New Manchester United returned from the United States just as Goal! was becoming a major success in Britain.
The entire squad travelled to London for a promotional reception attended by celebrities, executives, athletes and public figures from across British society.
The praise for the film was almost universal.
Arsenal and Tottenham, both London clubs with far longer histories, could only watch as New Manchester United dominated the attention.
Both had once been discussed as possible clubs around which the film might be built.
In the end, neither had been chosen.
Some people in the industry argued that the decision had made all the difference.
New Manchester United's story gave the film something more than football.
A club founded from nothing.
A rapid rise through the divisions.
A fierce sense of community.
A philosophy built around supporters.
Without those elements, Goal! might have been little more than an attractive sports film using a famous club as scenery.
With them, it had a genuine emotional core.
Once the promotional event ended, Mourinho took the squad straight back to Newton Heath.
He was still dissatisfied with parts of what he had seen in the Audi Cup.
The training ground was closed to the media.
Interview requests were refused.
Commercial appearances were reduced.
For the next phase, football came first.
New Manchester United also played another Newton Heath Cup friendly against Droylsden.
It was tight, physical and useful.
Mourinho's side won 1-0.
Ethan understood exactly what the manager was doing.
The Community Shield against Chelsea mattered, but not enough to distort the preparation programme.
To Mourinho, it remained a competitive pre-season match with a trophy attached.
The Premier League opener against Manchester City mattered far more.
That fixture had been underlined almost from the moment the schedule was released.
The previous season, Manchester City had frustrated New Manchester United and helped trigger the run of poor form that eventually cost Mourinho's side the league title.
Van Gaal had outmanoeuvred him.
Mourinho had not forgotten.
Now City were stronger.
So were the Red Rebels.
Mourinho wanted the rematch.
Chelsea viewed the Community Shield very differently.
This was the first time in their history they would appear in the fixture as reigning Premier League champions.
For the club and its supporters, the occasion carried genuine significance.
Ancelotti might have treated it as part of pre-season planning.
Abramovich was less likely to.
The Russian rarely spoke publicly, but reports around Stamford Bridge suggested he wanted the team to make a statement.
Chelsea had won the league.
Now he wanted them to prove that the title belonged to the strongest team in England.
The supporters felt the same way.
Their irritation with New Manchester United had been building for months.
The previous season should have belonged entirely to Chelsea.
They had won their first Premier League title and only the second top-flight championship in the club's history.
It was their greatest league season in more than half a century.
Abramovich's investment had paid off.
Ancelotti had turned an expensive squad into a coherent team.
Chelsea supporters had every reason to celebrate.
Then New Manchester United won the Champions League.
Their first appearance in the competition.
Their first European Cup.
And suddenly Chelsea's historic league triumph was sharing the spotlight with a rival achieving something even bigger.
For Chelsea supporters, it was infuriating.
The summer had not helped.
Chelsea had strengthened again.
Wright-Phillips arrived.
Ashley Cole was close to completing his move.
Ballack had been signed.
The squad looked even stronger than before.
New Manchester United, meanwhile, had sold Kolo Touré and recalled Dani Alves.
On paper, Chelsea's summer looked considerably more spectacular.
Then the Red Rebels went to America.
Their tour was a success.
Goal! became a global hit.
Their commercial deals broke records.
Their popularity climbed again.
Every time Chelsea appeared ready to dominate the conversation, New Manchester United somehow found another way to take the headlines back.
The Community Shield therefore became far more emotionally important to Chelsea than anyone at Newton Heath cared to admit.
The difference in approach was obvious from the starting line-ups.
Ancelotti selected close to his strongest available side.
Hildebrand started in goal.
Ashley Cole, Cannavaro, Stam and Paulo Ferreira formed the back four.
Deco, Verón and Emerson controlled midfield.
Lampard and Ballack operated ahead of them, with Ballack often pushing closest to the striker.
Crespo led the attack.
Shevchenko missed out with a minor injury.
It looked very much like the Chelsea side Ancelotti intended to use during the opening weeks of the season.
Ballack's arrival had already altered the structure.
Joe Cole's inconsistency had cost him his place.
Ballack gave Chelsea another central presence, more physical power and a major goal threat from midfield.
