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Chapter 300 How Dare You!

"What if we held a small ceremony before the League Cup match against Tyne to recognize and thank Wang for his contributions to the club, to show our goodwill and ease tensions between the two sides... do you think that's feasible?"

In the club's general manager's office, Jonathan Hall was questioning the club's public relations director, Dua Granchi, who was sitting across from him.

This idea actually came to me before.

Wang Lie remained silent when Vitini and Miguel Ribeiro mocked Sofia United.

Hall wondered if it was because the club had decisively fired Heldon, thus satisfying Wang Lie's request and allowing him to wipe the slate clean of all grudges with the club, that he hadn't followed his two fan teammates in making a fool of themselves online.

That's when he had this idea.

Of course, it's impossible to make it as grand as Tyne's, since Wang Lie isn't a Sofia player anymore, otherwise he could have made it as grand as he wanted.

It's just a simple pre-match ceremony now, during which he plans to present Wang Lie with a special Sofia jersey.

The number of times Wang Lie appeared for Sofia United is printed on it.

We'll also produce a short promotional video, compiling highlights of Wang Lie's performances at Sofia United. This video will be played on the big screen at Redstone Stadium during the ceremony.

Then, on behalf of the club, he presented the jersey to Wang Lie, expressing his apologies for the club's actions after terminating Wang Lie's contract. He shifted the blame to Sven Heldon, who had already left, saying that he had listened to Heldon's slander and made a decision that both he and the club would regret, hoping to gain Wang Lie's forgiveness.

Logically speaking, since he had been so humble and had taken the initiative to bow his head, and had also fired Heldon, it should have greatly reduced Wang Lie's hatred for him and the club, right?

After hearing Hall's arrangements, public relations director Dua Grange frowned slightly: "I don't know if it's possible, but the timeframe might be a bit tight..."

Hall waved his hand dismissively: "That's not a problem, because it's just a simple ceremony, and there's no need for any extra arrangements. Making the video will take some time, but I think two days should be enough. The main issue is communicating with Wang. After all, I'm not sure if he's willing to do this, but if I call his agent personally, perhaps we can talk about it..."

Hall was interrupted by a knock on the door before he could finish speaking.

Hall was a little annoyed and shouted towards the door, "What is it!"

He knew it was his assistant, and sure enough, his assistant's voice came from outside: "Mr. Hall, there's something I need to tell you..."

"What is it? Can't we talk about it after I finish speaking with Due?"

Hall had already expressed his refusal in this way, not wanting his assistant to disturb him at this time.

But the assistant seemed not to understand his meaning. Although somewhat hesitant, he insisted, "I think you should know about this as soon as possible, Mr. Hall. Because this matter is related to what you discussed with Mr. Grange..."

Hearing his assistant say that, Hall changed his mind: "Come in."

After receiving permission, the beautiful female assistant pushed open the door and entered. She first smiled and greeted the public relations manager, Duë Granger, who was sitting on the sofa, and then went straight to Hall's desk and placed her phone on it.

Hall looked down at his phone, which was already open, displaying a news report from Sky Sports' social media account:
"...This morning, we interviewed Wang outside Northumberland Soccer City, asking him for his thoughts on the upcoming League Cup match between Tyne and Sofia United. Surprisingly, yet somewhat unsurprisingly, Wang went all out in front of the cameras and microphones..."

※※※

The interview took place before the morning training session began, and the news was released before the morning training session ended.

News media are incredibly efficient when faced with breaking news.

Especially in the internet age, breaking news no longer needs to be typed and printed like in the traditional print media era. It only needs to be edited and reviewed before it can be published directly online.

So many people were taking out their phones to slack off while still at work when they saw Wang Lie's explosive remarks:
"Sorford United is like a poisonous fishbowl right now..."

"...It's pointless to just replace the fish without changing the toxic water."

"It was me who qualified for the Champions League, not Sofia."

"Did things get better for Sofia United after they fired Heldon? Obviously not."

"So isn't it obvious where the problem lies?"

"Sorford United needs to be rebuilt... I can be sacrificed, and I'm willing to sacrifice for Sorford United, but what about the others?"

※※※

As the general manager's assistant strode past him with her long legs clad in stockings, Dua Granger's gaze naturally followed those legs upwards, eventually settling on the cell phone in the assistant's hand.

