Panpardus

Greetings everyone, with all my other stories and information corrupted I'm going to start a new one, this one I'm going to have a lot more detail in it so it will probably move a lot slower in time line ways. I have a little bit pre written but I'll update bits and pieces everyday or so when time permits, The story will mainly concern the English top flight and the surrounding European Leagues. Hope you enjoy!

Reminiscing

“Riise with the cross in…..Gerrard’s there, header, it’s in and Liverpool have a slight glimmer of hope, after getting shown a football lesson in the first half they’ve pulled one back in the 53rd minute and now its 3-1.” Said the commentator, I just couldn’t get enough of watching these games, I’ve seen this game probably 20 times in parts now I think, its one of the only forms of entertainment I enjoy. Unfortunately for me my squad leader doesn’t share the same enthusiasm for one of history’s great sports.

“Turn that crap of Black, jeez you know that team comes back and wins the stupid game, I don’t get how you watch those games over and over, its not even that interesting the first time you see let alone the 2nd or 3rd.” It was Henry Zimmer speaking to me, he was the squad leader of our team and a man that definitely earned the respect of all that knew and had even heard of him, well for his combat prowess anyway definitely not for his football knowledge.

It was true I did know the result, Liverpool came back to win in the shootout 3-2, still it was a game I loved to watch, along with Manchester United’s win over the German team in the 1999 Final. There were many other games that were fantastic to watch and I had studied them all at length in my own time, the varied tactics and approaches were something of great interest to me. Currently I was waiting on a copy of the 2010 World Cup I’d read about it but it doesn’t have the excitement of actually watching it, Rooney’s fabulous hattrick after half time was enough to give the English team their first World Cup since 1966, Argentina did score late but it was only a consolation goal. The 3-1 win to England is the last official score line in any World Cup as it’s the last time its played.

The years after this time is worn torn and in truth its hard to find documentation or video footage of any game after this period, that’s not say it easy to get footage of any game, usually the video files are only half there or without sound, or with sound and no video.

Depends on what you listen too or read but the catalyst for the wars have to do with Football itself in a loose and general way, Mohamed Al Fayed, the Fulham chairman is supposed to have masterminded the 10 year anniversary bombing of the USA, 20 bombs went of simultaneously around America on the 11th of September 2011, one of those was nuclear and wiped out most of Washington and the presidency. America’s answer was swift a man named George Bush was re-instated as president and he ordered brutal retaliation, An American armed force team captured Al Fayed and in retaliation several Middle East countries were bombed with Nuclear weapons, things escalated out of control after this and with surrounding Europe countries up in arms about the bombings conflict was assured. There was various bombings in retaliation and before you knew it was a European against Pacific war. Football grounds or Sporting Grounds were bombed and by 2014 there was no major sporting events as they were targeted if organised. This was all over 100 years ago but still the war rages, both sides did come to an agreement that no more nuclear bombs would be used but that’s as far as things have progressed.

I think Zimmer was about to say something else, but the red ready light came on, it was that time again, I wonder what we were doing now.

“Suit up team,time to go” Zimmer said.

It didn’t take long to suit up these days, combat fatigues and gear were on within a minute, body armour and sidearms ready to go we moved out to debriefing room once we found out what we were doing we would grab our specific weapons and then we would be deployed.

Panpardus

En route

Were on the transport chopper now and were all geared up ready to go, it seems second squad has gone missing and failed to report in after checking the harbour, things like this happen regularly around here with the Ionic disturbance’s. We haven’t seen any real action for about a month now, since the huge skirmish we had a bit back, where we lost quite a few good men, we even lost one of our own squad, which hasn’t happened in 5 or 6 years. Marko Smith was his name, a support classed trooper, he was shot 5 times, twice in the head and 3 times in the chest, that wasn’t the problem though the problem was that we were pinned down and the medic couldn’t get to him within 30 seconds with the god stick..

The god stick is a relatively new device that the medics use, in saying new it’s older than my 29 years but it’s a revolutionary device in that if its applied within a certain time it can virtually resurrect a fallen comrade, the amount of lives saved since its conception has not been fully taken stock of but you can be assured its a lot. The medics function is to remove any bullet or debris from the body before using it, if it’s a head shot they have around 30 seconds to do so then administer the device, its technical name is gs-30c but most refer to it as the god stick. Once used on someone you then give a shot of some adrenaline based thing which gives the person about hour of energy and blocks the bodies natural reaction to close down. After the hour the body closes itself down to repair itself and heal naturally so its paramount to get back to the rendezvous point. With body shots you can take about a minute to two minutes and you don’t have to be so picky about getting rid of bullets or debris, once the device is used it creates some sort of electro pulse which accelerates the bodies healing powers, new tissue, skin, organs and blood will regenerate if it needs to, if a bullet or something else is in the way the tissue incorporates it, sometimes it impedes the bodies function and requires surgery, sometimes field surgery which isn’t a pretty sight.

Anyway so were en route to the harbour where we are to perform a sweep of the area and find second squad, radar and sonic pulses haven’t picked them up so we have to do it manually.

It’s a chilly night, around 4 degrees so you can see your breathe in the night time air, well you could if we didn’t wear these breathe masking devices, it’s a still night with no breeze so it makes my job a lot easier, I’ll be deployed on tower 4 where I'm to scan the area for threats and take out hostiles with my sniper rifle, the rest of the team will be deployed half a click back.

These jumps are bloody dangerous but with the new anti-shock boots it’s a lot safer and easier, the helicopter comes in at full speed and I have to jump out with out using my parachute, before these boots you would hear of a lot of broken legs, arms and even the odd death in which a medic had to drop in and revive. With the boots they stabilized the jump and then prevented the massive jolt from the impact of landing, well here it goes.

