Premier Deception (10 page)

The training ground
was nearer than the stadium so it wasn
’
t
long before they were there. They were early, the team
weren
’
t due until 9am but Charlotte was
to familiarise herself with the facility and staff first before the
team arrived. It was she thought like the workings inside a clock.
The Stadium was the façade, the showpiece but if you opened it up
to see how it worked you would find the training ground facility.
Charlotte was amazed at the work that went on here. Very quickly
the time passed and before she knew it Luke came in and announced
that the team were waiting to meet her.

They were assembled
in the video room, where they watched both their games and those of
their competitors. Luke opened the door and Charlotte stepped
inside. The room was crammed full of various members of the team
and they all looked blankly at her. Some were visibly frowning
others had blank expressions with just a few smiling. The room
seemed very small with this amount of people in it. She swallowed
nervously looking around her. This room was probably every girls
dream come true. Wall to wall fit, gorgeous guys and all looking at
her expectantly. She could almost reach out and touch the
testosterone. She thought about Imogen and her
“
hot
”
lifeguards and thought that
she would implode if she could see her now. Charlotte smiled around
at everyone and took a deep breath and said.
“
Good morning everyone. My name is Charlotte Dawson but you
can call me Charlotte or Charlie if that makes it seem any better
that I am not a man, at least we can pretend I am.
”

This brought a very
faint trickle of laughter but she was undeterred.
“
Last season is now behind us and we must forget
about it and move forward. The one thing that you can remember
though is how you felt at the end of it and use it to spur you
forward this season. We don
’
t want to
have another season like it and must firmly resolve to put it
behind us and learn from our mistakes.
”
She paused and took a deep breath. Her legs felt like jelly
and she felt as though she was about to be sick with nerves. She
had never been good at public speaking unlike Zoe who revelled in
it. Trying to remember the tricks that Zoe had taught her she fixed
her gaze on an imaginary target at the back of the room, however
all she could see was Ronnie smirking at her which really got her
back up.

With a new found
resolution she continued.
“
This is a new
start and despite your reservations I can assure you that I have
your best interests at heart and my door is always open to you. I
am not going to make any changes so nobody fear for their jobs,
however by the end of each game I will assess each and every one of
you and if you are struggling you may find yourselves substituted.
I want to give everyone a clean slate and you must prove to me, the
club, the fans and above all yourselves that you have the right to
wear that strip. I will welcome any feedback or suggestions that
you have and I promise to listen and stick by you all and hope in
time that I can earn your respect.
”

She sensed a slight
thaw in the arctic temperature and carried on.
“
Luke will continue the good work that he has started and
Ronnie will continue as Captain. Thank you for your time but I
mustn
’
t hold you up any longer as we have
a game next Saturday and I want us to show everyone that we mean
business.
”

Once again silence prevailed but as she looked around
Charlotte saw a little of the animosity had gone but it was obvious
that she still had some way to go.

“Come on
Lads,
”
said Luke,
“
let
’
s show Charlie that we are
all behind her and then get changed and meet me on the
pitch.
”
Everyone clapped her and then
went off to get changed. Charlotte sat down in one of the chairs
and said to Luke,
“
I
’
m glad that
’
s over.
”
Luke looked at her and almost smiled.
“
It was a good speech but as you know it will
take more than a few words to win that lot around. They are now the
laughing stock of the league for two reasons.1- The appalling
season we just had and now 2 -they are being managed by a female.
It
’
s a lot for them to bear. Anyway
I
’
m off to start training and will drop
by afterwards to fill you in.
” “
Shouldn
’
t I come too?
”
said Charlotte.
“
No
remember there is a lot of promotional activity waiting for you,
you raise our profile and I will try and raise their game.
”
Luke left and Charlotte looked around the empty
room. It had been a challenge for her to speak to a roomful of men
as their boss and she suddenly felt very small indeed. She looked
around and with a sigh jumped up. She had better get back to see
what meetings Allison had lined up. However before she could get to
the door Ronnie came in and closed it behind him and turned towards
her sending alarm bells coursing through her.

“Well well,
”
he said leeringly,
“
wasn
’
t that a pretty
speech?
”
He came and stood right in front
of her, so close that she could feel the heat from his body and his
breath on her face.
“
Just you remember
that you are a pretend manager and don
’
t
go getting any ideas above your station. We know the score, if you
slip up that will be it for you and that immigrant driver of
yours.
”
Charlotte felt trapped, she
couldn
’
t move back because the chairs
were in the way and she couldn
’
t go
forward because his body was stopping her. He pressed further
forward still enjoying his power over her. Her voice stuck in her
throat and she didn
’
t know what to do.
She looked up at him with alarm, noticing the excitement in his
face at just how helpless she was. He licked his lower lip and his
eyes blazed. Just then, to her immense relief, they heard somebody
pushing the door open and Ronnie sprang back saying,
“
so Sylvia and I wanted to invite you over for
dinner tomorrow night to meet everyone. Just informal we wanted to
welcome you to the team, about 7.30pm. I
’
ll text you the address.
”
He
turned to see Luke entering the room.
“
You too Luke we can all get to know each other
properly,
”
and with that he left the
room.

Luke saw her face and
a dark look passed over it.
“
What was he
saying to you?
”
he said in a low
voice.
“
Nothing.
”
Charlotte said, she wasn
’
t about
to start running to Luke with her problems, it would only make him
even more sure that this had all been a big mistake, she wanted to
get out of the room as quickly as she could. The thought of going
to Ronnie
’
s house tomorrow filled her
with dread but she realised she had to go otherwise they would feel
that she didn
’
t want to get to know the
team or mix with them. She vowed to keep a lot of distance between
her and Ronnie in the future. Looking at Luke scowling at her she
wasn
’
t sure that he could be trusted
either. They all seemed to resent her; the only ones she could
count on were Max and Allison.

