November in England was the rainy season.
The temperature was not especially low, but the rain was icy cold, falling like spray from a garden hose. When it landed on the body, it sent a chill through the skin and made people shiver.
On the first-team training pitch at the Newton Heath training base, all the players were training in the mud.
They remained diligent, hardworking, and resilient, occasionally even going into challenges with greater intensity. This was very common in English club training, and everyone was used to it.
Mourinho stood on the pitch with a stern expression, with his assistant Faria beside him. From time to time, he blew the whistle in his mouth, stopping the game to point out a player's passing or movement.
October's schedule had been tight because of the addition of the Football League Trophy.
This cup competition involved professional clubs from League One and League Two, so the teams were quite strong and the competition was fierce. However, unlike the FA Trophy from before, teams in the Football League Trophy received prize money for each round they advanced. It started from a few thousand pounds and reached forty thousand pounds for the Northern and Southern Area finals. Combined with the prize money from the earlier rounds, it was still a decent amount.
New Manchester United did not particularly value the money, and with their league position still behind schedule, Mourinho focused more on League Two.
As a result, New Manchester United were eliminated in the second round of the Northern Section by League Two side Notts County.
However, in the league, New Manchester United achieved excellent results in October, with three wins, one draw, and one defeat from five matches.
That put New Manchester United fourth in the League Two table after sixteen rounds, with ten wins, three draws, and three defeats, giving them thirty-three points.
Ahead of them were Brighton at the top with thirty-eight points, followed by Cardiff with thirty-six points and Blackpool with thirty-four points.
After entering November, the schedule became relatively lighter, especially since New Manchester United had already been knocked out of the Football League Trophy.
That meant they only had three league matches and the first round of the FA Cup to deal with for the entire month.
However, that did not mean New Manchester United's schedule was easy.
Two of their three league matches were against direct promotion rivals: a home match against Brighton on November 11 and an away match against Blackpool on November 21 in the nineteenth round of League Two. In between, they also had an away match against Exeter City.
Therefore, New Manchester United's November fixtures were crucial.
Whether they would fall further behind their rivals or overtake them and climb directly into the top three depended on those two major matches.
But just as Mourinho was preparing intensely, two key players in the New Manchester United squad were suddenly targeted by other clubs.
...
Ethan braved the drizzle and arrived at the first-team training pitch.
He looked up at the sky. It was gloomy, but the players on the pitch were training very hard.
Because the drainage facilities at the Newton Heath training ground were still being improved, the pitch was extremely muddy. Seeing it made Ethan frown. He felt that he had indeed been somewhat negligent in this area.
However, it was understandable.
He had no previous experience in this field, and with the club expanding so quickly, everyone else was also busy with their own work. Oversights were inevitable. That was why the training ground's drainage facilities were still incomplete, something Ethan decided to improve as soon as the season ended.
In addition, the issue of an indoor training ground also had to be placed on the agenda.
After all, in such rainy weather, if there were an indoor training ground, the players would have things much easier.
After ninety minutes of intense and fierce training, the players came off the pitch, breathing heavily.
When they saw Ethan standing by the touchline, some greeted him from a distance, while others walked over.
"Boss, you're back!" Curtis said with a smile as he stepped forward.
He was almost sixteen now, taller and stronger than before. As captain of New Manchester United's youth team, he had performed excellently at academy level.
This season, Mourinho had promoted him to the reserves, allowing him to train with the first team and represent the club in reserve matches.
It was worth mentioning that only professional league clubs could participate in reserve team matches. Therefore, when New Manchester United were in the National League, their players could only take part in under-19 youth matches, which were not comparable to reserve fixtures.
Ethan smiled and patted Curtis on the shoulder.
This was a kid he had watched grow up, and now Curtis was even taller than him.
What was most commendable was his rapid progress. With his excellent physical qualities, heading was one of his strengths, but his positioning, tackling, marking, and other defensive qualities were also very good. He simply carried some of Bruce's bad habits.
Mourinho demanded stability from his center-backs.
He did not like players who were overly aggressive or rash, because he felt they were like landmines that opponents could detonate at any moment. That would be disastrous. Because of that, he had criticized Curtis several times in training.
However, everyone knew that Mourinho criticized him because he valued him highly.
Had Terry, who was criticized most fiercely by Mourinho at the beginning of the season, not now become the team's defensive leader?
