The Beautiful Quest: An Association Football Quest

[X] Decline because you think it would be greedy to ask for a new contract this soon after signing your existing one.
[X] Hiring an elite personal trainer to try and improve your overall strength and fitness.
[X] Accept and tentatively go with him.
[X] Buy a large house on the outskirts of Manchester.
[X] Invest some money into your boyhood Beechfield United so the club can improve it's facilities.
 
[X] Decline because you think it would be greedy to ask for a new contract this soon after signing your existing one.
[X] You decide to work with a local Academy to coach for a few weeks and hope keeping yourself immersed in football will get your skills back up.
[X] Accept and tentatively go with him.
[X] Buy a terrace house built for a worker in Salford and renovate it.
[X] Invest some money into your boyhood Beechfield United so the club can improve it's facilities.

We can't keep runing Forever, One day we are going to slow down and then it will be a good idea to have somethings to fall back on
 
[X] Decline because you think it would be greedy to ask for a new contract this soon after signing your existing one.
[X] You decide to work with a local Academy to coach for a few weeks and hope keeping yourself immersed in football will get your skills back up.
[X] Accept and tentatively go with him.
[X] Buy a terrace house built for a worker in Salford and renovate it.
[X] Invest some money into your boyhood Beechfield United so the club can improve it's facilities.
 
[X] Decline because you think it would be greedy to ask for a new contract this soon after signing your existing one.
[X] Hiring an elite personal trainer to try and improve your overall strength and fitness.
[X] Accept and happily go with him.
[X] Buy a large house on the outskirts of Manchester.
[X] Invest some money into your boyhood Beechfield United so the club can improve it's facilities.
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by Pathetic King on Jun 23, 2020 at 10:19 AM, finished with 14 posts and 13 votes.
 
Under The Two Towers
Under The Two Towers

Rolls
Development - 15
Pre Season - 19
Performance - 18
Senior Caps? - 12 (1-5 No, 6-10 Called Up, 11-20 Yes)
England Performance - 18
(Striker) Transfer Shenanigans (1-5 No one out, no one in, 6-10 Ole out, Yorke in, 11-14 Ole out, Kluivert in, 15-18 No one out, Yorke in, 19-20 No one out, Kluivert in) - 13
Barca - 1 (!)

Despite winning the league for a third straight season and possessing four top quality strikers in yourself, Andy Cole, Dion Dublin and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Fergie was not pleased with his options in the final third. In the summer, there was a significant shake up as, despite wanting to stay at the club, Solskjaer was sold to Tottenham for £5.5 million. That money, and more, was invested in the Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert, who had done well in the World Cup, who joined from Milan for £9 million.

With the new signing, some number adjustments were made. Kluivert was given the number 9 shirt, so Cole was shifted to the number 20, a move which did not impress him one bit. It was clear that spots in the first team would be very tightly contested between the four main strikers.

Barcelona had set their sights on Kluivert, but with United getting there first, Barca's manager, Louis van Gaal, was at a loss. He had made his name at Ajax, leading the Amsterdam-based club to consecutive Champions League finals, and over the summer had brought many Dutch players over to Catalonia, notably the De Boer brothers. Despite sniffing around two other Dutch striking talents in Leeds' Jimmy Floyd Haisselbaink and Heerenveen's Ruud van Nistelrooy, they made no purchase in the striking department, sticking by a declining 32 year old Hristo Stoichkov. Meanwhile in England, the capture of Solskjaer meant that Spurs' secondary target, Les Ferdinand, remained at Newcastle. After Alan Shearer suffered a bad injury in pre season, Kenny Dalglish, Newcastle's new manager, brought in an aging John Barnes.

You had an excellent pre season, which culminated in you scoring a brace in the Charity Shield to no avail as Arsenal won 3-2. Your good form continued into the new season, as you scored four from your first five league games. You were the shining light as the club had a pretty lacklustre start to the season, drawing against Leicester, barely scraping a win at West Ham before being thumped 3-0 at Highbury.

After that game, your primary striker partner, Patrick Kluivert, really switched on and bagged six in the next five games, with the other primary contributors being yourself (3 goals) and the now infamous David Beckham (2 goals). You won all those five games, triumphing over Liverpool, Southampton, Wimbledon, Derby and Everton, which put United on top by goal difference on Halloween.

You won three games in November, scoring twice, though a loss to Sheffield Wednesday meant United slipped to second. You catapulted the team back top with a 94th minute winner at Villa Park in December, with Fergie Time ensuring you captured all three points. This victory was undermined by a run of two defeats (Spurs and newly promoted Middlesbrough) with a draw at home to Chelsea sandwiched in between. You returned to winning ways after Christmas, with a victory against Nottingham Forest and Manchester United's 1998 being concluded with a crucial 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge, with a characteristic header from Patrick Kluivert splitting the difference.

You had a good first half of the season, missing only one of the 20 League games played so far, bagging 12 goals in the process, with your sensational form attracting attention from Glenn Hoddle.

