Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Growing up Down Wembley Way When the FA announced plans to rebuild Wembley Stadium in 2003, the new stadium came with a promise of making Wembley "one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe." They announced plans to completely transform what was a run down and deprived area, turning it into a vibrant, thriving part of the country. What did they actually do? They built some shops. Wembley resides in Brent, one of the poorest boroughs in London, and arguably the country. 33% of households live in poverty, with 32% of employees earning less than the London Living Wage, the second highest rate for any borough in the city. It's incredibly ethnically diverse - 36% of Brent is White, 34% Asian, 18% Black, 5% Mixed Race and 5% 'other'. However, it's also very run down, and the new Wembley Stadium redevelopment hasn't given much - if anything - to the local community. Brent had the 5th most homicides in London between 2000-2012, and has a bit of a reputation for knife and gun crime. It borders on insanity. You have the 'home of English football' built here. but apart from building some new (expensive) shops and flats, very little has been done to provide real regeneration for the local community. What the area needs is something to bring them together, to give them something to do and keep kids away from falling into the spiralling trap of the gang lifestyle. Something like a football team, maybe? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Just two miles away from Wembley Stadium, a football team can be seen practising in the local park. Wembley Stadium can be seen from there, and for the majority of the kids currently playing, they can see the Stadium from their house. They go home, and they dream of one day playing at that fated stadium - just like Raheem Sterling did. When Raheem Sterling moved to England at the age of 5, he lived with his family on the St Raphael's Estate in Brent, a notoriously crime-plagued community. Sterling could see Wembley Stadium from his house as it was being built, and told himself that he'd be playing there for England in the future. After helping lead England to the World Cup Semi Final, I think it's fair to say Raheem Sterling has turned his dreams into reality - but that likely wouldn't have been the case were it not for Clive Ellington and Alpha & Omega CF. According to Sterling: "But if I really think hard about it, the moment my life changed was when I met a guy named Clive Ellington. He used to mentor the kids in our neighborhood who didn’t have their fathers around. On the weekend, he’d take us on little trips around London and show us a different side of life. Sometimes we’d just go play snooker. Basically, anything that wasn’t our day-to-day. He genuinely cared about us. So one day he sat me down and he said, “Raheem, what do you love to do?” Simple, simple question, right? But I never really thought about it like that. At that point, I was just playing football in the street, biking around with my friends, being a kid. I said, “I love playing football.” He said, “Well, I got a little Sunday League team. Why don’t you come out and play with us?” And that was it. That moment changed my life." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Alpha and Omega CF As aforementioned, Alpha and Omega CF are based just two miles away from Wembley Stadium, in Kingsbury. They're mainly a Youth Club, but their Senior Club competes in the Middlesex County Football League Division One (West) - Level 12 of English football. They're run by a guy called Clive Ellington, who is just as much a pastoral worker a football coach. Ellington is all about trying to help the kids in his local community stay off the streets, and what better way to do that than football? They're a perfect club for this save, which is: We're going to go Youth Only. We'll have kids coming through from the surrounding area - hopefully born near Wembley! - and see if we can develop them. This save is more about youth development than necessarily winning trophies - of course, winning trophies is always the aim, but I want to do what Clive Ellington did for Raheem Sterling with these youth players. There's a shedload of talent in Brent. Let's harness it! I've knocked up some kits for us - once we rise through the leagues we'll have our kits made by bigger companies with better sponsors, but for now we've had our home and away kit made by Patrick, kindly sponsored by the local Chicken shop in Brent that tastes equally as bad as it feels for your insides. Massive thank you to @BoxToBox for helping with the technical side: I said Youth Development is the main aim of the save, so what are the goals I've got in mind? Well... Firstly, I'd like to have somebody from our academy make the breakthrough for England. If that could happen when we're still in the lower leagues, even better! As this save is about Youth Development, I'm not going to be holding our players back. If a reasonable offer comes in for one of our players who's clearly capable of going onto better things, then they'll go with our blessing. Teams often sell prized assets to fund upgrades off the pitch, and FM doesn't really force that on you enough in lower league management. In this save, though, we're fine to be a selling club. We just want our players to go on to be the best they can be Winning trophies will always be important, but I'm totally fine for us to stagnate in the lower reaches of non-league for a while. As long as I don't get fired! Brent is an area with a lot of immigrants, so if we could get some youth prospects playing for other countries, that'd be superb too. The ultimate, probably-never-going-to-happen-but-worth-dreaming-about-anyway goal is to win the World Cup with an entire team made of Alpha and Omega CF youth prospects. Aiming high, I know Let's go play football! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Alpha and Omega Hall of Fame: Pretty self-explanatory: The players who've come through our academy that have gone on to best represent Alpha and Omega CF. Spoiler Raheem Sterling. Played Youth Football at Alpha and Omega before moving to QPR, Liverpool, and Manchester City. Played on the wing for England. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Predicted to finish 9th out of 12. I'll take it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Have to have 20 Working With Youngsters! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 2 hours ago, Jupjamie said: Massive thank you to @BoxToBox for helping with the technical side: Cheers mate, just glad we were able to get it all sorted! Can't wait for this journey. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Never seen that question before! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Preseason: Just about getting them matchfit at this stage. Quite happy with the number of people turning up for preseason games! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 An Émerson playing in the 12th tier of England? I demand an inquest! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 September: We'll have worse months! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Two in one season! Generous Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 October + November: We're starting to actually run away with it a bit... With only 11 games left, we're 8 points clear at the top. It's ours to lose... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Cheers, boss! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 I love this idea, I didn't know the area around Wembley was so poor 😕 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc91 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 30 minutes ago, shaunvamos said: I love this idea, I didn't know the area around Wembley was so poor 😕 The area purposingly surrounding the stadium is actually going under huge development currently, vast gentrification. The picture of the area is like many London boroughs though, vast poverty intermingled within some areas of utter affluence. There are some of the roughest areas in the country contained in Brent, famously, Stonebridge. People do have the nice images of England but generally the areas surrounding many stadiums are some of the poorest in the country. Take for example, White Hart Lane and it's surrounding area. