Glory Of The Football Manager System

[Selhurst Park. Sunday May 13. 14:00 BST.]

City played at two o’clock. We played Liverpool at half past four.

I watched the City match in the office at Beckenham with Sarah and Bray before the bus to Selhurst. City were at home. City scored in the eleventh. City scored in the thirty-fourth. City scored in the sixtieth. By the time we got on the bus to Selhurst at quarter past three, City had won three-nil, and City were champions, and Crystal Palace were second.

Sarah turned the television off in the office.

”That is the title.”

”That is the title.”

”Ninety-six points for City. We finish on eighty-six or eighty-nine depending on today and the Etihad.”

”Second.”

”Second. On fifty million pounds. Behind a side that spent four hundred million across three windows.”

I did not say anything for a moment.

”We chased them for thirty-six matches, Sarah. We were never going to catch them. We knew in August we were never going to catch them. We caught everybody else.”

”We caught everybody else.”

On the bus to Selhurst nobody said anything about the title. The lads knew. The lads had seen the City score come through on their phones. Mama stood up at the front of the bus on the A23 and said one sentence.

”We beat Liverpool today for second place and we go to Lyon on Wednesday for the first thing this club has ever won in Europe and we go to Wembley on Saturday for the FA Cup. Second is not the end of the season. Second is where the season gets good.”

He sat down.

[Selhurst Park. 17:42 BST.]

The Holmesdale knew the title was gone before we kicked off against Liverpool.

They did not sing about the title. They did not sing about City. They sang about Crystal Palace for ninety minutes because the Holmesdale had watched Crystal Palace finish second in the Premier League for the first time in the hundred-and-twelve-year history of the football club, and second was not a thing the Holmesdale was going to apologise for.

Liverpool came with everything because Liverpool wanted the points for their own top-four race.

It was the hardest of the three matches. Salah hit the bar. Mané hit Pope’s gloves twice. Firmino had a goal ruled out for offside that took four minutes to check.

[59’.]

Wilf.

Eze played him in behind the full-back. Wilf took it on the run, took it across the keeper, put it in the far corner.

Whump.

[Crystal Palace 1 - Liverpool 0.]

[81’.]

Konaté. Set piece. Eze corner. KB-twenty-two. The same routine. Mama across the keeper. Konaté at the back post.

THUD.

[Crystal Palace 2 - Liverpool 0.]

Liverpool pulled one back in the eighty-ninth through Salah. Two-one. It did not matter. The whistle went.

BLEEP. BLEEP. BLEEP.

[FULL TIME: Crystal Palace 2 - Liverpool 1.]

[Premier League: 2nd, confirmed. P36 W28 D5 L3. 89 points.]

The Holmesdale stood.

They stood and they sang and they did not stop singing as the lads went round the pitch. They were not singing about a title because there was no title to sing about. They were singing about a season. A hundred and twelve years and the club had finished second. A hundred and twelve years and the club had a Europa League final to play on Wednesday and an FA Cup final to play on Saturday.

Mama went to the Holmesdale with the armband. Eze in the middle. Mateo came down from the directors’ box on his crutch, slowly, with a steward holding his elbow, and the lads stopped at the edge of the pitch and waited for him, and when he got to them they did not pile on him because of the brace but they put their hands on his shoulders one at a time, and the Holmesdale saw it and sang his name.

[Tunnel. 19:38 BST.]

Sarah at the wall.

”Eighty-nine points.”

”Eighty-nine points.”

”The Etihad next Sunday is a dead rubber for the league. Second is locked. We cannot finish first and we cannot finish third.”

”It is not a dead rubber.”

”No?”

”We go to the Etihad on the last day of the season and we play the champions on their pitch on the day they lift the trophy and we beat them. Not for the table. For the next time we play them. For next season. For the season after that. We go to the Etihad and we show them what is coming.”

Sarah looked at me.

”Lyon first.”

”Lyon first. Wednesday. The first European final in the history of the football club.”

”And Mateo is in the tracksuit on the bench.”

”Mateo is in the tracksuit on the bench.”

She did not say anything for a moment.

”Daniel.”

”Yeah.”

”We finished second.”

”We finished second.”

”That is the best thing this club has ever done in the league, and we are going to spend the next week trying to make it the third best thing this club does this month.”

She went off to find Bray.

[Dulwich. 22:14 BST.]

Emma was on the sofa when I came in. She had the television on with the sound down. Sky Sports News had been running the City title celebrations on a loop next to the Crystal Palace second-place graphic for three hours.

She did not get up. Patted the sofa.

I sat down. She put her head on my shoulder.

”Second.”

”Second.”

”Are you all right about it.”

I thought about it.

”We were never catching City. I knew it in August. I told the lads in August. We built the season around being the best of everybody who was not City, and we were, and we are second, and second is the highest this club has ever finished, and on Wednesday we have a chance to win a thing no Crystal Palace side has ever won. I am all right about it.”

”Good.”

She did not say anything for a moment.

”Lyon on Wednesday.”

”Lyon on Wednesday.”

”I am coming to Lyon.”

”I know you are coming to Lyon.”

”My dad is coming to Lyon.”

”Your dad is coming to Lyon?”

”He bought the flight on Thursday. He is coming with his mate from the Crown and Anchor. They have a hotel near the Groupama. He told me he is not missing the first European final this club has ever played in. He told me he has supported worse for longer.”

I almost laughed.

”Tell your dad I said he can come on the team bus from the hotel to the ground.”

”You cannot put my dad on the team bus, Walsh.”

”I can do what I want. I am a director of the football club.”

She did laugh at that.

We watched the City celebrations on the loop with the sound down. The trophy went up at the Etihad in blue and the graphic next to it said CRYSTAL PALACE - 2ND in red and blue, and somewhere in that graphic was a season that had started with a five-match interim job and a relegation fight a year ago.

Lyon was three days away.