After winning the FA Community Shield, five days before the start of the new Premier League season, there was finally an earthquake in English football.
When the earthquake first happened, it could only be regarded as a small earthquake and not many people took it seriously. But its influence gradually spread over time, and everyone came to their senses overnight. Maybe this was another shock that was going to change the structure of the Premier League!
On August 11th, the United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi Development and Investment Consortium issued a statement announcing that they had officially acquired the English Manchester City Football Club under Thaksin Shinawatra. The former club chairman, Thaksin Shinawatra, became the honorary chairman and did not have any real power. Just like Abramovich's acquisition of Chelsea, Bates continued to be the club's chairman for a while before leaving.
The news came so suddenly that many people had not reacted yet.
Everyone knew that Manchester City's owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, had had a hard time in recent months. His net worth had shrunk sharply due to the investigation in Thailand. But no one thought that he would really sell the club that he had held in his hands for a year!
Just a year ago, when Thaksin Shinawatra took over the Manchester City Football Club, the Manchester City fans did not express much dissatisfaction because they also longed for the title — Chelsea's success made many fans of other English teams realize that at present, a large number of foreign assets was the new driving force for the team's redevelopment. Thaksin Shinawatra injected more than half a billion pounds into the new team, and Manchester City was once at the top of the league table in the first half. As a result, the local media exclaimed: Manchester City was about to usher in the "Thaksin Shinawatra Era"!
The words were still ringing in people's ears, but the owner of Manchester City had changed.
The headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Development and Investment Consortium was located in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, a city made up of more than a dozen islands. It was now the richest place in the United Arab Emirates and the world, with a per capita wealth of up to 17 million US dollars, and their investments abroad reached almost one trillion US dollars!
The secret of their success was that a quarter of the world's oil was under their feet, and the Abu Dhabi Development and Investment Consortium happened to develop and invest in oil. In addition, Abu Dhabi's backer was the United Arab Emirates royal family.
The British gossip media dug up the news behind the change of ownership for the first time. They claimed that after the investigation, the Abu Dhabi consortium, headed by oil businessman Al Fahim, held ten times the wealth of Abramovich. The news shocked all of England.
When Abramovich first came to England, it was already scary enough. Abramovich's investments had gradually become more rational over the past two years, but everyone still remembered the storm he set off when he first came in 2003, and the impact had lasted until now. Now that there was a richer Abu Dhabi consortium, all the clubs had to be careful that the core players in the team were poached.
The statement did not disclose the amount of money involved in the transaction, but from the grapevine, it was 200 million pounds. Thaksin made a small profit, which showed that the reason he fled Manchester City was that he was disappointed that Manchester City could not win the title. It was because he had no money now and urgently needed to sell the club to cash in.
Some media outlets said that August 11, 2008 would become the most memorable day since the birth of the club with a history of 130 years. It was comparable to the birth of the team. The subtext was — maybe the Manchester City Football Club could use this opportunity to be reborn. Chelsea's yesterday was their today. Chelsea's today was their tomorrow. Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan and other powerhouse clubs' today was their tomorrow. However, their closest and most likely target was to become the next Nottingham Forest …
Mark Hughes, as the team's manager, expressed his welcome to the new owner on behalf of the team.
"… I know it's not that money is good, but this scene is still something to look forward to — we now have enough transfer money to find the players we need in the market … You know what that feels like. I mean, I feel good now. We have the prerequisites to become a successful team. Maybe I should set the team's goal to enter next season's Champions League? "
Look, Mark Hughes, who had never been so rich, was a little incoherent with joy …
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Tang En only found out about the news when he read the newspaper while eating breakfast. Although it was not news for foreign investors to enter the English Premier League since a few years ago, perhaps the combined net worth of those foreign owners could not compare to the Abu Dhabi family …
With his fork in his mouth, he stared at the photo of El Faxim in the newspaper, lost in thought.
He wondered what kind of impact the arrival of the new owner would have on Nottingham Forest.
The first person he thought of was Ribéry. He was never at ease with the man who was led by a lousy agent. His transfer to Real Madrid had failed, and he was not sure what other tricks the agent, who was unwilling to be left out, would play. Flirting with the rich and imposing Manchester City Club? Encouraging Ribéry to switch to Manchester City?
