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emwritesfootball · 4 years

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“Just Friends” | Kepa Arrizabalaga

Travelling with Kepa as his girlfriend for a game but you’ve told everyone that you guys are just friends for a while as they end up winning their game and you guys have really rough sex in your hotel room as the day after during breakfast everyone are teasing you guys for the sounds and marks on you and asking questions about how long you’ve been together

You and Kepa had been secretly dating for almost three months and you were starting to wonder if anyone was going to figure it out. The two of you had decided to keep it a secret and continue the ruse that the two of you were just friends to everyone because you didn’t want his teammates to give him grief or for your relationship to get thrown into the public eye.

This weekend, Chelsea was travelling to Elland Road for a key match in the new season and Kepa was rumoured to start. You wanted to support your ‘friend’ so you were making the three-and-a-half hour journey to watch him play. A few of the lads gave you curious looks when you greeted Kepa at the hotel, the two of you just hugging casually but wishing you could do more. Abraham gave the two of you a look that had you convinced he knew about your secret, but Kepa assure you that nobody knew anything.

Kepa was on the starting eleven and you felt your heart start to soar when you finally saw him back in goal. He’d been out of form towards the end of last season and Lampard had pulled him until he was sure that Kepa was back to form, which apparently was today.

The match against Leeds was intense, but Kepa hung in there, saving whatever shots came his way, including an penalty that had you watching through your fingers. You were so proud of him, and it took all of your willpower not to kiss him on the pitch when Chelsea won the match 1-0 and Kepa got his first clean sheet in a long time.

“Can’t wait to get you back to the hotel,” Kepa murmured in your ear as you ‘platonically’ hugged him.

It was nearing 10pm by the time the lads got back to the hotel room, and Kepa was ready to take you. He’d been thinking about all the ways he’d love to victory-fuck you on the bus ride back to the hotel and he was hard.

You stood next to him as the two of you waited for the lift and you could feel the energy radiating off of him that had you dripping.

The moment the door to the lift closed, Kepa was on you pinning you against the wall of the lift as it rose up to your floor. “Gonna make you scream my name,” he murmured in-between kisses and you didn’t doubt it.

“I already screamed your name today,” you mumbled, clinging to him as you gasped and tilted your neck to give him better access.

“This will be different and you know it, Princesa.”

The moment the lift stopped and the door started to open you and Kepa broke apart so as not to get caught by any of the Chelsea team; the moment the door to your room closed behind you, though, his mouth was on yours once again and you knew it was going to be a long night of celebrating.

As promised, Kepa made you scream. You left quite a few marks on your boyfriend as payback, loving the way he fucked up into you. It didn’t even cross your mind to be quiet as your third orgasm raced through you and you cried out Kepa’s name once again.

The next morning, you and Kepa were given knowing looks when the two of you made it down to breakfast the next morning. There was no hiding the marks you’d left on Kepa or the ones that he’d left on you.

“So,” Tammy started giving the two of you a cheeky look, “Friends, eh?”

Your face was bright red and you hid it in Kepa’s shoulder. He looked down at you, pressing a kiss into your hair. “Maybe a little more than that...”

“Just a little?” Mount asked, joining in on the teasing. “Sounded like Kepa gave you a lot more than just a little last night...”

“How long have you been together?” Chilwell asked, the only one being a little more respectful.

“A little under three months,” you confess, looking up and kissing Kepa’s cheek. “We just wanted to keep it a secret for as long as we could, but I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”

The lads continued to tease you and Kepa for a bit, but you could tell that it was just their way of showing you that they were happy for you both so you didn’t mind. After that, it was just normal to see you in Kepa’s jersey or to see the two of you kissing on the pitch after a match; everyone loving the two of you as a couple.

Forever Tags: @chilly-me-softly @savingprivatecass @inlovewithamess @footballdaydream @brewsterbabyy @bbychilly @jamesdanielmaddison @hmminnbirdd @sweetlikesugar9 @lawsandother @eastxfeden @words-for-marcus @eatsleepbreathefutbol @hoelymolywinksy @marco-asensios @kingkepaff @meteora-fc

Kepa Tags: @edenhazarxd @kingkepaff

#my writing: kepa arrizabalaga #requests: kepa arrizabalaga #october 2020 requests

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oveliagirlhaditright · 3 years

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This Is Your Life - NeShiki

A NeShiki AU for Week 2, Day 2. Neo Spoilers. Oneshot.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33449641

Shiki and Neku had been together for three years now… Three blissful years, even amidst all the heartache and pain of them having to live in the UG these days, but blissful they were.

