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ccl-c · 5 months

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four things sort of related to the drawing:

first, this was supposed to be inspired by marianne stokes's death and the maiden but somehow ended up looking more like psyche revived by cupid's kiss. (i also really want to do something with izzy's obsession with fire but haven't come up with any good composition ideas yet.)

second, i don't know if anyone seeing this can get it but i just realised that izzy has a lot in common with dokuga from dorohedoro (these two are probably my favourite type of characters): both are brave, smart, skillful and elegant fighters (both pretty tiny as well; dokuga is 177cm/5ft8 which seems fine but still makes him smaller than most people around him); both have knives with them as part of the defaults; both extremely repressed although for different reasons; both have put on a pretty “look” once although for completely different reasons also; both scarred on the upper body (dokuga canonically has no scar on his legs; not sure about izzy but from the toe scene it seems he doesn't have large scars on his legs either); both are their (towering) bosses' right-hand man and probably the most trusted person, and know (terrible) backstories that the crew/gang don't know; both have come back from near-death and lost a limb (dokuga was healed in the end but he still stayed in that state for half a year); both extremely loyal and devoted to their bosses even in the worst circumstances despite their love not returned (even the way kraken!ed makes the crew stressed and scared and confused and burnt out is in some way similar to kai with his gang near the end).

third, is it just me or does ed's earrings in this scene look like they're made with … toe bones? the little parts that line up? i wouldn't be surprised if he made izzy's toes into earrings. someone on the ship probably even had to make them for him, and that's how they knew ed took more of his toes.

and the last thing, i have been thinking about izzy's pain/torture kink and i've come to wonder if it's because pain makes him feel somewhat safe. it's familiar, it doesn't have to be bargained for, and it reminds him of what he is. it allows him to be the centre of another person's attention without having to deal with feelings. it probably also lets him ease into some sort of quiet headspace without voluntarily being “vulnerable”. a sort of “rational pleasure” that he considers matching what he's supposed to be like. and when it's over he can always blame the pain and not himself for whatever sensations he had.

#ofmd #edizzy #edward teach #izzy hands #tw amputation

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evita-shelby · 2 years

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Five times we see Eva and Tommy during the pandemic

For @cillmequick/ @alex-in-the-wildeness 's celebration.

I hope i got the theme right

Btw: Tommy and Eva are in their 30s, Tommy is already an Mp, Mosley is his right wing nemesis and the names of their constituencies are the current names they have now.

Also #2 is smut(oral fem receiving) and the last one includes some description of Eva in labor

Not friendly towards right wing people or fans of the royal family

Gif by @valyriansorrows

“Who keeps texting you this late?” He asks after the sound of stifled laughter and Eva’s texting woke him up again.

“Izzy, he’s stuck in quarantine with his really weird hook-up. Apparently, Flavio the gigolo had covid and didn’t tell him.” She answered. “Its noon over there, I’ll just send him one last text and I’ll let you sleep, babe.”

And just as Eva put her phone back on the nightstand, Tommy’s phone buzzed with a text message.

“Finn again?” Eva asked as he scowled at his iPhone.

“No, Arthur. Linda made him take one of those at home covid tests and he can’t tell if it’s positive or negative.” Tommy shows her the picture with a positive covid test.

“Fuck. Do you want to do your test right now or tomorrow morning?” Eva groans as she gets up to find their stash of at home tests in the medicine cabinet.

“If I have to wear a mask while giving birth, he can wear one during work.” Esme vents to her as Eva tries her best to keep herself quiet.

Working from home was amazing. Usually, she and Tommy were done way earlier or he clocked out early to bother her while she was going over things with Esme who’s going on maternity leave for the next three months.

Too bad this meeting couldn’t be rescheduled.

Too bad that Tommy is bored and horny enough to get under her desk and eat her out like a man starved.

Her husband and business partner was insatiable, but there are moments when she did want to complain about it.

Like now that she’s biting her lip while one hand keeps Tommy’s head between her legs and the other hovers over the mute icon on her Zoom call.

If only he wasn’t so good with his tongue. So good she’s forgotten half the shit Esme’s told her, so good she can’t think of anything else.

“Can I call you back?” Eva interrupts her sister-in-law just as her grip on the fountain pen tightens and he gets her to the good part.

“Really, Tommy, I thought you said sex during work hours was against company policy.” Esme teased her as Eva frantically searched for the end meeting button.

Fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes while people gawk at the representative of Birmingham Hall Green and his newly wedded wife after getting the second dose of the vaccine.

This had boosted vaccine rates and gave them an excuse to stoke the fires of Tommy’s little rivalry with the Tory MP from Warley.

Oswald Mosley wasn’t even from there; he was only representing Warley because he couldn’t even get Harrow West with his wife’s connections. But that hadn’t stopped the conservatives from voting him in, nor did it stop him from declaring Tommy his nemesis.

Wasn’t Tommy’s fault he was just better at everything, or that the media dubbed her husband sexiest mp since he was elected two years ago.

