The morning sun shone brightly, and it was a rare sunny morning in London in winter.
Aldridge stood on the sidelines of the training court wearing the club's winter sportswear and a pair of warm gloves, casually chatting with fellow coaches.
Soon, the players came to the training ground on time one by one. Aldridge was very fortunate that he made the decision six months ago to let Southgate, Nedvěd, and Larsson serve as the three captains of the team.
These three are now the mainstay of Millwall. Their prowess on the court is unparalleled, and their professional ethics are also obvious to all. With these three players setting an example, the other players cannot afford to be big names. They have been late for training once in half a year.
Never happened.
"Have you had a good past few days?"
Aldridge was becoming more and more bossy. When he asked, most of the young and mature players laughed and said nothing, while the other younger and more cheerful ones started talking at once.
While other clubs are still training, Millwall suddenly gave the players a holiday. Such a good thing made them very happy.
The team needs to take a breather. It has been competing non-stop since October, and it needs to step on the brakes at the appropriate time.
The short vacation made the players feel happy and relaxed physically and mentally when they returned to the training ground. Perhaps none of them still remembered the previous three rounds without a win. Aldrich minimized the negative impact on morale.
Because Schneider was injured, Aldridge let him recuperate for a month as a precaution, and Beckham temporarily entered the main lineup.
Five days later, they traveled north to South Yorkshire to challenge Sheffield United, who were at the top of the League One table.
As Millwall has been unbeaten in the past three rounds, the outside world is paying attention to the result of this game. Whether Millwall can withstand the pressure and reverse the decline may very well be the watershed in the league championship.
After all, if Middlesbrough wins, the gap between the two teams will be shortened to two goals, and after six rounds, the two teams competing for the championship will face off in the second round of the league.
With widespread attention from the outside world, Aldridge led the team to an easy 2-0 victory in the away game without any bloodshed.
Middlesbrough failed to win against Grimsby at home on the same day, which widened the point gap between the two teams to 10 points.
Millwall's win has brought an end to the decline. If this momentum continues, the suspense of the English League One title will probably end at the end of February. At the end of February, can Middlesbrough suppress Millwall's momentum at the Lion's Den Stadium?
If it goes down, the fate of both teams will be decided.
After all, who is going to play in the cruel play-offs to get tickets for promotion?!
Returning to London in a happy mood, Aldrich had just returned home when the phone in his study rang.
"After the lawsuit was settled, I found someone who specializes in divorce lawsuits to take over. I helped her rent a new apartment, paid the rent for three years, and hired a nanny. The salary was automatically paid from my company. In addition, she was given
Thirty thousand pounds."
Andrew's slightly tired voice came from the phone receiver.
Aldrich breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled: "How long has it been since you went to the gym? You shouldn't have done any physical work, right? Why do you seem so tired?"
"Well, running back and forth is tiring. Aldrich, I'm a little confused."
"What's the meaning?"
"You understand what it means."
"not understand."
"Okay, then why do you want to help her? Even if you like mature women, but with all due respect to her, I don't see any charm in her."
Aldrich burst into laughter, and after a while he sighed: "Andrew, you have changed."
"What does it have to do with me?"
"Why can't you just look at this matter simply? Maybe you are dating famous models and giving away famous watches, bags and fashions just to please people and make women fall in love with you, but that doesn't mean that I am too. Ms. Rowling has a talent that we can't envy.
, she just encountered difficulties in life, that's all, I have nothing to ask for to help her, I just hope that she can cheer up, and not be disturbed by the trivial matters in life, and show her unparalleled beauty to the world without any worries.
Talent.”
Andrew fell into silence, and after a long time he sighed quietly: "Aldrich, you are right, I have changed. It is a simple question, but I have become an asshole. You don't hate me, do you?"
Aldridge smiled and said: "How could it be? Everyone's lifestyle is different. Besides, I can't guarantee whether I will become a bastard in the future, so why should I criticize others with a noble eye? Let's talk about other things.
.”
The two brothers chatted about some career topics. In addition to holding the contracts of most Millwall players, Andrew's agency is also trying to sign players from several Premier League clubs.
But in general, Andrew's company is still inconspicuous, and it has not caused much turmoil in the agent industry. This industry needs reputation, good skills in the transfer market, and broad connections in player business development. In fact, the core
It is to "generate income" for players.
When it comes to football-related topics, Aldridge can't stop the car. Under his indoctrination, Andrew's idea of "signing players to go to Millwall" has completely changed. Now his agent
The company has just started, let alone famous stars, even ordinary players may be difficult to sign, but it doesn't matter. At this stage, he only needs to clear out young players on a large scale. Even if he cannot sign them, establishing a good relationship will lay the foundation for the future.
Agent contracts are not for life, and most of them are signed every three years. After being able to handle the transfer of a few stars, Andrew's company will also build a brand.
The next day, Aldrich received a courier from Rowling in Edinburgh.
There is a thick copy of the manuscript and a letter in the courier.