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A safe jump and easy landing, I haven’t had a poor one since I was a rookie 13 years ago. Now to get into position.

“Leopard, in position and scanning area, further instructions to come” I said speaking into the ccr headset.

Scanning the harbour now through the sights and looking for possible contacts

“Squad safely down in sector, awaiting visual confirmation of area to proceed” it was Zimmer on the headset, they were safely down and awaiting my report.

It takes awhile to scan the area safely, and after a few minutes I spot a possible contact. I report it in to Zimmer, and add it to the scope computer, its hard to tell if its friend or foe or just something else but the built in computer system can relay distance and co-ordinates to other members of the squad and whether or not it can be identified.

I keep on scanning the area.

“First squad on the move, continue and await further Leopard” Zimmer again, this time notifying me of the movement and telling me to continue with scan.

A few moments later while scanning i see another possible contract….ah crap its hostile, and in sniper position, he will be looking for me, time to cover up.

I give the co-ordinate to Zimmer through the computer scope

“Hostile sniper at co-ordinates given, second team presumed dead or incapacitated, Leopard taking cover until further instructions, eyes out” I said over the headset

“Confirmed Leopard, squad moving into position, await further”

5 minutes passes with no contact and then it’s Zimmer

“Squad in position Leopard, await for aerial emp, then take out sniper and first contact, confirm each, and watch for possible medic, please confirm”

“Confirmed” I said

I always feel a sense of excitement waiting for these, a high altitude plane will drop a emp bomb, basically it will fire and within a certain radius it will scramble everything in the area and deliver one of the most incapacitation sounds known, the bluish like glow could be seen for kilometres at night.

There it was the blue flash, jumping back in to position I found my target, took a deep breathe, and squeezed the trigger…

“Confirmed hit on sniper, changing target”

I quickly find the initial target, and its definitely a person, they’ve moved a bit and I have a clear head shot, I squeeze the trigger again.

“Confirmed head shot, target one, re scanning area”

Zimmer was on the line “Squad moving in, keep aware”

I kept scanning the area, switching in between the targets I had just shot, bingo, there he was, a medic coming to heal the sniper, taking aim, squeezing the trigger.

“Confirmed head shot, medic on sniper tower” I relayed

“Engaging enemy” Zimmer replied.

I continued to scan the area and then I heard the ensuing fire fight, our squad had engaged the enemy, your always pretty confident in these situations, we’ve been stationed here for 8 years now and we now every nook and cranny of the place, looking around in the day or even at night I could tell and so could any member of our squad, well maybe not the newbie, if a bit of rubble had been moved since the last time we went through. This area and actually most of the world had suffered terrible damage through bomb blasts and the war and I don’t think ill ever see a building in decent condition, all the buildings here showed some signs of structural damage with externals walls missing and there wasn’t a window intact in any building in this area.

Some thing caught my eye and I payed closer attention, oh crap, they had near a score of troops down near the waters edge, I scanned around quickly, more troops were emerging, moving to the squads general position based on the noise coming from the fire fight, oh crap we had to get out, I quickly marked the co-ordinates with the scope computer and radioed in.

“Possible battalion in the harbour, withdraw, I repeat withdraw, targets moving to your position first squad”

I heard Zimmer say confirmed over the head set and then seen it, a bright orange light emerged from one of the buildings, followed by another, oh hell, rockets incoming.

I ran and dived over the edge of the tower just as the rockets impacted into my former position, 2, 3, 4 rockets all hit and then I felt an excruciating pain in my side, a huge bit of metal was protruding from my torso, and I started to feel dizzy…. I waited a few more seconds, then pulled the parachute cord to slow my decent, the parachute took hold and I drifted to the ground, I must of blacked out before I hit the ground because I was jolted awake with pain when I landed, my side was burning, I pulled an adrelanine shot from my hip pack and jabbed myself with it, seconds later I was raring to go.

“Leopard, confirm status”

“Leopard, on ground, injured but moving slowly to e-vac point”

“Roger Leopard, well pick you up on way, reinforcements on way to our position”

I slowly picked my way around the buildings on my way back to the arranged e-vac spot and Zimmer and the rest of the squad quickly caught up with me, we didn’t have to many problems on the way but once we got there I felt another pain, through my neck, I’d been shot.

I slumped to the ground and I could feel the darkness coming but I was lucky I had taken an adrenaline shot before, otherwise I would have been out to it. I was being dragged along and I could hear a chopper in the distance, it was our chopper I presume, or hoped. Art Cooper was talking to me “I’ll heal you up when we get to the chopper” he was saying, “not to far now” a few more minutes passed and then we stopped.

I could see Art leaning over me, and then he pulled the shrapnel from my side, another pain, but it didn’t hurt too much, “I'm going to use the gs here” Art said “You know what happens when we use them too close to the chopper” The gs or god stick acted like a mini emp device and if used in the chopper it would cause the motors and rotors to stop, people found that out the hard way.

I could here a strange whistling sound but Art seemed oblivious to it, it wasn’t until he activated the god stick that I realised what it was, it was an emp bomb, this was going to bad, an emp bomb going over caused nasty results when it came into a contact with an activated god stick, Art healed me with the stick as I yelled out “noooooooooo, turn it off” he looked bewildered but when he looked up he knew, the noise was deafining, the blue light blinding, and then there was nothing, darkness ensued. Funnily enough it brought a song to my ears that I had heard many times, no one new the original singer of the song anymore but part of it went something like is

Darkness imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell

Panpardus

The light

I'm not sure how long I was out for and things are vague at best, I remember the blue light and the terrible noise, then there was blackness, after that the was a strange light, far off at first then it came closer and closer getting bigger all the time, ah so maybe there was a god after all, here I was travelling to his domain.

