All Sorted for E's and Whizz

“I know you’re in there, Hannah. Come on. Open the ****ing door.†My summer had been spent in much this way, the neighbours had long since realised they were best just to ignore me, to let me get on with my begging. I’d found out Hannah’s address not long after I made the move down to London – if she’d wanted it kept secret she should perhaps have gone ex-directory – and at some point in pretty much every day since I had tried to get her to acknowledge me.

“Open the ****ing door.†Still nothing. “Come on. How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?†A window cracked open. Bølløcks, it was a guy.

“**** off.â€

“Who are you?â€

“The dalai ****ing lama.â€

“Impressive.â€

“Look, she doesn’t want to talk to you. I would have thought that was pretty clear but evidently you need it spelling out. She’s not interested. Now **** off.â€

Needless to say, I hadn’t had much luck, and as the summer wore on my visits became less frequent, my hours in the office longer. I had inherited a good squad at Arsenal, but there were still plenty of ways to make it better and plenty of money to do it with.

“I know you’re in there, Hannah. Come on. Open the ****ing door.†My summer had been spent in much this way, the neighbours had long since realised they were best just to ignore me, to let me get on with my begging. I’d found out Hannah’s address not long after I made the move down to London – if she’d wanted it kept secret she should perhaps have gone ex-directory – and at some point in pretty much every day since I had tried to get her to acknowledge me.

“Open the ****ing door.†Still nothing. “Come on. How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?†A window cracked open. Bølløcks, it was a guy.

“**** off.â€

“Who are you?â€

“The dalai ****ing lama.â€

“Impressive.â€

“Look, she doesn’t want to talk to you. I would have thought that was pretty clear but evidently you need it spelling out. She’s not interested. Now **** off.â€

Needless to say, I hadn’t had much luck, and as the summer wore on my visits became less frequent, my hours in the office longer. I had inherited a good squad at Arsenal, but there were still plenty of ways to make it better and plenty of money to do it with.

Close Season:

Players Out

Jens Lehmann (to Crystal Palace – free transfer) – Too old for the top of the game now, Jens it seemed have proved himself a liability in the ultimately unsuccessful campaign the previous season and what little transfer fee could be commanded was forgone in order to get his astronomical wages off the budget.

Matteo Ferrari (to Blackburn - £7,500,000) – A player I had not wanted to part with, the previous management had obviously deemed the fee Blackburn had to pay as worthy of Matteo’s services given that it was a clause written into his contract. I was in the process of renegotiating with the Italian international when Blackburn’s bid came in, and the chance to join the champions proved too big a pull for him.

Matthieu Flamini (to Middlesbrough - £1,000,000) – Clearly not good enough for a side like Arsenal, particularly given the presence of Gilberto in the holding role he coveted, and my intention to bring in further cover for the same role. Matthieu and his sulking Gallic face were sent packing to the north-east where they belonged.

Robin van Persie (to Feyenoord - £5,000,000) – Another with a fee written into his contract, I wasn’t overly concerned with the loss of Robin as he had proven himself only to be a part-time player and there were much better prospects on my shortlist; the only trouble now was to bring them in.

Adrian Mutu (to Barcelona - £28,000,000) – Even for a player of Adrian’s calibre, I couldn’t refuse the pound signs that flashed before my eyes when we received Barca’s bid. He had netted twenty-two times during the previous season at the Emirates Stadium, but with Thierry Henry still on the books and Arturo Lupoli progressing well through the ranks, I thought the money rather than the player would end up being that bit more useful.

Players In

Lassana Diarra (from Chelsea - £3,000,000) – Lassana had played over a hundred games for me at Nottingham Forest and was a player I knew well and trusted implicitly. They may not have liked him at Stamford Bridge, but for whatever reason that was, I was more than happy to take him onto our books as I was sure he would provide wonderful competition to drive Gilberto and Torsten Frings on.

Rune Pedersen (from Nottingham Forest - £3,500,000) – Exploiting a clause I myself had inserted in Rune’s contract at Forest, his was my first transfer as Arsenal boss and the one I had absolutely most confidence in. In the one hundred and forty-nine games he played, he kept eighty-six clean sheets and conceded only eighty-nine goals. How the twenty-seven year old was not a full international I could not understand, but he was definitely my #1.

Ivan Pelizzoli (from Reggina - £5,750,000) – Our lack of goalkeeping options did, however, mean that I had to bring in a second face, and that face was in the shape of former Roma and single Italy cap holder Pelizzoli. Once regarded as the best young ‘keeper on the continent, he seemed to have wandered in his career of late, but still only twenty-six, he had his best years to come, of that I was sure.

Kevin Kuranyi (from Schalke 04 - £7,000,000) – Adrian Mutu’s sale to Barcelona had left us a little light in numbers up front, and with thirty-two caps already amassed for Germany at the age of twenty-five, Kuranyi possessed the experience I was looking for to lead – alongside Henry – the development of a number of young strikers who were trying to make their way at the club. Add to that a distinct talent for finding the back of the net, and I was well pleased to have Kev on board.

Tomas Hübschman (from Southampton - £6,750,000) – Another to fill a summer sale void, Tomas was brought in to be a direct replacement for Blackburn bound Matteo Ferrari. A member of the Premiership Dream XI in both of the previous two seasons, Tomas was clearly a talented player, and alongside his fellow centre backs Touré, Heinze and Campbell, I was sure he could do a fantastic job.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Rune Pedersen; Ivan Pelizzoil; Manuel Almunia

Defenders: Kolo Touré (DR/C); Tomas Hübschman (DR/C); Gabriel Heinze (DL/C); Sol Campbell (DC); Alan Hutton (D/DMR); Lauren (D/DMR); Gaël Clichy (D/DML); Ashley Cole (D/DML)

Midfielders: Lassana Diarra (DMC); Torsten Frings (DMC); Gilberto (DMC); Cesc Fabregas (MC); Freddie Ljungberg (AMR/L); Robert Pires (AMR/L); Sebastian Deisler (AMR/C); Wayne Routledge (AMR/C)

Strikers: Kevin Kuranyi (SC); Thierry Henry (FL/C); José Antonio Reyes (FL/C); Arturo Lupoli (SC); Anthony Stokes (SC)

Likely Line-up:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Pedersen

Hutton Touré Hübschman Cole

Deisler Fabregas Gilberto Reyes

Kuranyi Henry

</pre>

Author's Note: This is, for the unknowledgable, the second (of what I intent to be three) part of my tale concerning the career of young manager, Stephen Beckett. Part 1 (Whisky and Women) can be found here and stretches to nine pages which, if you know my reputation, is epic proportions. I suggest you do read it, it is rather good.

Looking forward to Part 2, Terk.

Enjoyed Part 1 very much! Bring on part 2!

cheers for the supports, guys

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Beckett and the Arsenal: Genius or Folly?

The Independent

If there is a chairman in English football at the moment who has perplexed his club's fans quite as much as Arsenal's Peter Hill-Wood, he must be one seriously messed up fella. In two of the past three seasons, the head honcho at the Emirates Stadium has fired his manager with the side embroiled in a battle for the league title. Perhaps it's that his standards are so high that not having wrapped up the title with five games to go is written into contracts as a sackable offence, or perhaps he just has an itchier trigger finger than Hearts madman Vladimir Romanov, whatever the reason it would be a brave man that next stepped into the Gunners' dugout.

And it is that reason which has seen Stephen Beckett, unheralded and untested, suddenly finds himself forced into the spotlight with no experience of knowing how to deal with it. Beckett's career so far, an entertaining tale of success with a far superior side and a wealthy chairman......... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

"What do you want, Stephen?" I nearly spat my drink all over the table in front of me. I'd finally managed to speak to Hannah the previous morning, cornering her at work and demanding that she met me for a drink, but I hadn't for the first moment expected that she'd turn up.

