Fox in the Penalty Area

As Matt Dunn said, although Leeds is the third largest city in the UK, its scale is completely incomparable with cities in China. From the perspective of a Chinese named Hu Lai, the city of Leeds is really not that big.

So it didn't take much time for them to take the commercial vehicle, and they arrived at the training base next to the home court of Leeds City from the hotel, which is also the location of the club's headquarters office.

Then, under the witness of many Chinese and British media at the scene, he was greeted by club chairman Yogg Hodge, club general manager Eric Duffy, athletic director Nevin Ball, commercial director Harry Brad Leeds, as well as the warm welcome of almost all the senior management of the Leeds City Club, including the team's head coach Tony Clark.

"Is it of such a high standard?" After introducing each other, Hu Lai was still a little puzzled. He quietly asked his manager Yong Jun who had been with him all the time.

Yong Jun said with a smile: "Because of your joining, Leeds City has exploded in popularity in China from an unknown small team. The huge amount of attention has made them aware of business opportunities-in fact, before we set off, there are already some Chinese players. Businesses expressed interest in sponsoring Leeds City..."

After listening to Uncle Yong's explanation, Hu Lai suddenly realized: "How dare I become the 'God of Wealth' of Leeds?"

Yong Jun lowered his head to hide the increasingly exaggerated smile on his face, so as not to surprise the other party: "You are about the same age as a 'boy who gives money'."

Everyone welcomed Hou Lai's arrival, and Tony Clark was the most enthusiastic of them all - when Hou Lai reached out to shake his hand, he directly grabbed Hou Lai's hand He pulled him into his arms and gave him a warm bear hug.

"You are finally here!"

That tone made Hu Lai feel that the head coach was going to say, "I miss you!"

Fortunately, not, otherwise Hu Lai would have wondered if the head coach should be called Tony von Clarke.

Let the reporters take pictures at the door, and after a brief greeting, Hu Lai followed into the main building of the training base. A group of people went straight up to the fourth floor, and came to a place that was specially used for posing for photos:

On the blue background wall, there is a huge Leeds City team logo. Below the team logo is facing a large solid wood table. The tabletop is shiny and shiny, and it has been rubbed by countless people, and it feels like it is covered with pulp.

There are two chairs behind the table, and there is an open space in front of it, nothing, empty, until the media reporters who followed filled it up, and Hu Lai didn't know its purpose—it was obviously used to watch the ceremony.

The reporters pointed their cameras at the table,

The machine has been set up, and everyone looked at the table with anticipation.

There's a contract on it.

Hou Lai sat in front of the camera with club chairman Yogg Hodge, who handed him a signing pen.

Yong Jun reminded Hu Lai outside the camera: "Don't really sign it, just put the pen on it to make a show. This is mainly for the reporters to take pictures."

The real contract has already been signed, and this scene is just a "show" for the media and the public.

Hu Lai naturally understood, he put the pen on the signature position, but did not drop it, and then he and Yogg Hodge raised their heads and grinned at the many cameras.

In the flash and the sound of the shutter, they just left a photo that is of great significance to Chinese football.

Fourteen years later, another male football player in Chinese football has finally gone abroad and started his adventure in a foreign country.

Everyone hopes that this is also the prelude to Chinese football going overseas...

Every Chinese reporter present, while pressing the shutter to record this scene, was looking forward to it in his heart-in the future, if more Chinese players can appear in the European arena, there will be so many that we media reporters will take it for granted and report As a routine...that would be great!

Just like Japan and Korea now.

I think Japanese players had to rely on their companies to spend money to force people into European clubs in order to study abroad.

At that time, the Chinese media often laughed at them, saying that European clubs just fancy the Japanese "people are stupid and have a lot of money", and they will not give you a chance for Japanese players. If you come, you will be on the bench and waste money...

The results of it?

The first and second Japanese players did go abroad and landed in Europe by means of corporate sponsorship.

But the next Japanese players don’t need Japanese companies to spend money to send them out. With the outstanding performance and good reputation of the Japanese players who went out first, more European clubs are keen to tap talents from Japan.