“I bet Mosley is bitching about getting the vaccine.” She says quietly as they wait for the giant cartoon clock projected on a gymnasium wall to ring.

“Oh, he is. Says it’s against his will and that he wants his people to pray for him as he is forced to go against his beliefs.” Tommy rolled his eyes and showed her the tweet he was reading on his phone.

“Do you still want me to tag you on the selfie I just posted?” She asked him.

“How much longer?” Tommy asked as they watched BBC One go over the mass resignations happening because Boris Johnson refused to step down.

Thomas Shelby MP OBE had made the popcorn and taken out a few beers to watch the shitshow unfold on national television.

“Maybe six hours, cards said July 7th. Is that Mosley’s name on the list?” Eva asked as they read the names listed as the Tory politician’s resignations came flying in.

“Yep, keeps asking me to do the same. Had to block him just to make him shut up.” He is giddy, like Katie and Finn are whenever they get Tommy to go against John on Mario Kart.

Eva wonders if she should tell him she’s seen the Queen’s death on the cards.

“That’s fucking impossible, I have an IUD.” Eva reminds Polly who swears Eva is pregnant.

“Congratulations, kid, you’re the one percent who has their implant fail. Baby boy, September 11, 2022.” Polly Gray-Gold said with a smile.

“Oh great, my baby is going to share his birthday with the Queen’s death date.” Eva pouted.

The Shelbys were antimonarchists, Tommy’s grandparents were Irish Travellers who settled in Birmingham, his father married an Irish Traveller with a Romani mother and both instilled good values and a normal amount of hatred for the monarchy.

Tommy couldn’t wait to open the aged whiskey his grandparents wanted them to open when Elizabeth II finally kicked the bucket.

“Gives us a good excuse to celebrate it then.” Polly reminded her.

“There’s no way I’m letting our son share a name with the king.” He says as he drives her to the hospital.

“Gabriel Henry it is.” Eva breathed through the contractions. “Can you drive faster?”

“I’m doing all I can, love, we’re almost there.” He tries to use his free hand to hold hers and she smacks it away.

“Fuucckk.” She groans as she feels her water break. Its not like the movies, feels like she just pissed herself on the spanking new red Cayenne. “I think he’s coming.”

On September 8, at 3:10 pm, Gabriel Henry is born just as the Queen of England breathes her last.

“We’re almost there, Evie, see the light’s even green.” He is grinning, she is in agony and he’s grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

#eva smith shelby #tommy shelby x oc #thomas shelby x oc #thomas shelby fanfic #peaky blinders fanfiction #thomas shelby #thomas shelby imagine #tommy shelby fanfic #oc fanfiction #peaky blinder fanfic #smut #cw:childbirth #mentions of covid 19

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gaps-between-stories · 1 year

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Fic Preview

A sneak peek of my WIP prequel to Safe Ship, Harbored, my introduction of Anne Bonny and Mary Read to the canon timeline!

1710.

The morning had started with oranges.

Mary rose before dawn, a habit from over a decade living on ships not easily broken, it turned out. She dressed quickly in the dark, another lingering habit, before opening the shutters to one of her bedroom windows. The cool morning air prickled gooseflesh along her bare arm, an early indication of the imminent seasonal shift she hoped would hold off a couple more weeks – she’d hoped to get at least one final harvest from her tomato plants before the dry season moved in for the winter.

Wrapping herself in a wool blanket pulled from her bed, she quietly padded down the short hallway to the kitchen, the floor tile still cool beneath her bare feet. The kitchen wasn’t any brighter than her bedroom, but her night-adjusted eyes did just fine as she moved quickly through the paces of waking up her house.

She made quick work of stoking the small hearth fire, the embers not entirely extinguished from the previous night, before hanging a kettle over the amber coals. Waiting for her water to boil, she plucked an orange from the top of her produce basket – another blood orange that Meg had managed to snag from an incoming merchant ship.

Leaning against the counter, wrapping her blanket-turned-shawl tighter around her shoulders, she sliced into the citrus with deft precision. These days most of her knife skills were used on peeling fruit and cutting chicken wire, and if some of her favorite knives happened to have come from the pockets of dead men on boats, well, that really isn’t anyone else’s business now, is it?

The one currently in her hand was a beautiful ivory inlay she’d pulled off of French merchant round-about Haiti, and judging by the cargo they’d found in the hull, he frankly deserved a lot worse than to be stabbed by his own damn knife.

And of course she cleaned it in between uses, she wasn’t actually raised in a barn, despite Izzy’s insistence.

Tossing the orange peel into her scrap bucket for her chickens later – she’d have to remember to send some eggs over to Betty as thanks for the sugar her neighbor had scrounged up during the last shortage – Mary passed an orange slice up to her lips as her kettle finally began to scream.

“Shit,” she fumbled for her tin mug, still on the counter where she left it last night. Giving it a quick sniff to determine whether the stained coffee rings alone were enough to dissuade her from using the dirty mug, she decided it was probably fine without washing for another day. After all, she’d eaten in significantly less sanitary conditions than the comfort of her own damn kitchen.