Shiki could still remember well, the time that Neku had wanted to celebrate Christmas with her in the UG (their first Christmas together) and had wanted to buy a tree, of course. And he had… But he’d ended up buying a fake palm tree to decorate with instead of a pine tree, in fearing that if someone happened to see him in the UG… they might somehow link Christmas to the Christian God, and then that with the Composer, and then maybe jump to the right conclusion that Neku knew who the Composer was, and bring even more danger down on them all that way.

So, Neku had bought a fake palm tree. And, truly, it had been silly. Shiki had been sure to tease Neku for it, too. And later, even he’d realized he overreacted (even though they probably wouldn’t take back the chance to try and protect Josh, even if they could… as he had been pretty good to them since enlisting them here)… but even with the silliness, it was probably Shiki’s happiest memory. She’d put a Malibu Barbie on top as the “angel”, and Neku had replied that that seemed fitting of a fashionista like her… and it had all been ridiculous, and so much fun.

And it was for that kind of happiness, that Shiki was mostly glad that she had ended up in the UG with Neku again. She hadn’t killed herself after Coco had murdered him—even though a part of her had been tempted to, to Partner with him in the Game again if he had needed her—and hadn’t gone back to the old Shiki, but rather had gone to work getting Gatto Nero up off the ground with Eri.

But then… Shiki had died in another accident. Not a car accident this time, but a piano falling on her head, of all things, while she was walking down the street. Thankfully, she hadn’t felt that, and the next thing she’d known, she’d been in the UG with Neku and Joshua…

Shiki had then thrown her arms around Neku then and sobbed uncontrollably. And while Neku often tried to act calm, cool and collected, she thought that he had behaved as emotionally as she had when they’d been reunited.

Joshua had explained then, that he was just going to give her the penalty of not being able to play the Game again, since she and Neku were Partners (at the time, Shiki had wanted to slap Josh—thinking that he was trying to rip away her chance of trying to come back to life again—but now she understood he had just given her the solid of not having to play the Game again), and for that reason, they would be his unofficial Reapers working with him to figure out what had happened in Shinjuku.

Neku had apparently been working with Josh on that as soon as he’d died… though Shiki could tell he wanted to come back home, eventually, and so did she.

So, she told herself that when they stopped whatever was going to happen to Shibuya—Josh had to be mums the word about some things, it seemed—she would try and see if he would let them go back to the RG.

Shiki wanted to believe that Joshua would let them… seeing as how he hadn’t forced them to become actual Reapers, or anything—which he more than had the power to do so—and instead pretty much let them be Players, but without a Game to play.

Shiki did still work on Gatto Nero with Eri. Very rarely, Joshua would tune her into the RG, so they could work on a few designs—she would go and see her bestie in the dead of night—and the next day, they would be back to having to e-mail it again… It was hard, but Shiki would take it.

So, this was the life that Shiki and Neku (and Josh, to an extent) had had for three years. A lot of the time, they would live with Joshua at the Shibuya River—because it was faster to be able to work with him on things that way—but other times, they needed their private time and stayed in an abandoned house together. Relators said that it was haunted, which was why people didn’t go there, but Neku—who had learned how to scan Souls during some of their time in Shinjuku—told Shiki that that wasn’t true in the slightest: to which she had had to giggle, that people could be so superstitious.

This was the life that Shiki and Neku had built for themselves… And maybe it was a little reckless to split up from Josh, when they had so many people gunning for them. But she and Neku deserved some happiness, right?

They both had seemed to think so… but now Shiki was very much wondering about that, when in this new Game… Neku had been caught—after he’d been unable to help himself from aiding Players in need—when he’d been going back from the Shibuya River to their home.

And Shiki hadn’t heard from him since he had headed for the Room of Reckoning this morning.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. And Shiki did find herself going outside, to hear players and Reapers alike talk about how they were going to catch Neku.

