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It’s extremely easy to see a “Cobra Kai”-style dynamic between Rupert and Cartrick, especially since the former has already used similar evil mentor tactics on Nate (Nick Mohammed), and seems to generally thrive on borderline supervillainy, billowing black coat and all. However, while Cartrick’s appearances in the show so far have depicted him as an unpleasant and bitter man with a host of personal issues, he’s still a highly qualified, professional top-level soccer coach. As such, reality ensues when Rupert tries to force Cartrick into deliberately hurting Jamie, and the coach promptly (and profanely) refuses to play dirty. This immediately leads to a physical altercation, and the crowd turns on Rupert, who has to exit the premises and the show in a brutal walk of shame while the crowd hurls insults at him.
“Ted Lasso” isn’t always the world’s most realistic show, but Rupert’s “sweep the leg” moment ending in utter failure is a fairly believable outcome. There’s no way a self-respecting Premier League coach would order his players to injure people, especially mere moments after the team’s Darth Vader of an owner storms at him and clearly gives him orders. Coaching jobs come and go, but even a far more immoral coach than Cartrick turns out to be would probably understand that those optics could easily destroy a man’s credibility for good.