---

“Come in!” She called, not bothering to turn around from her task. A familiar part of the routine. The door opened, and the door closed, and Mary was greeted with silence. That part wasn’t familiar.

“You’re early, I have a loaf of bread proofing that was supposed to be in the oven by the time you got here.” She tried again, driving in the final nail into the side of the chicken coup, loose board secured again.

More silence.

Definitely not part of their routine.

Mary tossed the hammer onto the small workbench she kept out back, finally turning to greet her still silent visitor.

“What're you – ”

And standing in the arch of her backdoor was a ghost.

A beautiful ghost, still the most beautiful woman she'd ever had the privilege to look at. The early morning sun halo'd her image, the golden dawn setting flame to those auburn curls, embers dancing in the sea breeze.

Anne was a vision, and Mary felt all of the wind rush out of her at the sight. Anne swayed with the wind from her spot in the doorway, as if her planted feet had rooted themselves into the brick and mortar while the rest of her body got caught up in the salt-stained breeze.

Her brow knit together, eyes wide and entire and greener than any tidepool. Her lips parted, almost imperceptibly, forming around the smallest of "oh's" as Anne's gaze bore into Mary' entire being. It was as if she was as surprised as Mary to find her here.

The wind brushed Mary's ears, only detectable by touch – her pulse was thundering so loud in her ear that she thought it might be the last thing she ever heard. Her chest ached, heart threatening to tear its way out from under her ribs.

Four years, six months, thirteen days.

It had been four years, six months, and thirteen days since Mary last saw Anne Bonny's eyes.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ao3 writer #ao3 #ofmd fanfic #fanfiction #fic #my writing #wip #mary read #anne bonny #lesbians #ofmd au #ofmd fic

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darkarfs · 4 years

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My 10 Favorite WWE Matches of All Time (updated)

