Roonaldo

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Author's Notes- This shall be my last story for Football Manager 2010 and I am looking to continue it into Football Manager 2011 too. I've read a couple of stories like this and I've decided to have a go myself with a few twists and different ideas and concepts. So I hope you follow and it is interesting to read. So here goes...
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My names' Terry Griffins, former Rotherham United and Wolves striker. I even managed a few seasons in the old First Divison. But anyway, this story isn't about me. I'm sure if you want to read about me my autobiography should be available on Ebay. Anyway back on topic, this story isn't about me, it's about Benjamin Charles Defraitis. But to me "Benji". From the moment I saw him in the old youth leagues I knew he had the potential. It all started during an Under 16 Youth Match. And I was there...

"Lets see how you've done with these kids Griffins'," Paul Symmonds, Duckies First Team Manager said to me.
I was the Youth Team Director of Duckies FC. I was the manager, coach, physio, coach driver, agony aunt...you name it. I needed the money.
Some of these players had potential. Our keeper on that rainy day, Luke Palmer played four seasons at Torquay United*. A few of our players managed it to the Conference Leagues/Lower Football League teams. It wasn't all gloomy for me. We were up against Colts United. Top of the league. They had Shaun Dukes who played as left back for West Brom* and up front Jonnie Davies*, a Port Vale legend. But on that right wing was a tall lad, definately for his age. He wore glasses and the first time I saw him my lads started sniggering. I didn't like that. I remember when I was on a YTS at Wolves I wore glasses. He didn't see much of the ball during the first twenty minutes. They were all over us with Steve Bowdin, who made his name abroad with Lorient* the orchestrator. They were 1-0 up shortly after. Our left back Ashley Giles*, who I believe now is in prison for theft gave away a silly penalty. Up stepped Davies. 1-0.

It remained that way for the rest of the first half. That lad on the right wing, who I heard was called Benjamin got a rollicking from their manager.
"Not looking good eh Terry. The only shining light is that lad up front. He works hard," Paul told me. That lad up front was Jimmy Heighway* who managed to get a YTS at Everton but was released and quit the game. A wasted talent.
Benjamin finally recieved the ball. I had all confidence in Giles winning the ball. Giles was a tough lad. Albeit a quiet one. However in a sudden turn of events the lad jumped over Giles' slide tackle putting him through on goal. With only the keeper to beat he did a couple of stepovers before beautifully chipping the ball.
This is going to nestle into the net I thought to myself. It deserved to be a goal. But an outstretched hand from Palmer denied a super goal.
"Deserved to miss. A simple sidefoot and it'd be 2-0. Instead he tried some he was uncapable of. Stupid boy," Paul muttered under his breat.

Benji twisted and turned with outrageous touches and dribbling ability. But their manager didn't like it. With twenty-five minutes remaining he was subbed off.
"Selfish lad," I heard him say.
But I saw a huge talent. A fantastic second half performance. He made our full backs seem like sheep. If matured well he could make it. The final result ended 3-0. Davies got his hattrick. But the real star on show was Benji. But then my bubble was burst.
"Terry, in my office now," a stubbon looking Paul ordered me.
Two hours later I was out of a job. Funny thing football is. The rest is still to come...

Story Notes- As you may have gathered during this OP I have created a player on the editor using the 10.3 database. I have set his CA-20 and PA-200. As for Terry Griffins' managing roles you will understand this part of the story in later chapters.
Comments are appreciated and I hope this was a good start.

*All players mentioned are fictional and if real are used in a fictional way

 
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It's been six months to the day since I got the sack at Duckies. I managed to nail down a few scouting roles at Northampton Town, Plymouth and my old team Rotherham. However I am now the new boss at Dorchester Town. A club with financial struggle and tipped to go down it is a tough ask but I needed the cash.

One sunny morning I went out to do some scouting. Off I went to the local park. There must have been thirty matches going on that morning-all on back to back pitches. I settled myself to one game happening at the back of the park. It must have been a pub team match. There were players who must have been in their thirties playing. It was a horrible match but there was one lad who despite not doing anything spectacular but was playing a nice game. He was playing at right back. I recognised him from somewhere. Then it clicked. He's Benji. I was struggling to come up with an idea of why he was playing pub team football when he could be playing for a professional club like Colts. Strange.

There weren't many chances in this game. It was a drab 0-0 affair. That was until Benji picked up the ball from inside his own half and started to run at their defence.
"Go on!!" I shouted some encouragement.
He drew some tough challenges but somehow managed to find a way through. Then he hit a blistering a shot which literally burst the net. WOW!!
There weren't much celebrations. Just the simple pat on the back. And that's the way it remained for the ninety minutes.

I had to speak to him. Trudging through the crowd of sweaty, overweight players I found him in a corner with a Marks & Spencers bag in his hand.
"Morning," I kindly said.
He took one look up and gave me a dirty look.
"I saw you play today. It was quite a good goal you scored,"
He didn't respond.
"I know you. Six months ago I was the Youth Team Director at Duckies. My last match was against Colts. And I believe you played,"
"Yeah," he didn't look bothered.
"Tell me son, why are you playing pub team football? You could have become professional with Colts,"
"It was them," and with that he walked away.

