,” Daniel admitted, taking the proffered hand from his secretary – before noticing the confused expression upon Adelaide’s face. “We can’t be too cautious and besides, Paul can play as a left winger – he told me himself,” he stated, knowing that it wasn’t a given that Paul Spooner would be found innocent.

“I’ll do those things when I get back here,” Adelaide responded, making a mental note in her head so as to not forget what she had just heard.

“If that’s all you have to say, then,” she added, “let’s get you home, sleepyhead.”

[viperk1]

Friday 28th July 2006: Wellington Sports Ground, Eastleigh

“What did you and Adelaide do at your place? I know that she took you home,” Aaron smirked, remembering the call that he received from the fiery secretary during training yesterday. “You did the deed with her, didn’t you? You wily fox you, sleeping with your secretary!” he grinned, jokily elbowing his superior in the ribs – the assistant manager knew that the relationship between Daniel and Adelaide had improved in leaps and bounds. For one, he had stopped receiving phone calls that were meant to be received by Knight.

“Keep dreaming that, Aaron – I was too tired to do anything yesterday,” Daniel responded, pushing his assistant away in return for the ribbing he had just received. There wasn’t much point in trying to deny Adelaide’s presence within his home, though – that definitely happened. “I merely thanked her for bringing me home – then she gave me back my phone and my car keys. Five minutes later, I was conked out on the couch,” he smirked, before following Aaron through the door to the indoor section of the training ground – only to find that his assistant was now holding several pieces of freshly printed paper.

“Looks like Kozlov actually listened,” Aaron muttered, handing the pieces of A4 paper to a very bemused Portsmouth manager. “I asked the chairman to install a fax machine in the training centre – it means you don’t have to go to Fratton Park to pick up the faxes anymore,” the assistant admitted, watching as his boss merely nodded in response. “You must be disappointed, now that I think about it – you and Adelaide won’t be able to continue your love interest, now that you’ll be so far apart,” he sarcastically added, inevitably receiving a punch to the shoulder for his actions.

Thankfully, the Portsmouth manager decided to make light of his assistant’s comments as a light joke – and made no further quarrel about the matter. “It saves on fuel at least – thanks, Aaron,” he stated, glancing towards the new fax machine – it certainly was a useful asset to have in the building. ‘Though I guess it is a bit of a shame not to have to see Adelaide again. She has really helped me since the start of the month,’ Daniel thought, reminding himself of the fact that it was Adelaide who pointed out the availability of Patrick Dupuis to him – and lo and behold, the Frenchman was now a part of the Portsmouth setup.

However, right now, the important matters were enclosed within the two sheets of paper that Aaron had handed him. The first fax was from a surprising source – the Premiership HQ. As Newcastle United had won their Inter-Toto Cup tie against Grasshopper 3 – 2 on aggregate, they had been entered into the UEFA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round. ‘They’re gonna be jet-lagged as hell,’ Daniel smirked, after taking note of the Toon’s opposition – Prva HNL side HNK Rijeka.

‘Why are they sending me notes on Newcastle’s next European fixtures?’ Daniel pondered, before reading further down the piece of paper – where the reason finally became clear. It was apparent that Portsmouth’s home fixture against the Toon would’ve taken place a mere two days after Newcastle travelled to Croatia for the 2nd leg of the European tie. As such, the Premiership fixture had been moved back to the Sunday to accommodate the Magpies’ UEFA Cup adventure. ‘Any extra time to prepare for their visit to Fratton Park is well received,’ the Portsmouth manager thought to himself, flicking over to the other fax.

This fax was yet another loan offer for Emmanuel. However, this time, it was from Eredivisie mid-tablers Vitesse Arnhem – who were keen to have the Nigerian youngster as a valuable member of the first team. ‘I guess that means I need to make a call there,’ Daniel thought, before spotting a piece of writing at the bottom of the fax. It was clear that Adelaide had initially received this fax and forwarded it – after all, it was her hand-writing at the bottom of the sheet:

Danny

I’ve already accepted this loan deal on your behalf – I assumed that you would allow Emmanuel to leave on loan to clubs that provided first team football?

Love

Adelaide xxx

“Go and find Emmanuel, would you? He’s heading to Holland,” Daniel muttered, handing the fax over to his assistant. Not informing a player about his immediate future was like eating pudding and custard with fingers as utensils – very messy. ‘She has me read like a book,’ he smirked to himself, giving a quick glance towards the hand-writing – nobody could ever predict his response to certain situations. Apart from his father – though he had an excuse.

However, Daniel was interrupted in his thoughts by his assistant – who had neglected to follow his instructions. Instead, Aaron was perusing the bottom of the fax, for it seemed that the fact that Adelaide had written on it was keeping him occupied. “She really likes you,” Aaron smirked, pointing out the three ‘kisses’ left at the bottom of the piece of paper. “I’m no expert, but to me, more than two kisses is an indication of infatuation,” he stated, receiving yet another punch to the shoulder in response.

“You really need to stop reading into these things – there is nothing going on between me and Adelaide,” Daniel responded, shaking his head in dismay – he expected a more professional attitude from his assistant regarding this issue. “Don’t be spreading around any false rumours, you hear?” he yelled, allowing the warm summer breeze to lash against his face as he watched his assistant head towards the reserve team players. “Thanks, Adelaide – you’ve given me more trouble than you thought,” he quietly muttered to himself, glancing in the general direction of Fratton Park with a smile upon his face.

“Just be glad at one thing, Danny,” a voice stated in a Scottish accent – prompting Daniel to glance towards it. Thankfully, it was only Gavin Low, his first team coach. “Be glad that Paul Spooner isn’t around to hear all this – I’d bet that if he did, the story would be around this place quicker than you can say ‘Portsmouth Football Club’,” the Scotsman smirked, making his way back towards the training pitch – he knew how much of a gossip that their jail-stricken left-back was.

Give him an inch and he’ll run a mile, as they say.

[viperk1]

Saturday 29th July 2006: Caffé Nero, Fareham

“Hello Mr. Knight – how can I help you?”

“First of all, Jennifer Lennie, tell me how you can have the nerve to work back here after doing what you’ve done to Paul,” Daniel muttered, angrily staring at the waitress as he walked through the door. Whilst Paul had seemingly forgiven his ex-girlfriend for the torment that she was inflicting upon him to this very day, Daniel wasn’t quite so tolerant. “You’re willing to see a man go down because you won’t forgive him for not giving you money?” he questioned, his tone becoming less placid with every passing second – after all, Paul had done only the things that he had just told the ‘victim’.

“And there was me thinking you had a brain,” Jennifer murmured in response, not once looking into the eyes of her accuser – she didn’t feel that there was any reason for her to properly discuss the matter with someone who was uninvolved in them. “I’ll say this once – so listen and listen well,” she scornfully stated, finally deciding to glare at Daniel as she spoke, “Paul Spooner raped me that night, and he knows it. He may continue to feed you those lies – but I don’t want to hear them.”

“Now, can I get you anything?”

“A standard Espresso,” Daniel gently replied, seemingly too surprised with the sudden change of tone in Jennifer’s voice to retaliate. “Keep the change,” he added, pushing a five pound note onto the table – before, without another word being spoken, taking a seat as far away from the counter as possible. ‘They say if you tell a lie so many times, it becomes truth in your eyes – maybe that is what is happening to Jennifer,’ he thought, staring out of the nearest window. Given that the shop was in the middle of the Market Quay Shopping Centre, there wasn’t much to look at – but it was much better than staring at a person who turned Paul Spooner’s life into a living hell.

As always, the place was pretty quiet – but even then, Daniel failed to notice the footsteps of a man standing next to one of the spare seats at his table. “Mind if I take this seat?” the man questioned with a very distinctive Irish accent, prompting the Portsmouth manager to break out of his self-induced daze. Admittedly, Daniel couldn’t help but feel surprised that this stranger would choose to sit with him – given that every other table in the building was empty. However, he decided to nod in affirmation – what harm could it be? “Thank you,” he muttered, taking the seat nearest to him.

“You’re Daniel Knight, aren’t you? The Portsmouth manager,” he asked, glancing back towards the waitress that was preparing the drinks for the pair of them as he spoke – it was crystal clear as to what he thought of the young woman at the counter. “I’m Jonathon Hunt – call me Jon,” the stranger stated, offering a handshake to Daniel – which the Portsmouth manager dutifully accepted. “You’d do her, wouldn’t you – what a hottie!” Jon whispered, eyeing up the girl once again – before turning back as she glanced over in his general direction.

“Pfft, not likely,” Daniel muttered, realising just who Jon was talking about. Given the harsh words he had just shared with her (and the small fact that Jennifer was probably at least ten years his junior), she would say no – even if he and she were the last two human beings left on the face of the earth. “One of my players has gone out with her – it didn’t end well,” he whispered to his new acquaintance, trying desperately to look anywhere except at Jennifer – given the choice, he never wanted to speak to that deceiving bitch ever again.

That didn’t deter Jon from trying to convince him otherwise, however. “Who cares? I couldn’t give a crap whether they hate me, just as long as they give me and my little friend a good time before they ditch me,” he grinned, pointing towards his chest – before pointing down to a part of his anatomy that was underneath the table. “Anyway, who dated her? I want to ask him for tips on how to show that lady a good time,” Jon questioned, smirking ever so slightly – before giving Jennifer another fleeting look of passion.

“Right now, showing that lady a good time is the last thing on Paul Spooner’s mind,” Daniel angrily whispered in reply, noticeably falling silent moments later – so that he could ignore the Caffé Nero waitress properly whilst she delivered the espresso’s to him and Jon. “She has tried to get Paul put in jail, because he wouldn’t give her money,” he quietly admitted, watching as Jennifer began to seductively sway her hips as she made her way back to the counter. ‘That little act must be what Paul fell for in the first place,’ Daniel thought, turning his head away from the waitress – despite her obvious intentions to lead men astray.

“I remember reading something about a football player being put on trial – that was because of her, huh?” Jon whispered, his Irish accent becoming somewhat muted as he spoke – finally, the Irish stranger appeared to realise why Daniel was speaking in hushed tones. “Oh well – she must be a feisty one then,” he smirked, glancing back towards the counter – only to notice that the waitress was staring straight at him. She gave him a charmingly seductive wink – before returning to her own business.

“Given that I barely know you, I don’t care what you do,” Daniel admitted, drinking his espresso as quickly as possible – in an attempt to get out of there as quickly as possible. If Jonathon was going to try anything with Jennifer, he wanted out – fast. “However, you have been warned – don’t blame me if you end up in jail within the next three weeks,” he softly muttered, hoping that the advice would take effect – even though the Irish stranger in front of him was acting some kind of sexual predator, nobody deserved to go through what Paul was going through right now.

However, it was clear that he wasn’t taking much notice of the warning – and merely offered another handshake. It was obvious that he had figured out Daniel’s intentions to leave the Caffé Nero – the fact that the Portsmouth manager had thrown his coffee cup into the bin said that much. “Relax, Daniel – once they start with me, girls don’t know when to stop,” Jonathon smirked in response, “I wish you and Portsmouth FC well in the future – farewell.”

“Farewell,” Daniel muttered, accepting the proffered handshake – before briskly walking towards the shop door.

‘For my sake, I hope we never meet again, Mr. Hunt.’

[viperk1]

Sunday 30th July 2006: Wellington Sports Ground, Eastleigh

“You’re not serious, are you Danny? You’re giving me this number for the season?” Karl Lowe questioned, pondering the unusual choice of number that the club captain would be playing under – especially since it was normally the main number for the goalkeeper. Naturally, he wasn’t going to complain too much – leading the players out with ‘Lowe 1’ upon his back was an honour and a privilege.

“I am giving you that number, Karl,” Daniel responded, noticeably smiling as he gave his former team-mate the new jersey for the season. “If you do decide that Portsmouth is not the right place for you, I merely wanted you to know that you are – and always will be – this clubs number one,” he graciously stated, nodding his head in approval – in truth, the Portsmouth manager had decided upon this course of action long before the troubles with Karl’s contract. Barring injury, Karl’s name would be the first on the team-sheet – hence the number.

“That means a lot to me, Danny – thank you,” Karl stated in reply, noticeably pulling his boss into a friendly hug – it was clear that the Portsmouth skipper was more than thankful of the appreciation that boss was showing towards him and his abilities on a football pitch. “Now, could you do me a favour? Find out what Patrick’s talking about,” the club captain requested, pointing over at the respectful French midfielder – who was muttering to himself in his native tongue. His new Portsmouth jersey, with ‘Dupuis 6’ on the back, was tied around his mid-riff and in his hands, he held a mobile phone.

“Pourquoi M. Yohan envoie-t-il ce rapport?” the Frenchman muttered, completely unaware of Daniel’s presence behind him – that was, until he noticed his manager’s reflection upon the mobile phone screen. “It’s rude to read over people’s shoulders, Mr. Daniel,” Patrick admitted, glancing over his shoulder at his boss – the midfielder knew that Daniel was curious about what he was doing on his mobile at one o’clock in the afternoon, but he was also keen on proper social etiquette being used by everybody.

“My apologies, Patrick – though what are you doing?” Daniel questioned, glancing down at the mobile – to be honest, he would’ve preferred it if the French midfielder was back on the training pitch instead of reading text messages on his phone. In response, Patrick handed his boss the phone – though that didn’t help much. “You wouldn’t mind translating that for me would you?” he requested, returning the phone to its owner – after all, French wasn’t a language that he had ever studied.

It was apparent that Yohan Fabre had sent Patrick a scout report – either the Frenchman was desperate to unsettle Dupuis, or was merely looking for an excuse to send a text in the French language. The player in question was 27 year old Nancy holding midfielder Didier David – who was, according to the French scout, a world class player. In the report, Fabre made mention of David’s second-to-none strength, his impeccable balance, and his workmanlike attitude on the football pitch. ‘At least it explains the two point million pound asking price,’ Daniel thought, smirking as he thanked Patrick for his translation – before picking out his rumbling mobile phone.

“You really are in the crap if you need to rely on your secretary to send me messages,” the man on the other side of the phone line smirked, prompting Daniel to step as far away from his players as possible – he certainly didn’t want them hearing anything that could be constituted as gossip in the future. “Anyway, Danny – you ok? Adelaide said that you were out of it a few days ago,” he continued, which confirmed exactly who was on the other side of the phone line – only Jamie Routledge was ever that considerate.

“Thanks for the consideration, Jamie – I was up until the early hours of Thursday morning hearing what happened in the Paul’s court case,” Daniel responded, leaning up against the walls of the training facilities as he recalled what Paul told him – though naturally, what was happening to the England left-back at the moment was top news to everyone inside the club. “Anyway, I’m sure Adelaide told you that we need a left-back in case things aren’t quite as rosy as predicted in court – so who have you got for me?” he questioned, realising that the head of Routledge Scouting Corporation wasn’t likely to call him up for a quick chit-chat.

“You know me too well already, Danny. The Guadalajara division sent me this report almost as soon as they got it,” Jamie chuckled, the sound of pieces of paper being shifted around emanating through the receiver. “This kid is quite possibly the best left-back you will come across – and at 21, he’ll be a world class player before you know it. I’m faxing it through to your office,” the head scout admitted, seemingly preparing to send the scout report through to Fratton Park – which was where Daniel didn’t want it going.

“In which case, I should get that in about twenty minutes,” Daniel grinned in response, knowing that he would have to wait for Adelaide to forward the fax to him – which Jamie was clearly unaware of, given the confused reaction to the Portsmouth manager’s statement. “Did Aaron not tell you about the new fax machine in the training ground?” he queried, making his way towards the aforementioned electrical appliance – if Jamie was going to send the fax to him, he needed to give the head scout the number.

“He said nothing – and it’d probably be better if I told you about him right now,” Jamie admitted in reply, deciding that it wasn’t worth the effort anymore. The player in the scout report was Club América full-back Ricardo Mendoza – who admittedly, wasn’t the most sportsmanlike person in the world. However, what he lacked in sportsmanship was more than made up for his abilities with a football. He was quite possibly the most gifted player Daniel had ever heard about – technically, mentally and physically.

“You’d better act quick though – he has admirers,” Jamie added, pointing out the list of interested parties – which included Newcastle, VFB Stuttgart, Beşiktaş and Sampdoria. “I reckon you can get him for five million pounds – and it’d be money well spent. You can trust me on that,” he stated confidently, before ending the phone call – his job was done.

‘Five million...we won’t have five million pounds to rub together if we get Didier,’ Daniel thought, somewhat finally understanding why the financial department were so hacked off at him for not taking care with his spending – either the financial boys had to find some kind of work around, or Mendoza wasn’t coming to Fratton Park. “I’m sure the financial guys can think of some kind of deal that will please the Mexicans,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head in annoyance – why didn’t he think things through earlier?

‘Not a lot I can do about it now – just gotta hope that the Mexicans are willing to negotiate.’

[viperk1]

Monday 31st July 2006: Fratton Park (Managers Office), Portsmouth

“What is the point of having a fixture computer when the TV companies just chop and change dates and times whenever they feel like it?” Daniel muttered, picking up the message from the Premiership HQ – the second one in 4 days. As with every other season, the Sky Sports hacks took the fixtures that they wanted – and shifted them around the weekend to wherever they felt like. ‘Ah well, at least the club gets money from the TV deal,’ he thought, reminding himself of the £13.75M that the club would receive over the course of the season as a result of the TV deal.

“It provides the Premiership with more money to give to clubs?” Adelaide responded, reiterating the point that her boss had been thinking initially – not that she knew that, of course. “I guess broadcasting matches has improved the popularity of the Premiership – there are many fans of English clubs across the world,” she admitted, remembering a news item that she read in the last month – Premiership matches were shown in over two hundred countries.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Daniel grinned in reply, staring down to see just which six matches had been moved to accommodate for the Sky Sports channels during 2006. “Oh they’ll love these,” he sarcastically remarked, noticing that four of the TV matches were earlier kick-offs than the usual 3.00pm:

Sunday 10th September 2006, 13:30 – Sheffield United v. Portsmouth

Sunday 1st October 2006, 16:00 – Portsmouth v. Liverpool

Sunday 29th October 2006, 16:00 – Fulham v. Portsmouth

Saturday 4th November 2006, 12:45 – Portsmouth v. Aston Villa

Sunday 19th November 2006, 13:30 – Blackburn Rovers v. Portsmouth

Saturday 16th December 2006, 12:45 – Portsmouth v. Manchester City

“If we don’t get some late Saturday kick-offs for 2007, I’ll be ****ed,” Daniel groaned, placing the fax back onto his office table – he was certainly not impressed with waking up early in the middle of December for the Manchester City match. For that time of the year, he had been praying for a lie-in.

“Relax, Danny – remember that you signed up to do this job. Besides, it’s not as if you’ve got lunchtime kick offs every single week, is it?” Adelaide questioned in response, seemingly under the impression that Daniel was being rather hypocritical – for instance, who would take a nine to five job, then complain about it because they always woke up at three in the afternoon? “Anyway, how come you’re here? I thought there was a fax machine over at the training grounds?” she queried in a somewhat confused tone, reminding herself of the multitude of faxes she had been forwarding to the Wellington Sports Ground – doing that was about as fun as chewing rusty staples.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Daniel replied, remembering that he hadn’t been around Fratton Park once since last Thursday – which seemed somewhat alien to him. “I can pretty much walk to Fratton Park in five minutes – and since I’m manager here, it seems strange to drive straight past it on my way to the training ground,” he muttered, knowing that he had always been able to see the stadium from his house on Velder Avenue. “Besides, I’m certain you’d be bored on your own every day with me ignoring you,” he playfully added, remembering the events of the first few weeks of his managerial career – Adelaide wasn’t impressed with him then, and Daniel didn’t want her to be annoyed at him now.

