The retirement of Alex Taylor

Alex Taylor had to admit it, he was bored. He had been retired for 7 months and was ready to do… well anything. The disadvantage of retiring at 36 is that everyone you know still work so you have nothing to do all day. His friends and wife worked all day and his kids were at school so the only people around were fellow retirees and none of them were under 60. He had tried what ex-footballers do, he had taken up golf despite hating it the few times he had played with teammates and learned he still did after in anger of missing the ball yet again his driver ended up wrapped around a tree. A few thousand pounds poorer to know what he already knew, he hated the “sport”. He had tried punditry but, was awful in front of the camera and after doing it twice told his agent he was done with it. Not that channels would be knocking his door down after his awful stiff delivery. It had at least covered the cost of the golfing adventures.

He knew he had to find something to do, other than working out his days were empty he hated day time TV and unlike most footballers hated every other sport. Possibly as he was very competitive and only good at football. But, he had to do something to occupy his time for the good of his house as well as him, some unsuccessful dabbling with D.I.Y. had cost him the rest of the punditry money to hire in people to fix his mess. A normal job was out of the question as he didn’t fancy working in fast food or a call centre. He only had a few GCSE’s and they were all C’s as he knew he could make it as a footballer and as a result hardly studied. He hadn’t considered his life after football. He didn’t like coaching having done some of it in his final two jobs to Alex it was just laying out cones and agreeing with the manager or being told you were wrong. It was also a short job as you generally had the same shelf life as the manager and would have to move where they did, and that was only if they still wanted you. So he again came to what he had been avoiding. Management. His agent had said he would fall into it eventually and having to admit to his agent he was right was most of the issue Alex had with the job. Although there were other issues, he didn’t want to drag his family against there will around the world and also didn’t want to be away from them for the length of a season which could make it harder to find a job.

He’d had a decent career in the lower parts of the Premier League for a number of clubs and had also earned two valuable caps. They were valuable to him for the memories and pride but, also that they meant he was a big signing for a Qatari club who paid him a small fortune a week tax free to boast about having an England International and it could be the same with management. He was actually an England goal scorer ironically the worst goal of his career was the one he was proudest of, a scuffed rebound of a save that took a huge deflection to go in. It was also against San Marino so wasn’t overly impressive but, it counted. Alex also boasted a more formal qualification to be a manager in a Continental Pro License, after much badgering from his agent he had done the quicker course for ex-footballers and passed. The cynic in him still thought, probably correctly, that the only reason his agent pushed him towards the course was in the hope he would become a decent manager and his agent could earn some more money off of him. Despite what reasoning he had his agent was right he needed something to do but, also missed the rush of playing, especially in big games.

He resolved to talk about it with his wife when she came back from work later on in the day. Now he just had to find a way to kill the next 4 hours until his kids’ school ended without swearing at daytime TV show hosts, a near daily occurrence.

Haha, good start man, nice to see you come over to the light side as well!

Myself & Alex have quite a bit in common you know, I also find myself swearing at the TV fairly regularly & think golf, like many things in life, is only fun when you are drunk!

Lippo - Thanks was getting sick of the cookies on the dark side kept on having raisins in them

Swearing at TV is half the fun of watching. I don't think alcohol can make golf fun but, I couldn't make it worde

Dying a lot at Call of Duty, an ambitious and failed attempt at a fry up and a book his wife had nagged him to read occupied Alex until he had to pick his kids up from school. His three kids piled into the back of the car oldest daughter Lauren was eight while twins Jake and Ellie were six and he loved them almost as much as they disliked each other. After a strangely uneventful ride back he was thrilled to have something to do for a few hours.

After all of the kids had been put to bed he brought his possible plans to his wife. He had met Rachael when he was 22 and she was 21, it was love at 6th or 7th sight. They had married 5 years after they met in what he thought was a very expensive day but, what he thought didn’t matter. They shared a hatred of sitting around doing nothing which is why she still worked as something or other in a bank Alex had never quite figured it out, the Senior Junior Assistant to foreign something or other. She had taken a few years off when the kids were born but, after the left Qatar three years ago she started working again being bored of staying home. “I’m considering going into management what do you think?”

