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[Sweet Nola] - Chapter 1
Nola was twenty-three years old. Her hair was dyed blonde and she wore it shoulder length. She moved to Ireland from Belarus when she was eight years old. Her speech contained a trace of Slavic accent and she would stumble on the occasional word if she was nervous. The ever beautiful Nola entered the fancy Allé Chandelier Café au Lait. A most fabulous hipster café that sells overpriced sugary drinks with unnecessarily long and hard to remember beverage names. As Nola pushed with through the revolving door with her more than feminine musculature, she had already decided what she was going to order. In fact, Nola has a 'drink of the day' for every day. Today was Wednesday. Humpback Wednesday as she likes to call it. For Wednesday, she needed the most potent coffee, black coffee. Two more days to go, she thought. "Bonjour petite mad-moose-selle. The usual?" "Le Venti Blanc Cappuccino with no sugar. Ah yes, the usual. Merci," Nola replied with a goofy looking smile. Her jaw was slightly misaligned whenever she smiled but she was pretty enough to pull it off. It honestly didn't detract from her cute bubbly look at all. "One Le Venti," the coffee artist emphasised the venti in an exaggerated Italian accent, "Blanc à la Cupa coming right up," now mixing Italian with French. The coffee artist winked, causing sparkles to materialise out in Nola's overactive imagination. He was suave and handsome to boot but was too gay in Nola's eyes. The man’s posture echoed more femininity than the most girly of girls even though he had the body of a bodybuilder. Nola let out a polite sounding scuffle of a laugh causing the barista to flush. I'm so suave, he thought to himself. How homosexually flamboyant of him, Nola thought beneath her smile. Nola grabbed her overly long named coffee and exited the hipster coffee shop. She stood outside and breathed in the fresh cool morning air. The wisps of steam from her Le Venti Blanc with cream but no sugar danced and hung in the air. The smell of finely poured coffee switched her into robotic office lady mode. I am ready for paperwork. I'm ready. She then decided to take a tiny sip of it. Carefully raising the cup as to not set her throat on fire, she took a teeny sip that burned her lips. Playing the dangerous game of being burnt in the mouth woke her up to the gravity of the situation. It was time to set foot into the office. The solemn office life awaits her. She adjusted her skirt and pinched up her stockings. It was time, she thought yet again. For real this time. Any moment now. The entrance to the insurance company she worked in was directly beside the café. A sigh of the heftiest manner was exhaled through her nostrils, blowing some steam out into the cold summer morning. The glass door parted for her and she stepped afoot without any more procrastinations. Nola walked through an even more depressing door which led to her desk. Cold, hard and grey was the colour palette of the office life. Nola was subconsciously screaming every day and she even didn't know it. Keeping up this façade of a normal life was tedious but her job as an assessor gave her life security. Twenty heavy stacks of pages and pages later, she realised her fears were well founded. Her face was buried beneath stacks and stacks of papers detailing names, ages, health problems, insured wealth... "Nola, it's only half nine. Looks like you're hanging by the thread." She looked up and who would you know, Dave the psycho NPC with his head popped up from their desk wall that was propped between them. "Bleh~ Why don't you do my share if you're so compassionate, Dave?" He squinted his eye like he was doing his best impression of a china man caricature. "Sleepy already? Don't know whatcha' want since you always look so tired. It's a comfortable career here. Good easy money. I've done a lot worst. Used to work at the bookies. This-" he pointed both fingers to the ceiling, "-is heaven on Earth. I'm tellin' ya Nola." Dave let out a hearty crackle of a laugh. "Hee hee hee heeee-" A psychopath, thought Nola. Her eye bags had already materialised to the surface of her light make-up. Office workers were all deranged, even myself. Whether it was because they were driven crazy trapped in their mundane life of modern slavery or perhaps, it was the office that attracted these psychos. She had thousands of things she wished for and none of them were to have a desk beside his. It was a semiopen office with waist level walls separating every two worker. Nola wished the wall was made higher but clearly a psychopath was in charge with designing the layouts of the office too. In other words, office life was a certain variation of hell and Nola was living thick in it, exposed. She had had enough of his retarded demeanour. She decided to take her daily thirty minutes break fifteen minutes earlier than usual, totalling her small break of today to forty-five minutes. She glanced pitifully at the creature that was Dave before she left. Nola sat staring emptily out the window in the café she visited this morning. She had the same coffee sitting in front of her, now an ice coffee. She looked at the barista. It was the same barista from earlier this morning. Of course it was the same. Only an hour had past. Why in the world would a shift last so little? Why do these idiotic and obvious statements run rampant in my mind? Annoyed at herself, she ruffled her hair irritably. The barista was a handsome, jacked man whose muscles seemed to be on the verge of bursting through the seams of his undersized shirt. She examined him and came to the same conclusion as always. That he clearly visited the gym six days out of seven in a week. He looked gay, Nola thought, handsome but gay. The fact that she have seen him so much of him, the lustrous appeal has long worn off. Since she took her morning routine tea break early, she decided to loiter around Grafton Street. The streets were quiet. The normal hustle and bustle has not begun yet. The streets were mostly still filled with men and women in suits heading to their jobs. Nola was sure that these people were contemplating their adult life. She herself didn't really mind as these people didn't. As a well-adjusted contributing member of society, this was how things were. It was important to fit in. Along her walk, she saw a man dragging a harp shaped object on the back of a trolley. There were some boxes stacked in the front topped by an upside down stool. He looked about his mid-twenties and sported a chic black overcoat. Another man with a perfectly trimmed beard, she thought. After visiting the usual coffee shop with the flamboyant barista sporting the same type of beard, Nola couldn't help but think that all of these bearded types of men were gay. The box was rounded on the top. Curious at what it was, Nola followed him inconspicuously conspicuously since she was a clumsy person. Nola could not imagine such a sleek macho looking man playing the harp. Then again, chances are he's gay, thought Nola again. The man stopped in the middle of the shopping district and propped up three wooden legs. What was placed on it was what Nola thought was a harp case. Turns out to her surprise it was a little baby grand piano. Don't go judging something by its appearance I guess. "Kinda early to set up?" "I have to stake my territory early." "Whatcha' gonna play?" "Oh, a fan already? I'm joking. I don't have any fans." "If you can play something that I like, you'll get your first fan." "Something you like?" The man placed the stool in front of the freshly set up mini baby grand. "Do you have any preferences?" “Hmm... Piano Sonata No.14 in C-sharp Minor, third movement by Beethoven.” "The third movement of Moonlight Sonata is unfortunately not part of my usual repertoire I'm afraid," he paused deep in thought. “That one's too demanding but give me three months and I'll be able to play that one." "Do you know a Coldplay song?" "One Coldplay song coming right up." Do do do do doo doo~ Do do do do doo doo~ When he started singing, she was blown away that he could actually sing and wasn't just looks. If somebody drags around an acoustic piano around, that musician better be able to sing. When the singing finished. Nola stood speechless. She even forgot to clap which she loved to do just like Americans. "You're so good. I didn't deserve that." The man laughed. "Are you single?" The man laughed harder. "No, I'm serious." The man laughed even harder and then suddenly stopped. "Sorry, I'm dating somebody.'" "Ah." Lucky girl, she thought. "It's a cold day today isn't it?" She crouched down and placed a tenner gently in the long, rectangular case and a euro on top of the note to keep it from being blown away. "Thanks." She pretended to look at her watch and then set off back to the office. She wanted to ask the man for his number but what's the point if he's taken. Her friend Eleanor and her little brother was much better at piano, she thought. They couldn't sing though. ... Nola was back at the office. Her head was down working on some meaningless piece of banal work on her corporate laptop that had already been finished during the first twenty minutes of the day. She was merely pretending to look busy as she sensed there was somebody approaching her. It was old man Vasco. It was lunchtime. He did a head tilt to Nola to signal her to join him for lunch. Old man Vasco was a hell of a perv and he was Filipino. She would overhear Vasco and some other work colleagues commenting and rating the asses of female co-workers who walked by. Men, pigs. Nothing in their mind but meat. They were all married men as well with wife and kids and this made Nola grimace in disgust when Vasco asked her to lunch together. What also disgusted Nola was women who settled with these pigs. Why do they marry people like this? I'd pulverise him with my bare fists if I catch a glance. She meant it. She didn't go to the kickboxing gym for nothing. She relished in beating people with brute force. She loved to inflict pain, especially if it was on defenseless old men like Vasco. There was something hugely satisfying when a man submits to a strong woman. She walked with him to the canteen. "How did you meet your wife?" "Ah, my wife..." Vasco squinted his already squinty Asian eyes and looked ponderously ahead as if he had x-ray vision that saw through the walls to the female toilets. "I haven't forgotten, it's just been so, so long ago." "Ah, so yo-" "It was a hot Philippine summer. I could still hear the cicadas, cricketing outside on those eucalyptus trees." They lined up in a queue full of middle-aged men. "I was a plumber." Nola pretended to be surprised at this fact to look attentive. A sleazy plumber obviously. "The door opened and my jaw dropped down several stories because the most beautiful woman I have ever seen was standing in front of me." "Wow, lucky." "Yes, but I had to have the courage for the coming steps." He let out deep sigh to emphasise the gravitas of his words, "Fate only brings you to the door." "True", Nola tilted her head to show she agreed. "-and so of course I had her number since I was called as a plumber." Nola retracted her previous agreement. Fate did too much of the heavy lifting for this sleazy old man. Some people have all the luck. She grabbed the ladle and poured some soup into her bowl while Vasco continued on his story as if he was reciting the Iliad. By the time they arrived at the table, the tale was finished with pomp and circumstance "Lucky you." "That's why I named my little girl Lucy. You know, like lucky." "Ah really?" Nola felt sickened but didn't show it. One of Vasco's circle of friends approached the table while Nola slurped on her soup. It was Dave the psychopath. "Hola Vasco, hola Nola." Christ, Dave. Vasco is Filipino, not Mexican. This was Dave's trademark greeting to Vasco yet Vasco wasn't offended. Cultural differences, thought Nola. If he doesn't feel offended then there's no need to correct Dave. Dave talked like a child more often than not. He probably spends too much time playing and baby talking with his child. "Look at you fellas, slurping yer soup. What's on the menu today?" "It's whatever leftover they had from yesterday.” answered Vasco solemnly. Nola looked at the soup, not noticing what she was slurping on until now. It was spaghetti bits today. "My child loves those spaghetti cans," Dave said and then decided to launch a one sided dialogue on the latest reality show that his wife and him watched. Vasco grumbled something unintelligible. Another man joined the table holding his own lunchbox. It was one of the higher ups, a project manager; a slimy, swarthy man. He was Indian. His stomach was fat and his hair was slicked back, carefully styled to be fashionable in his eyes. There was bad blood between Vasco and the fat Indian. Office politics. Backstabbing. Both mutually interchangeable. "Hey guys." His voice was hoarse, containing hardly any vitality, almost evoking a sense of pity. This was all just an act. Appear weak and strike when they least expected. Art of War, Sun Tzu. A manager's bible. Vasco grumbled even louder as he shuffled across to make a space for the newcomer. The swarthy man immediately overtook the conversation with his own diatribe. "Ah, always bring your own lunch. Nothing healthier than homemade food." Vasco couldn't help but nod his head in agreement even though he hated the swarthy snake. "True," agreed Dave. "Always with your words of wisdom, Kamil." What leaked into the air from the lunchbox was an extremely pungent smelling curry. It stung the nostrils if you weren't a curry consuming race like Kamil. Nola thought it looked tasty but the amount of grease and oil in it didn't look as healthy as the big shot manager implied. I'm sure he's just eating it to save lunch money, she thought. He was a known penny pincher even though he had the highest salary of them all at the table. Another man joined the table and they all shuffled over again. Then another one and another one. Soon there wasn't even elbow room left on the small round table. Nola pretended to listen intently to their conversations. They talked about current news, politics which Dave tuned out of, talks about the latest reality TV show that Dave and his missus obsessed over which was now Vasco's turn to tune out, and the such. The most common topic they talked about was their wife and kids and paying their mortgages. Her ears perked up when Dave talked about the negative effects of Spongebob Squarepants. He shook his head in quiet disgust mentioning it. "Some of them cartoons are dangerous." "I'm sorry? We're talking about Spongebob right?” one of the office drones chimed in. The office drone laughed. Nola kept her cool, curious at how Spongebob Squarepants could possibly destroy and corrupt childhood innocence. "Some of them are wacko. The subliminal messaging and images in it. It's not good for them," David said with utmost seriousness. He continued begrudgingly as if speaking of unspeakable war crimes performed on children. "A