Emma and I stood on the platform at Manchester Piccadilly station, the Monday morning rush swirling around us like a river around two stones.

We had taken a cab from her flat because we still didn't have a car, something that felt increasingly ridiculous given everything that had happened, but also strangely grounding. We were still us. Still the same people who counted pennies and took buses.

My train to Burton-on-Trent was due in five minutes. Two weeks. It felt like a lifetime.

"You've got everything?" Emma asked, her hand resting on my arm, her vibrant red hair catching the harsh fluorescent light of the station. She was wearing jeans and a simple grey jumper, but she looked beautiful. She always looked beautiful.

"Laptop, notebook, toothbrush," I said, trying to keep my voice light. "And a whole lot of imposter syndrome."

She smiled, but her eyes were glistening. "You're going to be brilliant, Danny. You know that, right?"

"I know you believe that," I said. "That's enough."

The platform announcer's voice crackled overhead, announcing the arrival of my train. Emma stepped closer, her arms wrapping around me in a tight, fierce hug. I held her close, breathing in the scent of her shampoo, feeling the warmth of her body against mine. I didn't want to let go. I didn't want to get on that train.

"Two weeks," she whispered against my chest. "Then you come back and smash that interview."

"Two weeks," I echoed, my voice thick.

When we finally pulled apart, she was smiling through the tears. "Go," she said. "Go and show them what you're made of."

I picked up my rucksack, gave her one last look, and stepped onto the train. As it pulled away from the platform, I watched her through the window, standing there with her arms wrapped around herself, her red hair a beacon in the grey morning. I was falling for her. Completely, irrevocably falling for her. And for the first time in my life, that didn't scare me.

---

St. George's Park was another planet. It wasn't just a training ground; it was a statement of intent, a declaration of England's footballing ambition rendered in gleaming glass, brushed steel, and impossibly green turf.

It was a billion-pound mothership parked in the middle of the Staffordshire countryside, and as my taxi crunched up the immaculate gravel driveway that afternoon, I felt like I was being beamed up for an alien abduction.

The air itself felt different here filtered, expensive, and utterly devoid of the smell of fried onions and cheap lager that clung to the Moss Side clubhouse like a beloved old coat.

I'd arrived at Burton-on-Trent station feeling nervous, a wide-eyed kid from a County League club armed with a laptop, a fresh notebook, and a universe of self-doubt.

The twenty-quid taxi fare from the station was a painful dent in my rapidly shrinking bank balance, a cover charge for a club I wasn't a member of.

Walking through the imposing glass entrance, my battered rucksack slung over one shoulder, I felt like an imposter at a royal wedding. The sheer scale of the place was intimidating. Everything was pristine, silent, and vaguely threatening, like a museum where you weren't allowed to touch anything.

The reception area was all polished marble and floor-to-ceiling windows. A friendly woman behind the desk checked me in, handed me a lanyard with my photo on it, and directed me to the accommodation block.

My room was small but immaculate, with a single bed, a desk, and a window overlooking one of the many training pitches. It felt like a university dormitory, but for football. I unpacked my meagre belongings, changed into my Moss Side tracksuit, and headed down to the main building for registration.

The other candidates on the UEFA B course were a different breed. They moved with a languid confidence, an unspoken understanding of the rules of this exclusive world.

They were ex-professionals with hundreds of league appearances under their belts, academy coaches from clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea, men who breathed the rarefied air of elite football.

They all had the same look: confident, assured, a quiet arrogance that came from a lifetime spent in the professional game.

They wore expensive tracksuits with club crests embroidered on the chest, carried leather-bound notebooks, and talked in a coded language of pressing traps, positional play, and the relative merits of a 4-3-3 versus a 3-5-2.

I was wearing a Moss Side hoodie I'd bought from the small club shop for a tenner and had learned my trade in the school of hard knocks, guided by a supernatural intelligence I couldn't explain to anyone.

During the registration process, a queue of quiet, intimidating competence, I found myself standing next to a man in his early forties with a shaved head and an air of supreme self-possession. He introduced himself as Graham, a former Championship midfielder who was now coaching at Wolves' academy.

"Where are you from, mate?" he asked, his tone friendly but his eyes giving me a quick, professional appraisal, like a scout sizing up a potential signing.

"Moss Side Athletic," I said, the name feeling small and insignificant in this cathedral of football. "County League."

His eyebrows shot up, a flicker of genuine surprise in his eyes. "Non-league? Fair play to you, mate. Brave of you to come here. Most of the lads on this course are from professional academies. It's a tough crowd, very political."

"I'll manage," I said, with a bravado I was a million miles from feeling.

He smiled, a knowing, slightly patronizing smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Good luck, mate. You'll need it."

Our lead instructor was a man named Mike Phelan, a former assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. He was a legend, a man who had won it all, and he commanded an instant, almost fearful respect.

He was sharp, intelligent, and had a no-nonsense attitude that could strip a man bare with a single, withering glance. When he walked into the state-of-the-art lecture theatre for our opening session, the room fell silent. The seats were plusher than my sofa at home, and the massive screen at the front displayed the FA logo in crisp, intimidating detail.

***

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