Chapter 73: Unusual Title, Please Call Him Sir From Now On

Chapter 73: Unusual Title, Please Call Him Sir From Now On

Chapter 73: Unusual Title, Please Call Him Sir From Now On
There were not many celebrations after England won the championship. It was not because the English Football Association was unprepared or stingy, but because all major leagues were about to start in a week.

Many of England's main players have to play a round of domestic cup matches before the league, so they really can't find time.

Even party animal like Walker and Grealish said they couldn't take it anymore. They didn't play many World Cup games, but Li Chen's physical training made them exhausted.

Compared to participating in grand events, everyone now just wants to have a good rest after winning the championship and enjoy the joy of winning the World Cup with family and friends.

So after Li Chen mentioned it, the English FA arranged the World Cup championship celebration to after the official end of this season.

However, the celebration party that night still had to be a grand one.

After the award ceremony, the English Football Association chartered a plane to bring the entire England team back to London from Doha.

The eagerly awaited England fans immediately celebrated with the returning players near the airport.

Li Chen was sprayed with champagne from head to toe by the players in public.

However, after his coaching mission is over, there is no need for him to continue to maintain his coaching authority.

He laughed and took a bottle of champagne and drank it, then returned to the hotel where the FA held a celebration banquet that night with his players, all wet.

In order to prevent these English football players who had been suppressed for more than a month from causing any scandal by calling girls at the party, Li Chen also asked the English Football Association to bring the families of each player to the scene.

Now, the carnival party turned into a family party.

However, the England internationals, who have been separated from their families for the past month, had no objections and also enjoyed this moment.

After the celebration banquet that night, Li Chen quietly left with Carrick and several other assistants.

There was no formal farewell. His temporary coaching contract officially ended on the day of the World Cup victory, so he left very coolly without any psychological burden.

The next day, after sobering up, the British team members discovered that Li Chen had left.

They called Li Chen one after another to thank him for his dedication and teaching over the past month.

But Li Chen, who had already arrived at the Newcastle training base to start club work, had the foresight to choose to turn off his mobile phone.

Local media reporters in Newcastle only learned about Li Chen's return that morning.

For a while, the Newcastle training base was filled with reporters carrying cameras.

Superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Ramos, who are usually more popular among reporters, became Li Chen's foil today.

The reporters who were waiting outside the Newcastle training base only had Li Chen in their eyes, and they all wanted to dig out some news from the mouth of this new World Cup champion coach.

But at this moment, Li Chen, who in their eyes has officially become a world-class coach, is counting the extra 1500 million pounds in his bank account and is grinning from ear to ear.

Originally, after leading his team to win the World Cup, he should have received a bonus plus basic coaching salary of 1200 million pounds, but the FA eventually gave him an additional 300 million thank-you bonus.

This wave of generous rewards made Li Chen look more favorably upon the officials of the English Football Association.

After working hard for more than a month, I earned almost two years' salary as a club coach. This deal is really fucking awesome!

It's just a bit exhausting.

If it weren't for the fact that they had to play in the fourth round of the English League Cup right after returning, Li Chen really wanted to give himself and Carrick and the others a good vacation.

Unfortunately, the schedule does not wait for anyone, and now the coaching staff can only bear the hardship.

However, the bonuses for the coaches he brought to England temporarily this time were all paid in full.

Li Chen was quite satisfied with what both Newcastle United and the English Football Association had done in this regard.

The intensity of the training content for the day has been increased.

Except for Maddison, Trippier, Wilson, Longstaff and Ward-Prowse, the first-team players who played with the team to the World Cup final are still on vacation.

The rest of the first-team main players have resumed their normal training volume.

Therefore, Li Chen is not short of people, and there is no problem in preparing for the English League Cup.

After leading the team to finish normal training that day, Li Chen stayed in the base for a while to review the list of winter transfers provided by the uniform team.

