The road to godhood starting from Ligue 1

Chapter 241 In France, anything can happen.

In fact, Gaio was somewhat surprised when he learned that David Gill and Pierre were in constant contact.

In his autobiography and interviews, Ferguson repeatedly emphasized that Gill was one of only two true partners in his 26-year tenure at Manchester United, the other being former chairman Martin Edwards.

Gil joined Manchester United as financial director in 1997 and was promoted to CEO in 2003, a position he holds to this day.

Gaiola recalls that he left Manchester United around the same time as Ferguson.

Their relationship actually goes far beyond that of colleagues; they can be described as close friends.

Gill will fully support Ferguson's transfer decisions, such as the high-priced signing of Rooney in 2004 and the signing of Van Persie last year.

During Manchester United's poor performance and declining profits from 2004 to 2006, Gill publicly supported Ferguson's decision to stay on: "Ferguson will be in charge of Manchester United for many years to come."

Ferguson once said: "We had disagreements, but every conversation was pleasant because Gill was always outspoken and always put Manchester United's interests first."

He added, "Gill always understands my needs from the players and executes them efficiently."

So now David Gill begins to contact Pierre.

It's hard to ignore Ferguson behind him.

However, it is clear that Gaio will absolutely not get involved with Manchester United, a club that is about to face severe turmoil. Anyone who goes there will be doomed.

Don't think you're the one who can save the team. When you're in the thick of it and realize that you're the only one who wants to move forward, with resistance coming from all sides, you'll know that lying down at Manchester United is the best option.

Before his retirement, Ferguson said, "I will leave Manchester United when it is at its best," and he was absolutely right.

Once he left, no one could clean up this mess.

Gaiola only went to Manchester United because he was unlucky.

That evening, Pierre called Gaio and gave him a brief account of their meeting.

David Gill was consciously trying to steer the conversation toward Gaio's transfer, but Pierre, being a blue-collar worker, often just couldn't grasp the unspoken meaning, whether you said it intentionally or unintentionally.

It really turned into a dinner party.

"Like I said before, don't talk to anyone about transfers before the winter transfer window closes."

Gaio gave him a second reminder; after a year of getting to know each other, he trusted Pierre.

In Gaio's memory, this French working-class father always had a worried look on his face, as if he was struggling to make a living—how could his meager salary support the food, clothing, and daily necessities of six children? This was almost his eternal anxiety.

The burdens of life weighed heavily on his shoulders, yet he was never seen venting a single ounce of anger on the children.

Now, the whole family's life has finally undergone earth-shattering changes.

Gaio thought Pierre was a truly good person—otherwise, who would work so hard to support six children without complaint?

However, there were also shortcomings, such as being too busy making a living and neglecting to discipline the children.

Its predecessor grew freely, recklessly wasting its talents.

Gaião rejected Manchester United, but is also thinking about his future.

He is becoming increasingly clear about which team he is best suited for.

He doesn't have any so-called "children's dreams"; he only makes the choices that are best for himself.

And now,
There are really only two or three teams that are the most suitable.

Open the hotel window.

You can see the sea in the distance. Having seen the sea many times in Bastia, it's not that special. But as the second largest city and the second largest port in France...

The vibrancy at night is unmatched by Bastia.

just,

It is clear that Marseille is divided into two parts, the south and the north.

Those familiar with Marseille know that the southern part of Marseille is a paradise, with a beautiful coastline and a constant stream of tourists.

Marseille in the north is hell, with countless drugs, cigarettes, gangs, and smugglers.

The next day.

The Bastia players got up early in the morning and started warming up. Since they didn't have the budget to rent a training ground, they just did some exercises on the hotel rooftop.

Looking out from the rooftop towards the Stade Vélodrome in the distance, one can see a few Marseille fans scattered across the nearby streets.

Some of the Bastia players were slightly nervous, as many of them knew that Marseille was a notoriously difficult home ground in Europe.

Especially with the relaxed management environment of Ligue 1, it's safe to say that no one has an easy time playing away in Marseille.

"Don't worry, they're just a bunch of cowards. They shout a lot, but they can't actually do anything."

Rothen has played in several "Mediterranean derbies" for Monaco and Marseille. Although it is not as famous as the national derby between Paris and Marseille, he has long experienced the atmosphere of Marseille's home ground.

That's the role of a veteran.