After thinking about it, Tang En rejected the hypothesis. Even if Manchester City could offer a salary of five million pounds a week, Ribéry would not go to a place where he could not even get an honor. He wanted to go to Real Madrid. On the one hand, Real Madrid could meet his salary requirements, and on the other hand, Real Madrid itself was a world-renowned powerhouse club. There was a high possibility of getting honors here and receiving the attention of the world. But what was the point of going to Manchester City? No matter how rich the team was, could it become the league champion and European champion overnight?
Tang En sneered.
He made such a judgment not because he had left a bad impression on Manchester City because of Richards some time ago, but because he really looked down on the strength of Manchester City. Mark Hughes was also not a successful manager. Tang En did not think he could lead Manchester City to any success.
Was he awesome just because he had money? Could he buy all the heroes in the world with money?
Stop dreaming, Mark Hughes.
You can afford it, but my players don't want to go!
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In the days that followed, while nervously preparing for the new season, he watched how the Manchester City Club, backed by oil, stirred up trouble in the transfer market and kept hitting the wall. It became Tang En's life.
The world knew that Manchester United was chasing Berbatov, and the world also knew that Berbatov had long been "secretly in love" with Ferguson. Now the world was waiting for Tottenham Hotspur's owner, Levy, to raise the price high enough before nodding.
If Tang En was not satisfied with his forward configuration, perhaps he would have intervened in Berbatov's transfer.
Now his dark idea had been realized by Manchester City. The new owner announced a bid for Berbatov on the first day he moved into the team.
As a pair of archenemies in the same city, Manchester City was happy to do anything that could make Manchester United uncomfortable. They might not really need Berbatov, but it was certain that they would go against Manchester United.
This infuriated Ferguson greatly. Seeing that he was about to succeed, Manchester City raised Berbatov's value to 29 million pounds. Levy, the cunning and greedy fox, turned his eyes and rejected Manchester United's offer, hypocritically hesitating on whether to accept Manchester City's offer.
At the same time, when AC Milan and Barcelona were both chasing Adebayor, Manchester City made a move.
Although they knew that Wenger would not agree to Adebayor's departure, Manchester City still offered a high price of 28 million pounds. Wenger took advantage of the opportunity to reject the offers from AC Milan and Barcelona, and at the same time offered a new contract for Adebayor, with a weekly salary of 80,000 pounds, waiting for him to sign the contract.
Mourinho finally ended his life of seclusion at home and took office again. This time, he landed at the Serie A powerhouse, Inter Milan. As soon as he arrived, there was news that he wanted to take Lampard and Drogba away. In addition, Real Madrid also wanted to bring in an excellent center forward, and they were also interested in Drogba. This time, it was Manchester City who stirred things up again, turning a transfer into mud.
It was only the first day, and Manchester City had already shown the entire European football world how annoying their style was.
Tang En did not know what Manchester City's purpose was. Was it fun to make enemies everywhere? Was it performance art? Or was Abu Dhabi really an idiot who knew nothing about football and thought he could buy anyone with money?
But look at the results of these three transfers.
As soon as Berbatov saw that Levy, the villain, was going to go back on his word, he immediately jumped out to be interviewed and publicly declared that he would not marry anyone but Manchester United. Manchester City wanted to buy him? Wait until the next life!
Manchester City's offer scared AC Milan and Barcelona away. Adebayor was annoyed, and he would never stoop to a small place like Manchester City. Even if he stayed at Arsenal, he would never go! So, he signed his name on the new contract that Wenger prepared for him.
Drogba? He did not even look at Manchester City. Inter Milan and Real Madrid had ambiguous attitudes, and he eventually stayed at Chelsea.
This painful fact proved Tang En's previous assumption that money could not buy the players you wanted to buy. The football world was not a world where money was invincible. A second-rate team like Manchester City still had a long way to go if they wanted to become gods.
Out of hatred for the rich, Tang En appeared to be gloating about Manchester City's misfortune. He liked to see the rich suffer because he was not rich himself.
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Unable to buy the players he liked in the transfer market for a while, Tang En planned to withdraw his energy and focus on the league tournament that was about to start. Anyway, there was still half a month before the summer transfer window closed. He would look as he played.
In the first round of the new season, Nottingham Forest challenged West Ham United in an away game. The opening game was Arsenal's home game against West Bromwich Albion.