Aldrich opened the letter first and read it. In the letter, Rowling expressed her gratitude to him. The manuscript was a copy of the work she was creating. Although it was not completed yet, she hoped to give Aldrich a sneak peek.
And give her some comments on her works.
Aldrich unexpectedly discovered that the manuscript in his hand was the unfinished "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone".
When it comes to evaluation, Aldrich thinks he has no qualifications. He is just a spectator. If Rowling is a football player, Aldridge is at best a fan cheering him on from the sidelines. If he is allowed to play, he will definitely be eliminated.
However, Aldrich was overjoyed to be able to read the original manuscript of "Harry Potter", but he also knew the importance of the manuscript, so he never took the manuscript out of the study and lay quietly in the study at night
On the sofa, listening to soothing light music, I read page by page with gusto.
In the past, he was only half-fluent in English and could not understand the original English books given to him. Even if he could understand them, he would probably not be able to express his ideas in words.
It was different now. At least he could understand everything described in the manuscript without any obstacles, and he could naturally imagine that wonderful world in his mind.
Interestingly, Rowling has a lot to do with football. She finds football matches boring, but the football flying in the sky gives her creativity. The Quidditch World Cup in "Harry Potter" is actually the source of it.
football match.
Aldrich wrote a reply to Rowling after reading the manuscript. From then on, although the two rarely met, they always kept in touch through letters. This relationship continued until "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was officially released.
The day of publication.
At the end of January 1995, Millwall ushered in a highlight game: the FA Cup.
Starting from the third round of the FA Cup, teams from the Premier League and English League One have joined the fray, forming a knockout round in which 64 teams compete against each other.
Millwall was extremely unlucky and was drawn directly to their city rival Arsenal.
If there is anything to be thankful for, it is probably that the home game will increase ticket revenue. In addition, the opponent is Arsenal, and the broadcast revenue is also high.
Millwall has many enemies in history, including Liverpool, Manchester City, Leeds United, Gillingham, etc. in the original history, but half of the way these teams have become hostile or even grudged against Millwall is because of
During a certain period of time at the stadium, the other half was caused by heated conflicts between fans from both sides.
Premier League giants like Liverpool will not take Millwall seriously at all. It is more that Millwall is not strong enough and is unilaterally holding a grudge.
Football hooligans played a key role behind the scenes in fueling these non-Derby relations.
In general, Millwall has three rivals due to its geographical location in London: West Ham United, Crystal Palace, and Charlton.
If expressed in terms of hate value, West Ham United is at full value, Crystal Palace is at 80, and Charlton is at 60.
Not all teams in London are fighting to the death with Millwall, and the strength gap also makes those powerful teams look down on Millwall. The strong always look down upon the weak, just like Tottenham against Arsenal.
The hatred value is 100, but Arsenal has only 80 at best against Tottenham. Millwall has a tendency to keep its distance from Tottenham and Arsenal.
In addition to West Ham United, a mortal enemy that will probably last for generations, the second target of Millwall's hatred is not Crystal Palace, but Chelsea in West London.
This is probably also a factor of the fans. Chelsea is in West London. As West London has become increasingly expensive in the past few decades, loyal fans of the traditional working class can only move away from West London, where land prices have skyrocketed, and move to a place where consumption levels are relatively low.
London, where the east is poor and the west is rich, and the south is poor and the north is rich, most Chelsea fans came to the Millwall area. Therefore, the war between fans naturally increased to between clubs, so a strange thing happened
The phenomenon.
The stronger Chelsea hate Millwall even more than Millwall hates Chelsea!
It is conceivable that in the Millwall area, which is famous for football hooligans, can Chelsea fans get an advantage here? Therefore, Chelsea hates Millwall even more, but Millwall only hates the opponent in return.
Located in the Greater London area, in a general sense, all clubs have a derby relationship, and among those teams that have no history of hatred, there is only the simplest meaning of a city derby: who is the boss of this city?
!
Due to their strength, it is impossible for Millwall to participate in Arsenal's "King of London" competition, so the atmosphere of the derby will not be very strong.
But Arsenal is a hated club, especially the London teams who hate it.
Because Arsenal used to move from South London to North London. On Seven Sisters Street, they almost moved to the doorstep of Tottenham Hotspur and competed with others for their territory. This kind of behavior is disgusting to any team and fans. Similar
Manchester United, a foreigner, cannot win the hearts of many local fans in Manchester. Manchester City's fan base is more solid than Manchester United's, and Arsenal's fans are also more from several neighboring counties in the north. But with the rise of London
International diversity became more open, and many neutral fans later in history became Manchester United or Arsenal fans.
Playing Arsenal in the FA Cup can at best create some sparks in London, but it won't stir up much excitement. If Millwall plays against West Ham United or Chelsea, it will be lively.
Aldridge faced the FA Cup with a normal attitude, but unexpectedly, someone was restless and insisted on causing trouble for him.
On the morning of the game, the cover headline of The Times read:
George Graham: Arsenal will teach Millwall to respect football, Aldridge is a cancer in English football!
