After attending the press conference after the game, Gao Shen invited Ferguson to an office at the St. Paul Stadium for a drink.
Just like the French wine given to Mourinho, Gao Shen also gave Ferguson a box.
These are rare wines purchased through Zidane’s personal connections.
But what Ferguson said was not just referring to this box of wine, but Gao Shen's answer to his question.
Paisley is a small town on the southwest outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland's largest city.
At that time, Ferguson had coached St. Mirren in Paisley for four years. This was the second stop of his coaching career.
It took him two years to bring this second-tier league team into the Scottish Premiership. He was thirty-six years old at the time.
Fans who have read Ferguson's autobiography will be familiar with St. Mirren. It was Ferguson's birthplace, but it was also his sad place, because there, he achieved success, but at the same time he was humiliated by St. Mirren.
In 1978, he left angrily and moved to Aberdeen.
But few people know that when Ferguson was coaching St. Mirren, in addition to coaching, he also had another identity, a bar owner.
He acquired two pubs from Edward Brenton, a young entrepreneur who drove a Rolls-Royce, one of which was in the small town of Paisley, called the Paisley Turnpike pub.
Another bar is in his hometown, the High Bay area in the south of Glasgow, very close to Ibrox Stadium, the home ground of Glasgow Rangers. The intersection of Paisley Road West and High Bay Road is called Paisley Avenue West.
The reason why this bar is remembered by Gao Shen is because it comes from an autobiography that Ferguson published at the beginning of the century, "I Am the Manchester United Coach", in which he once told a story about the bar.
The bar room downstairs has a very special name, the Elbow Room.
Yes, that's what our elbow means.
Why is it called this name?
Because when Ferguson was playing football, he always used his elbows to push away the players defending him.
To be honest, if Gao Shen hadn't read Ferguson's book many times in the tactical library, he would have probably missed this paragraph, let alone remembered the name.
…
"Since you know this bar, you should also know the story, right?"
Gao Shen nodded.
In his early days, Ferguson did not focus solely on football. Instead, he ran several pubs, one of which was Paisley Avenue West.
But one day, two groups of robbers fought in his bar and even used guns. This led to the bar owner Ferguson being implicated, and his bar manager was even arrested by the police.
This is thanks to the fact that information dissemination was not developed at that time. Otherwise, Ferguson would have been in trouble.
Most of the bars he ran were not well run because he had to teach and couldn't focus on running the bars. As a result, he was heavily in debt and had a very difficult life.
In addition, Scotland in the 1970s was still quite chaotic, and fights often broke out in his bar. Ferguson himself was once in trouble, and his head was hit with a broken wine glass, which caused a bloody injury.
After a series of events happened, especially the conflict with St. Mirren and various family difficulties, Ferguson finally couldn't bear it anymore and was determined to get rid of it all.
So he closed all the bars and went to Aberdeen to coach.
Since then, he has truly embarked on the path to becoming a legendary godfather.
But no one expected that although he no longer ran a bar, Ferguson would later become obsessed with horse racing, and he would also get into a fight with the major shareholders of Manchester United because of the Gibraltar stud incident. The whole world was shocked by this.
…
"Young man, what I want to tell you is that in this world, no one has ever been able to predict the future. No one can know their next step or plan their future in advance."
Ferguson looked at Gao Shen seriously and said.
"We are like being blindfolded by a black cloth. We have lost our direction and can only keep groping forward. No one is born knowing what he wants to do or what he can do. Those things in the autobiography are all
It was glorified and used to deceive fans. The real situation is that I was forced into desperation and chose to coach full-time."
"If my bar business, if my other businesses were doing well, I wouldn't bother doing this!"
Ferguson said it very easily, but the profoundness didn't sound easy.
Because the old Sir had become famous, he was able to do so with ease. If Gao Shen believed what he was saying at this moment, it would be no different from believing the embellished stories in his autobiography.
There have never been fairy tales in this world.
"So, young man, don't be discouraged, you still have a long way to go!"
Gao Shen understood.
He didn't expect that the person in front of him turned out to be Ferguson like this!
It actually feels a bit like Chicken Soup Master.
"Sir, I remember that this wine is a bit sour. How come it tastes like chicken soup?" Gao Shen asked with a smile.
"Chicken soup?" Ferguson was stunned.
"Isn't there a second round? Why are you so sure that you can win?" Gao Shen asked with a smile.
After hearing this, Ferguson laughed and said, "What? Are you still planning to make a comeback?"
