Fox in the Penalty Area

Southfield Stadium, home of London Bridge, is an "old stadium" with a long history.

It is said to be "old" because it has been exactly 150 years since the stadium was built. In the past 150 years, it has not changed its location, and it has stood where it was first built, witnessing the ups and downs of the London Bridge team for 120 years-yes, this stadium Older than London Bridge.

In fact, this stadium is a very modern "five-star stadium" with the best hardware and software facilities, and its appearance has changed drastically from when it was first built 150 years ago.

From the original oval shape to the current square box.

The reason why the Southfield Stadium is called this name is because there was a Southfield Park next to the stadium when it was built. Many English football teams’ home stadiums are directly named after the location of the stadium or the names of nearby landmarks. Southfield Stadium is no exception.

Southfield Park is not a very famous place, it is just a small park nearby, and now it is even more lost in the long river of history, and it doesn't exist at all. But the London Bridge club was established in this park - a group of young people who often played on the lawn of Southfield Park eventually established the London Bridge Football Club here because of a common goal.

When the club was established, there was Southfield Stadium, but it was not called a stadium at first, but a sports ground. Because this oval-shaped stadium serves all the nearby sports clubs, football is only one of them.

At the beginning, after the establishment of London Bridge, they could only continue to train and compete on the lawn of Southfield Park.

Later, as more and more people came to watch their games, the nearby Southfield Stadium also extended an olive branch to them, inviting the team to settle in the stadium.

Later, the ownership of the Southfield Stadium changed hands, and the new owner decided to transform the stadium into a complete football stadium.

London Bridge will be the sole user of the new stadium.

And so it continues to this day.

Southfield Stadium has become a mecca for London Bridge fans.

Every home game day, the blue and white stadium is packed with 45,000 seats and the voices are buzzing.

Southfield Park has been lost to the development of the city, so London Bridge fans see the ground as the 'birthplace' of the London Bridge club, after all it bears the park's same name.

Since Leeds City was promoted to the Premier League, they have visited here four times, but they have no wins-three losses and one draw.

Even if they succeeded in winning the championship last season, they only shook hands with London Bridge 1:1 in this stadium.

So it's not a good away game.

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"The media always likes to hype these boring topics, trying to find out from a pile of ordinary materials that they can create gimmicks..." Leeds City Club general manager Eric Duffy stood at the Southfield Stadium. In the stands, looking down at the players and coaches who are adapting to the field, he said to the team football director Nevin Ball and commercial director Harry Bradley beside him.

The team has reached the Europa League semi-finals, and the club attaches great importance to it, so even if this is just a field training, the senior management still followed the team to the stadium to express their firm support.

"If you want to put it this way, we haven't conquered the home courts of Warship Harbor and Manchester Athletic in the BIG6... Then we will lose if we play them away? Leeds City has only been promoted to the Premier League for four seasons. Of course, the accumulation of history cannot compare Other teams..." Duffy shrugged and didn't continue the topic.

In fact, he just stepped into the stands and saw the blue and white stadium before he suddenly felt emotional.

He and the two club executives had business to discuss.

"The club will definitely try its best to keep Hu. But no matter whether we can stay or not, we should also know one thing clearly,

That is, we may be able to keep him temporarily, but we cannot keep him forever. "

When Du Fei said this, his eyes followed Hu Lai on the field. He was doing simple offensive training with his teammates.

Bradley and Ball behind him looked at each other and both agreed with the general manager's statement.

With Hu Lai's current momentum, it is almost impossible for Leeds City to keep him forever. Even if the club only signed him a new four-year contract last summer, at most it can only guarantee that he will not be able to leave during these four years.

But players can seek to leave by not renewing their contracts.

When the last year of the contract is left, the Leeds City Club will have to face this eternal problem: should they sell Hou Lai while the price can still be raised? Or let the contract expire and let Hu Lai leave for free?

So instead of waiting until that time to do multiple-choice questions, it is better to try to sell them at a sky-high price to maximize the club's interests.

This is the inevitable result of looking at this matter from the perspective of management.

They will not wish to keep Hu Lai forever, because they know that it is not in the best interest of the club.

"Although we can't keep him forever, I believe that everyone has benefited a lot from him in the past two years... Backed by the world's largest market, our financial situation is much better now..."

Commercial director Harry Bradley nodded and said: "That's right. The enthusiasm of Chinese companies to sponsor us has surprised me... Their football enthusiasm seems to have finally found an outlet."

