Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 198

198: The First Game of the Doubleheader

Helena’s face flushed at the sudden, sharp jab from her old colleague.

“Ooh, I’ve never seen you make that face before! You must really like him!”

“It’s not like that!”

Though Helena had been half-doubting it given the late hour, just as she’d expected, Hyungmin was still in the first team meeting room, deep in discussion with the coaching staff.

“Which one is it? The tall, handsome, and fit one, or the scrawny and weak one? It’s not the Hispanic muscle-man over there, is it?” Samantha Brown asked, pointing back and forth between Taejin and Hyungmin through the glass meeting room door, a sly grin on her face. Helena frowned, feigning annoyance, but couldn’t help but giggle along.

“It’s the scrawny one. Well, he’s not that scrawny! Just on the outside…”

“Tsk, tsk. Helena, you have no eye for men. You should have a boyfriend who looks sturdy like that one, someone who can hold you tight in his arms. I thought someone who used to be a football [soccer] player would be a real man… tsk, tsk. If he’s that scrawny, can he even perform at night…?”

“Samantha!”

Helena, her face now bright red from the explicit question, swung a fist, but the woman, who had spent her whole life in Detroit’s abandoned factory district, dodged it with an agility that belied her appearance.

“Oh, that’s attempted murder…”

“If you say one more thing like that, I’m really going to hit you!”

Samantha Brown, well aware of the fierce touch of the young woman who could have become an empress of martial arts, quietly nodded.

“The big one is Hyungmin’s friend. He’s a coach from Burnley. And he’s married.”

“Tch. Some fox must have snatched him up quick.”

“…And the person in question is, well… good at ‘that sort of thing,’ I guess…”

Helena’s ears turned even redder as she trailed off, embarrassed.

Samantha Brown laughed heartily at the sight of her old colleague.

“Well, that’s a relief! I thought some pretty-boy was just trying to sweet-talk our Helena.”

“Come on, I’m not some high school girl. I wouldn’t fall for just a face. Hyungmin is actually a pretty great guy. He’s serious and dedicated to his work.”

Samantha Brown chuckled at Helena’s words.

“Well, I have a lot I could say, but I’ll let it slide since you’re in the honeymoon phase. Ah, to be young and in love.”

“By the way, how did you know about us? Did you see it in a tabloid or something?”

Helena tried to change the subject again, but surprisingly, Samantha Brown went along with it.

“No? I met Ian last year, and he said Helena was seeing someone. So, I grilled him about it.”

“…Ian? My father? Or my brother?”

To Samantha Brown, both Ian Cartwright II and Ian Cartwright III were simply “Ian.”

Samantha Brown grinned at Helena’s puzzled question.

“Your brother, of course.”

“Third? But the paparazzi didn’t take pictures until the end of last year? If it was early last year…”

That was right after she returned from her visit to New York.

Huh?

The timeline didn’t quite add up. Connecting the tabloid article from the photos taken by the paparazzi at the end of last year to her coming to Burnley under the guise of the completion ceremony to nag Hyungmin… it didn’t make sense.

Helena suddenly realized that her whole family had known about her pining and back-and-forth feelings for ages, all while pretending not to notice. A fiery blaze ignited in her eyes.

“Third, you little…!”

Startled by the roar echoing down the hallway, Hyungmin and the coaching staff all turned towards Helena, who was standing outside the glass door. Meanwhile, Samantha Brown, who had just stirred up a new conflict in the Cartwright household, chuckled to herself.

It breaks my heart when my kids fight, but it’s fun to watch other people’s kids fight.

Ah, I wish I had some popcorn.

***

A few days after Samantha Brown left, having solved one of Helena’s problems but creating a new conflict for the Cartwright family…

Ahead of a key management meeting, a storm was brewing in the meeting room as the FA Cup [Football Association Cup, a major English soccer tournament] 4th round draw was handed out.

“What the FUCK!!”

A rough curse burst from the manager’s mouth, but no one in the meeting room reacted.

More accurately, everyone was cursing, so no one had the bandwidth to care about Hyungmin’s outburst.

“Who is it?! Who in the Football Association is pulling this kind of crap?!”

The enraged manager slammed his fist on the meeting room table, but no one answered, too busy cursing themselves.

After getting slapped around by Liverpool in both legs of the Carabao Cup [English soccer league cup] semi-final, they were now facing Liverpool again in the FA Cup 4th round, following their FA Cup 3rd round match against Blackburn and Derby.

To make matters worse, the FA Cup 4th round match was being forced into January 31st, when the transfer market closed, due to a lack of available dates.

They had to play 9 games in January alone, and within that less-than-30-day period, they had to face the strongest team in the Premier League, who were running away with the title, four times.

“Is this supposed to boost viewership or something?!”

“…It probably will.”

Taejin, the only one among the Burnley CEO, board members, and coaching staff who chose despair over cursing, buried his face in the table and muttered.

