After entering 1997, Millwall seems to have new changes every day, with creative posters, the club's new flag, the official website online, and a blue lion as the mascot on the sidelines of home games.
After defeating Tottenham in the FA Cup in early March, Millwall advanced to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. In the league, they entered a rhythm of drawing one game and winning one game. This gave Manchester United a chance to catch up, and the points gap between the two sides became wider and wider.
As the situation got closer, Ferguson started his psychological warfare again, claiming that Millwall would eventually collapse like last season.
Before every league press conference, Aldridge almost always says formulaically: If Manchester United performs well, the league championship will be theirs.
The war in Europe resumed. On Wednesday afternoon, the entire Millwall team packed their bags and boarded a plane to Bergen, Norway, led by the coaching staff.
In the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup, they will be away to challenge Norwegian team Brann in the first round.
The official chartered a small passenger plane, and not only all the players from the first team were traveling, but 18 people from the youth team were also traveling.
The first team were all sitting in the front of the cabin, and the youth team players and coaches were sitting in the back row. Nagy was an exception. He sat next to Aldridge, and the two discussed the youth team's itinerary.
It was Aldrich's idea to let the youth team go to the European away games with the team. This not only cultivates the young players' sense of belonging to the team, but also takes this opportunity to discuss and exchange with clubs from all over Europe. As for the cost of the trip, that is a matter of course.
The minutiae are not worth mentioning.
When he went to Switzerland to play the second round of the European Cup Winners' Cup with Sion, Aldrich noticed that these small Nordic countries also had good youth echelons. Regardless of their strength, at least the style must be different from England. In order to let the youth team
The players wanted to be more exposed to different football styles across Europe. In order to avoid being assimilated by league opponents in England every day, Aldrich contacted the Bran Club before leaving for Norway and proposed that the youth teams of the two teams play a friendly match.
The Bran Club readily agreed. Anyway, they were waiting for work and did not need to provide hotel, food and accommodation for Millwall.
In addition, Aldridge also sent the youth team friendly match intentions to other clubs in Norway. Many clubs thought it was quite new. It is common for the first team to play friendly matches, but they will not be held in the middle of the season. Most of them are pre-season friendly matches.
, this is the first time I met someone who took the initiative to challenge the youth team.
Several clubs have also agreed. As for the Millwall youth team's youth league and FA Youth Cup in England, Aldridge doesn't have to worry too much. Originally, the youth league is not very intense because there are not many participating teams.
, there is only one game every ten days on average, and it is not a big deal as long as you apply to the Football Association to adjust the schedule. The FA Youth Cup schedule is even more relaxed, with continuous promotion, there are only two games in one and a half months on average.
The first team will return home after playing an away game against Bran. At that time, Najib will take the youth team around Norway and "step on the field" in Norway under the banner of exchange.
But then again, Aldrich really doesn't care about the results of the youth team in Norway. The main thing is to let the young players broaden their horizons. After all, it is just simple training and local youth leagues, which are really not enough, so that every week,
Najib will take players to the community to find street football teams for the youth team to train.
Aldridge and Nagy were discussing the youth team schedule on his laptop. The noise at the back of the cabin made him unable to concentrate, so he turned around and shouted: "Ronaldo, please be quiet!"
It was the first time for these boys to experience such a scene. They were so excited that they were restless on the plane. No, Ronaldinho was there happily teaching Ashley Cole how to dance samba.
After being scolded by the head coach, Ronaldinho finally calmed down.
The boys in the youth team no longer made any noise, but the first-team players in front were very quiet, playing cards, listening to music, watching movies...
When the plane landed at Bergen International Airport at night, the players leaned against the plane window early to admire this beautiful seaport city. The charming night view quickly made many players remember this place.
After getting off the plane, the bus that had been arranged in advance was already waiting outside the airport. Aldrich and his party boarded the bus carrying simple luggage bags and stayed in a hotel in the city.
Even though the first-team players don't have much experience in European competitions, most of them have traveled with the national team, so when they arrived at the hotel, they packed up and got ready to rest and recharge their batteries for tomorrow night's game.
But the youth team players were obviously over-excited and restless in the hotel. Villa and Joe Cole were about to sneak out and were caught by Najib. These young people looked like country people coming to the city.
The players were so noisy that the entire youth team coaching staff could not sleep all night. Najib's assistant Mr. Franz simply sat in the corridor with a chair and kept vigil...
Bran's status in Norway is similar to that of Newcastle United in England. They have won the championship before, but now they only occasionally attack the championship, but they cannot form a dominant force. However, due to the unrestrained style of play in Northern Europe, Bran is playing in the local club of Bel.
Gen, however, has always been sought after, and the football craze it triggered has endured for a long time.
The youth team's schedule was relatively tight, so in the morning of the next day, Nagy led the youth team to the training ground of the Bran Club youth team. After a short warm-up, the players from both sides went on the field to play. They planned to leave Bergen in the afternoon and head to Norway.
Oslo, the capital, and challenge the youth team of the capital club the next day.
