Glory Of The Football Manager System

UEFA let you register 23 men for a Super Cup.

I have got 28 fit ones.

That is the entire Monday. That is not a team sheet, it is 5 men who won a European trophy in May being told on a Monday morning that they are not getting on a plane to a European final, and there is no version of that conversation that is any good.

[UEFA SUPER CUP. SQUAD REGISTRATION.]

[AVAILABLE: 28. SLOTS: 23.]

Clk.

Sarah put the sheet in front of me at 20 past 8 with 28 names on it and no marks against any of them.

”I have built that 23 four times since Saturday and I have got a different 5 out of it every time,” she said. ”So I have stopped. It is yours.”

[UEFA SUPER CUP. SQUAD: 23. BENCH: 12. SUBSTITUTIONS: 3, PLUS 1 IN EXTRA TIME.]

12 on a bench. Not 7.

UEFA changed that in March, in a paragraph at the bottom of a regulations document, and Sarah read it on the 22nd and told me in a corridor and nobody else in England noticed.

”12 on a Super Cup bench and a 4th change in extra time. If we ever get there, it is worth something to us and nothing to anybody else.”

We got there on the 24th of May in Lyon.

So the 12 is not the problem. The 23 is the problem, and 12 of those seats go to men who will not get off that bench, and 5 men stay in London.

I did the 5 myself between half 8 and half 9 and I did them 1 at a time in my own office with the door shut.

Reece Hannam. Jake Morrison. Tyler Webb. Nya Kirby.

And Connor Blake.

Connor Blake is 19. He led the line in an under 18 side that won a Youth Cup, he scored 9 in that run, and in April 2017 his reports said elite finishing and abysmal work rate, and in July he did 12 pressing actions in 20 minutes when the same boy did 4 in 30 the year before.

He is the 3rd of 3 number 9s and I have not had a proper conversation with him since May.

”Gaffer.”

”You are not travelling.”

”Right.” He had his hands behind his back. ”Is it Pato?”

”It is Pato and it is 23 seats and it is not about you.”

”It is a bit about me.”

”It is a bit about you.” I was not going to lie to him at 20 to 9 on a Monday. ”You are 3rd and Alexandre is 2nd and he has scored 14 European goals and you have scored 0, and if he goes over on an ankle in October you are 2nd, and I will not have had a week to get you ready because you will already be ready.”

He stood there for a second.

”Can I ask you something.”

”Go on.”

”Am I any good?”

Nobody has asked me that in 15 months.

”You are going to play 300 matches in this division,” I said. ”I would put money on it and I have not got any money.”

Connor Blake nodded once and went out and shut that door behind him, and I sat there for about 20 seconds and then I asked Sarah to send the next one in.

Then there was Nick Pope, and Nick Pope was not on the list of 5.

He is travelling. He is on that bench.

He is also the England goalkeeper, and he has played every minute of every match this club has played since the 6th of May, and he is not playing on Wednesday.

I told him in a car park in July that Tim Krul would play the cups. I told Krul the same thing before he signed. Michael Steele said 6 words about it in a meeting on Sunday and every man in that room looked at me and I said 2 words back.

None of that makes it easier to say out loud on a Monday morning to a man who has kept 4 clean sheets in his last 6.

Knock.

”Nick.”

”Krul plays.”

”Krul plays.”

”I know.” He pulled the chair out and sat down in it. ”Steele told me on Sunday night. He rang me at 9 o’clock because he did not want me finding out off a sheet on a wall.”

That is 21 years of coaching goalkeepers and it is why Michael Steele has that job.

”Do you want to hear the reasons?”

”No.”

”Nick.”

”Gaffer, I have heard the reasons twice and I agreed with them both times and I am going to agree with them again today, and none of that is why I am sat here.” He had his elbows on his knees. ”I want to ask you something and I want a straight answer.”

”Ask it.”

”If it goes to penalties, who is in the goal?”

Tk. Somebody went past that door and did not come in.

[NICK POPE. 26. REFLEXES 16. HANDLING 17. CONCENTRATION 16.]

[TIM KRUL. 30. REFLEXES 14. HANDLING 15. ONE ON ONES 16. BIG MATCHES 18.]

Tim Krul has saved 4 penalties in shootouts at 2 clubs and 1 World Cup.

Nick Pope has never been in one.

And a Super Cup goes to extra time and then to penalties, and UEFA give you a 4th substitution in extra time, and there is a version of Wednesday night where I take a goalkeeper off at 119 minutes in a European final in front of 12,000 people and 50 million more.

Louis van Gaal did that in 2014 and it worked and people have argued about it ever since.

”Tim is in the goal,” I said.

”You have thought about it.”

”I have thought about it since the 24th of May and I decided it on the 2nd of August, and if I ever do it to a goalkeeper it will not be a goalkeeper who has done nothing wrong.”

Nick Pope sat there for a bit.

”Good,” he said. ”That is the answer I wanted. If you had said the other thing I would have got on that plane thinking about it for 2 days.”

Then he stood up.

”Boss. When I am 30 and somebody signs a lad off a free to play the cups, I want you to tell him what you told Krul in that car park and I want you to mean it the same amount.”

Hnnnn.

Gatwick at 10 past 11 on Tuesday.

Bip. 2 hours 40 to Tallinn.

23 players, 14 staff, and 61 journalists on scheduled flights because Sarah would not have them on ours.

I watched episode 6 at 30,000 feet over the Baltic with a tablet on a tray table.

It is 44 minutes and it is not about the World Cup. There is 9 minutes of Russia in it near the end and none of that 9 is football.

It is about 2015.

Elena went to my mother’s house in February with 1 camera and 1 person on sound, and my mother made them tea and sat in a chair she has had since 1997 and talked for 2 hours about a year I have never discussed with anybody.

They used 11 minutes.

She talked about the letter. She said the word badge about 20 times and she said it the way you say a word you have heard somebody else use and have never used yourself.

Then a woman off camera asked her what she thought was going to happen to me.

”I thought he was going to keep working nights and doing it on Saturdays until he was 40. And I thought that was going to be all right, because he liked it.”

”You did not think he would get a job in football?”

”He had a job in football. He had 11 lads and a hut.”

I shut that tablet and looked out of a window for 20 minutes.

Hnnn. Chk.

Lennart Meri at 20 past 3 local.

Gatwick moves about 46 million people a year. Lennart Meri moves about 3 million, and on Tuesday it looked like it was doing all 3 million at once.

Rrrrr.

There is 1 terminal. You walk off the aeroplane, down a set of steps, across about 40 yards of tarmac and in through a door, and on Tuesday afternoon there were people 4 deep against the glass on the other side of it.

Estonia has got 1.3 million people in it. The whole country. That is less than half of Greater Manchester, and about a fifth of them live in this city.

They have never had a club side in a group stage of anything. Newcastle have played here. Galatasaray have played here. Wednesday is the biggest thing that has ever happened to football in this country and everybody in that terminal knew it.

Real Madrid landed 90 minutes before us and their bus was already stood on that runway.

Not a hired one. Their own bus, driven across Europe by road over 4 days by 2 men so that it would be there when the plane doors opened. 2,800 kilometres.

Marcus told me that in a car park with a laptop bag on his shoulder.

”Why?”

”Because they are Real Madrid. That is the whole answer, boss. I checked twice in case there was another one.”

***

Thank you to Sir nameyelus for the support.