child's mind at that age are easily influenced." "You might say they're like sponges." Dave ignored him. "It's dangerous. Some of the ideas that go into them," he shook his head again. " I don't want my girl to grow up weird." Nola laughed inside at this forty year old grown man preaching the dangers of Spongebob. Caveman intuition as evidence wasn't exactly what she would present as an argument when vilifying a child's cartoon. Only one visibly laughed. Vasco nodded in agreement. Confederacy of the dunces, she thought and I was one of them. There was an intern at the table who looked like a lost child. Nola saw that in his eyes languished a physical pain. The pain of having to witness these types of adult conversations every day. Nola was sure that he would not be back after his placement was over. Who could blame him? The world of adults was not a place for the weak minded. This was why she didn't like grabbing lunch with Vasco and the other office drones. It wasn't much better with the female co-workers. All they talked about were men, work and people she didn't know. Nola felt a bit indebted to Vasco though since he was her first manager so she sucked it up and laughed when appropriate and questioned when something was meant to provoke a question. Nola went outside for her daily after lunch walk as did most of the other employees. She went to the bookstore called Bookchapters. His little brother had already finished the last book she got him. He was probably getting a lift back home right now from school, she thought. She started giggling at the thought of how vehemently opposed Dave was to a child's cartoon. Then she felt disgusted that seemingly college educated idiots like Dave were raising children. What other dumb traits would someone like him pass and nurture. No wonder the world's in a current mess when educated people were no better than retards. Spongebob Devilpants, she thought. She picked up a book for under four year olds. Teletubbies. Wonder what Dave's opinions were on these homosexual devil spawns who eat LSD laced cookies. Or was it marijuana in Dave's view? She threw her head back in cackling laughter, drawing worried looks from customers. She picked up a picture book this time. "The Beautiful Princess" by Mel Blanc. That's me alright. I think I would like this one more than my little brother though. I'm sure he'll enjoy it too. She picked up another book because the spline was eye-catching. "The Watcher of the Dusk." She decided she liked the title and the cover and purchased it. It can't be that bad if the title sounds cool. She looked at her watch. 3pm. I should head back to the office. When Nola got back to her desk, she didn't have anything that she didn't already blaze through from earlier this week and this morning so she sat there watching videos on the internet on one monitor and playing checkers on the other. Some days she would get home exhausted from doing absolutely nothing at work. It was strange. The thing about working, she thought, was that any kind of work ethic results in the same pay. You move up in the world building and linking networks, something she excelled at. The other factor that's equally important is luck. This job itself came from a friend who she met at the gym across from this office block. She typed some trite into a spreadsheet and then checked her corporate e-mail. "Let's see, let's see." She hummed the tune from earlier in the morning. "Yay, new email." She said in feigned enthusiasm. It was an application to upskill with a paid master's in a national college. They pay you to skip out on work by attending this college, I could use that. Nola was really thinking of escaping this company and hoping that she would never have to see these people ever again. According to the course, she would be working on a thesis project in conjunction with the branch here, and would have to travel back to this office from time to time. I still get to see them less though. A lot less. She examined it closer. It was a contract that extended her current contract by another two years. The option of paying her way out of the contract was always there so that didn't concern her. There was also a requirement to attend a work convention in San Francisco for a presentation. In other words, she would be in charge of advertising their company in Silicon Valley. They only paid for the airline ticket and expenses in the airport. A multi-billion dollar company being cheapskates. Business as usual, Nola thought. She knew of a loophole to make some necessary adjustments to corporate trips. The problem was her little brother. He was disabled from the waist down and she was his sole caretaker. She was afraid he wouldn't be able to settle comfortably in when they would move to the other city where this university was situated in. She knew if she were to ask him, he would go along, not wanting to deter her because of his own disabilities. Then again, not working a nine to five job would mean she would have more time to spend with him. She lamented how he was starting to feel emotionally distanced from her these days. She glanced at the other details. Pay was good. In fact, they paid for the studying which was more than her current pay if you factor in they will cover the accommodation cost. It was a master’s in marketing. The project undertaken during the course will be in corporation with this corporation. Her eyes scanned the line twice and then the rest of the e-mail. Blah, blah, blah, it read. She had been out of college for two years now. To go back would feel like a step backwards and the prestige of holding paper degree didn't mean much to her. Starting a new life attracted her though. She had already reached a comfortable dead-end. "Why not?" she thought. The digital clock struck 4.00pm. I'm good enough for the day. Tired from doing little to nothing as usual. Collecting pay checks were easy once you found yourself in the door. She thought about what she had: Money, a comfortable house, friends, a person I love and cherish and a nice easy life. It would mean throwing out everything that she had built up if she got accepted to the master's. As she left, she looked back and saw Dave's head stuck down, hard at work. Nola took the bus home. The bus wasn't crowded but she stood the whole way. When she decided to sit down the next stop was her stop. She stood in front of her home shuffling through her little handbag for her keys. She opened the door and what greeted her was a sight of a crippled boy covered in blood. Chapter 2
What an insane season we’ve just had. There have been incredibly high highs, as well as horribly low lows, but we’ve made it through a fifth season in the premier league! With a sixth on the way, it is now time for months of mind numbing transfer speculation, and that’s what I’m here to provide to you! As always, please let me know if you want me to include anything new, or if I miss anything. Yours u/shoecat
I’m going to do my best to stick to good sources, but call me out if I post something from a shifty place and I’ll take it down or find it from a better source
May 13th and Prior
Player
Rumour
Source
Youri Tielemans
The Monaco loanee has completed his loan spell in Leicester, but after impressing, Rodgers is in to get him to sign, not without competition from the likes of United and Liverpool
After impressing on loan, the central defender is happy to stay for another season at Celtic, and Rodgers says that if the defender is to go on loan, Celtic would be the prefered destination
We are favourites to sign the Munich legend according to the bookies, but not currently in talks with the Holland man. What an insane world we live in.
United reportedly are in for Madders, and are claiming we set a £60 million price tag on him, but "the Foxes won't put price tags or valuations on players they are not looking to sell." Manchester City are also interested in the young midfielder, and are prepared to make a large bid on him
This is almost non-news but Maguire has clarified after liking a United fan's comment on instagram (that he would be a fan favourite,) that he didn't mean to like the comment
Leicester are set to sign the Arsenal U18 right back, I've seen a couple unofficial tweets that we have signed him but I'll make it official once the club does
The Sampdoria midfielder is not sold on a move to Leicester, saying that a bigger club that competes for trophies would better suit him. Leicester have had an €18 million bid rejected by the club, who value him at €25 million
I’ve decided to not do the Sky Bet odds because they’ve blocked out of country bets, and I am living in America and for the life of me can’t get past their block, so I can’t post these for the moment POSPAC is a legend and offering me weekly skybet updates on odds, so the table is back! All hail POSPAC
At my most recent Problem Gambling Support Group meeting via Skype (the same one posted on here weekly) it was my turn to do a therapy session. This is my journey from starting gambling until now. I thought it would be worth sharing here as someone may get something from it. It is a bit of a long read. My name is Mark and i’m a compulsive gambler. My last bet was April 2nd 2019. The day of April 2nd was a massive turning point in my life, it was the day I finally admitted to my long term partner, who is the mother of my two children, and to my parents that I was a compulsive gambler and needed help. The weekend prior was when I finally said to myself I’ve had enough, I had been betting for 14 years and it had beaten me so badly that I was a mess mentally and financially. Although no one knew that because I was an expert at hiding it. I started gambling like almost anyone in the UK or Ireland, The Grand National. The one day of the year where it seems like every man, woman and child has a bet on. The biggest horse race in the world. That and those glorious holidays spent in Portrush playing the 2p machines (penny fall machines). I don’t for one second blame those experiences for my gambling problem, they are just my first memories of gambling. One really vivid memory I have of gambling was when I was begging my dad for the latest Official Playstation Magazine, the one with the demo disc, and he was just sitting down to watch England play against someone and said to me “if Paul Scholes scores the first goal I will get you the magazine.” Now, I know for a fact win or lose my Dad would have gotten me the magazine, he just said that so I would give him peace to watch the match. Well I remember watching the game with him hoping with all my might Paul Scholes would score 1st and he did. That adrenaline rush, even at a young age (I was 13 years old at most I would say) was unbelievable. Now, again, I am not blaming that for my gambling addiction at all, it is just one of my first vivid memories but that mentality of gambling to get something I want for free would be a regular pattern throughout my gambling career. Once I turned 18 I opened my first betting account with Blue Sq and that started my online sports gambling journey. Friday nights were spent betting on Wolverhampton all weather horse racing and the Dutch and French 2nd Divisions. All harmless fun, controlled gambling, small stakes. I was still working part time at this stage, left school that summer and gambling was not in the way. Once I got my full time job though that all changed. The first time I could put my finger on when my gambling changed was the first day of the 2008/2009 football season. I’d been working full time for about 3 years and my gambling was still under control, well, at least I thought it was. My stakes were still low and I was doing football bets at the weekend for a bit of fun. I gambled, but it wasn’t causing me any issues. That Friday I walked into a Paddy Power and decided instead of placing a load of stupid football bets for £1 or £2 I’d pick three teams for the season and do a £20 treble each week. Sheffield United, Leicester City and Leeds United were the picks. Of course, the first weekend it landed (the only time it landed all season I think) and my betting changed from that moment. I genuinely can’t remember the odds but I must have lifted over £100 from that £20 stake and after that staking £1 or £2 just wasn’t appealing. What was the point in that when I could stake £20 and win more. From that moment my gambling started to get out of control over time. Then came the loans, the credit cards and the payday loans. At some point around this time I had opened a spread betting account due to a sign up offer. Now I did not have the first clue about spread betting but the offer was they gave you a free £100 or something to sign up so I did. I was still living at home at the time and we had one computer which everyone used. Well my Dad stumbled upon this website and was able to access the account (he’s not technically minded so I imagine I left it logged in) and he seen the betting history and he went mental at me. Now, I did explain that it was just bonus funds and I hadn’t actually deposited any of my own money but still the lecture came. It felt like a lecture at the time to me but he was just warning me of the dangers of gambling. Giving me examples of people he knew who had a problem and how easy it is for a gambling problem to begin. So I can never turn around and say that I wasn’t aware of the dangers, I was, my ego was just too big to listen. I paid lip service to the lecture and said I wouldn’t do it again and my Dad took me at my word and trusted me. So, I knew early on I had a problem. I self excluded from places over the years but never really wanted to quit. I was getting in debt but was able to continue with my lifestyle as I was living at home. I remember one day going to a cheque cashing place where I could write a cheque for £100, dated on my next payday, and they’d give me £90 there and then. I did two cheques for going out that weekend (and a couple of bets on the Aintree Festival) walked straight to the bookies and had the £180 on Denman to win the Aintree Bowl at even money. Denman was a monster of a horse, a machine. He could not lose...then he suffered the first fall of his career. Back I went to the cheque cashing place for another £90 so I could still go out that weekend. I wasn’t learning from my betting mistakes either as I was just borrowing more money to cover the cracks. I got a few debt consolidating loans over the early years to try and get a handle on my debt but it just gave me an excuse to take out more credit. The payday loans which I used to either gamble or cover my expenses for going out because I used all my money gambling. I would borrow money off my Dad and give him the puppy dog eyes when I paid it back and normally he’d only take half of what I owed him. He thought he was doing the right thing and he wanted me to have money to be able to go out with friends, I was just manipulating the situation. I moved out and into my friends house for a year and the gambling continued, although I had less money to gamble with. My credit rating was taking a battering but I