At the beginning, they still bought famous players, and later they even signed young players. As long as they showed enough talent, they would sign away directly. Even if such a player hasn't proven himself in the first team... that's branding. In European football, Japanese players have formed a well-known brand, so that those European clubs do not have to hesitate too much, and are willing to bet on the future of those young Japanese players.

Now there are as many as 50 Japanese players studying abroad in Europe, and there are still two national team lineups of 23 players left.

Among the young Chinese players, only Hu Lai came out alone, and he went to a Premier League relegation team. Even so, it was enough to excite the Chinese media and fans.

The gap between the two sides is almost measured in light years.

Not to mention South Korea, although the number of overseas players is not as good as Japan, but the quality is high.

Pu Chuntai's title of "Light of Asia" was not given by their own media YY, but recognized by the whole of Asia, even if it is sour, it must be recognized.

That's why the Chinese media are full of expectations for Hu Lai's overseas study. They sincerely hope that what they are witnessing here today is not the end of a period of history, but the beginning. Not an occasional spark in the darkness, but the ray of light before dawn.

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Wang Haoxi and his two roommates, Song Xinghe and Pei Yu, got their wish and stood in the front row. Now they are sitting in the south stand of Flanders Stadium, Leeds City's home stadium, waiting for Hu Lai to come out and interact with them.

Taking advantage of the waiting time, they hung the five-star red flag on the railing of the stadium stands.

But they were not the only ones who brought the national flag. Apart from the three of them, there were many yellow-skinned and black-haired figures like them. They were all young. Obviously, they were all Chinese students studying in Leeds.

There are many universities in Leeds, among which the University of Leeds is the most famous and attracts many overseas students.

Nearly half of the city's population is college students.

Many people from China also choose to study in Leeds.

Before Hu Lai came to this city, the impression of Chinese international students on Leeds may be that the urban area is small, the nightlife is rich, the environment is good...etc.

But now, for many Chinese students studying abroad, this city has a different meaning in their hearts.

Chinese students studying in Leeds will become the most envied group of Chinese students studying in the UK... no, even the whole of Europe.

Because they have the opportunity to get in close contact with Hu Lai, the hopeful star of Chinese football, they don't need to spend planes, accommodation expenses and time to come here from far away places in Europe, they only need to take a bus and spend 20 minutes from the city center. You can go to the Flanders Stadium to watch a Hu Lai game in minutes.

This third largest city in the UK, which was not prominent among many study abroad destinations in Europe, has now become a favorite.

This is a great benefit for Chinese students studying in Leeds.

So there are so many Chinese students here today, and all of them are as happy as Chinese New Year.

Before the Hulai came out, they couldn't wait to sing and dance in the stands.

But Wang Haoxi glanced at the more than 200 people in the South Stand, and frowned: "There are not many local Leeds fans..."

There are too many Chinese fans at the scene, so many people think that Leeds City is a Chinese team.

Song Xinghe curled his lips: "Obviously, the fans of Leeds City are not very optimistic about Hu Lai."

The news of Hu Lai's transfer to Leeds City has been announced for a long time, and Leeds City fans naturally have their views on such a signing. Combining the discussions on the Internet and in fans' bars, basically most Leeds fans are not interested in this signing.

There are several reasons for this.

On the one hand, it is due to the arrogance and conceit of fans of veteran football powerhouses, as well as their ignorance of the level of Chinese football thousands of miles away. After all, they have never seen Chinese players on the court before, who knows what level Chinese players are? What is the difference between spending 12 million pounds to buy such a player and scratching the lottery ticket? What if a "thank you for participating" comes out?

What? You said the Olympics?

Ha, as far as Olympic football is concerned... can it compare to the Premier League?

On the other hand, it is related to the current team's head coach Tony Clark. After signing Hou Lai, Tony Clark publicly stated in an interview that he began to observe Hou Lai two years ago and was very optimistic about Hou Lai's talent. This is the person he named for the club to sign.

