Chapter 1149 The Mainstream Stage
Southfield Stadium, the home ground of London Bridge, is an "old stadium" with a long history.
It is called "old" because it has been exactly 150 years since this stadium was built. In the past 150 years, it has not changed its location. It is standing where it was originally built, witnessing the ups and downs of the London Bridge team for 120 years - yes, this stadium Older than London Bridge.
In fact, this stadium is a very modern "five-star stadium" with the best hardware and software facilities. Its appearance has also undergone earth-shaking changes from when it was first built 150 years ago.
From the original oval shape to today's square box.
Southfield Stadium is called this name because there was Southfield Park next to the stadium when it was built. Many English teams' home stadiums are directly named after the location of the stadium, or the names of nearby landmark buildings. Southfield Stadium is no exception.
Southfield Park is not a very famous place, it is just a small park nearby. Now it has been lost in the long river of history and does not exist at all. But the London Bridge club was founded in this park - a group of young people who often played football on the lawns of Southfield Park eventually established the London Bridge Football Club here because of a common goal.
When the club was founded, Southfield Stadium existed, but it was not called a stadium at first, but a sports ground. Because this oval sports ground serves all nearby sports clubs, football is just one of the sports.
After the establishment of London Bridge, they could only continue to train and play on the lawn of Southfield Park.
Later, as more and more people came to watch their games, the nearby Southfield Stadium also extended an olive branch to them, inviting the team to settle in the stadium.
Later, the ownership of Southfield Stadium changed hands, and the new owner decided to transform the stadium into a complete football stadium.
London Bridge became the only user of the new stadium.
And so it continues to this day.
Southfield Stadium has become a mecca for London Bridge fans.
On every home game day, the 45,000 seats in this blue-and-white stadium are packed with people.
Southfield Park has been lost to the development of the city, so London Bridge fans regard this stadium as the "birthplace" of London Bridge Club. After all, it inherits the same name from that park.
Since Leeds City was promoted to the Premier League, they have visited here four times but have not won - three losses and one draw.
Even if they succeeded in winning the championship last season, they could only draw with London Bridge 1:1 at this stadium.
So this is not an easy away game.
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"The media always likes to hype these boring topics, trying to find out from a pile of ordinary information the material that can create gimmicks for them..." Eric Duffy, general manager of Leeds City Club, stood at Southfield Stadium. In the stands, he looked down at the players and coaches who were adapting to the field, and at the same time said to the team's football director Nevin Ball and commercial director Harry Bradley beside him.
The team reached the Europa League semi-finals, and the club took it very seriously, so even if it was just a training session, the senior management followed the team to the stadium to show their firm support.
"To put it this way, in BIG6 we have not yet conquered the home stadium of Warship Port and Manchester Athletic...then we are bound to lose if we play them away? Leeds City has only been promoted to the Premier League for four seasons, and its historical accumulation is certainly not as good as Other teams..." Duffy shrugged and did not continue the topic.
In fact, he suddenly felt emotional just after he stepped into the stands and saw the blue-and-white stadium.
He and the two club executives had serious business to discuss.
"The club will definitely try its best to keep Hu. But whether we can keep him or not, we should also know one thing clearly, that is, we may be able to keep him temporarily, but we cannot keep him forever."
When Duffy said this, his eyes followed Hu Lai on the field, who was conducting simple offensive training with his teammates.
Behind him, Bradley and Ball looked at each other and both agreed with the general manager's statement.
With the momentum Hulay is showing now, it is almost impossible for Leeds City to keep him forever. Even if the club signed a new four-year contract with him last summer, at most it can only guarantee that he will not be able to leave during these four years.
But players can seek to leave by not renewing their contracts.
When there is only one year left in the contract, Leeds City Club will have to face this eternal problem: should they sell Hu Lai while he can still afford it? Or let the contract expire and let Hu Lai leave for free?
So instead of waiting until that time to answer the multiple-choice question, it is better to try to sell it at a sky-high price to maximize the club's interests.
This is the inevitable result of looking at this matter from a management perspective.
They will not try to keep Hu Lai forever, because they know that it is not in the best interests of the club.
"Although we can't keep him forever, I believe everyone has benefited a lot from him in the past two years... Backed by the world's largest market, our financial situation is much better now..."
Commercial Director Harry Bradley nodded and said, "That's right. The enthusiasm of Chinese companies for sponsoring us surprised me... Their passion for football is like finally finding an outlet."
