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This is my first story on Arsenal on the forum (The club I usually start all my careers with and the one I support). I was inspired to write this by a story about Real Madrid that I recently read on this site. I thought it was great and decided to write this. This is not as good and hasn’t really got any personal side stories, it is completely on football but I hope you enjoy anyway, even if you don‘t I really enjoyed writing it so I don‘t mind.
I am going to include fictional articles from newspapers and other media that I wrote based on things that really happened in the game. I am also going to invent interviews based on comments to and from the media. My name in this career is Tom Wulfric.
I sat in my bright living room in my modern house in London staring at my new plasma TV.
I had only recently bought this house, it was just down the road from the old Highbury and the new Emirates where Arsenal play, something that appealed when I bought the property. I was a life long Arsenal fan and seen them play many times, it was great to be so close to the club. If I was going to pay back the mortgage on this property I was going to have to get a new job though. I currently was unemployed but worked in the sport I loved so dearly, football. I was a scout and the reserve team coach for Portsmouth F.C. until recently when I had quit over a row concerning my job. I was frustrated that the senior staff there didn’t seem to value my ideas on potential signings. I had alerted them to some of the players that are doing so well for them today but they seemed to stop being interested in my recommendations after a while. I suspected it was largely to do with my age, I was only 20 currently and they obviously didn’t think I had enough experience to be trusted. I was qualified for most jobs in football. I had taken a football management course three years ago so I could be manager of Real Madrid!…… if they ever wanted me. When I spoke to the Portsmouth manager he told me that it was only my job to find players, not make the club buy them. I decided to leave and was out of a job, I was sad to leave the reserves, I had done much better there, guiding them to the league title the previous season. Still, it was virtually impossible to do both jobs and I quit.
Just a shame I wasn’t more experienced, as I was now watching one of the biggest jobs in the world become available. The sports new had just started on BBC1 and I was given a shock when I heard the anchorman’s opening words
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC News at 10:00
Wenger Quits Arsenal
It has today been confirmed that French legend Arsene Wenger has stepped down from his post at Arsenal citing ‘personal reasons’ and will be flying to his home country France tomorrow morning. This decision comes as a shock to the footballing world as Wenger had shown no sign of discontent at the club up until this point. There is no doubt that he will be sorely missed and his successor will have huge boots to fill.
Wenger won a whole host of trophies while at Arsenal and guided the team to an unbeaten season in the league in 2003-04, something never before seen in the Premiership. He also led the side to a Champions League final as little as three months ago. Wenger remained unavailable for comment after his departure was confirmed by chairman Peter Hill Wood. Hill Wood came out with the following statement :
“At the present time we are unable to go into the reasons for Arsene’s departure. We are of course disappointed with his desire to leave but something has come up and we respect his decision. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all his hard work here, I think it is fair to say that he revolutionised Arsenal football club and indeed football in this country, and we wish him all the best for the future.”
Already speculation is rife in the media as to who will replace Wenger at the Emirates with Marcello Lippi, the world cup winning manager with Italy, being touted as the favourite. Blackburn manager Mark Hughes and Inter boss Roberto Mancini are among the other names being linked with the job. The Arsenal board are yet to mention any names however and are currently remaining low key on possible targets.
I wasn’t too pleased at the news. Wenger was easily the clubs best manager for a while and had transformed Arsenal into what they are today. It would be very difficult to find a replacement and as I had the club‘s best interests at heart I was disappointed with the news. I learned quickly however that this was in fact a golden opportunity.
Arsenal have admitted to holding talks with former Italy and Juventus manager Marcello Lippi about the vacant manager’s job. Former manager Arsene Wenger left the club a week ago and the club now look to have begun the first steps to finding a replacement. Lippi recently guided his nation to World Cup glory and he is seen as the ideal successor to Wenger by Arsenal.
“No contract offer has been made but talks have begun” confirmed a close friend of Lippi. It now remains to be seen whether the club can sort out a deal with the Italian.
I was at least pleased to see that the club was looking for such a high profile replacement, if they hired a virtual unknown I would be deeply displeased.
A few days later however and negotiations had ground to a halt.
Arsenal have ended negations with Marcello Lippi over the vacant managerial position. “Lippi made it clear that his desire is to take a break from football” said Peter Hill Wood, “He thanks us for the interest but talks have now been amicably ended.” With Lippi out of the running there will be much more speculation to come about the job, very recently a report from newspaper the Sun even saw Everton manager David Moyes linked with the post but until further news we can only speculate.
Later that day I got a call from Tony Adams, Portsmouth’s assistant manager. I had got on with Tony at Portsmouth, he alone had listened to me when my career at the club was coming to a close. It was great also to know someone so dear to Arsenal, he was a club legend.
“Hello” I said, surprised at his call.
