The Alfa Romeo Metaphor

Continue to read because your writing is so gripping. Interesting how you're mixing up the updates nowadays, I like it!
 
Enrico Pucci said:
Thank you very much. I was inspired by KevinHann's Blasphemy seven clubs lock horns ... story to add a bunch of different media outlets. Also, I wanted to do a multi-generational fan thing and so you've seen my two attempts.
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Excellent. Next to yours, KevinHann's story is the best on the site currently. Keep up the good work, but why have you cast wonathan woss as the gwandson?
 
kewlwarez said:
Excellent. Next to yours, KevinHann's story is the best on the site currently. Keep up the good work, but why have you cast wonathan woss as the gwandson?
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First off, thank you very much.

Secondly ... LOL! I talks wike dat becuth heeth theven yearth of age an heeth mithing a wot of teef espeshually in fwont.
 
Gavinmitch11 said:
Had the same problem for half a season ended up deleting my game :(
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You're referring to my crossing problem? I may have found a solution. I played a mid-week friendly already that I haven't written about yet and I selected "Hit Early Crosses."
 
MatthewElphinstone said:
I have returned and spent an hour and a half reading 25 pages :O
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I hope you enjoyed it. I don't even think you're through my season at Cadiz, yet.

Have you heard of Warren Ellis's FreakAngels? I discovered it about 3/4 of the way through the story back in 2010. Conveniently, I was unemployed and spent all of a Thursday afternoon and night then Friday until about 4pm reading through that. I hope to provide latercomers to this story at least 10% of the entertainment I got from FreakAngels.
 
Meet the Parents II

Sunday 28 September 2014 6PM

"I should explain a few things first," Gwen said. "About my family." She paused. "Um, well first my Dad pretty much demanded to meet you. I told you he's a lifelong Wimbledon fan. Well, he's got season tickets and often travels to away matches. I believe the saying is he bleeds blue and yellow. Wee bit passionate about it all and I will say has been going on and on about how good this year's squad looks long before he found out I was dating you."

"And then there's my Mum," she continued. "Don't be distracted or fooled by her affectations. It's all just a ****ing act. She wants to pretend she's not what she is. I've never understood this and I'm not sure I ever will."

"You should just know that it's harder than you might ever believe to be a kid of genius parents," she said. Then she looked down at her hands as if there was something wrong with this.

I had no idea what to say to this. I was meeting her parents so I guess it's good to get as much advance intel as possible, but she seemed really worried. I just kept my hands on the wheel and paid careful attention to traffic because English traffic and driving on the English side of the road still scared the **** out of me.

"It'll be fine," I assured her as I parallel parked the Alfa.

"Well, we'll find out," she said as we got out. She didn't sound confident. Her brother wasn't going to be there so it couldn't go as badly as with meeting Ana Maria's parents and brother. Could it?

We walked into the Italian restaurant I'd been wanting to check out. She waved to a couple sitting in a booth in the back.

"She's always early," she muttered under her breathe.

"Mum, Dad meet Enrico," she said. "Enrico, this is Marilyn and Vic."

"Pleased to meet you," I said as I shook hands with her Dad and gave her Mom a peck on the cheek. Vic's hands were hard as stone, calloused and there was dirt under his nails. He was balding with close-cropped hair and looked rather happy-go-lucky. Marilyn looked like the cliche of an English housewife.

"I must say I'm genuinely chuffed to sit down to dinner with Wimbledon's manager," Vic said. "Absolute pleasure on my part."

"And I can't get Gwen to tell me a thing about you," Marilyn said. "So you'll have to forgive me, I will attempt not to interrogate you. At least not too brutally."

I just smiled and we all sat down.

"I gather we should let you order being your the Italian amongst us," Marilyn said. "Would you be so kind?"

"Sure, though I've gotta say that I've been meaning to eat here, but haven't yet," I replied. I opened my menu.

"So you played for Bologna then?" Vic asked. "Love that city. Simply gorgeous."

"You've been there?" I asked.

"My Dad studied architecture at Cambridge and they've traveled extensively in Italy," Gwen interjected. Vic beamed at me and nodded.

"Ended up hating the profession," Vic said. "I hate strip malls. Nobody wants beautiful buildings when it comes down to it. I love tinkering with things so I became a mechanic. But getting back to Bologna, simply adore it. Never too crowded. Fab food."

