(Matt's pov)
(8-10-2008)
Matthew Delevigne - 300 thousand Subscribers
Playlist - ATLAS
Gangnam Style (PSY) 6 million views
Lost in Japan (Shawn Mendes) 2 million views
Shinonuga e wa (Fujii Kaze) 500K views
I Like Me Better (Lauv) 4 Million views
Love Yourself (Justin Bieber) 5 Million views
Golden Hour (JVKE) 2 million views
Car's Outside (James Arthur) 1 million views
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I was surprised by the views these videos had received, I had expected not more than a million views but they exceeded my expectations.
The most thrilling part was the subscriber count, my channel had become fifth most subscribed youtube channels in the world with fred leading the list.
Time had been passing quickly and today, was the day. I'll be back in London, playing against Arsenal.
It has been unnerving and exciting at the same time, I feel conflicted, there was coach Wenger that I had to prove wrong, Fabregas, Van persi, Jack.
I grew up with these people and I don't know how to behave.
Emirates, since the first match I saw, the farewell of Dennis Bergkamp. I wanted to play in that stadium, do something that made people gasp.
"Everybody on the bus!" Announced David, our luggage on the other one, I sat beside Arteta who looked solemn, I suspect he had been already approached by Arsenal, this was his last season here after all.
"Expect a warm welcome" said Lascott patting my shoulder as he moved to the back.
I smiled at him and he grinned back, we were expecting a warm welcome as in one with real heat.
Specially me, the last few days of Arsenal TV was enough to tell me how much they like me.
"Hey cap" I said to the captain Phil sitting on the other side of the bus.
He was wearing his wired earphones into a walkman listening to some old school Micheal Jackson music.
He took out one earpiece and looked at me a little annoyed, "Can I do an interview today? After match one?" I asked.
He looked surprised for a moment, Mikel was now paying attention too, " why? I mean, I don't know" he said not understanding the question.
"I'm saying the Man of the match one. I'm going to win that today" I said with a serious face making sure he knows I'm not joking.
"I'll talk to Boss, if you win it for us.. I'll make it happen" he said now talking off both his earphones.
I smiled at him, "Thanks cap" to which he nodded, his eyes wander infront, he was thinking something, and I don't really wanna know.
"You sure got confidence today, I've never seen you this fired up for a game" said Mikel.
"Of course, im playing at home after all" I said, to which he slowly nodded.
At Emirates, I promised my friends, we'll create history.
(Pov end)
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(Third person pov)
"Tonight, young Arsenal of Wenger is going to play against Everton, who had a great start to this season.
They had remained unbeaten, scoring 19 goals in 7 premier league games.
This is Jim Proudfoot live from BBC studio." Said the man looking at the cameras, he sat behind a desk wearing a suit.
"And tonight joining here, we have former midfielder Matt Holland, and former Arsenal player Nigel Winterburn, with our respected sports journalist Dan Roebuck. Thankyou for being here guys." he said introducing the panel.
"Thankyou for having us" said Nigel, to which Jim smiled at him.
"Quite the night we've got, excited for the game?" Asked Jim.
"Definitely. Everton had remained unbeaten, it seems fair they loose to young Arsenal" said Nigel quickly, which made Dan Roebuck chuckle.
"Not biased at all Nigel?"asked Dan.
"What can I say, Arsenal's in my blood " said Nigel with a grin.
"But he's not wrong, the last game Everton scored 0, we still don't know if Delevigne going to play. Arsenal's got a talented young team. Wilshere, Van Persie, Samir Nasri. Young, talented, Hungry." Said Matt Holland.
"Arsenal is fourth in the league, just a point behind Manchester United, and two points behind Liverpool. If they win, they'll be second" said Dan nodding at Holland's point.
"Still, we need to talk about Delevigne. As Jim said, 16 goals, all contributed by a 16 year old. Played 6 games. That's a goal in 33 minutes! That's insane numbers, and we let go of him. What was Wenger thinking!" said Nigel fuming.
Most Arsenal supporters were the same, they wanted Matt back into their squad wearing Arsenal shirt.
"That's the most interesting part, Henry said he couldn't believe it when he found out about the boy leaving and left Arsenal." Said Jim teasing Nigel.
"What! A team with Henry and Delevigne. We would have won Europe and Laliga, Bundesliga.. you name it" said Nigel making the others laugh.
"What do you think about tonights game though? Would the prodigal son score?" Asked Dan looking at Nigel.
"If he played.. yes I could see that happening." Nodded Nigel slowly.
"Scoring? He'll give his 120 percent" said Holland.
"Hope he doesn't play" muttered Nigel.
"Where's the fun in that! It would be amazing to see him play, he already has like 5 nominations for the puskas already! We want to see few goals Live too" said Dan.
"Then watch it at old Trafford! Not against Arsenal" snapped Nigel.
Everyone laughed inside the studio, outside the Emirates though, it was chaos, the Everton bus had just arrived at the stadium after all.