was young and didn’t really care. Then I met my current girlfriend in February 2010 and we moved in together that September. The gambling continued and was getting worse. I made the smart move to get a second job to supplement my gambling…...at a greyhound track. I’d be earning about £20 a night but gambling £60 or £80. Insanity. We had our first child in April 2012 and not long after she found out I’d be gambling some of the money we’d saved. It wasn’t a lot of money, but she was pissed (rightfully so). I managed to talk my way out of it and that was when I became really good at hiding things. She took control of the rent money and any money for our son so that was never in danger thankfully. We had our daughter in 2016 but the gambling still continued. It may seem like I have glossed over an important period of time there but the truth is I can’t really remember any of the details. The only details I am able to recall with any great clarity are coming up but I just want to touch on a couple of things from this period. This was a time when I had the biggest wins of my gambling career, two separate occasions. One was an insane run of luck where I couldn’t lose all weekend and ended up with enough money for me, my partner and our Son to have our first and only foreign holiday. Another time I had a £5 free bet and landed a treble at Sandown, all Gary Moore horses and won £3.5k. That money went towards decorating the nursery for my soon to be born Daughter, my partner got money, my Mum and Dad and her Mum and Dad. I bought a PS4 and gambled the rest from memory. The two reasons these moments stick in my head isn’t just the amounts, it’s the only time I walked away in profit, at least for the sessions in question and the reason is that I told my partner I had won the money. That was the only way I knew I wouldn’t gamble it all away because she would ask questions if the money I promised didn’t materialise. Another part of this time period I want to explore is how I was emotionally. I was 25 when we had our Son and he wasn’t planned. It was a shock to say the least and my life, as I knew it anyways, changed. No longer was I able to do what I wanted socially, I had a Son to provide for. I was working two jobs, money was tight, was I still gambling? Of course I was but slowly I started to strip everything else out of my life. We had our daughter when I was 29 and to be honest here, as much as it sadeness me I thought this way I resented having kids, especially at that age. I felt trapped at times, people I knew were able to do what they want but yet I had all this responsibility. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my kids during this time as well and they meant the world to me, but I do feel that I got into the thought process that I was trapped because of them and my only escape was into the world of online gambling. I would go through phases where I’d stop altogether for months on end, a year at one point which I imagine was around the time my partner found out about me using the savings for gambling, but I’d always go back to it thinking I was in control but I never was. When gambling I’d deposit £10, lose it, deposit another £10, lose it, rinse and repeat until all my money was gone. If I won it just meant I could gamble longer. It was never about the money. I thought it was, but really the money was the fuel that could keep me gambling longer. Most months I was skint a few days after payday and couldn’t gamble until the next payday. It may not sound like a lot of money but it was a relentless cycle month after month after month. At the end of 2016 I got an overdraft of £2k and gambled it all on soccer all around the world. Woke up and started gambling in Asia, moved across the globe into the Middle East, Africa, Europe and then fell asleep betting on South American football. It was out of control. Betting on Egyptian football on Xmas Day a particular lowlight. This was what my gambling looked like when I had money. All these bets were in-play as that’s how I gambled, watching a little graphic on Bet365 and thinking I could predict what was going to happen. I also gambled heavily on tennis as well, picking a player to win a set 6-0 was one of my favourites. Generally I would start with £10 as I mentioned and if the bet won I would keep “investing” all the money until it got to a certain amount, normally a couple of hundred quid. Once I got to that point I would raise my stakes significantly because I would tell myself it wasn’t my money. It wasn’t if I didn’t count all the loses it took to get to this point over the previous few days. I would then gamble that until it’s gone cursing myself for not taking the money when I had the chance. Placing the last of my money praying to a god I don’t believe in that if he could just make this bet land then I wouldn’t bet again. Once the money was done I would just sit there, looking at my bank balance, the lack of money, the direct debits due to come out in a few days, trying to figure out how I would survive the next 3-4 weeks until payday. Then I would dust myself off and start working on some budgets. What direct debits I could bounce, who I could ask to borrow money from or maybe what I could sell to fund another round of gambling to try and win my money back. Coming into 2018 I was in a “good place” with gambling, or so I thought. I was Matched Betting which was a way of making money via bookmakers offers. It worked well for a few months but it all went to shit in the Summer of 2018. Matched Betting introduced me to the casino side of things and I lost £3.5k on roulette. I’ll not go into the ins and outs of how I had that sort of money, lets just say I didn’t and I found a way to deposit via direct debit on PayPal and of course those all bounced. Luckily Paddy Power rewarded me by making me a VIP customer after that, every cloud and all that. So I was chasing big style and getting free £50 bonuses each week from them but I could never get enough money to stop, because no amount was ever going to be enough. Their offers of Money Back if Horse X wins are normally £10 max refund, I was getting £100 max refund. Eventually I was running out of ways to get money and when I started to bet less with Paddy Power they removed my VIP status. I did win £1000 on an NFL bet and lost the lot on roulette the next week. Another lowlight. The win on the NFL followed by the lose on roulette sticks in my mind because visually it summed up how miserable I was. I had promised my partner back at the start of the year that we would get the living room redecorated and I would pay with it from my Matched Betting and she was happy with that. Of course I explained it was risk free and nothing could go wrong and it wasn’t even gambling. Anyways, come November we are due to have our living room redecorated and of course I do not have the money for it so I have to go to my Mum and Dad. I give them some sob story about how when I was Matched Betting I made a mistake, layed off the wrong horse and lost my money so could then lend me it and don’t tell my partner. It was a complete lie and to be honest at the time I didn’t think they had bought it but they lent me the money. Turns out when I told them about my gambling problem back in April they had smelt bull shit but my Granda (on my Dad’s side) was ill in the hospital and he was stressed about that so he just let it slide. So the redecoration was on and it was going to take a couple of days. One Monday night I had a bet on the NFL and it landed, £10 at 100/1. Happy days, I can give my Mum and Dad back their money, it’s nearly Xmas, this is amazing luck. So on Tuesday night I sat in my half decorated living room and thought if I could just win a little bit more then things would be even better so loaded up the roulette. I lost it all sitting in the living room and during it I could literally see what the money would be paying for but it didn’t stop me, nothing would stop me. 2019 I could feel myself struggling. My life was consumed with gambling or working out how to get money to gamble and then how I was going to pay people back what I owed them. I was in a bad place, I was a bad person, lying, angry but still no one knew the truth. January had always been a tough month as I run several NFL Fantasy Football leagues for money and I am in charge of the money. Of course, that was always gambled away by me and January was the month people expected pay outs because the season was over. Usually I would have won enough money in my leagues to cover it or convince people to pay for next year with their winnings that I could cover it. This year I could not and I had the added pressure of owing people money. A lot of these people were friends of mine I knew personally, others were people I had gotten to know over a few years and only talked online. Either way I had stolen their money and gambled it away. I managed to use my Granda’s death in January as an excuse for why I had not paid people yet, I was in a bad way with the funeral etc, all the excuses, the truth is I was just trying to buy more time. Then came the weekend prior to April 2nd. I had just been paid and deposited some money into my Bet365 account and managed to get my balance up to £910 on Friday 29th March. I should say by this stage I was fully gambling on tennis. Not match winner, that took too long, generally set winner or next game winner as that was quicker. Now this £910 would have cleared some of my urgent debts to allow me to continue on gambling. All I had to do was withdraw, and I was going to…...once I got it up to a nice round £1000. As you can guess I lost the lot. £300-£400 on Benoit Paire was one of the worst hits but I was gambling like a mad man. That was how I bet when I had winnings, the stakes got out of control. By the time I was leaving work at 6pm on the Friday the whole £910 was gone. I was betting on ATP, Challenger, ITF, any tennis that was on I was betting on it. Back in the day I remember betting on a tennis match where they had one ball. Still a story that brings a smile to my face if I’m honest. A smile that consists of a mixture of shame and cringe. That Friday night I deposited whatever I had left in and managed to win back a good chunk of the money, but it still wasn’t enough. It still wasn’t what I had before. So the whole weekend went like that, up and down, up and down. I went to a family dinner and sat betting on my phone the whole night. That’s how my life has been the last number of years, i’m present at gatherings, or nights out but my mind is deep in my phone gambling away not giving a shit about anyone. Eventually the money ran out that weekend. I was a mess. I could have actually made it work financially and gotten through the month but mentally I was gone. I could tell my brain had put me into a nosedive and the only way this was all ending was in disaster. Maybe not this month, or this year but I was being flown towards rock bottom. I sat down on the Monday and wrote out everything that I owed, who I owed it to, a budget going forward. It was grim enough reading, £18k in the hole. The money wasn’t the issue, it was how it was making me feel, the time I’ve been wasting. The fact that I finally couldn’t take anymore, that I was ready to wave the white flag and say gambling has won, it defeated me. I found out when and where the nearest GA Meeting was to me and wrote that down too. So I found a set of balls and on the Tuesday I told my girlfriend. My attitude was that life can’t be any worse for me than it currently is. I was a mess, I cried, I honestly expected her to tell me to get out and I wouldn’t have blamed her, but she was amazing. She was angry obviously, but she was so supportive. Then I called my parents round and told them. They were disappointed, confused but also really supportive. Then the next day I told my closest friends who were again all really supportive. I owe them some money too and they’ve been great about setting up a payment plan to pay that back. I can imagine some people saying that I didn’t hit rock bottom in comparison to others, I felt that way myself to be honest. I felt like I had gotten off lightly but looking back the cycle I was in was soul destroying and although I didn’t cause the devastation others have caused I knew I needed to reach out for help as I couldn’t do it on my own. I registered for GAMStop and self excluded online for 5 years which has taken the avenue of online gambling away from me. A vital step if online is your vice. I also handed over control of my finances to my partner which again removed another temptation. I’ve since learned in recovery that gamblers need 3 things, time, opportunity and money, take away one of those and you won’t be able to gamble. I took away two with these simple steps. I then went to my first GA Meeting on Wednesday 3rd April. The time doesn’t suit me for that, Monday at 9pm is my meeting but I felt I needed to get to one ASAP. I don’t know what I expected GA to be, some sort of church run cult filled with a bunch of old men desperate for a bet but it’s one of the most amazing groups I’ve ever found. It’s a dumping ground for all my shit and it’s a place where I can listen to other people’s stories. Without sounding sexist, it’s something a lot of men could do with outside of addiction, a place to talk about life and how they are feeling. I take a 50 mile round trip every Monday to get there. When I was gambling if I had to travel 50 miles to get internet to gamble you can guarantee I’d have travelled every day. When I leave a meeting I am buzzing, for all the right reasons. I’m a lifer when it comes to GA now and I am fine with that. I am also a member of the Problem Gambling Support Group and we run three meetings a week via Skype. This group has been so influential to my recovery and I have met so many good people I now consider friends through it. The topic meeting style is completely different to what happens at my own GA so it fits into my recovery perfectly and gives me a different perspective. I have a sponsor, who has had a massive impact on my recovery. He has helped me work the Steps and is always there if I need him. At times it’s hard to tell who is sponsoring who but that sort of dynamic works well for me as I see him as a friend first and sponsosponsee second. I have also found a passion for writing about my journey and post my stuff on my blog, on GamCare and on the Reddit Problem Gambling Sub. I have been told my stuff is very good and people seem to get a lot from it. As I explained at a recent meeting I am still learning how to deal with praise, it makes me feel awkward. I’m not sure if it’s from years of not wanting to be the focus of people's attention because of the fear they might ask questions and my addiction would be exposed. Whatever the reason I am working on being able to accept praise and enjoy it and as I was told at the last meeting...a simple thank you is usually enough. I’ve been clean for over 9 months now, and I have not struggled with urges to gamble. My life is amazing, it always was but I was too wrapped