Strikers Instinct (28 page)

The last few weeks of the season seemed to fly by and the final league positions were more or less confirmed before the last game of the season. Sadly, Wishton Clough couldn't seem to dislodge the top two teams who would gain automatic promotion to the Premier League. If Wishton won their last game of the season then they would finish third – but still five points behind the second-placed team – and that was exactly what happened. Luke wasn't needed in the last game as Wishton won 3-0 against a mid-table side who had nothing to play for. Rae managed to score without Luke's assistance and even Andy managed to get onto the score sheet – powering home a header from a corner.

“Well done lads!” Sandy congratulated the players after the game. “It wasn't quite the position we wanted at the beginning of the season but if someone had offered this to me after Christmas I would have taken it. Unfortunately it means that the season is going to stretch on for another month now.”

The players just seemed to shrug their shoulders.

“It's our own fault boss,” Andy answered for the team, “if we hadn't let so many points slip at the beginning of this year then we would be in the Premier League now. But it's still in our own hands – out of the four remaining teams we are the form team and we just need to get our heads down and win the play-off games.”

“I couldn't have put it better myself,” Sandy smiled, “we already know who we will be playing in the next two games so we'll start to get to work on Monday morning and plan our route to Wembley.”

The players clapped and whistled but they all knew that it wouldn't be so simple. There was a lot at stake and no-one wanted to lose out at this stage. At least they knew now exactly what they had to do. They had finished in third position in the final Championship table which meant that they would play against the team in sixth place. The team in fourth place would play against the team directly below them in fifth position. All the teams involved would have to play twice – home and away – the advantage to finishing third or fourth was that the final game was at home – which was a big boost in several ways.

Wishton had to play Blackburn Rovers who had finished in sixth place. The first game would be at Blackburn in 10 days. The second game would be at Wishton the following weekend. The result was decided by the total goals scored during both games – so in theory it was possible to lose one game but to still get through to the final by scoring more goals in the other game.

Once an overall winner had been found from both sets of matches then the two remaining teams played against each other at the neutral venue of Wembley Stadium. This was always billed as the biggest game in global League football – it was worth about £50 million pounds to the winners. But the Wishton players pushed all thoughts of Wembley from their minds – they had to concentrate on beating Blackburn. They worked tirelessly during the next week to prepare for both games – they studied videos of previous Blackburn games and practised different set pieces until they could do them in their sleep. For once Sandy was satisfied – he knew the players were at the peak and now it was up to them.

The first game was on a mild Tuesday evening in late April and was being broadcast as the main game of the evening on TV. The ground was sold out – the Wishton fans packed out their end of the stadium and Luke grinned when he noticed some banners bearing his name – there was even a large Boggart called “Lucky Luke”! Sadly, the game turned out to be something of a drab affair. Both teams were obviously nervous and seemed to cancel each other out. Even bringing Luke on with 15 minutes to go didn't help – he was closely shadowed by two players at all times and although in theory that gave Rae more room to manoeuvre, neither side could break through. The final score was 0-0 and everyone agreed it wasn't a game to remember but all thoughts turned to the return fixture the following Saturday.

Thankfully there were no injuries reported from the first game so the few days between the games were spent relaxing and toning up rather than full-blown training. Sandy even gave the players a day off and organised a golf day for them all. This proved to be a stroke of genius because it seemed to relax the players so that when they strode out for the final game of the season at the TxT Stadium they looked better than they had all year.

That seemed to be the story of the game – Wishton looked relaxed and confident in front of their adoring fans whereas Blackburn seemed nervous and edgy. Wishton broke through after about twenty minutes when Rae pounced on a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area and fired an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. The crowd went wild and that seemed to unsettle Blackburn even more. Their travelling fans had been doing their best to roar on the Rovers but after the goal they fell silent.

Blackburn realised that they had to push forward and try to score if they were to get to Wembley but the danger with that strategy was that it left them vulnerable at the back to Rae's lightening speed. In the end – that was exactly what happened. Just before half-time Blackburn were throwing men forward in a glorious attempt to get an equaliser when the ball was cleared back up field to Rae who only had one marker to beat. He pushed the ball passed him and then lobbed the onrushing goalkeeper – 2-0 at half time!

The first half seemed to have taken the heart out of Blackburn and although they never gave up, they never reached the intensity of the last twenty minutes of the first half and never really threatened the Wishton goal. Sandy was happy with the scoreline and instructed Andy to keep it tight at the back and to kill off the game The tactics worked perfectly and on a rare forward raid in the second half Wishton won a corner. Andy didn't send many men forward but the corner was taken short to the front post, Rae had lost his marker and he sent the ball flying towards goal with a glancing header! 3-0 and Rae's first hat trick for the first team. The stadium went wild.

