thest0rys0far

His head physio had been the bearer of bad tidings on the morning of the Ipswich match. Lupoli had picked up a knock in the Wigan friendly and while it wasn't anything serious he wouldn't be fit enough to feature in the opening game of the season. He was also without Mahlich who had picked up a hip injury in training and had been sent off to see a specialist.

Will's hopes of a good start to the season took a dive 9 minutes into the match as a poor challenge on Livermore left his captain writhing in agony. He motioned to Wise to warm up as the medics ran out with a stretcher. After making the early change, he didn't pay too much attention and as the whistle blew to end a goal-less half he ran back to check up on the latest news.

"Not good I'm afraid", was the response from the head physio, Peter Gordon. "Broken ankle. We've sent him off to the hospital just now."

Will's heart sank. "How long will he be out of action for?"

"Could be as much as 3 months I'm afraid."

Will returned to the changing room and relayed the news to the team who were obviously anxious to hear the news too. "So now I want you lot to get back out there and get us a win! Give him some good news for when he gets back from surgery!"

The words seemed enough to inspire his team as on the 52nd minute, Leandro zipped in a cross to the head of Beaumont. The Ipswich keeper just managed to palm it away but Hayles was first to pounce on the rebound and slot it home. A second would follow in the last ten minutes as Fangueiro latched onto Wise's thru-ball and beat the keeper with a expertly placed shot. The final whistle blew and it was a deserved 2-0 victory for Millwall.

Will had gone to visit Dave in the Hospital the day after the match to pass on the news of the win. He'd been drugged up with pain killers but seemed in good spirits.

"I'll be back before you know it", he joked. "Oh, and we've got TV's here and they'll be showing the West Ham game. So you'd better make it a win!"

Will chuckled at that, "Well, I'll certainly try my best."

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Before the West Ham game was a trip up to Leicester, and the noise was deafening as the teams ran out, over 30,000 fans making their voices heard and Will knew that it was going to be a tough game.

As the match progressed he was on the edge of his seat watching his team get pummeled, attack after attack by Leicester. Geert De Vlieger stood firm tho, diving left and right to deflect the goal attempts. Then on the 39th minute Leicester's persistence finally payed off and an insane back-pass from Leandro was intercepted by Elvis Hammond whose pacey runs had been a nightmare for the defence already. Speeding away from Lawrence he tucked it past De Vlieger as the keeper moved in to close the gap. Will stood up, furious with Leandro for effectively setting up the opposition. The player would not have heard the manager's shouts tho above the roar from the home crowd celebrating the goal they'd had to wait so long for.

His assistant manager pulled him back to his seat, "Save it for half time. The lad knows he's made a mistake, no need to upset him further yet."

Will returned to his seat and quietly watched grim-faced as Leicester pushed up for a second goal. He wouldn't be surprised if they grabbed another before the break. However, his team would prove him wrong as after a handful of counter attacks, a Fangueiro cross found Beaumont in space and the midfielder's shot just managed to slip into the net between keeper and post. Will jumped up and cheered as loud as any away fan. The goal was certainly against the run of play and would hopefully make their opposition a little more cautious for the second half.

As the teams filed off the pitch, it was Leandro that caught up with his manager. His English was not great after only being in England for a year but he made it clear that he was really sorry for his error and promised to double his efforts for the second half.

Will turned to face him, "That's OK lad, you're a talented player. I know you can find some magic in the second half". After calming down earlier, Will had remembered that he'd not got another left-sided winger on the bench. He'd need Leandro to finish the match and so aimed to be positive with him.

The player smiled and ran off to join up with the others, tho Will got the impression that the Hungarian had not really understood what he'd said. He sighed and hoped he could find some more basic encouraging words for the team-talk.

Leandro was true to his word tho, and with less than two minutes into half time a Dennis Wise ball had found the winger in space and Millwall were 2-1 up. Leicester were certainly not going to give up tho and it was more than fair, given their performance, that they equalised. A free kick was lofted in and an exhausted De Vlieger punched away the first shot only to be powerless to stop Hammond netting the rebound.