up in my addiction to notice. I literally had everything I could ever want. I have an amazing partner and two amazing children along with my parents who are absolutely fantastic. I have my health, a job and my friends are another support network I couldn’t do without now. They stood by me when I admitted my problem and they gave me the belief that I could do this. Recovery is now my focus along with my family. The debt can be managed, stopping gambling is one day at a time, but the main focus of my recovery will be fixing my character defects, helping others, being open and honest to people and not being a selfish asshole. I would like to think those that know me now can at least drop the selfish part when describing me. I have put plenty of work into my recovery and I feel like I am getting the benefits out of it. I have a routine when it comes to meetings and they don’t impact on my family life. Is every day amazing? No it’s not. Some days are rather boring and some days are tough, but that’s life. Some days you have to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. I have accepted what I am, I am a compulsive gambler and I need to be the one who changes. No one else around me needs to change, I am the common denominator. I have noticed a change in myself and those closest to me. They all seem happier, more content, happy to have this me in their life and not the old me. I wasn’t a nice partner, father, son or friend when I was in active addiction. I don’t want to be the person I was before I started gambling either because I am pretty convinced he was an asshole as well. I am using this recovery to become the man I want to be, the man I can look in the mirror and be proud to be. As I said, I have accepted that I am a compulsive gambler and I cannot have a single bet because it will lead me back to active addiction. I have no issues with the gambling industry or people who gamble, I just know that I am unable to gamble as it ends in disaster. I feel there should be more discussion around problem gambling and the industry should be putting more money into helping problem gamblers and to help identify problem gamblers. It’s a fine line though, as I know if a bookie told me they felt I had a problem and wouldn’t accept a bet I’d have been angry and just went somewhere else. You need to be ready for recovery to fully embrace it. I never was until April 2nd. For the people in recovery we need to be ready to help those that get to the stage where they are ready for recovery. We are the ones who these people will come to rely on as we’ve been through it, you can tell when talking to someone who hasn’t had a gambling addiction they just don’t understand. Over the coming years I think there will be a significant rise in people looking for help with problem gambling. I don’t feel like my story is close to the worst out there and I have read and heard some people who have the opinion that you need to cause devastation before recovery will work. That’s bollocks and that sort of attitude is why GA is filled with old men and young people are reluctant to stay. I have come to believe it doesn’t matter how much you have lost, how many relationships you have destroyed or what age you are, all you need is a desire to stop gambling and that is the qualification for entering recovery. For now though, for me, my next bet won’t be about the money I lose, I’ll lose my partner and my children as well and that’s not a bet that I am not willing to make. Mark
How To Piss Off Fucking Everyone, With Atlas - Episode 5 - Part 2
We see Atlas still flipping off the camera as we return to the second half. Now, onto Conor’s favourite segment, Atlas shares his opinion and predictions! This time I’ll be looking at New Beginning and some potential matches we might see, plus some dream bouts for this historic show. First up, the World Title scene. With Nate Matthews winning the championship once again, could we see Atlas face off against a long rival of his, or could we see Rogue vs Steez II, this time with the stakes even higher? The answer is cloudy at the moment, as both men have great chances at winning their match at the Anniversary Show, but personally I believe it will be Capital STEEZ who walks away with the title. Nate has had to fight consecutive matches against RoD over the Carnage Tour and he will have adapted to Receiver’s style, so when he steps in the ring with Steez, all of his training over the Carnage Tour goes right out the window. I’ve been in the ring with him before and trust me Nate, he’s unpredictable. That being said, I reckon we will be seeing Steez defeat Matthews to win the World Championship. Who do I want to win? Steez. A rematch between us is needed and what better stage than New Beginning with the World Title on the line? Next is the TV Championship. Another major title match is planned for the Anniversary show as Travis Crowley takes on Jaxon Storm for the inaugural TV Championship. My pick is the more experienced Crowley, as I believe in this legend vs rookie situation the legend will come out as the victor. I’m the biggest Jaxon Storm fan there is, but I must say as well I am hoping Travis wins here because then we will see Crowley vs OWD for the TV Championship at New Beginning! One Winged Devil revealed that he will be challenging the winner of Storm vs Crowley at New Beginning for the title, and I would die to see The Devilslayer take on The King of the Fall any day. Sorry Jaxon, I’m going with Crowley on this one. But, if Storm does win, then my next prediction might come into play. Currently, our tag division is looking stacked. We have The Black Panthers Travis Crowley and Capital STEEZ, Lifeline, Fruit Gambino and Conor Cassidy, The Celestial Unknown, Receiver of Deception and Atlas Rogue, The Collective, Brendan Burke Butler III and Damien Blade, and Two Man Mosh Pit, Nate Matthews and Corey Gowens. The current champions are made up of Intercontinental Champion Fruit and former champ Conor, and like Commissioner Apeirogone mentioned, he wants every title defended at PPV’s including the tag. So, what are you trying to say Atlas? I’m saying, we’re getting Lifeline vs The Collective vs The Black Panthers in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match. It really depends whether The Black Panthers want to go on their single’s routes, meaning that MGT could face OWD, and Steez could win the World Title. If that happens, I guess we’re seeing Lifeline vs The Collective which should be a solid bout. But wouldn’t that mean Fruit would have to pull double duty? Of course, but he’s the Workhorse of FBE for a reason, expect Fruit having two matches at New Beginning. But who could he defend his title against? Three words. Receiver. Of. Deception. Hopefully, we get this bout between past and present IC Champions, and what better time than right now? But even better, let’s add on some guys. Jaxon Storm’s been on a roll recently, however, I still think Crowley will win, meaning that he could most definitely be in this match. Add in Alan Cavanagh as I expect him to make a return in that time. And lastly, put in EED, #10 on the Power Rankings and former Commonwealth Champion, I’m sure management will decide to enter him into this bout. We’ve got 5 dudes, a championship, and 2 former Ultimate X winners, let’s slap ‘em all in Ultimate X! That’s right, I hope it returns at New Beginning! Now onto a Special Singles Match, but I don’t think ‘Special’ captures the stipulation of this match enough. Petite Jupiter announced he would be returning to the ring at the Anniversary Show against Inferno, but I don’t believe this will be his last match, no, I hope that at New Beginning we will get the last guy to face him Nate Matthews going up against PJ in his Retirement Match. Matthews is the perfect guy to retire PJ, and ever since their last bout, the FBE Faithful have demanded a rematch. We get arguably two of the greatest talents in all of Fantasy Booking going at it, with one for the final time. Matthews vs PJ. Book it. But finally, here is my last crazy dream matchup for New Beginning. Apeirogone vs Inferno. GM vs Commissioner. After Inferno shockingly betrayed his British Ambition brothers on the final night of the Carnage Tour, it seems things have been uneasy between himself and The Infinity Ace. I can 100% see Inferno go mental on either PJ or OWD at the Anniversary Show, meaning that Ape may indeed have to step in and stop the match. This could definitely start a rivalry and create one of the most wanted rematches in Fantasy Booking history. So, what’s your final card for New Beginning Atlas? Here it is: Capital STEEZ (c) vs Atlas Rogue – World Championship Apeirogone vs Inferno Travis Crowley (c) vs One Winged Devil – TV Championship Nate Matthews vs Petite Jupiter – PJ’s Retirement Match Fruit Gambino (c) vs Receiver of Deception vs Jaxon Storm vs EED vs Alan Cavanagh – Intercontinental Championship – Ultimate X3 Lifeline (c) vs The Collective – Tag Team Championship A small but great card, this is the New Beginning FBE should put on. But hey, I’m not the dude who does the stuff winks towards Ape and Inferno. Speaking of Inferno… On Night 4 of the Carnage Tour, One Winged Devil beat Jaxon Storm in the semi-main event. In the post-match segment, the Firestorm GM Inferno came out to announce OWD’s opponent for the Anniversary Show! None other than Petite Jupiter. As all 3 members of British Ambition stood in the ring, OWD and PJ went back and forth on the mic, leaving Inferno in the ring watching the two. And that was when he struck. He suddenly attacked PJ, and then OWD, hitting the One Winged Devil with an Avalanche Oshi Guroshi! Inferno then announced that along with OWD facing PJ, Inferno would also face PJ and OWD in the same night! All 3 British Ambition brothers will face each other throughout the night, but before that, with me tonight, we get an exclusive interview with the man himself, Inferno. Atlas: First off, why in the finger licking Kentucky fried fuck would you attack your own brothers? After all you’ve been through together and you just betray them like that! What was your motive behind the assault? Inferno: Why. That’s the first question everyone asks, why? Is it because they feel entitled to an explanation? Or are they too ignorant to understand the situation? But to make things worse, you’ve asked ‘why?’, but have jumped the gun straight after to say I betrayed them? What are you trying to get at here? Putting the blame on me for something you don’t understand? Something they don’t understand? This is the biggest problem with the world right now. As soon as something occurs that people don’t understand, they immediately throw up their hand and ask why when there are plenty of better questions to ask. Instead of pointing your finger like the rest of them and demanding why, shouldn’t you have asked how I was? Just like everyone is asking PJ and OWD how they are, rather than why? Are they going to get special treatment every single time? But since you asked, I’ll tell you just why, Atlas. You want to know why? Here’s why. Inferno: You see, in this world, unfortunately, actions speak louder than words. I could’ve been on the floor crying to my brothers for acceptance, but they wouldn’t have batted an eye, would they? They would’ve continued to not acknowledge me, just like they’ve done for the past damn year! It was always ‘PJ, what a legend, The Shining Light, the best human being on this planet. Or OWD, what a competitor, the man who went to barter with the devil, we have so much respect for him.’ Quite frankly, they have every right to respect these two men. I respect them, my brothers. But just like my words, theirs don’t hold any weight. It’s what you do with life, not what you say. And what did they do? Betrayed me. You say I betrayed them? No, they’ve been betraying me since Day One, I’m here trying to fix things! They’re my brothers after all, what kind of vindictive creature would I be if I didn’t help them out? Inferno: Every single time I got my foot ahead of them in the race to success, they turned to the one thing they knew: Putting the spotlight on themselves. When I returned and shattered the single most legendary undefeated streak this business has ever seen, what happened? My brother, OWD, gave the respect to Ape. Now, Ape, I have no reason to speak ill of him. He’s the closest to me behind the scenes, and has given me no reason to hate him. But the fact that he, after getting destroyed in the ring, got a second chance at redemption, whilst I was left to rot? I recovered quickly though. He’s my brother after all. He always has a second chance from me. Inferno: I teamed with PJ to chase the tag titles, and we won. But how much weight did that reign hold? We never even defended the belts once. Why? Whilst I was here week in and week out, PJ only showed up for the big appearances, wanting the spotlight on him then, whilst I carried our tag team. The Shining Light? If you think that means the best and most transparent guy in the locker room, I’m afraid you’re mistaken. Everyone craves the spotlight, but not as much as PJ, and that’s what the Shining Light is; wanting the brightest light in the room to be cast on you. That’s exactly what he did when I needed him. When it came to OWD facing Nicky at Unbreakable, he was there, in his corner, whilst I was rehabbing my injury. But when I went out on a smaller stage, Firestorm, where was he? Was the light not too bright for him? Inferno: My own tag team partner, the man I’m supposed to be able to trust to side with me in the ring, not even there for me? That’s not even the end of it though! On the biggest night of my career at that point, Warzone, where we were both set to compete in the main event for the vacant World Title, he decided to pull out last-minute! First, he earned the title shot the previous Firestorm, a shot that could’ve gone to anyone else who was willing to use it, and then proceeded to show up at Warzone and suddenly decide ‘nah, I don’t feel like it’. He knew he could’ve pulled out on Firestorm and given the spot to the former FBE Intercontinental Champion, General Series, but had the audacity to wait till ‘the next big show’ to make his announcement! Inferno: And by the next big show, I’m not talking about SummerFest, a PPV he no-showed, what, because it was being run by roster members and not management? Not only did he make the announcement at Warzone, not thinking about the psychological impact it would have on me as I headed into my most important match, knowing my brother has just suddenly retired from the thing he loves doing the most, but he drew it out till Firestorm, taking up two shows to settle something that could’ve been announced on one! I’ll say this not because I want to, but because I have the guts to say something no one else does: The Shining Light is a fraud, so stop worshipping him. He looks down at everyone in FBE. Hell, he has a spot on the management team yet hasn’t contributed one single thing! Instead, it’s always Ape and I slaving away to put on the best possible