Team Spirit

Chapter 1 The Pound Scam
January 1, 2000, the turn of the century.

The first big world news of the new millennium came from European football.

The Sun: "Shocking! Chinese buy Arsenal for just one pound!"

The whole world was in an uproar!

Did China conquer England?
How could this happen?
Arsenal, also known as Arsenal in Cantonese, is nicknamed "Arsenal" and "Gunners".

Even if they haven't reached 49 Premier League games unbeaten, even if they haven't reached the Champions League final, even if they haven't started selling their captain to pay off debts, even if they haven't developed a fondness for the number four, even if they haven't relied on the FA Cup to keep their managerial job...

But it remains one of the most famous football clubs in the world.

It has a market value of over 100 million pounds!

One pound?

Did The Sun miss a unit?
And the buyer is actually Chinese?

Considering the serious racial discrimination in Europe and the United States during this period, this is even more unbelievable.

Chinese media "Sports Weekly" immediately contacted European "journalist resources" and obtained first-hand intelligence at a sky-high price of 300 euros, thus being the first to release related headlines in China.

Sports Weekly: "Shocking! A 14-year-old Chinese boy buys Arsenal for just one pound! Or is this a conspiracy by Manchester United?"

Sports Weekly's competitor, Football News, was not to be outdone. Their editor-in-chief believed that "one pound" was absolutely unreasonable and should be "one billion pounds". Foreigners must also be playing with homophonic puns.

So a special report was added.

Football News: "Shocking! A mysterious 14-year-old Chinese billionaire buys Arsenal for £100 million! Opening a new chapter for Chinese football!"

The country is in an uproar!
But both reports contain no substantive content and are nothing but speculation.

It's just scratching the surface.

On the contrary, the American media, which monitors the world, are more powerful and have found more relevant information from various recordings.

Fox News: "His name is Lu Kai! The 14-year-old Chinese teenager who bought Arsenal was once a talented player in the Gunners' U13 youth training camp!"

Bloomberg: "Prince's Revenge! Lu Kai suffered a serious injury and was fired by the Gunners after recovering from it, citing reasons such as high injury risk and lack of technical ability."

The Washington Post: "The recordings of the alleged discriminatory conversations between Arsenal's youth training director and team executives regarding Lu Kai have been compiled onto a tape. A top-secret tape is available for $99!"

For a full half month, this farce intensified around the world.

Although someone from Arsenal came out to refute the rumor the next day - the team fired Lu Kai for legitimate reasons and it was not discrimination, and the team acquired by Lu Kai was not Arsenal, but Dartford Royals VCD.

But the truth is meaningless and no one cares.

When playing football, fun is the most important thing.

……

Convenience store at The Ponds, Dartford, Kent, South East England.

"Isn't the clue fee one hundred pounds? Why is there five hundred more?" Lu Kai opened the envelope and looked up at the blonde woman sitting opposite him.

Her name is Emily, and she's a trainee reporter at The Sun.

A blush flashed across Emily's face, and her chest rose and fell slightly: "This is my gift to you, oh no... my gift to the team."

Lu Kai put the money in his pocket and pointed to the deserted rural school-level sports field outside the store and said, "Dear Emily, thank you for your support of Dartford Royal VCD!"

"I will always reserve a stadium box for you...if we ever have a building like that in the future."

"Aunt Jiang, please make a cup of passion fruit pearl milk tea for our angel investor, Emily."

As soon as Lu Kai opened his mouth, Emily almost went crazy!

He called me dear!
Emily laughed so hard that her body shook. She turned around and said hello to the convenience store owner: "Excuse me, Mr. Director of Arsenal Football Club!"

The boss Jiang Mengyun is only in her thirties and still has charm.

She glared at the two of them and advised them while making milk tea: "What about Ninth Level Arsenal, Green Arsenal, Environmental Protection Factory, Arsenal Green, Green Gun, Yellow Disc... Xiao Kai, listen to Aunt Jiang, keep the four thousand pounds and pay back the debt!"

Lu Kai smiled slightly, his mind made up: "Aunt Jiang, don't worry, I have already made arrangements. Everything is getting better, isn't it?"

"I will go to London tomorrow to recruit soldiers and build a bigger and stronger company."

Jiang Mengyun shook her head helplessly.

Lu Kai has changed so much during this period of time!
The little boy who was a little autistic before has now become a handsome guy who attracts girls with his sunshine.

A year and a half ago, Lu Kai, as a skipped student, was accidentally tackled by Manchester United youth player Fletcher in the match between Arsenal U13 and Manchester United U13, and his left knee cruciate ligament was ruptured.

After a year-long rehabilitation period, he finally returned to the team.

However, considering his "yellow race's easily injured physique", the psychological trauma caused by the injury, and the decline in physical and technical skills caused by not exercising for a year, Arsenal's youth training team gave up on him.

