[Abe Sargent]

Thanks!


Here's my final contribution, and expansion of Essex's bio in the past, present,and future.





Chapter 1

And now back to the story already continuing. We are interview reporter Otto Slasvig, who has done more research on popular football Manager James Essex than anyone else. Otto, you were the first one to write a book about him, is that right?

Correct Sally! I went to do research for a detailed piece on him. I figured someone that popular and well known a guy who broke a lot of new ground and is known by many people outside of football, that a guy like him would have a biography. For example, do you realize just how many biographical books there are of guys like David Beckham or Alex Ferguson? It's incredibe, and then you find on Essex, who is also half English on his father's side. So I began doing research, and then published in my native Swedish and it was translated into Portuguese and published in that world a few weeks later.



Sure, I'll talk more about his past and being half English. His father, Gilles Essex was a member of the Anglican church in a small suburb of Bolton. He grew up a huge fan of football and a support of the Wanders in particular. At the age of 27, he felt the call into ministry as a missionary. Three yeras later, after having been trained and prepared, he left for Mozambique and arrived in the southern city of Xai Xai, back before the nation had gotten its Independence from Portugal.

He was aiding local relief efforts of the church to people who had little food, medicine, shelter, or clean water. Two and a quarter years after arriving, he met the woman who would be his wife, Xiluva. She was 5 yeas younger, highly athletic, and worked at a nearby Catholic aid shelter for abused and neglected women and children. Xiluva was one of the most intelligent women in the area, and had lovely dark skin, almost so dark it hurt when you looked at her for long, but whether it was the color of her skin or the soft majesty of her countenance was unknown.

Soon there after they began dating an within a year they had married. 15 months later, they had their only child, James Essex. Growing up in Xai Xai in the last 70s and 80s, he was born less than a year after the nation;s independance. Seeing a need for local ministry, Gilles stayed with his family for years, and James played football on the poor streets of Xai Xai and quickly developed a reputation for defeated boys a few years older.

When Essex was 11, the church ordered Gilles back home for additional training before sending him somewhere after the Xai Xai was a qualified success. It was working well, but the AIDs epidemic was tearing apart the nation, and additional assistance was needed. After arriving back home outside of Bolton, before the 6 months schedule was up, priorities altered, and Gilles stayed in that central area and raised James with his wife.

A fan of Bolton, James played with the English kids, and like in Xai Xai, he tended to be better than almost any in his middle class area. But there were some that were better than him.

He applied to but was rejected from, the Bolton youth club.

At the young age of 16, his dark skintone standing out from his peers, James Essex was spotting by Osters IF in the Swedish premier division. Looking to tap into the talent pipeline of England, the team had sent scouts to check out the area. He was signed, and for 7 years he was trained by Osters IF and then moved to two other clubs in Sweden. At 23, he was both Swedish and Mozambiquean.

Meanwhile, at the tender age of 20, his senior manager tapped him to play for the Mozambique senior squad in a friendly against Tanzania. He was part of an attempt to find new talent. He developed into a solid backup center back for the squad. He was just capped 26 times, with a goal in a friendly against Swaziland. He was never a starter and just was subbed in when needed for most of hes international career.

At 24, England called and he went to play for a clubs in the 1st Division (which is really the first). He did well, and then moved to another Championshop team for two years. After 4 years, he was let go by his manager and no other jobs were calling at the age of 28. Se he wound back in Sweden again.

Two weeks to the day after his 31st birthday, in a cold blustery December game that was brutally cold, his back brutally snapped in a gigantic tackle. He was immediately wheelchair bound for the next two years. The injury was filmed as it happend as part of the broadcast. The image was playing over and over again, and to this day, it is one of the most seen YouTube videos from Scandinavia on sports.

Finding himself literally trapped., he refused to give in or yield. He pushed his body back to full health over almost two years. Meanwhile, he was still getting paid. Swedish law forbids an employer for firing an employee who is injured on the job. So his contract was basically guaranteed, but Essex refused to linger.

He spent those two years at the club working with his fellow players and coaches. He helped to train, he helped to practice, he worked on tactics, and more, with the staff and payers. He learned a new part of the game.

A few days after his 33rd birthday and a few days before his 2 year anniversary of the injury - him and his team held a press conference. There, live before everyone, he stood again in public for the first time. He spoke for a few minutes to the plaudits of everyone. It was a truly inspiring story. It was made more so when he surprised the manager and team board with his resignation papers and application for Assistant Manager, which was newly opened.

The public leaned heavily in favor of Essex signing with them, and then did exactly that. For three years, he helped that club overachieve It was always a few spots (or more) above the prediction and expectations on the table.

Everyone as expecting him to move to one of the two Manager positions that opened in the league in 2013. But none came his way. At the age of 36, no one was calling his name. What should he do?