The private room was full of men, with beer bottles scattered all over the floor.
Several of them were sprawled on the sofa or slumped over the table, a typical scene of a group that had drunk too much.
"Mr. Mourinho, do you think we should boo you?" a drunken fan mumbled, slouching over the table.
Mourinho, his eyes equally hazy from drink, smiled and nodded. "You should!"
This was probably his first time getting completely drunk, but for some reason, he felt a sense of relief, which made him a little less restrained than usual.
However, there were not many people in the bar, and Ethan Yu had specifically led them into a private room, so Mourinho's drunken state was not seen by anyone.
Otherwise, the next day's newspaper headlines would probably have been about the New Manchester United manager drowning his sorrows in alcohol.
"But we won't do that!" another fan nearby loudly denied.
"That's right. The Red Rebels have never had a tradition of booing the manager!"
"Not since the days of the Red Devils!" someone else added, though it was unclear who.
This immediately drew unanimous agreement from the others.
The drunken fans were gradually escorted out of the private room by the staff of Walsh Bar.
Ethan had not drunk much, so his head was still clear.
He believed that although Mourinho had drunk a lot, he was not completely unconscious.
He was a person with extremely strong self-control, and he would never allow himself to get completely wasted.
"Did you bring me here just to show me these club fans?"
Once everyone had left, Mourinho finally looked up at Ethan, his words carrying a strong smell of alcohol.
Ethan shook his head. "There's no need to see the fans at a time like this.
"I brought you here today just to get you drunk, to let you have a proper drink, and then wake up tomorrow morning and start everything again.
"At the same time, I also want you to understand that the club, the fans, and I, none of us blame you.
"We still support you!"
Mourinho said nothing. He only stared quietly ahead, lost in thought.
"When I left my father, he once told me something: 'In this world, only those who can afford to lose can achieve ultimate success.'
"I've always kept that in mind. Whenever I run into difficulties, I keep telling myself, 'Ethan, you can afford to lose!'"
"Jose, I brought you here today to tell you this: you don't need to put so much pressure on yourself.
"You can afford to lose.
"With me, the club, and the fans supporting you from behind, you can absolutely afford to lose.
"Besides, even now, winning or losing is still unknown.
"Since that's the case, why put so much pressure on yourself?"
Mourinho still said nothing.
The private room fell silent. Neither of them knew what the other was thinking, nor what the other would do next.
They just sat quietly, thinking, looking ahead, and remaining silent.
"Do you know why I chose you as our team's manager back then?" Ethan suddenly broke the silence.
Mourinho still did not speak.
Ethan smiled. "Because of your proud and unyielding character, Jose.
"Although the outside world's evaluation of you is very poor right now, and they are extremely pessimistic about New Manchester United's prospects, what is our nickname?
"The Red Rebels.
"We were born to overturn other people's impressions of us. We were born with a rebellious spirit.
"So we absolutely don't need to care what others think.
"We just need to prove ourselves, to slap those doubters in the face with facts, and let them know that we are the proud, never-say-die Red Rebels!"
Mourinho stared blankly at Ethan for a moment, then struggled to stand up from the sofa and clapped Ethan hard on the shoulder.
He had never thought that he would need a young man more than a decade younger than him to comfort him.
But Ethan was right. I am the proud, unyielding Mourinho. I will not fall.
I can afford to lose, so there is absolutely no need to fear failure.
At worst, if I fail, I will start again!
"Do you want to go to the restroom?" Ethan stood beside Mourinho, pointed to the restroom inside the private room, and asked with a smile.
Mourinho was stunned. Then he looked at his current appearance, could not help laughing, nodded, and walked in.
A few minutes later, Mourinho came out in a suit.
His eyes carried a firmer look than ever before, and when he looked at Ethan, there was a hint of gratitude in them.
Then the two walked out of the private room side by side.
Along the way, fans kept trying to talk to Mourinho.
As always, he reached out to greet the fans, a confident smile on his face, as if everything was under his control.
As they left the bar, Mourinho saw Scarlett from the Manchester City Evening News hurriedly getting out of a taxi.
As soon as she saw them, she rushed over.
"You arranged this?" Mourinho looked at Ethan beside him.
Ethan shrugged and said helplessly, "I invited her, but she's late!"
Mourinho burst out laughing when he heard this.
"Sorry, sorry, something came up at the last minute. I'm late!" Scarlett apologized repeatedly to Ethan.
"Alright, Miss Scarlett, ask the questions you prepared.