"Good to see you, Hannah."

"Yeah, cut the cr*p. What do you want?"

"Fancy a drink? Vodka and Coke, right?"

"Just tell me what you want."

"To say I'm sorry."

"You've said that a million times over the phone, shouted it at me from the street, sent me cards saying you're sorry. I get the message."

"look, what I did was sh*tty, I know we can never go back to the way we were, but I just wanted you to know that I truly am sorry. And I want us to be able to be friends." She may not have smiled, but the scowl slowly disappeared off her face and she sat down at the table. It was a start at least.

--

Pre-season was three games before we faced Ferencváros in the qualyfying rounds of the Champions League, and it began with a visit from French side Marseille. With Channel Five picking up the TV rights and over 18,000 in the stands, I was eager that we put on a decent show, but like any friendly - and a mid-week one at that - the game meandered along with the bare minimum of interest from the players involved. We did end up with the win, the only goal of the game set up for Lauren to sweep home from the penalty spot by Fabregas' darting run into the penalty area; a moment which was about the only one of true energy in the entire affair.

We looked a little more lively five days later when Portuguese champions Benfica made their trip to the Emirates Stadium, and a quickfire start had us a goal in front inside two minutes, José Reyes firing in from the edge of the box. Reyes grabbed another just three minutes into the second half, and then set up Kevin Kuranyi, who had begun both games on the bench, to score his first goal in an Arsenal shirt.

Our final warm-up game took us north of the border to face Rangers at Ibrox. Playing what I expected to be my starting line-up in Hungary, we looked a very strong outfit. Two up inside ten minutes (Deisler and Henry), we could have gone on to post almost double figures, but settled for just one more, Henry's second on the half hour mark. The game came at a cost though, Reyes suffering a broken toe in a challenge with Chris Burke late in the second half; an injury which would keep him out for the best part of two months.

Nice Pulp reference.

cheers, beano I've been intending to use that reference for years, just never managed to fit it in before

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“We have with us now former West Ham defender Tony Gale to talk through the prospects for this season. Tony, it’s probably best to start with everyone’s biggest talking point of the close-season, Arsenal and their new manager. A number of bookies have them as favourites for the title, do you think they can live up to that tag?â€

“They’ll struggle. I mean, it’s nice to see a young English manager being given a shot at a top club, but to be drafted straight in with no experience of top flight football at all, I think they’ll struggle.â€

Everyone and his dog, it seemed, was convinced that I was set to fall flat on my face. The bookies who had us as favourites – Oddschecker, for instance, had us 7-4 – could only be going on the strength of our squad, as even I was beginning to believe that I wasn’t ready for the challenges presented at the top of the game.

Our chances of getting off to a good start in my first competitive game were suffering blows left right and centre and first Gilberto was ruled out – and for a month with a broken wrist – and then Heinze caught an elbow from Hübschman in training which would see him miss three weeks with a fractured cheekbone. I thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse, but that was until about ninety minutes before kick-off when Thierry Henry twisted a knee in warm-up, meaning youngster Ryan Smith, who had been brought along just for the experience, was now needed on the bench.

Ferencváros, on the other hand, were at absolutely full strength, and when news broke that Henry was out, you could sense a real optimism amongst their supporters. Lupoli started alongside Kuranyi up front but neither got even a sniff of a chance in the first twenty minutes. Indeed, we had only Rune Pedersen to thank that we weren’t behind, he had pulled off two superb saves with his feet when it seemed certain that the deadlock would be broken.

It was us, however, who got on the scoresheet first, our first chance of the match falling to Arturo Lupoli’s feet in the twenty-fifth minute after he was played in be Cesc Fabregas. The diminutive Italian took one touch to steady himself, and then from ten yards slid the ball underneath Ferencváros ‘keeper Gábor Lengyel to give us the lead.

The rest of the game was, to be honest, pretty dull. Lupoli was withdrawn to a second striker role as we desperately tried to hang on to what we had, and it wasn’t until youngster Ryan Smith was introduced with just ten minutes left that we had any spark at all. It was a big spark when it came though, Kuranyi playing Smith clear and the kid marking his debut with a delightful chip over Lengyel to seal our victory.

Beckett Sub Makes Costly Error

My Sunday paper did not make enjoyable reading on the day after the opening match of the season. Sometimes as a manager you have to hold your hands up and admit you got something wrong, and it was clearly one of those times for me against Middlesbrough. With ten minutes remaining, I replaced the superb Tomas Hübschman with the cumbersome, ageing Sol Campbell, and within two minutes the lumbering centre back hauled down Kris Commons in the penalty area, giving former Gunner Matthew Upson the chance to steal two points from us, something he duly did, sending the Riverside crowd home pretty happy in the process.

To be fair, we should have been out of sight by then given the amount of possession we had, but clear cut chances had been difficult to fashion, only Arturo Lupoli’s third minute strike from David Bentley’s through ball separated the sides. It was perhaps the venom with which some of the fans and media reacted to the result that surprised me most. Though losing points in your first game as title favourites is hardly the smartest thing to do, I didn’t think it deserved the vitriol that was hurled in my direction on any number of phone-in shows on the evening of the game, but it made me determined that we would bag three points in our next outing.

By that time, Sunderland’s Portuguese winger Vieirinha had joined the Emirates Stadium ranks. Only twenty-one years of age – and having cost the Black Cats just £2,500,000 eighteen months previously – the twice capped star set me back some £12,000,000, but his arrival did mean that I would rarely, if ever, have to even consider playing Wayne Routledge.

My third league game in charge of Arsenal saw us face Bolton at the Emirates Stadium, and everyone was well aware just how many problems they had caused us over the years. I couldn’t fathom this time being the same, especially after the first ten minutes in which we rained four shots on Jussi Jääskeläinen’s goal, but the Bolton ‘keeper would not be beaten, and no matter what we threw at him, we could just not find a way past. In the end, we were lucky to escape with a point as Alan Hutton headed a cross onto the inside of his own post and watched in despair as the ball rolled onto the line, only for Hübschman to come to his rescue and thump the ball back into Bolton’s half of the pitch.

superb terk, keep up the good work, i cant stop reading

"He's just not up to the job at this level."

"The team look totally devoid of ideas. That's got to be the fault of the manager."

"Selling Mutu will come back to bite us, Beckett's left us without a top class frontline. He's got to take the blame for our lack of goals."

Just a selection of the comments posted on the BBC's messageboard regarding our start to the season. It seemed that the fans were far from impressed with the start we'd made, but what was perhaps a little more surprising to me was that, after they had bitched and moaned for years about young British managers not getting the chance at top clubs, the media it appeared were willing to give me no time to settle in despite Arsenal's gamble on me. A bottle of whisky became a regular order from room service.

I was cheered slightly by the news that Thierry Henry had recovered from the injury he picked up in Turkey and was fit enough to claim a starting place for the return match against Ferencváros. The boys, for their part, had taken a lot of the criticism personally as well, and were determined to go out and put on a good show. Leading by two from the away leg, there was really no need for us to attack, but we felt the fans needed to see is, and by the twentieth minute, Cesc Fabregas had bagged himself a double - the second admittedly benfiting from a wicked deflection - and we were cruising towards the group stage. The final goal of the tie game just a minute before half time, Kevin Kuranyi played Henry clear and the French legend slid his shot under Lengyel to give us a five goal aggregate lead.

