The Godfather of Football

On January 3, Chelsea welcomed Middlesbrough at home. What shocked everyone was that Drogba scored twice to help the team defeat Middlesbrough 2:0. Fort, winning 13 consecutive victories.

Not only that, there are two other pieces of good news. Arsenal finally could not withstand the pressure of a dense schedule and drew 1:1 with Manchester City at home in the 22nd round, while Manchester United tied with Tottenham 0:0 at home. Tottenham.

As a result, Chelsea's lead quickly expanded to 11 points, a gap that almost made opponents feel desperate. Even Arsenal's head coach Arsene Wenger was frustrated after the game was tied with Manchester City. Said that it is difficult for Arsenal to have any hope of winning the league title.

"I have to admit that we have never been so far away from the leadership position this season. In such a dense schedule at Christmas, we relied on the will of the players to score 10 points in 4 games. This is definitely An impeccable result is enough to satisfy anyone.”

When he said this, the frustration on Wenger's face became more clearly visible, "But the problem is that our opponents actually won all the games. This is very frustrating and frustrating. The blow thing.”

"Yes, our peak state came too early in the early season, which allowed us to achieve an almost crazy round of results at the beginning of the season, but in the most critical months of November and December, we were quickly losing some advantages. , the problem of too many draws has always been bothering us.”

"However, what I want to say is that even now, we are 11 points behind our opponents, we will still not give up our pursuit of the championship, because if we give up our efforts for the championship now, it will undoubtedly be a disservice to the fans and players. A crime."

"I told my players in the dressing room not to care about the gap with Chelsea or how well Chelsea performed. We have to care about our own game and go all out to win every game. This way, as long as Chelsea is in the future When we make mistakes during the game or perform poorly, we can narrow the gap with the opponent.”

"I believe everyone should remember that Chelsea's reversal in the standings relied on chasing point by point. Now, we must correct our mentality, go all out and catch up point by point."

Manchester United, who also suffered a draw in this round, also said they would never give up.

Ferguson repeatedly emphasized in interviews, “It’s not that we don’t have the experience of being behind our opponents by double-digit points and successfully coming back in the end. No one is better at fighting against the odds than us, and no one has more experience in reversing opponents than we do. Experience, so until the end of this season, anything is possible and we won’t give up!”

Captain Keane also said that Chelsea will definitely collapse, "We have led the Premier League for a long time and have reversed our opponents many times to reach the top. We all know that walking on this road will be very stressful, and there will usually be some surprising things. Things, like, suddenly lose form, so we have to do our part and be patient and wait for opportunities to arise.”

However, Ye Qiu counterattacked in an interview with the media, "Yes, if Manchester United and Arsenal still want to reverse, then they must strive for victory with all their strength, and at the same time, they must wait for us to make mistakes."

"I don't want to say we won't make mistakes, every team will make mistakes, but I want to tell my players, don't worry about this, everyone should not feel pressure to lead too much, on the contrary, we should Enjoy the feeling of being firmly at the top of the list, the feeling of being on top of opponents like Manchester United and Arsenal.”

"I know some people call us nouveau riche and say we are a fake rich team. It doesn't matter. We have never denied that we are nouveau riche, and we have never said that we are a rich team. But we will use games to prove that we rely on our strength to win the championship. Those wealthy teams you talk about are under your feet!”

"I personally appreciate the fighting spirit of Manchester United and Arsenal. I also think they must try their best to catch up with us and never fall behind, so that they have a chance to touch the trophy. But I am full of confidence in my players. Without confidence, they can’t catch up with us!”

The war of words between the head coaches and capable players of the three Premier League teams that still have a chance to win the championship has naturally become the closing speech of the Premier League devil's Christmas schedule. However, relatively speaking, most media and fans are generally more optimistic about Chelsea. This team has won 13 consecutive games and is only one step away from Arsenal's 14 consecutive victories.

As long as Chelsea maintains its current momentum and does not suffer a huge ups and downs, if it falls too badly, it will be difficult for Arsenal and Manchester United to catch up with them, let alone teams such as Everton and Liverpool that are following behind.

This has also led to the fact that after the 22nd round of the Premier League, the entire English football team is generally optimistic about Chelsea. Many Chelsea fans even hope that the team can make persistent efforts to defend the Premier League championship and strive to compete for the Champions League championship. The best thing is to become the first team to successfully defend the Champions League since its reform.

But at this moment, the BBC TV station published breaking news, and the black gold case once again swept the UK.

The black and gold scandal has always been a scar on English football.

With the rapid expansion of the influence of the Premier League in recent years, English football has become a powerful force in European football and even in the world football. Especially with the strong rise of Chelsea in recent years, many people are optimistic that the Premier League will become the world's number one league in the near future.

