#also isn't Pep a well rounded coach too? and he's been at man city since 2016 so why would ted have to leave cause people have grown?

[after-the-end-times]

now that I'm thinking about this, I'm having thoughts:

Cause I think Ted has always cared about winning, but used that line as a safety blanket against feeling like he's failing when his team, with his coaching, were losing

I mean, if all Ted wanted was to help kids become better versions of themselves, he could've become a councilor or peewee coach, but he didn't.

He worked hard to become a college level head football coach who then accepted the job of premier league gaffer in a country where soccer is basically their NFL football. He's never been hired as a coach to not win games, and he's always known that.

But it's easier to take that leap into the unknown (agreeing to coach a soccer team in England; Giving Michelle space to fix his marriage) if he can convince himself that it doesn't matter in the end if he wins or loses, especially if he's just biding time til Michelle asks him to come back

But, THESIS ALERT lol, the team ultimately loses when he just coasts along with whatever strategies and plans others (Beard, Roy, Rebecca) want him to do

Which Beard knows. Ted, as opposed to Beard or Roy or Rebecca, sees the forest for the trees when it comes to understanding what the team needs to succeed

So Beard's there to snap Ted out of that "winning doesn't matter" mentality he'd gotten stuck hiding behind and then later he's there to open up Ted's creativity with the (probably very mild lol) mushroom tea

'Cause when Ted gets out of his own way and he steps up and actually acts as head coach (benches Jamie; asks the team if they want to continue the false 9; shifts them to total football) the team wins.