“I didn’t think that you ever cared about my feelings Danny – I’m touched,” Adelaide gleefully replied, seemingly cheerful about her boss’s attitude towards her – compared to her last employer, Daniel was like a saint. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised that company has gone bust – that man treated his employees like vermin,’ she thought to himself, knowing that he hadn’t bothered checking back at her old place to see how they were getting on without her. “By the way, Danny – I saw something on the BBC Sport website that I think you should read,” the secretary muttered, her voice becoming more disappointed in tone as she beckoned Daniel to follow her to her computer

‘This can’t be anything good,’ Daniel thought, knowing that if anyone, not just Adelaide, had an unhappy tone to their voice, the subject matter was not good. As he started reading the article, he realised that, much to his annoyance, he was absolutely right:

BBC Sport (31.7.06)

CHELSEA’S ITALIAN JOB

Chelsea have signed the controversial Italian international defender Lorenzo Volpi in an attempt to bolster their squad for the start of the season.

The Italian defender, 27, had courted interest from Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and even Real Madrid – but the former AC Milan player has reportedly signed a five year deal at the London club, reportedly costing the Blues a total of £12.5M.

Volpi attracted attention for the wrong reasons in the World Cup Final for verbally abusing the now-retired French captain, Ulrich Chevalier – but the Chelsea fans will be hoping that their new big money signing will put the incident behind him.

Jaime: “It is truly a delight for me to have signed Lorenzo – he has been on the club’s radar since the World Cup, and I am sure he will be a great signing for us in the season ahead.”

“I seriously hope my players keep themselves in check on the opening day of the season,” Daniel muttered, realising that Chevalier head butted Volpi in response to his abuse – which got the French captain sent off. “All these international stars at Fratton Park...I can’t wait,” he sarcastically chuckled – whilst seeing world class players at Fratton Park was something Daniel dreamed of as a boy, he would’ve preferred it if they weren’t part of the visiting team.

“Thanks for showing me this,” Daniel admitted, patting Adelaide’s shoulder in appreciation for her efforts – though he certainly didn’t expect her to react in the way she did. Rather than nodding her head in thanks, like the Portsmouth manager expected, Adelaide gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Adelaide, what was that?” he muttered somewhat bemusedly, bringing his hand up to his cheek – he wanted to make sure that he hadn’t just dreamt that up.

However, Adelaide failed to respond – it almost seemed that she had become embarrassed by her recent actions. In truth, Daniel wasn’t sure what to make of it either – and decided not to press the matter any further. “I’m heading off to the training pitches,” the Portsmouth manager muttered placidly, making his way out of the door without saying another word to his secretary.

“Danny, I...****,” Adelaide yelled, before realising that her boss had already left the office.

‘I’ve really screwed this up.’

[viperk1]

Tuesday 1st August 2006: Fratton Park (Board Room), Portsmouth

“I still don’t understand why you decided to give the job to Knight! He’s got no experience of managing a Conference club, let alone a Premiership one!” Daniele Di Matteo yelled, slamming his fist down upon the board room table in anger – the Italian director was still unsure why the chairman didn’t appoint a manager with real experience of managing in the English leagues. “I still think that Jon Carr fellow would’ve more suited,” he added, reminding the board of the former Bradford City manager’s talents.

“Please do not start this again, Daniele,” Kirill Kozlov angrily replied, picking out the itinerary for the monthly board meeting from his bag – though admittedly that was pretty much the same for every single month. “I have told you time and time again that Knight won the right to be manager – and I will stand by that,” the Russian added, raising his hand to halt any further complaints from the Italian director – an argument in the board meeting was the last thing that he wanted.

“Now, are there any problems with why we can’t start this meeting?” the chairman questioned, glancing around the board room as he spoke – it seemed that all of the directors were present around the table, at least. The Russian businessman was about to start reading from the meeting schedule merely seconds later – until Nicholas Reid raised his arm to cite a problem with the current situation. “Yes, Nicholas – what is the problem?” Kirill bemusedly questioned, clearly wondering what problem there could be.

“Aren’t we forgetting about somebody? From experience, the manager should be present at the meeting,” the South African replied, obviously remembering what occurred during his time at AC Milan – when at the start of every month, the manager slinked off to the San Siro to deal with the directors there. “You did call Mr. Knight to the meeting, didn’t you?” he queried, hoping that he didn’t have to wait too long for the rookie manager to arrive – he needed to do his shopping for the week before the queues started.

“Who needs to have him here? I want to start discussing matters now,” Daniele muttered, keenly taking out a sheet from his own bag – it seemed as if the Italian director had his own schedule for the board meeting. “For starters, I want to know why we’ve made such massive losses in a single month,” he requested, pointing out that the club had made a loss of £16.51M since the start of July – and the reason why that was the case was something he blatantly didn’t understand.

“Please tell me that you’re taking the **** with that last statement,” the managing director, Martin Carthy, questioned, having remembered the request that Matteo made to Knight at the start of the rookie manager’s tenure – to sign a player from Italy. “You don’t just sign players for free you know, Matteo – signing players from other clubs costs money,” he chuckled, still surprised by the strange statement from the Italian director – it was clear that whilst Matteo was a football fan, he had never had to deal with the financial side of football.

“Besides, I don’t see why you’re complaining – it is mostly my money that is invested in this club, not yours,” Kirill added, reminding the Italian just who owned the majority of the shares within the club. “Anyway, do you have a problem with having to pay money to purchase players from other clubs?” the Russian queried, hoping that he could drill into the basics of the transfer window into Di Matteo’s head before Daniel showed up – and given what the Italian had just said, Kozlov now wasn’t entirely sure why he sold some of his shares to this bumbling idiot in the first place.

“Not anymore, I don’t,” Daniele replied, glancing down towards the list of players transferred in and out of the club – that at least explained why there were numbers next to the player names. “Anyway, this brings me to my next point,” he stated, finally realising that he could use that new information to his and the club’s advantage. It was obvious to everyone else that Daniele had only just come up with his next point – but the Italian director didn’t care too much for that.

“Here I have the training report for the month from Aaron Caruso,” the Italian admitted, passing another sheet of paper around the table. Whilst Ovidiu Barbu, Jason Hughes and Pete Primus had trained well during the training sessions in the past month, Daniele had vigorously circled the fact that Roy Champion, Petr Páral and Ian Lennox had failed to impress the Portsmouth assistant manager. “As you can see, there are some players that are clearly slacking off – and I think we should transfer list them to ensure this doesn’t happen again. Then we can get some money in, so that our losses aren’t quite so big,” the Italian admitted – before slowly remembering what occurred in the Czech Republic.

“I especially think that Mr. Patrick Dupuis should be released from his duties at this club,” Daniele irritably stated, remembering how lazy the French midfielder had been during the training session in Jakubčovice. “He was resting when he should’ve been training in the Czech Republic – and insulted me when I told him about that fact!” the Italian added, trying desperately to refrain from saying what Dupuis told him – mostly because he hadn’t actually offended him at all.

However, it was clear that Di Matteo was the person who had started the argument in Jakubčovice – at least, to one person it was. “I heard all of that, you know,” a voice stated, as its occupant casually sauntered into the board room. Admittedly, that person was extremely angry about what he had heard – especially since the Italian director had insulted the professionalism of his players so nonchalantly. “Explain yourself, Matteo,” the man stated, tapping his feet down upon the board room floor.

Daniel Knight was not a happy man.

[viperk1]

Tuesday 1st August 2006: Fratton Park (Board Room), Portsmouth

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean, Mr. Knight.”

“You know exactly what I mean, Matteo,” Daniel muttered, taking the only spare seat that was available – watching as the Italian director began to squirm slightly in response to his harsh words. “If you’ve got nothing to say in response, sit down,” he added, pointing to the chair that had been vacated by Matteo’s decision to stand up when making his statement. “I run the football side of the club – you’d do well to remember that,” the manager stated – he was in a really foul mood, given everything that had happened over the last week or so.

“Thank you for your timely arrival, Daniel – though remember that you do not have control over the board,” Kirill yelled, somewhat unhappy with Daniel’s reaction towards his board members – though he could understand why the rookie manager would react in that manner. “Now that we’re all seated, we can begin,” the Russian stated, tapping his finger down upon the table – if only to get Daniele to sit down.

“The first thing on the agenda is the financial status of the club,” the chairman admitted, picking out a set of accounts from his bag as he spoke – though he soon realised that he could’ve easily gotten everything out whilst waiting for Daniel. It was a little late to think about that now, obviously. “As Daniele mentioned in your absence, Danny, the club has made a loss of £16.52M in this calendar month,” Kirill dejectedly admitted, handing the accounts to the rookie manager –he was a tad bit unhappy that the club had recorded an eight-figure loss for the month.

“I know you’re new to this football chairman thing – just like I’m new to football management,” Daniel admitted, remembering that the Russian businessman had only just bought into the club. “My opinion is that whilst this doesn’t make for pleasant reading, it’ll all be worth it at the end of the season if we made an overall profit,” he stated, perusing the accounts as he spoke – and as he initially thought, most of the expenditure was caused by his dealings in the transfer market.

“I can’t fault that logic, Danny. I guess if I wanted monthly profits, I wouldn’t have given you nearly twenty million pounds of transfer budget to spend,” the chairman admitted, realising that he had contradicted himself by complaining about the club’s loss for the month. “Besides – not all of those losses were caused by your transfer dealings,” Kirill added, dragging his bag onto the table – it was unprofessional, but he’d rather do that than be nursing back strains by the age of thirty.

“We’ve spent quite a bit of money doing an extensive search of Portsmouth to find a location for the new training facilities and housing complex you suggested in June,” he stated, passing over yet another sheet of paper across the board room table towards Daniel – which was, unusually, a map. “We found one prime location in the area south of the Havant Bypass,” Kirill admitted, directing Daniel’s gaze to the area in question – which was circled in red marker pen. “However, the land belongs to a company known as the ‘AMA’ – and they don’t want to sell any of it,” he crestfallenly stated, pointing out the black building situated inside that area.

“That’s a shame – it certainly looks like the perfect spot to place the training facilities,” the Portsmouth manager responded, handing both the accounts and the map back to his boss – he too was somewhat disappointed by the setback. However, he knew it wasn’t all doom and gloom because of it. “I’m sure a suitable location will show itself someday,” Daniel admitted, trying to place a positive spin on the situation, “or for all we know, that ‘AMA’ company could go bust or something in the future – and the land will be available at a cut price.”

“It’s certainly a possibility, I guess,” Kirill smirked, placing the sheets of paper back into his bag – it certainly was a surprise to hear the club’s manager give that kind of response. “Now, since Daniele appears to be chomping at the bit to say something, I think it’d be best to let him speak – we don’t want him to explode,” the Russian admitted, noticing that the Italian director was becoming rather red in the face – though admittedly, he wasn’t entirely sure whether that was Daniele’s normal colour.

“Thank you,” Matteo stated, gracefully nodding his head in response. “Now Daniel, I would recommend that you transfer list or release these two players,” the Italian stated, passing the rookie manager two photographs. “These players will only cause controversy in the club – and that is something that we don’t want,” he added, waving his arm around to indicate that the entire board were in agreement with him – though of course, it was more than likely that he was lying out of his ass.

Naturally, Daniel was unimpressed by the call for him transfer list two of his own players – especially given that the players in question were Paul Spooner and Patrick Dupuis. “I would only release Paul Spooner if he was to be found guilty – and since he won’t be, it’s a moot point,” Daniel admitted, reminding himself of the time when he almost ripped up the England left-back’s contract – following his arrest at Heathrow Airport. “And Patrick Dupuis certainly isn’t leaving – he’s only just joined the club,” he added, handing the photos back to the Italian director – but not before ripping them up into pieces.

“The other point to be made is that whilst you are putting money into this club, I am the one that the chairman appointed to handle the football side,” Daniel continued, lifting a finger up to prevent Matteo from interjecting with his own opinions on that matter. “I decide who comes and leaves this club, not you,” he stated, glaring at the Italian director with discontent – it was clear that Matteo had decided to ignore the statement he made upon his arrival in the board room. However, his thoughts were disturbed, for what seemed to be umpteenth time during his tenure at Portsmouth FC, by his phone rumbling in his pocket. “Hello?” he muttered into the mobile, waving a hand around the board room so as to ensure silence.

“Danny, it’s Spooner,” the voice on the other end of the phone line stated, noticeably excited by something – it was almost as if it indicated that something was going to happen in regards to the ongoing court case.

“The DNA tests are complete – I’d hazard a guess that the trial will end tomorrow.”

[tenthreeleader]

“As Daniele mentioned in your absence, Danny, the club has made a loss of £16.52M in this calendar month,” Kirill dejectedly admitted, handing the accounts to the rookie manager –he was a tad bit unhappy that the club had recorded a seven-figure loss for the month.

Actually, that's eight figures, but still, a powerful post. You're advancing your plot nicely. Good job!

[viperk1]

tenthreeleader - thanks for the heads up about the mistake. Much appreciated.

Entombed - good to hear you're still enjoying this.

Wednesday 2nd August 2006: Portsmouth Combined Court, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth

‘I live ten minutes away from this place, and yet I still end up being late,’ Daniel thought, bemoaning his awful luck – a drunken ‘boy-racer’ driving a Ford Focus collided with a Vauxhall Astra that was driving in the opposite direction on Goldsmith Avenue. Naturally, Daniel was caught in the ensuing traffic jam caused by every car in front staring at the incident for a minute or so. ‘You’d think that someone would’ve called an ambulance,’ he thought, knowing that the emergency services had heard nothing about the incident when he phoned them.

“What took you so long? You live ten minutes away,” Aaron Caruso whispered, glancing up towards his boss with a bemused expression on his face – the Portsmouth assistant manager had expected Daniel to be the first person to be in the court’s public gallery. “Were you caught up in an accident or something?” he questioned, noticing the unhappy expression upon his boss’s face – from experience, having to wait for people to finish staring at a road accident generally caused that kind of reaction.

“Bingo – you win fifty quid,” Daniel sarcastically remarked, taking the available seat in the public gallery. “Everyone else just drove past the accident – except me,” he angrily stated, infuriated that nobody decided to call for an ambulance. “I called 999 – then I waited for them to arrive before coming here,” he added. Given that prank 999 calls were all too common in England lately, the Portsmouth manager wanted to prove that this one wasn’t – though the two bashed up cars in the middle of the road would’ve been proof enough.

Both Daniel and Aaron were brought to their senses as two loud banging noises filled the court room – before finally realising that the noise had come from the judge’s gavel. “Please take your seats quietly in the public gallery – court is in session,” the judge stated, glancing towards Daniel and Aaron – he was clearly unimpressed by the level of noise being generated from the public section of the court. “Now that everything is in order, we can continue,” he muttered, returning his gaze towards the prosecution barrister, Graham Saunders.

“The facts speak for themselves, My Lord,” the prosecution barrister admitted, nodding his head to confirm his words – and given those words, it was clear that the trial was nearing its conclusion. “I rest my case,” he stated, who appeared to be completely emotionless – despite the obvious tensions caused by a court case.

Meanwhile, back in the public gallery...

“I assume I’ve missed quite a bit then,” Daniel muttered, trying keenly to keep his voice down. The sound caused by that gavel was something he didn’t want to have to hear again – mostly because it was going to give him a headache. “So the DNA test has been completed?” he questioned, giving a small fleeting look towards his assistant – who merely nodded in response. “Did it belong to Paul then?” the Portsmouth manager queried, knowing that the answer to that question would confirm whether the England left-back was innocent or guilty.

However, Aaron was unable to answer his boss’s question – as the sound of the gavel rang out in the court room once again. It seemed that Daniel had accidently allowed his voice to become too loud – and as such, the Portsmouth manager faced the wrath of the judge. “If you cannot keep your voice down, please leave,” the judge stated, slamming his gavel down once again in irritation – before turning his head towards the defendant. “Do you have anything further to add?” he questioned, knowing that Paul Spooner was the only person representing the defence – which was still irksome in the judge’s eyes.

“Not particularly, My Lord – I believe the prosecution summed it up very well,” the defendant admitted, glancing over towards Graham Saunders in affirmation. Unusually, despite Paul’s fiery nature, the England left-back was almost as emotionless as the barrister – though unlike Saunders, it seemed as though Paul was relieved that the trial was almost over.

“In which case, I can do nothing more than to allow to jury to head away and make their decision,” the judge admitted, glancing around for any further interjections from anybody within the court – only to find that there was none. “Court is...” he started, beginning to slam down his gavel upon the desk as he spoke – only to find that the head juror was shaking his head at him. “Is there a problem, jury?” the judge queried, somewhat confused by the action from the head juror.

The head juror merely stood up, before turning around – seemingly to gauge the opinion of his fellow jury members. Each juror, one by one, nodded his or her head in response to the head’s glance – and once all eleven members had done so, the standing jury member turned back to face the judge. “As both the prosecution and the defence have stated, the facts of this case are crystal clear,” he stated, pointing towards Saunders and Spooner in turn to clarify his point.

“You have made a decision already?” the judge questioned, somewhat confused by the quick response from the jury – it usually took at least half an hour for most juries to make their decision. The head juror merely nodded in reply – it was clear that, contrary to the judge’s attempt to dismiss them from the court, the jury had made a decision. “Is that decision unanimous?” the judge questioned. Once again, the head juror nodded in approval.

“Very well. On the charge of third degree sexual assault, how do you find the defendant?”

“We find the defendant, Paul Spooner....”

[viperk1]

Apologies for the long delay

Wednesday 2nd August 2006: Portsmouth Combined Court, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth

“I guess it was a no-brainer decision, right? They couldn’t possibly convict you,” Daniel smirked, jokily clapping Paul Spooner in the back – the England left-back had been cleared of all charges. “You got any idea how the prosecution concocted their fake DNA evidence?” the Portsmouth manager questioned, wondering how Graham Saunders had been able to present a semen sample during the trial. Admittedly, the DNA did not match Paul’s, but he was curious all the same.

“Had you stayed in the court following the decision, you’d have heard PC Mitchell and Jennifer reveal all,” Paul replied, gleefully smiling as he spoke – it was obvious how relieved he was as a result of his recent acquittal. “Those two had a plan to try and get me sent down,” he admitted, glancing back towards the court room that he had just left. In truth, Paul was rather disappointed that his ex-girlfriend would go to such extreme measures such as these to gain revenge upon him.

“After I kicked her out of my place, Jennifer phoned the police – to report a rape,” he continued, glancing towards Daniel and Aaron in turn to gauge their reaction – which was one of surprise, given that the evidence had shown that Paul was innocent of that crime. “PC Mitchell was the one to show up at Jenny’s door. Following questioning at her home, the officer found out that there was no rape – but that she wanted revenge on me,” Paul stated, slackening the tie that was slung around his neck – so long as he lived, he never wanted to wear one again.

“Mitchell agreed to assist her in that revenge, since he wanted revenge on Portsmouth Football Club,” the Exonian admitted, before recalling the things that PC Johnson said to him over a week ago, about the former Portsmouth youth player. “He had sex with her that night – and told the prosecution that the semen was in fact mine,” Paul smirked, constantly chuckling to himself as he glanced back towards the court room that he had just vacated – he couldn’t wait to hear about what fate would befall the two conspirators now that they had been found out.

“I’m guessing they hoped that no-one would question their word – they were wrong,” he added, smugly grinning as he recalled the first part of the trial – as it was him who questioned the prosecution as to whether the DNA had been tested properly. The Exonian couldn’t help but feel that the barrister’s were all sworn to tell the truth – after all, Graham Saunders could’ve easily lied and said that the proper tests had been carried out. “It was a stupid plan, if you think about it,” Paul stated, having known that the semen collected was not his – after all, he always put one on the end of it.

Daniel certainly shared the same view. “I agree – that’s possibly the worst plan I’ve ever heard,” the Portsmouth manager smirked, glancing out of the court house windows as he led the acquitted England international towards the doors out of the building – only to see that there was a gaggle of press reporters outside, ready to bombard him and Paul with questions about what happened in the court room. “You ready for your fifteen minutes of fame then, Paul?” he questioned, pointing the Exonian in the direction of the nearest window – so that he could see what the Portsmouth manager had seen.

“My fame comes on the football pitch, gaffer – this is infamy,” Paul muttered in response, his head drooping down – in truth, he would’ve preferred getting on with his life as a Portsmouth football player instead of having to prove his innocence. “I’ve just gotta get on with this,” he added, weaving his way around his boss to open the solid wood entrance doors of the court house – and was subsequently met by the glare of flashbulbs going off in his face. Naturally, Paul squinted a little – though any person would, considering how strong the flashes were.

