Nicholas Marjan, known as Niels, was an Asian football-obsessed loner in the modern world. A master of FIFA Career Mode, addicted to YouTube tactics videos, and followed every twist of the transfer window like it was life or death, he lived the beautiful game from behind a screen.
Until the day he died.
And woke up in the late 2000s, in the body of a once-promising young player at a lower-league English club. A player whose career had been cut short by a brutal ACL injury. With his playing career over before it could truly begin, his second life offers no glory on the pitch.
But Niels still has one weapon: his mind.
Armed with future knowledge of football's evolution, and guided by a mysterious, almost cheat-like instinct for scouting raw talent, Niels steps into the world of coaching. As an assistant at a struggling lower-league club, he begins to reshape the team from within challenging outdated tactics, unearthing hidden gems, and reigniting hope in the dressing room.
His methods are unorthodox. His instincts, uncanny. And soon, whispers about the "young coach with a gift" begin to spread.
This isn’t the story of a player chasing glory. It’s about someone reborn to change the game from the sidelines. From forgotten training grounds to Europe’s biggest stages, Niels is on a mission, 
not just to win, but to rewrite what it means to lead.
He once dreamed of lifting trophies as a player.
Now, he'll do it as a coach.

The halftime whistle cut through the mist, the crowd's roar fading to a tense silence. Around a thousand Crawley fans gripped their scarves, eyes fixed on the pitch, hearts pounding with hope. The tunnel air buzzed as Crawley prepared to step back out, red shirts blazing faintly in the swirling mist. Max's gaze met the challenge, fierce and unyielding.


The whistle blew at 4:15 p.m., Crawley's kickoff sharp, Max prowling the box, mist streaking his face, his boots carving the slick turf. The crowd's anthem, "Reds to Glory!" surged like a pulse, Ollie's chant, "Craw-ley, rise!" a desperate plea, his banner glowing under the floodlights. Thiago's 47th-minute run, Instinct Lens [Silky technique] flaring, saw him weave past a defender with a deft stepover, his low cross skidding across the wet turf, only for a lunging Northampton boot to deflect it into the fog, the away stand roaring, "Thi-a-go!"


Chapter 78 - Second Half Fire