In the first week of the transfer period, Portsmouth started the official announcement mode, and at 6 p.m. on January 14, 2012, the picture of Pierce and Hydward shaking hands and signing on the official website of the Pompey Army was hung on the front page, and the two sides announced a two-year contract extension.

The official website reads: The new contract will expire in the summer of 2014, the 33-year-old Pierce has played for a number of clubs including Dinamo Zagreb, and came here in 2009 to play 87 games for the team, contributing 7 goals and 19 assists is the core of the team, and this contract will also be the last contract of his career. Pierce is the old Pompey legion!

The veteran who spoke to the local media made a fond confession to the team: "It has always been my wish to renew my contract with Pompey, I have always said that I like the feeling here, I like to play for Portsmouth, I still have unfulfilled wishes here, and I am very happy to continue to play for the team." Hydward gave him the pen he signed in front of the media, and then gave him a warm hug.

However, it seems that this seaside team has no intention of stopping, and at Faton Park, English striker Jamie Brown. Jamie Vardy, holding up his number 29 shirt and posing for photos with Edward around the pitch.

However, the 24-year-old's resume has left fans unfazed, with the 24-year-old Sheffield Wednesday Academy product being terminated by the club at the age of 16 and his best form so far has been 31 league goals for the town of Haliface this season. In the seventh-tier amateur league, where there are often big scores, the 31-goal score can only be regarded as unusual, and there are many people who perform better than him.

Vardy would have joined Fleetwood for his impressive performances in the north, and after winning the English Parliament's National League, Championship side Leicester City would have paid him a record-breaking $1.7 million for an amateur player. But now, Vardy. It is worthless and makes fans feel that it is an inexplicable transfer, of course, because of the good relationship with the manager, most people choose to trust.

At noon on the same day, the club's official website, which had not stopped, posted the second transfer transaction. N'Golo Kante took the number 7 shirt that represented the core and toured the club, the training ground, under the guidance of Edward.

Compared to Jamie Vardy, Kante's lean and swarthy frame and well-developed legs make him look a little more bluffing, which reminds Pompey fans of the players who played for Chelsea. There's a well-known saying: Tough as a tractor, Chelsea at once! Of course, in addition to being relatively young, the player himself is still the kind of unknown person.

Fans always want the club to sign some big names, and most people prefer to believe that there is nothing to be said for the big names than for the blockbusters.

The news of Mane's arrival did not appear on the official website, and the club had to apply for a labor certification for him first, and everything had to wait for the thin piece of paper to be said.

………………

"Boss, this is my report card from the Academy." Despite being a newcomer, the optimistic Mane quickly settled into getting along with the new manager.

Hydward briefly flipped through a few pages, the report was a bit old, the one Frank had provided to the Metz club, it was all declarative descriptions and some assessment scores, and it was obviously not very convincing.

"It's better to have some video footage to prove to the people on the league committee that it's not enough."

Mane thought for a moment and said: "Maybe in my former academy, I scored more than 50 goals a year in the youth team there, and I should have left a few. ”

Diligence, seriousness, hard work, kindness, self-confidence, this is Ward's impression of this young man from rural Africa, who has almost everything that can be successful, it is the unique character that suffering has given him.

Hydward pulled out a few cards from the drawer: "This is a bank card from a nearby bank, you keep it, this is a transportation card, the subway and bus are fine, and this is the apartment's room card with the address on it, all of them are collected." ”

"The weather in the UK is weird, there are prepared clothes in the apartment room, go and see if you like it, don't like it yourself to buy it, Kari paid this month's salary in advance. Oh, by the way, the club has hired a local English teacher for you, five lessons a week, basically after the training time, I know you have training in Metz, but you still can't fall behind, you can feel free to learn about the culture here. ”

Mane took a stack of documents and cards from Ward's hand, flipped through them carefully, and bowed deeply at him. Aside from his parents and Uncle Frank, he felt that the best thing for him was the coach in front of him, and it took him almost a month to get used to the culture and life in Metz, and Mane spent the first two weeks in a modest player apartment. In order to get a bank card, he waited for a week, and all his thoughts were on the court.

The contrast made Mane feel like he had made the right choice.

Hydward's philosophy is that when a player comes to a new club, the most important thing is not to train or run in with the team at all, but to get the player settled in as quickly as possible, which is more important than anything else. You can't walk up to the training ground with your baggage, go to the field, and people in Cao Ying's heart should not be in his team. Big-club clubs can provide life assistants for their players, of course, Portsmouth is not so arrogant, his players are not so squeamish, Ward tries to deal with the food, clothing, housing and transportation that are closely related to life, especially the newcomers including Mane.

Tom knocked on the door outside, and Ward smiled and patted Mane's strong shoulder, "You can go and talk to Chef Yang in the cafeteria, he cooks very good dishes, tell him what you like to eat, and ask Lao Yang to order a recipe for you." ”

Mane bowed again and walked out, the Chinese reporters were right, he looked like a Japanese.

"Something happened to Ward."

As soon as the African guy left, Tom said straight to the point, with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

Hydward glanced at the airline text message on his phone and smiled at Mr. Tom, who had switched careers to become a team steward.

"There's a good news and a bad news, which one do you listen to first?"

Tom didn't wait for Ward's choice, and took the initiative to say: "Antonov has announced his resignation as chairman of Portsmouth in the media, our opportunity has come!" Now Qian Li doesn't have much money, he can't eat such a big cake, as long as he takes 40% of the equity, plus the fans themselves, we can re-manage this club! ”

Qian Li, an unknown Hong Kong businessman who runs a duty-free shop, was rich for a while, but soon fell into disarray. It doesn't matter if it's an America He is a second shareholder of both Middle Easterners and Russians, his capital is not abundant, and he is not able to repay his debts, perhaps his money can only ensure that the four words Portsmouth will not be written off, and will not be reduced to history like Parma in the future.

Ward knocked on the table, made two soft noises, and asked, "What about the bad news?" ”

"Just received a letter from the league committee and Portsmouth has been warned! We need to come up with 20 million euros as soon as possible, and if we don't do it before the approval review on January 24, there will be a penalty of 9 points. ”

"Failure to pass the Fiscal Fair Play Act by Feb. 24 will result in penalties ranging from three to six points, fines plus a reduction in league enrollment and a reduction in team wages, depending on the circumstances."

Ward's originally calm fingers paused in mid-air, and ten thousand grass and mud horses galloped past in his heart: "......"

PS: I took a half-day off to hang water for a severe cold, my throat was inflamed and sore and I didn't sleep well for two days, and I typed a chapter with one hand in the hospital, but I think you don't have hope for my update. Change of season, everyone take care of yourself, it's too uncomfortable to be sick, alas.

Thank you for the reward of sword skills, thank you for the reward of Xia Mu, and thank you for the 600 reward of three years of blood earning-death penalty without loss, they are all old friends, I'm really sorry.