show, whilst PJ sits back and watches footie! Inferno: As for OWD, don’t get me started… too late. I respected that man, the inaugural FBE World Heavyweight Champion, carrying this company on his back since it’s inception, until Resistance rolled along and he lost. He lost to the guy who didn’t even deserve the shot! Imagine what it would’ve been like if he chose me to face him, the logical option. He averted even worse humiliation by dodging me, but unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have two ‘Get out of Jail Free’ cards, ending up facing me on Firestorm in the Semi-Finals of the Heyman Gold Rush Tournament. A match he complained about receiving, because he knew he’d lose without the Devil in his corner. He berated Crowley and Ape for rigging the tournament, because he knew he was never going to get his fingers on that World Title again the moment I touched it! Inferno: Now, I’ll admit, he gave me a tough fight on Firestorm. Almost pulled through with the victory. But the Ushigoroshi did him in. He lost. He ran away. He took the spotlight from me. For what? Returning not even a month later, demanding Ape for his World Title rematch at BTE, claiming he was here to save FBE? I’m sorry, but how hard did I knock him in the head? Nonetheless, he got a rematch with Ape. Had to add in all the theatrics possible to try to stick out the most on the card. Three Stages of Hell. It was a damn good match to be fair, but he lost… again. The same night that I was in the main event, going the full 60 minutes to become the new World Champion. He came out after the match with PJ and couldn’t even look me in the eyes, his gaze transfixed on the gold! He thinks that I’m jealous of him? Oh brother, you’ve got this whole thing wrong! Next time, when you look in the mirror, looking for that spotlight, take a closer look and realise what a hypocrite you’ve become! Inferno: You bail every time you lose a big match, trying to leave as the talk of the night however you can. See, amongst many other examples: Highly Suspect. After throwing a fit about losing the World Title at Rush Hour to Receiver, the man who used the same tactic that you did in FBNXT, cashing in his BITB contract to win, you decided to bail on your Steel Cage rematch with him at Highly Suspect? You decided to bail on your chance to win back the World Title you spent your time moaning and complaining about? Why, the idea of not being able to run away in that cage scare you? You stole the opportunity from someone else who could’ve given Receiver a great title match that night! You ruined the scheduled main event, all because you couldn’t re-sign a contract and face your fears? Now, you come back, thinking we’re just going to hand everything to you? Colour me impressed by your past three matches, because you’ve gone undefeated in your return… but for how long? Inferno: Don’t forget, you have me to get through. You couldn’t beat me the first time, so what makes you believe you can do it this time? Is it the fact that… Akagi’s no longer here? I’ll have you know that, Akagi or Inferno, I’m very much so competent in the ring. Is it the fact that… the Devil’s back in your corner? The very mentor you slayed, believing you were above it now, but instead turning back to it for help? I told you to the leave the Devil in Hell last time, but if you want to bring him to dance this time, two can play that game. I have my Phoenix, you have your Devil. Next? Or did you only think of two steps, believing they were the only two steps you needed to walk to be ahead of me? What ever other things you have planned, I’ll let you in on something. The Oni Slayer may not be here anymore, but his spirit lives on, and I plan to pay homage to him by slaying your Devil. Inferno: PJ, OWD, I didn’t want it to come to this. You’re my flesh, my blood, my brothers! You’re the last two people I’d want to turn my back on, but it’s gotten to a point where we’re in too deep. Where there’s no turning back. You brought Inferno’s wrath upon yourselves, so get ready to pay for your sins at the Anniversary Show, because whilst the Eternal Flame hasn’t been in the ring as recently as you two, he won’t miss a single beat, because he’s laser-focused on this match. My brothers, this is personal. Allow me to quash this hatred at Anniversary by defeating the two of you and finally proving that I am as good as the two of you. I’ve never been afraid of sharing the spotlight, so hog it as much as you want now, because after Anniversary, it’s not going to be about you, it’s going to be about us. It’s going to be about British Ambition. How it should’ve been from the start. I’ll see you two in the ring. Atlas: This is sure to be a night to remember. Solely from that response there I can already tell these three matches are going to be filled to the brim with emotion and passion. Let’s say you do beat PJ and OWD in the same night, what’s next for you? Will you just go back to being the General Manager or will we see Inferno go for one last run? Inferno: If I beat PJ and OWD in the same night… well, what more is left for me if I beat my brothers? I’ve been Tag Team Champion, X Division Champion, World Champion, winner of BTE’s main event, conqueror of Ape’s undefeated streak… and then the man who pinned both members of British Ambition in one night? If you ask me, there’s not much more I see for myself in the ring. I could come back for the Triple Crown and Grand Slam, but it’s never been about championships for me. I was there to purge the Oni of Chaos from FBE, and I succeeded by winning and purifying those titles. I never even planned to come out for retirement, but for my brothers, the most important people to me in the world, I have to make sacrifices like this, sacrifices to my own well-being, sacrifices to my reputation, sacrifices to everything I know and love, so we can finally fix things. Inferno: As for a final run… who knows? It may be cliché, but ‘never say never’. I don’t have anything left to prove in that ring, other than that my brothers and I can co-exist happily again, like we once used to. If I win, I’ll also prove that I’ve still got it. I could come back for dream matches against some of the current crop of talent, but at the same time, I’m not here to take their spotlight, I’m here to make their spotlights. Ape & I, we have huge things planned for FBE’s future, a future I don’t wish to intervene with by stepping back into the ring. I’d say I’m rather content sitting on the side, finally retiring with my brothers with me again. Atlas: Now that you are back for two last matches, is there any new guys you would like to face off with? Or just overall is there anyone you would want to step in the ring with for the first time, or even have a rematch with? Inferno: Good question. Whilst it may not be where reality will lead us, it’s always fun to speculate about hypothetical match-ups. So many dream matches get tossed around on a daily basis backstage when I bump into the talent, and so many I agree with. Inferno: First and foremost, you have stated on this show before that you’d love to get the chance to work with me. In another life, that would be something that’d get me excited. Just thinking about how much you’ve grown over the past year, now heading into New Beginning with a World Title shot and main event in hand, you are a definite dream match on my list. In fact, it’s a match that the FBE Universe would’ve seen one year ago at New Beginning had we both been able to attend the X Division Six Pack Challenge, but we all know how that story went… I got injured, your contract negotiations were delayed till Pick Your Poison, but in the end, it all worked out for you. In another life my friend, I’m sure we’d tear it up. Inferno: Another person who dropped my name on this show, as well as on the streets of Flatbush, Capital STEEZ. The man challenging for the World Title at the Anniversary Show, he’s an incredible in-ring talent that has taken little time to breakout. After a fumble of a debut, we should be making a ‘Rebound of the Year’ Booky just for him because he truly rebounded from that first impression! He had an incredible showing in the E1 Climax, the two of you tearing the house down in Final Stand’s opener. Respect earns respect, and just like with you, I respect him, and would strongly consider him on a list of dream matches. Inferno: I could rattle on about countless other dream matches, but I felt it’s best if I address the two that have called me out. But… the other part to your question, anyone I’d love to rematch with? Well at the top of the list was OWD for the many reasons I’m sure we all know by now, but there are other big names, such as Nate Matthews and Conor Cassidy. Inferno: Nate gave me a run for my money at Warzone, so he has my respect. He hasn’t slowed down one bit since, winning accolade after accolade, main-eventing show after show, and now becoming a two-time World Champion. Let’s just hope he doesn’t lose that one as quickly as the first time. (*winks*) Steez will be a tough opponent, but Nate is used to high-pressure scenarios, so much so that he’s sparked a global twitter trend in #UDWinsLol. Our match at BTE felt like the perfect conclusion to our series of matches, but on terms built on mutual respect, it’d be an absolute treat to go out there and tear it up with him one final time. Inferno: As for Conor Cassidy, the man I’ve known the longest out of all the names I’ve dropped thus far, my Straight Edge Brother, he’s a definite dream rematch. When we stepped out in front of my hometown crowd of Birmingham, I knew we were going to have a special match, and so we did. However, ever since then, Conor has just continued to grow exponentially, holding the record for the longest reign in FBE history, as well as becoming two-time FBE World Tag Team Champion, a title I’ve fought him for before in another clinic. When it comes to chemistry, we have it. Facing a more experienced Conor, perhaps even in his home of Ireland, that match would surely be high on my list. Atlas: Now I must congratulate you on the success of the Carnage Tour. Without your work backstage, our January would’ve been extremely boring. But also working with you was the current Commissioners Ape. Now that your “unstable” and “unpredictable” how will this affect FBE backstage? And could we see a possible match down the line between you two? Inferno: Thank you for the kind words. With the direction this conversation has gone, I’m sure you can understand I never meant any harm. I was defending BA’s best interests, ones that they never had in mind, and for that, people have viewed me as ‘unstable’ and ‘unpredictable’, when in fact, I’m more composed than ever. Towards Ape, there’s only love from me. Due to his close relationship with OWD and PJ, I can understand why he was distraught, but I hope that I can clear the air at the Anniversary Show, and we can go back to running things in a civil manner. We’ve already had an incredible January, and that was just from me at the forefront, with Ape offering his best advice from abroad throughout. Together, producing New Beginning, as well as the rest of the upcoming shows, I’m sure we can take FBE to heights it’s never been to before. Inferno: As with a potential match… I’ve beaten him once in the past, but almost one year later, I’m sure we can agree we’re both on massively different levels since then. We are often touted as the best of our generation, so I’m sure it’s a match the FBE Universe would love to see, and another dream rematch that I can toss onto my list. But as of right now… it’s just a dream, and I’d like to keep it that way. Fighting two of my brothers has already taken so much out of me emotionally, that if I went on to fight Ape, either this universe will explode from the sheer brilliance of the match, or I’ll implode! Atlas: Now that British Ambition has seemingly disbanded, could the FBE Faithful possibly see an Inferno-run faction down the line? And if you were to create your own stable, who would be at the top of your list to join? Inferno: Disbanded?! Oh no, British Ambition is far from disbanded! In fact, it is more alive than it has ever been! The three best British wrestlers stepping into the ring to produce three in-ring classics over the course of one night, after which hopefully they’ll learn their lesson and we return things back to how they should’ve been from the start, British Ambition will be at its peak! Inferno: But an Inferno faction… that would be quite the prospect. First off, an easy pick would be Conor. If you solely look at our experience together and then factor in our close bond, as well as similar ideas, I’m sure we’d instantly click together, both inside and outside the ring. Plus, when celebrating, you’d want a Straight Edge brother to turn to so you can have a swing of water together, right? Inferno: Next up, I’d pick Jaxon Storm. He was born at Genetically Superior, yet still had to scratch and claw to turn nothing into something, now with the chance to hold the entire world one arm-length away from him. He has a huge FBE Television Championship opportunity against Travis Crowley to kick off the show, a match I know will deliver big-time, so with his work ethic and in-ring prowess, I’d love him teaming with me. Inferno: Finally, I’d want to have Thaddeus Hemmingway. He’s only been here for a month, but even just a month has been enough to prove to me that he’s someone special. He won that breakout Battle Royal on the final night of Carnage, and now is set to face General Series, a match that should move him even further up the card, soon into title contention. I’d love to work with him and refine his skills to set him up to become the megastar he deserves to be. Atlas: Finally is there anything that Inferno wants to say? With the whole FBE roster surely watching this episode, this is your time to voice your thoughts. Do you have a final message to OWD and PJ before the Anniversary Show? Inferno: My final message? …Cheerio. The phone immediately hangs up, and the studio is left in silence. The team of backstage technicians behind him have nearly finished cleaning up the mess and fixing the screen, so Atlas shoos them away. What an episode! We found out the motives and thoughts of Inferno after his shocking attack on British Ambition on Night 4 of the Carnage Tour, we put together a dream New Beginning card, and announced our first ever HTPOFE Power Rankings! But to close the show, on behalf of FBE, we would like to remember Kobe Bryant, an undisputed NBA Legend who unfortunately passed away only last month on the 26th of January. Kobe was one of the greats, and a name that immediately comes to mind when talking about basketball heroes. We hope his family recovers from this terrible news, and we wish them all the best. We thank you for tuning into this episode of HTPOFE, and remember to watch the FBE Anniversary Show this coming Friday! Atlas does one last swivel in his chair, and the screen behinds him comes back to life, the HTPOFE logo flashing bright, only for the camera cut to black.
