Father Green

Chapter 3 Ten: Waiting for 120 Eight Years

"Welcome to St. Mary's Stadium in Southampton on the south coast of England. Here is the 2012-2013 season brought to you by Sina Sports. The fifth round of No. 30 in the English Premier League is Southampton vs. West Bromwich Albion. For the game, I am Zhan Jun." Zhan Jun in front of the camera said with a smile: "You may have noticed that this is not the live broadcast room where we often do games."

"This game is very important to Southampton and Charlotte, and it is also very important to many of our Chinese fans. Because if the Saints are unbeaten in this game, they will win the Premier League this season three rounds ahead of schedule. The league champion will move the Kaiserslautern miracle of the Bundesliga to England. This is also the first team in the English Premier League to win the championship as a newly promoted team. Nottingham Forest has previously staged the miracle of a top league newly promoted team winning the championship in England. But that was way back in the 70s."

"So we, Sina Sports, also arranged the live broadcast team in the UK this time, to explain the game live at St. Mary's Stadium for everyone."

Zhan Jun made a start, and then the screen switched to the inside of the stadium. At this time, the St. Mary's Stadium was already overcrowded, and only 3 vacancies were reserved for the [-]-person stadium to ensure safety. The other tickets had already been swept away. .

All kinds of banners were held in the stands, most of which were titles of support for the team and the joy of winning the championship.And in the South Stand, there is a banner that reads "This stadium is heaven, and Charlotte is God!!", this banner is written in two languages, English and Chinese, and the Chinese is not well written, crooked, If you don't identify it carefully, it is still unclear, for example, "seat" is written as "sitting"!
But this does not prevent Chinese fans from knowing the meaning. The broadcast camera gave this banner a close-up shot of five seconds.

"This is very reasonable, because Southampton has not lost a game in this stadium since Charlotte took office. This is indeed a paradise for Saints fans, and Charlotte naturally plays an important role." Zhan Jun for Everyone reads.

On the other side, the golden partners Lou Yichen and Liu Yue from Shanghai Five-Star Sports have also begun to interpret the stories inside and outside the stadium for friends in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.

"Since Charlotte came to Southampton, the Saints' results have always been among the best, whether in the British Championship, the Premier League or even the major cups. So the biggest reputation of this seaside city is not Their mayor and councilor, but Titanic and Charlotte."

"That's right, it might be Aiwujiwu. Southampton has also become the most welcoming city in England to Chinese people because of Charlotte. I read a small report before, and I don't know if it's true or not. After all, I haven't verified it. I Telling it now is just for fun. It is said that a Chinese tourist had his wallet stolen in Southampton some time ago, but in less than 24 hours he miraculously found his wallet in his backpack with all the documents in it , bank card and so on, there are two more things." Liu Yue made a fool of himself.

Lou Yichen's chubby smile fully showed the attitude that a fan should have: "Oh? Which two things are they?"

"A note and a ticket. The ticket was a ticket for a home game in Southampton some time ago. The price of this ticket is about [-] pounds. Then the note reads in English 'Southampton welcomes Chinese friends!'”

Lou Yichen found it very interesting: "Are you sure his wallet was stolen, not a prank or a joke from a Southampton fan friend?"

Liu Yue also said with a smile: "It is likely to be a well-intentioned joke. But whether it is true or not, we can see how welcome the Chinese are in this city."

This was originally an ordinary and not too ordinary league, but today many media regard it as the Champions League final, especially the media from China.

There are several Chinese media for the live broadcast at St. Mary's Stadium alone. They are divided into three parts: video, network and traditional media.

As Zhan Jun said, Southampton have not lost in this stadium since Charlotte took office.So in this game where the Saints only need to draw to win the championship, everyone thinks that the champion Southampton will win today.

When the players were warming up on the pitch, the Southampton fans at home were singing the Saints' team anthem, and there were also songs written by fans for some star players, such as the current Sturridge, Lallana and Iraq. Cardi and others, have their own songs.

The warm-up on the field does not require Charlotte to host, assistant coach Wilkins leads Ayestaran and Le Tissier.

