Chapter 305: The Real Focus Battle
Brand Wilkinson wants to do a good job at Millwall FC, with the goal of making Millwall better, so that he can stay in England for a long time, on the other hand, he has little interest in rights, and prefers to pursue a free and beautiful life.
The definition of 'free and beautiful' is very broad, and Wilkinson's definition is to stay away from Saudi Arabia and stay in the free and easy United Kingdom, where life and work are harder, and he also feels very comfortable.
It's not easy.
Wilkinson is a Saudi, and if you want to stay in London for a long time, you have to have a stable job, and the job at Millwall FC is very important.
It's his job, and it's his hope.
Therefore, in terms of personnel adjustments at Millwall FC, Wilkinson is very calm and cautious, and he knows that if a club is acquired, if there is a big change at the top, it will definitely affect the team's results.
Prince Mossad bought Millwall Club, and he must have wanted to take full control of the club, so in this case, personnel adjustments are also necessary, otherwise when Prince Mossad arrives and finds that the club still 'belongs' to someone else, even if the team's results are good, his work will be denied.
Fortunately, there are no complicated things within Millwall FC, and there are only three people who really have the power: chairman Gligori, CEO Ebenezer and Zhang Yang as the team's head coach.
Publicity needs to be appeased.
Millwall's success is inseparable from Zhang Yang, in the late season, the club hopes to win the league championship, and it is impossible to understand the manager, Zhang Yang can only be appeased, want to get the support of the fans, or in other words, if you want the team to maintain good results, you need to let him continue to control the team.
It's a must.
In the process of acquiring the shares of Millwall Club, Wilkinson has already considered that he must stay with Zhang Yang, give him better treatment, and let him continue to lead the team in all competitions.
In addition, it is Gregory and Ebenezer.
Gregory didn't think his shares mattered, but in fact, in Wilkinson's eyes, buying Gregory's shares was the most important thing, and as long as Gregory didn't have any shares, then he would have to leave the chairmanship.
If Grigory holds the shares, it will be troublesome for him to leave the chairmanship.
Gregory doesn't do much on weekdays, but after all, he has been the president of the club for a long time, and his influence is still very great, during Gregory's tenure, Millwall rose from the third division to the Premier League, how many fans support Gregory can be imagined, and he also has a certain influence in English football.
It's not a joke for such an old football celebrity to have a wide range of friends.
From the president of the FA to the ordinary officials, to the presidents and coaches of various clubs in England, most of them have to give Gregory some face.
If Grigory holds more than 20 percent of the shares, and forcibly uses the equity advantage to let him leave the chairmanship, he will definitely be met with a large amount of resistance from the fans.
That's where things go wrong.
The good news is that Gregory has no intention of remaining in the chairmanship, and he has decided to leave the club after selling his shares, allowing Wilkinson to move into the club easily.
While the club has yet to announce Gligory's departure, it has been confirmed that Prince Mossad will be the club's president.
This is already an established fact, and it is a well-established fact that has not caused much controversy.
Next up is Ebenezer.
Wilkinson's biggest headache is also Ebenezer, Ebenezer is the CEO of the club, and he was in charge of most of the affairs before, and if he resigned directly, the impact would be too great.
First of all, the work of the club will be affected.
They are, after all, outsiders, unfamiliar with the operation of Premier League clubs, and in many ways they are new to the game and have to rely on previous personnel, with Ebenezer being the top priority.
In addition, Ebenezer is also very capable, and the development of Millwall Club is inseparable from Ebenezer's ability.
Wilkinson had a long headache and decided to keep Ebenezer as head of the commercial department. This position is very important for a club to create revenue and value for the club, but at the moment, only Ebenezer is the most suitable, and he has a certain stake in the club, which must also be considered.
Ebenezer's appointment as head of the commercial department is tantamount to leaving the management of the sporting level.
The business of a club is always neglected, the eyes of the outside world will focus on the competition, Ebenezer leaving the athletic department, which is equivalent to leaving the public eye, and the main power of the club's operation will still be in the hands of Wilkinson.
