The Godfather of Football

As early as when Tottenham Hotspur released the renderings of the Theobald training base, everyone was full of expectations and envy for this training base, not only because of the modern and advanced facilities here, but also because of its beauty.

Each building here is not high. Whether it is the training building of the first team or the training building of the youth team, they are only three stories high. Among them, the training building of the first team is relatively small because it is only used by the first team, but the training building of the youth team is very large because each age group of young players has their own locker room, tactical room and medical room and other facilities.

Each building here is professionally designed, and the architectural style of the entire training base is very unified, which is why it took a total of three years for this training base to be completed.

The architecture of the training building is more modern and angular. This construction method using reinforced concrete is actually not difficult. After all, it only has three floors. The real difficulty of the entire training base lies in the two sets of indoor training grounds.

The Theobald Training Base has four indoor football fields, one is a pitching machine training room, and the other is an indoor small football stadium, which contains three-person, five-person, and seven-person indoor football competition venues. Because they are all small venues, it is not difficult to build them. As long as the large supporting columns are reasonably arranged during the design, it will be fine.

The real difficulty is the two indoor training grounds for the first team and the youth team.

The indoor training ground for the first team is the standard size of a football field, but there must be some room around it, so the size of the entire building is slightly larger than the standard football field, so there is a problem, because no columns are allowed in the field.

In fact, many clubs, even now, Chelsea's Cobham training base does not have an indoor training ground. One very important reason is that it is very troublesome to build an indoor training ground. No columns are allowed in such a large area. This undoubtedly requires very professional design to achieve.

Tottenham Hotspur's two indoor training grounds have now completed the design phase and are preparing to be built. One is for the first team and the other is for the youth team. Both are the size of a standard football field, but the first team is dedicated and the youth team is shared.

The design of the two indoor training bases uses a steel frame structure, consisting of eleven arc-shaped steel frames with a ground span of 80 meters. Considering the span and the rain and snow weather that occurs almost every year in London, the requirements for steel are very high, especially durability and strength. After all, this indoor training ground will be used for more than ten years or even decades.

Because it is in an arc shape, which is similar to the shape of the top of the penalty area, the two training bases look very beautiful from the outside, and the roof of the training ground will use a copolymer called ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene, referred to as ETFE film. This film has excellent scratch resistance, wear resistance, high temperature resistance and corrosion resistance, and has very high insulation and safety, but it is very light and thin, and has good earthquake resistance. It can be used for more than fifteen years in extremely harsh environments such as minus 200 to 150 degrees Celsius.

The Eden Botanical Garden in Cornwall, England, which is famous for turning waste into treasure and built on ruins, uses this ETFE membrane as the roof. Even if all the members of a rugby team run and jump on it, or even play a rugby game, it will not break, which shows how safe it is.

Because of the existence of two indoor training grounds, plus other surrounding buildings and green grass, the entire bird's-eye view and renderings of Tottenham Hotspur's Theobald training base look a bit like an incompletely symmetrical but very eye-catching circuit board.

This made many fans of Zeus mobile phones immediately realize that it must be the work of Jonathan Ive. This British man has designed houses and buildings for himself and his friends many times. His designs always have a strong industrial and IT atmosphere. He also participated in the design of Theobald, but many professional details were left to the architect.

No one can deny that it is the best-designed football training base recognized by fans all over the world even though it has not been fully completed. However, for now, Tottenham Hotspur is only open to fans of the team.

As long as you hold an official membership card of Tottenham Hotspur, a season ticket for the new season of any age group of the club, or a registered member of a fan organization recognized by the team, you can enter the Theobald training base for free.

So, on July 3, the Theobald training base welcomed thousands of fans.

Because on this day, Tottenham Hotspur officially started the training camp for the new season.

"Are there a little more people?"

Arriving at the Theobald training base, the players are still familiar with everything in this new training base.

They all feel very strange, but at the same time they are full of surprises, because they find that everything here is a world of difference compared to the previous Chigwell training base, even the grass is much softer than Chigwell.

"The more the better, it proves we are popular!" Ribery said with a smile while dancing on the spot to warm up.

Although there were many fans, they were all checked by the security guards at the gate and allowed in only after they were confirmed to be safe. After entering, they all stood outside the stadium in a very disciplined manner, silently watching the players warm up and the staff placing training equipment.

Because seven players in the team participated in the America's Cup, and unfortunately, although the group stage of the America's Cup has ended, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Peru, where the seven Tottenham Hotspur players are located, have all entered the knockout stage, so the return of these players will have to wait until at least the end of July.

