Ted tries to hide his distress over his impending divorce, but Beard and Nate immediately notice that he is struggling. Rebecca informs Ted that Manchester City have asked about terminating Jamie's loan, but Ted tells her to let them know that he is not planning to bench Jamie. Jamie attempts a power play against Ted by refusing to practice, claiming to be injured. The plan backfires as Ted finally loses his temper with Jamie, angrily lecturing him in front of the rest of the team and destroying any influence Jamie still had over them. Ted, Beard, and Nate plan to whip Jamie into shape by filling his striker spot with a new player, Dani Rojas, who joined the team at the start of the season but has been out with an injury ever since. To everyone's surprise and delight, Dani turns out to be every bit as talented as Jamie, with the added bonus of being much friendlier and more supportive of his teammates. Meanwhile, Keeley alerts Rebecca that Rupert is now dating Bex, the young woman he left the charity gala with.
After training, Jamie practices bouncing the ball off the goalposts. Dani joins him in the exercise and cheers him on as the two get into a friendly competition; Jamie loses, but is nevertheless begrudgingly won over by Dani's kindness and positivity. As Dani practices by himself later, however, he trips over nothing and re-injures his knee. Nate claims that this happened because Dani went into the treatment room before training that day, and according to team superstition, the training room is cursed. Ted gathers the team, minus Jamie, at The Crown and Anchor, where Mae and Higgins tell them the history of the training room: in 1914, hundreds of young men were convinced to enlist in the army after being lured to Nelson Road Stadium by the promise of open tryouts for AFC Richmond. After enlisting, their physical exams were performed in the stadium's treatment room. Most of the men who enlisted that day were killed in the war. Ted tells the team that they need to honor those men's sacrifice by each giving up something that they truly value, and that they will gather in the treatment room at midnight to perform the sacrifice. Jamie, having been filled in on the plan, tells Keeley about it and claims that he's not going to participate. Keeley tells him that he needs to stop fighting the people who want to help him. Sam invites Rebecca to the sacrifice, telling her that she is part of the team and the ceremony won't work unless the whole team is there. Rebecca acquiesces.
At midnight, the team gathers in the treatment room along with Ted, Beard, Nate, Higgins, and Rebecca, but without Jamie. Everyone steps forward and explains their sacrifice before placing it in a metal drum to be burned. Jamie arrives at the end of the ceremony and says that he would like to make a sacrifice, too: a pair of cleats given to him by his mother, who cared more about him being a good person than a good footballer. He confesses that he developed his tough, egotistical attitude because his father would mock him for being "soft" if he didn't aggressively dominate as an athlete. The team brings the drum full of sacrifices out onto the pitch to be burned, where Ted asks the spirits for a sign that the curse has been lifted. He is answered by the arrival of Dani, whose injury proved to be mild and will not prevent him from playing. Ted reveals to Rebecca that he actually knew that Dani was fine hours ago, but Higgins suggested waiting until after the ceremony to tell the players; Rebecca is annoyed at Higgins for supporting the team when he's supposed to be helping her undermine them. The entire team, finally united, celebrates together around the fire, but Rebecca declines to join them and leaves alone.
In the morning, Ted arrives at work overjoyed at having finally brought the team together, only to be informed by Beard that Jamie is gone. Ted angrily confronts Rebecca, who claims that Man City recalled Jamie and she was powerless to stop them. Despondent at having lost Jamie just after getting through to him, Ted returns to his office, where Dani comfortingly reminds him that "football is life."
This episode premiered on September 4, 2020.
This episode provides examples of:
- Auto Erotica: It's mentioned that Keeley and Jamie used to have sex quite often in his car.
- Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: Ted's son Henry employs this sort of language when he throws a tantrum, and Ted threatens to copy him if the Richmond team doesn't stop speaking cryptically around him.
- Blatant Lies: Roy doesn't believe that the training room is cursed, and he certainly isn't afraid of any spirits that reside there. Not that he's going to go inside the training room.
- Jamie's not fooling anyone when he says he's hurt and has to miss practice, least of all Ted.
- Call-Back: Higgins adds his cat's collar to the bin; she finally died.
- Didn't Think This Through: During the bonfire ritual to get rid of the ghosts in the treatment room, Colin decides to give up the keys to his Lamborghini—as in, the car he drives to work. A baffled Coach Beard asks Colin how he's going to get home, and the look on Colin's face clearly shows he hadn't thought that far ahead.
