I became the Premier League’s youngest manager

"No one likes us (No one likes us)

No one likes us (No one likes us)

No one likes us (No one likes us)

We don't care (We don't care)

We are Burnley

Super Burnley (because it's Super Burnley)

We are Burnley

From the Moor (From the swamp)

– Burnley Football Club Anthem

[Goal! Another goal!]

The commentator's excited voice echoed across the TV.

[Burnley's left-wing striker Dwight McNeil completes his hat-trick with a third goal in the 79th minute! Burnley have scored three goals in just 10 minutes to pull off a dramatic comeback against Manchester City!] [Look at the look on Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola's face. He can't even be angry anymore. Let's watch the replay again.]

The commentator elaborated on the goal scene.

[Burnley defensive midfielder Nicolas Seywald floated the ball forward from the halfway line. Center-forward Wout Weghorst won a header challenge against Manchester City's John Stones, connecting with McNeil, who was cutting in from the left. McNeil fired a powerful half-volley into the bottom left corner of the goal after a one-bounce effort!] [Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson was caught off guard by the strike and couldn't react in time.]

The commentator continued, providing further details.

[It was also a problem that Kyle Walker, who started as a right-back for Manchester City, missed McNeil. Meanwhile, Burnley's right-back Karim Adeyemi kept pushing forward from the right. It was also a significant issue that Manchester City's left-back Joao Cancelo and central defender Aymeric Laporte couldn't provide enough support.]

The commentators and casters exchanged quick remarks as they assessed the implications of the match's outcome for the entire season.

[Ah, while this match won't affect Burnley's standing, it's a real setback for Manchester City, who could have clinched the title even with a draw here.] [Burnley's young manager, an open Liverpool fan, delivers a surprise gift to the team he supports on the final day of the 2021/22 Premier League season.] [Manchester City, locked in a fierce title race with Liverpool and Arsenal, was stunned by Burnley, who had a wild May, and ended up handing the title over to Liverpool!]

The casters and commentators, still exhilarated by the upset on the last day of the thrilling Premier League race, continued discussing the match as they looked at Manchester City's bustling bench.

[Ah, Manager Guardiola orders a substitution. But there's not much time left. In fact, it must be frustrating for Guardiola, who had planned substitutions right after conceding the equalizer, only to see his team concede two more goals while those substitutions were warming up.] [Burnley's bold substitutions paid off dramatically. Ah, the linesman lifts the substitution board. Defender Aymeric Laporte is replaced by striker Raheem Sterling, and central midfielder Ilkay Gundogan is replaced by striker Riyad Mahrez.]

The commentators observed the instructions and formation changes being passed to the Manchester City players.

[With only John Stones left at the back, and Rodri moving into midfield alongside Joao Cancelo, who has advanced from his left-back position, right-back Kyle Walker is being instructed to push forward.] [Manchester City now has 7 attacking players, including Gabriel Jesus, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, and Kevin De Bruyne, along with substitutes Sterling, Mahrez, and Walker, ready to launch an all-out attack for the remaining time. Should we call this a 1-2-7 formation?] [Manager Guardiola, known for his beautiful football, is putting everything on the line, going all-in for the final moments that could determine the success or failure of their season. But with only 10 minutes left, can they really close the two-goal gap?] [Burnley's wingers, McNeil and Adeyemi, might be able to exploit the space behind. Manchester City will likely form a back three with Rodri, Stones, and Cancelo, attempting to block the counterattacks, but it doesn't look easy for them to turn this match around.] [But more importantly, Burnley were almost certain to be relegated before this season began. Who could have predicted that a season that started with such grim prospects would end like this?!]

***

Late at Night

The night view from the large windows on the 30th floor, overlooking all of Wall Street, was breathtaking—no matter how many times she saw it.

But as Helena Cartwright gazed down at the view she had longed for every time she visited her father's office as a child, doubts began to creep in. She questioned her childhood decision to join the family business, a legacy passed down through three generations from her grandfather and father to her older brother.

"Dad, I don't even know much about football. What do you mean, soccer?!"

Her father, sitting at his desk with the large window behind him, remained unfazed as her voice rose in shock.

As always, he wore a custom-made suit of the highest quality. His blond hair, a Cartwright family trait, was now clearly half-gray.

Ian Cartwright Jr., a man known for his cool-headed demeanor on Wall Street, with a composed, unflinching gaze, looked directly at his young daughter—an emerging star in the private equity industry and head of Cartwright Special Situations Fund.

"Helena. I'm not telling you to go and play soccer. This is just business. I'm asking you to go to a failing company, monitor it, and support the professional managers so they can do their job. Anyone who can't do that at our fund isn't qualified to be a director."

"No matter what, you still need to have at least a minimal understanding of the industry, right?"

"So, you prepared the materials like this?"

Helena looked down at the books on her father's desk, utterly bewildered.

Even she, who had no interest in sports, had heard of Pele's biography.

There was a book about the Spanish national soccer team (did Spain even have a national team?) written by a reporter whose name she didn't recognize.