But he didn't expect that even so, when he drove away from the training base, he was still blocked by a large number of reporters.

You said "no comment" to any question as usual, just smiled and left.

The first thing they said was, "Congratulations on leading your team to win the World Cup!"

Well, since you can’t hit someone who smiles at you, Li Chen could only stop the car obediently, lower the window, and patiently accept interviews from several reporters.

Li Chen now knows everything about his feelings after winning the championship and the preparations behind leading his team to defeat France and Argentina.

Anyway, the World Cup is over. During this period, Amazon has been following the England team to shoot a complete documentary about their victory.

Whether he says it or not, these things will become public content with the official release of the documentary.

It would be a good idea to respond openly at this time to give these reporters face.

"Then do you know about the news that the royal family is about to confer a knighthood on you? Would you consider changing your nationality for this reason?"

An abrupt question was raised by a reporter from "442" magazine on the spot.

The previously noisy scene suddenly became quiet.

Li Chen frowned and looked over, then after a moment he carefully considered his words and replied.

"I think I have answered this question during the World Cup. I got the pay I deserved, and I am very grateful to the English fans for their love for me, but I will never think about changing my nationality because of anything. This is my clear answer."

After saying that, Li Chen rolled up the car window. Seeing Li Chen's attitude change, the reporters around him could only reluctantly make way and watch Li Chen drive away.

That night, Li Chen called Mendes and asked about the source of the relevant information and the current state of public opinion.

He didn't think that the reporter who asked him the question today was simply trying to gain traffic.

It seemed more like a test, but it was not easy for him to ask the FA directly now.

After thinking it over, he decided to talk to Mendes first, and ask Mendes to use the resources at his disposal to help him find out whether the English Football Association was behind this matter.

Mendes pondered for a moment after listening to Li Chen's story.

Before Li Chen led the England team to win the World Cup, he also regarded the news that the British royal family might confer a knighthood on Li Chen as a joke.

But now, when Li Chen actually led the team to win the World Cup championship, the fermentation of public opinion in the UK and the general support of the British people have made him change his view on this matter.

"Li, have you been paying attention to the public opinion on the Internet recently? Have you read the petition initiated by British fans asking the royal family to knight you?"

Mendes asked back first, which naturally resulted in Li Chen's doubt.

"Is that true? I've been so busy lately. After leaving the England national team, I immediately returned to the club to prepare for the EFL Cup. I haven't really paid attention to any news on the Internet..."

"Ha... no wonder you are so calm. If you have nothing to do tonight, take a look at the relevant news reports. I bet, Li, you will be the most respected and beloved foreigner by the British people in the next month."

Mendes' words made Li Chen doubtful.

But when he actually opened his computer to search for relevant news, he was still shocked to see the petition in which hundreds of thousands of British citizens spontaneously left their names and requested the royal family to knight him.

"Fuck, has this matter become such a big deal?!"

……

Li Chen still underestimated how much importance the British people attached to this world championship trophy after a lapse of 58 years.

He could feel the increased respect from the players at the club.

But in his opinion, this is more like respect from industry practitioners for their peers who have achieved outstanding results.

But when he saw a large number of middle-aged and elderly people taking off their hats to his car on his way to and from get off work, he immediately felt the local people - whether they were fans or not - who sincerely respected him.

But many younger fans don’t have this sense of distance. They just follow his car all the way like crazy fans!

Li Chen was indeed a little overwhelmed when he first dealt with this situation.

But after another day, he gradually adapted to the rhythm of life where he would stop the car from time to time on the road to sign autographs and take photos with a group of young people.

It was not until the English League Cup officially arrived that Li Chen returned to the court and got rid of the dazed feeling of recent days.

But the fans at St. James' Park gave Li Chen another big surprise before the game started.

Driven by the atmosphere and signal of the on-site DJ, before the game officially started, fans of Newcastle and Bournemouth, who were playing against Newcastle today, all stood up and gave Li Chen the warmest cheers and applause!