“Tom, it’s Tony Adams here. I’ve got a call from Arsenal requesting contact details. I think they want to hold talks.”
There was a pause. I was in shock but recovered quickly.
“About what?”
“I presume the vacant managerial position.”
I frowned. This was a wind up. Arsenal had just held talks with Marcelo Lippi, and now they wanted me? Yeah right. I opened my mouth to speak but Tony got in first.
“We’ll send details on how to contact you if you want, you should at least talk to them. They contacted us because they wanted to talk to you but didn’t have a number or anything. You want to get yourself an agent son.”
“Yeah” I said weakly, “I’ll do that. Send them my details If you will”
“Right then. Good luck, I’ll send them along. It was good speaking to you Tom.”
“Bye”
Incredible. I forced myself to stay calm, they just wanted to meet, to find out more about me . They’d probably never call me back afterwards. I shouldn’t get my hopes up.
The next day I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing, a call from someone at Arsenal , I don’t know who they were, but it some kind of secretary.
“Good morning, is this Mr Wulfric?”
“Yes”
“Arsenal Football Club wish to talk to you about the vacant manager position currently at the club, a meeting at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning has been suggested, would you be interested?
“Yes”
“Excellent. A car will be sent at ten o’clock sharp tomorrow morning to pick you up. You will be accompanied to the meeting by a club official when you arrive at the club’s centre.”
“Great”
“Ten o’clock it is then. Goodbye”
The rest of the day sped by and it didn’t seem like a whole day had gone when I climbed into bed at 9:00. I wanted an early night to be ready for the next day. I needed to make a good first impression.
At exactly 9:59 am the next morning I was pacing up and down my kitchen practising as many different ways of greeting someone as I could whilst remaining calm and polite. When a horn beeped outside I almost fell over in my haste to get to the door. I hurried outside as a man in a suit stepped out of the black car in front of my house. “Good morning Mr Wulfric, I am to accompany you to your meeting at Arsenal”.
An hour later I entered a formal looking room, opposite seven smartly dressed men. I recognised two and knew the names of the others but not who was who. I was introduced to everyone.
“Welcome to Arsenal Mr Wulfric, I am glad that you arrived safely” said the man next to Peter Hill Wood (who I recognised from photos) standing up to shake my hand.
“My name is Keith Edelman, managing director here at Arsenal”
“Thank you, pleased to meet you” I said as we shook hands.
“Please sit down Mr Wulfric, we have a proposal.”
“As I’m sure you are aware Arsene Wenger recently left the club and now the managerial position is open” said Edelman.
“Yes, I noticed” I politely stated.
“We aren’t going to beat around the bush. We want you to be our new manager”
Bloody hell I thought, they really meant it. They didn’t beat around the bush at all there.
“You may also have noticed that we have already held talks with someone else for this position. We don’t want you thinking that you are only a last resort. We just wanted to see if Marcello Lippi was interested, and he wasn’t. We were aware of you we just wanted a chat with him, to enquire. We are going to be much more efficient with you. We want to make you an offer.”
“Wow, this is all happening so quickly” I said
“Yes, that’s the idea” Peter Hill Wood spoke for the first time, “We have already decided that we want you. We just want to agree that you will join us before negotiations. Of course a contract will have to be drawn up and we will schedule more meetings to discuss you’re job but we were hoping for a handshake agreement before you leave”
“Of course. This sort of thing doesn’t come up every day and I’d be delighted to accept your offer”
“Excellent” said Hill Wood standing up, “We will meet soon to draw up a contract, I’d like you to have a look around the stadium and the training ground before you leave”
“Absolutely”
“Thank you Mr Wulfric”
I was too excited to really take in the magnificence of the great new Emirates stadium but the time for me to return home came far too quickly. I was buzzing all day, I received a few important phone calls that day as well.
The first was from Tony Adams telling me that his friend was working as an agent and would I perhaps like to meet him. I agreed and later that day I had my own agent. Jonny Wilson was his name. He will now help sort out my personal business. From the moment I met him I felt I was going to get on with him. He was easy going but intelligent and I felt good knowing I had someone like him handling things for me.
The next day I returned to Arsenal with my new agent Jonny to negotiate a contract with the club.
This time it was just Mr Edelman and Mr Hill Wood in the board room.
“Here is a contract we have devised” Edelman said, passing a file to me and Jonny, “let us know what you think.”
After a few minutes looking over the contract Jonny stated that the contract was acceptable. I was slightly disappointed to have only until July to prove myself but I had an inkling as to why the contract was like this and there was no way I would reject the offer, even if I was being offered a few quid a week for a month. My suspicions were confirmed a moment later.
“We have set it as a one year contract because of your inexperience” said Hill Wood, “do not take it personally, we just don’t want to pay huge compensation if….”