But behind the prosperity of the Premier League, there are also many people who are worried, because the Premier League has formed a huge common interest group over the years, and these interest groups have intricate relationships with clubs, players, and head coaches.

So, when the black gold case was exposed by the BBC, although the focus of this exposure was the illegal operations of Israeli agent Pini Zahavi in ​​many Premier League player transfers, in fact, everyone knows that if you really want to investigate to the end, no agent is clean.

If the previous dispute between Stretford and McShekin over Rooney, and Stretford being accused of wiretapping, intimidation, bribery and other crimes were just a beginning, then this time Pini Zahavi's deep involvement in the black gold storm has stirred up a hornet's nest, and it can even be said that the sky of the Premier League has collapsed.

The next day, the front page headlines of almost all the big and small newspapers in the Premier League were all about this news. The Israeli suddenly became a household name in the UK, and his photos appeared in important sections of all media such as television, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet.

This time, the English Football Association responded quickly and immediately stood up to set the tone for this black money case. The official spokesperson of the English Football Association said that the English Football Association will do its best to investigate this incident and will set up a research team specifically responsible for investigating the transfer of club players.

"We must bring all criminals to justice!"

Ye Qiu only noticed this news when he read the newspaper the next morning. When he noticed that the person being investigated was Pini Zahavi, his first reaction was Paul Stretford's counterattack.

This is in line with Ye Qiu's impression of Stretford. This person has been rampant in the British football world for a long time, and has a very strong British character in his bones, arrogant and face-loving. If he chooses to endure silently this time instead of fighting back, it will be truly beyond Ye Qiu's expectations.

"Will this matter affect Eliza?" Huang Chu asked with concern. She now has a very obvious belly.

Ye Qiu raised his head and looked at his wife who was a little fat because of pregnancy. He smiled and shook his head: "Someone wants to target Pini Zahavi, but there will definitely be an investigation. Eliza has always been very cautious and rarely involved in illegal transactions, so this incident should not have any impact."

The main purpose of the real black gold case is to combat collusion of interests, that is, like when Schmeichel transferred from Aston Villa to Manchester City, the players and the head coaches of both sides belonged to the same agency company, and the practice of transferring from left hand to right hand to make profits from both ends, and also cooperated with the head coach to drive up the transfer fees of players and extract huge commissions from them.

Although Eliza is the agent of many Chelsea players now, she took over a large part of them after the players transferred to Chelsea, and many of her businesses are player image marketing and sponsorship agency matters. She is not involved in player transfers and salary contracts.

So from this point of view, Eliza will not be affected much.

"I'll make a phone call!" Ye Qiu thought about it and decided to make a phone call to ask for safety.

He walked from the living room to the balcony on the second floor. It was the cold winter in London. There were still traces of snow in the yard, and many farmlands in the distance were covered with thick white snow.

"It seems that you still have a conscience. At least you remember to care about me!" As soon as the phone was connected, Eliza's tired voice came from the other end. If Ye Qiu remembered correctly, it should be midnight in San Francisco now?

"Who do you think I am? How could I not care about you?" Ye Qiu laughed and scolded, "How is the matter?"

Eliza was tired, but she was not as serious as Ye Qiu imagined. Instead, she spoke in a relaxed tone, "What can it be? Rather than saying that this is a black gold case, it is better to say that this is also a power struggle for power and profit!"

"Oh?" Ye Qiu didn't notice this.

"The English Football Association has always wanted to get a piece of the big fat piece of meat from the Premier League, especially after the Eriksson zipper door last year and the financial difficulties in rebuilding Wembley Stadium, they coveted the fat piece of meat from the Premier League even more, but the Premier League has always blocked them from the door and only provided appropriate financial support."

Ye Qiu knew about this. When the English Football Association encountered a financial crisis, the Premier League provided 15 million pounds of assistance, and then also provided some financial support. As the saying goes, "If you take someone's money, you will be short-handed and eat someone's money." Therefore, the English Football Association has never dared to interfere too much with the Premier League.

But deep down, they still hope that they can get a share of the big cake of the Premier League.

"The English Football Association now only has power in the appointment of referees and disciplinary regulations. After the outbreak of the agent's black money case this time, they will respond so quickly. In fact, they want to use this as an entry point to clamp down on the Premier League and the Premier League, so they will be so efficient."

During her speech, Eliza did not hide her disdain for the FA's good-for-nothings. They were definitely a group of people who existed just to show off their presence and were just sitting there doing nothing.

Just like in 2004, they reorganized the English League One, English League Two and English League Three into the English Championship, English League One and English League Two, hoping to commercialize the entire league system and emulate the success of the Premier League, but the facts proved that they failed.