My MASSIVE Beermoney guide for the UK, Europe (and most of the world)
With the new year arriving, I decided to have a good look at and re-evaluate all of the beer money sites that I use, with the hope of having a running start to the new year, so without further a due; here goes
Survey sites are probably the most common type of beermoney site you'll encounter, but not all of them were created equally, here's my pick of the bunch:
Available In: Worldwide, but studies are targeted to specific demographics
TL:DR: This site specializes in providing research for academic's, and is im my opinion the best survey site on the web, pays very well but the surveys are based on your location. Wait until you reach £20 before you cashout to save on paypal fees
TL:DR: A consumer research firm based in the UK, the surveys come regularly (usually one or two per day) and are usually very engaging and usually about current events but because the cashout is so high it can feel like a long haul before you reach your payout
Available In: North America, Europe, Egypt, Turkey, UAE, Turkey
TL:DR: Run by Ipsos, surveys are sent to your inbox regularly and it's available in quite a few countries which survey sites aren't usually friendly with.
TL:DR: Pinecone is invite only, so signup is quite selective! just be patient and you'll be accepted eventually. Try their facebook page too, people who float around there often enough tend to get invited.
TL:DR: There's a nice £5 signup, and if you go to "My Profile" and update the checkbox to allow surveys from Toluna you'll recieve significantly more surveys
Available In: UK, US, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand
TL:DR: Cashouts are processed on a Tuesday, this site occasionally offers you the chance to be involved in larger projects which can pay up to £100. There's also the occasional product trial which i find fun
TL:DR: It's basically a 'all in one' survey site where you sign up to surveybee.net, choose which sites you want to sign up to and everything comes through them in a sort of funnel fashion. Available in quite a few countries.
Most Smartphone apps are a combination of mystery shopping and tasks to do at home (downloading apps etc.). The mystery shopping gigs can pay really well, but it's obviously very location dependent. Downloading apps also pays very well, but it's a one shot deal (meaning once you've downloaded an app you can't get paid for doing it again)
Sometimes companies needs lot of repetetive work done, when they do they'll use sites like these, You can occasionally come across a job (or HIT as they're sometimes called) which you enjoy and when that happens you can make huge profits very quickly.
Available In: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA, Vietnam
Notes:It's a bit of work to get into UHRS (where the most money is) so i wrote a ClickworkeUHRS Guide
Payout Method: Amazon US giftcard (frustratingly it's only for the US store)
Minimum Payout:
Available In: Over 190 countries
Notes: Best work at home type job if you're in the US, but payment isn't great outside the US. They also seem to be allow some people from some countries to sign up and not others.
Minimum Payout: None, You get paid whatever you've earned every 30 days
Available In: UK, US, Canada, Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Italy, France, Mexico, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Phillipines, Turkey
Notes: Pays really REALLY well, but it's like a proper job, you have a quite difficult entrance exam and they can deny your application. Mostly search engineer evaluation work
Notes: Sign up for their daily prize draw. give them your phone number to be entered into the larger prize draws (I've not had any junk phone calls so far, so it seems like they don't sell your number) Once again you need to manually check everyday to see if you've won or you lose the prize
Notes: Sign up, give them your postcode and if your postcode is the one drawn you share the prize with everyone who played from your postcode. Another which needs to be checked in order to claim the prize
Notes: Sign up via facebook and if your name is drawn you win £50 - once against if you don't claim the prize within 24 hrs then you don't win the prize
Notes: Once again you need to manually check every day. For everyday you check and don’t win you are given an additional entry into the next draw. So if you go two weeks without a win you will have 14 entries into the draw.
Notes: Check every day to see if your emoji "combo" has won the prize. Failure to check means you lose it, so you need to check it every day.
Earn using cashback websites
I don't see it mentioned very often in here, but I assume most users will already know about using cashback websites to earn some extra beer money.
For those who don't, cashback websites are a simple idea. Companies pay cashback sites a certain amount of money for each genuine and new customer they bring in, the cashback sites then offer the user a set amount of money for going through them to sign up to the company in question. You can also use cashback sites to claim money from real stores, although I've never really did this myself. There are lots of cashback sites out there, but I use the 2 most trusted and largest for UK users, these are: TopCashBack | Non
Payout Method: BACS, PayPal, Gift Cards
Minimum Payout: 1p
Available In: UK, US
Notes: There is a free and premium option, use the free option
Notes: There is a free and premium option, use the free option
I've collated the best offers for these 2 sites. For Best results with Cashback offers you should:
Clear your cookies (or better yet, use another browser)
Turn off any adblockers you may have on
Always read the offer thoroughly
The first group of offers are free offers which require you to sign up to a website, or get a quote, or sign up to a free trial. By using all of these offers at the time of writing you can earn an easy £30!
Another way to continue your earning is to hit the deposit offers. These are offers you can sign up to through TopCashBack | Non and Quidco | Non which pay you more in cashback than you need to deposit to claim the cashback. So for example if you sign up to Gala Bingo through Quidco and wager £10 on their site you will receive £30 cashback through Quidco, giving you a £20 profit (and you'd be surprised how often you acctually win at these bingo sites too!) At the time of writing there is just over £130 to be earned using these methods! *(Please note, these offers are correct at the time of writing but do change fairly frequently) *
So, there you go. Easy money and you can work through most of these offers in a day (although tracking them will normally take a week or so) If you have any questions then fire away, I'll try my best to answer TL:DR: Sign up to TopCashBack | Non and Quidco | Non and use the offers above to make a cool £160
Minimum Payout: They pay on the 25th of each month
Available In: Worldwide (if you speak English)
Notes: Test websites with your microphone and/or camera on, payment is great (£8 per test) and most tests last around 10-20 minutes
Match Betting | Non Alternative Match Betting | Non What is Match Betting? Match betting is a LEGAL, RISK FREE & TAX FREE way of earning Money. You earn by taking advantage of the various sign up and "reload" offers that bookies provide new and existing customers. For example, when you sign up to William Hill they have an offer of "Deposit £10, get a £20 free bet" You can use this bet and then lay against it at a betting exchange For example: Bookie: Bet Chelsea to WIN Exchange: Bet Chelsea to NOT WIN (It should be noted than when you make a lay at a betting exchange you're covering all other options, so by saying you think Chelsea will NOT win you're saying they will either lose or draw, anything except win) So now that you've placed them, these two bets will cancel each other out, resulting in you breaking even (or losing a little bit of cash) after this initial bet you will be credited with your free bet. Now, repeat this process again - except this time it's not your own money being used to place the bet! So you get to keep the profits. How to get started The best way (I believe) to get started is to sign up for the free trial on Profit Accumulator | Non and follow their step by step instructions. Using their site you can claim two of the offers and earn £45. During the trial you will have the basics of match betting explained to you and once you have earned from your free trial you can use the profit to upgrade to a Platinum account(£22.99/month or £150/year). If you become a platinum member you will have access to hundreds of offers and dozens of extra guides to help you on your journey. When I started doing this a few years back I only used £50 (That I earned doing surveys) as my starting float, however a bigger pot of £100 is advised to help you work through offers quicker. If you're going to get started with match betting, I recommend you take a photo of the following: Passport or Driving License, bank card used to deposit money, and a recent utility bill - As the bookies fraud prevention teams occasionally ask for these (I've only had it happen once, but it does happen) Being gubbed & mug bets Mug bets - Ok, so match betting is completely legal, however, Most bookies aren't too keen on you only using them for offers. So it's highly recommended to place occasional "mug bets" - What's a mug bet? It's basically a normal (small) bet which is nothing to do with your match betting. A mug bet is simply a small bet to make you look like a regular customer, once again Profit Accumulator | Non has got you covered on the best ways to place mug bets. They advise following a cycle: Qualifying bet, free bet, mug bet, withdraw profits. Being gubbed - This is when a bookie has figured out that you're only match betting and using their offers, the bookie can limit your account to only making small bets, or not getting any offers. You can get back in good stead with them by placing non-offer bets but this could take time and still never amount to anything. TL:DR: Use the free trial from Profit Accumulator | Non to make your first £45 from the bookies (Risk Free). Alternatively try Odds Monkey | Non
On Friday at 8pm UK time, Reading and Derby County will kick off the 127th season of the English second division - also known as the Championship! 24 clubs will compete for 3 promotion spots to the Premier league (2 via automatic promotion and 1 via playoffs) and to avoid the 3 relegation spots to the third tier a.k.a League One.
Its looking like a really tight and competitive season. The league is absolutely full of ambitious player and managerial talent - the more time goes by the more it looks like a Premier League 2. If you want a competitive league with proper English football, that also has the spice of skilful players and forward thinking managers, it really is the place to go.
This is guide written by the fans who have come together on /Championship - an absolutely huge thanks to them. Do check out the sub, we try to keep it a good place to discuss the EFL, away from the rancid gloryhunting shithole that is /soccer (just kidding - I like this place). Lots going on, including a score predictor thread which is running all season.
This guide is in table order with the PL demoted sides first. Only 5 clubs today (because the Swansea one is a fucking novel and I can't fit any more in), the rest will be submitted tomorrow and Friday. Do bare in mind that not all the transfer news will be up to date as these guides were largely written a week ago. Point out to me if there are any clear errors with formatting or spelling.
Season previews:The Guardian | Sky Sports | The Mirror EFL focused podcasts:Not the Top 20 | The Totally Football League Show The 17/18 table - Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham went up. Barnsley, Burton and Sunderland went down. This season West Brom, Swansea and Stoke join from the PL and Wigan, Blackburn and Rotherham join from League 1. These are the bookies' favourites for promotion (via Oddschecker):
Club
Odds
Stoke
2.75
Middlesbrough
4
West Brom
4
Nottingham Forest
4.5
Leeds
4.75
Swansea
5
And relegation:
Club
Odds
Rotherham
2.2
Bolton
2.25
Ipswich
4.5
Reading
5
QPR
6
Hull
6
How to watch in the UK: Live rights are owned by Sky Sports. They are upping the number of televised matches this season. Reading v Derby on Friday is televised. The weekly highlights show previously on Channel 5 is moving to Quest TV, which apparently is on Freeview. How to watch abroad: Depends, but in most territories, the iFollow Service is available, which is £110 to watch all a single club's matches. Bargain. I think the clubs that aren't on iFollow have their own similar streaming services. Check out club Youtube channels - quite a few of them post extended highlights now with their own commentary, including Derby, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday, Brentford and more. (You may need VPN to watch if you're abroad.)
