Chapter 31 There will always be a team that becomes the champion, so why not us? [Please read on! ]

Chapter 31 There will always be a team that becomes the champion, so why not us? [Please read on! ]

Chapter 31 There will always be a team that becomes the champion, so why not us? [Please read on! ]

"Yes, I understand that some of the details of the contract renewal still need to be negotiated by both parties, but can you first disclose the news of the renewal intention to the outside world?"

"No, no! I definitely don't mean to put pressure on you, it's just that the fans..."

"I understand what you mean, but the management needs to consider the several requests you raised earlier. But don't worry, we all agree to sign a new contract with you as soon as possible!"

……

Woodward made an emergency call to Li Chen but did not get the response he wanted.

After hearing the busy tone in the microphone, the smile on the face of the current Manchester United helmsman suddenly disappeared without a trace, and what was left was only helplessness and a little dissatisfaction.

There is no doubt that Woodward is a business genius and a master at managing business companies.

At heart, he is an excellent businessman. As a businessman, he is of course accustomed to compromise, concessions and bargaining in business wars.

When it comes to disputes over one or several issues, he prefers to use a business mindset to seek solutions.

So when faced with a situation like Li Chen who put forward the bottom line conditions right from the start and made it clear that the contract renewal would not be possible if his requirements were not met.

Woodward suddenly felt that all his business negotiation skills were useless.

How can you make demands and negotiate conditions like this?!
Shouldn't it be that you state your demands first, and I see if you can make a concession first, and then during the discussion you make another concession, and then we can reach a preliminary consensus?

"Young man..."

Woodward rubbed his temple and muttered something, then called the negotiation team to find Mendes to negotiate another time for a meeting.

It is impossible for Manchester United management to agree to all the conditions proposed by Li Chen.

In particular, Li Chen also requested the establishment of a new sports science medical team and that he would have full control over all player recruitment authority.

The former requires the club to invest a large amount of money in a short period of time, while the latter puts all hopes of rebuilding the team on Li Chen alone.

If Woodward agreed to Li Chen's conditions, he would be fired by the team's boss tomorrow!

Remember, this is 2022, not 1992.

The days when the Premier League manager had the final say over his team and was responsible for all rebuilding tasks are long gone.

Perhaps Li Chen does have the potential to become the second Wenger, or even the second Ferguson.

But now European top clubs, which are not short of funds, no longer need such a strong and traditional head coach.

Even if we take a step back, the Glazer family would not mind letting another successful coach like Ferguson take charge of the team and bring them a steady stream of profits.

But Manchester United's current management team does not want to become vassals of the "new Ferguson".

Woodward has to take into account the opinions of other club executives, so his hesitation is normal.

Li Chen, who did not get his clear promise, completely gave up the idea of ​​staying in Manchester United next season the moment he hung up the phone.

He actually doesn't have as strong a desire for power as Woodward thinks.

If he was coaching a normal top club, Li Chen would never ask for control over the power to recruit players.

In the new era, an outstanding sports director and a mature transfer department can always use perfect technological means to help the head coach select players who are more in line with the team's tactics.

Besides, Li Chen is good at choosing dishes to eat.

Even if the transfer department brought him a few young players who were not so suitable, he could patiently train the players and make adjustments to the tactical details.

Therefore, whether or not he can control the power to recruit players is really not that important to him.

But the current Manchester United is not a normal top club at all!

Li Chen had previously pushed Rangnick to the forefront to test the team's top management's determination to carry out a major overhaul of the team, and the result is self-evident.

Later, he asked the transfer department to compile a list of players that the club is currently focusing on, in the name of serving as a reference for summer transfer window signings and tactical construction.

As a result, the club's top management directly handed him a form full of names of stars, which stunned him and Rangnick on the spot!
A proposal for recruiting young players jointly submitted by him and Rangnick was not approved by the top management until more than half a month later.

Most of these young talents were "passed" by the management, on the grounds that these young players were overpriced and it would be better to further utilize their own outstanding youth training.

In order to avoid transfer risks, the management instead suggested that the coaching staff pay more attention to some famous stars.

If it's hard to spend money on top-notch players in their prime, then you can buy some 28-year-old men, preferably those who have both competitive and commercial potential...

Well, seeing that the team's performance is improving, you feel that there is no need for a major overhaul and reconstruction, and you only need to further enhance the team's commercial value to reap the fans' money, right?
When Li Chen saw the recruitment suggestions given by the club's top management, he understood everything.

