Photo Roryms CCANC
Day Sixteen
Garry and Mark are called to the diary room to discuss their shopping list. Big Transfer informs them that they shouldn’t expect Samuel to arrive in the next delivery, as he was demanding half the £30m transfer fee for himself and it was causing problems. “This is ridiculous!” splutters Garry. “People seem to think we have a bottomless well of money, we’ve already offered loads to Barcelona and £10m a year to Samuel when he arrives.” Big Transfer points out that they are not doing much to dispell the notion they have a bottomless well of money with their shopping list, but Garry just asks to see the striker section of the shopping list again and goes off to the garden to look at other options with Mark. Rafael and Harry ask to see the list, but Garry tells them they didn’t ask for the list with the economy range of strikers and the two walk off.
Day Seventeen
The real interest in the Big Transfer House has switched to the tactics of Mark and Garry as they seek to win the competition. Garry and Mark are regularly caught sitting together, locked deep in discussion, having settled into the swing of the daily routine. “How do we make sure,” asks Garry, “that we are in the top four when it comes to the last week?”
“I have a plan,” replies Mark. “We’ll need some allies. It’s been every man for himself so far, but if we get a few people together who are thinking like we are, then we could build a really exciting project to achieve our aims.”
“I love projects,” says Garry, “It will be just like school. What will we need? Skill? Persuasion? Vision?”
“Yeeess…” agrees Mark, “and this isn’t to knock those qualities you were talking about, but we may also need a bottomless well of money.”
The pair stare at one another for a moment, before grinning and high fiving.
They decide upon Carlos as the first person to talk to about their plan, and Carlos is happy enough to talk. Rafael seems a bit put-out that his friend is spending less time with him and Carlo and Roman are equally morose. Alex too seems to be missing his old friend, reminiscing of all the times he used to text him in the middle of the night. But Carlos seems to have no recollection of it, and the lure of Garry and Mark’s company is all too tempting. He comes on board and, knowing that he’ll vote for whoever Garry and Mark tell him to is a great plus for the pair.
Day Eighteen
Whilst everyone was sleeping, Alex slipped out to the diary room for a chat. “I’ve got £80m burning a hole in my pocket, but I keep having dreams about that time I got Henrik for free and everyone went on about how clever I was.” Alex asks if there are any freebies going on the shopping list, and sees that Michael is available. Big Transfer tells Alex that he can have him for nothing but advises that most people think Michael is past his best before date, which was around 3 years ago and that bits of him were broken. Alex grins and rubs his hands.
In the morning Big Transfer allows the housemates a look at the papers. Alex is looking very happy with himself, and Harry goes for The Sun, which he writes for and sees a big exclusive. “Hey guys, guess what it says here in my rag? Alex has just picked up Michael for nothing - you know, the striker who used to be really good.” “That’s not an exclusive - it’s in every paper!” retorts Mark. Big Transfer House sets the group a discussion about whether or not the signing is a smart move, but it decends into an argument as Alex suggests he’ll score more goals than Carlos, Mark and Garry mock Alex for buying from the economy range and Karim and Florentino disappear to garden to discuss signing on fees and wages.
Day Nineteen
Garry and Mark take on Roman and Carlo at poker. Last time they played, Carlo and Roman walked off with one of Mark’s favourite youngsters, Daniel, but Garry consoled Mark by concocting a secret plan. This time, Garry raised the stakes, gambling £30m in an attempt to get Roman to put JT in the middle. Roman says no, but Garry raises the stakes to £40m and says Roman can only match him by putting in JT. Roman is unsure and when Carlo suggests JT doesn’t want to be used as an asset Garry insists that they could raise his wages to £300,000 per week, topping the £250,000 per week Florentino put in on top of his £80m stake to claim Cristiano. Carlo has a row with Roman and says he needs JT, but Roman says he’s pretty old and has been injured a lot. Again, arguments ensue and the game remains unresolved.
“They’re cracking,” Garry tells Mark. “Everyone has a price. Did I tell you about the time I signed Michael Jordan for Nike?” enquired Garry. “A few times,” replied Mark, wearily.
