Coaching legend

"I want to say, you have done a great job! I am very proud of your performance! As long as you return to Blackburn, the championship bonus will be cashed immediately."

Williams promised the championship bonus to the exhausted players on the plane.

"Oh oh oh..." This is the guarantee that players are most willing to hear now. What do players play for? Not just for money.

Now that I have the honor, coupled with the bonus, it is the most perfect thing.

Blackburn is not stingy with money at all. Although it is not a Premier League giant, the size of the club is not as large as that of the Premier League. But I will never worry about money. When the results were good this season, almost all players completed a new contract with the club.

The salary is not as high as the Premier League salary, but it has almost doubled compared to the previous contract.

So after hearing Williams' assurance, all the players cheered loudly.

"George, congratulations." Williams is not very familiar with these players. In other words, Williams was still some distance away from them after all, so after guaranteeing the championship bonus, he sat next to George.

"Same joy. John, doesn't this UEFA Cup champion belong to our club?"

"Yes, it's from our club." Williams replied with a smile.

Blackburn Rovers have won the European Cup for the first time in their century-old history. Williams was also quite happy. The UEFA Cup is an honor that a team like Blackburn has never dreamed of.

Winning the UEFA Cup is a great thing for an ambitious club president like Williams.

Williams looked at George's young face and secretly made up his mind. George must be kept and cannot make the same mistake as Burnley.

As long as George is kept, there is hope. Now the UEFA Cup champion, who knows what honors George can bring to the club in the future.

"George, five years ago I thought Blackburn was going to have a big development." Williams suddenly sighed. George certainly knows that what Williams is talking about now is what happened after Blackburn won the Premier League championship in the 1994-95 season.

"Dalglish, one of Mr. Walker's wisest decisions. It's just Dalglish..." Williams was a little dissatisfied with Dalglish's retreat into the background after winning the championship. Dalglish was at the height of his powers at Blackburn Rovers, but was suddenly promoted to director of football. In fact, he just doesn't want to continue to be the head coach of the club.

After Dalglish, the head coaches invited by Blackburn are also extraordinary. Unfortunately, the club's performance plummeted.

In Williams' view, it is because of Blackburn's sudden rise that the foundation has not yet been laid. But after winning the championship, Dalglish immediately left the coaching position. Instead of helping Blackburn continue to lay a solid foundation, later problems occurred.

It's just that Dalglish is a meritorious coach of Blackburn, and Williams can't express his thoughts on his face.

"By the way, George. Do you have any ideas about the summer transfer?"

George led Blackburn to the League Cup. Williams received a call from Jack Walker in the VIP area. Jack Walker was very excited on the phone. Jack Walker has invested in Blackburn for almost ten years.

In ten years, Jack Walker invested more than 100 million pounds in the club. This includes money to buy players and investment in improving club facilities.

In previous years, Blackburn had only won one league title. Sudden rise and sudden decline. Spending so much money just for a league championship was definitely not what Jack Walker wanted.

Just two years after George took charge of Blackburn, he brought Jack Walker a League Cup championship.

Jack Walker was very happy and excited. What was vaguely revealed during the phone call was that George would not be stingy with money as long as he needed him this summer. Although it is impossible to spend 30 to 40 million pounds, it is still possible to spend 10 to 20 million pounds to support George.

That's why Williams asked George.

George also understood what Williams meant. George is very happy for the support of Jack Walker and Williams. But George shook his head.

"John, there won't be any major repairs. Our lineup is already quite stable now. As long as we maintain it for two or three years, we will be infinitely competitive in Europe." George is very satisfied with the current lineup. of.

George's main lineup is not very young. The oldest ones are Pires and Miku, but even they are only twenty-seven years old now. He is still in his peak period as a player, and there are still four or five years of his peak period to look forward to.

The other main players are all young players in their early twenties.

Blackburn's current squad is perfect. George had no intention of starting a war.

"But, John, you have to be aware of the player's salary issue." Although Blackburn had just renewed their contract on a large scale. But George knows that Blackburn's current salary is still low.

If Blackburn's results are average, of course there will be no problem. Blackburn's current player salary is an upper-middle-level salary structure in the Premier League.

But now Blackburn are doing great. Second place in the Premier League and Champion of the UEFA Cup, this is the performance of a strong Premier League team. However, Blackburn's current salary is far lower than that of Manchester United and Arsenal, and it is also worse than that of Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Newcastle.