Unless he has control over the team's future signings.

Or maybe the Glazer family had a change of heart and simply purged the management team, replacing them with a group of senior executives who are truly professional and knowledgeable about football.

Otherwise, it would be a pipe dream for Manchester United to complete the blood transfusion and reconstruction in the next one or two seasons and return to the top strength in Europe!

Now, Woodward's hesitation directly dispelled Li Chen's last fantasy about Manchester United.

He has no interest in being a tinker, mending the old ship of Manchester United in fear.

If he's lucky, he can get away with it after two or three seasons. If he's unlucky, he'll be fired as a scapegoat if the roster, which will be one year older next season, fails.

Even an honest man like Rangnick has lost hope in his job prospects at Manchester United and has recently been frequently contacting other job channels in order to return to Germany.

Li Chen naturally would not be so foolish as to wait for the Manchester United management to grow brains and suddenly change their IQ.

While he continued to put pressure on Woodward to delay the contract extension, he also helped Toméndez to collect as much information as possible about the management of several other clubs interested in him.

He has now uniformly rejected all interview requests from outside media and newspapers.

As soon as his personal vacation was over, he went straight back to his apartment and the training base, resuming his life between home and school.

It was not until February 2rd that the pre-match press conference for the fourth round of the FA Cup was held.

This was his first appearance in front of the media after the public opinion storm.

However, Li Chen, who had guessed that the reporters would definitely cause trouble today, had also taken precautions.

When a reporter asked questions related to the FA Cup, he asked Carrick to answer.

Whenever a reporter asked him about the progress of his contract renewal with Manchester United or the rumors of contact with other teams, he would skip the question and let the press officer pick a reporter to ask.

This kind of outrageous operation immediately made the reporters on the scene quite dissatisfied. However, Li Chen's explanation that he was not feeling well and could only try to answer questions related to the game left the reporters helpless.

After the game, the news that Li Chen avoided answering questions about the progress of his contract renewal with Manchester United directly became a hot topic on the Internet.

Manchester United fans around the world are really getting restless now.

Some went to Li Chen’s personal social media to leave messages and ask questions, while more Red Devils fans expressed their dissatisfaction on the club’s official Twitter account!
"I don't understand why the club hasn't reached an agreement with Lee on a new contract yet! Doesn't he deserve a new contract with a good salary?!"

"God! Is our management still sleepwalking? I can't believe we didn't reach a cooperation agreement with an excellent coach who led the team out of the quagmire and returned to the top three in the league standings for next season? This is crazy!"

"Damn it! If Lee doesn't appear in the Old Trafford home team's coaching booth next season, it will be a serious dereliction of duty by Manchester United's management! It is a serious dereliction of duty by the entire club!"

"Get out of here, Glazer family! Get out of here, Woodward! We want Lee to stay!"

The fans' dense stream of angry messages quickly occupied the comment section of Manchester United's official Twitter account's latest update.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Woodward had no choice but to bite the bullet and come forward to convey to the media the news that Manchester United management was actively negotiating a contract extension with Li Chen.

But such rhetoric can no longer satisfy the restless Manchester United fans.

It’s not that they want to drag the club and the team into a new round of public opinion storm, but that they now completely lose trust in the professional ability and skills of the management.

It has been almost nine years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, and these senior executives have not fulfilled any of the things they promised to the fans!

Manchester United once had hope of revival. Under Mourinho's coaching, they regained the confidence to win the championship and the never-give-up spirit of the Red Devils.

But Pogba's arrogant betrayal and the management's wrong choice ultimately made that mentally tenacious "Crutch United" a thing of the past.

Solskjaer's appointment in an emergency gave a shot in the arm to the entire Manchester United team and the Red Devils fans.

But now it seems that it is just a last gasp with the medicine in a different form.

Solskjaer is a good man, an old veteran who is familiar with Manchester United and can create a positive atmosphere in the locker room.

But his ability is only enough to support Manchester United to become a regular team in the Premier League's top four competition on the road of defensive counterattack.

He was unable to lead Manchester United back to the top of Europe, not to mention that despite his hard work there were also club executives who were "actively" hindering him.

Until now, Manchester United fans have finally waited for a young and promising coach.

But the club's top management is doing nothing and has yet to complete the contract renewal with the current head coach!
In this situation, how can Manchester United fans calm down and dare to believe what Woodward says? !

