retired_Genesis777

The players and staff of Worcester sat gathered around the tiny television, waiting to see which team they would draw in the first round of the FA Cup. They had been here for ten minutes, waiting eagerly in the dead silence punctuated only by the quiet hum of the television and the words of ex-players no-one had heard of. Eventually what they had been anticipating came.

'Worcester will play ... Swansea.'

There was silence for a moment, then the players leapt around, jubilant at the news they'd be facing a team far higher up in the league pyramid. At the back of the room, I tried to join in with the celebrations, but found it hard. The FA Cup was my only chance of getting an excuse to visit Leicester anytime soon and we were going to need to be lucky to have a chance of beating Swansea.

***

'The draw is in. It's Swansea; they're in League One,' said a voice, over the intercom.

'Thanks, Dawn.’ James replied, a half-smile flicking onto his face for a moment, before disappearing as quickly. ‘Send them in now.'

He turned back to his office's door and watched it open, before a tall man walked in, carrying a large briefcase and dominating the room with his brooding presence. He walked swiftly towards James's desk and stood for a moment before the desk, his shadow consuming James.

'What is it that you wanted, Brian?' James asked.

The newcomer said nothing. Instead he opened his briefcase, pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to James. As James scanned it, Brian said, 'it appears that we have a traitor in our midst. Someone contacted Brown with an offer of information.'

'I assume if you knew who it was, you'd have already told me,' said James, looking up from the paper.

'You know me too well, James. The call was made from a public phone box outside the stadium about a month back. That's why it took us so long to find out about it. Too many calls involve the word "Leicester"; we really need to rename the city. Anyway, we checked CCTV but they were wearing dark clothes and gloves and since it was dark anyway we couldn't see who it was.'

'Have they contacted Brown again?'

'As far as we know, they haven't. But, they could easily have done it without us finding out.'

There was a long pause, which James eventually broke by asking the obvious. 'So, what are going to do about this?'

'We could simply leave it alone and try and find out who it was and whether they'll phone again.'

'It sounds like you have a better idea.'

'I have, James. One that would kill two birds with one stone.'

'Sounds good.'

retired_Genesis777

November 2005

League One side Swansea were the first round FA Cup opponents for us as St. George's Lane in what was sure to be a money-spinner, if nothing else. We were expected to simply role over and accept defeat and when Swansea took the lead in the third minute it looked like happening. We managed to avoid conceding again for 20 minutes, though they rightly had a goal disallowed. Then, a Swansea player held Bouzis back in the box. Up stepped Tom Lee to take the penalty and he scored. It was 1-1 now and that'd be a great result if we could hang on for just 65 minutes. Swansea started to get better and more dominant, but great goalkeeping and defence kept them at bay as we earned a valuable replay.

Hinckley visited us in the next match (my return to Leicestershire wasn't until March) and were completely on the back foot for the entire match, failing to even get a shot in. We got a few, but going into the last 20 minutes, not one of them was on target. Then Hinckley defender Paul Owen got himself sent off. They went to all-out defence as we went to all-out attack. A perfect through-ball/long ball from Simon Gould found Stephen Thomas with plenty of space and, unsurprisingly, he scored. When a further Hinckley player was dismissed, our 1-0 victory was confirmed.

Next up was a match in the FA Trophy against non-league Walton & Hersham. The match was perceived as a walkover and turned out to be so as the ball barely left their half. Cakir Tayfun got a goal either side of half time, which was enough to send us through to the next round 2-0.

There was also another cup we were still in and, in that cup, we went to Swansea a week later, playing in front of a massive crowd of 9,567. With cup ticket money split 50/50, that looked like earning us a lot of money. The match itself was like the first one, with Swansea playing well but never dominating. They didn't need to as Tom Lee and Matthew Buckley wasted our only decent chances. Swansea also only had two, but both hit the net as we went out of the cup 0-2, though we'd played better than anyone expected.

Back in the league, we travelled to Nuneaton. Michael Atkinson had us ahead within 10 minutes and it looked like we'd won it then. Atkinson missed the only other real chance for either side, but it mattered not as we still won 1-0.