It was Thierry's last involvement in the match, he had picked up a groin strain in the early moments - it wasn't too difficult to summise that I had rushed him back into the side too quickly - and initial reports suggested that he would be out for another two weeks. The group draw gave us more to smile about, however, as we avoided all of the big guns and were charged with getting past Monaco, Benfica and Olympiakos if we wanted a place in the knockout phase.

My first Monday night game in charge of Arsenal came against Newcastle in our next league outing, and I was determined for more success after Toon boss Berti Vogts was none too complimentary in his pre-match press conference, stating that he doubted if we could put together a strong title challenge, that I had a lot to prove at this level and that his Newcastle side shouldn't have too much to worry about in coming to the Emirates Stadium.

For the first half, it looked like Bertu was right though, and a few smug German glances were shot in my direction. Newcastle coped with everything we had to throw at them and in turn looked far more threatening when they broke than we had ever managed. The half time team talk was one of panic on my bwhalf, I hated to think what awaited me in the papers the next day if we failed to win again, but thankfully I was spared finding out. With just over twenty mintues remaining, a Newcastle clearance failed to reach the edge of the penalty area. Deisler forced the ball goalward, and two further ricochets in the ensuing scramble saw the ball come to Freddie Ljungberg, the Swede reacting quickly to toe-poke it past Shay Given for the opening goal.

Newcastle pressed forward in search of the equaliser they fully deserved, but in doing so gave us far more space behind them, and nine minutes later we had the game clincher, Diesler playing the ball for Kuranyi to latch onto and flash his shot beyond Given.

"He's just not up to the job at this level."

"The team look totally devoid of ideas. That's got to be the fault of the manager."

"Selling Mutu will come back to bite us, Beckett's left us without a top class frontline. He's got to take the blame for our lack of goals."

Just a selection of the comments posted on the BBC's messageboard regarding our start to the season. It seemed that the fans were far from impressed with the start we'd made, but what was perhaps a little more surprising to me was that, after they had bitched and moaned for years about young British managers not getting the chance at top clubs, the media it appeared were willing to give me no time to settle in despite Arsenal's gamble on me. A bottle of whisky became a regular order from room service.

I was cheered slightly by the news that Thierry Henry had recovered from the injury he picked up in Turkey and was fit enough to claim a starting place for the return match against Ferencváros. The boys, for their part, had taken a lot of the criticism personally as well, and were determined to go out and put on a good show. Leading by two from the away leg, there was really no need for us to attack, but we felt the fans needed to see is, and by the twentieth minute, Cesc Fabregas had bagged himself a double - the second admittedly benfiting from a wicked deflection - and we were cruising towards the group stage. The final goal of the tie game just a minute before half time, Kevin Kuranyi played Henry clear and the French legend slid his shot under Lengyel to give us a five goal aggregate lead.

It was Thierry's last involvement in the match, he had picked up a groin strain in the early moments - it wasn't too difficult to summise that I had rushed him back into the side too quickly - and initial reports suggested that he would be out for another two weeks. The group draw gave us more to smile about, however, as we avoided all of the big guns and were charged with getting past Monaco, Benfica and Olympiakos if we wanted a place in the knockout phase.

My first Monday night game in charge of Arsenal came against Newcastle in our next league outing, and I was determined for more success after Toon boss Berti Vogts was none too complimentary in his pre-match press conference, stating that he doubted if we could put together a strong title challenge, that I had a lot to prove at this level and that his Newcastle side shouldn't have too much to worry about in coming to the Emirates Stadium.

For the first half, it looked like Bertu was right though, and a few smug German glances were shot in my direction. Newcastle coped with everything we had to throw at them and in turn looked far more threatening when they broke than we had ever managed. The half time team talk was one of panic on my bwhalf, I hated to think what awaited me in the papers the next day if we failed to win again, but thankfully I was spared finding out. With just over twenty mintues remaining, a Newcastle clearance failed to reach the edge of the penalty area. Deisler forced the ball goalward, and two further ricochets in the ensuing scramble saw the ball come to Freddie Ljungberg, the Swede reacting quickly to toe-poke it past Shay Given for the opening goal.

Newcastle pressed forward in search of the equaliser they fully deserved, but in doing so gave us far more space behind them, and nine minutes later we had the game clincher, Diesler playing the ball for Kuranyi to latch onto and flash his shot beyond Given.

August 2007 Results

(Premiership unless otherwise stated)

Ferencváros 0 - 2 Arsenal (Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round, 1st Leg)

(Lupoli 25"; Smith 82")

Middlesbrough 1 - 1 Arsenal

(Lupoli 3"; Upson pen 82")

Arsenal 0 - 0 Bolton

Arsenal 3 - 0 Ferencváros (Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round, 2nd Leg)

(Fabregas 12", 18"; Henry 44")

Arsenal 2 - 0 Newcastle

(Ljungberg 69"; Kuranyi 78")

Deadline day at the end of August saw us splash more cash than anyone else in the league, Hatem Ben Arfa joining from Lyon for a tasty £14,000,000. The 20 year old winger-come-striker was yet to be capped for the French national side, though he had made twelve appearances for the U-21 outfit, but still listed our very own Thierry Henry amongst his idols, I was simply desperate in my hope that playing alongside the Highbury legend would bring out the best in the youngster.

Despite Ljungberg, Kuranyi and Vieirinha having suffered knocks on international duty which ruled them out, Ben Arfa was only amongst the substitutes for the trip to face Aston Villa. In truth, by the half hour I was wishing I’d started with him as he certainly wouldn’t have been worse than the attacking options we had out on the field. The Frenchman did eventually get on, in the seventy-fifth minute he replaced Arturo Lupoli, and in just four minutes he had latched onto a superb through ball by Cesc Fabregas and rounded Thomas Sørensen in the Villa goal to break the deadlock. How happy I would have been had we managed to hold onto that lead. Instead, three minutes from time we fell asleep as Gustavo Varela’s free kick floated its way into the penalty area, going untouched by all and finding the bottom corner of the net. It was a cruel blow and only added voice to those who felt I was just not good enough for this level.

They weren’t silenced much by our Champions League trip to Monaco. Though we took the lead in fifteen minutes, Thierry Henry stealing the ball off goalkeeper Flavio Roma and walking it into the net, Sébastien Squillaci levelled matters before the break and, to be honest, the second half saw the home side far more likely to steal the points than we.

With Reyes on the bench and Kuranyi partnering Henry up front, there was no place for Ben Arfa in the squad for the visit of Crystal Palace, and neither was there for Vieirinha, Ljungberg returning from injury to take his place amongst the substitutes. It was, however, Henry who was to prove our game winner – as so often he had done for the club over the years – his twenty-third minute goal a top quality effort, taking a pass from Robert Pires and curling a shot into the corner of the net from fifteen yards. It was the only point of light in an otherwise dull game, but I was breathing a lot easier afterwards as we travelled three places up the table to fifth.

Hey Terk, I'd kind of lost track on Whiskey & Women (as sad confession, but honest) mainly due to my drifiting away from actually reading stuff on here. Therefore I'm glad to have spotted this little gem starting up - good luck in North London, I guess it's just a shame that you got there three or four years before Ed Allen - I expect you'll have been sacked by the time his Spurs side can find its way into the Prem

cheers flip, good to have you along and Stephen's start to life at a big club hasn't exactly gone to plan, we can only hope he turns it around

-----------------------------------------

Not even I can pretend that we deserved that, Andy. Blackburn were by far the better side, we just somehow hung on and stole it at the end.

Have you ever seen anyone have a better debut that Ivan Pelizzoli did tonight?

I’m not sure it’s possible to be better than Pelli was tonight. I’d lost count of the number of saves he’d made by about half an hour in. I’m not sure that Morten Pedersen will be his best friend, but I do think the Arsenal fans will take to him after a performance like that.

