31 Old Dog's New Tricks

"Try him out at central defensive midfielder, and let's see how it goes."

Those words continued ringing out of Under 18s manager Ryan Cassidy's mind. It was the task given to him by the first team manager during the last general staff meeting, on the premise that it will give Blaise Atkinson more time to improve and incorporate himself to the team.

Cassidy knew that Bronson had no intentions of rushing the youngster to the first team from the get go, at least as long as there was still enough cover left from the Under 23s. It doesn't really skew from the general plan since if he continues to show that he has the skill to compete against League One level players, Bronson would likely pull the trigger and give him a debut anyway.

The idea for him wasn't bad. The fact that the senior teams coaches have a lot of faith for this new rising star that slipped through the cracks gives him a lot of hope. So at the very next game against Coventry City, he slotted him into the defensive midfielder role.

His performance was nothing short of phenomenal.

He held the gap between the more advanced midfielders and the center of the defense in a way reminiscent of their ex-captain and club legend Damian Potts.

He picked off passes left and right. He roamed around the midfield to sniff out opposing attacks, covered for advancing full backs, and had a ridiculous sense of positional awareness.

What was the icing on the cake for Cassidy was the fact that he impacted the offensive side of the ball almost the same way as he did on the more advanced positions. Sure, he stayed back for longer periods of time, but his deep passes and through balls are still as pivotal as it was.

The first goal on that 2-0 win was him sending a long ball— that was finished by Cameron— from a tackle he won, and the second one was another assist to Rowe from one of his few forays forward.

Cassidy buzzed so much about the performance that he gave him another crack at the role in the next game against Crewe.

The balding manager felt his head hurt when he remembered this game.

They dominated whole game long, with Atkinson again at the forefront. Quinn might have scored the opener from a counterattack, initiated by a delightful tackle from Atkinson, but the youngsters of Sheffield bottled it late. They lost 1-2 at the death, and yet Cassidy was still pleased at the performance of Blaise.

For the third straight game, he sent Atkinson as the holding midfielder. This time, he instructed him to move forward more, akin to some sort of a box to box midfielder, rather than a pure defensive mid.

He was much more of a factor on the offensive end as his runs forward wreaked havoc on the home Cardiff defense. His two goals drew the ire of the home supporters, but his assist on the third goal from a corner kick took the negative feelings of the crowd against him to the peak. As the final whistle sounded on the 3-1 win, Cassidy has now confirmed that this guy is the real deal.

After walking the long way into the away team lockers, he remembered that he kind of forgot about the game a week ago…

Well, he had reason to forget it at least.

Since it was a thrashing. They were spun around, they were not at their best, they were down to 9 men, and they conceded 5 goals to their opponents Crystal Palace.

Yeah it was just that kind of rainy night in downtown Sheffield.

He shook his head and entered the away team locker room, removing the frown on his face in the most casual way possible, and replacing it with a stern poker face.

What welcomed him was a collection of youngsters that were either dressing for the game, jumping up and down, talking noisily, focusing with the help of music, or juggling the ball with their feet.

"Ahem." It was not a loud entrance, nor was it a loud ahem, but every player dropped what they were doing to listen to their manager's pre match instructions and pep talk. "Today, we face Leeds. One of our local rivals, one of our many Yorkshire derbies. You should know its significance to the people that were born, raised, and currently live here and also to the club's badge."

He stopped abruptly before continuing. "I know that you are hungry for a better performance after that awful game last time out. Show me that you're gonna do it better this time around. Make us proud, young lads of Sheffield Blades."

"Yes, sir!"

***

Blaise Atkinson was happy.

Happy because he can improve his positional versatility with how the youth manager's been playing him. Of course, he would be lying if he said that he was 100% okay about what the manager's trying to do at first, but now?

He realized that he was only a central midfielder and was unplayable everywhere else in his past life. That maybe made him useless on several occasions, add to that his unwillingness to play anywhere else hindered him.

Now, it's a new life. He's willing to go to any length to reach the pinnacle of football. He's willing to try his hand on new positions that may give him many more opportunities to shine in different ways, if that's what it takes.

If the world needs him to play every midfield position out there, then he'll break through his limits and take it head on, without looking back!

I promise I will not fail this time!

He saw the overhead ball and his opposing number 6 streaking past him. A quick turn of the feet enabled him to recover better and try to keep chase. His opponent was not a fast footballer by any means, but he's much more physically tough, making him your traditionally strong box to box midfielder.

The two battling midfielders extended a foot into the landing path of the ball, but only Blaise Atkinson got to the end of it. His extended foot managed to send it to his back line and killed the attack off in an instant.

Their own central defender swept the ball forward on the counter, with Blaise knowing in an instant the intention of the defender. Which is, to send it to him to spark the break.

'Why had I been so stubborn as to not try this role before!' He thought as he ran. 'No one told me this is so fucking interesting and fun!'

The spark in Blaise Atkinson's 17 year old eyes, and 32 year old soul has never been brighter.