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...
2022-10-06 14:38:57 +0000 UTC
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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 t...
2022-10-06 13:34:32 +0000 UTC
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25.
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, stre...
2022-10-05 14:51:58 +0000 UTC
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24.
“ 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 h...
2022-10-04 14:56:31 +0000 UTC
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23.
Moss Side Celtic 0 - Wilmslow Mega Titans 3 (Nugent 14, Collins 19, Musa 30)
Second Half
The Mega Titans had some flaws:
- They were set up in a standard ...
2022-10-03 09:26:05 +0000 UTC
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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 Wed...
2022-10-01 18:17:45 +0000 UTC
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21.
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 h...
2022-09-30 13:12:47 +0000 UTC
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20.
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 t...
2022-09-30 12:45:54 +0000 UTC
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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....
2022-09-29 16:15:25 +0000 UTC
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18.
FC United 3 - AFC Phoenix 2
Second Half
Smalls 6; Wooley 11; Da Costa 20
Gribbin 38, 41
2022-09-27 18:57:57 +0000 UTC
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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 ov...
2022-09-27 17:39:33 +0000 UTC
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16.
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 sh...
2022-09-27 17:23:39 +0000 UTC
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15.
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 cu...
2022-09-27 16:50:20 +0000 UTC
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14.
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 ...
2022-09-27 16:06:43 +0000 UTC
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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 Que...
2022-09-27 15:52:25 +0000 UTC
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12.
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. Excite...
2022-09-27 15:15:54 +0000 UTC
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11.
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-m...
2022-09-27 14:40:20 +0000 UTC
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10.
"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 calend...
2022-09-27 14:13:14 +0000 UTC
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9.
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. ...
2022-09-27 09:43:38 +0000 UTC
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8.
Solly 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...
2022-09-27 08:12:45 +0000 UTC
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7.
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 fan...
2022-09-27 08:00:51 +0000 UTC
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6.
Football glossary: hattrick. Three goals in one match. "He scored a first-half hattrick."
Shambolic. Humiliating. Debacle. Shocking. Hilarious. These wer...
2022-09-26 20:01:01 +0000 UTC
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5.
My 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...
2022-09-26 19:50:23 +0000 UTC
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4.
The 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 bur...
2022-09-26 19:37:37 +0000 UTC
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3.
"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 c...
2022-09-26 19:09:11 +0000 UTC
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2.
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 ...
2022-09-26 17:59:03 +0000 UTC
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Season 2022/23
1.
Something 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 thi...
2022-09-26 17:41:47 +0000 UTC
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6.
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 cloc...
2022-09-26 17:15:40 +0000 UTC
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5.
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 th...
2022-09-26 16:54:13 +0000 UTC
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4.
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 ...
2022-09-26 16:38:34 +0000 UTC
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