Wishton were set to play at Wembley in the world's richest game! They wouldn't know who they were playing until the other two teams played the following day but at the moment they didn't care – they felt that they could beat anyone! Luke joined in the celebrations in the dressing room until Sandy called them all to order.

“Well done lads – especially you Rae,” he waved towards a beaming Rae who wouldn't let go of the match ball, “but that's only half the job done. You've got us to the playoff final and we have nearly two weeks to prepare – but you deserve a reward. Take a few days off – I don't want to see any of you at the training ground until the end of next week!”

The room erupted in cheers and the players began to contact their families to hastily rearrange their plans for the next few days. Luke sat back happily on his bench – this was all too good to be true – he kept feeling that any time now someone would pinch him and he would awake from a dream! He looked past the players as the door opened and Harry slipped inside the room. Luke noticed that Harry didn't seem to be anywhere near as happy as the players – in fact Harry seemed to be quite the opposite. He spotted Luke and hurried across the room – then slumped down beside his friend. No-one spoke for a moment then Luke broke the silence.

“OK,” he finally sighed, “no need to be so melodramatic – has someone died?”

Harry shook his head. “No,” he whispered, “it's nothing like that – but we are in big, big trouble!”

Luke and Harry quickly moved into one of the adjacent treatment rooms and Harry pretended to examine Luke as he began to quickly explain what was going on.

“I've been tipped off that QGNews- the cable TV channel – are going to run some interviews sometime in the near future.” Harry whispered.

“What's that got to do with us?” Luke asked uneasily.

“Well – amongst many other things – they are going to claim that I have been giving you illegal drugs!” Harry spluttered.

“That's not good.” muttered Luke.

“But don't worry,” Harry said grimly, “I'll be ready for them – but I will need a little bit of help from you.”

Luke listened as Harry outlined his plan and Luke smiled thinly as he nodded in agreement. However, Harry wasn't finished. He paused – seeming to be wrestling with a problem.

“What's wrong?” Luke demanded.

“I think that now may be as good a time as any to tell you something else.” Harry said nervously.

Luke just stared so Harry continued. “You were in the placebo group for the clinical trials…..”

The following day Bolton Wanderers won the second play-off match so Wishton knew who they would be facing in the play-off final. Ed was ecstatic – he took it as a good omen because of his family history and he took great delight in telling anyone who would listen to him that Wishton couldn't be stopped now. Sandy wasn't so sure.

“The chairman's finally flipped,” he grumbled to his wife, “if he thinks that a game that took place in the last century has any bearing whatsoever on this game then he's even more stupid than I thought he was.” Sandy's mood wasn't improved when he was called into a meeting with the board of directors on Monday morning. He thought he was going along to talk about the final but he was surprised to find that the meeting was addressed by Harry – and it wasn't good news.

Harry revealed that he had been tipped off that Jackie Jenson – working for QGNews- was going to make some serious allegations about Wishton Clough. Harry laid out an abridged account of the conversation he'd had a couple of days earlier with Luke to the board members. He didn't mention all the facts – he just told them what he thought they needed to know. He tried to make it clear that this was all Ed's fault because Jackie Jenson was intent on revenge. Ed tried to argue but realised that this could be serious so he listened to what Harry had to say. It now seemed that QGNews had set up a series of revelations for the day before the final – they wanted their story to have the maximum impact – Harry outlined his plan to combat QGNews and the board and Sandy backed him all the way. Ed was happy to let Harry take control of the defence – mainly because he didn't want to be dragged before the world media again for another kicking.

During the week before the big game it seemed that everywhere in Wishton was a hive of activity. Extra staff were drafted in at the stadium to cope with the avalanche of ticket requests from the Wishton supporters – the ticket office opened for extended hours to cope with the demand. At the training ground Sandy was putting the players through their final preparations before they left for the capital. The plan was to leave early Thursday morning so that the players could settle in and have a final training session before the game. Sandy did not mention any of the potential off-field problems to the players and he certainly didn't discuss them with Luke. The training ground and stadium were besieged by the media clamouring for interviews and slowly a rumour began to emerge that a big announcement was imminent – something that would rock the club.

