Glory Of The Football Manager System

Sky Sports News was running the highlights on a loop. The twenty-six-second goal. The dummy. The chip. The final whistle. The scoreline filling the screen: Crystal Palace 6-1 AC Milan. And then, the press conference.

My press conference. The one I had given last night at ten-fifteen, forty minutes after the final whistle, in a room packed with cameras from BT Sport, Sky Sports, BBC, ITV, RAI, Mediaset, Canal+, beIN Sports, ESPN. Standing room at the back. The Italian press contingent alone had been twelve people.

Emma shifted beside me, pulling the duvet up, her coffee in her hands, her legs tucked beneath her. She watched the screen. I watched myself on the screen. The particular, dislocating experience of seeing your own face say words that you remembered saying but that sounded, twelve hours later, like someone else had said them.

The replay showed me walking in. The mask in place. Twelve minutes. Composed. Professional.

The first question, from a BT Sport journalist: "Danny, six-one against AC Milan. How do you process a result like that?"

My voice, through the television speakers, in the bedroom where the woman I was going to marry was drinking coffee and watching me work: "I process it the same way I process every result. We prepared. The players executed. The staff did extraordinary work. Sarah Martinez’s tactical analysis was precise. Kevin Bray’s set-pieces were decisive. And the players showed a hunger tonight that I have seen building for months."

A pause. "But the credit belongs to them. The hunger to show the level they are capable of. The desire to prove that this football club can compete with the best in Europe. They work hard. They play with the heart of players who want to reward the fans who come to watch, who pay their money, who travel across London and across the country and, in some cases, across the world. The fans deserve this level of play. The players gave it to them tonight."

An Italian journalist from La Gazzetta: "Is this the end of AC Milan as a European force?"

"That’s not for me to say. AC Milan are a great football club with a great history. What happened tonight is one match. One result. It doesn’t define Milan’s future. But I will say this: we were ready for them. We have been ready for them since the draw was made."

A Sky Sports journalist: "Danny, where does this result sit in the context of your season? Are you satisfied?"

My face on the screen did not change. The answer was precise.

"No. And I’ll tell you why. This result is the first leg. It is not the tie. We will go to the San Siro next week and compete with the same professionalism. But more importantly, this match is done. It is finished. We will not be satisfied with what we did tonight because there is more to do. We have an FA Cup match on Sunday. We have the second leg on Thursday. And we have a cup final at Wembley the following Sunday. The players will not sit and admire what they did tonight. They will prepare for what comes next."

A pause. The room was settling.

"And I will say one more thing. This football club has existed for a hundred and twelve years. In those hundred and twelve years, Crystal Palace have never won a major trophy. Not one. The fans who were in the Holmesdale tonight, the fans who have been coming to Selhurst Park for decades, they deserve a trophy. That is what we are working towards. Not one result. Not one match. A trophy. And we will focus everything we have on making that happen."

A BBC journalist, the last question: "Danny, are you saying you’re not celebrating tonight?"

"I’m saying the players earned the right to celebrate tonight. They will celebrate. They deserve it. And tomorrow, we work."

Emma looked at me across the bed. The real me. Not the one on the television.

"You said a hundred and twelve years," she said.

"I did."

"On national television. After beating Milan six-one. You dropped the trophy drought into the conversation like it was a passing thought."

"It wasn’t a passing thought. It was the point."

"I know it was the point. The pundits know it was the point. The entire country knows it was the point." She sipped her coffee. "You are very good at what you do, Danny Walsh. The press conference version of you is terrifying."

"The press conference version of me is the mask."

"The mask is terrifying. The man behind it is eating toast in bed and forgot Valentine’s Day."

The broadcast shifted from the press conference replay to the studio analysis. And the studios were not quiet. Not just one channel. Not just one programme. Every sports broadcast in Europe. Every news programme with a football segment. Every studio, every panel, every pundit with an opinion and a microphone and a screen showing 6-1.

Sky Sports was replaying their post-match special from last night. Emma put her coffee on the bedside table and pulled the duvet higher and settled against me, her head on my shoulder, the two of us watching the television the way we had watched it on deadline day, together, her body warm against mine, the screen showing two men in suits discussing the man beside her as though he were a phenomenon rather than a person who had forgotten Valentine’s Day.

Neville: "Six-one. Against AC Milan. At Selhurst Park. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: what Danny Walsh is building at Crystal Palace is the most extraordinary project in English football. The result was not a fluke. It was the product of three weeks of preparation, six months of identity-building, and a squad that believed they could beat Milan. They didn’t just beat them. They demolished them."

Carragher: "But did you hear the press conference? That’s what separates him. Any other manager in the world, twenty-eight years old, just beaten Milan six-one, would be out there celebrating. He’d be talking about the performance, about the quality, about how special the night was. Walsh walks in, gives credit to the players and the staff, and immediately pivots to the FA Cup on Sunday and the trophy drought. A hundred and twelve years without a trophy. He said it out loud. In a press conference after a six-one win against Milan. He is already focused on the next thing."

Neville: "And that’s why this project is different. It’s not about one night. It’s about what the night means in the context of the season. The cup final is ten days away. City at Wembley. The first trophy in a hundred and twelve years. That is the prize. Milan was the preparation."

Carragher: "Let’s talk about the trophy, because that is now the conversation. Crystal Palace have never won a major trophy. They reached the FA Cup final in 1990 and lost to Manchester United. They reached the FA Cup final again in 2016 and lost to Manchester United again. A hundred and twelve years of football. No silverware. And now they’re in a cup final against Manchester City. Can they win it?"

Neville: "They can win it. I said at Christmas that the project was real. I said after Brighton that it was a title race. And now I’m saying: Danny Walsh can win a trophy. The squad is deep enough. The system is proven. The mentality, the one we saw in the press conference, the refusal to be satisfied, the focus on the next match, that is the mentality of a manager who wins things."

Carragher: "But it’s City. Guardiola. The best team in England. The team that is going to win the league. Beating Milan six-one and beating City in a final are two very different things."

Neville: "They are. But Crystal Palace beat City at Selhurst Park in December. Two-one. The night the squad carried the manager. They know they can beat City. The question is whether they can do it at Wembley, in a final, with everything on the line."

BT Sport ran their own analysis at eleven-thirty. Rio Ferdinand and Steve McManaman behind the desk. Ferdinand:

"What we witnessed tonight was a shift. Not just in one competition. In the image of a football club. Twelve months ago, Crystal Palace were fighting relegation. They were a mid-table club at best. A club that was sixteenth and sacked their manager. Now they are demolishing seven-time European champions. Seven times. AC Milan have won the European Cup and the Champions League seven times. That is the second most in the history of the competition, behind only Real Madrid. And Crystal Palace have just put six past them. At home. In a knockout match. This is not a fairytale. This is a shift in power."

McManaman: "And the way he handled the press conference. He barely mentioned the six-one. He talked about the fans. He talked about the trophy. A hundred and twelve years. He said it like it was a debt that he intended to repay. That is not a man who is enjoying the moment. That is a man who is using the moment as fuel for the next one."

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Thank you to Sir nameyelus for the Massage Chair.