After being reminded by Eliza, Ye Qiu immediately came to his senses and felt that the FA's reaction was too fast. It seemed that they were really rushing to grab the right to speak and the right to arbitrate, fearing that others would not know that they were the arbitrators of the Premier League's discipline.

"It was okay before, and it's okay this time too. Who let the FA's money bag be in someone else's hands?" Eliza smiled with ease.

Ye Qiu was relieved after hearing what she said, but he did not forget to remind her, "Even so, you'd better be careful."

"Don't worry, if something really happens, it must be me, you must be fine!" Eliza said softly on the other end of the phone, which made Ye Qiu feel a little uncomfortable.

"Don't talk nonsense, what's the relationship between us? I will definitely make sure you're fine!" Ye Qiu was very determined. He always felt that he owed Eliza too much. If he didn't have the courage to protect her in such a matter, he would even look down on himself. Besides, for him now, the small black gold case would not have much effect.

Looking at the mainstream European leagues, which league and which club dare to say that they have not done anything illegal?

The tax rate is so high? Who dares to say that they have not helped players evade taxes?

In order to get the players they like, who dares to say that they have not secretly given kickbacks to their agents?

Every industry has its own unspoken rules, and football is no exception.

Given Ye Qiu's current status in European football, even if the black money case really involves him, what impact will it have?

"You still have some conscience!" Eliza said with a smile, "Don't talk about me. This time it's Stretford and Pini Zahavi who are fighting. I think they may be depressed for a while, but I heard that Abramovich has been very close to Brazilian agent Figel recently."

"Figel?" Ye Qiu has certainly heard of this name. Juan Figel, a Brazilian football agent, can shake the European football world with a stomp of his feet. Florentino and others have a deep friendship with him.

When Ye Qiu heard this name, his first reaction was Corinthians, because just a few days ago, the Argentine media reported that the beast Tevez transferred to Corinthians. This Argentine teenager who was targeted by many European clubs transferred to the league of the mortal enemy Brazil, which indeed caused a huge response.

In Ye Qiu's previous life, Abramovich has always been regarded as one of the behind-the-scenes bosses of Corinthians.

"It is reported that Frank Arnesen introduced Feiger to Abramovich. You should be familiar with the Dane, right? He is now the technical director of Tottenham. It is said that he was introduced by Pini Zahavi. Feiger once led the rise of Leverkusen and has a close cooperative relationship with Porto."

Ye Qiu did not find it strange. European football is a complicated relationship. It is not surprising that Abramovich knows Juan Feiger. However, he has always been very clear that the gap between him and Abramovich is getting bigger and bigger, at least not as close as when he first came to Chelsea two years ago.

At that time, Abramovich went to the Harrington training base every few days, and would show his friendliness to Ye Qiu from time to time, and would consult him on everything, but all this cracked after Ye Qiu refused Shevchenko's transfer.

When thinking of this, Ye Qiu sighed with a sigh. The relationship between people is really hard to grasp.

Perhaps, in his own opinion, his choice was not wrong, but in Abramovich's opinion, his idea was not wrong either. Perhaps the biggest disagreement between him and Abramovich was that neither of them was willing to follow the other's will completely.

There is no way to tell who is right and who is wrong in many things. It can only be said that each of them stands at their own different angles and positions, which will inevitably lead to some differences and opinions, and may even be irreconcilable.

Ye Qiu feels that the most enjoyable and fulfilling thing is to create value, lead a group of not very famous stars, and create a vigorous career. This is the most fulfilling thing for him, especially watching the players he introduced at a low price after their outstanding performances, and their value soared by a hundred times and a thousand times, and he also followed with pride.

But Abramovich is different. What he pursues is to have value, so he wants to buy people and wants to have a group of superstar teams that can compete with Real Madrid, Manchester United, AC Milan and other star-studded teams in the shortest time, so players like Drogba are not liked by him.

What he wanted was Shevchenko, and he believed that this desire would become stronger after Shevchenko won the European Golden Ball Award.

"Ye Qiu!" Eliza waited for Ye Qiu to be silent for a few seconds on the other end of the phone before speaking again, "I really have a hunch..."

"I know!" Ye Qiu said with a faint smile.

"You know?" Eliza was a little surprised.

"What is our relationship? How could I not know what you are thinking?" Ye Qiu smiled again, "Don't worry, I will handle this matter myself, you don't have to worry about me."

When Eliza heard Ye Qiu say that he knew everything, her heart trembled for no reason, as if the secret hidden in the deepest part of her heart was dug out by Ye Qiu, but soon she laughed in her heart again, you know, what do you know, you big fool?

"Well, anyway, if you have anything, just come to me!" Eliza said lightly.

Ye Qiu nodded, "Yeah!"