“I get sacked” I finished.
“Of course, we have full faith in you, we just want to see how well you fair before we commit to anything long term.”
“I understand” I said.
“We would like to hear more about funds if that is possible” cut in Jonny.
“Yes. You’ll have a transfer budget of £20 Million to strengthen the squad, and the wage budget currently stands at £775,000 p/w. We are currently £260,000 p/w under budget and you will have 90% of all transfer revenue made available to you.”
After a few more minutes I signed the contract and shook hands with both Hill Wood and Edelman (I’d done that a lot in the last few days!). I was now the manager of Arsenal.
“A press conference will be arranged for tommorow to unveil you, and you’ll have a meeting scheduled with the playing staff later today. I’ll have an official show you to your new office and then you’ll be expected at training, which starts in a moment, to meet the players, good day”
My meeting with the players went better than I’d expected. I was nervous about what they’d think of me, but they seemed more concerned about today’s five-a-side tournament that Tony Colbert had arranged (as a break from the usual pre-season fitness training) than the person before them that had probably been brought in to clean their boots. The players had just returned from holiday and were refreshed from their break. They listened politely as I introduced myself and then went on to explain what I expected from them. There was some nodding and the players obviously got what I was saying, after that I sat and watched them train. They had looked good on Television and at matches from in the stands but seeing them close up made me really see how good they were. I went to meet my new assistant at the club, Pat Rice, and asked him to arrange me meetings with all the first team one by one next week to get to know them.
The day of my unveiling had arrived, I had decided to walk to the club today as it was so close, Once I’d left the house I passed a newsagents, I got a shock as I passed a stand outside the shop selling papers. The Sun had evidently got wind that I was the new manager of Arsenal. The headline read:
No, It’s Not A Joke Arsenal Move For Portsmouth Reject
Arsenal have moved to appoint former Portsmouth Reserves boss Tom Wulfric as a replacement for Arsene Wenger. Wulfric left former club Portsmouth in disgrace after a row with manager Harry Redknapp and disagreements with several other senior staff. Wulfric has nowhere near the experience of Wenger or Marcello Lippi (who Arsenal tried and failed to appoint as manager recently) and many are labelling Wulfric’s appointment a joke. Wulfric is due to be unveiled at a press conference today.
--
I stopped reading, I knew I would have to get used to this kind of thing, I was a nobody at the moment and I would have been disgusted as a fan if someone else like me had been appointed. I had to be confident and stay focused though. I had a big job ahead of me.
I arrived at the club ready to face whatever the media threw at me and determined not to let my temper get the better of me. As I took my seat next to Peter Hill Wood at the conference there was a frenzy of clicking as photos were taken of the ’Portsmouth reject’. I braced myself for scepticism and criticism.
“We are here today to unveil the new manager at Arsenal" stated Peter Hill Wood once the conference had begun, "and as you can see he is here with us now. It is my great pleasure to announce that Tom Wulfric will be the man to fill the vacant managers position”
There was some muttering and one reporter let out a cough that sounded more like a snort of laughter.
After some more details were released from Hill Wood there was a chance for some questions.
“Why have you overlooked so many more experienced candidates in favour of someone who’s ability and discipline is in doubt?” called a reporter.
Fortunately Hill Wood cut in before I had time to retort angrily, “We have appointed Tom as we belive he is the best man for the job. Experience is not everything and I do not believe there is any reason to doubt Tom’s talent, you have yet to see how he does so you should not judge him.”
“Why did Marcello Lippi reject Arsenal?” shouted another reporter.
“That is not the point of this conference. He did not reject the club. We did not even make an offer, we will not be answering any questions about Arsene Wenger either” Hill Wood warned.
Most of the gathered reporters were clearly hoping to hear more about Wenger and were disappointed.
A few questions about myself and then the clubs aims for this season were asked before possible transfer targets were discussed.
“We are yet to consider targets but transfers will be addressed in the next few days” It is up to Tom to identify targets and we will go from there. No names have been decided yet though.”
With that the conference ended and I returned to my new office, very pleased with how it had gone and feeling that I hadn't made a bad first impression. I had a report from Pat Rice on the first team playing staff which I looked through. And then there was another note from Rice underneath it, this one about the scheduled pre season friendlies.