The light was pure white and then it was blinding, it forced me to close my eyes and hold them tightly shut, after the light dimmed a bit behind my eyelids I opened them again, it seemed I was being drawn down a tunnel, the white light was more a swirling vortex of colours with strange streaks flying past at astronomical speeds. I passed out a few times so I'm not entirely sure on the time I spent in here, but I was curious now, what did god look like after all ?

A strange noise brought me to once again, first of it was slight ringing in my ear and then it got progressively louder until it started to hurt, I clenched my jaw tight, tried to close my ears with my hands and shut my eyes, another blinding light and flash of light and then everything was quiet, I opened my eyes it was pretty dark but enough light to make out that Art Cooper standing naked just a few metres away, once again I noticed some lights, this time two and they were get closer, another journey I'm guessing, so I waited.

The lights were travelling slower than the last time and while waiting I noticed and felt that I too was naked as the day I was born, also I didn’t have a hair on my body, I guess we go out with what we come in, the lights were almost upon us now but I could hear a faint noise, like a motor and when I took close inspection of the lights I noticed they were coming from a vehicle, and we were in its path.

The vehicle plowed into Art and he was sent flying into the air, I could only watch and then there was screeching noise, the vehicle plowed into me but I managed to jump a little and as a result I felt myself go up onto the vehicle and then crash against glass.

Once again there was blackness.

Panpardus

The bet

A bright white light once again greeted me, it didn’t have the intense ness of the previous lights but once again it was enough to keep my eyes semi closed, I tried to concentrate by it only brought dizziness and nausea so I just relaxed and tried to listen.

Besides the murmur of voices and the occasional beep, I could hear something familiar, it was a man talking, no he was commentating, I listened a little more.

“Milan on the break, Kaká with ball now moving forward, there goes Shevchenko sprinting down the inside right channel, Kaká plays the ball through, Shevchenko squares it up, Crespo is there….he tucks it away and Milan have their second goal and now Liverpool have a mountain to climb”

I heard some groans from people around me, must be the first time they’ve seen it, and then it hit me, I knew where I was, I was in the infirmary. I went to speak my throat was parched “Water” I managed to croak out. Once again I heard the voices this time clearer, and a glass was pushed to my lips “Drink this” the soft female voice said. I took a small sip, it was soothing, tasted different then the water we usually drink though, its strange how you notice the little things.

“We’ve been worried about you, you’ve been out for a few days and well we didn’t think you would pull through” the female voice continued but I started to feel dizzy and nauseas again “hmmmm you’re temps a bit high, ill go get the doctor to come to take a look ill be right back.” She said.

I once again heard the commentator speak “Well Liverpool have the work cut of for them now, 2 goals down now they need to get the next one”

I must have let out a bit of a chuckle, because a mans voice close to me said “what’s so funny, your not going for them Italians are you?”

I couldn’t see but I slowly turned to the man and said as loud as I could, which in truth mustn’t have been more than a whisper “What you haven’t seen this before, you must be the only man on this outpost that hasn’t, but ill be quiet so you can enjoy it”

There was a few minutes of silence and then the man talked again “You must have been banged up bad when the car hit you, theres no possible way you could of seen this before”

I was confused what the hell was this guy talking about, I couldn’t think straight, but a thought dawned on me then, maybe this guy is in worse shape than me, maybe he’s dying and delirious although he didn’t sound like it, but ill give him a tidbit of info anyway “Crespo gets another, Kaká the supplier and its 3 zip at half time” I told him.

“Sure, sure” was the reply that came with a chuckle, “I’ll bet 100 quid that doesn’t happen” I was about to reply but I sudden bout of nausea hit me hard and then I was out, darkness again

I awoke again and my whole body was aching, my head thumping but all I could do was groan

“hey, hey there, you awake, hey you awake” I heard the familiars voice saying “How the hell did you know that was going to happen, hey you awake there?”

“I managed a small laugh, but god it hurt like hell, “oh c’mon” I whispered “everyone knows Liverpool come back and win it 3-2 in a shootout” I went to continue but I could feel the nausea returning and then my heart began racing, it felt like it going to explode, then I could hear beeps little tiny beeps getting faster and faster and faster and then it was the females voice I heard “Here this will make it better, you’ll sleep now”, my heart slowed down and I could feel the darkness coming

The man was speaking again

“Frankie, how its going, Mick here”
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“Mick, you know Fayed’s driver, I just place a bet before the game”
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“Yeah I know things aren’t going well, how much you willing to spot me ?”
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“No I don’t want to bet on Milan now, I want to put more on the Reds, how much you willing to spot me?”
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“20 thou on the reds to come back and win it, what’s me odds?”
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“Na, extra time or spot kicks, you’ll give me 10-1 for that”
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“deal”
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“of course I'm good for the money, you know Fayed would kill me if I made bets I couldn’t cover”

I think the man was talking to me with his last comment
"God i hope your right or I'm dead"

That was the last thing I heard.

Panpardus

Hospital?

Once again I drifted out of my darkness to be welcomed by the bright white light, and like last times I had to keep my eyes closed to keep the pain at bay, listening closely, I could hear nothing except the occasional beep from some sort of machine that was close by. The pain that wracked my body before had all but disappeared, now there was a dull ache. After minutes of lying there I began to slowly open my eyes, letting in slowly the bright light and then closing them again, time went past slowly but eventually my eyes slowly adjusted to the light, it was still painful, but now a bearable pain.