The FA Trophy's 3rd qualifying round saw a seemingly easy match against Frickley and I threw out our second string. The match was killed after only 12 minutes when their defender Wayne Perry was sent off. With Wilson not playing, free kick responsibilities fell to Steven Rigby. His attempt was saved and that was effectively that for this match as any entertainment value fled in horror in the 0-0 draw.

We went to the replay expecting another dull match, but were instead treated to one of our most exciting all season. Matthew Buckley capped a fine move to put us one up within ten minutes. Frickley had a few chances to score but it was Wilson who scored a goal (not a free kick for a change) to make it 2-0. He then played an idiotic backpass Gould was never going to get to and which was effectively a through ball for their striker Adam Russel. He whacked it past Gould to pull one back. Right before half time, we won a free kick 30 yards out. Michael Wilson ran up to the all and scored his second of the game. Both sides had more chances in the second half but Buckley was the only one to convert for his second and our forth.

We’d played well in November, even if there’d only been two league matches. We proved we could avoid losing to better sides and made a lot of money in the FA Cup, remained in the FA ‘meaningless’ Trophy and gained victories in both our league matches. What more could we ask for (other than still being in the FA Cup, bring top of the league and not needing replays to beat this like of Frickley)?

retired_Genesis777

Once the annoying Frickley replay was completed I went to my office, as I had done every day since that phone call. It had been almost two months now and I was left to contemplate the possibilities. Had I imagined it? Had James found out and done something about it? Had they simply forgotten? Still, hope of a second call was all I had so I trudged to my office.

I turned on my computer to check my e-mail as I awaited a phone call that wasn’t going to come. As I was doing so, the phone started ringing. I picked it and greeted the caller. Before I’d even got halfway through my greeting, a seemingly disguised voice was talking at me, quicker than I could think.

‘It is time. Go to the Blue Lion pub and sit at the third table on your left as you enter. I am sitting there. Once you see me, do not acknowledge me. Instead, say unto me the name of the England captain – the real England captain pre-Worcester. You know what I mean.’ The line went dead.

I didn’t even need to think about what I was going to do, not that it was enough to stop me worrying. Gulping with fear, I turned off my computer and got my coat, heading for The Blue Lion.

***

I knew the locations of Worcester’s pubs; when you had players like mine it was a necessity. It was of course far too risky for me to visit them myself. I was prone to mentioning people and things no one had ever heard of, like Tony Bliar, The Simpsons or cricket. It just wasn’t worth the risk, so I’d resolved to avoid unnecessary conversation until I’d either figured out what was going on or acquired a large enough collection of this world/dream/whatever’s general knowledge. Or, failing that, when I was bored.

I entered the pub and, ignoring the desolate Frickley team sitting in the corner, scanned the room in search of the table. I quickly found it and saw that a woman was sitting there, slowly drinking a pint of beer. I moved over to the table and saying it quickly in case I’d chosen the wrong table, I whispered, ‘he’s Brian Clark.’ She muttered something about me (it’s not true so I’m not repeating it), got up and walked to another table.

Once she’d moved away, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned round and found a man staring at me. ‘Sorry about that,’ he said quietly, ‘I wanted to see what she’d do. I was hoping she’d throw the beer in your face.’

‘Hmm, very amusing. Who are you, anyway?’

He paused for a moment, then whispered, ‘let’s just say I was the one who took you from Leicester to Worcester. If you know what I mean, which you do.’

Resisting the urge to punch him, I instead descended to the level of asking questions. ‘You work for Lloyd?’

‘James? You-‘

The gunshots rang loudly and seemed to echo forever with the sound of the glass breaking and crashing on the ground mixed in. Suddenly, nearly everyone was screaming and throwing themselves to the floor. Everyone but me and the man I’d just met. He was clutching a growing red patch on his chest and I was staring at it in horror.

retired_w0lfpack1

#*&#^%^@(@^&*%&* cliffhangers!!!!!

I hate serials!!!

