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Chapter 200 Just a Champion
"...Last night, Tyne Club held a grand welcoming ceremony for Wang Lie at Lize Park Stadium. Several well-known singers were invited to perform, making it a truly impressive affair. Afterwards, Guinness World Records announced that Wang Lie's welcoming ceremony set a world record for the highest viewership of a player signing ceremony, with over 1.4 billion views... But this is just one of a series of records set by Wang Lie; at thirty-eight years old, he has already created far too many records..."

"...At this welcoming ceremony, Wang Lie's appearance was introduced by Tyne Club's legendary 'Longbow' Taylor, which seemed to signify a legendary handover for Tyne—although Wang Lie had only played half a season for Tyne, his leadership in guiding Tyne to its first-ever Champions League qualification was enough to make him a legend of the club..."

"...Wang didn't give a long speech at the welcoming ceremony specially prepared for him, but his words still attracted the attention of many commentators. Because he mentioned that 'starting from this season, Tyne fans can travel all over Europe,' analysts believed that he was implying that Tyne's goal was to qualify for European competitions every season... If they could really achieve that, it would be a transformative change for Tyne. This team might finally escape the fate of fighting relegation every year... For Tyne, this should be a day that changes the club's history..."

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"...Before, you could only go to London, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham...but starting this season, you can go to Munich, Milan, Barcelona, ​​Madrid! All of Europe will be at our feet!"

"...We have already written our names in Tyne's history. Now let's write Tyne's name in football history, and then let history become legend!"

In the frozen image, Wang Lie is holding a microphone in one hand and raising his other hand in a fist, looking exactly like an ambitious man trying to bewitch people.

Lawrence Dadomor couldn't help but make a "vomiting" face, then he continued typing on his document:
"...Should August 8, 2037 be considered a day that changed the history of Tyne Club? I think so, but it's hard to say exactly in which direction. All those who were excited and moved to tears by what happened at Lize Park last night, I hope they can wake up a little more sober and recover from yesterday's unconscious mass frenzy."

"I still hold the same view: qualifying for the Champions League isn't necessarily a good thing for Tyne. There are too many precedents for them; the more excited the fans of those teams who created miracles were when they celebrated qualifying for European competition, the more miserable they became when they were mired in relegation..."

"Some might argue that Tyne significantly increased its spending in the summer transfer window, investing a huge amount of money. I admit that Tyne was the 'best player' in the summer transfer market. But can a team's strength be improved so simply by spending money on players? Please note that I said 'improved quickly,' and 'quickly' is very important. Because this cobbled-together 'foreign legion' doesn't have much time left to gel and adapt."

"Of course, any team that makes it to the Champions League needs to spend money to buy players to improve their strength, and Tyne's actions weren't particularly outrageous—as long as they were mentally prepared and lowered excessive external expectations, the impact on the team wouldn't be too great. Unfortunately, they have one person who's overly ambitious..."

"So, under the impetus, or rather, the 'seduction' of this ambitious person, the Tyne Club spent a fortune and a great deal of effort to prepare a grand 'show' for him. The stage was already set up, and how could someone who loves to put on an act let such a great opportunity pass by? Thus, we witnessed the famous scene in yesterday's show..."

"I've seen some people analyze this a lot, and they've concluded that Wang's goal is to ensure Tyne participates in European competitions every season... I don't know if they genuinely believe their analysis, or if they're just hesitant to be too direct. Anyway, everyone knows I often offend people by sticking to my principles. So, let me handle the offending part..."

"Let me be blunt, Wang didn't mean 'participating in the Champions League every season,' he said 'to trample all of Europe underfoot'! Don't you know what that means? He wants to win! Win! Ha! I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I typed that word myself..."

Lawrence Dadomo did indeed let out a scornful laugh when he wrote this.

After Wang Lie led Tyne to Champions League qualification, he was riding high, and at that time he really didn't have any good ways to attack Wang Lie.

But things are different now. Overjoyed, Wang Lie actually handed the knife handle to himself.

Is winning the Champions League in your first appearance already a dream?

Why don't you say you want to lead the Chinese team to win the World Cup?!
Actually, Wang Lie didn't explicitly say that Tyne would win the championship, but that's not important. What Wang Lie really meant is irrelevant. Lawrence Dadomo, as someone who "studied journalism," is simply too good at using words to manipulate public opinion.

He intended to explain Wang Lie's words in this way, first conveying the concept that "Wang wants to win the championship" to everyone.

Some people don't believe that Wang Lie meant that?
It's ok.

He will then repeatedly mention and reiterate the fact that "Wang wants to win the championship," which will naturally lead many people to believe that "the arrogant Wang Lie wants to lead Taien to win the Champions League."

This is the power of the media.

