27.
The rest of the evening was a laugh. Totally enjoyable, especially once we started mingling and I got to know Lula and Freyja a bit better. Seeing a couple of the women leave early to put their kids to bed was an eye-opener. Kids and university? And two evenings a week playing footy?
26.
The next drill was back to the simple passing, which I think was a palette cleanser to help the group forget the 'stag rutting'. Then Jackie made it more complicated by changing it from two people passing in a line, to four people in a line. One person would pass and then sprint to the ...
2022-10-06 13:34:32 +0000 UTC View Post25.
Wednesday was, quietly, invisibly, monumental.
It was the day when I was due to take a training session with Beth's team. But I had a surprise for them. They were in their kit, stretching a calf or a hamstring or slowly turning their neck left and right, keeping one eye on me, wai...
2022-10-05 14:51:58 +0000 UTC View Post24.
“ Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.” – John Lennon.
The whole of Monday was dominated by the Queen's funeral. I didn't have to go to work, and this time it seemed appropriate that the event was being shown on every TV ch...
2022-10-04 14:56:31 +0000 UTC View Post23.
Moss Side Celtic 0 - Wilmslow Mega Titans 3 (Nugent 14, Collins 19, Musa 30)
Second Half
The Mega Titans had some flaws:
22.
Beth wasn't in the mood for my shenanigans. She hadn't played for a while and had a ton of pent-up energy. But she offered a compromise - she told me the team got together to train on Wednesdays, and I could take over the next session and, as she put it, 'get all Max'.
So the Met ...
2022-10-01 18:17:45 +0000 UTC View Post21.
I woke up feeling great - no trace of the headache - but then realised I had to go to the call centre. Back to reality.
It was brutal. It was torture. I didn't want to be there. I had lost every single shred of appetite for answering phone calls. I didn't give a shit about my stat...
2022-09-30 13:12:47 +0000 UTC View Post20.
I leaned a little closer to Emma, and Emma leaned a little closer to me. "Emma and Gemma. Are you serious?"
"Honest."
"What are you doing in Manchester?"
"We were on a training course. Booked the AirBnb a bit longer to have a little weekend."
"Do you like it?" 2022-09-30 12:45:54 +0000 UTC View Post
19.
After the match, I'd hung around the stands for a while, but with the stadium eerily deserted I'd decamped out to the car. For a while, I'd thought maybe Ziggy had found his own way home. It took so long that I started to get a bad feeling. A premonition of doom. But he eventually emerg...
2022-09-29 16:15:25 +0000 UTC View Post18.
FC United 3 - AFC Phoenix 2
Second Half
Smalls 6; Wooley 11; Da Costa 20
Gribbin 38, 41
Ziggy challenges for a high ball.
Murray wins the header. 2022-09-27 18:57:57 +0000 UTC View Post
17.
"Whites, to me." The players started drifting in my direction. It seemed like a weird thing to call them - half the team weren't white. They gathered around, except the goalie, who was over on his own doing weird goalkeeper things. I waved at him to come in. To the others, I said, "I'm ...
2022-09-27 17:39:33 +0000 UTC View Post16.
I pottered over towards Ziggy; I guessed he could use a bit of a pep talk. (Pep talks are named after the Man City manager, Pep Guardiola, who latches onto his players like a squid and shakes them violently while chattering at a thousand miles a minute.)
But on the way, the friend...
2022-09-27 17:23:39 +0000 UTC View Post15.
We pulled into the car park. The club's own car park, not the one for the fans! The first time I'd felt like a VIP since me and a friend were both in an accident but I got the cute nurse.
Ziggy opened the door to get out but I grabbed his arm to make him stay put.
"...
2022-09-27 16:50:20 +0000 UTC View Post14.
Refreshed, I took another look at the text.
Effects: Nominate a 'King' and channel one of his notable attributes (permanent +1) into a player of your choosing. One use per season.
Kings: John Charles (STR; HD). Carlos Valderrama (FL; CRE). Michel P... 2022-09-27 16:06:43 +0000 UTC View Post
13.
I'm ashamed to say that my reaction to the Queen's death was selfish, petty, and unbecoming of a loyal subject of the crown.
Basically, my thoughts went like this:
The Queen is dead. All the football will be cancelled. I won't be able to get any XP. I won't be able to fi...
2022-09-27 15:52:25 +0000 UTC View Post12.
Football news was coming thick and fast. There was almost too much to keep abreast of.
