Chapter 384: Light the fire first
Gao Youjun initially thought he was a lucky man, but now he doesn't think so.
When he accidentally went to interview Hu Lai and heard the news, he thought he had dug up a great news. If this matter was revealed, it would definitely detonate Lingnan football.
At that time, he was completely dazed at the scene.
It wasn't until he returned to the club that he calmed down again.
The revelations in Hu Lai's mouth were very serious accusations for Sun He.
As the saying goes, you can eat indiscriminately, but you can't talk indiscriminately.
Hu Lai has spoken out. If he is exposed again, the blame will be placed on Hu Lai and Gao Youjun.
As the youth training director of Poseidon Club, although Sun He rarely appears in the news, he is still the number one figure in the Lingnan football circle.
Those with social status and connections.
If I reveal this information so hastily, will I offend some people?
That's absolutely certain.
If this is true, it's easy to say.
But if it’s not true and it’s just Hu Lai’s words of praise, then Hu Lai might at best apologize, and he won’t be able to survive in the Lingnan football circle at all...
After all, he offended the youth training director of a Chinese Super League club, and this youth training director was also the general manager of the club.
You must be cautious when dealing with this revelation.
Gao Youjun began to collect evidence.
To point the finger at Sun He, he always has to have some solid evidence.
But it's a pity that he searched the Internet, and no matter what keywords he changed, he couldn't find what Hu Lai said.
Does this mean that Hu Lai is talking nonsense?
Gao Youjun didn't want to think so.
Because although he didn't find anything about the relationship between Sun He and Hu Lai, he knew that since Sun He took office, he would hear some complaints about the Poseidon Club's youth training from time to time.
Some good people even compared the results of Zhao Kangming's Poseidon and Sun He's Poseidon youth training results, and concluded that Sun He's youth training level was far inferior to Zhao Kangming.
There is a rumor on the Internet that Sun He's performance when working at Quanshun Football School was not very good. He, a coach who was not wanted by Quanshun Football School, was able to suddenly become the youth training director of Poseidon Club, a prestigious Chinese Super League team. There must be something behind it. Something fishy!
Although many things here can be explained from another perspective. For example, the decline in the level of Poseidon Club's youth training is related to the club's adjustment of its youth training strategy. Sun He's responsibility here may not be large.
But if a person is always surrounded by criticism of one kind or another, it means that there is something wrong with him.
Based on this speculation, Gao Youjun felt that what Hu Lai said was not entirely fabricated.
He might want to make Poseidon Club disgusted and Sun He disgusted out of a desire to complain to his mentor.
But if this didn't happen at all, he dragged himself into the water just to vent his anger on his mentor. How stupid is this?
Based on his observation and understanding of Hu Lai, he felt that Hu Lai should not be such a stupid person.
Although there is no definite evidence about this on the Internet, Gao Youjun decided to look at this matter from a different angle.
To put it bluntly, isn't it because Sun He forced Hu Lai away after joining the Poseidon Youth Training Camp?
So whether he said those words to Hu Lai is not the point. The point is whether he really drove away Hu Lai.
Gao Youjun felt that he could save the country in a roundabout way, so he made insidious inquiries.
Anyway, he also has friends and "informants" in the Poseidon Club. Can't he just ask?
Thinking of this, he found a name in his address book and dialed it.
"Old Huang, I want to ask you something... You know Hu Lai, you know Sun He too, then you know..."
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"Hu Lai, why didn't you say to that reporter, 'Ask about suicide again'?"
After staying in the hotel, everyone took a short rest and then took the bus to Nanshan Stadium, the home stadium of the Poseidon team, for field adaptation training.
In the car, Wang Guangwei asked Hu Lai this question.
"Then the reporter didn't continue to ask me, why should I say 'ask about suicide again'?" Hu Lai spread his hands.
"Hu Lai, you are so insidious. You specifically picked this time before the start of the game to bring this matter up. You are afraid that the other party is not chaotic enough..." Chen Xingyi in front knelt on the seat and leaned on the back of the seat. Speak to Hulay.