10: The 2001 Royal Rumble No matter how daft and stupid the product gets, I will never not stoke my head in around January. The Royal Rumble is my favorite match, but this one is my favorite favorite instance of that match. The pacing, the beautiful endurance of Kane, the hardcore interval (which Kane just decides to destroy), the Big Show returning after 4 months just to get shit-canned a minute into his run. There is so much to love about this mess. The preview of Rock and Austin that year for their Wrestlemania showdown. The fact that 4 or 5 of them (Rock, Austin, Kane, Undertaker, even Rikishi) could have been main event contenders. The best midcard in WWE history. Scotty 2 Hotty having the worst night of his life. Drew Carey just showing up. Bradshaw just cliffing everyone, because he's gotta get his shit in. Good Rumbles are like a 3 course meal, and this one is like all your courses at once, and then dessert is a treat you could die on. 9. Tyler Bate vs. WALTER - Takeover Cardiff Crowds make a lot of matches for me (thanks, 2020) but this crowd is especially electric, and for 24-year-old Tyler Bate, who is taking on a TANK, and that tank's name is WALTER, a TANK. But I will never not be a sucker for a David vs. Goliath story, and it was never better told than the boy made of thighs vs. the destroyer made of shattering palms. It is SO CARNY, so many feats of strength, so many OOOOOFS AND UUUUUURGHS that make this so great. Tyler was a hero on this night, but everyone knew he wasn't ready to win. Every feat is a magnificent reach. And it all means something to everyone. Make them what they know SHOULD happen and still surprise them with it. His "refusing to quit!" only to get shut down by a fucking chop. HE STANDS but is immediately ruined. It makes me. This shit fucking makes me. 8. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley, 30-Minute Iron Woman Match - Takeover Respect Most of this is just a remix of their epic and warranted classic in Brooklyn. but then Sasha takes the headband off of Izzy. And then they both stepped it up and were *amazing*. We somehow lost Bayley's "RAAAAAH'S and that's sad for me. But then they RAMP IT UP. NOBODY LIKES YOU. FUCK YOU. WE'RE HAPPIER NOW. (WE'RE NOT.) But seriously, Sasha taking Izzy's headband and then THROWING IT AT HER started something special, something grand. THE OUTRAGE. The bastion of heel heat. And then the match got better. They hugged at the end of their encounter in Brooklyn, but then they started poisoning one another. And it all started with this amazing match. (Also, Bayley's amazing red and gold robot tights.) 7. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels, Wrestlemania 21 Listen. HBK's 'Mania outings with the Undertaker are solid "match of the decade" contenders, piss-easy. They are peerless, they are in a league of their own. But saying they're your favorite? Unless you are an actual wrestler, that's like saying "UH, MY FAVE BAND IS THE BEATLES." Ya boring, ya basic, and we can all do better. And seeing how I'm in my late 30s, I understand wrestling a little different than I did when I made this list in...2016??? Christ. I bet AJ Styles vs. John Cena was on it that year. Two of the best performers, both in their prime, and looking back on it, I just prefer the mix of character dynamics at play. Angle is easily one of the best in the world, but he has such an inferiority complex, because he's an Olympic gold medalist who is told *nightly* that he sucks, and he CAN'T best Michaels. He keeps coming back, and he's so charming, so effortlessly good at this whole "wrestling" thing, and it's slowly making Angle, who SHOULD be all of those things, absolutely *spare.* And that informs so many spots and story moments in the match itself, specifically when Angle LOSES it and starts shouting at him, only to have a superkick partied under his face. Angle is one of the best ever because his wrestling acumen served his character, never once defined it. 6. Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon, Wrestlemania 17 I haven't gone back to watch the whole of Vince vs. Shane THAT many times. What I have done is watch the finish about 65 times. There is something so addictive and magical about that one pop, when Linda stands up from her chair, and the ENTIRE crowd stands with her. And I'll 100% agree that Vince's comeuppance - one slap, one hoof to the balls, a Mandible Claw and a Coast-To-Coast dropkick - is not NEAR the actual comeuppance he should have gotten for some of the deplorable shit his character got up to from around the Rumble to this match (two of which they've done their very best to scrub from history, they're THAT bad.) But it's the purest example I can think of, of that pantomime aspect of wrestling. Vince McMahon is a deranged bastard. He likes dumb, cruel, crude things, but his commitment to being the world's 2nd-worst lizard man makes some of the stuff that happens to him more richly rewarding than almost any retribution in any medium, ever. The final 4 minutes of that match, the crowd is a fireworks display. They rise, they explode, they rise and explode, over and over. And again, shoutout to my boy 2020 for making me miss a crowd THAT big having THAT good a time. 5. Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano - 2 out of 3 falls - TakeOver New York Now look, I'm not saying that NXT is essentially perfect for me, in terms for what I look for in wrestling. What I will say is that when it cooks, it combines the very best of indie stamina, choreography and stunt work with something WWE sometimes gets VERY right, and that is unabashed, unironic emotion. And it's not even that the intimacy of NXT being a smaller promotion has a denser, more specifically passionate fanbase. It's just the fact that NXT understands that so often, nuance and drama in wrestling doesn't come from promos, or swerves, or endless escalations of said drama, but from getting the FUCK out of the way and letting two of the best in the world *wrestle.* NXT is so good for providing context for the acts of jealousy, pride and entitlement, and then laying out a match that touches on all of these emotions throughout. This main event, built in two weeks, after a terribly-timed Ciampa injury, is actually VERRRY clever booking...disguised to look really simple. Cole starts the match as the crowd favorite, because he's the cool tweener everyone likes (with a catchphrase) to Gargano's unironic Disney prince. Over the course of Cole going all out, making subtle references to Johnny's feud with Ciampa, Gargano fighting from underneath, total fuck-off bastardry from the Undisputed Era (making poor Mauro Ranallo yell "YOU SNAKES!!") Maybe Cole WAS the better choice, but by the end of it, you didn't care. On that night, Johnny refused to lose, and the constant, exciting, *involving* wrestling dragged you to that emotional place. Damn right, you deserve it. 4. CM Punk vs. John Cena, Money In the Bank 2011 It might be a simple choice, but also, sometimes, it's really really gratifying to see a crowd who wants something get what they fucking want for once. A hot crowd makes a good match great, and a great match THIS. A crowd united, either for one guy, and against another, and in this case, BOTH. It makes every. Move. Matter. Trying to find a new angle on this match is like trying to find a new way to say fire is warm. And this crowd created a CAUSE. The no-sold pinfall, the attempted rehash of the Screwjob. Point out the botches if you must. The angle, the promo...it got my friends back into wrestling, a reason to care until the Shield. It's not the best, but it deserves to be. There is no wrestling crowd I wish I was more a part of. And I was at King of the Ring 1998. 3. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar, 60-Minute Iron Man match, Smackdown of September 18, 2003 It MAYBE was a bit of a "hipster" choice to name this my number 1 in 2016. But you know what? Bloody holds up. Two performers who feel "destined to do this forever," like a Triple H/Shawn Michaels, or a Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn. Possessed of freakish physical charisma, could go for days if pressed. Brock Lesnar, literally at the time ONE OF THE BEST ATHLETES in the WORLD being a lazy fucker and taking DQ points, laying the foundation of what Brock Lesnar would come to be known as. And Angle, in that rare position of everyone knowing he's the best thing going. Brilliant Lazy Asshole Brock and Certified Wrestling Machine Angle are two of my unironic favorite characters in all of wrestling, and it's a buffet of THAT. Like a Royal Rumble, only it's just two dudes, being the best they've ever been. 2. DIY vs. the Revival - 2 out of 3 falls - TakeOver Toronto "Tag team wrestling?" says main roster WWE. "What is this...tag team wrestling?" Well, this is it, at its absolute best. It's up there with Rey Mysterio and Edge vs. Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle from No Mercy 2002 for just brilliant, rock-solid tag team psychology. There are more story opportunities when there are more rules to break, how can WWE *not get behind that?* In terms of chemistry, both between opponents and between teams, in terms of callbacks like Johnny muscling through the exact same inverted figure four that lost them the belts in Brooklyn. It is a perfect match. Not an ounce of fat on it. And that closing sequence, of each member of DIY locking the Revival in their signature holds, and the men now known as FTR clinging to one another. It's probably the best tag match in the history of the WWE, and considering the caliber of tag matches on TakeOvers, is FUCKING saying something. 1. Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar, Survivor Series 2018 This match is everything I always hoped for. For the longest time, after the 2015 Royal Rumble debacle, when Reigns won, when simply everything we knew about storytelling said "no, of course it should be Bryan," I wondered what that 'Mania match would look like. If it were anything like this, I would have died a happy man. But then again, what makes this match so GOOD is that Bryan had just come back from an early retirement caused by head and neck surgery, and here he is, being dropped on his head and neck by Brock Fucking Lesnar, aka what would happen if the concept of "not giving a shit" gained corporeal form and starting shilling for Jimmy John's. The match gets really ugly, really fast, and Bryan takes us to uncomfortable places with his selling. It wasn't just the retirement angle, it was also the fact that Brock had turned out some REALLY lazy shit by that point in his career, so we had all mentally prepared for another finish-spamming early night. And then. AND THEN... Bryan hoofs him in the walnuts, hits the running knee, gives us the absolute closest 2-count of the decade, and then the fight is fucking on. Bryan went, over the course of 2 minutes, from never having a chance against Brock Lesnar to it being an *absolute certainty* that he was going to BEAT BROCK LESNAR. Anytime you visibly leave your seat every few seconds during a match, you know it's a special one. Again, it took me away, had me absolutely *screaming* at my monitor, elated, invested, and I don't know what more your favorite match can ask of you. But what happens when your favorite match isn't a match at all? No. 0: The Firefly Funhouse - Wrestlemania 36 I'm not kidding, it actually might be my favorite thing. It could be just my brain latching onto the Cult of the New, but I don't think so. It's not a match, I get it. It exists in a weird null-void outside of time and space, but mostly I am floored that they would broadcast something so virulently anti-WWE. Like, we talk of CM Punk and how WWE let him get away with all his little jokes and cut his little Pipebomb promo. But then WWE signed off on Bray Wyatt tearing the soul out of their business. Burying the biggest star of this generation, skewering and laying bare all of terrible WWE's terrible priorities, and also celebrating insider knowledge, wrestling history, and I just...love it. Right now, it's my favorite thing WWE have ever put out, because it did something they've never done before, told a story I didn't think they were capable of telling. And sure, it was Bray who told it, but I still can't believe it aired. But I am endlessly thankful that it did.

