The Greatest Manager of All time

Chapter 34 34: Happy Birthday



After the match, the players underwent physiotherapy and recovery work.

McConnor and his team were waiting for them in the rehabilitation center, while the six newly hired massage therapists worked under McConnor's supervision.

Lynn handed the remaining duties to Emlyn Hughes, then drove away from the club himself.

Erin called to congratulate him on the first victory of his managerial career — a milestone day.

She invited him out that evening for a small celebration.

Lynn also wanted to relax a little, so after weighing his options, he ruled out places like bars and nightclubs. Instead, he went to a KTV owned by the Taylor family in the Mansel Street commercial district.

There was a private room in this KTV that Erin had specially prepared for Lynn.

It was not open to the public at all.

Only when Lynn came here to unwind would he sing to his heart's content.

After arriving at the KTV called Blue Tone, he went straight to the private room.

The moment he pushed open the door, several loud pops rang out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Erin, Mo Yuan, and Will Taylor — the son of Erin's uncle, Riley Taylor — had opened bottles of champagne together. As the champagne foam sprayed out, all three of them aimed the bottles straight at Lynn.

Caught completely off guard, Lynn was instantly drenched like a drowned rat.

He stared at the three of them as they threw down the bottles, collapsed onto the sofa, and burst into laughter.

Tilting his head slightly, he said, "You lot are something else."

He directly took off his soaked suit jacket, then, as if no one else were there, removed his trousers and leather shoes as well.

Wearing only a pair of underwear, he stood in the middle of the private room.

"Come on, come on! Sing and drink!"

The coffee table was filled with alcohol, soft drinks, and food.

Lynn took a microphone and went to the karaoke machine to choose songs.

Will Taylor, who was only in his early twenties, carried a glass of wine over to Lynn and smiled.

"Lynn, a toast to your first victory as a manager. When you lose your first match, we'll find another excuse to gather and comfort you."

Lynn shoved Will Taylor aside, casually picked up a bottle of beer from the coffee table, clinked it against Will's glass, then drank nearly half the bottle.

After putting it down, he laughed and said, "Heh, you high-achieving Taylor family scholar. Every time you leave the house, you look like you've just been let out of a cage!"

Will Taylor, whose face had a few freckles, only smiled without saying anything.

He was the only child in the Taylor family who had gone to university, and the family had high expectations for him.

After the Taylor family transformed its business, they had realized how important it was to cultivate the next generation of talent.

On the road toward keeping up with the times, Will Taylor was regarded by the family as a new-generation figure who would play an important role.

Inside the private room at Blue Tone, Lynn had Erin under his left arm and Mo Yuan under his right, singing at the top of his lungs with Mo Yuan.

Although Erin could not understand what the two of them were singing, it did not stop her from being happy today.

Lynn had successfully taken the first step on his new road!

"Today, only this lingering shell remains,to greet the glorious years.In wind and rain, we hold freedom tight.Through a lifetime of hesitation and struggle,confidence can change the future —but who can truly do it?"

Lynn and Mo Yuan sang Beyond's classic song with heroic passion, releasing all the joy of Swansea's winning start to the new season.

That night, Lynn got drunk.

When he woke up the next day, he found himself lying on a comfortable bed. The room was decorated with exceptional warmth.

Hanging on the walls were several beautiful artistic photographs.

His favorite was the one directly opposite the bed — a side-profile shot of Erin, with a strand of hair covering one of her eyes.

He turned his head and glanced at the person beside him.

No surprise.

It was Erin.

Lynn got out of bed and discovered that he was not wearing anything.

However, he did not think anything had happened between him and Erin last night.

He did not know about other men, but as far as he was concerned, drunk meant drunk.

There was absolutely no way he could muddle through the night and still manage to climb into bed with a woman.

This was the Grand Hotel near Blue Tone KTV, another property owned by the Taylor family.

Erin had a suite here where she stayed long-term, and she had simply decorated it like her own private bedroom. Lynn occasionally spent the night here.

As Lynn stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the street outside, Erin's lazy voice came from behind him.

"Awake?"

Lynn did not turn around. "Mm. I have to go to work in an hour. I still need to supervise the players' post-match recovery training today."

Erin got out of bed and came up behind him.

Their skin pressed together as her voice turned seductive. "Last night, you slept like a dead pig. You look much more energetic now."

Her hand circled around to the front of his body, sliding gradually down from his chest.

Lynn smiled. "I'm afraid I don't have the fortune to enjoy that today. You know I don't like turning myself into someone who's rushing for time. It's exhausting, and it makes it easy to make mistakes in the middle of being busy. I have to go. Breakfast together? Once I'm free after a while, I'll take you to Paris."

Erin immediately stopped herself at the edge of the cliff. She walked back to the bed and began dressing first, while Lynn went into the bathroom. He had not even showered last night.

While they were having breakfast in the Grand Hotel restaurant, Lynn suddenly frowned and said, "Did Will talk to me a lot last night? I can't remember clearly."

Erin ate her breakfast unhurriedly, looking at Lynn with a meaningful gaze. "He kept pestering you, hoping you'd point him toward a few ways to make money."

Lynn asked thoughtfully, "Did I say anything?"

Erin nodded seriously. "Of course you did. You told him to bet on Swansea winning Division Three, and to bet on Swansea winning every week."