The fact that we had scored victory over Blackburn was simply incredible. The home side had twenty-seven shots on goal – nineteen of which were on target – to our three. Left winger Morten Gamst Pedersen was responsible for twelve of those shots, yet each and every one was battered away by our debutant Italian ‘keeper. Included only at the last minute when Rune Pedersen pulled up with a thigh injury, Pelizzoli proceeded to put in the kind of world class performance which is rarely seen, and it’s value soared even higher when, a minute into injury time at the end of the match, substitute Spaniard José Antonio Reyes jinked his way through the Blackburn defence before slotting his shot underneath home ‘keeper Jamal. If ever there was a game I had not deserved to win, this was it.

Our lacklustre attack against Blackburn was replicated three days later when we faced Southampton at the Emirates Stadium, luckily, however, they were just as poor and the goalless draw which was played out was about all that either team deserved.

We’re playing against nine men, for ****’s sake. What the **** is going on out there? You couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a ****ing banjo. My exasperation at half time against Olympiakos was, I felt, justified. We had been playing against nine men for twelve minutes after Antonis Nikopolidis had joined Giorgos Georgiadis in an early bath, but still we had looked entirely unlikely to break the deadlock, especially when Thierry Henry drilled his penalty a clear two feet wide of the post.

For the third consecutive game we looked utterly clueless in front of goal, and maybe it was just my paranoia, but I certainly felt an axe being sharpened above my neck. I doubt it was determination to spare me my job, however, which jolted the players into action in the second half, but whatever did it I was thankful for as Henry and Lupoli got us on the way to victory, added to by late goals from Deisler and Fabregas – marking his 100th game for the club – we had the sort of victory which the situation demanded, but which undoubtedly flattered us at the same time.

enjoyed part 1 immensely terk, hope this is just as good

cheers, sherm

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“In the Premiership today, Everton scored the biggest result, coming from behind to beat Arsenal at Goodison Park. Thierry Henry had given the Gunners the perfect start with a sixth minute goal, but a hat-trick from former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor was enough to secure the points for the home side.â€

Watching the Saturday night news after our early kick-off in Liverpool, I was flushed with a mix of embarrassment and anger. Embarrassment, quite plainly, at having been thoroughly beaten at the hands of mid-table Everton, but anger at the fact that my players had – either wilfully or just by sheer stupidity – abandoned the well thought out game plan roughly two seconds after Thierry gave us the lead and spent the rest of the game, even when we had fallen two goals behind, trying to see how many stupid little tricks they could manage before giving the ball away.

I had planned a night in front of the T.V. watching Match of the Day with a bottle of wine at hand to deflect Alan Hansen’s inevitable comments about our less than impressive defending, but I just couldn’t face it. I donned my jacket and headed for the pub, with a fat wallet and a need to forget, I should have seen where the night would take me.

--

“Oh, Jesus. Stephen? Stephen, what are you doing here?†I honestly had no idea whether I was awake or dreaming, all that was certain was that my mouth tasted like an ashtray and I couldn’t get my eyes to focus on anything.

“You look like ****.†So it wasn’t a dream then. “Have you been here all night?†Better than even chance. “You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?†Figure that one out all by yourself, Sherlock? “Let’s get you inside.†Don’t think the gentlemen of the house would take too kindly to that. “He’s away for the week.†Bonus. “Forget about it.†Bugger.

The rest of the morning passed much as one would expect, initial sympathy and concern turning into anger and disgust that I had gotten myself into such a state. At more than one point Hannah suggested that I needed to seek help, if she knew how heavily I’d been drinking since coming to London, I suspect it would have been far more than a suggestion. Eventually, after as much black coffee as my stomach could handle, she drove me home, a journey long enough for a final lecture and she left with a promise to return during the week, just to make sure I was doing OK.

“Stephen, let me in. You can’t hide forever. Come on. Just let me in.†I had no intention of seeing anyone. As Hannah was yelling at my window, I had my head buried underneath my pillows, occasionally appearing into daylight to steal another swig from the vodka bottle. Two days after my world had come crashing down around me, I was still in the same clothes and smelling like I’d been in them for two weeks. I hadn’t eaten, but had drunk three or four times my own body weight, as far as I was concerned I would continue doing so until it killed me.

The crisis had begun on the Tuesday night. Twenty four hours before facing Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium, a quiet night in the local pub had turned into an all night drinking session which, lo and behold, was splashed across the morning papers. My whisky soaked face, arm round some guy in an Arsenal shirt, grinning inanely for a picture which made it to every media outlet in the country within hours.

Stumbling into work the following morning, I was called into a board meeting. I struggled to keep my eyes open as they probed and pressed for the reasons behind my actions, I managed to placate them enough to hold off on the trigger for now with a story about a bereavement in the family which I had not taken well. I assured them it was a one off thing, I would take part in any sort of anti-drinking promotions they wanted, yes I was fit to take control of the match that evening.

Of course, I was far from fit enough to take control of such a crucial match, but I feared the consequences if, following my exploits in the papers, I failed to turn up in the dugout to see us take on Chelsea. Mind still clouded come the evening, however, I was entirely unable to get my instructions across to the players, and by the twentieth minute of the match, we had suffered at the hands of a Gilardinho hat-trick. John Terry compounded my misery with a fourth in the second half, though by that time I was just angry with everyone and everything.

The club should have kept me well away from the press after the game, the last thing that should have happened was me being presented to the cameras to talk to the watching world. In the end I didn’t get through one question, let alone one interview, asked if the events of the previous twenty-four hours, coupled with two humiliating defeats on the field, proved that I was not up to managing at this level of the game, I shoved the cameraman into the wall and stormed off down the tunnel. I didn’t wait around long enough to see what the board had to say, and was home before I could embarrass myself further.

--

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I have a short statement to read, I will not be taking questions. An emergency board meeting was called for nine o’clock this morning to discuss the much publicised events of the past forty-eight hours. The actions of head coach Stephen Beckett can in no way be condoned, and given their serious nature it was the unanimous decision of the board that his contract with the football club be terminated with immediate effect on the grounds of gross misconduct. An announcement on caretaker duties for this weekend’s fixture will be made later this afternoon, I have nothing further to add at this time.â€

Peter Hill-Wood had phoned me twenty minutes before he stepped into the press room and delivered his statement, though I can hardly say I was surprised. I made no plea for my job, I knew I had to go, indeed I had little interest in returning to the game in any form; all that seemed important to me was seeing the bottom of the bottle.

--

“Holy ****, Stephen. Open the window.†I had finally relented and let Hannah in, she had made it clear that she wasn’t going anywhere until I did. She quickly poured anything alcoholic she could find down the sink and fixed many a pot of black coffee and some toast.

“Seriously, Stephen, you need to get some help. I know some people, I can get you in. Ninety days and you’ll come out the other side clean. You can start again, do whatever you want.†I stayed silent throughout, knowing she was right. Ninety days in the Priory hardly sounded like fun, but it was what I needed. Time away from everyone. Time away from everything.

'Heat' and 'Kitchen' ?

Me thinks Mr Beckett's star was rising too quickly

a little to big for his boots I think, flippers

---------------------------------------------

It was a bitingly cold day as I stepped into Richmond Park. Ninety days had passed since my career had gone spiralling downwards, and it was safe to say that I felt quite considerably better than I had in a long time. Finding a quiet café, a sat down to read the paper; one thing I had done during my time away was cut myself off from the outside world entirely and I was eager to discover what had been going on in the arena of my former employment.