Naturally, that left Daniel inside the court house standing next to his assistant – in a somewhat bemused state. “Who the hell is he and what has he done with Paul Spooner?” he queried, becoming somewhat confused by Paul’s actions – given his lax and flirtatious nature, he was never as solemn as this.

“You got me,” Aaron muttered in response, seemingly just as confused as his boss. In truth, the Portsmouth assistant manager was surprised more than anything else – during the training sessions he had taken, the Exonian left-back had never acted in this manner ever. “Let’s make sure he doesn’t say anything stupid,” he stated, beckoning for Daniel to follow him into the white flashes that had engulfed the player moments ago.

Thankfully, they needn’t have worried – the Exonian was surprisingly holding his own whilst dealing with the media. “The evidence provided by the prosecution had more holes in it than a house made of straw. What happened in this court house should never have happened,” Paul stated, pointing back towards the building in which he had just departed. “The victim’s claims were all fabrications and lies,” he added, making no motion to push past the fervent journalists – and for a good reason too.

“According to my manager, there were theories bandied about in the media in relation to my ‘crime’,” Paul stated, watching as the flashbulbs began to stop – for some reason, everyone was now hanging onto his words like gold-dust. “This court case has proven that those theories are lies too. The truth is out,” he added, remembering that most of the press had made him out to be a convicted rapist – a wild piece of conjecture that was now horribly wide of the mark.

Realising that his player could quite possibly say something that he would regret, Daniel decided to step in. “I think what Paul is trying to say is that he would like to have some privacy from the media now,” he stated, tapping Paul lightly on the arm – in the Portsmouth manager’s opinion, it was time to draw a line in the sand regarding this debacle. Thankfully, the Exonian merely nodded in response to his boss’s words – and subsequently followed Daniel towards the car.

“You drive a Ford Mondeo, boss?” Paul smirked, wondering just whether the navy blue car that Daniel was heading towards belonged to the Portsmouth manager – though admittedly, the number plate of ‘K10 STR’ should’ve given it away somewhat.

However, the Portsmouth manager was not impressed with the Exonian’s return to his lax attitude – and the subsequent comments made regarding the car. “Insult the car any more, Paul, and you’re being locked in when we get back,” he grinned, unlocking the back door – before threateningly locking the door again once Paul was in the back seat. “Good to see you’ll be back on the team coach,” Daniel added, truly grateful that the England international was back to cause mischief during the long trips.

“It’s great to be back, boss.”

End Chapter 8

Knight returns on the 1st of February

[viperk1]

Chapter 9

4-4-2

Thursday 3rd August 2006: Caffé Nero, Fareham

“Good to see that Lennie and Mitchell are having the book thrown at them,” Daniel admitted, triumphantly sipping from his espresso ristretto as he read the Portsmouth Today – it was apparent that both conspirators were facing charges for perverting the course of justice. “They deserve to be sent down for what they’ve put Paul through,” he muttered, taking a much larger gulp of his preferred brew – he was still somewhat bitter from what the events of the previous week or two.

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Danny. What comes around goes around, as they say,” Aaron admitted, carefully flicking through the pagesof a magazine that he had taken out of his club bag – before placing the mag on top of the newspaper that Daniel had been reading.

“Time to talk about the football, I think,” he added, knowing that his boss was a greenhorn in regards to the state of English top-flight – especially since the former striker had played in the second tier for his entire career. “4-4-2 magazine have done a season preview of all 20 clubs – and given your lack of experience in these heady heights, I figured you’d want to read up on the competition,” Aaron stated, directing Daniel’s gaze towards the two pages – which showed the previews of Arsenal and Aston Villa.

Whilst the Portsmouth manager was tempted to feel offended by his assistant’s comments, he knew that English football had changed considerably since his last game for Portsmouth – so reading up on the competition could only help:

ARSENAL

Chairman: Martin Sheringham

Stadium: Emirates Stadium (60,432)

2005-6 Record

Premiership: 4th (20-7-11, 67 points)

Top Scorer: Eliezer Hachmon (27)

FA Cup: 4th Round

Carling Cup: Semi Finals

UEFA Champions League: Runner Up

Manager: Max Villa

Captain: Eliezier Hachmon

Summer Transfers

In: None

Out: Javier Soria (Hibernian, loan), Daniel Hopkins (Llanelli, loan)

Net Spend: £0

Since their ‘Invincible’ season of 2003-4, Arsenal have slipped in the past two years – and only barely qualified for the Champions League this season thanks to West Ham’s win over a barely fit Tottenham side (who came down with sickness the night before the match).

Despite their obvious deficiencies highlighted last season, manager Max Villa has neglected to make any major signings – and continues to rely on his youth policy to blood in new players. However, there are claims that Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Aitor León could make the trip to the Emirates stadium in the near future.

The Gunners have a very young squad for this season with an average age of just 23. On paper, their first choice XI would easily match the Manchester United’s and Chelsea’s of this world – especially with the likes of the physically strong Victor Dulub and the lethal goalscoring talents of Eliezer Hachmon.

However, some the youngsters in defensive positions, such as Andrew Welch and Neil Guppy, do not have the experience of Premiership football to rely on – and if injuries occur, opposition sides will be licking their lips at the possibilities of playing against them.

In an ideal world: Champions

In the real world: Champions League

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 18 Igor Vasilijev (RUS, 35); 24 Egert Goga (ALB, 28)

Defenders: 5 Mamadou Diomandé (CIV, 24) ; 10 Jaromir Kubicek (CZE, 24); 27 Cheikh Fall (SEN, 23); 31 Andrew Welch (ENG, 22); 33 Anthony Evans (WAL, 19); 34 Steven Nicolson (SCO, 23); 45 Neil Guppy (ENG, 17)

Midfielders: 2 Jean-Marc Flachi (FRA, 20); 7 Roman Pavlovic (SVK, 25); 8 Gareth Grant (ENG, 28); 9 Dominic King (ENG, 23); 11 Gultekin Aktan (TUR, 22); 13 Victor Dulub (BLR, 24); 16 Ante Glavina (CRO, 22); 22 Michael Freeman (ENG, 18); 23 Mick Lewis (ENG, 17)

Strikers: 12 Daniel Schmidt (GER, 25); 14 Eliezer Hachmon (ISR, 28); 25 Jean Luc Boucherie (TOG, 21); 30 Samir Dedic (SVN, 22)

Key Player: Eliezer Hachmon – The Israeli striker leads from the front and is a lethal goalscorer.

One To Watch: Victor Dulub – Dulub has certainly proven himself at the highest level, and is finally hitting his peak according to some pundits. This could be the season where he shows himself to be one of the best players in the world.

This season’s prediction: 4th – lack of depth in defence could cost them dearly if injuries occur.

Title Odds: 2/1

“Clearly the reviews were done before the start of August,” Daniel admitted, knowing that the BBC had confirmed Arsenal’s signing of Spanish goalkeeper Aitor León yesterday – much to the unease of the Gunners fans. “Should I start praying for injuries to Hachmon and Dulub before we go to the Emirates?” he questioned, wondering whether the Israeli striker and the Belarusian midfielder were as good as the review said they were.

“Absolutely – they’re world beaters,” Aaron responded, knowing that both players had skill and class that belied their lowly nationalities – in truth, both players were good enough to walk into the top national teams of the world. “Anyway, what do you think of Aston Villa?” he questioned, pointing out the review overleaf.

“Let me read it first – then I’ll tell you,” Daniel smirked, glancing down towards the second review:

ASTON VILLA

Chairman: Dave Latham

Stadium: Villa Park (42,584)

2005-6 Record

Premiership: 16th place (10-12-16, 42 points)

Top Scorer: Akaki Khidesheli (12)

FA Cup: 5th Round

Carling Cup: 4th Round

Manager: Stephen Wright

Captain: Craig Esson

Summer Transfers

Players in: Przemyslaw Marzec (Stuttgart, £5.75M); Owen Feeney (Hearts, £1.2M); Ludek Perina (Sparta Prague, £450k); Chris Foxe (Everton, £3.9M); Sam Thompson (Portsmouth, £2M), Roberto Marotta (Inter Milan, loan)

Players out: Iain Brand (Dundee United, loan); Jamie Hallam (The New Saints, loan); Terry Power (Hereford, loan); James Lockhart (Sheffield Wednesday, loan)

Net Spend: £13.3M

Aston Villa have made massive inroads into the transfer market following the takeover from American businessman Dave Latham in June.

New manager Stephen Wright instantly showed off the financial power of their new owner, signing Polish winger Przemyslaw Marzec from Stuttgart – before taking veteran Italian goalkeeper Roberto Marotta on loan from Serie A champions Inter Milan.

The manager continued to improve his squad, as Australian right back Chris Foxe made a surprise switch from the usually perennial UEFA Cup qualifiers Everton to join the Villans – before adding depth to his side with the signings of Czech international Rudek Perina, Portsmouth youngster Sam Thompson and Irish teenage full back Owen Feeney.

Whilst Aston Villa do appear to have more quality this season, the core of the team remains similar to last season’s 16th place finishing side – though it is still uncertain whether the new signings will be able to push the Villans towards a safe midtable position, given their lack of Premiership experience.

In an ideal world: Safe mid-table

In the real world: Survival

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 13 Boris Slijepcevic (BIH, 25); 21 Roberto Marotta (ITA, 33)

Defenders: 2 Jesús Hinestroza (COL, 30); 3 Mark Marsh (ENG, 24); 4 Nathan Maye (ENG, 28); 16 Zamfir Angelov (BUL, 28); 18 Dragan Susnjar (SRB, 27); 19 Anders Björklund (SWE, 22); 23 Chris Foxe (AUS, 25); 31 Ricky Halliday (ENG, 17); Ludek Perina (CZE, 26)

Midfielders: 6 Craig Esson (SCO, 25); 8 Andy Blundell (ENG, 27); 11 Craig Evans (WAL, 27); 14 Lewis Quinn (ENG, 25); 24 Gareth McGowan (ENG, 17); 25 Przemyslaw Marzec (POL, 27); 26 Sam Thompson (ENG, 17)

Strikers: 9 Jim Curtis (NIR, 31); 10 Per Ivar Næss (NOR, 27); 15 Tony Whitehead (ENG, 19); 17 James King (ENG, 32); 28 Akaki Khidesheli (GEO, 23)

Key Player: Craig Esson – he has proven to be invaluable to the Villans in recent seasons, and will once again try and show his class in the middle of the park.

One To Watch: Chris Foxe – the Australian right-back is injured prior to the start of the season. However, it will be interesting to see whether his hard working approach to the game pushes Aston Villa up the table.

This season’s prediction: 15th – the club’s new signings are unproven in the Premiership, and may be unable to adapt to the higher tempo that the league is known for.

Title Odds: 100/1

“They’re nothing special – according to the review, they’re a team we’ll be fighting to stave off relegation,” Daniel admitted, finishing off his espresso. If the media predictions were correct, the Villans were a team that had to be taken seriously – even with the influx of quality players at Fratton Park. “Mind if I keep this? I don’t want to read all twenty reviews at once – it’d frazzle my head,” he queried, placing the magazine into his own bag – whilst the reviews were somewhat brief, they were almost invaluable for a greenhorn Premiership manager.

“I wouldn’t have shown you the magazine if I didn’t want you to keep it – though I’m taking that Portsmouth Today,” Aaron replied, closing the newspaper as he placed it into his own bag – the paper had started putting in crosswords, and the Portsmouth assistant was keen to test his brain. “Anyway, any news from Club América and Nancy?” he questioned, remembering that they had not heard anything about the potential transfers of Ricardo Mendoza and Didier David to Fratton Park since the initial bids were made.

“Nothing from Mexico,” Daniel admitted, “but David’s agreeing personal terms as we speak.”

[viperk1]

Friday 4th August 2006: Wellington Sports Ground, Eastleigh

“I want you all to believe that you’re playing Chelsea tomorrow – I want total commitment during training sessions, you hear me?” Daniel stated to all of his players at the start of another day of training. In truth, the champions weren’t coming to Fratton Park for another two weeks – but the Portsmouth manager wanted his squad to be physically and mentally prepared. “Aaron, take it away,” he stated, prompting his assistant to start the training session like he always did.

He, on the other hand, needed to go check on the fax machine for any developments regarding the two remaining first-team transfers that were in motion. ‘In a perfect world, the Mexicans will have accepted that bid – and Mendoza will be on his way to England right now,’ Daniel thought to himself, somewhat realising that he was being overly optimistic – after all, Ricardo Mendoza was on the verge of his national squad and was a vital part of the Club América set-up.

As such, he wasn’t entirely surprised by the lack of developments – the Mexican club were probably still deliberating whether they should try and get more money out of Portsmouth. However, there was one development of a different kind – regarding a competition that the South Coast club would find themselves in within the next few months. “Carling Cup 1st Round Draw,” Daniel muttered, picking up the fax from the machine that featured the whole draw – he wanted to know whether there were any interesting ties.

Sadly, he knew that the really interesting ties would only come once the Premiership clubs made their bow in the competition – and that didn’t happen until the 2nd or 3rd rounds. There were some stand-out ties, however. Wolves would be hoping to avoid a cupset as they welcomed League Two side Bristol Rovers, Carlisle would make a long trip down to Carrow Road to play Norwich, and Walsall would host Southampton. ‘Portsmouth versus Southampton is possible in the 2nd round – but unlikely,’ Daniel thought, placing the fax straight into the bin.

He then dragged out the magazine that his assistant had given to him the previous day – the plan was to read up on two teams each day so as to avoid overload. Today’s teams were the Lancashire pair of Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers:

BLACKBURN ROVERS

Chairman: Mark Green

Stadium: Ewood Park (31,367)

2005-6 Record

Premiership: 6th place (19-6-13, 63 points)

Top Scorer: Kevin Roberts (13)

FA Cup: 4th Round

Carling Cup: Semi-Finals

Manager: Steve Payne

Captain: Carlos Roberto Maia (a.k.a. Carlos)

Summer Transfers

Players in: Ronnie Worrall (Man Utd, £1.8M); Michael Brennan (Crystal Palace, £160k); Christian Skollevold (Hertha BSC, loan)

Players out: Nikos Ouzounidis (Chelsea, £5M)

Net Spend: (£3.04M)

Steady improvements under Steve Payne have seen Blackburn become one of the most solid outfits in the Premiership – which culminated in their qualification for the UEFA Cup this season.

With a good squad to work with, the management have looked to the future with their signings – with the teenage talents of full-back Ronnie Worrall and goalkeeper Michael Brennan bolstering Rovers future prospects in the Premiership.

Additionally, Norweigan midfielder Christian Skollevold,has moved on loan to the Lancashire club in the hunt for first team football – though it is questionable whether he will be able to oust Icelandic international Òlafur Pétursson on the left wing.

On the other hand, many Rovers fans were disappointed by the sale of Greek full-back Nikos Ouzounidis to Chelsea – and will be expecting a replacement for him in the coming weeks. Despite this sale, Blackburn Rovers are still a hardworking outfit, and their fans will be hoping that this translates to European qualification once again.

In an ideal world: European Qualification

In the real world: Top ten

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 3 Giorgos Anastasopoulos (GRE, 25); 23 David Lacey (AUS, 23)

Defenders: 2 Ronnie Worrall (ENG, 18); 4 Carlos (BRA, 31); 6 Daniel Howe (NZL, 28); 15David Manamela (RSA, 26); 21 Dean Thomas (ENG, 22); 26 Igor Leko (CRO, 19); 33 Charlie Casey (ENG, 26)

Midfielders: 5 Senol Ufuk (TUR, 35); 7 Grant Sykes (GRN, 27); 8 Marc Taylor (WAL, 31); 12 Òlafur Pétursson (ISL, 24); 13 Christian Skollevold (NOR, 19); 14 Fayssal Léon (GAB, 25); 18 Dave Campbell (SCO, 21); 19 Mark Stephen (SCO, 24); 24 Robbie Doyle (IRL, 25)

Strikers: 10 Steve Kamara (ENG, 28); 17 Manuel Schmidt (GER, 18); 30 Kevin Roberts (WAL, 28); Pablo Hill (ENG, 19)

Key Player: Grant Sykes – the Grenada winger epitomises the work ethic at Blackburn Rovers.

One To Watch: Senol Ufuk – the Turkish veteran has been a part of the Blackburn set up for over half a decade. Whilst his first team chances will be limited, the midfielder will be a joy to watch with his ability to create anything out of nothing.

This season’s prediction: 7th – Blackburn have a stable squad of players, good home support and a manager who has continued the work of Brian Taylor.

Title Odds: 40/1

BOLTON WANDERERS

Chairman: Terry Knowles

Stadium: Reebok Stadium (28,500)

2005-6 Record

Premiership: 8th place (15-11-12, 56 points)

Top Scorer: Marc Rees (9)

FA Cup: 5th Round

Carling Cup: Quarter-Finals

UEFA Cup: Last 32

Manager: Tony Bell

Captain: Marc Rees

Summer Transfers

Players in: Gábor Kéki (Debrecen, £110k); Peter Johnstone (Dundee Utd, £130k); John Paul Dillion (Livingston, free); Peter Cassidy (Preston, £250k); Jeppe Tolbøll (Brøndby, £250k)

Players out: Marian Constantin (Sevilla, £675k); Carl McDermott (Aberdeen, loan); Greg O’Neill (Dunfermline, loan); Matthew Jarvis (York, loan)

Net spend: £65k

Over the last few years, Bolton Wanderers have established themselves as a one of the Premiership’s mid-table teams – and many fans of the Lancashire club will be wondering whether their side can start to challenge the top order of the Premiership in the next few seasons.

However, their dealings in the transfer market show that they have a long way to go before they can match the finances of the bigger clubs – with a total spend of only £740,000.

Additionally, the Lancashire club clearly need to sell players in order to purchase any new ones – with Romanian veteran midfielder Marian Constantin leaving the Reebok Stadium to fund Bolton’s transfer dealings.

Most of the money received from Constantin’s transfer went towards Irish full-back Peter Cassidy and Danish midfielder Jeppe Tolbøll – with the fans questioning the signing of the latter.

Given that the three other new arrivals at Bolton appear to be there on a back-up basis, it is clear that Tony Bell has faith in the players that narrowly lost out to Marseille in the UEFA Cup – and only time will tell whether that faith will be repaid by his players.

In an ideal world: European Qualification

In the real world: Safe mid-table

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 1 Phil Cropper (ENG, 23); 22 Blair Friend (GAM, 30)

Defenders: 2 Mike Rodriguez (USA, 23); 3 John Paul Dillon (IRL, 25); 4 Gábor Kéki (HUN, 22); 5 Samuel Aryee (GHA, 26); 11 Marvin Alexander (TRI, 27); 17 Jerome Lee (ENG, 29); 18 Peter Cassidy (IRL, 25); 25 Papa Sow (SEN, 28); 41 Ben Harrington (WAL, 19)

Midfielders: 6 Jeppe Tolbøll (DEN, 22); 7 Mert Uçar (TUR, 31); 8 Leonid Klymenko (UKR, 32); 15 Abdul Latif Darie (OMA, 28); 16 Aleksandar Micevski (MKD, 22); 19 Peter Johnstone (SCO, 24); 23 Marc Rees (WAL, 31); 42 Shaun Martin (ENG, 19);

Strikers: 9 Jóhann Gunnarsson (ISL, 31); 10 Olexandr Levchenko (UKR, 18); 39 Masoud Sharifi (IRN, 26)

Key Player: Marc Rees – with the departure of Constantin, it’ll be up to the Bolton skipper to maintain order within the midfield. A few goals would be most welcome too.

One To Watch: Masoud Sharifi – on his day, the Iranian striker is unplayable. However, given the journeyman status he has acquired during his career, it is questionable whether he’ll be playing the Reebok Stadium for much longer.

This season’s prediction: 9th – it is likely that they will be unable to repeat their heroics from seasons past because of the high spending of other teams this season.