Besides, based on his understanding of Wang Lie, he didn't believe that Wang Lie really had no desire to win the championship at all.

As long as he has it, he cannot say that he is making something up out of nothing or talking nonsense.

He just embellished it a little artistically...

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"...So it's clear that Wang Lie is only focused on making himself the center of attention and becoming the most dazzling 'protagonist' in this grand 'show,' just like he did back at Sofia United... But he's overlooked the fact that the Tyne players around him now are not the same players from Sofia United back then. For players from top teams, their default goal every season is the championship, and they're used to the pressure of winning. But players from a relegation-threatened team like Tyne may not be used to the pressure of winning the championship."

"Having an overly ambitious captain, unrealistic goals, and a group of inexperienced players with no teamwork is why I'm not optimistic about Tyne's performance this season. I also advise Tyne's fans to be realistic; forget about whether he can go to Madrid, you should be praying that Tyne won't be relegated this season..."

"Although Wang Lie signed a five-year contract with Tyne, he might retire right after next year's World Cup. All he'll leave you with is a mess. As for his so-called 'great undertaking'... you don't really believe a 39-year-old can still perform well in the Premier League and Champions League, do you? Really? You don't even believe in the most basic laws of physics and nature, do you? Then I can only say you've got a lot going for you in your life..."

Xiao Cheng forwarded Dadomo's localized translation of the article to his Wang Lie fan group, and then made sarcastic remarks about Dadomo, a well-known "Wang Lie hater":
"Well, after 'scoring goals hurts teams' and 'winning championships hurts teams,' now there's 'the Champions League hurts teams'... What's this idiot pretending for? He should just go straight to 'Wang Lie hurts teams,' haha."

Someone in the group said, "He's a mad dog, why bother with him?"

Xiao Cheng said, "We still need to reason with them and fight back. Otherwise, won't this kind of idiot take over the public opinion battleground?"

"But he's always playing with abstract concepts, does anyone really believe what he says?"

Xiao Cheng showed a screenshot he had just seen on Weibo: "Why doesn't anyone believe it? Besides those haters, there are many people who don't think at all and believe whatever others say. Like the person in the picture."

The screenshot is a Weibo post by a blogger who said: "#Wang Lie said to turn history into legend# Last night while watching the live broadcast, I heard Wang Lie say that we should turn history into legend, which was really inspiring. But this morning after seeing Dadomo's article, I'm a little worried. Will his words put a lot of pressure on the team? I know Dadomo is a well-known 'Wang Lie hater,' but objectively speaking, what he said does exist. It can't be said to be impossible, right? I think we should be more rational. Actually, being able to reach the Champions League is already a great achievement. Even if the final result in the Champions League is not satisfactory, everyone doesn't need to be too sad [facepalm]."

Some people are puzzled: "Everyone knows that this stupid dog can't say anything good, so why do people still believe him?"

Xiao Cheng, drawing on his extensive experience in online flame wars, analyzed the situation for everyone:

"Because this person has good professional skills, but he's ruthless. He can put his twisted and heretical theories into a self-consistent logical shell, and in the eyes of many brainless people, if the logic makes sense, then it must be reasonable... For example, this article of his, in terms of its logic alone, is not wrong, and there are precedents to be found before. But he made two mistakes."

"The first is the pre-set outcome. He had already pre-set that Tyne would fail, and then attributed the cause based on the failure. It's like looking for the problem with the answer in mind. You shoot the arrow first and then draw the target. So you can always find the cause to be Wang Lie. The second is that Wang Lie never said he wanted to win the championship. If you watch yesterday's live broadcast from beginning to end, you'll know that Wang didn't mention 'champion' even once."

"However, there will definitely be people who didn't watch the whole live stream. If they only rely on various clips and news reports online to understand this matter, they might actually believe what Dadomo said. That's why we need to keep exposing this idiot's true colors in front of everyone, at the very least we can't let his remarks spread everywhere!"

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"...An extraordinary heart reverberated within the furnace."

Huge waves surged in Lize Park

An extraordinary heart flows in my veins
Steam whistles sound on the Tyne River
……

When the fleet set sail

Our captain is setting the course for victory:
Let's go, Tyne!
From rivers to the ocean!

Forward, Tyne!
We are unstoppable!

As soon as Jon Berger pushed open the door of the miners' bar, he heard the same song that had been played at yesterday's welcome ceremony on the speakers.

He went to the bar, ordered himself a Brownie, and then asked the owner, Theo Collins, "Have you added this song to the bar's playlist yet?"

“Of course. When I first saw the news that this song was specially commissioned for this welcoming ceremony, I didn’t have high hopes. How good can a hastily written song be? But this one is surprisingly good.” Theo Collins took the beer from his son Harry Collins, handed it to Berg, and then pointed to Robbie Dixie and Ryan in the corner:
"Robbie has already planned to extract a section of this song and use it as a special cheering song for the King during the game."

