champion professor

Chapter 123 Christmas Eve
Of course, Shao Bo did not put all his property in the foundation.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket", this is the eternal truth.

Although the foundation has been established, the assistance to China's impoverished mountainous areas cannot be completed overnight.

"Arsenal Love Primary School", Shao Bo has already thought of the name after the completion of the project.When David Dane learned that Shao Bo was going to use his own money to repay the motherland, he made a promise to inject money into Shao Bo's charity foundation and contribute to China's public welfare.

"Beagooner, Beagiver (be a gunner, be a devotee)", this is an Arsenal charity principle that has been pursued for many years.

Just in time, this can also expand Arsenal's influence and improve the club's image.

Or hand it all over to Thomas, who will choose and set up a professional team to operate independently.Shao Bo is really worried about the organization that can make a beautiful incident.

The Champions League is waiting for the draw for the quarter-finals, and the league is temporarily behind Manchester United.Arsenal can't forget the two traditional domestic cups.

As the country of origin of modern football, England insists on setting up a League Cup in a special way.There are not many bonuses and low gold content, which is tasteless for the top teams in the league like Arsenal and Manchester United.

However, for those small and medium clubs that can only be in the lower reaches of the league food chain.This is also a rare opportunity for them to play against strong teams, and the TV broadcast fees they get may account for a large part of the current year's budget.

Moreover, the championship of the Super League has always been monopolized by several strong teams.The League Cup is a hotbed of unpopularity, and the major giants have a shameful record of losing to low-level teams.

In the 95-96 season, Manchester United lost to York City in the third tier; in the 89-90 season, Chelsea lost to Skarpov, a team in the fourth tier that had just been established for two years; in the same year, Arsenal lost to The third-tier team, Oldham, stopped in the round of 2.

Moreover, just because the championship of the Premier League is monopolized by a few strong teams, the mid-level clubs that missed the league championship had to work hard to win the League Cup to fill the honor room.

The cup competition is almost the only channel for small and medium teams to enter the European arena, because UEFA allocates the qualifications for the European competition according to the ranking.What is the domestic standard, as long as it is approved by UEFA.

In order to increase the attractiveness of the League Cup, the FA chose the clause that the winner of the League Cup can participate in the European war.Compared with other countries, the qualifications for the European war are allocated to the top few top leagues.

This approach of the FA has enhanced the appeal of the League Cup on the one hand.On the other hand, due to the participation of many low-level clubs, the competitiveness of England in the UEFA Cup has been weakened in disguise.In addition, the competitiveness of the UEFA Cup has also become smaller, and it has attracted less attention from people.

Therefore, the FA later reformed the UEFA Cup. If the UEFA Cup champion has already qualified for the European war, then this place will be automatically allocated to the top league teams in the order.

Of course, for small and medium teams, the League Cup is still an option they cannot give up.

Moreover, although Arsenal won the League Cup once in 1993, Shao Bo has not won the championship of this competition.

Not only because of the hobby of collecting, but also to prove one's own strength.It is impossible for Shao Bo to give up the League Cup when the existing players are sufficient to meet the requirements of the competition.

Fortunately, along the way, many small and medium-sized clubs have been swept by Arsenal with absolute strength.And before Christmas, they met their first opponent who could be called a formidable enemy.

City side from West London, Fulham.

In recent years, in the ten battles between Arsenal and Fulham, 6 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss occupy an absolute advantage.However, how many people remember that these two clubs once belonged to one person, and the two teams almost encountered a merger crisis?
Fulham, which was established earlier than Arsenal, has never had any decent championships. As the earliest club in London, they were far behind by Arsenal, Chelsea and even Tottenham.

In 1975, they reached the FA Cup final, and they were runners-up in the Europa League in the 2009-10 season. This is already their full honor.

The only thing Shao Bo remembers is that this underdog in the Premier League, upset the defending champion Shakhtar Donetsk, reversed Juventus, even defeated the top two Bundesliga Wolfsburg and Hamburg, and reached the final.It's a pity that in the final, Atletico Madrid was beaten 2-1 in overtime and lost the first European championship in club history. .

Of course, the other Group B championships were not put in Shao Bo's eyes at all.

Moreover, the current Fulham still has not been promoted to the Premier League.As a second-tier league team, what makes Shao Bo sigh is their relationship with Arsenal.

In 1910, Arsenal were relegated from League One, and Sir Norris, then chairman of League Two Fulham, bought Arsenal.And he proposed to the FA to merge the two suburban London teams, but this proposal was not passed at the time.

