shannon2007

You might have thought, having scored six goals in three matches, that Jason Young would be pushing on the door of a regular start. If you did think that, you were very wrong. Despite those two goals in the win over Northwich on the 23rd September 2000, Jason Young did not get a sniff in the first team again until he came on as a substitute in the FA Cup 2nd round match at home Wycombe Wanderers. It was certainly a frustrating period for the Scot, but in all fairness with Stokkinggreef and Vrijssen rattling in the goals and the team sitting second in the table, the manager could do nothing but be loyal to his Dutch duo.

When Park Avenue were drawn to play Division Two side Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup 2nd round, there was a great deal of excitement in the town and amongst the support. Jason, although excited at the prospect, had resigned himself to a place on the bench and indeed that is where he would start the match. A match that would go down in Avenue folklore, a match that would set a trend that would go with Dave Green throughout his managerial career. And yet as the teams trudged into the dressing rooms at half time following a gruelling first half, the Division Two side were two nil ahead, and it was not a happy bunch of Avenue players.

Once again, as he had in the past and would do in the future, Jason could not help but be impressed by the calm, reassuring manner in which Avenue boss Green went about his business in the halftime team talk. He did not rant, rave, shout, scream. Despite the fact that his side had been totally outplayed, he did not tell them they were a stupid bunch of losers who should be ashamed of themselves. Calmly, rationally he went over the basic mistakes the players had made, told them to forget them and to go back out and perform as he knew they could. The match wasn't over yet and the players only had to believe it.

And just seven minutes of the second half had gone when Bert Stokkingreef was upended in the area and the Avenue had a penalty and a way back into this cup tie. Youngster Mark Batty was the regular spot kick taker, and he showed no nerves as he calmly slotted the ball home and it was game on. With thirteen minutes to go, the manager made two changes, but one of them wasn't Jason Young. As the side pressed forward looking got a goal, so with just eight minutes left the manager finally decided to go for broke and much to his delight Jason was sent on.

There were only seconds left, when the Avenue won a corner. Not the greatest corner in the world to be taken, but as the clearance was just as bad to Patrick Vrijssen found himself with a great chance and as the crowd went wild, the Dutchman thundered the ball home and the Avenue had sensationally come back from the dead to earn that seemed at the time to be a replay. the match though was not over yet, and as the seconds of injury time passed so a wearied Wycombe tried to cling on desperately for dear life. The Avenue surged forward one last desperate time, and as Patrick Vrijssen rose to head the ball home, so the keeper managed to parry the ball away. Although he stopped Vrijssen from scoring, he could not do anything about the onrushing Batty who gleefully knocked the rebound home and Bradford Park Avenue had reached the Third round of the FA Cup.

Jason's contribution had been minimal. For once he hadn't scored, and had barely touched the ball but all that was forgotten as he celebrated the fantastic win with his teammates and looked forward to the next round. As luck would have it though, the draw paired the Avenue at home to a Stockport County side who were pushing for promotion to the Premiership. Jason once more started on the bench, and although he did come on with 22 minutes to play he could do little to prevent Stockport running out 1-0 winners and the Avenue's FA Cup adventure was over. For this season at least.

There would, of course, be a lot more FA Cup excitement to come in the future, but little did Jason Young know just how much he would be involved as he pondered whether he should start to think about finding a new club.

retired_jimmy1943

Have you got a link to the original thread?

shannon2007

Ok may as well post them. If you don't want to spoil the suspense, then don't read them Also there may be the odd inconsistancy. I do still have the original save file somewhere but can't be bothered re-installing cm0001 to check it!
Part One

Part Two


Part Three

Part Four

shannon2007

Christmas was always a very special time in the Young household. Both sets of Grand Parents and various aunties, uncles, cousins, friends, down and outs, would all gather and it was always fun and chaos and a day for getting totally stressed out. And for Jason, the thought of having to travel all the way back to Bradford in the evening. He had been selected to play against Chester. And that match was away. Jason would certainly he having a busier than usual Christmas, and he never thought that was even possible. It was just typical though that, having be virtually ignored all year, he would find himself playing at Christmas time. Then again, as Beth reminded him when he moaned, he would have almost certainly been on the bench anyway.

And to be fair, he had been given a run out a week earlier at Stevenage and scored the goal that gave his side a point. It should have been no surprise that he was at least in the squad, but it was still a drag to get himself into the car in the falling snow, and drive all the way to Bradford. And when he got there, he would probably be told he wasn't needed. That would be so bloody typical, and it seemed so bloody obvious that Jason really did think about phoning and saying he was stuck in the snow.

