Chapter 57 Muzzle 1 to Manchester United

Roger Moses is sitting in the office of the Director of Sports at BBC Headquarters, playing with his mobile phone with his head down.

He was one of the first users to sign up for WeChat. It was three days before Zlatan Ibrahimovic's press conference. He learned of such an application from a text message from a journalist friend, so he downloaded it. on the phone.

He couldn't let go of this game.

He found that a lot of information spread very fast on WeChat, and the app never crashed.

In the past two days, there have been rumors throughout the UK that Southampton will hold another press conference tomorrow.

Like the previous one with Ibrahimovic, it will still be on the WeChat platform.

The difference is that this time they didn't even say who the star they were going to introduce was.

As the director of BBC TV's sports department, Roger Moses had to admit that this was a premeditated news hype.

And it's something that has never been seen before in football.

Southampton brought the internet to football!

knock knock ~

"Come in!" Roger Moses shouted when he heard a knock on the door.

Entering was Barbara Slater, program director of the athletic department.

"We just got word that Ferguson is bombarding Southampton in Manchester," Barbara Slater said as soon as he entered the door.

"Bombing Southampton? Why?" Roger Moses put down his phone with a strange look on his face.

Barbara Slater smiled, "I heard that Southampton used 2.5 million pounds to forcibly poach Manchester United's two talented rookies, Paul Pogba and Lavelle Morrison."

"The troublemaker?" Roger Moses was a little surprised.

Ravel Morrison's talent is excellent, everyone sees him playing, they can't help but marvel and praise him as a genius, but the problem is, this kid's background is too complicated, and his personality is a bit strange, it is a mistake. Misguided, is a troublemaker.

"Yes, didn't Ferguson send them to the youth team before? This time the management agreed to Southampton's £2.5 million transfer deal, which is said to have bypassed Ferguson, but who knows?"

Roger Moses listened, clapped his hands on the desk excitedly, and laughed schadenfreudely, "Wow, that old Scottish man must be crazy now, and what qualifications does he have to bombard others? Havre poached Paul Pogba, didn't he also use this method?"

Barbara Slater also smiled and nodded, "You should know that he has always been like this."

As a Chinese saying goes, only state officials are allowed to set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps.

The relationship between the BBC and Ferguson and Manchester United has always been very bad. This happened because the BBC filmed a documentary exposing that Ferguson's third son, as an agent, was involved in some of Manchester United's transfer operations. The indignation of the fans, and then was blocked by Ferguson.

Since then, the BBC has never been able to get all the first-hand information related to Manchester United. Even on some official occasions, Ferguson will only arrange for assistant coaches to go abroad, just to avoid BBC TV.

"Good guy, as soon as he came to England, he got into Ferguson, and Southampton seems to be determined to have a big fight!" Roger Moses was a little excited when he thought about it.

In recent years, English football has become more and more lively,

Especially with the massive influx of international capital into English football, it has made them all addicted to news and media work.

At the very least, don’t worry about not having themes and topics that drive sales.

"Since Ferguson is not happy, then we don't mind making him more angry!"

Roger Moses stood up with a laugh, "Tonight's news, extend the reporting time of this transfer, by the way, let me introduce the ins and outs of Paul Pogba's transfer last year and this year, as well as the introduction Come to Southampton."

After a pause, he glanced at the right-hand man who had been in the media for 20 to 30 years, "You should know how to do it, right?"

"Understood!" Barbara Slater agreed with a smile.

Since it's not on the line with Ferguson, the enemy's enemy is a comrade-in-arms, and the muzzle must be the same!

Anything that upsets Ferguson, the BBC doesn't mind doing.

"By the way, go get in touch. Tomorrow Southampton will hold a press conference on the WeChat platform. It attracted a lot of attention last time. This time we have to pay attention to it. If you send an application to Southampton, just say Hope to cooperate, let us accompany them to shoot and report."

"Inform Gary again, tomorrow night we will temporarily add a special program of the daily game, focusing on Southampton!"

Roger Moses clearly captured that Southampton's press conference on the WeChat platform suddenly aroused a lot of attention and repercussions among young groups in the UK and even Europe. It is necessary for the BBC to respond to this.

"Director, why do you attach so much importance to Southampton?" Barbara Slater was a little puzzled.

There are so many teams in League One, even if Southampton was once a powerhouse in the Premier League, but that was many years ago.

In terms of influence, Southampton started a series of new methods of operation after the Chinese owner acquired the team this summer, as well as a series of large-scale transfers in the transfer market.

The Daily Match is the trump card program of the BBC, and has a very important weight in the hearts of fans. The hosts include Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Alan Hansen and other former English football legends. Aired on matchday nights such as Premier League and Champions League matches, the ratings are high.

Although there are occasional special programs, they are usually after major events.

Like Roger Moses, for a League One team, it is unprecedented to record a special program.

Roger Moses is also aware of Barbara Slater's doubts. She is the program director and is responsible for the program arrangement, so she smiled and explained: "I just received the news that ITV has decided to increase the South Not only that, the live broadcast of the Amperton game is not only that, but other countries in China, Europe and even the world have shown great interest in broadcasting the Southampton game.”

