06. I Am Mansfield's Manager (3)
Maximilian.
"This is the person I wish to recruit as chief coach, Chairwoman."
Lily showed a momentarily flustered expression at my sudden use of honorifics, then quickly composed herself.
It was the same businesswoman's face I had seen at the coffee shop previously.
"Welcome, I am Lily, the Chairwoman of Mansfield."
Lily, as if she had prepared it sometime, took out a business card from her pocket.
Max showed a briefly perplexed look, then gently pushed up his horn-rimmed glasses and flusteredly accepted the card.
"I didn't realize this was an interview, so I didn't bring my business card..."
"It's alright. Please sit down for now. Your legs must be tired."
Max sat down hesitantly.
He looked not just awkward but visibly uncomfortable in this setting.
A faded knit shirt, jeans, and horn-rimmed glasses.
Unkempt, shaggy hair.
If not for his aged face, he had the typical appearance of an engineering college student.
His pupils, unsure where to focus beyond the horn-rimmed glasses, his tongue constantly moistening his dry lips, his twitching nose, and the horn-rimmed glasses he nervously pushed up.
Getting a glimpse of the tactical genius's past awkwardness was quite an enjoyable affair, but even I found the suffocatingly awkward atmosphere difficult to endure.
"He is a friend who works as a performance analyst in Germany."
"Manager... it seems you formed this connection when you were in Germany?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"If you have experience as a performance analyst, then your coaching experience is...?"
I subtly glanced at Max.
As if understanding he had to answer that question himself, he cleared his throat and opened his mouth. His voice trembled faintly.
"I have no coaching experience."
"Then this would be your first career as part of the coaching staff... and to be chief coach right away."
Lily said so, looking not at me, but at Max.
I saw Lily in a new light.
He came on my recommendation, but she intended to ascertain his character herself.
I wore a faint smile and leaned back in my chair.
Max gulped a few times and spoke.
"The foundation of coaching begins with performance analysis."
"..."
"It is about analyzing the opponent's strength and devising corresponding countermeasures, or analyzing our team to clearly distinguish strengths and weaknesses, researching ways to maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses, thereby finding the optimal coaching method."
"So, you're saying performance analysis should be the foundation?"
"That's correct. Performance analysis must precede coaching. Only by identifying where our players are lacking and what their strengths are, can we induce appropriate advice and training. That is the role of a coach."
"Hmm, I understand. The importance of performance analysis. But, how do I know that you, Mr. Max, are good at performance analysis?"
Simultaneously, Max's eyebrows twitched.
'She touched it. His pride.'
He hated it most when people doubted his skills.
It was an excessive level of confidence, but his actual skills warranted such an attitude.
However, right now....
"How should I demonstrate it to you?"
His tone instantly became aggressive.
At that sight, Lily also looked slightly taken aback.
The reason the tactical genius had drifted as an unknown performance analyst for several years was precisely that.
I would keep this ill-mannered genius by my side as much as possible.
Lily wouldn't blindly reject my intentions, but still, our intentions had to align for us to lead the club together.
It was when I was about to intervene.
Lily spoke in a cold voice.
"You have to show it in a way that I can clearly understand."
"So, what method would that be?"
"Mr. Maximilian should figure that out. Do I also need to tell you the method?"
"!"
"Are you perhaps harboring such thoughts? That I clearly look like a layman in football, so how could you possibly show me in a way I'd be convinced."
In an instant, Max's face flushed red.
I knew Lily's words had hit the mark.
"It's surprising. From the looks of it, you seem to be an unknown performance analyst, and I get the feeling you're not a former player. Is that correct?"
"...That's correct."
Lily's eyes were sharper than I thought.
Perhaps it was because business, after all, touched upon the core of managing people.
She seemed to have figured out what kind of person Max was without difficulty.
"In that case, you must have had many unfair experiences until now. People often think the sports world is based purely on skill, but before that, connections are considerably important."
