When the Premier League owners finally emerged from the hotel after their summit, the reporters who had been waiting outside immediately surged forward. Previous meetings had often felt little more than procedural, but this one had lasted almost five hours, the longest anyone could remember, and the media were desperate to know what had been discussed.
Richard Scudamore attracted the largest crowd and quickly found himself surrounded. Ethan, meanwhile, walked past with a polite greeting to the reporters, and almost none of them bothered chasing him. They had learned from experience that extracting confidential information from him was nearly impossible.
Scudamore noticed and immediately objected to the difference in treatment.
He reached out, pulled Ethan back towards the reporters, and said with a laugh, "Ethan was one of the main voices in today's meeting. He put forward several very constructive proposals, and we believe some of them could have a major impact on the Premier League over the next few years. If you've got questions, ask him."
Then Scudamore tried to escape.
Ethan barely had time to react before a forest of microphones appeared in front of him.
"I know everyone wants to know what happened in there," he said calmly, "but until the league makes an official announcement, I can't discuss the details. What I can say is that everything we talked about was aimed at making the Premier League stronger, healthier, and more sustainable. That's all you're getting from me."
With that, he worked his way through the reporters and headed for the hotel entrance.
The journalists stared after him for a moment, then immediately turned back towards Scudamore, who had not managed to get very far. The Premier League chief executive looked thoroughly betrayed but could do little except answer question after question without revealing anything meaningful.
Ethan took the hotel car to the airport and flew back to Manchester. Jim was already waiting when he landed and drove him straight towards the new stadium, where Ethan had been spending most of his time recently.
As the reigning Premier League champions, New Manchester United would open the competitive season in the Community Shield on August 8 against FA Cup winners Manchester United. It would be the second consecutive year in which the two clubs met in the traditional curtain-raiser, and interest was already enormous.
Before then, however, the Red Rebels had a far more emotional occasion planned.
On July 25, the new stadium would host its first match. The current first team would face a side made up of former New Manchester United players and friends of the club, including Juninho Paulista, Redondo, Abidal, Jonathan Metten, and many others who had contributed during the club's rise.
Ethan had invited almost everyone who had ever played a meaningful role in the club's history. Even Kitson, despite the unpleasant way his relationship with New Manchester United had ended, received an invitation.
Then, on August 1, Droylsden would visit for the Newton Heath Cup, which would serve as the final pre-season match before the competitive campaign began.
Before the stadium opening, Mourinho intended to take the squad back to Ireland for another summer training camp. He liked the privacy and calm environment there and believed it gave the players the best possible setting in which to build fitness without the distractions that followed the champions everywhere in England.
The stadium itself would officially come alive on July 25. Audi, Apple, Adidas, Vodafone, and other major sponsors were preparing to open flagship stores around the four corners of the ground, while the other retail units inside the wider complex would begin trading at the same time. The surrounding commercial district planned in cooperation with the local authorities would also start opening over the following days.
The commercial department had therefore decided to turn the entire week into a launch festival.
"It'll be the biggest commercial event ever attached to the opening of an English football stadium," Gardner said during a meeting inside the new ground. "We've worked with the sponsors and retailers on activities throughout the surrounding entertainment district. Competitions, exhibitions, live performances, supporter events, product launches, family areas. The programme will run for an entire week and finish with the Newton Heath Cup. If we get this right, people will remember the opening as an event in itself, not simply a football match."
The club had been planning the wider stadium district for more than a year. The objective was not merely to build a ground that opened every other weekend, but to create a year-round destination for supporters. Restaurants, shops, entertainment, sponsor spaces, club attractions, and public events could all provide income even when no match was being played.
If the concept worked, it would become another major revenue stream.
New Manchester United were already in a remarkably strong financial position. Winning the Premier League and UEFA Cup in 2003-04 had pushed the club's revenue to second in England, behind only Manchester United. Even after wages, bonuses, travel, academy costs, operating expenses, and investment in the football department, there was still a substantial surplus.
Ethan had asked Mourinho whether he wanted to spend some of it on one or two established stars.
Mourinho declined.
"Our squad was outstanding last season," he told Ethan. "Most of these players are still improving. Give them another year together and I expect us to be better. What I need from you is simple: keep them here."
For once, Ethan found that answer slightly frustrating.
Most owners complained that their managers were constantly demanding more transfer money. Ethan had now spent two consecutive summers encouraging Mourinho to spend, only for the Portuguese coach to insist that he did not need anyone.
On reflection, Ethan understood why. New Manchester United's squad was already absurdly deep. Almost every position contained either an established world-class player or someone with the potential to become one. Buying another star merely for the sake of making a statement could create more problems than it solved.
The remaining surplus was therefore divided into several areas. Part went back into commercial expansion, including the stadium district and future club projects. Another allocation went to the Red Rebels Charity Foundation, funding a growing range of community and charitable programmes.
A substantial amount was also reserved for the people inside the club.
As Ethan had explained during the Premier League summit, New Manchester United limited its overall wage structure to roughly forty-eight per cent of operating revenue. With income rising sharply, the salary budget could now rise with it. Several players were due improved contracts, while coaches and key staff would also receive pay increases.
