Chapter 23

" In this game we love so much a problem we often find is the tendency to overinflate the importance of recent events versus those that happened a while ago. An example is when you look at the best players in a generation, it is difficult to think of a time when it wasn't the case, and they weren't always so highly regarded. Hindsight has the effect of making you think it was always inevitable and not the confluence of hard work, talent and luck. Every player who had ever reached the top did so by stacking up moments where they elevated their game. They would find ways to sharpen the tools they've been given and through that affect the outcome.

We lost the recent match and though it isn't the end of the world like the doubters are singing, it is a fact we lost. We were not able to compete with a team that we need to challenge for promotion. To become the team we need to be, that needs to be rectified.

We could play the remainder of the season out and likely end up someplace at the middle of the pack and it would be a considered a success because it would have been an improvement on the previous year. The pundits would give us the occasional call out and some of our players would even make those lists of the most talented players in the league. The mood would be jubilant, and everyone would go home content.

The thought of that makes me sick to my stomach, I have no need for the plaudits of strangers, the only thing that had any meaning is victory. A victory we can engrave in the history books and one that people can never ignore.

You're probably wondering where I'm going with this or when I'll stop talking so I'll keep it short. To achieve what you would like to, the only way is for everyone of you to become better than you are now. To find what ever potential exists inside you and draw it out for all to see. This is the only way to prove the doubters wrong and claim the honours you want."

The silence around the room was oppressive. He had laid the truth out before the young players in a way they had never received it before. The sheer weight of his words bared down heavy on each of them, and they couldn't think of a single thing to say in answer. The players who had secretly felt proud of how they had performed in the previous match felt truly ashamed and couldn't raise their heads to look at their manager. If they had, they would have seen a face that was stern and emotionless like a cliff face. The manager waited on the spot to allow the atmosphere to truly settle before quietly packing his possessions away and walking out of the room. Every player in the room didn't react even in the slightest, the more intelligent of the group were considering what had been told to them while the more foolish had simply been cowed by the atmosphere.

The manager walked through the hallway, only to slow down when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

"Was that necessary?" a concerned voice called out from behind him.

"You don't approve?" a stoic voice replied as the manager turned around to face his assistant.

"The players are working hard and showing great progress. This is a sink or swim moment for them, and you decided to ratchet up the pressure."

"I'm not interested in them sinking or swimming, what I have in store for them needs them to fly and I haven't got time for their wings to come in"

"And if they break?"

"I'll resign and take all the burden myself" a shocked expression crossed the face of the assistant, who didn't know that he had thought about this so deeply. The manager feeling his point had come across turned around and started walk away.

He made it a few steps before stopping. "Great managers can wait decades to find their team and I've done so on the first try. If you think I'm going to let it slip because they are not ready, then you don't know me very well" he passionately said, and the assistant could swear the shadow of the manager seemed enormous.

The manager continued his walk down the hallway and as soon as he had gotten out of eyeline, darted into the first toilet he saw. The water from the tap ran haphazardly as he dry-heaved into the sink. The image of him in the mirror looked wretched and weak. The events of earlier kept running around in his mind, the last sentence he told his assistant in particular. He wasn't worried about his team being unready but himself, the anxiety and fear he felt was overwhelming. The speech he gave was for his own sake as much as it was theirs and was supposed to force his route from now on. He knew before he spoke that this would be a turning point and there was no going back from here. He waited until he was able to get his nerves under some control and washed his haggard looking face before leaving the toilet to face what he had started.