The walk from the pitch at Highbury to the media suite felt like a march to the gallows.
The concrete corridors of the old stadium were cramped and smelled of damp wool and expensive cigars—the scent of the English football establishment.
Julian Vane could feel the eyes of the stadium staff on him.
They were looks of pity, the kind reserved for a man who had clearly bitten off more than he could chew. A 25-year-old manager losing 6-1 to the Invincibles wasn't just a defeat; it was a career-ending catastrophe.
In his peripheral vision, the [EMINENCE PROTOCOL] interface continued to pulse. It was silent, yet it was feeding him a stream of data that made his skin prickle.
[ STATUS: SOCIAL PRESSURE DETECTED ]
[ PULSE RATE: 112 BPM ]
[ ANALYSIS: The English media utilizes 'Aggressive Inquiry' to force cognitive slips. Recommendation: Cold Logic over Emotional Defense. ]
Julian adjusted his damp tie. He didn't feel like a man about to be executed. The system's presence acted as a heatsink for his emotions, allowing his high-intelligence brain to filter the shame of the loss into actionable variables.
He pushed open the heavy wooden doors of the press room.
The transition from the dim hallway to the brightly lit suite was jarring. Flashbulbs erupted like a barrage of artillery.
The room was packed with seasoned journalists—men who had been covering the sport since before Julian was born. They sat with their pens poised like daggers, waiting for the young man to crumble.
Julian took his seat at the front. Beside him, the Villa press officer looked like he wanted to disappear into the upholstery.
"Julian," a voice called out immediately. It was Martin Samuels, a veteran known for his "no-nonsense" questioning. "That wasn't just a loss today. That was a surrender.
At twenty-five, do you honestly believe you have the authority to lead a club like Aston Villa when you can't even organize a basic defensive line against Henry?"
The room went silent.
Every lens was focused on Julian's face, searching for a flinch, a tear, or a stutter.
[ PROTOCOL ALERT: INQUIRY CATEGORY – 'AD HOMINEM' ]
[ SUGGESTED RESPONSE: DEFLECT TO TACTICAL DATA ]
Julian didn't blink. He waited three seconds—long enough to make the silence uncomfortable—and then spoke. His voice was steady, devoid of the defensive whine they expected.
"Martin, if you think Henry's performance today was a result of a 'lack of authority,' then you weren't watching the match. You were watching the scoreline," Julian began, his eyes locking onto the journalist.
"Thierry Henry's average position today was 12 yards deeper than in his previous three games. He wasn't playing as a traditional nine; he was operating in the half-spaces between my center-backs and my holding midfielder.
We were beaten today by a specific tactical evolution that Wenger has perfected. If I had parked three buses, we might have lost 2-0, but I would have learned nothing about the ceiling of this squad."
A murmur went through the room. Julian's tone was clinical, almost dismissive of the emotional weight of the 6-1 score.
"Are you saying," another reporter chimed in, "that you allowed a 6-1 thrashing just to 'learn'?"
"I am saying," Julian countered, his mind racing through the [EMINENCE PROTOCOL]'s predictive models, "that in the first five months of my tenure, I am identifying who can handle the pressure of elite transition play and who cannot.
The board hired me to change the philosophy of this club. You don't build a skyscraper on an old foundation; you tear the old house down first. Today was the demolition."
[ MISSION PROGRESS: 45% ]
[ REPUTATION SHIFT: 'INCOMPETENT' -> 'ARROGANT/CALCULATED' ]
As the questions continued for the next forty-five minutes, Julian dismantled every trap. He used his high intelligence to cite specific timestamps of the match, player movements, and even the atmospheric conditions' effect on ball speed.
He made the journalists feel like they were students in a lecture they hadn't prepared for.
By the time he stood up to leave, the atmosphere had shifted. They still thought he was crazy, but they no longer thought he was a victim.
He walked out of the room, but he didn't head for the bus. He headed for a private office where the Aston Villa Chairman, Doug Ellis, was waiting. This was the true endgame of the mission.
"Sit down, Julian," Ellis said, his voice gravelly. The old man looked exhausted. "The phone hasn't stopped ringing. The fans want your head on a spike outside Villa Park."
Julian sat. He could see the [EMINENCE PROTOCOL] highlighting the Chairman's stress levels in a fluctuating orange aura.
[ FUNCTION DETECTED: THE BOARDROOM WHISPER (LOCKED) ]
[ STATUS: UNAVAILABLE ]
[ MANUAL OVERRIDE REQUIRED: USE NATIVE INTELLIGENCE ]
"Doug," Julian said, leaning forward. "You didn't hire me because I'm 25. You hired me because I told you the truth: that Villa is a sleeping giant that has been medicated into a coma by safe, boring football. Today, I found the limit of the current squad.
Tomorrow, I start the purge."
"The purge?" Ellis asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We have three players on over thirty-thousand a week who didn't track back once today. I want them out in January. I have a list of targets—young, hungry players who the scouting world has ignored because they don't fit the 'English profile.'
Give me until the end of December. If we aren't in the top half by then, I'll walk away without a penny of my compensation."
Julian was gambling everything. But he knew something Doug Ellis didn't. He knew that in a few minutes, the [EMINENCE PROTOCOL] would unlock a tool that would make his scouting infallible.
Ellis stared at him for a long minute. "You have a lot of nerve for a boy who just lost by five goals."
"Confidence is just a byproduct of data, Doug."
Ellis sighed. "December. Not a day longer. Get out of here before I change my mind."
As Julian stepped out into the night air and boarded the team bus, a massive notification flooded his vision, brighter than the stadium lights.
[ MISSION COMPLETE: THE FIRST SURVIVAL ]
[ REWARD UNLOCKED: LAYER 1 — THE EYE OF THE PROGENY ]
[ DESCRIPTION: Passive scouting and attribute analysis activated. All players within a 50-meter radius now display 'Current Ability' and 'Potential Ability' stats. ]
Julian sat in the front seat of the bus, looking back at his dejected players. Above their heads, numbers began to flicker into existence.
Gareth Barry: CA 145 / PA 178.
Juan Pablo Ángel: CA 150 / PA 155.
Peter Crouch: CA 130 / PA 165.
His eyes shifted to the veteran defender who had called him pathetic earlier.
Mark Delaney: CA 128 / PA 129.
A cold smile touched Julian's lips. The purge was going to be much easier than he thought. He pulled out his notebook and began to write, the first steps of the Eminence Protocol finally taking shape.
The bus pulled away from Highbury, leaving the 6-1 defeat in the rearview mirror. The world thought his career was over. Julian knew it hadn't even started.