Football giants

Chapter 57
Roger Moses sat in the office of the director of sports at the BBC headquarters, looking down at his mobile phone.

He was one of the first batch of WeChat users to register. It was three days before Zlatan Ibrahimovic's press conference. He knew there was such an app from a text message from a reporter friend, so he downloaded it to his phone.

After playing this game, he couldn't let it go.

He found that a lot of information travels so fast on WeChat that the app never crashes.

In the past two days, there have been rumors throughout the UK that Southampton will hold another press conference tomorrow.

Like the previous Ibrahimovic game, it will still be on the WeChat platform.

The difference is that this time they didn't even say who the star they were going to introduce was.

As the director of BBC TV's sports department, Roger Moses had to admit that this was a premeditated news hype.

And it is a kind of football that has never been done before.

Southampton brings the internet to football!
Knock Knock~

"Come in!" cried Roger Moses when he heard the knock on the door.

Entering was Barbara Slater, director of programming for the sports department.

"We have just received news that Ferguson is bombarding Southampton in Manchester," Barbara Slater said as soon as she entered the door.

"Bombard Southampton? Why?" Roger Moses put down his phone with a strange expression on his face.

Barbara Slater smiled, "I heard that Southampton used 250 million pounds to forcibly poach two talented rookies in the Manchester United team, Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison."

"The troublemaker?" Roger Moses was a little surprised.

Lavelle Morrison's talent is outstanding. Everyone who sees him playing football will involuntarily marvel and give him praises as a genius. But the problem is that this kid has a complicated background and a bit of a weird personality. He is misguided and a troublemaker.

"Yes, didn't Ferguson send them to the youth team before? This time the management agreed to Southampton's transfer deal of 250 million pounds, which is said to have bypassed Ferguson, but who knows?"

After hearing this, Roger Moses slapped his hands on the desk excitedly, and laughed gloatingly, "Wow, that old Scottish man must be mad now, and what right does he have to bombard others? Didn't he use the same method to recruit Paul Pogba from Le Havre a year ago?"

Barbara Slater also nodded with a smile, "You should know that he has always been like this."

To use an old Chinese saying, only state officials are allowed to set fires, but the common people are not allowed to light lamps.

The relationship between the BBC and Ferguson and Manchester United has always been very bad. This is because the BBC filmed a documentary that exposed the inside story of Ferguson’s third son as an agent who pocketed some of Manchester United’s transfer operations.

Since then, the BBC has never been able to get all the first-hand information related to Manchester United. Even on some official occasions, Ferguson will only arrange for the assistant coach to go abroad, just to avoid BBC TV.

"Good guy, Ferguson got into trouble as soon as he came to England. Southampton seems to be determined to make a big deal!" Roger Moses was a little excited thinking about it.

In recent years, English football has become more and more lively, especially with the influx of international capital into English football, it has made them who work in the news media even more addicted.

At the very least, don't worry about themes and topics that don't promote sales.

"Since Ferguson is unhappy, we don't mind making him angrier!"

Roger Moses stood up with a chuckle, "Tonight's news, let's extend the report time of this transfer. By the way, let me introduce the ins and outs of Paul Pogba's transfer last year and this year, and also introduce Southampton."

After a pause, he glanced at this right-hand man who has been in the media for 30 to [-] years, "You should know how to do it, right?"

"Understood!" Barbara Slater agreed with a smile.

Since it's not the same as Ferguson, the enemy's enemy is a comrade in arms, and the guns must be the same!
The BBC doesn't mind doing anything that makes Ferguson unhappy.

"By the way, go get in touch. Tomorrow Southampton will hold another press conference on the WeChat platform. Last time it attracted a lot of attention. This time we must pay attention to it. You sent an application to Southampton and said that you hope to cooperate. Let us accompany them to film and report."

"Notify Gary again, tomorrow night we will temporarily add a special program for daily matches, and the focus will be on Southampton!"

Roger Moses clearly captured that Southampton's press conference on the WeChat platform has suddenly attracted a lot of attention and repercussions among young people in the UK and even Europe. It is very necessary for the BBC to respond to this.

"Director, why do you attach so much importance to Southampton?" Barbara Slater was a little puzzled.

There are so many teams in League One, even if Southampton used to be a strong team in the Premier League, it was all a few years ago.

If we really want to talk about influence, Southampton is also caused by a series of brand-new operations after the Chinese owner acquired the team this summer, as well as a series of large-scale transactions in the transfer market.

Match of the Day is the BBC's trump card program, which is very important in the hearts of fans. The hosts include Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Alan Hansen and other former English football stars. It is usually broadcast on the night of the Premier League and Champions League matches, and the ratings remain high.

Although there are occasional special programs, they are usually after major events.

Like Roger Moses, it is unprecedented to record a program for a League One team.

Roger Moses is also aware of Barbara Slater's doubts. She is the director of the program group and is responsible for the program arrangement, so she smiled and explained: "I just received news that ITV has decided to increase the live broadcast of the Southampton game. Not only that, China, Europe and other countries in the world have shown strong interest in broadcasting the Southampton game."

