26 It's the Same

September 14th

A lot has changed since the transfer deadline day in Sheffield Blades.

The significance of the signing of an ex England international at the twilight of his career to bolster their injury riddled midfield was huge. Add that to the fact that the two old men of the team plus the manager were basically best friends, the locker room spirit was at an all time high.

The morale of the first team rubbed off to their youth teams as well, who's also in a great run of form.

After taking care of rivals Sunday on opening day, the young Blades went on to win three in a row with victories against Huddersfield and Derby.

Blaise was unsurprisingly, the star of the show. He bagged a brace in the 4-0 win against Huddersfield and took another assist. Then scored a penalty in the game against Derby before serving a sumptuous over the top ball from the back that his friend Cameron sent to the roof of the net for the 2-0 win.

Blaise still criticized his game though. He noticed that at the end of games, his stamina always took a dive. Plus, he knows he should be even more dominant than he is now!

I'm a Premier League player for fuck's sake! I should be a force of nature in youth leagues!

Blaise continued the stamina training Potts gave him, as he pursued other avenues to improve faster. The addition of old man Hastings elated him.

Another tutor!

He put on his shameless hat and asked Potts if he could help him get his close friend Hastings as another tutor. Potts had a rather improving impression of this young man. He's worked hard, he's produced great early results in the youth leagues, he's been a leading presence in the youth roster, he's shown breathtaking improvement, and he's a very shameless man like Potts!

As a result, he's started to warm up with the youngster and provided him with deeper advice in the footballing side of things, and allowed him the opportunity to just ask him about things on a whim.

Potts knew that Hastings always liked teaching youngsters so with just a single message, he readily agreed.

"Second Master!" Blaise bowed to Hastings the same way he did with Potts the first time. "Thank you for accepting me."

"You have to get used to that bowing, Trent. He does that all the time."

Blaise beamed. He knew his days at the club would be even more fruitful.

***

Nottingham

The Nottingham Woodland youth team was about to board their youth team bus for their away game against Sheffield Blades.

A thin, blonde youth was jumping up and down outside the bus. He doesn't have the aura of a team captain, nor an ace player. If an ordinary person were to pick who's the captain and star of this Nottingham side, no one would choose him. They'd pick him to be a benchwarmer, or maybe a ball boy, instead.

But make no mistake, he's the undisputed number one in Nottingham Under 18s.

He sneezed several times after a gust of wind swept by, while the entirety of his team were pretty much used to this sight.

"Chap, we're gonna face that guy! The one you said who was like a hidden final boss!" A bulky man slapped the snot wiping ace.

"I hope he really is like an RPG final boss!" He coughed after finishing his sentence, splattering some of his saliva on the team bus. "Fuck not a good time for a cold… anyway, I hope that his stats don't lie… I do hope he's as good as advertised."

"No way it lies, right!"

"Yeah, Chap, he's done that consecutive times already!"

"He's new and yet he's already the best in Sheffield Blades!"

"They say he's from Old Trafford!"

"If he's learned good things from there, we're screwed!" Chap, or Chapman, finally boarded the bus with a laugh… and a cough after.

If Blaise Atkinson were here, he'd pick out this bunch from a crowd.

Most of these youngsters aren't just random youngsters in his memory. Most of these adolescents became his teammates for ten years in Nottingham.

Now, he's gonna face them, years younger and without all the animosity of the years gone by between them.

***

The senior team had left for their away game against Oxford.

Blaise expects nothing less than a victory for the senior team, whose fates have changed for the better with the arrival of Trent Hastings. He didn't know if Hastings ever came to Sheffield in the twilight of his career, the only thing he knew about him before was that he became a manager of Newcastle, and that he's an English international with more than 30 caps.

Anyway, Blaise was pacing back and forth inside the locker room. Their game against Nottingham Woodland stirred up so much emotion within him that he can't stay still. Sure, it was just a junior game, but a lot of the guys in there became his teammates, sworn brothers, and sworn enemies in his first life.

Especially that skinny blondie fucker…

Now, he's gonna have to keep these returning emotions in check for this game.

One thing that's also in his mind was that, are those bastards still the same way as they were in their youth than they were in adulthood? He has to figure that out.

"Would you please stop that annoying back and forth you're doing?" After an unknown amount of pacing back and forth, Cameron finally can't keep silent any longer. "I'm losing my focus here!"

"Yeah bro. You've gotta stop that, the game's gonna start soon." Terry also gave his opinion on the matter. "Don't let whatever is on your mind affect your game! You're integral to the team. You're the guy who draws defenders for me to score."

Blaise finally stopped his pacing, because those guys are right. It might affect his game on so many levels.

The under 18s manager with a receding hairline finally entered the locker room holding a tactics board. He had a slight smile on his face, while holding his chin.

The manager knows that today's opponents are considered among the strongest teams in the 2nd tier of youth leagues, because of their long history of producing high level talent, and their ability to populate their first team with their own youth talent.

They are gonna be tricky for his boys.

The players finally came out of the tunnel in separate lines and into the middle of the pitch.

As the captain, Blaise would be one half of the pregame ceremonial handshake with the opposing team's captain.

Hand stretched out, he looked at the man that was in front of him with a genuine smile. The very same man that was once both his good friend and worst enemy in his previous life: Nigel Chapman.

The man also smiled at him the same way as he shook his hand, like old times.