Location: Swansea, Wales Nickname: Swans, The Jacks Major honours: Football League Cup (2013), Championship Play-off Winner (2011), League One Winners (1925, 1949, 2008) 17/18 finishing postion: 18th (Premier League) Transfermarkt squad value:€115.5 mil NOTE: This number is as of July 22nd, when we still have Mawson (€15 mil), A. Ayew (€15 mil), Bony (€10 mil), Clucas (€8 mil) and Fernandez (€8 mil), who are all pretty much expected to be sold, or loaned out, before the season starts. Without all of these players except Bony (who's injured for a while so it makes it unlikely he'll be sold soon), the squad value would be around €70 mil. Manager: Graham Potter joined the Swans on 11th June 2018. In 2010, he became head coach of Östersund, who were in the fourth tier of Swedish football. 5 years later, he got the club promoted into the Swedish top flight and in 2017, they won Svenska Cupen which qualified them for the Europa League where they managed to get through the group stage. He’s been applauded for what he did at Östersund and the way he managed to build the club up from nothing. The year after his success in the Europa league he signed a 3 year contract with Swansea. Potter is well respected by The Swans and after a few years of poor managerial and financial decisions his appointment is seen as a step in the right direction to bringing us back to our old ways of being a well-run club. Potter has been recognised for his "progressive" and "unconventional" coaching methods. At Östersund, he encouraged his players and staff to engage in community activities, such as performing in theatre and music productions which was designed to take them out of their comfort zone. Potter describes his style of football on the pitch as "tactically flexible, attacking, and possession-based". At Östersund, he deployed a flexible 3–5–2 formation centred on ball possession. Best player(s)/ talisman:With many of our best players being rumoured with a move away what good players that remain at the start of the season is yet to be seen. Alfie Mawson is probably our standout player. He’s been amazing for us since we got him and was a bargain at about £3m. He’s great in the air and is just an all round tank. Keeping him will be a huge boost for us and should be solid in the championship. Federico "El Pajaro" Fernandez has also been strong at the back with Alfie. The pair played with each other for the majority of last season and together became a solid unit. We will most likely sell him to reduce wages though. Jordan Ayew put in a great shift last season and was our top goal scorer. His work rate was immense and was able to drop back and defend when needed. He’s fast, able to beat a man and a decent finisher. Sadly all these players are transfer targets for other clubs and might not even be here at the start of the season. If we can keep a lot of our players we should have a decent season but who knows who'll be left by the end of the window… Rising star: Swansea’s U23 had a great season last year and with Potter wanting a young and fresh squad, a handful have moved up into the first team. Our standout youngster, Oliver McBurnie, joined Barnsley on loan in January last season where he went on to win a Championship player of the month award after 6 goals in 8 games and went on to win Barnsley’s Player of the year award. While only 22, he’s struggled to break into our first team but will most likely be our main striker for the coming season. Be on the lookout for his long legs, miniature shinpads and ridiculous sock length! LEGS LEGS LEGS!!! Connor Roberts performed well at RB last season and adapted quickly to the premier league where he battled Kyle Naughton to be in the starting line up and did great when given the chance. Decent at going forward and professional at the back. Hopefully potter puts him ahead of Naughton. What happened last season?: What Happened last season?: After our great escape the season before and with Paul Clement at the helm there was optimism that the 17/18 season could be our turning point where we start rebuilding 'The Swansea Way". How wrong we were. After a disastrous transfer window where we sold Sigurdsson and never replaced him and started panic buying the week before the transfer window closed we were left an obvious hole in our team. We had no creativity in midfield and no one could kick the ball into the box to save their life. And just to rub it in further Renato Sanches turned out to be more disappointing than Bob Bradley. With the team sitting bottom of the table Clement was sacked in late December. Then along came the wise talking Carlos Carvalhal who managed to rebuild the confidence the team had lost. Our results took a turn for the good, beating Liverpool, Arsenal, Burnley and West Ham consecutively at home. He pulled us out of the relegation zone and things were looking good. However, the good times were quickly followed by the bad times. Our form turned and we didn’t win a single one of our last 9 matches. We were quickly relegated after pitifully losing to both Southampton and Stoke in our last 2 games of the season. Highlights (Or lowlights): The pass by Renato Sanches that summed up his and our season Swansea City 3-1 Arsenal Summer transfer business (so far): At the end of last season, it was clear we needed several transfers, both in and out. However, this would all depend on the manager we got. Yan Dhanda (Free, Liverpool): A 19 year-old Midfielder, Yan Dhanda left Liverpool this summer and joined the Swans in a free, before we even hired Graham Potter. At one time one of the most promosing youngsters in Liverpool's Academy, injuries slowed down his progress, and ultimately made him fall behind other players. Citing lack of first-team playing time, Dhanda decided to join us this summer in hopes of getting regular playing time in the senior squad. Through 3 pre-season games, Dhanda has been one of the brighest and most impressive players in the squad, even scoring a game-winning goal and smashing a penalty in a shootout against Genoa. With our current injuries and shenanigans involved in our midfield, Dhanda has a good chance of becoming a starter and hopefully guide our midfield during the season. Jordi Govea (Free, Real Madrid): Another 19 year-old from Ecuador, Jordi was the first signing under Potter. Not much can be said about the lad, but this is what Real Madrid had as his bio:
Jordi is an Ecuadorian defender who possess three key qualities for a player in his position: he's skilful, is able to go past a player and has a good shot on him. He's left footed and is able to send in good crosses on the run.
With Martin Olsson currently as our starting LB, and Kyle Naughton as the backup, the hope is that Jordi can develop on our U-23 squad and hopefully move up to the senior squad in coming years. Also the only man I've seen do a medical while wearing jeans (https://twitter.com/SwansOfficial/status/1015251916132057089) Joel Asoro (€2 mil., Sunderland): Yet another 19 year-old, a Swedish winger who has represented his country in the younger levels, he was Potter's first senior signing. With world-class speed, and some impressive skills, Asoro was able to score 3 goals and get 2 assists last season in 26 apperances for Sunderland. While these numbers may seem a bit disappointing, many of these games were sub appearances on a very dysfunctional team. Along with Dhanda, Asoro has been one of the most impressive players during preseason, constantly beating his man with either speed or skills, and whipping in good balls to Legs. At the current rate, Asoro appears to have a good chance of starting on the right wing spot, with Nathan Dyer and Luciano Narsingh backing him up. Predicted starting XI: NOTE: This is gonna be assuming Mawson, A. Ayew, Clucas, and Fernandez are all sold by the start of the season. If by some reason they end up staying, they are pretty much guaranteed to start. Based on the pre-season games so far, a lineup looking like this would be plausible, with Rodon most likely to be replaced by a CB (possibly Scott McKenna) when we buy one. Our second unit is looking something like this. Best case scenario: Graham Potter is able to motivate and make sure our senior players (Fer, Carroll, etc.) stay fit, along with our youngsters being able to make an impact as expected, and also we retain Mawson, Fernandez, and Clucas, we can finish in the top 2 and get promoted automatically. Worst case scenario: Our worst case scenario, and something many of us fear of happening, consists of primarily 3 things. 1. Graham Potter isn't given enough time to build an identity with our squad and is sacked by the midway point of the season by the greedy, dumb American owners. . 2. We end up not replacing the players we sold properly like last summer, therefore having a squad with holes everywhere and no chemistry. 3. Our youngsters such as Asoro, McBurnie, Dhanda and company don't pan out and progress at all, thefore becoming mediocre players. This would all culminate in us looking like Sunderland, and making relegation a probability. Prediction: Realistically I see us selling Mawson and company in the last days before the season starts and not replacing them properly until later on. Because of this, as well as our current injuries with Fer and Clucas, I can see us initially struggling to build an identity but over time, we will start playing like Potter wants us and finishing the season strongly. 8th place, missing the play-offs by 4 points What will happen to your closest rivals?: The scum that is known as Cardiff City will break the record for lowest points ever accumulated in a Premier League season, getting 5 points all from draws, and will therefore get relegated with 17 games to spare.
Location:The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, West Midlands Nickname: The Baggies, The Throstles Major honours: 1x League title, 1x League Cup, 5x FA Cup 17/18 finishing postion: 20th in Premier League (relegated) Transfermarkt squad value: £101.16m Manager:Darren Moore or Big Dave as he's known to Albion fans. A club icon as a player in the early 2000s, he returned to look after our U23 squad before being promoted to assistant manager by Alan Pardew in January. Following the end of Pardew's horrific reign, Moore took temporary charge with Albion facing inevitable relegation. He led us to wins over Newcastle, Spurs, Man Utd and a draw with Liverpool, somehow taking our futile battle for survival to the final week of the season. Following this he earned the head coach role permanently. Moore is loved among the Albion faithful, largely due to his reputation as a player here. He heavily favours a 4-4-2 formation and at the back end of last season, tended to soak up pressure and play on the counter attack. It will be interesting to see how his approach differs in a league where we are one of the favourites, not fighting to survive (hopefully) Best player(s)/ talisman: It's an interesting situation for Albion currently. There are plenty of Premier League quality players still in the squad. A lot depends on if they are picked off before the deadline shuts. Chris Brunt is a club stalwart and likely to be reappointed as captain. He is adored by the fans and in my opinion will be an incredible asset in the championship. His set pieces alone will bring 10+ goals to the side. Kieran Gibbs is a high quality player who appears to be set to stay and should make a big difference. Jay Rodriguez, Craig Dawson, Salomon Rondon and Nacer Chadli should all make a big difference in this division IF they stay. In all honesty I expect to lose a few of the above. Sam Johnstone appears to be an astute signing to replace the outgoing Ben Foster. Rising star:Sam Field he's one of our own! He looked completely at home against some of the top Premier League sides last campaign. A box-to-box midfielder, he's full of energy and looks so comfortable on the ball. I expect him to be a major part of our side this season, having just signed a new long-term deal. Kyle Edwards is an exciting attacking midfielder who has been impressing in pre-season. He may have a part to play following a loan spell at Exeter last campaign. Jonathon Leko looked like a potential world-beater when he first came through a couple of years back. A lightning quick winger full of tricks. A loan spell at Bristol City and limited appearances later he seems to be losing his way. Will be an interesting one to watch. Finally, the enigma that is Olly Burke. After signing with us last summer for £15m, he failed to impress any of the four managers we had over the season. He looks exciting when he comes on, without any end product so far, and was unfairly blamed for a loss at West Ham by Alan 'Coward' Pardew. We all know the talent he's got. Hopefully we can see it this season. What happened last season?: Let's not talk about it... We finally escaped the stranglehold of Tony Pulis, only to opt for the human joke that is Alan Pardew and duly hurtled towards relegation. Four of our players stole a taxi and then played (and lost) the following weekend. Pardew was sacked about 3 months too late, and Moore took over, restoring pride with some notable wins over Man Utd and Spurs. This season we also lost the great Cyrille Regis, and the outpouring of emotion and the coming together of the club during the weeks after his passing was something special. Summer transfer business (so far): We started by releasing Claudio Yacob, Boaz Myhill and Gareth McAuley. Yacob and McAuley will be greatly missed but it is perhaps the right time for them to go. Jonny Evans departed for Leicester for a cut-price £3m, Ben Foster left for Watford and James McClean has departed for Stoke City. Sam Johnstone has been bought in to replace Foster, with Jonathon Bond arriving as backup. Kyle Bartley has joined from Swansea City and it appears that Harvey Barnes will soon be arriving on loan from Leicester. Finally, James Morrison is currently out of contract but still with the club. His future is uncertain. I am very happy with Johnstone and Bartley. It has been a quiet window for Albion so far but that is largely a good thing. The squad is packed with Premier League talent and the window is more about keeping hold of them. There is major interest in Dawson and Rondon, along with interest in Rodriguez, Hegazi and Chadli. If any of the above go, then we would need to replace. Otherwise I would be happy with another striker and another CB. It is also worth mentioning that every player in the Albion side suffered a 50% wage cut upon relegation which means that we are financially sound despite relegation, but may lead to more big names leaving. Predicted starting XI:This is my best attempt. It will undoubtedly be 4-4-2. We may see Nyom in at right back and perhaps Barry in for Field. Obviously about half of this side could leave, so we shall see. Best case scenario: The bulk of the side remains and the quality in the side shines through as we breeze to automatic promotion. Worst case scenario: The better players leave or do not put the effort in. Moore cannot transfer his great start into his first full season in management. We become embroiled in a relegation battle Prediction: It will be somewhere in the middle. I'd like to think we'll go up automatically but I think play-offs are more likely. 6th What will happen to your closest rivals?: Villa won't go down but will settle into mid-table, despite the recent takeover. I think Wolves will do well in the PL, although I don't know how long Nuno will last before a big club comes in.