First, the women's transfer record was broken. Barcelona bought a player from Man City. Excited, I clicked on the 'breaking news' and found the fee was 350,000 pounds. In the men's game that wou...
2022-09-27 15:15:54 +0000 UTC View Post11.
It was probably just that I was feeling grumpier than normal, but the Powerleague matches were highly irritating. Sloppy passes, failed 1-2s, shots blooted so high they went over the 20-metre netting that surrounded the tiny pitches.
I wanted to grind. I wanted to get on the footb...
2022-09-27 14:40:20 +0000 UTC View Post10.
"Fifa report shows football agents earn £430.8m in latest male player transfer window" - BBC Headline
Transfer deadline day is one of the highlights of the sporting calendar. For those unfamiliar with the matter, football players can't just quit their jobs and get a new ...
2022-09-27 14:13:14 +0000 UTC View Post9.
Becoming an agent... it made so much sense. Agents were everywhere these days. They had more power than some managers. Casual fans knew some of them by their first name: Mino, Kia, Jorge. Imagine being a middle-man in modern football. 10% of a few transfers here and there and I'd be spen...
2022-09-27 09:43:38 +0000 UTC View PostSolly didn't get a walk that week; I was racking up XP. I still didn't quite know what was happening to me but I finally had a sense that it would lead to something good.
City were playing Crystal Palace on Saturday, the 27th. I had four evenings before then, plus the Sunday Leag...
2022-09-27 08:12:45 +0000 UTC View Post7.
Manchester United have won England's top league 20 times. Liverpool have won it 19 times. They are two of the biggest, most famous teams in the world. The rivalry between the clubs and fans is white hot.
I hadn’t been to a match, concert, or even a movie for years, since before t...
2022-09-27 08:00:51 +0000 UTC View PostFootball glossary: hattrick. Three goals in one match. "He scored a first-half hattrick."
Shambolic. Humiliating. Debacle. Shocking. Hilarious. These were the words being tossed around after just 30 minutes of Manchester United's 4-0 defeat to Brentford...
2022-09-26 20:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostMy mum sent me a link. That in itself was odd; it hadn't happened for 2 years. Most of the time she couldn't remember her passwords.
The link was to a Facebook quiz. Absolute trash, designed to harvest your data, not something I'd normally even click on. But for once I started go...
2022-09-26 19:50:23 +0000 UTC View PostThe second half started and things went great. The reshaped team looked solid as a rock. City passed, passed, passed. Sideways, sideways, back. Side, side, back. When they did try to burst forward, Beth would knock the ball out, or Nobby would delay the attacker long enough for one of ...
2022-09-26 19:37:37 +0000 UTC View Post"Sophia," I said, "Sub for Beth."
The substitute blinked. "Beth doesn't come off. She's the fittest."
"Do it now. I need to talk to her."
Sophia called Beth and did a complicated hand wave that Beth didn't understand. She came over to the side to ask what it meant. I ...
2022-09-26 19:09:11 +0000 UTC View Post
The Premier League was nearly back. This coming weekend, in fact. Arsenal were playing Crystal Palace in the first game... oh. On Friday night. I had sort of promised Beth I'd be at the sports hall to watch her. A bit annoying to miss the big match, but then again, I needed to see foot...
2022-09-26 17:59:03 +0000 UTC View PostSomething was different. Now, in addition to seeing heading, jumping, pace, passing and so on, I could also see a player's CA and PA.
How did I celebrate this life-changing event? Not even with a shrug. What did I do with this glorious new super power? I to...
2022-09-26 17:41:47 +0000 UTC View Post6.
What lay inside was an echoey sports hall, nicely cool, with a bunch of women warming up in front of exactly one spectator. Me.
I didn't have long to wait for kick-off. The wall clock started counting down from 25:00, so 25 minutes each way, quick half time orange and biccy.
...
2022-09-26 17:15:40 +0000 UTC View Post5.
4/11. I got up early and drove to Hough End. It wasn't that far to walk but it was a little bit too far in case I was stupidly early. But even when I got there at 9 am there were people milling around getting the pitches set up. Tying nets to the goalposts. Setting up c...
2022-09-26 16:54:13 +0000 UTC View Post4.
Thursday. Day 1 of 11. Finished work at 5. Home for an early dinner, down to Platt Fields to watch as much footy as possible. Bagged 70 XP, bringing my total to 110. There were more games going on but I was desperately thirsty and there was a live match on TV. I wanted to watch it to che...
2022-09-26 16:38:34 +0000 UTC View Post