The FA Cup final battle between Manchester City and Manchester United begins with a hotel battle.
As usual, the FA Cup final is held at Wembley Stadium outside London, which is the same home venue as the England national team. Every time the England national team plays at home, they will stay at the Hertfordshire Waterhouse.
A Grove Hotel in North Ford.
This is a country villa-style hotel built in 1996. Next door is the famous Grove Golf Park. The hotel not only has a beautiful environment, but it is also located in the countryside, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It is a rare place for vacation.
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What's more, this hotel often receives high-profile guests with rich experience, especially football teams.
From the England national team to various club teams, they are all frequent visitors to the Grove Hotel.
Since the Abu Dhabi consortium took over Manchester City, the team will choose to stay in this hotel every time they go south to play games near London, as do other teams including Manchester United.
Training here is convenient, and there are various physiotherapy and spa facilities. It is very complete and very popular with football teams.
The British Guardian revealed that after Manchester City defeated Arsenal, they had booked the Grove Hotel in advance.
"Manchester City made the reservation through Darren Hart, the sales director of Grove Hotel. They first booked 50 rooms. The two parties agreed that after Manchester City looked back, they would decide whether to book the entire hotel specifically for their players.
, used by players’ families and guests invited by the club.”
The problem lies with sales director Darren Hart, who used his own name to make the decision for Manchester City.
"Two days later, Manchester City received a call from Darren Hart. On the phone, the sales director of Grove Hotel told Manchester City that Manchester United had already booked the hotel and the fifty rooms under his name could not be saved."
The Guardian revealed that after Manchester City received the news, general manager Soriano immediately sent people south to force Grove Hotel to sign the contract before Manchester United's signing representatives arrived, otherwise they would file a lawsuit.
The reason is that Darren Hart received a deposit from Manchester City but failed to fulfill the corresponding obligations.
Grove Hotel was forced to sign a contract with Manchester City before Manchester United's signing representatives arrived due to Manchester City's tough attitude.
"Manchester City, which has a lot of money, booked the entire hotel at once, not to mention a room, not even a utility room, for Manchester United. They signed the contract on the spot and paid the remaining balance."
"Manchester United originally thought they had a chance to win. When they came to Watford, they found that the hotel they had grabbed was taken away by their opponents. They questioned the person in charge of the hotel on the spot and the explanation they received was that the reservation
The number of rooms exceeds half of the hotel, so a contract needs to be signed, and everything shall be subject to the contract.”
The Guardian stated that Manchester United lost the hotel competition and was forced to choose a five-star hotel in the suburbs of London.
The distance was about the same, but he was unable to stay at the more familiar Grove Hotel. This made Ferguson extremely angry. He immediately criticized Manchester City in an interview with the media, believing that this team in the same city paid a higher price and used a dishonorable method.
way to force the hotel to change the room reservation.
Ferguson's bombardment quickly triggered follow-up in the British media.
Manchester City general manager Soriano said in an interview with the media that Manchester City did not use any means and only strictly followed the Grove Hotel's regulations to book the room. It neither paid a higher price nor any coercion.
A spokesman for the Grove Hotel also accepted an interview with a reporter from the Guardian and stated that the team did not engage in any illegal operations.
"First of all, we are very grateful to both teams for their trust, but unfortunately it is difficult for us to host two top English clubs at the same time, and they both want to stay in our hotel, so we are forced to choose between the two.
Choice, we followed the charter and finally chose Manchester City to sign the contract."
Regarding Manchester United's accusation that Manchester City snatched away the hotel contract that should belong to Manchester United at a high price, a spokesman for Grove Hotel said that this is not true because the hotel and Manchester United have not signed any form of contract.
The hotel spokesperson also revealed that after Ferguson was interviewed by the media, the hotel immediately contacted Ferguson through Manchester United staff and explained the matter. It also gained the understanding of Ferguson and Manchester United, and the two parties will continue to cooperate in the future.
Future cooperation is a matter for the future, but before the FA Cup final, Manchester United will definitely not be able to stay at the Grove Hotel.
The battle for the hotel before the final also made the two sides extremely tense.
The horn of the final has sounded!
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Manchester City traveled south from Manchester to Hertfordshire and checked into the Grove Hotel the day before the game.
By this time, the guests invited by the team and the families of the players and staff had already arrived at the hotel.
At this point, Manchester City is still very generous.
In the last round of the league, neither Manchester City nor Manchester United tried their best. Manchester City played with a substitute lineup. In the end, with the goals of Dzeko and David Luiz, they defeated Bolton Wanderers 2-0 away from home.