"Why am I so sinister? No one has asked about this before. Do I have to spread the word myself? Doesn't that make me just like the resentful woman who was dumped by Brother Huan?"
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Zhang Qinghuan, who was sitting next to Chen Xingyi, turned around and glared at Hu Lai: "Damn Hu Lai, just say what you say and don't involve me!"
"Metaphor, Brother Huan, it's just a metaphor, a rhetorical device, do you understand?" Hu Lai waved his hand nonchalantly.
No one present was surprised by Hu Lai's past story, because they all knew it. Hu Lai had already told his teammates about this when he explained to his teammates why he came to Flash Star from Poseidon.
So no one made a fuss.
"I don't think things are that easy. Hu Lai, do you have any evidence to prove that Sun He said that to you?"
"I didn't know. I didn't know he would say that at the time, and there was no recording. But he said it in front of everyone in the youth team after training. I don't think I was the only one who heard it, right?" Hu Len shook his head.
"Then why hasn't anyone come forward to say anything yet?"
"No one asked...I'm living a good life in Flash Star now, so they don't think it's necessary to talk about the bad things in the past anymore, right?" Hu Lai guessed.
"Then there is no evidence for what you said, so how can the media expose it?"
"I can't control that. If the media wants to stir up trouble, then of course they have to find evidence themselves. If I even give them the conversation recording, they might think that I deliberately framed Sun He." Hu Lai shook his head. I don't really care about this.
To him, it was just a casual mention. It would be great if he could successfully disgust Sun He. If not... wouldn't there be a game?
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Gao Youjun put down the phone.
Although he did not get direct evidence of the conversation between Hu Lai and Sun He, he did obtain the records of the youth team games since Hu Lai joined the Poseidon Youth Team.
This thing is not considered confidential. It stands to reason that if Chinese football was more professional in data statistics, this thing should be easily found on various statistics websites or Poseidon Club's own website.
However, because of Chinese football's backward awareness of data management, ordinary youth team game data can only be shelved in the club's database and rarely known.
He discovered one thing by looking through these game records - when Zhao Kangming was still the youth training director of Poseidon, Hu Lai's playing time in the youth team was considered normal.
When he first came to the Poseidon Youth Team, he didn't even get a minute of youth team playing time. This is normal, because he has just transformed from a student player to a player in the professional football club echelon. He is not familiar with the team and his training is not on track yet. Naturally, he does not have the qualifications and ability to represent the youth team.
But as he spent more and more time in the Poseidon youth team, he also began to gradually play in the youth team.
Of course, he did not suddenly become the main player of the Poseidon youth team, but oscillated back and forth between substitute and marginal player.
As time went by, his playing time in the Poseidon youth team also increased little by little.
His performance is getting better and better.
Hu Lai's highlight performance in the youth team was in December 2021. In this month, the Poseidon Youth Team played three games. Hu Lai started two of these three games and came on as a substitute in one game. He scored in all three games. , in which he scored twice in the last game.
Ending his first season in the Poseidon youth team with such a strong performance.
According to Gao Youjun's understanding, Hu Lai's performance is enough for him to play more games in the youth team in the new season, right?
But no.
Poseidon Club began to have conflicts between Zhao Kangming and the club's general manager Zhang Qiang in January 2022. In mid-February, Zhao Kangming resigned and left the club, and then Sun He became the club's new youth training director.
Gao Youjun noticed that since Sun He became the director of youth training, Hu Lai has never been selected for the game lineup. He never played a single minute for Poseidon's youth team until he left the club in mid-season.
What do you mean by coincidence?
After Zhao Kangming resigned and before Sun He came, Hu Lai still played for the Poseidon Youth Team.
But as soon as Sun He came, his appearance record came to an abrupt end.
Gao Youjun also further noticed that Chen Mo, then the head coach of the Poseidon Youth Team, resigned at that time.
Gao Youjun did not know whether Sun He told Hu Lai that he had no future in the Poseidon youth team.
But he knew that after Sun He came, Hu Lai couldn't play in the youth team. There must be a problem and a reason.