Having said this, Roger Moses smiled, "Although Southampton is in the lower league now, it is a star team in the lower league. The League Cup was eliminated, but we have the FA Cup."

"Director, do you mean that our FA Cup will focus on live broadcast of Southampton games?" Barbara Slater was even more surprised.

After the broadcast rights of the Premier League were occupied by Sky TV, the BBC's most valuable resource at present is the FA Cup and Premier League match highlights.

"Don't you think it's very interesting for a team in the League One but with a superstar like Zlatan Ibrahimovic to encounter a powerhouse in the Premier League?"

Barbara Slater understood.

The FA Cup has always been seen as a hotbed of upsets, but over the years, the FA Cup has become less and less upset.

Without the unpopular FA Cup, no fans would be interested.

Roger? Moses this is to support Southampton, to further promote the weight of the FA Cup.

"I see!" Barbara Slater did.

…………

…………

"We've been kept in the dark and I believe there was an agreement between them long ago, which is very disappointing and in my opinion, they didn't show even the slightest respect for Manchester United!"

"This is a betrayal of Manchester United!"

Ferguson's private contact between Southampton and two former Manchester United players after Manchester United officially announced that Paul Pogba and Lavelle Morrison would switch to Southampton for a price of 2.5 million pounds, Appeared very angry and said he would not rule out an appeal.

"This is not a single incident. I want to say that it has had a very bad impact on our youth training system and made us panic. Their defections not only cost us two very valuable players, but also caused us to lose two very valuable players. It had a very bad influence.”

Southampton immediately held a press conference. The director of the team's marketing department and the director of the press and public relations department, Sun Yue, said very seriously at St. Mary's Stadium that Ferguson's accusations were unreasonable speculations without any basis.

"I don't think Ferguson has any reason to blame others, because he has been doing the things he said, do I still need to give you an example?"

"Southampton brought in Paul Pogba and Lavelle Morrison without signing any private agreements before signing them, and even in the terms of our contracts we didn't give players any unrealistic promises."

"We contacted Manchester United and showed interest in two of their players who had made a written transfer request because they were delegated to the youth team, and offered the right price, they agreed, the whole thing is as simple as that."

"I don't think we have any illegal links."

Paul Pogba confirmed this in an interview with Southern Echo reporter Charlene Laheri.

"Southampton didn't promise me a first-team spot, they just told me that here I can play a lot of games, play with Ibrahimovic and some other top players, play together, improve together."

"It made me want to join Southampton, not just for the money."

As for what Ferguson said, Pogba defected this time and did not respect Manchester United enough. Pogba also responded.

"When I came to Manchester from Le Havre a year ago, he promised me to play more games, but with the first team missing, he didn't trust me at all and didn't give me a chance. , when I asked that I hope to make more contributions to the team, when he gave me the answer, go back to the youth team!"

"I can't understand why he thinks I don't respect Manchester United enough, because I came from Le Havre on a free transfer and now I'm making a seven-figure fee for Manchester United? Or, he thinks, I don't Bowing to him and admitting it was a breach of his authority, it was disrespectful."

"But I want to say that if I was given another chance to choose, I would still say to him, no!"

About Southampton's introduction of Paul Pogba and Lavelle Morrison from Manchester United, after Ferguson's bombardment and Southampton's strong counterattack, it immediately became a major event in English football, and even caused European football's attention.

Pogba and Morrison, two 17-year-old talented young stars, appeared on the pages of major European media for the first time.

Raiola also stood up and was interviewed by the Italian media, accusing Ferguson of being too domineering and lacking respect for the players.

For a time, the transfer between Manchester United and Ferguson and Southampton quickly caused huge discussions and controversy on the Internet and in the media. Most of the fans were divided into two factions, arguing on the Internet and newspapers. nonstop.

Some people think that there must be something wrong with Southampton, they must have contacted the players privately and encouraged the players, causing Manchester United to fall into a passive position.

But someone quickly fought back, arguing that it was a conspiracy theory with no evidence at all.

And Manchester United itself is not clean enough. They poached Pique from Barcelona and then Pogba from Le Havre. I don’t know how many times this happened. Who is qualified to say others?

BBC TV also carried out key reports on sports news, and subtly led the audience to believe that this was a thief shouting and catching a thief, as Ferguson often did.

This is the BBC, and its influence in the UK is equivalent to that of China's CCTV.

Therefore, when the BBC shouted, the whole of the UK was in a frenzy, and major newspapers chose to stand in line and open fire.

The Sun is a hardcore Red Devils party, but the Manchester Evening News of Manchester City firmly supports Southampton and strikes against Manchester United.

The Times, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Mirror and other media also have their own positions.

This made the whole of the UK quarreled over this transfer worth only 2.5 million pounds.

In this case, as the center of the storm, the initiator of the event, Southampton once again held a press conference.

And at this press conference, the team's latest introduction, the Brazilian talented rookie, was solemnly launched.

Neymar!