The Midfield Master

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Xia Ze and the other four followed Mary into the club. When the staff saw Mary, they just greeted her in a friendly manner and didn't pay much attention to Xia Ze and the others.

After entering the gate, what the four of them saw was a building about four or five stories high. The white and blue exterior walls showed the main color of the club.

A sixty-year-old man with white hair came out of the building and greeted the four of them with a smile.

Under Mary's introduction, Xia Ze and the others knew that this old man with a kind smile was Kennett, the chairman of the Everton Club.

"Boy, nice to see you, Everton welcomes you!" Kennett shook hands with Xia Ze with a wide smile.

After some courtesies, Kennett and Mary led Xia Ze and the others into the building.

The game only started in the afternoon. Xia Ze and the others came in the morning and were invited to visit the Everton club's training base.

The first place to visit is the club's historical showroom.

Although the corridor is not big, there is no problem for the three of them to walk side by side. Kennett walked in front with Xia Ze and Wang Xiaolin, while Mary walked behind with Zhang Weihuayan.

Although all four of them are guests, the protagonist is Xia Ze who is about to transfer to Everton, so Kennett is obviously more enthusiastic towards Xia Ze and Wang Xiaolin than Zhang Wei.

While walking, Xia Ze talked to Kennett. On the walls on both sides of the corridor, there are famous players and coaches in the history of Everton Club, and there are also some famous times and winning moments.

Mary was in charge of explaining to everyone. From the black-and-white photos at the beginning, Xia Ze didn't know these people, and he didn't know much about Everton before. Wang Xiaolin and Zhang Wei were even more confused.

But after Mary's succinct and clear explanation, they finally understood the history of Everton.

And from the antiques related to the club decades or even hundreds of years ago in the display window, the four people really felt the long history of Everton's game ability system.

The club was established in 1878 and has a history of more than 130 years. It is one of the founders of the English League.

9 top league titles, ranked 4th among English teams, second only to the traditional top three of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.

5 FA Cup titles, 1 European Cup Winners' Cup title. Even in the world, it has a great reputation.

When they walked further, Xia Ze and the others could see the colored photos, and the people in the photos were very familiar.

Rooney, Moyes, Phil Neville all have their pictures and profiles in the corridors.

All three of them can be said to be the iconic figures of the Everton club, but in the afternoon, Rooney among them will represent Manchester United and return to Goodison Park to challenge Everton.

And when Mary explained the three of them, her tone was quite awkward, so she could only pass by and lead the three of them into the team's trophy showroom.

There are more than a dozen trophies inside, each of which is polished shiny. Xia Ze knew that Everton's most recent trophy was won by defeating Manchester United in the FA Cup 20 years ago. He thought it would be dusty here, but it was obviously not the case.

However, when he saw Everton's trophy showroom, he didn't lament the club's past glory, but thought that there were often rumors on the Internet that Arsenal's trophy showroom was full of dust. Now it seems that it is fake.

After visiting the club's historical showroom, Kennett took the four of them around again.

Although Zhang Wei didn't want to transfer to Everton, Kennett also knew that this young central defender had a great future, but Zhang Wei didn't understand English and couldn't communicate with him.

After visiting the club, the four of Xia Ze had lunch with Kennett in the club's restaurant.

At 1:30 in the afternoon, Xia Ze and the others, accompanied by Kennett, came outside Goodison Park.

At this time, there is still an hour before the start of the game, but outside the stadium, there is already a sea of ​​blue, occasionally mixed with some Manchester United fans in red jerseys.

To Xia Ze's surprise, the fans of the two sides did not confront each other before the game, but chatted with each other. Some friendly fans even wore half of Manchester United's Everton clothes and chatted with the fans of both sides.

In the stadium square after several days of rain and snow, those fans enjoyed the rare winter sunshine. There are also TV reporters and photographers who interview and shoot outside the stadium.

Some tourists also took photos outside the stadium, or took photos with local fans.

A harmonious and happy atmosphere unfolded in front of Xia Ze's eyes, which was completely different from his experience in Portugal.

Others say that there are many football hooligans in England, but it doesn't seem to be the case now.

After Kennett entered the stadium, he exchanged greetings with the England coach Hodgson who came to watch the game, while Xia Ze and the others were led into the VIP seat by Mary.

This VIP seat is actually behind the home team's bench, and there is no special box. In many small-scale stadiums in England, there are no boxes, and some special VIP seats are located behind the coach's bench.

Xia Ze sat down on his seat and began to look around the stadium, while Wang Xiaolin and Hua Yan, two young girls, took out their mobile phones to take selfies. Xia Ze and Zhang Wei just smiled, they have long been used to girls this habit.

The stands on all sides of the Goodison Park Stadium are blue, double-decker stands, which can accommodate 40,000 people, and are not far from the history of the Everton Club.

The stadium has a history of more than 120 years since it was completed and used. It can be said to be a living fossil in the football world.

At this time, there is less than an hour before the start of the game, and players from both sides are also warming up on the court. Blue Everton players on one side and red Manchester United players on the other.

And the stands all around seemed to be slowly filled with people. The biggest difference between the stadiums of Premier League clubs and those of other leagues is that their first row of spectator seats is just behind the billboards, and the distance from the sideline of the stadium is only a few meters away.

Sometimes when the player throws the ball in, it can even touch the player's body.

Such "intimate" contact is not found in other leagues. Like the Portuguese Super League, there is a very high fence between the stands and the stadium. It is impossible for fans to have close physical contact with the players on the field. However, in the Premier League games, it is often possible to see the players and the advertisements Fans behind the cards embrace the celebratory scene.

Of course, being able to have close contact with fans is also prone to conflicts with fans.

The legendary Manchester United star Cantona once kicked directly from the stadium to a fan who was chattering and insulting him, which became an indelible picture in the history of Premier League football. c