“What happens is that it takes so much work and so much time to build confidence, and you can lose confidence so quickly,” Vermes said. “And so when we weren’t getting the results, and the guys were feeling the pressure, I kept telling them, ‘Look, I’m here to tell you: You’re going to be fine, I believe in you guys.’

“It got to a point where I know I believed in them a lot more than they believed in themselves … But I truly did. Sometimes, it just takes a little time. And I know in this business not everybody wants to give you time. But that’s what it took.”

It also took a little something else mixed in.

“I think Peter changed last year,” Sporting star Daniel Salloi said, later adding, “I think he knows how to get to people. But what’s difficult is maybe you have a team for many years that responds differently than other teams, especially in today’s world.

“He comes from when he was a player; it was completely different how you triggered players than it is now.”

But Vermes, he said, had the “intelligence and knowledge to recognize he needs to evolve in that as well. And I think that last year was a perfect example. He kind of, like, took a step back but also controlled us in a good way. And it worked with us.”

Vermes will tell you that over the last several years he has put a premium on trying to understand how his players, from so many different cultures and backgrounds, are wired and motivated differently. And that adjusting to that is crucial to bringing out the best in them.

He’s also trying to get out of the business end of the operation, noting there is an ongoing search for a sporting director. He pointed to changing preseason training to “set a different tone,” presumably alluding to being more tactics-focused with a healthier team.

Meanwhile, though, he’s still a resolute leader — a trait burnished all the more after a season that ultimately had to be not just among his most challenging but most fulfilling and inspiring.

Along the way, longtime Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia said, he came to see that Vermes has even more resolve than he already thought he did.

“Last year was an incredibly difficult season for everyone, for him probably the most out of all of us,” Melia said. “But to stand up in very, very bad team moments and still show a willingness to kind of believe in us, I thought was impressive. …

“Not a lot of people probably would have done that in that scenario.”

But Vermes isn’t like a lot of people.

He’s a rarity to be appreciated — all the more after being so doubted last season.

“He saw the long game …” Russell said. “(And) I think we showed that we still had his back. We still wanted to play for him. And that remains the same. Nothing’s changed.”

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