Strikers Instinct (22 page)

The opening day of the season finally arrived and even Ed Tierney had to begrudgingly admit that the Grimshaws had done a fantastic job rescuing the pitch. In fact the whole stadium looked wonderful – the paintwork gleamed and the pitch looked like a bowling green – all that was needed now was the team to do their bit.

High up in the stand Luke was more nervous than he had ever been at the beginning of a season. He normally looked forward to each season but this year was different – he was a lot more involved this year and in turn that had meant that he knew all about the turmoil of the last few weeks. The last couple of days training had gone well but Luke still wondered if Jake Pryce had left some lasting impact on some of the players.

Andy Tiler had been greeted back with open arms by everyone at the club and at least that seemed to have a positive effect – everyone seemed happier now that he had been cleared. Luke glanced at his match programme for the hundredth time – Sue grasped his hand.

“Calm down dear.” she whispered.

Luke grinned – no-one else around them could tell that Luke was on edge but Sue knew him too well. As far as Lexi and Tom were concerned their dad was just his usual self but Sue knew that he was just a little bit nervous. The moment was broken by the stadium announcer with the team news. There were few changes to the team that had ended the previous season but the main difference was that Sandy was giving a chance to a 18 year-old youngster who had come through the ranks at Wishton.

Rae Bradshaw was Wishton born and bred and had signed for his local club as soon as he was eligible. He had shown great promise in the youth team and had played really well on several occasions for the reserve team. Sandy had been patient with him, the previous season he had made a few substitute appearances for the first team but today was his first big break – he was starting up front alongside Adi. Sandy was hoping that he had discovered something that every manager craved – a goal scorer.

Today's opponents were Sheffield Wednesday – a team in the process of re-building but the bookmakers claimed they were quietly fancied to do well this year. The stadium was filling up fast – the early August day was hot with hardly a cloud in the sky and most of the supporters wore shorts and sunglasses. In contrast Luke felt uncomfortable in his club suit and tie, although he wasn't down on the bench with the rest of the squad he was still technically a representative of the club so he had to dress accordingly. Sue noticed him casting envious glances at Tom who was wearing a Wishton team shirt and shorts.

“Don't worry,” she teased him, “you can cool down with a pint at half time and it will soon be time to go home and change!”

Luke smiled thinly but the heat was the last thing he needed on top of his nerves. In contrast his wife looked like coolness personified. She wore an oversized pair of expensive sunglasses and a dress that seemed to float around her. He suddenly snapped out of his dreams as a roar erupted around the ground – the teams had just entered the stadium.

After the game Luke went down to the dressing room and as he laughed and joked with the players he wondered what he had been nervous about. After a bit of a nervy start, the Wishton players had settled very well and began to apply a lot of pressure to the Sheffield goal. Wednesday had held out until almost half-time then Adi headed down a long ball into Rae's path and the ground exploded as the youngster smashed the ball into the roof of the net for his first senior goal. Rae returned the favour just after the break when he slotted a perfect ball through to Adi who slid in from five yards out.

The game ended two – nil and Luke could see the relief on the faces of Sandy and his backroom staff. They knew the players had prepared well but no-one could gauge just how much the previous week may have affected them. The players had answered that question in the best way possible and now everyone was smiling.

Sandy pulled Luke to one side.

“I may need to ask you a favour son.” he said.

“Ask away boss.” Luke replied.

“One or two of the boys have picked up a couple of knocks – nothing serious but we need to treat them over the next few days. The ideal treatment for these kinds of injuries would include swimming but in his infinite wisdom our chairman won't even shell out for a paddling pool!”

Luke grinned. He thought he knew what was coming next but he decided to ask anyway. “So how can I help boss?”

Sandy remained poker-faced. “If I knew someone who had a lovely, heated swimming pool with an attached gym, then that person would be a god-send!”

Both men looked at each other for a few seconds then burst out laughing.

“No problem boss,” Luke smiled, “when do you want to start.”

Sandy clapped Luke on the back. “Excellent son, excellent – I knew you wouldn't let us down. Ideally these kind of injuries should be treated as soon as possible – would it be too much trouble if we brought the lads round first thing in the morning?”

Luke couldn't see a problem and spent the next few minutes talking to Dave Kingston who would be driving the players round to the Linden home in the morning.

“Once you get through the gate just drive round the back of the house and park up.” he explained. “The pool and gym are to the left of the outbuildings.”

Dave thanked Luke and they agreed upon a time for the morning session to begin.

The following day, Luke had just finished a few laps of the pool when the intercom sounded – the main doors could be opened from various parts of the property. Within a few minutes Dave and the two injured players were standing in the pool room. All three were gazing round in amazement.

“Flipping eck Luke, this is some place you have here.” Dave enthused and the two players simply nodded their heads in agreement.

Luke smiled. “Just make yourselves at home – but not too much at home – the place is covered by CCTV and booby traps!”

The three men looked worried until Luke laughed.

“Calm down – I'm only joking – come on, let me show you around.”

Within a few minutes the two players were slowly moving up and down the pool following Dave's instructions. They alternated swimming with walking through the water and Luke watched intently to see if he could pick up anything he could use. After a few minutes he knew he needed to move to the next room to begin his stretching exercises.

