begilsson Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 It's a chilly night in Crewe, March 13th 2023. The high-flying local football team Crewe Alexandra is out on the training field finetuning their tactics before the visit of Olympique de Marseille for the second leg of the Champions League first knockout round. The first leg in sunny Marseille ended in a iconic 5-0 victory for the Railwaymen and the atmosphere at the training ground just outside the brand new Crewe Stadium is relaxed and cheerful. Manager and club legend begilsson is standing on the sidelines with a note in his hand and a grin on his face. The note is from the club's Head of Youth Development Bernhard Peters and contains a list of names of youth players handpicked to train with the u18s. The reason for the managers grin is one name underlined by Peters with the description "possibly one of the best players of this generation": Les Jennings. Born and raised within a stone's throw of the training ground, 15 year old Crewe lad Jennings is following his dream of playing for the Railwaymen and his boyhood hero begilsson. A product of begilsson's reshaping of the club's academy and style, Jennings' got all the attribute needed to go on and become an international superstar. With technique and vision of a creator combined with the pace and composure of a lethal striker, experienced Peters sees him as a complete forward mixed in with the versatility to also be accomplished in a number of other roles in the midfield and attack. This is the player begilsson has been waiting for. The reason for his investments in the youth academy the last decade. The localborn superstar that's gonna lead the club for the next decades has cometh! Fastforward two weeks. The young Crewe side are away in Turin desperately clinging on to a magnificent 3-1 lead in the first leg of the UCL quarterfinal against mighty Juventus. Les Jennings, too young to be eligible for the European cup, is following his heroes-turned-teammates on television. The match is heading into injury time when young Jennings sees the camera focusing on manager begilsson as he is about to shout for his players to get the ball forward and secure this massive result. 15 year old Les Jennings can barely watch. Then it all turns dark... In the centre of Juventus Stadium, Crewe Alexandra manager begilsson is fumbling in the dark trying to get control of the situation. He understands there's nothing he can do; Every managers latent fear has become reality. Crash dump. He curses at the thought of spending the next half an hour replaying the last couple of games, knowing this particularly magical night in Turin will be next to impossible to recreate. At the same time he understands this is something that comes with the complexity of the game and he is about to accept it. Suddenly his bones chills as the magnitude of the disaster hits him in a dreadful realization; Caught outside of the autosave window, 15 year old Les Jennings is no more. RIP Les Jennings (2007-2023), Crewe legend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
le_crab Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 It's a chilly night in Crewe, March 13th 2023. The high-flying local football team Crewe Alexandra is out on the training field finetuning their tactics before the visit of Olympique de Marseille for the second leg of the Champions League first knockout round. The first leg in sunny Marseille ended in a iconic 5-0 victory for the Railwaymen and the atmosphere at the training ground just outside the brand new Crewe Stadium is relaxed and cheerful. Manager and club legend begilsson is standing on the sidelines with a note in his hand and a grin on his face. The note is from the club's Head of Youth Development Bernhard Peters and contains a list of names of youth players handpicked to train with the u18s. The reason for the managers grin is one name underlined by Peters with the description "possibly one of the best players of this generation": Les Jennings. Born and raised within a stone's throw of the training ground, 15 year old Crewe lad Jennings is following his dream of playing for the Railwaymen and his boyhood hero begilsson. A product of begilsson's reshaping of the club's academy and style, Jennings' got all the attribute needed to go on and become an international superstar. With technique and vision of a creator combined with the pace and composure of a lethal striker, experienced Peters sees him as a complete forward mixed in with the versatility to also be accomplished in a number of other roles in the midfield and attack. This is the player begilsson has been waiting for. The reason for his investments in the youth academy the last decade. The localborn superstar that's gonna lead the club for the next decades has cometh! Fastforward two weeks. The young Crewe side are away in Turin desperately clinging on to a magnificent 3-1 lead in the first leg of the UCL quarterfinal against mighty Juventus. Les Jennings, too young to be eligible for the European cup, is following his heroes-turned-teammates on television. The match is heading into injury time when young Jennings sees the camera focusing on manager begilsson as he is about to shout for his players to get the ball forward and secure this massive result. 15 year old Les Jennings can barely watch. Then it all turns dark... In the centre of Juventus Stadium, Crewe Alexandra manager begilsson is fumbling in the dark trying to get control of the situation. He understands there's nothing he can do; Every managers latent fear has become reality. Crash dump. He curses at the thought of spending the next half an hour replaying the last couple of games, knowing this particularly magical night in Turin will be next to impossible to recreate. At the same time he understands this is something that comes with the complexity of the game and he is about to accept it. Suddenly his bones chills as the magnitude of the disaster hits him in a dreadful realization; Caught outside of the autosave window, 15 year old Les Jennings is no more. RIP Les Jennings (2007-2023), Crewe legend. I feel for you boss. Everyone's next game on fm should send there team out with black armbands in memory of les Jennings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
begilsson Posted October 12, 2013 Author Share Posted October 12, 2013 I feel for you boss. Everyone's next game on fm should send there team out with black armbands in memory of les Jennings. Haha, yeah that seems only right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shake Appeal Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 This sucks. I'm sorry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shake Appeal Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 But maybe it's your own fault for defying the mighty bianconeri. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripeyfox2011 Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Man that's bad. Nothing like the pain of a crash dump. But maybe because of the crash the name of Les Jennings will live long in the memory. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
begilsson Posted October 12, 2013 Author Share Posted October 12, 2013 Yeah, every youth player coming through the ranks will be compare to the club legend Les Jennings, the man noone has seen, but everyone talks about in the same sentence with Pele and Maradona. His legacy will haunt the halls of Crewe Stadium (Les Jennings Arena). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
begilsson Posted October 12, 2013 Author Share Posted October 12, 2013 Nothing like the pain of a crash dump. And it always feels like they happen at the worst possible time. I mean, they never happen when you've just lost at home to your rivals and such. Although, I can't blame anyone but me here. I cannot fathom why I didn't save after that youth intake. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurf Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I always save after the last result. That way I only have a few days to recover. And always save after important fixture wins. And after youth intakes. Nice post though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldywaldy Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Awesome post. My sincere condolences. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spart Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Absolutely gutted for you begilsson. I learned a similarly hard lesson with youth players and the need to save manually, regularly. Had a youngster through in a career save for Shelbourne in FM09 who was one-star rated. However, I was stuck for players and he had some numbers for finishing, pace etc. The kid went on to score two hattricks in a row, which kickstarted him into being a regular for me. Unfortunately, I forgot to save during this all-day session (back in my uni days) and lost half a season's worth of game following on from his emergence. I rolled back to just before his hattricks and, having failed to make such an impact for me second time round, the youngster was as useless as my coaches suggested he would be. Awful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FootballManagerBlog Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Nice post. Juventus apparently bribed the game, something they usually never do. RIP Les Jennings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fond Foat Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 RIP Les Jennings Probably the greatest player that never was! BTW I enjoyed your writing style Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrIgz Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 I remember a couple of years back someone posted a similar story about losing a brand new newgen to a crash dump. It was devastating to read about then, and it still is today. I feel like I knew him. Tears will be shed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrazT Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Pleasant change from the normal threads we get on here:thup: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripeyfox2011 Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 We should all spend the time while Steam is downloading the new game to pause, reflect and remember poor Les... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kontermann Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Brillantly written RIP Les Jennings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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