“Oh, Neku,” Shiki thought, as a tear escaped from her eyes now, “I should have made more of the trips to Josh myself. I’m less recognizable than you are, since my Entry Fee was my appearance and most people don’t know what I look like now. Nor am I a ‘legendary player’. Your leaving now had foolish written all over it, and I should have seen it and gone in your stead!”

The fact that Neku hadn’t even had time to text her since he’d become the UG’s most wanted didn’t bode well to Shiki, either.

And Shiki was freely crying now—and near a panic attack, as she clutched at her arms—but she told herself to hold it together. It wouldn’t do to start fretting while standing over here at her and Neku’s dining room table…

Their dining room table that Neku had once gotten so sick at, almost acting liking he had Malaria, as he how tripped down the stairs and into it, while Shiki had looked up from her knitting, horrified—even after being in the UG, he had gotten this sick, when she wouldn’t have thought that that was possible—and she’d had to lay him down on the table to get him to drink medicine as fast as she could then, as his fever had been great… and he had finally grown to like the stuff, and the flavor of it that she liked, too… And then, thankfully, he’d been alright.

If Shiki started losing it so that she couldn’t help now, she would never again get to heal Neku, or share more of her favorite flavors with him.

So, she had to do something!

Shiki no longer had Mr. Mew on her… she had given him to Tsugumi for her to use as a psych—as she’d had an even harder time finding a psych she could use than Shiki had—when it had seemed that she might be able to save Shinjuku in those early days… but she hadn’t gotten him back since Tsugumi had been lost.

But still… Shiki thought she could probably use some other psychs now, like telekinesis, if she had to.

She thought about calling Joshua for aid here… but Shiki feared that his hands were tied with the Higher Plane on this one. And if he was going to help Neku, he was probably already doing it or would have done so by now.

So, Shiki couldn’t waste time on that.

Instead… she prepared to run all over Shibuya to find Neku, if need be, but instead ended up going to the Scramble (so close to her and Neku’s home), which was pretty much right where she and Neku had met: since Hachiko Statue was right there.

Somehow, Shiki had known Neku would be there… and her instincts had been absolutely right about that.

Neku looked exhausted, worn down, and beaten, as he knelt on one of the Scramble Crossing’s many crosswalks now… All of the Players and Reapers fighting him must have really taken a toll on him, Shiki thought despairing and empathizing with Neku immediately.

And Tsugumi was about to erase Neku!

Shiki didn’t even think about what to do then!

She thought she saw a blond boy worrying with a certain pin, but she couldn’t process that now. Instead, she dove in the way of Neku and Tsugumi (holding him tightly as he shook, after she’d just saved him).

And after she got her bearings, Shiki very swiftly snatched her Mr. Mew from Tsugumi’s grip, synced up with Neku—and how she adored, that even now… that he was able to do that with her; if that didn’t show what they were to each other, she didn’t know what would—and did a level three fusion with him once more.

And once everyone was distracted by the laser show Mr. Mew was putting on with his eyes, Shiki grabbed Neku’s hand and ran.

Somehow, some way… she discovered she had a new psych like Neku did, as they sped away—that must have been activated the times Joshua tuned her back and forth—because Shiki could mess with their frequencies!

And for now, she got them both to the RG: Neku holding her and kissing her body all over in thanks and worship, as she did so.

She could breathe again.

And Shiki knew that their perfect life together would continue on… thank God or the Composer, she thought, grinning ear to ear and kissing him back.

Author’s Note: So, this is based on how after Tsugumi erases Beat or whatever… if you look closely, there’s a pair of white shoes that walk towards him afterwards.

And tbh… I was mostly certain that Hoodie was going to be Beat, and he was, but just for fun, I let myself imagine it was Neku or could have been him on this day. And I thought those shoes could have been Shiki coming to save him (because I thought they looked like the shoes she wore at the end of TWEWY, but now I think I’m just crazy). I also thought it might have been Rhyme coming to try and rescue Beat, but I doubt that, too. It was probably just Tsugumi walking or something.

But this whole story is based on that first fun AU idea. And that’s also why it ends right when Shiki saves Neku/when we see those shoes walking towards him or whatever.

Hope you all enjoyed!

And the medicine thing, is based on how… I think Neku didn’t like certain medicines in TWEWY? Or maybe none of them? Shiki liked one of them, though (I think). So, that’s what that whole thing is based on. I wanted it to be food, but I couldn’t find a canon food that Shiki liked that Neku disliked, that he could have changed his mind about for her, so this it was.

