Starting with saving Manchester United

Chapter 80 He's like Ferguson

"Didn't sleep well last night?"

On the morning of the 13th, when Jackie Kay arrived at Carrington's head coach's office, he saw Yang Fan sitting in front of the computer, tilting his head, supporting his left cheek with his left hand, looking listless.

"I was woken up by a phone call around 3 a.m.," Yang Fan said, feeling extremely annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Jackie Kay asked in surprise.

"See for yourself."

As he spoke, Yang Fan turned the monitor on the table.

Several photos were displayed on the computer monitor. Although they were taken with a telephoto lens, the lighting was dim, and there was a lot of noise, it was still easy to recognize them at a glance as Welbeck's photos.

In the photo, Welbeck is under a street lamp on the side of the road, greeting a scantily clad, long-legged woman, as if he is flirting with her or haggling over a price.

The next photo is even more outrageous; it shows Cleverley and Ashley Young seemingly trying to force a girl into a car.

What's going on?

Jackie Kay was taken aback. "Who took this picture?"

"The Manchester Evening News reporter said that the location was in front of the Neighbourhood nightclub in the city centre nightclub district, and that the three of them, along with two women, moved to the Cherry Blossom nightclub near Old Trafford."

Both of these are well-known nightclubs in Manchester, and Manchester United players are frequent visitors.

"3 a.m.!" Yang Fan got to the heart of the matter.

When the team had a day off, Yang Fan very seriously reminded the players that the day off was for them to rest and that everyone had to follow the schedule. But as a result, they were still flirting with girls in the nightclub area at 3 a.m.

"Take another look at this woman."

Yang Fan pointed to the photo on the monitor, showing the woman Ashley Young and Cleverley trying to force into the car. "She's neither Cleverley's fiancée nor Ashley Young's girlfriend."

Yang Fan didn't need to explain what it meant.

"A bunch of bastards who can't control their lower bodies!" Jackie Kay cursed angrily.

English players have a history of problems with drinking, smoking, gambling, and womanizing.

Wouldn't Giggs cause an even bigger uproar?

But once it's revealed by the media, it causes a huge uproar.

Manchester United's morale, which has been built up by a seven-game winning streak, may even be affected.

"Now I think I shouldn't have given them the holiday in the first place!" Yang Fan said with some regret.

He wondered if he had overestimated the self-discipline of Manchester United players.

"What do we do now?" Jackie Kay asked.

Now that the photos are in Yang Fan's hands, and the Manchester Evening News didn't publish them on its website this morning, nor did other media report on them, it proves that Yang Fan is making a deal with the other party, has obtained the photos, and has temporarily suppressed the news.

This kind of thing is common; it's just an exchange of benefits.

"They asked me to do an exclusive interview."

Interview?

Aside from authoritative Chinese television stations, Yang Fan has never given an exclusive interview to British or European media.

This is the first time.

"Could this be a setup?" Jackie Kay thought of one possibility.

"We're innocent! We're truly innocent, Coach!"

Two hours later, in Yang Fan's office, Cleverley, who had been summoned by Jackie Kay with cold words, was full of grievances.

"I swear, coach, the location is right, but the time is wrong. It was just past 1 p.m."

"Here's what happened: the three of us drank quite a bit with our friends and missed our time, so we were thinking of leaving quickly. As a result, we ran into the two of them as soon as we went out."

Cleverly pointed to the photo, as he was "forced" into the car. "Coach, look, this isn't our car. It's a taxi. They deliberately only took a picture of part of it."

"The woman seemed drunk and kept bothering us, so we called a taxi for her."

"I even paid for her fare." Cleverley felt more and more aggrieved as he thought about it.

"Also, look at this photo. Welbeck wasn't haggling with her; she greeted us and said she was a Manchester United fan, so Welbeck went over to shake her hand."

"These damn paparazzi didn't film the first part, they didn't film the second part, but they filmed this scene, making it look like Welbeck was flirting or haggling, but we are really innocent."

"And also, Coach," Cleverley quickly added.

He had worked so hard to earn Yang Fan's trust during the Barcelona match, and he didn't want to anger Yang Fan over something like this. Otherwise, would he still have a chance to play in the future?

"We didn't go to the Sakura nightclub; we went straight home, but that road just happened to pass near Old Trafford."

""

Yang Fan remained silent throughout.

Cleverley's explanation is somewhat plausible.

The Manchester Evening News reporter sent Yang Fan photos, not videos.

"You can go out first, I'll think about it some more."

Cleverley was still worried. "Coach, I swear, I was a little late, but I really got home around 1 a.m., definitely not 3 a.m. Those two women had absolutely nothing to do with us."

"understood."

After Yang Fan saw Cleverley out, he had Jackie Kay call Ashley Young and Welbeck from next door in one by one.

Both of them were very surprised when they saw the photo.

Their explanations were very similar to Cleverley's.

The timing and the events both match up.

We've been set up!

This kind of thing is actually very common.

Some are even more outrageous. For example, some skilled women, after receiving payment for their services, also receive payment to expose details in the media, essentially selling out the players.

Aren't Giggs's siblings and other women also selling news in the media?

This has even become a business!

After seeing Wilbeck off, Yang Fan had a general idea of ​​what had happened.

What should we do?

No compromise!

Once you compromise on something like this, there will be a second time.

With that in mind, Yang Fan took out his phone and dialed Woodward's number directly.

"Hey Yang, why did you think of calling me at this time?"

