tedsteel posts
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2.42. Max Best Wins It All (Part 1 of 1000)
42."How do you feel?""I feel good. I feel concentrated. I feel like I'm driving safely."The fact that I didn't want to chat while driving was a minor source of friction in my relationship with Emma. Not that we'd driven together all that much. She made an exaggerated show of checking the roa...
2.41 - The Karma Before the Storm
41.Revenge Fantasy Minus 8 DaysHenri: Are you still on the bus from Gloucester?Me: Yeah. Still like 3 hours left. Did everyone you invited turn up?Henri: Yes! And more! And early! Chester's match was snowed off. Yours is one of the only ones that took place in the whole country. I am trying not to take it personall...
2.40 - Play On
40.Football glossary: Play on. Continue the game! Your player was kicked, but you have the ball in an advantageous position. So play on!***Saturday, 10th DecemberThe first team gathered at Eastbourne and stayed indoors for as long as possible while our kit and bags were loaded onto the team bus. Indoors. Out of the col...
2.39 - The Devil Is In the Detail
Dear Patrons. As you know, I also write operettas. This one is called Ted Sings to His Readers:- Would you like a double chapter?- No we deserve much more!- Would you like a triple chapter?- No we’ve seen that length before!- Would you like a quadruple chapter?- Wow no thanks that's far too long.What I'm sayi...
2.38 - The Attention Game
Hey! Do you like AI generated fan art? No? Well, close your eyes and scroll down about 4 inches.Thanks to OneAutumnLeaf in the Discord chats!38.It started with Emma ringing my doorbell at 7:30. She'd taken the day off work and didn't seem too worried about the consequences. I guessed that dreamy blondes got awa...
2.37 - Double Dribble
Quick note - I'm sure you sometimes think 'this story is top but the footy bits are slightly unrealistic'. Not so! Remember Darlo vs Kettering? So many red cards? Check out last night's Man United vs Fulham match - 2 red cards for Fulham players and one for their manager WITHIN 40 SECONDS! Events in Pla...
2.36 - Side to Side
36.I flopped against the back cushion and felt something cold and wet press against my back. For a second, I worried I'd spilled something on Henri's nice sofa, but it was just my sweat spreading around my lower back. "Quick shower," I said, and tried to bound up the stairs. I was still pretty rigid fro...
2.35 - Do Better
Double chapter, almost a treble! This chapter is best served with a small bag of Cadbury's Mini Eggs and a big bag of red wine.35.We still had a bit of time before Holland vs USA, and I had a moment of inspiration. We put the shopping in the fridge, then got in my car. I checked I was fit to drive - I was, but it w...
2.34 - The Max Best Manifesto
34.By Saturday morning I had turned into a human brick. A few times, I woke up and wanted a sausage butty or to pee but simply couldn't move. My legs were eight times their normal weight. Henri's bedroom had different gravity. I assumed I'd spend the rest of my life there, crushed under the pressure of my o...
Max Best IRL
Hi all!Quick unexpected bonus content.In the Discord chats, one Club Legend told us he was inspired by Player Manager to get back on the pitch after a long break. He found a Friday night game and wrote his experience up as a story which you can now read! If you like it, there's already a sequel. Like or comment if ...
2.33 - Go For the Corner
33.We got into position for the second half. The crowd had visibly diminished. I hoped they were inside somewhere, buying beers, and hadn't fucked off home."Best!" Caveman was yelling at me.I spread my arms. What?"That's not the plan!"Instead of being in the central DM slot, I was loitering out ...
2.32 - Kettering Town
32.Friday 2 DecemberOn Friday morning we did a light training session, just loosening up and going through the match plans one last time.I ate in the canteen and really had a lot of questions about it. The food was the same as the day before, even though we had a match scheduled for that night. I didn't know much a...
2.31 - Here Endeth the Lesson
31.Sunday felt like climbing out of a hole. First, I got a lunchtime text from Emma. Just a light kind of 'checking in' message. I responded in kind. I guessed that Gemma had told Emma what she'd seen, and that while I was bonkers, I wasn't bonking women left, right, and centre. So Emma was trying to st...
2.30 - Yellow Cards
30.I paused as Henri opened a car door for me. "Enchanté," I said."I'm opening the door for Gemma. You get in the front.""Why?""Because you're a professional footballer and we're going to be driving for two hours."I didn't really understand what he was talking about. ...
2.29 - Poking the Bear
29.The coach pulled over. The rest of the first team craned their necks in baffled amazement as I stepped off and got cozy at a random bus stop on Princess Parkway. I felt a bit odd wearing my Darlo hoodie and clutching my Darlo kit bag not all that far from my house in Moss Side. From the back seats, the cavemen gave ...