Title Odds: 40/1

“Both mid-table sides at best, I guess,” Daniel muttered, placing the magazine back into his bag – both Blackburn and Bolton had managed to work their way up the Premiership ladder over the course of many seasons, but neither had the financial firepower to challenge the top teams in the league. As he attempted to make his way back onto the training pitches, his phone rumbled twice in his pocket – then fell silent. ‘Who could be texting me now?’ he thought, pulling his mobile out of his pocket in an attempt to see who had texted him – and what it was about:

(Dad)

Your ticket for the Community Shield match came in the post this morning.

“That’s great news,” Daniel muttered, placing the phone back in his pocket – he knew that it was a prime opportunity to personally scout Chelsea and Liverpool before the season began. Then a sudden realisation hit him like a freight train.

“I’ve told Dad time and time again – not to read my mail!”

[gavrenwick]

After recieving such a gracious comment, I feel compelled to donate one back. You already know where I stand with Knight and this story; in that its excellent. Such hard work goes into it clearly, especially by the fact that you haven't even started your season. Your depth is exceptional. Never give up on this!

Now, get on with it!

[viperk1]

gav - I'll do my best. Thank you for the kind words

Saturday 5th August 2006: Wellington Sports Ground, Eastleigh

CHARLTON ATHLETIC

Chairman: Mark Mathebula

Stadium: The Valley, London (27,111)

2005-6 Record

Premiership: 13th place (13-8-17, 47 points)

Top Scorer: Mohamed Miri (18)

FA Cup: Quarter-Finals

Carling Cup: 4th Round

Manager: Reece Wordsworth

Captain: Lee Swailes

Summer Transfers

Players in: Erwan Silvestre (free transfer)

Players out: James Michael (Southampton, loan); Mikael Louiron (Notts County, loan)

Net Spend: £0

The departure of long-serving manager Matt Gardner to West Ham surprised many Addicks fans at the end of last season. The surprise turned to concern when it became apparent that Gardner’s replacement was the man sacked by the Hammers at the end of the season – Reece Wordsworth.

Charlton’s movements in the transfer market will have added to the fans’ worries, as not a single pound was spent – with the only signing being French full-back Erwan Silvestre on a free transfer.

Given that there have been no sales of the club’s bigger talents such as top scorer Mohamed Miri so far, Addicks fans will be hoping that keeping the squad together will help them survive for another season.

However, it is likely that Belgian defender Mike Delcour will be moving away from The Valley – with reported deals being struck with Reading and Sheffield United regarding a loan deal.

In an ideal world: Safe mid-table

In the real world: Survival

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 35 Jim Thompson (USA, 26); 36 Craig Thomas (WAL, 33)

Defenders: 2 Lee Swailes (ENG, 27); 3 Mike Delcour (BEL, 32);6 Lamine Niang (SEN, 32); 12 Erwan Silvestre (FRA, 25); 15 Gavin Grogan (IRL, 29); 17 Joe Tomlinson (ENG, 26); 23 Abdoulaye Camara (SEN, 26); 25 Jamie Holden (ENG, 26); 32 Souleymane Traoré (CIV, 24);

Midfielders: 4 James Bent (ENG, 28); 5 Peter Dunphy (IRL, 24); 8 Boubacar Traoré (MLI, 32); 11 Hans-Peter Dittrich (GER, 21); 19 Anthony Hilton (ENG, 27); 20 Matej Balazek (SVN, 30); 30 Paul Cunningham (ENG, 18)

Strikers: 7 Trevor Pender (IRL, 27); 9 Barak Benodis (ISR, 18); 10 Mohamed Miri (MAR, 21); 39 Hafþór Ágústsson (ISL, 18)

Key Player: Mohamed Miri – the key to Charlton’s mid-table position last season with his 18 goals. If he continues his stellar goalscoring form, the Addicks will be looking up at the top half of the table rather than staring relegation in the face.

One To Watch: Anthony Hilton – the England international winger is an exciting player whenever he gets hold of the ball. He will be leaving many full-backs for dead on the football pitch this season.

This season’s prediction: 16th – the lack of signings, coupled with the financial powers of the teams around them last season, will see the Addicks fall towards the drop zone.

Title Odds: 100/1

CHELSEA

Chairman: Yury Ivanov

Stadium: Stamford Bridge, London (42,360)

2005-6 Record

Premiership: Champions (29-4-5, 91 points)

Top Scorer: Ben Hales (16)

FA Cup: Semi-Finals

Carling Cup: 3rd Round

Champions League: Last 16

Manager: Jaime

Captain: Michael McGinty

Summer Transfers

Players in: Abraham Martínez Alonso (Zaragoza, £7M); Salvador Vázquez (Réal Madrid, £11.5M); Juan Manuel Muñoz (Atlético, £4.2M); Nikos Ouzounidis (Blackburn, £5M); Jerónimo Moratón (Deportivo, £10M); Lorenzo Volpi (£12.5M)

Players out: Peter Ball (Oldham, loan); Matija Veselic (Hibernian, loan); Stuart Beckford (Macclesfield, loan); Kasper Printzlau Andreasen (Bristol City, loan); Dave Kimble (Huddersfield, loan); Manolis Vidalis (Roma, loan); Sergio Moreno (Hibernian, loan)

Net spend: £50.2M

Following the arrival of Portuguese manager Jaime, Chelsea have gone from strength to strength – and taken the two previous Premiership titles. Many Chelsea fans will want to complete a hat-trick of titles – but it is clear that the overly demanding Russian billionaire owner, Yury Ivanov, wants to achieve a clean sweep of trophies.

As such, Jaime has almost been given a blank cheque book to make his transfer signings with – and that has been proven in regards to the London club’s foray into the market. They have spent far more than any other club so far this season – with the signing of Italian international Lorenzo Volpi proving to be the pick of the transfer deals.

Given the monumental financial backing from Ivanov, it is hard to overlook Chelsea as champions-elect for this season. However, anything can happen in football – and it usually does.

In an ideal world: Champions

In the real world: Champions

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 1 Michael Drahokoupil (CZE, 23); 22 Kiro Kacurkov (MKD, 33)

Defenders: 2 Serge Song (CMR, 22); 4 Carlos Alberto (BRA, 23); 6 José Miguel (POR, 28); 9 Cameron O’Brien (ENG, 24); 14 Nikos Ouzounidis (GRE, 24); 26 Michael McGinty (ENG, 24); Lorenzo Volpi (ITA, 27)

Midfielders: 8 Ben Hales (ENG, 28); 10 David Edwards (ENG, 25); 13 Benedikt Heitmeier (GER, 30); 15Zoran Tuksa (CRO, 21); 16 Juan Manuel Muñoz (ESP, 23); 18 Salvador Vázquez (ESP, 29); 19 Abraham Martínez Alonso (ESP, 20); 20 Jerónimo Moratón (ESP, 20); 21 Didier Né (CIV, 20); 25 Michael Byrne (IRL, 32)

Strikers: 7Joe Miller (ENG, 30); 11 Michel Traoré (CIV, 27); 17 Roberto Villagra (ARG, 30)

Key Player: Michael McGinty – the Chelsea youth product has matured into a world class centre-back and it will be up to him to keep the back-line steady for yet another season.

One To Watch: Didier Né – the Ivorian wonderkid will seemingly get his chance to prove himself this season. Whether he is able to play his football at the highest level will be worth watching.

This season’s prediction: 1st – with a world class squad and an endless pit of money to improve it with, Chelsea are likely to seal a third straight Premiership title.

Title Odds: 6/4

“Charlton don’t look like they’ll be too much of a threat – but my goodness, Chelsea are strong,” Daniel muttered to himself, glancing around the training pitches as he perused the magazine for the third day in a row. Rather than have the players train in tracksuits, Aaron had decided to make them train in their home kits – which made recognising the newest arrival to the club, 27 year old Frenchman Didier David, even easier to find.

There was a niggling feeling of satisfaction burrowing inside his head – the club had managed to acquire the holding midfielder for less than half the price of Santiago Goux as a result of the fine work executed by his scouting team. Admittedly, Daniel had been very disappointed that the financial guys didn’t want to pay the £5M transfer fee of the Argentine midfielder.

‘There was less trouble getting Didier, though – he’s cheaper, and he didn’t need a work permit,’ he thought, placing the 4-4-2 magazine back into his bag. If the Frenchman was as good as Yohan Fabre said he was, the club had found a real bargain – and AS Nancy would be rueing the day they let him move to Fratton Park. “I guess it also helps me fund any more transfer deals,” Daniel admitted, remembering that he had still not had any word from Mexico about Ricardo Mendoza’s possible move to England.

As such, every single rumbling of his phone filled Daniel with excitement – just in case it was news of the Mexican wonderkid’s agent negotiating a deal with Pompey. That usually meant he was deflated after it turned out that the news was to do with something completely different. This time, however, the excitement remained within the Portsmouth manager – as the call was from the club’s negotiator, Andrew Mason. “I assume you’ve got news for me about Ricardo?” he queried, knowing that Mason always contacted him whenever there was transfer news.

“Naturally – though it might not be the news you were hoping for,” Andrew admitted, listening for any response from his boss – not that his statement elicited one. The only noise that the negotiator could hear was a brief sigh of disappointment. “Don’t complain just yet – Club América have just negotiated the offer the financial boys sent us. They wanted £425,000 up front, followed by £5,250,000 paid in instalments over 2 years – which the financial boys have accepted,” he stated, noting that the manager let out another sigh – albeit one of contentment rather than disappointment.

“Could’ve been worse – thanks for the info,” Daniel admitted, placing the phone back into his pocket. He wasn’t entirely happy with the slight delay to the deal – especially given the fact that the Mexican would require a work permit. ‘I’d really like him to be wearing a Portsmouth shirt when Chelsea come to town,’ he thought, remembering what Routledge told him – given that Mendoza had not made an international appearance, the work permit application would be turned away at the door. However, the Portsmouth head scout believed that the Mexican would be given a permit on appeal.

On the plus side, at least this time, he was going to get the player he wanted.

[-Xenon-]

Just read this, very impressive. I like the structure it has to it and as a few others have alluded to; the depth is exceptional.

Great work

[viperk1]

-Xenon- - if you started reading the whole of this story today, I commend you - that must've at least taken you a few hours. Thank you for your compliments.

Sunday 6th August 2006: 53 Velder Avenue, Portsmouth

“Wake up lazy! You have work to do!”

“Even football managers get a day off, Dad!” Daniel groaned, clutching his head as he tried to comprehend exactly what the hell was going on – as it turned out, his Dad had quite literally chucked him out of his bed. “Next time you have a day off, I’ll remember to wake you up at the crack of dawn,” he muttered quietly, desperately trying to ignore the brightness of the sun – which had just managed to creep over the rooftops of Portsmouth.

“You may sleep like a rock, Danny, but I don’t – especially when your phone starts beeping five times during the night!” Iain angrily admitted, pointing at the culprit phone on Daniel’s desk – though upon inspection, it was clear that the elder Knight was clearly exaggerating. “I decided to take a read of the text you received – it said that some bloke named Emmanuel had gone on loan to Vitesse, whoever they are,” he muttered, making his way towards the door.

“I’ve told you time and time again not to read my texts, Dad – I’m 35, not 13!” Daniel yelled, massaging the area in which his head had collided with the floor – even a three foot fall still hurts. “I’m heading for a shower – stay out of my room, ok?” he requested, closing his bedroom door – before making his way towards the bathroom. Whilst he was certainly awake from his father’s actions, Daniel certainly didn’t want to go into work looking as if he had only just gotten out of bed.

Naturally, Iain Knight was almost certainly going to ignore his son’s words – after all, the wily old man was wondering whether Daniel had something to hide. As such, upon re-entering his room, Daniel found his father reading the 4-4-2 magazine that Aaron had given to him. “I was taking a peek around your room, and found this in your bag – with a bookmark placed on these pages,” Iain stated, showing his son the two page spread in question – a season preview of Everton and Fulham:

EVERTON

Chairman: Craig Taylor

Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool (40,569)

2005-6 Record

Premiership: 11th place (14-8-16, 50 points)

Top Scorer: Martin Sylvester (10)

FA Cup: 4th Round

Carling Cup: 3rd Round

Champions League: Third Qualifying Round

UEFA Cup: First Round

Manager: John Cawley

Captain: Jordan Blackwell

Summer Transfers

Players in: Ross Andrews (Hibernian, £3k); Hugo (Porto, £1.9M); Bojan Sabani (West Brom, £2M), Matthias Kwiatkowski (Dortmund, loan)

Players out: Chris Foxe (Aston Villa, £3.9M)

Net Spend: £3k

Everton stunned the top order in English football in 2005, finishing 4th in the Premiership – above UEFA Champions League winners Liverpool. However, the Toffees suffered from poor form and morale at the start of the 2005-06 season – as a result of a disastrous European campaign.

They were in the relegation zone for nearly half a season – but managed to fight their way up to 11th. Despite the poor season, the chairman retained the services of John Cawley – a man who has shown that he can perform well on a limited budget.

Once again, Everton’s transfer dealings were evidence of their limited budget – with Chris Foxe’s departure to Aston Villa funding the signings of Portuguese U21 defender Hugo from Porto and Macedonian international right-back Bojan Sabani from West Bromwich Albion. Additionally, the Toffees took Dortmund’s Turkish U19 international Matthias Kwiatkowski on loan – though it is questionable whether the winger will get game time.

Many Toffees fans will hope that the previous season was a minor blip – and they will want to be looking at the top of the table as they try to break into the top four once again.

In an ideal world: Champions League

In the real world: Top ten

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 1 Ian Thomson (SCO, 28); 13 Rory Stewart (SCO, 21)

Defenders: 2 Bojan Sabani (MKD, 26); 4 John O’Hanlon (IRL, 26); 5 Hugo (POR, 21); 15 Paul Little (ENG, 35); 16 James Newton (ENG, 24); 18 Jordan Blackwell (ENG, 28); 20 Michael Howe (ENG, 20); 23 Kayode Ademola (NGA, 31)

Midfielders: 6 José Manuel Arenas (ESP, 23); 7 Mislav Rogic (CRO, 27); 17 Mladen Lucan (CRO, 25); 19 Matthias Kwiatkowski (GER, 18); 21 Marcus Senior (ENG, 25); 26 Alan Lynch (IRL, 32); 38 Darren Innes (ENG, 23); 41 David Dalton (ENG, 18)

Strikers: 8 Darren Hines (IRL, 24); 9 Martin Sylvester (ENG, 28); 11 Eddie Law (ENG, 23); 12 Patrick Njoku (NGA, 17)

Key Player: José Manuel Arenas – the Spanish midfield maestro played a vital part in the club achieving Champions League qualification in 2004-05, and the Toffees will hope that his skills will push Everton up the table in the coming season.

One To Watch: Bojan Sabani – the Macedonian defender, seemingly signed as a replacement for the outgoing Chris Foxe, is unafraid of getting stuck into challenges – and his professional and sportsmanlike approach to the beautiful game will endear him to the Everton fans.

This season’s prediction: 10th – the Toffees are generally slow starters to a season, and may struggle to keep up the decent form they showed at the end of the last season.

Title Odds: 50/1

FULHAM

Chairman: Mohammed Abdel Wahab

Stadium: Craven Cottage, London (24,510)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 12th place (16-6-18, 48 points)

Top Scorer: Brett Tucker (11)

FA Cup: 3rd Round

Carling Cup: 3rd Round

Manager: Stuart Morgan

Captain: Edward Travis

Summer Transfers

Players in: François Lecorné (Sunderland, £3.3M); Gavin Kerr (Motherwell, £50k); Andrius Kijanskas (Spartak Moscow; £1.5M); Nader El Sayed (Feyenoord, loan)

Players out: Dean Brown (Aldershot, loan)

Net Spend: £4.85M

Despite thoughts that Fulham would be perennial relegation strugglers, Stuart Morgan has kept the Cottagers in a safe mid-table position during the years in which he has been manager.

However, a lack of funds injected to the club has resulted in Morgan struggling to make additions to his squad for the coming season. On the plus side for Cottagers fans, he was able to purchase François Lecorné from Sunderland and Andrius Kijanskas from Spartak Moscow with what little funds he had available to him.

Additionally, Nadir El Sayed was brought in on loan to provide back-up for the likes of Mendy and Edward Travis. However, it is questionable whether the manager had any input into the loan signing.

In an ideal world: Top ten

In the real world: Safe mid-table

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 29 Kari Kyllönen (FIN, 33); 30 Geoff Eastwood (ENG, 31)

Defenders: 3 Edward Travis (USA, 27); 4 Dean Ellis (ENG, 28); 5 Pape Sarr (SEN, 28); 6 Christian Gaillart (COD, 18); 7 Mendy (SEN, 22); 22 Tore Haddal (NOR, 28); 24 Nader El Sayed (EGY, 28); 33 Stephen Jones (WAL, 17)

Midfielders: 10 François Lecorné (FRA, 19); 14 Vyacheslav Shatalin (RUS, 27); 16 Brian Antonsen (DEN, 29); 18 Andrius Kijanskas (LTU, 25); 26 Andy Phillips (WAL, 18); 25 Gethin Davies (WAL, 26); 28 John Crawley (IRL, 19); 31 Stanislav Chernyshenko (UKR, 19); 37 Ilja Smolin (RUS, 30)

Strikers: 11 Jason Brand (ENG, 21); 15 Brett Tucker (ENG, 20); 20 Christoffer Aga (NOR, 26)

Key Player: Kari Kyllönen – the former Suomi international goalkeeper put in inspired performances during the previous season and earned them plenty of undeserved points – and will have to do so again this season to help his side keep a mid-table position.

One To Watch: François Lecorné – Fulham fans were excited by the prospects of the French teenager when the signing was made. Given the lack of experienced wingers, Lecorné may be given a chance to shine.

This season’s prediction: 14th – the Cottagers may struggle to improve upon their performance last season given the lack of quality signings during the window.

Title Odds: 100/1

“I must say, son, I’m disappointed.”

“What the hell were you expecting to find in my room, porn? I know I’m still a virgin, Dad – but I’m not that desperate,” Daniel smirked, grabbing some clothes from his wardrobe as he spoke – before swiping the magazine from his father. The reviews showed that whilst Fulham were a team deserving of their mid-table position in the past few years, Everton were, as always, a dark horse for the top positions in the league. “Now clear off – I’ve got work to do before I head out,” he stated, quickly ushering his father out of his room – before taking a look to see if there were any more texts for him to read.

Interestingly enough, there was one more that his father had not read. ‘Must’ve realised that chicks aren’t going to text me in the night,’ he thought to himself, opening up the text to see what it said:

(Aaron)

I have asked Matthew Banks to compile match reports on Emmanuel on our behalf – I doubt you’d you want to trek over to Holland to watch him play.

Also, Lee Neill has returned from Eastern Europe following his scouting trip – and has found no-one of note. As such, I have asked him to compile match reports on Kevin Farrell on your behalf.

“So much for doing some work before I left,” he joked.

[SCIAG]

Consistently quality work, viperk.

[viperk1]

SCIAG - thank you very much! Now do everyone a favour and get back to writing again - we're missing your fine work.

Monday 7th August 2006: Fratton Park (Scouting Department), Portsmouth

“Surely you should be in Leeds, Lee?” Daniel questioned, placing his bag down upon the floor – he couldn’t quite comprehend why the Northern Irish scout was still in Portsmouth. “I’m almost certain that they’re playing on Wednesday,” he added, reminding himself that the Football League clubs had a far more hectic schedule than teams in the Premiership – though with any luck, Kevin Farrell would be playing.

“Today is Monday – I don’t have to follow Kev day and night,” responded Lee, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat as he picked up a brown envelope from the shelves next to the window. “Besides, a rare and momentous occasion has occurred - we have received a video tape from an agent,” he stated, waving the brown envelope in Daniel’s face. It was certainly good news to Lee – the Northern Irishman was able to scout a player without even leaving the comforts of Fratton Park.

Daniel, however, was somewhat bemused by the medium in which the data had arrived. “I thought video tapes were being phased out by most companies?” he queried, remembering that DVDs were now used far more often than the VHS – which was starting to become obsolete throughout the world. Fishing the video out of the envelope for Lee, Daniel requested, “Let’s have a look at this player then.”

