Chapter 7

The negotiations had been extensive and very detailed, but Larsson had done his job impeccably securing the services of Leonardo Masieri & Adin Osmanbasic. Harsley had been excited about his new role and was already coming to Yusuf with the young players he felt could be integrated which was very important to him.

The analytics department had also been reorganised to resemble the structure commonly used by successful teams with a split between performance and recruitment analysts. The new head of this team was one Richard Bredice who had formally been an opposition analyst at Manchester City. He had been working for RSC Anderlecht for the last three years but was looking for an opportunity to come home and with assurances that the future strategy of the club would be data driven and the job title of Head of Analytics he was willing to make the switch. The credit for this acquisition belonged completely to Henke who had seen Yusufs plans around utilising data and had immediately started looking for the right individual. The speed with which the new backroom staff had been bought on board had surprised even Yusuf and he chalked it up to the weight of Henke's name in the game and his negotiation ability.

The scouts were already being reshuffled by Masieri who had targeted key markets with which it was possible to find bargains and then signed on international scouts with familiarity in those markets. He had been very careful in his recruitment targeting people as efficiently as possible to achieve the greatest coverage.

Osmanbasic had also wasted very little time staying on for the following game while making his position clear to his former club. They had been understanding knowing all about his passion to return to Europe and had found a replacement internally, freeing him to pursue his dreams. His start to the job probably hadn't gone completely how he would have liked considering the club had been demoted to a category 2 academy. This had come on the back of investigation by the Professional Game Board (PGB) and was a massive blow to the club as a whole. The loss of top tier status meant that the U23's would no longer be able to play in the Premier League B and instead have to compete in the Professional Development League (PDL). Yusuf considered it a credit to the character of Adin how he had immediately moved to communicating with parents and guardians of current academy members to assuage their friends and ensure them that their children would be well taken care of. He was currently familiarising himself with the English academy rules and working tirelessly on the improvements he could make. Adin, as he had come to call him when they became closer, had already suggested an approach like what had been set up with Atlanta United to create Regional Development Schools (RDS) as the lowest tier of our academy. This would create high level training environments which would improve the level of players in the region and allow us to locate talent as early as possible. The earlier talent was recognised, the longer they could receive the sustained training which would turn them into greats. Yusuf could also see the benefit of this method as an outreach program and suggested maybe getting in contact with the FA for support as well. He had already passed on the suggestion to Henke and was allowing the two of them to discuss the specifics.

The main crux of his backroom staff had now been secured so he felt it was time to do what he had been putting off for a while which was to truly introduce himself. He had spoken to everyone at the club informally so far, but he had not gathered everyone at once for two reasons, the first of which was he wanted to blow them away with the people he had recruited and secondly was a more selfish reason. The reason being that if he got close with anyone, he would find it difficult to move them on from the team. This was the part of management that was always going to be difficult for him as he knew what it felt like to lose your dream and telling someone they couldn't stay at a place they loved was difficult. This was why he had made all his key dismissals before getting too close to the club's employee. He had been polite with everyone so far but his reticence to form deep connections had made him come across as somewhat cold and awkward. This was something he had hoped to remedy but once the ball got rolling, it was difficult to spot which taught him the importance of first impressions and his need to do better next time. For this reason, he had gathered the entire club from top to bottom in the cafeteria to address them. The club was large he was aware of that but only when he saw everyone gathered did, he really get an idea of the scale of its operation.

"I worried about how to start this, knowing that for many of you this would be your first impression of me. I weighed up how I would come across saying one thing in favour of another and you can ask Henke or Maxi how long I stared at a blank document. I finally concluded to simply say what I want and feel. This club deserves to be at the top, for too long has it been plagued with mismanagement and disappointment. I want to take it there and I want to give the terraces something to scream about. A goal like that is even difficult to vocalise but I mean it with my entire heart and to aim for anything less would make it meaningless in my eyes. To achieve that, we need everyone to pull in the same direction, to believe whole heartedly in that ambition. It is what the fans deserve and what I promise to give them." Firm conviction could be heard in his voice as his speech came to an end.

Silence spread around the room, the gallery likely not having expected something like this for his first time addressing them. The silence was punctured by claps which slowly turned into a round of applause. The applause suggested their agreement, but Yusuf would wait and see for who really meant it and who was just playing along.