Premier Deception by S J Crabb

in and announced
that the team were waiting to meet her.
    They were assembled
in the video room, where they watched both their games and those of
their competitors. Luke opened the door and Charlotte stepped
inside. The room was crammed full of various members of the team
and they all looked blankly at her. Some were visibly frowning
others had blank expressions with just a few smiling. The room
seemed very small with this amount of people in it. She swallowed
nervously looking around her. This room was probably every girls
dream come true. Wall to wall fit, gorgeous guys and all looking at
her expectantly. She could almost reach out and touch the
testosterone. She thought about Imogen and her “ hot ” lifeguards and thought that
she would implode if she could see her now. Charlotte smiled around
at everyone and took a deep breath and said. “ Good morning everyone. My name is Charlotte Dawson but you
can call me Charlotte or Charlie if that makes it seem any better
that I am not a man, at least we can pretend I am. ”
    This brought a very
faint trickle of laughter but she was undeterred. “ Last season is now behind us and we must forget
about it and move forward. The one thing that you can remember
though is how you felt at the end of it and use it to spur you
forward this season. We don ’ t want to
have another season like it and must firmly resolve to put it
behind us and learn from our mistakes. ” She paused and took a deep breath. Her legs felt like jelly
and she felt as though she was about to be sick with nerves. She
had never been good at public speaking unlike Zoe who revelled in
it. Trying to remember the tricks that Zoe had taught her she fixed
her gaze on an imaginary target at the back of the room, however
all she could see was Ronnie smirking at her which really got her
back up.
    With a new found
resolution she continued. “ This is a new
start and despite your reservations I can assure you that I have
your best interests at heart and my door is always open to you. I
am not going to make any changes so nobody fear for their jobs,
however by the end of each game I will assess each and every one of
you and if you are struggling you may find yourselves substituted.
I want to give everyone a clean slate and you must prove to me, the
club, the fans and above all yourselves that you have the right to
wear that strip. I will welcome any feedback or suggestions that
you have and I promise to listen and stick by you all and hope in
time that I can earn your respect. ”
    She sensed a slight
thaw in the arctic temperature and carried on. “ Luke will continue the good work that he has started and
Ronnie will continue as Captain. Thank you for your time but I
mustn ’ t hold you up any longer as we have
a game next Saturday and I want us to show everyone that we mean
business. ”
    Once again silence prevailed but as she looked around
Charlotte saw a little of the animosity had gone but it was obvious
that she still had some way to go.
    “Come on
Lads, ” said Luke, “ let ’ s show Charlie that we are
all behind her and then get changed and meet me on the
pitch. ” Everyone clapped her and then
went off to get changed. Charlotte sat down in one of the chairs
and said to Luke, “ I ’ m glad that ’ s over. ” Luke looked at her and almost smiled. “ It was a good speech but as you know it will
take more than a few words to win that lot around. They are now the
laughing stock of the league for two reasons.1- The appalling
season we just had and now 2 -they are being managed by a female.
It ’ s a lot for them to bear. Anyway
I ’ m off to start training and will drop
by afterwards to fill you in. ” “ Shouldn ’ t I come too? ” said Charlotte. “ No
remember there is a lot of promotional activity waiting for you,
you raise our profile and I will try and raise their game. ” Luke left and Charlotte looked around the empty
room. It had been a challenge for her to speak to a roomful of men
as