Hu Lai was not injured, so it is impossible to miss half the season due to injury.
His previous outstanding performance is unlikely to be due to insufficient strength to get a chance to play.
The youth team players did not have a minute of playing time during the ball-increasing stage. I believe anyone who knows a little bit about football knows what this move means.
So even though there is no other evidence, Gao Youjun is inclined to believe Hu Lai's words.
Thinking of this, he stood up from his seat, took the information he had compiled in his hand, and walked towards the editor-in-chief's office.
As a young reporter, he was not qualified to decide whether to publish this kind of news involving the management of a local Chinese Super League club in Lingnan City.
And even if something happened, wouldn't the editor-in-chief be there to help him?
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In the editor-in-chief's office, Gao Youjun placed all the ins and outs and information about this matter on the editor-in-chief's desk.
After the editor-in-chief read it, he was silent for a few seconds and asked: "How confident is your analysis...?"
Gao Youjun said very conservatively: "Well, I don't know, boss. I just made logical deductions based on the information I know, and finally came to the conclusion that Hu Lai's original transfer was likely to be related to Sun He There is a great relationship.”
He had already decided in his heart that if the editor-in-chief did not agree to publish it, he would not publish it yet.
Then I continue to look for information, but at most I can't keep up with the popularity of this Football Association Cup semi-final. But he believes that if this matter is verified by him, then it will be exposed, and it will still cause a small sensation in the Lingnan football circle without the need for a FA Cup semi-final.
"Well... I suggest that when you do this, don't use affirmative sentences, use interrogative sentences, and don't jump to conclusions. Just lay out what you have now, and then give your reasonable inferences. Don't give conclusions. See People will naturally come to their own conclusions." The editor knocked on the table.
Gao Youjun's eyes lit up: "It's so high, boss! It's so high!"
The editor-in-chief did not accept his advice, but asked him again: "When do you plan to publish it?"
"Originally, I wanted to compile it and make it into a video tonight, and post it to our Douyin headline account, as well as public accounts, official Weibo, etc..." Gao Youjun said, "But I also thought that I would be half with Flash Star soon. It’s the finals, I’m afraid posting these things will affect Poseidon’s preparations...”
"You kid didn't tell the truth." The old editor smiled and pointed at Gao Youjun. "Do you think Poseidon will affect the performance of the game because of this news? You are thinking too much. What does those things in the youth training have to do with the first team? Can Sun He affect the performance of the first team? Of course, it is not ruled out that Poseidon team loses I used this as an excuse after the game...but I think the possibility of using this as an excuse whether the Poseidon team lost is too low.”
After speaking, the editor threw the thing back to Gao Youjun: "I'll post it tonight. In addition, you can write a detailed report and we will publish it in the evening paper tomorrow morning."
Hearing that his report could be published in the "Lingnan Evening News", Gao Youjun was a little unbelievable. He was just a small reporter in the new media department. He didn't even dare to think about the Evening News...
Although the Evening News is not as influential as the New Media Department now, the meaning is completely different. Being on the Evening News means that the editor-in-chief supports and affirms him!
"Of course, don't think that it's over when you see the report. You have to continue to investigate and find out this matter clearly, and we will report it when the time comes. So don't think that everything will be fine at this point. Don't give up halfway and let it go in the end." The editor was very happy. said seriously.
Gao Youjun felt a sense of responsibility. He remembered that he originally wanted to be an investigative reporter, and now he has found that feeling. So he patted his chest and assured the editor: "Don't worry, boss, I promise to take care of this matter." Check it out!”
"Okay, go ahead." The editor waved his hand.
Gao Youjun turned around and walked out of the editor's office with brisk steps.
He felt as if he was about to do something big.
Of course, before continuing the investigation, he must first release the results of his preliminary work tonight, light the fire first, and then continue to look for firewood to make the fire more prosperous.
Back at his workstation, he spent more than half an hour completing the short video and clicked to upload and publish it.
Then he put his phone aside and continued to search for all possible clues on the Internet. (End of chapter)