So from then on, Norris began to take charge of the two English League Two teams, Arsenal and Fulham. Therefore, the London suburban derby between the two teams became an out-and-out gang civil war.

Of course, in the second year, when Sir Norris moved Arsenal to North London, which had more "money prospects", Arsenal had another enemy like Tottenham Hotspur.

It was not until Norris gradually discovered that Arsenal was more promising that he devoted his main energy to the construction of the arsenal, and later made an indelible contribution to the continuous growth and development of Arsenal.

Thank Sir Norris, otherwise Arsenal may become a dispensable small club in east London like Millwall and West Ham United.

Stand firm and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

Fulham and Arsenal chose the same tactics, but even the best tactics must have corresponding strength.

Otherwise, no matter how good the tactics are for the 11 elementary school students, they will not be able to win against the chaotic national football team—maybe they can really win?It's been a bit of a mess anyway.

At least, facing a lower-level opponent, Arsenal still won. The schedule in December is tight, and the rotation of the players is rested.According to the old rules, many players who usually don't have much chance to play have entered the starting list.

In order to get the favor of the head coach and to show themselves in the short playing time, every player played very hard.

Although the combination of Hyypia and Rio Ferdinand always made various mistakes, Shao Bo was not afraid. Relying on the strong firepower in the frontcourt, Arsenal still suppressed Fulham's offense

4:3, Arsenal had a thrilling victory over their opponents.After the game, the media criticized Shao Bo's bold practice of letting newcomers go.

Arsenal's defense line is all starting with rookies and teenagers.Although they have also had the experience of facing the enemy with their senior partners in the previous few League Cup games.

However, the starting strategy of newcomers is still too radical and too risky.Not to mention anything else, the goalkeeper of the League Cup has always been the teenager Manninger from Austria. How can this reassure the fans?

Could it be that there is some conflict between Shao Bo and David Seaman?Judging from the starting list of the league and the European war, David Seaman has always firmly maintained the position of the No. [-] goalkeeper.There has never been any news in Arsenal's dressing room, and the contradiction is pure nonsense.

Before, Manninger was not without experience in starting the League Cup.It's just that the three conceded goals this time did reflect the problems exposed by Arsenal's new generation of defense.

Shao Bo didn't care about these things, he won the game anyway, so why talk so much?In turn, he has to comfort his players, not to be depressed by the casual words of the media and make them feel out of shape.

"You are still in the stage of learning and adapting. It's okay. In the future, I am very optimistic about you replacing Adams and the others."

Although he knew that he was bought by Arsenal, it was just as a backup for the five veterans of the defense.But after hearing this sentence from Shao Bo's mouth, they also understood Shao Bo's expectations of them.

Is it possible for me to reach the height of the five defensemen?
Now the only way is to train hard and live up to Shao Bo's expectations.

Around Christmas, according to tradition, fierce competition is indispensable.

Although there are many events at Christmas, players will also be given a few days off.It is said that the Premier League does not have a winter break, which is compared with other leagues that rest for half a month at every turn.

There is not much time, but it is enough to change the mood and travel to nearby places.However, that will have to wait until January 1998, 1.The ten-day gap is enough for Shao Bo to go back to China.

An old tradition, every year on Christmas Eve, the club holds a Christmas party.The meeting place changes every year. Last time they went to the Salgas Hotel full of Mediterranean style, this time it was a private club provided by Old Hill.

Nothing else, let’s not talk about the food here. Although the God of Cookery invited by Shao Bo is in Hong Kong, he cannot come to London to guide him in person.But the dishes for the Christmas banquet had already been prepared, and Shao Bo, who had heard the names of the dishes from the mouth of the God of Cookery in advance, was already twitching his index finger.For today's dinner, I didn't eat for a day.

Not to mention the exquisite decoration, the bustling location, and absolutely no disturbance from media reporters, it was not easy for Old Hill to rent this place on Christmas Eve.

Although Arsenal finally failed to win the half-time championship on Christmas Eve, it is not difficult to catch up with only one point away from Manchester United.

In his customary speech, Shao Bo reiterated that they vowed to win the league championship, suppress Manchester United, and win the goal of defending the league title.

In addition, neither the FA Cup nor the League Cup will be given up.

"We have the strength to hit the championship, why should we give up? What's more, the championship is fought out, and if you give up, you can't win the championship. If you can give up one, you can give up the second. In the past, we did not have absolute strength. Now we do not They are no worse than them, so why can't they challenge for the championship?..."

Finally, with two league games left this year, Shao Bo asked the players to cheer up and win the last two games to welcome the new year!
In 1998, they wanted to win more championships!

(End of this chapter)