So as Blackburn won the League Cup, George knew that Blackburn still needed to adjust its salary structure.

Williams nodded. Williams had already known this. The increase in player salaries must be consistent with Blackburn's performance. But now Blackburn's performance has improved rapidly, but the salary has not kept up.

But Williams was not embarrassed at all. As Blackburn's performance improved, Blackburn's income also increased. Increasing some salaries is no longer a problem.

…………

There were many fans who came to pick up the plane.

And there were nearly twenty media outlets among these fans. They were all waiting to interview Blackburn who won the League Cup.

All the players were tidying up their appearance. They were very tired all night. But when they thought about meeting the fans and the media, they became energetic.

"Colin, we will go down with the trophy later."

"Boss, I'm already very happy. There's no need to be like this." Hendry knew that this was George giving him face. In fact, this season's League Cup championship has nothing to do with Hendry.

"No, Colin. You are still the captain of the team."

"Thank you, boss."

After the plane left the runway and stopped on the tarmac, reporters and welcoming fans swarmed in. Blackburn fans were so enthusiastic that more than 700 fans came to pick them up. This gave the police who were responsible for maintaining order a headache, and they had to transfer police from various places to take charge of the order on the scene. They tried their best to separate these fans behind the safety line. The scene was a bit messy and noisy.

It was not until they saw the cabin door open that they suddenly quieted down.

The police felt the pressure around them suddenly loosened, and they also raised their heads.

The cabin door slowly opened, and the first person to come out was George Levy. Seeing George, the emotions of the fans on the scene were mobilized again. George was very happy to see so many fans picking him up. He raised his hand and waved to the welcoming crowd below.

Following closely behind George was Hendry. He and George each picked up one side of the trophy, and then the two of them held the League Cup championship trophy high.

The climax is coming.

Seeing the trophy raised by George and Hendry, all the fans screamed loudly.

They would not have any dissatisfaction with Hendry lifting the trophy. Because Hendry is the old captain of Blackburn and has a high prestige in Blackburn.

"Dear audience... Blackburn is the champion of the League Cup in the 99-00 season." The live TV broadcast gave a big close-up of the trophy in George and Hendry's hands. "This is the League Cup champion, the first European Cup champion in Blackburn's history. And Coach Levy is the youngest champion coach in the history of the League Cup. The 31-year-old League Cup champion coach is really a miracle in the world of football."

A female anchor said very emotionally in front of the camera. The praise for George was also extremely disgusting.

Following George and Hendry, all the players filed out.

The fans began to get excited again. The police who maintained order obviously felt very strong pressure.

George looked at the cheering fans and raised his hand. Those fans who were just squeezing forward immediately quieted down.

"I said, I didn't come to Blackburn to avoid relegation. My purpose for coming to Blackburn is very simple, I want to win the championship here!"

"George, we believe in you. Champion! Champion!"

George looked at the celebrating fans and suddenly remembered the time when he won the cup championship in Burnley. The Burnley fans at that time were also so happy and welcomed him so much. George shook his head, it was all in the past.

"I said we will win the League Cup! Do you believe me!"

"Believe! Believe!"

George said and Hendry raised the League Cup trophy high.

"Today is the League Cup champion. But I can guarantee that this is not the end, this is just the beginning. Our championships will continue!"

"Woo woo woo..."

"George! George!"

Nearly a thousand fans heard George's words and roared to the sky together.

They completely believed in George. George came to Blackburn two years ago and has built a team that ranks second in the Premier League and won the League Cup. If he is given some more time, the fans believe that the Premier League championship and the Champions League championship are both possible.

So after George finished speaking, the fans immediately showed great enthusiasm. The police officers on the scene clearly felt the huge pressure.

"Coach Levy told Blackburn fans that the UEFA Cup title is just the beginning. So what does Coach Levy mean? The UEFA Cup title is just the beginning, so what will Coach Levy's goal be? Premier League title? Champions League title?"

"All are possible. After all, Coach Levy is only 31 years old now. He has plenty of time to create new miracles. This is the report sent back from the BBC TV station."

This BBC female reporter is like a fan of George. From the beginning, she praised George very mushy.

…………

Because this is the first European Cup championship in Blackburn's history. So the celebration was very grand.

When they came out of the airport, there was already a motorcade waiting for Blackburn. Even Blackburn used police cars. The whole process from the airport to the city of Blackburn was escorted by police cars.

