In the Blue Swan Cafe, Wang Xiaodong tore open a bag of white sugar and poured it all into the coffee cup in front of him.
The bald old man opposite has been connected to the Mediterranean Sea. I wonder if it is because of drinking water. Westerners always lose their hair as they get older.
Seeing the other person's bald head, Wang Xiaodong couldn't help but worry about his own hair.
After adding a pack of sugar, Wang Xiaodong tore open another pack.
The old man raised his eyebrows, but still didn't say anything.
From greeting him to sitting down, Wang Xiaodong had a good impression of this old Dutch man.
Although he wasn't exactly kind, his chubby body and round head made it hard for people to feel disgusted.
And during this time, the fat old man said very little.
Compared with Ferguson in 1941 and Wenger in 1949, Martin Joel, who has just turned 50 this year, should be classified as a "young coach" in the column of Mourinho and Benitez.
In fact, Martin Joel has been coaching for 15 seasons since 1991.
The Dutchman was a strong midfielder when he was young. He has played more than 400 times in domestic and foreign leagues, and his career has spanned the Netherlands, Germany and England.
After retiring, Martin Joel retained his habit of "talk less, do more" to this day.
He may not be a master tactician, but he will always learn from the mistakes of his predecessors and sum up his experience.
In November 2004, Martin Joel took over from Jacques Santini after 13 games and became the head coach of Tottenham Hotspur.
In his first season, he completely abandoned the defensive formation advocated by Santini.
After leading the team to five consecutive victories, Tottenham achieved the best trend in the league since the 1992-93 season, and at the same time, Martin Joel was elected as the Premier League's best coach in December.
That season, under Joel's leadership, Tottenham finished ninth in the league, missing out on qualifying for the Europa League by just two points.
In the 05-06 season, Joel renewed his contract with Tottenham for three years.
In the past season, although Tottenham were eliminated early in the FA Cup and League Cup, they have never fallen out of the top six in the league.
It took six months to reach the top four. Until the final game of the league, Tottenham was still one point ahead of Arsenal.
In the final game against West Ham United, Tottenham can hold the last Champions League ticket in their hands as long as they defeat their opponents.
However, the day before the game, something strange happened to the Tottenham team.
Since the opponent was West Ham United, it was considered a city derby, so the players should have stayed at their homes before the game.
However, in order to improve the tacit understanding among the players, the team collectively stayed at the Marlott Hotel before the game.
That night, some players ate some lasagna and spaghetti bolognese, but they didn't know that these items played a vital role.
In the early morning of the next day, several Tottenham players suffered from food poisoning.
Players affected by food poisoning include key players such as Lennon and Tenio.
Tottenham unanimously requested the league to move the match day to the next day, but after consultation, the Premier League only agreed to postpone it to 5 p.m.
In 1997, Middlesbrough were deducted 3 points by the league for failing to finish the game against Blackburn Rovers.
If Tottenham were punished the same way, it would be equivalent to giving up their European tickets. After weighing the situation, Joel took his few remaining team members and gave it a try.
In any case, the food poisoning incident that occurred before the game will more or less affect the players' physical strength.
10 minutes before the end, West Ham forward Benayoun fired a fatal bullet, and Tottenham fell in response.
Conspiracy theorists claimed the chef responsible for making the lasagna was an Arsenal fan, while another rumor suggested the club was a direct victim of Arsenal sabotage.
Subsequently, police investigators revealed that the Marlott Hotel is one of the best hotels in the world, and what poisoned the players was a sauce they had with their dinner at night. Because not everyone was used to this sauce, there was no Leading to overall poisoning.
Some media said that Marlott's hygiene procedures are world-renowned and it is impossible for mistakes to cause the spices to be poisonous. When the police repeatedly checked the surveillance video from that night, they found that the video from a suspicious period was missing.
This "lasagna" incident is so bizarre and absurd that it has never happened before in the history of the English league.
This incident is remembered by Gunners fans as a process from nervousness to ecstasy, but for Tottenham, it is a quite painful memory.
Until now, many Tottenham fans are still clamoring that this is a conspiracy of some capital, but the league has ended, and Tottenham's dream of breaking the "BIG4" monopoly will continue for another year.
"Ha, that's really unlucky!" Wang Xiaodong drank the remaining coffee in one gulp. "But my stomach is fine! I have never eaten anything bad. And I will not touch food that is obviously inhuman. !”
"Maybe." Martin Joel said with a wry smile, "I didn't touch it that day. In fact, the dough was really disgusting!"
After listening to Martin Joel's narration, Wang Xiaodong had a better understanding of Tottenham's current situation.
The team's strength is currently in the middle and upper reaches of the Premier League, and it also holds Europa League tickets for next season. And with everyone working together in the new season, there is a good reason to unseat one of the BIG4 members.
And the team has just reached an agreement with Manchester United to sell the team's top star Michael Carrick to the other party at a high price. All the money from the sale will be used to buy two British Championship rookies, Wang Xiaodong and Bell. If Southampton is too short, they can also spend several million more in the budget to make up for the difference.
When it comes to money, Wang Xiaodong is not too concerned about specific figures. These clubs usually shout out a certain number to show their determination on the surface, but in fact it is much lower. This is a common phenomenon in the transfer window.
Regarding the price, Raiola will discuss it in detail with Tottenham.
In fact, if this "lasagna" incident hadn't happened, Danny Levy (Tottenham CEO0), a Jewish guy, would not have spent such a large sum of money to buy players from the English Championship.
After this incident, Tottenham's top management held an emergency meeting. In any case, the monopoly of BIG4 in the Premier League must be broken next season.
Winning the Southampton Twins of the British Championship is Tottenham's first move.
Now fans all over the world are attracted by the upcoming World Cup, and the real powers of the four major leagues will also set their eyes on Germany.
If any player really performs well, it will definitely be a group of heroes competing against each other.
In front of powerful players such as Real Madrid, Bayern, and Manchester United, small second-tier teams like Tottenham don't even have a chance to eat soup.
Because of this, Danny Levi made a time lag and gave it a try in advance.
Quickly sell the team's leading stars, and quickly acquire the two young players who are in the spotlight in the British Championship, hoping that they will have the same performance in the new season.
For the Premier League BIG4, even if they have great interest in Wang Xiaodong and Bell, they will not decisively spend money to buy them before the World Cup.
After all, Wang Xiaodong and Bell are not qualified to go to Germany.
Wang Xiaodong likes to deal with decisive and determined people. Although these internal reasons for Tottenham were analyzed by Raiola for him, this meeting with Martin Joel was mainly to let him talk to the opponent's head coach first. call.
Everyone knows Wang Xiaodong's bad temper. If he doesn't like the opponent's coach after the transfer, it will definitely be a "huge blow" to Tottenham.
Now, Wang Xiaodong and Martin Joel looked at each other and smiled, stood up, and shook hands across the coffee table.
This scene was captured by the paparazzi who happened to see the two of them, and it became news that shocked the whole of London the next day.
"Then Coach Martin, I will go back first. Let's talk about the next thing after my agent comes back from Italy."
"Okay Dong, I look forward to cooperating with you."
After saying goodbye to each other, Martin Joel got into the back seat of the taxi.
The bald, fat old man whistled and rested his head on the armchair. For him, this meeting with Wang Xiaodong made him feel more relaxed.
"If winter comes, that crazy beast will be of no use!"
