From Nothing To Something ~ My Life.

The alarm clock rung - it was 6 o'clock and time for work. I struggled out of my bed, having to leave the warmth of the bed was difficult, it seemed like it was calling me back into it once I left. My weary eyes scanned the room looking for my suit I had ironed the night before ready for another hard day at work, not only were they weary, they were heavy off the bags left under my eyes from many sleepless nights, work was stressing me out. I worked as a businessman and my job for the company was to think of 'fresh ideas' which is very difficult, considering the world has already come up with everything they can at the moment, so I was pretty much up all night thinking of ideas. I worked Monday to Friday, but my brain was still on overdrive throughout the week.

The only time I weren't thinking of work was when I was at the pub. I was a huge Football fan and my and a few friends would go to the pub on a Saturday and sometimes a Sunday to watch the match shown on the TV and have a pint or two, The pub was pretty messy and not the cleanest of pubs, but I came here every week for the last 6 years. 'The Queen Arms' (the name of the pub) was owned by a pretty blonde haired women, in her late 20's named Jade and we'd become great friends as she worked behind the bar, having a laugh and what not it was great fun.

I put on my suit and grabbed a breakfast shake before leaving the house. However, just a couple paces out of the door, my next-door neighbour stopped me and handed me a envelope. "This was posted through the door yesterday, I forgot to give you it, completely slipped my mind," he said. "Oh thanks mate." I replied, opening the letter. The letter said,

Dear Mr.Nelson,
We here at Harrogate Town Football Club are writing to you to enquire about a job interview as manager at the club. We believe you know a lot about the club and although you have little experience we believe you have enough knowledge to help the club strive to reach it's goals of promotion to the Vanarama National League this season. The interview, if you choose to attend, will be at the club's training ground at 10AM 6th July 2015, please get there on the dot as we have another candidate straight after you and we don't want to waste any time. We hope to see you there and best of luck.

The first thing I did was hug my next-door neighbour who was rather surprised as to why I was hugging him since he didn't know why. "Thank you!" I screamed at the top of my voice, probably waking up half the neighbourhood. I then ran inside and just kept looking at the letter. "No work for me today," I said laughing.
So hello! This is my first ever story, I have no experience at all in writing and I'm being honest so this is quite big for me, sorry if this sounds cringy by the way. I love writing short stories on Facebook to my friends and things and I have a huge passion for Football Manager and Football in general and once I found this forum I had to bring my 'skills?' to the table and write here because this brings two of my passions together! So I hope you enjoy my story as much as I do writing it

Unique style of story writing for sure, great read!

Unique indeed... Sounds a great start mate, to unite personal life with FM. Can't wait to see what's next. A life without to much joy and then a Manager Job interview? Things may be shaken off in life right? Maybe even more sleepless nights with a teams problem in mind though... ;-)

2015-08-24 18:14#219128 Trop : Unique style of story writing for sure, great read!

Thanks mate, hopefully I can keep it unique!

2015-08-24 18:24#219129 blitzkriegblue : Unique indeed... Sounds a great start mate, to unite personal life with FM. Can't wait to see what's next. A life without to much joy and then a Manager Job interview? Things may be shaken off in life right? Maybe even more sleepless nights with a teams problem in mind though... ;-)

Thanks mate I want to try to make the character like what a lot of our lifes and dreams are like almost haha!

It was the big day and a huge opportunity for me, this one interview could change my life so much and make my dreams came true. I had been to hundreds of Harrogate Town matches, however I could never imagine myself sitting in the dugout at Weatherby Road and coaching the team to potential glory. The alarm clock rang as usual, but not at the normal time of 6AM, but at a much different time of 8:30AM, which gave me time to think about the task ahead of me and get ready.

I got dressed and looked into the shiny mirror that hung on my bedroom wall, this was my time. I asked myself "What if this goes wrong?" still looking into the mirror while I said this and then quickly said, "No I can't think like that, I can do this." The doubts were in my mind of course, but there was the positives mixed into that. This was an opportunity of a lifetime and I couldn't mess up.

I got into my car and set off towards the stadium that was only ten minutes away. I didn't need reminding where it was, I'd came here many times to see the players play. I thought to myself how strange it would be that I could be on the opposite side of the wall, I could be the one who boomed out the instructions of what to do next and so on from the touchline. I arrived at my destination, I was here and my nerves were getting even worse, but the positive thoughts still remained. I was greeted by the chairmen Irving Weaver, a fat jolly man who's smile was huge as he saw me. "Mr Nelson!" He cried, coming over to greet me. "Great to see you how and now let's get straight down to business!"