We talked about Bologna for a while until I ordered for us all.

"And what do you do, Marilyn?" I asked.

"I work at the Royal Academy," she replied.

"You know, of Arts," Gwen interjected. "The big one. In Piccadilly near Buckingham Palace and all that."

"I'm in acquisitions," Marilyn said somewhat defensively.

"No, Mum," Gwen said. "You pretty much run the place since the long-time Director quit." Then looking at me said: "She studied Art History at Cambridge. It's where they met."

"College sweethearts?" I said. They nodded.

"He knocked me over coming round a corner," Marilyn said. "He helped me pick up my books. It as love at first collision."

"Nearly gave her a concussion," Vic said.

"But enough about us," Marilyn said. "Tell us about yourself. Vic says you were born in America, yes?"

So I answered questions about growing up in Washington DC, soccer in the US, failing out of a full-ride soccer scholarship and how I managed to get a try-out with Bologna.

"Married before?" Marilyn asked. I nodded. This was really turning into an interrogation. But I was saved from answering that question by the appetizers. At least for the moment.

"To answer your earlier question," I said once we'd finished the white beans over bruschetta and warmed olives. "Yes, I have."

I briefly retold my sob story involving lavish spending, my ex-wife's cocaine habit and my bad investments.

"Ooh, ouch!" Vic cringed as I explained the Spanish housing development crash.

"So all I have left is that Alfa Romeo you see parked outside," I concluded. "And some IKEA furniture."

"They've got IKEA in Italy?" Marylin was flabbergasted. "Where aren't they, egad."

"That's the GTV Spider!" Vic exclaimed. "What year? '04?"

"2005."

"That's got the 3.2 V6 then, right?" he asked. "237 brake horse power?"

"Um, I think so," I replied. "It's the fastest one they made."

"Then it must be," he said. "That car is nearly a musical instrument."

"Boys," grumbled Gwen. "Cars."

"What?" asked Vic. "What?"

Gwen leaned over and kissed him.

I think the rest of dinner went quite well. I didn't feel threatened in any way. I answered a lot of questions, but that's to be expected.

Marilyn is a truly intimidating woman. A published author on art history. Seems to in depth knowledge on nearly any topic you could possibly bring up. A more apt description would be a force of nature disguised as the cliche of an English housewife.

Gwen's Dad is simpler than her Mom. He's also frighteningly intelligent but decided long ago to do what makes him happy. He's lived the minimalist life. It's pretty apparent that he just simply doesn't do the things he doesn't want to.

"Must've been a wild household to grow up in," I said as we walked out.

"Mmm hmmm," was all she replied.
 
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View attachment 411205Enrico Pucci @enricopucci - 1 Oct
@SimonJohnson91 had 3rd best goal in Sep for free kick score
v Torquay bbc.in/3JFi94jkj #Wimbledon
 
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View attachment 411206Enrico Pucci @enricopucci - 1 Oct
For Sep @JamesLoveridge wins young player & @MichaelSmith11 wins top
player. Congrats, boys! #Wimbledon
 
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"What you got, guys?" I said as my Assistant Manager Sean Hankins sat down.

View attachment 411204"I'm really pleased with how Dunn is progressing," said my goalkeeper coach Paul Rachhubka. "Lincoln needs matches. These last two should help, but I get it that Dunne is our number one."

"Haz is getting slower," Hanks said. "I know that doesn't surprise anyone. Dummigan has been improving by leaps and bounds. He's only gotten U18 minutes prior to this season."

"Tomlinson has improved in every category," Coach Matt Woolley said. "But we all know he's destined for bigger things."

"On the other hand, the two Jacks aren't doing well," Wools continued. "We expected Redshaw to struggle because of his time out injured, but I'm surprised about Midson."

"I just want to make sure that Redshaw starts scoring in the friendlies against the semi-pro clubs," I said. "If either Loveridge or Smith go down, he's got the raw skills to fill in, we just need him confident."

"Hopefully, all goes well tonight," I said.
 
Friendly: AFC Wimbledon v. Maidstone United

View attachment 411203It was one of those nice, cool autumn evenings. What shocks me is that over 1,500 Wombles paid a small entrance fee to watch our second stringers and my two suspended starters.