Ed instructed everyone to ignore the rumours and just to get on with their jobs but in the background Harry was working around the clock to make sure he would be ready for anything that may be thrown at them. Eventually, it was Thursday morning – just as the team were boarding the bus that QGNews finally began to play their hand. As the players were moving through the assembled well-wishers they had to pass a group of journalists who seemed content just to take photographs – then Sandy appeared and immediately one man at the front of the crowd sprang to life.

“Mr. Dunbar, Mr Dunbar,” he screamed, “would you care to comment on the claims that Luke Linden has been playing games whilst under the influence of illegal stimulants?” He thrust a microphone aggressively into Sandy's face but Sandy didn't even break step. However, a group of Wishton supporters seemed to have been waiting for something like this to happen. Within seconds the reporter seemed to disappear under a good natured scrum of well wishers. When he appeared on the other side of the throng of bodies his microphone and notes seemed to have vanished. He shouted to his cameraman to find another microphone then he tried to continue as if nothing had happened.

“Breaking news,” he shouted into the camera, “QGNews have uncovered alleged corruption within Wishton Clough and we will reveal all in a series of interviews shown tomorrow afternoon.”

The interview had to be cut short because he disappeared from view under a pile of bodies once again – but this time he didn't reappear. The team left on time and travelled down to their hotel without incident. During the journey Sandy took the opportunity to finally brief the players about the situation and their reaction was as expected – they cheered Luke and within a few minutes they were talking about something else. In their eyes it simply wasn't worth discussing.

The following day found the players doing light training at a ground they had borrowed from a local athletic club. Sandy wanted to keep them moving but not tire them out. After lunch they jogged lightly around the track and Sandy signalled to Luke.

“The QGNews interviews are due to start in five minutes – we need to get to a television.”

Luke followed Sandy into a small office where a TV had been set up. He felt strangely calm – it was as if he knew that everything was going to be OK. The scheduled time arrived and Jackie Jensen turned to face the camera.

“Good afternoon.” She began with a fixed smile. “Today we look at the seedy underbelly of football and gain some insight to the people who we entrust to look after and participate in our national sport. My investigation centres around Luke Linden, who this time last year hadn't kicked a football for years but now we find him on the verge of playing in the Premier League. Is this a real Cinderella story, or is it – as we shall prove – a tale of illegal drugs and corruption?”

Jackie paused for affect then continued. “We begin by speaking to the right Honourable Basil Jeffers, a respected member of the government who will tell us something of Mr. Linden's background. We will then move on to a live interview with the Chairman of the Wishton Clough Supporters club. Finally we will speak to Jake Pryce who will claim that the real criminal in the recent Twitter scandal – was Luke Linden.”

All around the country people were glued to their television screens. If Jackie Jenson could prove her allegations then Wishton were finished. Jackie knew that and she seemed to relish being in the spotlight.

“First of all – our interview with Basil Jeffers. Due to his very busy schedule, Mr. Jeffers had to record this interview yesterday.”

In fact, the main reason that Basil wouldn't do a live interview was that he didn't trust anyone and he wanted his advisors to vet the recording before it went out. They were happy with the way things went so the recording was cleared to be screened. The view changed to a backdrop outside Westminster then moved inside to the stately setting of Basil's office. Jackie started the ball rolling.

“Mr. Jeffers, thank you for agreeing to talk to us.”

“No problem my dear,” he announced pompously, “I think it's always important that the truth is revealed.”

“Can you begin by telling us how you came to meet Luke Linden?”

“Of course.” Basil answered seriously. “We met many years ago at university – but even back then Luke was always in trouble. He threatened me personally several times and was on the verge of being thrown out. We always wondered why he was allowed to stay on. We did wonder if it was something to do with his background.”

“Could you elaborate?”

“Certainly.” Basil replied. “Luke and his family were Socialist anarchists – virtually communists. Linden had a nickname at university – we called him Lefty!”

Both Basil and Jackie smiled before he continued.

“Sadly his father also had rather a violent past. He attacked a policeman whilst leading an illegal strike and was sentenced to rather a long jail term.”

Around the country there were several gasps as this was revealed – back at the training camp, Luke gripped his chair in anger.

“He'll pay for that.” Luke whispered with quiet menace.

Back at the interview, Basil had begun to talk about the last time he and Luke had met.

“I was very surprised to see him doing so well.” he said with raised eyebrows. “He wasn't particularly clever at University but he now seems to be very well-off.”

“What did that suggest to you?” Jackie asked innocently.

“Well I'm sorry to say that I immediately thought that he must have been up to something illegal – I mean given his family background and all…….”

Jackie nodded and then indicated for Basil to continue. “What happened next?”