Anyway, what should be arranged before the game has already been arranged, and Charlotte, who is fine, simply walked around the sidelines to have a look.When he was in the coach's bench, he saw Mr. Rhodes sitting in the first row of the South Stand. Today, the old man was wearing a Southampton home jersey, but it had been washed a little white. The key is the jersey. It's not Umbro before or Adidas now, Charlotte doesn't know this brand, but the advertiser on the chest of the jersey says "Draper Tools", it seems that this jersey has been around for some years.

Charlotte stepped forward, only to find that the Rhodes family had come.It is very difficult to get a ticket in this South Stand, and the dozen or so members of their family are all within .
Perhaps seeing Charlotte's doubts, Mr. Rhodes' eldest son, Jack, said: "We are the most loyal fans in Southampton. The Rhodes family has been the most loyal saints since my grandfather. At that time, the team was still the most loyal. In the small valley stadium. Since the economic strength of our Rhodes family improved slightly, there are two important things for every child in the Rhodes family just after they are born. season pass!"

Charlotte nodded and smiled slightly, the Rhodes family is Southampton's "crazy fans"!However, it is these tens of thousands of brain-dead fans that support the entire professional league team in England. This is what Charlotte envies, because no matter how poor the team's performance, they are very proud to say to outsiders: "That's our team!"

"Daniel, you look very good today!" Charlotte stepped forward and hugged Mr. Rhodes.

"Little brat, if you don't see the champion stay at St. Mary's Stadium today, the old man will break your head with this crutch!" Elder Rhodes joked, showing a vicious look.

When the nearby fans saw Charlotte here, they raised their jerseys, scarves and other items in their hands to ask for autographs.

Jack was afraid that everyone would crowd into his father, so he stood up suddenly, looking around with fierce eyes.

The fans who gathered around were shocked all of a sudden, and they all fell silent.The fans who can watch the football in the South Stand are basically diehard Southampton local fans, and almost none of these fans do not know Jack Rhodes.

Just kidding, the popularity of "Jack the Ripper" in the eyes of fans is not much lower than that of Charlotte and Le Tissier, but the latter two have a good reputation, and the former is mostly notorious.

Charlotte exchanged pleasantries with Mr. Rhodes again, then picked up the loudspeaker of a nearby fan organizer, and shouted loudly to the fans in this stand: "Guys, please prepare beer, flowers and applause!" , because next is the moment to witness the miracle!!!”

"Miracle!!!" The blood of the fans surged, and then the fans in this stand drove the fans in the nearby stands, and finally the word miracle resounded throughout the stadium.

"Charlotte was chatting with friends on the sidelines. It can be seen that he is very relaxed. This game seems to be bound to win!" Zhan Jun's Premier League encyclopedia opened again: "Oh, this old man is Daniel Rhodes. Southampton A very famous old man among the local fans. He is an absolute fan of the Saints. It has been more than 70 years since he was brought into the stadium by his father to watch Southampton games when he was one year old. However, the old man’s physical condition is not ideal. , seems to have a heart condition, so he has rarely come to the scene to watch the game. But today is a very important day for Southampton fans, because they are about to win the club's first top flight in more than 100 years. League champions, so a heart attack can't stop the old man on the pitch!"

"Okay, Daniel, I'm going back to the locker room to kick those little bastards' ass, you sit here, and I'll pour you the championship trophy in two hours!"

Mr. Rhodes smiled knowingly, and took out something from under the seat. It was a bottle of champagne!
Charlotte was dumbfounded: "How did you bring it in?!" Every stadium will have security guards when checking tickets, not to mention that glass bottles of alcohol cannot be brought in, even plastic mineral water security personnel will not let it in. Fans can only bring soft packaging.

Elder Rhodes smiled proudly: "Just kidding, who am I? Half of the club's staff was raised by me, and the other half's father was raised by me."

Charlotte: "."

Charlotte, who returned to the home team's locker room, didn't say much, he just opened the door of the locker room to let the hustle and bustle of the stadium come in.

"Listen carefully, these are the shouts and cheers of the fans, and they call every player's name. This championship they have longed for for more than 100 years, since their grandpa and even grandpa's father have been waiting for this championship Today, the champion is placed in front of their eyes, and what needs to be done inside is very simple, just pick up the champion and hand it to them!"

Charlotte looked at her watch: "Okay, we have to go out in 5 minutes, and listen to the voices of these fans in the remaining 5 minutes."

Charlotte stopped talking, found a place to sit down, closed her eyes and listened to every decibel sound coming from the stadium.