“Dave,” he shouted, “I'll be next door if you need anything.”

Dave gave him the thumbs-up then turned back to his charges. Luke moved away to the custom-built room in which he spent a lot of his time. As soon as he walked through the door the heat hit him and he smiled in anticipation. The smell was a mixture of spices and aromatherapy herbs and the overall effect was both calming and invigorating. Luke knelt on the mat in the middle of the floor and began to move through his daily schedule of stretches, yoga and Pilates. After a few minutes the door opened and although Luke didn't seem to notice the interruption he spoke – without opening his eyes.

“What can I do for you Dave?” he asked.

“Flipping eck Luke,” Dave spluttered, “how hot is it in here?”

Luke grinned. “This room is part of the reason that I keep as fit as I do.”

Dave suddenly became interested. “Go on,” he said, “I'm all ears.”

Luke explained that he had studied different training methods all over the world and he had noticed that a common thread running through several systems was the use of heat. He had put together his own program and now he always did these exercises in a relatively hot room. Dave listened intently as Luke went on to say that he started each day with a swim, followed by a session in the hot room and then a cardio-vascular session at a lower temperature in the adjoining gym.

“Then I always finish off in here.” Luke led Dave through to a small room at the far end of the building. He switched on the light and opened the door, Dave noticed a square hole in the ground and he noted with amazement that he could see ice cubes floating in the water.

“This is my ice bath.” Luke said through gritted teeth as he plunged into the water, totally immersing himself. After a few seconds a body exploded from the depths of the plunge pool revealing a grinning and glowing Luke.

“Come on in,” he joked, “it's lovely!”

Dave swallowed nervously. “Maybe next time.” he laughed. He stayed in the room with Luke for a while longer, asking several probing questions about the different techniques that Luke used. Luke answered all Dave's questions but after 10 minutes he had to hold his hand up.

“Dave – we are going to have to leave it there.”

“I'm sorry,” Dave replied, “have I said something I shouldn't have?”

“Not at all,” Luke shivered, “but if I don't get out of this pool in the next few seconds then I think that important pieces of my body may start dropping off!”

Dave began to apologise for asking too many questions but Luke stopped him.

“Don't worry,” he said, “that's the normal amount of time I spend in the ice bath – you didn't keep me there any longer than necessary.

Luke and Dave went back through to the main pool area to check on the two players. They were still slowly swimming up and down and Dave called across to them.

“OK guys, I think that's enough for today – we don't want to overdo it.”

The players swam to the side of the pool and within a few minutes they were showered and changed then Luke led them to the patio at the back of the gym. Just as they arrived Nell appeared with a large plate of bacon butties and four steaming mugs of tea.

“Thanks Nell.” Luke grinned before introducing the three strangers.

Thirty minutes later Dave shook Luke's hand as they prepared to leave. “Luke – you've been brilliant – and you've opened my eyes with some of your training methods – we need to talk some more. Please thank Nell for the wonderful breakfast and we'll leave you to enjoy the rest of your Sunday in peace.”

Luke snorted. “Peace – no chance of that, I have to get ready for church now and then it's the highlight of my week – visiting my mother!”

The next few weeks flew by in a happy blur for Luke. Things seemed to have settled down at the club and the days of Jake Pryce seemed a distant memory. On the pitch the team continued with their encouraging start – out of their first four matches they won three and drew one – this meant that Sandy Dunbar was awarded Championship manager of the month for August.

Back at the training ground Luke had been approached by Sandy to see if he would work with small groups of players to see if his exercise regime could be of benefit to the club. Luke was flattered but hoped he wasn't being humoured just because he had helped the club during a tricky time. He brought the subject up with Sandy.

“Don't be stupid son,” he scoffed, “I'm not doing this to win friends! Dave was very impressed with your training methods and he has convinced me to let him work with you. The two lads who used your pool are back in full training so you must be doing something right.”

The two players had returned for a few extra sessions in the pool and this time Dave encouraged them to also exercise in the heat room and even persuaded them to use the plunge pool. Although they were reluctant at first they were both pleased with the rapid recovery from injury. Luke went through some of the exercises with them and found that he had enjoyed the experience.

So Luke began to work with small groups of players – both at the training ground and at home in addition to continuing to take part in training sessions at the ground. Luke had now progressed to participating in full scale training matches and although he struggled some days to keep up with the speed of the younger, swifter players, he was always still plugging away at the end of 90 minutes, when others may have started to flag.

There was only one small cloud on the horizon as far as Luke was concerned – and that was in regard to Harry's study group. Luke was now convinced that the two incidents that he had originally thought were related to the new treatment were just coincidences. He hadn't felt any kind of twinge for weeks and he was sure that Harry had placed him in the placebo group. Harry also seemed disappointed but he told Luke that some people in the group also didn't react for weeks then suddenly something triggered an impulse and they became a lot more alert.

