Football: The immortal legend on the green field

To everyone's surprise, the newly appointed secretary of the Football Association is actually a woman. It is understood that she used to be the deputy secretary-general of the Sports Commission. She has been in this position for only three months. The Sports Commission did not have the position of deputy secretary-general before. After she was transferred to the Football Association, this position in the State Sports Commission was revoked from the system. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this temporary position in the Sports Commission was specially set up for her.

In order to increase Tan Jing's voice in the Football Association, she not only took up the position of Party Secretary of the Football Association, but also served as Assistant Director and member of the Sports Commission.

Why did she have to come to the Football Association to take on this flood when there were so many places to go? People within the Football Association were quite critical of this female comrade’s appointment as the head of the Football Association, saying, “She came in through the back door again. The Football Association has become the backyard of the General Administration of Sports!”

This is the view of ordinary people. Nan Yong does not think so. She has risen to a higher level in the past few months. She must not be underestimated, otherwise she will die miserably. According to his secret instructions to Yang Yimin and others, "In the future, people like her must be worshipped. We must not use tricks like we did to Yan Shiduo. Now we should focus our firepower on Xia Yalong, who is in charge of daily work."

As for Gao Haiyang, whose growth rate was equally astonishing compared to ordinary officials, no one took it seriously. Everyone knew his background very well. His backers came from the foreign affairs department, and his wife's family, as a family from an old diplomatic department, had sufficient power.

But fortunately, he is only a son-in-law, not a son after all, and the resources that can be given to him are just so-so. This family that emphasizes inheritance will not put too much effort on him.

He is not even a member of the team now. The Football Association has replaced so many people at once. We must first concentrate our firepower. The potential enemy we must deal with first is Xia Yalong. Whether he is a friend or an enemy, we must first see if we can drag him into the water. If not, we will not be polite. We can get rid of Yan Shiduo with a few people, and we can also make Xia Yalong get out of the Football Association in disgrace.

It's still the same recipe, and the same taste. The issue discussed at the first Standing Committee meeting of the new team was still the formation of the 08 Olympic team. However, in addition to the Standing Committee members, there was also Gao Haiyang who attended the meeting as an observer. After all, Comrade Gao Haiyang's job arrangement was to assist Liu Ran in taking charge of the echelon construction of the Olympics and men's football.

The person who was most depressed about this division of labor adjustment was Yang Yimin. The management of the men's football team was snatched away from him by the newcomer Liu Ran. From now on, the national team will no longer be divided into men and women and be managed by different people, but will be divided according to age. It seems that the adult national team is in charge of him and his power has not been greatly lost. However, any discerning person can see that the women's football team is useless to people like them. Those girls are all poor and they can't get any money out of them.

Fortunately, Tan Jing is not a strong leader and can fully listen to opinions from all parties.

After listening to the opinions of the Standing Committee members, she neither said it was good nor bad. She first looked at Yang Yimin.

"Comrade Yimin! As an old comrade who has been engaged in this work for a long time, based on past experience, please tell us your thoughts first."

Yang Yimin sighed in his heart, then said: "I am now in charge of the adult men's and women's football teams. You don't need to ask me about the National Olympic Team, right? After all, you should ask him!" He pointed at Liu Ran beside him.

Tan Jing was obviously dissatisfied with Yang Yimin's answer. "The Standing Committee is a decision-making body. As a senior member of the Standing Committee, you have the right to express your own opinions. After the Standing Committee makes a decision, the leaders in charge can implement it within the framework set by the Standing Committee. Comrade Yang Yimin, you must fully cherish the rights given to you by the Party and the country."

In fact, what Yang Yimin said was just to hide his shortcomings. He had already received benefits from several players. If he could not fulfill the benefits, he would have to compensate from other places. Returning it was impossible. It was impossible for a Pixiu to eat and then spit it out.

"In fact, we made a mistake in selecting national head coaches ten years ago. From Slapner to Horton, from Milu to Ali Haan, we have seen the results of their leadership. The probability of failure is far greater than that of success. Can we change our mindset?

As Tan Jing expected, Yang Yimin's proposal received full support from Nan Yong and others.

To everyone's surprise, the new full-time vice chairman Xia Yalong actually supported Yang Yimin's opinion: "I just took office. Although I am not familiar with the work, I know something about football. These foreign coaches are not outstanding. Compared with domestic coaches, they not only have poor results, but also require several times more salary than our own coaches. The penalty for the previous head coach of the national football team, Dutchman Ali Haan, has not been settled yet! Don't add new debts before the old ones are paid."

"You support having a local coach as the head coach of the National Olympic Team?"

Xia Yalong nodded.

"However, the performance of local coaches in the past is not much better than that of foreign coaches. The most important thing is that it is difficult for local coaches to get recognition from the higher authorities. After all, the candidates we choose to lead the team have to be reported to the State Sports Commission. Moreover, how will we face public opinion if we choose local coaches? Most media and fans still prefer to invite foreign big-name coaches."

Liu Ran expressed a different opinion.

"We only have one and a half months left for the friendly match with South Korea U21. Now Qingyang is the coach. From selecting players, negotiating to signing contracts, and finally getting familiar with the team, is one and a half months enough?" Someone raised an objection.

"Speaking of the head coach, I have a very suitable person. The current head coach of Shandong Luneng U19 is Ying Tiesheng. First of all, most of the players of this age group are from Shandong. Comrade Ying Tiesheng has led the Shandong team in the Chinese Super League for many years with remarkable results. He also has experience in leading the national team. Even if his leadership effect is not good, there is time to stop the loss in time. After all, there are still three and a half years until August 08. Why not give outstanding domestic coaches a chance to try..." Yang Yimin replied.

"Yes. He attended a working meeting of the Chinese Super League echelon in Yanjing a while ago, and I met him. I felt at the time that he would be the perfect head coach for the National Olympic Team. He has outstanding coaching ability, convincing coaching experience, a high reputation in the country, and an affinity for young players... I can't think of anyone else who is more suitable than him."

"So he was prepared for this?" Gao Haiyang suddenly realized.

"Haha! Do you really think that I am just a figurehead as the vice chairman?" Yang Yimin laughed.

The others also started laughing, and this laughter was somewhat intended to cover up their embarrassment.

"Oh! I see Comrade Xiao Gao has his own ideas. Tell me about them?" Tan Jing did not care about the strong pressure from Yang Yimin and Nan Yong.