#wwe #favorite matches #long post

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stillunusual · 5 years

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LEEDS UNITED 4 WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 Leeds United: Casilla, Ayling, Jansson, Cooper, Alioski, Phillips, Klich, Roberts (Shackleton 90+1), Hernandez, Harrison (Dallas 77), Bamford. Subs not used: Peacock-Farrell, Berardi, Douglas, Gotts, Brown. It was so great to be back at Elland Road to witness our best performance of the season so far - against a team full of players who were playing in the Premiership last season - especially as our form since I was last here has been patchy to say the least, allowing Norwich City and Sheffield United to move ahead of us into the automatic promotion places. Leeds were third in the league ahead of this game, with West Brom, Middlesbrough and our next opponents Bristol City just below us in the remaining play-off spots. As usual, plenty has happened both on and off the field over the last few weeks. The EFL and the Football Association both launched investigations into "spygate" on 15th January, after receiving complaints from Frank Lampard and Derby County about the fact that Marcelo Bielsa had sent an intern to observe one of their training sessions. The next day, Bielsa called a press conference, and rumours began circulating that he was about to resign. Instead he took on the EFL, FA and all his critics by first of all announcing that he had sent a staff member to observe training sessions held by every other Championship team this season. He then treated the assembled journalists to an hour long coaching masterclass about the meticulous way he prepares for games. Bielsa has a team of 20 people who spend literally hundreds of hours doing video analysis of each of United's opponents, which builds up a huge database of information on players, tactics and formations to the extent that he knows exactly how the opposing team is going to play. Bielsa's obsessive attention to detail is truly mind-blowing. Sending an intern to peak over an opponenet's fence isn't really necessary and doesn't tell him anything he doesn't already know, but it's always been something he's done to reassure himself that he's covered all the bases.... To every Leeds fan watching this matchless display of shithousery, genius and football madness it simply confirmed the extent to which Bielsa is already a Leeds United legend. He completely owned Lampard, as well as demonstrating that he probably knows more about Derby County's squad than fat Frank does. Sadly, his audacious honesty was mainly spun in a predictably negative way by the media and a couple of days later the EFL announced that 11 Championship clubs had written to them demanding a detailed investigation of the extent to which Bielsa had spied on them. The 11 clubs behind the letter were: Blackburn Rovers, Brentford, Bristol City (whose owner Steve Lansdown also made a public demand for a points deduction), Derby County, Hull City, Middlesbrough, Millwall, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Preston North End and Swansea City. The following clubs did not agree to back the complaint: Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers, Ipswich Town, Queens Park Rangers, Reading, Rotherham United, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion and Wigan Athletic. It took the EFL over a month to decide that the appropriate punishment for Leeds United was a huge fine and a sanctimonious lecture. An EFL statement declared that: “After finalising its investigations into the incident at Derby County’s training ground on Thursday, January 10, the EFL reached the conclusion that the conduct undertaken by Leeds United in observing opponents’ training sessions is a breach of regulation 3.4. Leeds United has fully cooperated with the EFL’s inquiries and following a comprehensive review of all the evidence provided, the club has now formally admitted a breach of regulation 3.4. As a consequence, the club has been fined £200,000 (inclusive of a contribution to costs) and received a formal reprimand and warning to the effect that the club’s conduct fell significantly short of the standards expected by the EFL and must not be repeated. In addition, Leeds United has agreed to support a new EFL regulation that makes it clear that clubs will be expressly prohibited from viewing opposition training in the 72 hours immediately prior to a fixture, unless invited to do so. The EFL has informed all the Championship clubs who sought additional clarification regarding the conduct of Leeds United of the findings that relate to their club”....

