retired_mully

I like it though

bruno

Birmingham City vs. Leeds United – St. Andrews
Premier League – Sunday 1st May 2004

Squad: Gianluigi Buffon; Carles Puyol, Ian Harte, Lúcio, Walter Samuel; Jermaine Pennant, Francesco Totti (c), Andrés D’Alessandro, Jermaine Jenas; Adriano, Ronaldo

Not very surprisingly Birmingham backed down right fro kick off. Their objective was clear: get out of this with 1 point. And out objective was as always to win.

It started well for us and within the first 5 minutes we could have been 3-0 up if only Maik Taylor hadn’t been playing so damn good. But although playing good he made one mistake: on a goal kick he slipped and the ball landed at Adriano’s feet. The Brazilian advanced and placed the ball comfortably in the net.

Taylor was the only reason that we only scored once more in the match. We had loads and loads of chances but Taylor denied us time after time. Except from when Ronaldo volleyed in the ball, in the warm but yet rainy weather.

Birmingham 0: (Cunningham sent off 64’)
Leeds 2: Adriano 34’, Ronaldo 76’

Attendance: 29,993

bruno

Later that evening, a few hours after the match against Birmingham, my dining room was packed with people. And in one corner I stood entertaining Eddie and his fiancée.

EG Nice of you to invite us for dinner.
I could sense a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

PC It’s my pleasure. I’m delighted that you both were able to attend. And Rachel, you look as lovely as always.

RG Thank you! You’re so kind.

PC Well it’s true… I must say before we dine though; I took the liberty to invite a female acquaintance of mine. Hope that’s ok?

RG Of course. Isn't it dear?

EG I guess.
The door bell rings

PC That’s probably her right now. Excuse me for a minute.
I leave the dining room and open the front door

[b]PC[/I] Eddie, Rachel, let me introduce to you Mary Jenkins. Mary, this is Eddie Gary and his fiancée Rachel Gordon.
Eddie stands flabbergasted

RG Nice to meet you Mary.

MJ Likewise.
Sweat pearls start running down Eddie’s forehead.

PC What’s wrong Eddie? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.

EG Uh?.. Oh, I... Nice to meet you Mary.
He tries to smile but he looks like a dork trying to

PC Are you sure you’re alright? You look a bit pale.

RG He’s right, you do look a bit pale.

EG I’m just fine. Really, I am.

PC Shall we eat then?

EG Paul, can I have a chat with you?

PC Of course. What do you want?

EG In private... The kitchen.

PC Ok. Ladies, excuse us, this will just take a minute.

We go into the kitchen, closing the door behind us. Eddie is seemingly nervous; he can’t stand still even for a few seconds.

EG What’s this?

PC What do you mean?

EG You know what I mean, god damn it! What’s she doing here?

PC She’s having dinner.

EG Don’t play smart with me.

PC Ok, I’ll be frank with you. I know everything about your sexual molestation of her. She’s told me everything about it.

EG That little bÃ*tch! She should know when to shut up.

PC Watch your mouth!

EG But s...

PC Shut it, I’m talking now… If you don’t want the media, or Rachel for that matter, to get this information, then I can make it go away.

EG Really?

PC Yeah, whit the snap of my fingers.

EG Just like that?

PC Just like that...

EG So, what’s the catch?

PC The catch? What catch?

EG Come on, it's me your talking to. I know everything there is to know about dodgy affairs.

PC As always you can see right through me. Well, all you have to do is to resign from your post.

EG Come again?

PC You heard me. I want you to have cleared your desk before tomorrow afternoon. Or else the Mary drops the bomb in front of the press. After going to the police, of course.

EG But I can't just quit my job. What am I going to tell Rachel?

PC Well, that's not my problem. You should have thought about that before molesting Mary.

EG Football’s my life. I just can’t quit. Not now.

PC Then you can read all about it in the newspapers tomorrow.

EG **** you!

PC **** you too, you bástard! Perhaps it's time for you to leave now?

EG You’re enjoying this aren’t you?

PC You could say that, yeah... I’ve been waiting for this moment for some time now. But you already know that, don't you? After all you wanted me away from the club as well.

[b]EG{/B] Can you blame me?

PC No, not really. But now your time to leave the club has come.

EG You've won this round Campbell. I'll hand in my resignation bright and early tomorrow. But the last word has not yet been spoken. I'm not caving in this easily; I'm ready for a fight.

PC So am I.

EG A last piece of advice; watch your back carefully. The same thing that happened to your pal O’Flanagan can happen to you.

Eddie marches into the dining room, tells Rachel that it’s time to go. She is a bit perplexed but she does as she’s told. Eddie slams the door behind them, making the guests astounded

MJ I presume everything went well?

PC Yeah, you could say that… But I have a feeling he'll be back sooner or later.

bruno

Returning to office on Monday, I had scheduled a meeting with the board. We really needed to resolve some of the Eddie Gray issues. Above all we needed to decide whom to hire. The board members attending the meeting were as follows: John McKenzie, Trevor Birch, Alan Hill, Allan Leighton. Richard North should have been there but was a no show.

PC So, I see that our friend Richard hasn’t bothered to show up.