From what I could gather, Spaniard Joaquin Caparros had taken over the mess I had left at the Emirates Stadium and managed to guide Arsenal to a clear lead at the top of the table whilst Nottingham Forest were suffering badly, only fifteen points on the board and still having hired no one to replace me.

--

“I think I need to get away. I know I’m just being paranoid but I feel like everyone’s watching me, waiting for me to do something stupid.â€

“I’ve got a nice little place in the south of France. Lovely little town called Pau. You can use it for a while if you like.â€

“Does Andy have anything to saw about you being so nice to me?â€

“Not if he knows what’s good for him. Look, I’ll come out with you for a few days, help you settle in. You can stay for as long as you need.â€

“That sounds like exactly what I need.â€

--

Hannah hadn’t been kidding when she described it as a lovely little town. A population just shy of eighty thousand with a castle at its very centre, it was a beautiful place. A few days of pottering about doing very little of anything at all had, however, let me know just how much I was missing football. Going back to England though, no matter how tempting it was to apply for the Forest job and try to wrest them from the dirt, was simply not an option. I had to look elsewhere.

“It’s certainly tempting, Jacques. I want to get back into the game as soon as I can.†I sipped my coffee slowly as Monsieur Le Coadou thought over his resposne. Though the sun was beating down from the clear sky, there was still a chill to the January air.

“I cannot offer you much. We have not won a game since October, the press say we cannot do anything to avoid relegation.â€

“Money is not my motivation here, Jacques. I do want to get back to the top level soon though.â€

“You could sign just a month to month contract. If any Ligue 1 side come in for you, I would never stand in your way.â€

I drained my coffee and quickly ordered another. Looking around me, I could certainly enjoy living in such a place, indeed I could do so for perhaps longer than my professional ambitions would allow. Whilst a return to the Premiership and the gaze of the English media was perhaps still a way off, there were plenty of other top leagues for me to ply my trade in.

Jacques had taken my silence for hesitation over the position. “We are financially in a good position, better than many others in the league. I could offer you €750,000 to improve the squad. And we have a good assistant, Brahim Naïmi. All I ask is that you do your best to keep us in the National league.â€

“You have yourself a new manager, Jacques.â€

I thought I'd stumbled into flipper's "Leaving the past behind" story by mistake, but I can now see that you have decided on a clean start with Pau. Good luck with your rehabilitation, Terk.

When the chance to go to Pau came about, I just couldn't turn it down, Spav. I figured it was the proper way to pay homage to flip and his tale

-----------------------------------------------

“Is it just me, or do we have no left wingers?â€

“Mourad N’Zif can play there.â€

“But then we’d have no right winger.â€

“True. We have been looking at a couple of players, Cédric Faivre at Fontenay and Youssef Sekour at Bordeaux.â€

“Get bids in for both of them.†Brahim had been talking me through the squad as I watched them train for the first time. It didn’t seem the worst of squads, perhaps a little light in attacking options, but with players like Nicolas Cami, Jacques Leglib and Christophe Walter, it was difficult to see why Pau had got themselves into such a poor position. The news, however, that defenders Lionel Bah and Eugène Kangulungu had just been called up by the Ivory Coast and Congo respectively for their African Nations campaigns, was not greeted with pleasure.

--

“Take a seat, Brahim.â€

“Thanks. Cédric has just put pen to paper. He won’t be available for today’s game, but he’ll be fine for Wasquehal on Wednesday.â€

“What about the others?â€

“Sekour and Kébé? Both trained with us yesterday, they’re available for selection.â€

“OK, thanks.â€

Preparations for my first game in charge of Pau had gone as well as could be expected, Gaël Bonnel had recovered from a slight thigh knock to take his place up front, Sekour had arrived to plug the gap on the left flank and we’d managed to do as best we could to cover for the absence of Bah, in particular in defence. Our opponents for the day, Cherbourg, still had their eyes on promotion, sitting fifth in the table and determined for a win over ourselves to keep their push going.

Nicolas Cami hampered my plans somewhat in the warm-up for the game as he took a blow on the ankle which ruled him out, I had planned for the midfielder to take the captain’s armband, so that honour was passed to Damien Moulin with Christophe Walter as his vice. We began the game promisingly, though our five man midfield was having difficulty stamping its authority on the game. We did take the lead, Walter prodding the ball home after a fantastic cross from Vincent Bounayre, but it wasn’t enough for the three points, Amara Ahmed Ouattara grabbing an equaliser for the visitors in the second half.

There had been many positives aside from the result to take from the draw with Cherbourg. Loan signings Youssef Sekour and Yahia Kébé, both joining us from Bordeaux, had looked very lively, though Kébé had been restricted to only twenty minutes as a substitute. I was concerned about our midfield though, or more accurately, the centre of it. We had difficulty getting and keeping hold of the ball and imposing ourselves on the match. What that meant was that I was certain to stick with the 4-5-1 for the moment, if we didn’t have the talent, I’d just try and flood our way to superiority and hope that the return of Cami for the trip to Wasquehal gave us the guile we needed.

It was to Villeneuve-d’Ascq that we travelled for my first away game in French football, the Stade Lille Métropole instantly finding my dislike with its lack of a roof and running track separating the pitch from the stands. Having looked at the tables for the previous three seasons on the coach to the game, and having found that the survival rates had been between forty-two and forty-six points, I was distinctly less impressed with our current twenty-five point haul.

With Cédric Faivre, Bertrand Tchami and Cami coming into the starting line-up, Cami taking the captain’s armband, I was a little more hopeful of getting something from the trip, despite Wasquehal’s lofty position in the table, and my confidence was well founded as we frustrated them throughout the match, Jacques Leglib impressing greatly in keeping our first clean sheet of the season. Taking two points from teams involved in the promotion battle had let me know that we had a chance of staying up, now we just had to back the good start up with some wins.

Our first chance to get such a win came when fourth placed Rouen visited the Stade du Hameau. New signing, Chad international midfielder Djamal Bindi, brought in from Bayonne for just £5,000, was drafted straight into the starting line-up in place of the injured Vincent Di Bartolomeo whilst Yahia Kébé came in for Tchami up front. The decisions to play both paid off in the first half, Kébé speared us into the lead with a long range shot after thirteen minutes, and that lead was doubled just before the half hour when Bindi played in Cami and the captain slid his shot beyond Olivier Sorin. Rouen’s first defeat in eighteen games was pretty much confirmed when they had Essole sent off for a second bookable offence with thirteen minutes left, and though the win saw us remain down in nineteenth, the confidence could be felt flowing through the squad.

January 2008 Results:

(National unless otherwise stated)

Pau 1 – 1 Cherbourg

(Walter 33â€; Ouattara 69â€)

Wasquehal 0 – 0 Pau

Pau 2 – 0 Rouen

(Kébé 13â€; Cami 29â€; Essole s/off 77â€)

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Hannah hadn’t been kidding when she described it as a lovely little town. A population just shy of eighty thousand with a castle at its very centre, it was a beautiful place. A few days of pottering about doing very little of anything at all had, however, let me know just how much I was missing football. Going back to England though, no matter how tempting it was to apply for the Forest job and try to wrest them from the dirt, was simply not an option. I had to look elsewhere. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can pay testiment to that, the castle is indeed lovely and the city beautiful if littered with a smidgen too much dog poop. Mais c'est la vie in France sady.

Anyway, shame about the Arsenal and drinking woe, but here's a to a resurgence avec Pau!

Sequels rarely live up to the first, but this is an exception to the rule. If it continues as it has started it will better part one of the trillogy

Cheers for the praise, Tyrone I certainly hope it lives up to your expectations. BoN, I've only been through Pau but it did seem like a lovely place.