There are joys and sorrows. The performances of several Tottenham Hotspur internationals are also good and bad. In the Brazilian national team, whether it is Thiago Silva, Alves or Marcelo, they are temporarily unable to play as the main force. They are only substitutes for the team. Although they have played, they have not received many opportunities.

On the contrary, in the Argentine national team, Mascherano and Messi are both the main players and the backbone of the team, and both of them have performed very well, while Cavani of Uruguay is also unable to play as the main force.

On the contrary, in Peru, Vargas became Peru's best player, especially in his debut in the Copa America, where Peru defeated Uruguay 3:0. Vargas became the most eye-catching player in Peru's offense, which made Vargas famous and he was ready to become famous.

Because there were seven players playing in the Copa America, Ye Qiu simply transferred several players from the youth team to the first team and trained with them. This included several young players introduced by the team this summer, such as Pogba, Varane, etc., and Neymar who came from Brazil to London to train with the team.

Neymar will train with the team for a period of time and then return to Brazil. The team will also observe and evaluate Neymar during this period, get a more detailed set of data, and include him in the team's key observation objects to help him grow and improve in the future.

In the absence of Mascherano, Beckham took on the responsibility of the team captain. During the warm-up before the morning training, he specially introduced Modric, Ramsey, and several young players in the team to his teammates. After all, everyone will train together in the next period of time.

The first day of the training camp is mainly to let everyone get familiar with the Theobald training base, so the first day will adopt open training, allowing all fans and media to watch. Tomorrow, the team will return to the three trainings a day at the beginning of the season to make more adequate preparations for the physical fitness of the new season. At that time, it will be closed and all visitors will be refused.

At half past nine, Ye Qiu and the coaching staff walked out of the training building on time, which immediately caused a cheer at the scene. Ye Qiu and the coaching staff also smiled and greeted the fans and media, but did not stay at all and went directly to the training ground.

"How was your vacation?" Ye Qiu asked with a smile.

The new players may still be a little nervous, but the old players all seem very relaxed.

"Not bad!"

"It's just a little short!"

"It would be more comfortable if I had a girlfriend, what do you think, boss?"

There were all kinds of answers, the atmosphere seemed very relaxed, and there was constant laughter. Some players even seemed to treat the head coach as air, making jokes wantonly, such as mocking someone for not having a girlfriend, mocking someone for being too greedy, etc.

This scene surprised some new players. Is this the atmosphere in Tottenham Hotspur?

They usually joke like this in the training field in front of the head coach?

"Okay, okay, you guys should also consider the psychological feelings of us who don't even have a holiday, okay?" Ye Qiu laughed for a while and called for a stop.

Everyone knew that Tottenham Hotspur moved the training base this summer, and the coaching staff and the staff of the training base would not have a holiday, so when they heard Ye Qiu say this, everyone stopped, but many people in the coaching staff smiled.

"Today is the first day of the team's training camp. I believe everyone is still unfamiliar with the new training base. Our training task today is very easy, mainly for adjustment. After training, everyone can walk around and look around."

When they heard Ye Qiu say this, this group of monkey-like players laughed and looked a little excited. Some of them even wanted to try out the team's advanced training facilities that had been disclosed by the media, such as hot and cold swimming pools, such as the anti-gravity treadmill that was said to be developed by NASA, and so on.

"I don't care how you spent your vacation in the past period of time, but in short, in the next month or so, each of you will be like living in hell, I promise!"

At this moment, Ye Qiu's smile was full of devilish breath in the eyes of the players, bringing despair.

"Finally, everyone has half an hour to go to the analysis center, which is the single-story building next to our training building. Your old friend Professor Peter Brandt is waiting for you. I believe you all know the rules. Go!"

With Ye Qiu's words, many people present did not feel much pressure, but many people also looked worried.

"David, is there any problem?" Modric asked Beckham curiously when he saw his teammate like this.

Beckham insisted on exercising even during the holidays, so the physical examination was no problem for him, so he smiled easily, "We have regular physical examinations every day, but they are all very simple physical examinations. For example, they only You'll be asked to jump as hard as you can on a weight measuring platform or run on a treadmill for a few minutes."

"But every season and every time we leave the team for a long time, such as a national team match, after returning to the team, we have to conduct a very detailed physical examination, including blood and heartbeat and other detailed physical examinations. In addition to observing whether the players are overweight and whether they have In addition to injuries, the most important thing is to obtain various physical indicators.”

Modric was a little surprised when he heard this. He had never heard of these things at Dinamo Zagreb before. At that time, the team adopted a laissez-faire approach. At most, they only checked their weight and so on. They don't care about you if you don't have any injuries, and even if there are injuries sometimes, they don't give you special treatment.

