June 12th, 2017
The weekend had been a blur of names, numbers, and spreadsheets. I had spent Saturday and Sunday locked in the analysis room with Dougie Freedman, a stack of scouting reports piled between us and a laptop screen glowing with player data.
We had worked through the incoming targets methodically, cross-referencing my tactical needs against his market knowledge, arguing about valuations, and building a priority order. By Sunday evening, we had a plan. A clear, actionable plan for the construction phase. The demolition was over. Now, we would build.
On Monday morning, I was back at St. George's Park for the second week of the A Licence course. The classroom felt different this time.
The news of the purge had ripped through the football world over the weekend, and the men who had looked at me with scepticism a week ago now looked at me with something else... a mixture of curiosity, respect, and a quiet reassessment.