"I can give you five minutes at most. I need to hurry back to the training base!" Mourinho cut in.
Scarlett looked at the completely dark night sky.
He was still going back this late?
But she wisely did not ask that question. It would only lead to a dead end.
After thinking for a moment, she finally asked, "Before the season, I once asked you what New Manchester United's goal was for this season. What is your answer now?"
"It is still the same. There is no need to doubt it, Miss Reporter.
"This season's champions have already been decided, and that is us, New Manchester United.
"As for the other teams in League One, I can only apologize to them.
"I'm very sorry. Please go and compete for second place!"
After saying that, Mourinho got straight into the taxi Scarlett had arrived in, waved to Ethan, and left.
Scarlett looked at Ethan in confusion. She still did not understand what Ethan was trying to do.
"Did you hear that? His tone just now was so arrogant!" Scarlett walked up to Ethan and asked.
How could a manager who was being heavily criticized by the outside world say something so arrogant?
"Then you should publish those words in tomorrow's Manchester City Evening News!" Ethan said with a smile.
Scarlett was somewhat taken aback.
Seeing Ethan about to leave, she grabbed him. "Hey, Ethan, explain yourself. What exactly is going on?"
"Miss Scarlett, how should I explain it to you?
"I originally asked you to be here at 5 PM, but look at what time it is now?"
Faced with Ethan's question, Scarlett felt a wave of embarrassment.
Her grip on his hand loosened slightly, allowing Ethan to seize the chance to break free.
"Just report what Jose said just now, then quietly wait for Saturday's league match!"
By the time Scarlett reacted, Ethan had already gotten into his BMW and driven off.
During the training session the next day, Mourinho clearly changed the team's training content.
Although it was still ball training, the content was completely different.
These were all training programs Mourinho, Cassell, Faria, and old Palacio had discussed together, specifically designed to strengthen the players' technical details while also requiring them to speed up their passing and receiving and improve their accuracy.
To prevent the players from getting bored during training, Faria and old Palacio added more content, such as setting up more equipment to enhance the drills, or dividing players into groups for different passing and receiving exercises, especially incorporating indoor football matches.
According to old Palacio, in Argentina and Brazil, many teams included indoor football in their daily training, especially in youth development, where indoor football accounted for a large proportion.
It could be said that they spent more time playing indoors than outdoors.
The ball used in these indoor football matches was only half the size of a regular football but weighed twice as much.
The pitch was roughly the size of a standard basketball court, with five players on each side.
However, if there were fewer players, three could also play, and the pitch would be shortened accordingly.
As soon as Ethan heard old Palacio mention indoor football, he immediately remembered how popular the sport was in Brazil.
Almost all young players first played indoor football before moving on to professional football.
For example, Robinho, the later "stepover boy," spent more than half of his training time on indoor football before he was 12 years old.
Some even said that indoor football helped drive Brazil's rise as a footballing powerhouse.
Indoor football matches had limited space, requiring higher and more refined individual technique.
Players on the pitch touched the ball six or seven times more often per unit of time than in a regular football match, and the match ball was smaller and heavier.
This greatly improved the players' ball control and quick passing ability.
Mourinho decided to introduce indoor football into New Manchester United's training because he felt that indoor football had a faster attacking and defensive rhythm, stronger physical intensity, and higher demands on the players, especially in their ability to anticipate the ball's path, react quickly, and make off-the-ball runs.
All of these were crucial to solving New Manchester United's current situation.
Furthermore, indoor football training was very intense, demanding high levels of strength, endurance, and flexibility from the players, while also achieving some of the effects of outdoor training.
Because of this, Mourinho specifically set aside space in the training building for the players to conduct indoor football training in groups.
If the results were good, Mourinho also planned to introduce this training content into the youth academy, which would bring huge benefits to New Manchester United's youth development.
Mourinho's decision was strongly supported by Ethan.
He even had Walsh begin preparations that very day, intending to build an indoor football hall at the training base for the first team and youth team to train or play matches.
In addition to indoor football, Ethan also planned to build facilities for other sports such as badminton and table tennis.
This would not only provide recreational activities for the players outside of training but also give them more training options.
In his future plans for the training base, Ethan also intended to set aside a plot of land to build an indoor football training ground, fully taking rainy-day training into account.
Training bases such as Manchester United's Carrington and Arsenal's future Colney all had dedicated indoor football training grounds.
After several days of intensive training, New Manchester United headed to Chesterfield!
(To be continued.)