Football: The Journey of a Coach

24. Initial Step

Under the bright lights of the reporters, William Carlton led Daniel Ward to the Crsytal Palace press conference room.

Daniel's performance surprised many Croydon locals, and no one knows why he appeared here, as William Carlton himself requested that Daniel's selection as Warnock's replacement coach be kept secret.

Daniel himself was a member of Neil Warnock's coaching team, the new assistant coach having attracted media attention when Warnock introduced new tactics that were key to Palace's early-season success, came from a 30-year-old assistant coach. But unfortunately he was just an assistant coach, and his enthusiasm couldn't last long.

All the fans are very worried about the direction of the next Crystal Palace. William Carlton seems to be used to the spotlight. He answered the reporters' questions with a relaxed face, and finally the first session of the interview was over.

After a dull first half, the reporters vaguely guessed that the person next to Carlton was most likely the new coach of Crystal Palace.

Daniel had actually prepared his heart for this, but when Carlton said, "This is Daniel Ward the appointed interim head coach." Many flashing lights blinded his eyes.

The 31-year-old Daniel, the youngest head coach of a professional team in the history of football, beat Andre Villas-Boas when he was appointed head coach of FC Porto at the age of 32.

Many journalists immediately asked Daniel questions, including ten questions asked in one minute.

Daniel Ward replied with a stiff face to the questions of the reporters, he who was unfamiliar with the many cameras that highlighted him. Can only answer with what is.

William Carlton, who was next to him, saw Daniel begin to be overwhelmed by the questions of the reporters, starting to act.

"Stop quiet!. Please silence. " A firm word came out from the mouth of this old man into the microphone, instantly silencing the crowd of reporters, they gradually sat down and became calmer.

" Please one by one, we live in a tapped world. There are manners to follow. " Said William Carlton.

Daniel was astonished to see Carlton's words instantly make the reporters behave.

***

1 Hour with the reporters, it was like being interrogated by the state security department. There were so many people asking, one by one their mouths never stopped. Daniel was sure, if he let it go, these reporters would keep talking until late at night.

After parting ways with Carlton, Daniel walked back to the Crsytal Palace players' training ground.

Daniel, who is now officially the coach of Crsytal Palace, is required to form his own coaching team. The team that will help with all of Daniel's coaching needs.

Starting from the assistant coach, then the goalkeeper coach, there is also a fitness coach. And usually every championship division team head coach will have 4-5 people who help build the team.

Matthew Lawrence, Crsytal Palace centre-back. Already played for the team for 5 years, appreciably has fame among the players. With the age approaching retirement, Lawrence is the right choice for assistant coach candidates under him.

Lawrence is getting older, and being a coach is a good way out. Now under Daniel, there is no harm in being a part-time player and coach at the same time. So he agreed to Daniel's invitation to be assistant coach.

The second suitable candidate is actually his cousin, Joey Collins. But the 25-year-old Joey is too young to join the coaching team straight away, nor does he have any experience at all in coaching.

So Daniel assigned him the same initial task he did under Warnock, but only to research the strength of the opponent and set the video of the enemy match that later from the video Daniel can learn how the opponent plays.

Not only is it Joey's job, because he's the one who often comes out Croydon to spy on opponents. Daniel also asked him to sign a player appointed by Daniel himself.

 

So he can only work with Lawrence on the team, and his cousin Joey Collins will be looking for good players out there for him, using future information.

***

Daniel Ward formed his own coaching team in a very short and rushed time, with only three men he feels this is enough for now.

After the Crsytal Palace team's morning training, Daniel had his first meeting between the interim coaching teams. The meeting was filled by him, then Matthew Lawrence and finally Joey Collins who had agreed to his invitation to join him. Joey who decided to quit the supermarket where he worked, contracted one year by Crsytal Palace with a salary of 1,000 Pounds per month.

The time is getting closer for the new coach to adapt. On December 28, exactly 3 days. Crystal Palace will welcome Barnsley home.

At Beckenham's training base, Daniel decides to use Neil Warnock's former office. The office is now empty, because Warnock went to bring all the things that were important to him. And since all Warnock's training team followed him to Hull City, there were only a few people in the office.

It can be said with certainty that most players recognize Daniel, but only player recognition is not enough. The biggest dilemma for Crystal Palace is that the players will change. This kind of change is the biggest difficulty facing the team at the moment, Daniel will try to prevent Simon Jordan from selling players.

“ Let me talk about the situation first.” After Lawrence and Joey get to know each other, Daniel starts the topic of a meeting.

 " Mister Warnock recommended me to replace him in charge of Crsytal Palace. He does not want the team that has been built since the beginning of the season to be scattered because of the interests of others. So I'm here to replace him." Said Daniel.

Joey nodded, he would definitely help his cousin well. It was also a message from his father, in addition to the salary at Crsytal Palace exceeding his salary working in the supermarket.

" I want this team to be able to move up to the Premier League, we just need to improve our good performance for the rest of the game. With the team currently in the top five of the table, we just need to look after it." added Daniel.

Everyone nodded, the truth was clear, even the amateur Joey understood it.

" I'm going to talk to William Carlton to keep the player on transfer this winter. And if luck's with us, I'd like to increase Palace's power, too."

    

Some big clubs are already interested in Palace's flagship players, and Simon Jordan is still looking to cash in on him as soon as possible, before the team is sold.

For example, Victor Moses, the young Winger produced by Crystal Palace's training. Many clubs have started the hunt. Such as Wigan Athletics, Everton, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Arsenal. Everyone is very interested in him.

In the first half of the season, Victor Moses continued his growth under Neil Warnock's 4-2-3-1 tactics. He scored seven goals in the first half of the season with nine assists. At just 18 years old Moses has a promising development. Of course, with the stark statistics it will arouse great interest from the big clubs.

When talking about hunting young players, as a connoisseur of football. Daniel is of course happy, especially if his favorite team in the future Liverpool recruit young players and raise them to stardom. That would make him very happy.

But now Daniel is in the position of a small team hunted by a big team, it feels like an explosion. How not, we take care of him when young and ready to reap the results. Then suddenly comes someone else taking our hard work with money that is not how much.

Last year, Tottenham Hotspur's nefarious neighbours hunted youngster Jude Bostock from Crystal Palace, a player produced by Crystal Palace training. As a result, Tottenham paid only 700,000 pounds in compensation for the transfer of Jude Bostock.

Simon Jordan almost went crazy, but there was nothing he could do. He could only sulk alone in the corner of the Palace wall.