And it's NeShiki Day! I actually didn't think I would write this for NeShiki Day (I had something else done). And I just wanted to write tonight, and I didn't know where it would lead me. But, hey. It's NeShiki right on NeShiki Day. I think it's only right I share it for that day!:)

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spellbindingbeefcake · 7 years

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Required Reading ~ Otis & Wally

Wally goes to the library to look for some reading material. He finds Otis and they discuss what they know and don’t know.

Wally tapped the bell of the front desk and looked around. He had really missed New Rome's library. It was filled with books from every genre, from every school of thought and practice. It made sense that it had the largest collection of magic texts he'd yet to come by. Circe spoke so proudly of her few dozen spellbooks, but they were nothing compared to the mass of knowledge that the Roman library had. When he saw the librarian come up to meet him, Wally smiled. "Hi! I was wondering if you could help me find a book?'

Otis was stacking books in the "Music and Arts" section of the library when he heard the front desk bell ring. He paused what he was doing and walked down a row of shelves. When he turned down the aisle he was surprised to see who was standing there. "Hey Wally! What book are you looking for?"

Wally tapped his hands flat on the counter. "How ya doing? It's Otis, right?" The man had almost forgotten the guy he met during the festival. "I need some spell books. I wanted to find a book on like, rituals and doing altars." He remembered after a moment that Otis was knew to camp. "But if you don't know it's okay. I know you're still finding your way around camp and all."

"Yes sir, Otis I am." He laughed and motioned for Wally to follow him. "I may be new to camp, but I know my way around these books." Otis lead the other boy down a few isles and toward a shelf full of old books, some of which had very worn bindings. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you looking for these books for."

"Glad I remembered. Would'a been embarrassing to forget. Did you have a good time at the festival, dude?" Wally went around the counter and started to follow behind. "Do you like your job? I never thought about working at a library." He looked around the shelves and pointed to a few of the Halloween decorations that had been set up. "Halloween. I was planning on doing a small spell for the holiday, and the next full moon."

"I've been working at libraries since I was young, I love it." Otis said, before pulling out a book and tucking it between his arms. "I know a few spell books in here for Halloween. Back in New Orleans there was a lot of lore about these books being connected to voodoo magic," he said, pulling out a second book from another spot, "but obviously for most people it really is just a legend to get people into the Halloween spirit. How long have you been spell casting? I've tried but could never get the hang of it. As a son of Nemesis, I pretty much got cursed with not having any special abilities or affinities."

Wally nodded his head and pointed at Otis. "That's where your from; I should'a guessed. Your accent is super thick. That's not a surprise, there's a lot of magical energy down there in Louisiana." He kept looking around, not really paying attention to what books Otis was taking out from the shelves. "Since I was young, a bit before I came to Camp Half-Blood. Around when I was ten, so around twelve years." He smirked and shrugged at Otis. "Eh, magic is a little tricky. I know there are some demigods who aren't my siblings that can do, but others never can. But Nemesis, her kids don't really have any physical powers, do they?"

Otis looked at Wally as he searched around the shelves, realizing he hadn't paid the least attention to set of tomes he'd pulled. "Apparently the famous Marie Laveau had an affinity for magic, but I don't share that gift. I do like to think I have a superb sense of right and wrong, but I'd attribute that to just having morals in general. Mind showing me what you can do?"

Wally nodded quickly. "Oh I remember that! When I was at Camp Half-Blood and learning about people - famous people who were actually real witches and wizards, she was one of them, along with Marilyn Monroe. But Marilyn was more into beautification magic." He smirked, tipping his head to the side while Otis talked. "Morals or not, I bet you'd make a great judge." He looked at Otis and folded his arms. "What do you wanna see? I'm rather very good at transformation magic. Would you be interested in a fine pair of cat ears?"

"A pair of cat ears? I'm sure I could wear them well. A judge though?" Otis laughed at the thought. "I'm sure I'd serve my mother proud, though I can't say that would please me. The Goddess of Retribution likes to put her morals on hold the moment someone wrongs her..."