GK: Daniel Lincoln
D: Kiel Goodwin (U18), Kris Thackray, Ben Harrison (U18), James Fenlon
M: Fabian Rowe (U18), Harry Pell, Adam Pepper, Drissa Dabre
F: Jack Midson, Jack Redshaw

Fabian Rowe finally started to look useful. I'd told him to hit early crosses and he did. Redshaw's goal was sliding toe poke from one of Fabian's crosses.

Drissa Dabre played well against the semi-pros so he'll be on the bench for Saturday's visit to Rochdale. Fenlon scored a forward's goal off a give-n-go with Drissa. And Pepper scored from a free kick.

Overall, a very positive evening.
 
****, **** and double-****. The Northern Ireland U19s called up Cameron Dummigan. I'll encourage him to leave as late as possible but it's more than likely I'll only have two recognized defenders to bring along on our visit to York. ****.

FROM: [email protected]
TO: [email protected]
RE: Cameron Dummigan for U19s

Mike,

No issues except if he's not going to be playing for the Dons, I want him playing for you not riding the pine. Ha.

Enrico

FROM: [email protected]
TO: [email protected]
RE: Cameron Dummigan for U19s

Enrico,

Just emailing you to let you know that I've called up your fullback Cameron Dummigan. Any injuries or issues I should know about? Matches are on the 8th, 10th and 12th of October.

Thank you,

Mike Whittley
U19 Manager
Northern Ireland FA
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League Two: Rochdale AFC v. AFC Wimbledon

Today we travel north of Manchester to Rochdale. It's quite a haul. The bus left Kingsmeadow for Euston station at 8:30AM. Then a 4 hour train ride to Manchester. A bus met us at Piccadilly station in Manchester and a half an hour later we were at Spotland Stadium.

View attachment 411108Spotland is a relatively new ground. Okay, newish. But everything works and the changing room is decent enough. We had an hour and a half to get ready to play.

GK: Chris Dunn
D: George Francomb, Reuben Hazell, Pat Baldwin, Cameron Dummigan
M: Simon Johnson, Mark Tomlinson, Steven Gregory, Matteo Nole
F: James Loveridge, Michael Smith

Subs: Daniel Lincoln (GK), Ben Harrison (D), Drissa Dabre (M), Adam Pepper (M), Harry Pell (M), Jack Midson (F), Jack Redshaw (F)

Since Loveridge and Smith were such a hot combination, I decided to play 442 but not take any risks.

"The bookies say that Rochdale are going to win this," I said to begin my team talk. "Let's go show them that we can do. I want Simon and Matteo hitting early crosses, got it? George and Cam, overlap and get some crosses in when you can, okay?"

I repeated this instruction in Italian.

"George and Cam," I said. "Stay tight with their outside midfielders. Their Smith is huge and let's do what we can to stop the delivery in to him."

"Let's start cautiously, Rochdale often are fast out of the blocks," I continued. "And let's give their Smith a generous slathering of special sauce."

Baldwin and their Smith collided going for a header in the 4th minute. The ref whistled for a free kick for The Dale. Their left back Michael Rose lined up the free kick. It was dead center about 25 yards out.

He smashed his shot right into the wall. The ball came right back to him and his second try caromed out to midfield off one of several Wimbledon players charging down the shot.

Their defender Rhys Bennet coralled the ball and passed it to Michael Lund. Lund played the ball up to Rochdale's Senegalese right midfielder Mohamed Coulibaly. Coulibaly played a one-two with their Smith and caught Cam ball-watching. Thankfully, Coulibaly's shot hit Dunn and Francomb cleared the ball to safety.

Rochdale then won a series of corners. Francomb cleared off the line on the first. Baldwin let their Smith have a free header at the back post, but we got lucky and he headed it right at Dunn.

Rochdale's strategy was simple. Hoof it up to Matt Smith and win the race to the knock-downs. At 6'6", he is going to win nearly every header against us. Baldwin is 6'3" but isn't that great in the air. Haz is 5'11".

In the 7th minute, George got to a knock-down first and played the ball back to Dunn. Dunn kicked it out to Matteo Nole on the left flank. Matteo raced upfield then fed Loverboy.

Loveridge beat Bennet, Eastham twice as he raced goalward before sneaking a shot past their keeper. That was some pretty slack defending.

0-1

Then the field tilted. One way traffic through their Smith to Coulibaly. Nothing Baldwin or Dummigan did stopped them let alone slowed them down. Cam got caught ball-watching three times in quick succession.