The same structure covered people such as Walsh, Davey, Gardner, and the senior members of the football and commercial departments.
There was only one notable exception.
Ethan himself.
He did not draw a salary from New Manchester United.
Everyone at Newton Heath knew it, and everyone also knew that he often worked longer hours than anyone else. That example had become part of the culture of the club. Ethan expected total commitment, but he was usually the first person to demonstrate it himself.
The commercial department had become particularly intense as the stadium opening approached. After the end-of-season pay increases, enthusiasm had somehow risen even further. Sponsorship packages, retail partnerships, advertising space, hospitality agreements, launch events, and stadium branding were all being handled simultaneously.
The quality of the department had become something of a legend in Manchester's business circles. People joked that almost anyone working there could walk into an investment bank or major company and immediately secure a senior position. Recruiters had tried repeatedly to lure staff away, but most attempts failed.
It was not because the employees were trapped by contracts.
Most simply did not want to leave.
The department's working culture was unusually autonomous. Rather than assigning dozens of people to one enormous project, managers tended to break broad objectives into smaller pieces and then give compact teams responsibility for delivering them from beginning to end.
The stadium entertainment district, for example, was an enormous commercial undertaking, yet its central planning group contained only five people. They coordinated specialists when necessary, but the core responsibility remained concentrated, allowing decisions to be made quickly without disappearing into layers of management.
Other projects were organised in much the same way.
Gardner once joked that the commercial department worked like Mourinho's football team: control small areas efficiently, connect those areas together, and eventually control the whole pitch.
While Chelsea were buying players at a breathtaking rate and the Premier League's owners were debating how English football should change, Euro 2004 had been unfolding in Portugal.
New Manchester United had ten players involved in the tournament. Despite arriving after an exhausting club season, most performed well.
Čech was the Czech Republic's starting goalkeeper and one of the tournament's outstanding performers. As the Czechs advanced deep into the competition, he looked increasingly assured, producing several excellent saves and giving the defence a level of calm beyond his age.
Evra and Ribéry were both part of the French squad. Neither began the tournament as a guaranteed starter, but both impressed whenever given opportunities. Evra's performances showed the qualities New Manchester United supporters had already come to expect: speed, defensive discipline, and an ability to contribute aggressively once he crossed halfway.
Ribéry's substitute appearances drew even more attention. Whether used from the left or through central areas, his direct running changed matches. His combinations with Zidane were particularly impressive, prompting growing calls in the French press for him to receive a larger role.
Beckham remained an automatic starter for England, although his national-team role was very different from the one Mourinho had developed for him at club level. For New Manchester United, Beckham operated centrally and dictated matches from deep. England continued to use him mainly from the right.
He worked tirelessly and still produced moments of quality, but the structure did not allow him to influence matches in quite the same way.
Curtis and Terry were also with England, although neither received the opportunities many supporters had expected. Before the tournament there had been widespread discussion about reproducing New Manchester United's centre-back partnership at international level, or at least pairing one of them with Rio Ferdinand instead of Campbell.
It never really happened.
England eventually went out to Portugal in the quarter-finals, leaving several New Manchester United supporters frustrated that Curtis and Terry had barely been used.
On the opposite side that night stood Cristiano Ronaldo.
The teenager had been one of Portugal's best players throughout the tournament. His partnership with Luís Figo on the flanks gave defenders constant problems, and his willingness to attack experienced full-backs without fear turned him into one of Euro 2004's breakout stars.
By the time Portugal reached the final against Greece, Cristiano had become one of the most talked-about young players in Europe, eclipsing even much of the attention surrounding Wayne Rooney.
Portugal ultimately lost the final. Cristiano missed a major opportunity and left the pitch in tears, devastated at having come so close to winning a major international trophy at home.
The defeat did little to diminish his reputation.
Two other Red Rebels had also emerged from the tournament with considerably stronger profiles.
Arjen Robben was a regular starter for the Netherlands and helped them reach the semi-finals. His dribbling, pace, and ability to attack directly from the wing led Dutch commentators to describe him as one of the leaders of the country's next generation.
Philipp Lahm was one of the few bright points in a disappointing German campaign. His energy, intelligence, and attacking quality from full-back stood out even as the national team struggled around him.
De Rossi's role with Italy was much smaller. He was primarily a reserve midfielder and appeared only briefly in the final group match against Bulgaria, producing a solid performance without enough minutes to make a major impression.
When the tournament ended, Čech and Cristiano Ronaldo were both selected among its outstanding performers. Cristiano, Robben, Ribéry, and several other young Red Rebels also featured prominently in newspapers' lists of the best emerging players at Euro 2004.
That recognition brought an inevitable consequence.
Transfer interest.
The clubs calling about Cristiano Ronaldo and Robben alone could have filled several pages of a notebook. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Inter, Juventus, Chelsea, Bayern, and others all made enquiries through one channel or another.
New Manchester United gave every one of them the same answer.
Not for sale.
And those enquiries were only the beginning of Ethan's summer headache.
Because while Euro 2004 had just ended, the Copa América was about to begin.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)