- Disapproving Look: Rebecca's face when Richard emotionally offers his supermodel sex sand to the sacrifice pile speaks volumes. Given the fact that she was married to a football official that constantly cheated on her with models, it's understandable.
- Dutch Angle: Used when Ted finally loses his temper at Jamie, both to illustrate how disconcerting it is to see Ted angry and to make Ted loom over Jamie.
- Establishing Character Moment: Dani Rojas comes running onto the field enthusiastically chanting his own name, high fives all of the other players, thanks the coaches for the opportunity to play and follows their instructions without hesitation, expertly dribbles, passes, and moves on the pitch before scoring a goal, and celebrates his goal by complimenting Sam on the excellent set up pass he made. This shows that he's a threat to Jamie because he's The Pollyanna and just as talented.
- Gilligan Cut: Ted, Beard, and Nate worry that latecomer Dani Rojas will be overwhelmed joining the team. Cut to Dani sprinting onto the field, chanting his own name and thrilled beyond belief to be there.
- Handwave: When Ted asks how he's only now learning that the team's treatment room is supposedly cursed after weeks of coaching the club, Sam says it's because everyone is embarrassed to admit that they believe in such superstitions.
- Haunted Headquarters: The club's treatment room is considered cursed, so players do their best to avoid going inside. Ted eventually leads a ceremony to rid it of bad spirits.
- Heel Realization: Rebecca has a small one when Sam appeals to her, saying the de-haunting will only work if the whole team is there and "it's your team".
- Instantly Proven Wrong: When Dani enthusiastically greets his new teammates, Jamie dismissively says that "chipper dickheads" like Dani don't have any real talent on the pitch. The very next scene shows that despite his overly upbeat attitude, Dani is definitely a talented player.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When the other players start snickering as Roy recounts how scared he was about joining the Sunderland academy, Roy angrily reminds them he was nine years old when this happened and it's normal behavior for someone that age.
- Mood Whiplash: Ted finally got through to Jamie and then he is told that Jamie left for Manchester City.
- Not So Above It All: Despite claiming he doesn't believe in curses, Roy refuses to enter the haunted training room when Ted asks him to accompany him.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ted snaps and shouts at Jamie when the latter tries to get out of training with the rest of the team by claiming to be injured, which is very jarring considering the supportive and fatherly approach Ted normally takes towards coaching. It's like seeing a puppy brutalize a kitten.
- Prized Possession Giveaway: For the curse to get lifted, Ted has each team member incinerate an item with deep personal meaning. It becomes obvious that everyone interpreted the assignment differently, and the offerings range from prized childhood memorabilia to car foofaraw and women's panties.
- Rage-Breaking Point: Happens to Ted twice:
- After the events of episode 5 (Jamie is benched and Ted and his wife agree to divorce) Jamie claims he cannot practice because he is injured. Ted becomes visibly angry for the first time ever on the show, to the shock of everyone.
- When Ted learns that Rebecca got rid of Jamie after Ted finally got through to him, he is absolutely furious and struggles to stop himself from berating her.
- Security Blanket: Roy's offering to the sacrifice pyre is a blanket he brought with him when his early football career first brought him away from his family.
- Shout-Out: Ted's "practice" rant towards Jamie is taken from a famous press conference by Allen Iverson. For those familiar with Iverson's conference, it serves to make Jamie look even more childish: Iverson was dismissive of practice (and furious at the reporters who kept asking him about it) because of the recent passing of his best friend, while Jamie was simply because he got benched in their previous game. Iverson missed because of something more important than practice, while Jamie was doing so because he thought he was better than Ted/the team.
- Superstition Episode: The episode revolves around the team lifting a curse from the stadium's treatment room.
- Take That!:
- While trying to inspire the team that they can end the treatment room curse as Martin Scorsese ended his losing streak at the Oscars, Ted gets off track and notes that The Departed is far from the director's best work.
- During his conversation with Rebecca, Sam praises J. K. Rowling for becoming wealthy through her creations that she gave to the world, unlike Queen Elizabeth who is only wealthy because she was born into the royal family.
- Tragic Keepsake: The Security Blanket Roy offers for the sacrifice pyre was given to him by his grandfather as a way to comfort him while he was away from their family attending the Sunderland academy. It wound up being the last gift Roy ever received from him as his grandfather died before he could return home during break.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Ted seems to have finally gotten through to Jamie, only for Jamie to suddenly be recalled back to Manchester City.
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