Wally chuckled and eyed Otis for a moment. "Yeah? Most people get so angry at me when I do something to them, they look ready to burst." He started to look again at some of the books. "She's a goddess, and like all our godly parents they think they're above some laws that even they try to govern. But hey, that's the life we live in. You're still learning about all that." He took a look at one of the books in Otis' hand. "This looks interesting."

Otis handed the book to Wally. "It's supposedly a spell book for reanimating deceased animals. Basically zombie pets, it's one of my favorite legends. I've never seen it work though, so I question it's validity. It also has a spell for summoning a loup garou, though it doesn't let you control the bloodthirsty beast yourself so you run the risk of getting mauled to death." Otis grinned while he said it, enjoying the opportunity to teach another person about all the myths he grew up with. "There's a lot of blood magic in it, which is typical of Cajun culture. Magic always has it's penalties."

Wally laughed and turned the book around, looking at the back and then he started to flip through the pages. "This is pretty cool. I've never tried resurrection, but bringing back your old pets seems really creepy - which is good, considering the season! But if New Rome has it here, it must have some validity to it." Wally frowned and scrunched his eyebrows together. "Loup Garou? That's the uh," he scratched his head. "Mexican monster?" Wally huffed and nodded. "Believe me, I know that."

"The loup garou is a werewolf legend from New Orleans." Otis said. "The rougarou hunts down Catholics who break Lent, and if a Catholic breaks lent seven years in a row, they then become a rougarou themselves. Or you tell your kids they'll be eaten by the loup garou if they don't stop being brats. By the way, what are you doing for Halloween? You said you wanted a spell to coincide with the season, but what do you have planned?"

"Aww, the lycans. That's cool, very festive for the Catholics. It must be just an urban legend though, right? I didn't think Catholics believed in werewolves." Wally took the book from Otis, the one on animal resurrection and tucked it under his arm. He wouldn't use the spells in it, but they could give him some extra knowledge. "I was actually planning on going as Captain America. I don't know if I mentioned it when we met but I've been pretty much out of commission for the past few months, missed some pretty cool stuff. I missed them revealing the poster for Infinity Wars. I missed Spider-Man: Homecoming. Sadly I didn't miss Justice League."

"You're going where? Trick or Treating? Not be rude, but aren't you a bit old?" Otis said, chuckling. "I haven't paid much attention to superhero movies. The idea in them that one person is the good guy just because they're able-bodied, attractive white men doesn't sit well with me." Otis noticed Wally had placed a few books under his arm. "You ready to go check out?"

Wally laughed and shook his head. "You don't need to trick or treat if you dress up. It's in the spirit of Halloween - and Samhain, which I'll also be celebrating." The blonde took another book off the shelves that seemed interesting. He smiled at the man's comment and wondered what an appropriate response would be. "I mean, they have black people in those movies too. Falcon is one of the coolest. I think you should rewatch these films." He nodded. "Yup, all ready."

Otis lead Wally to the register and started scanning his books. "I haven't dressed up for Halloween in years." He thought back to the last time he actually celebrated Halloween. He dressed up in a homemade rougarou costume and won the costume competition at his stepfathers Halloween party. "Well, if you want company, I don't have any plans this year. Let me know, you know where to find me!" He said, waving his hand around the building.

Wally scoffed and gave Otis this look of disappointment. "That should change. Halloween is a wonderful day. I won't get into the details now, but you should really try and get into the spirit. You still got a little more than a week." He smiled at Otis and nodded. "Maybe I'll take you up on that offer. But this is the twenty-first century, so I'll just give you my number, okay?" Wally cupped his hands together and squeezed, purple light shining through the crevices of his fingers. When he reopened them, a little scroll was in his palm. He dropped it in front of Otis and then took his books. "I'll have the returned on time, if any of the animals I summon back from the dead don't eat them first."

Otis grabbed the scroll in front of him and opened it to find Wally's number. "Just be careful not to get the books damaged by reincarnated animals, if and when you decide to make the necessary sacrifice in the first place to summon them." Otis watched the boy leave the library and went back to work himself.