"..."
"Being a non-former player, it must have been difficult to fit in among coaching staff who were former players, and you likely received various unfair treatments just for the fact that you weren't a former player."
Lily's words trailed off.
Max's face looked completely drained of blood.
"A person who knows such unfairness, yet your attitude becomes like that just because you think someone knows less about football than you do."
"..."
"Sometimes there are people like that. Coaches who, when fans curse at them, saying why the tactics are so bad, or to play a certain player, just say, 'Those who don't even know football.'"
Lily's voice returned to its usual tone.
"However. Sometimes, if you listen carefully to the people shouting and cursing in the stands. They say things like, 'Take out so-and-so and put in so-and-so!' And then, I don't know if the manager really had that thought, or if he heard those words and followed them, but he made the substitution like that once."
It was a common occurrence. The voices of fans shouting in the stadium reached the bench clearly.
"Surprisingly, that substitution card hit the mark. The player who came on as a substitute led the team to victory with a miraculous, game-winning comeback goal. Is this just a coincidence? Or was it a lucky guess?"
"..."
"Even if they can't analyze and organize it professionally, fans also know. Whether that football is fun, whether they play football well, or if their skills are severely lacking. Football may seem complicated if you delve into it, but it's simple if you enjoy it, isn't it? Score a goal and win."
"Hmm."
"People who watch football don't not know football."
"..."
"Isn't it that they know how to feel football?"
Max couldn't say anything and remained silent.
Lily briefly stood up from her seat. Under the pretext of going to the restroom.
However, as she stood up, she gave me a look.
'Shape him up well. So that I can cooperate.'
I inwardly wore a bitter smile. She already intended to pass Max's interview. However, I couldn't be sure why she had come out this way.
As Lily left her seat, Max, with a flushed face, gulped down the cold water placed before him.
"What is it."
"What is what?"
"You said it was for the chief coach position."
"We're having an interview right now, aren't we?"
"No, weren't you supposed to take charge of Bochum?"
"They already hired a temporary manager and got relegated, didn't they?"
"I thought you'd start from the 2nd division."
"Where can a rookie even start from the 2nd division?"
"..."
"You have to start from the lower leagues. Why, are you disappointed it's not chief coach of a Bundesliga team?"
Max's lips twitched, then he let out a sigh.
"I had that thought for a moment, but I just came to my senses."
"..."
"I'm an unknown performance analyst working freelance without a team, you know. Who is looking down on whom? Am I being underestimated for lacking skills?"
He, who had been smiling self-deprecatingly, lifted his horn-rimmed glasses.
"This team. Are you confident?"
"How does it look?"
"Yoojin. You were the kind of guy who, even when coaching just a 2nd division team, was so obsessed with the game that you'd hire an unknown performance analyst like me with your own money."
"Don't be so dramatic."
"So, did you take on this team with that kind of obsession?"
I smirked.
"Just obsession?"
"...?"
"I'm going to win championships with this team."
"4th division? Yes, that much."
"No."
"...?"
"Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup."
"!"
I didn't know what he saw in my eyes.
But my eyes, reflected in Max's pupils, were spewing forth an intensely brilliant light unlike anything else.
He let out a loud paah, took a breath, and removed his horn-rimmed glasses.
"I won't need this."
What Max took out was a thick report. Glancing at the title, I let out a sigh. It was related to the Bochum squad. No wonder he had rushed over in one go; he must have thought he would be taking charge of Bochum.
However, Max then took out a tablet from a backpack-like bag.
"I looked this up and made it just in case. Because you suddenly told me to come to Mansfield."
Flipping through the tablet page by page, I was astounded.
Compared to the Bochum report, it was exceedingly meager, but it was a summary of the Mansfield squad and last year's tactical approach, organized with a simple overview and format.
"You got the call yesterday, didn't you?"
"I did."
"But you wrote that much for the Bochum report, and even though Mansfield is only a few pages, you made an overview?"