----------------------------------------

“You seem miserable.â€

“And you look great too.â€

“Seriously, you’ve been moping about all morning.â€

“We lost yesterday.â€

“Boo hoo.â€

“You don’t get football, do you?â€

“I don’t get how ninety minutes can ruin someone’s entire weekend.â€

“It can ruin a whole lot more than that.â€

I did, at least, have good reason to be miserable. The trip to league leaders Châteauroux had taught me exactly how far we had to go. A class above anything I had previously faced since moving to Pau, we were two goals down by the interval with a third added in the second half. To compound things, new signing Djamal Bindi was helped from the field in the closing minutes with a hip injury which would keep him out for three months.

“How’s Andy?â€

“Do we need to do this every time?â€

“I’ll only stop asking when you dump him and take me back.â€

“He asked me to marry him.â€

“Congratulations.â€

“I said no.â€

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?â€

“Would a celebratory dance be too insensitive?â€

Enjoying the read so far mate, KUTGW

apologies for the delay in posting, had a lot to deal with of late

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The news of the demise of Hannah’s relationship kept me in a good mood for days, even after she had returned to her native shores. Though hardly very sensitive, I couldn’t help but focus on the potential road it gave me back into her affections rather than the pain and distress she must have been going through.

My pleasant disposition was only improved after we next took to the field as well. A brief exchange in the media with Franck Silvestre, manager of our next opponents, Martigues, had seen me praise the man despite never having met him and knowing nothing about him. Lionel Bah, returning from his stint at right back in the African Nations winning Ivory Coast side, started his first game for me with Nicolas Cami coming back into midfield. They were two changes which saw us have both a far more solid base, and provide much greater attacking threat, as was evidenced by the three goals we won by, Kébé, Bounayre and Sekour netting.

February 2008 Results:

(National unless otherwise stated)

Châteauroux 3 – 0 Pau

(Bikoyoi (OG) 4â€; Ajouaou 45+1â€; Costa 56â€)

Pau 3 – 0 Martigues

(Kébé 33â€; Bounayre 70â€; Sekour 77â€)

“Keep this up and we might just escape.†Jacques Le Coadou, the club chairman, had paid another visit to my office to express his delight at victory gained by his side. After thumping Martigues, we had travelled to Mezzavia to face GFCO Ajaccio, a team who could easily find themselves dragged into the relegation battle.

There were no changes to the side that had done so well against Martigues, and we continued to look a far better side with Bah at right back and Labat on the left side of defence. Cami remained our main creative threat, and it was the midfielder who struck us into the lead with a nineteenth minute penalty after Anthony Peralta had fouled Bounayre, and ten minutes later our superiority was confirmed when a wonderful move involving Cami, Christophe Walter and Yahia Kébé ended with the loan striker easing his shot past Emmanuel Rayer in the home side’s goal.

In truth, we could and probably should have had six or seven more in the second half, we simply ran riot at the Stade Ange Casanova and there was absolutely nothing the hosts could do to stop us, save pray that our finishing remained as wild as it had been. We finally did add a third to our score, the very least that our play deserved, four minutes from time, Aernoudt finding Walter unmarked in the penalty area and watching as the midfielder rocketed a shot into the roof of the net. The result left us just two points shy of Paris FC and the safety of sixteenth place.

--

“Any news on the offer we put to Marcel?â€

“He signed. No hesitation.â€

“Excellent.†I had hoped that offering fifty-seven year old club physio Marcel Lassus a two year extension to his deal which was due to run out in the summer signalled my intention to stay well past the end of the relegation battle we found ourselves in, and that was exactly the way it had been taken. Monsieur Le Coadou had, however, been a little hesitant at my request to sit down and talk about a long contract.

“Take your time, Stephen. Don’t commit yourself to something more than you’re willing to give. You’re a quality coach, a big team will come in soon and I want you to be able to make the decision purely on your own. Maybe we can talk about a rolling deal in the summer.â€

My chances of landing such a deal were only increased when we scored our third consecutive three-nil victory, and with it moved out of the relegation zone. Paris FC had stood just above us when play began at the Stade du Hameau, but by the final whistle we had vaulted them in the table and shown them just how determined we were to emerge from battle successful.

Yahia Kébé had become something of a quick crowd favourite in his short spell from Bordeaux, already netting three times in his first six games – the first two of which had been late substitute appearances – and he enhanced his reputation in the tenth minute of the match against Paris, latching onto Bounayre’s through ball and rounding goalkeeper Steve Mandana before sliding his shot home from a tight angle.

By half time the game was won without doubt, Walter having crossed for Bikoyoi to double our advantage in the seventeenth minute and then Lionel Bah, deputising at right wing for the injured N’Zif, arrived at the back post to convert Faivre’s cross with a well-placed side-foot shot past Mandana.

“Nicolas, do you want to risk it?â€

“Let me out there, boss.†Cami had picked up a slight ankle knock in the warm-up for our game against Toulon, and as such had been forced to make do with a place on the bench for the first eighty minutes of the game; watching on as we struggled to deal with the side tenth in the league. Somehow though, we were still holding strong at 1-1, thanks mainly to an incredible shift from goalkeeper Jacques Leglib, and with ten minutes to go I was willing to risk anything for three points which would be huge in our battle for survival.

--

“A masterstroke, Stephen.â€

“Nicolas scored the goals.â€

“But you had the guts to risk him. I think you can claim some credit for yourself.†Of that there was no doubt, within seven minutes of Cami’s appearance on the field, he had turned Walter’s shot into the net, and a minute into injury time he sealed a win we had no right to claim, stealing the ball off Toulon goalkeeper Thomas Trochut and walking it into the net. With Châtellerault relegated after their 0-1 defeat to Viry and ourselves now sitting two points clear of the relegation zone, things were looking a lot brighter as we edged towards the final days of March.

We had a much more difficult times of things in our home game against Racing 92. Despite the fact that Toulon had caused us serious problems all game, it had always looked like we could nick a goal on the break, but back at the Stade du Hameau, we were simply never in the game. From the first whistle to the last, Racing had our number and we managed only a solitary strike on target, though admittedly it did force a superb save from Willy Grondin in the visitor’s goal.

Racing claimed the single goal they needed for victory with five minutes remaining before the interval, Moustapha Keita netting from the penalty spot after Tchami had handled in the area when under no pressure at all. It was a bad way to loose a bad game, and certainly forced a cautionary note of reality into an otherwise superb month.

March 2008 Results

(National unless otherwise stated)

GFCO Ajaccio 0 – 3 Pau

(Cami pen 19â€; Kébé 29â€; Walter 86â€)

Pau 3 – 0 Paris FC

(Kébé 10â€; Bikoyoi 17â€; Bah 36â€)

Toulon 1 – 3 Pau

(Paillères 23â€; Walter 33â€; Cami 87â€, 90+1â€)