He had to be pleased with the result at the end. Despite a dominating Leicester side having most of the attacking play they'd come away with a point which was a little more than they really deserved.

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Will sat in his office, an expression of concern on his face. He'd been watching the Leicester match trying to work out why his team had been so over-run. Should he have changed to a more defensive formation? Should he have thrown an extra striker upfront and switched to playing long-ball? After De Vlieger had been worn out by so many attempts on his goal, should he have let Marshall take his place for the second half?

In short Will hadn't got a clue about any of these things. His first season he'd just been thrown in at the deep-end and finished in 9th place probably more on luck and the talents of his staff and players than anything he'd really done. Before he arrived at The Den his football experience boiled down to just watching the odd match and playing management games on the computer.

He'd obviously accepted the Chairman's offer back then. Going to 'Information Systems Manager' from being a general IT dogsbody was a no-brainer even if it was a daunting task to sort out the horrific computer system. He'd quit his current job and Jeff Burnige was delighted that he could start the following Monday.

It was that weekend that the real damage happened.

It wasn't really the fault of the poor temp who was handed Will's details late on the Friday afternoon. He duly entered everything into the system correctly enough, and it was programming incompetence that meant the system translated 'William Thomas Foster: I.S. Manager' into 'William Thomas Foster is Manager'. Not the worst thing in the world except for the fact the system was connected to the club's web page.

It didn't take long for the fans and press to notice this information and so by Saturday, word was spread far and wide. Will hadn't got a clue as he was still in bed recovering from Friday night down at the pub so was quite annoyed when his mobile phone repeatedly rang.

"Will, it's Jeff. I need you to come down to the club right away".

Will didn't have time to respond before the line went dead. Rather puzzled and alarmed by the call and the Chairman's obviously stressed tone of voice he quickly showered, dressed and jumped in the car.

"It's a disaster!", Jeff announced as the chairman's PA lead him into the office. "The worst possible screw up this system has made yet!"

Will looked puzzled

"Look!", the chairman commanded, pointing at the screen of his computer showing the offending item on the club's website and then gesturing with his hand to the printouts and newspapers that were all covering the story.

Will read the headlines of each item in amazement.

"We've got no choice now." Jeff continued as Will turned back to face him. "We can't afford the embarrassment if the truth of this whole mess got out. We'll need you to manage the football team. Press conference in 20 minutes!"

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'Pardew eyes easy victory over Rookie Foster'

Will scowled at the news headline as he sipped his morning coffee.

'The West Ham manager has told the club's website that he is looking forward to taking all three points at tomorrow's visit to Millwall. Alan commented that a win against the London rivals would be a great start to their challenge for promotion back to the Premiership'

"We'll see about that!", exclaimed Will to his laptop. Several others in the Cafe turned round, wondering why he was talking to himself.

He formulated a quick and positive response to post on Millwall's website to say that his side were really looking forward to pitting their skills against the Premiership rejects.

"There, that should do it.", Will said with a smile as he sat back to finish his coffee.

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Both teams were fired-up for the game, both wanting to prove the opposite team's manager wrong. 21,000 West Ham and Millwall fans adding to the atmosphere, the gauntlet had been thrown down and it was time to battle.

Unfortunately for Will, West Ham started out the brighter side. However, De Vlieger was on top form to keep his side on level terms and the game stood at 0-0 when the half time whistle blew.

With his side struggling to control the opposition, he swapped out Beaumont and Fangueiro for Morris and Cogan, hoping that they'd be able to create some more chances and bring Lupoli into the game as the young player had so far not seen much of the ball. It didn't really make a whole lot of difference and the game continued in the same fashion as the first half.

West Ham were clearly frustrated tho and it was all too much for Elliot Ward on the 68th minute when a Cogan cross came in and instead of trying to out-jump Leandro for the header, he pushed him to the ground. The referee clearly had no choice but to award the penalty and with the crowd behind him, Wise neatly put the ball past the keeper. Try as they might, West Ham could not find an equaliser. The penalty had stripped their forwards of confidence and the shots that were not blazed over the bar were easily blocked by Geert De Vlieger to rightfully earn his Man of the Match award.