"You're looking at it, so why ask?"
He said, sounding somewhat irritated.
"How? In one day?"
"For Bochum, I usually have a lot of data. And it's not difficult to get data either. Mansfield has no data, but so what?"
"..."
"Isn't it fun? Each team has a different color, different tactics, even if it looks like the same formation and tactics, the detailed content is all different, and a successful tactic in one place can be thoroughly wrecked in another, it was fun. I underestimated the 4th division, but their respective tactics and squad compositions, fitting their reality, were also interesting."
So, rather than the fact that it was an interview. No, I hadn't even mentioned an interview in the first place.
He had just made this because he himself found it fun.
And in just one day. No matter how much data was prepared, one couldn't just whip up this kind
of organized and analyzed content.
This was literally, because he truly enjoyed it.
I silently looked at the tablet. It almost completely matched what I had figured out. A smile inadvertently played on my lips again.
Just then, Lily returned.
As soon as she sat down, Max replied, almost shouting.
"I will submit an analysis report on all teams and squads in the 4th division. Their tactics, squad status, what kind of play they showed last season, and even predictions on how they will move this season. Please review and evaluate."
"By next week."
"What?"
"I'll receive it by next Thursday."
"That's..."
"League Two plays over 40 games in a season. Two games a week is common. We are a small team. One person has to do the work of two, even three people. Even more so if you're the chief coach."
"...I will do it."
"Good. I'll let you know the results after reviewing the report."
She said so, winking at me.
"...Really."
Next Thursday.
It was the day of Lily's surgery.
Then.
'She means for me to review and judge.'
Not based on connections, but on real skill.
But I wasn't worried. Even now, he was already a half-completed genius.
While taking Lily home, I asked.
"Why were you so cold?"
"Cold? Me?"
"I thought I was going to freeze to death from the cold."
"You were even colder! I froze seeing how you treated Alenski."
"Don't exaggerate."
"It's just, that person clearly looked like he had high self-esteem."
"Self-esteem?"
"Despite everyone giving him looks for dressing like that, he walked in confidently and sat down, didn't he?"
"Isn't that just not caring about others' gazes?"
"That's what having high self-esteem is. Not caring about gazes, precisely."
Lily's words were right.
Indeed.
When I recalled Max in my memory, when he was counted among the master tacticians, he firmly believed his tactics were right and clear and pushed them through, regardless of what the media said, what the fans said, or what the club executives babbled.
"But why is that? Is there a reason to crush that self-esteem?"
"At least that person, he'll probably be subtly conscious of you."
"Me?"
"You were a coach and then suddenly became a manager. Moreover, that person, he seems to have an inferiority complex about former player coaches. A younger person, someone he knew, suddenly becomes a manager and hands him the chief coach position as if doing him a favor."
"A person should be grateful."
"Even while being grateful, there will be an eye that subtly sees you on the same level. A feeling of helping you, rather than assisting you?"
I understood the difference.
I smiled bitterly.
Lily might be right. The future Max also showed such aspects from time to time, let alone now, when he hadn't yet been battered, rolled, and learned in the professional scene.
"So this Chairwoman, went out of her way to diss him to save our manager's face! See, Yoojin, where else would you find someone who thinks of you this much?"
"It reminds me of old times."
"Mm-hm?"
"When I was on the youth team. You said something similar back then."
Lily's fine brow furrowed. Her voice sounded as if she was trying to recall when it was.
"When I injured my knee."
"Ah! I remember! That time when you got injured, and even though you clearly knew you couldn't play in the next game, you crawled to the training ground at night?"
"What do you mean, crawled."
"Goodness! I was so dumbfounded. Do you know how much trouble I went through to stop you back then? Your lips were pouting and you wouldn't say a word, huh?"
Was it like that?
"Oh my, back then, Yoojin, you cried."
"I didn't cry."