#chatzy para #para: otis #chat: otis

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thefootballlife · 7 years

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The Battle of Pedro's Jaw - Rangers lose to Hibs and lose the plot

Somewhere, written among the often absurdist amount of words I write on Scottish football will be a statement that goes something like this: Every time Pedro Caixinha opens his mouth, it’s almost guaranteed to come back and bite him. Be it “The End of the Cycle” or announcing teams 24 hours before games, Caixinha has an almost uncanny ability to dangle himself in front of fate and scream “Come at me!” and, every time, it swallows him whole. Two days before Rangers’ grudge match against Hibs at ibrox, Caixinha said he was “chasing perfection”. What he would get was a perfect start to the domestic season shattered. However, the game itself was less a battle, and more gesturing. While there were clashes on the pitch and histrionics off it, it never once threatened to boil over into madness during those ninety minutes, as so often has been the case when Neil Lennon meets Rangers. Afterwards, however, the histrionics started. First off, Pedro Caixinha complained about referee John Beaton indicating that, when he saw it was Beaton who would be looking after the game, he immediately felt he had to keep an eye on things as he expected they would go against his side. Similarly to when Robbie Neilson came out to say he trained with ten men when he saw Willie Collum was reffing, Caixinha should expect an SFA charge for that little comment. It was, of course, incorrect. Beaton could hardly be accused of being biased against Rangers. He could (and should) be accused of just simply being not very good - one of the perils of being in a smaller nation is the smaller pool of referees to choose from and also the impracticality of ruling referees out of games because of clubs they are rumoured to support. One of John Beaton’s last appearances at Ibrox prior to Saturday was in the 6-0 Cup win vs Hamilton in which he failed to notice Wes Foderingham handling the ball outside of the box, gave Rangers a soft penalty and then failed to send off Joe Garner for kicking Dougie Imrie up the backside. Biased against Rangers? I think not. His decisions in Rangers vs Hibs were, rightly, under scrutiny and, in the two crucial clash points of the game, were of a nature that went against the home side. The first, a clash between Stokes and Tavernier ended with Stokes grabbing his opponent round the neck and pulling him to the ground - a red card certainly would have been understandable but Beaton chose to book Stokes and Tavernier on the strength of that and the square up that followed it. In the first ten minutes of a game, few want to see a player sent off and Beaton possibly also factored into his thinking that an early red card in a game that could easily get away from him may be a bit much and chose to issue a double booking to allow cooler heads to prevail. He could have gone down the path of a red card but I’m not sure one could really blame him too much for doing what he did. The second flashpoint, however, was the melee that saw Ryan Jack get sent off. While there can be no quibbles about Jack’s red card - if you try to stick a headbutt on someone while the referee is stood next to you, you deserve an extra game ban added on for stupidity - that Stokes was involved in the melee again and that he was squaring up to Jack was definitely cause for a second yellow and to have the teams even at ten men. There is little excusing that call. At that point, the game was sat at 1-1 with Rangers having the edge - after that, Hibs went 3-1 up before a brief flash of life from Rangers saw the game end 3-2. There are other reasons Rangers failed to get a result than John Beaton. Caixinha persisting with two up front after the red card ceded dominance of the midfield to Hibs and, not too surprisingly, they made the most of it. But where Caixinha failed miserably at changing his set up to counter Hibs’ real time threats, he succeeded in changing the narrative away from his own, obvious mistake towards the referee. Within a few hours, Rangers fans with nothing better to do already had a petition up to send to the SFA complaining about the consistent bias they perceive that they are receiving end of from referees - spurious and patently dim but a clear example of the power of social media to motivate and mobilise the overstimulated and undereducated. It now sits at over 5,000 signatures. With that target well and truly bodied, Rangers then turned their eye on bodying a troll: Neil Lennon. Lennon, a man who has suffered from Rangers’ lunatic fringe before we even had given it the name, celebrated his team’s goals and win in exuberant fashion. One would even claim that he celebrated in exactly the fashion you would expect had you just gotten one over on a fanbase that sent him death threats and worse. Part of football is that you enjoy getting one over on rivals - particularly when the past has been so bitter. Lennon was fist pumping, ear cupping and clearly ecstatic - his one potential crossing of the line was in the usage of the universal symbol for GIRUY. Even then, there was nothing that justified Lennon having objects thrown at him from the main stand - something that the directors sat above them must surely have looked upon with dismay. And those associated with continued to embarrass the club. Be it revelations that Caixinha’s assistant may have tried to get Neil Lennon arrested for a public order offence, Caixinha complaining about not being allowed to enter the Hibs manager’s technical area (after an encroachment from Lennon on his) or a frankly ridiculous statement from fan shareholder group demanding a police investigation into Lennon, Rangers have been made to look stupid. Club 1872’s statement, in particular, has more holes than last season’s defence - describing Beaton’s performance as the “worst ever seen at Ibrox” when it wasn't even Beaton’s worst performance at Ibrox is a highlight in the history of things lacking self awareness, topped by “we can only speculate as to why” as a condemnation of Lennon’s actions. To be unambiguous, given the amount of abuse that Neil Lennon has received from sections of the Rangers support, abuse that has gone way beyond anything that could be excused by footballing rivalry, that he celebrated what must have been an incredible personal victory as well as a great win for Hibs is entirely reasonable. That didn't stop Club 1872 endorsing Rangers fans contacting police regarding Lennon’s perceived incitement with at least 30 complaints received so far. Police time is well spent investigating actual crime such as sending bombs in the post or graphic death threats - things Lennon has endured - and it is not well spent investigating a man being happy on a touch line. What next? Arresting players for celebrating goals? Regrettably, what was next was another barrage of bile and online threats from Rangers supporters directed at Neil Lennon. Regrettably, the unedifying cycle of Neil Lennon acting like a normal human and being called out as reprehensible for doing so appears to be continuing and Rangers show no willingness to shut it down. But it has quickly distracted from the failings of Caixinha and his team. A similarly poor result to Hearts on Saturday would start to cast immense doubt over his reign and, unlike vs Progres Niederkorn, be unable to be laughed off as a one off. Playing to a distinctly unjustified victim complex buys time, at least - few are pointing fingers at Bruno Alves for being bossed around by Simon flipping Murray or at Caixinha for not adjusting because those fingers are being pointed at imaginary threats. But, this side of 2012, the words “signified silence” and “Rangers” have never really been used in connection with each other. As Caixinha stated, “We Are The People” and, apparently, the people don't know that silence can be golden. Caixinha might feel he’s one of the people but, just like everything, it may well come back to bite him. Because it's the people who will eventually demand his head.