Manchester United was basically the same, beating their opponents 4-2 at home.
After Manchester City won the championship one round ahead of schedule, it was impossible for the Manchester duo to try their best in the final round.
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The Grove Hotel all adopts British-style buildings. They are all country villas, divided into several buildings, and the floors are not high.
Based on the characteristics of the Grove Hotel, Manchester City separated players, staff, family members and guests, and arranged to stay in different buildings. Although there was no isolation from each other, everyone remained conscious.
Everyone also knows that the players still need to rest early the day before the final.
Many of Su Dong's family members came. In addition to Wang Chuqing who came from Oxford, his parents and Wang Qingquan and his wife also came over to experience London and checked into the Grove Hotel in advance.
They will both stay in England until after the Europa League final.
Guardiola advocates humanistic management, so he gave each player time to visit the night before the final.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Su Dong went over to meet Wang Chuqing and his parents.
I was happy to see each other again after a long separation, but in fact the things we talked about were all the same old stuff, nothing more than how well prepared we were, whether we had confidence, how we were doing, and how we should work harder tomorrow.
Sometimes Su Dong feels that since he was a child, this is all his parents have said.
Of course, this is not a dislike, but rather a feeling of intimacy.
In the past, my parents would say this before every exam. Later, when I started playing football, they would say the same before every game. Later, when I went abroad, they still said the same.
If one day, he suddenly stopped hearing, he must be very unaccustomed to it.
"Don't worry, I have made arrangements. After the game tomorrow night, there will be a special car to pick you up. Just follow our team's bus and the fans' vehicles, all the way north to celebrate back to Manchester!"
Su Dong was full of confidence when he said this.
Su Wenji and his wife were also very proud and kept nodding.
Today's Sudong is not only their pride, but also the pride of their hometown and the motherland.
After chatting with his parents and Wang Qingquan and his wife for a while, Su Dong took the time to go back.
Before leaving, he specifically told Wang Chuqing to take good care of the four elders during this period. He would be responsible for all the food, drink, and entertainment, and it must be the best.
"I know, I know!" Wang Chuqing pushed him out coquettishly.
Su Wenji and his wife and Wang Qingquan and his wife in the room both smiled heartily.
These two young people dared to fall in love so well that there is no words to say. Su Dong also doted on Wang Chuqing to the heavens, but the only drawback was that they had no children.
If a man is talented and a woman is beautiful, the child she will give birth to will definitely be beautiful too.
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The building where the players live is just a few steps away from the building where their families live.
When Su Dong returned to the room, Torrent came to him and said that Guardiola was waiting for him.
When I came to Guardiola's room, I found that Soriano, Begiristain, Estiarte and others were also present.
After saying hello one by one, as soon as Su Dong sat down, he clearly felt the strange atmosphere at the scene.
After Su Dong's eyes swept across everyone, he finally landed on Guardiola.
He saw the Spaniard frowning and sitting there on pins and needles. After noticing Su Dong's eyes, Guardio stretched out his hands, wiped his face vigorously, stood up, "I'm going to wash my face and wake up."
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Watching Guardiola leave, Su Dong understood what the problem was and immediately nodded in amusement.
"He's been like this lately, especially at night. He basically can't sleep. He's still like this from yesterday to now. He's too anxious!" Estiat shook his head helplessly and sighed.
No one meant any ridicule or even sarcasm.
In fact, this situation is very normal.
Many fans don't know at all that before an important game, many players even need to rely on drugs to fall asleep. Otherwise, they will not be able to sleep at all, and they will feel excited and anxious.
When you are excited, it is because your body has adjusted to its best state. How could you not be excited?
Needless to say, anxiety is because the importance of the competition determines that it is impossible for all participants not to be anxious.
Many fans may think, well, isn’t it just an FA Cup?
The value of the FA Cup is relative.
In any case, it is also a national championship trophy. Only one is released every year. No matter how many teams want to compete, they cannot win.
The biggest difference between the league and the cup is that the league doesn't actually have so much focus. It just plays one game at a time and the front is very long. There is basically no time for too much anxiety. At best, it is a strong dialogue.
But cup matches, especially finals, are different.
It is a single game that determines the outcome.
Players have player anxieties, coaches have coach anxieties, and management have management anxieties.
There is anxiety when you get good grades, and there is anxiety when you get bad grades.
Professional football is a huge vanity fair, involving too many and complicated interests. It is impossible for everyone to be in it without pressure. When there is pressure, anxiety will naturally arise.
Maybe many people don't realize that in fact, both players and coaches are high-risk professions.
The higher you go up the pyramid, the greater the rewards and the greater the risks.