After arriving in Blackburn, the fans who welcomed Blackburn were even more crowded. In order to celebrate the League Cup championship, more than 100,000 local fans in Blackburn celebrated the championship together. Almost the whole city came out to celebrate this championship.

In the 100-year history of Blackburn, there are only three top league championships and six FA Cup championships.

Although the history is not very glorious, it is not shabby. After all, there are many football clubs in England with a history of more than 100 years, not to mention the Premier League teams. Even if you go to those amateur teams, you can pick out a club at random, and the history may be more than 100 years.

But except for the Premier League championship five years ago, other honors were won in the late 19th century and the early 20th century.

And the cup championship within the European scope is the first time in Blackburn's history.

So all Blackburn fans are very excited.

And Blackburn players are even more excited. From the end of the game to now, they have been extremely excited. Almost no Blackburn players have any championship experience. Now that they have won the League Cup, the excitement in their hearts can be imagined.

Cudicini has never left the UEFA Cup trophy since he got on the bus.

Cudicini never dreamed that he could win the UEFA Cup. Two years ago, he was still a substitute goalkeeper in the Italian Serie B. At that time, he didn't know where his future was. But just two years later, he won the UEFA Cup as the main goalkeeper.

Think about whether he really won the UEFA Cup?

Looking at the championship trophy, Cudicini always felt that he was dreaming.

There are many players who think the same as Cudicini. Including Deco. Two years ago, he was still a discarded player of Benfica and could only play in the Portuguese Serie B. At that time, he felt that the future was so slim and uncertain.

Deco clearly remembered that when he first came to Portugal, the staff of the Benfica Club did not take him to the Benfica Club at all. He took him directly to their satellite club, threw him there and never cared about him again.

Deco wanted to go home, but he couldn't. Deco cursed Benfica and cursed the agent who deceived him.

Therefore, when George found Deco, Deco couldn't wait to leave Portugal. Portugal only left a gray impression on Deco, and brought Deco countless injuries.

But Deco didn't expect that his transfer would be so successful. In just two years, Deco has become one of the most famous midfielders in the Premier League and led Blackburn to win the League Cup.

Benfica, damn bastard!

Look at you, bastard! I'm already the League Cup champion. I've already won the League Cup.

Thinking about it, I felt like I was dreaming. I really won the League Cup.

Blue! Overwhelming blue.

The whole city of Blackburn has become a blue ocean. Looking at the cheering fans, although the Blackburn players are already very tired. But when they see the fans, they still cheer with the fans.

"George! George!"

"George, the fans are shouting your name. Go up and say a few words." Carl pushed George.

George was also very excited. George was God in Burnley back then and was the most popular coach among fans. George's popularity exceeds that of all the players in the team. However, when he arrived at Blackburn, George never expected to get the same treatment as Burnley.

But from the current situation, George's status among Blackburn fans is also rising.

George walked up to the second floor of the bus, took the trophy from Hendry and held it high. As George raised the trophy, the fans screamed loudly.

"Thank you, thank you!"

The microphone on the bus is directly connected to the speakers. George's voice was amplified several times by the speakers in front of the bus, and it could be heard from a long distance. With George's voice, the cheers of the fans became louder and louder. George stretched out his hand and made a simple gesture. The fans who were cheering just now immediately quieted down.

"I am very grateful for your support. The club's victory in the UEFA Cup is due to everyone's contribution. I am very happy, and I think all Blackburn fans are celebrating this championship today."

George paused and continued: "When Mr. Walker found me and I became the head coach of Blackburn, I made up my mind. I came to Blackburn to win the championship. As long as it is for victory and for the championship, I can take any means. I don't care what the media thinks of me or what others say about me. As long as you continue to support me, I will continue to pursue victory and championships as always."

George's words received enthusiastic responses from the fans.

"I want to tell you that the UEFA Cup championship is just the beginning." George suddenly raised his voice. "There will be more championships waiting for us in the future. League championship, Champions League championship, as long as we can participate in the game, I will aim to win the championship."

"George, we believe in you!"

"Woo woo woo..."

This UEFA Cup championship made the whole Blackburn carnival last for three days.

Blackburn fans are very excited. In the past few days, the wine in the major bars in Blackburn has been in short supply. The tradition of drinking among English fans has not been lost at all.

George doesn't drink much. But he has been forced to drink for the past few days. In the past three days, he has hardly been sober.

But George is happy. Even if he is drunk, George is happy.

The English media also paid close attention to Blackburn's winning of the League Cup.