Chapter 3

That first season had been like a dream that threatened to end at any moment. The buzz around the club had been purely fever pitch from wondering whether or not they would survive in the league for another season to challenging for the title itself. The season had been a meaningful one to him on a personal note having been his first real experience in professional football, coming to grips with the role and each of the players he was responsible for was a big challenge. He also had to become used to the amount of paperwork and communication required to maintain seamless operation of such a large backroom staff. A large proportion of the staff was quite new whereas some had followed Ranieri from team to team and were quite aware of what he liked. The relationship he had developed with the old manager was also very important to him as he would seek him out and ask for his opinion on what the team was doing. This was helping him grow his understanding of the game and take his theories to practise. The U-15's he had been entrusted with had gone from strength to strength beating many oppositions and developing their unique weapons that would follow them throughout their careers. Yusuf had always been a firm believer in youth development being done in two distinct parts the first of which being the understanding of team play and second being developing the unique weapons that would allow them to beat their opposition in the future.

The main characters of this season though had been the first team who had done the impossible in winning the premier league table. The oddsmakers had given them a modest five thousand to one chance of claiming the title and they had beaten the odds to decimate the top six monopoly. The team had been caught in the perfect storm to make history happen. The cast of characters would have made the perfect underdog movie. A brilliant manager who had been disparaged for most of his career and was now back with a vengeance. A former non-league striker who had crawled up to where he is using his prolific goal-scoring, devilish pace and work rate that would put a prized stallion to shame. An inverted winger with a masterful first touch, clean dribble and an eye for goal who had been considered too physically weak to make it in the premier league. The cherry on top of the cake had been signed at the start of that season, a diminutive defensive midfielder who had quietly led the top leagues in Europe in terms of ball recoveries. The team had won the league with a ten-point gap, forty two percent of the possession and the second lowest passing percentage. The team had simply outworked the others, defending deep and allowing the opponent to come onto them before they exploded out with one of the most frightening counter attacks the league had ever seen. The energy around the club was infectious and it positively affected the youth team that he was managing spurring them on to emulate the seniors. The moment he would never forget was the medal ceremony as he saw the ecstatic faces on the players and backroom staff, a burst of envy crossed his heart. He immediately admonished himself for it, but he knew he would never be able to relax until the day he felt that for himself and the team he would build.

The next season sobered him up to the realities of the sport as the vultures at the top of the league gathered to pick at the team which had just been champions. The loss of N'Golo Kante was felt on the pitch and in the spirit of the team, it was like the clock had struck midnight and the magic was undone. The reasons for their lagging form were manifold such as increased number of fixtures due to the champions league, teams wizening up to their tactics and playing accordingly, and the goal drought experienced by their star striker. The reality was though the team just couldn't generate the same mentality as last season and like a ship that had just passed the crest they could only go down. The team finished in the bottom half and more crucially Ranieri was made surplus to requirements before the season ended, a victim of the high standards he had set himself. Yusuf learnt there and then the world of football was a results game and not even winning the league would give you any reprieve.

The loss of the manager who had become like a mentor for him was felt quite strongly but he was encouraged to keep working at it by the rest of the club who had liked the results he was bringing. He remained at the club throughout much of the turmoil remaining for another season before deciding he wanted to find a new challenge. The only memorable moment being when the new full time manager Claude Puel had blocked Riyad Mahrez move to Manchester City on deadline day. The nature of the way it had been done had resulted in the player refusing to turn up to training and created an acrimonious atmosphere around the club. Yusuf reckoned that players need to be committed to a team and keeping a player against their will would only bring a detriment to a team.

The next season he was head hunted from his position at Leicester to work with the newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers as the coach of their U-23 team. The role allowed him to get closer to players which were about to play the senior game, this was a huge opportunity for him. The players he trained would be given many opportunities in the first team and hence it would allow him to work closer with the head coach. If as the U23 coach he didn't understand the tactics and strategy of the first team, the players that were developed wouldn't be immediately effective in the first team line up. He hence had managed to get himself a place at the top table through the backdoor, he had also requested to be somewhat involved in recruitment seeing it as being useful for his future and his request had been approved. The glowing recommendations he had received from Leicester and the newly promoted status of the club was the only reason it was allowed. The club had immediately rekindled his passion as the team was just promoted and the difficulty of teams to establish themselves in the top league was well known.

The situation at his new club was completely different to his old having recently received new ambitious owners in the form of Fosun International and it had given him a new understanding of the sometimes-complicated relationship between the stakeholders in a football club. It had also given him his first exposure to the influence of the biggest agents in the world namely one Jorge Mendes. The connection between the club and Mendes was very deep and existed on multiple levels with the owners trusting him a great deal to the point that he recommended Nuno Esperito Santo, the head coach. Nuno in his playing days had also been one of his first clients and their relationship was also very deep. The connections had hence allowed the club to gain access to a conveyor belt of talent that he represented which often had Portuguese flavour to it. The extent to which he only saw in his first season there, when in that one transfer window had signed six Portuguese players.

His time at the club had been truly great on a personal level, getting exposure to how recruitment is managed at a big club. He also coached his U-23 to consistent success which mirrored the performance of Wolves who had managed to secure seventh position in their first season in the league. The newly recruited players had also bedded really quickly which was often a worry when many were signed at once, but the managers grasp of the language and many compatriots must have helped the process. The next summer transfer window had been equally eventful with another seventeen new players narrowly missing the previous seasons eighteen. The success of the previous season was replicated, and the club managed to hold its seventh position allowing Yusuf to compare the differences between his two clubs on consistency and the main factors behind it. The pandemic had also had a huge influence on the season with a massive suspension of games occurring in the middle of the season. The next season saw similar problems caused by the pandemic with many games occurring behind closed doors but teams becoming more comfortable with how to get around the effects. The injury situation had been particularly bad at Wolves that season and the final result of thirteenth place had seen Nuno and the club part by mutual consent. His final season at the club had seen him promoted to assistant manager under incoming boss Bruno Lage and he had gained a lot of experience from that. The season had started poorly but diligent work in the training ground had seen them stabilise the club at eight position and back to where they felt it was important to be. He had also developed a positive working relationship with Bruno and had really come to respect him. He was football obsessed, hated to lose a game and well mannered to all. He drove himself hard and expected the rest of the club to follow suit which was exactly how Yusuf liked it. The style of play suited him as well with a focus on quick passing play and attacking football. At any other time, he would have likely stayed for a few more seasons to learn as much as he could but home was calling, and it was a call he couldn't resist.