Luke pushed all thoughts of the dementia project to the back of his mind – at the moment there simply wasn't enough hours in the day for him to worry about it. In addition to enjoying himself at the training ground he still had other business interests to look after and sometimes he worked long into the night checking documents that were relayed to him during the day. In spite of his busy lifestyle Luke was now incredibly happy. The kids were keeping out of trouble and next week Sue was finally about to start her new job so maybe she would finally stop mooching around the house.

He was smiling to himself as he thought how lucky he was.

“What are you so happy about?” shouted Andy who had noticed that Luke was running about the pitch seemingly in a world of his own.

“Nothing skip, sorry.” Luke apologised – he realised that he shouldn't be daydreaming in the middle of a practise match. The first team squad was playing against a team made up from the youth team, the reserves – and Luke. The aim was to allow the first team to continue to bond and grow – playing against a supposedly inferior team was designed to assist that growth. Of course the rag-tag team tried their best but the first team were more experienced, faster and more skilful. Little or no contact was allowed during these type of games – injuries in training matches were frowned upon. Luke was instructed to take a spell in the centre of defence – his height and build made him a difficult player to face.

The match continued for a few more minutes – the first team were winning 3-0 – when one of the reserves conceded a corner. The reserve team goalkeeper barked out orders , telling the defenders where to stand in order to keep the ball out of the net. Luke was assigned to take care of Adi and began to follow him around the area. The ball was swung in and it headed towards Adi. Both Adi and Luke moved towards the ball and just as they were about to jump Adi felt his take-off foot slip and he crashed into the back of Luke – their heads collided with a sickening thud.

Both men fell to the ground and within seconds medical staff were attending to them. After a few minutes they both seemed OK but Sandy ordered them back to the changing room to rest. As they walked back, Luke and Adi joked with each other about who had the hardest head. In Luke's opinion Adi's head must be made of concrete – Luke's head was throbbing!

It seemed that no harm was done but as a precaution both men were told not to train any more that day. Adi was too important to risk – he was on fire at the moment having scored in each of the first four games. It seemed that all the problems with Jake Pryce had actually had a positive effect and seemed to have revitalised his career. In addition he seemed to be forging an excellent rapport with Rae – who had scored 3 goals. The medical staff also wanted to make sure that Luke was fully recovered before he played again – Luke joked that they weren't really bothered about him but said that Sandy didn't want to risk losing his swimming pool!

Adi and Luke relaxed in the canteen and then both left early for home – the following day they both seemed perfectly fine. Luke began the day at home, working out with an injured player and then they both drove into the training ground together. Luke was checked out again by the medical staff and pronounced fit to train and he began to jog around the pitch with the other players. The day then began to fall into a familiar pattern, exercising in the morning, then lunch followed by ball work in the afternoon. There was a slight change to the routine today as the first team squad had left for London at lunchtime – they were playing in the capital at the weekend and this meant a few days away from home.

Luke continued to train with the reserve team players and the day ended with a seven a side game designed to help the players exploit all the open space on the pitch with intelligent running and passing. Once again the players were warned to keep the contact to a minimum and Luke was told to take his place at the centre of defence. For the first ten minutes the game ebbed and flowed without incident until Luke's side won a free kick just outside their opponents penalty box. Luke's team mate stepped up to take the kick and a small defensive wall was assembled in front of him.

Suddenly, Luke felt an overwhelming urge to move to the outside edge of the penalty area. He drew a few enquiring glances as he wandered into an area that presented no threat to his opponents. In fact his own goalkeeper began to shout at him to pull back to defend his own penalty area. For some reason Luke ignored him and stayed rooted to the spot. Luke's team mate strode up to the ball, seeming to hit it perfectly into the far corner of the net but at the last second the ball slammed up against the post. The deflection flew away from the goal and dropped at the feet of an unmarked Luke who calmly tucked the ball into the open net.

Players from both sides laughed and hooted. “You lucky sod!” someone shouted. Luke grinned and shrugged his shoulders as he ran back to his own half. A few minutes later the opposition responded with a well-worked goal and the game was finely balanced as they went into the last 10 minutes. Throwing everything forward in a last-gasp attack, Luke's team forced a corner.

“Take the front post Luke.” the reserve team captain ordered and Luke ran to do as he was told. However, just before the ball was swung in, Luke peeled away and ran to the far edge of the penalty area. The ball was in the air as the players tried to understand what Luke was doing but they didn't have time to worry about it as they tried to get to the ball. However, the goalkeeper seemed to have the situation in control, he rose unopposed and raised his hands to catch the ball. Suddenly he seemed to juggle the ball and it flew out of his hands and shot across the penalty area – straight to the unmarked Luke Linden. Luke deliberately headed the ball straight back into the top corner of the net and then wheeled away triumphantly!

Once again the hoots of derision echoed across the field and on the sidelines the remaining backroom staff grinned. “Twice in one game – you are definitely pushing your luck!” shouted one of Luke's team mates. Once again Luke just laughed as he ran back to restart the game. There wasn't enough time for the opposition to respond – within seconds the game was over and the players headed back to the changing room, laughing and joking as they walked.

Luke quickly showered and changed and then walked towards his car. He dialled Harry's number and waited nervously for him to pick up. Finally he heard his friend's voice.

“Harry – I think it's happened – I think the treatment is beginning to work!”