My eyes wouldn’t focus properly so my surrounding were a bit blurry, but I tried to take stock of where I was, 4 walls surrounded me all white in colour except for one it had a large opening in the wall with some sort of shutter system covering it, the occasional person walked past and another had a closed door. The source of the white light was two bright, things ?, embedded in the roof, I was lying on a bed in the centre of the room and the beeping noise was coming from a machine. The door opening drew my attention and two walked in one man, one woman, both wearing white and had the faces covered with masks.

It was the woman who spoke to me first “Good to see your awake Mr ?”

I went to say something, but it came out a bit garbled, I tried to moisten my mouth a little and then swallowed, “Black, my name is Jason Black” I said quietly

“Well Mr Black, you lucky to be alive after your accident, do you know where you are ?”

“Alive ?” I queried “With all the white lights and tunnels I thought I was dead”

“No Mr Black, your quite alive I can assure you of that, at the moment we have you in a clean room, it filters all the air to make sure no germs can get into the room, after your accident in which I'm amazed you survived you had an adverse reaction to the water we think, upon closer analysis it seems the air you were breathing also caused a reaction. If I hadn’t of seen your blood work I would of swore you were some alien entity” she chuckled “We think the lightning strike has fried your immune system, so will slowly try and build that back up, as far as the car accident you have no real injuries besides from the abrasions and bruising, which have cleared up in the past few weeks, does this ring a bell?”

I was confused, was I dreaming, what the hell was she talking about?, none of this made any sense to me at all, where the hell was I, I reverted back to my training, I would feign ignorance and only give basic answers so I couldn’t incriminate myself. Judging from the confused expression of my face you asked again

“Does any of this bring back any memories?”

“I remember a bluish light and then, another sort of white lights, I was hit, then I remember talking to a man about a football game, and now this” I said “Where am I?” I asked “You’re in the West Middlesex University Hospital, just outside of London”

What the hell, thoughts started to race through mind, London, a Hospital, what the hell was going on, London was destroyed decades ago, this had to be a dream, or is it, I'm confused, what.. I was interrupted by the woman’s voice

“Calm down Mr Black, take it easy” she was saying but the thoughts wouldn’t stop and then the pain came back, my head started to pound, then my body was shaking, I could feel hands on me now, and then the darkness overtook me again.
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I have again no idea how long I was out, but I was awoken from my slumber by the sound of someone humming, when the noticed I was awake, they talked to me.

“Welcome back, you gave us quite a scare there, but everything seems quite alright now, how are you feeling?”

“Crap” I replied after a few moments “The lights are too bright, they hurt my eyes”

“I’ll get that sorted for you, for know just lie back and relax, and I’ll page Dr Najima to come back and see you.

And with that she left the room, I didn’t see the doctor come in or hear anything, I tried to stay awake but the darkness kept coming, it was like recovering from a bad injury after having the god stick used on you, but once you woke up from the healing there was never any relapses, maybe my injuries were worse or maybe it that EMP blast had something to do it, and how the hell was I in London ?

Panpardus

The Meeting

As I found out months passed with me slipping in and out of consciousness, while all manner of tests were performed on me, slowly my immune system built up to a level where I could safely sit in a room without filtered air or had to have my food and drink specially prepared. During this time I was given that many shots, one for smallpox, one for chickenpox, one for this another for that, the nurses said I must be feeling like a pin cushion, I laughed when I heard them say this even though I had no idea what a pin cushion was.

I was asked all about my identity, where I came from, I even had the local police trying to find my identity, as yet nothing had come up, there was no record of a Jason Black from anywhere around here or in England for the fact. I didn’t let on where I was from, I just thought about memories that I had to give them the impression I was trying and then said, I can’t remember, even though I have a perfect recollection of events, something was still out of place, I’m still not sure if I'm dead, dreaming or this is some sort of elaborate prank or it is in fact real, but they went to exquisite detail in that whenever I asked to watch football games they put on an old archaic television and I was allowed to watch football.

My 6 month anniversary passed in the hospital and I was brought a cake from one of the nurses, Sally was her name, I knew them all on first name basis these days, and I was some sort of curiosity to most of them so they stopped in to chat, brought me fresh and authentic looking newspapers with interesting dates on them like this one Friday November the 25th 2005 is the date on it, its probably the first day I am really starting to believe that I'm here in this time and that’s because of a meeting with a Man, a very important man from my history or this present ?

It was the usual morning, me eating, watching football on the TV when Susan one of the nurses said I had a visitor, it was a bit of surprise so I was sceptical, I half expected her to bring in Zimmer and he would it was a practical joke, but she didn’t, she showed in an aging man, he had a certain swagger to him, a confidence of sorts despite his overweight frame. I thought him to be around late 60’s early 70’s and he dressed well, just like the business men of old (or present) His head was mainly bald with a grey rim of hair that went around the back of his head from ear to ear, typical male baldness pattern, he had the familiar look but I couldn’t place it at the time, that was until he introduced himself.

He spoke with a different accent from everyone else I had heard around the hospital, it was similar but just had an edge of something different “Greetings Mr Black, my name as you might know is Mohammed Al-Fayed, you had an accident when you struck my car and now I am here to see how you are recovering”

I looked at the man closely, I hadn’t take a lot of notice of him even though he was a historical figure in the past, I looked for signs that maybe it wasn’t real, but there was the sense of familiarity, so I played along

“I'm getting better” I replied “Gaining strength every day” Mohammed looked at me like he was expecting more, I complied “I'm sorry about the car, lightning apparently” I said with a skeptical tone.