Leeds United issued the following reply: “We accept that whilst we have not broken any specific rule, we have fallen short of the standard expected by the EFL with regards to regulation 3.4. We apologise for acting in a way that has been judged culturally unacceptable in the English game and would like to thank Shaun Harvey and the EFL for the manner in which they conducted their investigations. Our focus can now return to matters on the field”....

After the EFL made their announcement, the Football Association confirmed that they would not be taking any further action. Leeds United refrained from public comments while the EFL was making its deliberations, while being regularly pilloried in the media by various pundits and representatives of some of the other Championship clubs - which often included false claims about what had happened outside Derby’s training ground - and clearly took the view that it was better to accept the punishment and move on. At least there was no points deduction.... Leeds made two signings during the January transfer window - the first was goalkeeper Kiko Casilla, who joined from Real Madrid and immediately relegated Bailey Peacock-Farrell to the bench. The second was 17 year old midfielder Mateusz Bogusz from Ruch Chorzów - one for the future.... However, there was controversy on transfer deadline day when our apparently successful attempt to sign winger Daniel James from Swansea City dramatically fell through at the last moment. James, who wanted to come to Leeds, arrived in Yorkshire the night before, passed a medical at Thorp Arch and was driven to Elland Road around 6pm to complete the paperwork and go through the process of media interviews and photographs. Swansea owner Jason Levien is understood to have agreed the sale of James directly with Andrea Radrizzani. The deal was for Leeds to pay £1.5M to loan James until the end of the season with an obligation to buy the player in the summer, with the eventual fee dependent on whether or not Leeds achieved promotion to the Premiership. However, a late complication arose over United's initial intention to pay the £1.5m loan fee in June. Sources at United insisted they were willing to grant City’s late demand for £750,000 up front but were then met with silence from Swansea’s boardroom. Leeds claim that all attempts to communicate with Swansea in the last 90 minutes of the window were met with silence and as a result the deal could not be finalised. It later emerged that Swansea had pulled the plug on Leroy Fer's transfer to Aston Villa at the last moment in basically the same way. Swansea City are one of the 11 Championship clubs behind the letter accusing Leeds of breaching the obligations stated in the EFL's Regulation 3.4: “In all matters and transactions relating to The League each Club shall behave towards each other Club and The League with the utmost good faith”.... Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins resigned 48 hours later. After the "spygate" saga began, Bielsa began revealing his starting line ups in advance during his pre-match press conferences. Next up after Derby County was an away game against Stoke City in which we didn't play very well and lost 2-1. Pontus Jansson was sent off after receiving two debatable yellow cards, earning himself a one match ban. This was followed by a 2-1 victory against Rotherham that set us up nicely for an encounter with promotion rivals Norwich City at Elland Road. It was the biggest game of the season for both clubs but didn't really live up to the hype and turned out to be a relatively comfortable victory for Norwich, who won 3-1. Leeds as usual had most of the possession, but not for the first time were very wasteful in the final third - and at the other end, poor defending contributed to each of Norwich's goals. The only positive for Leeds was that Patrick Bamford returned to the bench and scored our consolation goal after coming on as a late substitute. A Leeds win would have left us six points clear at the top of the league, but we ended up level on points with Norwich instead. We picked up a decent away point at Middlesbrough a week later but the game was marred by a bizarre incident involving Jack Clarke. He played the entire first half, but after being substituted he collapsed while sitting on the bench during the second half, and had to be taken to hospital after being treated by paramedics. He hasn't played since then, although he is apparently back in training. The next game was an excellent 2-1 win against Swansea City, in which we somehow managed to lose yet another key player to injury - Kemar Roofe suffered knee ligament damage which might keep him out for the rest of the season. We also managed to beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1, but were then defeated by a mediocre QPR side who had lost their previous seven games. Izzy Brown played a 10 minute cameo during that game - his first appearance for Leeds. There was a lot of doom and gloom before the West Brom game but it turned out better than anyone could possibly have imagined. We got off to an incredible start with a goal after 16 seconds. West Brom kicked off and launched the ball forward, Liam Cooper headed it back into their half, Jack Harrison collected it, drove forward and then squared the ball to Pablo Hernandez who fired a clinical strike into the top corner from 25 yards out. Amazing.... Leeds dominated the game from start to finish and the fans were behind the team all the way, with non-stop singing, chanting and celebrating throughout. West Brom have a lot of dangerous players but they were never able to really threaten us because every time they got the ball we chased them down, harried them and took it off them. I don't remember Marcus Gayle having a single shot on goal and Kiko Casilla only had one notable save to make all evening. In contrast, we created several chances before scoring our second goal on the half hour mark. A neat passing move ended with Mateusz Klich sliding the ball through to Tyler Roberts on the edge of the box, who flicked it on to Bamford, who got behind the last defender and slotted the ball into the far corner of the net. We kept up the pressure and scored two more excellent goals in the second half. With 60 minutes on the clock, Roberts won the ball in the centre circle, beat one man and then found Bamford on the left side of the box, and his deflected shot beat the West Brom goalkeeper. Bamford has looked a bit rusty since making his comeback but on this evidence he's getting back to his best and will hopefully keep scoring goals for the rest of the season. Jamie Shackleton came on for Roberts in the first minute of stoppage time and started off another great move, which ended with Klich flicking the ball back to him as he ran into the box and provided a perfect cross for Gjanni Alioski to tap home from close range. All in all an incredible 4-0 victory that sent us temporarily back to the top of the league, but will end up meaning nothing unless we can somehow finish the season as strongly as we started it. With 35 games played it looks like a three horse race for the automatic promotion places, between Norwich (who beat Millwall over the weekend to reclaim the top spot, with 69 points), Leeds (who moved up to second, with 67 points) and Sheffield United (who only managed a draw against local rivals Sheffield Wednesday and moved down to third, with 65 points). Our next fixture will be a tough one, away at Bristol City. I still can't believe we'll get promoted, but at least we're still in the running....

