“Hello, and welcome to Match of The Day with me, Gareth Laker, Today we have news of a done deal,” he continued, “Shawn Keneedi has joined Manchester United from Birmingham City for forty million pounds, we have confirmed he will be meeting Alex Fergie later today and possibly be playing against Liverpool, on Saturday.”

I was driving down the road to Old Trafford, I turned the corner, then a crowd of red United shirts started chasing after my car as well as many Birmingham fans protesting about my move. I got out and walked to Sir Alex Fergie, who took me into his office and gave me a talk.

“Welcome Keneedi,” my heart was beating faster than ever as he spoke, “I’m pleased to have you here at Old Trafford. I am going to talk about my expectations for you.”

He spoke for what seemed like an hour, it probably wasn’t but, it’s just he spoke as slow as a snail. After the hour, he talked to me about the next match.

“I’m putting you on the bench next match, I need you to slowly fit in with the squad before you join the starting eleven, these footballers did the exact same when they first came.”

It was match day, I was nervous to make my debut because it’s never easy at an away game, I went to the locker room and put on my new number nineteen shirt and walked out with the team. I was watching the team play but then I got distracted and started to have a flashback about my time at Birmingham…

***

“Last game of the season,” the commentator said, “Preston North End vs Birmingham city who should get promoted today.”

I walked to the ball and passed to Cameron Jeromie but it went really bad, Simon Wales tackled Jeromie instantly and there wasn’t enough time to react. He had dribbled past the whole defence and was now one on one with Maik Taylor, our goalie, he shot and it was in the top left corner of the net. It was a blow to the team, we were only playing for two minutes and we’d already conceded. We completely dominated, both Cameron and I had many shots but none of them found the back of the net. We had a corner just before half-time, it came my way it seemed hard to miss but I miss-timed it and hit my head against the post. Everything went black…

A few days later I found myself in a hospital bed, I didn’t even know what the end score was. I asked for a newspaper, which showed all the scores and realised we didn’t come back. The doctor said I had to be out the whole of next season. That very season we were relegated.

It felt nice to be back on the training ground but it felt different, we had so many players gone and new ones in to replace them. I got on really well with our new midfielder, Lee Carlson and this time it was our year to get back up to the Premier League. We were unbeaten in our pre-season tournament and won our first game against Sheffield United thanks to our late goal in stoppage time. Six games unbeaten and I had already scored five goals including a hat-trick.

We returned to St. Andrews for our next home game against Sheffield Wednesday. Before the game, the gaffer gave us an inspiring talk in the locker room.

“Okay boys, you need to show them who we are, we are Birmingham City, no bloomin’ moaning if I put you on the bench, we all go that?”

We all looked at him but none of us replied and he just walked out so I guess forget about when I said inspiring.

The announcer yelled, “Please welcome your boys in royal blue, Birmingham city onto the pitch!”

Cameron Jeromie asked me to pass to him from kick off so I did so and unlike two seasons ago, he managed to hold onto it. I received a through pass from Lee Carlson and came one on one with the keeper, I shot it but he managed to stop it going in and it went out for a corner. The corner went to the middle of the box, I leapt into the air and headed it into the top left.                                                                                 

“GOAL for Birmingham City,” screamed the announcer, “Goal scorer number nineteen, Shawn Keneedi!”

The crowd went wild and started chanting “What a waste of money” to Sheffield Wednesday’s new defender who left me unmarked for the header. They kicked off and Jeromie did what Preston did to him two seasons ago, he managed to intercept their pass forward and came two on one with the keeper, I yelled “Pass Cameron!” As I ran to the left of the keeper, he passed it to me and I gently kicked it into the middle of the goal.”

By the end of the match we had won three - one, as I walked to our bus a fan tapped me and said, “Oi mate that was a bostin’ performance tonight, can I ‘ave your autograph?”

No one had ever asked me for an autograph before so I gladly took his pen and wrote Keneedi19 on his jersey.                                                                                     

It was now May and time for the last game, away against Reading. We were second on the table and as much as I wanted to be first we were too far behind Wolves. We didn’t play very well and it took us until the 65th minute until we were able to score, I made the defender play it out and we gained a corner. Lee Carlson received the corner, I was worried because instead of heading it in he did a bicycle kick into the goal! The stadium went wild, Carlson clapped to the crown then ran to me and yelled: “We’re going up!”

I was happy to agree and say “Yes, we are my friend!”

I remembered that night we got a bottle of champagne and poured it over the manager. The fans were waiting for us to come out and as we came out chanted “We’re Birmingham City, we’re Birmingham City, and now we’re in the Premier League, we’re Birmingham City!”

The manager was happy with the promotion but he took twen’y quid out our wages to pay for his best suit which we ruined with champagne, but hey, it was worth it!

***

“Keneedi, start warming up,” Fergie slowly said. This was it now I was minutes from going onto the pitch to play for England’s biggest football club! I did star jumps, I did jogging, I did juggling, I was about to start doing some sit-ups but then, the announcement came! “Substitution for Manchester United, coming off the pitch, number ten Wayne Rodney, to be replaced by, number nineteen Shawn Keneedi!”

As I walked onto the pitch the Liverpool fans started chanting “Who are ya, who are ya?” There were only five minutes left before ninety minutes, straight away received a pass but it was a lot harder to keep possession than at Birmingham, I passed it to another midfielder, I was still new I didn’t know anyone’s name other than Wayne Rodney and David Bakeham. Daniel Sturn almost scored against us but luckily the keeper managed to get a touch. It was now a corner for Liverpool. Our defence chipped the ball up the pitch and I managed to run onto it. The clock went to ninety minutes and the announcer said: “The referee has decided to add on three minutes.” I knew if we were to get to winning goal we had to do so now and I had to score this shot! I managed to dribble past the last defender but before I could shoot I got badly slide tackled from behind, I was in agony but I got up.

The ref gave us a penalty and the team let me take the shot, this was my chance to be the hero! I walked back then ran towards the ball, shot and it was going top right then the keeper slammed it away but it came to Bakeham who blasted it in the net! I wasn't the hero like at Birmingham but it was still a memorable day, which was made better by the Liverpool fans complaining on the radio!