A Failed Success

Tony Lane was a 23years old business man with a streak of small businesses across the city of Manchester in England. He was a ready to mingle kind of bachelor who was not ready for any type of commitment. He had a younger brother and parents who also stayed in Manchester who constantly hounded him to introduce them to a potential wife, which he always found a way to dodge their various probes about his love life albeit the absence of one.

He leaved alone in a flat in the heart of Manchester, and had a group of friends to occasionally party with and discuss various aspects of their lifes with the emphasis on football and women. His close group of friends were Harry, Tom and Paul. with both Harry and Paul being Manchester United fans and Tony and Tom being Manchester City fans. There clubs were natural enemies but they knew how to coexist at least till the Manchester derbies which pitted both teams against each other.

All four boys like most boys across the world and especially in the UK had dreams of being professional football players when they were younger and even signed up for numerous trials in there respective clubs to achieve there dreams. But there was a reason they were called dreams, as all four boys failed the numerous times they tried out for there team trials.

Tony had once taught he had actually been chosen from the line up of boys when he heard the youth coach call out the name "Tony" only for him to jump up in joy and only discover that there was also another Tony doing the trials who was the one who had been chosen. He felt dejected but the numerous failures he had faced had toughened him up, so he was okay at least till when he got home to drench his pillows in tears.

His parents Mathew and Lucy always tried there best to support him, even though most of the football scouts they had met during trials always told them similar things"Your son is a great athlete, but there is nothing else special that he can bring to the table". After all the numerous failures, Tony finally decided to face his studies and finish high school.

He never had the passion for academics and when his parents brought up the issue of college, he politely declined and suggested they saved there money for his younger brother George. He only asked for a couple of thousand pounds which he later used to start up his first convenient store before he later developed 6 other branches across Manchester, and was even thinking of expanding to other cities.

He had a steady flow of money in his pocket and could be said to be successful which also gave him a lot of free time since he was no longer needed in the daily management of his stores. He mostly used his free time when he was alone to brood his failed career in football and was even thinking of getting involved in football management, as football was the only thing that could get his blood pumping.

He had always been a fitness guru even after the failed trials at the youth academies and had a gym membership in the sporting gym close to his apartment. He was always interested in football and always out debated his friends in most of there football discussions, since he had more free time to watch other matches even from the lower leagues of other countries.

Aside football he had no other passion, which also led to him slowly also getting more and more interested in women. He met numerous ladies which he had flings with and always found ways to avoid committing himself in the relationships.

It was after one of his failed attempts to successfully invite a lady to his apartment after there dinner date that his life changed forever.