Nice job getting me hooked - looking forward to the next installment.

retired_Genesis777

[i]Cliffhangers and serials are the mark of evil. Hence, I use both./I]

***

December 2005

Everything moved in a blur. Before I knew it, everyone was crowded around the shot man or still lying on the floor, wary of further shots. None came and, in a flash, I found myself watching a doctor try to save the man. He shouted words I couldn't hear at the crowd as he worked on, continuing his futile attempts. Eventually, the man died just as sirens in the distance grew louder. Before I knew it, I was whisked off to a police station and asked what had happened. I told them that I had just met the man that night and had nothing to do with his death. It was true, but I think they knew I was hiding something. Unable to prove it, they were forced to release me. After all, they had no evidence I'd done everything. Barely a day after my release, I sleepily took my place on the bench at St. George's Lane, hoping what had happened wouldn't affect the match against Harrogate.

The referee and Harrogate started the match as they meant to go on. Harrogate seemed to feel somehow offended by my players and that they had the divine right to foul them whenever possible. The referee gave 6 yellows in the first half. But, since Tayfun was our only player to be booked and one Harrogate player got 2 of the cards, we really didn't mind too much. In between the assaults on our players, we assaulted their goal, missing two good chances. Still, when Buckley scored a few minutes into the second half, victory looked certain. This served only to make us complacent and overly defensive as Harrogate became the better side. Thankfully, with just the 10 players they looked unlikely to score. They still managed to, even if it was more by luck than skill. We once again turned back to constant attacks, but unable to score, we had to settle for a disgusting 1-1 draw.

After that, we hit the best run of form thus far. Northwich were the first victims of it, visiting St. George's Lane in what was billed as a close encounter. It was, but the scoreline wasn't. An Ian Harvey own goal had us 1-0 up in 13 minutes. Michael Wilson demonstrated he was great with corners as well as free kicks by finding Scott Nixon in the box to make it 2-0. A third goal came from a cross as Stephen Thomas turned in a Steve Rigby ball to make it 3-0, which it remained. It was harsh on Northwich, but it seemed like we'd finally got some talent when it came to attacking.

Kettering were the next victims of the offence we had suddenly found. In the pouring Worcester rain, Stephen Thomas found Chris Holt in the box and he managed to score. We had a few more chances and our inability to convert them seemed to suggest that we had once again lost our scoring boots. Then yet another cross came in, this time from Michael Atkinson. Craig Hillier converted it and we were 2-0 up. Atkinson himself managed to get our third, scoring from a Rigby cross and we were suddenly 3-0 up, where the scoreline stayed. Unlike the match against Northwich, this scoreline was perfectly fair. Of course, us playing well always comes with a cost and this time it was paid by Atkinson. Our captain, who'd scored once, been on target twice more and set up a goal, had twisted his ankle doing so and would be out for about a month.

Riding high after two 3-0s in a row, we travelled to face non-league Hampton & Richmond in the FA Trophy. To put it simply, we were 3-0 up in 26 minutes thanks to a Wilson free kick, a Tom Lee penalty and Buckley heading in a Rigby cross. We didn’t score again, despite being in complete control of the match and when their captain, John Foster, got himself sent off for getting 2 yellow cards in 5 minutes, the game was over.

We were cocky after the 3 3-0 victories and were confident of a forth as we played Hyde. Stephen Thomas looked like getting our first right at the close of the first half, but had his tame shot saved. It also resulted in Hyde's instant and quick counter-attack that meant we went into half time 1-0 down. We tried to pull one back but when Martin Bishop got Hyde's second and his first ever, we lost confidence. The 2-0 result was no more than Hyde deserved.

A minuscule crowd turned out to watch our Boxing Day match against Stalybride, who seemed relegation-bound. We played like the Worcester of old, outplaying them yet struggling to score. Acting captain Chris Holt broke the deadlock with 10 minutes to go to send the few Worcester fans who'd bothered to travel into raptures. The 1-0 victory on that cold December day was a fair result.

At the turn of the year, I was happy with how we'd performed, especially in December. Sure, we had lost a match, but we’d played better football and demonstrated that we could turn dominance into goals and our inability to do that had been our problem all season. In the league, we sat second, a few points back from leaders Hucknall, who we would play early in 2006 and in the final game of the season. Hopefully, we wouldn't need to win that to gain the automatic promotion that first place insured.

retired_Genesis777

January’s a crowded month, I thought as I wondered around St. George’s Lane, 4 matches in 9 days and 5 more in the rest of the month. It’s ridiculous for a conference north side to have this many matches. It was then that I realised I’d absentmindedly walked to my office in expectancy of the phone call. My mind drifted back to the events of a month ago, but I forced it back into the present and decided to head back to the barn. It was then that I noticed the phone in my office was ringing.