Rachael sighed “I figured this would come up at some point although I thought it would have been a couple of years from now not this soon after retiring. But, if you can find a job somewhere that is a good place to raise a family and I can find a job then I am fine with it”

Alex was shocked he had spent quite a while drafting points he could use in a big argument that he had expected to happen. “W w well that sounds fair” He said with surprise “I’ll call Graham in the morning and tell him that he was right”

“God I hate that man” Rachael chipped in unasked.

“Yeah so do I but, that makes a good agent people want to stop talking to him so they agree to pay me more” Alex gave his stock answer as to why he stuck with his agent. In truth it was more loyalty that Graham was still his agent he had always kept him in the Premier League despite being relegated twice and being very poor in one of those seasons. The money he made from Qatar was also a very good reason to keep him and he had an annoying habit of being right about everything. “He was right about the coaching badges as well, it means that I can get an easy start in a manager and afford to be choosier instead of having to work in some small town in England where the players are part time and the fans are outnumbered by the referees.”

“True” Rachael conceded “But I still don’t like him”

Great start!!

MJK Thanks man, appreciate it

“Hey Graham I…” Alex started but, was cutoff.

“So I was right, you want to go into management.” Graham interrupted with a self satisfied tone that made Alex consider saying he wasn’t for a split second. “Only reason you would call me” Graham continued. Explaining why he knew without being asked, another annoying habit of his.

“Yeah” Alex confirmed “What can you do?”

“A Pro License and International experience are good starting points, I should be able to get your foot in the door then it is up to you. Any restrictions?” Again showing his knack for knowing what Alex was about to say.

“Yeah has to be a family friendly place where Rachael has a chance of getting a job”

“Right well that rules out Spain or Italy then” Graham said before laughing at his own joke. “Are you prepared to move abroad?”

“Yeah, doubt there are many jobs in Norfolk and if we are going to move might as well go for it.”

“Great” Click

Another of Graham’s annoying habits random hang ups at least this one had been at the end of a sentence though and not when Alex was talking.

“Why is he my agent?” Alex wondered aloud before throwing his phone next to him on the sofa and trying to decide whether to watch and awful property show or an equally awful Customs and Immigration show. He settled on property and watched as an upper middle class couple tried to find their dream house in Devon.

Bloody hell that took me ages! Great update once again

Balik Detail is important Thanks appreciate it

Good start man!

ScottT - Thanks man glad your enjoying it

Great start to this mate, looking forward to seeing where it goes!

After a week of hurling more abuse at the TV than he had at referees in his career Alex was relieved to see Grahams name on the phone.

“I’ve got you an interview” he blurted out. “Great club, good facilities and a very nice contract”

“Great what’s the club” Alex asked.

“A great team in the Middle East who see you as the man to lead them into the future” Graham answered evasively.

“That doesn’t answer my question”

“It’s in Saudi Arabia, but-“

“NO” Alex said firmly before his agent could produce a spiel. “It was no as a player and no now.”

“Oh come on you loved Qatar how much different could it be?” Graham was determined to sell the club to him so Alex knew the wages were big but, he wasn’t tempted for a second.

“No, the rules are different and stricter, Qatar was a culture shock but it is nothing like Saudi Arabia” Alex replied firmly “End of conversation.”

“They are offering £30,000 a week over 3 years and it is a much lower tax rate there. Come on an International school for the family, you can buy a couple of big names and make yours as a manager”

“No would you want your family to live there. Before you answer imagine you like your wife.”

“Well…” Graham was on the ropes and Alex went in for the kill

“Besides I had a Brazilian team mate in Qatar who played in Saudi and he said don’t go for anything. They had to live in a compound with armed guards and his kids went to school on a bomb resistant bus. If that isn’t enough the guards machine guns had to be fixed facing outside the compound to ensure safety. I. Will. Not. Sign. With. A. Saudi. Team.” With that Alex hung up on his agent before he could reply.

He wanted a job but, not that desperately. Day time TV it was, Police Interceptors or some men catching fish. Alex went with the Police and hoped that he would get a better result from Graham’s next call.

30K a week & your very own armed guards! Alex is a bit picky for a dole bludger!

This is looking to be a good story and save