In Europe you fared very well. United were drawn in an easy group with their competitors being Dynamo Kyiv, Lens and Panathinaikos [1]. The Red Devils breezed through the group, winning 5 of their 6 games, only losing in Kiev thanks to some youngster called Andriy Shevchenko, and comfortably topping the group with 15 points. Dynamo also went through to the Quarter Finals by being one of the top two ranked 2nd placed teams. The draw wasn't as kind this time, as you drew the star studded Real Madrid side of Guus Hiddink, featuring the likes of Fernando Hierro, Roberto Carlos, Davor Suker, Clarence Seedorf and Raul. Getting past the reigning champions would not be an easy task, at least on paper.

You did not appear in the League Cup, with Ferguson preferring to give Andy Cole and Dion Dublin some game time. You were an unused substitute in all three of United's matches, watching them get smashed 4-1 at White Hart Lane from the bench.

You were recalled to the England squad for the Euro 2000 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Luxembourg on 10th and 14th October. You were a second half substitute for Paul Scholes as Hoddle desperately through men forward, searching for a winner at Wembley. You played a key role in the 87th minute winner as you bested your man and nodded Darren Anderton's cross towards Michael Owen, who beat the keeper at his near post.

After this crucial assist, you were rewarded with a start against minnows Luxembourg. You scored your first ever England goal that night, running through their defence to reach a David Batty through ball before chipping their keeper.

Your first goal was rewarded by a call up for the friendly against the Czech Republic on 18th November, which you started. You opened the scoring with a cheeky back heel that went through the keeper legs. You then scored England's third by driving a powerful shot in from outside the box which the keeper thumbled.

On the back of your exciting performances for club and country, the media were calling you a future Ballon D'or winner and were speaking of yourself and Owen as a possible future World Cup winning partnership. Your stock has certainly risen.

You have tentativrely agreed to be introduced to the Spice Girls by David Beckham, who is engaged to Victoria Adams, nicknamed Posh Spice. You meet and talk to all of the girl group and…

  1. Enjoy your night but nothing more.
  2. You don't enjoy the night and leave abruptly.
  3. Start talking to Melanie Chisholm, nicknamed Mel C or Sporty Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
  4. Start talking to Geri Haliwell, nicknamed Ginger Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
  5. Start talking to Emma Bunton, nicknamed Baby Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others, despite knowing she's in an unstable relationship with the singer Jade Jones.

With your new found stardom, the name Andy Watson is now recognisable nationwide. This is a fact that Pini recognises and is looking to exploit. He has been asking around and he has received an approach from Vodafone, a pioneer of the burgeoning mobile phone industry, for you to appear in an advert. You…

  1. Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
  2. Delay answering the question for as long as possible.
  3. Decline, you want to focus on football for now.

British Sky Broadcasting, more commonly known as BSkyB, are an offshoot of the Australian TV company Sky, owned by the infamous Rupert Murdoch, and have exclusively owned the television rights for the Premier League since its inception. After their successful takeover of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a Major League Baseball team, they are now looking to purchase a football team and have decided on Manchester United. This has been very controversial and the fanbase do not support this move in the slightest, while the Chairman Martin Edward is looking to conclude a deal for £98 million. At a post match press conference, a journalist asks you whether you support the takeover and you say…

  1. Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
  2. Absolutely not, Rupert Murdoch is a disgusting individual and should not be let anywhere near the boardroom.
  3. No, the current management is fine.
  4. I don't think it's my place to comment on these things.
  5. Yes, I think it would open a lot of doors.
  6. Absolutely, we will be able to dominate not only England but all of Europe if this takeover goes through.

Your old friend Wes Brown has finally broken into the first team, so you are sharing a dressing room together again. Your good friend David Beckham and your other friends Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs are also in that dressing room. You decide to talk to the most with…

  1. Wes Brown
  2. David Beckham
  3. Gary Neville
  4. Ryan Giggs
  5. Other (Please write in)

[1] This is Arsenal's OTL group because United winning the 97-98 PL means that they are in a different pot to OTL and get a kinder draw than OTL's Bayern, Barcelona and Brondby. I do want your opinion on whether the groups that United and England are in for the UCL, Euros and World Cup (maybe Euro and WC qualifiers too?) should be drawn from scratch because of butterflies or whether they should have OTL groups for the most part.

