Divine Celebrity 91

“That’s enough, now, go and change, we’re going to have full-pad training,” I said. “You have  five minutes to get ready, or ….” I said, underlining the last word with a subtle threat. “And, the current state of the locker room is definitely not an excuse, understood!” 

“Yes, Coach,” called Marcus jokingly, and the rest of the players laughed, taking my sudden display of authority in good humor. In the current state, even the worst leadership was better than no leadership.  

And, I was confident that mine certainly didn’t count as the worst. 

 Interestingly, Coach Juana didn’t react as badly as I expected her to react to that statement, waiting silently while the players departed, accepting my sudden assertion of authority. 

“So, Coach,” she said, her voice biting, but not angry. “What do you have in mind?” 

“Well, Coach,” I answered, not bothering to hide my chuckle as I pulled a seat. “That depends on what you want. After all, officially, you have the power. At least, that’s what I assume with all other Coaches playing hooky.” 

“With a great coincidence, every single one of them is facing family emergencies, and their leave is approved.” 

“Let me guess, yours didn’t,” I said. 

“I didn’t apply one in the first place,” she said, and I quirked my eyebrow. “By taking command of your team during the show, I find myself inevitably linked to the mess. They decided that I make a convenient patsy for the disaster.” 

“Interesting,” I said. Coach Spencer made no attempt to hide his attraction to her, and I had no doubt that, if she wished so, she could use her ‘assets’ to shift sides. But her presence here meant that she wasn’t willing to take that step, so I didn’t bother mentioning that part. “I’m guessing you don’t have the chance to change sides.” 

“No,” she said with a sardonic smile. “The sports directorate already informed that they would treat any attempt to take time off as resignation. And I decided that, a short stint as an interim head coach, no matter how short and humiliating, might be a good addition to my CV, at least to get another conditioning coach role elsewhere.” She chuckled. “Maybe at the other side of the country, where the news won’t reach, of course.” 

“Cheer up, coach,” I said with a shrug. “Things aren’t that bad?” 

She paused for a moment. “Concussion report?” she asked hopefully. 

Her hope was understandable. I had shown enough skill in the quarterback position. A fast quarterback with my tactical capabilities would have been enough to carry the team, especially against the teams we were playing against. 

And, that said nothing about my defensive performance. 

“Unfortunately, it’ll stay in place at least for a match,” I said. Technically, I had a way to remove it, but I didn’t want to go and surrender to her before I could get a better sense of the professor — in particular, making sure that her findings wouldn’t make me end up in a secret government facility. 

“I see,” she answered, her shoulders slouching, her despair clear. 

“Don’t be like that, Coach,” I said as I touched her chin. “Just because I can’t play doesn’t mean I can’t help you ruin that asshole’s plan.” 

“What do you have in mind?” she asked, her tone much less enthusiastic than the players. Unfortunately, she was hopeless in the middle of the sea, shipwrecked, not in a position to ask whether it was a shark or a dolphin that was swimming toward her. 

Anything was better than slowly dying. 

“Well, that depends on just how much of a mess you’re willing to create.” 

“Against that asshole, as much as possible,” she declared, answering casually. I noted that her treatment toward me was getting laxer, treating me more as a colleague than a player. Which was useful… 

I chuckled. “No, not just against that asshole, or I wouldn’t have bothered to ask. I have a fun plan in mind, which should be enough for you to get a job elsewhere in the worst case, but it’ll also anger the management quite a bit. Can you handle the heat?” 

Her vicious smile was enough as an answer. 

“Excellent. First, you’re going to put a message out, declaring that any player that doesn’t join the evening meeting would be kicked out of the team, no exception,” I said. 

“That…” she muttered. “None of the offensive players would follow that call. They are firmly on his side.” 

I shrugged. “I know, but it’s not like they will actually be useful even if they come to join us. We can’t trust them not to screw up in a game. It’s better to cut them off from returning and making a mess halfway.” 

“But, sports director would…” she started. 

“Do nothing, because they will have a different mess to deal with,” I said. “I’ll make sure that they will have bigger things to deal with than the decisions of an Interim Coach, especially since they would assume they could simply reverse it once they returned.” 

“You want to rebuild the offense,” she said. 

I shrugged. “At this point, it’s inevitable. Due to that moron, they are simply too entitled to work with. I could have worked with them if there’s no hope of Spencer returning, but with that hanging above us, it’s a pointless mess.” 

That was true, but only partially. The greater truth was, I was not in a habit of forgiving my enemies, and the offensive team did their best to earn that title in my mind. I had no intention of catering to the ego of my enemies, especially when the benefits were negligible. 

If we win with the offensive team, it would reduce the desperation of our situation, but it would also give another avenue for Coach Spencer to retaliate. I rather lose closely with new players than 

“Where are we going to find new players? Chess team?” 

I chuckled. “I wish that was an option, but you’ll find that the rest of the team is not as hardworking. But I’m sure I can cobble up enough players from the other teams, at least enough to put a full squad,” I said. 

“That still leaves the mess the stadium is in. That would be just another problem.” 

“That’s what I have in mind to solve it,” I said. “I’ll join the coaching staff temporarily, as a play-caller for the defense officially, but I’ll also handle the offense unofficially. You’ll be both the offensive play caller and the head coach, naturally,” I said. 

“You’re going to take the whole workload, then?” she asked suspiciously. 

“Hell no,” I answered. “Have you seen the state of the locker rooms and the rest of the facility,” I said. 

She shook her head, showing that she missed that detail while focusing on the tactical aspects. “Why?” she said.

“Believe me, if you have seen it, you wouldn’t have asked,” I said. “Coaching staff is not the only one that decided to take a holiday, none of the janitorial or maintenance staff is working, and someone needs to fight with the management about that.” 

“I see,” she said, her eyes widening. “But, if they are doing that deliberately, they’ll just delay my requests.” 

“I have a way of lighting a fire under them, but the heat will be uncomfortable for you as well,” I said. “That’s why it depends on your decision.”  

“It can’t be worse than the current situation,” she offered. 

“Well, it’ll mark you as a troublemaker to management,” I said, not hiding the risk — especially since it was an obvious one that she would catch the moment I had gone through my explanation.  

She paused for a moment, smart enough to understand the implications, but then gestured me to continue. 

“The state of the stadium is an excellent opportunity. We’re going to escalate the situation even more, directly blaming the dean for getting bribes from Spencer, just to put him back in the coaching seat, even going as far as to sabotage the stadium operations. And we add some interviews   and other pity pieces, it should be enough to stop management from acting overtly.” 

“What happens if we lose the game this Sunday,” she said, immediately catching the crux of the matter. After all, our little pity piece would point as underdogs, and people loved underdogs…

As long as the underdog created a good story... 

“Well, considering our record, losing shouldn’t be that humiliating, as long as we put an exciting game. Good defense, and some intense running game to kill the clock should have been enough to push things forward,” I declared confidently, even as I looked toward my guide.

Worst, I could ask my annoying angel a few tricks to swing the game. A magical slip here and there should have been sufficient to sway even the most unbalanced game, and I was confident in my tactical acumen to keep it close in the first place.

Especially since I was confident in making the players listen. Leadership was useful in that aspect.

And, Intimidation was even more useful. 

“What exactly do you have in mind?” she said. “I want to hear all the details before committing.” 

Before I could answer, the door opened without a knock, Megan and Kim walked inside.

“Excellent, our helpers are here.”