Rothen continued, "When I was here, I silenced the entire stadium. This was a home stadium for 60,000 people, and they were completely silent."

As he spoke, a look of melancholy, reminiscing about the past, appeared on his face.

That was his youth.

Of course, such memories are inevitably embellished or exaggerated to some extent.

However, no one investigated further.

Gaio looked over and thought of the phone call he received from Deschamps a couple of days ago, where Deschamps expressed his dissatisfaction with the Marseille fans and mentioned a small matter to Gaio.

The matter is actually quite simple. It happened in the first half of this year when Marseille only finished 10th in Ligue 1. During an interview, Deschamps expressed his dissatisfaction with some extreme fans.

As a result, Richard Zarouri, the head of the Marseille extreme fan group "Southern Victors," followed Deschamps out for a meal.

Deschamps caught him red-handed.

Zarouri said to Deschamps, "I heard you're going to kill me? Well, you'd better watch out, you'll be the next one to lose your life after me. Tell me, who wants me dead? Is it your brainwashed fan or President Sarkozy? You'd better leave Marseille, because I'm in charge here, otherwise it's hard to say who will go to see God first!"

This incident also made the newspapers. In Zarouri's own words, "Deschamps was trembling in front of me. He was scared and looked up at me like a little dwarf, so he went to the national team and dared not stay in Marseille anymore because he knew what he would face."

Deschamps said he left without paying any attention to Zarouri.

Simultaneously,

Deschamps also told Gaio that Marseille might be the only team whose fans can influence the club.

There are many things involved, and they are quite complicated, so Gaio had no desire to understand them.

But this Zaruli is indeed a remarkable person.

Born in one of the poorest neighborhoods north of Marseille, he managed to build up the Southern victors through sheer enthusiasm and an exceptional talent for persuasion.

What he advocated was "Marseilleism".

What is Marseilleism? According to Marseilleists, Marseille and France are separate entities. Marseille was founded by the Funesians 2600 years ago, while France was founded by barbarians. Marseille is merely a button that was forced to attach itself to France.

In the European historical perspective, Greek civilization is the first civilization, Roman civilization is the second, and the rest are considered barbarians. The tenet of Marseilleism is that Marseille is superior to France, which explains why the match between Marseille and Paris is called the National Derby.

In short, we rely on this approach.

Under Zarouli's leadership, Southern Victory enjoyed numerous privileges within the Marseille club, including stadium seating and financial allocations, making it an underground empire within the club.

He even went so far as to say that there were countless ways to make the Marseille president uncomfortable, or even to force him to step down.

It remains to be seen what kind of stance Zarouri and his southern victors will take tonight.
Gaio snapped out of his thoughts; the others were still talking about the match against Marseille.

Rothen looked at Gaio, "Tonight is your coming-of-age night, let's have a victory to celebrate."

Haha.

The other teammates laughed and said they would beat him with a hat trick, a quadruple, and so on.

Some people said they didn't expect Gaio to be only eighteen years old.

Indeed. Gaio's performance on the court completely made them forget his age.

Joplin chuckled and said, "Hehe, you can do more things after tonight. You're not an extreme believer, spending all your time at the training ground."

His winking and grimacing made everyone laugh even harder.

Gaio just smiled and didn't respond.

This joke completely dispelled the tension before the competition.

Time flies.

Around 6 p.m., Bastia took a bus to the Velodrom Stadium.

The stadium was originally built in 1937 and originally had a bicycle path, because the name Vélodrome means bicycle track in French.

It can accommodate 60,000 fans.

Therefore, the area around the Vélodrome Stadium was packed with people, with a dense crowd seemingly pouring in from all directions.

The Bastia team bus encountered the same situation as the visiting team in Bastia – it was stuck in traffic.

Members of the Marseille die-hard fan group drove a convoy of cars adorned with blue and white flags around the Bastia bus, singing the Marseille anthem "Droit au But" and honking their horns to create a cacophony of noise, attempting to make Bastia feel oppressed from that moment on.

The players on the Bastia team bus exchanged helpless smiles.

They didn't have many complaints about it.

After all, it can't be that only Bastia fans surround others, while others can't surround Bastia, right?

This is quite normal in France.

As the classical writer François de La Rochefoucauld once said, "Anything can happen in France."