2.28 - All Out Attack
28."Well played, Webby, lad," Cutter called out, and gave the guy a pat on the back as he left the pitch.That was my answer, then. Cutter needed me more than I needed him.I strolled over to the far side of the pitch and waited for someone to pass to me.***Hereford were well up for the game. There were a lot of ...
2.27 - Monkey Island
27.Henri's bed was so incredibly comfortable and I was so terribly fatigued that I overslept. I jumped out of bed and zoomed to training. To save three seconds, I even left my kit bag on the dressing room bench for the first time since Captain Caveman's Wet Welcome.Fortunately, Henri's house was so close an...
2.26 - Holy Moses
26.While I was touching a couple of fingers to my neck to see how fast my pulse was going, a couple of young women approached our table. White, thin, fake tan, high-waisted jeans, big hoopy earrings. One's neck was bare, the other wore two different necklaces. Now that I was spending most of my time with tall, powe...
2.25 - Copa Mundial
25.I read through the perk - twice - then looked at James. "Would you like to help me with a project?""Oh. Yes. Probably. What is it?""Two things. One. You're a big movie buff and you like Bible stuff. I've often thought of writing a screenplay. Maybe one where there's a guy who's ma...
2.24 - Timing
24.So much of football is about timing.Egypt are due to play in the first World Cup, but miss their connecting ship to Uruguay. If only they'd arrived, they might have won, and people might have taken African football more seriously in the subsequent hundred years.Lucas Digne signs for Everton. He loves it and the ...
2.23 - Whoever Has Will Be Given More
[Triple. Chapter. Triple chapter. Again!]23.I knocked on the door of a shitty terraced house in north Manchester. If you don't know what a terraced house is, don't imagine a place with 2,000 football fans living on the side - it's not that kind of terrace. I think in some countries they're called row ho...
2.22 - No Backsies
22.Alfy took the kick off and had a little go at us. Trying to get a quick equaliser. I shuffled and slid and kept the shape. I even sprinted to help Colin, the prick, out of a jam.All the while, I thought about my ideal next steps. The absolute dream would probably be for me to score the second goal, really whip up th...
2.21 - A New Light
[Triple length chapter! Grab TWO coffees!]21.Guys slapped each other as I walked through the changing room. Get a load of this!Dudes got out of my way as I slammed open the doors to the outside world. Oh my God, what happened to him?I walked across the pitch towards David Cutter, manager of Darlington Football Club.I s...
2.20 - Managing Expectations
20.Dirt. Dirt and decay. Dirt, decay, and debris.Sweat. Stale sweat, the stink of sweat, dried sweat, sweaty beanbags, discarded sweaters, bags of socks both sweaty and discarded.Boys. Teenage boys, teenage men. Belch, burp, hack, spit, cough, fart, drip, drool, scratch, repeat.A woman comes to tidy, to clean, to rub, ...
Player Manager: The Audiobook
I don't listen to many audiobooks myself because I fall asleep, wake up to hear who the killer is, then go back to chapter 2 and find the whole thing is ruined.But 50% of the comments I see on Facebook LitRPG groups and Reddit are 'that book sounds cool but is there an audio version?'So in the interests of ...
2.19 - Jam Tomorrow
19.Wednesday, 16th NovemberI was first onto the training pitch again, getting my day off to a good start by smacking free kicks at goal. 5 right foot, collect the balls, have a think. 5 left foot, collect, think. It was a good rhythm. I could have taken a whole bag of balls but then I would have only been shooting and ...
2.18 - Whitby Town
18.I had a hearty lunch in the staff canteen - apparently it was the done thing to load up on carbs the day before a match. The goalies were great company but were puzzled that I had chosen not to take a shower after the session. They kept ribbing me about it until I announced that while I didn't mind the joke, we ...
2.17 - Top Gear
17.I demanded the minivan keys from a very, very reluctant Pat."I'll drive you, lad. Where are you off ta?""Please hand over the keys, Pat.""You're not insured!""The keys if you please." He dropped them into my palm. "My boots and shinpads are in the shower. Please leave them...
2.16 - Digs
16.Football glossary: Digs. Digs are cheap, shared accommodation owned or run by a football club for use by their junior players.***At around 6, Henri kicked us out. That is to say, he kicked me out, and then he kicked Emma out. I waited for him to do the same to Gemma, but he must have forgotten she was there.With a g...
2.15 - The Fast Track
15.There was a minor logistics issue. Because I'd walked to the restaurant and Henri had arrived in his impractical two-seated Lotus Seven, he would have to drive me to my car, and then I'd go back to the restaurant and drive the ladies to the stadium. Henri, of course, wanted to do it in a more complicated way...
