Second in the league!

That's great news!

When Zhang Yang talked about leading the team to promotion before, his goal was to aim at the top two in the league, "The promotion play-offs are difficult to play, and it depends on luck, our goal is the top two in the league!" ”

When Zhang Yang talked about this goal, the players did not have much confidence.

At that time, Millwall won a string of games and only moved up to seventh place in the league, which is still not a short distance away from second place in the league.

Now they have achieved it.

In the dressing room after the game, the players were celebrating the victory and, more importantly, the team's rise to second place in the league.

"As long as we maintain our league standings, by the end of the season, we'll be able to get a promotion spot!"

Wise said confidently.

Since returning to the team, Wise has rarely said anything, just sat silently and directed the team's training work, and even during the game, he seemed to really become a substitute player, staying on the bench without saying a word.

Regardless of the crisis of the game or the good game, Wise just watched, but now he couldn't help but stand up, because the team was already in sight.

It was a credit to Zhang Yang for leading the team to promotion, and even the media outlets on the outside who like to do critical reporting had to admit it, which Wise was embarrassed to have led the team in the first half of the schedule.

But he was also very happy to think that Millwall could be upgraded.

It's a miracle!

In the first half of the season, when the whole team was still trying to break out of the relegation circle, no one would have imagined that they would be able to celebrate to the fullest in the second place in the league at this moment, and Wise also sighed when he reflected on the experience of the past six months.

Wise hasn't thought about retiring next season, but it's certain that he'll be part of Millwall's coaching staff.

Although he no longer holds the position of head coach, as an important member of the coaching staff of a Premier League team, he is no worse than a manager of a 'listed' Championship mid-table team, unless one day, he can really coach a professional team as a manager, otherwise the option of joining the Millwall coaching staff is still very good.

Wise was very emotional, and he was looking forward to next season.

However, the premise is to keep the league standings, if they are overtaken by Wigan Athletic in the future, they can only participate in the promotion play-offs, Wise is not confident that the team can pass, the promotion play-offs are too cruel.

It didn't take long for Wise to realize that his horizons were still too small.

Zhang Yang walked into the locker room and set a new goal for the team, "Guys! Everyone should be happy that now we are second in the league! ”

'It's not easy, we've been all the way, game after game, and everybody has to admit that we're good, but it's not enough because the league isn't over and we can't stop!'

"You may not know a piece of news...... You're all looking at Wigan Athletic, of course, they're our direct rivals, but our current rivals, Sunderland, drew at home to Preston North End! ”

"Any idea what that means?"

'We're only two points away from Sunderland! Two points, four games, we still have a chance! As long as we keep going, we can hope to rise to the top of the league, don't you want to be in the Premier League as champions? ”

After Zhang Yang finished speaking, he swept his eyes at everyone, and to his relief, almost everyone had a strange light in their eyes.

That's the desire for a championship!

This time it was much more convincing than aiming for a top-two finish in the league because Millwall were already second in the league and they had achieved what they had set their sights on.

Now it's just a matter of moving on.

Two points is not an absolute difference, it's just one game, and they do have a good chance.

————

Before the disbandment of the global team, there was a lot of talk about the second place in the league and how much chance there was of beating Sunderland, which would require a good performance and a bit of luck.

If Sunderland had been on a strong run and had won their last four games, even if it was just a draw, Millwall would have had little chance.

According to the ranking rules of the Championship, in the case of the same number of points, it depends on the 'goal difference' of the two sides, and Millwall's goal difference in the first half of the schedule is too 'negative' to surpass Sunderland.

The atmosphere of discussion among the people is also what Zhang Yang hopes to see.

Zhang Yang put forward the goal of 'fighting for the title', but catching up with Sunderland in the league table is a difficult goal to achieve.

He wasn't sure.

The reason why Zhang Yang said this is to let the team have a bigger goal, as long as the team can maintain its performance, otherwise when it comes to the game, some players may think: Anyway, we are second in the league, there is no need to work hard, just maintain the ranking.

So in the later games, it may be overtaken by Wigan Athletic.

After setting a bigger goal, the whole team will work hard to win the next few games, and as long as they maintain their performance, regardless of whether they can win the championship at the end of the season and maintain the second place in the league, they can still do it.

That's the end goal.

————

After returning to the club, Zhang Yang did not go home as soon as possible, but went to the chairman's office.

Gregory and Ebenezer were there.