"Keep working hard, lad. You're our future!" Ethan said with a helpless smile.
Curtis was stunned, but he quickly understood why Ethan had said that.
He knew some players wanted to leave, so he smiled, walked over, and hugged Ethan tightly.
"Don't worry, boss. I won't leave unless you sell me!"
Hearing that, Ethan almost felt tears welling in his eyes.
He thought of how Curtis had travelled all the way from London to join them, and how his parents had repeatedly wanted him to return to London over the years. Yet Curtis had always chosen to stay with New Manchester United, even though they were only a League Two club.
"I won't sell you, Curtis. Never, unless you want to leave!" Ethan said with a smile.
"Then I really have no choice, boss!" Curtis smiled happily.
Seeing his teammates about to leave, he said goodbye to Ethan.
"I'm going to shower. We're playing indoor football later."
The players passed Ethan one after another, all happily greeting him, except for Distin and Steinsson.
They were the two players who had submitted written transfer requests to Mourinho. When they saw Ethan, they both lowered their heads and did not dare look at him.
"You're back!" Mourinho walked over to Ethan, visibly relieved.
When Ethan had been around before, Mourinho had always felt as though he had a wall behind him. If things became difficult, he could retreat to that wall, and Ethan would handle everything for him.
But during Ethan's absence, Mourinho had felt somewhat lost, as though he had lost his support.
It was not just him. The entire team felt the same way.
Before, everyone saw Ethan at the training base every day and thought nothing of it. But after he suddenly left for more than half a month, everyone missed him greatly, always feeling as though something was missing.
"Tell me about the situation, José!"
Ethan and Mourinho walked slowly along the path beside the training pitch, completely ignoring the rain.
"Birmingham want Steinsson. They know Steinsson isn't a starter for us, so they promised him a starting place.
"He came to me a few days ago and frankly told me what he was thinking. He said that if I could give him a starting position, he would stay. Otherwise, he wanted to leave.
"I was also honest with him. I can't do that!"
Ethan walked slowly and listened quietly.
He knew very well that Steinsson was not the type of full-back Mourinho preferred.
His defending was indeed good, but he lacked attacking ability, and his pace was a little slow, which did not quite fit Mourinho's tactics. Therefore, even though Bosingwa's performances this season had been average, Steinsson still had not received many opportunities.
Last season, Steinsson had been a starting player for the team.
This season, he had suddenly been replaced by a newcomer, so he must have felt a huge sense of disappointment.
Moreover, Birmingham were a First Division club, and Bruce knew him very well and had promised him a starting position. Anyone would want to leave in that situation.
"What about Distin?"
Mourinho looked at the players gradually running into the training building and shook his head with a helpless smile.
"Premier League side Newcastle have made us an offer of one million pounds. They want to take Distin.
"I asked him, and he admitted that Newcastle had contacted him. Although he didn't say it directly, his training over the past few days has been distracted. I can tell he wants to leave too."
To be honest, when faced with the attraction of a Premier League club, New Manchester United would find it very difficult to keep players unless Ethan was willing to completely fall out with them.
But that was clearly the worst and least rational outcome, because what would the other players think?
The reason Barcelona would rather suffer a huge loss and be ridiculed for sending Ibrahimović to AC Milan was because they clearly knew that forcing someone to stay would only create a lose-lose situation.
The transfer market in England had been very lively recently, especially for excellent center-backs, who were in high demand.
Tottenham's Campbell wanted to leave, and Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool were all interested in him. Leeds United had already bought Rio Ferdinand from West Ham United for a record-breaking eighteen million pounds, setting a world-record transfer fee for a defender.
Now Newcastle had even reached toward New Manchester United, and judging from the situation, they were very confident about taking Distin. Otherwise, they would not have made a direct offer.
One million pounds.
Ethan did not particularly care about the money.
What truly troubled him was what the team would do after Distin left.
That was the real headache.
Perhaps Curtis should step up. Perhaps he should be given a chance.
Ethan thought about it, but if that happened, would the team's performances be affected?
That was a consequence Ethan had to consider.
However, it was clear that his headaches were not limited to this one matter.
That evening, Ethan suddenly received a call from Scarlett.
"Hey, neighbour, do you know who I saw?"
"Who?" Ethan asked irritably.
"Your head coach, Mr. José Mourinho. Do you know who he was sitting with?"
Hearing this, Ethan was instantly stunned.
(To be continued.)