“Yes, so I heard, I believe you met my driver while in here as well, he apparently owes you a lot one would say, his story is of great interest to me, you predicted this?”

ah the real reason for his visit was becoming clearer

“I might have I'm not entirely sure, I was in a bad way”

“He says you said it was replay and everyone knew Liverpool would win, but the match was live, he said although you in pain, you were clear and precise”

I thought about it some more, what was going on here?

“What do you want Mr Fayed” I asked bluntly

“Ok lets not mince words then, how did you know the result, do you know any other results”

What did I have to lose at worst I was mad? My memory was excellent with these sorts of things I had analysed the old seasons it just took some to recollect them all

“Chelsea will win this season easily, again reaching 90 points, well 91 to be precise, Manchester United will finish second 8 points behind, but will win it the next season, Italy will win the World Cup in Germany although there is some controversy with the diving and sportsmanship, a dive allows them to get a penalty and they beat Australia in the dying seconds of their second round match”

“And my team” he asked non perturbed with what he had just been told

“mid-table this year, around 12th” next year you will be in the relegation battle but will survive there will be controversy again this time involving Carlos Tevez and West Ham, Chris Coleman leaves the club and someone else takes over, an Irish guy, I forget his name.” I looked him over trying to read his expressions, but he didn’t give a reaction one way or the other.

“This is all well and good Mr Black, but you have given me nothing I can take for now, why would I believe all this, can you tell me the results of tomorrows game and then I’ll come back and maybe we can come to an arrangement?”

“No I can’t really give you an answer on individual games in a season, its just too long ago and information is scarce at best from where I'm from” I replied

“As I thought Mr Black, I thank you for your time and wish you the best of luck on your recovery” He said as he got up out his seat “I hope you have a good life” and he turned to leave.

Just before he got to the door I called his name, he stopped and turned “I can tell you this, and you can believe what you want, the 20 bombs you mastermind to go off in America to mark the 10 year anniversary will start a catastrophic war that will last 100 years, you will be shot and killed and most of the middle east will be decimated, what ensues is a bloody 100 year battle between the Europeans and Pacific Nations” This time I watched his face and there it was a flicker of fear crossed his eyes, but it was gone just as quick

“An interesting theory, Mr Black…., I will be in touch” and with that he left.


This was the conversation that made it all real.

Panpardus

A proposition

Several weeks and several meetings with Mr Fayed ensued, he tried to get information out of me, but I only gave what I thought was necessary, he later asked for all 20 bomb locations as to confirm my story, as he and no other knew the full list, so I told him, some of them may have been wrong, but he took my word for it I'm sure. I'm sure I also talked him out of his plans as well, no good will come of it I told him over and over, America will get stronger and they show no regret about wiping out most of the middle east, he took it all in stride, it just dawned on me as i was telling him all this, I had just changed history.

The subject turned to football and we talked of my passion for the game, I told him I had studied all of the teams tactics that I had a chance to watch, I even gave examples of games and the how they won and lost a game. I said I would do anything to see a stadium up close and personal, watch a football game with my very own eyes and once again he took it in stride. We talked about players and futures and if there were bright stars of the future that I knew about, I know he is pumping me for information to try and make his club better but I give it freely, I think in the months we spent in the hospitable talking about football we became closer, friends even, we both shared a passion.

Mr Fayed came to me one afternoon, Chelsea more or less sown up the title for the second time now, he gave me thick brown briefcase, I opened it and inside there were lots of papers, pictures, certificates and other stuff in there. I looked up at him not sure what I was looking at

“Look closer” he said with a smile on his face “Look at the names”, I looked at the name on the documents, they all had my name on them, I ruffled through file upon file, all of them had my name on them “They all have my name on them” I murmured.

“Its your new identity Mr Black, this has your history in it along with all the documents you will ever need , it even has all the coaching certificates you will ever need to coach at the highest level, this has all come at heavy price for me, but I feel you deserve it, you have done me a great service and in return I am doing you one”

“I don’t know what to say, thankyou” I said with a mixture of shock and gratitude, I hadn't really thought of my future, and i realised how naive i had been in this respect, but now it was all sorted out for me.

“In those files are various discs, you will need to watch them all and take good notice, they all have key figures of you history that you must be able to recall, if you are to be in the limelight you must not falter with the details, also in the video’s are every lesson you need to know with the Uefa certificates, you must learn those as well if you wish to manage a team”

“Manage a team” I repeated

“Yes, manage a team, Jason, from now on you will work for me”

“You mean manage Fulham in the Premier League?”

“Maybe, maybe not, we will wait and see, do you accept my offer?

“I do indeed, Mohammed, I do indeed”

Panpardus

My first ever live game

I began taking an interest in Fulham games as you can imagine, and with my release from Hospital on the 7th May, I was able to be a guest of Mr Fayad for Fulham’s last home game of the year.

Arriving at the ground is an experience I can’t begin to explain, but thankfully we were there early to avoid the crowds, it was 10 am in the morning and Mr Fayed wanted to give me a tour of the stadium, before the directors luncheon at 12.

I walked around the pitch with Mr Fayed, its pretty overwhelming just to feel the difference under foot, from walking on concrete all my life, it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever walked on grass, and I just had to feel the grass with my feet and toes, its was cold, a little damp and it had a funny squishy sensation, it’s the best I can do to explain it along with the joy that I also felt, I think the grin from ear to ear explained it all, Mr Fayed just laughed and told me to put my shoes and socks back on we had more to see.

