Glory Glory Rebels

Chapter 5 Club Name?

"A pleasure to see you too Mr. Smith. I want to thank you for your continued support. We are getting better and better, I believe that with diligence and practice the team will soon be in the next league.” Rudy replied with a smile.

Rudy’s mind was just becoming clear, he had sat in the office all morning sifting through the images and memories, trying to remember what he needed to in order to cover up that he had traveled through time and forcing himself to accept that fact. It wasn’t easy for him to wrap his head around.

"It will never be easy, a developing football club needs money. Otherwise, I’m afraid the club will fail. It takes money and time to get to the top.” Jason Smith smiled and patted Rudy on the shoulder.

When Rudy had been preparing to establish the new club, he had received a lot of suggestions from David Pace, David had even allowed him to use the stadium for free today. Rudy had gotten help and support from many locals, Jason Smith was a local tailor and offered to provide all the players with jerseys and socks, free of charge.

Rudy was grateful that Smith was a huge Manchester fan, otherwise, he doubted that he would have received so much free merchandise. But Smith’s words reminded Rudy about his financial responsibilities to the club and exactly how crucial money was.

However since the club was only newly established, they had to start from the bottom. Which meant they did not have the reputation in order to attract sponsors, so for the time being they had to rely on the funds they had or whatever Rudy managed to make.

Jason lit a cigarette, he knew that Rudy didn’t smoke so he didn’t even bother to offer him one.

"So, what do you plan on calling this club of yours?” He asked Rudy.

"Originally we had planned on calling it FCUnited but the FA said we couldn’t use that so we picked four others.” Rudy explained.

“So far we have; ‘FC United of Manchester’, ‘FC Manchester Central’, ‘AFC Manchester 1878’ and ‘Newton Heath United FC’.” Rudy rattled off the names quickly.

“Well they are all definitely related to Manchester, so I think the fans will support any of them really.” Smith said happily, it was good that Rudy wanted to be good to his fans too.

“In all seriousness though, you better hurry up. It’s already June and the league starts in August. You, my friend, are running out of time fast.” Jason was serious all of a sudden.

"I have organized for you guys to enter the league at the lowest rank, that’s the best I can do. It’s a simple application process and you should be able to compete as soon as it is completed and approved.” Jason continued.

Rudy nodded in agreement, he knew that they would have to start from scratch and work their way up, this was the way it had to be, no matter how popular they were among the fans, no matter how good the coach, they had to follow the rules.

The coach! The thought that they didn’t have a head coach yet, hit Rudy like a bolt of lightning. Everyone had been so busy with everything else that they had overlooked this rather large detail.

“Well I wish you all the very best of luck. I need to be going now, it was good to see you again.” Jason put out the cigarette with the heel of his shoe and turned and walked away.

Jason had seen Wolf rushing towards Rudy looking worried, he assumed something was wrong and left in a hurry. Wolf waited until Jason was out of earshot and quietly said to Rudy;

“Rudy, you are never going to guess what.”

Rudy was still thinking about the head coach situation, he wasn’t sure that he could deal with much else right now.

“What is it Wolf? Is it bad news?” Rudy sounded concerned.

"Someone fairly famous has just shown up at the registration office!” Wolf said full of excitement. Rudy wasn’t sure what to make of it, was Wolf being serious?

“Ok, so tell me who is it? It’s not Beckham?” Rudy almost laughed at the absurdity of what he had just said, there was no way.

“No, Beckham is in France preparing for the World Cup.” Wolf laughed.

“Is this person here to join our team.” Rudy asked starting to get curious about the player.

“Yes, he is applying to join our team.” Wolf’s smile widened.

“Is he a well known player? Manchester United?” Rudy asked, his hopes rising.“Please can you just tell me who it is now?” He was starting to get impatient.

“Giggs.” Wolf said slowly.

”Oh my god,” Rudy said in awe and shock, this was almost more difficult for him to believe than traveling back in time.

Giggs was famous for his genius plays on the left, he had incredible breakthroughs and his speed was almost unmatched. His fans were growing daily and they were becoming obsessed. Would Giggs really consider joining FC United instead of playing for Manchester United?

Rudy couldn’t believe it until he stepped outside with Wolf. There on the training ground, surrounded by dozens of starry eyed people, stood Giggs.

“I told you Giggs was here to sign up.” Wolf said with a grin as he raised his hand to point out the very obvious to Rudy.