The home win over Crewe moved up to second in the league table, and the whole Millwall team was very excited, including Grigory and Ebenezer, who were even happier than anyone else.

Gregory is the president of the club.

Whenever he thinks that Millwall will be promoted to a Premier League team during his tenure as chairman, Gligory is very excited, which means that the fans will recognise his work as chairman, like ordinary players, it is difficult for fans to remember, but as the president of the club, it will definitely be remembered by history.

Years later, when Millwall was promoted to the Premier League, it was during 'Gligory' at the helm.

Ebenezer is happy for a slightly different reason.

Ebenezer is just the manager of the club, many fans don't know his name, and in a professional club, fans only care about the chairman, the manager and the famous stars, and no one will dig out who the manager is.

So in terms of reputation, Millwall's upgrade has little to do with Ebenezer.

But club upgrades can bring all the benefits, when a team enters the Premier League, the finances will be much better, and a single Premier League TV broadcast fee can bring in more than 20 million pounds.

Again, this is based on the Premier League's 'least divided' team.

Twenty million pounds!

Millwall FC has a market capitalisation of less than £10 million, and the fact that they can earn twice as much next season makes Ebenezer excited to think about it.

There is also a lot of income in other areas.

After entering the Premier League, Millwall will not have to worry about the attendance of the home stadium, it will definitely be full, and it will also bring a lot of income to the club.

In addition, Ebenezer is looking forward to negotiating sponsorship contracts with brands.

Millwall now have only three sponsors and their contracts are about to expire, so if Millwall can complete the promotion, there will certainly be a huge increase in sponsorship costs next season.

This is also the main work of Ebenezer.

Ebenezer is looking forward to the day when Millwall will be 'upgraded' and he will be able to deal with representatives of various brands and secure sponsorship contracts for the club.

In this regard, Ebenezer is the happiest.

However, the premise of everything is that Millwall can be promoted, so Gligory and Ebenezer discussed and took out 300,000 pounds from the club's poor finances to pay the player bonuses.

"It's a ready bonus!"

When Zhang Yang walked in and said hello to the two, he was puzzled by the leather bag on the table, and Ebenezer suddenly opened the leather bag with a smile, and it was full of stacks of pounds, which made people a little dazzled.

"This is for me?" Zhang Yang swallowed.

Ebenezer pulled the corners of his mouth and said, "It's for the whole team!" We are ready and the money will be distributed to each player as long as the team is able to complete the promotion. ”

Zhang Yang suddenly felt a little bored, "I thought it was for me." ”

"You have a share, too!"

"Too little." Zhang Yang nodded a little, and almost knew the number, "Three hundred thousand pounds?" Split it among all the players plus the coach, well, thank you for the £10,000 bonus. ”

Zhang Yang's completely uncaring demeanor made Gregory suffer a 999-magnitude blow, and he gritted his teeth and said, "You can take 20,000!" ”

"That's great, thank you!"

Zhang Yang happily took out two stacks and was about to put them in his trouser pocket, but Ebenezer stopped him with a dark face, "It only needs to be promoted by the team!" ”

"I just want to claim the bonus early, it's so stingy!"

Grigory smiled bitterly, "Should I praise you for your faith, or should I scold you for seeing money?" ”

"Everybody likes money!"

Grigory was silent, and Ebenezer expressed his support, "Of course, everyone likes money, but only if Millwall can be promoted, Zhang, are you sure the team can be promoted?" ”

"Of course."

Zhang Yang glanced at the purse, packed all the money, and then sealed the button, "If you don't send money now, let's put it up first." By the way, I think you can think ahead of next season. ”

"Next season?"

"You wouldn't have thought about it, would you?" Zhang Yang looked at the two suspiciously, "We will be promoted this season, and we will play in the Premier League next season, with the team's current squad...... Well, if you're aiming for relegation, I'll do my best. ”

Gregory was a little confused.

Ebenezer asked in affirmation, "Shouldn't we aim for relegation?" Millwall had never played in the Premier League, as a promoted team......

"Of course not."

Zhang Yang interrupted Ebenezer's words, and he said seriously, "As long as I lead the team, the goal is impossible to achieve relegation, how to say it......" He thought for a moment and continued, "At least in the midstream, no, upstream!" I still want to lead the team to fight for a place in Europe, of course, it's best to finish in the top four, it's definitely best to play in the Champions League, and if I win it, I won't be happy with the runners-up......