Chapter 2: Chapter 2
The road he had walked on since that fateful day in the park had been long, but he felt it had truly matured him and prepared him for the challenges to come. He hadn't waited long from making the decision to implementing his plans walking into the club and telling them his decision. It had come as a surprise to some of them considering he wasn't long off the end of his contract and finding out his final result, but he knew the writing was on the wall and even if he received an extension, it was only a matter of time. This left him in a completely different place than he was used to, not having his life clearly mapped out for him but having to drive himself and make his own choices. The first step in this process was to educate himself and at the age of sixteen it was time to take his schooling more seriously. Considering his future goals, Yusuf took on A-Levels in Economics, Maths and Psychology. His mother had asked the reason why he didn't take sport, but he reassured her that science of sport would be taught to him through other means and that now it was about building a firm foundation. In the two years, it took him to complete his qualification he also undertook the first two coaching badges receiving a UEFA C-License with the support of his old club.
Yusuf was aware that the world of sports is very much a game of relations and he made sure to keep in contact with his old club as much as possible. He also offered to help with any community focused projects they were doing even if that just meant picking up footballs and setting cones up. He would not allow pride to prevent him from reaching his dreams and he knew that even if he did no coaching, he was learning just by being in that environment. The relationships he had cultivated already paid off with his former coach finding him a grassroots youth team that he could work with. The team had an elderly coach who turned up each week out of love for the game and his community. The smiles on the children's faces when he taught them something new felt truly rewarding and made him appreciate the effect this humble sport could have on the people. The previous years had been all about improving and it had detached him from understanding the simple charm of the working mans game.
The next step in his journey was university where he read Economics at the University of Birmingham, pride in his local institutions had been instilled in him by his mother. When he was focused entirely on playing football, he didn't think he would ever get the opportunity to graduate but now he knew he would be able to make his mother proud and that was a comforting thought to him. Economics would be very important to his future as he planned to become a top-class manager who was able to influence the club in many different ways not just on the coaching of the players. His eventual goal was to help direct the clubs' strategic goals, recruitment, and each facet of its operation. The degree course also allowed him to follow in the footsteps of Arsene Wenger, who had been one of his heroes all throughout his life. Football still formed a large part of his life while at university as he continued coaching the grassroots club even taking over full time when the elderly coach decided to retire. He had managed to get his UEFA B-License and take the grassroots club to its greatest ever finish. The young players had taken on his ideas well and had taught him a lot about how to communicate ideas. He had learnt that players always watched for cues from their manager and if he ever looked disheartened or defeated that mood would spread throughout the team.
At the tender age of twenty-one years old, he graduated from a prestigious university with a bachelor's degree in economics. The final grade he received was a 2.1 which he considered fair as he had divided his attention partly with football. He had also read a lot of books about football purchasing every autobiography written by a famed manager or footballer he respected. He absorbed knowledge as best as he could, analysing big fixtures and teams that played the way he wanted to. This helped him crystalise his football philosophy as famed Dutch manager Louis Van Gaal always referred to it. The next step in his career was one that would be very important as he was offered junior roles in opposition analysis for his old club, but he felt it was more important to experience different cultures for a while. He politely rejected them and said that he would need to explore for a while and get the experience he needed to really build the club up. The club had always known he was ambitious, and his ardent support of the team made him a well-liked figure among the higher up.
The connections he had made in football already went a long way towards helping him out as an old acquaintance who was now working at Leicester City had recommended him for the position of U-15 coach. The recommendation was still only that though as he was required to interview and impress the relevant people. The club had just removed Nigel Pearson citing differences in perspective and with the appointment of veteran Italian manager Claudio Ranieri were serious about establishing themselves in the Premier League. As is expected when a new manager joins a club, there was a shuffle in the backroom staff which had resulted in this position opening up.
Yusuf had initially assumed it would just be the backroom staff that would interview him, but the wily old manager was there as well, and he could feel heat from his gaze. The newspapers had ridiculed his appointment suggesting that the club had simply appointed him for his nice demeanour, but he could tell immediately that he meant business. The interview was gruelling with him being grilled about the how he would develop the players. Yusuf was then asked a particularly tricky question about what he thought about the play style of teams that Ranieri had managed. The question was tricky as often the manager had been criticised for having a defensive and boring ethos plus overly rotating his squads. Yusuf tackled the question by focusing on defensive solidity being the bed rock of all the best teams and the need to rotate the squad to prevent overly burdening any player. He talked about admiring the work rate of the teams he coached and wanting to instil that mentality into the young players. He also did not back down from his own beliefs about football talking about his personal style being freer and focused on the players having greater agency. The interview quickly devolved into a discussion on the respective merits of both and though Yusuf felt he was vastly outmatched; he received a phone call that he had got the position before the week was over and the rest was history in the making.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TheBadlands
TheBadlands This chapter went longer then I originally thought and his journey to management isn't even over just yet.
I hope everyone is enjoying it so far and leave a comment if you have any ideas.
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