The players from both teams lined up on the field also applauded Li Chen sincerely.

As a result, the English League Cup match in which both sides were aiming to advance did not spark any excitement at all.

In the end, Newcastle, with most of the main players starting the game, defeated Bournemouth 2-0 at home without much suspense.

Guimaraes and Willock each scored with a long shot, Ronaldo assisted and scored a goal which hit the post, and Guevadiol and Ramos on the back line also performed well.

After the game, Bournemouth's young coach Gary O'Neill took Li Chen aside and had another enthusiastic conversation.

It can be seen that the young English coach is still very excited about Li Chen leading England to win the World Cup.

Li Chen could understand his feelings very well, but he still couldn't adapt to his enthusiasm.

"No, buddy, we just finished a game as opponents. I really can't accept your enthusiasm and excitement..."

Li Chen grumbled helplessly in his heart, but on the surface he had to give Gary O'Neill the same enthusiastic response.

He didn't dare to attend the post-match press conference, and let Carrick and Guimaraes take his place to deal with those equally enthusiastic reporters.

After playing this League Cup, Newcastle got another 5 days of rest.

While Li Chen was leading the team in preparation training step by step, he also asked someone to find a new residence in the wealthy villa area on the banks of the Tyne.

It is not necessary to spend several million or even more than 10 million pounds to buy a luxury house. Li Chen prefers to rent a villa in a wealthy area with good public security.

The address of the single-family apartment he currently rents has long been exposed by the media, so fans can still exercise some restraint and try not to disturb his life.

However, more and more reporters came to his residence, which had seriously affected his mood.

So Li Chen now just wants to move into his new home quickly, and it would be best if Mendes could hire a reliable security team for him.

When the time comes, we can raise a few more big dogs, and let the dogs bite any reporters or thieves who dare to come and wait for us!
Thinking about the scene in which reporters would be bitten by their own dogs and causing chaos, Li Chen's mood suddenly eased a lot.

On December 12th, several England international players who had completed their vacation officially returned to the team for training.

However, considering that the opponent in the next round of the league is only Leicester City, Li Chen is not in a hurry for Maddison and Trippier to recover in time to play the game.

While giving them continued holidays, Li Chen only selected Longstaff and Wilson into the 17-man squad for the 20th round of the Premier League against Leicester City.

Among several England internationals, only Ward-Prowse, who is currently in the best physical condition, was included in the starting lineup.

However, because Xavi Manquillo suffered a slight thigh muscle strain during training, Li Chen had to let a defender play as right back in this round of the league.

After a brief comparison, Li Chen chose to let Gvadiol temporarily play as right back.

Under Li Chen's training for nearly half a season, Gvardiol's full-back attributes have been gradually developed.

He often played as a left back on the training ground.

Anyway, his right foot is pretty good, and if he just plays as a right-back temporarily, Li Chen believes that this kid can hold his position on the defensive end.

If there are two central defenders, let Van der Ven and Ramos partner up.

Pepe just needs a few more days of rest.

Marcelo, who missed the World Cup due to a minor injury, has had enough rest and can start in consecutive games, which will also allow Grimaldo to adjust his condition.

As for the midfield and frontcourt, Longstaff will definitely not be able to start.

So Li Chen fielded a trio of Guimaraes, Joelinton and Ward-Prowse.

The forward trident is composed of Ronaldo, Havertz and Elanga.

This starting lineup is not weak, at least it is enough to deal with Leicester City, which is currently hovering on the edge of the relegation zone.

On the afternoon of December 12, the 26th round of this season's Premier League kicked off in drizzle.

Newcastle visited the King Power Stadium to challenge Leicester City. Before the game, Li Chen once again received collective applause from the fans.

Li Chen, who has gradually become accustomed to this kind of treatment, generously waved his hand and greeted the fans at the scene.

However, when the game started, the Foxes fans were not so friendly. After all, Leicester City had a very bad start to the season.