The public opinion storm intensified, causing most Manchester United fans to no longer pay attention to the team's upcoming FA Cup.

But after all, Manchester United is playing at home in this FA Cup match, and the team's recent record is so outstanding, so on the day of the game, Old Trafford was still full early on!
Facing the challenge of the Championship team Nottingham Forest, Li Chen fielded a semi-main starting lineup, which can be regarded as a sign of his attention to this FA Cup.

Before the game started, the live camera stayed on Li Chen's face for a few seconds, which was quite interesting.

However, Li Chen still did not show any complicated expressions or thoughts in front of the camera.

Li Chen, who changed into a sports winter outfit today, looked quite serious. After shaking hands with the opposing coach, he walked directly to the sidelines and had no intention of sitting back in the coaching seat.

The Manchester United players on the field also seemed to take this game very seriously. Their expressions were solemn, as if they were not playing against a Championship opponent, but a strong rival in the league.

The serious attitude of the entire Manchester United team made the Nottingham Forest players on the field subconsciously nervous.

Although they have performed very well in the Championship this season and have been in strong momentum recently, there is hope that they will make it to the promotion play-offs at the end of the season.

But the Nottingham Forest players are still very self-aware.

Challenging Manchester United at Old Trafford was already difficult, and now we have to face a cautious and serious Manchester United. This...

Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper saw that the team's momentum was not right, and quickly shouted loudly twice on the sidelines, hoping that the players on the field could get into the game state as soon as possible.

But it was not until the game actually started that Steve Cooper truly understood the huge gap between them and Manchester United in strength and mentality!
Nottingham Forest, who played in a 352 formation, did not give up the initiative in attack, nor did they want to park the bus in a despicable manner at Old Trafford.

This was a performance of great tactical confidence and backbone, but it was precisely this backbone that caused them to suffer a great loss at the beginning of the game.

Li Chen fielded a 433 starting formation today, focusing on offense, and Manchester United directly fought with Nottingham Forest at the start of the game.

The forward trident of Greenwood, Ronaldo and Elanga gave Nottingham Forest's backcourt defense great deterrence.

Ronaldo pressed forward to press the Nottingham Forest centre-backs, while Elanga and Greenwood moved inwards to press the two Nottingham Forest midfielders.

Nottingham Forest wanted to attack forward, but due to the disconnection between the midfield and the backcourt, it was difficult for them to organize an overall forward pressure attack.

However, Manchester United was not aggressive after gaining the space to break through. Instead, they played steadily and did not give Nottingham Forest too many opportunities for quick counterattacks.

In the 17th minute of the first half, Greenwood seized the opportunity to receive Ronaldo's cross pass in the right rib area of ​​Nottingham Forest's penalty area, and decisively shot into the goal!
Five minutes later, Mata took advantage of Greenwood's forward run on the left and suddenly chose to cut inside and shot the ball into the far corner of the goal with a clever flick!

At this point, Manchester United, who were already two goals ahead, should have pressed on to win, but Li Chen chose to signal his players on the field to consolidate their defense at this time.

As expected, Nottingham Forest, who was anxious after being beaten, chose to give it a try early!
The result was that Manchester United, who were well-rested, took advantage of the counterattack opportunity and scored another goal in the 32nd minute of the first half.

Ronaldo continued his hot scoring form, receiving Elanga's low cross and pushing the ball into the net at the back post.

The 3-0 score at halftime directly destroyed the confidence of the entire Nottingham Forest team.

Steve Cooper had to face reality and replaced two main midfielders at halftime, choosing to save his strength for the league.

Seeing this, Li Chen soon replaced Ronaldo and Dalot, which can be said to be giving face to the opponent.

However, Greenwood's shooting form was really excellent today. In the second half, he scored a goal with a shot in front of the penalty area and a shot from the far corner on the right side of the penalty area!

Nottingham Forest didn't score a face-saving goal until the injury time of the game.

5-1!

Thanks to Greenwood's hat-trick and goals from two veteran players, Manchester United defeated Nottingham Forest at home and advanced to the round of 16 of this season's FA Cup!
A big win in the FA Cup seemed to have diluted some of the uneasiness in the hearts of Manchester United fans.

When interviewed by reporters after the game, Li Chen confidently gave a response that excited Manchester United fans.

“Every cup competition is not easy, we respect all our opponents, but having come this far, we will of course set our sights on longer-term goals.

after all……

There will always be a team that wins, why not us?"

　Please keep reading, guys!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)