Day Twenty
Big Transfer House wakes them up early to play a game of Chinese whispers, mentioning random names and clubs from the rumour mill to seeing how it comes out. The housemates all have a giggle, as some improbable signings are mooted. Eto’o is linked to Manchester United, Figo is linked with a dramatic return to football with Tottenham, and Emmanuel’s club next season changes so frequently it ends up back at Arsenal! What the housemates don’t know, is that the humourous results of their game will appear in all the papers that day, leading the public to believe that there was some truth in all the silly rumours.
Florentino has a chat with Carlo and Alex and Rafael about the factions developing, having noticed Mark and Garry having almost convinced Carlos to join their gang and whispers about tempting Emmanuel next, and tries to set up a different club called the European Super Friends that would exclude Mark and Garry. Harry looks on at the factions and feels very lonely.
Day Twenty-One
Big Transfer calls the housemates together on the sofas to announce nominations. Carlos is up for nomination again and is the hot favourite to go along with Karim, who seems to have plotted with Florentino to secure an early transfer from the House. Ricardo is very disappointed not to be nominated as he was keen to head to Italy early this summer with his friend Deco, but nothing seems to be happening there. Emmanuel is also up for nominations, and the housemates joke about that rumour they made in their game the day before that said he wasn’t going anywhere. He remains keen to be evicted, but is unsure where he would go when he got out.
Harry goes to the diary room to complain about feeling isolated in the House with only Danielle paying him any attention, but he says she is more concerned with haircuts than football skills. Big Transfer chats with him for a while on his favourite subject - new strikers. He talks about that guy from Sweden again called Marcus, as well as some Spanish guy called Alvaro who he overheard Rafael and Florentino talking about in one of their arguments about Xabi.
Day Twenty-Two
Big Transfer House arranges a recycling task. Everyone who has somebody they don’t want is encourgaed not to let them go to waste, and everyone gets very involved. Alex considers taking on the young Dutchman Klaas from Florentino since they probably don’t need him anymore, whilst Harry asks Florentino about the old Dutch one they don’t need called Ruud and is told he’s available and the Big Sam is interested too, but that Ruud likes lots of pocket money, probably more than either of them can afford to give out. Carlo is more interested in another spare Dutch part called Wesley, but when he saw Franck looking upset he said this was just in the recycling task and he was still interested in buying shiny new parts like Franck too. Florentino talks to Rafael about their Alvaro, the defender one, since Rafael has Glen now and he heard he was going cheap and would allow him could spend more on strikers. Rafael asks Florentino if he thought it was a sensible strategy and another row erupted.
“How many European Cups have you won Rafael?”
“One,” replied Rafael. “Ask Carlo, he saw it.”
“Yeah well I won two and you saw one of them, didn’t you Rafael?”
“That’s a coincidence,” chimed Alex, I’ve won two as well.”
Roman reaches for the Vodka, and Garry, noticing Mark feeling a little stressed, gives him a shoulder rub and whispers in his ear “Our time will come Mark, don’t you worry. You the man.”
Day Twenty-Three
Talk abounds that last night when everyone was asleep Karim got into bed with Florentino, as one of his spokespeople Jorge admitted Florentino like him because he was “powerful, two-footed and he has all the desire that a young player should have.” Florentino was also pleased having made a pact with Franck, though Franck’s chance of getting out the house as early as Cristiano and Karim had been dashed. His day was ruined, however, by the completion of his chess match with Rafael. They had come to a stalemate in all games up to now, but it seemed now Rafael had got the better of him and as a result got to keep Xabi. The chess set went in the cupboard, but other housemates felt there might be more games to come. Guillem, who had been quiet up to now, was pressed for his opinion and he admitted he didn’t have a clue what was going to happen.
Meanwhile, another housemate is gone in a surprise move. Carlo has officially started work so Roman entrusts him with the remaining weeks, departing having heard some disturbing news about JT, something about a showdown he was supposed to be involved in. He thought he was already in a show, but he’s told they are different things.
Only minutes after he leaves the house, Steve in introduced. After moving from Wigan to Sunderland, Steve has found himself with a lot more money to spend, and was the overwhelming choice to join Big Transfer House with the media greatly excited about all the transfer games he could be involved in. Alex, Mark and Steve go back years, and Alex decides to open his special item for old times sake, cracking open a bottle of red. Garry looks on, concerned that Steve might have a negative influence on the faction they had created wiht Carlos. Harry walks over for a chat, and Steve immediately asks him about Darren.