"So... I think the club should continue this strategy. Even if Hu Lai is going to leave, we should look for another outstanding player in China to replace him. We can't always have Hu Lai, but we can always have the Chinese market. After Du Fei finished speaking, he turned and looked at the two right-hand men, as if he was asking for their opinions.

The two didn't have any opinions: "Of course, of course. It should be so."

It's not that they want to suck up to the club's general manager, in fact they don't need to. They just think that the general manager is right.

There is only one Hu Lai, but there are many Chinese players.

And there is no need to worry that the latecomers will not be able to reach the height of Hu Lai... because they will not be able to reach it in the first place, and no one would expect the latecomers to be like Hu Lai.

Hu Lai has already made history in Leeds City. Do you still expect them to poach a player from China to create a new history?

What can Leeds do?

As long as they can meet the requirements of the coaching staff, even if their ability is far inferior to Hu Lai, such a Chinese player can be signed by Leeds City.

If it can be guaranteed that Leeds City has Chinese players playing, then they will not lose the Chinese market that they have struggled to win.

Although European clubs now have Chinese players, it is not just Leeds City. But Leeds City has an advantage, that is, they are the first team to have Chinese players, and they have already cultivated a group of fans watching Leeds City games in the Chinese market. These fans are out of emotional factors, even if there is no Hu Lai, as long as there are other Chinese players, they can still attract the attention of Chinese fans, so that the feelings of so many Chinese fans have a carrier that can be pinned on.

"So I will ask our scouting team to continue to discover those talented young players in China..." Duffy was interrupted before finishing his sentence.

Because there was a burst of cheers from the field behind him.

When he looked back, he saw Hu Lai getting up from the ground, and the players were cheering and applauding.

He is a little confused.

Director of football Nevin Ball, still looking the way the pitch, explained: "Hu just scored a barb."

Du Fei was stunned, and then happily said: "It seems that Hu is in good condition!"

Then he followed with another sigh.

Because he knows that Leeds City will never find such an excellent Chinese player like Hu Lai again.

It's like love. People always have to experience many emotions in this life. You will have many partners, but your first love... there is only one.

For Leeds City, Hu Lai is their "first love" with Chinese players.

※※※

After finishing the training to adapt to the venue, the whole Leeds City team boarded the bus again and returned to the hotel where they were staying.

On the way, Hou Lai turned on his mobile phone, wanting to pay attention to the UEFA Champions League semi-final that is going on tonight-King of Madrid vs. Athletic Manchester at home.

I just opened the mobile live broadcast software, and the game is not over yet.

Hu Lai glanced at the live score in the upper left corner of the screen.

Surprised to find that the score was "1:3".

At home, the King of Madrid fell behind Athletic Manchester by two goals!

At the same time, the King of Madrid's home court was booed all over the stadium.

The voice of the commentator on British TV was lost in the boos:

"...There are still fifteen minutes until the end of the game, but from the current scene, it is completely impossible to see that the King of Madrid has any way to counterattack... In this high-profile 'dual showdown', Meli completely Overwhelmed by Kabanka! Kabanka demanded everything from the king at the Crown Stadium. His flexible breakthrough and pleasing foot skills made the fans at the Crown Stadium wave white handkerchiefs! It's unbelievable, I didn't expect Athletic Manchester To be able to show such a performance in the away game!"

"The King of Madrid lost his scoring weapon in this game. Celados was in a sluggish state. Although Meli worked hard, he was also defended by Manchester Athletic defenders. Who would have thought that Manchester Athletic coach Gutierrez would Played on the counter-attack... three quick counter-attacks scored three goals, and their three-layered defense allowed King Madrid to come back with a corner kick..."

"Last season Meli stole the limelight in the Champions League, but this season it was replaced by Kabunka. Celados' bleak performance in this game also proved that the era of the 'Four Kings' is indeed coming to an end. The young genius is rising and will become the brightest star in the shining night sky!"

Following the narrator's words, the television broadcast cut to close-up shots of Serrados, Meli and Kabanka.

Serrados was dejected, Melly looked pained, and Kabanka was full of spirit.

At the Crown Stadium, this scene seems to symbolize that the "crown" is being transferred from the heads of the older generation of players to the heads of young players represented by Kabanka.

Seeing this, Hu Lai's heart was surging.

Sure enough, the UEFA Champions League is the mainstream stage where the real top players communicate. Both Kabanka and Meli have played leading roles on this stage.

And I'm just a passing visitor...

So no matter what next season, we must continue to participate in the Champions League!

I'm going to have fun on that big stage too!

I want to join the fight for the crown too!