Ethan's guess was correct.
In the matches played in January, Brighton, Cardiff, and Blackpool all maintained perfect records. No matter how difficult the matches were, they always managed to turn things around and secure three points.
Fortunately, New Manchester United also kept pace during this period, maintaining a perfect record. The most challenging match was on January 13, an away game against Scunthorpe.
Scunthorpe, aiming for a promotion play-off place, parked the bus at home, especially in the second half.
To secure a precious point, they even completely abandoned attacking, retreating all eleven players into their own penalty area to defend. The manager even substituted their only striker for a center-back, clearly intending to defend until the end.
Parking the bus was a problem throughout world football. No matter how skilled Mourinho was, or how excellent Palacio's technique was, they could not break through Scunthorpe's defensive wall.
At that time, Brighton, Cardiff, and Blackpool had already defeated their opponents. If New Manchester United had drawn this match, they would have been overtaken by Cardiff and tied with Blackpool.
As the match entered stoppage time, everyone had almost given up hope of winning. Mourinho might even have already started planning how to comfort the players to prevent their morale from dropping because of the draw.
But just then, Essien, who had recovered after the influence of Ramadan, unleashed a sudden long-range shot from the edge of the box, scoring a world-class goal that stunned everyone.
Mourinho himself ran out of the dugout, rushed to the edge of the pitch, and embraced the celebrating Essien.
Although the linesman urged the team to end their celebration, Mourinho still acted wildly. He even excitedly took off his suit jacket and threw it to the New Manchester United supporters in the stands behind him.
Though there was an element of luck, he still had to be grateful that his team had narrowly escaped, securing three incredibly valuable points, maintaining pressure on Brighton, and sending Cardiff, who had led New Manchester United for less than ten minutes and had not even had time to celebrate, back to where they started.
According to the schedule, February and March would be crucial months in determining the top three in League Two. Although the matches in these two months were not particularly dense, February would feature three key games: Brighton against Cardiff, Brighton against Blackpool, and New Manchester United against Blackpool. In March, New Manchester United would face two strong rivals, Cardiff and Brighton.
After March, only six rounds would remain in the league, and by then, the overall situation of the league could largely be considered settled.
Just as the battle for the top three in the league was heating up, the competition for the promotion play-off places was equally fierce. Apart from one spot that was almost certainly reserved for one of the teams currently fighting for the top three, the remaining three places would be contested by seven teams.
These included Chesterfield, Hartlepool, Leyton Orient, Hull City, Rochdale, Scunthorpe, and Cheltenham. The points between these seven teams were very close, usually separated by only one match. One slip-up could easily lead to being overtaken.
Because of this, many commentators estimated that the most intense competition in League Two this year would probably not be for the top three places. Once March arrived, the top four teams would battle it out, and the league situation would begin to become clear. Instead, the fiercest battles would be for the promotion play-off places and the relegation fight.
Although only two teams from League Two were relegated to the National League, apart from Barnet, who were already considered to have taken one relegation spot, Halifax, Carlisle, Torquay United, and Darlington were all major relegation candidates. These four teams were hovering around the relegation zone, with little difference between them, and all were very likely to go down.
With fifteen of the twenty-four teams in the league fighting for survival or promotion, it was easy to understand why some experts before the season believed that this year would be the most competitive League Two season in history.
...
"Andy, have you noticed that José's hair seems to have turned much whiter recently?"
Ethan stood by the window, looking at the training ground in the distance. Mourinho was watching the first team train from the touchline, while his assistant Faria was constantly shouting, clearly guiding the players.
During this time, the team's atmosphere was very tense. After all, promotion was at stake. So, from the boss Ethan down to the security guard at the gate, everyone seemed very nervous, and the entire training base was filled with the smoke of battle.
"Yes, I think he's been under a lot of pressure lately. He works so late every day. I heard he's been staying up late watching opponents' match videos and studying data!" Walsh came over to Ethan and sighed. He truly felt that being a head coach was not a job for ordinary people.
Ethan often heard Mourinho say that the outcome of a match on the pitch was often decided before stepping onto it. While Ethan had some reservations about this, he had to admit that Mourinho was a diligent person, so diligent that he meticulously examined every possible detail, no matter how minute, that could affect a match. Sometimes, Ethan even suspected he was a little obsessive.