This is the outcome that Wilkinson wants.
When most of the club can follow his arrangements and commands, it is equivalent to controlling the club, which can make the Mossad prince satisfied.
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After the club's personnel adjustments, the outside world found that the original big three of Millwall Club were replaced by Wilkinson, Ebenezer and Zhang Yang.
Wilkinson is the most powerful, the most convincing, Ebenezer is in charge of business affairs, and above the three, there is also an 'invisible giant', the mysterious Prince Mossad.
In terms of the overall structure, there are not many changes, and it is difficult to say whether it will affect the Millwall team.
As a result, the outside world paid more attention to Millwall's performance.
Soon the 32nd round of the Premier League came, Millwall's opponent was Charlton, Millwall and Charlton were both 'dark horses of the season', but their performance in the second half was very different.
Charlton's performance has dropped severely.
Charlton Athletic started the season in the top three of the league, beating Chelsea and Millwall, and by the second half of the season they seemed to be exhausted, winning just three games since Christmas, and just one in the last eight league games.
With such a result, the league ranking must have fallen very seriously, and now Charlton is only ranked 11th, and they are about to fall to the bottom of the Premier League.
When Charlton Athletic played Millwall again, there should have been little attention, but many wanted to see how Millwall were in form and if they had been affected by changes at the club's top management, and the game became very high-profile.
This was evidenced by the pre-match press conference, which was attended by more than 100 journalists.
In the meantime, there are many more journalists on the pitch hoping to interview Millwall players or other key figures at the club.
Some journalists 'got what they wanted'.
A number of reporters have met Millwall's new vice chairman, Brand Wilkinson.
It's a home game.
Wilkinson has just officially taken over as vice president, and he will definitely be 'in person' to support the team, he will sit on the rostrum during the game, and before the game starts, he will walk around the stadium to familiarize himself with the stadium environment, meet the staff, and ask about the game and the management of the stadium.
The reporters met Wilkinson in the interview area.
Wilkinson would not refuse an interview, and it was a good thing to promote the club, and when asked by reporters about the game, he said with confidence, "I'm sure we can win!" This is at Neil Stadium, where we've beaten Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and many other big teams, and Charlton Athletic will be no exception! ”
'Anyone who knows Millwall will know that every point is very important to us now. Our goal is to stay top of the league and try to win the league, so the whole team will try to win. ”
Wilkinson's statement, so that the accustomed 'Millwall club low-key' reporters stunned, and then they became very happy, every time Zhang Yang was interviewed, the answer given was 'relegation' or 'fight for the top six', even if it is now ranked first in the league, Zhang Yang's statement is still 'strive to keep the top three', many reporters are reluctant to ask questions about this question, because the answer is like an April Fool's joke.
Now Wilkinson has spoken out!
Wilkinson was unknown and had no influence to speak of, but now he is the vice-president of Millwall, and when Prince Mossad is not in London, he is the first person to speak in Millwall.
Wilkinson said that the goal is to be first in the league, and that must be the first in the league!
A group of excited reporters in front of him made Wilkinson a little confused, Millwall ranked first in the league, and the season is in the final stage, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is fighting for the championship, right?
Besides, he doesn't seem to have said anything else, right?
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Zhang Yang didn't know that his low profile to the outside world had been broken.
He's ready to play.
Charlton is not a strong opponent, especially the current Charlton, the results have dropped very much, the past dozen games have been average, and some games are simply poor.
So Millwall can easily cope with it, too.
In order to ensure the victory, Zhang Yang still arranged most of the main players to play, the only one is Darren Bent for a round of rest, and he also needs to rest when he plays consecutive games in order to ensure that the next game against Chelsea can have a stable state and performance.
The current Millwall strength cannot be compared with the giants, but all the main players have reached the middle level of the Premier League, and there is a good chance of winning head-to-head with ordinary teams.
If you add supernatural abilities, unless you are extremely unlucky, there is no reason to lose.