Location: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Nickname: The Potters Stadium:bet365 Stadium, 30,089 seats Major honours: 1972 League Cup 17/18 finishing position: 19th, Premier League Squad value: £127.8 million Manager:Gary Rowett signed from Derby in May. His honest attitude has brought lots of optimism to fans, who are looking forward to an overhaul of the Club. His style of play seems to change based on the squad he has available. Best Player:Joe Allen was vital to the Club last season, giving us hope that we would avoid relegation. His massive new contract signed this summer shows how loyal and committed to the Club he is, and will be a vital player this season. Rising star:Tom Edwards is a local lad who has won the Under 18 Player of the Year award twice in the Club. In the latter parts of last season he played some good first team football. What happened last season: A pathetic attempt at a season that had been coming for a while under Mark Hughes. Paul Lambert was appointed in January, but a win rate of just 2 in 15 matches wasn’t enough for him to keep his job and miss out on the million pound bonus offered to him. Transfer business so far: So far this has been a decent transfer window. Peter Etebo had an amazing World Cup for Nigeria and Benik Afobe looks really promising. Adam Federici has also been appointed to replace Lee Grant. Xherdan Shaqiri has left along with a few players like Stephen Ireland and Glen Johnson who will not be missed. Badou Ndiaye also looks to be on his way out, but it looks like Jack Butland will stay with us, which is massive. Perhaps most surprising are the new contracts signed by our 2 best players last season, Joe Allen and Moritz Bauer. Predicted Line up:Here is our predicted squad. I’m not sure what formation we will have. EDIT: This is a new version, complete with our rumoured new signings and in the right formation. Best case scenario: Stoke will finish top with an all-time Championship points record. Worst case scenario: A mediocre start to the season will see Rowett sacked and Stoke with a disappointing mid-table finish. Prediction: I think with our squad and our new manager, we will finish 1st. What will happen to our closest rivals? Port Vale will be relegated to the Vanarama National League.
Location:Villa Park, Trinity Rd, Birmingham B6 6HE Nickname: The Villans, The Villa, Prince William's Club, David "Twat" Cameron's Second Club. Major honours: 7 First Division wins, 7 FA Cups, 5 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 European Super Cup, 1 Intertoto Cup 17/18 finishing postion: 4th Transfermarkt squad value: £67.77m and dropping fast Manager:Steve Bruce (for now). Former Man Utd playing legend who's been a fixture of English football for decades. He joined Villa in 2016 after successful runs at Hull, Sunderland (yes they were good once) and Birmingham City. A bit of a promotion specialist, he's taken Championship clubs up to the Premier League 4 times in the past and just missed out last season, losing 1-0 to Fulham in the Playoff Final. Tactically, he's fairly old school who prefers 4-4-2 or a 4-1-4-1, usually involving a big man up top. Fun fact: while managing Huddersfield in 1999 he wrote three novels, "Striker!", "Sweeper!" and "Defender!", which focus on main character Steve Barnes, a football manager. Barnes solves crime and takes on terrorists, and the books have become prized rarities. The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast managed to get a copy and read out some of the copy - suitably awful. Best player(s)/ talisman: There's only one Jack Grealish. A Villa boy through and through, he's been with the club since 2001 (aged 6), and made his way into the first team in the 2013-14 season. He's been the centre of controversy a few times, most notably getting on the beers and passing out on a Tenerife street. Playing as a number 10, his quick feet and dribbling skills provide a number of goals and assists, as well as fouls. He probably went down a bit too easily when first in the Premier League, but time in the gym has noticeably toughened him up and he's a much more solid player as a result. One of the better players in the Championship, and due to Villa's abject finances, a transfer target for the likes of Leicester. Rising star: Keinan Davis could possibly be it, potentially Andre Green and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy as well. What happened last season?: Have you ever walked into a casino, spotted the roulette table and popped £10,000 on red? It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off. You've doubled your money if you win, but look like a right git if you lose. Villa figured this was a good way to approach 2017-18: spend millions on players, get in lots of loans, gamble everything on achieving promotion. After a so-so start, Bruce got the team playing well, stringing together a number of wins and moving through the playoff spots. Unfortunately they ran into a few teams playing out of their skin - champions Wolves ran away with the league and boasted a squad that included several Champions League players. Neil Warnock's Cardiff couldn't stop winning and grabbed the second automatic promotion. In the playoff final Villa came up against a Ryan Sessegnon-led Fulham and were just pipped at the post 1-0. Summer transfer business (so far): It's one-way traffic, due to absolutely abysmal finances. Loan spells for Lewis Grabban, Robert Snodgrass, Josh Onomah and Sam Johnstone have all ended, which is almost the spine of the team (Johnstone in particular - he was arguably the best keeper in the Championship and personally bagged a number of wins). Plus clubs are circling to pick off whatever assets we have left (eg. Jack Grealish, James Chester). With no prospect of anyone new coming in, it looks like the youth academy will be getting a lot more game time. Predicted starting XI:Possibly this, but half these players could be gone before the first match. Best case scenario: Mid-table anonymity would have to be best case - Villa are a mess and could go down this time around. Worst case scenario: Our finances are the real issue - they are dire. Villa need to find £9 million this month to avoid going into administration. Owner "Dr." Tony Xia is a billionaire, apparently, but tax bills went unpaid and the question remains if he's able to support the club as generously as he has in the past. Administration, points deductions and potentially relegation to League One are all real possibilities right now. It's not looking good. Prediction: Due to financial irregularities in the 23 clubs above us, Villa will get into the Champions League and take out the likes of Atletico, Bayern and Real Madrid on the way to our second European Cup. "Taylor, Green, prepared to venture down the left. There's a good ball played in for Jack Grealish. Oh, it must be and it is! It's Keinan Davis!" What will happen to your closest rivals?: Unfortunately the Scum managed to avoid League One in the final rounds of the season. Here's hoping they go one better. Agbonlahor to re-sign for one game: the Derby. And score the winner, again.
Location: The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough Founded: 1876 Nickname: The Boro (Or just Boro) Major honours: The League cup 2003-2004 season 17/18 finishing position: 5th Transfermarkt squad value: 79.34m Manager: Tony Pulis became manager of us in late December 2017, replacing the sacked Garry Monk after a pretty lacklustre few months of the campaign (despite where our league position was). Pulis is known in England for being the man that is never relegated when in charge of someone in the top flight. We are all aware of Tony Pulis' style of football. You start by having a strong and massive defence and maximise your use of set pieces to gain an advantage. Pulis is a lover of all set piece plays, whether that is crossing the ball in from a corner or free kick, or launching a ball into the box from a throw in, they're all in his arsenal of weapons. 'Pulisball' as it is pretty much known. Pulis has achieved promotion from the championship once before with Stoke, and I hope he achieves it again with us this season Best player(s)/ rising star: I mean, where else do I begin. Adama Traore. Arguably the best player in the championship on his day and is one of the most frightening dribblers in English football, maybe even world football. The winger is known for his speed and dribbling ability although is usually criticised for his lack of end product. Before last season I would've agreed, however 5 goals and 10 assists, with all but 2 assists coming before Pulis' arrival show the progression of the Spanish winger. As for other members of the squad, Ben Gibson, the prodigal son. Boro through and through he's progressed into a commanding centre half with the ability to play out from the back thanks to Karanka. He gained attention and emerged as one of the few given credit after our disappointing premier league campaign but was only the subject of one bid upon our relegation, from now manager Tony Pulis. It remains to be seen whether he'll be here come the first game of the season, but I hope he will be. As for future stars, Dael Fry, already has played 2 championship campaigns for us and looks as assured as a veteran of the game. Another centre half produced by our academy and he is being played in cdm this pre-season by Pulis, to add to his versatility. Hopefully a standout season for him, especially if Gibson does end up leaving. Finally, yes, he does always look as confused as images of him show. What happened last season?: Well, the first half of the season was tragic under Monk. We played really poor football at times and looked like we hadn't defended a day in our lives. There was also no consistency in the team, we'd win one game then lose the next. A key theme under both managers however, was our inability to beat those around us in the table. After Pulis' appointment the results picked up and it ended with us finishing 5th in the table. We ultimately lost in the playoff semi finals to Aston Villa but honestly, we didn't think we'd even be in the top half around Christmas. Summer transfer business (so far): Just the three deals to talk about so far. We've acquired Paddy McNair from Sunderland who looks like a decent player. He's been utilised in right back and midfield during pre-season so it looks like they'll be his positions for the season. I imagine he'll play alongside Clayts and Howson in a midfield three. Aden Flint was signed from Bristol City and I think I'm in the minority when I say I don't like how much we paid for him. Obviously the man is a Pulis player but I'm a bit unsure about his defensive ability. That being said he's looked strong during pre-season and I'm sure Pulis will get the best out of him. Fabio departed our club for Nantes so we'll need more full back cover. As for the rest of the window, I expect Gibson to leave but will be delighted if he doesn't. One of our strikers will also leave and Braithwaite should follow after his decent World Cup performances. We'll probably bring in a striker and a winger and hopefully hold onto Adama. That'd be a successful window in my eyes. Predicted starting XI: My best guess The only other guess I could make is that Gibson might leave and then Ayala would start, but he's injured at this point in time. Britt might play over Gestede too if Pulis is feeling fancy. Best case scenario: It has to be top of the pile right? It's not out of the question to imagine us up there and if everything clicks then we've got a chance. A defence that scores more than some teams' strikers, Adama channelling his inner Messi and finding consistency, Rudy/Britt/Bamford scoring for fun. It could be carnage. Worst case scenario: I can't see us finishing outside the playoffs, if we did then that would be gut-wrenching. But if we did then that would most certainly be the worst. Realistically, it'd be losing in the playoffs... again, and if it were in the final again then god help me. Although saying this, now losing Bamford and maybe Traore will be a worst case scenario in itself, definitely if they're not replaced. Prediction: Have to be confident, although it always kills me. 1st or 2nd. Tony Pulis and his nice white trainers carry us to the promise land. That being said, we never do it the easy way. Best Match of Last Season Sorry Leeds fans, but it had to be. "Hattrick Bamford" as our Twitter account tweeted, 3-0 against Leeds with Adama running the show. Leeds clearly found some positive from the game as they're set to sign him off us. This was the sign of what we should've done more last season. Showed what Paddy could've been too if given an even more extended period in Striker by himself. Oh well. What will happen to your closest rivals?: Who even are our closest rivals in this league? We're in geographical purgatory. Can't say Sunderland anymore so what? Leeds? Bielsa either turns them into the well oiled machine they hope for or he succumbs to the old Leeds ways and is sacked by December. As for the Mackems, probably promoted from League 1.
Bookies escaped a multi-million euro payout today after the third leg of a massive gamble lost at Musselbrugh. The Daragh Bourke-trained Gallahers Cross was gambled into the 4-5 favourite having Why Do Bookmakers Refuse To Pay Out, Bigger bookies tend to have higher limits. Instead these horses ran in the 6.10 at Bath, the 7.20 at Kempton, and the 7.00 and 8.30 at Naas in Ireland on a Wednesday evening (22nd June 2016). After initially suggesting they would pay the bet, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power said this morning it is to pay out in excess of €1 million to punters who have bet on the Illinois senator taking over the world's top job in three weeks time. More than 10,000 bets have been placed on the 2008 presidential election with Paddy Power in Ireland, with the majority placed in support of Obama over the past 12 months. So now you know which bookies do Irish lottery. You know how to play, and you know what the returns could be if you win. Now it’s your turn! Choose one of the bookies listed above, open your account and try your luck. We won’t even ask for a share of your winnings if you hit the jackpot…. Betting On The Irish Lottery At Bookmakers The teenage barman prepared for the weekend by placing a huge 14-team accumulator. The wager was so unlikely to pay out that he received odds of 1,000,000/1 on his £1 bet - a small amount to risk for such a large amount to gain. Donnellan placed the bet, before putting it to the back of his mind. A BOOKIE refused to pay out £11,000 to a punter after a seven-race bet came in – because there was a line printed on the betting slip. Ryan Clark placed a £1 accumulator bet on seven horses at Do bookmakers have to pay out on bets.? I heard that in Ireland that the bet is just a Gentleman's agreement and they are not legally obliged to pay out and this is the same in many countries.Also if this is true where can i find this information. bookies have to payout, it is legally binding. If they don't take them to court. Why Do It? So why would you want to place a bet with the bookies instead of buying a National Lottery Lotto ticket? The answer is, because you get much "fairer" odds.. Betting on the Lotto in the bookies makes more mathematical sense than buying an actual Lotto ticket - the odds you are getting in the bookies are "fairer" than those provided by the National Lottery. A woman is suing one of Britain’s biggest bookmakers for refusing to pay out £1million on a winning bet. Megan McCann, 20, claims that she is owed £1,009,960 by bet365 . Boylesports have to pay out up to €500,000 in winnings after last night’s Lotto Plus 1 draw.. The bookmaker's unlucky numbers of 4, 7 and 11 came back to haunt them once again as they appeared
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