Gao Shen did not answer directly, but clapped his fingers and said, "In this Premier League G4, Arsenal's Highbury Stadium and Emirates Stadium, and Chelsea's Stamford Bridge Stadium have all been captured by me."
At this point, Gao Shen laughed and continued: "It's a pity that I won't have the chance to meet Liverpool this season. I don't know when I can collect these four away cards. I heard that it is necessary to collect all four away cards."
After the card, something magical will happen, it must be a great thing, what do you think?"
"Can you summon the dragon?" Ferguson asked with a smile.
"I don't know, but I want to try!" Gao Shen became serious.
Ferguson looked at him deeply, nodded appreciatively and said: "Okay, then I'll wait for you at Old Trafford."
After speaking, Ferguson waved his hand and turned to leave.
Just as he walked to the door, he suddenly stopped again and said, "Your wine is good, remember to give me another box when you are away."
Gao Shen watched Ferguson leave. He felt that his illusion of being a fan of Ferguson was somewhat shattered.
It turns out that this old man is still a scoundrel!
With one box in hand and one box in mind, do you really think I own a winery?
Uh...it seems true!
When he thought of this, Gao Shen almost couldn't help but slap himself.
Don’t let the rich water flow to outsiders’ fields.
Why haven’t you thought about giving away wine from your own winery?
I heard that the wine produced by my own winery is quite delicious, and I can use it as a gift to advertise.
Nima, since you asked for it, I can't let go of this opportunity. It's unreasonable not to take advantage of your old man's enthusiasm and advertise my own wine.
The first thing that popped into Gao Shen's mind was the golden advertisement of Kaká and Ronaldo, which was directly transformed into an advertisement of Ferguson endorsing wine. Not to mention, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that the image of the old Jazz was so suitable!
The old jazz man was holding a bottle of wine stupidly...
Absolutely!
…
Naples drew 1-1 with Manchester United at home.
This result is definitely not good news for Naples.
Gao Shen admitted at the post-match press conference that the team did not fully perform to its expected level in this game.
"The players performed very well. The reason for the draw is my fault!"
Gao Shen said that he made mistakes before and during the game.
However, when Naples players were interviewed by the media, they generally believed that they had to bear more responsibility for the team's draw with Manchester United because they failed to fulfill the head coach's arrangements.
The defenders focused on the goal they conceded. They believed that they did not value Manchester United's forwards, especially Vargas. They even said that they failed to follow Cristiano Ronaldo in time, causing him to succeed alone.
Thiago Motta took the initiative to take responsibility and said that he did not mark Berbatov in time.
The same is true for the offensive players in the frontcourt.
Naples created more opportunities than Manchester United, and their ball possession rate reached 60%, but there were not many real threat opportunities. Whether it was the midfielder or the offensive players in the frontcourt, they all took the initiative to take the blame.
Gao Shen said that the team's tactics are relatively conservative and this is a problem for the head coach.
Ferguson expressed his affirmation of Gao Shen's coaching ability and believed that Napoli showed a very high technical and tactical level in the game, especially targeted tactics, which left Manchester United with no room to perform.
"In fact, in the whole game, we only had one absolute chance, and we took it."
Ferguson said he was very satisfied with the one-on-one win away from home, because Manchester United had the advantage when returning to Old Trafford.
But Gao Shen believes that Naples has a chance to advance even if it is an away game.
"We will definitely score goals away from home!"
Naples players also showed strong fighting spirit.
The Italian media basically gave Naples encouragement. After all, this is the only Serie A team in the Champions League.
After AC Milan failed in the group stage and Inter Milan and Roma failed in the top 16, Napoli reached the semi-finals, which is surprising enough in itself.
Now, facing Manchester United, the defending champion and one of the two strongest teams in European football, they are evenly matched for most of the game, and even have a slight advantage. It can be seen that Naples is really outstanding, but also quite inferior.
easy.
Sacchi said in his column that Ferguson was Gao Shen's idol. Facing Ferguson, Gao Shen felt pressured and couldn't let go, but he was already outstanding enough.
"After all, he is only 28 years old and Ferguson is 67."
If we count from when Ferguson was a player and head coach in the second tier of Scotland, Ferguson already has 40 years of coaching experience, plus the years of playing football. Sacchi believes that we cannot ask for more from senior players.
.
"He is facing Ferguson, one of the best and greatest managers in the world!"
Italian and European media also generally recognized Gao Shen's first game of the semi-finals, and basically believed that Naples was at a disadvantage in the second round, but there may not be no chance of a comeback.
On the contrary, in Gao Shen's stronghold in Asia, fierce conflicts arose over this game.