Berg guessed, "The part about China Wang?"

"Correct."

Berg laughed and said, "I guess it's that one. It has a strong rhythm, a simple melody, and it's a bit catchy."

After saying that, Berg simply started humming:

"China Wang, China Wang;"

His fame spread far and wide, and his prestige resounded throughout the land.

China Wang, China Wang;

"Dragon's blood, human form..."

After listening to him hum the song, Theo Collins nodded and said, "It is indeed very suitable for a large group singing on the field. It would be very impressive if there were many people singing this song."

"Ha, didn't I make a lot of sense?"

Robbie Dixie's loud laughter rang out from the side; he had already come to Berg's side.

“That makes sense, but with so few of us, we probably won’t even be able to make a sound,” Berg reminded him.

"Don't worry, Jon. I think there are a lot of people who feel the same way as me. Did you forget that there were already quite a few fans singing along yesterday at the stadium?"

Jon Berg, recalling what happened last night, nodded in agreement:

"This song will definitely become another widely sung song during the competition, following in the footsteps of 'Newcastle upon Tyne'..."

Dixie laughed: "Maybe we can start singing in the stands next Saturday for the first round of the league! We'll sing as long as Wang scores a goal!"

There is only one week left until the start of the new Premier League season.

Although the team's actions in the transfer market this summer have made them very happy.

But it still can't compare to the anticipation of an official match.

Wang promised them yesterday that they would not only go to London and Liverpool, but also Milan and Madrid. They couldn't wait!

"FUCK!" Ryan, who had been looking down at his phone and not participating in the discussion, suddenly cursed.

This drew everyone's attention, and Dixie yelled, "Damn it, Ryan! What are you yelling about?!"

Ryan held up his phone and explained, "Dadomo..."

He only mentioned one name, and Jon Berg nodded in realization: "Oh, that article was clearly trying to sow discord between Wang and the other Tyne players."

He had already seen it, and his emotions were not as agitated as Ryan's.

Lawrence Dadomor keeps repeating the same things; he's immune to them.

"Besides, when did Wang say yesterday that our goal was to win the championship? That Dadomo guy is deliberately misinterpreting Wang's meaning. Nobody has unrealistic expectations for the team's first Champions League season. Ignore that dog, Ryan, don't look at his stuff, or your IQ will drop..."

Robbie Dixie chimed in from the side, "Ryan doesn't care. He's not exactly a genius anyway!"

Ryan gave him the middle finger: "FUCK Robbie!"

The people in the bar burst into laughter.

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"Didn't you tell the whole team that your goal was indeed the Champions League title?"

Tang Xingmei lay half-reclined on an outdoor beach chair and asked her husband, who was also half-reclined beside her.

At that moment, their two children were chasing a soccer ball around on the lawn in their backyard, screaming and laughing.

Couples can also enjoy a short time together.

Wang Lie shook his head: "No."

Tang Xingmei found it strange. She propped herself up and turned to look at Wang Lie: "Why? You told the whole team about winning the World Cup, but you didn't mention the Champions League?"

"The Champions League is a season-long affair, and dragging it out for too long is too much. I'm afraid telling them now would put too much pressure on them. We have many matches to play this season, and the result of any one of them could affect our title goal. So we can't say anything now; things could change in the meantime..."

"From now until next year's World Cup, isn't it a whole season? Aren't you afraid that things might go wrong with the national team?"

"The national team is different. We're not usually together, only during international match days. And even after we qualify, we might not be able to call up everyone for some matches. I don't know how they'll fare over the next year... so I have to say this now to prevent them from becoming complacent. Compared to the immense pressure, I'm more worried that they won't feel the pressure and will become too relaxed. Besides, it's extremely difficult for the Chinese team to win the World Cup; everyone needs to use this year to improve themselves. If I wait until the last minute to say this, wouldn't that be wasting a whole season's worth of improvement opportunities?"

After listening to her husband's explanation, Tang Xingmei felt it made a lot of sense, so she stopped worrying about football and lay down again.

Wang Lie, too, remained silent, half-reclining in his chair. The couple listened to the sounds of their two children playing in the yard, enjoying the peaceful time after the feast.

The outside world's reaction to what he said yesterday has nothing to do with anything in this courtyard.

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Ana Katich was chatting with Pisano's wife about fashion trends she'd recently seen online when she heard hearty laughter from her husband and Renzo Pisano on the other side of the table.

The two women simultaneously cast curious glances at them, and the two of them were laughing so hard they were doubled over.

Anna asked her husband curiously, "What's wrong, darling?"

