Of all the scandals involving English football in Ethan's previous life, one of the most notorious concerned England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, FA chief executive Mark Palios, and FA secretary Faria Alam.
The story was first exposed by the News of the World, which obtained private correspondence revealing Alam's relationship with Eriksson. The reports included claims about nights they had spent together, meetings away from the FA, and the way their relationship had developed. Soon afterwards, another affair emerged, this time between Alam and Palios, turning what might otherwise have remained a private scandal into a crisis at the very top of English football administration.
The tabloids seized on every detail. The Sun followed with its own reporting, publishing dates, locations, and accounts from various sources. Within days, the story had spread far beyond Britain. In an era of increasingly rapid information exchange, there was little chance of keeping such a scandal contained once the first reports appeared.
By the third day, the FA had been forced to acknowledge the central facts publicly.
There were also rumours that Alam had been involved with other figures inside the organisation, although none of those claims developed into anything comparable. In the end, Eriksson and Palios were the two senior figures whose names became inseparable from the scandal.
The timing could hardly have been worse.
England had just suffered consecutive humiliating defeats in World Cup qualifying, and public confidence in Eriksson was already collapsing. The scandal only intensified demands for his dismissal.
Ethan, however, knew from experience that removing Eriksson would not be simple. His salary was enormous, his contract still had years remaining, and terminating it would require the FA to pay substantial compensation. Given the organisation's reputation for watching every pound, Ethan doubted they would choose that option unless the pressure became overwhelming.
A more likely outcome was that Eriksson would remain, Palios would resign, and Alam would lose her position.
That would still leave the FA needing a new chief executive.
The problem was finding someone willing to take the job.
As The Times put it, the FA's credibility had sunk so low that rebuilding trust would require far more than appointing one new executive. The organisation had taken nine months to recruit Palios in the first place, so nobody expected the replacement process to move quickly.
FA chairman Geoff Thompson insisted the organisation would continue functioning normally until a successor was appointed, but his own position was hardly secure. His leadership had been questioned for years, and the latest scandal only renewed criticism of the FA's governance structure and the peculiar system through which senior figures were selected.
While much of the country focused on whether Eriksson should remain England manager and who might replace Palios, several more serious newspapers began asking a broader question.
What kind of chief executive did English football actually need?
...
While the scandal dominated the front pages, New Manchester United had football to play.
In midweek they hosted Watford in the League Cup, and Mourinho once again selected a second-string side built around reserves and academy players. Ishmael, Messi, Ribéry, Agüero, Michael Johnson, and Mikel all started, while Lahm, Vidić, Chiellini, and Kolo Touré formed the back four ahead of Almunia.
They might have been labelled reserves, but several of them were already established members of the first-team rotation. Ishmael and Messi in particular had accumulated enough senior football that a League Cup match no longer intimidated them. If anything, the younger players treated these fixtures as opportunities to demonstrate that they deserved more important minutes.
At home, New Manchester United took control early.
Michael Johnson picked up possession in midfield and sent a long pass into Messi's path. The Argentine drove forward, slipped past two defenders, and squared for Ishmael to score.
Watford responded stubbornly and eventually found an equaliser, but before half-time Ribéry restored the lead with an excellent strike from distance.
After the break, Michael Johnson scored directly from a free kick to make it 3-1. Later, Mikel tried his luck from outside the box and struck the crossbar. Messi reacted faster than anyone else, reached the rebound first, sold the goalkeeper a feint, and rolled the ball into the empty net.
4-1.
New Manchester United were through to the last sixteen.
Once the Watford match was over, the squad travelled south again, this time to Highbury for their first meeting with Arsenal of the season.
The build-up had already become heated.
Thierry Henry publicly declared his determination to end his remarkable goal drought against New Manchester United. For all his dominance of the Premier League over the previous few years, the French striker had never scored against Mourinho's side, something that had become an increasingly irritating footnote to his record.
Henry insisted he was in excellent form and wanted to put that right.
Curtis, now vice-captain, responded with equal confidence. He said the Red Rebels wanted another clean sheet and stressed that the squad remained completely united. Starters, substitutes, academy graduates, and players who had not travelled were all working towards the same objective.
"For this match, there's only one result we're interested in."
Ethan travelled to London with the team, but shortly before kick-off he received an invitation to one of Highbury's executive boxes.
"Good afternoon, Ethan."
David Dein was waiting for him inside.
Arsenal's vice-chairman was one of the most influential figures in English football, a key architect of the Premier League and also a senior figure within the FA. His role in Arsenal's modern rise was widely acknowledged, even if rival supporters often joked that his influence somehow seemed to extend to favourable fixture schedules as well.
