Glory Glory Rebels

Chapter 16 Tradition

Every club has its own strong tradition, their own character and reputation. It was the very essence of the club, the soul and drive injected by the chief for his tribe. It was the heart of the club and no matter how long the club was established, no matter the people that came and went, it would always be there, burning and spurring them on.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Manchester United were all massive clubs in Europe, the reason behind their success was their tradition and history. There was an enormous amount involved including the technical and tactical style of the teams, the overall temperament of the players and the teams personality.

If you mentioned Manchester United, people automatically thought of Ferguson and his tough, domineering spirit. Mention Real Madrid and people thought of a more elegant style of club and players, Bayern led people to think of perseverance and strong will. They were all very different and yet they were all top clubs in Europe.

They may lose games, but their spirits would never be lost. Rudy had to admit that he had loved Real Madrid in his previous life, but the arrival of Florentino had changed the club and not for the better, Real Madrid began to fall apart.

At this point even if Florentino bought one star player after another, there was still no winning the championship. This is why Rudy was dedicated to finding the perfect coach for his team. It would completely affect the character and overall temperament of the club, it was imperative that he find the right fit, he could not afford to go wrong.

Rudy thought that Steve Bruce was a very suitable coach, in his day he had earned the nickname ‘Steel’ when he played center back. The name matched his personality to the letter, he was tough and powerful, resolved and unrelenting when it came to the task at mind. He could cause considerable damage to his opponents either as a player or a coach.

It would be a dream come true for a guy like him to become the first coach for FC United, for a low level team to have such a high quality coach was a huge bonus. Then Rudy’s thoughts turned sour, he knew that no matter the quality of the coach, if they did not have proper training grounds it wouldn’t make any difference. How on earth could he expect Bruce to train his team on grounds that looked liked rotten vegetables underfoot?

Low level teams can only make their way to the top the hard way, with good players, a top coach and determination. The more Rudy thought about it, the more he wanted Bruce as coach for his club. He had to try and convince Bruce, he couldn’t let it go. Rudy knew that Bruce had a lot to offer, who knew what persistence could bring.

Over the following days, Rudy was extremely busy. By the second day, he had to decided on the name for the club. Rudy settled for naming the club FC United of Manchester as the official title, FC United for short, but the nickname was Rebels for their fighting spirit and drive to never let the bigger guys win.

There were four vacancies in the Northwest League Two, the federation had allowed FC United to join them immediately. The federation regulations stated that they needed to inform all the other clubs in the district and would only be allowed to officially join if the other team consented through a vote.

Normally it was not an issue and the teams agreed with the FA as to what team they had selected to join, occasionally there were a few objections, but on the whole the teams trusted the FA suggestions.

At least Rudy didn’t have to worry about a football stadium for the first twelve months, Jason Smith had kindly agreed to let them use The Butcher’s Arm grounds for free, it was a decent stadium, perfect for a new club.

The training field was more of an issue however, he couldn’t expect his team to train on mush. Luckily, finally, Wolf had managed to secure temporary training grounds. They were close to Newton Heath and Wolf had been lucky to find the place through one of his many connections.

Newton Heath was where MUFC had started, it had a special place in MUFC fans hearts and Rudy believed that was partly the reason Wold had been able to secure the training ground. Newton Heath allowed them to train there because it would give the newspapers something to write about again, they had not had much notice over the last season and this could be their chance to get back into the limelight.

For the fans of MUFC, this was cause for celebration, it filled the stagnant club with hope. After Rudy made sure that the training ground and home stadium were sorted out and finalized, Rudy focused on finding himself a little office close to the Newton Heath training ground.

It was only temporary until he could find something more permanent, it was a small place but it would do for now seeing as Rudy was the only staff member there. Wolf and Griffin volunteered to help as much as they could, they were looking for an office assistant that could help Rudy out, keep the place clean and would be willing to work for minimal salary. There was no way they could afford to be extravagant now.