“We shall take a look at him – but first I need to find a video player in this room,” Lee responded, forcing Daniel to bury his head into his hands – even though videos were no longer the default format of media storage, the club surely hadn’t gotten rid of all of the video players in the stadium, right? “Just give me a couple of minutes,” the Northern Irish scout stated, vociferously searching the entire room for the electrical appliance required to view the video tape.

“Don’t rush – there are plenty of things I can do whilst I wait,” Daniel responded, with a light hint of sarcasm – naturally, he wasn’t totally pleased at being made to wait. ‘He should’ve prepared this place before I got here,’ he thought, cursing the lax attitude of the scout. Thankfully, there was something he could do – continue to read up on the previews for the coming season. Today’s two teams – Liverpool and Manchester City:

LIVERPOOL

Chairman: Rusty Perry

Stadium: Anfield, Liverpool (45,362)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 3rd place (25-7-6, 82 points)

Top Scorer: Noel Bartley (10)

FA Cup: Champions

Carling Cup: 3rd Round

UEFA Champions League: Last 16

Manager: Miguel Ángel Gallego

Captain: Robin Wilcox

Summer Transfers

Players In: John Harris (Fiorentina, £13.5M); Armin Müller (Hamburg, £7.75M)

Players Out: Stephen Ray (Derby, loan); Ondrej Rysavy (Aberdeen, loan); Tommi Ruuth (Birmingham, loan); Carlos Vicente (Blackpool, loan)

Net Spend: £21.25M

Liverpool have flirted continuously with the top four positions of the Premiership for many years and managed to drag their way to 3rd place last season – their best placing since the 2001-02 season, when Jules Tardan was manager.

Given the illustrious history of the Merseyside club, many of the fans are desperately seeking the club’s first title in the new Premiership (their last title came in the 1989-90 season, two years before the Premiership was formed) – and Gallego has attempted to satisfy the fans’ wishes by signing two world class players to bolster the squad.

Liverpool have a very strong first team squad, with two England internationals in the form of Robin Wilcox and the club’s top scorer, Noel Bartley. A few pundits claim that Liverpool’s squad could challenge for honours this season – and the signings of John Harris and Armin Müller may have intensified those claims.

In an ideal world: Champions

In the real world: Champions League

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 25 Francisco Izquierdo (ESP, 24); 36 Chris Dunne (ENG, 23)

Defenders: 2 Steeve Vogel (SUI, 18); 3 Shane Kierans (IRL, 29); 4 Mika Kinnunen (FIN, 33); 6 Drazen Rajcic (CRO, 25); 12 Fede (ARG, 27); 23 Robin Wilcox (ENG, 27); 34 Luka Nisandzic (SVN, 18); 88 Rajko Racic (BIH, 17)

Midfielders: 7 Shane Panopoulos (AUS, 27); 10 Noel Bartley (ENG, 28); 13 Slavisa Musovic (BIH, 18); 14 Armin Müller (GER, 22); 16 John Harris (ENG, 24); 22 Gary Mills (ENG, 20); 50 Ali Tarik (TUR, 19)

Strikers: 9 Shane Readings (ENG, 31); 15 Danny Hurst (ENG, 24); 17 Craig Jones (WAL, 27); 18 Michael Beevers (ENG, 25); 27 Harun Ünal (TUR, 17)

Key Player: Robin Wilcox – the Liverpool skipper had pulled his side out of tight situations before with last-ditch tackles. The England international will have to do the same thing this season to have any realistic title ambitions

One To Watch: Rajko Racic – Gallego is taking a risk by placing the Bosnian centre-back into the first team so early in his career. However, if the risk works out, Racic could be the star of the Liverpool side in the future.

This season’s prediction: 3rd – the Liverpool squad is relatively strong, but the lack of quality depth in midfield and defence could cost them badly if injuries crop up.

Title Odds: 2/1

MANCHESTER CITY

Chairman: Craig Ainge

Stadium: Eastlands, Manchester (48,000)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 15th place (13-4-21, 43 points)

Top Scorer: Noel Mullin (9)

FA Cup: Quarter-Finals

Carling Cup: 2nd Round

Manager: Richard Jenkins

Captain: Austin Hardy

Summer Transfers

Players In: Sándor Nagy (Debrecen, £120k); Thomas Scotto (Portsmouth, £1.8M); José Montero (Boca, £1.4M); Stephen Goldie (Hibernian, £9k); Bjørn Tore Solhaug (Molde, £575k)

Players Out: Paul Speirs (Falkirk, loan); Jonathan Savage (Norwich, loan); Matt Hatton (Kidderminster, loan)

Net Spend: £3.9M

Manchester City have been grossly inconsistent over the past three years, with finishes of 16th, 8th and 15th since the 2003-04 season. Unlike their neighbours, the Citizens have failed to reach the Semi-Finals of any major competitions since 1981.

Many fans of the club wish for them to become as successful as the Red Devils – but the signings by Richard Jenkins are unlikely to have inspired much faith. The highest profile signing is Argentine midfielder José Montero from Boca Juniors.

Considering their inconsistency, pundits are unsure whether the Citizens will be challenging for European places – or whether they’ll be struggling at the wrong end of the table.

In an ideal world: European Qualification

In the real world: Safe mid-table

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 1 Per Ledin (SWE, 24); 12 Jonathan Butler (ENG, 26)

Defenders: 2 Ricky McLean (ENG, 18); 3 Ben Murphy (ENG, 26); 4 Michael Wright (ENG, 23); 17 Yi Zhao (CHN, 28); 18 Anthony Pedrosa (FRA, 28); 22 Austin Hardy (IRL, 27); 27 Kamel Gabsi (TUN, 29)

Midfielders: 5 Vincent Da Silva (FRA, 29); 7 Tom Roberts (WAL, 19); 8 Erdogan Zeki (TUR, 23); 15 Thomas Scotto (FRA, 18); 16 José Montero (ARG, 26); 19 Sándor Nagy (HUN, 27); 21 Rene Schubert (GER, 33); 28 Kevin Cameron (SCO, 32)

Striker: 9 Yoni Hachmon (ISR, 27); 11 John McGuire (ENG, 25); 20 Robin Briggs (ENG, 21); 30 Noel Mullin (ENG, 30); Bjørn Tore Solhaug (NOR, 19)

Key Player: José Montero – the Argentine midfielder has proven in his native country that he is a formidable player on his day. He will have to show that ability on a regular basis to give the Citizens a chance of on-pitch success this season.

One To Watch: Tom Roberts – the highly rated Welsh teenager ticks all of the right boxes in regards to work ethic and ability. The manager appears to have faith in the youngster – this season will go some way to showing whether that faith is justified.

This season’s prediction: 13th – uninspiring signings and a lack of consistency are likely to cost Manchester City a chance to rise higher up the table.

Title Odds: 100/1

‘I can understand why Liverpool are so highly rated by some pundits – that looks like a good squad,’ Daniel thought, re-reading the season reviews once again – players like Bartley and Harris could rip Portsmouth apart if given the chance. ‘I guess we can have some fun at Manchester City’s expense, though,’ he grinned, reminding himself that the Citizens had paid decent money for a player that he felt was surplus to requirements at Fratton Park – Thomas Scotto.

Daniel would’ve continued his thoughts regarding how poor Manchester City were going to do this season – but those thoughts were disturbed by a triumphant yell from a few yards away:

“Ready, boss!”

“About time – I was wonder how long it’d take you,” Daniel muttered, putting the magazine back into its usual place inside his bag for what seemed to be the umpteenth time this week. “Anyway, let’s take a look at this video now – if this player is any good, I want to be seeing him wearing blue before the transfer window ends,” he stated, watching as his scout inserted the video in response.

The video in itself contained footage from a youth match between Fiorentina and Milan – with the focus of attention seemingly being upon the Viola’s right winger. The youngster skipped past three challenges, before effortlessly drilling the ball across the face of the goal – with another Fiorentina player getting on the end of the cross and smashing it in. “Not the quickest player in the world,” Lee admitted, knowing that youth matches were far slower given the lack of physical ability within the players.

“He’s probably fifteen or sixteen, Lee – I reckon we should give him a shot,” Daniel responded, releasing the video from the clutches of the player – purely because he wanted to find out who this right winger was. “Massimo Guidi,” the Portsmouth manager muttered, noting that the Italians had left an address for any prospective suitors to contact them. “I’ll be sending this kid a letter – thank you,” Daniel stated, giving his scout a thorough handshake for a job well done – before making his way out of the Scouting Department, with the video now safely in his bag.

“He has potential, clearly – I want to see young Guidi become a star.”

[viperk1]

Tuesday 8th August 2006: Caffé Nero, Fareham

“What brings you here, Bryn? I thought you hated coffee?” Daniel queried, glancing towards the England U21 international as he entered the shop – before ordering yet another espresso ristretto from the waiter. “Unless you’re buying one of the other drinks on sale here?” he wondered, slowly pointing his index finger towards the selection of soft and fizzy drinks lined up in the cooler – given his taste for the ristretto, he had never needed to go into there.

“I hadn’t intended on getting anything, in truth – though thanks for pointing that out to me,” Bryn replied, taking a bottle of Diet Coke from the cooler as he spoke – it was blatantly obvious that the goalkeeper had never been inside the café before. “I’m meeting somebody once their shift has ended,” he stated, paying for the bottle that he now had in his possession.

Daniel merely nodded in response as he paid for his own drink. Since Bryn had clearly never set foot in this Caffé Nero before, the Portsmouth manager figured that the person he was meeting had replaced Jennifer – who had been sacked from Caffé Nero once again following her arrest. “I guess you’ll be waiting here then?” he questioned, taking hold of the steaming hot cup of coffee – before making his way to the table furthest away from the counter following Bryn’s responsive nod.

‘It’s none of my business,’ Daniel reflected, taking a sip of his espresso – before taking out the 4-4-2 magazine from his bag once again. In truth, it had become second nature for him to take it out sometime during the day - purely because he didn’t want to read too many review’s at once. Today’s review subjects were Manchester United and Middlesbrough:

MANCHESTER UNITED

Chairman: Frank Murphy

Stadium: Old Trafford, Manchester (76,212)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 2nd place (25-8-5, 83 points)

Top Scorer: Phil Lake (21)

FA Cup: 5th Round

Carling Cup: Champions

UEFA Champions League: Group Stages (4th)

Manager: Sir Michael Bain

Captain: Geoff Curtis

Summer Transfers

Players In: Martin Kocur (Sparta Prague, £775k); Manuel Maciel (AC Milan, £13M)

Players Out: Ronnie Worrall (Blackburn, £1.8M); Geraldo (Réal Madrid, £7M); Jay Mackie (West Brom, loan); Jack Day (Colchester, loan); Anthony Nicholson (Plymouth, loan); Andy McDermott (Swansea, loan); Craig Wood (Inverness CT, loan); Sean McGuckin (Drogheda Utd, loan); Neil Morse (Motherwell, loan)

Net Spend: £4.98M

Under the leadership of Sir Michael Bain, Manchester United have consistently challenged for the title since the formation of the new Premiership – with their lowest ever position being 3rd.

As such, the owners of the Red Devils are believed to have provided the veteran manager with a large war chest for transfers. However, only one extravagant purchase has been made – the arrival of Portuguese winger Manuel Maciel from AC Milan.

The other signing made, Martin Kocur, commanded a transfer fee that was far less than that of Maciel’s – but the fans were just as excited about the Czech midfielder’s signing. Many deem him to be one of the game’s future leading stars.

Everyone expects the Red Devils to be challenging for the title once again – and a trophyless season would be deemed as a failure.

In an ideal world: Champions

In the real world: Runner Up

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 1 Martin Bolt (ENG, 35); 38 Jan Sedlacek (CZE, 25)

Defenders: 2 Geoff Curtis (ENG, 30); 3 Kwang-Ho Yoon (KOR, 18); 5 Ricky Lowe (ENG, 28); 13 Dustin Fuchs (GER, 21); 15 Frank Morris (ENG, 24); 22 Nicky McDonald (ENG, 25); 27 Adam Lunt (ENG, 28); 28 Rob Cousins (ENG, 18)

Midfielders: 6 Martin Kocur (CZE, 21); 10 Manuel Maciel (POR, 26); 11 Craig Hopkins (WAL, 27); 16 Dragan Radovic (SRB, 24); 18 Pei Deng (CHN, 31); 41 John Beckett (ENG, 20); 42 Kyle Knowles (ENG, 18); 49 Paul Clancy (IRL, 20)

Strikers: 8 John Campbell (ENG, 21); 9 Paul Thomas (FRA, 28); 14 Phil Lake (ENG, 26); 44 Wayne Jansen (ENG, 19)

Key Player: Phil Lake – even though the club’s top scorer faces competition from Campbell and Jansen this season, the England striker’s goals will be the reason why the Red Devils challenge for honours.

One To Watch: Martin Kocur – the Czech wonderkid is a bright young star and may just get his chance to play in midfield.

This season’s prediction: 2nd – the Red Devils will run Chelsea close, but it is believed that the Londoners will just finish ahead of them.

Title Odds: 7/4

MIDDLESBROUGH

Chairman: Anthony Senior

Stadium: The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough (35,049)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 14th place (12-9-17, 45 points)

Top Scorer: Marco Cenci (13)

FA Cup: Semi-Finals

Carling Cup: Quarter-Finals

UEFA Cup: Runner Up

Manager: Paul Bratt

Captain: Paul Bratt

Summer Transfers

Players In: Michel Montano (Crystal Palace, £1.7M); Kenny McCarron (Dundee Utd, £18k); Stewart Campbell (Falkirk, £140k); Michal Kostal (Slovan Liberec, £325k)

Players Out: Phil Sidwell (Bradford, loan); David Bath (Rushden, loan); Michael Chapman (Hearts, loan)

Net Spend: £2.18M

Middlesbrough surprised many teams by their European qualification in 2004-05 – and surprised everyone even more by appointing club captain Paul Bratt as manager following Mitchell Stockwell’s selection as England manager at this end of the previous season.

Given the lack of experience of the new boss, the chairman has clearly provided a miniscule transfer budget in comparison to other clubs – though that may also be due to Boro’s less than favourable financial status.

As much as Paul Bratt tried to make do with the budget he had, the fans were unimpressed at the purchases of four unknown players – none of whom were expected to make it in the Premiership. The focus of their ire was Michel Montano, a Norwegian teenager – who cost the club a princely sum of £1.7M.

With such an inexperienced man at the helm, fans may be worried that relegation is on the cards – Paul Bratt will have to do something pretty exceptional to convince them otherwise.

In an ideal world: European Qualification

In the real world: Mid-table

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 1 Robert Clarkson (AUS, 33); 22 Young-Soo Kim (KOR, 24)

Defenders: 2 Emerson Bonilla (SLV, 24); 3 David Little (ENG, 25); 4 Alex (BRA, 17); 5 Steve Buyck (BEL, 25); 12 Liam Stimson (ENG, 23);13 Zakhar Melnyk (UKR, 18); 14 Leon Brown (AUS, 21); 17 Javier Romagnoli (ARG, 34); 35 Ryan Clowes (ENG, 17); Paul Bratt (ENG, 36); Stewart Campbell (SCO, 17)

Midfielders: 6 Steve Hudson (ENG, 32); 7 Andrew Jagielka (ENG, 30); 8 Ian McEveley (SKN, 18); 21 Michel Montano (NOR, 18); 25 Neil Maguire (ENG, 20); 27 Steve Dove (ENG, 18); Michal Kostal (CZE, 21);

Strikers: 9 Marco Cenci (ITA, 31);15 Nick Ward (ENG, 17); 16 Tommy Campbell (ENG, 29); 20 Mauro Pérez (ARG, 29)

Key Player: Robert Clarkson – the Australian international had been a key part of Mitchell Stockwell’s successful reign as Middlesbrough manager. Despite a change in manager, Clarkson will continue to be #1 – and Boro will rely on him to be their last line of defence once again.

One To Watch: Andrew Jagielka – despite Paul Bratt being club captain, the captaincy on the field usually falls to the England midfielder.

This season’s prediction: 12th – there is belief that Paul Bratt can continue the fine work of his predecessor, but it is likely that the Teeside club won’t be able to achieve UEFA Cup status as they did last season.

Title Odds: 100/1

‘Season reviews can only say so much – my squad don’t play Middlesbrough until Rememberance Day,’ Daniel admitted, reminding himself that Boro had been the fifth side that he had seen in the season reviews to have title odds of 100/1. ‘I guess it’s obvious that Manchester United will be challenging for the top placings again,’ he added, staring at the season review once again – signings like Manuel Maciel were ones that Portsmouth could only dream of.

“Excuse me...Mr. Knight?” a nervous female voice stated in the near distance, forcing the Portsmouth manager to raise his head to look above his magazine. In his view, he saw a young woman with medium-length auburn hair, pearly green eyes and a face that seemed to shimmer in the lights of the café. “My name is Amelia Foster – is it ok if I take Bryn out on a date?” she queried, seemingly scared that Daniel would say no to her request.

Thankfully, that was never going to be the case – after all, what right did Daniel have to pass judgement? “Pleasure to meet you Ms. Foster,” he stated, placing his bookmark into the next page of the magazine as he dropped it back into his bag – after all, it was somewhat rude to not make eye contact during a conversation. “Feel free to take him out, young lady – I have no right to choose his life decisions,” Daniel added.

“Just promise me that Bryn won’t end up in court in a few weeks.”

“I’m not sure I follow what you’re talking about, Mr. Knight,” Amelia admitted, shifting a loose strand of hair that had decided to fall into her line of sight as she spoke – it was only natural for her to be unsure why Daniel would make such an odd request. “What is he talking about, Bryn?” she nervously questioned, clasping his hand within hers to grab his attention.

“I’ll tell you later,” Bryn admitted, affectionately squeezing Amelia’s hand in response – before turning his attention to his boss. “Thank you – after Paul’s debacle with...yeah, I just wanted to make sure,” he added, before motioning to his new girlfriend to follow him out of the café.

‘Young love...something I never put up with,’ Daniel thought, watching as the two new lovebirds left – before slowly realising a sense of déjà vu. After all, this was where Jennifer and Paul got together, before the events of a few weeks ago. Slamming the palm of his hand against his forehead, Daniel bemusedly muttered:

“Since when did this place become a love shack?”

[viperk1]

Wednesday 9th August 2006: Fratton Park (Financial Department), Portsmouth

“You’re making a video call, Andrew?” Daniel queried, slowly allowing a smirk to cross his lips – despite having a laptop in his possession, Andrew was normally a technological dinosaur. “I’m surprised – I’dve expected you to cart your ass off to Mexico and talk to Rico there,” he added, his expression not changing one bit as he took his seat alongside Andrew – who still seemed as if he had no clue about what he was doing.

“Me travelling abroad would be like you having sex with any girl – totally farfetched,” Andrew responded, grinning in response – whilst he remembered that he suffered from travel sickness, he also knew that his boss was still a virgin. “Besides, you’ve gotta start somewhere, right?” he added, shifting the webcam into a position so that both he and Daniel were in view. In truth, Andrew was still somewhat surprised that the agent of Ricardo Mendoza had asked for a video call following Club América’s acceptance of the Portsmouth bid – it was probably due to the long travelling distance between Mexico and England.

“Can’t argue with that,” Daniel admitted, clearly stung by Andrew’s retaliative quip – he didn’t need reminding that he, unlike almost everyone his age, had not had sex with any woman before in his life. His father did that on a regular basis. “Anyway, let me know when you’re ready – I’m gonna read some more,” he stated, taking out the 4-4-2 magazine once again – Daniel knew that the head negotiator would take quite some time to set everything up for the video call.