We walked along the stands, well I did while Mr Fayed just watched and then we went through the more exclusive areas, like the Executive Suites, the George Cohen Restaurant, the Riverside restaurant and suites, I also got to go in the Sky Box suite where the television crew was setting up general things in preparation, Mr Fayed show me to the Trophy Lounge where there were replica trophy’s that the club had won, in there was trophies such as the 1949 and 2001 Championship trophy along with a 1999 League one Winner trophy, the main trophy highlighted in there though was not a club trophy it was a World Cup winners medal give to Mr George Cohen for England's 1966 triumph. By the time the tour was over it was 12 and time for the Directors Luncheon.

Its pretty overwhelming to meet your future bosses, even though nothing was official Mr Fayed said it would be an informal board meeting to discuss the future of the club, Mr Chris Coleman was going to be leaving at the end of the season, a fact which only the inner sanctum of the club knew, and he wanted them all to meet me a future prospect.

The lunch was excellent and I found it easy to talk to the men on the board and I had already committed their names to memory, Managing Director was David McNally, his deputy was Mark Collins, then there was Lee Hoos, Stuart Benson, Andy Ambler and 2 of Mr Fayed’s sons Omar and Karim, they were all interested in hearing my thoughts.

Mr McNally asked me a question, one I was prepared for “How do you think we’ll go today Jason, will we win and hold our position or lose and slip a few places down the table?”

Currently Fulham were 13th in the tables on 45 points, we had Charlton ahead on 47 points, and then there was a close pack behind us, including today’s opponents, even though I didn’t know the exact results or scores I did know the finishing positions of the season.

“We will win today, Mr McNally I replied and will finish 12th in the league, Charlton will lose today to Manchester United, so we will climb over them and they will finish 13th, Middlesbrough will finish 14th because City will lose to Blackburn”

“Lets hope so” he replied

“Well the games getting started shall we move out to watch, or did we want to continue yabbering in here” Mr Fayed said. No one said anything they all stood and we moved out into the Directors box to watch the game.

The game got underway to a resounding cheer from the fans, this is another thing you miss when watching replays of games, the atmosphere, it just sends goose bumps down my body every time I hear the fans sing or chant in unison.

Middlesbrough I was informed was fielding a virtual youth team as they had the Uefa Cup final soon, McNally said that this was good for my predictions, I just nodded in return and smiled and then my concentration turned solely to the game.

We definitely started the better and that was to be expected I suppose with the opposition we were playing, Collins John headed the ball into the side netting from Rosenior’s cross on the 7 minute mark, from the cheering half the crowd thought it went in at first but that was replaced by oooo’s, he should of really buried that.

Boro had the next chance, Graham mis-kicked his attempt from a good centred ball, Niemi wasn’t tested, Niemi was called on though minutes later when Johnson tested him with a nice curling free kick that he had to punch clear.

It was a quick paced game with both teams going for it and Malbranque and Brown both had shots blocked.

Wayne Bridge then put John with a beautifully-judged pass but once again our striker was off line and managed to poke his attempt wide. With half hour gone, Volz showed some great skill and skinned Johnson his cross was perfect for McBride who hit a fine header, the Boro keeper was equal to the task though and saved in style. The last 10 or so minutes were all us and we started to get the better of our inexperienced opponents, McBride had our best chance before the break but his header was blocked by Kennedy.

The game had gone so quick and I was enthralled in the contest, it was good to catch a break and rest, I had been cheering as loud as any supporter I think and judging by the looks that the directors gave me at the break I think I might have been a little too vocal.

“Sorry about that” I apologised “I just love the game”

Most of the board members just laughed and gave me a pat on the back as the went to get drinks or refreshments, Mark Collins said “That’s ok lad, we like people who share the passion as much as we do” as he walked past.
The restart produced some flowing football and it was us again who had the first chance, McBride was dragged down in the box, but the ref waved played on much to the disgust of the fans, minutes later Graham put the ball in the net for the young Boro team but the ref had whistled play, handball given, and a yellow card as well, the yellow I feel was little harsh, it was hardly deliberate. Graham again caused us some problems when the young striker smashed another attempt on goal this time stinging Niemi’s hands, denied still the score stayed at 0-0.

Just under the hour Chris Coleman brought on Helguson for Collins John, a good move in my opinion, John had had his chance and missed a few easy attempts, then something clicked when the announcer said Helguson’s name. “Helguson will win this for us, he’ll either score or the goal or set it up”. The board was silent, just looking at me it was McNally again he broke the silence “That’s another bold claim young man although it looks like your earlier ones are paying off, United are thrashing Charlton and if we win this we will move to 12th, I’d give anything to see that” he said, the rest of the board agreed.

Mr Fayed sensed his chance “If Mr Black is correct then we will appoint him as our new manager replacing Chris for next year, do we agree?”

“Oh come one Mohammed we can’t appoint him just because he guesses something like that” Mark Collins spoke this time.

“Mark you know I have a great sense of judgment, this man has all the credentials we need, and you know he has the passion, it was this reason we gave Chris the job in the first place after I battled to give him a chance, and its payed off” Mr Fayed said as he looked at all the other directors “What do you all say?” he asked again.

It was unanimous they all agreed providing the Helguson scores of course.

It was an anxious wait watching the last half hour, Helguson made a few good runs but didn’t have a good chance, that was until the 84th minute when he took a through ball on his chest and beared down on goal only to be clumsily tackled by Boro defender Wheater, the ref blew his whistle and pointed to the spot.

“You want to hope Helguson takes this” Stuart Benson said and Helguson did, he coolly stepped up and slotted it past Turnbull and we took a 1-0 lead.

