Football: The immortal legend on the green field

At this time he saw a dark red Audi A6 parked next to him.

The rear door was opened and a fat old man came out. He was the chairman of the team - Mr. Nigel Solon.

The next person to come down was a young man in his twenties. He was tall and capable, wearing a fitted casual summer suit, and holding an umbrella in his hand, which mostly covered the chairman's head.

Seeing Neeskens standing at the gate, the old man took the initiative to stretch out his arms and hugged Neeskens. "John, I knew you couldn't not care about the place where your dream began. Come and help him."

Seeing Neeskens' puzzled expression, Nigel let go of Neeskens, pointed at the young man standing next to him, and said to Neeskens: "My grandson, Horst Solon."

Horst Solon took the initiative to extend his hand: "Hello, nice to meet you. Coach..."

The father next to him interrupted his son: "Horst, I have told you many times. Don't call me 'coach', say 'manager'. This is the Netherlands, not the United States."

Horst smiled apologetically at Neeskens: "Sorry, Mr. Manager."

Neeskens also held out his hand. "Uh, never mind. I'm glad to meet you, too, Mr. Horst, but I haven't made up my mind yet."

The chairman next to him interrupted: "My grandson just came back from the United States. He grew up there and feels unfamiliar with the Netherlands. He is now an 'American' who grew up watching the NBA."

In response to this sarcasm, Horst smiled helplessly and did not refute it.

Nigel put his hand on Neeskens' shoulder. "John, I found you on the baseball field and brought you here. Later, you performed well and went to Ajax and Barcelona. You won the World Cup runner-up with Cruyff and others. Now it's time for you to give back to me and this club. I know you won't refuse, right? I don't like failure either. I don't ask for much. I just want to bring Haarlem back to the first division. I don't want to hand over a mess to my grandson. This is not his responsibility. These two seasons..."

At this point, the chairman looked up at the sky with his cloudy eyes, muttered a curse word, and then looked away. "Do your best, don't think too much, I won't put any pressure on you. Except for money, I can promise you anything, John." He patted Neeskens' shoulder gently, then turned around and walked towards the gate of the team's training base with his grandson.

"I have one condition. You must recruit a Chinese kid named Shen Bin from Ajax. Otherwise, I will refuse to take over Haarlem."

Nigel turned around and laughed. "I knew you would agree. As for the Chinese kid you mentioned, I can only give it a try. I don't think Ajax has such a player. If you ask me, you should figure it out yourself. With your influence in Ajax, it should be easier. I'm retired. How can you let a retired old man work? Starting from this season, the transfer rights belong to you."

"How much money do you have prepared?" Neeskens knew that Nigel's company was on the verge of bankruptcy and he probably couldn't come up with much money, but if he wanted to return to the top league, the investment would not be less than 1000 million euros. Since the old man wanted to lead the team back to the A-League himself, he would at least not prepare less than 500 million euros for himself!

"We don't have money. If you want to buy the players you need, there are more than 20 players in the team now. If you don't like any of them, just sell him. I won't take part of the money from selling the players. This is the greatest support for you, John...hahaha..."

"You old thing..."

Neeskens stood at the door, seeing the chairman's hunched back and his grandson Horst supporting him and holding an umbrella for him. He couldn't tell what he felt at that moment. He accepted the reality as quickly as possible, but he couldn't accept the team emotionally in one day. He had a special feeling for Haarlem, which had a glorious past. As the old chairman said, this was the place where his dream took off after all.

But the two pats the old man gave him on the shoulders just now made him feel warm. This warmth was precious. He seemed to have returned to thirty years ago, and he decided to do a good job and do his best.

In order to live up to the trust placed in me by the Chairman...

And the man who continues to succeed at Barcelona.

……

"Happy old age, old Niggle..."

After leaving the Haarlem athletic training base, Neeskens strolled casually on the long street.

Tired from walking, Neeskens sat on a bench on the street to rest, and then began to seriously consider how he could become a successful coach and live up to the old chairman's trust in him.

He buried his head and thought for a long time, but had no clue.

He has been away from football for too long. His wife Tatiana was once a mainstay of the Royal Netherlands Ballet. Due to long-term and arduous training, her feet gradually became deformed, and finally she had to leave her beloved acting career due to injury.

In order to take care of his injured wife, Neeskens has been away from football for too long, and the memories of his previous career as a player are completely useless at this moment.

First of all, the players and coaches have different perspectives, and football is changing every year. Twenty years ago, all-out attack and defense was obviously no longer suitable for the current team's technical and tactical needs. It is too backward for modern football.

Also, he is not familiar with every player of Haarlem Athletic Team, at least he is not familiar with them now.

He couldn't point fingers like he did when watching a game on TV: the head coach should send this person on, let that person play on the left, let that person actively assist... Facing a completely unfamiliar team, Neeskens would not know where to start even if he played more games.

What's worse, now he doesn't have much time to prepare.

Today is July 7th, and the team will regroup on August 11th. The second round of the FA Cup will be on August 8th. Although the second round opponents are third or fourth division teams, the greater the pressure on Neeskens. If he loses to a strong first division team, he still has reasons to shirk responsibility, but if he loses his first game as coach to a semi-amateur fourth-level team, he will be laughed to death by fans and the media.

Neeskens smiled bitterly and said, "It really is a case of bad times coming in rainy days... If this is also fate's arrangement, then I can only say: fate is fucking bullshit!"

"Never mind. There's no point in thinking too much. Let's get that oriental genius kid first."

Unfortunately, Neeskens didn't see Shen Bin until July 7 in University Park. The kid seemed a little hesitant about returning to the court. He thought not to put too much pressure on the kid who seemed a little resistant to returning to the court, so after leaving his business card, he focused his attention on the existing players.

After Neeskens learned about the team's situation in the information room, when he wanted to find Shen Bin again, he couldn't see him at the University Park Stadium of the amateur league.

Later, after making inquiries from many sources, I finally learned Shen Bin's address from the personal information filled out by Shen Bin from Snowa at the Municipal Administration Office.

At the same time, we also received a piece of news that the reason why Shen Bin asked for leave was that other clubs had also contacted Snona to find out about Shen Bin.

This made Neeskens anxious.

At this time, Shen Bin had returned to Albany. After communicating with his father Shen Yuanchao, he learned that the first team to find him was not the Haarlem Athletic Football Club, but another team in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, De Deijk Football Club.

This club has a very low presence in the Netherlands. Haarlem Athletic Club is located in the west of Amsterdam, which is the most famous university town in the Netherlands. There are more than a dozen universities around the Haarlem Athletic Stadium.

However, De Dijk Club is located in the same East City as Ajax, so it has always lived in the shadow of Ajax. The club's performance has always been at the bottom of the second division, and it has been relegated to the third division from time to time.