Pau 0 – 1 Racing 92

(Keita pen 40â€)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Châteauroux | | 33 | 17 | 7 | 9 | 54 | 37 | +17 | 58 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Rouen | | 33 | 14 | 13 | 6 | 49 | 34 | +15 | 55 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Wasquehal | | 33 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 41 | 33 | +8 | 52 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Angoulême | | 33 | 15 | 7 | 11 | 46 | 35 | +11 | 52 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Clermont-Ferrand | | 33 | 14 | 8 | 11 | 46 | 38 | +8 | 50 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Racing 92 | | 33 | 15 | 5 | 13 | 43 | 40 | +3 | 50 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Cannes | | 33 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 48 | 42 | +6 | 49 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Cherbourg | | 33 | 13 | 9 | 11 | 46 | 40 | +6 | 48 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | GFCO Ajaccio | | 33 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 38 | 44 | -6 | 46 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Valence | | 33 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 35 | 34 | +1 | 46 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Toulon | | 33 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 45 | 43 | +2 | 46 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | Libourne St-Seurin | | 33 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 39 | 38 | +1 | 45 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | Pacy | | 33 | 13 | 6 | 14 | 41 | 43 | -2 | 45 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Louhans-Cuiseaux | | 33 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 42 | 48 | -6 | 45 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Noisy-le-Sec | | 33 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 40 | 41 | -1 | 42 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Pau | | 33 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 42 | 39 | +3 | 41 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | | Viry | | 33 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 35 | 44 | -9 | 39 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | | Paris FC | | 33 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 39 | 51 | -12 | 38 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 19th | | Martigues | | 33 | 8 | 8 | 17 | 31 | 52 | -21 | 32 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 20th | R | Châtellerault | | 33 | 4 | 10 | 19 | 28 | 52 | -24 | 22 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

the return

----------------------------------------

I spent my two weeks off between the defeat to Racing and the visit to already relegated Châtellerault doing very little indeed. I walked around town, enjoying the fact that no one really knew me yet and I could be just another face in the crowd. I also caught up with what was happening in the English game, and whilst Chelsea were walking away with the title, my former charges in Nottingham were on the verge of dropping out of the league. If they failed to beat Portsmouth at the City Ground then they would be relegated with three games remaining – perhaps the fact that they hadn’t bought a single player since I left contributed to their downfall.

I was determined that Pau wouldn’t suffer a similar fate, and a win at the Stade de la Montée Rouge would go a long way to ensuring that. Unfortunately, we played one of the poorest halves of football I’ve ever seen in the first forty-five. Thankfully the home side weren’t able to make too much of our inadequacy and had only a Wilfried Niflore penalty to show for it. There were changes made at half time and instructions reiterated, and whilst our improvement wasn’t massive, it was enough to win a penalty which Cami converted in the fifty-first minute and enough then to hold onto a point which we scarcely deserved.

In relegation battles, it is so often the games against those around the drop zone which determine whether you stay up or not, and so with a visit from 18th placed Viry following our trip to Châtellerault, we felt it important to claim the three points. However, the form we had shown throughout March seemed definitely to have fled as the visitors had the better of the game.

A Gilles De Oliveira goal had Viry in front at half time, but we got a boost five minutes after the break when Halil Toraman was shown a straight red card for an horrific challenge on Bah, which left the defender with a horrible gash on his leg. Suddenly the momentum of the game had swung, and finally when Faivre swung in a corner, Kébé headed into the corner to at least bag us a point.

With three games now remaining, the situation was horribly tight. Between Viry in eighteenth and Louhans in thirteenth, there was just a five point gap. We sat sixteenth, a single place and a single point outside the relegation zone, although being the only side with a positive goal difference gave us a little extra breathing room.

April 2008 Results

(National unless otherwise stated)

Châtellerault 1 – 1 Pau (Niflore pen 24â€; Cami pen 51â€)

Pau 1 – 1 Viry (De Oliveira 9â€; Kébé 71â€)

“It’s not looking good, Jacques. We’ve got Clermont and Angoulême next, they’re both fighting for promotion. I wouldn’t say this to the players, but it’s going to be very difficult to keep us up.â€

“You could jump ship.â€

“I wouldn’t do that.â€

“I’m serious. Nottingham Forest have approached me about your situation. They want you back.â€

“Not interested.â€

And it was true. English football, and Forest in particular, held no interest for me now. I had settled at Pau and was eyeing success in France. My more immediate concern, however, was a visit to face Clermont-Ferrand, a side who were just two points off the promotion places. In truth, throughout the game they were better than us, Jacques-Desire Périatambée gave them an early lead, but there was a fight about the players that gave us hope. Nicolas Cami was our one player of true, unquestionable quality, and whilst he was on the pitch we always had a chance. It was Kébé, however, who won us a penalty in first half injury time, though it was Cami who converted it.

Clermont were not going to let us steal points off us that easily though, but we did give them a helping hand, Mourad N’Zif putting through his own goal just after the hour mark to give the home side the lead once more, but we kept fighting and fighting and with four minutes remaining, Walter played Cami in behind the Clermont defence and he lofted a shot over the ‘keeper to secure a third consecutive draw for us.

Results elsewhere meant that we remained a single point above the relegation zone, but we would have an even harder challenge against Angoulême as Bikoyoi, Cami and Faivre were suspended as a result of three yellow cards. And in the end it told on us, I was convinced that Cami would have won us at least a point, but as it was, Dimitri Bernard’s penalty in the sixty-first minute settled the match, and all of a sudden it was five without a win as we sat still a point ahead of Paris FC and just two above Viry.

Louhans-Cuiseaux had made themselves safe over the previous two games, points gained had lifted themselves into tenth place and so I felt slightly heartened that they would have nothing to play for and perhaps their eye would be off the ball. Furthermore, we were at full strength for the game, which would be my two hundredth in management, and all we had to do was make sure that we claimed a victory.

Having been outplayed for many of our recent games, it was nice to see us start a game with a high tempo and plenty of ball. The suspicion that Louhans wouldn’t have their head in the game was well placed, but there was plenty to praise us for, in particular Faivre was causing huge problems down the wing. Indeed, it was Faivre who provided the cross for our opening goal, his ball from the left clipped home by Cami. It was a vital goal as word had already reached us that Paris were leading at home to Cherbourg, and it was followed up quickly with one which gave us a cushion, Faivre again providing the cross, this time with Walter with the finish.

The second half was all about holding onto what we had, there were no intentions to score a third, and though there was momentary panic when Marchndé put the ball past Leglib, but the linesman’s flag was raised high, we coasted through to the final whistle and a place in the National league for the 2008-09 season.

May 2008 Results

(National unless otherwise stated)

Clermont-Ferrand 2 - 2 Pau

(Péritambée 15"; Cami 45+2", 86"; N'Zif (OG) 65")

Pau 0 - 1 Angoulême

(Bernard pen 61")

Pau 2 - 0 Louhans-Cuiseaux

(Cami 23"; Walter 29")

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | C | Rouen | | 38 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 59 | 39 | +20 | 65 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | P | Châteauroux | | 38 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 58 | 43 | +15 | 63 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | P | Cannes | | 38 | 17 | 11 | 10 | 56 | 42 | +14 | 62 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Angoulême | | 38 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 49 | 36 | +13 | 61 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Clermont-Ferrand | | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 52 | 44 | +8 | 56 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Racing 92 | | 38 | 17 | 5 | 16 | 49 | 46 | +3 | 56 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Cherbourg | | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 52 | 48 | +4 | 55 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Wasquehal | | 38 | 13 | 16 | 9 | 41 | 37 | +4 | 55 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Pacy | | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 47 | 48 | -1 | 55 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th | | Valence | | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 46 | 39 | +7 | 54 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th | | Toulon | | 38 | 15 | 8 | 15 | 49 | 47 | +2 | 53 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th | | Louhans-Cuiseaux | | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 47 | 55 | -8 | 52 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th | | GFCO Ajaccio | | 38 | 14 | 9 | 15 | 42 | 50 | -8 | 51 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th | | Noisy-le-Sec | | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 45 | 45 | 0 | 49 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th | | Libourne St-Seurin | | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 41 | 46 | -5 | 47 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th | | Pau | | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 48 | 44 | +4 | 47 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th | R | Paris FC | | 38 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 42 | 56 | -14 | 43 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th | R | Martigues | | 38 | 11 | 9 | 18 | 40 | 58 | -18 | 42 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 19th | R | Viry | | 38 | 9 | 15 | 14 | 38 | 50 | -12 | 42 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 20th | R | Châtellerault | | 38 | 4 | 13 | 21 | 30 | 58 | -28 | 25 |

| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat|

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Arnaud Brocard | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Jacques Leglib | 39 | - | - | 2 | 42% | - | - | - | 6.74 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Julien Labat | 7 (11) | - | - | - | 61% | 2.93 | 3.23 | - | 6.39 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Dieudonné Bikoyoi | 21 (3) | 1 | 2 | - | 75% | 2.35 | 0.32 | - | 6.67 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Eugène Kangulungu Mbahu | 30 | - | - | - | 82% | 2.76 | 0.10 | - | 6.60 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Lionel Bah | 30 | 1 | - | - | 73% | 2.20 | 0.76 | - | 6.57 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Inj | Karim Tafer | 4 | - | - | - | 62% | 4.75 | - | - | 7.00 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Inj | Damien Moulin | 4 (1) | - | - | - | 69% | 3.25 | 0.46 | - | 6.80 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Anthony Gardan | 12 (4) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 78% | 1.45 | 0.08 | - | 6.31 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Vincent Di Bartolomeo | 30 (2) | - | 2 | 1 | 74% | 2.91 | 0.20 | 18% | 6.88 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Vincent Laban Bounayre | 34 (1) | 3 | 5 | 6 | 65% | 1.36 | 2.81 | 28% | 7.14 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Christophe Walter | 32 (1) | 5 | 8 | 3 | 78% | 1.44 | 1.48 | 38% | 7.27 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Matthieu Aernoudt | 15 (7) | - | 3 | 1 | 69% | 1.05 | 2.49 | - | 6.55 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Mathieu Dinet | 1 (9) | 1 | - | - | 74% | 2.33 | 0.21 | - | 6.30 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Inj | Fouad Dahmoume | 1 (3) | - | - | - | 64% | 1.72 | - | - | 5.75 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Nicolas Cami | 22 (5) | 10 | 3 | 3 | 75% | 1.13 | 0.44 | 58% | 7.11 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Inj | Djamel Mahamat Bindi | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | 84% | - | 1.16 | - | 7.50 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Mourad N'Zif | 29 (2) | 1 | 1 | - | 62% | 1.63 | 2.64 | 54% | 6.48 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Cédric Faivre | 9 (3) | - | 5 | - | 81% | 1.94 | 4.21 | - | 7.33 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Youssef Sekour | 5 (7) | 1 | - | - | 84% | 2.13 | 2.79 | - | 6.75 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Madjid Bouabdallah | 10 | 2 | - | - | 62% | - | 1.75 | 36% | 6.90 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Gaël Bonnel | 12 (13) | 6 | 1 | 1 | 70% | 0.26 | 0.78 | 57% | 6.76 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Wnt | Yahia Kébé | 10 (3) | 5 | 2 | - | 91% | 0.23 | 1.37 | 55% | 7.23 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Inj | Nicolas Sartolou | 12 | 6 | - | - | 61% | - | 2.08 | 40% | 7.00 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Unf | Bertrand Tchami | 27 (1) | 6 | 1 | - | 58% | 0.12 | 2.72 | 55% | 6.82 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

great story terk

Congrats on the escape, Terk. I'm glad you've returned to the story - your tales always intrigue me.

I had become used to football summers, a two week break with a mobile phone kept close by and more work to be done in the office than there is during the season. I took my time away in New York, during which time I was barely off the phone trying to tie up deals for the players which would keep us from being involved in the same relegation mess as the season before.

Our first friendly was scheduled early, we played the last weekend in June, before any reinforcements had arrived in Pau. The game was against PSG’s reserve side and two goals from the visitor’s Edouard Cissé put us to the sword.

We finally made some progress in the transfer market in the few hours after the PSG match. 23 year old former Lille winger Mathieu Robail joined from Fontenay-Le-Comte for £45,000. Robail made his debut in a match against Ligue 2 side Tours; a game in which we proved our worth, running out 4-1 winners thanks in main to a hat-trick from Bonnel.

My struggle on the recruitment side of things was to find any strikers who were significantly better than those we already had, and I wasn’t particularly happy with the ones at the club. Defenders and midfielders were easy to find, veteran Brazilian right back Demétrius Leita Ferreira – a former Marseille and Bastia player – joined for a final year before he retired. He was soon joined by Pape Sarr, an attacking midfielder who had played nineteen games for Lens as they were relegated from Ligue 1 during the previous season.

“Dad was disappointed you didn’t come back to Forest. He thought you’d jump at the chance.â€

“I didn’t even think about it. I’m happy here.â€

“Well, they’ve appointed someone else.â€

“I know. Chus Pereda. We don’t have to talk about football.â€

“What do you want to talk about then?â€

“Anything. How’s it going with Andy? Still turning down his proposals?â€

“He hasn’t asked again. But I’m still happy with him, before you butt in.â€

I was talking to Hannah on the phone a few times a week now. I knew her other half would be spitting blood about her having contact with me, that was probably half the reason I was so eager to speak to her. Everything still seemed so natural with her, but not even the thought of being nearer didn’t make me want to consider a return to England. Not yet, anyway.

--

The season began with us facing Angoulême at the Stade Lebon on the first Saturday in August. Attacking midfielder Nicola Mirza had joined us on a free transfer just before the game, and sat on the bench as we kicked off. Robail and Ferreira lined up on the pitch, with Sarr in the stands thanks to an ankle injury. We suffered early on with both Lionel Bah and Julien Labat limping off injured, but the only goal of the match also came our way when Robail pounced on a loose ball after Cami’s thunderous shot was parried.

--

“Anyone you’d recommend?â€

“Fabrice Fiorèse.â€

“I recognise the name.â€

“Played for Marseille. Only left them in June. We know Dijon and Paris FC are in for him, but I reckon we’d have a shot at landing him.â€

“Excellent.â€

New scout Paul Fenwick’s recommendation of Fiorèse certainly took my interest. If we could get him in then our defence and midfield would be able to compete with the best in the league, all that would be missing would be someone to regularly put the chances created in the back of the net.

Terk I must say this and the first part, which all of it I've been reading in one day but it's sheer class mate. Keep it up!!

cheers glad to know it's being enjoyed

-------------------------------

“Ferreira needs to come off. We’re looking fragile at the back.â€

“We should attack. Bring Sartolou on. We’ve only got one sub left.â€

I’m not entirely sure why I listened to Brahim, it was obvious that Sète were the stronger team going into the last twenty minutes, and with Ferreira clearly flagging at the back, we desperately needed to shore up and hold onto the lead we had. However, we went with Sartolou, and eight minutes later I was praising my assistant’s judgement as Walter crossed into the box and Sartolou headed home. We had taken the lead early on through Faivre and had certainly been the better side throughout the first half, but as the game went on, the visitors got stronger, but our eventual victory placed us second in the table.

Three days later we were in Colombes facing Racing 92 at the Stade Yves du Manoir. Two minutes after kick off I was wishing I was back in Pau as Mamady Sidibé gave the home side the lead. Sidibé thought he had a second on the half hour when Jacques Leglib made a howler, letting a shot squirm underneath him and into the net, but luckily the linesman’s flag was already held up, coming to our rescue.

The team took that as something of a wake up call, and Cami laid on a ball for Bindi who rifled a shot into the top corner. A minute into injury time at the end of the half, Faivre crossed and Cami was this time scorer, sidefooting the ball in off the inside of the post. Again, however, second half frailties came to haunt us, and Racing should have been level before they eventually equalised, Serge Ayeli curling home a free kick in the seventy-first minute.