The genre of sports fiction has the capability to not only entertain the audience by telling an engaging story, but it can also function as a mirror on societal values, perceptions, and challenges. One of the most successful TV shows of the last five years that deals with the subject of football and coaching a team in the Premier League is the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso. The perception of the show was overwhelmingly positive, with the show winning multiple Emmy Awards (Television Academy, “Ted Lasso”). One of the main reasons for this success is the encouraging and positive attitude of the protagonist and manager of the fictional football club AFC Richmond, Ted Lasso, played by Jason Sudeikis. His co-star, Hannah Waddingham, describes the show …show more content…
Therefore, one of the most important problems Lasso has to fix is the team’s mentality. The first time Lasso talks to the players is in the locker room on the first day of his job. The locker room becomes the “most important room for culture”, with many pep talks given to the players and the “Believe” sign that hangs on the wall (Schwartz, “Leadership Lessons from Season One of Ted Lasso”). His work on team bonding continues from then on and can be seen in episode six, where the team comes together for the first time in the show. The players believe in ghosts and a curse, so Lasso uses this superstition as an occasion to get them to open up about themselves by forcing everyone to bring something personal to please the ghosts. By the end of the night, Rebecca Welton states that “that is a team united” (S1E6, 27:45-27:48), with the players singing together and identifying themselves with the club. Even though his approach is unusual, he gets the team to communicate and understand each other