Lynn's face immediately froze in astonishment.

After a long while, he frowned. "I really said that to him?"

Erin nodded solemnly. "Hopefully he doesn't go home and ask Uncle Riley for money, then run off to gamble. If that happens, Uncle Riley might break his legs."

Lynn slapped his forehead and sighed. "What the hell does that have to do with me? His education is higher than mine, and he's an adult. He has his own judgment and should be responsible for his own actions. I—"

"Stop trying to argue your way out of it. You know he'll definitely do what you said. But he definitely won't be stupid enough to throw all his money in at once like a donkey. He'll come up with an investment strategy. As far as I'm concerned, as long as you can fulfill your promise to the fans and lead Swansea to promotion, Will definitely won't come knocking on your door next summer to settle accounts."

Lynn snorted. "You think I'm afraid of him? In my eyes, he's just a little brat who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth."

Erin looked at Lynn playfully. "A little brat? Aren't you one too?"

Lynn suddenly remembered how he and Erin had first met. Back then, he truly had been someone who did not know the immensity of heaven and earth.

He gave an awkward smile. "I am. Of course I am, little sister Erin."

Erin could not be bothered to play word games with him.

After breakfast, the two said goodbye.

...

Lynn walked to the parking lot at Blue Tone KTV, drove his Bentley to the club, and after arriving, asked his secretary Layla to make him a premium espresso.

Then he sat in his office and checked how many points he had gained from yesterday's victory.

Opening the system, he saw his point balance.

3.86.

The win had earned him three points, and the players' overall performance had added another 0.86 points.

After Layla brought the coffee into the office, he opened the point exchange system. Among the exchangeable cards, only S-skill cards were available.

He selected the "Super Sub" card and exchanged for it.

A new card appeared in his hand.

Super Sub.

Holding the coffee cup in one hand, he pinched the card between two fingers with the other and turned it over.

After thinking it through, Lynn decided to use this card on Ibrahimović. In the early stage of the team's substitutions, the most effective impact would surely come from attacking players.

Ibrahimović would definitely be rotated as well. After all, he was only eighteen.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the first team's recovery training proceeded as usual. The fact that no player was late was a very good sign.

Today's training workload was light. The players chatted and laughed during the session, while Lynn spoke with the coaching staff about what the newspapers had written that morning.

The South Wales Argus match report written by Walter Raleigh, titled "The Swans Set Sail Again!", had sold quite well, and the fans read it with great interest.

Raleigh had described the match as dramatic, full of twists, turns, and heart-stopping moments. He also devoted plenty of space to Lynn's in-game management, portraying Swansea's young side as a united, energetic new team.

He emphasized that Lynn's substitutions had played a key role in reversing the score, and in his conclusion, Raleigh called on the fans to give the team more support.

Swansea was absolutely worth looking forward to!

BBC Wales, meanwhile, used a brief matchday program to present scenes from the Liberty Stadium to television audiences.

The host claimed that this was a level of passion never before seen in Swansea's history.

But there were also negative reports.

For example, Golden Radio host Lewis Russell claimed on his program that Lynn had only won one match by luck, yet was already becoming arrogant and complacent.

He expressed concern about Swansea's future.

David Livingstone, on the other hand, appeared calm as he issued Swansea a warning.

Do not be blinded by a single victory!

Swansea still had a long road ahead!

At eleven-thirty in the morning, training ended, and the players headed to the dining hall together for lunch.

But when they walked in, they were immediately confused by what they saw.

The dining hall had been decorated with the atmosphere of a birthday party. Colorful ribbons and balloons hung from the ceiling.

Suddenly, all the lights in the dining hall were turned off. It was not so dark that they could not see their hands in front of them, but the room still became dim.

Just as everyone was about to ask Lynn what was going on, singing suddenly came from the kitchen area.

"Happy birthday to you,happy birthday to you…"

The Swansea staff, led by Mo Yuan and Tony Benn, pushed out a food cart carrying a three-tier birthday cake and walked toward the players.

The players looked stunned.

Was it someone's birthday today?

At that moment, Lynn put an arm around Danny Gabbidon's shoulders and said to the surprised young man, "Danny, happy birthday!"

"Is it Danny's birthday today?"

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

The players all began speaking at once.

Danny Gabbidon scratched his head in embarrassment and said to Lynn, "Boss, I didn't think it was anything important."

Lynn shook his head. "No. At the very least, it's a day that gives us a reason to be happy."

Mo Yuan and Tony Benn pushed the cart in front of Danny Gabbidon.

On top of the three-tier cake were the words:

To our Danny, happy birthday!

A moved expression appeared on Danny Gabbidon's face.

Before he could say anything, Ibrahimović urged him, "Hurry up and blow out the candles."

Danny Gabbidon did as he was told and blew out the candles.

He was about to say something, but Ibrahimović suddenly grabbed the cake and smacked it straight into his face, laughing loudly.

"Happy birthday!"

Danny Gabbidon immediately retaliated.

He grabbed the second layer of the cake and tried to smash it into Ibrahimović's face.

But Ibrahimović dodged to the side.

The cake landed directly on assistant coach Emlyn Hughes's face instead!

Everyone present instantly burst into roaring laughter.

If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.