Not the best of games and perhaps West Ham really should be the ones taking the points. Alan Pardew looked quite miffed as the two managers shook hands but admitted that his strikers had clearly been outclassed today by a superb goalkeeping effort.

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As the coach worked it's way up the motorway towards Leeds, Will was in fine spirits. Last season the trip to Elland road ended in a spectacular 5-0 win for his side and on the back of two wins and a draw he was expecting a repeat performance.

Over-confidence was his undoing as the match played out on an incredibly hot afternoon. The vast majority of the 28,000 fans were cheering at the top of their lungs as David Healy netted the opening goal for the home side after half an hour of play. Taken aback by this, Will encouraged his players to push forward and start making some more chances. However, the heat was obviously a factor and as the clock ticked down his team didn't look like putting much effort into any of the chances they did make. A defeat was the result and so the long trip back home was rather more subdued.

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Watching the draw for the 1st round of the league cup was quite dull, so many teams needed to be picked out. Will found himself idly reading the posters on the wall before a shout from one of the coaches drew his attention back to the TV. Millwall had been drawn at home and the opponents would be .......... Leyton Orient.

'Not a bad result' Will thought, turning to his laptop and checking out Orient's season so far. 'Struggling in league two, should be easy enough'


As it turned out, it was not until just before half time that Millwall finally took the lead against Orient. The visitors had been easily contained in their own half and it seemed that Will's team were paying more attention to showing off than actually getting the ball in the back of the net. Finally a cross came in and bounced off a defender, rolling to Beaumont who blasted it back through the crowd. The keeper unable to see it through all the bodies until it was too late.

Will sent the players back out for the second half after telling them to stop playing with the opposition. "They may be flailing in their own league but that doesn't mean they can't cause an upset in a cup match and we hardly did well in either one last season. Go out and get me two more goals."

Lupoli was was the man to grab the next goal although it didn't come until the 62nd minute. A ball was crossed in after a deep throw and Lupoli found himself in space directly in front of the goal – played onside by an Orient full back who was still languishing by the corner flag. He couldn't miss from there. Complacency was still rife in the Millwall players tho, and Orient hit back direct from the kick off. As if to prove Will's half-time point, they pushed forward and passed the ball between the static Millwall players and a deflected cross fell to Orient's Hyland who easily tucked it under the dive of De Vlieger. It was not to be the amazing comeback for poor Orient tho as Lupoli increased the lead once more before Wise slotted home another penalty to put the game out of reach for the visitors.

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That very first press conference had been a terrifying experience. He'd called for a double espresso as the chairman paced in his office and went over the plan of action with him. There was no point in lying about the fact that this was going to be his first attempt at football management. They needed to focus on promoting the ideas of a young 27 year old coming in with a free perspective on management, untainted by the footballing world. It was a long shot but Jeff had been superb at selling the story and deftly cutting off the reporter's attempts to rock the boat with doubting questions. Will had obviously had to answer a few questions himself, but was fortunate that Jeff had anticipated most of them and told him how he should respond to each.

As Jeff called the conference to an end and lead Will back to his office they both sighed with relief.

"That could have gone a whole lot worse.", said Jeff, pouring himself a drink.

"But what happens now?", responded Will, accepting the glass of whiskey Jeff handed him. He didn't like whiskey at all but now was not the time to risk upsetting his Chairman who was clearly stressed out and had struggled to hide that from the press.

"Well, now you sign that contract"

Will picked up the paper and read it all the way through. One year contract as Manager of Millwall FC. It really was going to happen and no sign of Jeremy Beadle anywhere, this wasn't an elaborate wind up at all.

"Look, the plan is, we give you the job and you try your best. We've got a good bunch of players and plenty of staff to help you out." Jeff drained his glass and poured himself another. "You've got 20K to spend on players and even that is more than we can afford. I'm going to need you to make some attempt to earn us money and some results on the pitch would be good too."

Will took a sip of the whiskey and screwed up his face in disgust.

"We can't replace you until Christmas. No doubt we'll be somewhere down the bottom by then and we can make some story up about how you couldn't cope and decided to hand over the reigns to David Tuttle. He'll be your Assistant Manager by the way. I've set up a meeting for you on Monday, get to know him and pay attention to his advice, he'll help you get started."

