"Alright, I also know I'm intimidating when I am serious. Who made me have the aura of a king?" Alex said, then clapped his hands to gather their attention. "I know it feels different with me in this role, but the goal remains the same – to be the best team we can be. You have the best midfielder in history after all. Alright, let's get started with some light drills and then we'll have a training match."
As the players dispersed to begin their warm-ups, Alex was the one leading the warm-up. He knew that it was through these little actions that he would continue to gather their respect. Still, his transition from teammate to leader was seamless, especially with his easy-going personality.
Meanwhile, Maia, who woke up, found that Alex had already left. However, he had already prepared breakfast for her. While eating, Maia, a little woman of only 19, was curious about how many likes the photo posted yesterday had. She was shocked to find out that it had already garnered thousands of likes and comments.
Although there were some predictable critical comments, overall, she could see that most of them were supporting and encouraging her. There was one that amused her, saying, "Alex's ex-girlfriends are all singers; his new girlfriend is also a singer. Does he have some weird hobby?"
Another comment made her proud: "Although Alex has a weird taste in choosing a club, I will give him five stars when it comes to choosing a girlfriend. Look at them, any of them is heaven, but his new girlfriend is definitely the top." Although this comment had the most dislikes thanks to the fans of his exes, she couldn't help but click the like button.
After warming up and doing some basic drills, it was time for the training match to start. To be honest, the Sunderland AFC players were a little nervous because of this.
Normally speaking, Alex shouldn't make any radical changes and would continue with the past tactical arrangements, but they knew Alex was truly fearless in these kinds of things. What if he changed the formation?
Their worry was proved to be correct because when Alex distributed the training vests, he gave the red training vests symbolizing the main force to the newly promoted reserve player and the substitute striker Will Grigg. It seemed like only two players were changed, but this change completely altered the team's playing style.
First of all, they had never seen Ben White play, but someone who was still in the reserve team at 21 years old shouldn't be that good, right? Plus, the two players whom Ben White and Will Grigg replaced were two defensive players, also known as Sunderland's defense barrier.
Although there were some doubts and some unhappiness, no one dared to show it, not only because they respected Alex but more because there were already some fans and media attending the training since it was an open-to-public session.
Dave, a 56-year-old man, had been a Sunderland AFC fan since his teens. He had watched many periods of the club but also many historical moments in the football world.
As someone with much experience, he had watched many players grow, watched many players come, and many players leave and watched from the beginning to the end of many stars like Kaka. But to be honest, the player that gave him the most special vibe was Alex.
As someone who lived in England, of course, he knew the nature of the media here. Although he was a Sunderland fan, he didn't like Alex at the beginning. He felt that this young player was just another shooting star hyped by the media.
Then after only Alex's first season, he was completely won over by this young player.
He had watched all the games of Alex and saw that despite the rough fouls and intimidation he received from the Premier League veterans, he was never afraid. He wasn't the one to start exaggerating and crying after falling.
In Alex, he saw the true meaning of a warrior footballer, like the only thing that mattered to him was football.
Dave didn't start watching football for betting and making money or something like that. He liked watching football because it simply made him happy without any other reason. This was exactly the spirit he saw in Alex.
He saw Alex grow from a 16-year-old genius to a 26-year-old wasted talent and captain of a middle team in the British third division, but in Dave's view, Alex was simply the perfect player.
Although it's normal for professional players to leave their home team like children leaving their parents' house, what parents truly want to watch their child leave them?
After seeing the team appointing Alex as the player-coach, to be honest, he was surprised, then happy and excited. He was excited and curious to see what Alex could do, and so he came very early.
He found that, like himself, many people also came very early. He recognized many familiar faces among them since they were all die-hard Sunderland AFC fans.
After seeing Alex give the main team training vest to Jon McLaughlin and the other defender, Dave saw that Alex didn't make any changes in the defense.
He thought that Alex wouldn't make any radical changes until he saw that Ben White was given the number five training jersey symbolizing the main defensive midfielder. He was gratified.
As a die-hard fan, Dave also watched the games of the reserve team and knew Ben White very well.
He recognized this player very much and even felt that he should play for the main team instead of the reserve team, but the last manager never gave Ben a chance.
What puzzled him was why Alex placed Ben as a defensive midfielder instead of a central defender. He then saw that Ben didn't play like the original main defensive midfielders and also changed the team's formation.
Dave was very welcoming to this change because at a time like this, Sunderland, who was only ranked eighth, couldn't continue like this and be conservative but must change something.
It seemed that many other die-hard fans also agreed with Dave's idea because some of them even applauded. Are you kidding them? Sunderland, who was a Premier League team, had to play a defensive formation in a third-division league. Isn't this humiliating enough?
Alex was also happy seeing that fans didn't oppose his radical change of the formation. He didn't want to have trouble with them over this thing. As a team, of course, they needed the support of their fans.