New Manchester United were less conventional.
Čech started in goal.
Evra, Terry, Curtis and Maicon formed the defence.
De Rossi, Fàbregas and Essien played together in midfield.
Beckham was unavailable after picking up a minor injury in training and remained doubtful for the league opener against Manchester City.
Kaká, Ronaldo and Drogba formed the front three.
On paper, it was a 4-3-3.
Mourinho had used variations of the shape before.
But Messi remained on the bench.
So did Robben.
The right-sided attacking role had effectively disappeared, replaced by another central midfielder.
Some journalists immediately interpreted that as caution.
They were not entirely wrong.
Before kick-off, both teams observed a minute's silence for the victims of the July 7 London bombings.
The attacks on the Underground and a London bus had killed fifty-two people and injured hundreds more.
New Manchester United's charitable foundation had already committed support to victims and their families.
The club had also published a formal condemnation of the attacks.
Once the silence ended, football resumed.
The opening stages were cautious.
Chelsea had their own psychological baggage in this fixture.
For all their strength over the previous two seasons, they had repeatedly struggled against Mourinho's side.
New Manchester United had beaten them twice in the league the previous campaign.
Ancelotti therefore began conservatively.
The back four remained compact.
Emerson protected the centre.
Deco and Verón were careful with possession.
Chelsea probed rather than attacked recklessly.
Then Ancelotti noticed the weakness.
Without Beckham, New Manchester United's midfield lacked its usual rhythm.
Fàbregas was being asked to organise against a group containing Deco, Verón, Emerson and a constantly dropping Ballack.
It was too much responsibility for a teenager who had only recently returned from the World Youth Championship.
Ancelotti immediately told Chelsea to press higher.
Deco stepped forward.
Ballack closed the passing lanes.
Verón pressured Fàbregas whenever he received with his back to goal.
The effect was immediate.
New Manchester United struggled to progress cleanly through midfield.
De Rossi and Essien provided protection, but neither could reproduce Beckham's control of tempo.
Chelsea began winning second balls.
The first goal arrived in the thirteenth minute.
Ashley Cole received possession on the left and looked up.
Crespo moved between Curtis and Terry.
Cole sent a diagonal ball towards him.
Crespo used his body to hold Curtis off, controlled the pass on his chest and finished left-footed before the defence could recover.
1-0.
Chelsea grew in confidence.
Their midfield began controlling territory.
Wave after wave of pressure reached New Manchester United's defensive third.
Mourinho spent much of the first half directing the shape from the touchline.
The midfield trio gradually adjusted.
De Rossi screened the defence.
Essien covered aggressively from side to side.
Fàbregas dropped slightly deeper to find more time on the ball.
Once the structure settled, New Manchester United began creating chances on the counter.
In the thirty-first minute, Fàbregas found Kaká between the lines.
Kaká controlled on his chest, slipped away from Emerson and released Drogba behind Cannavaro.
Drogba reached the ball first and struck powerfully.
The shot beat Hildebrand.
It hit the post.
Chelsea escaped.
Seven minutes later came an even better chance.
Drogba challenged for a high ball and headed it down into Ronaldo's path.
The Portuguese winger arrived inside the area with space in front of him.
He rushed the finish.
The ball flew over the bar.
It should have been 1-1.
At half-time, Mourinho changed nothing.
Ancelotti did.
Verón came off.
Joe Cole entered.
Ballack dropped deeper.
Deco became Chelsea's principal organiser.
The structure resembled one Chelsea had used frequently the previous season, only now Ballack gave it greater power through the centre.
Chelsea started the second half aggressively.
Joe Cole drifted between the lines.
Lampard made repeated runs from deep.
Ashley Cole and Ferreira advanced on the outside.
For several minutes, New Manchester United were pushed backwards again.
The second goal arrived in the fifty-sixth minute.
Deco received centrally and slipped a diagonal pass through the defensive line.
Crespo timed his run perfectly.
Čech came out.
Crespo touched the ball around him and rolled it into the empty net.
2-0.
Mourinho shook his head.
This time he knew part of the responsibility was his own.
The midfield experiment had not worked well enough.
He reacted immediately.