The training ground of the Bran youth team is not big, with only a small stand around it. Residents nearby came to watch the game. They all heard that a youth team came from the UK to play European games with Bran in the evening.
This is a club that competes with their youth team here during the day.
Fans who follow mainstream European competitions know that this previously unknown Millwall team has set a new winning streak in the five major leagues and set an 18-game winning streak in England. It can be said that it is invincible in the Premier League.
Therefore, they want to see what is so great about the youth team of such a club.
But they were disappointed.
Although there is a slight difference in average age between this Millwall youth team led by Ronaldinho and the Bran youth team, because players like Villa and Ashley Cole are still 1,516 years old, and Ronaldinho is about to turn 17.
The average age is not that big, but there shouldn't be much difference in strength just because of the age difference of one or two years.
However, in the match against the Bran youth team, the Millwall youth team performed extremely poorly. Nagy was so anxious on the sidelines that he jumped up and down, and his forehead was filled with smoke. But Aldridge was sitting in the stands laughing so hard.
Look carefully, Ronaldinho, Joe Cole and others all played with dark circles under their eyes. Who knows what time they played in the hotel room last night.
The first half was not over yet and the Millwall youth team was trailing 1:3.
Ronaldinho and other players who were in low spirits also knew that they played too long last night and did not get enough rest, which caused their performance to be abnormal. They felt that their bodies were getting heavier and heavier as they played. During the half-time break, Najib chose to make substitutions, leaving some players who were panting from exhaustion.
The players were all substituted.
In the second half, the team's performance still failed to improve, allowing Bran to score two more goals.
Every time a goal was scored, the coaches and players of the Bran youth team cheered happily, and the fans in the stands also applauded.
They feel that the Millwall youth team is simply scum!
It can be seen from this that their first team is not very good either. No wonder the performance of English football in the past ten years has been mediocre. It seems that Millwall is just a rat in the Premier League.
Ronaldinho and other players who were substituted looked ashamed and looked at the triumphant expressions of the young players and coaches in Bran next door, which greatly hurt their self-esteem.
Aldrich in the stands was very happy. He felt that the decision to lead the youth team was the right one.
You have to let these young guys understand that you want to travel abroad and win applause by playing football. How can such a good thing happen in the world?
I hope today's defeat will teach them a lesson. As long as they are not shameless and shameless players who don't take losing seriously and have no sense of honor at all, they should be able to wake up.
Aldrich left the scene after the game. In the afternoon, his players conducted a simple warm-up training at Bran's home court to adapt to the venue.
The weather in Norway is good today. Although it is not as warm as England, it should feel good to wear a long-sleeved jersey when playing football in the evening.
After the training, Aldridge attended the official press conference.
The atmosphere at the press conference was a bit strange.
There are many reporters from Nordic mainstream media. There are also some reporters who follow UEFA events. The English reporters who came here with the team suppressed a smile on their faces, as if they expected something good to happen.
When Aldridge sat down, the local football reporter in Bergen said: "Mr. Hall, did you watch the game this morning?"
Aldrich didn't react for a moment. He asked instead: "What game?"
"Millwall Youth vs. Brann Youth."
"Oh, look, does this have something to do with tonight's game?"
"The Millwall youth team lost 1:5. What do you think of this?"
"I don't think the youth team games represent anything. It's normal for those U18 players to have ups and downs in their performance, not to mention coming to Norway from England, but it's a good exercise for them. Even if they lose, it's a valuable experience.
I feel good."
"Is the score of 1:5 also good?"
"I don't understand what the score of 1:5 means? What do you want to ask about this score? You have confused me. In England, there are teams in the youth league that can lose seven or eight games in a game, but
So what? Will the players on the losing side never play football again? Do you think they will definitely not be successful in the future?"
Aldrich looked confused and expressed confusion. Does it mean that in Norway, the training of youth teams attaches great importance to the results of the game?
The English reporters in the audience, especially those who were familiar with Millwall, couldn't help it anymore and covered their mouths and laughed.
Finally, Richard said bluntly: "Mr. Hall, Bran's head coach Calvin Nice just commented on the morning's game at the press conference and believed that judging from the performance of the youth team, Millwall's first team is definitely strong.
Not bad, he declared that Bran will completely eliminate the suspense of advancing to the semi-finals at home tonight and will not give Millwall a chance to return to London and make a comeback."
Aldridge was stunned when he heard this. He didn't know the other team's head coach. When he first contacted the club for a friendly match, he made the arrangement directly with the administrative director of the Bran Club.
"Inferring the strength of the first team from the performance of the youth team?"
Aldrich asked suspiciously.
The English reporters in the audience laughed like crazy and kept nodding. This made their colleagues in Northern Europe despise their behavior. It was too unserious and disrespectful!
Aldridge's expression became weird, and he was trying to hold back his laughter. I don't know if Calvinis was overconfident or mentally retarded. He wrote lightly: "Oh, okay, we come with the mentality of attaching great importance to the game.
Now that I’m here, in tonight’s game, I’m also very much looking forward to seeing Bran show his strongest strength and give the fans a wonderful game.”