Later during the day I dialed Phil McGregors' number.
"Hello," the bubbly voice of the Colts coach said.
"Hi Phil. It's Terry. I'm ringing to ask you about a lad called Benjamin Defraitis,"
"Ah yes. Young Ben. Had the potential. Constant injuries meant we had to let him go,"
"Injuries?" I struggled to understand.
"Yes. He suffered an ankle injury wbich ruled him out for most of the season. Then he suffered an illness. His attitude changed. We tried all we could with him but sadly at the time of year when his teamates move up a grade he went backwards. He got released."
"Thanks Phil," I couldn't help feeling disheartened at what Phil told me. He was the best of the lot. And whilst players like Jonnie Davies is enjoying spells in and out of the first team, young Benji is playing for a pub team.
It took a while for it to sink in but I realised what I had to do. Get Benji to sign the dotted line. Fast...
 
Your joint story was good...whoever that was with..

Your writings good, I don't normally like perspective stories but I'll check back now and then seems though it's you. (K)
 
"Colts released me. They didn't want me. As far as I'm concerned I'm finished with football," Benji said.
"What about the pub team?" I asked.
"That's just me and my mates having fun. It ain't nothing serious. That's why I play as right back," he angrily replied.
"What if I was to give you a deal?"
"What do you mean?"
"I am manager of Dorchester Town FC. We play in the Blue Square South and I want you to join. I've already spoken to your parents. They want you to join."
"I'm interested," was his response.

The deal was confirmed later. That night I took charge of my first training session. I an my assistant, Ashley Vickers, also our centre back wanted to stamp our authority over the players. Ashley was a good player. He spent all but one game outside the football league but he was fantastic in the air.
I gave Ashley the job of toughening Benji up. I felt that he didn't have the physical presence to match his technical skills.
It had rained heavily all day so I was more concerned over player fitness. Most of the session was running and jumping but we did have a small match at the end. We had to play in the car park as we needed some sort of light.
Benji had been muscled out all evening by Ashley. He was clearly sweating-even in this bad light. But the rest of our squad were very good too. We had Torqauy United legend Kevin Hill and centre forwards like Ryan Moss and Jules Emati-Emati.
Straight away during the match Benji was getting hammered by Ashley. But then he started to do more of his tricks. Matt Groves, a Dorchester legend whipped in a magnificant cross. I didn't expect Benji to reach there but somehow he leapt above Ashley and powered a header at goal past Regan Coward. From then on Benji tormented Ashley leaving him on his backside many times.
"You scound!!!" he shouted.
The players and even myself loved seeing the assistant manager being treated like this from a kid. But most importantly Benji was smiling. He had regained his confidence. I really felt we had a chance...
 
Excellent Anu. :)

I'm following. ^^)
 
Pre season started off pretty well. We played our first game against the reserves. Benji was playing for them but I think it was fair to say he got outmuscled fairly often. The first team played fantastically well and deserved the 3-0 win. Neil Martin in particular was fantastic in keeping Benji quiet. Myself and Ashley worked hard during the following days to toughen Benji up. After some promising performances in training I decided to put him on the bench against Enfield Town. We were really dominating and managed to sting their keepers hands quite often. I might sign this guy. Just before half time we got a corner. Kevin Hill whipped in a peach of a cross and there was Kyle Critchell, our right back for the day prodding it home. At half time I took off Nick Crittenden and gave Benji his first run in the first team. They were so close to an equaliser. But it was not to be. Jamie Gleeson, our deep lying playmaker lifted a magnificant ball over the top. Benji got on the other side of the left back and toepoked it in. And that's the way it finished.

Our remaining pre season fixtures ended in a blur. A 3-1 win over Croyden with Benji netting again, this time a lob over the keeper and a 2-0 draw with Newcastle Town. This time Benji netted a free kick. However we ended pre season badly. A 5-2 home defeat to Crawley. Benji had a shocker. His touch was poor, his passing was horrendus and he couldn't get past their right back all game.
"You left too many gaps. The rest of the players had to cover a lot of ground because of you. It's something you have to work on. Today you were absolute rubbish," that was the last thing I said to him during pre season. Blue Square South, here he comes...
 
Nice update, I love the way your stories are almost like a book.

One thing though, your font hurts my eyes. But loving the writing :p
 
August Update

I'd like to think my first month in charge was a decent one. We played some nice football. Controlled passing, good attacking play. Okay our defence was cagey but that will take time to settle. My first game in charge came against St Albans. We won 2-1. My formation for the match was 4-3-3. Benji didn't start. He was short of match fitness. Instead my front three were Kevin Hill, Matt Groves and Jules Emati-Emati.