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thefootballlife · 7 years

Text

The Battle of Pedro's Jaw - Rangers lose to Hibs and lose the plot

Be it “The End of the Cycle” or announcing teams 24 hours before games, Caixinha has an almost uncanny ability to dangle himself in front of fate and scream “Come at me!” and, every time, it swallows him whole.

Two days before Rangers’ grudge match against Hibs at ibrox, Caixinha said he was “chasing perfection”. What he would get was a perfect start to the domestic season shattered.

However, the game itself was less a battle, and more gesturing. While there were clashes on the pitch and histrionics off it, it never once threatened to boil over into madness during those ninety minutes, as so often has been the case when Neil Lennon meets Rangers. Afterwards, however, the histrionics started.

First off, Pedro Caixinha complained about referee John Beaton indicating that, when he saw it was Beaton who would be looking after the game, he immediately felt he had to keep an eye on things as he expected they would go against his side. Similarly to when Robbie Neilson came out to say he trained with ten men when he saw Willie Collum was reffing, Caixinha should expect an SFA charge for that little comment. It was, of course, incorrect.

Beaton could hardly be accused of being biased against Rangers. He could (and should) be accused of just simply being not very good - one of the perils of being in a smaller nation is the smaller pool of referees to choose from and also the impracticality of ruling referees out of games because of clubs they are rumoured to support. One of John Beaton’s last appearances at Ibrox prior to Saturday was in the 6-0 Cup win vs Hamilton in which he failed to notice Wes Foderingham handling the ball outside of the box, gave Rangers a soft penalty and then failed to send off Joe Garner for kicking Dougie Imrie up the backside.

Biased against Rangers? I think not.

His decisions in Rangers vs Hibs were, rightly, under scrutiny and, in the two crucial clash points of the game, were of a nature that went against the home side. The first, a clash between Stokes and Tavernier ended with Stokes grabbing his opponent round the neck and pulling him to the ground - a red card certainly would have been understandable but Beaton chose to book Stokes and Tavernier on the strength of that and the square up that followed it. In the first ten minutes of a game, few want to see a player sent off and Beaton possibly also factored into his thinking that an early red card in a game that could easily get away from him may be a bit much and chose to issue a double booking to allow cooler heads to prevail. He could have gone down the path of a red card but I’m not sure one could really blame him too much for doing what he did.