Basil looked pained. “I'm afraid to say that Luke and his friends robbed me of £10,000!”

Once again Basil paused for effect and once again gasps were heard around the country – and further. Basil went on to explain how he been tricked into parting with a large sum of his hard-earned money. He added that he was always happy to help with charity but he felt that he had been threatened and placed in an untenable situation. He talked for a few moments longer but Jackie had heard enough.

“Mr. Jeffers – would it surprise you to discover that Luke Linden has allegedly been taking illegal, performance enhancing stimulants?”

“I'm afraid not my dear. Nothing that man does would surprise me.”

“Mr. Jeffers – once again – thanks for giving up your valuable time to help with this extremely important story.”

Basil nodded his head graciously and the interview came to an end. Jackie smiled to herself – this was going well. She turned back to the camera with a serious expression.

“Unfortunately, we have heard from at least one source within the club that Mr. Linden needs to take a certain drink to help him get through each game. We will be asking why this substance has not been picked up by the regular drugs tests? But now we move on from that pre-recorded interview to a live guest. Mrs Fran Lafferty and I have spoken several times over the last few weeks and I'm delighted she has agreed to come here today to clarify a few issues.”

Jackie would have been more delighted if she could have actually recorded the conversation that she and Fran had a few weeks ago. Mysteriously the state of the art equipment had been playing up over the last few weeks. They also had only managed to get snatches of Jessica's conversation with Harry but they didn't manage to record anything at all from Fran. They had decided to go ahead anyway – Fran had confidentially confirmed to Jackie that the competition had been fixed.

Jackie turned to face the person to her left.

“Fran Lafferty,” she announced, “Chairperson of Wishton Clough Supporters club – I'm so glad that you were able to join us today.” Fran had been kept in another room during the previous interview so knew nothing of what Basil had said.

“It's good to be here in what is a very exciting week for Wishton Clough and our supporters.” Fran replied.

“OK Fran, can we begin by explaining about the competition you organised for the supporters club at the beginning of the season?”

Fran spent a few minutes explaining exactly what the competition was about and how thrilled they were about how successful it had been – Luke had done them proud.

Jackie was slightly confused but hid her concern and turned seriously to the camera. “That's all very well, Fran but you revealed to me last week that this competition was rigged so that only Luke Linden could win.”

The colour drained from Fran's face. “I beg your pardon?” she said calmly.

Jackie thought perhaps she had misheard her.

“I'm saying that you admitted that the competition was fixed.” Jackie said.

“I hope this is some kind of joke,” Fran said coldly, “or you are in a whole lot of trouble.”

Jackie began to panic. “There must be some kind of misunderstanding,” she blustered, “last week you sat in front of me and claimed that the whole thing was a set-up!”

Fran turned to face the camera. “I would like to see the evidence that you have to back up such a wild claim.”

Jackie panicked and looked for some way to end the interview. “I think there may have been some technical issues,” she stammered, “we'll have to leave it there for the moment.”

Before the cameras could move away from the interview the viewers could pick out Fran's voice, “you'll be hearing from my solicitors!”

Jackie was sweating but needed to pull herself together quickly – she had got out of worse spots than this – she just needed to wind Jake Pryce up and let him go. During the hastily arranged ad break she signalled to a runner to bring Pryce through. She despised the odious footballer but she really needed him now.

Jake had been kept in a similar room to Fran so he knew nothing of what was going on. When QGNews had contacted him, he had snatched at their invitation like a drowning man reaching for a lifejacket. Following the hacking incident he had been charged by the police and had been ostracised by virtually everyone. His current club in Italy had severed all ties with him – the only slight silver lining was that they had to pay his wages up to the end of the season. That meant that so far there had been no financial loss – if he could just wriggle out of these charges then he could start again.

Just as he was contemplating coming out on top once again, his phone buzzed. This new phone had been registered by one of his few remaining friends and only a very small number of people knew the number so he instantly opened the message. Suddenly it was his turn to go pale and start to panic. The message read:

“We warned you. If you go ahead with your interview then within one hour we will release these photos on the internet.”

With an increasingly sinking heart Jake began to flick through the photographs. Although not illegal they were extremely incriminating and if certain people saw them then Jake knew that the least he could expect was extreme violence. He switched off the phone and walked calmly to the door. Stationed outside was a large member of QGNews staff.

“Can I help you?” he asked. “Just a few more minutes before they are ready for you Mr. Pryce.”

Jake tried to smile. “I don't feel too well – I need the bathroom before I go on.”

The security man noticed how pale Jake was and ushered him along the corridor.