If they don't want to be relegated and play in the Championship for a year, they must try their best to get points in every subsequent league game.

But Newcastle's starting players still played a suppressive performance against Leicester City without any suspense despite the deafening boos from the audience.

Judging from the scene, Newcastle has been pressing Leicester City since then, except for the mutual offensive probing with Leicester City in the opening stage.

But I don’t know if it’s because we haven’t played in the league for too long, but several attackers who performed quite well in the last round of the League Cup performed very averagely in this round of the league.

Of course, Leicester City's tenacious defense after quickly changing its formation also caused considerable trouble for Newcastle's offense.

Seeing that his team's central attack was repeatedly frustrated by Leicester City's heavy defense, Li Chen calmly made tactical adjustments.

He moved Marcelo's position forward, then let Elanga return to the right midfield, and directly changed to a 352 formation.

As a result, Newcastle's attacking style changed from a strong attack in the middle to attacking from both wings.

Ronaldo was also able to move inwards to ambush behind Havertz and devote all his energy to attacking the second point.

Marcelo started from the left, and he only needed to attack with all his strength. With the cooperation of Ronaldo and Havertz, he soon broke through Castagne's right defense!
Tielemans had no choice but to move to the side to assist in defense, and at this time, Ronaldo had more opportunities to invade Leicester City's flank defense area.

In the 32nd minute of the first half, it was Ronaldo's diagonal pass that attracted the defensive attention of Leicester City's other midfielder Soumare and two central defenders.

Before being trapped in the opponent's double-team defense, Ronaldo chose to pass the ball to the right in time.

Elanga, who followed up, took the ball and cut inside decisively, and Leicester City's left center back Firth quickly returned to his position.

But his giving way gave Havertz, who was waiting for an opportunity, the chance to shoot!
Elanga's inverted triangle pass was delivered quickly, and Havertz's follow-up push shot was also beautiful enough!

Leicester City goalkeeper Danny Ward was a beat slow in getting to the ground and didn't touch the ball at all.

After seeing the ball cross the line and go into the net, Havertz grinned and rushed to the baseline with his arms open to celebrate!
Ronaldo did not gain any personal statistics from this goal, but he was also very happy to see Havertz's obvious improvement in shooting skills.

Under Li Chen's arrangement, Havertz started practicing shooting with Ronaldo early this season.

Although in this regard, Havertz's talent is not the best in football.

But his advantage lies in his diligence in training and his ability to set strict standards for himself.

In addition, Li Chen gave him special training, helping him to break down in detail the shooting movements in several areas inside and outside the penalty area, and also asked Ronaldo to practice with him.

So after half a season, Havertz's shooting skills have improved significantly, and the quality and selection of his shots are much better than before.

Li Chen was also very satisfied watching the game off the court. He felt that Havertz was not far from achieving his goal of scoring 10 goals in the league this season.

Diligence can make up for lack of talent. As long as you are really willing to put in effort and sweat to improve your technical deficiencies, even if the improvement is slow and the amount is small, it is always better than doing nothing.

Suddenly, Li Chen thought of Rashford, whose mentality changed drastically this season.

As one of the contributors to the World Cup victory, Rashford's current public opinion environment is much better than it was a year ago.

But Li Chen could clearly feel during the World Cup that Rashford has gradually gotten rid of his inner impetuousness.

Even though his playing time is not too much, Rashford has been working hard to improve himself in training and try to exceed the tactical goals set for him by the coaching staff.

He is ambitious, never complains, and seizes every opportunity given to him, repeatedly helping England score counterattack goals at crucial moments.

This is very good. It was worth it that Li Chen gave him the opportunity at Manchester United last season, helped him regain his form, and gave him some earnest guidance.

Rashford's talent in shooting is absolutely top-notch in football, but he was spoiled by public opinion in the past and took a long detour.