Marseille fans also threw blue and white smoke bombs at the Bastia team bus, filling the entire street with blue and white smoke.

This act of throwing smoke bombs on the street has always been prohibited by the government and clubs, but it still happens frequently.

It can't be banned.

Due to a shortage of police officers, it took a long time of "coordination" before the Bastia team bus finally drove into the stadium.

This was already almost twenty minutes later than their scheduled time.

Haji Begichi didn't have time to say much, he just shouted, "Don't let their little tricks affect your mood, hurry up and go out to warm up."

The players nodded.

Rothen laughed as he turned on the hot water tap, "It's better than Nice's home ground; Nice doesn't even have hot water."

Hahaha.

Another burst of laughter erupted.

"You'd better step up tonight, I'll help you!" As he walked out of the locker room, Lukaku patted Gaio on the shoulder. "Win this game!"

Gaio nodded slightly.

As he approached the exit of the players' tunnel, he heard a familiar voice say, "Happy birthday."

De Bruyne.

After he finished speaking, he walked straight to the court. Gaio smiled and followed him.

boom!
Boom boom! !
Upon entering the Stade Vélodrome, even during the warm-up phase, they could still feel the passion of the Marseille fans.

The song "Droit au But" filled the entire stadium.

At a glance,
The stands were filled with a vibrant mix of blue and white.

Gaio couldn't help but think to himself how stingy Marseille was, giving Bastia only 1,500 away tickets for such a big stadium.

at this time,

Modoso was leading the Bastia fans in a similar chorus, trying to make the players hear Bastia's voice amidst the roar of Marseille.

unfortunately,

The disparity in numbers between the two sides was simply too great; even with their desperate shouts, Modoso and the others were drowned out.

In a VIP box at the Stade Vélodrome, Jérôme is talking with Marseille president Labrune.

Labrune, who became president of Marseille last June, has repeatedly praised Bastia's achievements, while Jerónimí has ​​consistently denied them, saying it was "just luck."

at this time,

The number of viewers watching the broadcast on TF1 also surged. The commentators were hyping up the match: "Two teams, one carrying the weight and glory of history, the other writing a grassroots underdog story! But these two teams, seemingly from different worlds, have formed an astonishing parallel on the leaderboard! Will Bastia's youthful storm be able to put on another good show tonight? Gaio, after Bastia's three-game losing streak, as captain, can he lead the team to end the losing streak? Tonight is also his eighteenth birthday."

After warm-up, in the Bastia locker room.

Everyone put their hands together and shouted at the top of their lungs, "Fight, Bastia!!"

The players, with resolute determination on their faces, walked out of the locker room and onto the field.

Chatham, Haji Begic, and other staff members shook hands and hugged each player.

When Chatham and Gaio hugged, Chatham said, "I'll be with your family to watch your performance later."

Gaio's family usually doesn't go to other away games, but tonight is different.

It's Gaio's birthday.

While waiting in the players' tunnel, the players heard enthusiastic cheers from the Marseille fans.

"Let's go."

The referee led the players onto the field.

In an instant.

The fans stomped on the metal stands, and their chants were so loud that it was hard to hear what they were saying unless you spoke very loudly.

Gaio, as captain, conducted the pre-match ceremony, while Bastia won the right to kick off by guessing a coin.

At this moment.

Marseille fans have already lit cold fireworks in the stands and thrown blue and white smoke bombs into the stadium.

The smoke from Ligue 1 is as thick as ever.

When the players are standing in the center circle waiting for the kickoff, if the broadcast camera shows a long shot, you can't even see them clearly.

In fact, not only the broadcasters, but the players on the field also couldn't see the people in the distance clearly.

But everyone was used to it by now.

That's a characteristic of Ligue 1.

drop!
With the referee's whistle, the match officially began.

Bopp was already yelling at his players from the sidelines to press Bastia. He knew Bastia would definitely use their defensive counter-attacking tactics and try to play it safe.
He wouldn't let Bastia live comfortably!

He just wanted to get Bastia on track.

however,
This is France; anything can happen here.

Bang!
Bastia kicked off, and De Bruyne, under pressure, spun around to create space before launching a long pass.

From his perspective, it was a cloud of blue and white smoke.

But to others, that place was Gaio, the town that had broken through Marseille's defenses!

Wow!
Seeing this, many Marseille fans were not calm.

Danger!

(End of this chapter)