My decision was a mixture of pragmatism and a new, and surprising, sense of loyalty. I had built something at Moss Side Athletic. Something special. Something real. And I wasn't ready to walk away from it. Not yet.
But the offer had unsettled me. It had forced me to confront a question that I had been trying to avoid: what were my own, personal, ambitions? Was I content to be the king of Moss Side, the hero of a small, local, fairytale story? Or did I want more? Did I want to test myself at the highest level? Did I want to be a proper, professional, football manager?
I was torn. I was torn between loyalty and ambition, between the heart and the head, between the comfort of what I had built and the terrifying, exhilarating, and unknown possibilities of the future. I was a man who had always known what he wanted. And now, for the first time in my life, I was confused.