Charlotte went to find Max. She saw him
out by the car and headed towards him. She called out and he turned
around. She was so glad to see a friendly face. As he looked at her
a frown came over his face. “What is the matter Charlotte, why do
you look so sad?” Charlotte was surprised, goodness was it that
obvious, she must learn to control her expressions more. “Oh it’s
nothing,” she said not wanting to tell him what had happened. She
would find a way to deal with that situation at another time.
“Please can you take me back to the stadium? I have to see Allison
about my schedule.” He looked at her thoughtfully and she noticed
that his eyes had almost turned black and a strange look passed
over his face that almost instantly went as quickly as it had come,
maybe she had imagined it she thought. “Of course I will,” he said
and as he held the door open for her she couldn’t see the angry
look that had passed over his face.

They didn’t talk much on the way back.
Charlotte was thinking about the events at the training ground and
Max appeared lost in his own thoughts.

On returning to the stadium Charlotte
was glad to get to the safety of her office. On entering it she was
amazed to see dozens of bunches of beautiful flowers taking up
residence on every available surface. Allison came in and laughed
at her expression. “Who on earth are all these from?” Charlotte
said incredulously. Allison replied. “Mostly from other football
managers, sponsors, fans, press, you name it they’ve sent it.”
Charlotte was surprised but also touched. “Is this normal, I mean
did the last manager receive things like this?” Allison laughed and
said, “well probably not flowers but he did receive rather a lot of
wine and spirits in his time.” “They are really lovely and the
scent is amazing. I can’t possibly keep them all in here though.
Would you be able to help me collect the cards and then distribute
them among the staff? I must send a thank you to all of them.”
Allison agreed and they set about removing all of the cards.

Charlotte spotted a small lone bunch of
carnations that looked very out of place among the huge hand tied
bouquets. She couldn’t find a card but there was a small piece of
paper stapled to the cellophane. Removing it she read it, all it
said was, “soon!” “Allison, do you know who sent these?” she asked
thinking it a very strange gift. Allison came over and said, “No I
can’t say that I do, they must have been hand delivered because
they weren’t in here earlier. Maybe Annette on reception knows and
brought them up; I’ll give her a call and let you know.”

Once Allison had left with the last of
the flowers that were being re distributed Charlotte made a coffee
and sat down to look at the mountain of paperwork that had appeared
on her desk. Before long Allison popped her head around the door.
“Have you got a minute?” she asked. “Of course come in,” said
Charlotte smiling. Allison took a seat and said, “we have had so
much media interest that we need to start making some decisions.
The phones are ringing off the hook from everyone from Talk Sport,
Question of Sport and Sky sports news to Loose Women, Hello
magazine, Good Morning Britain and even a lad’s magazine asking for
a raunchy photo shoot.” She said this so seriously that Charlotte
looked at her incredulously and they both exploded with laughter.
“I don’t know,” said Charlotte finally when she had calmed down.
“The obvious ones are the sports ones, I mean I am not really ready
for day time TV and magazines, but I should speak to the sports
media.” Allison replied, “well we can set up some phone interviews
with the radio shows but the owners wanted you to raise the profile
of the club and get into every sports bulletin and show possible.
It may be a good idea to go on one TV show, one magazine and one
radio programme to start the ball rolling. Would you like me to
check with Elsie as to which ones they want and get back to you?”
“Yes that would be great,” said Charlotte; I will keep on looking
through this paperwork in the meantime.”

Allison went to leave but remembered
something and said, “Oh I spoke to Annette. She did bring those
flowers in but they were on the reception desk when she came back
from lunch. Elliott the security guard said that a fan had brought
them in for you, he didn’t get his name though.” “Oh that was sweet
of him,” said Charlotte, although the note was a bit weird she
thought. Soon she was absorbed in her paperwork and the hours
passed. She didn’t even stop for lunch until there was a knock on
the door and Allison came in. “Charlotte one of the team players
wants a word, Ben Murphy, can you see him?” “Of course,” said
Charlotte wondering what he wanted, “send him in.” Allison did as
requested and Ben Murphy came into her office. He was a small lad,
about 18 years old, with short brown hair and twinkling green eyes.
He looked nervous and must have come directly from the training
ground. It struck her how out of place he looked and seemed to feel
in her office. She smiled and pointed to the seat in front of her
desk, which he lowered himself into and looked around him obviously
feeling very awkward. “Would you like a coffee?” she asked going to
the machine. “I was just about to have one myself.” He nodded
gratefully and sat quietly whilst she made them. She passed him his
coffee with a couple of biscuits and said, “how can I help you
Ben?” Nervously he coughed and said, “I am sorry to bother you Miss
Dawson, but I was wondering if that when you look at the team
sheets for Saturday’s match you would consider me?” Charlotte
looked surprised. “Well of course I will Ben, I will look at
everyone available and discuss with Luke who he considers the best
team would be. Why do you ask is there something I should be aware
of?” Ben coloured up and said falteringly, “well it’s just that I
haven’t had much practice lately and would really like to get a
shot at a game. I needn’t play the whole game if you think that I
am not playing very well but I really want to prove to you that I
deserve to start.” Charlotte’s eyes narrowed, something didn’t seem
quite right, she looked at him sitting nervously in front of her
and wondered if this was normal for a player to come and make such
a request. Maybe it was. She studied him for a moment and then
said, “ok Ben now tell me straight, there is nobody else here and
what you tell me will go no further but why have you come all this
way after training to ask me something that you could have
discussed with Luke or Ronnie at the training ground? unless you
have already and they’ve said no for some reason.”