“But the draw is done automatically by a computer. Maybe the god of machines has forsaken us…”

Hyungmin roared at Taejin, who was lamenting the machine god, his voice filled with rage.

“You believe that?! It’s a conspiracy! A conspiracy!”

Surprisingly, the manager vehemently agreed with Hyungmin’s sentiment on the other side.

[…Frankly, I’m tempted to think there’s some manipulation from the organizers. Burnley is a really, really tough team.]

The giant German manager, his beard now almost completely white, passionately slammed the table as he continued.

[…To make them play four games against such a team in less than 30 days is truly ignorant!]

“Yes! Tell them, Jurgen!”

Hyungmin cheered as he watched the press conference on TV, but the elderly master’s fervent criticism was cut short by Liverpool’s press officer, who rushed over to the manager and whispered in his ear.

After a short, rapid exchange, the elderly manager shook his head and continued in a much gentler tone.

[…Uh… um… so, I mean, the English Football Association should also consider these kinds of overlapping schedules in the future, that’s what I’m saying. But since the draw is already out, Liverpool will, as always, do its best in the next game.]

Continuing with the strong remarks might result in disciplinary action from the Football Association.

Hyungmin clutched his head at the German manager’s sudden softening, which expressed his awareness of the warning with his whole body.

“Damn it!”

***

They had already faced each other twice in January, and they had been completely defeated both times.

The scores were 3-1 and 3-0, respectively.

They had tried all sorts of tricks, but the result was a crushing defeat.

Finally, Hyungmin and the Burnley coaching staff gave up and decided to face Liverpool head-on.

Would it have been better to face them like this from the start?

At the New Turf Moor [Burnley’s home stadium], where Lorenzo Lucca scored the opening goal, the atmosphere was heating up amidst the relentless attacks from Liverpool players.

“We are Burnley!”

“Super Burnley!”

“We are Burnley!”

“From the Moor!”

“Led by the man!”

“From the east!”

“Super Burnley!”

“Super Kim!”

They had lost all three official matches against Liverpool this season, including the UEFA Super Cup [Annual match between the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League] before the season started.

Amidst prayers to prevent a fourth defeat and hopes that they might finally achieve victory on their fourth attempt, the fans were fiercely singing the second chant for their manager, while the defense was desperately holding on inside and around Burnley’s penalty box.

“Block him!!”

“I know!” Micah Marmol muttered gruffly at the sharp instructions from Bailey Peacock-Farrell, who was starting as goalkeeper, but he stuck close to his opponent.

Micah Marmol.

A Spanish national, 22 years old this year.

A promising player who had grown up in Barcelona’s famed La Masia [Barcelona’s youth academy] since his youth, he was talented enough to be selected for the Spanish U-20 national team.

At 182 centimeters tall, he was short for a center-back, but he possessed the passing ability required of Barcelona defenders, thanks to his sharp left foot and passing skills.

But the wall of Barcelona’s first team was high.

From Eric Garcia, who had played together in La Masia as a peer before returning to Barcelona after going through Manchester City in the English Premier League, to captain Gerard Pique, who was still a mainstay in the active roster, to Ronald Araujo, who had newly emerged as a starter, there was a plethora of world-class players.

Frankly, he didn’t think it would be easy to stand out there.

A defender must be calm and realistic.

Giving away a penalty kick by tackling an attacker out of greed, or rushing in without waiting for support from teammates in an unpreventable situation, are all the defender’s fault and a lack of ability.

He tried to broaden his position to left-back, but it was impossible to reproduce the dynamic attacking power required of full-backs in the modern era.

Just as he was wondering if he should be frustrated by the wall of the first team, unable to stand out as either a central defender or a left-back, despite being a defender who used his left foot well, the Burnley scouting team, led by Jonathan Landress, reached out to him.

At the time, Burnley was rapidly rising, finishing their first season under the young Asian manager with a fantastic 6th place finish and an FA Cup victory.

It was easy to make a decision because of the active recommendations of Nico Gonzalez and Oscar Mingueza, who were La Masia colleagues on loan to Burnley.

It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t disappointed with the transfer fee of just £1.8 million, but conversely, he was happy to play in a new environment with new teammates.

The new manager coldly granted opportunities to play based on the performance shown in training and the rotation policy, but at the same time, he always gave warm words of encouragement to the young prospects who filled the Burnley first team.

Even after arriving at Burnley, when he was struggling to adapt to the speed of the Premier League and the tremendous stamina and activity required by Burnley, going back and forth between left center-back and left-back, the manager smiled and said to him.

“Micah, it’s fun just to be a part of the best league in the world! Doing well here is the next problem, so don’t forget that joy!”

The manager added with a laugh that he, too, was a defender who played on the left, but he wasn’t very good.

“But I hope you can become someone like Paolo Maldini [Italian former professional footballer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time] someday,” he said.