That’s how the game finished, 1-0 and Fulham did indeed move to 12th, United crushed Charlton 4-0, we beat Boro, Blackburn beat City 2-0, and now I was the new manager of Fulham.

In the press conferences later both manager’s spoke of the excellent future ahead for the clubs, Steve McClaren was leaving his post which was already known to coach the English team, Chris Coleman’s departure wasn’t known though and he fielded all sorts of questions regarding whether he was pushed out.

The Welshman though was full of praise for Mr Fayed and the board of Fulham, he said he had some personal issues he had to care off and thought best if he handled them, he didn’t rule out coming back to the club in the future, he also urged the Fulham fans to welcome with open arms their next manager and remember all Mr Fayed had done for the club.

Panpardus

The new post

There were a few angry supporters out there with Chris Coleman leaving, he was a pretty big figure around here at Fulham, so the board postponed appointing me straight away and put out advertisement for applicants interested to apply.

Stuart Benson was showing me the ropes while we awaited my official appointment, I was given my own personal laptop computer to use, it had a direct link to the main Fulham computer where I could view all the relevant information I needed to know. It’s a little more primitive than what I am use to but it didn’t take to long to get the hang of it. What did take a long time was learning all the things that went along with management, contracts, agents, supporters, trip planing, scouts, physio’s, the job market, transfers, loans, the lists went on and on and in the end I'm glad I wasn’t thrown straight into it.

The World cup had started and I’d had already given my tip, so a few people stood to make a lot of money off my knowledge, I did say things could change now that my involvement in my football had an impact, there could be ripples. I watched as many games as I could but I found myself going over replays of old Fulham games just to get a better feel for the club.

The spotlight had gone from the club while the cup was on and this was what the board had been planning, before this, names like Sven Goren Erikson, ex Fulham manager Micky Adams, Ruud Gullit and Michael Laudrup had been bandied about, how were people going to react when I was introduced Jason Black a nobody.

My name was going to be announced Monday the 3rd of July, after that I would do a press conference where I would be introduced to the world, I had a little over a week to prepare, by this time and I felt comfortable I knew most aspects of my job comfortably and what was expected of me. Friendly games and a lot of transfers had already been organised and I was involved in those, well not with the actual organising but I was shown how to do the relevant paperwork, what was needed etc etc.

Our friendly games were scheduled to a plan, with the possible backlash against me early, we were to play Aberdeen in Scotland for our first game, decent opposition on their home soil would allay fears if we were soundly beaten, with that in mind we were then to travel to Serbia where we would play 3 games Radnicki, Sindjelic and Partizan, by that stage the team was expected to be playing well enough to come home and that’s when we take on Italian Serie A side Reggina, this was probably the most important game the one that the fans would take the notice off, to round out our friendly games we were to travel up the M40 to take on Conference North team Oxford, this was definitely a game that we shouldn’t lose, it was pencilled in to give the team a big confidence boost before the start of the season proper.

There was also a lot of deals done on the transfer market we were losing Rehman to QPR, Malbranque to Tottenham, Legwinski to Ipswich and Boa Morte to West Ham, also going but on season long loans were Ricardo Batista, Mark Crossley, Micahael Timlin, Gabriel Zakuani had already been loaned out to Stoke even though he wasn’t officially a player here yet, also King Gyan was going out to some club for 3 years something to do with a work permit.

There was a few more numbers coming in Bullard from Wigan, Zakuani from Leyton Orient, Runström from Hammarby, Queudrue from Boro, Dempsey from New England in the US, Davies from Everton, Smertin from Dinamo Moscow, then we had Lastuvka, Montella and Routledga all coming in on season long loans.

Monday, 3rd of July 2007

The big day had arrived and my name had been given to the press as the new manager of the Fulham Football Club, and in an hour or so I would be performing my first ever press conference for the club, it was pretty nerve racking, but Mr Fayed was optimistic, the fans on the forums weren’t though, there were already the ‘what the hell is going on’ messages going around, as well as the ‘Jason who?’ ones, it was going to be tough to win them over.

Mr Fayed took the podium and got the press conference under way “Greetings ladies and gentleman of the press, as you all know in an earlier statement we have appointed 29 year old Jason Black to the mangers post here at Fulham, he has the full backing of the board and we believe he will be an excellent replacement for Chris Coleman, before I bring him in to answer your questions, do you have any questions for me?”

“Mr Fayed, Garth Crooks here BBC sport, I think the question we all want answered is why Jason Black, we realise its nothing new for you to appoint an unknown manager, like you did with Chris Coleman, but atleast he had history at Fulham and was an International Player, but with all due respect Jason Black is hardly in that league, a weekend player at best in his time, and with coaching roles in places like Australia and America his credentials are not overwhelming”

“It’s a good question Garth and I know a lot of people are thinking the same thing so I will tell you this, Jason and Chris both share a passion for football that is refreshing to see, he has a keen analytical mind and I believe he will do all he can to make this football club great, I think he just needs a chance to prove himself and then everyone will see what I do. I will say this too the fans of our club as well give Mr Black a chance, you all know then when I took over this club I only wanted the best for it, and I think I have proved that on many occasions, all I ask is that you give him a chance to prove himself and with that here he is, Jason your fans are waiting” a wry smile crossed his face with the last comment, fans indeed.

I stepped up to the podium trying to hide my nerves “Evening everyone, fire away with the questions”

“Mr Black, what do you say to the fans to allay their fears for the season coming?”

“There isn’t much I can say to allay their fears, I'm sure they will be upset that an unknown has taken over from one of the favourites so my actions and the teams actions will have to do that”

“Mr Black, with your limited knowledge of the premiership, do you think you honestly have a chance in guiding Fulham to their goals?”

