Chapter 26: No Room for Winter Myths
Chapter 26: No Room for Winter Myths
Sunday, 21 December
The morning after the draw at Burton felt like the world holding its breath. Not a loss, not a triumph just a quiet, weightless pause before the next step. The team had clawed out a point, and no one was grumbling. Not in the locker room's muted chatter, not on the long bus ride home, not even in the private moments when players peeled off tape from aching ankles, wincing with every tug. It wasn't a dazzling performance, but it was solid. Honest. The kind of game that keeps a season from slipping away. Teams that grind out those points often end up higher than they began.
Niels stood alone at the training ground before dawn, hands shoved deep in his coat pockets, watching the fog curl low over the grass like a restless ghost. Sunday was optional recovery, but the lads trickled in anyway. Quiet laughs broke the stillness. Light jogs stirred the mist. A few kept the ball dancing just to feel the rhythm in their bones. Max lingered longest, juggling near the touchline, the ball a steady pulse against the morning chill. No one told him to stay. He just wasn't ready to leave.
Niels watched, a faint nod to himself. This week, he didn't need to rally them with words. He needed their focus to sharpen, to cut through the haze.
Monday, 22 December
The festive season was creeping in, but only on the edges. A plastic Christmas tree, barely knee-high, sprouted in the staff office, looking more apologetic than festive. Tinsel clung to a window frame, catching the gray light. Someone had left a tray of mince pies near the physio room, and Reece, ever the critic grabbed one, chewed thoughtfully, and declared it "decent enough." From him, that was a Michelin star.
But the video room was all business. No holiday glow here. On the whiteboard, in sharp red marker:
*Matchday 20: December 26, Bradford City (H)
Underlined twice, like a promise.
Niels stood at the front, his voice steady, slicing through the room's quiet hum. "Some of you are already thinking about Christmas. That's fine. Just don't let your minds wander too far. You get Christmas Eve off. You get Christmas Day morning. Then you're back here."