"CAM! CAM!" I yelled. "KEEP HIM IN FRONT OF YOU. NO BALL-WATCHING!"

He nodded to indicate he'd heard me. It didn't matter.

Dunn bailed us out repeatedly. Haz, Baldwin and Cam were simply unable to cope with balls in to their Smith which were either passed or flicked out to Coulibaly.

They won innumerable corners. Their corner kick tactic was simple. Lob it into the meat grinder.

In the 24th minute after yet another bacon-saver by Dunn, they hoofed yet another ball into the meat grinder. The ball pinballed around for ages. We eventually cleared it, but our castle walls were breached and Dunn could only step into the breach for so many times before they eventually overran us.

Coulibaly eventually scored. You give any decent player THAT many chances, he's eventually gonna. It says something about Chris Dunn's play that he kept them at bay until the 36th minute.

1-1

"CAM! CAM!" I yelled again. "KEEP HIM IN FRONT OF YOU."

"PAT!" I yelled. "WIN SOME OF THOSE HEADERS. C'MON!"

Simon Johnson got hauled down just over the half line after the restart. George played in a really low, poor ball but Loveridge got to it first and hammered a ball off the crossbar.

Our Smith wasn't doing much and was looking frustrated from lack of service so if we were somehow going to keep this game competitive, Loverboy was going to have to be our savior.

Disaster struck in the 39th minute. Tomlinson raced over to help Francomb and Johnson. Rochdale midfielder Matty Done had just beaten them both. Unfortunately, Tomlinson stepped on Done's heel when Done was running away toward the corner flag.

The whistle blew. Tomlinson double face palmed. The ref pointed to the spot.

Lund grabbed the ball, walked over to the spot and placed the ball. The ref blew the whistle and Lund placed a perfect shot into the upper left.

2-1

Hanks talked with Baldwin as we walked into the changing room at half time. This was a delicate situation.

Cam was sitting with his hands on his knees staring at the floor. Baldwin looked like he had PTSD from his inability to cope with their Smith. Dunn was angry. Our Smith was angry because he hadn't gotten the ball once.

"Where's our passing game?" I asked. "Huh? We just panic and hoof it forward. That's not how we play. Know where you're going to play the pass when you get the ball. Look up to see what your options are before you get the ball."

"They're winning the race to every 50-50," I continued. "Dunn has saved our bacon too many times so far. Let's help him out, eh?"

"Go out there and show me something different, for Crissakes!" I said. Cam hadn't looked up during my entire speech. Baldwin was just staring into space.

"Pat, Cam," I said to get their attention. "I know you guys can sort it out with Smith and Coulibaly. Challenge Smith for everything, Pat. Don't let him have any easy headers or time to turn and pass. Haz will cover the space behind you. And, Cam, just keep Coulibaly in front of you. Got it?"

Nope. Didn't get it or hear me or whatever.

The second half was one way traffic through Smith to Coulibaly. When we overcompensated, other players exploited the gaps. I stood with my hands in my pockets and gritted my teeth. This was simply a personnel issue.

Fens could have coped with Coulibaly. Thackray could have done a better job against Smith. Fenlon's distribution out of the back is better. Matteo might have seen the ball a few times. If I could have played Haz at right back, Francomb could be up at right midfield instead of doing his best at right back. Sadly, George was my second best player behind Dunn today.

View attachment 411071I had to yank Tomlinson in the 50th minute. He'd gotten carded in the first half and the ref was generous not to give him his marching orders for a tackle from behind on Lund. I put Pepper in and told him to be a deep-lying playmaker.

Now this hadn't been one of Tomlinson's best games. But with him out of the midfield, the goalfest erupted. Inside fifteen minutes, we'd conceded four goals.

We finally took our first shot since Loverboy hit the crossbar in the first half in the 83rd minute.

Mother****ing ****biscuits, today was a disaster.

As the match ground towards it inevitable end and as my mood grew more and more and more foul, Hanks stepped up beside me.

"Don Pucci, I know we stunk today. I know having those three out is killing us. But we're not the only ones losing. York is losing at home, Cheltenham will move up into second and Southend into third because they'll split the points. Today was a good day to soil our nappies."

"Thanks, man," I said. "I'm still going to rip 'em new ones after watching this."

View attachment 411070
 
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