Page 5 of Couple Goals

Her stomach churns in horror. What did she do wrong? Why today, of all the days she’s been cheekily hungover and late for training, do her teammates hate her for it?

She looks around at her beloved team, arms folded over in their distinctive orange and black kit which gives them their Tigresses team name. Adriana prides herself on her ability to read a room, and right now her eyes are skimming like she’s taking in a whole novel at a time. As she follows everyone’s eyeline, she realises they’re staring at Kevin, the assistant coach?

‘You just missed an announcement,’ he sighs, finally breaking the quiet.

‘I’d hardly call it an announcement,’ mutters Milo, one of the Tigress’s forwards. Milo has always had a complete disrespect for authority.

‘Well, a pre-announcement, then,’ Kevin backtracks. ‘An announcement of an announcement.’

‘Oh my God,’ says Adriana, ‘the transfer window literally just opened, do we already have news of a new player coming in? Or has an offer come in to tempt someone away?’

Adriana looks to Maeve, who, as club captain and their star player, she thinks is the most likely candidate for being poached by another team. Perhaps she would even be targeted by the Women’s Super League, the tier above them in the Northern Division National League. Maeve shakes her head imperceptibly.

Kevin coughs, trying to regain some dignity among the frustrated team.

‘The club has been sold!’ he announces. ‘We have a new owner! We have been bought by the Astor family!’

Kevin is really trying to sell it as if it’s good news, but it isn’t at all convincing.

‘Astor? As in the owner of that tech company?’

‘Mark Astor, yes, that’s right. He’s a huge football fan, apparently. He’s bought the Manchester Tigers and Tigresses as an investment.’

‘Oh…’ Adriana doesn’t like to concern herself with the money side of football – she only cares about thepeople, and the game itself. ‘So what does that actually mean forus? Like,do we get more equipment? They’re not changing the kit again are they? I love our tiger stripes…’

‘The new owner is also bringing in a new manager.’ Maeve tells her in a low tense voice.

All the alcohol from last night twists and spins in Adriana’s stomach, like she’s back writhing on the dance floor.

‘A… a new manager? Now? But what about Pappi?’ Adriana bites her lip. She can imagine Maeve’s glare without needing to see it. ‘I mean, what about Coach Fernandez?’

Behind his back, the Tigresses affectionately refer to their coach Pablo Fernandez as Pappi, due to an old in-joke of him bringing his three children to their first training session, as well as his kindly, paternal approach to training them. But Adriana would never normally say this in front of Kevin. She must be flustered, and she realises needs to take a breath before she speaks next time to censor herself.

‘Alongside meeting your new manager, Coach Fernandez is going to come and talk to you this morning to announce his… retirement,’ says Kevin.

Milo rolls their eyes and scoffs indignantly, ‘He’s been sacked.’

‘Sacked? You can’t sack Pappi!’

The players around Adriana snicker, then laugh at her outburst and Adriana can’t help grinning at the sound. She definitely thinks it’s worth the embarrassment to lighten the tension a bit in this room. Other people’s tension messes way too much with her own nervous system and she doesn’t like the idea of anyone being upset.

Sure, there is actually a part of Adriana which is excited about the thought of meeting this exciting new coach, and proving herself by charming them.But it feels like she only just got to know Pappi and his systems. He’s been the coach of the Tigresses for five years now, which is a pretty long time for a coach in football, but she only joined the team two years ago, with Maeve here a little before her. The first year felt like such a steep learning curve for her, getting to know everyone, getting used to the rhythm and routine, but in the past year, she feels that both her and the team have really found their groove. This season they were hoping that this solid, secure base would finally pay off onto improvements on the pitch in the off-season to build ready for next year and a potential promotion push.

Frankly, their track record isn’t brilliant right now. Adriana, of course, firmly believes they are all talented players, truly with the potential to move to the top of the league table. Of course, Adriana believesallof her friends have the potential to be the best in the entire world. But so far that hasn’t exactly been, umm, translating into tangible results on the pitch. She feels sure that with just a bit more time, now that they’re all a bit morefamiliarwith each other and if they didn’t have any big upheavals…

Her body is pumping out adrenalin. Adriana is fine with change in theory, especially if it’s the fun kind of change – a new challenge in training, or new club night, or handsome stranger to seduce – but it will all depend on what the new coach is like.

However, not everyone on the team likes change.

Adriana glances up at her best friend, whose jaw is tightly clenched. Oh God, poor Maeve. Adriana remembers when she got stressed for weeks after they changed the football kit (and that was just from black stripes on light orange to black stripes on… dark orange). Hell, Maeve got stressed when Müller changed the recipe for their high-protein yoghurt. As Maeve is their captain, she’ll be expected to work even more closely with the new manager than the rest of them, and set an example on the pitch, being a leader to her teammates.

Adriana longs to give her friend a huge supportive hug – even if Maeve would probably shrug her off because she thinks the dressing room is in their workplace, and therefore a place they need to be professional.

‘Who is it?’ Adriana asks, realising nobody has posed the question. ‘Who is our new manager?’

‘Kevin hasn’t told us yet,’ Nat, another midfield player replies, arms folded.

‘Enjoying the suspense, are you, Kevin?’ Milo goads him. ‘Does it make you feel powerful?’

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