And there was another book with a grumpy old man wearing glasses on the cover.

Marcelo... Bilsa? Bielsa? What on earth was Leeds United? What was so special about it?

As Helena stood in confusion, Ian Cartwright concluded the conversation in his usual fashion.

"I've already arranged a flight for Gina. She'll leave from JFK tomorrow morning. There are no direct flights to Burnley, but if you go to Manchester Airport, the club will send a car to pick you up."

Ian continued while Helena, half in despair and half in disbelief, stopped arguing and started gathering up the books.

"Oh, and before you leave, be sure to say hello to Dad."

"… Yes, Dad."

Just a few hours later, sitting in first class on a flight from New York to London, Helena sighed, opened her laptop, and began to sift through her documents.

When her mother heard about her daughter's unexpected long-term business trip to England, she drew on years of experience supporting her husband, father-in-law, and eldest son to pack Helena's luggage within just a few hours.

Of course, Helena barely got any sleep, having spent most of the time unpacking her mother's excessive luggage, but she knew the importance of cramming as much information as possible before arriving in England. The workload would begin the moment she touched down.

Helena had learned firsthand how critical the first week was in managing bad assets, both during her time overseeing the mines in Brazil and at the auto parts company in Detroit. So, she had to absorb everything she could.

She opened the materials and quickly started reading through the background of the acquisition.

As a director of the Cartwright Fund, she was well aware of the major details surrounding the fund's involvement, but now that she was in charge, it was essential to understand even the finer points.

Just two weeks ago, rumors had swirled on Wall Street that ALK Capital had defaulted on its £80 million bonds, which had been issued to buy a British professional soccer team after failing to make interest payments.

Helena had been indifferent to the rumor. Unlike the rest of her family, she had no particular interest in sports.

Moreover, the total bad debt was only $80 million—relatively small compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars Cartwright Funds typically handled.

That was until Michael Dell, the owner of MSD Group, which had acquired the bonds from ALK Capital, contacted her father.

Michael Dell reached out to Ian Cartwright III, her father's close friend and patriarch of the Cartwright family, regarded as one of the best at turning around troubled businesses, and offered him a very enticing deal.

Her father, obsessed with the opportunity, personally led the research team and worked through the nights for a week to complete the asset review.

Then, just last week, he closed a stunning deal: buying a British professional soccer team for just $20 million—after it had been sold for $260 million only eight months earlier.

He acquired the £80 million of bonds from MSD Group at a 75% discount—only £20 million—after they had defaulted on interest payments.

All shares of the intermediate holding company, provided as collateral by ALK Capital, were seized.

The method: converting the bonds into stock, becoming the sole shareholder of the holding company.

The Cartwright Fund, with its expertise in rehabilitating insolvent companies, used its three generations of know-how and various legal methods.

But no matter the method, it was a fantastic deal, generating a 1,300% return for the Cartwright Fund.

And that was when the Cartwright Fund became the sole shareholder of Burnley Football Club, a small town club in the northwest of England. Helena had to search for its location on Google Maps.

However, from the Cartwright Fund's perspective, to realize the enormous profits recorded on the books, they needed to sell the acquired bad assets at a fair price. The reason they had bought those assets cheaply in the first place was because no one else wanted them.

It was now time for the Cartwright Fund to prove its power, recognized by all of Wall Street as the undisputed leader in normalizing distressed assets.

Of course, from Helena's perspective, what was frustrating was that, as someone completely indifferent to soccer—or any sports—she now had to prevent the club from going under, while waiting for a professional manager to be hired to normalize the acquired assets in the long term.

As Helena sighed again and began to immerse herself in the ledgers on her laptop, a familiar word suddenly caught her attention.

[... Club manager Sean Dyche has finally resigned. He expressed concerns about the club's financial situation, stemming from two sudden changes in ownership within the past year and rapidly increasing debt. Most of Dyche's staff followed suit...]

When Helena turned her head, the screen beside her showed the face of a balding man with a short red beard, alongside the BCC News logo.

The passenger sitting next to her, mistaking her icy blue stare as a sign of hostility, quickly put on headphones to muffle the noise.

But Helena, holding back the curses rising in her throat, quickly opened a folder on her laptop that contained information about Burnley Football Club.

She stared at the financial situation of Burnley Football Club over the past five years, the financial forecasts for the next three years, and a list of current and past players.

Among the carefully titled files was a PowerPoint presentation titled "Key Personnel List," prepared by the Cartwright Fund's research team—something they absolutely couldn't afford to overlook.

Helena hurriedly opened the file, her heart pounding, her ears ringing, as the weight of her responsibility finally began to settle in.

At the very front of the file, which listed key personnel on a page-by-page basis, was the face of the man she had just seen on the news, staring back at her.

Suddenly, a part of her dazed mind recognized the man's green eyes as strikingly pretty, and the bold red letters under the photo, kindly underlined, caught her attention.

'Sean Dyche. First-team coach. Can't miss him!'

"... I'm screwed."

Finally, Helena couldn't hold it in any longer and started swearing.