Stats
Name: Andy Watson
Age: 18
Height: 6ft 6in (198 cm)
Weight: 200 lbs (91 kg)
Position: Forward
Current Team: Manchester United
Number: 24
Youth Career:
  • Beechfield United (1987-1991)
  • Manchester United (1991-1996)
Senior Career:
  • Manchester United (1996-) 66/35 (92/54)
  • Total: 66/35 (92/54)

International Career:
  • England Under-16 (1996) 4/0
  • England Under-21 (1998- )4/1
  • England (1998- ) 5/3

Skills:
  • Pace - 11
  • Power - 15
  • Heading - 16
  • Flair - 13
  • Set Piece Taking - 8
  • Passing - 7
  • Intelligence - 13
  • Leadership - 6

Relationships:
  • Brian Watson (Father/Agent) - Excellent
  • Tanya Watson (Mother) - Excellent
  • Eric Harrison (Reserve Coach) - Great
  • Alex Ferguson (Manager) - Great
  • Wes Brown (Team Mate) - Good
  • Roy Keane (Captain) - Neutral
  • David Beckham (Team Mate) - Great
  • Gary Neville (Team Mate) - Good
  • Ryan Giggs (Team Mate) - Good
  • Pini Zahavi (Agent) - Good

Trophies
  • Manchester United
    • 1996-97 FA Premier League
    • 1997-98 FA Premier League
    • 1997 Charity Shield
Awards
  • Manchester United
    • Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year - 1996-97
    • Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year - 1997-98
    • Premier League Player of the Month - Feb 98
 
Solskjaer was sold to Tottenham for £5.5 million.
This victory was undermined by a run of two defeats (Spurs and newly-promoted Middlesbrough)
You were an unused substitute in all three of United's matches, watching them get smashed 4-1 at White Hart Lane from the bench.

Solksjaer is fucking angry.

God, it's weird as a Lilywhite reading about him playing for us.

I'd like to avoid relationship drama with Baby Spice in particular, but I'm fairly meh on any of them. Murdoch, on the other hand, is filth, but that's a loaded thing to say. I'd like to stick with the Salford angle.
 
[X] Start talking to Geri Haliwell, nicknamed Ginger Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[X] David Beckham
 
[X] Start talking to Geri Haliwell, nicknamed Ginger Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[X] David Beckham
 
[X] Start talking to Melanie Chisholm, nicknamed Mel C or Sporty Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[X] David Beckham
 
[X] Start talking to Melanie Chisholm, nicknamed Mel C or Sporty Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[X] David Beckham
 
[X] Start talking to Geri Haliwell, nicknamed Ginger Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[X] David Beckham
 
[x] Enjoy your night but nothing more.
[x] Decline, you want to focus on football for now.
[x] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[x] Wes Brown
 
[X] Start talking to Emma Bunton, nicknamed Baby Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others, despite knowing she's in an unstable relationship with the singer Jade Jones.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[X] David Beckham
 
Oh, Christ, time to look up who the fuck the Spices actually are by the way the votes are going. I'll just stick to the other votes.

[X] Delay answering the question for as long as possible.
[X] Absolutely not, Rupert Murdoch is a disgusting individual and should not be let anywhere near the boardroom.
[X] Wes Brown

Not the best answer, but I fucking hate Murcock. Just so much. Quick look at my nationality should clue you in. Absolute shitheel.

Anyway, that's a good set of rolls. Except Barca. But I think that doesn't affect us (?) We shouldn't expect to be this lucky again for a while. I hope our Development stays high at least.
 
[X] Start talking to Geri Haliwell, nicknamed Ginger Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[x] Wes Brown
 
In the next update I'll write a bit about what happened at Barca and then I'll start doing a list of major butterflies so I don't lose track of any of them.
 
[X] Start talking to Emma Bunton, nicknamed Baby Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others, despite knowing she's in an unstable relationship with the singer Jade Jones.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[X] David Beckham

People voting for Haliwell come on now... Bunton is by far the most superior of all the Spice Girls. (Unusual discussion for a football quest but yeah...)
 
[X] Start talking to Geri Haliwell, nicknamed Ginger Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[X] David Beckham

Fergie sold Solskjaer and brought Kluivert in as a replacement? Man, the partnership of Watson and Kluivert is going to be lethal for years to come. I guess that means no Ruud van Nistelrooy though. We've finally burst onto the international scene in spectacular fashion as well.
 
[X] Start talking to Geri Haliwell, nicknamed Ginger Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[x] Wes Brown
 
Oh, Christ, time to look up who the fuck the Spices actually are by the way the votes are going. I'll just stick to the other votes.
They are the most successful girl group of all time. Rolling Stone called them "the most widely recognized group of individuals since John, Paul, George, and Ringo". Overall, a pretty big deal especially where we currently are in time.
 
[x] Enjoy your night but nothing more.
[x] Decline, you want to focus on football for now.
[x] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[x] Wes Brown
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by Pathetic King on Jun 26, 2020 at 1:13 PM, finished with 16 posts and 13 votes.
 
[X] Start talking to Emma Bunton, nicknamed Baby Spice, and decide to meet her again without the others, despite knowing she's in an unstable relationship with the singer Jade Jones.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[X] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[X] David Beckham
 
[x] Enjoy your night but nothing more.
[X] Accept and look forward to earning some more money.
[x] Absolutely not, I am a local Salford boy, and I believe this club is property of the community and should be managed and owned by people who know the fans, players and manager.
[x] Wes Brown

Our friend is breaking into the first team, we should support him this year at least.
I don't particulary want to get involved with the spice girl. I'm all for focusing on football usually but starting our merchandising and developing our image is important, though.
 
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