However, it is not too late for him to wake up now. What makes Li Chen most gratified is that Rashford is now gradually transforming into a hard-working player like Havertz.

With his and Greenwood's hard work and protection, Manchester United will eventually be able to maintain the bottom line in the future...

Li Chen, who was daydreaming as he was thinking, was finally awakened by another loud booing from the audience.

He looked closely and saw that the big screen was replaying the scene of Joelinton passing the ball to assist Ronaldo in scoring a goal.

The game time had reached the 40th minute of the first half. Li Chen felt calm and made new tactical gestures to the players on the field.

It's time for them to play defense and counterattack.

Leicester City lost the tactical initiative and ultimately failed to break through Newcastle's defense in the game.

Today, Gvardiol played as a right back and then as a right center back, and his performance was quite good.

It wasn't very eye-catching, but there were no mistakes either, which was enough for the media to give him high scores after the game.

Ramos, who led the defense and directed the team well, made countless fans see the style of the former Real Madrid captain.

Many internet celebrities even took to the internet to make fun of Ramos' outstanding performance after the game:
"If you had known earlier that you could perform like this, Mr. Buddha would have given you face and allowed you to renew your contract smoothly."

"PSG is miserable. They didn't even get the chance to take over at the right time. They kept Ramos for a whole season in vain, but he turned out to be a god in Newcastle."

"Ah, I've seen this scenario before. A central defender abandoned by Paris finds a second spring in his career at the end of his career and helps the team win the Champions League, right?"

"Damn it, don't use a knife to kill people. The club's management is mentally ill. Don't come and hurt us Paris Saint-Germain fans."

……

Newcastle beat Leicester City 2-0 and continued to lead the Premier League standings with 46 points and an unbeaten record in the league, and their situation seems to be becoming more and more stable.

However, in this round of the league, Arsenal and Manchester City, who were competing with Newcastle for the championship, did not fall behind either. They both won by three goals.

其中阿森纳14胜2负积42分，曼城13胜2平1负积41分。

After the 17th round of the Premier League, the gap between them and Newcastle was 4 points and 5 points respectively, which is not a big gap, so Newcastle cannot take it lightly now.

While Li Chen was leading the team in preparation for the 18th round of the Premier League, Sir Alex Ferguson's remarks during a media interview once again made Li Chen top the world news hot list!

"If the criteria for royal knighthood is to recognize talents who have made outstanding contributions to a particular area of ​​the country, why don't we do this for Li?

His contribution to English football is far greater than the Treble I won with Manchester United in 99.

If Lee leading the England team to break the 58-year-old record and win the World Cup is not enough to gain recognition from the royal family and the people, then I can only say that I am unworthy of my title..."

Sir Alex Ferguson's true expression has once again made the issue of whether Li Chen is qualified to receive a knighthood from the British royal family a hot topic among fans around the world.

But the fans' focus is only on two aspects: Ferguson stood up to speak up for Li Chen and whether Li Chen deserves the title.

However, media from various countries have keenly grasped the key information of the time node.

Because on December 12st of every year, Buckingham Palace will announce the list of honors and titles for the new year.

And now we are approaching this critical time point.

Considering the special timing of the event, Li Chen was appointed to lead the England team to win the World Cup just three months after the death of the Queen of England.

Therefore, many British citizens believe that there is a factor of "God's blessing" involved.

This is also likely to make the British royal family inclined to make an exception and confer a knighthood on Li Chen based on personal feelings.

It is very likely that Sir Alex Ferguson was officially introduced at this time to test media opinion and the attitude of the British public opinion.

Fans and spectators from other countries were just there to watch the fun.

Whether they agree or disagree, they all have their own opinions, which cannot be counted.

The key lies in the opinions of the British people.

A number of authoritative sports media in the UK, such as Sky Sports and 442, once again organized a public opinion vote in a short period of time.

The English Football Association was also efficient in a rare move, contributing money and effort to help several media outlets collect a large number of public opinions across the UK.