But it was exactly such a person who was deeply loved by the players, and New Manchester United's performance this season had been getting better and better. Now, they were even strong contenders for the title.
"Talk to José and ask if the coaching staff needs to be expanded. Give him the freedom to build his own coaching team."
Currently, New Manchester United's first-team coaching staff was quite large, including Villas-Boas, Faria, Darren Lyons, Karl Maginson, and Peter Schmeichel. However, Villas-Boas was more adept at intelligence work and scouting, so he rarely interfered with team training, primarily focusing on intelligence gathering and analysis.
Faria was responsible for training, but he could not help Mourinho much in other areas. Darren Lyons and Karl Maginson were both part-time students, currently taking coaching courses, so they clearly could not be relied upon to assist Mourinho.
As for Schmeichel, his form had been affected after his injury, and he was also getting old. He might retire earlier than he had in Ethan's previous life. Ethan had already discussed it with him. If he retired, New Manchester United would offer him a full-time contract as goalkeeping coach.
Given this, Mourinho truly had no one reliable to lean on. Cassell used to help him, but now Cassell was more focused on the youth academy and rarely even came to first-team training.
Under these circumstances, Ethan naturally thought about having Mourinho find a few people to help him.
Walsh nodded in agreement and was about to leave when he bumped into Mark David, who burst in.
"Hey, Mark, did you meet a beautiful woman? You're so happy!" Walsh teased David.
David shook his head. "No, no, Andy. It's even more delightful than meeting a beautiful woman."
Walsh thought David was joking and smiled helplessly, shaking his head as he was about to leave. Who knew David would grab him?
"Hey, Andy, don't rush. You should come and discuss this matter too."
"What is it exactly?" Walsh found it strange.
David grinned, pulled him over to sit down, and then asked leisurely, "Do you know who I've been meeting these past few days?"
Ethan and Walsh exchanged glances, both thinking David was about to mention some woman, and immediately shook their heads.
"I went to meet with the sponsors!"
"What?" Walsh was a little surprised, and even Ethan found it astonishing.
"I looked through the contracts our club signed with them, and I can only say that the contracts are terrible. They're far too restrictive. You know, before the season, we were a newly promoted team, but now, we are the most marketable team in League Two. Is the value the same?"
Walsh was speechless after being questioned by David. He was the one who had signed those contracts back then.
In fact, Ethan had been busy with transfers at the time and had not really paid attention to this matter. He had simply thought, the team had found a sponsor, not bad, and then left it to Walsh to handle.
"I talked to that brewery, and they decided to increase their sponsorship by fifty percent for the second half of the season. They also agreed to rent two of our stadium advertising boards. Additionally, I contacted a few other sponsors, and they all showed some interest in sponsoring our team. I plan to rent out all the stadium advertising boards."
Ethan and Walsh were both surprised. They had not expected David to solve their biggest headache so quickly. After all, it was very difficult for lower-league teams to find sponsors.
"I've made a rough calculation, and our sponsorship revenue for the second half of the season will increase, likely by £400,000 to £600,000 more than before."
"Wait!" Walsh listened with some trepidation. "How can it suddenly be so much more?"
David looked as if he were saying, you really don't know how to do business. "Andy, I've seen some of your files. You always go to those small companies near Newton Heath. Naturally, they won't be very interested. You should set your sights on the city centre. You know that Manchester City Council has recently been helping Manchester transform, vigorously developing service industries, the financial sector, and so on. Among these industries, many face ordinary consumers. We have an average of eight thousand supporters at each home match, not counting television broadcasts. You know this is a significant publicity platform."
"And I heard from Ethan that after this season, the North Stand will be built, and then we can accommodate thirteen thousand supporters. I dare say, if we can get promoted this year, next year's sponsorship fees will be even higher!" David said with full confidence.
Perhaps the impression he had left on Ethan and Walsh before was too childish, which made what he was saying now somewhat unbelievable.
"Are they really interested in sponsoring a League Two team?" Walsh was still somewhat sceptical.
"Of course, but that's also thanks to Ethan!" David looked at Ethan with admiration.
The latter was a little confused and asked strangely, "What does that have to do with me?"
"Didn't you set up a charity foundation before? The purpose of establishing the foundation was to serve the community and supporters, and also to carry out charitable activities. This greatly improved our club's image, and those companies naturally became more interested in sponsoring our team!"
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)