I looked at him, genuinely surprised. Connor Blake, asking for feedback.
Voluntarily. The same Connor who'd shown up late to sessions, who'd walked out of video analysis, who'd treated training like an inconvenience. "You come back tomorrow ready to work twice as hard. You hold each other accountable. You don't let your teammates slack off, and you don't slack off yourself."
He nodded, and for the first time, I saw something in his eyes that looked like commitment. Not full buy-in, not yet. But a crack in the armor. A willingness to try. Maybe the system was working on him after all. His respect rating had climbed to 38%, which was low, but was moving in the right direction. Small victories.
After the session, as the players were heading to the changing rooms, Connor lingered. "Gaffer," he said, his voice uncertain. "That goal yesterday. That was... that was what you've been talking about, yeah?"
"Yeah," I said. "That was it. That's what happens when everyone does their job."