#leeds united #soccer #football #championship #marcelo bielsa #efl #elland road #leeds #united #ticket #2019

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azshewrites · 7 years

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Beneath Sanity and Salvation (excerpt)

The sound sparrows singing in the bush beneath the open kitchen window made the damp, grayed morning feel more alive for Dean. He sat at the lacquered table, nestled in a small nook wrapped by a bay window, and stared into a tree-lined backyard sprinkled in fall oranges, reds, and yellows. His eyes fell upon the Eden-esque oak, but focused on nothing but the dimmed liveliness of the day beginning. The idea of the word ‘liveliness’ made him chuckle through a sip of his coffee. Six weeks he craved dull liveliness and silence in his home and sky. In all those weeks, he had been up early enough to have the sun rise infront him and each day its shine grew more and more oppressive. Today, it rose behind the mass of clouds, behind him, without deafening glare. It just seemed to get lighter, not brighter. Like removing of your hands from your closed eyes but your eyes remain closed. It was a lethargic morning full of liveliness all because of silence filled with a flock of birds' morning song. But it could not last.

As Dean chuckled in his coffee, a skin curling scream from the master bedroom caused the sparrows to scatter in a cacophony of flapping wings that rattle and snap branches. Dean was taken a bit off guard by the scream and wings, spattered a bit of coffee on to his shirt, but he was oddly unruffled - concerned, but numbly moved. This isn’t the first time Izzy (Isabella, his wife) has awaken like this – six weeks of booming sunrises. Today’s lack of shine had him optimistic about the pessimistic beginning of the day, hoping without faith that today would be different.

Settling into his S.S.D.D. attitude, he took his time getting to the bedroom. Took his time to become the comforter of his wife’s nightmares.

Mornings. Izzy’s waking. Each had taken on a dress of living-nightmare for him. He paused at the doorway, hidden to gather his strength, and heard Izzy mumbling to herself and fidgeting about. No, no, no, she kept saying to herself. Coming out of hiding, he catches Izzy, still in bed, quickly jerking the blanket to cover herself from the waist down. Without a word, and with growing whimpers and soft repetitive sorry’ from Izzy, Dean draws back the blanket. Izzy’s legs, from mid-thigh to mid-calf, are covered with bloody scratches, oozing welts, and purple-blue bruises.

“My God, Izzy,” Dean says low and away from Izzy. He should have known from today’s beginning it would not be SSDD. Six weeks – six weeks. He’s hoped, prayed, even ignored the obvious, but did not except the obvious until tears fell from his eyes at the sight of his wife. Today was anything - everything – but a Same Shit Different Day deal.

“What have you done,” he held Izzy’s cheek in his hand.