JMcK He’s not able to be here today. Personal problems.

PC I see. Well, you all know why you’re here today so why don’t we get to it.

TB Before we start we would like to know why Eddie suddenly resigned. Perhaps you know?

PC I haven’t got a clue really. You’ll have to talk to him about that.

TB We’ve tried but he doesn’t return any of our calls.

PC I won’t pretend that I’m sorry that he’s gone because I’m not, as you all probably know. Besides I think we have more important things to talk about at the moment than why he resigned.

JMcK You’re right… The idea with this meeting is to figure out who to hire. Any suggestions?

AH What about Bobby Robson? Newcastle has exactly been playing well this season and he might want to change venues.

PC Alan, Alan, Alan… Let me inform you that Booby has already announced his retirement at the end of this season. So I don’t se much point in trying to sign him, do you?

AH Anyone else got a better suggestion then?
Alan looked a bit offended

PC I’ve got one…

JMcK Lets hear then.

PC Me.
It became dead silent in the room for a few seconds

AH You? Allow me to laugh... What do you know about football?

PC I know just as much as every other football fan.

AH Not very much then?

PC He, he… Of course, I won’t do it alone. While we’re in the process I think we should hire a new assistant manager. One with much experience of top league football and one who isn't loyal to Eddie... I already know who I want.

TB And who might that be, if you don’t mind me asking.

PC Actually I do mind.

AL I’m sure you do.

PC Oh, don’t you lot worry. You won’t be disappointed.

JMcK Ok, lets vote then. Who’s in favour?

McKenzie, Birch and Leighton all were in favour of my suggestion. Hill however was reluctant to voting yes.

JMcK Ok then. But Campbell, this is just a trial period. If we don’t perform like we’ve done this season, well then you will be forced to resign.

PC I know. But don’t you worry; we will produce the goods.

At least so I hoped

retired_hyunmeesohn83

This a friggin' good story m8. KUTGW.

bruno

Gary Lineker is one of football's gentlemen. In his entire professional career, he didn't receive a yellow card. A silent man off the field, on it he was deadly. After retiring from the game, Lineker embarked on a TV career and hosted live coverage of the 1998 World Cup in France.

Now, he was about to receive an offer for him to return to football.

GL Hello?.

PC Hello Mr Lineker. This is Paul Campbell. I’m t…

GL Yeah, I know who you are. How could I not?

PC I guess you’re right.

GL So, what has made you pick up the phone and call me?

PC You might know that Eddie Gray has resigned from his position and…

GL And now you want me to take over?

PC No, not exactly.

GL Then what?

[b]PC/B] You see, I’ve been appointed as manager of Leeds. And I want you as my assistant manager.

GL Yeah sure, it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do. I’m fed up with this TV thingy anyway.

PC Great. You able to be in Leeds on Friday?

GL Yeah sure.

PC Good. By the way, you’ll be in charge on Saturday against Tottenham. I’ve got some things I need to sort out.

GL You want me to be in charge?

PC You’ve got a problem with that?

GL Not at all Mr Campbell… Not at all.

retired_nono1974

As have I. It may not be as realistic as some of the others but its compelling in a "footballers wives" kind of way

bruno

I had more urgent business to attend this afternoon. I travelled to Madrid to try and cut a del with Real. I really wanted Raúl but Real had rejected bid after bid for him. It had made me a bit pìssed off; I didn’t have the energy for these futile negotiations. And you could say that the whole trip also was in vain; we didn’t come to an agreement this night either and when leaving Madrid I was furious. I had wasted a perfectly good day on them feckers.

Leeds United vs. Tottenham Hotspurs – Elland Road
Premier League – Saturday 8th April 2004

Squad: Gianluigi Buffon; Carles Puyol, Ian Harte, Lúcio, Walter Samuel; Jermaine Pennant, Francesco Totti (c), Andrés D’Alessandro, Jermaine Jenas; Adriano, Ronaldo

Lineker didn’t exactly get a great start to his assistant manager career. However it wasn’t that bad either. The first half progressed with very little action and Lineker had a few things to say to his players at the break.

But they seemed quite distracted by the fact that Eddie had quit his job without telling anyone, but me that will say, and they were quite unfocused. When Adriano missed open goal in the 84th minute Lineker knew we wouldn’t win. If we can’t score on chances like that when would we?

Surprisingly though, the fans actually cheered for Lineker after the match. Perhaps they would help us get through this.

Leeds 0:
Tottenham 0:

Attendance: 39,024

retired_rupi

this is brillant, buy fernando cavanaghi and pazzini...gold dust, their awsome together, and as montilivo is already at the club pazzini willa already have a chum

bruno

Eddie was no longer at the club. How great that feeling was. And the fact that I was appointed as the new manager was even better. I was riding a high, not only on a professional level but also on a personal level.

The club were doing fine, Eddie was gone, I controlled Leeds completely and Mary and I had started to date. Ever since I first saw her I found her irresistible and alluring. And obviously felt the same way, as we had a great time on that dinner party I threw the other day. Well, at least after Eddie and Rachel left, they were a drag.

And with only two weeks, and two matches, left of the season, what could go wrong? Not much. Or could it?