He saw the assistant place the phone on Mr. Hall's desk, then stand to the side with his hands on his lower abdomen, his posture elegant.

However, Grange's gaze did not linger on his assistant for long.

Because he heard Mr. Hall give a heavy snort.

His gaze then shifted to Mr. Hall, who was staring at his phone, his expression growing increasingly grim.

Grange, intrigued, forgot all about admiring his assistant and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

Jonathan Hall had read the entire news article, or rather, everything Wang Lie said in the interview.

He handed his phone to his assistant, gesturing for the assistant to show the contents of the phone to Grange.

He then sneered, "Looks like we were just being presumptuous."

Grange took it and looked at it... then looked at it again... and looked at it once more, then looked up, his eyes wide with shock, and said, "What is he trying to do?!"

※※※

……

"Meller Shappman is not qualified to coach a top team like Sofia United..."

"...I've never even heard of him. Just like I've never heard of Sven Heldon before."

Soon, everything Wang Lie said during the interview appeared online, and some people even summarized the key points he made so that everyone could directly understand what he wanted to express.

It has to be said that Wang Lie really rocked the English football scene this morning – any one of his words would be a bombshell in the media. Yet Wang Lie just dumped so many out of the blue.

Those reporters who came to wait for Wang Lie outside Northumberland Soccer City early in the morning truly proved the old saying "the early bird catches the worm," and they all got stuffed!

Netizens went wild, with a flood of comments appearing under every news post reporting on Wang Lie's interview.

Some of these comments supported Wang Lie, while others supported Sofia.

The two sides launched a full-scale war of words in the comments section, attacking each other.

Early in the morning, the entire internet was in an uproar.

※※※

"Hey, Lao Guo, have you noticed?" Liu Zhong, who was also surfing the internet, suddenly asked Guo Xuequan, who was sitting across from him.

Guo Xuequan looked up at him: "What did you find?"

"The morale of Sofia United fans is clearly not as high as before. Look at their online arguments with Wang Lie's fans; very few of them refute Wang Lie's claims. Most just say that Wang Lie's relentless pursuit of Sofia United was unsportsmanlike and went too far..."

Guo Xuequan laughed and said, "Given Sofia's current performance and results, what right do Sofia fans have to be so arrogant? Wang Lie is telling the truth, and he's even being too polite. After all, he didn't directly say that all the blame lies with Sofia's owner, John Barker. Everyone knows that Sofia's decline actually started after Barker took over the club..."

Liu Zhong laughed along: "You can't say that. If you do, it'll be a complete falling out and you'll offend everyone at Sofia United. You can only say that the boss is good and it's the management below who messed things up... By controlling the scope of the attack, at least he can still gain some supporters among the Sofia United fans, and he can still get applause when he returns to Redstone Stadium."

Most Sofia United fans are actually dissatisfied with their club's general manager, Jonathan Hall.

One reason is that Hall is an American, and Americans generally don't understand English football, especially since Hall came from American football. Many Sofia United fans question Hall's professional abilities and whether he can manage a Premier League powerhouse like Sofia United effectively.

On the other hand, Wang Lie's open letter at the time did influence many Sofia United fans' perception of Hall. Back then, Wang Lie hadn't yet delivered his six goals and three assists slapped Sofia United in the face, so his words carried considerable weight in the eyes of Sofia United fans.

Most Sofia fans may disagree on other issues, but when it comes to Jonathan Hall, they are largely in agreement.

The calls for "Hall to get out" have never stopped online.

“In that case, Wang Lie shouldn’t have mentioned Meler Shapman,” Guo Xuequan said, shaking his head. “If he hadn’t mentioned Shapman, there wouldn’t be so many people attacking him now.”

Why are many Sofia fans criticizing Wang Lie for going too far?

Because he specifically criticized current Sofia United manager Meler Shapman.

If he were only criticizing Shapman's coaching record, that wouldn't be a problem, because Sofia United did perform poorly under Shapman's leadership.

Wang Lie is stating the facts, just as he pointed out the problems with Sofia; facts are the hardest to refute.

But Wang Lie didn't just point out the facts; his way of pointing them out was a little... excessive.

He said he had never heard of Mailer Shapman.

This is somewhat insulting to one's dignity...

Although Meler Shapman was not well-known in the coaching world before, it would be considered arrogant to make such a comment about someone who is already the head coach of a top club.