Okay, so we didn't have the best start. Going 1-0 down inside the first three minutes isn't a nice feeling. But we recovered well, passed the ball around well without really creating a chance. But we were stretching them and that payed dividents.
Within half an hour Harry Montacute, our deep lying midfielder, our Xavi, picked up the ball, well erm...from deep and slid the ball towards Matt Groves. For a split second I thought that the chance had gone. Their central defender had poked the ball away. But all he managed to do was to poke it straight to Kevin Hill. Kevs' a legend at Torquay. 500+ games. Fantastic loyalty. His best years were long gone but he is still a fantastic asset to the club. Well anyway back to the football. All he managed to do was poke it straight back to Kev. And he didn't need a second invitation to lash the ball with his left foot into the top corner. 1-1!! Get in!!

With 15 minutes remaining I decided to give Benji his debut. I took Jules off. It wasn't his best day by a long shot. Benji was given a specific role-to use his pace against their tired, sweaty, panting left back. And within four minutes of coming on we recieved a penalty! In training Matt Groves smashed every spot kick away into the top corner. I knew he would score. But there was too be another twist in the tale. Instead of our number 9 taking it our number 12 did.
"Grovesy. You take it!!" I screamed.
But I was too late. Benji had...SCORED!! Top corner. Quality penalty. And that's the way it remained. 2-1. For Benji, it was 1 in 1. If he had missed I would have punched him. And Matt Groves for that matter!

The rest of the month finished in a blur. Benji started the next match at Staines and scored the winner coming in from the inside left position. The result finished 1-0. The same result but different scorer against Dover. Matt Groves found the net on that occasion. Ollie Barnes scored our first in a 2-2 draw against Newport County. Benji also netted a wonderful goal from a free kick. He then scored again in a 1-1 draw from Bromley. Nothing special, just toe poked in from a corner. Grovesy scored a hattrick in our 3-0 win against Bath before a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Basingtone. A horrendus way to end the month but we ended it in 3rd place and with a real talent on our hand. Benji had a good month in terms of goalscoring. He was pretty average defending but had great movement in attacking areas and can only improve. So that's August done. A good month! Infact a great month!

Benjamin Defraitis Stats:
August:
Games: 7
Goals: 4
Assists: 3







 
Great story ANU

EDIT: You have inspired me to make my version of this. I will be usign my own ideas and I hope yoe follow.
 
September Update

A month that started so brightly turned into well...you get the picture. Well anyway, our first game of September was away to Worcester. We beat them 3-2. Benji netted the second goal. He made an intelligent run across the defender to get on the end of Jamie Gleesons' through ball and delightfully placed it in. I thought to myself, "what a great way to start the month!". Scoring three goals away! But then we conceded two.

Things got even better when we came up against Havant & Waterloovile. We went three up inside 43 minutes. Grovesy, Jamie and Benji. Benji scored a nice header from a fabulous cross from Nick Crittenden.
"Playing some nice football there Terry," it was the chairman.
The man himself came. Shaun Hearn.
"I agree. I think I'm more suited to Inter Milan or Real Madrid!" I cheekily replied.
He didn't like my humour. Well lets just say he didn't like me. Not since that day back in August...

It was a cold morning here in Dorset. I exited my Nissan carrying two large bags of footballs. Parking next to me was Mr Hearn. We exchanged some nice words. It was mainly me thanking him for giving me the job and him praising my management of the team. Everything was perfect...until at 10:19 am.
"Mr Griffin, the chairman would like to see you," my secretary informed me.
So I climed the steps on the stairs, walked the length of the corridor and calmly knocked on the door.
"Enter," he boomed.
"Morning boss," I politely said.
"Shut up you flippin' fool. Can you see what you did to my lovely Golf. You ruined it you flying monkey!!!" he screamed.
Smoke was beginning to come out of his ears.
I must have left a scratch whilst parking!
"If I could give you the boot I would. Unfortunately..." he muttered something under his breath.
"Unfortunately I can only sack you for results on the pitch. And let me warn you results must be good or else..."
I swiftly left.

The rest of the month ended poorly. A 2-1 defeat to Welling with Grovesy scoring our goals. Benji was absolute garbage. Grovesy then rescued a point when we drew with Bishops Stopford. Benji didn't play as a result of a poor performance against Welling.
But that was nothing compared to our FA Cup 1st Round tie vs Gulmadings. Everybody expected a resounding victory, none less than the chairman. But we got beat....badly. 3-1. Grovesy scored again. Disgrace.

The following morning as I arrived to the training ground I had to attend a meeting with the players and the coaching staff. Nothing strange. Just something we do every week. But as I entered the room there was an unusual figure standing there with his huge eyes looking ready to kill me. Like a lion does to his prey. I had 24 pairs of eyes just staring at me. And then he spoke...
"You remember our conversation back in August?" he asked
I nodded.
"And you remember what I said about results on the pitch?"
"Yes"
"Well yesterday was not a result I wanted. Out of the FA Cup to a pub team. F*****g rubbish!!"
I sensed what was going to happen.
"Mr Griffin....you have been sacked. Please leave."
Without any ifs or buts I left. I was the best thing that happened to this club. 8th in the BSS by the end of September. Bringing in a talent like Benji. I wasted my time here. As I drove home I had one thought in my mind.
"Where do I go now?"
It was a question that desperately needed an answer...

Benjamin Defraitis Stats:
September
Games: 5
Goals:2
Assists:0



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