"You will understand after staying for a long time. It is a bit more troublesome, but physical examinations are basically done before training and warm-up, and this can help you reduce injuries to the greatest extent. This is of great significance to any professional player. The benefits!" Beckham patted Modric on the shoulder and said with a smile.

The fans and media outside the stadium didn't know what Tottenham Hotspur were going to do, so they chased after them, but they could only get to the entrance of the analysis center and were not allowed to go in. This made the analysis center full of a kind of mystery. elements of feeling.

"Mr. Ye Qiu!"

While the players were all going for physical examinations, Ye Qiu took the initiative to approach the media reporters and fans.

"Welcome to Theobald!" Ye Qiu greeted everyone present with a smile.

Amid the shouts of the fans, the reporters took out their recorders.

"Can you answer a few questions for us?"

"I thought you were just here for a visit today, but I didn't expect you brought equipment!" Ye Qiu joked with a smile, "Of course, you can ask whatever you want."

As soon as Ye Qiu said this, even the fans on the side became quiet.

So, he conducted interviews with this group of reporters across the barbed wire fence.

"Last season Tottenham Hotspur finished in an unprecedented third place in the Premier League. We all want to know, what are your expectations for Tottenham Hotspur in the new season? Many people feel that the team will be sold. Without the leading forward Van Nistelrooy, the offensive ability will be weakened. What do you think?”

For these questions, Ye Qiu has long been mentally prepared and has answers to them.

"First of all, the first question, I hope that the team can achieve breakthrough results in the new season. Of course, I know it will be difficult because the competition in the Premier League in the new season will be unprecedentedly cruel. We all Seeing that our opponents are constantly strengthening, this will be a cruel test for us.”

"Second question, Ruud's departure makes me and everyone at Tottenham Hotspur regretful. He is a great scorer and a player respected by all Tottenham Hotspur players and fans. We all hope that he can continue his great success in Spain, but I believe that we will find a good way to fill the gap caused by Ruud's departure."

A reporter immediately asked again at the scene: "Are you talking about Van Persie?"

Ye Qiu smiled after hearing this and said without comment, "Robin is a very good forward. He has strong abilities and his performance last season was also very good. Not only him, but also Cavani and Carroll. They are forwards with great potential and strength, and I believe they will all play a bigger and more important role in the new season.”

"Mr. Ye Qiu!" Another reporter spoke, "You just said that the competition in the Premier League in the new season will be very fierce. I believe everyone agrees on this, because whether it is Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal , have invested a lot in signings this season, but only Tottenham Hotspur seems to have made no move.”

After hearing this, Ye Qiu smiled and shook his head, "I have to correct one thing. We have introduced Luka Modric. This is an important signing for us to strengthen the team's midfield in the new season, and we have introduced Aaron from Cardiff. ? Ramsey, this is a young player with great potential, so I don’t agree that we have not signed him.”

After hearing this, the reporters all laughed, and someone else asked: "Then what do you think of Tottenham Hotspur's signings in the new season? Many people feel that you at least did not pay Ruud van Nistelrooy's transfer fee. All put into the transfer market.”

"I have to clarify something first!" Ye Qiu looked at everyone present with a smile, "I believe that not only reporter friends, but also our Tottenham fans have such doubts, but I must explain why I want to transfer meeting?"

"The transfer has only one purpose, to fill the vacancies in the team's lineup and strengthen the team's strength."

Ye Qiu's words were recognized by everyone present.

"We worked well together in the second half of last season. I don't think there are too many problems with our overall structure. Moreover, we were the team with the lowest average age in the Premier League last season, and it will be the same this season. This means that The players on our team still have a lot of potential to explore.”

"Yes, Luther's departure has had a certain impact, but we should all see that Van Persie performed very well last season, so I don't think we should transfer for the sake of transfer. On the contrary, I hope that we can Give these young players more opportunities.”

After a pause, Ye Qiu smiled again and said, "Of course, I don't rule out that I will suddenly change my mind as the training camp and warm-up matches begin, but I always believe that a team needs to form combat effectiveness by relying on the whole team, or the strong combat strength formed by all the people in the team itself, rather than by introducing stars."

"Well said!"

"That's great!"

"We all support you, Mr. Chairman!"

"Tottenham Hotspur will always be the best!!"

After hearing this, the Tottenham fans at the scene were all very excited and cheered loudly over there. Obviously, they were very satisfied with Ye Qiu's answer, because during the entire interview, Ye Qiu seemed very calm and confident.

And often, his attitude can infect the people around him and give them confidence.