Speaking of this, Roger Moses smiled, "Although Southampton is in a low-level league now, it is a star team in the low-level league. They were eliminated from the League Cup, but we have the FA Cup."

"Director, do you mean that our FA Cup will focus on the Southampton match?" Barbara Slater was even more surprised.

After the broadcast rights of the Premier League were occupied by Sky TV, the BBC's most valuable event resources are the highlights of the FA Cup and Premier League matches.

"Don't you think it would be interesting for a team in League One, but with a superstar like Ibrahimovic, to encounter a strong team in the Premier League?"

Barbara Slater understood.

The FA Cup has always been regarded as a hotbed of upsets, but over the years, the FA Cup has become less and less upset.

Without the unpopular FA Cup, no fans would be interested.

Roger Moses is trying to support Southampton and further promote the weight of the FA Cup.

"I see!" Barbara Slater did understand.

…………

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"We've been kept in the dark and I'm sure there's been an agreement between them. It's very disappointing. In my opinion, they haven't shown the slightest bit of respect for Manchester United!"

"This is a betrayal of Manchester United!"

After Manchester United officially announced that Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison had switched to Southampton at a price of 250 million pounds, Ferguson was very angry at the possible private contacts between Southampton and the two former Manchester United players, and said that he would not rule out appealing.

"This is not a single incident. I want to say that it has had a very bad impact on our youth training system and made us panic inside. Their defection not only caused us to lose two very valuable players, but also caused an extremely bad impact."

Southampton immediately held a press conference. The head of the team's marketing department and head of the news and public relations department, Sun Yue, said very seriously at St. Mary's Stadium that Ferguson's accusations were all unreasonable speculations without any basis.

"I don't think Ferguson has any reason to accuse others, because he has been doing the things he said. Do I need to give everyone examples?"

"Southampton introduced Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison. Before signing, we did not sign any private agreements. Even in our contract terms, we did not give players any unrealistic promises."

"We contacted Manchester United, showed interest in two of their players who had put in a written transfer request because they were sent down to the youth team, and offered the right price, and they agreed, and the whole thing was as simple as that."

"I don't think we have any links to violations."

Paul Pogba also confirmed this in an interview with Southern Echo reporter Charlene Lahiri.

"Southampton didn't promise me a main position in the first team. They just told me that here, I can play a lot of games, play with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and some other top players, play together and improve together."

"It made me want to join Southampton, not just for the money."

As for what Ferguson said, Pogba defected this time and did not respect Manchester United enough, and Pogba also responded.

"When I came to Manchester from Le Havre a year ago, he promised me to play more games, but in the absence of players in the first team, he didn't trust me at all, and never considered giving me a chance. When I asked him to make more contributions to the team, he gave me the answer, go back to the youth team!"

"I can't understand why he thinks that I don't respect Manchester United enough, because I came from Le Havre on a free transfer, but now I have made a seven-figure transfer fee for Manchester United? Or, he thinks that I have not bowed to him. This violated his authority, which seems insufficient."

"But I want to say, if I was given another chance to choose, I would still tell him, no!"

Regarding Southampton's introduction of Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison from Manchester United, after Ferguson's bombardment and Southampton's strong counterattack, it immediately became a grand event in the entire English football world, and even attracted the attention of European football.

Pogba and Morrison, two 17-year-old talented new stars, appeared on the pages of major European media for the first time.

Raiola also stood up and accepted an interview with the Italian media, accusing Ferguson of being too domineering and lacking respect for the players.

For a time, on the Internet and in the media, the transfer between Manchester United, Ferguson, and Southampton quickly aroused huge discussions and controversies. Most of the fans were divided into two factions, arguing non-stop on the Internet and newspapers.

Some people think that Southampton must have a problem. They must have contacted the players privately and encouraged them, causing Manchester United to fall into a passive position.

But some people quickly countered that it was a conspiracy theory without any evidence at all.

And Manchester United itself is not clean enough. Back then, Pique was poached from Barcelona, ​​and Pogba was poached from Le Havre later. I don’t know how many times this happened.

BBC TV also carried out key reports on sports news, and subtly led the audience to believe that this was a scene of thieves shouting and catching thieves, which Ferguson often did.

This is the BBC, and its influence in the UK is equivalent to China's CCTV.

Therefore, when the BBC shouted, the whole of Britain was blown up, and the major newspapers chose their positions one after another, and opened fire as much as they wanted.

The Sun newspaper is a hardcore Red Devils party, but the local Manchester City Evening News in Manchester firmly supports Southampton and attacks Manchester United.

The Times, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Mirror and other media also have their own positions.

This caused the entire UK to quarrel because of this transfer worth only 250 million pounds.

In this case, as the center of the storm and the initiator of the incident, Southampton once again held a press conference.

And at this press conference, the team's latest introduction, the talented rookie from Brazil, was grandly launched.

Neymar!
　Thanks to the book friend [The Gate of Mystery] for the reward!

　　The third update is still available in the afternoon, please ask for a ticket! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)