“I didn’t I’m sorry I’m sorry I didn’t do it I swear I didn’t!” Izzy stammered out before she fell into a wild cry.

“We have to get you help. Real help.”

“Why won’t you listen to me It’s the dreams They’re getting worst more vivid They’re real!”

Izzy’s manic behavior made Dean level his. “Listen to yourself, Izzy. Look at your legs. You can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep doing this. We can’t keep ignoring -”

“Then quit ignoring me!” Izzy snapped.

Dean, hand still on her cheek, calmly rose from Izzy’s bedside, and silently left the room. He will call their church’s crisis center. They will come and coax Izzy out of the bathroom she’s locked herself in when she heard Dean open the door for the two sterilely dressed strong men. She will kick and scream and cry and plead to Dean to not let them take her. She will beg him, the reverend, the sterile strong men, to believe her – the dreams are real. Dean will watch them drive away in an unmarked van with his delusional, screaming wife, on the advice that he follow them to their facilities. Dean will follow, but not too close. He will make a right when the van makes a left. He will have a long shot of whiskey to settle the morning before the afternoon takes him.

Dean arrives at St. Benedict’s Crisis Center well after the transport van. He returned to the house after leaving the PubGrub, wanting to shower off the whiskey and smoke, figuring he’d be gone well into the night, maybe the next. He sat in his car in the parking lot for twenty minutes before heading to the center’s entrance, grinding his mind and memory for when and where things went wrong. How could Izzy have lost connection to reality and what was most important.

As he approached the area where the receptionist instructed him Izzy was being held, Dean felt a sense of drowning. Every step closer to the room seemed to stick to the floor then sink beneath it. His heart jumped to his throat at a pace that quickened his breath and made it difficult for him to swallow rapidly forming saliva. He hesitated at her door, as he had done too many times before, as he had done a few hours before, then forced himself to his wife’s side.

Izzy lay on a thinly padded aluminum scaffold with castors. Her arms were at her side, still, palm side up, and held in place with belted leather cuffs. Her feet, palely peeking from under the rough white cotton sheet, were daintily restrained at the ankle by the same. He went to touch her, to hold her clammy, tranquil hand, to stoke her once full dark hair now damp with sweat and thinned and matted from fear and despair, and kiss her silent lips. He thought of the first day they met and the horrible morning they just had interchangeably, and felt his knees weaken with his love for her.

The shift nurse entered just in time to interrupt his desire to fall. “We gave her a strong sedative. She’ll be out for the rest of the day” she said meddling with Izzy’s chart, “The doctor will be in to decide care and therapy with you momentarily.”

Dean thought that was an odd statement – that he and the doctor would decide Izzy’s care and therapy - about as odd as the contained and orderly short word ‘crisis’ for something not so contained and orderly. Not that the doctor would help, or even that he would offer options for Dean to decide from. No. The doctor would be part of the decision. He guessed that’s what happens in a crisis, at a crisis center: Someone else would become part of the equation, become the head of the house, take over. After all, he was there because he couldn’t handle the crisis on his own in the first place. It gave Dean the illusion that he wasn’t alone, though he knew everyone involve, he and Izzy and the doctor, were all alone, separated, in their endeavors.

Six weeks passed before the doctor would talk to Dean about Izzy’s sessions. Another six weeks passed before the doctor would let Dean sit in on Izzy’s talk therapy sessions. On this cold, gray-hazed familiar morning, he’s allowed to sit in an adjacent room joined by a two-way mirror so he could see and hear Izzy, but Izzy would not regress or not participate due to his presence – she always cries and pleads with him to take her home whenever she sees him, followed by her cursing his name for not doing so.

Izzy’s not herself, not totally. She’s medicatedly calm while being eerily alert and aware. She stares at mirror on her side, fixing her hair with a girlishly smile. Her actions are haunted but Dean dismisses them as grooming. He stares back at her with a boyish grin stuffed with love. Then she waves and his smile disappears.

The doctor begins with his litany of repetitive questions, some geared to receive the same answer but poised to trick the patient into revealing her sanity of insanity. Izzy doesn’t fall for the trap. She’s occupied with the mirror’s reflection.

“I know how this all end’s, doc.” Izzy monotonically sings, still smiling at the mirror.

“Really,” the doctor says unmoved, “and how is that?”

“Just like my dreams, in blood and fire and screams. That is, if I you don’t let me out and I stop it.”

The doctor, unmoved by Izzy’s expected remarks, patronizes her into a game of mimic. She repeats everything he says to her, as he says it to her. Now she has his attention. And Dean’s.

“What the hell?” Dean whispered to himself.

Izzy smile brightens at she gazes deeper into the mirror, leaning in closer to what is her reflection, “Don’t worry, Dean. I can make it alright. Hell has very little to do with it.”

(tbc....)

KT ~ AzSheWrites

#literature #good or evil #literary #beneath sanity and salvation #horror #thriller #pyschological #fiction #creative writing #amwriting

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