At that time, there were two very prestigious investors in Florence, the owner of Florence, Luigi Ridolfi, and the then Vice President of the Italian Football Association, Dante Beretti. The two hoped to bring something unique to Italian football.
They hope to bring together football coaches from different countries, backgrounds and beliefs to communicate with each other and inspire more innovative thinking.
So, they planned to build the Covelciano near Florence's home stadium.
In other words, this place was originally specially prepared for coaches, but later the national team chose to set up a training base here, so it gradually became the center of Italian football.
In the past few decades, it has attracted countless coaches from Italy and even from all over the world.
Ulivieri introduced the long history of Coverciano to Gao Shen, and then visited the Football Museum.
It is said to be a museum, but it actually has six rooms as exhibition halls, which display some championship trophies, competition equipment and photos, as well as some medals from the 1930s to the present. This place represents the glorious history of Italian football.
But these are all past tense.
According to Ulivieri, these are all appearances. The real interior is a large staircase lecture hall and a huge library. The purpose of the former is to invite many famous coaches or famous coaches from all over the world every year.
They came to give lectures and brought their unique tactical concepts, thinking and training methods.
All those invited to give lectures here are leaders in their respective fields.
This more or less satisfies a profound vanity.
Because he will also give his first speech in this lecture hall.
The library, as you can tell by its name, is the most precious place in Covelciano. It can be said to be the richest library in world football. All types of authoritative books related to football can be found here.
But these are not the most special.
Because we collect books, we can collect them here, and others can also collect them.
But the library of Covelciano contains many treasures that cannot be found or even seen outside.
This brings us to a feature of Coverciano's coaching training, that is, every coach who graduates from here must leave a thesis. There is no limit on the topic of the thesis, as long as it is related to football.
But it must be able to reflect the coach’s gains and thoughts while studying here, as well as his thoughts on football.
From Lippi to Capello, from Ancelotti to Mancini and others, they all left papers here.
Gao Shen is not very interested in anything else, but he is particularly excited about this.
Antonio Conte's paper is as long as forty pages, and the content is related to the 4312 formation.
This made Gao Shen a little curious, because didn't Conte play three defenders later?
The current Roma head coach Luciano Spalletti's thesis is "The use of the three-five-two formation in modern football matches".
This red wolf king is the one with three backs, my God.
Ancelotti's thesis was written in 1997 and was titled "The future of football: more dynamic".
At first glance, this topic seems very vague, and some experts are a little doubtful. Is Fatty An’s paper based on water?
But when I opened it, I have to say that this paper is genuine. In 1997, it predicted various changes in football over the years. It also made many icons to analyze the changes in football both on and off the court.
I have to say that Fatty An has a great perspective on the overall situation.
Mancini's thesis discusses the role and importance of the attacking midfielder in the game.
But the question is, Gao Shen is wondering, was this guy a creative attacking midfielder when he coached Inter Milan?
Stankovic is also reluctant, right?
Allegri's thesis is about the configuration of three players in the midfield.
He believes that midfield organizers must have a strong sense of position and be able to pass the ball forward quickly during defensive counterattacks.
The player on the right must be good at running and have good aerial confrontation capabilities, while the player on the left has better skills and can break through the opponent and advance forward.
This directly reminded Gao Shen of Allegri's midfield configuration when he coached Juventus.
Pirlo trailed behind, with Pogba on the left and Vidal on the right.
Damn, you have turned your thesis into reality.
But the question is, why did Pirlo leave Milan?
And Sarri, the topic of his thesis is the specific training planning and arrangement for the game week.
…
Gao Shen was just taking a quick look at the museum, but he couldn't get enough of it in the library.
Of course, many times he complained in his mind while watching.
If many years later, the library has the opportunity to be opened to the public, what will the fans at that time think when they look at the papers of these famous coaches?
Do you have the feeling that domestic college graduates are looking for a job but are not in the right major?
All the books in the library, as well as the papers of all graduated coaches, are open to all students and members of the coaching association, and they can come for reference and reading at any time.
This is what Ulivieri said is Covelciano's most valuable asset.
What Gao Shen felt most deeply was the gap.
Many times, domestic fans only focus on the outcome of the game.
As everyone knows, the game is a presentation of results, not all of football.