‘Hello?’ I said uncertainly as I answered it.

‘Brown, it took you a little longer than I expected to get to the phone. I told you to wait by it every night.’ The voice was disguised and it was obviously the mystery caller. But that was impossible.

‘I don’t know who this is,’ I snarled, apprehension and nerves getting the better of me, ‘but I already dealt with this.’

‘What the-?’ I heard the phone scream as I slammed it down. Sighing, I moved to the chair behind my desk and put my head in my hands as memories of a month ago happeneded once more, in my mind. The phone started ringing after a few seconds, so I kicked the lead out. I stared at the phone and growled wondering just what the hell was going on?

retired_yolanda

People coming back from the dead?? :eek:

retired_Genesis777

January 2006

We travelled to face relegation threatened Vauxhall Motors in a league match where nothing less than 3 points was acceptable. Consequently, only 155 people bothered to turn up in the lowest attendance in the entire league that season. They missed a good performance from us, as we outplayed Vauxhall Motors from start to finish. Stephen Thomas and Michael Wilson (with a penalty) provided the goals in our 2-0 victory.

A home match against Worksop saw us play like classic Worcester, dominating the opposition yet being incapable of scoring as their goalkeeper, one Clark Kent, was outstanding. It finished 0-0 and we found ourselves a point behind leaders Hucknall as we got ready to face them in our next game.

The match was a tight affair, with chances for both teams few and far between. At half time the only chance had fallen to a Hucknall striker, who's weak header was easily saved by Simon Gould. Our first decent chance of the match came at the hour mark as Steve Rigby's header was parried by the keeper, before Stephen Thomas messed up the rebound. However, ten minutes later, Thomas got another chance from a rebound and this time, he didn’t make up as he put us 1-0 ahead. 20 tense minutes followed, but Hucknall couldn't score. Our 1-0 victory put us on top of the table for the first time all season.

Our slight lead in the league faced its first threat three days later as Hednesford visited St. George's Lane. Good goalkeeping and poor attacking play from both sides meant the match was a dull affair that unsurprisingly resulted in a 0-0 draw. The match was marred by the 90th minute breaking of Stylianos Bouzis's toe that would keep him out for up about two months. Only goal difference now kept us ahead of Hucknall.

Our next two matches were a double header against Stafford in the FA Trophy and League and our focus was more on the latter. The FA Trinket match was first though and for us, the major talking point of the match was Daniel Edgar's return from injury as he gave a decent performance. The match itself was actually one of the better ones we'd played in. Both sides saw a number of chances missed, but it was ultimately us who won thanks to a Steve McDonald penalty in the dying moments of the match. Between the two Stafford games, we bade farewell to Micheal Wilson, who returned to Farnborough, his loan expired.

The league match against Stafford was dire, with Stafford arguably the better of the sides. Neither team played well enough to deserve a goal and justice was dealt out as neither side got one. The match left a distinct feeling of "we won the wrong one," though we still lead the league. Redditch were our next opposition in the league and played awfully. We created a number of chances and goals from Matthew Buckley and Stephen Thomas saw us get a 2-0 win that flattered Redditch.

We had beaten our next opponents, Moor Green, 2-0 earlier in the season and were confident of another victory. As it turned out, Craig Hillier's penalty had us ahead at half time, though we didn't deserve to lead. The last 15 minutes of the match were among my most depressing as manager. Surprisingly, they started when a Moor Green player got himself sent off. Our resulting certainty of victory resulted, as it always did, in a goal being scored against us. We grew more and more attacking and though Moor Green saw a second player sent off, we couldn't score. We'd deserved to lose the 1-1 draw, yet felt aggrieved at not winning.

January was closed out with the visit of Barrow. The match was full of excitement and saw both sides get three shots on target. The annoying fact that we had to have three times as many shots to achieve this made us deserving of winning the match, which we did. Matthew Buckley scored from a Cakir Tayfun cross to put us ahead at half time. A late Tom Lee penalty made the victory 2-0.