-

Woodward on the other end of the phone was in a good mood, all smiles.

Yang Fan succinctly recounted the whole incident, concluding, "I believe the player's version of events; it was a setup!"

Woodward remained silent for a moment on the other end of the phone.

Unlike Yang Fan, who trusts his players, he clearly doesn't have much faith in them.

The reason is simple: many players just can't control their lower bodies.

Especially after drinking alcohol.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Ed, we must protect our players!" Yang Fan reminded him.

"However, similar things have happened before, and Moyes's attitude—"

"That was Moyes, Ed. He was throwing a tantrum, trying to establish his authority, and what happened? He lost everyone!"

Yang Fan explained earnestly.

"We must maintain this hard-won situation and the team must focus on preparing for the Champions League semi-final."

Yang Fan emphasized the semi-finals.

This is a reminder to Woodward that the Champions League semi-finals are fast approaching.

To some extent, Yang Fan didn't want to find out the truth.

To put it bluntly, only kids care about the truth.

At this point, for both Manchester United and Yang Fan, it is absolutely crucial to prevent this matter from being exposed and escalating.

If exposed and true, Cleverley's infidelity could even lead to accusations that Cleverley and Ashley Young forced women into having sex three times.

If the story is false—who would believe it's false?

That's absolutely insane!

Yang Fan's most vivid memory is from the summer of 2015 when Leicester City went to Thailand for training. As a result, the son of head coach Pearce, along with two youth teammate, invited three skilled Thai women to have sex with six people in the hotel.

You can play games all you want, but you're so brain-dead as to film it and then leak it.

Even Edison Chen isn't as awesome as you guys!

The final result was that Pierce resigned to take responsibility.

Most remarkably, after Pierce left, his successor was the tinkerer Ranieri.

That season, Ranieri led Leicester City to the Premier League title!

If this hadn't happened in the summer of 15, would Leicester City have won the title?

"Do you really believe them?" Woodward asked again.

Yang Fan recounted his conversations with the three individuals.

The matter hadn't been exposed, so they probably didn't know about it beforehand. There's no reason for them to collude.

"I believe in the players!"

"Okay, I'll have the public relations and legal departments handle it. The Manchester Evening News has been acting a bit too aggressively lately!"

"How so?"

"They promote that hotel for Class 92 every week, even every few days, it's a clear slap in the face to Manchester United!" Woodward said angrily.

Sure enough, it's this same old mess again!

Before the morning training session, when all the players arrived at the training field from the training building, Steve Lund let everyone go first—

The head coach had something to say as they gathered together.

There are basically no secrets in the locker room.

After Cleverley and his two companions left the head coach's office, the truth could no longer be hidden.

Soon, everyone knew.

Since everyone here is a police officer, no one can say for sure whether this matter is true or false.

However, being targeted by media reporters, or being set up by someone, is extremely rare.

Who told Cleverley and his two companions to go out without knowing how to protect themselves?

Does the head coach have something to say?

Everyone guessed that the three players who caused the trouble would probably be given a severe beating.

To everyone's surprise, Yang Fan reported on the progress of the matter, stating that the entire matter had been taken over by the public relations and legal departments in London.

"I believe what our players said!"

As soon as Yang Fan finished speaking, all the players on the opposite side raised their heads in disbelief, looking at this young rookie coach.

Do you really believe it?

Some people just talk the talk, but Yang Fan actually did it.

Furthermore, they persuaded Woodward to mobilize the public relations and legal departments to suppress the news.

This is how he demonstrates his trust in the players through concrete actions!

"I hope everyone will take this seriously. It's dangerous for outstanding men like us to be out in the sun. We need to be careful and protect ourselves!"

Yang Fan's joke made everyone in the room burst into laughter.

There was even a player on the opposing team who praised Lan on the spot.

However, Yang Fan quickly stretched out his hands, signaling everyone to be quiet.

"Although I accepted and believed them, a violation is a violation. Being in the nightclub area past 1 a.m., I hereby announce that Cleverley, Ashley Young, and Welbeck are fined for one week and required to apologize and make a public statement in front of the entire team!"

Yang Fan looked at Cleverley, Welbeck, and Ashley Young as he spoke.

"You accept this?"

For something like this, the worst that could happen is a one-week fine, not even an internal suspension. What else is there to be ashamed of?

Moreover, Yang Fan personally intervened and persuaded Woodward and the club to suppress the news.

In comparison, a week's salary is nothing.

All three nodded to indicate that they accepted the punishment and immediately stepped forward to apologize to the player.

"This matter deserves our attention!"

"Everyone should know that the team's current situation, its current state, and everything it has achieved has not come easily."

"We need to work harder and be more focused to maintain the team's current form and momentum."

"We don't just want to finish in the top four of the Premier League; we also want to beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals!"

Yang Fan's bold words ignited the passion of the opposing players.

They all responded with loud shouts.

Mike Phelan and Steve Lund exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.

This incident did not affect the atmosphere within Manchester United, nor did it disrupt their preparations; it was more like an unexpected interlude.

But this incident actually made Manchester United more united.

Yang Fan's handling of the situation, in particular, convinced the players that he genuinely cared for and protected them.

This is more important than anything else!

The players are naturally willing to work harder and give their all on the field for Yang Fan and for the current Manchester United team.

In this incident, Yang Fan transformed into a towering tree that sheltered the Manchester United players from the wind and rain.

Just like Ferguson in the past.