Katic explained, "Lenzo suspects that Dadomo is an 'undercover agent' planted by the King's management team. Otherwise, it's hard to explain why Dadomo always manages to deliver the King's face in advance. It might be to create the image that the King is good at delivering face-slaps."

Pisano continued, "Your husband said it's unlikely, because if they were really going to do this kind of marketing, then Wang's management team should have arranged for several similar people to take turns mocking him, instead of always targeting Dadomo in the face..."

Katich burst into laughter again, laughing as he said, "Lenzo said... said... no wonder Dadomo's cheeks were drooping, drooping down, it turns out... ha! It turns out he was swollen from being beaten by the King, ha!"

He laughed uncontrollably, which made Pisano laugh along with him, as if it were a really funny joke.

But the two women exchanged a glance and both thought the man's sense of humor was strange.

Anna then gave a perfunctory reply: "I'm glad you're having such a good chat, please continue..."

Then she turned back to chat with her best friend about the latest online trends.

The wives don't understand their jokes because they don't know what their husbands do.

Katic and Pisano both knew that Wang Lie wanted to win the Champions League this season. In their eyes, Dadomo, who was using the title to make sarcastic remarks and sow discord, was a complete clown.

Does Dadom really think that bringing up the championship goal will intimidate the current Tyne players?
At least for Katic and Pisano, what's so special about winning the Champions League?

One (Katic) won the title twice, and the other (Pisano) won it three times, two of which were successful title defenses.

Perhaps only dogs would use chocolate to threaten humans, since they genuinely can't understand why humans can eat chocolate but not poop...

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“Vitini, my memory seems to be playing tricks on me. Did Wang really say yesterday that his goal was the Champions League title?” Anderson Nova frowned as he looked at the online debate about whether Wang Lie’s goal was the championship.

Some people speak with such certainty, as if it wasn't Wang Lie standing beside him at the time, but rather those other people...

Vitini replied, "He didn't say."

Nova laughed upon hearing this: "I knew it..."

But what Vitini said next froze his smile on his face.

"But I think that's exactly what Wang meant."

"Huh?" Nova stared in disbelief.

Under his gaze, Vitini nodded, as if convincing himself, or perhaps confirming something:

"That's right. I think so. Wang didn't say it, but he wants that championship."

"You found out again? He didn't say how you knew?"

Vitini glanced at Nova, then a smile gradually crept onto her lips: "Because I, Vitini, am the person in all of Tyne who understands the King the most! No one understands the King better than me!"

He spoke slowly and deliberately, his hands moving in rhythm with the music, making it look like he was playing an accordion.

"Or think about it, Anderson. What achievements besides championships deserve the title of 'Let's turn history into legend'?"

Nova fell into deep thought, and just when Vitini thought he had crashed, he suddenly clapped his hands: "That's right! That's right, Vitini!"

Then he immediately frowned:

"But why doesn't the king just say it directly?"

"Maybe he was afraid that saying it directly would put too much pressure on us? After all, not everyone is like Wang, who doesn't care what others say. If he had said it directly in that situation, I think we would have had no way out. Just thinking about that makes me wonder how many people would have trouble sleeping at night."

"But if Wang doesn't tell us, how will the team know his goal? And how will they cooperate with him? He can't possibly try to accomplish this all by himself, can he?"

Vitini sighed: "Anderson, you really need to clear out some of the unnecessary clutter from your brain..."

Nova retorted, "What? Isn't my concern perfectly normal?"

Vitini pointed to himself: "The King didn't say, so guess how I knew what he was thinking?"

“Uh…” Nova’s brain seemed to have really crashed because of this paradoxical loop. He looked at Vitini and couldn’t say a word.

Seeing his expression, Vitini laughed and said, "But you've only just joined this team, you don't know him well enough yet. Once you've spent more time with him, you'll naturally understand and guess his thoughts. Right now, I can only tell you that I'm not the only one on this team who can 'resonate' with Wang. Besides..."

"Wang may not say it, but that doesn't mean he won't do it. Just like last season, he told us he would take us to the Champions League. How many people believed him then? How did he do it? He used goal after goal, victory after victory, to convince us that he could keep his word. So it will be the same this season, Anderson. If anyone still has doubts or even fears about this goal, Wang will use goals and victories to help them dispel their doubts and eliminate their fears."

“He would tell us: ‘Winning the Champions League is easy, just win all the games. But how do you win all the games? First, start by winning the game in front of you.’ So don’t think too much or too far ahead, Anderson, just focus on the game in front of you.”

Anderson Nova stared blankly at Vitini in front of him. Was this still the impulsive, hot-tempered young man he knew?

He only played alongside Wang for half a season...

Is that man really that amazing?
(End of this chapter)