Magazine in hand, Daniel flipped through the pages to show the bookmarked spread – season reviews on Newcastle United and his very own Portsmouth:

NEWCASTLE

Chairman: Martyn Rowland

Stadium: St. James’ Park, Newcastle (52,387)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 7th place (17-7-14, 58 points)

Top Scorer: Darren Campbell (10)

FA Cup: Quarter-Finals

Carling Cup: 4th Round

UEFA Inter-Toto Cup: Semi-Finals

Manager: Brian Taylor

Captain: Dale Shepherd

Summer Transfers

Players In: Rickard Ăkesson (Häcken, free)

Players Out: Nicky Reid (Aberdeen, loan)

Net Spend: £0

In terms of support and stadia size, Newcastle United are one of the largest clubs in the Premiership – but the Tyneside club have not won any silverware since 1993, when they made their return to the English top-flight.

Given the lack of funding from their chairman, Martyn Rowland, new manager Brian Taylor has had to rely on free transfers to bolster his squad – with the versatile Swedish veteran defender Rickard Ăkesson being the only signing for the Toon.

However, the squad is a gelled unit and they’ll have every chance to push themselves up the table. On the other hand, the retirement of their top scorer, Darren Campbell, is likely to affect their chances – and the lack of signings could cause the opposite effect on their league position.

In an ideal world: Champions League

In the real world: European Qualification

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 12 Mark Walsh (ENG, 31); 24 Andreas Hickersberger (AUT, 37)

Defenders: 2 Neil Anderson (CAN, 30); 3 Paul O’Neill (IRL, 19); 15 Rickard Ăkesson (SWE, 33); 18 Moussa Camara (CIV, 30); 30 Jesús Lobera (ESP, 19); 32 Jamie Fisher (ENG, 19); 33 Antonino Bartolucci (ITA, 27); 34 Antoine Loko (FRA, 26)

Midfielders: 4 José Luis Fernández (URU, 31); 6 John Roberts (ENG, 29); 8 Chris Rawlinson (ENG, 27); 11 Conor O’Meara (IRL, 27); 16 Abayomi Ezeh (NGA, 19); 17 Dale Shepherd (ENG, 26); 22 Chris Bulman (ENG, 30); 37 John Lordan (IRL, 20)

Strikers: 9 Samuel Davids (RSA, 21); 10 Michael Senior (ENG, 26); 20 Mark Walton (ENG, 31); 23 Brendan Byrne (IRL, 25); 54 Tom Dickson (ENG, 18)

Key Player: Mark Walsh – the England international shot-stopper has been a key part of the Newcastle side since he joined them in 1997 – and will have to pull out all the stops to ensure the Toon meet their targets.

One to Watch: Samuel Davids – a prodigious young star in the making, Davids will have a chance to break into the first team this season.

This season’s prediction: 6th – despite the loss of their top scorer, the Toon have a skilled manager and a strong squad.

Title Odds: 40/1

PORTSMOUTH

Chairman: Kirill Kozlov

Stadium: Fratton Park, Portsmouth (20,300)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 17th place (10-8-20, 38 points)

Top Scorer: Ovidiu Barbu (7)

FA Cup: 4th Round

Carling Cup: 2nd Round

Manager: Daniel Knight

Captain: Karl Lowe

Summer Transfers

Players In: Zlatan (Dinamo, £1.4M); Andrea D’Ambrosio (Juventus, £4M); Jermaine Ndou (Sundowns, £200k); Andrea Baggio (Juventus, £2M); Patrick Dupuis (Lyon, £3.5M); Irving Jensen (Hearts, £2.1M); Giuseppe Meinhardt (Dortmund, £3M)

Players Out: Valeriy Golokolosov (Lille, £170k); Sam Thompson (Aston Villa, £2M); Thomas Scotto (Man City, £1.8M); Graham Anderson (Gillingham, loan); Keith Brackstone (Cork City, loan); David Davies (QPR, loan); Kevin Farrell (Leeds, loan)

Net Spend: £12.23M

Following their promotion in 2003, Pompey have found themselves in the lower echelons of the Premiership – with their popular manager, Shaun Innes, being shown the door due to poor results. Many expected a big name to sign for the club following the new owner’s arrival – but instead, they appointed former Portsmouth striker Daniel Knight.

However, beyond all expectations, the greenhorn manager has proven to be a shrewd buyer in the transfer window – with signings such as Jermaine Ndou and Zlatan proving to be potential bargain buys.

Additionally, there are reported deals afoot for Nancy midfielder Didier David and Club América left-back Ricardo Mendoza – which will probably result in England international Paul Spooner shifting to left wing to accommodate for the Mexican.

On the other hand, none of the signings bar Patrick Dupuis has had Premiership experience – but if Knight manages to gel his side together properly, the South Coast outfit could be able to go a few places higher up the Premiership ladder.

In an ideal world: Safe mid-table

In the real world: Survival

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 23 Michael Gibbons (ENG, 35); 24 Bryn Wright (ENG, 21)

Defenders: 1 Karl Lowe (ENG, 32); 4 Pete Primus (ZIM, 32); 5 Angel Mirchev (BUL, 29); 11 Ariel Rizzi (ARG, 27); 18 Giuseppe Meinhardt (GER, 23); 20 Andrea Baggio (ITA, 21); 21 Moussa Bayiha (CMR, 25);28 Samir Deghiche (ALG, 26)

Midfielders: 3 Paul Spooner (ENG, 24); 6 Patrick Dupuis (FRA, 25); 7 Zlatan (CRO, 24); 8 Andrea D’Ambrosio (ITA, 24); 16 Markus Keim (GER, 27); 17 Camille Rubach (COD, 26); 26 Jermaine Ndou (RSA, 26); 33 Russell Hindmarch (ENG, 29); 39 Irving Jensen (ZIM, 25)

Strikers: 10 Roy Champion (ENG, 27); 14 Ovidiu Barbu (ROU, 28); 25 Jason Hughes (CAN, 35)

Key Player: Karl Lowe – the skipper was a rock at the back for Pompey when he was fit. If Lowe stays fit, he’ll be key to Portsmouth’s season.

One To Watch: Zlatan – the brave Croatian winger was Knight’s first signing. He has had rave reviews at Dinamo – and many will be wondering whether he will repay the faith shown by his manager.

This season’s prediction: 17th – a rookie manager and a squad that need time to gel will cause Pompey to struggle this season.

Title Odds: 300/1

‘Why do nobody have faith in the players I have purchased?’ Daniel wondered, shaking his head in disbelief as he moved the bookmark to the next two pages – he was irritated that he was being rated on the lacklustre efforts of his predecessor Shaun Innes. ‘I’d like to know who the hell has inside information on my thoughts, too – I was contemplating putting Paul as a left winger!’ he smirked to himself, knowing that the England international would only be third choice at left-back if Mendoza’s signing went through – and that was something Daniel wanted to avoid.

“Put the magazine down, Danny – we’re ready,” Andrew stated, pointing towards the laptop screen. At first, the middle of the screen was entirely black. Moments later, however, the blackness was replaced by moving images of two young men – Ricardo and his agent. “¡Hola Ricardo! ¿Puede usted vernos?” he queried in Spanish, watching as the expression’s of both men on the screen turned from cheerfulness to surprise – it almost seemed as if they hadn’t expected to hear their own tongue being spoken back at them.

“Since when could you speak Spanish, Andy?” Daniel whispered, somewhat curious as to how his negotiator was able to speak another language beyond his native tongue – after all, Andrew had complained to him about how much he had been relying on translators during negotiations with other players. However, his question was almost instantly answered with the click of a mouse – Andrew had been using an online translator. “Cheater,” he smirked, jokily punching his negotiator on the shoulder.

“You don’t need to speak in our tongue – I can speak on behalf of my client,” a Spanish-accented voice stated, forcing Andrew to click back onto the video call – with a smirk upon the face of the agent. “Besides, your accent is terrible,” the agent grinned, ignoring the glowering expression from the Portsmouth negotiator. In truth, he was absolutely right in regards to Andrew’s accent – it was awful.

“Enough about Andrew’s accent,” Daniel stated, realising that the conversation topic was heading off-course – after all, the whole point of this video call was to thrash out a contract between the club and Ricardo Mendoza.

“Let’s sort out this contract.”

[viperk1]

Thursday 10th August 2006: Wellington Sports Ground, Eastleigh

“You should be training, Paul! Not sitting down staring at your mobile!” Daniel yelled, striding towards the Exonian with an unhappy expression upon his face – the last thing the manager wanted was to his players lazing about nine days before Pompey hosted the champions. “Besides, what are you doing?” he queried, lightly tapping Paul’s head with his bag – Daniel wanted to make his feelings crystal clear with the second choice Portsmouth left winger.

“I’m on the BBC Sport website – there is a news item that you’d certainly want to read,” Paul responded, handing his mobile phone over to his boss. It wasn’t the best idea not to give the phone over to Daniel – especially after telling him of a news item that would interest him. “I’m sure you’ll be able to tell which story it is,” he added, slowly pulling himself up to stand alongside Daniel.

“Thanks,” Daniel stated, glancing down towards the mobile phone to see which story Paul was talking about – before noticing four words that would make a massive difference to the opening fixture of the season:

HEITMEIER INJURY IS SORRY BLOW FOR CHELSEA

“That’s certainly made the game a little easier to handle,” Daniel muttered, clicking upon the link as he spoke. According to sources at Stamford Bridge, the German international midfielder, Benedikt Heitmeier, had suffered a broken foot during a routine training exercise – and would be out for four months.

“I like what I see, Paul – thank you for the head’s up,” the Portsmouth manager stated, resting Paul’s mobile in the palm of his hand for the Exonian to take from him – which the left winger duly did. “Now get back to training before I dock your wages,” he joked, pushing Paul back towards the rest of the Pompey squad – prompting the Exonian to hastily run in that direction. ‘Players never like being hit in the pocket,’ Daniel admitted to himself, seating himself upon the patch of grass that Paul had just vacated.

With Aaron taking the training session, Daniel knew that he had the freedom to read some more of the season previews. Subsequently, he dragged out the magazine from his bag – before turning the pages to the reach the bookmarked spread. For the first time, the subjects of the preview were on teams who had just been promoted to the Premiership – Reading and Sheffield United:

READING

Chairman: Dan Hunter

Stadium: The Hunter Stadium, Reading (24,225)

2005-06 Record

Championship: Champions (31-13-2, 106 points)

Top Scorer: Paul Joseph/Ryan Dempsey (18)

FA Cup: 4th Round

Carling Cup: 4th Round

Manager: Ryan Cobb

Captain: Mick Murray

Summer Transfers

Players In: Peter Simpson (Celtic, £725k); Wojciech Piwowarczyk (Legia, £725k)

Players Out: Dan Hayward (Norwich, loan); Dean Bishop (Forest Green, loan)

Net Spend: £1.5M

Reading stunned many people last season, setting a record high total of points in the Championship – they lost only two games on route to being promoted to the Premiership for the first time in their history.

Like many teams coming up from the Championship, Reading have struggled to add quality players to their squad – with only Peter Simpson and Wojciech Piwowarczyk deciding to make the move to Berkshire.

Many pundits are predicting a swift return to the second tier for the Royals – but based on the form they displayed to reach the Premiership, it is obvious that they will not go down without one hell of a fight.

In an ideal world: Survival

In the real world: Relegation

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 1 Steven Kenneth (SCO, 34); 13 Mark Hunt (ENG, 25)

Defenders: 2 Mick Murray (IRL, 32); 3 Dino Maric (BIH, 24); 4 Wojciech Piwowarczyk (POL, 28); 5 Lloyd Westall (ENG, 25); 6 Agustín Nava (MEX, 31); 16 Colin Lynch (IRL, 28); 18 David Stewart (AUS, 26); 23 Dixon Quiñónez (ECU, 32); 26 Darren Whelan (ENG, 18)

Midfielders: 7 Rhodri Jones (WAL, 30); 11 Patrick Daly (IRL, 27); 14 Peter Simpson (ENG, 19); 17 Tony Cunningham (ENG, 22); 19 Robbie Byrne (IRL, 27); 33 Danny Barnes (ENG, 20); 36 Chris Hillis (ENG, 17); 39 Andy Harris (ENG, 31)

Strikers: 8 David Bowden (ENG, 21); 9 Ryan Dempsey (ENG, 23); 12 Paul Joseph (USA, 26)

Key Player: Paul Joseph/Ryan Dempsey – the two strikers showed that they could score for fun against Championship opposition. They will have to make the step up to the Premiership in order to keep the Royals in it.

One To Watch: Tony Cunningham – the left winger was given his chance last season in the Championship. Cunningham took the opportunities and ran with them – and showed some Premiership quality during the previous season.

This season’s prediction: 20th – the Royals will battle hard to survive but it will all be for nought. They will go down this season.

Title Odds: 1000/1

SHEFFIELD UNITED

Chairman: Steve Hanson

Stadium: Bramall Lane, Sheffield (32,607)

2005-06 Record

Championship: 2nd place (26-12-8, 90 points)

Top Scorer: James Craddock (11)

FA Cup: 3rd Round

Carling Cup: 3rd Round

Manager: David Honey

Captain: Darren Timmins

Summer Transfers

Players In: Rob James (Peñarol, £2.5M); Alexey Smirnov (Salzburg, £240k)

Players Out: Ian Darlington (Colchester, loan); Jon Winstanley (Norwich, loan); Seán Nolan (St. Pat’s Athletic, loan); John Davies (Bohemians, loan)

Net Spend: £2.74M

Following a twelve year exodus from the top flight, the Blades sealed promotion last season – the first of the 3 teams relegated in 1993/4 to return to the top flight of English football.

Like the other promoted sides, Sheffield United’s funds pale in comparison to the Portsmouth’s and Tottenham’s of the Premiership – though their lacklustre reputation may have been the reason why only Welsh winger Rob James and Russian striker Alexey Smirnov have moved to the Yorkshire club. Both players aren’t particularly special.

The Blades have a weak squad in regards to the Premiership, and will be lucky to survive this season – the football world is under the impression that Championship football will return to Bramall Lane in 2007-08.

In an ideal world: Survival

In the real world: Relegation

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 1 Mark Clark (ENG, 28); 13 Qing Zhi (CHN, 35); 29 Ahmed Ibrahim (EGY, 33)

Defenders: 3 Andrew Sampson (ENG, 20); 5 Darren Timmins (ENG, 28); 14 Parris Barron (ENG, 32); 15 Andrew Hyde (JAM, 28); 20 Billy Baptiste (ENG, 24); 21 Craig Ross (SCO, 23); 24 Phil Knight (ENG, 37); 26 Danny Hird (ENG, 26); 32 Neil Molyneux (ENG, 19); 39 Zoumana Genot (TOG, 27)

Midfielders: 4 Rui Teixeira (POR, 20); 12 Sean Sheehan (IRL, 27); 18 Stuart Chamberlain (ENG, 23); 19 Rob James (WAL, 20); 30 Gavin Taylor (ENG, 28); 35 Mark Mulvaney (ENG, 19); 36 Dave King (ENG, 17); 42 John Power (ENG, 19)

Strikers: 7 Todor Radojevic (SRB, 20); 10 Matt Fraser (ENG, 24); 37 Francisco León (ESP, 20); Richard Curley (ENG, 32); Alexey Smirnov (RUS, 32)

Key Player: Alexey Smirnov – the Russian international could prove to be a bargain if he scores the goals that could see Sheffield United stay in the Premiership.

One To Watch: Mark Mulvaney – the 19 year old England U21 international is a one of the Blades’ brightest prospects. The young midfielder could be given a chance in the first team – and a season in the Premiership may give him the experience he needs to shine.

This season’s prediction: 18th – whilst Sheffield United will hope to battle their way into another season at the top table, the Blades are unlikely to escape relegation.

Title Odds: 1000/1

“The gap between the Premiership and the Championship has certainly widened since I was last playing,” Daniel mused to no-one in particular, noting that both promoted sides were predicted to go straight back down into the second tier. As he made a motion to place the magazine back into his bag, he felt a rumbling sensation pounding against his left thigh. “I wonder who that could be?” he wondered, fishing his mobile out of the trouser pocket in which it normally rested. “Hello?” the Portsmouth manager stated, hoping that it wasn’t a call from his rivals asking about another one of his players.

Thankfully, it was only his scout, Lee Neill – who was calling from Leeds. “I scouted the Leeds versus Leicester match last night, boss – and our young Farrell is certainly doing the business for the Whites,” the Northern Irishman cheerfully stated, with the sound of a piece of paper flapping against the wind entering the receiver as he spoke. “Leeds won the match 2 – 0. Kevin scored two goals. Do the maths, boss,” he added, momentarily chuckling at his witty quip – before putting the phone down.

‘Wit will never be your strong point, Lee,’ Daniel thought, shaking his head in bemusement as he placed his phone back into his pocket. However, the news that the Northern Irishman brought to him had been very useful – it seemed as if Kevin Farrell was adjusting to life in the Championship very well. “I guess only time will tell as to whether he can challenge Roy, Jason and Ovidiu,” Daniel muttered quietly, so as to not alert the three strikers – he didn’t want to have to explain his managerial actions to his players.

Not yet, anyway.

[viperk1]

Friday 11th August 2006: Wellington Sports Ground, Eastleigh

“Wow...these are some really strange results,” Daniel muttered, looking down at the newspaper’s pick of the European ties as he sat down upon the grass once again. Whilst there were the usual victories involving big clubs such as AC Milan, Lille, Hamburg and Ajax, there were many surprises in European competition – with a couple of larger clubs falling somewhat short of the mark. In the Champions League, Arsenal could only manage a one-all away draw against Serie A surprise package Chievo Verona – whilst Liverpool managed the same result on their travels against Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Cup, Rijeka held Newcastle to a nil-nil draw at St. James’ Park.

‘Like it matters – Europe doesn’t concern us this season,’ Daniel thought, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders – after all, Portsmouth weren’t participating in either competition. ‘I guess that could change next season if we do well in a cup,’ he mused, placing the newspaper back into his bag – before pulling out the 4-4-2 magazine that had become a part of his daily routine for the past eight days. ‘Spurs and Watford – I guess they’ll be at opposite ends of the table at the season, on the basis of these previews,’ he admitted to himself, glancing down upon the pages of the magazine:

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Chairman: Tom Drake

Stadium: White Hart Lane, London (36,267)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 5th place (18-11-9, 65 points)

Top Scorer: Riste Naumovski (16)

FA Cup: 3rd Round

Carling Cup: 2nd Round

Manager: Marvin Mulder

Captain: Shaun Ryan

Summer Transfers

Players In: Jesús Maria Trigo (Athletic, £2.6M)

Players Out: Paul Amison (Norwich, loan); Vinko Brajkovic (Mansfield, loan); Mark Bevan (Shrewsbury, loan); Matt Hills (Woking, loan); Finnur Steinarsson (Leeds, loan)

Net Spend: £2.6M

Tottenham have always found themselves on the fringes of breaking the glass ceiling of the top four – and came extremely close last season to taking fourth place. However, a bout of flu before the final game resulted in a 2-1 defeat to West Ham and the inevitable disappointment of another 5th place finish in the Premiership.

Despite spending big in previous seasons, Marvin Mulder has so far kept his spending to a minimum – with the only signing being the Spanish midfielder, Jesús Maria Trigo. The Dutch manager seems to be relying on the abilities of his current squad – and given the quality he has, Mulder has every right to.

In attack, he has two skilled strikers in the form of Riste Naumovski and Yong-Chan Kim – whilst the likes of Shaun Ryan, Gareth Needs and André ensuring that the door is closed before the horse has time to bolt.

If any of the big four have an offseason, Spurs may just be on hand to pick up the pieces and steal the final Champions League place.

In an ideal world: Champions League

In the real world: European Qualification

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 1 Benoît Besnard (FRA, 27); Yannick Bell (CMR, 22)

Defenders: 2 Matt Joyce (ENG, 27); 3 Chris Leonard (IRL, 29); 7 Mike Dodds (CAN, 29); 20 Gareth Needs (ENG, 22); 26 André (POR, 26); 32 Joe Bryant (ENG, 22); 33 Shaun Ryan (ENG, 28); 35 James Hudson (ENG, 18)

Midfielders: 4 Michael Pugh (ENG, 25); 5 Jesús Maria Trigo (ESP, 21); 6 Hannu Koppinen (FIN, 26); 8 Kevin Shakespeare (ENG, 23); 12 Vladimir Rãdutã (ROU, 18); 15 Sam Butler (ENG, 26); 21 Fábio (BRA, 20); 22 Glenn Bolder (ENG, 19)

Strikers: 9 Riste Naumovski (MKD, 25); 10 Yong-Chan Kim (KOR, 26); 13 Daniel Bopp (GER, 17); 18 Scott Waters (ENG, 23)

Key Player: Riste Naumovski – the Macedonian has made White Hart Lane his spiritual home since his move from Leeds, and has been in top goal scoring form. The fans favourite will have to continue that form to help Spurs challenge the top order.