Jens Lehmann - New Germany number one and first team regular (36 years)
Manuel Almunia - Spaniard is back up to Lehmann. (29 years)
Mart Poom - Estonian third choice behind Lehmann and Almunia (34 years)
Central Defenders :
Johan Djourou - Swiss CB back cover for Toure and Gallas. Bright prospect (19 years)
William Gallas - New signing from Chelsea. Strong French defender who will hopefully form a formidable partnership at the back with Toure. (28 years)
Kolo Toure - Probably the club’s best defender. Second Ivorian in the team and has plenty left in the tank.(25 years)
Phillipe Senderos - Another Swiss defender. Currently out injured with a dislocated shoulder. Will be out for 3 months. Suitable Back up when fit. (21 years)
Full Backs :
Justin Hoyte - Product of the youth academy. Back up can play RB and LB (21 years)
Gael Clichy - First choice left back. One of many Frenchmen in the team. Currently injured for the next three months. (20 years)
Emmanuel Eboue - First choice right back. One of two Ivorian defenders (22 years)
Lauren - Back up right back. The Cameroonian is the best penalty taker in the squad. Out for 2 months with torn knee ligaments.
(29 years)
Defensive Midfielders :
Gilberto Silva - Experienced Brazilian midfielder. Normally forms a partnership with
Fabregas in centre midfield. (29 years)
Vassiriki Diaby - Young Frenchman compared to Patrick Vieira. On I will be keeping an eye on but not yet ready for the first team I feel. Out for four months with a broken ankle. (20 years)
Alexandre Song - Another young Frenchman (18 years)
Mathieu Flamini - Yet another Frenchman. I can’t really see a use for him (22 years)
Denilson - A young Brazilian to be watched carefully. One of three from his country in the squad (18 years)
Central Midfielders :
Cesc Fabregas - The creative hub of the midfield. Still very young but a key player
Already. Also the only out an out Central Midfielder in the squad (19 years)
Attacking Midfielders :
Julio Baptista - Powerful Brazilian on loan from Real Madrid. Could be a real asset.
Can also play as a striker or a central midfielder. (24 years)
Rui Fonte - Another loanee. This time with a loan deal until 2009 so plenty of time to see if this young Portuguese player is good enough. Not old enough for the first team though (15 years)
Wingers :
Tomas Rosicky : Another new signing made by Wenger. Signed as a replacement for Pires. Still to be converted to a winger. Is the Czech Republic’s midfield string puller.
(25 years)
Alexander Hleb : Another player capable of playing in the middle but normally employed on the wing. From the obscure footballing nation of Belarus, a quality attacking player
(25 years)
Theo Walcott : Wonderkid yet to make an impact at the club. One of only a few Englishmen in the squad. Will be monitoring his progress carefully. (17 years)
Vincent Van Den Berg : Dutchman that I know almost nothing about. Can play as a striker as well as right midfield. (17 years)
Freddie Ljungberg : Devoted servant to the club for many years. Perhaps past his peak but still a great player, the Swede can play on both wings.(29 years)
Strikers :
Robin Van Persie : The Dutchman is the heir apparent to club legend Dennis Bergkamp, but with some different qualities. A young talent who definitely has a great future if he gets the right guidance. (22 years)
Thierry Henry : The best player at the club and possibly the best striker in the world.
A legend at Arsenal as the clubs all time top goalscorer. The Frenchman should be key to any of my success in the future at the club. (28 years)
Emmanuel Adebayor : A different option up front with power and strength. Can use both feet and head to good effect and could prove useful. The Togo striker is still one of the clubs younger players. ( 22 years)
Jeremie Aliadiere : A bit part player who is yet to live up to his youthful potential and promise. Will have to impress quickly if he isn’t to leave the club (23 years)
Thoughts : Lehmann should stay as number one, but I am planning to offload Poom and Almunia, then bring in a keeper or two. Aliadiere will probably also leave the club as I have no use for him. I am planning to play Tomas Rosicky in the middle as opposed to left midfield, I want him more as the creative attacking midfielder that we lack than a winger which he isn’t as good as.
I want most of the players to remain at the club but if decent offers come in for Ljungberg, Lauren or Flamini then I will offload them. Justin Hoyte is another player who I have yet to decide upon. I would like Alexander Song and Van Den Berg to be loaned out and when fit again Diaby will either follow them out on loan or stay and get his chance in cup games or if someone is injured.
I will look for a bit of cover for the full backs in the market and maybe another striker. I will also be in the market for a winger or two to increase our width as we have no natural wingers ready for first team football.
The pre season friendlies were important for getting the players to full fitness and good for giving new signings a chance to get used to their new surroundings but the matches never really help me decide on much and even against top opposition they aren’t a realistic sign of things to come in the next season. I was looking forward to these particular friendlies however as they would be my first games in charge at the club and a first chance to see the players in a real match over ninety minutes. A tour of Switzerland had been arranged by the club starting with a game at Bellinzona.
Tour of Switzerland
V Bellinzona (Away) Kick Off : 19:30 Date : 11.7.07 V Yverdon (Away) Kick Off : 19:30 Date : 13.7.07 V Sion (Away) Kick Off : 16:15 Date : 16.7.07
Life After Wenger 
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