I AM the Football Star-Chapter 564 - 151: Who Approves, Who Opposes?
Beep beep beep!
Look at that, the plane hasn’t even fully landed, and the phone is ringing.
"Hello." Sotu sounded a bit uneasy, "Maniero, what’s the situation now?"
Maniero was very serious on the other end: "Mr. Martivonni and I are waiting for you at the airport. Later, you’ll go directly from..."
More than ten minutes later, Sotu met with Lu Yang and Shuangma.
The group got into an official Italian Football Association Mercedes S and left the airport.
Inside the car, Martivonni frowned deeply.
He almost burst into tears.
Life is tough!
Martivonni truly had a tough life!
When he took office, Italy’s economic downturn affected the development of football, Serie A’s influence gradually weakened, star players left, the Italy National Team entered a period of decline with no successors, and the previous match-fixing scandals continued to tarnish the image of Italian football...
Too many troubles.
Life was really hard for him.
He managed to hold onto some miracles with Maniero, Lu Yang, and Sotu, creating the San Remo miracle, an Italian Cup miracle, and winning the European Youth Championship.
But now, although the strengths of the main players are strong, their tempers are really huge.
This is directly threatening UEFA.
As a player, a head coach, a small team, can you really mess with them?
Even I, Martivonni, have to be careful how I speak to them.
Otherwise, if they casually mess with you in a few European Competitions, your Serie A becomes the sixth largest league in the world, the number of Champions League places decreases, and you will struggle to keep your position.
"I’ve already asked acquaintances about the situation with UEFA." Martivonni started, "Regarding the match against Zenit, Zenit’s fans attacked the players and surely will face punishment. They will at least be penalized with an empty stadium for one home game."
A match with no fans at the home stadium already results in huge ticket losses.
Without fans, what’s the difference between home and away games?
For Zenit’s next home European Competition, it will probably be tough.
"But Lam and Sotu will likely be subjected to additional suspension penalties." Martivonni said, "Lam’s foul was of an especially vile nature, and Sotu... it’s purely because of what you said to the media previously."
"Additionally, this is just the visible part of the handling behind the scenes..."
Hinting enough, those in the know understand.
Giving hard times, if you want to say it, it’s not something new.
Sotu had no idea what to say and occasionally glanced at Lu Yang.
Despite Lu Yang being just a player, the biggest events in Italian Football Association these past two years have been related to him.
Whether it’s creating the San Remo miracle, winning the European Youth Championship, or developing and cooperating with the Chinese market among other things.
If Lu Yang stopped playing, Russell would probably give him a position as a team commercial development director immediately, perhaps even as a sports director.
So if Lu Yang didn’t speak, Sotu wouldn’t either.
At this moment, you can call me Xiaosuo, but Brother Lu is the real boss.
"Have all parties spoken out now?" Lu Yang asked.
Martivonni showed an expression as if he’d seen a miracle, saying: "All major media outlets are reporting this matter, but haven’t added any personal opinions. Instead, some Italian internal newspapers and parts of teams have a few views on the issue."
"The believes that your approach might drag the entire Italian teams in European Competitions into troubled waters, causing UEFA to target Italian teams. Increasing the difficulty for teams to advance."
"The adjusted your position in the Golden Boy Award overnight, and you are now sixth. But... they also added ’This player has a bad temper and immature character’ behind your evaluation."
"Due to this influence, some fans are indeed worried about the negative impact you might bring. Especially AC Milan, Juventus, Florence, and Rome, which have Champions League qualifications, and Inter Milan, which is to play in the UEFA Europa League."
Sotu couldn’t stand this.
What’s going on?
Is the trouble with European Competitions also coming our way?
Do you have any shame?
The downturn of Serie A is caused by big environmental factors, and all teams are affected.
In recent years, aside from AC Milan entering the Champions League finals last year, who else has made it to the semifinals of European Competitions?
The top eight are few!
Not progressing from the group stage isn’t just once or twice.
Still worried about UEFA targeting?
Not targeting, and you haven’t shown much strength either!
This is simply stirring up trouble, yet some fans who care too much really believe it.
However, Lu Yang wasn’t particularly angry, instead, his eyes lit up, and he asked: "So... the attention of the entire Italian football world is focused?"
Martivonni had no idea what Lu Yang meant, and could only nod dazedly.
"Then this is a great opportunity." Lu Yang smiled.
Maniero furrowed his brow, a few seconds later, he suddenly shuddered.
He thought of a possibility.
A possibility that could solve the current troubles of Lu Yang, Sotu, and San Remo.
But from an outsider’s perspective, it almost seemed impossible.
This provides no benefits to the person who helps resolve the issue.
Why is Lu Yang so certain?
"What great opportunity?" Martivonni vaguely guessed Lu Yang’s meaning but couldn’t follow the correlation clearly.
"A great opportunity to secure your chairman position!" Lu Yang said.
Whether Martivonni’s position is secure or not, opinions vary.
After the European Youth Championship, it is basically 80% secure.
But the reason it’s said to be 80% is that after winning the European Youth Championship, regardless of the performance in next year’s European Cup, Martivonni wouldn’t be dismissed.
However, the current issue is, the Italy Team might not even make it into the European Youth Championship!
There are two playoff matches remaining, if lost, Italy would completely go home early.