One To Watch: Kevin Shakespeare – he had a sluggish season at Tottenham where he failed to displace the top English midfielders. However, his creativity can unlock most defences and he might just be the perfect foil for Naumovski and Kim.

This season’s prediction: 5th – Tottenham have the quality to challenge the top four, but will just fall short.

Title Odds: 33/1

WATFORD

Chairman: James Cain

Stadium: Vicarage Road, Watford (19,500)

2005-06 Record

Championship: 3rd place (22-15-9, 81 points)

Top Scorer: Anthony Walters (22)

FA Cup: 3rd Round

Carling Cup: 3rd Round

Manager: Jack Green

Captain: Peter Christopher

Summer Transfers

Players In: Steve MicKinlay (Suwon, £825k); Steven Bell (Kilmarnock, £65k); Matt Wright (Hibernian, £1.1M); Richard Lodge (Universitario, £4k); Roman Szczykutowicz (Suwon, £775k)

Players Out: Steve Parker (Bournemouth, loan); Bradley Boorman (Forest Green, loan); Matthew Nash (Millwall, loan)

Net Spend: £3.35M

Watford surprised many last season by comprehensively defeating the heavy favourites, Leeds, in the playoff final – despite the Whites being heavy favourites.

On the other hand, the Hertfordshire side seem ill-prepared for life in the Premiership – the Hornets are one of the financially weakest sides in the Football League and one of the thinnest squads in the top flight.

Despite the financial constraints, young manager Jack Green attempted to bolster his squad with the signing of Suwon pair Steve MicKinlay and Roman Szczykutowicz, as well as Matt Wright from Hibernian.

Many pundits predict that Watford will be relegated this season – and it would be foolish to suggest otherwise.

In an ideal world: Survival

In the real world: Relegation

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 16 Gary Webster (ENG, 24); 38 Ronnie Cross (ENG, 23)

Defenders: 2 Steve McKinlay (SCO, 22); 3 Ben Schaack (LUX, 24); 6 Roman Szczykutowicz (POL, 18); 11 Luke Wright (ENG, 36); 12 Carl Newton (ENG, 24); 14 Peter Christopher (NGA, 23); 17 Goeff McGuckin (SLE, 25); 19 Matt Wright (SCO, 26); 23 Dale Graves (ENG, 19); 31 Paul Ledgister (ENG, 17)

Midfielders: 7 Rubén Carril (ESP, 27); 8 Kevin Harper (ENG, 29); 13 Marc McCarty (USA, 18); 18 Daryl Quigley (ENG, 20); 20 Steven Bell (SCO, 23); 28 Mark Winstanley (ENG, 22); 29 Richard Buckley (ENG, 26); 41 Scott Beeston (ENG, 25)

Strikers: 10 Anthony Walters (JAM, 24); 15 Roger Stone (JAM, 24); 24 Richard Senior (ENG, 20); 26 Luke Ifil (ENG, 17)

Key Player: Anthony Walters – the Jamaican forward was top scorer in the Championship last season. He will have to continue his fine league goal scoring form to have any hope of keeping Watford in the Premiership.

One To Watch: Steve McKinlay – after spending his teenage years in South Korea, the Scottish full-back will be keen to show off what he has learnt during his time in Asia.

This season’s prediction: 19th – with the smallest stadium in the league and a thin squad, Watford will be lucky to not finish bottom.

Title Odds: 1000/1

Naturally, given his location, it was obvious that the Portsmouth manager would be disturbed by somebody – and Aaron Caruso duly obliged. “Danny! You might want to take a look at this,” the assistant manager yelled from the door of the training ground’s indoor section – he was waving a sheet of paper in his hand feverishly as he spoke. As he made his way towards Daniel, he passed the sheet over to his manager – who stood up to receive it. Spotting Daniel’s anxious glance towards the sheet of paper, Aaron merely muttered, “Don’t worry – it's good news.”

Thankfully, Aaron was absolutely right – as it turned out, Michael Gibbons and Paul Spooner had been called up to the England squad for their friendly against Greece in five days time. Additionally, Croatia winger Zlatan was to get his chance on the international stage, and would earn his first cap if he played in the friendly against world champions Italy. Finally, there was a surprising call up for Portsmouth’s 16 year old midfielder Keith Talbot – who would join Bryn Wright in the England U21 squad.

“Wow – good to see our players getting recognition,” Daniel stated, grinning as broadly as a Cheshire cat as he perused the fax once again – when he was a player, hardly Portsmouth player got an international call-up. “Go tell them then – and make them promise that they won’t come back injured,” he smirked, handing the sheet back to his assistant – before seating himself back down upon the grass to watch training once again.

‘I just hope no one gets injured before the Chelsea game.’

[tenthreeleader]

Well done. Your preliminary work continues to impress. Excellent attention to detail.

[SCIAG]

I can't wait for the season to get underway, now.

[viperk1]

10-3 - thank you.

SCIAG - next chapter brings the Community Shield.

Saturday 12th August 2006: First Great Western Train from Portsmouth to Cardiff

WEST HAM UNITED

Chairman: Ólafur Pálsson

Stadium: Upton Park, London (35,500)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 9th place (16-7-15, 55 points)

Top Scorer: Alan Rose (14)

FA Cup: Runner Up

Carling Cup: 3rd Round

Manager: Matt Gardner

Captain: Steve Lloyd

Summer Transfers

Players In: Dmytro Buryak (Leverkusen, £8.25M)

Players Out: Sam McGuire (Chester, loan); David Davy (Leicester, loan)

Net Spend: £8.25M

West Ham surprised many by finishing 9th last season, despite being promoted from the Championship via the playoffs – and stunned more people by qualifying for the UEFA Cup as a result of their FA Cup Final appearance.

With the arrival of Icelandic backers in June, the Hammers have had a significantly larger transfer budget to work with – but have only spent £8.25M on the much maligned Ukraine international Dmytro Buryak.

Much is documented about the dreaded second season syndrome – and West Ham fans will be hoping that it doesn’t happen to them. With the quality of talented striker Alan Rose and the Ghanaian international goalkeeper Samuel Amoako, relegation for the Hammers seems unlikely.

In an ideal world: European Qualification

In the real world: Top ten

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 21 Samuel Amoako (GHA, 26); 23 Jason Poole (ENG, 32)

Defenders: 2 Grant Harvey (AUS, 28); 3 Kevin Osbourne (ENG, 24); 4 Peter Bonser (ENG, 27); 5 Danny Ralph (ENG, 20); 6 Daniel Rose (ENG, 24); 14 John Brierly (ENG,25); 27 Juan José Palacios (ESP, 23); 35 Andy Gallen (ENG, 26)

Midfielders: 11 Joo-Hyun Lee (KOR, 25); 13 Tony Riley (ENG, 29); 15 Kevin Casey (ENG, 25); 19 Shuki Moshe (ISR, 22); 20 Steve Lloyd (WAL, 21); 26 Phil Clark (ENG, 30); 29 Steve Stones (ENG, 29); 33 Michael Watters (SCO, 27)

Strikers: 8 Andy Lee (ENG, 39); 9 Sean Prince (ENG, 23); 12 Alan Rose (ENG, 23); 22 Dmytro Buryak (UKR, 27)

Key Player: Steve Lloyd – the Welsh midfielder has captained the side for two years. His leadership qualities will be put onto the firing line as he tries to help his side avoid the dreaded second season syndrome.

One To Watch: Dmytro Buryak – despite not proving much during the World Cup, Buryak has the talents to do well for the Hammers.

This season’s prediction: 8th – whilst it is possible that second season syndrome may occur, West Ham has a good enough squad to remain in the top ten.

Title Odds: 40/1

WIGAN ATHLETIC

Chairman: Ryan Stevenson

Manager: JJB Stadium, Wigan (25,138)

2005-06 Record

Premiership: 10th place (15-6-17, 51 points)

Top Scorer: Matt Collins (12)

FA Cup: 4th Round

Carling Cup: Runner Up

Manager: Paul Ryan

Captain: Craig Bain

Summer Transfers

Players In: Denis Juska (Rostock, £1.5M); Alan McAree (Socio Águila, £130k); Giorgi Burnadze (West Brom, £2.3M); Stuart Guthrie (Dunfermline, £130k); Mark Sayer (Cardiff, £80k)

Players Out: Lee Davies (Sheff Wed, loan); Dominic Carter (Wolves, loan)

Net Spend: £4.14M

In a city dominated by Rugby League, Wigan Athletic’s promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history in 2005 was a shock to many. Their Carling Cup final appearance and their subsequent 10th place finish in the Premiership stunned many more.

Despite the Latics earning more money from their Premiership survival, their forays into the transfer market have seen them fall into debt. Additionally, Wigan fans were stunned by the high amount of money spent on teenagers such as Denis Juska and Giorgi Burnadze.

However, their signings from the previous season, such as Barbados right-back Gabriel Sheldon and Mark Holden are more than likely to help the Latics keep themselves above the trap door.

In an ideal world: Top ten

In the real world: Safe mid-table

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: 12 Neil Pell (ENG, 33); 13 Armando Fraga (MEX, 25)

Defenders: 2 Gabriel (POR, 25); 3 Archie Sinclair (SCO, 30); 4 Tomasz Lukasik (POL, 35); 5 Robert Deeley (AUS, 25); 6 Alan Pugh (WAL, 35); 17 Andrew Brogan (SCO, 27); 19 Gabriel Sheldon (BRB, 21); 23 Graham O’Donnell (IRL, 24); 25 Mark Swailes (ENG, 32)

Midfielders: 8 Thomas Myhre (NOR, 29); 10 Craig Bain (SCO, 28); 11 Mark Holden (ENG, 27); 14 Simon Ireland (ENG, 30); 16 Sergio Gutiérrez (ARG, 18); 18 Giorgi Burnadze (GEO, 17); 26 Denis Juska (LTU, 17); 32 Andy Goddard (ENG, 18);

Strikers: 7 Ugochukwu Chukwu (NGA, 22); 9 Matt Collins (ENG, 27); 20 John Bacon (ENG, 24); 22 Nebojsa Puaca (SRB, 18)

Key Player: Gabriel Sheldon – the Barbados U21 right-back was bought in January 2006 to improve the Wigan back-line – but injuries prevented him from making a first team start. Now that he his back to full fitness, Wigan will be hoping that he can help the Latics push for a top ten spot once again.

One To Watch: John Bacon – Bacon has been generally underrated as a striker for Wigan. With his second Premiership season just around the corner, he needs to prove that he belongs at this level.

This season’s prediction: 11th – the Latics have the quality to stay in the Premiership for another season, despite the potential threat of second season syndrome.

Title Odds: 80/1

’I guess I could hope for these sides to both suffer second season syndrome,’ Daniel grinned, knowing that quite a few sides had a stunning first season in the top flight before falling down the table with a whimper. ‘This Premiership season will be a tough prospect – I just hope I don’t get overawed by some of these players and stadia,’ he mused, re-reading all twenty season previews before he placed the magazine back into his bag – with stadia such as Newcastle’s St. James’ Park and Manchester United’s Old Trafford, along with experienced world stars such as Michael McGinty and Ben Hales featuring within the English top flight, there were plenty of chances of Daniel to see this season as a sightseeing tour.

However, with Yohan Fabre scouting the Community Shield match between Chelsea and Liverpool, Daniel had a rare opportunity to enjoy watching two world class teams slugging it out. ‘A welcome distraction, and a time to relax before this season really kicks off,’ he admitted to himself, letting out a slight yawn as he relaxed himself in his train seat – with plenty of stops to make before the Great Western Train reached the Welsh capital, it was a prime opportunity to catch some shut-eye.

Not that he was ever going to, given his status as an up and coming manager within the English game. “Excuse me...” a young voice muttered, prompting Daniel to open his eyes in curiosity. In his eyesight, there was a young boy, eight or nine years in age, staring up at him with excitement and nervousness. “You...you’re Danny Knight, aren’t you?” the child questioned, seemingly prepared to run as far up the train carriage as quickly as possible – he was obviously scared ****less.

“Simon!” a gruff male voiced bellowed out, heavy footsteps instantly audible throughout the carriage as the man made his way towards the young child. “What have I told you about talking to strangers?!” he yelled, lifting the boy up into his arms - before shooting metaphorical daggers down towards the stranger. “What did you say to my son?” the man angrily yelled, pointing his finger at Daniel.

“I said nothing,” Daniel responded, not once averting his gaze away from the man as he spoke – he had no intention of being persecuted for something he hadn’t done. “Your son thought that he recognised me as Daniel Knight, the Portsmouth manager,” he stated, his gaze softening as a smile crossed his lips – an argument was the last thing he wanted. “Your son was right,” the Portsmouth manager muttered, prompting the man’s eyes to widen in shock – and his arm to be quickly removed from the vicinity of Daniel’s face.

“I am so sorry, Mr. Knight – I wasn’t aware...” the man stated, profusely apologising for his initial angry tone – before removing his coat to reveal a ‘Barbu 14’ Portsmouth shirt upon his back. “I’m Pompey through and through – my name is James Haddon, and this is my son, Simon,” he admitted, offering a handshake to the Portsmouth manager – who duly accepted it. “Um...you’re going to watch the Community Shield final?” James nervously queried, clearly embarrassed that he was speaking to the manager of his beloved Pompey.

“That’s correct – and it’s obvious that you’re doing the same, otherwise you wouldn’t be on this train,” Daniel responded, giving a quick glance around the carriage of the Cardiff-bound train. “I’ve not seen a competitive match for quite some time, so this is my only opportunity to do so before the season starts,” he added, reminding himself that the last competitive match he had been in the stands for was the FA Cup Final of 2000 between Chelsea and Aston Villa.

“I wanted to take a look at Chelsea before they came to Fratton Park, to be honest – and it was a chance to take my lad here to his first football game,” James admitted, pointing towards his young son, Simon. “Reckon you can beat the champions next Saturday?” he questioned, hoping for an optimistic response from the Portsmouth manager.

“We’ll see,” Daniel replied, resting his head down upon the train carriage wall.

“Anything can happen in football – and it usually does.”

End Chapter 9

Chapter 10 - Community Shield will arrive on 12/04/2010.

[AndyKane67]

Loving this story so far. Can't wait to find out where all the wee loose ends (The Irish guy, Adelaide, Matteo) lead. Not to mention where you manage to lead Pompey - be it the drop or the top.

KUTGW!

[Dinaldo]

I hope this story isn't finished, so well written and yet it's not really started!

[viperk1]

AndyKane - The wee loose ends won't start tying themselves up for a while yet - though it's good to see that you're in it for the long haul.

Dinaldo - I return.

Chapter 10

Community Shield

Sunday 13th August 2006: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

‘I never imagined that I’d be sitting next to one of the best managers in the game,’ Daniel mused, nervously glancing towards the manager in question. Max Villa commanded total respect for his work with Arsenal. Even though he knew he’d be doing battle with Villa in the coming months, Daniel couldn’t help but be excited at being in his presence. “What...what brings you here, Mr. Villa?” he queried, finally plucking up the courage to speak to the French veteran.

However, the response he received from Villa wasn’t the one he expected. “I’m watching a football match, what do you think? Unless you’re giving out free food or offering to park my car for me, go away,” the Arsenal boss replied, not once glancing in the direction of the voice – even when said voice let out an audible gasp in astonishment. “I told you – clear off!” Max yelled, finally turning his head to see the subject of his ire – only to find that the man in question had long since turned away from the Frenchman, with an indignant expression upon his face.

‘Pompous git,’ Daniel angrily thought, returning his attention to the field of play. In all honesty, he wouldn’t have minded moving away from Max Villa – but where would he then sit? There was hardly anyone masquerading as a red seat in the near vicinity. The fact that his ticket was only for this exact seat didn’t help. “I’ll remember this when you play us at Fratton Park,” he inadvertently muttered, seemingly unaware that the Gunners boss had in fact heard him.

“You’re not serious? They appointed a greenhorn like you at Portsmouth?” Max questioned, smirking slightly as he glanced over at Daniel – the Frenchman certainly felt that their two matches against the Fratton Park club would be easy ones. “They must have been desperate,” he added, nonchalantly standing up to voice his opinions. “Though of course, I don’t want to be sat next to you all day – so I’m going to sit over there,” the Frenchman stated, cheerily walking away towards an empty seat.

‘Ignore him – yes, I admired him before, but he’s now the enemy,’ Daniel thought to himself, trying desperate not to follow the Arsenal boss to the other seat to give him a piece of his mind – and the Frenchman certainly deserved any jibes he received. ‘Anyway, I came here to watch the match – not deliberate how I was going to thrash that pompous bastard,’ he reminded himself, glancing down towards the pitch – where the players were now side by side in the middle of the pitch, waiting for the dignitaries to meet and greet them.

“Hey, is that seat free?”

“I guess so,” Daniel muttered, nonchalantly glancing towards the source of the voice – needless to say, he was somewhat surprised. “Yohan! What a lovely surprise!” he mused, beckoning the French scout to sit alongside him. He knew that Yohan was going to be scouting the match in preparation for the season opener against the champions – but Daniel didn’t know the Frenchman would be sitting next to him. “Any joy with scouting Chelsea yet?” he queried, somewhat forgetting that the match hadn’t even started yet.

“The days when I can scout a side without watching them are a long way into the future, Danny-boy,” Yohan smirked, nonchalantly clapping his boss on the shoulder as he sat down alongside him. “Besides, I’ve had to try and find myself a new seat – Villa nicked mine,” the Frenchman added, somewhat frustrated at the sight of the Arsenal manager sitting in his seat. “Wasn’t he sitting here earlier?” he questioned, hoping that his angry stare was going unnoticed by his compatriot – Yohan certainly didn’t want an argument just before a football match.

“Yeah, he was – we got off on the wrong foot, to say the least,” Daniel smirked, seemingly laid-back about the situation. It was almost as if he had stopped caring and was solely focused on the football. “Now, who’s in the Chelsea squad today?” he enquired, squinting momentarily to try and see the names upon the back of the Chelsea players as they shook hands with their Scouse counterparts – before realising that it was pointless.

“I wish I could tell you, Danny – but Jaime has kept his cards close to his chest,” Yohan admitted, shaking his head in disappointment – what kind of scout was he if he couldn’t tell his boss who was playing?

Thankfully, they didn’t have to try and figure out who was playing and what formation they were in - for as the tannoy announcer stated each team, their formation appeared on the large screen just in front of the North Stand:

Chelsea

GK: Michal Drahokoupil

DR: Cameron O’Brien

DL: Nikos Ouzounidis

DC: Michael McGinty (capt)

DC: Lorenzo Volpi

DM: Abraham Martínez Alonso

MC: Salvador Vázquez

MC: Ben Hales

MC: Zoran Tuksa

ST: Michel Traoré

ST: Roberto Villagra

Liverpool

GK: Francisco Izquierdo

DR: Robin Wilcox (capt)

DL: Shane Kierans

DC: Luka Nisandzic

DC: Mika Kinnunen

MR: Armin Müller

ML: Noel Bartley

MC: John Harris

MC: Shane Panopoulos

ST: Danny Hurst

ST: Shane Readings

‘Interesting formation for Chelsea,’ Daniel mused to himself, leaning forward to see if he could find the two managers for the respective clubs – their recent prominence in English football meant that he had never seen Jaime or Miguel Ángel Gallego before in his life. Naturally, that meant a stare of complete surprise when he saw the Liverpool manager. ‘Looks are deceptive – but there is no way that fat Spanish waiter helped the Scousers win a trophy,’ he yelled in his head, shaking his head furiously in an attempt to cope with what he had just seen.

He was failing.