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(London, Emirates Stadium)
Red. Everywhere. As Matt slid up the blinds and peaked outside.
People were shouting at them, hitting the bus from the side.
"It definitely wasn't that bad last year" said Arteta.
"Might be because of me?" Said Matt, he was unsure though.
"It's possible, but I think it's because of our unbeaten run" said Phil from Matt's right side.
"Don't think about it, these people are football fans, just supporting other team, we play football and win over them" said Phil, trying to ease up the nerves.
He had seen this multiple times with united, at Manchester derbys, European nights. These shows can rattle players, and he wasn't having any of that.
"Look, that's your face" said pointing at a poster. Matt's picture with traitor written over it.
Matt smiled a little looking at the poster, 'I had made a similar one of Fabregas' he thought again glancing at that.
"They're angry because they love your football. Nobody's cares when a shit player leaves, everybody cares when a good player leaves. That's just how football is" said Phil.
"I know and I don't mind, they're passionate towards their club. A little annoying, that's it" said Matt with a smile easing Phil.
"That's good, don't want you nervous and pissing on the field mate" said Lescott making Mikel and Matt laugh.
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(Ben Cook POV)
(Atlantic Records UK)
"You heard the tunes? Ben" asked Max Lousada, one of the head executives of Warner Music UK, and a big pain in the arse of mine.
"I did Max, and get your point. You want to sign him with Atlantic?" I said.
"Yes! He's a gem, I can already see him touring arenas! His voice and lyrics are fire, and not to mention his face, born to be a star" said Max, he was already day dreaming about boy's success.
"He won't tour" I said breaking the delusion/ dream of him.
"What? Why? And how do you know?" He said firing questions, if he wasn't my senior executive, I would have thrown him out for that scowl which he had on his ugly face.
"Because he's a footballer, infact he's playing today in London. Matthew Delevigne, that's his name." I said making him pause.
Max was right though, the boy was gifted when it came to music, his instrumental maturity could be seen in the videos.
"That's great, no drugs problem in first six months. Is he good?" Asked Max making me confused.
"He's got potential to be the best" I said honestly, I wasn't the biggest football fan, but as any other man who lives in England, I had incredible ball knowledge.
"Shit. It would have been easier if he was trash at it. Ben, who do you think makes more money, a Soccer player or a world renowned singer" he asked.
Again with his 'im too intelligent' corporate bullshit, maybe my wife was right, I should buy a house in Budapest and leave this retard company.
"A Soccer player" I said making him frown, I'm sure he expected me to say 'A world renowned singer my lord'.
"I'm serious about this Ben, this could change his and our lives. A global superstar? Imagine how much money we would make?" He said.
And damn right he was, we would earn in millions, a single bonus would mountain my entire paycheck.
"He did act in a movie.." I said slowly to which he stood up excited like a oversized kid, that smile always creeps me out.
"Tell me it's with Warner Bros!" He said, his fist clenched.
"Yes, he played a small role in one of the Harry Potter movies, at the time he wasn't professional footballer though" I told him, his smile widen, I could see his nose hairs from here.
"Call someone from Warner Bros, get his contact details, next week we are organizing a listing party for Katherine Jenkins new album, we could invite him there" he said sitting back down on the chair.
"I'll look into it" I said making him relax on his chair, poor chair.
(Pov end)
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(Matt's pov)
"Away changing room", this was the board in front of the door, I had never thought I would enter this a year ago.
I've been to main team's dressing room, a hundreds of times, just to see the environment, the pressure they felt everytime they played Manchester United or Liverpool.
But here I was, wearing a white jersey. Honestly, it looks good on me, atleast better than that third yellow kit we have, that's just diabolical.
I could hear the crowd, it's louder in the away dressing room, an intimidation tactic? I mean they do need this if they're playing with that backline.
Kolo Touré , CB: Mikaël Silvestre, Alex Song. These were their main defenders, and their strength was the only factor that made me hesitate a little, other than that I could breeze through them easily.
Their attack however was completely opposite to their mid level backline.
Jack was fire, Samir and Van Persie were ruthless finishers, I was quite excited to play this game, I wanted to go band for band with them.
Today I was wearing Nike shoes, I've worn adidas for quite some time and these had better cushioning for protection also made me a few milliseconds slower.
I had waited long enough to play here in this ground, I don't remember much about my last life now, that doesn't mean the feelings are gone, I can feel this game is important for me, and I'll make sure, I show that with my play.
Looking around I could feel, the dressing room has a certain pressure, Lascott sat down only to stand back up, goalkeeper Tim Howard wearing his inner gloves fidgeting.
"Boys it's time. You have given everything in training for the past week, we studied their game, improved ours, now the only thing remains is to go out there and show them.
Make sure they remember your name." Said David giving his speech.
"Yes, c'mon boys!" Exclaimed Phil.
"Yes! We're the best!" Cheered Lascott.
Player clapping their hands and hyping up eachother.
Assistant coach Steve smacked our backs, as we were led to the tunnel.