“Just because I haven’t coached here doesn’t mean I don’t know what I'm doing, I have huge hopes for this club and I believe I can guide them to being a successful club here in the premiership”

“What are you goals for the season then Mr Black?”

“Oh you guys know, glory silverware, maybe the title” I said cheekily that brought a bit of a light chuckle from the reporters.

“Surely you jest Mr Black” another reporter said “You can’t hope to compete with the United’s, Arsenal’s, and Chelsea’s over the span of season”

“Of course I'm joking” I replied “I think success for us this year will be a good cup run, and finishing around the same spot as we did last year but with some improvements on our away form, if we can win a few more away games then I cant see why we wont be top 10 next year”

“With the departure of Steed Malbranque and Luis Boa Morte how do you think you’ll fare”

“I'm sure we’ll do fine, the club has already acquired some good players for me to work with, but I cant see to many problems at the moment, one last final question then?”

“With England losing to Portugal in yet another shootout, who is your tip for now for the World Cup?”

“I think Italy will win, they’ve had a bit of luck with that dive and all, but their defence looks solid enough, maybe an extra time or shootout win over France, thanks everyone, see you all soon no doubt”

And with that I left the podium, nerve racked and sweat soaked to join Mr Fayed

“See that went well enough, now all you have to do is meet the players and staff” he said as he patted me on the back

Panpardus

Fulham

After the press conference it was time to meet the staff, the players had all ready left for the day and were due back tomorrow for a morning session, the reserve team was to be there as well so everyone could be addressed.

First person I met was Steve Kean, the Scotsman was Chris’s number two and was friendly enough he was going to be my number two as well best noted for his tactical prowess I looked forward to bouncing ideas through him, next was Billy McKinlay another Scotsman, he is the reserve team manager at the club and mainly worked with them,. Ray Lewington is pretty big around the club and apparently was a former manager back in the 1980’s he has a wealth of experience in management and is someone I can learn a lot from. For some reason we have 2 goalkeeping coaches Vic Bettinelli is apparently the more technically gifted coach, but Dave Beasant is a very good coach as well and he is also a player favourite here at Craven Cottage, with 8 Keepers on the books not including the two out on loan it might work. John Singh is a new addition to the club and he took over the fitness aspects for the club, he came highly recommended apparently. John Murtough is the head of the Youth Academy and is probably the most notable of all the coaches in the side with a few degrees, he has a knack of getting the best out of the youngsters and is highly rated at the club, his assistant Gary Brazil is also quite talented in most aspects of coaching youngster so I feel the club is good hands there. Jason Palmer is the head physio at the club and is a vital member of the team his is another that is thought very highly around the club, his assistant Clare Hughes is very professional as well and I think we are pretty well covered in that department. The one thing I was surprised to learn was that we only had one scout at the club, Jake Wales was his name, not many at the club new much about him, he seemed friendly enough though, time would tell if he had the knack to get us a few decent players.


After all the introductions it was down to business and I thanked them all for waiting around to see me, I told them a little about myself mixing some truths and mixed in a lot of my bought background, I let them know I was counting on them to help me through the first few weeks till I got my bearings and if they had any questions then my door was always open. I told most of them to go home as we can settle things tomorrow, although I was interested in seeing Steve Kean, Ray Lewington and Jason Palmer tonight.

The 5 of us went up to the Trophy Lounge to discuss a few things squad related, Mr Fayed didn’t it want it to last too long, he said there was plenty of time for working out that sort of stuff tomorrow, so I tried to be as brief as possible

I quizzed Jason Palmer first about our injuries at the moment, we currently had 4 and they were all considered serious injuries, Simon Elliot was a 31 year old Defensive Midfielder, a torn calf muscle would keep him out for 3-4 months, the same for veteran midfielder Mark Pembridge, he too had a torn calf and would struggle to see time this year. Robert Milson was a bright 19 year old who played on the left wing, he had a creative flair about him and would be out for 2 months with a pulled muscle in his back, the last injury listed player was new loanee from Roma Vincenzo Montello had landed badly in his first day training at the club and was out for 1-2 months with a dislocated shoulder. I wasn’t the best seeing we hadn’t played a game yet and the players were only back into training, but talking with both Ray and Steve they felt we could cover the positions.

I asked both Ray and Steve how they honestly think we would fare this season, and I was surprised to hear that they both thought we would struggle this year, the midfield was pretty solid, but we lacked an out and out goal scorer, so we really needed to take the chances when they were presented to us, defence was a bit of a problem as well but the inclusion of Queudrue would be a help on the left, but we lacked a dominant centre back.

I asked who our defence coach was once again surprised to find that we didn’t have a stand out defence coach, instead the load was shared amongst a few, I feel with our defensive record especially away from home we need to employ a specialist in this area and that would be one of my first priorities, I also think ill get a another first team coach who can specialise in a few other key areas.

I wound the meeting up and then it was off home, Mr Fayed dropped me off at my new apartment, it was a stunning 3 bedroom penthouse apartment located on the 6 floor in the Knightsbridge/Belgravia area, this was luxury at its best and it must of cost a pretty penny aswell, the rent was being directly taken out of pay check which was around 16,000 pounds per week, minus expenses I was seeing around 10 thou a week, just a smidgen better than my army pay before and the conditions were definitely a lot better.

I started going over our whole entire playing list but it was pretty time consuming, we had 51 players on the books at the moment all though 5 were out on loan, and that didn’t include the 16 in the under 18 squad, I decided to give it a quick skim over and leave the majority for tomorrow to go over with coaches.