The interview lasted half an hour or so, it was rather short to what I pictured it to be and I did better than what I thought I would do if I say so myself! I was sweating a lot though, I think I have a sweating problem when it comes to interviews, I sweat a lot more than I do normally, it's rather strange, trust me. Mr Weaver told me after the interview, "You have really good expectations of the club and you know it inside and out, which is amazing. You answered all my questions with great confidence and did not stutter at all. With that said, I believe you are the perfect candidate and I'd like you to welcome you to Harrogate Town Football Club, congratulations Mr.Nelson."


I was in awe and shock, this was a huge moment and chapter in my life. My life had changed instantly, I didn't know what to say expect, "Thank you sir, thank you!" Mr Weaver then said, "So there's only one thing left to do and that's read the terms and conditions, we are not a strict club, as you know, but we do need to stick to rules of course. Please read through these and then sign at the bottom of the paper and with that we're done." So obviously I read and signed my name at the bottom. "Welcome," Mr Weaver told me once again.

Great start, this has so much potential, could go down as an FM15 great if it lives up to its start (no pressure )

2015-08-26 17:39#219216 Tallery : Great start, this has so much potential, could go down as an FM15 great if it lives up to its start (no pressure )

Thanks mate means a lot and now I feel the pressure, cheers

Great start, looks really interesting! Will definetly be having a look at this story and hope you can keep this on for a while!

So dreams do come true ay? Never thought I'd hear myself saying that, never. Everything had changed and it was an amazing feeling. My company wished me luck ahead of my new journey as we parted ways, but my employer, David McGurk had to give a huge speech as I entered work to say goodbye to the other employees, "I'm sure you've heard that Mr Nelson has taken the Harrogate Town Football Club job recently and therefore he will be leaving us. He has been a fantastic worker here and I have great expectations that he will take Harrogate to great heights. Not only is he a great leader, he has enthusiasm and never stops working, he always had ideas and I'm sure he will have great ideas for the club. Three cheers for Mr Nelson." Everyone cheered and wished me goodbye and I wished everyone luck before leaving the building and driving off to the training ground ahead of my first day.

I arrived and parked in my designated spot the club had given me, rather posh I know and began setting up, grabbing cones and other tools we would use. "Morning boss," I heard from behind me, I turned around to see Dominic Knowles, one of Harrogate's top players and a fan favourite. "It's great to meet you," he said smiling and holding his hand out for me to shake it. "I strongly believe you can really help this club and I really hope we can do something this year." I smiled and said, "Yeah, thanks, we'll have to see, but it'll be tough, now the other lads will be arriving in 2 or so minutes, so just go and practice some shots in the goal over there."

Soon after the others came as expected and we did some quick drills, some passing, dribbling and tackling practice for the squad, excluding the keepers who did some shot-stopping practice with the goalkeeping coach, Garry Plant. "Right, John on that side," I said signalling to my left, "Phil on the other, I now want you to select 10 players each as we're going to play a short game." They both selected their sides and the boys began the game. You could see, even in a training game, they had a great desire to be here, although Harrogate are such a lowly club and they really believed they could achieve something this season.

The game then finished and I gathered the team together. "So I was having a short discussion with Dom earlier about our targets for this season and he strongly believes we can get promotion this year and yes, I agree we can. However, I want to tell you it won't be easy. This league is just as strong as it was last season, perhaps even stronger with the likes of FC United and Alferton coming up and down. So with that I don't want you to be setting goals for the club, just set goals for yourselves for now. With that said, see you tomorrow for another short training session ahead of the game against Blackpool U21's on Saturday.

I saw the team out and got in my car, the journey home wasn't all that long of course, but I put the radio on regardless. "That went rather well." I said to myself laughing, "If things go like this all the time I can see us doing very well." The duration of the journey was spent singing along to whatever popped up on the radio, "Oh I do love my life!" I shouted.

Absolutely brilliant to have a great story written about the club I live five minutes away from, loving it

2015-08-30 15:08#219392 TaroMisaki : Great start, looks really interesting! Will definetly be having a look at this story and hope you can keep this on for a while!

Thanks mate, I'm really enjoying writing and all the positive comments really mean a lot.