Regardless of the circumstances, this kind of personal insult is indeed more likely to be criticized.

Wang Lie was subsequently bombarded with criticism online.

Liu Zhong also felt that Wang Lie's actions were unethical, but given his own position, he couldn't possibly condemn Wang Lie like those people online, so he could only chuckle awkwardly.

"Sigh, that's just his personality. That's just who he is. He always says what he thinks directly... He's done plenty of things like this that have drawn criticism before, so you get used to it. Besides... I also think Shapman isn't capable of coaching Soforth United. Hall chose him because he's incompetent, obedient, and easy to control."

※※※

"...Actually, I've always supported Wang, because in the matter between him and Sofia United, the club really acted unreasonably. They kicked a great legend out in such a humiliating way. So I think Wang should be able to understand what it feels like to be humiliated. So why would he choose to humiliate an innocent person who has nothing to do with him? In today's incident, I think Wang is a complete and utter arrogant bastard!"

“Meller Shappman has never commented on Wang before, and he has no connection with Wang. I don’t understand why Wang would say that… Yes, I know Shappman’s coaching record isn’t great, but it’s not up to someone who’s no longer a Sofia player to point fingers!”

"Wang is far too arrogant now! He declared victory before the match against Ruhr United, and now he's humiliating the Sofia United coach before the match against Sofia United! He's completely gone mad! Whom God would destroy, He first makes mad, so Wang is not far from his own destruction!"

Xiao Cheng couldn't help but sneer as he looked at the comments from those so-called "Sofia fans" online.

But he doesn't intend to fight those idiots in every comment section.

Because that would be too inefficient.

Since that video he made mocking Sofia United, which was shared by two Tyne players, Vitini and Ribeiro, and went viral, he has found a new path:
Post a video!
He has collected a lot of related videos online.

This is exactly what comes in handy now.

He found the post-match video of the seventh round of the Premier League, in which Sofia United defeated Sendham 1-0 at home. There were screen recordings of the official broadcast, as well as videos taken by fans at the scene and posted online.

Xiao Cheng's task was to edit these video clips together and add subtitles so that the audience could understand what was being said in the noisy scene.

After finishing the video, he posted it online.

Because of his previous viral success, many people online are now watching his account, and this video will soon spread across the entire internet.

The first half of the video is what Wang Lie said during an interview:
"...The current performance of Sofia United is not entirely the responsibility of head coach Meler Shapman. But regardless of the result of the next game, he should be sacked. He is simply not qualified to coach a top team like Sofia United—I had never even heard of him before he came to Sofia United...just like I had never heard of Sven Heldon before."

Xiao Cheng added the fierce criticisms of Wang Lie from fans, haters, and media figures on the internet to the end of the video.

There are text screenshots and video clips.

These people angrily denounced Wang Lie:

"Shapman is not qualified to coach Sofia United? No! You are the one who has no right to say that! You are no longer a Sofia United player, you have nothing to do with Sofia United!"

"Wang launched a very despicable personal attack on Sofia manager Shapman!"

"How dear you!"

……

The scene then shifts to a video of Sofia's home victory over Sedham in the seventh round of the season.

In the footage, after shaking hands with the Seadham manager, Sofia United manager Meler Shapman, who had won the match, he turned and walked toward the players' tunnel in the corner of Redstone Stadium.

All the way, the Sofia fans in the stands were roaring at him.

The original sound from the stadium was very noisy, but after AI noise reduction and subtitles, Xiao Cheng made sure everyone could still hear what the Sofia United fans in the stands were shouting:
"If I were you, I would have resigned long ago!"

"You don't deserve Sorford United!"

The video freezes at this roar.
The subtitles remain on the frozen frame, and Xiao Cheng adds his own words here:

"How dare you say that Meler Shapman is not good enough for Sofia United?"
"How dear you!"

This video was quickly used by Wang Lie's fans as a weapon to fight back against the haters, and it was forwarded everywhere.

While sharing the video, they questioned Wang Lie's haters:

Sofia fans can criticize Shapman for not being good enough for Sofia, so why can't Wang Lie say the same?

Ah, you all did it yourselves, and now Wang Lie is just repeating what you said, but in a way that reflects his strong personal style, and you've already broken down?
Ha, how dare you?!
(End of this chapter)