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc91 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Best of luck with the thread, great idea. North West is a weird old place, great places of affluence and then some utter lunatic poverty in a 'so called' developed country. Got a few friends from the area, great bunch, large Irish community. Saying that, Kingsbury is one of the real nice areas, but also a good example, some run down tower blocks and then some wildlife reserves huge houses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 10 minutes ago, sc91 said: The area purposingly surrounding the stadium is actually going under huge development currently, vast gentrification. The picture of the area is like many London boroughs though, vast poverty intermingled within some areas of utter affluence. There are some of the roughest areas in the country contained in Brent, famously, Stonebridge. People do have the nice images of England but generally the areas surrounding many stadiums are some of the poorest in the country. Oh that's interesting, I do think that's the case with most developed countries though, there are always going to be the rough areas you don't know about because they don't really want to make it known. Australia is the same! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc91 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Just now, shaunvamos said: Oh that's interesting, I do think that's the case with most developed countries though, there are always going to be the rough areas you don't know about because they don't really want to make it known. Australia is the same! England is a bit weird in that because of the lack of space, especially in the south-east, you'll essentially have a low income council estate right next to a million pound penthouse block. It's one of the complaints with the country is the lack of affordable housing, but hey, that's another cookie. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 57 minutes ago, sc91 said: Got a few friends from the area, great bunch, large Irish community. Clearly an area with huge potential. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Really interesting discussion going on here! @sc91 interesting that you reckon Kingsbury is a good area... I think I'd have to disagree with you on that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPFC,Moses Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Great run of form you hit especially after a relatively poor pre-season. Definitely going to be keep tabs on this as I actually use to work in Kingsbury and know the joys of Sams! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Just now, CPFC,Moses said: Great run of form you hit especially after a relatively poor pre-season. Definitely going to be keep tabs on this as I actually use to work in Kingsbury and know the joys of Sams! Superb! I think 'joys' is a bit too kind to Sam's Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 This is superb! Best of luck @Jupjamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 All aboard the A&O train! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 14 minutes ago, smp20 said: This is superb! Best of luck @Jupjamie 3 minutes ago, Deisler26 said: All aboard the A&O train! Cheers guys! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 November and December: It's getting tight as we head into the new year... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blah_1123 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Great idea for a save. Will of course be following Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Is that Chape London a Brazilian expat club? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 7 minutes ago, BoxToBox said: Is that Chape London a Brazilian expat club? Good spot - it looks like it! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1601871203160503/about/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Niice! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Great idea! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 3 hours ago, dllu said: Great idea! Cheers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc91 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 11 hours ago, Jupjamie said: Really interesting discussion going on here! @sc91 interesting that you reckon Kingsbury is a good area... I think I'd have to disagree with you on that The nicer areas of Brent, but then again, my opinion of nice and not so no nice is varied to many others hah. I find Tottenham pretty nice for example . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 1 minute ago, sc91 said: The nicer areas of Brent, but then again, my opinion of nice and not so no nice is varied to many others hah. I find Tottenham pretty nice for example . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Youth Intake Day! I'm disappointed that the place of birth is only given as London - I was hoping it'd be a bit more specific - but there's no doubting that we're a better team now As Brent is such a diverse area, it's nice to see some second nationalities too! He's a class above. I doubt he sticks around here long, but that's totally fine! A 6'5 keeper will do nicely Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 13 minutes ago, sc91 said: The nicer areas of Brent, but then again, my opinion of nice and not so no nice is varied to many others hah. I find Tottenham pretty nice for example . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc91 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 2 minutes ago, Deisler26 said: Hey, chicken shop, Turkish barbers, corner shop, pub and decent links to work and the area is nice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 January and February: With four games left, our poor form means PFC Victoria London have stolen top spot. Can we reclaim it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 March and April: Only one win in our last four games means... PFC Victoria go up as Champions, while we slide down to fourth. I'm not unhappy that we couldn't hold on - I think our drop in form was more a regression to the mean than any kind of bottlejob, and around midtable is probably about right for us in our first season. Considering we were predicted 9th, it's not too shabby! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Two players that could walk into the starting 11, can't complain about that intake! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 (Thank you to @Makoto Nakamura for letting me steal his template ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 19 minutes ago, BoxToBox said: Two players that could walk into the starting 11, can't complain about that intake! Indeed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 5, 2018 Author Share Posted August 5, 2018 September and October: Not a great start to the season, to say the least. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 I knew having Sam's as the new team catering was a bad idea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 5, 2018 Author Share Posted August 5, 2018 3 minutes ago, BoxToBox said: I knew having Sam's as the new team catering was a bad idea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted August 5, 2018 Author Share Posted August 5, 2018 November and December: Can we take a bit of momentum into the new year? We badly need it... The board expected us to win the league... oops? My job is 'Very Insecure' but I haven't been called to a board meeting yet, which is something. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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