Ronaldo came off for Ribéry.
Fàbregas was replaced by Michael Johnson.
Essien made way for Mikel.
Curtis was replaced by Chiellini.
Within five minutes, Mourinho had made six substitutions.
The match changed.
Fresh legs brought energy.
Michael Johnson carried the ball forward more directly.
Mikel protected possession.
Ribéry attacked Chelsea's full-backs with greater aggression.
The Red Rebels suddenly looked sharper.
Chelsea, already two goals ahead, also began making changes.
Their tempo dropped.
Ancelotti was satisfied with the position of the match and became increasingly conservative.
New Manchester United pulled one back in the seventy-eighth minute.
Villa received Mikel's pass inside the penalty area and shot low.
Hildebrand saved.
Cannavaro reacted first and cleared long.
Chiellini stepped forward and headed the clearance into midfield.
Michael Johnson collected the ball roughly forty yards from goal.
He took two touches.
Nobody closed him quickly enough.
So he shot.
The strike flew through the air with almost no warning.
Hildebrand reacted late.
He stretched at full reach.
The ball passed beyond his fingertips and crashed into the net.
2-1.
New Manchester United came alive.
Chelsea immediately dropped deeper.
Ancelotti reorganised again.
In the eighty-first minute, Crespo was withdrawn and Damien Duff came on, giving Chelsea pace for counter-attacks while allowing the rest of the side to defend closer to their own penalty area.
The final minutes were intense.
New Manchester United pushed.
Chelsea protected the box.
Both sides created half-chances.
None became a goal.
The match ended 2-1.
Chelsea had won the Community Shield.
Their players celebrated properly.
For them, this was more than a summer friendly.
The medal ceremony reflected it.
New Manchester United collected their runners-up medals first.
Then Chelsea stepped onto the podium.
Frank Lampard lifted the shield.
The celebrations were loud.
Afterwards, Lampard spoke openly about what the victory meant.
"We're delighted," he said. "It's been too long since we've beaten them."
"They're one of the strongest teams in Europe, so beating them gives us confidence."
"For two clubs that expect to challenge for the title, starting well matters."
"We're the ones with the trophy today, and we're very happy about that."
His teammates shared the feeling.
Chelsea had spent two seasons living under the impression that New Manchester United somehow possessed a psychological advantage over them.
This victory felt like a chance to break it.
Mourinho treated the defeat rather differently.
He looked almost amused when reporters asked whether he was disappointed.
"We knew this could happen," he said.
"We've just come through a demanding tour and several difficult matches."
"Some of my players are still recovering physically."
"Chelsea prepared specifically for this game. We didn't."
He paused.
"They needed it more."
The journalists immediately recognised the tone.
Mourinho had lost.
He was still finding a way to irritate Chelsea.
One reporter asked whether he was disrespecting the Community Shield.
"No."
Mourinho shook his head.
"I respect it."
"But managers have to choose priorities."
"If you ask me whether I would rather win the Community Shield or take three points from Manchester City next week, there is no decision to make."
"Three points."
Another reporter leaned forward.
"So you're confident against Manchester City?"
Mourinho's expression changed.
This time there was no smile.
"Yes."
"Very."
He looked directly towards the cameras.
"I have already marked that match down as three points."
A few journalists laughed.
Mourinho did not.
"We are away from home. It doesn't matter."
"Those three points are ours."
That quote travelled instantly.
Van Gaal would hear it before the evening was over.
Then came the inevitable question about Fàbregas.
Several newspapers had rated the Spaniard as New Manchester United's worst performer.
Mourinho refused to accept the premise.
"Poor?"
"No."
"He didn't play at his best. That is different."
"He has just finished a World Youth Championship, flown to the United States, joined us late, travelled again and then played against one of the strongest midfields in Europe."
"He's tired."
"He's also eighteen."
Mourinho looked irritated now.
"Give him a little time."
"You'll see the same exceptional midfielder again."
Most people took the manager's comments about Manchester City as typical Mourinho bravado.
Van Gaal certainly did.
He had heard promises before.
And he had beaten Mourinho before.
The opening weekend was approaching.
This time, both men believed they knew exactly what was coming.
(To be continued.)
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◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)