In fact, they did this step as early as the week after winning the World Cup.

Repeating it again now is nothing more than giving an explanation to the authorities.

The public's wishes have been made very clear through public opinion and various interview feedback.

It’s just that the authorities need an exact figure. They need to have an idea of ​​the support rate. If there is any backlash from public opinion in the future, they at least have a shield.

Soon, before December 12, major authoritative media in the UK released data they had "spontaneously" organized on the public's willingness to support Li Chen's knighthood.

After the data was summarized, people in almost every area surveyed supported Li Chen's royal title with a support rate of over 95%.

In Newcastle and Manchester, this support figure is as high as 99%!

As soon as the report came out, media and newspapers that had access to inside information all understood that there was a 100% chance that Li Chen would be on the honors list this time.

The only difference is how high a level of title the royal family will grant him at that time.

If Li Chen was English, he would have no chance of getting the first-class title, but he could still try to get the second-class title.

But considering his non-British citizenship, the media have speculated whether the royal family will only give him a third-class commander title (CBE) this time.

This title is not as good as Sir Ferguson's knighthood (kbe), and it cannot be considered a knighthood.

If Li Chen really only obtained the rank of third-class commander, then others would not need to use the honorific "sir" before his name when addressing him.

Therefore, whether or not one has this title is not that important.

To put it bluntly, this title is not very impressive.

Li Chen obviously didn't have a deep understanding of the ins and outs of this; he just found it novel.

And through Mendes' timely notification, he also learned in advance that his name would definitely appear on the list of honors and knighthoods on December 12.

If it were an ordinary British person or even a well-known British businessman or international star, hearing the news would inevitably be filled with emotion.

But after Li Chen's novelty wore off, he no longer paid much attention to this matter.

After all, they were children who grew up under the red flag, and they were not as fanatically pursuing aristocratic status and corresponding honorary titles as these Europeans.

However, this time, there were even more friends and seniors who heard the news and congratulated him than when he led the team to win the World Cup.

This caused some trouble to Li Chen's preparations.

Fortunately, the players' training quality is still pretty good, and Madison and others have also officially kept up with the training intensity, giving him more offensive trump cards.

On the afternoon of December 12st, under the expectations and attention of countless sports fans and spectators around the world, Li Chen led the team to appear at St. James' Park.

In the 18th round of the Premier League, Newcastle will face Leeds United, who, like Leicester City, are on the verge of relegation.

There didn't seem to be much suspense in this game as Newcastle's main players were all on the field.

And the tens of thousands of fans at the scene today seemed to be more concerned about the birth of another historic moment.

After the game officially started, Newcastle's Ramos scored a goal from a corner kick in just 11 minutes.

Leeds United seized the opportunity to counterattack and striker Rodrigo scored in the 17th minute of the first half to equalize the score.

But in the next ten minutes, Newcastle, who was in good form, scored goals in succession by Ronaldo and Maddison, successfully changing the score to 3-1.

Just when Newcastle was about to make further progress and score the team's fourth goal before the end of the first half.

A burst of enthusiastic cheers suddenly spread from the stands during the game, which made the players of both teams look sideways.

Many Newcastle players on the field seemed to realize something, grinning and looking towards the sidelines frequently.

At this moment, Carrick had already hugged Li Chen and patted Li Chen's shoulders excitedly.

"Congratulations, Lee! The honors list has just been released. From now on, I will call you Sir!"

Jazz?

Li Chen touched his cheek and realized it belatedly.

Did he get the same title of Knight Commander as Sir Alex Ferguson?
Soon, the Newcastle fans at the scene confirmed Li Chen's guess with loud cheers.

Although their shouting in unison seemed a little strange due to the differences in Eastern and Western names, there was no doubt that they were shouting their own names.

In the form of an honorific!

"Mr. Li! Sir Li! Sir Li!"

(End of this chapter)