Much to his relief, the sound of the referee’s whistle brought him out of his self-induced stupor. As he finally glanced down towards the Millennium Stadium pitch, he realised that the game had already kicked off.

“Start taking notes, Yohan.”

“Yes boss.”

[gavrenwick]

I highly doubt any manager would act like that towards any other manager, especially without a few years beforehand of rivalry.

[viperk1]

gav - A possible explanation comes next.

Sunday 13th August 2006: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Community Shield Final – Chelsea v. Liverpool

First Half

“Don’t expect a thriller of a match, Danny – matches between big teams rarely are,” Yohan stated, flicking through the pages of his notepad as he watched the two English footballing giants size each other up in the opening few minutes. “So who do you think will win?” the Frenchman queried, unabashedly kicking his feet up to rest them upon the front edge of the East Stand – he didn’t have to scout Chelsea for all of the ninety minutes.

Naturally, Daniel thought differently – and instantly clattered his hand against the legs of the scout. “Impossible to say, to be fair,” he muttered, balancing his elbows on the edge of the stand as he perused the field of play. In football, anything could happen. “Anyway, what is Villa’s problem? He has no right to treat me the way he did,” Daniel admitted as he scornfully stared in the direction of the Arsenal manager. Max’s reaction towards him was something he wasn’t going to forget.

“No point saying that without any evidence, Danny,” Yohan stated, lightly flicking the hair behind his right ear as he spoke – if only to dislodge the pen that he stored atop that particular part of his body. “Feel free to tell me what happened before I turned up, if you’re so stoked up about it,” he admitted, shifting forward in his seat to see the expression etched upon Daniel’s face. Needless to say, the Portsmouth manager wasn’t entirely happy with Yohan’s compatriot.

Somehow, Daniel and Yohan were the only two people in the stadium not transfixed to the game. Admittedly, nothing much had happened within the first minute or so – but that soon changed as Liverpool initiated the first real attack of the match. A somewhat silly foul on Robin Wilcox by Zoran Tuksa gave the Reds a free kick just inside the Chelsea half. The Chelsea players expected Wilcox to curl the ball into the box – but the Liverpool skipper knew better than that.

Instead, he launched the ball towards the chest of the former Hamburg winger, Armin Müller – who collected it with ease. With Nikos Ouzounidis on his heels, the German knocked the ball back to his skipper – with the Greek left-back following suit to chase the ball down. However, that left a gap behind the defence for Müller to enter – so when Wilcox passed the ball down the line, the German winger had all the time and space in the world to settle himself.

He took one fleeting glance at the box, before delivering a low cross towards the six-yard line - with Danny Hurst running full pelt to ensure he made contact with the ball. The English striker then added a touch of flair to the occasion, allowing the ball to pass through his legs – before clipping the ball past Michal Drahokoupil with his heel. Not even three minutes had passed – and Liverpool were one-nil up.

“****, ****, ****!” Yohan cursed, quickly realising that he had missed a goal. “Anyway...” he muttered, “I have two reasonable explanations for what Max said to you,” lifting up two fingers in clarification, before pointing to the first one. “The fact that Max said Portsmouth were desperate tells me that he’s forgotten that everyone has to start from somewhere. However, my thought is that he thinks you’re one of these ‘Football Manager’ applicants,” Yohan stated, smirking a little – no club would be desperate enough to do that.

Noticing the quizzical expression upon Daniel’s face, Yohan continued. “A ‘Football Manager’ applicant thinks he has experience – but all he’s done is win titles on a computer game. They really don't have a clue about football management in the real world,” the Frenchman muttered, watching his boss nod his head in response – before pointing to the second finger he had lifted. “The other reason? He’s a pompous ****,” smirked Yohan, remembering the times he had spent at Arsenal – thanks to Max Villa, he was scarred for life.

“Duly noted,” Daniel stated, realising that he could quite easily take Max’s words with a bucketful of salt. “Anyway, let’s watch the game – that’s why we’re here,” he added, staring down upon the pitch. Just as he did so, Liverpool had a chance to add to their lead – Shane Panopoulos knocked the ball past Zoran Tuksa, who had switched to right-back, before crossing the ball in for Shane Readings. However, the England forward could only find the side netting with his header.

That second chance seemed to jolt Chelsea into life – and, for what seemed like the first time to Daniel, began to attack the Liverpool goal themselves. It almost seemed as if the Reds couldn’t get a hold of the ball for any longer than ten seconds – which was proven perfectly in the twelfth minute. Liverpool had won a free kick just outside their penalty area as a result of Roberto Villagra tripping up Mika Kinnunen.

The Reds keeper, Francisco Izquierdo, merely smashed the ball up the field, hoping that Danny Hurst would pick it up. However, Lorenzo Volpi was far stronger in the air – and headed the ball forward towards Nikos Ouzounidis, who was now playing in midfield. Ouzounidis headed the ball on once again into the path of striker Michel Traoré, who was making one hell of a nuisance of his himself up front.

He passed the ball up to his strike partner, Villagra, who evaded challenges from both John Harris and Noel Bartley before hitting the ball towards Ben Hales. The England midfielder usually had no trouble with getting shots on target from outside the area – but this time, Kinnunen was there to block his attempt on goal.

Müller picked up the ball just outside the area and cleared it away – but only into the chest of Volpi. “Gallego’s going mental,” Daniel pointed out, watching the little Spanish manager furiously yell at his players to try and curb their lapses in concentration. The fact that Luka Nisandzic had to block a Traoré effort moments later only added to Gallego’s ire. “So much for it being a boring game, Yohan,” he added, watching as Troaré attempted to re-direct Villagra’s cross a few minutes later – forcing Izquierdo into a save for the first time in the match.

“No comment,” Yohan responded, glancing over at the linesman – it seemed that the Ivory Coast striker had been offside when Villagra crossed the ball in. “Even game so far, wouldn’t you think?” he queried, furiously scribbling down some notes upon his pad as he spoke.

“Certainly,” Daniel responded, leaning forward in his chair once more.

“I just hope that there are more goals.”

[viperk1]

Sunday 13th August 2006: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Community Shield Final – Chelsea v. Liverpool

First Half

It was clear that chances were not going to be at a premium in this match – quite the opposite, in some cases. However, on the balance of play, it seemed as if Chelsea were the more likely team to score – Liverpool were still struggling to retain possession of the ball whenever they got a hold of it. ‘Looks like Gallego is as inept as I thought,’ Daniel mused, watching the rotund Spaniard yell at his charges to hold onto the ball more – which was no good, given that Chelsea were closing them down just as quickly as they got possession.

The Liverpool manager sounded like a broken record – and his words were falling on seemingly deaf ears. A deep cross from Zoran Tuksa intended for Villagra only found Mika Kinnunen. The Suomi defender, naturally, knocked the ball away from the Liverpool area – but only so far as Ben Hales. The former West Ham attacking midfielder instantly had a pot-shot at goal from twenty yards – and only Izquierdo’s left hand prevented the ball from breaking the twine of the goal.

Of course, Chelsea weren’t completely camped in the Liverpool half – as the Reds goalscorer, Danny Hurst, was played through on goal by strike partner Shane Readings in the twenty-fifth minute. The English forward managed to get behind the Chelsea defence with a darting run between Michael McGinty and Cameron O’Brien. However, just as Hurst was about to pull the trigger from twenty yards, O’Brien dived in to divert the ball towards any players wearing blue jerseys. This prompted applause from both Jaime on the touchline – and the Liverpool fans behind the Chelsea goal for a brilliant piece of initiative.

However, much to the chagrin and annoyance of the Reds fans, that moment was the last time they were in an attacking position for quite some time – they spent the next ten minutes defending their slender one-goal lead. “This is some good stuff I’m getting on Chelsea,” Yohan admitted, scribbling down some more notes as the Blues went on the attack one again – two minutes after the half-hour mark.

A clearance from Shane Kierans was only able to find Michael McGinty – who knocked it into the legs of Abraham Martínez Alonso. The Spanish midfielder placed the ball past Noel Bartley and into the path of his compatriot Vázquez – who completed a first time pass to Ben Hales, who seemed to have a key role in many of the attacks that the London club started upon the opposition goal.

Like he did halfway through the first half, the England international spanked the ball towards the Liverpool goal – prompting another world class save from Francisco Izqueirdo as the Spaniard tipped it over the bar for a Chelsea corner. Centre-back Cameron O’Brien took the corner, delivering an inswinging ball towards Michel Traoré. Much to the annoyance of the Chelsea fans, Luka Nisandzic was easily able to get above the Ivorian as he headed the ball clear.

However, Chelsea were back on the attack merely seconds after the Slovenian teenager had cleared the ball away. Roberto Villagra’s cross to Traoré, however, was deflected towards Nikos Ouzounidis just outside the box. The Greek full-back, playing in the centre of midfield, evaded the attentions of Kinnunen – before knocking the ball into the penalty area once again.

For what seemed to be the umpteenth time in the half, Ben Hales gained possession as he chested the ball down just in front of the penalty area. He then proceeded to volley the ball in the direction of the Liverpool net from only eight yards – but the former West Ham man was once again denied by Izquierdo. “What a save,” Daniel muttered under his breath, repeatedly clapping his hands in admiration of the Spaniard – it was even better than all of the other saves he had made during the half.

The Liverpool fans, on the other hand, were hoping that they would be able to see Drahokoupil making a few saves instead of their own keeper – and thankfully for them, they got their wish five minutes from time. “Far more open now, isn’t it?” Daniel stated, wondering whether the scout alongside him agreed with his thought that the game was more end-to-end than it had been for the majority of the half.

Yohan merely had one response for his boss. “Yes,” he muttered, momentarily yelling at the referee to book Cameron O’Brien as he upended the Liverpool goalscorer, Hurst, thirty yards from goal. The Frenchman almost seemed to forget that he had no real interest in the team playing – apart from the fact that he was scouting the London club in preparation for his boss’s opening game of the Premiership season.

Shane Readings took hold of the dead ball situation – and with his left foot, he curled the ball towards the top left corner of the Chelsea goal. However, his height perception seemed to be a little off, as Drahokoupil was easily able to clutch the ball to his chest. The Czech Republic goalkeeper attempted to get their assault on the Liverpool goal back on track – but instead, their opponents were able to challenge the Chelsea goal within a matter of seconds after the free kick.

With no width in the Blues’ midfield, Shane Panopoulos had plenty of space out on the left wing – with only Zoran Tuksa for company. The Australian international had no trouble in bursting past the Croat, before crossing the ball to Shane Readings in the middle of the penalty area – or at least, that’s where the ball should’ve been. Instead, the Chelsea skipper, McGinty, made a superb block to prevent the ball from reaching Readings.

On the other hand, the ball fell straight to Noel Bartley twenty-five yards from goal – who forced a fine save from Drahokoupil.

After that, the match seemed to peter out to a crawl – but the first yellow card of the game was given out when Villagra went in two-footed to tackle Kinnunen as the Suomi defender cleared the ball away. In all honesty, the Argentine striker was lucky to be still on the pitch – though luckily for him, Sean Tinkler, the referee, only deemed the tackle to be worthy of a yellow.

“Well, a decent first half,” Daniel admitted, standing up as the referee whistled for half-time to acquire drinks for Yohan and he before the second half began. However, for some reason, he found himself thinking about a letter that had been winging its way to a little house in Italy – one that would make one teenager very happy indeed.

He knew it would’ve reached its destination by now...

[viperk1]

Sunday 13th August 2006: Emanuele, Località Barucci, Barga

Note: (Italian – English)

It all seemed like a forlorn hope that he held now. Not even the calm summer sun that blazed down upon him could shake off his dawning realisation that it was never going to transpire. “This career stopped before it even began,” Massimo Guidi disdainfully muttered to himself, lightly clattering his right foot against the railings of the tiny balcony he stood upon. Fiorentina releasing him was the death-knell of his young career, in his eyes – and there was no way back now.

‘I need to come into some kind of money – in any way possible,’ he mused, lowering his head sombrely as he glanced at the balcony door behind him – since his return to Barga from Florence back in May, things had only gotten worse. His father had been laid off from the local hotel, resulting in no money coming into the house since the end of June – and the family had been living in poverty ever since.

What made it worse was that his elder sister by three years, Nicoletta, had come down with illness merely weeks later. With no money left, getting treatment for her was impossible. “Oh Lord, do you take pleasure in our plight?” Massimo wondered, not bothering to clear away the tears that were travelling down his cheek. “Please, Lord – we need a miracle,” he begged, staring up towards the sky as the tears now gushed down his face – even though he knew that a miracle was not forthcoming.

“Massimo! Get the mail, would you? And don’t jump off the balcony to do it!”

“Yes Dad!” Massimo begrudgingly yelled in response, ruing the fact that he had to take the stairs to get to the front door – he knew his father was only looking after his safety, but the jump down a single storey was far more efficient and much quicker. ‘I guess they’re all bills – bills that we won’t be able to pay,’ he moaned to himself, flicking through the envelopes nonchalantly – before, much to his own surprise, finding a letter addressed to him.

Feverishly, he ripped the envelope open, unproductively hoping that he had some kind of rich uncle who had just left him a fortune following his death. ‘Stop thinking that, Massimo – we’ll be in squalor for the rest of our lives, that’s for certain,’ he mused, reprimanding himself for harbouring thoughts of hope. However, all that was housed within the envelope was a letter – with a logo on the top left hand corner and a small piece of writing underneath:

Massimo,

I have recently seen footage of your talents from the video you sent out – and I was extremely impressed with what you displayed.

My scouts at Portsmouth Football Club see you as a potential prospect – so I, as manager, would like to offer you a place at the club.

I sincerely hope you will consider this offer and will come to England to discuss a professional deal with my club. If not, I wish for you to have a good career – whether it is in football or out of it.

Please call the following number if you are interested: 023 436321.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel Knight

Portsmouth FC Manager

“What is this?” Massimo muttered, lacking any knowledge of the language in which the letter was written. ‘It might be important – but I don’t understand it,’ he groaned, disdainfully staring at the foreign text as he made his way up the stairs, with the rest of the mail clutched underneath his arm. “Here’s the mail, Dad,” he stated, handing the multitude of envelopes over to his father – before giving a fleeting glance towards Nicoletta. It struck a chord within Massimo’s very soul to see his sister in so much pain like this – part of him even wished that it was he who was ill instead of her.

“Brother...what is that piece of paper?”

Massimo had tried to hide the letter he had received, hoping that he could try and figure out what the text said. However, through a slight whimper of pain as the illness took hold, his sister had noticed the extra envelope that her brother hadn’t handed over to their father. “I got a letter, sis – but it’s written in another language,” he reluctantly muttered, realising that, before her illness, Nicoletta had been taking a foreign languages course in the nearby city of Lucca.

“Mind if I take a look?” she queried, desperately trying to lift her frail body up from the bed to be able to read the piece of paper properly – to no avail. Instead, Massimo merely held the letter a few feet above her face. All of a sudden, her face lit up with a joy – an expression that neither Massimo nor his father had seen since before her illness. “Brother – this is your chance,” Nicoletta admitted, explaining the content of the letter to the best of her ability. However, she once again winced in pain as the illness attacked her.

“It’s talking about England, sis – a foreign country. This is not Florence – not like last time,” Massimo responded, staring in the opposite direction to Nicoletta – he was rather fearful of going to a foreign county all on his own. “Mom isn’t here to look after you now,” he moaned, remembering the day in which his mother abandoned the family to go run off with some horny gigolo. Not that he could remember much about it – he had been training with Fiorentina at the time.

“All you’d need to do is send some money back – then I can afford some medicine for Nicoletta and perhaps come and join you there,” his father admitted, handing the letter back to Massimo – he knew perfectly well that this was the opportunity that his son had been waiting for since he sent out that video. “Don’t less this chance pass you by, Massimo – you don’t know if you’ll get another one,” he added, passing his son the house phone. This was quite possibly the last chance they would have to use it before they faced problems – after all, they had not paid for their phone bill for last month.

‘This is my last chance to follow my dream,’ Massimo thought, clutching the phone within his hand. One phone call – that was all it would take to give him the better life that he had been craving. ‘Daniel Knight – thanks to you, I have my miracle,’ he mused, gracefully bowing his head as he dialled in the number that was on the sheet of paper.

“Hello, this is Adelaide Evans of Portsmouth Football Club – how can I help you?”

Crap.

“Nicoletta – could you give me a hand?”

[viperk1]

Apologies for the delays

Sunday 13th August 2006: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Community Shield Final – Chelsea v. Liverpool

Second Half

“Hurry up, Danny – the second half has already started,” Yohan smirked, watching his boss hurriedly bustle down the aisle to watch what was left of the second half. As he glanced around the stadium, the Frenchman couldn’t help but wonder which of the scenario’s he had seen was funnier – the fact that the opening five minutes of the half were as boring as watching freshly painted grass grow, or the sight of Max Villa trying and failing to find his seat again.

Even though his compatriot was just shy of being forty years old, Yohan clearly thought that the Arsenal boss had left his brains – and common sense – in London. “I wouldn’t bother asking about what’s happened in the first five minutes – you’d be wasting your breath,” he admitted, showing Daniel the notes he had taken for the second half. The only thing written down upon his pad was that Chelsea had switched to a 4-3-3/4-5-1 hybrid – which seemed all too similar to the formation Daniel used.

“Fun times,” Daniel sarcastically admitted, hoping that the action would soon pick up – otherwise this entire day would have been a total waste of time. Thankfully for him, things improved – and in an attempt to garner the momentum they had during most of the first half, Chelsea went on the attack.

From a somewhat harshly awarded free kick, Nikos Ouzounidis sent a long pass down the left side of the Chelsea attack. It seemed as if right back Shane Keirans had intercepted the pass – but the Englishman inadvertently gave the ball back to Roberto Villagra on the left wing. The yellow carded Argentine bested the challenges of Keirans and Armin Müller before flicking the ball in the direction of the penalty spot.

Michel Traoré easily jumped above the stagnant Liverpool defence – and like in the first half, the only thing that denied the Ivorian was the world class efforts of Francisco Izqueirdo. Infuriatingly for the Chelsea fans, the resulting corner kick didn’t even make it past the first Liverpool defender. “Reckon they’ll get this many chances at Fratton Park?” Yohan queried, realising that the London club were certainly on top in terms of chances created – and if they were doing this against a team as large as Liverpool, who knew what fun they’d have in Portsmouth?

“I don’t know – anything can happen in football,” Daniel responded, knowing that every player had their off days – he certainly had a few of those in his playing career. “Who’s that down over there?” he questioned as the clock passed the hour mark, pointing towards the Chelsea player lying in the middle of the pitch. Whoever it was, he was clearly in discomfort, writhing in pain. As it turned out following a replay on the large screens, Nikos Ouzounidis, who was having a torrid time of things, had jarred his right leg following a challenge from Noel Bartley.

“Jaime needs to bring him off, to be honest – he’s getting mullered out there...pardon the pun,” Yohan admitted, watching as Armin Müller gave away a free kick merely moments after the physio had left the field of play – by tripping up Ouzounidis. It was a pointless challenge, given that the Greek full-back was light years away from the Liverpool goal – but somewhat surprisingly, Sean Tinkler decided not to book the German for it. He didn’t even call Müller over to warn him about his conduct – despite the fact that Ouzounidis needed the physio’s attention again.

“What pun? I didn’t hear a pun,” Daniel sarcastically grinned, toying with the knot of his club tie – it was far more interesting than watching a physiotherapist get out his magic spray again. In all fairness, anything was far more interesting that what was going on out on the pitch – it almost felt like a training game now. “I stand corrected,” he muttered several minutes later, letting out a massive sigh – which prompted a rather confused look from his club’s French scout.

“This game is really boring,” he stated, picking himself up off his seat. “I’m gonna head off and get myself a drink – or I won’t be able to get up once the match is over,” Daniel admitted, ignoring the smirks from Yohan – a response would’ve inflated the Frenchman’s growing ego. ‘You could get high off one of those ego trips,’ he mused, heading inside – even if he didn’t get a drink, the young manager knew that he at least needed a walk.

Just why did he even come to watch this match anyway?