"So... I think the club should continue this strategy. Even if Hu Lai is leaving, we should look for an outstanding player in China to replace him. We can't always have Hu Lai, but we can always have the Chinese market. "After Du Fei finished speaking, he turned around and looked at his two right-hand men, as if asking for their opinions.
The two people had no objection: "Of course, of course. It should be so."
It's not that they want to suck up to the club's general manager, in fact they don't need to. They just think what the general manager said is right.
There is only one Hu Lai, but there are many Chinese players.
And don’t worry that the latecomers won’t be able to reach Hu Lai’s height... because they can’t reach it in the first place, and no one would expect the latecomers to be like Hu Lai.
Hu Lai has already made history in Leeds City. Do they still expect them to create a new history by poaching a player from China?
What virtue can Leeds City have?
As long as he can meet the requirements of the coaching staff, even if his ability is far inferior to Hu Lai, Leeds City can sign such a Chinese player.
If it can be guaranteed that Leeds City will have Chinese players playing for them, then they will not lose the Chinese market that they have fought so hard to win.
Although Leeds City is not the only European club with Chinese players now. But Leeds City has an advantage, that is, they are the first team to have Chinese players and have already cultivated a group of fans in the Chinese market who watch Leeds City games. These fans are motivated by emotional factors. Even if there is no Hu Lai, as long as there are other Chinese players, they can still attract the attention of Chinese fans and give so many Chinese fans a carrier for their feelings.
"So I will ask our scouting team to continue to discover talented and gifted young players in China..." Duffy was interrupted before he could finish his words.
Because there was a burst of cheers on the court behind him.
When he looked back, he only saw Hu Lai getting up from the ground, and the players were cheering and applauding.
He was a little confused.
Director of Football Nevin Ball, who was still looking in the direction of the field, explained: "Hu just completed an overhead kick goal."
Du Fei suddenly understood, and then said happily: "It seems that Hu is in good condition!"
Then he sighed again.
Because he knows that Leeds City will never find a Chinese player as good as Hu Lai again.
This is like love. People always have to experience many emotions in this life. You will have many partners, but first love... there is only one.
For Leeds City, Hu Lai is their "first love" with Chinese players.
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After completing the training to adapt to the venue, the entire Leeds City team boarded the bus again and returned to their hotel.
On the way, Hulay turned on his mobile phone and wanted to pay attention to tonight's Champions League semi-finals-Kings of Madrid vs. Manchester United at home.
I just opened the mobile live broadcast software and the game is not over yet.
Hu Lai glanced at the real-time score in the upper left corner of the screen.
I was surprised to find that the score was "1:3".
The Madrid Kings, playing at home, are two goals behind Atletico Manchester!
At the same time, boos filled the air at the Crown Stadium, home of the Kings of Madrid.
The voice of the British TV commentator was not so clear amid the boos:
"...There are still fifteen minutes left before the end of the game, but from the current scene, it is completely impossible to see how the Madrid King can counterattack... In this high-profile 'double showdown', Melli completely Suppressed by Kabangka! Kabangka asked the King for everything at the Crown Stadium. His flexible breakthrough and pleasing foot skills made the fans at the Crown Stadium wave their white handkerchiefs. It was unbelievable. I didn't expect Manchester United! You can actually perform like this in an away game! ”
"The Kings of Madrid lost their scoring weapons in this game. Cerrados was in a sluggish state. Although Melly worked hard, he was also heavily defended by Manchester Athletic defenders. Who would have thought that Manchester Athletic coach Gutierrez would They started a defensive counterattack... They scored three goals in three quick counterattacks, but their three-layer defense allowed the Kings of Madrid to only get one goal back through a corner kick..."
"Melli stole the show in the Champions League last season, but this season it was Kabangca. Cerrados's dismal performance in this game also proved that the era of the 'Four Kings' is indeed coming to an end. The young genius is rising and will become the brightest star shining in the night sky! ”
As the commentator said these words, the television broadcast cut to close-up shots of Cerrados, Melly and Cabangka respectively.
Cerrados was crestfallen, Melly looked pained, and Kabangka was high-spirited.
At the Crown Stadium, this scene seems to symbolize that the "crown" is being transferred from the heads of the older generation of players to the heads of young players represented by Kabangka.
This made Hu Lai feel very excited.
Sure enough, the Champions League is the mainstream stage for exchanges between truly top players, and both Kabangka and Meili have played leading roles on this stage.
And I am just a passing guest...
So no matter what, we must continue to participate in the Champions League next season! I also want to have fun on that big stage!
I also want to join the fight for the crown!
(End of chapter)