And with that Jeff waved Will out of his office and poured himself a third glass of Whiskey.

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Saturday 26th of August was Charlotte's birthday but it was also the date of the Millwall vs Derby fixture. Will flipped open his mobile on his walk from the cafe to the stadium and dialed the number for his younger sister.

"Hiya sis, happy birthday!" he said with a smile.

" ..... "

"I know, but I promise to come over and see you after the game, it's going to be a tough one for us."

" ..... "

"Thanks, hopefully we won't need it. See you tonight."

As Will hung up the phone his thoughts turned to the game that was only five hours away. They'd failed to beat Derby on both attempts last season; failing to score against them at home and falling to a 3-1 defeat on the away game. He really needed to put out a strong side for this game.

It was Derby who pushed forward at first, no doubt trying to claim a speedy first goal to quieten the home support and shake up the players. De Vlieger was once again the saviour and made three crucial saves in the first 15 minutes. Will jumped up and shouted instructions to Lawrence who relayed it to the other players. After a few minutes it had the desired effect and Millwall started to play with a bit more care and thought, slowly turning the tide of the game.

Despite plenty of attacking play it wasn't until the 69th minute that the deadlock was broken. Adrian Serioux being the unlikely man to be in the right place at the right time; The Canadian right back meeting a long Leandro cross to head past the keeper. Derby were killed of 7 minutes later when half-time sub Walker chested Fangueiro's cross and dribbled round the stunned defender who was marking him before beating the keeper with a well-placed strike.

Obviously Will was delighted and in very high spirits as he traveled on the train back to North London for his sister's birthday party.

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The last game of the month was a visit to Preston North End. The highly respected club were off to an abysmal start, bottom of the league with 5 losses in 5. Will felt quite sorry for them but hoped that they wouldn't find a new burst of form just yet.

The game followed only two days after the Derby game but fortunately fitness was not a problem and so he only made a few changes to the team that had won so convincingly at the weekend.

A Lupoli goal on the 27th minute was met with dismay by the home fans as they looked set to sink to a 6th consecutive defeat. The Preston players fought on tho and managed to bring the scores back to level terms on the 41st minute. Nugent collecting a pass just outside the penalty box and turned between his two markers to strike into the corner, just out of De Vlieger's reach. Millwall would start the second half in the lead tho as just before the half-time whistle blew; Fangueiro burst free from his marker despite carrying a slight injury, and deflected a Leandro cross past the Preston keeper.

Preston refused to lay down and pushed forward for an equaliser as the second half progressed. It was real nail-biting stuff as both teams threatened constantly and only some magnificent keeping from both sides kept the scores level.

Will nervously checked his watch several times and turned to his assistant, "Surely, only 30 seconds to go?"

David was about to answer when there was an almighty roar from the crowd. Turning sharply back to the action, Will looked in horror at the ball in the back of the Millwall net. Then the cheers from the crowd turned to boos - the linesman had signaled for offside. Will had been right about the time tho and after a kick upfield the final whistle was blown to end the game at 2-1.

Fangueiro was named as man of the match despite being replaced at half time due to the knock he'd picked up. While the winger had played very well, Will would have given the honor to either of the keepers that day as they both looked sharp and made some outstanding saves.

Caught by a reporter after the game, Will was full of praise for the players of both teams. "It was a great match and both teams battled so very hard."

"What about the disallowed goal? Was it offside?"

"I can't comment on that as regrettably I wasn't in a position to see. One thing is for sure tho, Preston have a lot of quality in their side and Davies is a good Manager. I can't see how their run will continue much further and I won't be surprised if they are getting results and out of the relegation zone in a few weeks.

"Thanks for your time." concluded the reporter as he rushed off to interview the Preston manager, Billy Davies.

After watching the tape of the match a few times later that evening, there was no doubting that the goal was not offside. It was close, but Kenton's speedy run had definitely been enough to play the North End striker onside when the ball was played.

'A very lucky escape', he thought to himself as he switched off the video.