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Chapter 396 Old Friends

Even though Newcastle have already qualified from the group, it doesn't mean they are easy to deal with. After Mourinho became the head coach of Newcastle, to be precise, after Pei Wei became the chairman of Newcastle, this pair of golden partners gave Newcastle a style of never admitting defeat. At home, Mourinho and Newcastle can maintain a record of [-] home games unbeaten. Of course, they are not willing to break such a brilliant record by Hoffenheim.

So before the start of the game, the public opinion was unanimously unfavorable to Hoffenheim. They wanted to tie their opponents. Newcastle might not care, but if they wanted to take three points from St. James, all the magpies would say "NO" to them.

However, Hoffenheim is not without good news. Their chairman Mr. Hoffman announced two days before the game that he will follow the team to Newcastle to watch the game.

Although Hoffenheim has secured at least one qualification for the Europa League, for the current Hoffenheim, participating in the Europa League is no longer enough for them. Every Champions League game can attract countless fans from other continents to stay up late to watch. What about the Europa League?Who else would be interested in a game like this other than their die-hard fans?What's more, in terms of financial benefits, the benefits of participating in the Europa League are far from being comparable to participating in the Champions League...

Hoffenheim's financial personnel have the most say in this point. Last season, Hoffenheim reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League. This season's Champions League group stage is not over yet, but Hoffenheim's income from the Champions League has exceeded last year's Europa League income. If they can enter the knockout round...

UEFA has long turned the Champions Cup into a monster that can create huge wealth. The well-developed TV broadcasting has brought huge economic benefits to this cup. In addition to the income from live game tickets, the bonuses issued by UEFA are not a small amount. In addition to the share of broadcast fees, stadium advertising revenue... It is not an exaggeration to say that if a giant team plays well in the Champions Cup, their income from this game can even account for more than half of their annual financial income.

If a team is on the verge of bankruptcy, if they can reach the group stage of the Champions League, the income they get may be able to bring them back to life.

Of course, if Hoffenheim wants to continue their footsteps in the Champions League and continue to earn image and financial benefits from the Champions Cup, they have to continue to go on in this cup.

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December [-], St James' Park.

Hoffman did not break his promise, the old man came to Newcastle in his own private jet, and then he did not affect the team's preparations, but came to Newcastle on the same day, two hours before the start of the game, he came to St. James' Park.

Looking at the stadium outside the stadium, looking at the statues of Jack Milburn and Alan Shearer, two of the greatest strikers in the history of the Newcastle club standing outside the stadium, Hoffman was a little distracted. In the past, there was only a statue of Jack Milburn outside the gate of St. James' Park. A statue of Shearer was erected next to Milburn, making the two greatest strikers in the history of the club stand like goalkeepers, standing in front of the home gate forever, telling all the teams who came to attack - this is St. James' Park, don't even think about retreating!

But so far, Newcastle has really not lost in all the games at home. All Newcastle fans firmly believe that Jack Milburn and Alan Shearer are guarding St. James. Although Shearer is still alive, the soul of Jack Milburn must be floating in the sky above St. James Park, blessing Newcastle to keep moving forward.

After watching for a while, Hoffman lowered his head and walked into the court accompanied by the medical assistants around him.

While walking towards the box that had been booked in advance, Hoffman was thinking about the two statues in front of St. James' Park.

Newcastle has tradition and history. Even though their results were not very good before Pei Wei took over, their performance in England was ranked behind many teams that have now fallen, but they have never lacked outstanding stars, especially local stars, so even in the years when they were relegated, they were also the most popular team in England. In this regard, they are much better than Hoffenheim. statue, but who did he build?Tree players who haven't even played in the top German league before?What a joke, that can only make Hoffenheim the laughing stock of the whole of Europe.

There are some things that cannot be done with money, and need a little... something else.

If Ibisevic can stay at Hoffenheim until his retirement and maintain his current form, maybe Hoffman will erect a statue for him, but now, not yet.Even if Hoffman really wants to do this, Ibisevic himself will refuse.

In the history of FIFA, there is only one person who has a statue erected on the sidelines of the club's home court as an active player, the legendary Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta. Because of his loyalty, Fiorentina fans spontaneously erected a bronze statue for him next to the Frankie Stadium. However, when he moved to Rome in pursuit of a league title, angry Fiorentina fans tore down his statue. Batistuta did nothing wrong in this matter, but Fiorentina fans also have the right to express their anger. In modern football, very few players can end up in a club. No matter how brilliant the current players are, they may leave the team for various reasons. If the fans put up statues for him when he played well, then when he leaves... Just look at what happened to Batistuta.

Compared with Newcastle, Hoffenheim still lacks tradition... This tradition does not refer to the time when the team was established. Hoffenheim was only established 18 years later than Newcastle, but as a strong team, Hoffenheim is more than a hundred years younger than Newcastle.

"Mr. Hoffman! It's an honor to have you at St. James!"

There was a hearty laugh, Hoffman raised his head and saw a man about 50 years old walking towards him quickly, Hoffman smiled slightly, he recognized the owner of Newcastle, Chinese Pei Wei, remember that he was not yet 40 years old when he first saw him, but now he is also a half-old man with gray hair.

"Long time no see, Pei!" Hoffman signaled the nurse beside him to let go, and went up to shake hands with Pei Wei: "The last time I saw you was five years ago!"

"It's my fault. I should have found a chance to visit you a long time ago! After Li Qiang knew that you were coming to Newcastle to watch the game, he asked me to greet you." Pei Wei said with a smile. Li Qiang also had a lot of dealings with Hoffman when he was in Yunjiatianyu Europe.

"He still remembers me as an old man!" Hoffman laughed happily: "But he is also the chairman now, and he probably doesn't have much time to go to Germany to see me as an old man... In other words, Pei, I am very happy to meet you, but I really don't want to meet in this situation."

"No way, who let the damn UEFA draw us into the same group." Pei Wei shrugged his shoulders and said without hesitation: "But Mr. Hoffman, it is precisely for this reason that I can see you!"

After sending the old man to the box, Pei Wei chatted with Hoffman again, and then looked at his watch. It was only half an hour before the start of the game, so he said goodbye to Hoffman and walked towards the locker room.

Of course Hoffman knew what he was doing—everyone in Europe knew that Pei Wei from China was the only person in the four major leagues who was both club president and assistant coach.

Pei Wei walked to the locker room in a very happy mood. Apart from the fact that the result of this game will not affect any prospect of Newcastle, being able to meet Hoffman is also a very important reason. Five years before he decided to start football, Hoffman began to invest in Hoffenheim. After more than 20 years, he has brought Yunjia Tianyu into the best club in Asia, making Newcastle one of the most famous giants in the European continent. Hoffenheim is still just an ordinary Bundesliga team. In comparison, I was able to achieve these results only because my experience was too weird...

The difficulties encountered by Hoffenheim are definitely not what Yunjiatianyu and Newcastle could encounter. The Chinese professional league was blank before 94. Newcastle already had a good foundation before Hoffenheim.

So Pei Wei still admires Hoffman, and at the same time he has some expectations. How far has the simple big man he saw in the Yunjiatianyu youth team nearly ten years ago grown into?

(End of this chapter)