What Zhang Yang didn't expect was that the game was still very difficult.
Millwall played well overall, but the lack of the ball illustrated the game, Charlton has been passive defensive, and Millwall has struggled to break through the defensive line in front.
This may seem like a remake of the previous one.
Although Millwall are not as strong as Manchester United, Charlton have put up a 'big bus formation' to defend, and Millwall has a hard time penetrating the defence.
Zhang Yang experienced the mood of Ferguson in the last game, the difference is that he has more means than Ferguson, so he is not too worried about not scoring for a long time.
Both teams failed to score in the first half.
By half-time, there was a media statement that "the game could be a draw", and they were not negating Millwall's performance, in fact, a first half was enough to prove that Millwall's performance was not bad, but in the face of dense defense, any team would have a headache.
Manchester United failed to find the Millwall goal in the last round and it was difficult for Millwall to find the Charlton goal.
In the second half, Zhang Yang simply adopted the 'casting the net' tactic and replaced Smitchell, allowing him and Morris to use their personal skills to attack Charlton's defense.
This creates set-piece opportunities.
He also instructed Livermoredo to plug in and use long-range shots to deter Charlton's defence, and the wide players should also use more hanging passes to help the strikers find opportunities, as long as they can find opportunities, whether they can score or not, a 'word goes' and the chances will become very big.
Others didn't know that Zhang Yang had this kind of hole card, and they still didn't think Millwall could score.
But in the 74th minute, Millwall managed to find a chance, which may be described as an accident, Livermore's volley, hit the Charlton defender, flew high into the sky, Braniff fought for the first point, and scored a header against Charlton Athletic.
Zhang Yang was very pleasantly surprised, he didn't use any ability, and it was Braniff himself who seized the opportunity.
The moment the football flew into the goal, Neil Stadium erupted in the loudest cry since the opening kick-off, and the players on the Millwall field hugged each other and celebrated the goal excitedly.
"Win!"
Zhang Yang said affirmatively.
"We have to calm down, there is still time for the game." Wise reminded in time.
Zhang Yang smiled, "Thank you, you're right!" ”
Millwall supporters, all cheering excitedly, Wilkinson on the rostrum also stood up and clapped his hands, he was interacting with the FA official next to him, the latter was complimenting the development of Saudi football, but Wilkinson was not interested in this topic at all, he hoped to know a few more FA officials, both sides wanted to know each other, but the topic was not interesting at all.
When Millwall's goal was seen, the conversation finally turned to the game.
'Millwall played really well. If this time last year, who had told me that Millwall would be number one in the league, I would have thought he was a madman! A lot of people are talking about Millwall's results now and I'm surprised. It's a good idea for you to choose to buy Millwall. But the key is that Zhang must continue to coach......"
The FA official said in the taste of his predecessors.
Wilkinson nodded, "Of course, I also know that Zhang has a big role. Millwall was brought up by him. ”
"Since Zhang became the manager, English football has become lively. He's been the talk of the story, and that's interesting, and now even my son, Jamie, likes to talk about him. ”
"Yes, Prince Mossad also keeps mentioning Zhang, there are a lot of people in Saudi Arabia who watch the Premier League, and he also has some fame."
The two chatted about the topic of publicity, and the atmosphere was finally more harmonious.
on the field.
Charlton also reported an equaliser, and in the closing stages of the game, they played a little bit, but were overshadowed by Millwall overall.
In the 87th minute, taking advantage of a quick counter-attack opportunity, Livermore's long-range shot from the outside of the area knocked on Charlton's door again, rewriting the score to 2-0.
There is no suspense in the game.
In the end, Millwall defeated Charlton Athletic 2-0 to win the 32nd round of the league.
After the game, no one talked about it anymore.
At the press conference, questions from reporters crossed over to the 33rd round six days later, when Millwall travelled to Stamford Bridge to host Chelsea.
This battle for the first and second place in the league is the battle that is really the focus of attention.