2015-08-30 16:07#219396 Jack : Absolutely brilliant to have a great story written about the club I live five minutes away from, loving it

Wow, never knew! Harrogate are a really nice club, would like to see them go up this year, thanks for the comment

Today was the day. The day where I would start my dream job. The day I took Harrogate Town onto the Weatherby Road turf to play a friendly against Blackpool Under 21's. I was looking forward to the game a lot, although it wasn't a huge game, it was my first game as manager, one I will remember the most, the one that could start a revolution. I got ready for the game putting on my suit and tie and got into the car, it was 11:05, still a while before kick off at 3, but I wanted to do a little bit of training before the game, I wanted the players to be fit for the season and I needed to push them, it was only a light session but it woke the players up before the game, all be it was a friendly, I still wanted them to impress the fans.

We stopped the session at 12 and the boys had a small lunch, so they weren't too full ahead of the game of course. I was speaking to a few of the team as they gave me some encouragement ahead of the game, "Thanks lads, but it's my job now, I don't need the motivation, you do. You are the ones on the field playing for the fans, playing for me, playing for the club," I said. "I want you to play your very best in pre-season, as your performances may merit places in the first team ahead of the season, if you don't play well in pre-season.. well, you won't be in the starting eleven for the start of the season. Now, see you in the charging rooms later on," I told them before turning around to meet the chairman who was waiting to see me.

"Afternoon Mr.Nelson!" He said cheerfully, "I was just wanting to wish you luck ahead of today, it will be a big game for you, one you can look back on. You can tell your children and grandchildren-" I stopped him laughing, "I don't think I'll be having any of them anytime soon!" The chairman laughed and continued, "Well you can tell your family about the atmosphere in the stadium and the football on display, you know! He began laughing again and I couldn't help but laugh too, he was a great man, I loved him. "Well thanks, I'll do my best!" I shook his hand and then turned into the double doors and walked down the empty corridor.

It was 2:55 and the players were sat eagerly waiting for me to walk into the dressing room to give them a team talk. "I don't think we need a team talk after earlier," I said, "Just remember what I said, you are playing for the fans, me, the chairman and most importantly, the club." I patted all the players on the back as they walked past me and into the tunnel.

I was allowed to walk out onto the pitch with the players as some sort of unveiling and the atmosphere was amazing! Although there was only 600 or so people in the stadium, the noise they made was incredible, the tannoy boomed out, "Welcome onto the pitch our new manager, Taylor Nelson!" Everyone clapped and sung, I smiled and clapped the fans before going into the small dugouts on the side of the pitch. The players took to their positions and the game began. "C'mon Harrogate! I shouted.

The game got off to a very bright start and the players obviously listened to me as from the first kick they were really going for it and we rightly took the lead after just 8 minutes, the play was beautiful, Barca-esque, the ball was passed around the midfield and then a sudden through ball was made to Dominic Knowles who had made a fantastic run, he then took the ball into the box and then casually rolled the ball under the Blackpool keeper. I was delighted and jump up and down on the touchline, I was very passionate and I wasn't afraid to show it.

For the remainder of the first half we kept the ball brilliantly and I could see the passion in the players eyes like I saw in training. The fans continued to sing their hearts out despite the amount of them it sounded like the amount of noise Old Trafford would make, but that was non-league for you, full of fans who cared for the team and would never miss a game. As the team came into the dressing room with me I told them, "Well done, amazing for so far and I can see you listened to me. Now, keep it up in the second half as you were almost faultless there."

The rest of the game was played and both teams picked up a goal for themselves, firstly Kit Gregory scored after 56 minutes to equalise after a goal kick was headed on for Gregory who took the ball down fantastically and struck the ball from the edge of the box, curling away from a helpless Jon Stewart but then with 6 minutes to play substitute Paul Beesley worked a bit of magic as he ran down the wing after a Blackpool corner was cleared, cut inside and tucked the ball into the corner. Harrogate 2-1 Blackpool Under 21's.

After the game I said, "Well done, we were the better team and really did deserve the win today. I think if you play like you did today all season there will be no stopping us and we could achieve promotion-" I was stopped as the chairman came in clapping, "Very well done to you all, it was a great performance and you all played amazingly, you all did the club proud!" With that the players began getting dressed and then filed out of the changing rooms to sign autographs for the fans waiting outside the stadium exit.

Just a couple of things:

1) Harrowgate is a cool save. Good luck with it!

2) Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking some time to develop a character. You have a good, conversational writing style. Will be following!