After several unsuccessful attempts to persuade him to quit, the team fired him on false grounds, saving him two hundred pounds a week, which is about seventy percent of the annual salary of an adult British male.

Arsenal's new stadium planning proposal was approved because of the "huge" amount of money saved.

Lu Kai then ran into obstacles everywhere in London and no club was willing to accept him.

He could only return to the place where his aunt Jiang Mengyun lived and joined the local team "Dartford Royal VCD".

This is an amateur team that competes in the ninth level of the English league.

The probability of playing in such a team is infinitely close to zero. It can be seen that Lu Kai has no other choice.

However, good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes alone. Early in the season, the team's core midfielder, Victor, suffered a miscarriage. In his forties, Victor was forced to retire from the team to take care of his daughter.

This vividly refutes the argument of domestic public intellectuals that "European and American parents don't care about their children."

Dartford has never recovered since then and finished last in the Kent Premier League after the first half of the season.

In order to save the team, the local government and fans voted and agreed to sell the team for one pound.

However, the buyer needs to repay the team's debt of £10,000 within three years, with at least £3,000 in the first year.

This is similar to some European countries where houses are sold for one euro, but residents are required to renovate the house within three years and spend more than 30,000 euros, and also pay a high property tax every year.

It is a cat and dog adoption scam for Europeans.

Just when people were lamenting that no one was stupid enough to take the blame, a fool actually appeared.

Lu Kai would have made a big splash if he hadn't made any name for himself, but he joined a football club for one dollar!

As for why it is "ru" instead of "mai", it is because Lu Kai said that the word "ru" sounds more advanced.

To be precise, these words were said by Lu Kai, who thought his football career was hopeless and took a large amount of sleeping pills in an attempt to commit suicide but was eventually rescued.

This Lu Kai is completely different from the previous Lu Kai.

He colluded with his neighbor Emily, who was interning at The Sun, and published the fake news that exploded around the world!

Because the Royal VCD and Arsenal's team logos are so similar, both have shields, letters, and cannons.

The biggest difference between the two may be the color.

One red and one green, a perfect match.

But Lu Kai asked Emily to use the black and white team logo, and he did have a resume with Arsenal, so this news appeared openly around the world.

The media, knowing that there was a problem, did not expose it, but instead fanned the flames and shared the traffic dividend, which eventually became a classic.

Emily was praised by the editor-in-chief and was quickly promoted to a full-time position.

Dartford Royal VCD won the title of "Green Gun" and a jersey advertising sponsorship of 4,000 pounds!

Jiang Mengyun believes that the jersey sponsorship should be used to pay off debts, but Lu Kai plans to use the money to strengthen the lineup.

Because the reward of leading the team to promotion is something he cannot refuse.

But recruiting players is not easy.

If teams in England's fifth and sixth tier leagues still have a chance to sign some terminated contracts from wealthy clubs, then teams in the ninth tier really can't even get hot food.

This time when Lu Kai went to London, he wanted to try to sign some talented but unwanted players for free, and his total weekly salary had to be kept within 150 pounds.

No matter how good the football atmosphere in England is, there are really not many names that can be considered if these conditions are met.

……

At the entrance of Watford Football Club's youth training base.

Lu Kai scowled.

Two days passed quickly, and his recruitment was not very successful.

With his "foresight", even if he was in a League Three (fourth level) team, he could easily grab some stars like Ribery, Luca Toni, Drogba, Vardy and so on from the fingers of history.

But the teams in the ninth tier are different.

Playing in English League Three or English League Two, there is also a chance to be noticed by big teams.

Playing in the ninth-level amateur competition is just for self-entertainment.

Lu Kai's trip is roughly equivalent to a technical secondary school going to the Affiliated High Schools of Peking University and Tsinghua University to recruit students. But if you ask people if they want to be factory workers, they will slap you in the face.

Who are you cursing?

Just as Lu Kai was about to leave, he saw a familiar bald black player arguing with a man who looked like a coach.

The player was a little emotional and finally knelt on the ground and begged: "Mr. Lens, please don't fire me, okay?"

"As long as I stay in the team, I can even play as a full-back!"

Lu Kai recognized this guy at a glance.

He is the spokesperson for poultry excrement, one of Manchester United’s four dark kings, and the poultry excrement king of football - Ashley Young!

The "Yellow Bees" Watford Football Club is currently playing in the second-tier English league, with a good record and a tendency to be promoted to the top league.

Many foresighted youth players have therefore switched to the Hornets, hoping to get a chance to play in the Premier League in this way.

Watford's original youth training players were affected, and some of them were abandoned and terminated by the team.

The unremarkable Ashley Young is one of them.

In Lu Kai's impression, Ashley Young finally impressed the coach with his diligence and was able to stay in the team.

But now it seems that the main reason for him to stay in the team is that he is willing to make a huge compromise in his career development and switch from a forward to a full-back.

Sure enough, Coach Lens was a little tempted.

What their youth team lacks most is full-backs. If...

(End of this chapter)