January had been a good month for Worcester as we'd played well in most of our games and gone undefeated. We'd taken the league's lead from Hucknall, though the gap back to them was small and we were had made it to the third round of the FA Trinket, where we would play Sheffield. Comparing this to Leicester, who were out of everything and hovering just outside the playoff zone, I couldn't help but wonder how annoyed James was.

retired_Genesis777

‘What do you want?’ James snapped as he walked into Brian’s office.

Brian calmly ignored the tone of James’s voice and talked in his usual laid back fashion. ‘Do you remember that little phone call a few months back? It seems they called Brown again.’

‘Do you know who it was?’

‘Nope. We only know about it since we tapped Brown’s phone; they didn’t use the phone box this time.’

‘That’s inconsiderate of them. Did you manage to trace the caller’s location or whatever it is you crazy scientists do?’

‘Sort of. We know they were in Leicester – probably. Brown slammed the phone down after they called.’

‘I guess we kind of asked for that. Was there anything else, Brian?’

‘Nope. See you later.’

‘Hmm ... actually, there was one other thing we need to discuss and since I’m here, we might as well. I take it you know Brown’s still at Worcester?’

‘I’m not that incompetent, James. I take it you want to know whether it’s safe for Brown to return to Leicestershire for his little football match against Hinckley?’ James nodded. ‘Well, we killed the only person who knows for sure, but I reckon it should be fine.’

retired_Genesis777

February 2006

The third round of the FA Trophy saw Worcester face a seemingly easy Sheffield side. The match itself was quite easy, even if, yet again, we found ourselves incapable of actually hitting the target with any regularity. That said, Stephen Thomas had us ahead early in the match and we went into the break ahead. Against the run of play, Sheffield grabbed a second half equaliser and forced a replay. The replay went much like the first match, except Sheffield failed to equalise after Matthew Buckley scored the only goal in the 6th minute.

The replay meant we found ourselves second in the league as we faced Workington at St. George's Lane. Daniel Edgar chose this match to signal his return from injury, scoring both goals in a dominant 2-0 win.

A midweek trip to Gainsborough in Stephen Thomas's last match before his loan expired, gave us a chance to reclaim the league's top spot. Despite our dominance, the match looked like being a goaless draw until Scott Nixon put us ahead with a quarter of an hour left. It lasted barely 2 minutes before Gainsborugh pulled it back to 1-1, where the score remained. Still, it was enough to put us back atop the league.

Our recent form abandoned us as we faced Alfreton. Sam Rogers had them ahead, before Richard Jones scored an own goal. Alfreton led the match 2-0 and were cruising, as our long unbeaten run, looked like it was coming to an end. Even when they had a player sent off late in the game, we still didn't really look like scoring. The defeat ended our long unbeaten run and only Hucknall's simultaneous loss kept us ahead of them.

This was hardly the ideal preparation for a match against Conference side Exeter in the last eight of the FA trophy, not that I really cared. The match looked over when they desrvedly went 1-0 ahead after just 8 minutes and only their inability to score again kept us in it. Then, they gave a penalty away on the hour mark. Up stepped Tom Lee, who scored. With 5 minutes left, it looked like a replay would be necessary, which would provide us with money, if nothing else. Suddenly, they had Tony Francis sent off for a foul in the box. Penalty duties once again fell to Tom Lee, who gave us a surprise lead. With barely a kick after kick-off, Exeter couldn't score and we went through to a semi-final against York.

Despite our cup success, our league record in February had been very poor. Just 4 points from 3 matches simply wasn't a good enough record to win the league. Instead, we found ourselves second, admittedly with a game in hand. The end of the month also saw two new players arrive in an attempt to find more goals:

Gustavo Herrera (ST, Argentina, uncapped, 34yrs.) Free transfer
Should provide the goals we need. His only real weakness is that he is not that fast.

Chris Wilson (AM L, Eng, uncapped, 23yrs.) Free from East Thurrock
With Thomas unwilling to continue at the club for the rest of the season, we needed a replacement. Unlike a lot of my players, this guy can actually run rather than just briskly walk. He’s also a good free-kick taker (though not as good as Michael Wilson).