West Ham United was not a very strong opponent, but Tang En still took it seriously. After all, this was the first game of the new season.
The Chinese paid particular attention to "the beginning of everything is difficult." If this start was not good, Tang En would think it would have a negative impact on the entire season. In addition, from a superstitious point of view, a bad start was a little inauspicious.
So, the main force played.
Edwin van der Sar, Pepe, Kompany, Gareth Bale, Rafinha, George Wood, van der Vaart, Ribéry, Beckham, van Nistelrooy and Eastwood.
Such a lineup was championship-level. Tang En thought there should be no problem in the away game.
As a result, the word "inauspicious" came to his mind at the start of the game.
After van der Vaart took the ball in the midfield, he was viciously tackled to the ground by West Ham United's midfielder, Lee Bowyer. When Bowyer tackled van der Vaart, he also took the opportunity to do a "scissor leg" action, viciously cutting van der Vaart's left foot off. At that time, van der Vaart was still lying on the ground when he made a gesture to request a substitution. Only ten minutes had passed since the start of the game.
"Damn it!" Tang En jumped up from his seat and cursed. What made him angry was not only van der Vaart's injury, but also because Bowyer, the culprit, only received a verbal warning from the referee and did not even get a yellow card. He patted his butt and got up from the ground. He pretended to go forward to comfort van der Vaart, but was pushed away by George Wood.
Bowyer covered his face and fell, which immediately triggered a conflict between the players on both sides.
In the end, the referee gave George Wood a yellow card and Behrami, who was active in the conflict, a yellow card. Only after 50 strokes of the board did the two teams' players separate.
"This bastard …" Tang En was not scolding George Wood. In fact, he was very supportive of George Wood's actions. He was scolding Bowyer. After so many years, this scumbag still showed no signs of improvement. It looked like the game at the J * * * Stadium would not be easy.
Van der Vaart was carried off on a stretcher. The team doctor, Fleming, told Tang En that it was absolutely impossible for him to play again in the game. They had to make a substitution. Şahin, who was still undergoing psychological treatment, did not come with the team to London for the game. Tang En had no choice but to bring on Petrov and let Ribéry go to the middle.
Van der Vaart's injury disrupted Nottingham Forest's tactics and rhythm. For a period of time, West Ham United, relying on their home advantage, had the upper hand, pressing on Nottingham Forest's penalty area and bombarding indiscriminately.
Fortunately, George Wood's performance was as stable as ever. He organized the defensive players to erect two defensive positions in front of the goal. West Ham United did not have a better way to break through Forest's goal for the time being.
However, even the best defensive line could collapse in the face of endless attacks. Before the end of the first half, the Welsh bad boy, Bellamy, relied on his speed to force his way through Rafinha and then cut diagonally into the penalty area. He suddenly raised his leg to shoot at a very narrow angle!
The football was pounced on by Edwin van der Sar, but it still hit the inside of the goalpost and bounced into the net.
"The defending champions have fallen into a tough battle in the away game! West Ham United has shown them that the defending champions' new season is definitely not going to be smooth sailing! "
In the second half, Tang En brought on Lennon to replace Beckham. Lennon, with his excellent speed and ability to break through, did indeed cause a lot of trouble for West Ham United. His attacks on the right flank were more penetrative, which was something that Beckham could not match.
With this substitution adjustment, Nottingham Forest swept away the lethargy of the first half. Seventeen minutes into the second half, they finally equalized the score. The scorer was van Nistelrooy. Lennon's breakthrough caused the defense in the middle of the penalty area to be weak. The king of the penalty area's sense of smell helped him find West Ham United's lifeline at the most crucial time.
Following that, when the game was about to end, Nottingham Forest, who had not given up on attacking, scored another goal. The scorer was Ribéry. He broke through in the middle and raised his leg to shoot from the top of the arc. The football blasted into West Ham United's goal like a cannonball. The commentator repeatedly shouted, "World Wave!"
Tang En also jumped up from his seat in excitement. The last-minute reversal and final kill infuriated West Ham United!
Although they had won the game, Tang En had no intention of letting anyone off in the post-match press conference. He fiercely attacked Lee Bowyer's unsportsmanlike behavior, and then raised "doubts" about the referee's decision on the foul. Of course, his doubts were generally more straightforward —
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