Tony Clark's statement may make Chinese fans happy, because it means that at least there will be no bloody plots such as the head coach not liking Hu Lai.

It means that Holly belongs to Tony Clark.

But what Chinese fans don't know is that such a statement is a good thing in the hearts of Leeds City fans.

Leeds City fans don't really like Tony Clark as a manager right now.

Because Tony Clark replaced the team's legendary coach Lauren Galley.

Leeds City fans still harbor resentment for the club's merciless dismissal of Lauren Galley. How could they have a good face for Tony Clark's successor?

It can be said that Hu Lai's unpopularity in the minds of Leeds City fans was implicated by Tony Clark, and Tony Clark's dislike by Leeds City fans was due to the management of Leeds City Club...

This guy has just arrived, and he hasn't played a ball yet, so his reputation among Leeds City fans has become indifferent, which is completely unwarranted.

But what can be done?

The fans of Leeds City are also wronged-Lauren Galley has done a good job. He has coached for 13 years and brought Leeds City from a League One team to a Premier League team. What a great feat? Putting his name on the roof of the stands at the Flanders Stadium makes perfect sense.

The results of it? Because of a disagreement with the club management, you resigned angrily, and your club didn't even try to keep you, you just agreed!

Is there any management that you do like this?

Is this the proper attitude towards the meritorious coach of Leeds City?

You still don't pay attention to our Leeds football tradition?

Well, if you want to change coaches, you can change to someone with a higher level than Lauren Gary. What happened to Tony Clarke, the underdog at Championship side Hammond Castle?

What is he capable of?

Oh, he beat us in the Championship once...

But in the end it was Leeds City, not Hammond Castle, who went to the Premier League!

Besides, before he took office, Lauren Gary led Leeds City to successfully avoid relegation in the Premier League. After Tony Clark took over, our team is still in relegation, and we don’t know if we will succeed in the end... This coaching change is a change. what?

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Wang Haoxi's disappointment did not last long. When he saw Hu Lai appearing on the turf of the Flanders Stadium accompanied by head coach Tony Clark and club chairman Yogg Hodge, he waved his arms vigorously, blowing Whistle and shouted: "Hu Lai!!"

All the Chinese students in the stands were cheering, the atmosphere was fully guaranteed, and there was no silence.

Yogg Hodge is also very pleased with this.

Are there all Chinese fans at the scene?

That's not a problem at all!

All the local Leeds fans are going to come, so he probably has to worry... Is it possible that the distinguished Chinese guests who come from afar will see our fans booing Hu Lai?

Do you still want to sign those sponsorship contracts that are being discussed?

In order to let the Chinese guests feel the warmth of being at home, he specially arranged for people to dress up as panda dolls and run onto the court to interact with Hu Lai amidst the cheers of the fans.

It fully reflects the importance he attaches to this Chinese player and the Chinese market.

The naive "giant panda" challenged Hu Lai to compete with him in juggling the ball, but how could the clumsy "giant panda" be Hu Lai's opponent? Naturally, they were defeated.

This unique fan meeting ceremony made the Chinese reporters off the field and the Chinese students in the stands laugh constantly.

The effect is directly full.

Ugg Hodge laughed happily when he saw this scene. He seemed to be able to imagine how the Chinese media would report on this scene the next day...

Perhaps not many people in far away China have heard of our Leeds City Club before, but it doesn't matter... I guarantee that you will all know it in the future!

At the end of the welcome ceremony, Hu Lai kicked the football into the stands and gave it to the fans who came to cheer him on. Wang Haoxi used his skills as the goalkeeper of the high school team before, jumped up in the air, and grabbed a football before it hit the ground.

After delivering the football, Hu Lai, wearing a Leeds City jersey, holding a Leeds City scarf, took a photo with the club chairman, the team manager, and the panda doll.

Everyone was smiling brightly in the camera, even the panda doll seemed to be smiling.

Today's happy scene seems to indicate that Hu Lai will have a bright future in this team...