Another guest was already there: Chad Yeager, the government's sports minister.
Since the scandal involving Eriksson and the FA leadership had broken, Yeager had appeared frequently in the newspapers, repeatedly stating that the government was monitoring developments closely.
"Good afternoon, David. Minister."
The three men sat down, and stadium staff brought them hot drinks before leaving the room.
Below them, Arsenal and New Manchester United's players began emerging from the tunnel. The moment the visiting side appeared, Highbury erupted in boos.
Ethan could only smile.
Trips to Arsenal had become increasingly hostile. New Manchester United were now arguably more disliked by sections of the Highbury support than Manchester United themselves, largely because Mourinho's side had taken the Premier League title away from Arsenal on the final day of the previous season.
Arsenal's own collapse had obviously played a part, but supporters rarely found satisfaction in blaming their own players. It was much easier to direct the resentment towards the team that had benefited.
"New Manchester United have been excellent over the last few years," Yeager said. "Three wins from three in the Champions League as well. Qualification looks very likely."
The club's rise had become one of the biggest stories in English football. Two consecutive UEFA Cups, followed by an unbeaten Premier League title, had transformed New Manchester United from an extraordinary curiosity into one of Europe's leading sides.
Ethan smiled.
"Arsenal haven't exactly been struggling themselves. I don't expect today to be comfortable."
David Dein certainly did not.
Highbury remained one of the most difficult away grounds in England, but New Manchester United's record on the road was almost as intimidating as their home form. They had now gone forty-eight consecutive league matches without defeat.
Avoid losing to Arsenal, and the run would reach forty-nine.
Fabio Capello's AC Milan still held the great European benchmark of fifty-eight unbeaten league games. New Manchester United were only ten matches away.
The record created pressure, but it also sharpened the players' determination. Every opponent now wanted to be the team that finally ended the streak, and the Red Rebels had begun treating every match as another challenge to protect it.
"You've both spoken repeatedly about making English football more technical and more entertaining," Yeager said, glancing between Ethan and Dein. "Less dependence on physical confrontation for its own sake, more emphasis on skill and development. Ethan, you've also submitted several proposals over the last few years that have attracted considerable attention."
He paused.
"New Manchester United's youth development is particularly interesting. Depending on how you classify players who arrived young and completed their development at Newton Heath, almost half your first-team squad has come through the academy system."
That interpretation included players such as Essien, Chiellini, and Evra, who had joined at relatively young ages before becoming established senior internationals.
Under that definition, Yeager was not wrong.
"I wanted to ask what you think the FA should be doing next," he continued. "Particularly regarding youth development and the appointment of its next chief executive."
Ethan immediately understood why he had been invited.
If discussions had already reached this level, Geoff Thompson's position was probably less secure than the public realised.
The scandal had damaged more than Eriksson. It had exposed how outdated and disorganised the FA looked compared with a rapidly modernising Premier League. With Britain discussing major international sporting bids for the coming years, the government had even more reason to care about how football was being administered.
Ethan considered his answer carefully.
"I've already made most of my policy suggestions directly to the FA. The lower divisions need a healthier financial structure, but youth development is just as important."
He smiled slightly.
"There's actually a useful question hidden inside our own squad. New Manchester United have one of the strongest academies in England, yet only a handful of our first-team players are English. Curtis, Michael Johnson, and Ishmael are all still teenagers or barely out of their teens. Why?"
Neither man interrupted.
"The same issue exists at Arsenal. Look at the most promising young players in their academy and many came from overseas. Manchester United and Liverpool are similar. That tells you something important about the system beneath the elite clubs."
Ethan leaned back slightly.
"No major club expects to develop every first-team player from the age of eight. That's unrealistic. The best academies identify talented sixteen-, seventeen-, or eighteen-year-olds who already have strong foundations, bring them into a more advanced environment, and complete their development."
"That's normal. It's how elite football works."
His expression became more serious.
"The problem is that when New Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, and the other leading clubs go looking for those players, too few of the best options are English."
That was the real weakness.
The issue was not simply whether elite academies were producing enough graduates. It was whether the entire development pyramid underneath them was producing enough technically educated young English players for those academies to recruit in the first place.
"If the raw material isn't there at fifteen or sixteen," Ethan continued, "you can't blame a Premier League academy for failing to manufacture it from nothing at eighteen."
He looked towards the pitch below.
"England doesn't just have an academy problem. It has a youth-development problem."
(To be continued.)