The second flashpoint, however, was the melee that saw Ryan Jack get sent off. While there can be no quibbles about Jack’s red card - if you try to stick a headbutt on someone while the referee is stood next to you, you deserve an extra game ban added on for stupidity - that Stokes was involved in the melee again and that he was squaring up to Jack was definitely cause for a second yellow and to have the teams even at ten men. There is little excusing that call. At that point, the game was sat at 1-1 with Rangers having the edge - after that, Hibs went 3-1 up before a brief flash of life from Rangers saw the game end 3-2.

There are other reasons Rangers failed to get a result than John Beaton. Caixinha persisting with two up front after the red card ceded dominance of the midfield to Hibs and, not too surprisingly, they made the most of it. But where Caixinha failed miserably at changing his set up to counter Hibs’ real time threats, he succeeded in changing the narrative away from his own, obvious mistake towards the referee. Within a few hours, Rangers fans with nothing better to do already had a petition up to send to the SFA complaining about the consistent bias they perceive that they are receiving end of from referees - spurious and patently dim but a clear example of the power of social media to motivate and mobilise the overstimulated and undereducated. It now sits at over 5,000 signatures.

With that target well and truly bodied, Rangers then turned their eye on bodying a troll: Neil Lennon. Lennon, a man who has suffered from Rangers’ lunatic fringe before we even had given it the name, celebrated his team’s goals and win in exuberant fashion. One would even claim that he celebrated in exactly the fashion you would expect had you just gotten one over on a fanbase that sent him death threats and worse. Part of football is that you enjoy getting one over on rivals - particularly when the past has been so bitter. Lennon was fist pumping, ear cupping and clearly ecstatic - his one potential crossing of the line was in the usage of the universal symbol for GIRUY. Even then, there was nothing that justified Lennon having objects thrown at him from the main stand - something that the directors sat above them must surely have looked upon with dismay.

And those associated with continued to embarrass the club. Be it revelations that Caixinha’s assistant may have tried to get Neil Lennon arrested for a public order offence, Caixinha complaining about not being allowed to enter the Hibs manager’s technical area (after an encroachment from Lennon on his) or a frankly ridiculous statement from fan shareholder group demanding a police investigation into Lennon, Rangers have been made to look stupid.

Club 1872’s statement, in particular, has more holes than last season’s defence - describing Beaton’s performance as the “worst ever seen at Ibrox” when it wasn’t even Beaton’s worst performance at Ibrox is a highlight in the history of things lacking self awareness, topped by “we can only speculate as to why” as a condemnation of Lennon’s actions.

To be unambiguous, given the amount of abuse that Neil Lennon has received from sections of the Rangers support, abuse that has gone way beyond anything that could be excused by footballing rivalry, that he celebrated what must have been an incredible personal victory as well as a great win for Hibs is entirely reasonable.

That didn’t stop Club 1872 endorsing Rangers fans contacting police regarding Lennon’s perceived incitement with at least 30 complaints received so far. Police time is well spent investigating actual crime such as sending bombs in the post or graphic death threats - things Lennon has endured - and it is not well spent investigating a man being happy on a touch line. What next? Arresting players for celebrating goals?

Regrettably, what was next was another barrage of bile and online threats from Rangers supporters directed at Neil Lennon.

Regrettably, the unedifying cycle of Neil Lennon acting like a normal human and being called out as reprehensible for doing so appears to be continuing and Rangers show no willingness to shut it down.

But it has quickly distracted from the failings of Caixinha and his team. A similarly poor result to Hearts on Saturday would start to cast immense doubt over his reign and, unlike vs Progres Niederkorn, be unable to be laughed off as a one off. Playing to a distinctly unjustified victim complex buys time, at least - few are pointing fingers at Bruno Alves for being bossed around by Simon flipping Murray or at Caixinha for not adjusting because those fingers are being pointed at imaginary threats.

But, this side of 2012, the words “dignified silence” and “Rangers” have never really been used in connection with each other. As Caixinha stated, “We Are The People” and, apparently, the people don’t know that silence can be golden.

Caixinha might feel he’s one of the people but, just like everything, it may well come back to bite him.

Because it’s the people who will eventually demand his head.

0 notes