Travel he did though, and started too against Chester. It was a poor game though, and Jason for once felt out of sorts, probably the result of too much turkey - or something - and as the side crashed to a 2-1 loss, so for the first time Jason Young did not score when on the field of play for his team. The bubble had burst, before it had even been fully inflated.

The New Year celebrations to bing in the year 2001 AD were muted in the Young house as Jason was needed to play against Kettering at home and although it was on the 3rd, Jason wanted to focus his mind. He had been getting a decent run in the team, and if he could just keep scoring then surely he would become a fixture in the side. And indeed, the blip of the Chester game proved to be just that as Jason bagged his 8th goal for the Avenue in a 2-0 win and Jason felt sure he had done enough to retain his place in the side.

Dave Green on the other hand felt differently, and apart from a late substitute appearance at home to Stockport in the FA Cup 3rd round, as the side crashed out, it would be April before Jason would again take to the field as an Avenue player, and it would be April that a new Young would arrive in the world. A goal against Doncaster in his first start since January helped the side to a good 3-1 win, and the following day his new baby was born. Jason's fears that the boy might grow up and play for England were not to be realised - the child was a girl and they called her Abbie, which at that time was a very unusual name.

Little Abbie Bethany Young was not at the match four days after her birth, a home game with Accrington Stanely in the Semi Final of the FA Trophy, but to celebrate the new love in his life Jason rattled in a hattrick to all but book his teams place in the final. Two more goals in a 3-1 win in the 2nd leg took Jasons total for the season to fourteen, and as he was overlooked for the title run in, which saw the Avenue pipped by a point on the final day of the season for the Championship, and the consequent promotion, Jason was as a consolation named in the side to face Scarborough in the Final of the FA Trophy. The dissapointment of the league loss in such dramatic circumstances was hard to shake off against a fine Scarborough side who themselves had been right in the promotion hunt till near enough the death.

The only consolation on a day when Jason failed to find the net, and his side crashed to defeat, was that he had turned out at Old Trafford and it had been a great thrill to play at such a prestigious venue. Little did Jason know that this would not be the last time he turned out at the home of England's greatest club side..

retired_yolanda

Will keep following this :thup:

Haven't seen the original, so let's see what happens!

retired_amgine

Excellent so far PM.

love your storys dude.

shannon2007

Thanks guys, much appreciated :thup:

shannon2007

The summer of 2001 was not an outstanding time for Jason Young, nor indeed the club for which he was signed. Jason and his yong family spent a couple of weeks back in Scotland with his family, during which time the striker contemplated a permanent return to his homeland and even had his agent make a few speculative phone calls to Scottish League clubs. The truth was that if a club from even as low as the Second Division had come calling, Jason would probably have been tempted and would have asked for a move. Truth was no-one was interested. He was either considered not good enough, or the clubs felt they would be unable to match his wage demands.

It was with a heavy heart then that Jason made his way back to Bradford to preseason training, the gloom of the last day promotion failure and the Cup Final defeat barely lifting from the dressing room. Yet once Mrs Doyle had been round with her tea trolly, the atmosphere was much more positive and Jason wondered why the hell he had ever anticipated leaving this wonderful club . Dave Green pointed out to the players that last season was gone, dead and buried. There was nothing they could do about it, lets concentrate now on the new season and make sure that they played so well that there would be no room for last day tears of despair.

Thats all very well, Jason thought to himself, but there's not a lot I can do stuck on the bench week after week when you know I can score.

Green looked straight at Jason and said, 'Some of you have been very patient, and I appreciate that. You will get your chances, believe me.'

And somehow, Jason did.

It was the funny thing about Dave Green. He was hardly the most impressive looking bloke, five foot nine, greying hair, slightly obtuse looking as early middle age set in. You would not think twice if he walked past you in the street. Yet somehow, when he spoke to you, you always listened and somehow he always made sense. Especially after a nice cup of tea from Mrs Doyle.

So Jason would stay at the Avenue. He would fight for his place. And besides, Bert Stokkingreef was 32 now, he was slowing down and he was getting fat. It wouldn't be long before the manager realised that Jason was the future of the club in terms of strikers.

It didn't cross Jason's mind that he himself was now 29. Time didn't stand still for anyone.

retired_amgine

Another excellent update PM7.

Your stroy just seem so complex but simple and vocabulary and ideas are excellent.

Im tempted to also read the old stroy you wrote from your perspective,i like the idea of writing the stroy from different perspectives.

shannon2007

In some ways, reading the original might help, in other ways it might spoil things. The thing that 'new' readers might not understand is the references to Mrs Doyle and the Dave Green is portrayed here, but people who followed the Dave Green stories will see where its coming from so I'm not sure really.

Thanks for the kind words