"You did too, your eyes were glistening with dew, and I hugged you and told you not to treat your body so recklessly because there were people who cared about you."
"You did. You said that back then too."
"..."
Was she retracing past memories? Or reminiscing?
In the strangely subdued silence, the car's engine sound seemed unusually loud.
I glanced out the window. Lily's face, reflected in the window, was faintly visible. Perhaps because the streetlights and other cars' lights shone on her face, it was faintly red.
I looked at the sky beyond it.
Perhaps because it was a backwater town even for England. The starlight was unusually beautiful.
Just like back then.
The starlight seen through a hazy vision and Lily's voice, coaxing me not to give up, were crystal clear in my mind.
In the strangely settled silence, I opened my mouth without realizing it.
"Thank you."
"...It's a bit strange when you say thank you so seriously."
"Because I know very well there's nothing as foolish as hiding what you want to say because you're embarrassed."
"...Then, is there nothing more you want to say after that?"
A brief silence lingered. She, as if awkward in that silence, laughed, ahaha, and changed the subject.
"I just said it, so don't worry about it."
"Even knowing it's foolish, sometimes it can be hard to bear the embarrassment."
"...I hope a time comes when I have to bear embarrassment."
"Someday."
"Someday?"
"The day we go to the Premier League, perhaps."
"We absolutely have to go. For our team's sake too."
The time needed for direct promotion to the Premier League.
Four years.
Exactly four years.
The time when she originally died.
So, before then. I had to do what needed to be done. So as not to regret it.
The next day.
I had Max report to my office.
In truth, Max becoming the chief coach was already a decided matter.
Because I knew his abilities.
Therefore, I thought that if he could be used, he should be used early.
And it was right for him to adapt to England, League Two here, and Mansfield as quickly as possible.
That was the reason he naturally came to attend the coaching staff meeting.
"The person next to you is..."
"The chief coach. Let's just say he's an intern for now."
"..."
Perhaps because of the sudden appearance of another coach.
A look of bewilderment flickered in the eyes of Allov and Alenski as they quickly exchanged glances.
Their objective was clearly visible.
They probably intended to steer today's code of conduct and rules according to their will, thereby thoroughly blunting the blade that could control them.
"Hello. Mr. Maximilian. But since it hasn't even been a day since Mr. Maximilian came to the club, how about you first get acquainted with the club and then take a seat here?"
At Allov's words, I firmly shook my head.
"There will be many days when the four of us will gather like this in the future. Think of it as getting acquainted in advance."
It was not a tone of cooperation or request.
It was a notification.
There was no way a sly fox like Allov wouldn't catch such a nuance.
His complexion changed subtly as he forced a smile.
"Then, you'll also be joining today's discussion. It might take a little longer, I suppose."
Allov said so, looking at me.
It was a look as if he knew all my intentions.
In the end, the conflict of opinions was two against two.
No clear answer would emerge. Dragging out time, wallowing in the mire of an unanswerable problem, wasn't I ultimately trying to push through my own intentions?
Then it was a look that said he wouldn't be easily outdone.
Regrettably, I disliked it when someone read me.
Like when an opposing manager read me and figured out my tactics.
Could there be anything as terrible as that?
Having played countless games like that so many times, I had learned intuitively how to prevent myself from being read.
For instance.
"There's a more important matter than that, so let's talk about that first."
By going beyond the opponent's expected range.
"An important matter, you say?"
"Yes. Because it's a really important matter. I am speaking to request your cooperation in this meeting with our two coaches."
Focusing their attention.
"What's most important for our club right now isn't things like the code of conduct. It's rebuilding."
"!"
"Isn't that usually the case? It's natural to rebuild the team every new season, and it's also right for a new manager to draw up a new plan. So."
I cut off my words in the middle and held a brief silence.
When I felt the heightened senses of the two men fully focused on my lips.
"Unnecessary players, draw up the transfer list yourselves."
I dropped a bombshell.