Behind the game is the joint efforts of countless people, including players, coaches, staff, etc.
Behind the players, coaches and staff, what is reflected are the business results of the entire football youth training, coach training and football industrialization.
Why is Italy known as the kingdom of tactics?
Why does everyone say that all Italian coaches are master tacticians?
How to explain that over the years, Italy has always had an endless stream of outstanding coaches?
Because they have a very complete coach training system.
What is the foundation of wealthy families and strong teams?
This is!
The most complete youth training system, the best coach training system, and the most advanced league system in the world.
As long as we have them, how can we not have talents?
Just like Italy now, their youth training can't produce talents, so what does it matter?
The foundation of youth training is still there. As long as the youth training system is properly reformed and we have the best coaches and the best league in the world, are we still afraid that no talents will emerge?
Look at Germany, then look at France, then look at England, they all came out like this.
There is no youth training, no coach training system, and no league. Is it possible that talents have to pop out of stones?
Look at Covelciano again. It has been passed down since 1957 to now. What a great advantage it is!
The score on the football field may be zero to one, zero to two, or even zero to three and zero to four, but these are just a representation of the results in ninety minutes.
The truly insurmountable, truly despairing gap is off the court.
To be honest, after visiting the library in Covelciano, Gao Shen was really sad.
He was saddened by the disparity between his country's football and football powers. He even wondered whether he would be able to see the rise of his country's football in his lifetime.
But these are not things he can change alone.
No matter how well he does, even if he becomes the best head coach in the world, or even if he has the opportunity to lead other countries' national teams to win the World Cup in the future, so what?
He still cannot change the current situation of football in his motherland.
This is what makes Gao Shen feel most sad and helpless.
But besides this, he also felt a strong desire from the bottom of his heart to make himself stronger and better.
The reason is that if there is an opportunity in the future, he can return to China and teach what he has learned to his domestic colleagues, bring back Europe's most advanced tactical concepts and training systems, and do his part for the motherland's football and fans.
As for coaching…
forget it.
Think about Lippi later, and then think about other coaches...
Gao Shen couldn't imagine that he would travel through time just by cursing the national football team. If he really wanted to be the head coach of the national football team, the comrades in the Space and Time Management Bureau would be extremely busy.
I work overtime every day just to catch this guy who scolds the national football team and walks around all day long!
Is it fun?
…
After visiting Coverciano, Gao Shen, accompanied by Ulivieri, rested for a while and then headed to the Lecture Hall.
By this time, the lecture hall was already overcrowded.
Gao Shen's first speech was not made public, and the media and fans probably didn't receive much notice, but it still caused a huge response in the European professional coaching circle.
The Italian side has the largest number of people, not only the students currently studying in Coverciano, as well as some national team players and coaches, but also well-known players such as Mancini, Allegri, Conte, Pioli and Sarri.
The coaches all come here because of their reputation.
There are also foreign players like Klopp and Tuchel from Germany, the bearded guy Gao Shen met outside the gate, as well as the German national team assistant coach Hansi Flick, France's Blanco,
There are also Pochettino from Argentina, Erik Ten Hag from the Netherlands, Portuguese Villas-Boas and so on.
Before entering the venue, Gao Shen looked at the list in his hand and looked at the names on it that were famous before time travel. Although they are not famous now, he still felt trembling.
Fortunately, since time travel, he has become well-informed.
I have seen many outstanding people from all walks of life. Although I am a little excited now, I am more proud and proud.
Needless to say, when he writes his autobiography in the future, he can be as awesome as Ferguson.
"By the way, Fernando." Before Gao Shen entered the door, he suddenly thought of an idea and grabbed Lucas.
Lucas looked at Gao Shen with a puzzled look.
"Go and borrow a camera. I'll take a photo with them later."
"Huh?" Lucas was a little confused.
is this necessary?
You are now a famous coach in Europe, and most of those among you are unknown.
Looking at his expression, Gao Shen knew what he was thinking, and clicked his tongue, "This is the first speech in my life. It is a kind of fate for me and them. I must take photos as a souvenir, and hurry up."
"
Lucas was confused. What the hell is all this?
Gao Shen was already happy in his heart.
We are thinking more and more thoughtfully now.
In a few years, when these people have become famous, they will just throw the photos on Twitter and add the following sentence: Let's find fault!
